So go these days, these funny boundless days I can scarcely arrange numbers for. Sitting in an overheated attic in Salzburg, listening to church bells, I am sad, I suppose, or something like it.

I am in Austria (and was in Hungary); and will be until the 15th of December. I am on hiatus, hence the no-posts.

I’m spending my time thinking too much, talking too little, making and scuttling plans, eating and mourning the passing of pastries, chestnuts, pretzels, and doubting — ah. Always, that.

People’s Republic of HUNGARY

stamp: 80 filler

year: 1962

bird: Booted Eagle – Aquila pennata

Hungry in Hungary? I am.  that’s because we Americans prepared an epic Thanksigiving Feast the likes of which will go down in the history books for the ages.

We’ve had a few setbacks, a few challenges, but with our American perseverance we pulled through to make an absolutely incredible meal.  Pictures forthcoming if I ever find my camera.

Our first setback was the turkey: the classic centerpiece of the meal.  We couldn’t find one small enough to fit in the oven.  Instead, we bought three chickens and what we thought was a ham, but turned out to not be cured, so it was just a big hunk of pork.  It tasted good anyways.

Our second problem was the pumpkin pie and the sweet potatoes.  The Hungarian traditional food is about as far away from your standard Thanksgiving food as you can get.  Pumpkins were nowhere to be found.  We finally hunted them down in a small specialty shop with no name off a dingy side street, but they were $7 a can so we gave up.  At the same place we also found sweet potatoes, so we decided to just get those.  The sweet potatoes were $6 a kilo, so we bought four–we had twenty people signed up for the dinner and more wanting to come.

This is not a large hostel; it’s in a converted apartment on the top floor.  There are three eight bed rooms and another four-five people sleeping in the staff room at any time.  The common room is only the size of a regular living room and the kitchen is a standard apartment kitchen…it’s close quarters.  Cramming twenty people and food into the room was interesting.  The dinner pulled together though, amazingly.  Usually when hostels try to do big group meals there is barely enough to pass around, but in the true spirit of Thankgsigiving gluttony there was heaps of food for everyone.

In fact, we still have some ham and potatoes in the fridge.  Omnomnom.

It was an interesting experience because of the ways that all the cultures came together for this one day: a distinctly American tradition, held in Hungary, with people from all over the world attending.  Guess what?  Pumpkin pie is not even known outside of the US.  I had to google some pictures of it for anyone ot even understand what it was.  Sweet potatoes, also quite uncommon.  We had heaps of trouble finding a ham, and we even sent the Hungarian girl out to get it so there wouldn’t be a language barrier.  The entire food culture is completely opposite the US.

It was a great night and I’m glad I stayed in Budapest for it.  I should be leaving here on Monday–Ian, the hostel owner, is putting bets on whether or not I’m actually going to, as this is my eleventh day here, I have no desire to leave, and I’ve actually been working here in exchange for a free room.  People who come in have been asking me if I work here, and I guess I do, now.  Haha.  Last night I ran the pub crawl and we scrubbed the hell out of the kitchen today to get rid of the fruit flies.  I even sleep in the staff room.

On Monday I think I’m going to Venice, then on up to France to meet up with some people I met back in Cologne, Germany, then it’s on to meet my friend in Madrid on the fifteenth.  We’re going to travel around for two weeks through Portugal, Spain, and France, and then she leaves and I’ll have another two weeks in Europe to cry about having to come home.  January 13 approaches at the speed of light, and I’m about as enthusiastic about it as i would be about a nice bout of swine flu.

wahhh @__@!

credit:matek1984@YT

A scan of a test paper has been heavily circulated on the internet!

In the question, some of the sentences used are:

• “JaeBum ah, come back soon”
• “JaeBum ah, come back to Korea”
• “If I was Park Jin Young, I would already have brought JaeBum back”
• “JaeBum is cool”
• “JaeBum is not in Korea now”
• “This is the first time I’ve seen someone so cool like JaeBum“
• “Let’s go, JaeBum is going to leave soon”
• “The airport is crowded with fans who are present to send him off”
• “Will we be able to see JaeBum at the year-end award ceremonies?”
• “It seems that there are more than a thousand fans gathered at the airport”

credit: allkpop + YT + sookyeong

shared by: fanaholic@wordpress

taqiah~

People’s Republic of HUNGARY

stamp: 60 filler

year: 1962

bird: Marsh harrier – Circus aeruginosus

„Никой не се завръща от едно пътешествие, такъв, какъвто е тръгнал.”

Греъм Грийн

„Но как може на унгарски Виктор да е Дьозьо?”

Триин, в часа по унгарски

„Който учи унгарски в живота, със сигурност може да повярва на всичко!”

Петър Дурст, За някои особености в унгарската граматика, които ни отварят очите за нещата от живота.

В ноемврийския ни брой ще прочетете повече:

Как да опитомим дивите животни.

За разходките в облаци

Вечер в една естонска кухня.

Как да носим ботуши и да се преструваме, че е студено.

Интервю с един фен

Хороскоп за на една фалшива самоличност

И специалният въпрос в този брой: Is it Christmas?

Ноемврийската разходка започва с пътуване в автобус – музей из лингвинистичните пространства.

Спътници са ни преподавателката ни по унгарски – Жужана, Йоана от Германия и Меди от Франция. Мъглата е толкова гъста, че едва виждаме пътя пред себе си, но успяваме да разберем, че на света съществуват повече от 3000 различни езика, макар че само 16 от тях се говорят от повече от 50 милиона човека.

Разходката продължава в облак.

Отправяме се в търсене на подходящ подарък за Марие, която скоро има рожден ден. Макар че прекарваме голяма част от деня си заедно, за нас тя все още е доста мистична личност: Лъчезарна, руса девойка от Естония, която слуша реге. Обича да се въплъщава в ролята на диджей, но не говори много за приключенията си в Ямайка, където е прекарала цял месец. Според нея, в Сегед има повече младежи!, които носят косите си на расти, отколкото е видяла на острова на Боб Марли.

Асоциациите към името на Марие ни отвеждат в подземни магазинчета, пълни със загадъчни предмети. Бързо се опияняваме от силните източни аромати, ярките цветове и усмивките на продавачите. Попадаме в капаните на ароматни свещи, парчета дърво и метални предмети. Не откриваме Марие никъде тук, затова изчезваме в мъглата отново. Загубили пътя от асоциации, се озоваваме пред чудновато място, в което се продава  носталгия: Метални кутии за сладки, стари снимки, пумпали, музикални кутии, ретро играчки, пин ъп момиченца с рокли на точки, винтидж* и мистерии. С Виша сме единодушни, че взимаме гигантския метален термометър с дебела негърка, която рекламира ликьор Ла Негрита.

Рожденият ден се случва в дома на Триин и Марие, които всъщност не живея толкова далече от нас. Озозоваме ме се в топлата кухня и предчувстваме удоволствиеото от добре подправеното  греяно вино. Компанията е необичайна: пет русокоси естонки, две полякини, един французин и две българки – на втория етаж на малка кооперация в Сегед, Унгария.

Харесва ми да слушам естонска музика, смесена  с доволно реге и необичайните за тези ширини Бийт дис. Освен това няма достатъчно място за всички и някои хора седят на възглавници на пода. От време на време с Виша се споглеждаме широко усмихнати. Чувстваме се добре с тези хора.

Гвоздеите в програмата на ноемврийското турне в Сегед са Ява и Колорстар.

Мишфолк вечерта започва в 5 часа следобед с традиционна гръцка музика. На мен сиртакито все още не ми се струва толкова екзотично, но тези музиканти са наистина впечатляващи. Сръбските музиканти също са симпатични, но ние сме нетърпеливи за истински фолк метъл.

Прибираме се изтощени от другия край на града. Минаваме по улицата, на която живее Матяш. Покрай дома в който се прибирахме рано сутрин, след фестивалните концерти на брега на реката. Правим планове за следващото лято. Със сигурност ще има SZÍN фестивал. 00:15 е. Минаваме през единствения работещ по това време магазин, за да си осигурим поредната нездравословна вечеря.  Има невероятна опашка от младежи, които си купуват бира точно в тази част на денонощието. Налага се да чакаме. И няма да повярвате с кого се срещаме. Разбира се, че с човека, които се занимава с озвучителната техника в Милениум. Държим се като стари познати, макар че не се познаваме. Това май е първият път, в който той не е на работното си място, и ние не сме на концерт.

Колорстар ще свирят в Яте. Не е любимият ни клуб, но нямаме избор.

Докато чакаме бандата да се приготви, с Виша пием джинджифилова лимонада и си измисляме нови същности, в които ще се въплъщаваме от сега нататък. До тук с истината.

Родена съм в Лима, Перу. Дядо ми плете перуански шапки в малка колиба под планинското било. Уча в Бразилия, но сега съм в Унгария, защото снимам късометражни филми за унгарските фестивали: преди всичко за фестивала на лука и фестивала на паприката.

Защо учим точно унгарски? Благодарим за въпроса. Ами всъщност обикаляме източна Европа и сме тук от няколко месеца. Нямаме разрешително за престой, затова се укриваме от властите. Нямаме работа. Пари? Ами.. не знам, някакво наследство, някакви работи на черно, предполагам. А унгарски уча в следобедите, докато седя на маса до прозореца в някое малко кафене и тайно правя снимки на останалите хора наоколо.

Слушаме Колорстар за втори път. Най-отпред сме, разбира се. Вечерта е толкова добра, че решаваме да проследим бандата и в следващия град. Да. На 5-ти декември, въоръжени с табела за Печ, на стоп.

Термометърът на един от централните площади показва 23 градуса. Чувствам се така, сякаш идва Великден, но навсякъде строят коледни базари. Украсяват ги с изкуствени елхови клонки. По няколко пъти на ден си задаваме въпроса: “Is it Christmas?” Ако и вие се губите в подобни чуденки, тогава препоръчваме този източник за повече информация: http://isitchristmas.com/

Такива съдбовни неща се обобщават и със съобщения от статуси  в джитолк:

В неделя правим околосветско пътешествие на зоопарка в Сегед. Обожавам начина, по който животните са разделени по континенти.  Рано сутринта тръгваме, в студ и мъгла от Азия, а следобед вече се разхождаме под горещото слънце на Южна Америка. Наистина има много, твърде много маймуни за град като Сегед.

И две снимки от онази сутрин, когато исках да напиша нещо тук, но не се получи:

Виша, с чаша кафе, малко преди да се наслади на експозицията на съседчето Пети, вж. по-долу!

A student opened fire at a university in the southern Hungarian city of Pecs Thursday, killing one student and wounding three other people, a university spokesman said.

Zoltan Gyorffy, press chief of Pecs University, told Reuters the shooting happened at the biophysics research institute and the attacker was a pharmacology student.

He said the student opened fire and killed another student. Another student, a teacher and a cleaner were seriously hurt.

“Both the attacker and the victim were Hungarians,” Gyorffy said.

Ambulance spokesman Pal Gyorfi confirmed that one person died in the attack and said three more were severely injured.

National news agency MTI said the police had caught the 23-year-old attacker, whose motives were unknown.

Police declined to comment and said they would hold a news conference.

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By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO—Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School has devised a delicious corollary to this publication’s motto that “there is a Jewish story everywhere.”  Gourmets may like the Orthodox school’s saying even better: “There’s great kosher food everywhere.”

Coming out next week, in plenty of time for the December 11^th first evening of Chanukah, will be Volume I of the Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School Kosher Cookbook.  Recipes were donated by the families and friends of the faculty, staff and students, whose ancestral countries of origin and ethnic tastes span the globe.

My daughter, Sandi Masori, who coordinated the project with graphic designer and illustrator Aliza Shalit, said it’s anticipated there will be a Volume II in another two or three years.  “I’m already beginning to collect the recipes for it,” she said.

In the meantime, there are some 200 recipes in this volume to digest.  They are culled from a wide variety of international cuisines, including those of these United States of America.  The recipes are grouped in ten chapters: Breakfast, Appetizers and Side Dishes, Breads, Dips and Sauces, Soups and Salads, Fish, Dairy, Poultry, Beef and Lamb, and Desserts.

It’s a Jewish cookbook for people who want to travel the world while staying in their own kitchens. Of course, there are many of the Eastern European dishes that people often associate with kosher cooking such as blintzes, gefilte fish, kugels and  latkes.

But there are also numerous recipes that may be a surprise to those who don’t realize that the basics of kosher food preparation are to eschew certain proscribed foods like pork and shellfish, and to refrain from mixing meat and dairy products.

In the mood for tastes from Europe?  There are recipes for Cheese Quiche (France) from Muriel Algazi , Cold Pesto Pasta (Italy) from Rayna Levitt, Mediterranean Eggplant Salad from Tamar Adato;  and Grandma Rosey’s Honey Sponge Cake (Hungary) from Daniel and Eliezer Kraiman, who are the sixth generation of their family to love it.

Do you like the flavors of the Middle East?   A sampling of recipes include those for Shakshuka (Israel) from Liat Alon; Kubana (Yemen) from Shahar Masori;  Red Chatzilim (Morocco) from Leah Moryosef; Tbit Brown Rice (Iraq) from Anat Levi;  Tadiq (Iran) from Loretta Levi; and Goundi  (Afghanistan) from Shoshi Bogoch, the Israeli shlicha stationed at the United Jewish Federation.

The Far East also is represented in this volume with Oriental Hot and Sour Soup (Asia generally) from Cheryl Horn; Thai Tom Yam Soup (Thailand) from Sara Reisman; Kosher Mock Crab Eggrolls (China) from Betty Weiser, and Cucumber and Carrots Sushi (Japan) from Gabriel, Max, Alexis and Valeria Simpser.

How about the savory foods of South America and the Caribbean?   There are recipes for Huevos Ahogados in Tomato Sauce (Mexico) from Becky Krinsky; Caribbean Salmon with Guava Barbecue Sauce and Mango Veggie Salsa from Jessica Breziner; Arroz con Pollo (Chile) from Jacqueline Jacobs; Papa Rellena (Peru) from Aliza Shalit; and Cuscuz Caipira (Brazil) from Carla Berg.

What about the U.S.A.?  Well, what could be more American than a recipe for Coca-Cola chicken from Shari Marks or Coca-Cola Brisket from Debbie Rappoport?

Included with the recipes are the brachot (blessings) to be said over various foods, as well as the ritual for burning a piece of challah as a symbolic offering to God.  Rebbetzin Ariella Adatto provided the religious instructions and explanations.

Given that the cookbook was created as a fundraising project for Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School, its cost is not surprising.  It is $18 – eighteen being the numerical value of the Hebrew word “chai,” which means life.  Just as people need food to live, schools need money for their programs to thrive.

To purchase a cookbook, contact Sandi Masori at sandiballoon@hotmail.com.

*
Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new global version of Amazon’s Kindle for Christmas, be aware that there are still quite a few places that the global version will NOT work.  I was disappointed to find that the new version still will not work in my country.

Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.   I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in (below).

It’s also interesting to note the PATTERN of groups of countries where the Kindle doesn’t work–some countries probably lack satellite coverage or delivery systems, while others probably don’t WANT readers to be able to download whatever they want by satellite.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka,  Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S.,  Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009) the following countries:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan,  Yemen.

–Written by a Teacher in Hungary–

Good evening! It’s 6:30pm here, but probably only 11:30am to most people back home. We have all been extremely busy the past few weeks teaching our men, women, children, and staff classes basic English.

In the past couple weeks we’ve had opportunities to get to know the refugees on a more personal level. We’ve been able to invite some of the refugees down to the center square in town to have ice cream, dinner, or just to sit and talk by the fountain.

Here are some things we’ve been busy with since the last update:

VIENNA

We traveled to Vienna, Austria by train two weekends ago and met up with the two other teams teaching in Hungarian Refugee Camps. We all saw why Vienna is ranked as the world’s #1 best place to live. We stayed in a hostel overlooking the city with an amazing view. It was a great time to relax, regroup, and re-energize before the week of teaching again. It was great to share stories with the other teams of our camp adventures. We left feeling encouraged and that God gave us a renewed strength and positive outlook for the week ahead.

TEACHING

Our first few days of classes were hectic, exhausting, and very spontaneous. We came in not knowing what to expect – from how many would actually show up for class, if they would listen to us, or if they would understand anything we were trying to teach them, or if we could even know how to teach. God really taught us how to rely on Him and speak through us and to show Christ’s love in all of our actions.

ERIKA’S BIRTHDAY

Erika’s 22nd birthday was on Tuesday, July 14th. We were teaching all day and exhausted after the camp, but managed to get ready for a nice dinner at Palma’s – one of Debrecen’s nicest and oldest restaurants. We were blessed with great food and a light-hearted mood. After, we surprised her with a cake which we frosted with Nutella (the chocolate-peanut butter like topping) and candles in the shape of “22” which burned our hands as we tried to carry it in on a paper towel It’s been a quick year since we celebrated our birthday’s together last summer with a joint party back home.

COMPANY

Our friends from the other refugee camps came and stayed the weekend with us in Debrecen. We have extra beds in our dorms, so it worked out nicely. We met with our advisors from Budapest, Joe and Kathy Angi, and all had dinner together. It was wonderful to see them and talk with them about our experiences at the camp. They have been working with refugees in Hungary for 8 years now and know all the in’s and out’s.
View Company in Debrecen
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23 YEARS OLD

My 23rd birthday was on Saturday, July 18th. We planned on going to a castle, but had some miscommunication at the train station and ended up staying in Debrecen. So we went to a movie that was in English with Hungarian subtitles – Public Enemy with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale We went for dinner later at a beautiful restaurant in the park that the refugee camp staff had recommended. Guled, our friend from camp from Somalia, met us and ate dinner with us. He never ceases to amaze us – as a deaf man walked up to our table and was selling little animal keychains, Guled secretly bought one from the man and gave it to me for a birthday present.

THIS WEEK

We’ve been slowly but surely rationing out all of the stickers and supplies we brought over with us and we plan on showering the kids with gifts all next week. We’ve been teaching them very important topics such as: the birthday song, the hokey pokey, the “head-shoulders-knees-and toes” song, the “go bananas” cheer from high school football cheerleading, duck-duck goose, and thumbs up 7 up. We’ve somehow managed to squeeze in a few lessons on body parts, emotions, the weather, days of the week, months, colors, fruit, animals, and sports. Class time has been a great opportunity to encourage the kids and show interest in each one, as many are very neglected – this can be seen from their appearance (no shoes/shirts/sometimes even no pants), to their lack of self-esteem, to the way they deal with conflict by spitting, hitting, and swearing. God has given us a great challenge in our patience levels and how to maintain order and discipline in a Christ-like way. The kids excitement and continual enthusiasm makes up for every bad moment we experience. They still run up to us every day screaming all of our names and hugging and kissing us, while fighting over who gets to hold our hands. They are so in need of love and it is clear that the reason God put us here is solely to show Christ’s love to these neglected and mistreated people. We spend our Friday’s playing with the kids and not teaching, so that we can just spend time with them. That is what we will do tomorrow again.

People’s Republic of HUNGARY

stamp: 40 filler

year: 1962

Bird: Osprey – Pandion haliaetus

I was talking to a guy friend whose  life is dependent on dessert, about my favourite Rum Ball, & he has no clue what a rum ball is! So I went around asking & to my amazement, there are people in my circle of friends who have never heard of rum ball. Isn’t the two words quite straight forward? Rum. Ball. If you know what’s a chocolate ball, you must know rum ball too,  no?

Rum balls are little gem-like confection, very much like truffles but flavoured with rum. They obviously taste like rum & are sweet. Imagine you’re a chef & how upsetting & wasteful it is to throw away deformed (here meaning not perfect) cakes & brownies. So, these bits & crumbs are mixed into the cookie dough & flavoured with rum. Can also sprinkle some chopped or ground nuts like walnuts, almonds or marzipan (my favourite) before rolling into bite-sized pleasure. Wiki says they are roughly the size of a golf ball but I rarely see this size in Singapore.

Best rum ball in town $1

Katong Shopping Centre L1

Got kick. I eat this when I’m happy, sad, hungry, need that extra boost for the day or have the extra dollar. Actually, almost everyday, any reason (: It’s a popular Christmas treat in New Zealand, Austria, Australia, Canada & Hungary but my craving for it never stops.

It’s moist, smooooth, richly layered & voluptuously decadent. I’m considering making Rummies for Christmas this year (: Friends, you’re in luck. 

The best rum ball I’ve eaten is from this small bakery run by old people. Nice ones. They don’t want to share their secret recipe though I believe I contribute a substantial part of their revenue . But they did tell me it takes them 3 days to make, so here’s a picture of the legend (featured last week on some food show on Channel U).

People’s Republic of HUNGARY

stamp: 30 filer

year: 1962

bird: owl – Bubo bubo

BUDAPEST (WJC)– A member of the extreme-right Hungarian party Jobbik has promised the extermination of “vermin” in a forthcoming “cleansing” of the Hungarian nation. The man made the remark during a mass rally organized by the party commemorating the rule of Miklós Horthy, the Hungarian leader who authorized the deportation of half a million Hungarian Jews to the Nazi death camps during World War II.

About 5,000 Jobbik supporters, as well as 450 to 500 uniformed members of the banned Hungarian Guard, tried to march through downtown Budapest. Only the non-uniformed participants were allowed to proceed, however, after the Guard members agreed to withdraw under police orders. Fourteen people were arrested.

The march was followed by a public meeting in Old Buda, adjacent to the scene of the final, murderous resistance of the Nazis during the 1944-45 siege of Budapest by the Red Army. Horthy’s rule was characterized by the infamous “White Terror”, most of whose victims were Jews, followed by an intensifying series of anti-Jewish legislation, and culminating in the Holocaust.

Budapest police said they had informed Jobbik leaders prior to the event that anyone wearing the banned uniform would be stopped and prevented from joining the parade. Socialist Party leader Ildiko Lendvai and anti-fascist civil groups spoke out against the march, which they called a “neo-fascist parade”. Lendvai called on Hungary’s mainstream political parties to dissociate themselves from the march.

A week prior to that, Jobbik held a meeting in Sajóbábony, a town of 3,000 inhabitants some 120 miles east of Budapest. Local members of the Roma minority, who are regularly attacked by Jobbik leaders – reacted angrily and attempted to disrupt the meeting. Six members of the Hungarian Guard were arrested and will be prosecuted, according to the local police.

Jobbik has gained in strength in recent months and won several seats in elections for the European Parliament last June. One of Jobbik’s three members of the European Parliament, Csanád Szegedi – who reportedly wore his Hungarian Guard uniform to work in Brussels – issued a statement condemning the Roma, police and mainstream political groups. He claimed that the Roma were “terrorising” Hungarians of northeast Hungary “on the provocation of the parliamentary parties”. Aladár Horváth, head of the Roma Civil Rights Foundation, said Jobbik had deliberately set out to provoke tension with its march in Sajóbábony.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

In 1998, Szerencsejáték began making their products available online, and since 2003 Hungarians have been able to place wagers by SMS as well. This is the extent of legal internet gambling in Hungary. Sports bets can be placed online, and lottery and other instant-win tickets may be purchased.

Since 2006, Hungary has been cracking down on online gambling. Like the US, Hungary forbids its banks from processing payments made to and from foreign internet gambling sites. However, Hungary has no jurisdiction where most online gambling sites are hosted, so Hungarians still gamble online regularly. Read more…

November 6-9

There was too little time with the rain and storm, but I still made it to see the major attractions. The trip stirred a lot of emotions – maybe because I visited the House of Terror and happened to hear some sad first-person stories when meeting JN’s brother and staying at the hostel owned by a Korean immigrant. However, I really saw what it’s like to cherish and live in the present despite the suffering in G.

Let’s let the pictures speak:

Pictures: The Great Central Market (1 & 2), Holocaust Memorial by the Danube, Chain Bridge, House of Terror, Castle Hill overlooking the Danube, and Night view of the castle and chain bridge (7 & 8).

I couldn’t possibly post fewer pictures. Isn’t Budapest beautiful? I loved the change from the Western Europe. After traveling to so many cities in Western Europe, they all sort of blend together, but Budapest gives a bit of the Eastern Europe taste. Walking around the Great Central Market was fun – seeing lots of paprika peppers, traditional Hungarian food, wine, and folk style dolls and toys. My DSLR camera got pretty wet the second night because I wanted to take pictures so badly in the rain. The view of the Chain Bridge and the castle around Danube was absolutely gorgeous at night.

Another culturally and historically rich city. The Eastern Europe influence in Budapest made this trip stand out so much in my travels.

I stayed at a cozy hostel that was converted from a regular flat – Peppermint Hostel (highly recommended). It was so clean and homey. At night, everyone just hung out in the living room, watching some movies, enjoying Hungarian wine, and talking. Definitely a nice place to go back to after walking around all day in the rain. I went out with friends from the hostel one night to enjoy some Budapest nightlife. The bars and clubs don’t close until 2 or 3 in the morning.

Another great thing about Budapest is that it’s so much cheaper than all the other places I’ve gone to! My first dinner was about 3 US dollars, and I was stuffed. Hungarian food will come in the next post because I like it that much.

“India and Hungary are very close to each other”

Almost 900 film scores, 5000 film songs, countless discs — a dizzy amount of work stands behind IlaiyaRaaja. The most wanted composer of the Indian film industry is a relatively frequent guest in Hungary: as friend and as colleague, he is in touch with several Hungarian jazz musicians, from time to time he also resorts to the help of the Miskolc Symphony Orchestra. He has recently been to Budapest again.

Csider István Zoltán, Le Marietta| Népszabadság| 2009. november 18.

One tries to imagine Indian film composers very rarely, but still: we had imagined IlaiyaRaaja exactly like this. Bright eyes, friendly face and the obligatory glasses. He received amicably the journalists of Népszabadság in an elegant, stylish hotel room, after offering them a seat, he almost disappeared in a giant armchair. During the conversation there was a bleak smile on his face, even when we were asking him about his ex-disciple, the composer to the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire, A. R. Rahman and his success in Hollywood, or about Rahman at all. Smiling and correct, he refused to answer by saying everybody can do what he’d like to do, and well, it wouldn’t be elegant to talk about a fellow. “And anyway, would a Hungarian journalist talk about other Hungarian journalist colleagues?”, he asked, and it could be seen he was sure of getting a negative answer.

Right from this saw we that IlaiyaRaaja doesn’t know the Hungarian, to a bit extended level: the European press relations. Which is, however, a good thing.

The most productive composer of the Indian film industry came to Budapest to do the post-production of his newest film score which had been recorded in July with Miskolc Symphony Orchestra conducted by László Kovács, the mixing was done at the Hungarian Radio’s studio with the help of Dénes Rédly, sound engineer. But why had he chosen a Hungarian symphony orchestra for the records? The two countries are fairly far away from each other…

“India and Hungary are actually very close to each other, the national tricolors differ only in one tone of color,” he answered laughing, but then turned to talk seriously: he thinks Hungarian musicians can compete anytime with other countries’ artists. In his homeland there are no symphony orchestras at all. In Chennai where he lives, there are excellent musicians playing on strings, playing on wind instruments but they’re never organized to one orchestra: setting up this kind of ensembles has no tradition there.

When IlaiyaRaaja had been in Budapest around 2000, he had gotten to know Attila László jazz guitarist-composer. He had liked the compositions of László so much that he had asked him to work together. In August, this year the Hungarian composer traveled to Chennai with Béla Lattman, bassist and János Nagy, pianist to play for the recording of the Indian master’s 882nd  film score.

A series of coincidences had led IlaiyaRaaja to the profession of music, for that later his goal could be defined: once he would be music director. When he had stepped into the field of film-making, composing had had just a functional role in the Indian film industry, there had been far less spiritual content, and the variety of music had had much room for improvement, too. This probably had derived from the working method of composers, indeed from the relations among musicians. Raaja had found something important for him in Western music, he had started to play the guitar, the piano and the violin, and he had been the first to use Western instruments, indeed unknown genres in his compositions. Just to mention some examples, pop, jazz, rock and roll, bossa nova and flamenco had gained grounds on the Indian screen by his work. And it’s not an irrelevant feat of arms that he had been the first Asian artist to compose a symphony for the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Raaja said, in the beginning, if something hadn’t worked out as he had wanted it, he had become impatient with his musicians. Afterwards, by more and more spirituality moving into his compositions, this gradually had disappeared.

When asking him about the method of composing — by thinking that a work of life like his (more than 5000 film songs and almost 900 complete film scores are signed by his name) is a result of an effective method of composing — he answered: composing is not a question of will or ambition for him. It doesn’t need to be that.

Music is born mentally, in the soul, one doesn’t think about it too much. IlaiyaRaaja used a statuesque metaphor: when one’s crossing the street, he never pays attention to each step, but to the goal: to get from one side to the other. One can’t cross the road the same way two times.

by XPatloop, November 23, 2009.

“To increase awareness and work for adoption of good corporate governance and ethical practices in Hungary, the Embassy organized a digital video conference with Dr. John D. Sullivan, Executive Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) on November 19 as part of a one- day seminar by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary on corporate governance.

Dr. Sullivan talked about whether corporate governance structures of companies in transitional and emerging markets hinder the implementation of business integrity programs or whether it is rather the human factors and social cultures that create the corruption problems and assessed the success of training and awareness raising programs in disseminating and implementing good governance practices in countries in transition…(continue reading)

1,350,000 Euros Villa only or 1,500,000 for the Villa, cruiser, jeep and berth

Sitting proudly elevated above Elounda with glorious views is this Architect built villa, with four bedrooms. The property is detached and in its own grounds of over 2,750 m or just over half an acre. Built as a permanent home ,for the English owner to North European Standards, and with quality fixtures and fittings throughout

TDIA is gutted to announce that it will not be doing its usual Beaujolais Nouveau tastings this year.  Irish people and partisans of the Aungier Street and Cuffee Street factions across the globe have been celebrating exclusively with Beaujolais nouveau since Thierry Henry won both the coveted Order of the Shiny Tracksuits Sportsman of the Year Award (Aungier Street) and the less coveted but nonetheless prestigious Order of the Shiny Tracksuits Sportsman of the Decade Award (Cuffe Street) for his exemplary showing in the France vs Ireland World Cup qualifier match.  

So we are instead we are doing what many others are and turning out eyes Hungaryward thanks to the pointers of our in-house sommelier Dr. Pol De Paor.

http://www.bluedanubewine.com/wines/hungary/

Amazon's Global Kindle Reader

I heard that Amazon now has a global version of Kindle. I was disappointed to find this morning that the new version still will not work in my country.

Since I’ve wanted one for some time, but have been waiting until they got a version that would work in my country, I checked out their website this morning, only to be disappointed again. Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new Global Kindle for a Christmas gift this year, since the new version will only work in SOME countries, I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S., Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan, Yemen.