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.)
