Eger

We had a three day weekend last weekend, so we took the bus to a town in Hungary called, Eger.  Many of the hungarians that we told where we were going replied that it is one of their favorite cities.

I have not traveled in Hungary much yet, but each time that I do I have noticed nuclear power plants which looks so strange to me now that Trojan has been gone for several years.

Eger has a long history of human habitation which actually goes back to the Stone Age.  The current city was founded in the 10th Century by the first Christian  king of Hungary, St. Stephen.  It is a site of interest to us for two reasons.  First of all there is a castle shell still standing which you can walk around (for free).  There is a famous story written by a Hungarian writer named Gardonye Geza about a siege of the castle by the Turks in 1552.  I have tried (unsuccessfully) to read it.  Now that we have been there I will make another attempt. Anyway, as the story goes, the Hungarians were defending their castle against attack by 80,000 Turk soldiers.  They numbered only about 2000 and that included women and children.  They were successful that time, but the Turks succeeded on their next attempt in 1596 and took over the town.  They ruled for 91 years converting the churches into mosques and erecting minarets.  One still stands and we paid our 250 forint (about $1.25) to climb the very narrow 97 steps to the top for a view of the city.  It sounds better than it actually was.  Both Jack and I experienced some claustrophobia in the tiny passageway and turns out the view wasn't any better than castle hill. As I breathlessly arrived at the top viewing point, I remember thinking, "What would happen if someone freaked out and could not take those stairs back down for fear of falling?" One man who was in the group ahead of us carried his son who was about 3 years old all the way up and back down again.  He must have been in great shape!

Okay, the other reason that Eger is famous is for the wine.  The region has been growing wine since the 10th century.  The wine tasting rooms were clustered along a hilly part of town where they had dug the tasting caves right into the hill.  They were small and not at all plush.  The visible wine storage was in these metal tanks which had spouts which had to be primed by someone sucking on a tube.  The really interesting part is that people can bring in plastic jugs and have them filled from these tanks with the wine of their choice.

My favorite Hungarian wine is call bikaver which is a blended red.  It's nickname is "Bull's Blood".  The story goes that prior to the first attack on the castle by the Turks the soldiers were fed well and given lots of wine which stained their beards.  The Turks were so amazed by the resistance to their attack that the rumor began that the soldiers were drinking wine which was mixed with bull's blood to give them strength.

We didn't taste anything that we liked well enough to shlup back on the bus however.

The bad news is that Jack left his camera on the bus from Budapest.  So, our pictures of Eger come from the Wikipedia.

The Weather

I have lived in the Pacific Northwest for my entire life.

I don't remember being bothered by the rain as a kid.  My memories are of going barefoot in the grass in the summer and popping the tar bubbles that would appear in the street.

But, as an adult, I have been bothered by the frequency of cloudy drizzly days.  Jack and I have been saying for about 10 years that we want to explore retiring somewhere other than western Oregon, but what would be a good fit for us weather wise?

Well, now we have had a chance to experience a completely different climate and I have to say that we are enjoying it!

When we first arrived in August it was really hot.  It stayed on the warm side throughout Sept. and was pleasant in Oct.   It started getting cold in November and the snow arrived in December.  We had snow on the ground most days through February and it was really cold for about 8 weeks straight.  But what we have not had a lot of is rain!  How refreshing that has been.  Now that spring is approaching, it seems that there will be one rainy day followed by a couple of sunny ones.  It is still cold, but what an upper to experience the sun consistently this time of year!

So now we know that there are climates that we would enjoy other than that which we have spent over 50 years with!

Dog Shelter update

It has been about two months since I started walking dogs at the shelter.  I have been test driving dogs to find a good fit for me.  If the entire walk consists of me pulling the dog back, that is not much fun for anyone.  So, I have found the perfect dog for me.  His name is Bogar and they told me that he is one of their older, calmer dogs.  He seems to recognize me and doesn't rush out of the gate like a race horse when they put the leash on him.  He responds to his name, seems to like his head petted and knows the meaning of "nem" (no).  So I am thinking about starting an exclusive relationship with him.

The goats and sheep have had babies in the last few weeks.  They also have a new addition; a young deer with one deformed ear.

On Sundays there are lots of families visiting.  They feed the goats and sheep and play with the dogs.  Hopefully, the adoption rate is good, I have no way of knowing.

I have been very impressed with the cleanliness of the place and the devotion of the staff toward the dogs.  When I indicated to this employee that I would like to take a picture of him and Bogart, he picked the dog up and beamed.

Berlin

My brother and his wife were in Berlin for a professional conference so we flew over to meet them.  Kevin has been going to Berlin since 1990 (a year after the wall came down), so he has a historical perspective and is a great tour guide.  Yes!  It was really cold!

All of us in a certain age bracket remember studying about Berlin after WWII and then in 1960 when the wall was erected.  So here we were staying in the Mitte which is smack dab in the middle of former E. Berlin!

My impressions of Berlin are that it is a vibrant and modern city.  Due to the damage of the war, many of the old building in the area where we were staying had been leveled.  So on a street you might see one obviously old building surrounded by these fabulous modern buildings.  It had a totally different vibe than Budapest.

The first night we took a cab to where some of my brother's  coworkers were having dinner.  The cab let us off at the curb of this narrow street.  We had to walk carefully (due to thick ice) through what appeared to be an abandoned lot toward what looked like an empty old building.  We found some stairs which we presumed led to the entrance.  Sure enough on the second floor of this old building (we were later told that it had been a post office) we found a dimly lit hallway and a hostess!  She led us into an area at the end of the hallway that opened up into a dome with an intricate ceiling and about 15 long tables.   What a venue!

The menu was in German but the waitress translated to the best of her ability.  I ended up ordering the vegetarian menu.  It came as the most beautifully presented dish that I had seen in months.  The Hungarians are not into presentation.  And the meal. . . fabulous!  It was paired with some great wines of my brother's choosing.  Since my brother works with the international community, that evening I had conversation with people from Taiwan, India, Brazil and Scotland.  It was quite the eclectic  group.

Our 3 1/2 days flew by and were filled with lots of sightseeing.  We would go back to Berlin in a heartbeat, but, so many places and so little time!

The Poetry Contest

Jack and I were judges in a poetry reading contest at a bilingual high school (Gimnasium) last week.

This was an event open to grades 9-12 and these kids were the finalists of each of their high schools. There were three judges, the two of us and a Scotsman who is a cop in Budapest. We were seated prominently in the front of the room (why didn't I dress up more) with the 17 contestants all seated in chairs. Surprisingly, there were an equal number of boys and girls.  As I have mentioned before this country really appreciates poets and poetry.  Each child had to recite a compulsory poem and a poem of their own choosing.  We had scoring sheets and were directed to give three separate scores for their pronunciation, interpretation of the theme and dramatic effect.  Here is the compulsory poem, I think that it is quite thought provoking.

                 WHICH ARE YOU?  Ella Wheeler Wilcox

There are two kinds of people on earth today
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.
Not the sinner and saint, for it's well understood,
The good are half bad, and the bad are half good.

Not the rich and the poor, for to rate a man's wealth
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.
Not the humble and proud, for in life's little span
Who puts on vain airs, is not counted a man.

Not the happy and sad, for the swift flying years
Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.
No; the two kinds of people on earth I mean,
Are the people who lift and the people who lean.

Wherever you go you will find the earth's masses,
Are always divided in just these two classes.
And oddly enough, you will find too, I mean,
There's only one lifter to twenty who lean.

In which class are you?  Are you easing the load,
Of overtaxed lifters who toil down the road?
Or are you a leaner who lets others share
Your portion of labor and worry and care?

Considering they were reciting in a language other than their mother tongue, I was really impressed with the performances. We awarded a tie for first place, a second and third prize.  The kids were polite and appreciative.  I am sure that I will never have this opportunity again!

The cat person and some homeless Hungarian dogs

Yeah, I am a cat person.  I have an old photo of me when I was about 2 years old and draped in my arms is this huge cat and I am wearing a smile from ear to ear.  We never had dogs when I was a kid, only cats (I guess that I come from a long line of feline fanciers.)  The only time I had ever walked a dog was about 25 years ago when Jack and I babysat his parents' poodle.

Well, here in Hungary dogs are plentiful, but the number of cats I have seen can be counted on one hand.  I was going through animal withdraw!!

So, I did some research and found out that there is an animal shelter not too far from our school in the burb where we are living.  I sent and e-mail of inquiry and much to my surprise got a response in english along with an application form.  I filled it out, sent it via Hungarian snail mail and was notified that I could start the "work".  So last week I walked over after school and found the shelter and what a shelter it is.  It backs up to a large wooded area and has several structures strung along this path.  As I walked along I spotted a chicken shelter with some "fancy" chicken strutting around, an area with goats, a pen holding a ferret and then the dogs' buildings.  They are build it a circular formation with little pie wedge shaped pens which house three dogs each.  The advantage is that the dogs can see out through the bars because they are at the wide end of the wedge.  Of course when they saw me  I received a loud doggy welcome.

I found a sign which looked like it said something like "administration".  Sometimes Hungarian words look similar to English but usually there is no way to figure out a word.  They have lots more vowels than we do and some of them have accent marks.  The thing that makes a lot of sense to me about their language is that each vowel always sounds the same no matter the position in the word, (what a concept, huh?)  So I entered that building and found an office with several chairs and two women behind the counter.  I asked if either of them spoke English and the one at the computer responded and said that she recognized me from the passport photo that I had included with my application.  She asked if I would like to start.  I responded that I would and that I had lots of experience in cat shelters.  "We don't have any cats here, " she responded. " Would you like to walk a dog?"

I agreed but told her that I could only handle a small to medium sized dog.  They handed me a leash and lead me out to the round dog areas to a cocophany of barking.  They must have seen the lease and everyone wanted to go for a walk.  I was introduced to the fortunate pup.  I asked, Nav? which means name and patted the yellow mixed bread doggie.  As soon as she was clipped she took off, pulling like crazy on the lease.  How can a dog that weighs probably 35 pounds pull so hard that I almost went airborne??  She obviously knew the route, around the building to the gate which leads to a path through the wooded area.  This dog was SO excited to be exploring.  She took me along the creek and through the woods.  Who knew that all dogs do is pee, sniff and poop!  She could have cared less about me, she had her doggy agenda.  Luckily when I turned her around she knew the way back because I was really not sure!   When we got back to the ad building I took her inside.  The English speaker got on her walkie-talkie and called back the employee who had set me up with the dog.  When the young woman came in she swooped the dog up and then took her paw and helped the dog to wave goodbye to me.

I have been back several times to be pulled by a dog though the path.  They all seem to be estatic to be free.  When the lone English speaker is not in the Hungarians that work there and I just guesture and nod.  Everyone seems to know me and I don't have to show my picture ID.   I am probably the only non-native volunteer that they have.

The good news is last time I was there a cat who lives on the grounds found me.  He was one of those super friendly big males who purrs as soon as the petting commences.  So hopefully sometimes I can get a kitty fix when I am improving the lives of dogs!

Christmas in Europe

    We took the train to Prague for Christmas.

    You know the images that people have of trains in Europe where you have those cool compartments where you can slide the doors shut?  Well, the folks who were traveling 1st class had those, but the 2nd class cars which we were in were just like trains in the U.S.  As we stepped on the train to look for our seats which were printed on our tickets we saw someone in our seats.  Turned out that they were American and that someone was sitting in their seats, so appartently the seating assignments weren't adhered to.  So we sat down across the aisle from them.  Turned out it was a father (about mid 40's) and his daughter who were in Europe for Christmas.  Well, we talked almost the entire 7 hours of the trip.  We didn't realize how hungry we were for conversation with Americans!  And these folks were aligned with our values and lifestyle.  Mark had served in the Peace Corp and so he understood the challenges of being in a foreign country where little English is spoken.  They were politically liberal just like us and Morgan was quite the composed and mature young woman of 18, so we enjoyed talking with her as well.

   When we arrived at the train station the first thing we had to do was change money.  At the time I had in my wallet Euros, dollars and Hungarian forint.  When we got the Czech currency I was carrying 4 currencies!  Both The Czech Republic and Hungary are part of the EU and are scheduled to change to euros.  However with the global economy such as it is there have been delays in the process.  Hungary was supposed to change in 2010, but there economy is really depressed and so it has been postponed indefinitely.

    We felt quite comfortable taking the subway to our hotel stop and felt pleased that we are now able to negotiate subway systems with relative ease.  The Hotel Europa was just a short walk downhill (thank goodness for suitcases on wheels).  When we arrived we walked into a grand old hotel with character oozing from it's 120 year old walls.  Our room was on the 4th floor which we got to in one of those old elevators with the metal gates.  To make a long story short, the room was a massive suite with old style furnishings and built in closets overlooking a square with lots of action.  We were enthralled until we discovered that the toilet only flushed intermittently and the shower lacked water that was warmer than tepid with no water pressure!

    As soon as we dropped our luggage, we bundled up to go explore and find dinner.  Following a glimpse of a steeple that we could see, we found the main square which was dominated by the most beautiful Christmas tree that I had ever seen!  It literally brought me to tears!

  So, we spent 3 days walking the streets of Prague with a lot of tourists and locals as well.  The city is about half the size of Budapest, so it was an easier feat to accomplish.  It was super cold the whole time, but each day had fewer clouds so our pictures improved.  We had an incredible time and really felt like we had been dropped into a fairy tale.

   We made some interesting observations about the Czechs v. Hungarians.  First of all there is much more english spoken at least in the areas that we visited.  Language was just not an issue.  Also, the Czechs understand about service in a restaurant, offering excellent service and suggesting additions to make the meals more complete.  This is something that we never experience in Budapest.  There, they take your order which sometimes means that we point to the Hungarian words on the menu and pray that we are making a good choice, bring it, and then you never see them until you have to flag the server down to beg that they bring the check.  Once they do, though, they hoover over you as you look at the bill and calculate the tip.

   I have included several pictures which speak to our experience in Prague as well as anything.