February 24th

Ernest is now clever as a monkey!

This morning I was prepping breakfast, a jug of water was already on the table but the glasses were still on their way when I noticed that Ernest couldn’t wait and using a stick (a pencil) he managed to extract water from the narrow ‘waterhole’. A scene from nature movies.

Otherwise we do civilised – in the contemporary modernist sense – activities with the children as well. For instance Jen helped Liliom learn crocheting yesterday amidst some frustration. It seems at times Lili while no fuss no trouble learns anything at school without much questioning at home she exercises the critical thinking we so keenly teach her to. She does it without critically thinking of her critical approach however so even when comes to copying a mechanical process she will insist that something is wrong with it and do it some other creatively invented way. Usually a more complicated and not quite workable way.

On this topic some more; the other day she practically ripped my heart out. It hurt.
They were given the recorders finally and learnt a song on it straight away. On the way home she let me know about this fantastic development. I had a suspicion and whistled the song I thought it may be when she told me it wasn’t that song. I wondered because it is the simplest song – of Hungarian origin – I know and this is the one I taught her on our recorder.

At home she showed us the new treasure, which is a simpler instrument than ours, a recorder nevertheless. Then she played the song I whistled and we learnt to play years ago.

Later she excitedly telling me about the day, she told me about a classmate who ‘imagine’ was the only one who already knew the song and could play it. This was the point where it particularly hurt for I realised this is not merely a conflict between school and home, which is one to be expected with parents like Jen and I. It runs deeper. It may be that without explanation one is already able to see it, I cannot articulate the issue now, too much is running through my head.

The morning with Ernest was more relaxing than contemplating issues of identity, social and self created or perceived pressures to assimilate and value based conflicts and shaping of multiple identities while attempting to integrate in a host society.

While I ran through the news, which is Al Jazeera now, for they are the only ones not only reporting from places where the most people died yesterday but actually trying to report from everywhere in the middle east, Ernest spent some time playing with the wooden trains lining the cars next to each other than pushing them across the room. After getting across, turning back.

Fortunately we didn’t pick up playing with the beads: from one container to another than back to the first one. Those beads by the way came from a set of bangles (wrist bands) about which Lili was right. They would snap.

When I finished with the news it was time for me to get on the ground and involved with those trains. I think the wooden train set is another set of toys that is recommended only to people who are at least smart as an average ape when obviously a monkey can play with them too. At times I wonder what do I make of it all, Ernest and trains. I tried to be neutral about them and encourage only his interest and actions but at which stage one has to admit that there are other people who participate in socialising our children and his ‘natural’ affection for objects with wheels attached is not necessarily so natural while some continuously would argue at me that they are.

Eventually we moved on to trying to find a clean pair of tights which took some time but we returned to the trains a little longer before leaving for the...
...shopping mall. A chance to run, do some shopping, grab some lunch and generally be somewhere else than home but not the street. This kind of place used to be the uni at Oulu but Szeged lacks a similar... hm, place just sounds so simple and degrading but I guess it should do, place.

He got stuck by a lawn mower on display. It had wheels you see. I had to bribe with satsumas. You remember them, the cause of collapse of global ethics and international agreements.

Back to Lili, yesterday I noticed some difference in her behaviour at different times. Last week when it was ski break she spent a lot of times with books, especially after our visit to the library on Tuesday. Now that she is back to school she spends an incredible amount of time knitting or crocheting. We certainly have an issue here described in detail earlier but just recently posted

And a week ago on our way to the capital city (where we got into a car and drove off to my mums place which is ironically is where the definition of periphery was first contemplated)

I bought Ernest a cleaning set.

It’s been snowing all day. four months ago I prophesised daffodils for the end of February. I begin to wonder if an old friend was wrong about me... or my field perhaps isn’t weather planning and forecast.

January 7th

The snow is melting. it's slush

yesterday I forgot to mention of a story I was commisioned by Jen to report. she is not happy with me so here goes

It was around 8am when I was walkin home from Liliom's school. It was the day of the partial ... but it was too early to get slightly eerie dark. It was going to come later. However, it was nippy and cold and traffic had some sliglhtly unhealthy feeling to it. I was on foot though and getting through the crossing of the two main roads was really easy as there is a traffic light and local drivers obey the traffic lights. So my walk was boring and I was in my thoughts when someone stopped with her bike next to me and begun an apologetic explanation, a plea...

she couldn't but notice my awsome green headband and would really like to ask me where did I get because her son just got dreadlocks and practically ordered her to get him some green headbands and she has been locking for it everywhere but no only now when she sees me wearing this beutiful piece, this green cotton or is it wool(?) crown so would I please tell her from where can she get one.

During this I had to keep nocking her hands away as she seemed to be uncontrolabbly trying to take my headwear off my head. This would have caused my ears experiencing the minus five hence my nonpaciist response. She was disappointed to her it the grean headwear didnt come from a shop and next before letting me go, on condition it wasn't too much to ask she wanted to know why the green? is it some sort of rasta, dreadlocks thing? and she stated maybe she is just too uneducated and she should know but she didnt.

I laughed because if there is something with the green, I, who happaned to have his hear in this wonderful locks and happen to wear a wonderful, handknitted green headband should certainly know about it and not knowing... hm, if she is uneducated I would be outright ignorant, we parted. I hope Jen is happy.

Today I was falling into bad mood till I reminded myself that sleeping and trying to concentrate at life with a positive spin helps.

the rest of the day Ernest and I went on a trip, we went to big tesco, it wasnt the super big one (which would be a regular one in big city thinkning). I let him run around, he misses being able to just go. He loaded us up on satsumas, i got the rest of the shopping. Then we raided the shops in the mall and got some food. We actually managed to leave all shops and premises before we were asked to leave. It was a wild rampage.

I fell asleep on the armchair after we picked Lili up but woke up eventually only to be forced to engage in more papermodelling. It was a stegosaurus. Lili said it was a lot easier than the one yesterday. I explained that we just have a bit mroe clue how to do it. I tried to explain to her also that I am extramely afriad of papermodels and I only do them with her to make her happy and let her enjoy finding intersting hobbies and develop fine skills but she wasnt buying it.

13Dec

With Lili we got to school a whole ten minutes before eight. A first time ever so we had time to help other kids find their indoor shoes, playing sniffer dog.
Jen took her Hungarian exam. We are proud of her. It’s really courses on linguistics that are a bit stressful. They are rather mad actually. And I cannot truly concern myself with them. Brain gotten a bit sloppy this last few months. I tell nice little stories how Ernest and I played with monkey and treehouse man, having conversations and everything. It was kind of cool.

Morning was busy, at our local hygiene store, ‘boots’ equivalent I somehow was talked into getting a point collecting card. It’s still in my walet, scared to touch it.

I came up with brilliant present ideas although it is fortunate I haven’t managed to buy some of the stuff. Jen thinks I was about to get into serious insulting. Wouldn’t be the first.

Ernest’s lack of sleep during the nights and as a consequence my lack of sleep (as we are trying to let Jen sleep for she is the one with the exam season) have serious implications on our moods during the day resulting in grumpiness. This results in further grumping each other. I’m sure both Lili and Jen enjoyed the afternoon spent with us.

Well, dinner was good anyway and once the kids were in bed I sat down to read some papers. Local news – pension funds have been nationalized. It’s been voted on now. Irony is that I don’t necessarily have a problem with it so long as the money that otherwise would go to private funds (some 15 percent of all the pensions inpays) wasn’t needed to finance tax cuts that surprise; benefit the high earners. I don’t know how much news coverage about this place makes it to other places but I hope at least it is being witnessed how a somewhat democracy becomes a full blown dictatorship. Now that the pensions are sorted the parliament will begin ‘debate’ on the new media law. A construct that seasoned dictators and tyrants look at with envy, it will be voted on before xmass and start become practice 1st January. It’s been decided.

Before the kids went to bed Wallace and Gromit has caught the diamond thief (actually it was Gromit really). In this I take comfort or should I?