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!
