The Bean, the Bean!

Typical HU bill

Sometimes we can speak the same language but still have failures to communicate.  This was the case shortly after we settled into our new home in Hungary. 

A bill arrived in the mail.  I knew it was a bill because there were numbers on it.  But I had no idea what it was for.  When our Hungarian tutor arrived, I showed it to her.  “It’s for the bean,” she said.  “The bean?” I was confused. “What’s the BEAN?”  “The bean, the bean!” she repeated. “You know, you have a green bean, a yellow bean and a black bean.” I am wondering why I am paying for colored beans.  Could you write that word out for me.  She wrote: B.I.N. and repeated bean. “Oh, bin; our trash cans!” as the light finally dawned on me.  “Yes, that’s what I said, the bean, the rubbish bean.  What do you call it?”  Once I understood, we both laughed. She learned English in Great Britain. The British do not have "trash cans." They have "rubbish bins."

Then she went on to explain.  The green is for organic material such as grass clippings, the yellow for recycling, and black for all the other rubbish.  Black goes out every Tuesday. Yellow and Green go out alternating Sunday evenings. (I usually check to see what color the neighbors are putting out.)  If you want to get rid of reusable items, put them beside the yellow one and the neighbors will take them.  What a great way to declutter!

Back to the bill for the beans. I mean bins.  I also learned I could pay for them at the post office which made it easy.  And, that all the utility bills were color coded.  The trash/bin bills had a green stripe on them, water bills were blue, gas orange (pictured above) and electric red. 

Now when a utility bill arrives, I don’t need to understand the Hungarian I just look at the color, amount owed and date due. 

I love this place and my very helpful translators!

Thanks for clearing that up, Agi.