My Early Life
No doubt you are thinking about pronouncing my name, no worries, and not alone.
My name Zsuzsa is a short version of the Hungarian name of Zsuzsanna is a Hebrew derivation,
and the meaning of Zsuzsa is Lily.
According to the internet here is how to pronounce it:
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The Hungarian "zs" is pronounced close to the French "J" as in "Jacques" or the consonant in the middle of the English word "measure."
So: [ JUJA ]
Hence the so many nicknames I have had since growing up. Even within my own family, everyone is called Zsuzsa, so if you heard your name in the house, everyone turned around. If you ever get to call my name out loud, you can call me Z, Zsu, Zuzu, even Zsazsa (yes indeed, just like Zsazsa Gabor, the famous Hungarian diva, sister of actress, Eva Gabor) I won't be mad at you for choosing a short version.
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By now, you figured out that I was born and raised in Hungary. A small village called Bank, north part of Hungary, close to the Slovakian border.
Growing up, I spoke Slovakian to my grandparents due to their heritage as in this region, pretty much both Slovakians and Hungarians were bilingual. Along with the Slovakian language, we learned Russian up until communism ended in 1990.
My grandparents were farmers, growing potatoes, raspberries, grapes, and my parents had greenhouses with carnations. I spent my summer vacations with my family on the field harvesting. As a child, I complained many times, missing out on the lake's summer fun with my friends. As an adult, I can only smile and appreciate how much love for family and appreciation for nature I've learned spending precious time with them and our neighbors despite the 5 am start of the day - that was tough.
While my cheerful self was trying to entertain our friends and neighbors with my big personality under the blazing sun picking raspberries, there is the critical question that we all got asked so often: "what will you be when you grow up." at the time, Even though my mom used to say I will be an actress, due to my chatty and curious character, my answer was, I will travel the world and meet different people and experience new cultures. I hear myself saying with childish excitement listing the pretty items, such as silk scarf from Italy, perfume from France, just a name a few things i will bring back to my mom. I sure listed the things I was fascinated about; no wonder I became a fashionista.
However, my career choice was to pursue a Horticultural degree, possibly carry on the farming and greenhouse business that was familiar to me. Deep down, I have continued to dream of traveling. When one of my schoolmates decided to go to the United States to learn English, I convinced my parents that this is an opportunity to start living my dream. Here I go, America! I joined my friend and spent a year in Stamford, CT, with the lovely Boyle family and had the opportunity to start living the real life. I'm not going to lie, not speaking a word of English was a little intimidating at first, but this experience proved that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. Thanks to my extended family of the Boyles for all their support and eternally grateful for my parents buying my flight ticket.
Once I returned to Hungary, the question remained, what's next. Is it Horticulture? Is it becoming a dance choreographer? Or find a profession that will allow me to continue to travel. Yes, you heard that right, dance choreographer! I learned the love of dance from my grandfather, and I danced traditional Hungarian folklore dancing up until I was 17 years old. If you ever heard of the Hungarian Csardas or the Verbunkos, a solo man's dance evolved from the Austro-Hungarian army's recruiting performances. I can do that, I was good at it, and I loved every minute of being on stage.
If you'd ask me what is one of the regrets of my life was, it was chickening out of auditioning to the Hungarian Dance Academy.
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