language barrier

I have recognized a sense of uneasiness and insecurity ever since I've been back in Budapest, and I think I've pinpointed what was causing it. I am living in a culture that I know and love, but I still can't understand the words on signs or 95% of what is being said around me. I was reading in my journal the yesterday when I recorded the trip my parents and I took to the Czech Republic, and I cited how I felt so at home there, because I knew the people, the places, and I UNDERSTOOD what was being said; I could communicate. I wasn't left in the dark. I had anticipated (in my ignorance of Eastern European history) that Hungarian to be somewhat similar to Czech, and that I would have an easy time picking it up. But that is far from the truth. The closest language to Hungarian is Finnish, both being from the Finno-Urgic family of languages, neither of which are at all closely related to the Indo-European family. Anyway, I hate being left in the dark, being on the outside not able to tell what's going on. It's frustrating. But it's fueling my determination to learn Hungarian this year.