JANUARY 2008

DECEMBER 18

We have had a quite significant snowfall, the first in two winters. I first noticed it while on my return Saturday from Hajdúszobószlo, where there was no snow at all, even though that area typically has the worst weather in Hungary. It must have been Cegléd when I looked out---well, I had to change trains there, for I had spoken to Anna and she had suggested that I come to Szeged and have dinner there; so instead of changing trains in Szolnok and taking the train to Hódmezővásárhely, I continued on to Cegléd and took the train there to Szeged. In Vásárhely it was even worse, for my car, which I had parked across the street from the main railroad station on Friday, was covered with snow and ice, which I could only partially remove, since I had only a hand ice-scraper. Today we go to the language club meeting at 3.30, then to the symphony at 7.30., then leave to take the minibus to the airport at 2.45 a.m., as there is a railway strike here and we must go to Vienna by bus to be on the safe side. the minibus, a flight-catcher sort of thing,. also goes to the main bus station from which the international buses leave, so it will be a quite simple matter of walking from one part of the terminal to another part.

JANUARY 3

We spent several days in Vienna as guests of relatives we did not even know until about two months ago. the girl is the daughter of Anna's cousin and her husband, who is Austrian, and they live in Vienna. Anna and I used to go to Vienna every year at Christmas time and spend a week or so, but then Anna went back to USA and I stopped going; when she returned to live in Hungary she went again, but I did not go with her. Her cousin, who lives in Budapest, I had met only once, when I first came to Hungary Christmas 1978; then, about a year or so ago, she and Anna started seeing each other and she and her husband and their son came to Szeged and I met them then. As for our visit, they live about two miles from Westbahnhof, one of the main railway stations of Vienna, in a good-sized flat. If you know Vienna, you can walk straight down her street and come to Schöenbrünn Palace. We had a great time with them. To be honest I was not all that enthusiastic about going, but felt it would be rude not to, so I went. They took us to parts of Vienna I had never been to, though I have been to the city at least ten times. While there Anna and I went to the Kunsthistoriches Museum, which is something we always do; and we also went to the Belvedere, to which I had been numerous times without ever going inside. Believe it or not, we walked from their flat down to Westbahnhof, and then to Belvedere, and it was coooooollllllldddddd! I would not do it again. I knew how to get there, but misjudged the distance, thinking it was only about four kilometers when it turned out to be more like twice that distance. We went to Vienna by bus because there was a railway strike in progress in Hungary at the time---we knew of it several weeks in advance----and we did not know if the international trains would operate (they did), so we did not wish to take chances. Returning, we arrived to the main bus station at 22.15 and had an hour-long wait; but the bus came promptly, though we had a long wait at the airport, which is where it goes to when it leaves the bus terminal. It was after 3.00 when we got home. I slept until 10.00; Anna got up at her usual time, about 5.15. Since then we have had a string of holiday parties, at some of which I drank rather more than I should have----an old Hungarian custom. Now I am about to leave for Spain for two weeks, until January 19. Here in Hungary we have snow. Lots of it. It would not be very much in Sullivan County, nor in Orange; and once it would not have been very much for here either. But it is as much as we have had in the past three winters combined. And we are just getting started, which is why I am happy to be leaving for Costa del Sol.

JANUARY 22

I am back from Spain now and Anna has left with friends to spend two weeks in a spa in the southwestern part of Hungary, only a few kilometers from Keszthely, a very lovely town on Lake Balaton to which we have gone on vacation several times.

I am presently in Szeged with her brother, who is looking after the cat for her. Spain was a bit cooler than usual, and it also rained a couple of times, which is unusual for this time of year; but it was still a great deal warmer than here in Hungary, usually about the low 60s, but sometimes as high as 70. My friends enjoyed it very much. They had not been to that part of Spain, and not to Spain at this time of year, so they really appreciated being able to walk on the beachfront and sun themselves on the veranda. For the most part everything went well. However, when we were in the process of moving from one timeshare to another the second week, the car we rented would not start. Why it did not came as no surprise. Because the rental agency did not have automatics, I rented a standard; but because I last drove a standard in 1970, I did not feel up to the task of learning anew how to coordinate the shifting of the gears and the manipulation of the clutch so as not to stall in first-gear, I decided to let my friends do the driving. there was something on the dashboard that was lit and would not turn off, and I suspect that that ran the battery down. I went to the timeshare office to find out if there was a service station I could call, and the receptionist told me I should instead call the rental agency, which I did. Within an hour and a half they had delivered a replacement car to me; the receptionist arranged for me to stay in the apartment until the car came, so there was no real discomfort or inconvenience involved. We got to the new place, which was only about six or seven minutes away, by noon and were settled in by one. While there we celebrated Julianna's birthday. She reminded me that I was also with them last year to celebrate her birthday, for at that time they came and spent the weekend in Szeged. They became so enthusiastic about Spain in January that I had to remind them that in January 2009 I shall be in Florida, for I have been promising Annette and Raphael for several years that I would come and now I am definitely committed to go to spend a few weeks with them.

Anna and I have been examining the possibilities of a trip to Syria and Jordan, or Iran, or possibly even Libya. There are spectacular Roman ruins in all of them, though not in Iran----the Parthians saw to it that the Roman legions did not get that far. We have received numerous travel brochures, thanks to Saci, Anna's cousin's daughter in Vienna; but the offer that interests me most was one that she got on the Internet and which is marketed here in Hungary by a firm up in Budapest. I shall try to get up there soon and check them out. Anna has been thinking in terms of March, but for my part I would prefer something in the Fall, as I have timeshare weeks that I must use soon or lose them, so I want to use one of them to go to Austria in late May or very early June, and another to go to a resort in a town in Hungary on the Slovene border the end of September. My other resorts are in points---if you are RCI, then you know what I am talking about; if not, then none of this is likely to make much sense to you and it is a drawn-out explanation. First, you buy a fixed week at a resort; it means that you own that apartment for that week either for a definite period of time, say, 50 years, or forever. You may sell or deed it to whomever you wish. You pay an annual maintenance charge. If you do not wish to come to the same place at the same time every year, you may join an exchange society, the largest of which is RCI; this will enable you to exchange your week for a week in a similar time-period---high for high, middle for middle, low for low, or any time period lower than your own, but not higher---of comparable or smaller size, at any resort in their system, which consists of about four thousand resorts all over the world, but mainly in the USA, Caribbean, Europe, and North Africa. You pay a fee of about 130 USD for each such exchange. You do not exchange directly with a person, so you do not have to find someone who owns the accommodation you want and is willing to go to the place that you own; that is the job of RCI. You simply deposit your week and find a place you wish to go to that conforms to the parameters I have laid out above. That is the Weeks System. The Points System works like money. A point-value is assigned to your property based upon its relevant characteristics: time period, size, quality of the resort. Thus your "week" might be worth two or even three weeks depending upon when and where you choose to use them. To give an example: I own(ed) a week at Miraflores in Malaga, Spain, which was worth 20,000 pts. But if I had not owned it, and had been willing to make a reservation forty-five days or less before my arrival date, I could have gotten that same week via exchange for only 7500 pts. As with money, you may spend your points howsoever you choose, not on a barter basis as is the case with Weeks. Does it make sense to you at all now?

I am pleased to see new winners of the Australian Open instead of the same faces year after year. I think it is good for the game when there are a number of genuine contenders rather than just one real contender with a handful of challengers. To be sure it was not that way with the women, who were far more competitive than the men. But except for Nadal, who does not win except on clay, Federer never had a genuine challenger during his reign. Sampras had his Lendl, his Agassi, his Becker, and even McEnroe and Connors at the end of their careers; but Federer had no real challenger.

I am going to close this now. Remember my e-mail address is alex@lewisbrooks.net, and my address is Dr. Brooks Louis Alexander, Petö F. u. 4,

Hódmezővásárhely 6800, HUNGARY.

AUTUMN 2007

NOVEMBER 27

Yes, it has been a long, long time! Let me explain why. I have been unable to work on this on my own computer for a technical reason I do not fully understand. I could have worked on it at an internet cafe, but that was not always convenient. But now Anna has a computer which, because it does not have the same browser as I have, and does not invoke special firewalls and similar obstacles, I can use hers. I happen to be at her apartment at this time because Anna is in Transylvania and I am here looking after her cat, so it gives me the opportunity to do this---at long last!

I am not going to try to fill you in, other than in a cursory manner. You know that I was to USA in the summer. Since my arrival home a number of important occurrences have captured my attention. First, when I went to the eye clinic for my three-month check-up and eye-pressure reading, they gave me a form advising me that the Health Ministry had advised that they would honor my bills only through the end of this year, and that I would have to contact them and resolve the issue. Naturally I did post haste. It seems that since I never really worked in Hungary---well, I did, but the University of Debrecen and the English university both treated me as a foreignor for tax purposes, and therefore did not have to pay health insurance for me, not that those meager payments could have been expected to significantly affect my status. In short, I was an uninsured claimant. Anna went with me to the appropriate offices and the matter was fully resolved in a single day. I must pay a sum equal to 9% of the minimum wage here, which is what I would pay were I working and earning the minimum wage. Of course I do not have an employer to make the matching contribution, but that will be conveniently overlooked. This will provide me with full coverage, which is important, since the last Rx I got was subsidized by the government for more than twice the amount of my monthly health premium. Although I was told that I would receive my new card within a month, together with forms on which to make payments, I have received nothing to date and the month has passed. However, I have a letter under seal from the Ministry of Health attesting that I am covered and indicating what my coverage ID number is.

Today is rather frosty and will get down into the upper teens overnight. This autumn has been more like what we are accustomed to, and that is the way it is all over Europe these days. I am actually thinking ahead to January, when I shall be going to Spain with Klein Sandor (Sandor Klein) and his family. I just got an e-mail today from Julianna, his wife, advising me that she is ready to book our flight to Malaga and will give me the info when she has it. Speaking of Sandor, their company just won a huge contract from the national government to prepare protocols to be used for the hiring of civil service employees in the several hundred job titles of that force. It is the largest contract they have ever gotten and they have been working night and day to finish preparing all the protocols before mid-December. It will not affect their going to Spain, as Sandor's eldest son, Balazs, can complete whatever needs to be done.

I suppose you have heard about the plight of the dollar. Let me explain it to you in flesh-and-blood terms. When Clinton left office in the beginning of 2001, $1 bought you 310 Hungarian forints (HUF). So, if something cost 310 HUF, it costs me $1. Today if something costs me 310 HUF, I must spend $1.79 for it. Mind you, this assumes that the price has not increased since 2001----which you know it has! It is the same all over Western Europe, where they all use the Euro, which, when Clinton left office, cost $0.85, but which now costs $1.49. So if something cost 1 E in 2001, it cost $0.85 then and $1.49 now, again, assuming that the price has not increased at all, which, again, we all know it has. Now some of you will say that I am trying to blame it all on Bush, and that it isn't fair to put it all on him. Well, if he can claim that the fact we have not been terror-attacked since 2001 is all to his credit, and the fact that unemployment is at only 4. 7% is all to his credit, then why is it so unjust and unreasonable to assign responsibility for the bad along with credit for the good? OR ARE WE SUPPOSED TO OVERLOOK THE FACT THAT JUNIOR HAS INCREASED THE NATIONAL DEBT BY 2.6 TRILLION DOLLARS DURING THIS BEST OF ALL TIMES? I am going to let this rest overnight and resume tomorrow or the day after.

NOVEMBER 28

We are currently in the midst of a series of episodic strikes, which is to say those that are planned to last for a specific duration of time, usually not more than six hours. Today I believe that it is the intercity bus drivers. This could present a problem for me, because I am in Szeged and must get home to Hódmezővásárhely, where my car is parked at the railroad station. But since I can take the train home just as easily as the bus---both go to the main railway station, which is where my car is parked---it is not a problem. It is only a real problem when both the intercity buses and the trains are on strike at the same time. I understand, however, that there will be a railway strike commencing 17th December without a pre-determined end-time, so theoretically the strike could last indefinitely. I cannot see it lasting much beyond the beginning of the year, however, as the government almost certainly will not pay unemployment benefits to the workers during the strike and the unions do not begin to have enough money in their treasury to support the workers during a long strike---they are not the UAW or the Teamsters. All this is about the government's plan to eliminate service on very lightly travelled rail lines, reduce the workforce, change to a semi-private health insurance system (with which I personally do not agree), make permanent medical co-payments for doctor visits and prescription drugs, and "reform" the pension system, which is the new way to describe a cut in benefits. The irony of all this is that the government is Socialist, the direct descendant of the former MSZMP, or Hungarian Socialist Workers Party, spelled C-o-m-m-u-n-i-s-t. The populace is overwhelmingly opposed to most, if not all, of these changes; but the government's term runs until Spring 2010, and they have the votes in Parliament to pass their program, which is why the Opposition is demanding a nepszavazas, or referendum on several of these questions, even though they are not under the umbrella of a referendum requirement in the Constitution. The Opposition, however, is undeterred by such legal trivialities, arguing that "the people have a right to be heard". I am just sitting on the sidelines trying to figure out how much it is going to cost me, however it goes. Overlooked in all this is the fact that the country is currently running a Bush-sized deficit which, according to EU requirements, must be eradicated (or at least reduced to about one-third of its current level) to meet euro-accession requirements. No one who opposes these "reforms" has come forth with any detailed plan as to how he will maintain the current benefit structure and still eliminate the excess deficit in the budget, which makes the the outcries of the Opposition ring a bit hollow.

As if all this were not enough, we have a resurgent neo-Fascism, replete with storm-troooper like outfits and insignia reminiscent of the Arrow Cross, Hungary's equivelent of Romania's Iron Guard during the Horthy regime at the time of Hitler. Their mission is to protect Hungary from its "enemies". These are not specified, but you would have to be naive not to know whom they are referring to: gypsies (of whom we have a sizeable number) and various religious and ethnic minorities, who comprise a mere pittance in the total population. Bear in mind that over 96% of all persons in Hungary were either born here or are ethnic Hungarians who moved here from neighboring lands formerly a part of Hungary: Croatia, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, for the most part. Hungary is hardly a magnet for refugees, for many of our young professionals have to go elsewhere to find employment, the language is an insuperable barrier for most persons---why even bother to learn a language spoken mainly in only one country and not likely to be understood anywhere else; and we have no special attractions outside the cultural realm to woo outsiders. I personally love it here, but I realize that that feeling would not likely be shared by refugees looking to make a new life for themselves in a Land of Opportunity.

DECEMBER 4

We had miserable weather the past couple of days, but today is sunny and mild, though it is not the same in the Eastern U.S. The Christmas tree in front of City Hall is up, the ice-skating rink is being prepared in Kossuth Square, and the booths for the Christmas Fair are being set up and stacked. I have not been into the center of Szeged, so I have no idea what it looks like there, though I imagine it is as it usually is, meaning like in Vasarhely, only on a bigger scale. It is time to make up gift lists and buy cards. Buying gifts is not a big problem; I buy fragrances for ladies and liquor for men and give money to children. No one has ever said, Oh, I was hoping for a tie, and I'm so disappointed that you gave me money. Anna's brother, Lou, arrives day after tomorrow; later this month Anna and I go to Vienna to visit relatives. We are to decide upon the exact date later this evening. The problem will be how we go, for there is to be a railroad strike beginning the 17th and no one seems to know whether international trains will be affected. If so, there are plenty of busses to Vienna; but if the bus drivers here in Hungary go out in support of the railway workers, and the transit workers in Budapest also join them, then it could be a problem. The only way I see in that case is to drive to Budapest and have A nna's cousin's husband take us to the bus station while we leave our car at their house. If the international busses are also on strike---most improbable----then we can drive to Vienna, it is only about five hours from here on the expressways. For the time being we shall assume that the international railways will operate, or that the intercity busses here in Hungary will operate. The latter would be best, because the intercity and international busses use the same terminal in Budapest and it is just a matter of walking around the corner in the terminal.

DECEMBER 6

Today is Mikulasnap, the Feast of St. Nicholas, which serves as a kind of Christmas preview for children and adults, in that petty gifts are left in the shoe of the person. In the old days it was the official start of the Chriszmas Season commercially, but now it begins as early as it does in U.S.A. Here in Vásárhely we have had Christmas shopping ads up since the end of October, and a friend was telling me how lit up our main square is at night. I of course am rarely out at night in Vásárhely, and certainly not in the center of town, so I have had no occasion to notice. I have digital TV service as of today, with about thirty more channels, about half of them worthwhile, which is, after all, a rather good percentage for TV these days. I am particularly pleased that one of my new channels is Deutschewelle, the German equivalent of the BBC, which has exceptional news programs. I used to get it on cable, but then they switched to satellite and I could not get it anymore. I of course do not understand German, but the programs are in German one hour, and then repeated in English the following hour. Thios evening Anna and I go to a chamber concert, with a work of Corelli and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. This chamber orchestra is very good, they perform several times a year, usually at the Conservatory. Earlier in the day Anna was to the airport to meet her brother, but he missed his connecting flight in London owing to the late departure of the flight from JFK, so she decided not to wait, a friend is going to drive him home anyway. I went for my annual check-up for my esophagus, and learned that my specialist is abroad. I could have seen his substitute, who is the Head of the Department, but I decided to skip it as all that would happen would be that he would ask me how I am , I would say I am fine, and he would say that if I have any problems I should come in, I do not need an appointment, and he would hand me a summary of our meeting for me to give to my doctor. That can surely wait until Dr. Izbéki returns from wherever he is.

DECEMBER 12

Last evening we attended the symphony in Szeged: a Mozart symphony and Richard Strauss' A Hero's Life. Richard Strauss is not one of my favorite composers, and not just because he was one of Adolf Hitler's favorites---after all, I adore Wagner and Bruckner. He is one of those composers whom I can abide provided I do not hear him often, as is the case with Delius and Khatchaturian. At the symphony I was approached by the wife of Kosztandy Istvan, the concertmeister. She gave me a recording of his that he had asked her to give to me. He of course was playing in the orchestra, but Gyűdi Sándor, the Musical Director, was not conducting and was in the audience, two boxes down from ours, which is where he always sits when he is not conducting. There is some musical event this Friday that Anna is attending, but I shall be in Debrecen that day and will miss it.

Anna's brother, Lou, is here and I have spent considerable time with him. His wife just got a very big promotion and has to go to Mexico City, so it is not at all certain that she will get here for the Holidays; Lou, however, will stay until sometime in mid-January, as he has an open-dated return ticket. I still have not gotten around to buying Christmas cards, so you will know why yours arrives late, or even not at all. I still have not gotten up to Budapest to visit Sándor and Julianna, if I do it will have to be Monday of next week as I have an appointment at the eye clinic on Tuesday and we go to Vienna to visit relatives either Wednesday or Thursday---I must check with Anna to make certain which day. Everything here is uncertain because we shall have a railway strike and possibly others as well in the transportation field beginning Monday. Unlike other strikes, this one does not have a scheduled ending date.

I am going to close this now with Holiday Greetings to you all and wishes for health, happiness and success in the New Year.

SUMMER 2007

JUNE 21 This is when I was supposed to post this, and I am only beginning it today, which is my last day in Hungary, as I have a morning flight to New York via Milan. So what has happened since I last wrote..... Hmmm... Well, suppose I work backwards from today.

This past Saturday we threw a dinner party at a restaurant in Hodmezovasarhely. We had been guests at the home of these friends--ex-classmates of Anna, but neither Anna nor I have an apartment large enough to comfortably invite guests, so when we invite someone to dinner, we are inviting them Manhattan-style, which is to say that we are taking them to a restaurant. They set us up in a very nice private dining-room that was air-conditioned, which was very important, given that the temperature has been in the low 90s for as long as we can remember and in fact is supposed to hit 97 today. We dine there frequently, so they know us very well and take good care of us. Everyone was very pleased, so naturally we were as well. I had driven back from Debrecen that morning. Normally I take the train, as I do not have to pay, it is only an hour or so slower than driving there, and I can read and listen to music on the way. But although I arrived to the train station a half hour early, I missed the train. How could that happen? Well, I had decided to take a later train, and a train pulled into the station and just sat there. Then at 7.15 the front half detached---it was a two-coach train---and set off for Mako. I assumed---big mistake; NEVER assume anything in Hungary---that the train I wanted would pull in and I would get on, but the next thing I knew, the front half (now the back-half) pulled off and headed for Szentes, which meant it was my train. Now I could have sped to Szentes and beaten it there; but while I have been to the railroad station in Szentes numerous times, I do not remember the appearance of the area around the station, and since I planned to leave my car overnight, I felt some misgivings about the idea without knowing (or remembering) what the neighborhood was like. So I decided against outracing the train to Szentes and instead drove to Debrecen, which is why I had to drive back Saturday morning to be in time for the dinner-party.

I am going to do something and post this and just keep adding to it while in USA.

June 29 I am in USA now, arriving under the most pleasant circumstances imaginable. My plane landed at 1.30 PM, and by 2.00 I had (a) clearned immigration; (b) collected my baggage---it was the seciond one out the chute!; (c) cleared customs; and (d) gotten on the bus to Grand Central. It was the hottest day of the year in NYC thusfar. I am now in Middletown at the College, having just visited Cassilda at her office and stopped by the College on my way to see Ken Newman, intending to stop off and see Rich Eldridge on the way. Now, re-tracing my steps back in Hungary. We went to Kalocsa to attend a performance of Haydn's The Creation, performed by the Szeged Philharmonic and Vaszy Viktor Chorus. I had last been to Kalocsa in 1983, and Anna had not been there since the late 60s. We had a fine room in a hotel right across the square from the Cathedral. But the bells rang at 5.00 AM. They even rang during the performance of Haydn, causing the conductor to pause at an appropriate point. We also visited several museums, the Archbishop's Library and Treasury, and a peasant house outside the town. It was a most enjoyable experience.

MAY 2007

14 APRIL

Let me begin by apologizing for the lateness of this posting, in part explained by the fact that I have been in the grip of a bad cold, my first of the "season", and additionally by the fact that I was on vacation much of the time. Let me go on to say that the posting for June will be delayed as well, appearing about the 20th, as I shall leave shortly thereafter for several weeks in USA.

I am, as you might guess, back from Austria. We stayed at a very nice hotel in Bad Gastein, a village famous for its spa, which was a favorite of Emperor Franz Joseph. It is about 50 miles south of Salzburg and we went there regularly during the time we were in Zell am See, as the latter is only about 35 miles away; however, we were last to Zell am See in 2004. The hotel was one I had passed on numerous occasions while walking, but I always walked on a level about 200 feet lower than that on which the hotel is situated, therefore I can't say I ever really saw it. I had a stunning view of the mountains from my room and the hotel had a very warm atmosphere, such that you felt like a guest in someone's home, rather than a guest in a hotel. We were joined for an overnight stay by a childhood classmate of Sandor's, a Hungarian who lives in Switzerland. I found him very friendly and gracious. We went swimming at the baths in Bad Gastein, which we reached by walking through the center of town and then up a very steep hill. I love to walk, but I intensely dislike climbing hills. Fortunately, Julianna told me that we could go back walking on relatively flat ground, only it would be a bit longer. Maybe it was my relief at walking on level ground, but I did not think it a measurably longer walk, and certainly not a significantly longer walk. We also spent a day in Salzburg and at St. Wolfgang, a very picturesque lakeside village that Anna and I were to some years ago, and to which I make it a point to go when in the Salzburg area. It happens that when I took the trip to the Alps in August 2002, we stopped in St. Wolfgang on the first day. It was raining that day, but every day of our stay was sunny and warm. There was snow on the peaks, but not nearly as much as I would expect to find at this time of year. To be sure I have never seen so little snow on the peaks at any time of the year, and we tend to go either during or at the end of the summer. We also went to the baths at Bad Hofgastein, which is about ten miles up the road. We were there several times in the past, but I hardly recognized the town, except for the church, for they built a huge thermal bath that we decided to try out. Imagine swimming in the outdoors in heated pools, surrounded by snowy peaks. It is very impressive, but, I must caution, a bit on the expensive side---or so it seems to me, who am not a frequenter of baths. We also spent a day in Zell am See, my favorite place, which they really enjoyed very much, for we walked about and then spent an hour in a pedal-boat on the lake.

4 MAY 2007

Since my last entry we went to spend a week in Hortobagy, a very famous national park in the northeast of Hungary, famed for its preservation of livestock and the traditional herdsmanship of the Hungarians. We went with a colleague of Anna from Florida, who is spending a couple of weeks here. She enjoyed it very much. We spent a day in Eger, one of the most historic cities of Hungary, and also in Nyiregyhaza and Sostofurdo, as well as Debrecen and the baths of Hajduszoboszlo, a town I have been to innumerable times and which is very famous for the baths which, until now, I had never even once been into. The friend is staying at Anna's in Szeged, which she likes very much as well. Today they took the train up to Budapest. I did not go with them, as I cannot really add anything to their convenience, since they are going by train and Anna knows Budapest far better than I. We were to Opusztaszer yesterday---no, it must have been the day before yesterday. It is the site of a national park also, and is where the Hungarians first established themselves when they arrived from Asia in 896 AD. They have a very famous panoramic painting, similar to the Cyclorama in Atlanta) if you have ever seen it), and also a reconstruction of an old Hungarian town, with original buildings moved from their original sites.

Tomorrow we attend---or at least try to attend---two graduations. Allow me to explain. Here in Hungary all graduations, without exception, take place on the same day at the very same time, so it is impossible to attend two on the same day, or two at all for that matter. There is this family, the Benczédi family, with the six daughters, if you remember, and of course some of the daughters have children the same age as others, which means that there is always going to be a conflict when graduation time arrives. Marta (the next-to-youngest) has a daughter, Zsofia, who is graduating at the same time as her oldest sister's third oldest child. To make matters even worse, one is graduating in Hodmezővásárhely (where I live), and the other in Szentes, about 20 miles north of here. If you think it is a problem for Anna and me, consider the dilemna of the grandmother. Last year, when the same problem presented itself with two different children in the same family, Anna and I simply split the assignment, with her attending the one here and I the other one in a different city---last year it was Makó, about 25 miles southeast of here. The grandmother went to the one in Mako and skipped the one directly across the street from her house. I shall call her this evening and learn what she plans to do this year.

In the miscellaneous news department, I called my sister and was surprised to get no answer, until it finally dawned upon me that they are on the way to Singapore to spend some time visiting their daughter, who is on assignment there for a year or so for her company, Proctor and Gamble. While speaking of baths, I should mention that we spent quite a bit of time in the pool in Hortobagy, and also spent the day in Gyula at the baths there. We were taken by a friend, who had some unused voucher money about to expire. Let me explain. Here in Hungary the government provides each family with a minor child, and each retired couple as well, a modest vacation each year, in the form of a voucher, which can be used at a wide number of resorts throughout the country. It will not be of much use in a five-star hotel, but it will get you a decent week-long vacation in a mom-and-pop type country inn, of which we have zillions here in Hungary. Of course you can pay the difference and stay wherever you choose. If you wonder why we have so little money to spend to improve our non-existent missile defense system or similar highly worthwhile (?) projects, it is because we spend it on things like this, and on cultural events presented at affordable prices for even the most ordinary citizen.

Something happened that distresses me greatly. A few days ago vandals broke into the tomb of Janos Kadar, who was General-Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers (Communist) Party for 30+ years, and stole his remains and desecrated those of his wife. There are those who would argue that this is a valid form of political protest---the same, no doubt, who would argue that flag-burning (of the US flag only) is not a valid form of political protest, no matter what the Supreme Court says to the contrary. But if that is true, then can one of your father's tenants desecrate his remains, on the grounds that as a landlord he charged high rent; or someone who worked in his store, on the grounds that he paid sub-standard wages? It is best to think about this before deciding that it was all right in this case because the man was a Communist. In short, does any grievance justify an action such as this which most of us would consider reprehensible on the face of it?

It is now May 17th, and this will finish this entry, as I am late getting it posted. We attended the farewell recital of our favorite pianist, Fellegi Adam, Tuesday evening, The program consisted of two sets of contrasting sonatas in the same key, one in an earlier stage of Beethoven's career, the other in a later stage. The conclusion was a spectacular performance of a keyboard arrangement of the final movement of the Ninth Symphony, in which the orchestral parts had been eliminated from the soundtrack of a recording of a performance conducted by Gyüdi Sándor, the Musical Director and Chorusmaster of the Szeged Philarmonic---may I boast again that he is an acquaintance of ours---and Fellegi played the arrangement synchronized with a viewing of the conducting of Gyüdi Sándor. You would have to see it to really appreciate it. During the performance we could see apocalyptic flashes of lightning outside the hall, reminiscent of lighting for a performance of the Ring; but when I looked outside after the performance concluded, I was astonished to find that not a drop of rain had fallen. Imagine, then, my horror upon reaching the bottom of the stairs and finding that it was pouring. Needless to say we had taken the tram---my car was in Hódmezővásárhely---and I had left my umbrella at Anna's apartment. But all was not lost. In attendance was a friend, Dr. Dombiné Erzsebet, a professor of music at the University, and she offered to drive us home. Otherwise, weatherwise, we have been consistently in the upper-60s to mid-80s range with practically no rain, which is why it was such a shock to have such a storm, which was country-wide, I might add. Country-wide should take into account that I am speaking of a very small country, about the size of Indiana. with very little in the way of topographical variation.

I am going to close with a reminder that the next posting, for June, will be quite late in the month, about the 20th; and that the one for July may not appear until well into August, as I shall be in USA from 26 June until mid-August. Be assured, I appreciate your impatience.

APRIL 2007

25 MARCH 2007

I actually began this a couple of weeks ago and wrote about 10,000 words when----it pains me to go on, but I must, lest you not know what sort of things can happen, except that if you have used a computer, they have happened to you any number of times. Norton 360, while exercising its authority under the Patriot Act to insure Homeland Security for my computer, simply snatched it all away and the entire production vanished, like an apparition of the winning numbers in Megamillions Lotto. Even now my computer is acting up in a way that suggests that I should end this and continue it at another time, which is what I shall do.

It is now 30 March and I must get to work on this, as I leave Tuesday for Austria, where I spend a week with friends from Budapest. I shall try to re-create what I lost in the earlier draft that got lost.

I saw a simply splendid performance of Il Trovatore at the National Theater in Szeged earlier this month, conducted by Gyudi Sandor, who just happens to be an acquaintance of mine, in addition to being the Musical Director and Principal Conductor of the Szeged Philharmonic. He is also a classmate of the specialist who attended me when I was hospitalized two years ago. This past week we also attended a performance of the Bruckner Fourth Symphony, an epic work, which is the case with virtually all Bruckner symphonies. The following day we went to a recital of the pianist, Fellegi Adam, for which we have a season ticket also. If I may boast, he is also an acquaintance. We had a very nice conversation together with a professor from Szeged University, who is a renowned physicist here and has appeared on numerous TV programs.

Anna was in Italy until this past Monday and had a very enjoyable time. If you know Anna, then you know that Travel is her surname. She will go anywhere at the drop of a word so long as there is something architectural, natural, or historical to see. The group had a true misfortune in that there was a snow delay at the airport and when they arrived to Milan there was no bus to meet them. They ended up staying at a hotel in Milan, but did not get to see Venice, which is where they would have gone had there been a bus for them at the airport in Milan. Since Anna, however, was to meet them in Venice, and would have arrived several hours before them in any event, she got to see the city (which she knows very well anyway) on her own.

I may not have mentioned it but we have had a complete revamping of the health delivery system here. The government is the primary insurer, and, like insurers everywhere, it decides what it will pay for and how much. Until now it worked like this. A hospital had, say, 300 beds. It was paid a fixed sum for maintaining those beds, whether there were patients in them or not. In addition, it was paid for services rendered to the patients who occupied those beds which had patients in them. There was, as you can see, a great incentive for the hospital to keep you in the hospital as long as possible, and to be sure, persons were admitted to the hospital and remained in the hospital for conditions for which they would not be generally admitted in the USA, nor kept for that period of time if admitted. Yes, we had DRGs here, too. But as a practical matter, the hospital collected whatever they billed for. You can imagine what the cost of health was in the national budget under such a system. Under the present system the Ministry of Health decided how many beds could be allotted to the various types of treatment conditions. This resulted in some beds being eliminated entirely---for example, there are no longer beds for the Eye Clinic in our local hospital, if you need to be admitted for eye surgery then you must be admitted to the hospital in Szeged. Others were reduced, and some others, notably those allotted to the treatment of chronic diseases, were substantially increased. Thus, the number of beds supported under the revision have actually increased in our town, but if you are a nurse in, say, oncology, you may have to switch to geriatric nursing if you want to continue working at the hospital here. This, as you can imagine, has been the source of much outrage among hospital staff, for Hungarians, unlike Americans, take a very, very dim view of having to travel any distance to go to work. Szeged is 20 minutes drive, a half hour by bus. That is nothing to those in USA, but it is psychologically equivalent to having to go to Cincinnati from Hartford to most Hungarians.

Now the good news. We did not have a revolution of the Right, as many feared, on our national holiday of March 15. There were some demonstrations, but they were nothing compared to those of last October, and in fact the demonstrators were greatly outnumbered by the police. Yesterday, while walking through the Square in our town, I noticed a woman collecting signatures for---believe it or not---a petition seeking to have an early election, a mere three years ahead of the scheduled election. Although Hodmezovasarhely is a very strong supporter of the Right and could be expected to provide the most vigorous support for this idea, I was pleased to note that not even in our town could she find many prepared to ask for something which is so blatantly unconstitutional. Really!!!! You cannot call an election every time a group, however sizable, disagrees with a government policy, or becomes dissatisfied with the government. It leads me to question whether or not Hungary is mature enough to be governed under a democratic system. I am not thrilled with Bush, but it would never occur to me to demand that there be an election next month, even though I cannot imagine that he would not be ousted from office. I am going to drop off now and finish this on..... Monday? No, that is not possible, for I have too much to do then. So I am going to end this now. Later this month a colleague of Anna will arrive to Hungary and we shall all (Anna, Pat, Sari, and I) spend a week in Hortobagy National Park and do some sightseeing in that area, after which we return to this area and do some sightseeing in our region and nearby. This will carry us into May, so you must be prepared for the May Edition to be a bit late, perhaps not before 15 May.

MARCH 2007

5 February 2007

Yesterday was a really busy day! We went to a morning(!)symphony of the Szeged Philharmonic, and then to another in the evening of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, consisting mainly of chamber-orchestra works by Mozart. Then I watched the Super Bowl, which begins here at 11.50 PM with the pre-game entertainment. If you saw the game---and I assume most of you did---I think you will agree that except for the opening play, it was something less than gripping. Grossman, like Roethlisberger of Pittsburgh---I hope I have at least spelled his name correctly--is a rather average college-level quarterback who benefits from having a superior defense, a good running back, and a division of weak teams. If you ask, Is he adequate, I would respond that he is, if you are not troubled by interceptions and are satisfied by a completion every other week. I think Chicago would be a genuine powerhouse with a quarterback of the level of, say, Jeff Garcia. Notice that I have settled for a back-up, and not insisted on a top-level quarterback like Michael Vick, or even an Average Plus one like Chad Pennington.

Weatherwise we are still humming along with no sign of snow. I just checked the weather for Debrecen, since I shall be going there day after tomorrow, and see that there will be showers with possible snow flurries through the week. We have the first H5N1 outbreak---no humans, just geese--- in this area about fifteen miles from here. Previous outbreaks were near Kecskemet, about 50 miles northwest from here; but that was last year. The surprise is that we have not had any outbreaks in Hortobagy National Park, which is a refuge for migratory birds; we were there last April and will return again the end of this April.

Just when you think you have seen it all here, something else happens. What this time? The Opposition had scheduled a demonstration in front of Parliament. When they arrived, they saw that a barrier had been set up to keep the demonstrators away from the building itself, at a distance of about fifty yards. In a gesture of defiance, the Opposition MPs proceeded to attempt to remove the barriers. When the police acted to prevent it, they of course shouted "Most Foul Deed!" and cited it as proof that the country has descended into a dictatorhsip. Frankly I don't know where anyone would be permitted to block the entrance to Parliament as an exercise of free speech. It would be physically impossible to approach the Capitol in DC in this manner, since there is a very long flight of stairs; and of course demonstrators are kept at a considerable distance from the building itself. It is all part of a campaign by the Opposition to reverse the results of last year's elections, which they lost quite badly, although precedent was on their side, since no sitting government had ever been re-elected in the history of the country.

February 10

Everyone here is absorbed in the news that there is a Mother of All Snowstorms in New York. It does not matter that few of them have ever heard of Buffalo, let alone of Oswego, which is where the extremely heavy snowfall is. Here it is in the low 50s; this morning it was sunny, but in the afternoon it clouded up. The past several days have been marked by showers. I frankly do not know how much store is to be set by this matter of global warning. What I do know, however, is that it is ludicrous to dismiss it on the grounds that we do not have proof to an absolute certainty that it is being caused by human activity. My experience is that those who insist on absolute proof are not likely to be convinced by any proof one might offer. What makes it even more ludicrous is that these persons who demand absolute proof that cancer can be brought on by smoking, or that global warming is being caused by humans, are more than prepared to lock up persons suspected of terrorist "connections", or even to send persons to the execution chamber, on far less than absolute proof. These are persons who want to regulate the conduct of others on the basis of What God Wants, for which we clearly are lacking absolute proof. In short, the demand for absolute proof as a condition for doing something is simply a device for avoiding having to do what one doesn't want to do without appearing to be illogical, though in fact such a demand is illogical on the face of it. What if FDR had demanded absolute proof as a condition for authorizing the building of the atomic bomb? None of the scientists engaged in that undertaking could have provided it. Did Junior give us "absolute proof" that Saddam Hussein had WMDs? Or that Iran is attempting to make an atomic weapon?

17 February

Still no sign of snow. I was talking to Julianna, who had been to Bulgaria on business, and she is taking her son to Bad Gastein for a skiing weekend. She says she is playing it safe: if there is no snow, they can at least enjoy the baths. Bad Gastein is more noted as a spa---it was Emperor Franz Joseph's favorite---than as a skiing resort, though it is in a skiing area. The favorite skiing sites are at Gross Glockner and Kibutzhel, about 30 miles to the north and just south of Zell am See, which is my favorite spot in Austria.

We are having a huge rally tomorrow to protest the cuts in service at the hospital under the health reform plan of the government. There will be some shifts in where services will be provided, but, unlike numerous other places, there will be no reduction in the number of hospital beds in the hospital here. The Mayor hopes for 10,000. Frankly, it is hard for me to imagine any rally of that size in Hodmezovasarhely unless they are giving out free palinka (the favorite alcoholic drink of Hungary, a quite potent fruit brandy). I was asked if I plan to attend, and I answered that I had no plans to do so. Later in the evening, however, I changed my mind, for reasons I shall come to shortly.

I heard from Cheryl (my niece) and her husband; she works for Proctor and Gamble and just began a year plus-tour in Singapore. They are finding it quite an adventure, which is the spirit I like. Travel is an education, and especially so when you interest yourself in how the people there live and what your own life would be like if you lived there. Speaking of which, I am nearing the end of eight years living here, a fact which never fails to astound new acquaintances. As if that isn't enough, imagine their reaction when I tell them that I first came to Hungary 29 years ago, and that many persons feel they have known me their entire lifetime, which some of them actually have.

I have been playing Bridge on the internet. It is amazing the things you can do on the internet. You have a game with three other persons, all of us in different countries. Some are good players, some not so good; a few are really outstanding. I myself have not played regularly in thirty years, but I played so much when I did, and except for the most esoteric bidding systems, not all that much has changed over the course of the years. In fact my own preferred bidding system (Roman Club) is esoteric to all the persons I have had as a partner thusfar, though the system is over 40 years old.

And now as to why I have changed my mind and decided to attend the rally. I have gotten some quite devastating, though not entirely unexpected, news. My closest friend just got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and if you know anything about it, you know that it is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer, with a very poor prognosis. I met him over 28 years ago, when I first came to Hungary, and he and his wife were always the ones to meet me when I arrived, see to it that his driver took me to the airport when I left, cook for me, take me around to places---everything. When I was alone here in Hungary they looked after me, saw to it that I knew what had to be done and how to do it. In short, they were always there for me. Last year they celebrated their fortieth anniversary, and this week we were in the midst of celebrating their birthdays---his was the 14th, hers the 16th. Originally we had planned to be in Italy at this time, but changed plans and decided to go back to Hortobagy National Park the last week of April, as we did last year. When we took him to the hospital last evening, the attending physician recognized me as a former patient and asked how my own health was, for she assumed that I, too, had come for treatment. She was relieved to be told that I was quite fine and had had no problems since my stay there a year and a half ago.

20 February

My friend is resting comfortably, I am informed by his wife. I shall go there in another two hours---it is 09:45 here---and then go to Szeged to attend a recital this evening, then to Debrecen by train in the morning, returning the next day. Anna stays with the wife, for she does not know how the wife would respond should the husband pass away during the night. She went to Szeged to look after the cat, but will return later. I shall stay with the cat overnight, then look in on her Thursday noon when I return from Debrecen. Today is mild and sunny, in the high 40s to very low 50s; tomorrow there will be snow showers in Debrecen, but the temperature will rise to the high 40s by early afternoon.

For years Anna always bought my clothes, and I was always getting after her for buying them too large in the waist. "I have been a 31 for 25 years," I would remind her. Now I have considerable uncertainty if something will fit if I have not worn it in some time, which is the case with what I have on now. I can fit into it, but rather snugly. The previous suit I tried on I had to squeeze into. Although I have not gone up in weight---I am still 165, but that is about 20 pounds over my 40-year average---it has redistributed itself in such a way as to make it difficult to fit into things.

25 February

My friend died Thursday evening, just after being taken to the hospital. The speed surprised even me. I had expected that he would be relatively all right until early May, after which he would go into sharp decline and almost certainly expire before my return from USA in mid-August. In fact he did not last a week. His wife is devastated, but she would have been probably even more so if he had lived according to my expectations, as she would have taken renewed hope from each day he survived and eventually come to believe that he would not die at all. The funeral will be March 2 and, in accordance with his wishes (expressed some weeks ago upon the death of a relative), he will be cremated.

Meanwhile the time approaches when Anna will leave for ten days in Italy with the group from SUNY-Orange, beginning 16 March. We have heard from a colleague of hers, Pat Riley, and she and her husband will come to Hungary for two weeks-plus 20 April. This will give us time to show them more of the country that the usual fare afforded to tourists: Budapest, Lake Balaton, Hortobagy. I always consider it a shame that most tourists never get to see this part of the country, which has some particularly beautiful sights as well as significant historical sites. Jeanne and Tom Savona, and Gail and Tom Harlach made it to this part of the country; but no one else among our friends has ever been here. My grand-nephew, Daniel, is the only member of my family to have ever been to Hungary.

I have just returned from the funeral and the gathering afterward. Today is about 53 degrees and rainy, but it did not rain at all during the funeral, which was held outside, for a reason too complicated for me to go into it. I was quite surprised to learn that the interment is in their own plot, and not in the family vault of the wife's family, as I had expected. I knew about 60% of those who attended, including all of the family and nearly all of the relatives, even the distant ones. Many of those who did not know me knew who I was for having heard about me over the years. Additionally, I have appeared several times on the local TV station, which is watched by a majority of the residents of the town. The news programs are repeated on the weekend in case you missed them during the week. To repeat, most persons here in town know who I am, even if they do not know me personally. Many know me from seeing me on TV; many others know me for being Anna's husband. Anna was a very prominent teacher here in town and taught many of the adults here, either the husband or the wife or both. This is even more likely to be true if one lived in the section of the city called Ujvaros, as even today the school where she taught is the only elementary school in Ujvaros, though it is a much larger school today than it was in her time there.

It is March now, as you know, so I shall end this. If you have any suggestions for me, e-mail them to me at alex@lewisbrooks.net. So long until next month, and may the force be with you! (I always hated that expression, just as I disliked the Star Wars series.)

FEBRUARY 2007

CLIMATE NEWS

I need not tell you that the weather these days is warmer than usual. It should come as no surprise to you that we have had absolutely no snow and that in fact there has been practically no snow in the Alps, much to the dismay of the skiers. It is not exactly warm all the time, but it is certainly mild and sometimes quite warm even. I have been riding my bicycle regularly, and occasionally walking the nearly four miles to the home of friends. Anna left for London yesterday and will be visiting friends until 29 January; she arrives in the afternoon, and then in the evening we attend the symphony. On Wednesday we go to the symphony in Budapest.

LOCAL POLITICS

As for the national budget, the protests seem to be diminishing in acknowledgement of the futility of it. Most of the complaint has to do with the reforms of the health system. What will happen is that a number of hospitals will either close or have the number of beds reduced, though no such reductions will take place here in our town. The reason behind the protest is because the average number of patients amounts to only 62% of beds, while the present payment of the government is based upon the total number of beds, whether there are occupants or not. Thus presently the government must pay for the total number of beds, and in addition to the specific treatments for each patient. The government estimates that reducing the number of hospital beds will result in a saving of nearly 30% of health costs. Similarly, the government currently pays twice the amount of federal funds to schools for the education of so-called "difficult" students as for normal students. You can imagine how readily the school characterizes students as "difficult" as a means of obtaining greater funds. The government plans to institute stricter criteria for determining that students are "difficult". There is little doubt that the Socialists will be vanquished in the next election; but that will not be until 2010, and by then the resulting reduction of the deficit may overcome the desire for vengeance on the part of the electorate.

IDLE THOUGHTS

Some years ago, while driving home from Transylvania, I got a flat outside a fairly large city. After a half hour of trying to figure out how to change the tire, I gave up. Let's face it: only high school kids change a tire in the USA; the rest of us call AAA. I had changed a tire only once in my life, for Norma Roer (whom you should know if you were at Crystal Run, but not otherwise; if you don't, it is not all that important who she was). I tried flagging down a car, but it was nearly 3/4 of an hour before someone stopped. He changed it for me, and I rode the 200 miles home on the doughnut. I told this story to explain that today, while riding my bike, I got soft enough to hear my tire squishing. I stopped at the filling station, but the hoses were out of service! Fortunately, the filling station was part of a department store, so I went in and bought a bicycle-tire pump. What makes the story interesting is that I actually do not know how to fill a tire at the filling station anyway, the time I needed it done there was a station attendant who filled it for me. But now I have my own pump to carry along with me when I am out riding. Needless to say, I haven't the vaguest idea how to change the oil in my car; my friend changes it for me when it needs to be done. Fortunately I have a sealed battery now. Here in Hungary you had to remember to fill the battery regularly (which I of course always forgot to do), as sealed batteries were quite uncommon until about a year or two ago.

I spent this past weekend, January 19-21, at a hotel in Szeged, as the guest of friends. Some of you may have met them many, many years ago: Sandor Klein; his wife, Julianna; and their sixteen-year-old son, Adam. Sandor was the Chairman of the Psychology Department at Juhasz Gyula Teachers Training College, Anna's alma mater, and then of the Department of Psychology at Janus Pannonius University in Pecs. When Socialism ended here in 1990, they established a consulting business for evaluating management- and executive-level personnel and now have a sizable international clientele. In June 2005 I went to Bucharest to assist them in evaluating personnel for Philip Morris and Co. When we told them we were going to retire and move to Hungary, they were overjoyed. "Now we'll get to see you much more often," they said. In fact we saw them more when we did not live in Hungary, as we do not get up to Budapest frequently, and I even less than Anna, who of course was in USA anyway for four years. We spent two weeks in Malta in 2003, and a couple of weekends together during professional conventions; but outside of that we see each other only occasionally.

It is now 26 January and more wintry than it has been; but still. no snow. I see on the internet that it is quite cold in NY and that there is a severe weather warning. I am thinking of driving up to Budapest Monday and meeting Anna's bus. True, there is a bus to Szeged only minutes after her arrival; but if her bus is late---and I would expect it would be, since it is coming from London---she would have to wait another hour and a half for another, and by the time she got home she certainly would not feel like going to the symphony in the evening. At least I don't think she would; with Anna, you can never be sure. On Tuesday morning I leave for Debrecen, and then on Wednesday Anna goes on a bus trip to attend the performance of the Szeged Philharmonic at the Palace of the Arts in Budapest in the evening, and I will come by train from Debrecen to attend the performance as well, then ride back on the return trip of the bus to Szeged. This is an annual thing, and a very pleasurable experience for us and our friends, who make it a point to go, as the cost of the bus and the symphony together is only about $16. Speaking of the symphony, while attending the Sunday matinee performance with Sandor and Julianna, I ran into the Musical Director of the Philharmonic, who was attending---not conducting---with his wife and children. We are acquaintances, and Anna remarked how thrilled she was that he greeted her when she bought the tickets at the offices of the Philharmonic earlier this month.

I did not listen to---watch---the State of the Union; it was conflicting with the Australian Open, and I knew there would be more than ample coverage of it on the newscasts anyway, which there was. As for the Open, the results have been quite surprising. I am impressed by Fernando Gonzalez, even if he does not beat Federer. It reminds me of when the first Super Bowls were played and they said that the American Football League was a bush league because their champions, first Kansas City and then Oakland, were both beaten by Green Bay. Well, so were all the National Football League teams! And it is the same with Gonzalez if he loses to Federer. I realize it is not his fault that there are no Agassis or Connors or McEnroes to challenge him, as was the case with Sampras; but it is undeniable that he does have the advantage of there not being a single player out there who can consistently challenge him. He may well be the greatest of all time, as is already being claimed for him; but it is difficult to say just how great he really is when the persons he defeats are persons who have not won collectively half as many Grand Slams as he has.

It is now February 1 and unusually windy, though not cold. I did not go to Debrecen, but went up to Pest with Anna and a friend, accompanied by numerous acquaintances: Erzsebet Dombi, a professor of music at the University; Dr. Ferenc Izbeki and his daughter (he was the surgeon who attended me during my illness in 2005); and one of Anna's former students and her husband. There was a reception for selected persons after the performance, which was the same performance we attended on Monday evening of this week, and we were invited; but due to a misunderstanding we did not go to the place where it was held, and when we attempted to go back into the Palace to attend, the guard would not admit us. Today an official of the Symphony called to say that the Musical Director had looked for us and expressed disappointment that we were not there. We are acquainted, but I did not expect him to seek us out. He happens to have been a classmate, coincidentally, of Ferenc Izbeki, of whom I spoke earlier. The Palace is a very impressive complex, consisting of the National Theater and the Performing Arts Center, and was completed in 2004. It is quite a visual treat seen at night, as it sits next to the Danube and is lit up in a highly decorative manner. Unfortunately, because of its location at some distance from the center of the city, few visitors to the country are likely to see it, unless they are part of a tour group and the sightseeing bus takes them up that far---unlikely, as there are no significant sights in the neighborhood.

I was somewhat surprised that some friends asked me if I am going to watch the Super Bowl. Their reason was not to invite me to a Super Bowl Party; the proceedings begin here at midnight and run until about 06:00, so most of them are likely to see the re-runs, of which there will be several during the course of the week. My surprise was due to the fact that the game has become as popular as it is here. We do have an American-style football team in Budapest, believe it or not. If asked to rate the quality of the team, I would say it is about as good as a SUNY team, excluding Buffalo. Basketball, however, is a big favorite here, and we even have a team here in Hodmezovasarhely. Most teams have an American player. I have not seen a team with more than one---well, yes I have, but only one or two; I think Pecs has two Americans, and maybe Debrecen as well. Here in Vasarhely we have only one, and he is a great favorite. I attended a game last weekend for the first time at the invitation of a friend and enjoyed it very much, so much so that I shall probably go regularly.

It seems hard to believe that I shall have been here eight years this summer. Persons frequently ask me if it was difficult to adjust to living here and are surprised when I tell them it was not. I had been coming to Hungary every year since 1978 until 1991, when there was a five-year lapse. I had a sizable number of friends here in Hungary and had traveled to almost every large city in the country. I could go wherever I wished alone. I could read the newspapers and discuss current events with acquaintances and friends. I am beginning to feel really accepted now that the police no longer stop me and ask whose car it is that I am driving. Mind you, I do not blame them; I would stop me if I were a Hungarian policeman, as there seems no logical explanation as to why this obvious foreigner is driving a car with a Hungarian license plate.

I have just returned from friends who live nearby, about a seven minute walk down the street. I had dinner there with Anna and friends. Tomorrow we go to two concerts, one in the morning at 11.00, the other in the evening at 19.30. It is unusual that there is a Sunday evening symphony performance, so much so that they highlighted it on the program schedule. There are matinee performances on occasional Sundays---remember that I went to such a matinee performance with Sandor and Julianna only two weeks ago---but they are usually abbreviated performances of a mid-week program. In this case, however, both programs are completely different from any others.

My great enterprise is that I am downloading music from the internet to upload to my MP-3 player, when it arrives. They sell them here, but a 2GB player that costs $85 in the USA costs $200 here, and it isn't a brand you've ever heard of. So I ordered it from Amazon and had it sent to a friend who will give it to Anna when they meet on a trip in Italy in March. A 2GB player will hold about 60 hours of music, which is more than enough,since the reason I am getting it is so that I do not have to constantly lug a Discman and twenty-five CDs every time I go to Debrecen or somewhere else on the train. An MP-3 player can be as small as a cigarette lighter; the more sophisticated and more powerful ones are about the size of a pack of regular-size cigarettes.

It is time now to end this and post it so you may read it. If you want my e-mail address it is alex@lewisbrooks.net. Feel free to give any information you are asked for to anyone who asks for it---if you know the person, of course!