A Hungarian View of Dulwich – Klara Erodi

Hungarian-born,  South London-based Complementary and Fitness Therapist, Klara Erodi shares her love of Dulwich, fish soup and massage and fitness with Dulwich OnView.

I am from the southern part of Hungary, from a middle sized town called Baja, which is famous from it’s fish soup competition. Every summer thousands of people gather from all over the country and the world to cook fish soup in cauldrons (yes, like the witches!) in the city square and surrounding streets. The town itself is rather sweet, very green and well looked after but unfortunately there are only 2 colleges so if you want to make something out of yourself you have to leave town for further education so I went to Budapest to college. Two rivers (one of them is the Danube) are very much part of the town’s life, especially in the summer season.

I first came to London in August 1997 just for one year to learn English in the hope to get a better job in Hungary but 11 years on I am still here and can’t see I am ever going to leave now. Ive always lived in South London and around the Dulwich area so I kind of grew into a South Londer.

In Hungary, I graduated with honours degree in physical education at the Hungarian University Of Physical Education. In London- where shall I start? I hope you have enough time! Firstly I was an English student for 4 years part time so I could complete the Cambridge Proficiency Exam. Then I became a full-time student and studied anything from accounting to life-coaching, Spanish, tango, psychology, business studies and so on until I accidentally enrolled on a Swedish Massage course and I fell in love with it. By then I was teaching 25 fitness classes a week around the Dulwich area and it seemed to be a good complement to what I was doing already.

With that one course my six years journey started off and I never gave up learning some new therapy – from reflexology to neuroskeletal re-alignment therapy, ear candling and also many other different types of massages as part of my interest and in a search to give a better service and more tailored treatments to my clients.

What I like best about being a personal trainer is winning people’s trust and changing their view on exercise to make it fun and see how happy they become seeing the changes. As for massage, it is my favourite passion and I consider myself very lucky to have a job that I absolutely love. There is nothing more satisfying when someone comes to me with a pain or problem and walks away pain free! During the massage session, I feel like I became part of that person and we work together to achieve something. Again the feeling of unconditional trust from my clients is a fantastic reward.

What I like about London and the UK are the endless opportunities this great city provides to get people where they want to be in life. All it takes is your willingness and effort. You can study anything you like from cooking to plumbing. Also the cultural variety is great, you can get any nations famous dish just around the corner.

As for Dulwich: unlike other parts of London where you can feel lost, not even knowing your neighbours or putting your head down to avoid eye contact with people, Dulwich reminds me of a smaller town where people care about each other, say hello, look into your eyes and are genuine when asking How are you?”

My favourite part of South London is Dulwich Park where I have a secret spot, almost like a hide away place with a bench. My sanctuary where I go to sometimes to re-energise. I can’t say exactly where it is as already many people have found IT. :-)

What I miss about Hungary is definitely the food. Growing up on paprika dishes, smoked sausages, lovely cakes and the lot – there is nothing to replace that. At home here in South London, I always cook hungarian when I have time but English recipes when something needs to be done quick. I love fish soup (the version we make in my home town…with paprika). My favourite English food is fish&chips perhaps. Its quitehard to choose favourite foods as I love eating almost anything so feel sorry for other dishes for leaving them out. :-)

Here are my tips for staying healthy and avoiding injuries:

• Change your thinking. Most people see exercise as a time consuming torture. If they have found the way it could work for them it’ll be more fun and pleasurable different styles work for different people eg. like a group workout, 1-2-1, or alone, indoors, outdoors and make it part of a daily routine.
• Why drive the kids to school when a walk would be quicker and healthier?
• Why not get up a bit earlier if you have a long day at work and start your day with some exercise or do something in your lunch break?
• Injury prevention is more important then later on trying to manage injury. Learn to build up an awareness of your body day-by-day by simply listening to it and taking notice. If something feels uncomfortable or painful…simply don’t do it, or if you have to – do it differently.
• Ask advice on how sit at your computer properly. Companies should provide it as part of their health & safety procedure.
• You are not alone so find a friend or anyone who would do exercise with you…all you need to do is ask for help if you need some!

Klara can be contacted via her website www.KlaraFit.com.