Owning a car keeps one busy. Yesterday Ernest and I took it down the local autoclub to have it checked out and get some papers with which we can get some more papers to then get the papers. While waiting on the mechs to do their job we gone for a walk, after the playground we nipped into Szeged Plaza, by far the largest shopping mall in south-east hungary. around the size of Stockman downtown Oulu. We were thrown out of the sport shop, in fact not allowed in because I had a backpack and weren’t willing to give it up. Never mind that we were the only shoppers in the sportshop probably due to the early hour while there was a security guy and two other shop assistants on duty besides the cctv. regulations are regulations.
We spent the rest of the day with shopping. Ernest slept trough the market for which I was thankful, was not up for chasing him around there. We also spent the day in anticipation of the Scottish election results and following the news of the UK results somewhat, mostly the referendum.
We parked the car by the way, fairly early yesterday and haven’t bothered with it since so my opening statement isn’t so true for this last couple of days at least
Liliom has the habit of jumping of her bed far as she can onto a matrass and some giant inflatable coushin. Ernest copies her although he hasn’t gathered the courage to actually jump yet. Probably due to the relative weight of his head. He still gathers their duvets and pillows right next to the bed and after dutyfuly counting to three, as seen from Lili, he steps out of the bed onto the pile.
Last night we had some wine celebrating the Scottish election results. Although I am cautious to celebrate the SNP. The interesting development is there nevertheless. I believe if we cannot just yet do away with the state, at least government should be brought closer to people and the smaller a state is the easier this task can be. For me it’s about locus of control.
In the UK people generally voted down the idea of a more representative electoral system. The argument to support such decision that through a more proportional system (the current first pass the post is one of the least) there would be a greater chance for a ‘hung’ parliament and coalition governments that are unstable and yara yara.
The past four years the Scottish government was a minority government (which is an unimaginable notion in Westminster) yet this gov managed to now gain such an overwhelming swing of seats that the SNP controls more than half the seats in Hollyrood. This has happened in an electoral system which is practically designed to prevent it.
The arguments against changing the UK voting system are false as in Westminster there is an unstable coalition government contrary to the disproportionate electoral system and in Hollyrood there is a majority government contrary to a far more proportional system. Maybe voters voted the proposals down cause they annoyed with the Libdems, but surely; punish other, smaller parties?
Looking at the developing political culture in Scotland I came to realise that unlike most central europen countries Scotland will go on its separate way – prob in a couple more elections – once it’s ready, it has a tradition of a democratic process well developed. A culture of parliamentary politics.
I wonder if a political tradition is a reason for the no vote on the referendum now. A more proportionate representative system would get parties such as UKIP into Westminster in numbers. And look at Finland to see where does that get you. What if that seemingly idiotic no was a very well calculated no?
Naturally, I am critical of it nevertheless. Even bogyman nationalist must be confronted in a dialogue (ok, this is told by me who half the time runs away from such confrontations) but more importantly, here comes the Marxist, maintaining the status qou benefits the structure that is already in power; economic, or corporate fascist. They are only really a step away from hard liner nationalist and nationalist-fascist, besides, in the current system the electorate is also robed from choosing someone else. In such system many probably just opts to take the least worst, as the result of the referendum shows.
Tomorrow we should go to the zoo or something like that, take plenty pictures – if we find the camera – and have a photo blog entry. It takes a lot more composition to write photo on electoral systems
Ant the whole point mentioning the wine was that being drunk after the second glass I realised that I have dropped my thesis topic. Looking for a new one. Then Jen told me that she thinks I have dropped my topic quite some time ago and only my stubbornness kept me on it but she didn’t want to say, just in case now I don’t quite remember what.
Showing posts with label szeged. Show all posts
Showing posts with label szeged. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Chapter 14, or something like that
Chapter 14, or something like that
I wrote an entry yesterday, not the first time not posting. Chapter 14? I like how it sounds between my teeth. And it is a long entry, all those that failed to be posted recently.
Follows a succession of complaints. A now increasingly obvious addiction to blogging slowly revealed in my mind. When things aren’t written down they look often miserable. And everything could look more picturesque should I find the usb cable for my camera.
The following is from April 7th
Recommencing now with hope to have come to the end of a spring that has inspired us to let it go largely unnoticed ( the spring). I hope we will not be having such distractions in the future. The last time I engaged in some other writing, a blog rather than a seemingly endless writing of essays and online debates was a day short of a month ago. Since…
Ernest has been imprisoned for a brief period of 2 nights. It’s a long story, I should have written it exploiting the emotional heights but I feared to do so.
It is a fear that probably similar in experience of moments when I cannot avoid engaging in ‘communication’ with holocaust denying anti-Semites. Although rationally thinking a foolish fear. It is a different emotional response. Its magnitude however is so great that I stop being accountable, or at least I feel such way, so I make actually a rational decisions to halt communication – with the crazies – and I made the same choice when not telling about the toddlers’ prison. Hospitals here can be
Another emotional moment and the subsequent event came when Liliom hit a car while cycling. Unbelievable luck that it was not the other way around.
In the morning Ernest stood at the table …
…At this point the writing finished until about April 20th
Last week Lili’s grandparents, Elisabeth and Gordon were visiting, from Scotland. They stayed for 10 days, it was a pleasant encounter. We don’t meet often, especially I. This post is not about their staying, I think I am maybe too self-centred now for that.
There was a small incident that describes well this entire year we have dedicated to our Hungarian ‘roots’.
The first weekend our visitors were in Hungary we all stayed at my mother’s house outside of Fot, nearby Budapest spending the days in the city. On Sunday the three of them, Lili, Gran and Gordo we took into town. They were going to take a ride on one of the sightseeing buses of Budapest. It’s a convenient way to have a drive by and description of most prominent touristic sites of the city. The plan was to drive them to the city park dropping off at the stop for the sight bus. The section of the park where the bus would have stopped was closed for traffic. We then drove around to another part of the park from where they could have gotten to the bus or take a subway fairly easily to another bus stop. On weekends the no parking signs on the side streets there are generally ignored for a lack of adequate parking and an obvious high demand. Not that day however, parking tickets were vigorously applied to anyone daring to leave the care unattended. We couldn’t stop there. So as an alternate plan to the alternate plan we had to drive back to the neighbourhood where the end of line subway station is from where they could go into the city centre to take the tour bus.
We spent the entire year like this. Plan, plan B, improvised alteration for plan B, improvised plan C…
I am looking forward to go home, so to speak. I have been talking of Oulu as home sort of half serious but I have come to realise that at the moment it seems home is rather there than here. For some time I have felt that the environment in which we enjoy our lives in Oulu is home. It is largely the people, similar semi-rootless bunch, the progressively inclined department at the uni, but also the way of life which until now, or at least the time a year ago has certainly bore the marks of a tolerant society where being different at worst brought a reaction of polite indifference.
For some years now I have been watching what has been happening to Hungary, the political consequences of the new order. The backlash; how it so eagerly as a society resettles into pitiful hatred, racism, anti-semitism. A path towards nationalist fascism seems to be the preferred response, protection against corporatist capitalism and a reshaping form of sovereignty. I thought it was still important to me somehow, ‘my people’ governing themselves into a form of madness that seemed incomprehensible to come again in Europe. I realised I watched this as an outsider, or rather, as a soap on tv; interesting moral dilemmas but little real significance. Witnessing the elections in Finland helped me to this realisation.
I felt touched, we both felt touched with grave concerns. Is this menace coming there too? Is it really possible? Of course one shouldn’t be surprised if reading the signs beforehand but our gasping for air caught us of guard.
The climate in Szeged, using the word to mark the weather patterns, is just ideal for someone who loves the continental European weather. The cyclic changes of the seasons, the modest, gradual changes are wonderful to experience as the months flow by.
Lili enjoyed being Hungarian for a while and perhaps this time has asserted, or to be more precise shaped a new part of her identity which she wasn’t there before. As a family we have learnt to rely on one and other more than ever, probably. Considering we haven’t managed to make much if any contacts otherwise with locals and outsiders here. I have enjoyed and still do spending time with the kids more than I ever had time for. I am looking forward to spend another year of the same from when we are back in Oulu, more so that we will have a familiar environment, familiar people. At least for me. Ernest and I will most certainly will miss the market. There is nothing that can possibly replace it.
A recent event is an example, I believe of the uncertain life that is probably every day for people who are accustomed to life here.
There is a case running for a minor offence against Liliom at the police. When the offence took place, the police informed us that there will be an investigation (because of the road traffic accident) but they haven’t bothered to tell that she would be charged with a minor offence. This offence is that she was not pushing her bike across the road but rode it. There was a green light for pedestrians which would have given her the right of way but because she was riding, she has lost it and it is therefore the car’s which was turning and almost run her down. Luckily she has run into the car at a slow speed and she wasn’t injured apart from a scratch and a scare.
…
It was an endless rent but also something else. A first attempt to summarise staying in Hungary. I realise that some of those who call this place home will find it disturbing, as already have had probably often, but I am never easy on the place where I reside and stay, the place that even if momentary is my home. And Hungary actually still happens to be one that I know in most detail. It isn’t personal. Although there may be a degree of frustration over inability to be acultured and content.
As it happens, I repeated the post from April just yesterday intending to post it but ending up not bothering. I will attach it here although it is the same message in a very similar structure and speech. But I think once out there, I can move on the stopping panicking, and getting on to the otherwise wonderful and challenging process of moving our lives now 2000kms north.
May 4th as follows:
I shall begin without promise of joyful happy pretty stories but perhaps still asserting I shall not engage in political blogging regardless of the now obvious unstoppable advance of European fascism.
We are going home in the middle of June – at long last - to a place that may have changed significantly since we have left it. Last time in Finland the university reforms have shown a sign of things to come, in the far future, and we still believed that while bigot conservatism lurks beneath the grass, of a direction where social cohesion is largely enforced rather than negotiated, we believed it was still far out. Recent elections have shown that fascism is on the rise in Finland and the near future registration of the Nazi party shows a rapidly changing sentiment. It used to be a state which prided itself on tolerance. By the time we get home this may not be the case anymore.
Still, perhaps in Finland we still have a fighting chance , making a stand before it’s too late. Here in Hungary, it feels even by the time we got here almost a year ago it was too late. The country now has a constitution that no longer recognises the equal worth of every individual in its political community and one that opens the doors to a constitutionally enforced (and often defined on racist terms) class society. Of course I know that the setting of new rules is always, as in the case of the Finish university reforms, merely an adjusting to the discourse, the sentiment and the practice that is already present and valid (in the sense that society largely functions along such values).
To remain non-political perhaps it is best to turn towards a brief assessment of this past year.
Weeks before we were due to depart from Oulu KELA broke the news to us that staying home with Ernest I will not be eligible the social benefits. I would have been should we have stayed in Finland instead of Hungary but Jen has been sent abroad as a student by a Finish organisation and not as an employee. We lost about 40% of income for this year with a stroke of a pen. Anyone in their right minds – now I think – would have called it off. We didn’t out of some real or perceived duty to grandparents, my parents here in Hungary. After a tight stay in Szeged now we are experiencing the difficulties to raise funds to make it home where we can start raising funds much easier (here we aren’t even allowed to take up employment without losing our Finnish social security).
It has been a most interesting year perhaps in many ways but also a most disappointing. Ernest perhaps the one who realises the least what he may have been losing. Of course, he has benefited from spending more time with my parents, at least with my mother, and hear a lot more Hungarian than he would have otherwise but he didn’t have anyone his own age to hang out with as I failed to make contact with local stay at home mothers. Liliom perhaps is the sole beneficiary of this excursion. She has enjoyed the school year here although Jen and I at times concerned should she spend any more time here she would grow up to have difficulties accepting difference even if spending years at the Waldorf-Steiner school. Jen stated today, she has just wasted a year. Professionally certainly, she has managed to learn barely anything here and as a family we have no longer the resources to fund another exchange studies to universities where they offer courses that are along her professional and personal interests. Returning to Oulu she will have to retake a bunch of courses that were inappropriate here one way or the other. We haven’t managed to make friends in Szeged, I have tried to rekindle old friendships but my developing anti-nationalist and neo-Marxist, slightly syndicalist manners have gotten in the way. Jen I think made fairly good friend with a fellow exchange student also from Oulu. I spent the last year with an amazing array of bureaucratic encounters that I eventually got bored of noting down, dodging conversations that were potentially racist, fascist or at least based arguments on a mix of pseudo-scientific origin myths that on a good day I laugh at on a bad one I bite my tongue. The last year talked openly to Jen only without being concerned of or outright offending people.
The hearing from Lili’s car crash has been today. We thought for some reason that it was going to be tomorrow so we missed it. It was a hearing of the two witnesses, the driver of the car and the person driving behind him. When I was at the police station couple of weeks ago I found out the case will not come to much. The traffic police started the process against Lili for braking some paragraph of traffic rules and crushing into a car causing some 60€ worth of damage. It will probably be a closed case since she is a minor and cannot be made legally responsible for her actions. Although they – the police – thought it was likely that the driver will not accept this and will claim damages on us. Never mind it was perhaps on a split of a second that it wasn’t Lili crashing into his car but his car crashing into a cycling 7 year old. In most other European countries I lived at before, this would be a case against the driver, or at least I want to believe that After all, the accident happened on a pedestrian crossing while the pedestrians had the green light and Lili was perfectly visible to the driver at all times, even before he started moving with his car (as previously he was standing at a red lamp). But this is the country where I spend running in circles, from office to office until I learn better that whatever the state does is perfectly logical and it is its subjects that are out of line.
I right now feel I will bless the day I eventually have packed up house and family. Shipping is on the way and kids are in the car. We are on the go. Maybe a roadtrip, a summer just the four of us, no huss and no fuss will help us to relax.
But honestly, we bought a car. It’s a nice car although good Hungarian paranoia tells me we were cheated somehow and trouble will strike us. It’s hard to believe that the previous owner may have been a mostly decent, honest person telling as everything to the best of his knowledge.
Ernest and I took the car to Szeged yesterday. The process to register it under my name will take a week or so for the car need to go under some examination of origin (making sure it wasn’t stolen or put together from a bunch of cars etc) and after that the insurance papers need to be changed and then the names on the car’s papers can be changed. Before initiating all these I hoped to get a monthly parking pass for the car as I am eligible as a resident in the inner town. I was told I can get that pass only once my names are on the papers and I should not kick up a fuss because it is really just a formality (at three different places which could take days at best). After reading the regulation issued by the City Council of Szeged I pointed out that none of the paragraphs administering resident based parking rights demand that the owner’s name has to be on the car’s papers, only that I either, as a resident have to own the car or have to have rights as permanent user of the car which I wish to park under my name . Since I have the contract of selling the car I have proven ownership of the car. Of course they asserted I was stupid and really just being difficult. I made an official complaint.
About three months ago I made an official complaint and a suggestion at the university library. I was kindly informed they are sorry for the inconvenience and were already working on sorting out the problem at the time of my complaint. Today I could make the same complaint for so far they have not managed to finish that process. Remember to know your place, subject as in ‘object of the authorities’.
But all is well. We have had a royal wedding watched by billions.
…
I fell now better although I suspect only few, if any have gotten to read the last lines of this post
I wrote an entry yesterday, not the first time not posting. Chapter 14? I like how it sounds between my teeth. And it is a long entry, all those that failed to be posted recently.
Follows a succession of complaints. A now increasingly obvious addiction to blogging slowly revealed in my mind. When things aren’t written down they look often miserable. And everything could look more picturesque should I find the usb cable for my camera.
The following is from April 7th
Recommencing now with hope to have come to the end of a spring that has inspired us to let it go largely unnoticed ( the spring). I hope we will not be having such distractions in the future. The last time I engaged in some other writing, a blog rather than a seemingly endless writing of essays and online debates was a day short of a month ago. Since…
Ernest has been imprisoned for a brief period of 2 nights. It’s a long story, I should have written it exploiting the emotional heights but I feared to do so.
It is a fear that probably similar in experience of moments when I cannot avoid engaging in ‘communication’ with holocaust denying anti-Semites. Although rationally thinking a foolish fear. It is a different emotional response. Its magnitude however is so great that I stop being accountable, or at least I feel such way, so I make actually a rational decisions to halt communication – with the crazies – and I made the same choice when not telling about the toddlers’ prison. Hospitals here can be
Another emotional moment and the subsequent event came when Liliom hit a car while cycling. Unbelievable luck that it was not the other way around.
In the morning Ernest stood at the table …
…At this point the writing finished until about April 20th
Last week Lili’s grandparents, Elisabeth and Gordon were visiting, from Scotland. They stayed for 10 days, it was a pleasant encounter. We don’t meet often, especially I. This post is not about their staying, I think I am maybe too self-centred now for that.
There was a small incident that describes well this entire year we have dedicated to our Hungarian ‘roots’.
The first weekend our visitors were in Hungary we all stayed at my mother’s house outside of Fot, nearby Budapest spending the days in the city. On Sunday the three of them, Lili, Gran and Gordo we took into town. They were going to take a ride on one of the sightseeing buses of Budapest. It’s a convenient way to have a drive by and description of most prominent touristic sites of the city. The plan was to drive them to the city park dropping off at the stop for the sight bus. The section of the park where the bus would have stopped was closed for traffic. We then drove around to another part of the park from where they could have gotten to the bus or take a subway fairly easily to another bus stop. On weekends the no parking signs on the side streets there are generally ignored for a lack of adequate parking and an obvious high demand. Not that day however, parking tickets were vigorously applied to anyone daring to leave the care unattended. We couldn’t stop there. So as an alternate plan to the alternate plan we had to drive back to the neighbourhood where the end of line subway station is from where they could go into the city centre to take the tour bus.
We spent the entire year like this. Plan, plan B, improvised alteration for plan B, improvised plan C…
I am looking forward to go home, so to speak. I have been talking of Oulu as home sort of half serious but I have come to realise that at the moment it seems home is rather there than here. For some time I have felt that the environment in which we enjoy our lives in Oulu is home. It is largely the people, similar semi-rootless bunch, the progressively inclined department at the uni, but also the way of life which until now, or at least the time a year ago has certainly bore the marks of a tolerant society where being different at worst brought a reaction of polite indifference.
For some years now I have been watching what has been happening to Hungary, the political consequences of the new order. The backlash; how it so eagerly as a society resettles into pitiful hatred, racism, anti-semitism. A path towards nationalist fascism seems to be the preferred response, protection against corporatist capitalism and a reshaping form of sovereignty. I thought it was still important to me somehow, ‘my people’ governing themselves into a form of madness that seemed incomprehensible to come again in Europe. I realised I watched this as an outsider, or rather, as a soap on tv; interesting moral dilemmas but little real significance. Witnessing the elections in Finland helped me to this realisation.
I felt touched, we both felt touched with grave concerns. Is this menace coming there too? Is it really possible? Of course one shouldn’t be surprised if reading the signs beforehand but our gasping for air caught us of guard.
The climate in Szeged, using the word to mark the weather patterns, is just ideal for someone who loves the continental European weather. The cyclic changes of the seasons, the modest, gradual changes are wonderful to experience as the months flow by.
Lili enjoyed being Hungarian for a while and perhaps this time has asserted, or to be more precise shaped a new part of her identity which she wasn’t there before. As a family we have learnt to rely on one and other more than ever, probably. Considering we haven’t managed to make much if any contacts otherwise with locals and outsiders here. I have enjoyed and still do spending time with the kids more than I ever had time for. I am looking forward to spend another year of the same from when we are back in Oulu, more so that we will have a familiar environment, familiar people. At least for me. Ernest and I will most certainly will miss the market. There is nothing that can possibly replace it.
A recent event is an example, I believe of the uncertain life that is probably every day for people who are accustomed to life here.
There is a case running for a minor offence against Liliom at the police. When the offence took place, the police informed us that there will be an investigation (because of the road traffic accident) but they haven’t bothered to tell that she would be charged with a minor offence. This offence is that she was not pushing her bike across the road but rode it. There was a green light for pedestrians which would have given her the right of way but because she was riding, she has lost it and it is therefore the car’s which was turning and almost run her down. Luckily she has run into the car at a slow speed and she wasn’t injured apart from a scratch and a scare.
…
It was an endless rent but also something else. A first attempt to summarise staying in Hungary. I realise that some of those who call this place home will find it disturbing, as already have had probably often, but I am never easy on the place where I reside and stay, the place that even if momentary is my home. And Hungary actually still happens to be one that I know in most detail. It isn’t personal. Although there may be a degree of frustration over inability to be acultured and content.
As it happens, I repeated the post from April just yesterday intending to post it but ending up not bothering. I will attach it here although it is the same message in a very similar structure and speech. But I think once out there, I can move on the stopping panicking, and getting on to the otherwise wonderful and challenging process of moving our lives now 2000kms north.
May 4th as follows:
I shall begin without promise of joyful happy pretty stories but perhaps still asserting I shall not engage in political blogging regardless of the now obvious unstoppable advance of European fascism.
We are going home in the middle of June – at long last - to a place that may have changed significantly since we have left it. Last time in Finland the university reforms have shown a sign of things to come, in the far future, and we still believed that while bigot conservatism lurks beneath the grass, of a direction where social cohesion is largely enforced rather than negotiated, we believed it was still far out. Recent elections have shown that fascism is on the rise in Finland and the near future registration of the Nazi party shows a rapidly changing sentiment. It used to be a state which prided itself on tolerance. By the time we get home this may not be the case anymore.
Still, perhaps in Finland we still have a fighting chance , making a stand before it’s too late. Here in Hungary, it feels even by the time we got here almost a year ago it was too late. The country now has a constitution that no longer recognises the equal worth of every individual in its political community and one that opens the doors to a constitutionally enforced (and often defined on racist terms) class society. Of course I know that the setting of new rules is always, as in the case of the Finish university reforms, merely an adjusting to the discourse, the sentiment and the practice that is already present and valid (in the sense that society largely functions along such values).
To remain non-political perhaps it is best to turn towards a brief assessment of this past year.
Weeks before we were due to depart from Oulu KELA broke the news to us that staying home with Ernest I will not be eligible the social benefits. I would have been should we have stayed in Finland instead of Hungary but Jen has been sent abroad as a student by a Finish organisation and not as an employee. We lost about 40% of income for this year with a stroke of a pen. Anyone in their right minds – now I think – would have called it off. We didn’t out of some real or perceived duty to grandparents, my parents here in Hungary. After a tight stay in Szeged now we are experiencing the difficulties to raise funds to make it home where we can start raising funds much easier (here we aren’t even allowed to take up employment without losing our Finnish social security).
It has been a most interesting year perhaps in many ways but also a most disappointing. Ernest perhaps the one who realises the least what he may have been losing. Of course, he has benefited from spending more time with my parents, at least with my mother, and hear a lot more Hungarian than he would have otherwise but he didn’t have anyone his own age to hang out with as I failed to make contact with local stay at home mothers. Liliom perhaps is the sole beneficiary of this excursion. She has enjoyed the school year here although Jen and I at times concerned should she spend any more time here she would grow up to have difficulties accepting difference even if spending years at the Waldorf-Steiner school. Jen stated today, she has just wasted a year. Professionally certainly, she has managed to learn barely anything here and as a family we have no longer the resources to fund another exchange studies to universities where they offer courses that are along her professional and personal interests. Returning to Oulu she will have to retake a bunch of courses that were inappropriate here one way or the other. We haven’t managed to make friends in Szeged, I have tried to rekindle old friendships but my developing anti-nationalist and neo-Marxist, slightly syndicalist manners have gotten in the way. Jen I think made fairly good friend with a fellow exchange student also from Oulu. I spent the last year with an amazing array of bureaucratic encounters that I eventually got bored of noting down, dodging conversations that were potentially racist, fascist or at least based arguments on a mix of pseudo-scientific origin myths that on a good day I laugh at on a bad one I bite my tongue. The last year talked openly to Jen only without being concerned of or outright offending people.
The hearing from Lili’s car crash has been today. We thought for some reason that it was going to be tomorrow so we missed it. It was a hearing of the two witnesses, the driver of the car and the person driving behind him. When I was at the police station couple of weeks ago I found out the case will not come to much. The traffic police started the process against Lili for braking some paragraph of traffic rules and crushing into a car causing some 60€ worth of damage. It will probably be a closed case since she is a minor and cannot be made legally responsible for her actions. Although they – the police – thought it was likely that the driver will not accept this and will claim damages on us. Never mind it was perhaps on a split of a second that it wasn’t Lili crashing into his car but his car crashing into a cycling 7 year old. In most other European countries I lived at before, this would be a case against the driver, or at least I want to believe that After all, the accident happened on a pedestrian crossing while the pedestrians had the green light and Lili was perfectly visible to the driver at all times, even before he started moving with his car (as previously he was standing at a red lamp). But this is the country where I spend running in circles, from office to office until I learn better that whatever the state does is perfectly logical and it is its subjects that are out of line.
I right now feel I will bless the day I eventually have packed up house and family. Shipping is on the way and kids are in the car. We are on the go. Maybe a roadtrip, a summer just the four of us, no huss and no fuss will help us to relax.
But honestly, we bought a car. It’s a nice car although good Hungarian paranoia tells me we were cheated somehow and trouble will strike us. It’s hard to believe that the previous owner may have been a mostly decent, honest person telling as everything to the best of his knowledge.
Ernest and I took the car to Szeged yesterday. The process to register it under my name will take a week or so for the car need to go under some examination of origin (making sure it wasn’t stolen or put together from a bunch of cars etc) and after that the insurance papers need to be changed and then the names on the car’s papers can be changed. Before initiating all these I hoped to get a monthly parking pass for the car as I am eligible as a resident in the inner town. I was told I can get that pass only once my names are on the papers and I should not kick up a fuss because it is really just a formality (at three different places which could take days at best). After reading the regulation issued by the City Council of Szeged I pointed out that none of the paragraphs administering resident based parking rights demand that the owner’s name has to be on the car’s papers, only that I either, as a resident have to own the car or have to have rights as permanent user of the car which I wish to park under my name . Since I have the contract of selling the car I have proven ownership of the car. Of course they asserted I was stupid and really just being difficult. I made an official complaint.
About three months ago I made an official complaint and a suggestion at the university library. I was kindly informed they are sorry for the inconvenience and were already working on sorting out the problem at the time of my complaint. Today I could make the same complaint for so far they have not managed to finish that process. Remember to know your place, subject as in ‘object of the authorities’.
But all is well. We have had a royal wedding watched by billions.
…
I fell now better although I suspect only few, if any have gotten to read the last lines of this post
Monday, 14 March 2011
March 14th
Recently I have been getting some kindly placed feedbacks that sound something like this ’reading nice life in Szeged is good...’ And accustoming myself with the stats page on blogger I realise it is true, people do like to read fun stuff, not so much not so fun stuff and politics definitely puts many of you off. It has been a difficult week and there have been some difficult experiences. There is politics and considering tomorrow’s pompous display of central European nationalism to come…
But lets not get ahead of ourselves.
We put Lili on the train on Saturday afternoon with some classmates of Jen, my sister was waiting for her on the other end. She is spending a four days long weekend at my mother’s. Just as well, the rest of us aren’t the greatest company. I wouldn’t go into Ernest’s case now, that is for another time but I got ill too on Saturday although I managed to sleep it out within a day and Jen has fallen ill as well. It seems we picked up the bad stuff somewhere along the way.
Still recovering but letting Jen have a rest Ernest and I went for a walk yesterday afternoon. Only a week ago it was around minus 10 in the mornings and we were happy if it was above zero in the afternoon now it gets up to 20 on the sun during the day. Even easy-going fellows like us are still perceptible to put on too much clothes when going out.
After the park Ernest decided on going to our regular café but now sitting on the terrace. On the street down at the end of the square an ambulance screamed by. It was the ‘new born special unit’. I had to fight off my tears. I was still in a messed up state.
After leaving our regular café we started walking home walking by the other café, on the corner which I just call ‘the café on the corner’ although it has a ‘proper’ name too. The terrace was full and the waiter was not so gently trying to help a man away from a table, I noticed it only a moment before the man toppled over the waiter and fell on the ground so I couldn’t have told if there was any ‘grievance’ between them or it was a genuine accident. He fell hitting his head on the stone, the waiter walked away hurriedly.
Shocked instantly, with Ernest sitting on my arm I was the first one trying to help, he was lying on his back. Only had time to try to see if he could understand/hear me and wonder for a moment why am I the only one there, how will I turn him on his side as he was losing consciousness. Fortunately a paediatrician – as I later found out talking to her – came and helped me with the move and as the waiter was coming back around, delivering orders and taking new ones we asked him if they have called the ambulance yet? ‘ah, no.’ he said ‘we called the cops’. The two of us practically yelled at him to call an ambulance.
I could do nothing more but I was shaken. I stood around, clinging to Ernest, feeling weird. I’ve never been looking into to eyes of someone who was slowly drifting out of consciousness. I watched the waiter. He was working, he was stressed, he was stressed already with work and he was stressed for what has happened. Eventually the paediatrician told him to wait for the ambulance where the fallen person was (she was rude, not gentle in her request, she was right although the manager of the café was nowhere to be seen to take charge). When the ambulance came he rushed back to work. The terrace has at least 50 tables, a busy day, only the two waiters.
I went into the café and told the manager to give the guy a break, he most certainly needs it. The manager just looked at me with big eyes, unable to understand what my problem might be. I walked off.
A brave new world it. On a Sunday afternoon a man falls on the street and the person who has been the closest to him when this happens, I am convinced an accident, does not have time to stop, think, help. I am sure the customers could have waited ten minutes. I am sure, I want to be sure. But no, he didn’t have the time, perhaps he didn’t have the will either. Maybe he knows this drunk, not paying for his bills, he has had enough. Maybe he pushed him a bit.
There was an atmosphere at the ‘place on the corner’s terrace. As if that man has not deserved empathy for he didn’t belong there, he shouldn’t have come there, a semi-homeless drunk and crazy Christian whit his silly little gypsy blessings written on scraps of papers. He deserved his faith…
Ernest and I went out for a walk again today. I wanted to go for a walk while he was asleep in the morning but since his recent sleepovers he wasn’t so keen. He heard me quietly getting ready and I could not go undetected. So we went together. More or less the usual route. We had cheesy treats today instead of the ginger biscuits.
We also saw the local communist party gathering for the pompous nationalist celebration. (more on that tomorrow). And we met him. He was there, with the communists. But then he seemed to have gotten bored of them and walked off. I approached him and we had a chat. Through me he now knows how he ended up in accident and emergency. I appreciated the blessing even if… but let’s not have a discussion on believes. ‘do take care of yourself!’
empathy
But lets not get ahead of ourselves.
We put Lili on the train on Saturday afternoon with some classmates of Jen, my sister was waiting for her on the other end. She is spending a four days long weekend at my mother’s. Just as well, the rest of us aren’t the greatest company. I wouldn’t go into Ernest’s case now, that is for another time but I got ill too on Saturday although I managed to sleep it out within a day and Jen has fallen ill as well. It seems we picked up the bad stuff somewhere along the way.
Still recovering but letting Jen have a rest Ernest and I went for a walk yesterday afternoon. Only a week ago it was around minus 10 in the mornings and we were happy if it was above zero in the afternoon now it gets up to 20 on the sun during the day. Even easy-going fellows like us are still perceptible to put on too much clothes when going out.
After the park Ernest decided on going to our regular café but now sitting on the terrace. On the street down at the end of the square an ambulance screamed by. It was the ‘new born special unit’. I had to fight off my tears. I was still in a messed up state.
After leaving our regular café we started walking home walking by the other café, on the corner which I just call ‘the café on the corner’ although it has a ‘proper’ name too. The terrace was full and the waiter was not so gently trying to help a man away from a table, I noticed it only a moment before the man toppled over the waiter and fell on the ground so I couldn’t have told if there was any ‘grievance’ between them or it was a genuine accident. He fell hitting his head on the stone, the waiter walked away hurriedly.
Shocked instantly, with Ernest sitting on my arm I was the first one trying to help, he was lying on his back. Only had time to try to see if he could understand/hear me and wonder for a moment why am I the only one there, how will I turn him on his side as he was losing consciousness. Fortunately a paediatrician – as I later found out talking to her – came and helped me with the move and as the waiter was coming back around, delivering orders and taking new ones we asked him if they have called the ambulance yet? ‘ah, no.’ he said ‘we called the cops’. The two of us practically yelled at him to call an ambulance.
I could do nothing more but I was shaken. I stood around, clinging to Ernest, feeling weird. I’ve never been looking into to eyes of someone who was slowly drifting out of consciousness. I watched the waiter. He was working, he was stressed, he was stressed already with work and he was stressed for what has happened. Eventually the paediatrician told him to wait for the ambulance where the fallen person was (she was rude, not gentle in her request, she was right although the manager of the café was nowhere to be seen to take charge). When the ambulance came he rushed back to work. The terrace has at least 50 tables, a busy day, only the two waiters.
I went into the café and told the manager to give the guy a break, he most certainly needs it. The manager just looked at me with big eyes, unable to understand what my problem might be. I walked off.
A brave new world it. On a Sunday afternoon a man falls on the street and the person who has been the closest to him when this happens, I am convinced an accident, does not have time to stop, think, help. I am sure the customers could have waited ten minutes. I am sure, I want to be sure. But no, he didn’t have the time, perhaps he didn’t have the will either. Maybe he knows this drunk, not paying for his bills, he has had enough. Maybe he pushed him a bit.
There was an atmosphere at the ‘place on the corner’s terrace. As if that man has not deserved empathy for he didn’t belong there, he shouldn’t have come there, a semi-homeless drunk and crazy Christian whit his silly little gypsy blessings written on scraps of papers. He deserved his faith…
Ernest and I went out for a walk again today. I wanted to go for a walk while he was asleep in the morning but since his recent sleepovers he wasn’t so keen. He heard me quietly getting ready and I could not go undetected. So we went together. More or less the usual route. We had cheesy treats today instead of the ginger biscuits.
We also saw the local communist party gathering for the pompous nationalist celebration. (more on that tomorrow). And we met him. He was there, with the communists. But then he seemed to have gotten bored of them and walked off. I approached him and we had a chat. Through me he now knows how he ended up in accident and emergency. I appreciated the blessing even if… but let’s not have a discussion on believes. ‘do take care of yourself!’
empathy
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
March 9th
Spring cleaning. It's spring now. Of course locals don't quite call it a spring when it's regularly around minus ten in the mornings but we know better. I got an urge to spring clean. Maybe it has nothing to do with spring but the regular cleaning and tidying just cannot go on any longer. All the corners are full with clutter that is regularly or at some point some time ago has been shoved there so when we try to shove things away they just instantly flow back out. Lili's desk is like that, we clear and clean it sometimes than agree that she shall tidy away what she works on and with after finishing, for it is impossible to keep Everything there. Then things start to gather till only a very tiny worm or caterpillar could just wriggle there a little.
Yesterday I had a go at their room and now the desk is clean. Finally it is ok for Ernest to work there too and he does love it. While Liliom is in school we gather some paper and very nicely play with the felt pens. I am surprised how long he manages to play 'nice', putting the tips back on and the pens back in their holders. I think soon grandparents and other volunteers can start receiving sophisticated pictures from Ernes. Lili really liked the one I put up in the kitchen today, she liked the colour coordination.
In the afternoon when everyone was at home already I was in the kitchen while Ernest in the kid's room was drawing at the desk. Lili was reading. And Jen in the kitchen too when Ernest started shouting 'Apa, apa...' didn't stop. It turned out one of the lids fell on the floor and he needed help, someone to pick it up for him! He by the way also said Mum today. Lookin at one of Lili’s drawing he almost said cat, ‘cica’ but bother only with the second syllables. He might turn out a mumbler like the rest of us.
Liliom wasn’t so keen on Ernest enjoying some drawing at Her desk. And the two of them cannot really handle it together. I think they both think that the other is just an extension of their own will and it is unbearable and unprocesseable to realise that it isn’t so.
I have been having a somewhat moody day. Had a nice day, yet, I feel a bit unexplainably not so good. Perhaps worried about something although we finally managed to get access to our bank account so we can re-engage with the money system. Yet there is still something. I spend a lot of time with Ernest and as he is not quite well (some diarrhea) I have plenty of time to worry about him. probably that's it. Or maybe somehting else. Can't quite put my figner on it. It's a shame though. Maybe it is just a lack of sleep and rest when spring is coming ( so I sit up blogging). I wanna do a spring cleaning, hang out with the kids all day, do a couple of online course and about a dozen other things. Silly. Anyways, I sit in a café while Liliom was in her ballet class and Jen prepped dinner with Ernest. Started reading a book.
I got through reading much of the introduction of a book collection of existentialist writings. The book was published in 1966 in 'communist' Hungary. It eagerly provides a Marxist analysis and critique of existentialism explaining in detail how it is nothing but another example of the crisis of capitalist societies and a half-hearted reaction to the imperialist expansionism of capitalist states, to the fight for hegemony in the international system.
The critique however seems to forget to maintain its own Marxist analysis and critique. But of course in '66 free speech was even more an issue in Hungary than nowadays. Or actually less an issue as there was not much to go around. Anyways, the Marxist criticism of the so called Marxist reality of the revolution would be that the personal cults were not the only immoral, damaging, unnecessary and false aspects of these regimes. After all 60s Hungary was also playing, and playing big time on nationalism, proto-fascist militarism and bourgeois greed. Besides, the so called communist countries while had a degree of barter system at the end they were also integrated within the international state system, an inherently capitalist system and they were also engaged in the same game of hegemony and imperialist expansionism as those evil capitalists.
Funnily the editor of the book, writing the introductory analysis seemed to have difficulties placing some French fellows, Camus and Sartre who happened to be more or less Marxist themselves, Sartre convicted that existentialism was merely a critical development of Marxism, arguing similarly to Guevara (yes, that guy with the same first name as Hemingway) that drinking milk these days doesn't require one to declare himself to be a Pasteurian
, it's just simply how it is now, thus Marxist analysis isn't 'an' alternative to capitalism for instance, just this is how it is and would be foolish and inconsistent to think otherwise. (or something like that, can be googled). Camus was probably a syndicalist and few get more communist than them.
Have you noticed my amasing list of tags?!
Jen thinks they are stupid
Yesterday I had a go at their room and now the desk is clean. Finally it is ok for Ernest to work there too and he does love it. While Liliom is in school we gather some paper and very nicely play with the felt pens. I am surprised how long he manages to play 'nice', putting the tips back on and the pens back in their holders. I think soon grandparents and other volunteers can start receiving sophisticated pictures from Ernes. Lili really liked the one I put up in the kitchen today, she liked the colour coordination.
In the afternoon when everyone was at home already I was in the kitchen while Ernest in the kid's room was drawing at the desk. Lili was reading. And Jen in the kitchen too when Ernest started shouting 'Apa, apa...' didn't stop. It turned out one of the lids fell on the floor and he needed help, someone to pick it up for him! He by the way also said Mum today. Lookin at one of Lili’s drawing he almost said cat, ‘cica’ but bother only with the second syllables. He might turn out a mumbler like the rest of us.
Liliom wasn’t so keen on Ernest enjoying some drawing at Her desk. And the two of them cannot really handle it together. I think they both think that the other is just an extension of their own will and it is unbearable and unprocesseable to realise that it isn’t so.
I have been having a somewhat moody day. Had a nice day, yet, I feel a bit unexplainably not so good. Perhaps worried about something although we finally managed to get access to our bank account so we can re-engage with the money system. Yet there is still something. I spend a lot of time with Ernest and as he is not quite well (some diarrhea) I have plenty of time to worry about him. probably that's it. Or maybe somehting else. Can't quite put my figner on it. It's a shame though. Maybe it is just a lack of sleep and rest when spring is coming ( so I sit up blogging). I wanna do a spring cleaning, hang out with the kids all day, do a couple of online course and about a dozen other things. Silly. Anyways, I sit in a café while Liliom was in her ballet class and Jen prepped dinner with Ernest. Started reading a book.
I got through reading much of the introduction of a book collection of existentialist writings. The book was published in 1966 in 'communist' Hungary. It eagerly provides a Marxist analysis and critique of existentialism explaining in detail how it is nothing but another example of the crisis of capitalist societies and a half-hearted reaction to the imperialist expansionism of capitalist states, to the fight for hegemony in the international system.
The critique however seems to forget to maintain its own Marxist analysis and critique. But of course in '66 free speech was even more an issue in Hungary than nowadays. Or actually less an issue as there was not much to go around. Anyways, the Marxist criticism of the so called Marxist reality of the revolution would be that the personal cults were not the only immoral, damaging, unnecessary and false aspects of these regimes. After all 60s Hungary was also playing, and playing big time on nationalism, proto-fascist militarism and bourgeois greed. Besides, the so called communist countries while had a degree of barter system at the end they were also integrated within the international state system, an inherently capitalist system and they were also engaged in the same game of hegemony and imperialist expansionism as those evil capitalists.
Funnily the editor of the book, writing the introductory analysis seemed to have difficulties placing some French fellows, Camus and Sartre who happened to be more or less Marxist themselves, Sartre convicted that existentialism was merely a critical development of Marxism, arguing similarly to Guevara (yes, that guy with the same first name as Hemingway) that drinking milk these days doesn't require one to declare himself to be a Pasteurian
, it's just simply how it is now, thus Marxist analysis isn't 'an' alternative to capitalism for instance, just this is how it is and would be foolish and inconsistent to think otherwise. (or something like that, can be googled). Camus was probably a syndicalist and few get more communist than them.
Have you noticed my amasing list of tags?!
Jen thinks they are stupid
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
March 8th
It's international women's day today. Jen gives it a different name but I am too modest to type it. Apparently I should have been blogging in Victorian times. It's funny though that there are such things as this day. I think so long as there is an international day for women we don't even have to wonder 'are we equal'. The answer is given.
I may have forgotten to mention about the flash mob some weeks ago. It was the first ever flashmob i have ever been to. And so far the last one but that is not the fm's fault. Simply there hasn't been another one since. So I am converted, yet, it was a pretty rubbish one, still I had been a lot more cheerful after it was finished, on a particularly moody day. The whole point of the fm actually is the cats who live on the ceiling.
As part of the activity we were prompted to point at the sky as if there was something amazing up there and be totally amused by it for a while. That was the part that Ernest really got into. Ever since he engages in the occasional pointing up and being amused here and there. When he did it at home the first time, pointing at the ceiling, being amused he made the connection. It's an Ernest thing, anything amusing goes 'meow'. So there are cats who live on the ceiling.
Today I invited one of them to come down for a wee while and she did. They are some small breed of cats so a comfortable fit in my palm and she purred away happily when I pat her back. We went over to Ernest and he had a go stroking the cat, it even went over into his palm. So i guess it was a particularly small breed of cats but hey, they live on ceilings. We were most amused. Every body joined in and taking turns we all enjoyed playing with the little creature until about some 37 seconds later Ernest realised that at this age this is how far his brain is willing to go on this. Never the less, I am happy, I was missing our friends (imaginary) of late and since Lili became all so not into imagining imaginary tings it's a lot harder to keep their company. Maybe for another few years she can be dragged back to it and I is going to be just that much better now; the four of us imagining things together.
One more thing on looking up in amusement. At our local food store above the vegetable aisle there is a rather large air-conditioning vent. Liliom is most amused by it. I discovered that whenever she remembers to look up when we are there she just cannot take her eyes of it, completely tranced.
She has been giving me some hugs this evening and at first I couldn’t imagine what is the sudden urge for the display of affection and love. Than I realised that just minutes before I have been recounting to Jen the conversations at parents' evening in school. I guess she must have overheard (ha-ha! Listening intently to) the part where I was bragging about how clever my daughter is.
Apparently her teachers find it amusing that now whenever, wherever she meets the English teacher, she automatically converses in English.
I may have forgotten to mention about the flash mob some weeks ago. It was the first ever flashmob i have ever been to. And so far the last one but that is not the fm's fault. Simply there hasn't been another one since. So I am converted, yet, it was a pretty rubbish one, still I had been a lot more cheerful after it was finished, on a particularly moody day. The whole point of the fm actually is the cats who live on the ceiling.
As part of the activity we were prompted to point at the sky as if there was something amazing up there and be totally amused by it for a while. That was the part that Ernest really got into. Ever since he engages in the occasional pointing up and being amused here and there. When he did it at home the first time, pointing at the ceiling, being amused he made the connection. It's an Ernest thing, anything amusing goes 'meow'. So there are cats who live on the ceiling.
Today I invited one of them to come down for a wee while and she did. They are some small breed of cats so a comfortable fit in my palm and she purred away happily when I pat her back. We went over to Ernest and he had a go stroking the cat, it even went over into his palm. So i guess it was a particularly small breed of cats but hey, they live on ceilings. We were most amused. Every body joined in and taking turns we all enjoyed playing with the little creature until about some 37 seconds later Ernest realised that at this age this is how far his brain is willing to go on this. Never the less, I am happy, I was missing our friends (imaginary) of late and since Lili became all so not into imagining imaginary tings it's a lot harder to keep their company. Maybe for another few years she can be dragged back to it and I is going to be just that much better now; the four of us imagining things together.
One more thing on looking up in amusement. At our local food store above the vegetable aisle there is a rather large air-conditioning vent. Liliom is most amused by it. I discovered that whenever she remembers to look up when we are there she just cannot take her eyes of it, completely tranced.
She has been giving me some hugs this evening and at first I couldn’t imagine what is the sudden urge for the display of affection and love. Than I realised that just minutes before I have been recounting to Jen the conversations at parents' evening in school. I guess she must have overheard (ha-ha! Listening intently to) the part where I was bragging about how clever my daughter is.
Apparently her teachers find it amusing that now whenever, wherever she meets the English teacher, she automatically converses in English.
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Saturday, 26 February 2011
February 26th
Jen may be right,
I have been doing some thinking about what has happened at the start of the month actually at that school board meeting with 'that' look.(1st paragraph) ‘That’ look which I thought shunned me for loving books and indoctrinating my children with them.
And here perhaps I need say the kind of thinking that happened to me; Jen put me right and told me I was probably wrong.
This whole issue came about and became particularly articulated in our home on Friday morning after I came home from dropping of Liliom at school. It has been snowing the night before and neither the janitor nor the other person trusted with shovelling snow off the paths could make it to school. They both live some 10 or 15 kms from the school and snow, especially quite some snow just makes it impossible to travel distance. The school bus for instance was more than an hour late.
Anyways, I grabbed a snowploughingshovel, whatever they might be called, probably shovel and started clearing off the stairs and front of the school. I remained alone in my work although some other parents stood around smoking cigarettes on the street corner (they couldn’t even have the excuse of having to rush off to work).
So Jen’s theory is that the look I was given on that school board meeting was a ‘you know what I’m talking about, you’re with me’ look. The exact opposite of what I have been theorising earlier.
Grabbing something to do in and around the school when it is there to do is very much in line with the Steiner philosophy and I have been trying to take an active part in the life of the school. Let’s hope that my reading of ‘looks’ is just lousy, and lets hope I am not as paranoid as I think I am (a rather paranoid wish).
A funny addition to the book issue. Yesterday in the Library while Jen was cruising the snowy street of Szeged frantically searching for her passport - which she also moved to the location of the home – with the children I had some pretty ok time at the library. Ernest was fascinated by all the children and their fascination with either the books or him while Lili somehow managed to find the very book her teacher reads stories from. That was a good catch amongst the possible tens of thousands of books just in the children’s library but it was also a welcome revelation realising that although in first grade at the stiener school they may not be too encouraging about books, they don’t burn them.
I have been doing some thinking about what has happened at the start of the month actually at that school board meeting with 'that' look.(1st paragraph) ‘That’ look which I thought shunned me for loving books and indoctrinating my children with them.
And here perhaps I need say the kind of thinking that happened to me; Jen put me right and told me I was probably wrong.
This whole issue came about and became particularly articulated in our home on Friday morning after I came home from dropping of Liliom at school. It has been snowing the night before and neither the janitor nor the other person trusted with shovelling snow off the paths could make it to school. They both live some 10 or 15 kms from the school and snow, especially quite some snow just makes it impossible to travel distance. The school bus for instance was more than an hour late.
Anyways, I grabbed a snowploughingshovel, whatever they might be called, probably shovel and started clearing off the stairs and front of the school. I remained alone in my work although some other parents stood around smoking cigarettes on the street corner (they couldn’t even have the excuse of having to rush off to work).
So Jen’s theory is that the look I was given on that school board meeting was a ‘you know what I’m talking about, you’re with me’ look. The exact opposite of what I have been theorising earlier.
Grabbing something to do in and around the school when it is there to do is very much in line with the Steiner philosophy and I have been trying to take an active part in the life of the school. Let’s hope that my reading of ‘looks’ is just lousy, and lets hope I am not as paranoid as I think I am (a rather paranoid wish).
A funny addition to the book issue. Yesterday in the Library while Jen was cruising the snowy street of Szeged frantically searching for her passport - which she also moved to the location of the home – with the children I had some pretty ok time at the library. Ernest was fascinated by all the children and their fascination with either the books or him while Lili somehow managed to find the very book her teacher reads stories from. That was a good catch amongst the possible tens of thousands of books just in the children’s library but it was also a welcome revelation realising that although in first grade at the stiener school they may not be too encouraging about books, they don’t burn them.
Thursday, 24 February 2011
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.
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.
16th February - On Libraries
Last week on the school board meeting conversation jumped off the agenda a bit and discussed topic became rather unworthy of the elevated nature of the board: bitching about some families and parents. A fellow member had a passing comment about parents who not only don’t pay the fees (they are called ‘offerings’ – because we are not a private school!), not only don’t participate in the school but there are some homes where you feel the parents work against the philosophy of the school. In this last part she looked at me meaningfully.
Yesterday we were in the library with the children. With Ernest we go regularly, at least once a week and I remember with Liliom we used to go often as well, back in Oulu, till I started uni when it became a rare outing. In her own gentle ways she has been trying to let me know that this isn’t right. So recently I have begun a constructive response and decided that at least every other week we will make it there with her.
Since there is a ski break and we don’t ski in the dry and snowless southern plains of hungary we hang out all day and do things like going down to the market together, playing with clay, painting the kids cardboard playhouse. And yesterday we have been to the library.
Should I let Lili, she would take home all the books. Should I let me I would do the same but fortunately there is a very strict limit of six books per library card, we have three in the family. Eighteen books is still enough.
Lili carrying a handful of books to the desk to check out, with Ernest marching right behind her with another couple of books he has chosen is a wonderful sight. Lili then sitting in the armchair at home surrounded by and disappearing behind books practically piled on top of her is another wonderful sight. Jen relived of her concerns for Ernö not bothering with books now they sitting on the sofa reading books to each other is another sight putting tears in one’s eyes.
We love books. I love books. I always have, as far as I can remember. I cannot remember my parents actively encouraging me but I am certain it was there. I love doing the same for my children, I love helping them to build a habit of using libraries and an appreciation for them. Books are incredibly important and certainly a far more productive way of receiving stories than television.
In steiner schools to begin with, books are pretty much shunned. First graders should know nothing of letters and spelling and reading and writing and all that and in some ways, generally be illiterate in the world of books. Hence Jen’s recent blogpost about their ‘learning’ the letter ‘D’. In In Lili’s school this doctrine seems to be taken seriously. I tell my colleagues at the school board and fellow parents about our lives. Liliom tells about our adventures during circle times in the mornings and an outing to the library for her is an exciting adventure, and a return packed with interesting stories, facts and science.
There is a conflict of interest with the very school we chose and pay for yet so long as I hear seven years old kids chatting on the school playground about the recent Madonna and other music videos I know that I have the moral high ground. Anyone finds it a problem?
Yesterday we were in the library with the children. With Ernest we go regularly, at least once a week and I remember with Liliom we used to go often as well, back in Oulu, till I started uni when it became a rare outing. In her own gentle ways she has been trying to let me know that this isn’t right. So recently I have begun a constructive response and decided that at least every other week we will make it there with her.
Since there is a ski break and we don’t ski in the dry and snowless southern plains of hungary we hang out all day and do things like going down to the market together, playing with clay, painting the kids cardboard playhouse. And yesterday we have been to the library.
Should I let Lili, she would take home all the books. Should I let me I would do the same but fortunately there is a very strict limit of six books per library card, we have three in the family. Eighteen books is still enough.
Lili carrying a handful of books to the desk to check out, with Ernest marching right behind her with another couple of books he has chosen is a wonderful sight. Lili then sitting in the armchair at home surrounded by and disappearing behind books practically piled on top of her is another wonderful sight. Jen relived of her concerns for Ernö not bothering with books now they sitting on the sofa reading books to each other is another sight putting tears in one’s eyes.
We love books. I love books. I always have, as far as I can remember. I cannot remember my parents actively encouraging me but I am certain it was there. I love doing the same for my children, I love helping them to build a habit of using libraries and an appreciation for them. Books are incredibly important and certainly a far more productive way of receiving stories than television.
In steiner schools to begin with, books are pretty much shunned. First graders should know nothing of letters and spelling and reading and writing and all that and in some ways, generally be illiterate in the world of books. Hence Jen’s recent blogpost about their ‘learning’ the letter ‘D’. In In Lili’s school this doctrine seems to be taken seriously. I tell my colleagues at the school board and fellow parents about our lives. Liliom tells about our adventures during circle times in the mornings and an outing to the library for her is an exciting adventure, and a return packed with interesting stories, facts and science.
There is a conflict of interest with the very school we chose and pay for yet so long as I hear seven years old kids chatting on the school playground about the recent Madonna and other music videos I know that I have the moral high ground. Anyone finds it a problem?
Sunday, 6 February 2011
February 5th - a late posting
Yesterday I was going to tell about our Library visit but it wasn’t coming together, I forgot the core of my saying, or at least the aspect that would have provided some moral message (alas politics).
Once posting and putting away the computer it came to me and sitting in the library today I had to work hard to keep on task rather than chattering away on my blog. It was an especially gruesome task as my essay topic is anything but fun. And don’t get me wrong here. Although I do stress out about essay and always, always think that I haven’t researched enough and my notes are nowhere near organised enough (which usually is true) and I believe that i haven’t enough reference (way off, I scare people with the amount of referencing I can do). It is a productive stress mostly and I enjoy writing academically too so the reason I end up moaning about an essay topic is nothing like the usual student whining where one is constantly in an end of the world mood when ask to produce evidence of cognitive process. It is simply that writing about what may have gone wrong in a process to result in genocide is simply a shit topic.
So I managed and as I was deprived coffee, the library was in preparation for a charity ball so facilities of codeine dispersal were non-functioning, I am sitting in a cafe now before returning home. It’s a bit of a wind down, although my brain was fried and needed some buffer before Ernest.
Here is the chance than, which also functioned as a ‘carrot’. The library experience.
Actually now I am starting to be concerned there may have been way to much raising tension and expectation before... ops.
Usually we go to the library as a morning activity with Ernest. We like to rain in the place when it is mostly empty. I however started to feel that we are depriving Liliom from the chance of having a more sophisticated roaming than what we have with Ernest so decided that it is necessary to have a session. The three of us set out leaving Jen home to study and we found a very different library from what I am used to with Ernest. It was round 4pm and packed. There were children and young people everywhere. It was really nice to see that there are members of the following generation who still believe books have value.
Asked Lili to chose a book for me from four available by Sven Nordquist. She took her work incredibly serious and spent a lot of time browsing the books. Eventually she came up to me with two of them letting me know that those two were the best, we are taking them both. Then she went on to find some other stuff while it became increasingly difficult for me to ‘contain’ Ernest. He was tired and in such circumstances he becomes what we refer to as ‘high maintenance’. Adding to this I forgot to change sock and in my warm winter socks in the incredibly heated building I was slowly dying of warm feet. Eventually we had to go.
On leaving Liliom has showed me one more book she wanted to take. It was a children’s book by a guy called Wass Albert. Only recently I realised he was into writing children stories, since we started to go to library here and I find that amongst the newest books available there are many penned by him. He is a bit of a cult nowadays among, hm, patriots of Hungarian origin. In his life he was very pro-Hungarian and perhaps not offending to say extremely nationalist. For his excuse, growing up in 20th century Transylvania as a member of the former ruling elite I can understand why he had rather negative perception of so called others. Apart from romantic nationalism and the extreme stylistically tackiness, cheapness in his writing (vow, I bet I gut some fuses blown with this one) I wouldn’t have problem with Lili exploring his book.
Unfortunately it is his wider political views, having openly been supporter of fascist regimes and - in emigration – organisations and periodicals I simply said to Lili ‘sorry, but the guy who wrote that book was a fascist, I don’t want you reading that book’. I managed to raise some eyebrows and we were off. Lili was cool with it. There will be time she will read what she well please. For the time being I try to help her into reading books by people who think that empathy and solidarity is the birthright of every human being.
(should this have been written into the blog yesterday, it would have meant three ‘moral’ issues in an apolitical blog – I rock)
Once posting and putting away the computer it came to me and sitting in the library today I had to work hard to keep on task rather than chattering away on my blog. It was an especially gruesome task as my essay topic is anything but fun. And don’t get me wrong here. Although I do stress out about essay and always, always think that I haven’t researched enough and my notes are nowhere near organised enough (which usually is true) and I believe that i haven’t enough reference (way off, I scare people with the amount of referencing I can do). It is a productive stress mostly and I enjoy writing academically too so the reason I end up moaning about an essay topic is nothing like the usual student whining where one is constantly in an end of the world mood when ask to produce evidence of cognitive process. It is simply that writing about what may have gone wrong in a process to result in genocide is simply a shit topic.
So I managed and as I was deprived coffee, the library was in preparation for a charity ball so facilities of codeine dispersal were non-functioning, I am sitting in a cafe now before returning home. It’s a bit of a wind down, although my brain was fried and needed some buffer before Ernest.
Here is the chance than, which also functioned as a ‘carrot’. The library experience.
Actually now I am starting to be concerned there may have been way to much raising tension and expectation before... ops.
Usually we go to the library as a morning activity with Ernest. We like to rain in the place when it is mostly empty. I however started to feel that we are depriving Liliom from the chance of having a more sophisticated roaming than what we have with Ernest so decided that it is necessary to have a session. The three of us set out leaving Jen home to study and we found a very different library from what I am used to with Ernest. It was round 4pm and packed. There were children and young people everywhere. It was really nice to see that there are members of the following generation who still believe books have value.
Asked Lili to chose a book for me from four available by Sven Nordquist. She took her work incredibly serious and spent a lot of time browsing the books. Eventually she came up to me with two of them letting me know that those two were the best, we are taking them both. Then she went on to find some other stuff while it became increasingly difficult for me to ‘contain’ Ernest. He was tired and in such circumstances he becomes what we refer to as ‘high maintenance’. Adding to this I forgot to change sock and in my warm winter socks in the incredibly heated building I was slowly dying of warm feet. Eventually we had to go.
On leaving Liliom has showed me one more book she wanted to take. It was a children’s book by a guy called Wass Albert. Only recently I realised he was into writing children stories, since we started to go to library here and I find that amongst the newest books available there are many penned by him. He is a bit of a cult nowadays among, hm, patriots of Hungarian origin. In his life he was very pro-Hungarian and perhaps not offending to say extremely nationalist. For his excuse, growing up in 20th century Transylvania as a member of the former ruling elite I can understand why he had rather negative perception of so called others. Apart from romantic nationalism and the extreme stylistically tackiness, cheapness in his writing (vow, I bet I gut some fuses blown with this one) I wouldn’t have problem with Lili exploring his book.
Unfortunately it is his wider political views, having openly been supporter of fascist regimes and - in emigration – organisations and periodicals I simply said to Lili ‘sorry, but the guy who wrote that book was a fascist, I don’t want you reading that book’. I managed to raise some eyebrows and we were off. Lili was cool with it. There will be time she will read what she well please. For the time being I try to help her into reading books by people who think that empathy and solidarity is the birthright of every human being.
(should this have been written into the blog yesterday, it would have meant three ‘moral’ issues in an apolitical blog – I rock)
Friday, 4 February 2011
February 4th
There may be something wrong about stand up comedies when one stays awake, keeps watching a show in hope that maybe, maybe at the end there will be the punch line that made it all worth it, that made it all ok to persevere. It was the second time now – if one can say in a row – that this has happened. I do not like it and I find only two explanations: either these comedians i watch getting old and start losing touch or I am getting old and losing touch. For this latter I could borrow one of my mum’s recently favourite phrase ‘I’m just not as young anymore as I am used to be...’ Well neither am I and unless one finds the fountain of youth we all have the ready answer to whatever comes our way. Had I been younger it would probably had been a more fun show (although I doubt it, being ‘old’ – well maybe not so old actually – and grumpy). Show me a stand up that I find painfully funny at least in my stomach muscles and I will owe you the price of your choice.
I couldn’t help reading in the news this morning that the USA, its government now want the Egyptian Mubarak gone, and hopes to have him replaced with his former minister for secret services... one shall not comment on that but I fear for the peace in a country where seems to be a genuine hope for a democracy. The army will probably take over, best case scenario that the European Council and the UN will organise elections... then comes - my concern here - that the people will have voted ‘wrong’.
Reading news has happened before going to the market, before taking Liliom to school and after having breakfast and although we were late to school it was a brief session of reading nevertheless. So I derive my analysis from minutes of news reading. I perhaps got it wrong.
After dropping Lili off, Ernest and I turned towards the market which usually a blissfully oblivious browse for me as by the time we get there, he is almost always asleep. Ususally his is covered by his shawl so people just know me there as the guy with the buggy. They rarely see Ernest. But today it was different. He was awake and he wanted a piece of the action so we experimented with him on foot. I wrapped his shawl around him in some manner so it didn’t obstruct his movement and didn’t strangle him either. And off he went. Invincible.
Twice I lost him completely following the signs and waves from friendly vendors as I was chasing after him. It was a laugh. Eventually we came to an agreement to take turns leading the way and waiting up on each other. This system worked well only to break down rather explicitly when the appearance of satsumas –especially ones in crates under the vendor tables. In the beginning our agreement was like that of the great powers on the security council of the UN. We wanted, we dreamed of a future – and at the time a present – without conflicts, of mutual understanding only to have it gone in an instant degrading back in to pity self interest the moment our common dreams became an obstacle of the corporations that controlled ‘our’ governments, the moment those satsumas were in sight all deals were off.
I caught up with the news later so maybe my hypothesis has some more ground than it first seems. Yes, I am very clever.
I couldn’t help reading in the news this morning that the USA, its government now want the Egyptian Mubarak gone, and hopes to have him replaced with his former minister for secret services... one shall not comment on that but I fear for the peace in a country where seems to be a genuine hope for a democracy. The army will probably take over, best case scenario that the European Council and the UN will organise elections... then comes - my concern here - that the people will have voted ‘wrong’.
Reading news has happened before going to the market, before taking Liliom to school and after having breakfast and although we were late to school it was a brief session of reading nevertheless. So I derive my analysis from minutes of news reading. I perhaps got it wrong.
After dropping Lili off, Ernest and I turned towards the market which usually a blissfully oblivious browse for me as by the time we get there, he is almost always asleep. Ususally his is covered by his shawl so people just know me there as the guy with the buggy. They rarely see Ernest. But today it was different. He was awake and he wanted a piece of the action so we experimented with him on foot. I wrapped his shawl around him in some manner so it didn’t obstruct his movement and didn’t strangle him either. And off he went. Invincible.
Twice I lost him completely following the signs and waves from friendly vendors as I was chasing after him. It was a laugh. Eventually we came to an agreement to take turns leading the way and waiting up on each other. This system worked well only to break down rather explicitly when the appearance of satsumas –especially ones in crates under the vendor tables. In the beginning our agreement was like that of the great powers on the security council of the UN. We wanted, we dreamed of a future – and at the time a present – without conflicts, of mutual understanding only to have it gone in an instant degrading back in to pity self interest the moment our common dreams became an obstacle of the corporations that controlled ‘our’ governments, the moment those satsumas were in sight all deals were off.
I caught up with the news later so maybe my hypothesis has some more ground than it first seems. Yes, I am very clever.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
February 2nd
It is increasingly difficult to restrain myself from mentioning politics or being political in this blog in Szeged. I may have mentioned before about the set up of the city hall where the majority of the councillors are from the governing party but the major is from another, the biggest opposition party (in parliament) so all that happens in the city council is these two pissing each other off for the sake of it. It has affected Lili’s school for instance by not being able to make deals with the council about building and upgrading the building – which we rent from the city and as the owner the city’s permission is needed for changing it. Or more recently the Hungarian government’s début in the European Parliament. And of course now there is Norht Africa, the middle East and Egypt in the middle of it all that I find increasingly difficult to let pass without a comment especially so that we talk about it a lot.
Well, for those who can’t see how this is all –
- Yes and there is the recent pitch, combined direct opposition to the London Govmnt by the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irelander govermnts. Vow.
So if you think this may result into too much politics in an apolitical blog I – and another funny bit, we had some guests today, my mother and her friends and while their were here we haven’t discussed recent happenings in the political spheres of hungary , although I have been talking about it with Jen while preparing tea for our guests in the kitchen - so yes I recommend and finally actually do, this oldish awareness video from Scotland, my second, or maybe third home - depends on how one is sequencing and prioritising. Haven’t quite finalised it myself.
Liliom had a ballet presentation today. They were quite nice. I mean the children. Working really hard and all that. Ernest slept through most of it and I forgot to take off my jumper before settling so I nearly died in the heat but hey, is there anything you wouldn’t do for your children? I still wonder, if a boy these days dared to join the ballet class, what colour would he wear? The bright pink maybe would be pushing a step too far wouldn’t it? After all just because someone wants to dance doesn’t automatically mean that he wants to become the girliest girly princessy vuagh! But what colour would match pink? Black? Not sure. Of course these days in after school or extracurricular sporty activities the ones with balls play with balls therefore the outfit for ballet is not a concern.
Now that I am finally starting to feel better and a bit more up to doing, hm, living life it is Jen’s turn to start falling ill. This is the game (if one dares calling it as susch ) we have been playing since the end of September. Someone in the house would always feel physically rubbish. This puts some marks on our stay here.
Yesterday my head was full of wonderful ideas. In the evening we cleaned the house and ever since I feel empty inside. I never imagined that a tidy and clean house can put a strain on creative energy in such a nasty manner. Quite said.
Ernest has fallen into some destructive behaviour pattern recently. Yesterday we realised that it can be cured by taking him out on to the walking street. Let him stroll around, wave to his admirers, check out shops and places... puts him in a good mood. He tides up and only occasionally attacks Lili. Of course we could be wrong and he is in a better mood because for a change his growing teeth have stopped growing and bothering him. He can realise that life actually is fun
Well, for those who can’t see how this is all –
- Yes and there is the recent pitch, combined direct opposition to the London Govmnt by the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irelander govermnts. Vow.
So if you think this may result into too much politics in an apolitical blog I – and another funny bit, we had some guests today, my mother and her friends and while their were here we haven’t discussed recent happenings in the political spheres of hungary , although I have been talking about it with Jen while preparing tea for our guests in the kitchen - so yes I recommend and finally actually do, this oldish awareness video from Scotland, my second, or maybe third home - depends on how one is sequencing and prioritising. Haven’t quite finalised it myself.
Liliom had a ballet presentation today. They were quite nice. I mean the children. Working really hard and all that. Ernest slept through most of it and I forgot to take off my jumper before settling so I nearly died in the heat but hey, is there anything you wouldn’t do for your children? I still wonder, if a boy these days dared to join the ballet class, what colour would he wear? The bright pink maybe would be pushing a step too far wouldn’t it? After all just because someone wants to dance doesn’t automatically mean that he wants to become the girliest girly princessy vuagh! But what colour would match pink? Black? Not sure. Of course these days in after school or extracurricular sporty activities the ones with balls play with balls therefore the outfit for ballet is not a concern.
Now that I am finally starting to feel better and a bit more up to doing, hm, living life it is Jen’s turn to start falling ill. This is the game (if one dares calling it as susch ) we have been playing since the end of September. Someone in the house would always feel physically rubbish. This puts some marks on our stay here.
Yesterday my head was full of wonderful ideas. In the evening we cleaned the house and ever since I feel empty inside. I never imagined that a tidy and clean house can put a strain on creative energy in such a nasty manner. Quite said.
Ernest has fallen into some destructive behaviour pattern recently. Yesterday we realised that it can be cured by taking him out on to the walking street. Let him stroll around, wave to his admirers, check out shops and places... puts him in a good mood. He tides up and only occasionally attacks Lili. Of course we could be wrong and he is in a better mood because for a change his growing teeth have stopped growing and bothering him. He can realise that life actually is fun
Monday, 31 January 2011
Jan 31st
Sometimes I wonder how much one can thank to Mr. Fleming from Scotland for being able to continuing blogging for the pleasure and benefit of all. Naturally there are small issues around this larger one, such as over-prescription and the probable reality that someone else sooner or later would have come along with the same fingus. But at least we can thank the guy for thinking that intellectual property, patenting medicine was... hm, I may say the paint wouldn’t carry it, gently than: stupid and inhumane.
I haven’t had tonsillitis for a good four years but I used to have it rather regularly. One asks if penicillin wasn’t an easily accessible drug would I always have come out of it? The counterargument of course that if it wasn’t overprescribed would one truly need it all the time? There shall be a balance somewhere but imagine if Mr.Flemming from Scotland thought that he should have the rights over the formula for making such drug and now it would be one of the most expensive drugs available that the NHS or KELA or their equivalent wherever you are (now feel sorry for all those living in the USA) would prescribe such drugs as penicillin only very rarely if ever at all for the impossible price it costs.
I live on welfare, staying home with my small child, a student otherwise... overpopulation wouldn’t be a problem if all lifesaving drugs would be unavailable for the poor. There might be some grave moral issues in such a viewpoint. I study a course on UN peace and security, writing an essay on Rwanda, more precisely the UN’s failure there in 1994. Freakishly depressing topic. To cheer me up we watched the ‘Battle in Settle’ a movie made from the 1999 events around the WTO meeting there. It was a bit of a relief at the end of the movie but the prologue came... Somewhere around there in that movie was something about medicines.
And I had not made a political statement yet at this point therefore this blog is apolitical.
It is hard to break away from the above topic and write something cheerful about family life in Szeged and I don’t want to rant about the doctors again. Altough this one was funny, she practically interrogated me about life in Oulu and learning the language and all. Planning on leaving the city of sunshine for some greener, more peaceful pastures. While I excitedly told all the happiness life brings in Oulu she already knew what was my medical condition and sitting three meters away she was probably safe. For the sake of the conversation she could have taken her mask off.
I haven’t had tonsillitis for a good four years but I used to have it rather regularly. One asks if penicillin wasn’t an easily accessible drug would I always have come out of it? The counterargument of course that if it wasn’t overprescribed would one truly need it all the time? There shall be a balance somewhere but imagine if Mr.Flemming from Scotland thought that he should have the rights over the formula for making such drug and now it would be one of the most expensive drugs available that the NHS or KELA or their equivalent wherever you are (now feel sorry for all those living in the USA) would prescribe such drugs as penicillin only very rarely if ever at all for the impossible price it costs.
I live on welfare, staying home with my small child, a student otherwise... overpopulation wouldn’t be a problem if all lifesaving drugs would be unavailable for the poor. There might be some grave moral issues in such a viewpoint. I study a course on UN peace and security, writing an essay on Rwanda, more precisely the UN’s failure there in 1994. Freakishly depressing topic. To cheer me up we watched the ‘Battle in Settle’ a movie made from the 1999 events around the WTO meeting there. It was a bit of a relief at the end of the movie but the prologue came... Somewhere around there in that movie was something about medicines.
And I had not made a political statement yet at this point therefore this blog is apolitical.
It is hard to break away from the above topic and write something cheerful about family life in Szeged and I don’t want to rant about the doctors again. Altough this one was funny, she practically interrogated me about life in Oulu and learning the language and all. Planning on leaving the city of sunshine for some greener, more peaceful pastures. While I excitedly told all the happiness life brings in Oulu she already knew what was my medical condition and sitting three meters away she was probably safe. For the sake of the conversation she could have taken her mask off.
Monday, 24 January 2011
January 24ht
Distant dealings – time and special disparity – with my dermatologist have reaffirmed my previous standings about the local medical societies. I perhaps haven’t mentioned (while typing this i am on a computer off line and I cannot check on prev stuff as /shame/ I don’t have a record only on the net)... so bracketing doesn’t work for me, too long round sentences. Once I had a friend who did this all the time but he was rather amazing as he could close a sentence, well, a thought after several inserted – perhaps – lectures and long descriptions in multiple layers. I am talking of him in past tense as we have lost contact eventually although in the age of facebook this is clearly an overstatement or to be precise, hiding some truths. As i said it is possible i haven’t mentioned about our visit to the doctor with Ernest last week, the visit that was utterly pointless and only succeeded in letting us know that a bust dermatologist doesn’t have time for her patient whom she happens to see for the first time in her life. (typing in one go loosing where i started without halting for a significant time thinking what I actually started to write in the beginning is more impressive doing than reading). Well. It is a process.
Bytheway process, I seem to have, in cooperation with studies into A/r/tography (or sg like this-will never learn it) I managed to inspire Jen into blogging, within days her blog seems more popular than mine. I hope this is not the beginning of the end. Of course i should pick up an ideology and say that competition is good for society so there we go. We will have a happier relationship. Although I am not convinced.
In that visit last week we were also recommended something for washing with and finally I got around to the pharmacist today to ask about it, we went there originally for teething gel. I bagged the stuff, me trusting idiot and at home I realised they were water purification tablets. She could have said to boil the cattle, let it cool and use that to wash our faces with! There goes my new found idealism about free market completion.
So getting to the point, recovering from flu, which is heavy stuff for me as I don’t usually do flu or its associates. Feeling a bit better today and there has been some positive developments. Rather surprising ones indeed. I think I may have started writing this blog bitching about this state and now we had the nices surprise. Even though we were already told that our papers now belong to the state and we will not receive them back ever, ever again, today we received them. Nice touch. Said that I needed the consul in Helsinki to put in an extra few words for me. Another, even more surprising part of the day was leaving school in the afternoon when we found Jen’s shawl that Ernest and I lost months ago. An old lady was veering it. I mentioned to her that she is wearing our scarf/shawl and she admitted that she has found it. I was willing to buy it back from her but she wouldn’t accept money. It just felt somehow wrong to let her take it off. Only did so because I am not planning to go to Mozambique any time soon again.
Bytheway process, I seem to have, in cooperation with studies into A/r/tography (or sg like this-will never learn it) I managed to inspire Jen into blogging, within days her blog seems more popular than mine. I hope this is not the beginning of the end. Of course i should pick up an ideology and say that competition is good for society so there we go. We will have a happier relationship. Although I am not convinced.
In that visit last week we were also recommended something for washing with and finally I got around to the pharmacist today to ask about it, we went there originally for teething gel. I bagged the stuff, me trusting idiot and at home I realised they were water purification tablets. She could have said to boil the cattle, let it cool and use that to wash our faces with! There goes my new found idealism about free market completion.
So getting to the point, recovering from flu, which is heavy stuff for me as I don’t usually do flu or its associates. Feeling a bit better today and there has been some positive developments. Rather surprising ones indeed. I think I may have started writing this blog bitching about this state and now we had the nices surprise. Even though we were already told that our papers now belong to the state and we will not receive them back ever, ever again, today we received them. Nice touch. Said that I needed the consul in Helsinki to put in an extra few words for me. Another, even more surprising part of the day was leaving school in the afternoon when we found Jen’s shawl that Ernest and I lost months ago. An old lady was veering it. I mentioned to her that she is wearing our scarf/shawl and she admitted that she has found it. I was willing to buy it back from her but she wouldn’t accept money. It just felt somehow wrong to let her take it off. Only did so because I am not planning to go to Mozambique any time soon again.
Saturday, 15 January 2011
January 15th
Our plan for lunch yesterday was using the leftover meat from dinner the night before, making some mayonnaise-mustard sandwiches. Already that night this plan was ruined.
Ernest is out of sync a bit with our regular meal times. we finished dinner, tidied away and all four of us were about to sit down on the sofa engaging in our now regular family spot watching an episode of river cottage.
While waiting on Lili, Ernest came in munching on a bit of meat. Jen wondered where it may came from and in response he gave a ‘follow me I show you’ look. I did follow and discovered the plastic tub on the edge of the table. Picked it up to find a lid and put it in the fridge but Ernest grabbed my trousers and gently led me back to the room. He finished the whole lunch plan.
Today with the kids I went down to the zoo. It was so much fun!!!! Well. The weather was colder than anticipated, Lili wanted to explore the European animals parts which was a bit boring. The snow has melted long ago and now everything is brown and gray. The exact shading of the animals looked at. Ernest was beside himself when he actually managed to notice one.
Some giant eagle was sitting in the corner showing his back while near to as just at the cage-wall there was some half a dozen dead chicks. Lili said they were cute letting us know with some unbelievably cheese tone. I must think she is well educated and not used to seeing dead chicks. As a female of her age she knows that anything soft and fluffy, especially baby animals like chicks supposed to melt her heart but obviously didn’t think that once they become dead lying on the ground with twisted legs and bits perhaps they shall awoke a different emotional reaction in us.
Later on we walked by again there when eagle was eating lunch. It was really cute!
We had ours at the wolves’ place. They were hungry so close as they could come they sat down and watched us having our sandwiches.
Yesterday I the whole lot us made it to the spa. After so many months here finally we realized that the spa water here doesn’t make my skin, and Ernest’s skin peal off. So we shall become a more less regular feature. And I am sure that the completely regular ones will really enjoy it too.
Jen has decided to abandon exam season and write her bachelor thesis instead. It turns out that for some of these exams she would have to pretty much memorise a couple of dozens of articles, write a page essay of each and every one of them before the exam, memorize those essays because on the exam she would have to recite 3 of them. She wouldn’t be expected to present an understandning of what is written in those articles, how she links it to her existing knowledge, other fields, exp, etc and what may be her own analytical thoughts and comments are. It’s rather better to do some meaningful work than in Oulu she can do some other meaningful work for credits. Unless by the time we go back the wonderful effects of uni reforms in finland has begun crafting a similar system!
As for myself… hm, academic procrastination on a new hight. I actually will do some academic work in order to avoid doing some academic work! I accidently applied then got invited to attend an online course organized by tampere uni., Smashing, Though the introduction speech was... be diplomatic... looking for the right word... hm, lacked motivating aspects.
Ernest is out of sync a bit with our regular meal times. we finished dinner, tidied away and all four of us were about to sit down on the sofa engaging in our now regular family spot watching an episode of river cottage.
While waiting on Lili, Ernest came in munching on a bit of meat. Jen wondered where it may came from and in response he gave a ‘follow me I show you’ look. I did follow and discovered the plastic tub on the edge of the table. Picked it up to find a lid and put it in the fridge but Ernest grabbed my trousers and gently led me back to the room. He finished the whole lunch plan.
Today with the kids I went down to the zoo. It was so much fun!!!! Well. The weather was colder than anticipated, Lili wanted to explore the European animals parts which was a bit boring. The snow has melted long ago and now everything is brown and gray. The exact shading of the animals looked at. Ernest was beside himself when he actually managed to notice one.
Some giant eagle was sitting in the corner showing his back while near to as just at the cage-wall there was some half a dozen dead chicks. Lili said they were cute letting us know with some unbelievably cheese tone. I must think she is well educated and not used to seeing dead chicks. As a female of her age she knows that anything soft and fluffy, especially baby animals like chicks supposed to melt her heart but obviously didn’t think that once they become dead lying on the ground with twisted legs and bits perhaps they shall awoke a different emotional reaction in us.
Later on we walked by again there when eagle was eating lunch. It was really cute!
We had ours at the wolves’ place. They were hungry so close as they could come they sat down and watched us having our sandwiches.
Yesterday I the whole lot us made it to the spa. After so many months here finally we realized that the spa water here doesn’t make my skin, and Ernest’s skin peal off. So we shall become a more less regular feature. And I am sure that the completely regular ones will really enjoy it too.
Jen has decided to abandon exam season and write her bachelor thesis instead. It turns out that for some of these exams she would have to pretty much memorise a couple of dozens of articles, write a page essay of each and every one of them before the exam, memorize those essays because on the exam she would have to recite 3 of them. She wouldn’t be expected to present an understandning of what is written in those articles, how she links it to her existing knowledge, other fields, exp, etc and what may be her own analytical thoughts and comments are. It’s rather better to do some meaningful work than in Oulu she can do some other meaningful work for credits. Unless by the time we go back the wonderful effects of uni reforms in finland has begun crafting a similar system!
As for myself… hm, academic procrastination on a new hight. I actually will do some academic work in order to avoid doing some academic work! I accidently applied then got invited to attend an online course organized by tampere uni., Smashing, Though the introduction speech was... be diplomatic... looking for the right word... hm, lacked motivating aspects.
Monday, 10 January 2011
January 11th
Around 11am I gave up and turned towards home. The coffee he drunk before we left the house some 2 hours earlier did not seem wanting to wear off. Of course he weas only waiting for this signal and fell asleep. There might be the odd question ‘why let a toddler drink coffee?’ but my comeback is Lili’s explanation on how she came to have drunk coffee when she accidentally revealed that she didn’t like coffee: she was walking with her tongue hanging out, she slipped and fell and her tongue accidentally got into the coffee cup sitting on the floor next to the sofa. Ernest’s explanation is so much more modest and straight to the point; I put my more or less empty cup on the table and i turned my back. Surely, what did I expect?
The past week’s biggest achievements are... hm, Jen is frantically studying for exams, writing blog entrie(s) and... well, she is having a stressful time. Poor little sowing machine is sitting on the side of the desk with the dustcover on. Lili is enjoying weaving and keeps talking about it all the time ( I prefer I recounts of school life). Ernest on our Sunday afternoon sunny walk and play in the park learnt to sit down on the slide all by himself and, well, slide down. It was so exciting eventually he stopped doing this in his excitement and would just throw himself down the slide. He had another one. Today while I was yet again talking to the greenpeace activist on the walking street, which happens sort of every time we walk there, Ernest discovered his tongue. Again. He does this at least once a week. And last but not least late this morning walking in town I caught myself thinking about my thesis topic! It was quite a surprise actually. Have been avoiding it for quite some time and now there it was!
In the afternoon I’ve found some old oranges in the fridge and decided to handpress some juice for the kids only to have the glass thrown on the ground. Was tempted to soak it up and squeeze and hand press the second time but i couldn’t.
Started watching river cottage, the very first episode. The pigs were cute. Or so we were told. Lili weaved. It was Jen’t idea, it’s a training video for our future rural life. We are setting up the online community as we speak. Just goes slowly with all this other bits to do.
And finally some politics too
The past week’s biggest achievements are... hm, Jen is frantically studying for exams, writing blog entrie(s) and... well, she is having a stressful time. Poor little sowing machine is sitting on the side of the desk with the dustcover on. Lili is enjoying weaving and keeps talking about it all the time ( I prefer I recounts of school life). Ernest on our Sunday afternoon sunny walk and play in the park learnt to sit down on the slide all by himself and, well, slide down. It was so exciting eventually he stopped doing this in his excitement and would just throw himself down the slide. He had another one. Today while I was yet again talking to the greenpeace activist on the walking street, which happens sort of every time we walk there, Ernest discovered his tongue. Again. He does this at least once a week. And last but not least late this morning walking in town I caught myself thinking about my thesis topic! It was quite a surprise actually. Have been avoiding it for quite some time and now there it was!
In the afternoon I’ve found some old oranges in the fridge and decided to handpress some juice for the kids only to have the glass thrown on the ground. Was tempted to soak it up and squeeze and hand press the second time but i couldn’t.
Started watching river cottage, the very first episode. The pigs were cute. Or so we were told. Lili weaved. It was Jen’t idea, it’s a training video for our future rural life. We are setting up the online community as we speak. Just goes slowly with all this other bits to do.
And finally some politics too
Thursday, 6 January 2011
I forgot all about the things that happaned to me yesterday. should have written them down yesterday...
I remember hanging out in and around town all morning with Ernest. watching tons of Caprica in the evening. Should I say the ending was predictible? hm, I guess it was pretty pre-determined.
biggest thing: we finally, after 6 months caugth up with washing only to discover that we don't have enough wardrobe space. there is sweet irony here.
Ernest's new hobby is climbing on the table. Our new nigthmare is Ernests' new hobby with Lili adding her horrific, forced, loud laughter which she now started doing again. It perhaps has something to do with school. she wasnt doing it during the holidays. There is stuff that she learns there. the significant ones from other kids. I think so far she has managed to avoid learning too much from the teacher for she doesn't ask 'what?' or something like that when she doesn't get something. At least children teach each other stuff.
In the afternoon we started working on a cut out fold in a thousand ways then glue and hold for an hour paper model (ok, I was exaguarating). managed to finish. Lili kind of got bored for the glue is just not quick enough but she perceviered. perhaps better than I have. Ernest wanted to help and for a good few minutes he managed to sit or better say riggle on my lap and pay attention to what we were doing.
We also went to the doctor to get the next set of vacination. It was a bit weired but nothing impossible to handle. If you remember, the last openly bitching blog entry... of course I am in a bit better shape now. The doctor was a bit more relaxed too actually.
so this is it. I find ways to procrastinate from needed academic readings...
Politically... same same as usual, kind of bored of it now.
Jen said that nick cleg is increasingly looking, talking, moving (and probably thining) like the big mand cameron himself. hm
I remember hanging out in and around town all morning with Ernest. watching tons of Caprica in the evening. Should I say the ending was predictible? hm, I guess it was pretty pre-determined.
biggest thing: we finally, after 6 months caugth up with washing only to discover that we don't have enough wardrobe space. there is sweet irony here.
Ernest's new hobby is climbing on the table. Our new nigthmare is Ernests' new hobby with Lili adding her horrific, forced, loud laughter which she now started doing again. It perhaps has something to do with school. she wasnt doing it during the holidays. There is stuff that she learns there. the significant ones from other kids. I think so far she has managed to avoid learning too much from the teacher for she doesn't ask 'what?' or something like that when she doesn't get something. At least children teach each other stuff.
In the afternoon we started working on a cut out fold in a thousand ways then glue and hold for an hour paper model (ok, I was exaguarating). managed to finish. Lili kind of got bored for the glue is just not quick enough but she perceviered. perhaps better than I have. Ernest wanted to help and for a good few minutes he managed to sit or better say riggle on my lap and pay attention to what we were doing.
We also went to the doctor to get the next set of vacination. It was a bit weired but nothing impossible to handle. If you remember, the last openly bitching blog entry... of course I am in a bit better shape now. The doctor was a bit more relaxed too actually.
so this is it. I find ways to procrastinate from needed academic readings...
Politically... same same as usual, kind of bored of it now.
Jen said that nick cleg is increasingly looking, talking, moving (and probably thining) like the big mand cameron himself. hm
Monday, 13 December 2010
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?
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?
Sunday, 12 December 2010
12Dec
Last night we have gone mainstream. We did what everyone else and went for a walk with the children after dinner. It was snowing you see and here in Szeged snow is something still unusual and unlikely to stay around till the morning. Which it didn’t so I congratulate to all of us around town for taking the kids out during the evening. We were smart. It was fun, Both Lili and Ernest were besides themselves with joy. And so was I actually. Ernest was pretty much a first timer though, so it was the excitement of the new for him while Lili, Jen and I probably just missed the stuff. Although it was nothing like building a snowcave but we are a long way from home. It’s ok.
Today was eventless, at least around the home. Jen and Lili went out for a ballet performance in the afternoon. Philosophy of bodies it was called and I hear it was good. Lili practically danced through the thing in her chair. Must have been a site.
With Ernest we (sure we?) decided to watch a documentary about pension funds investment policies and its consequences, the movie speaking mostly in German wit French subtitles. A generally good bashing on contemporary economic globalization. The pictures were amazing though and I still have managed to learn something new about the maintenance of US hegemony.
On Saturday I took the kids to the market which was fun, it always is and then we went for lunch at the vegetarian restaurant. Why is it that such places are always into Indian inspired spiritualism?
Two nights ago I read some recounts from protesters about their experiences on parliament square.
What I have to say about it is following this link.
Lili had a most amazing weekend with the first snow here, Christmas market, going out for lunch loving the food and going to a ballet for the first time of her life.
After all this she will tell the most hideous story from the weekend come Monday morning’s circle time at school.
Today was eventless, at least around the home. Jen and Lili went out for a ballet performance in the afternoon. Philosophy of bodies it was called and I hear it was good. Lili practically danced through the thing in her chair. Must have been a site.
With Ernest we (sure we?) decided to watch a documentary about pension funds investment policies and its consequences, the movie speaking mostly in German wit French subtitles. A generally good bashing on contemporary economic globalization. The pictures were amazing though and I still have managed to learn something new about the maintenance of US hegemony.
On Saturday I took the kids to the market which was fun, it always is and then we went for lunch at the vegetarian restaurant. Why is it that such places are always into Indian inspired spiritualism?
Two nights ago I read some recounts from protesters about their experiences on parliament square.
What I have to say about it is following this link.
Lili had a most amazing weekend with the first snow here, Christmas market, going out for lunch loving the food and going to a ballet for the first time of her life.
After all this she will tell the most hideous story from the weekend come Monday morning’s circle time at school.
Friday, 10 December 2010
10Dec
One thing I forgot to do today, or to be precise I haven’t forgotten but could be bothered waiting for the economics personnel to come back from her lunch and therefore failed to pay the school fees for December. I pay on Monday, if she is around and hope the school doesn’t bankrupt till then because of our missing payment (which may sound like a joke but…
It feels this week we are picking up a habit of tidying up before bed time, I’m spicing it with classical music, today’s was Mozart. Lili is learning to like it.
Tired now, again we had an early morning. Ernest wakes up and then he is pretty upset to be awake but it doesn’t occur to him that this curse can be healed rather simply. After dropping off Lili at school we took off to take care of some more business at the post office, 2 queues, one for the parcels and letters the other one is for paying bills, if you do both, you wait twice. Loving it.
Ernest slept while we went back to the dermatologists where a different receptionist wondered why did her colleague sent me on a grail quest. She told me I already given them all the data they need. Goodbye.
The flat people were out at the market today, I took some pictures. Chatted with some vendors and had a langos; deep fried flat bread, extremely nutritious and healthy snack for lunch. Ernest likes langos too baut at home he had some other food as well.
After picking up Lili from school we met Jen at the university library It seems we both had books to return. After coffee at home I left on yet another quest to find clay and wood glue. There is no clay in Szeged although Jen claims there is just around the corner so tomorrow she will take usthere. I found wood glue in the glue shop as there is one of those.
Dinner was bland but we started hungry so it didn’t matter. Lakc of sleep takes its tolls
It feels this week we are picking up a habit of tidying up before bed time, I’m spicing it with classical music, today’s was Mozart. Lili is learning to like it.
Tired now, again we had an early morning. Ernest wakes up and then he is pretty upset to be awake but it doesn’t occur to him that this curse can be healed rather simply. After dropping off Lili at school we took off to take care of some more business at the post office, 2 queues, one for the parcels and letters the other one is for paying bills, if you do both, you wait twice. Loving it.
Ernest slept while we went back to the dermatologists where a different receptionist wondered why did her colleague sent me on a grail quest. She told me I already given them all the data they need. Goodbye.
The flat people were out at the market today, I took some pictures. Chatted with some vendors and had a langos; deep fried flat bread, extremely nutritious and healthy snack for lunch. Ernest likes langos too baut at home he had some other food as well.
After picking up Lili from school we met Jen at the university library It seems we both had books to return. After coffee at home I left on yet another quest to find clay and wood glue. There is no clay in Szeged although Jen claims there is just around the corner so tomorrow she will take usthere. I found wood glue in the glue shop as there is one of those.
Dinner was bland but we started hungry so it didn’t matter. Lakc of sleep takes its tolls
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