2009/02/11
It seems the weather is strange everywhere, and here in Hungary is no exception. It is mild one day and wintry the next; but we have had very little snow in our part of the country. Although Budapest is only 2-1/2 hours distant by train, I seldom get up there, mostly because I have little reason to go. However, we were there three times in the span of two weeks, twice to performances at the Palace of the Arts and once to visit our friends, Sandor Klein and his wife, Julianna, with whom we shall go to Spain for two weeks on March 13. We plan to drive, which is nothing unusual; I have driven to Spain numerous times in January and only once did I encounter poor weather, and that was only a light snow near Milan. However, the weather has been Old-Style Winter over most of Europe this season, with snow even in the north of Spain. Hopefully it will be more Spring-like when we go. We shall be in Tarragona for two weeks, which is about 70 miles south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean. Actually we shall be in a resort named Pineda, about 15 miles outside the city, a few minutes from Salou, from which it is possible to get trains regularly to Tarragona, Barcelona, and major cities. I know my way around Barcelona on foot, but not driving; and what there is to see there is in the city, so we can go by train. Some sights in Tarragona, on the other hand, can only be conveniently reached by car, so we shall go by train for those things we can walk to and by car for the rest.
I have been avoiding speaking of the State of the World, which, at this point, is rather dismal in most places. Here included. This was dramatically illustrated to me when I boarded a bus I customarily take from my friends' where I usually have dinner. In the past it was always crowded and getting a seat was out of the question. Last week I was astonished how few passengers there were and remarked so to my friend, who had taken the bus to go up into town. The foreign companies are reducing the workforce drastically when they are not closing down entirely. New graduates have no prospect of finding positions from which they once could have enjoyed a choice. So imagine my surprise when Ildi's daughter refused an appointment to an instructorship at the Medical School in Debrecen. She had a good reason to do so, and I commend her for her decision: she would prefer working with people as a volunteer at this point to teaching, and teaching under the present Dean would hardly be the most encouraging start to a career, as he is somewhat erratic at best, and is not very often at his best.
As for the President, I have to agree with him that you do not need to give a bonus to those who have guided their companies to the brink of bankruptcy; and as for the argument that this "best talent" would go elsewhere, Where is there for them to go? And as for these economic experts that have suddenly emerged in the ranks of Republican legislators, Why did they not give Bush the benefit of their boundless wisdom when he was stumbling and blundering us into the present state? Now, all of a sudden, they are experts on what will work and what will not, while all the real experts are humble enough to admit that they do not know for sure.
FEBRUARY 23
It is still winter here, as I see it is in most parts of USA as well. At least it is racing by, for it is only a week shy of March. The next two weeks shall be quite busy, for there are numerous musical programs, and in addition Anna is giving several dinner parties, and then we leave for Spain. When we return March will be over, and then Anna leaves for England and then friends come from USA, and that is the end of April. I have not discussed Anna's plans with her, but I plan to go to USA the end of June and return in late August. In late September we go to Austria for a week in the lake region with Anna's cousin's daughter and her husband.
Tomorrow Obama delivers a speech before a joint session of Congress. This first month certainly has not been short on activity, but as to where it will all lead I lay no claim to knowing. Like most I am full of hope and guardedly optimistic. One has little choice but to be optimistic, for we are running out of solutions. Surely cutting taxes on business and the wealthy cannot be the solution, for business will not invest in productive capacity for which there is no market no matter how much of a tax break you give them, you are simply rewarding them for buying what they were going to buy anyway. I think it ludicrous, however, to hear all of this weeping and gnashing of teeth over how much it will cost. When you are dangerously ill, you do not pause before the Emergency Room and consider how long it may take you to pay the medical bill, or reject life-saving treatment on the grounds that it may cost too much. No, you know you will hit the lottery and be more than able to pay whatever medical bills you receive, all you need to do is to get well enough to make it down to the lottery vendor. But of course the persons who complain about the cost are those who, for the moment at least, have no need of the treatment; they are concerned over how much it may cost them to restore someone else's health. But wait until it hits them! Then they will declaim loudly about how as taxpayers they have earned the right to assistance from the Government, and how in times of great distress we must all hang together, because, after all, isn't that what this great country of ours is all about?
APRIL 2
We are back from Spain , where the weather was simply gorgeous every day, with temperatures ranging from about 58F to about 73F---14C and 21C respectively for Europeans. It did not rain at all during the two weeks we were there until the day we left, at which time it rained all the way home. The disadvantage of that part of Spain is that there are few nearby sigthtseeing possibilities compared to, say, Andalucia, which is where I usually go; but then, I have seen the sights of Andalucia many times over, which is why I did not go there this year. Except for Tarragona and Barcelona, twenty and eighty minutes by train respectively, there are no sightseeing treats closer than 2-1/2 or 3 hours, and these are not really worth that long a trip. We drove to Carcassonne, in the south of France, a four hour trip by car, but worth every minute of the drive. It is a fortress-town with a double wall around it, and dates its origins back to around the time of Trajan (112 AD), though the beginnings of its present form date from the time of Charlemagne. What we see today is essentially as it looked in the time of Charles the Bold and the Albigensian heresy (roughly 1240 AD). Tarrago0na has some worthwhile Roman ruins, most of them in the very center of the city; the most striking, to my mind, however, is the Aqueduct, which is about three miles outside the city. Barcelona needs no introduction, I am sure. It has monumental architecture, classical and modern, and is easily one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Spain and most of Europe, for that matter. I have been there numerous times, but on this occasion went to attractions I had not been to in past visits, such as Spanish Town and the museum overlooking Plaza de Espana, that once was the seat of the regional government of Catalonia. If you would like to see photographs taken during the trip, just e-mail me and I'll send them to you via Picasa.
Anna leaves this Sunday for ten days in London with her friend, Karen; a week after she returns, friends will arrive from the USA for a stay of two weeks or so. After they leave, another friend arrives from USA for about six weeks, at which point we shall ourselves leave for two months in USA, ending the end of August. So we shall be quite busy until the time of our departure, even as we shall be while in USA, for in addition to spending time in the New York area, we shall visit my sister in North Carolina, friends in Sarasota, Florida, and Anna's niece in Georgia, whom I last saw in 1999.
APRIL 4
Today is absolutely gorgeous! I rode my bike to have dinner with the friend I eat with most of the time; it was the first time I had been on it since October, and I was surprised to find that it did not tire me in the least, even though it is about three miles from here. I usually ride the bus, but on weekends the bus runs only every other hour, which means I would have to take a bus at 10.20 to eat at noon, or, as my friend suggests, take the 12.20 bus and eat at 12.45. What time I eat is not especially important to me, I often do not eat until 6.00 in the evening if I am not here in Hodmezovasarhely; however, my friend is accustomed to eating at noon and I do not think I should require someone else to wait for me.
I have been playing Bridge on the internet, not as difficult as you might think. It is set up so that you can only see those cards you are supposed to see, and you cannot hold private conversations with your partner and exchange information secretly. If your partner is uncertain as to the meaning of your bid, (s)he may ask and have it explained; but everyone gets to read the question and the reply. In the same way, if opponents do not understand the meaning of your bid, they may ask and have it explained, and your partner gets to read the reply along with them. Of course it is all pot-luck who your partner will be, unless you arrange to play with a preferred partner by getting on the internet at a pre-arranged time and hanging out in the "lobby" until you receive a notice that that person has signed in (made possible because you designate that person as a friend and thus are notified whenever they sign in if you are also signed in). I have such a partner, a woman who lives in Germany. I know nothing else about her, and she knows nothing else about me, except that I live in Hungary, speak English---but not German---and what system I play according to. If you want to become acquainted with the person you can exchange e-mail addresses in private---when you designate a "friend", only you and that person can read your messages back and forth, unless you are playing together in a game, in which case everyone can read them. I shall not get on the internet this evening, however, as I shall have visitors, a young man and his girl-friend; after they leave I shall listen to Das Rheingold and Die Walkure, which are being telecast this evening.
APRIL 8
I picked up my car today; it had been at the Toyota dealership having some work done on it. Tomorrow I shall drive to Szeged and get my suitcase, which is at Anna's apartment. I left it there because it would have been burdensome to bring home on the bus or train. As it is it will give me an opportunity to check her mail for her. there is a concert at the Conservatory, but I just heard the principal work on the program and do not wish to go again, even though I very much like it.
The weather is still great, in the low 70s; I wear short pants and a short-sleeved shirt. I did some shopping today and really must clean and order my flat; it may not look all that bad, but it really needs it. We shall have a new Prime Minister next Tuesday. Our present PM resigned, even though he survived numerous no-confidence motions, because things had reached the point where his party's normal allies, the Alliance of Free Democrats, not only withdrew from the coalition---that was over a year ago----but made it plain they would not support his program. The new PM will be Gordon Bajnai, presently the Economy Minister in the government. He is not a member of the Socialist Party, nor of any party for that matter. Curiously, the Socialist PM Medgyessy, who was PM before the present one (Gyurcsany), also was not a member of any political party. If you think that politics had become highly polarized during the Bush Administration, you should come here. We have a Parliamentary system, and the party with the highest number of seats is usually asked to form a government. Members of Parliament are elected by constituencies, just as in USA; but in addition, we have proportional representation, under which a certain number of seats are apportioned among the various parties according to the percentage they receive of the votes cast, provided they received at least 5% of the total votes cast. We shall have our next national elections next year, in April, assuming that the government is not defeated on a confidence motion---none has ever been defeated on a confidence motion in our brief history under our present constitution----and the likelihood is that the only two parties that will be left standing when the smoke clears will be FIDESZ (Alliance of Young Democrats), which is an amalgam of far-right parties; and MSZP (Hungarian Socialist Party), which is a centrist party. We do not have a viable left-wing party here; the Hungarian Workers Party, which is the doctrinal successor to the Communist Party (whose name was actually the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party) have exactly one seat in Parliament, and you can be sure that one will be very much in jeopardy in the next election. If you are wondering who is going to be the likely winner of next year's election, I don't know anyone who thinks it will be the Socialists. Current polls suggest that FIDESZ would win about 70% of the vote. In my town every single elected officeholder is FIDESZ. I do not even know anyone in the upper echelon of the Socialist Party in this town, not even by name.
Tomorrow Obama delivers a speech before a joint session of Congress. This first month certainly has not been short on activity, but as to where it will all lead I lay no claim to knowing. Like most I am full of hope and guardedly optimistic. One has little choice but to be optimistic, for we are running out of solutions. Surely cutting taxes on business and the wealthy cannot be the solution, for business will not invest in productive capacity for which there is no market no matter how much of a tax break you give them, you are simply rewarding them for buying what they were going to buy anyway. I think it ludicrous, however, to hear all of this weeping and gnashing of teeth over how much it will cost. When you are dangerously ill, you do not pause before the Emergency Room and consider how long it may take you to pay the medical bill, or reject life-saving treatment on the grounds that it may cost too much. No, you know you will hit the lottery and be more than able to pay whatever medical bills you receive, all you need to do is to get well enough to make it down to the lottery vendor. But of course the persons who complain about the cost are those who, for the moment at least, have no need of the treatment; they are concerned over how much it may cost them to restore someone else's health. But wait until it hits them! Then they will declaim loudly about how as taxpayers they have earned the right to assistance from the Government, and how in times of great distress we must all hang together, because, after all, isn't that what this great country of ours is all about?
APRIL 2
We are back from Spain , where the weather was simply gorgeous every day, with temperatures ranging from about 58F to about 73F---14C and 21C respectively for Europeans. It did not rain at all during the two weeks we were there until the day we left, at which time it rained all the way home. The disadvantage of that part of Spain is that there are few nearby sigthtseeing possibilities compared to, say, Andalucia, which is where I usually go; but then, I have seen the sights of Andalucia many times over, which is why I did not go there this year. Except for Tarragona and Barcelona, twenty and eighty minutes by train respectively, there are no sightseeing treats closer than 2-1/2 or 3 hours, and these are not really worth that long a trip. We drove to Carcassonne, in the south of France, a four hour trip by car, but worth every minute of the drive. It is a fortress-town with a double wall around it, and dates its origins back to around the time of Trajan (112 AD), though the beginnings of its present form date from the time of Charlemagne. What we see today is essentially as it looked in the time of Charles the Bold and the Albigensian heresy (roughly 1240 AD). Tarrago0na has some worthwhile Roman ruins, most of them in the very center of the city; the most striking, to my mind, however, is the Aqueduct, which is about three miles outside the city. Barcelona needs no introduction, I am sure. It has monumental architecture, classical and modern, and is easily one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Spain and most of Europe, for that matter. I have been there numerous times, but on this occasion went to attractions I had not been to in past visits, such as Spanish Town and the museum overlooking Plaza de Espana, that once was the seat of the regional government of Catalonia. If you would like to see photographs taken during the trip, just e-mail me and I'll send them to you via Picasa.
Anna leaves this Sunday for ten days in London with her friend, Karen; a week after she returns, friends will arrive from the USA for a stay of two weeks or so. After they leave, another friend arrives from USA for about six weeks, at which point we shall ourselves leave for two months in USA, ending the end of August. So we shall be quite busy until the time of our departure, even as we shall be while in USA, for in addition to spending time in the New York area, we shall visit my sister in North Carolina, friends in Sarasota, Florida, and Anna's niece in Georgia, whom I last saw in 1999.
APRIL 4
Today is absolutely gorgeous! I rode my bike to have dinner with the friend I eat with most of the time; it was the first time I had been on it since October, and I was surprised to find that it did not tire me in the least, even though it is about three miles from here. I usually ride the bus, but on weekends the bus runs only every other hour, which means I would have to take a bus at 10.20 to eat at noon, or, as my friend suggests, take the 12.20 bus and eat at 12.45. What time I eat is not especially important to me, I often do not eat until 6.00 in the evening if I am not here in Hodmezovasarhely; however, my friend is accustomed to eating at noon and I do not think I should require someone else to wait for me.
I have been playing Bridge on the internet, not as difficult as you might think. It is set up so that you can only see those cards you are supposed to see, and you cannot hold private conversations with your partner and exchange information secretly. If your partner is uncertain as to the meaning of your bid, (s)he may ask and have it explained; but everyone gets to read the question and the reply. In the same way, if opponents do not understand the meaning of your bid, they may ask and have it explained, and your partner gets to read the reply along with them. Of course it is all pot-luck who your partner will be, unless you arrange to play with a preferred partner by getting on the internet at a pre-arranged time and hanging out in the "lobby" until you receive a notice that that person has signed in (made possible because you designate that person as a friend and thus are notified whenever they sign in if you are also signed in). I have such a partner, a woman who lives in Germany. I know nothing else about her, and she knows nothing else about me, except that I live in Hungary, speak English---but not German---and what system I play according to. If you want to become acquainted with the person you can exchange e-mail addresses in private---when you designate a "friend", only you and that person can read your messages back and forth, unless you are playing together in a game, in which case everyone can read them. I shall not get on the internet this evening, however, as I shall have visitors, a young man and his girl-friend; after they leave I shall listen to Das Rheingold and Die Walkure, which are being telecast this evening.
APRIL 8
I picked up my car today; it had been at the Toyota dealership having some work done on it. Tomorrow I shall drive to Szeged and get my suitcase, which is at Anna's apartment. I left it there because it would have been burdensome to bring home on the bus or train. As it is it will give me an opportunity to check her mail for her. there is a concert at the Conservatory, but I just heard the principal work on the program and do not wish to go again, even though I very much like it.
The weather is still great, in the low 70s; I wear short pants and a short-sleeved shirt. I did some shopping today and really must clean and order my flat; it may not look all that bad, but it really needs it. We shall have a new Prime Minister next Tuesday. Our present PM resigned, even though he survived numerous no-confidence motions, because things had reached the point where his party's normal allies, the Alliance of Free Democrats, not only withdrew from the coalition---that was over a year ago----but made it plain they would not support his program. The new PM will be Gordon Bajnai, presently the Economy Minister in the government. He is not a member of the Socialist Party, nor of any party for that matter. Curiously, the Socialist PM Medgyessy, who was PM before the present one (Gyurcsany), also was not a member of any political party. If you think that politics had become highly polarized during the Bush Administration, you should come here. We have a Parliamentary system, and the party with the highest number of seats is usually asked to form a government. Members of Parliament are elected by constituencies, just as in USA; but in addition, we have proportional representation, under which a certain number of seats are apportioned among the various parties according to the percentage they receive of the votes cast, provided they received at least 5% of the total votes cast. We shall have our next national elections next year, in April, assuming that the government is not defeated on a confidence motion---none has ever been defeated on a confidence motion in our brief history under our present constitution----and the likelihood is that the only two parties that will be left standing when the smoke clears will be FIDESZ (Alliance of Young Democrats), which is an amalgam of far-right parties; and MSZP (Hungarian Socialist Party), which is a centrist party. We do not have a viable left-wing party here; the Hungarian Workers Party, which is the doctrinal successor to the Communist Party (whose name was actually the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party) have exactly one seat in Parliament, and you can be sure that one will be very much in jeopardy in the next election. If you are wondering who is going to be the likely winner of next year's election, I don't know anyone who thinks it will be the Socialists. Current polls suggest that FIDESZ would win about 70% of the vote. In my town every single elected officeholder is FIDESZ. I do not even know anyone in the upper echelon of the Socialist Party in this town, not even by name.
APRIL 15
Anna is back from London and called this morning at 08:45. Believe it or not, I was still asleep, though I had not been up especially late last evening, I did not play Bridge or watch TV. Although it is a lovely day I took the bus to have dinner, as I did not have time to walk there. I did consider riding my bicycle, as there was a possibility I might not reach the Square in time to take my bus; but I decided to take my chances with the bus and made it in time. I am done cleaning and ordering my flat, have done my tax forms and will mail them tomorrow---the April 15 deadline is only important if you owe them money (in which case you are liable for interest and a late-payment fee, though it is unlikely the latter would be invoked for submitting a week late), which I do not. I thought of setting up my terrace furniture, but decided against it; I doubt that I have sat out on the terrace more than half-dozen times in the six years I have lived here, for I am on the western side of the community and have the sun in the afternoon, and I am averse to sitting in the sun, even when shielded by an umbrella. We shall be going to concerts Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday, though it is possible I may miss the Tuesday one---it happens to be the one I most wish to attend, in addition to the Thursday one---as I may have to go to Debrecen. I should know in about an hour or so if that is the case.
I may have mentioned that here in Hungary all high-school graduations in the country take place on the same day. Needless to say this can present a problem, especially for gandparents, who may have more than one grandchild graduating and not necessarily from the same school, or even in the same city. This year, however, the situation is made even worse by the fact that it will be on May 2, which is the Saturday of a long holiday weekend. (May 1st is Labor Day here in Europe, and not just in Communist countries). So not only must you make a choice as to which graduation you will miss, but also a decision to forego a major holiday weekend's entertainment or holiday somewhere. As a consolation, however, Pentecost, which is one of those Sunday-Monday holidays (like Easter) will be May 31--June 1 this year. To make matters worse a group I frequently take trips with is going to Transylvania May Day weekend, and the group consists heavily of elderly persons. I do not plan to go as we shall have guests here from USA at that time and also must attend a graduation ceremony of a young lady whose parents are very dear friends, the invitation to which I just found in my mailbox this morning.
4 MAY
We have not had a real rain for some weeks now, and for the first time in several years there was no closing of the road along the river in Szeged, as the level of the river, which normally threatens to flood every year, never approached the level of the road, which is normally under about 15 feet of water. Anna and our guests will go on a four-day trip with a group to Transylvania on Thursday; I will not go, as I had thought I would have to go to Debrecen on Friday, but learned today that I shall not. We are presently involved in making preparations for a trip to Persia (Iran) in October. It will be a fifteen day trip leaving from Vienna and the cost of the trip will be only $3000 and includes all fees and two meals a day. The guide-tours will be in German, but I have already ordered guide-books from mazon, so that will not be a problem. We are constantly asked, Why do you want to go there?, and, Aren't you afraid to go there? As for Why, they have splendid sights, including what remains of Persepolis; and of course there is the opportunity to experience a different society. No, we are not afraid. We are traveling with our Hungarian passports, not because we fear how we would be treated as Americans---the only major restriction is that you must, as an American, have a pre-planned itinerary(which we have anyway!)---but because we do not want to run the risk of being hassled by US immigration over having an Iranian visa in our US passport. We arrive back from USA the end of August, and spend a week in Austria from September 26 to October 3; the trip would leave October 10. After that we probably shall not go anywhere until late winter or early Spring of 2010.
MAY 18
Today is the warmest day of the year to date, 93 degrees Farenheit at 3.00PM. I had dinner at friends (as usual!) who live nearby and walked there and back, choosing the shaded side of the street, if there was one. This past weekend was one f great activity in Szeged, where they had the annual Wine Festival---very popular, as you can imagine---a symphony, an opera, a ballet, and an auto race. In point of fact we did not go to any of them. We thought we were going to the opera Saturday evening, only to learn when we arrived there and saw that it was dark inside that in fact the performance was on Sunday. We ended up giving our tickets to a friend as we were going to be in Hodmezovasarhely Sunday, having dinner at a favorite restaurant and then attending a piano recital and coincert in the evening by Hegedus Endre, a world-famous local pianist who regularly gives free or benefit performances here. This was a benefit performance for some charity of the Unitarian Church, which is quite small here---it is mainly a Transylvanian religion, though we had a congregation from Massachusetts come here a few summers ago. We are busy for the remainder of the week; there is a concert in Szeged Tuesday evening, Anna has a dinner-party Wednesday, we go to a book-signing of a friend on Thursday, we go to a dinner at friends' Saturday, and we thought our Vienna relatives would be coming on Sunday, but learned today that the mother had made a mistake, they will not come until June, and in fact we shall go up to Vienna to visit them in early June and also make the arrangements for our trip to Persia at that time. Before then I have an appointment with my doctor about my esophagus just before we go to Vienna. He has been out of the country for the past couple of years, somewhere in the USA I am given to understand. I shall ask him when I see him, as we are friends and I missed seeing him at the symphony, where we frequently met.
I am not a Facebook fan, and belong only because relatives belong and I joined because of them; I only use the service to reply to them. However, in the past two weeks I have received e-mails from two very close friends I had not had contact with for many years, the one in about seven years, the other in about twenty-seven years. And all because they found me when they dropped in names of friends into the Facebook Mixmaster. I have learned that many things one tends to be quite skeptical about turn out to be entirely useful, which is the case here. I was, by the way, very computer-aversive for many years; I knew comnputers worked, but only for other persons. Once I began using one I could not understand how I had been able to get along for so many years without one, especially when I began to learn how to beneficially use it.
I am going to out an end to this now. My next entry will not be before September, probably not until November, when we are back from Persia.
