The Rural Adventure of Réka Hegedűs, who lived at the Hortobágy accompanied by almost 800 sheep, was more than a language course, an anti-stress work therapy, a country or a self-knowledge quiz.
Réka Hegedűs had lived in many places of the globe, but she had never encountered sheep face to face. Despite this, she grew to like these animals and the of the Great Hungarian Plain during the time she spent at the Hortobágy: “I have never spent a longer time here, but I feel at home in this landscape, its mood and smell, among the people and animals surrounding me”, The 35-year old teacher from Budapest spent a week at András Vrancsik, who is cultivating plants and keeping sheeps. “I don't say that I was eager to run into the sheep herd with fanatical enthusiasm the first night to greet them. I was glaring at them suspiciously, and I felt that this is mutual” - said Réka about his first day impressions. But after the first difficulities, her eyes were adapted to the clear horizon. “When I arrived and I was looking at the big old nothing, I didn't understand. And then the gates were open and we finally realised the miracle. There is nothing else existing than the grass under one's feet, the sky above, the sheep, the birds, the haystacks, the drawing well, the sunset, the distant silhouette of the Bükk, the whole world. Time stops, space opens up, and you become the part of the whole – she says. But the farm with almost 800 sheep provided her with plenty of work around the clock. Shepherding the sheep into the corridor, vaccinate them against worms, giving them feedstock and hay with a pitchfork – the day is already gone when this is all done, and next day, the whole thing starts again. All this can be very tiring for a woman who is not exactly occupied in a field which requires manual labour, but she proved herself. “Me being there was more than a language course, an anti-stress work therapy, a country or a self-knowledge quiz. By the time I got home from the Hortobágy, the sight of the asphalt or the houses became really distant. I have been to many places, but none of the made it so strange to return to Budapest.”
