Denae McGaha moved from the U.S. to Budapest, Hungary in 2017 to teach English to kindergarteners.
In 2011, when McGaha was 16 years old, a deadly tornado ripped through her parents' house in Harvest, Alabama while she, her brother, mother and father were inside. McGaha's father, Ronnie, threw himself on top of his daughter to protect her from the wind and debris. He was killed while shielding McGaha from the storm.
"It cracked my world right open, and I wanted to experience everything that was out there. It also showed me I could build a new, beautiful life even after losing so much." Within weeks of submitting her application, McGaha landed a job teaching English to kindergarteners and, in 2017, moved to Budapest — the same city she still calls home seven years later.
Navigating her new career in Budapest didn't involve much of a language barrier, McGaha says, as many Hungarians speak English, and she became proficient in Hungarian after working in the school for a year. "People from 'peach cultures,' like Americans, tend to be softer on the outside, friendlier to strangers, eager to make small talk, but there's a pit in the middle, some private parts of themselves, that they save for a few people," she explains.
She now works as a freelance travel writer and part-time remote digital marketing strategist at Consumer51, a marketing agency based in Philadelphia. If her application is approved, McGaha could be allowed to live in Hungary for at least another year.
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