Rural Life in Hungary

Well it finally arrived in style!!!

2012-02-10T15:47:00.000-08:00

Winter has well and truly hit Hungary and granted temperatures are not as low as they have been in previous years however, being accompanied by chilling Siberian winds, this is the coldest I have felt. Thankfully, I know it won't last and before we know it, spring will be upon us so for now, it's a case of staying snug and warm indoors, plenty of hot cocoa, marshmallows, trashy TV and a couple of good books.

Thought you might like to see some photos of the children on Lake Balaton. love the chair on skis but will pass on the swimming brrr........

Still waiting for winter!

2012-01-20T16:39:00.000-08:00

Lot's of plan and resolutions have been made in the past few weeks which have included a new property blog to show readers the delights of Hungary and what is available at unbelievably low prices. I've added a link to the blog in the links section on the right. Hopefully it will grow to become a source of information on different villages and areas in Hungary, Hungarian culture and food as well as properties for sale by local owners.

Nearly forgot to mention, we spent a lovely evening with friends in the Zala hills and to my surprise, I discovered a fellow Historian with a mutual interest in investigating our villages "battle field" with a metal detector. So hopefully (if we find a suitable detector) the children will have something to entertain them over Easter.

Not much else to mention at the moment as mostly my spare time has been spent baking cupcakes and trying out new curry recipes building a new chimney in Sprints room and fitting two new wood burners. The next job to be tackled is fitting a wood burner in the school room however, with it being an old adobe house, I would prefer to have something in fitting with the character of the building and after browsing too many sites on masonry heaters I discovered and fell in love with these and despite hubby's protests I have decided that we will attempt to build something similar - I'll keep you updated when the build begins :-)

Xmas day Pictures & a Happy New Year

2011-12-31T07:35:00.000-08:00

Xmas day was spent with the family and due to the unexpectedly mild weather, we even managed a Xmas walk. Mid morning, we had some friends from the village call round with gifts of cakes, a self caught Pike-perch (lake fish) and some home made blood sausage. It was totally unexpected and in my panic to give them something in return, I grabbed Nicole's bottle of Rose wine - not understanding why she was standing behind me saying "give them the red, give them the red - sorry!!"

Gifts from our Hungarian friends

Not sure if i mentioned our Xmas tree in my last post? My requirements were; at least 6 foot tall, not dropping needles and nice and bushy. Now nowhere in that description does it say 8-10 feet wide and yet that is what I got! Not that I noticed when Rab brought it home as it was tied up and it wasn't until we dragged the decorations from the attic and gathered the children for the "tree decorating tradition" that we discovered the tree took up a quarter of the room. It seemed sacrilegious to start hacking branches off of it and so we ended up having to squeeze it into the corner with it's lower branches pushed upwards, the children said it is the most sorrowful, scraggly looking Xmas tree we have had yet but I like it :-)

Despite my best efforts, every year the children insist on prawn cocktail for their starter! Though this year I managed to make a duck liver pate as an extra starter so everybody seemed satisfied. For the main course we had the usual Turkey, pork and all the trimmings which was followed by trifle and the Xmas cake I had been soaking for weeks with brandy and amaretto :-)

Prawn Cocktail

Trifle

Kids table for 2 :-)

As mentioned, the mild weather enabled us to go for a walk along the small stream and into the forest and when I say a family walk, that's exactly what I mean - cats and all. Sunbeam & our new arrival Poppy followed us from the house and about 200 metres down the road we picked up Fig who was stalking mice or newts down at the little water board property. From there, all three of them stayed with us during our walk and returned home with us though little Poppy was somewhat slower than the others. Fig is not the friendliest of cats, completely independent and lets you know if she isn't pleased about something or if you try to overstep the mark with her (bit like myself ;-) but she really is amazing in so many other ways. Whilst on our walk, we noticed the animals becoming slightly stressed, Fig then sat herself down and stared at a hill a couple of hundred metres away whilst at the same time making a strange meow like noise to Sunbeam (her son) who turned and ran like the wind - for Sunbeam that is unheard of as he is such a lazy and spoilt boy -but run he did and didn't stop until he reached the building where we initially met up with Fig. Poppy was getting really stressed and so we picked her up just as Fig started growling and looking across to the hill we saw an enormous fox running through the back gardens of the houses opposite us. Fig continued sitting there until she was sure it had gone before calling Sunbeam who came plodding back (danger was over now so he certainly wasn't going to run) and we continued our walk. I for one was amazed having firstly, never known cats to go a walk with their owners and secondly, never seen them interact in the way that Fig and Sunbeam did :-)

2 cats, a dog and lots of children

Little Poppy bringing up the rear

Sprint

Besides Xmas day we have been quite busy - enjoyed getting about this Xmas and not being snowed in! We went ice skating again in Heviz, caught up with friends in Lispeszentadorjan which was really nice and even better, I might have found a metal detecting partner there. Had a nice meal out at the Giraffe Etterem in Letenye and had a lovely drive round some villages we hadn't visited before. Well, I must go as there is shortbread, mulled wine and a steak pie to be made, fireworks tonight and not too much to drink as we are having friends up for dinner tomorrow and there is nothing worse than cooking with a hangover! Happy New Year to you all

Christmas Eve in Hungary

2011-12-24T15:20:00.000-08:00

A quick update before tomorrow :-)

Sorry but the photos were taken on an ipod as I forgot the camera - so a bit pixelated!

The plan was to go ice skating at Heviz before visiting Tescos for a couple of last minute pressies and then home to prep the dinner and wrap presents.

On leaving the village, we discovered some escapees, it seems a yearly occurrence in the village though it wasn't the pony this year but rather the goats and sheep who had decided to make a bid for freedom and demolish the shrubbery around the church!

Eventually, we made it to the ice rink which was surprisingly quite.

On the drive back to our village, we decided to investigate a strangely shaped tower which has puzzled us the whole time we have lived here. For now, we are still unsure what the tower is though it appears to be newly built and the views from the top of the hill are quite stunning. We also discovered what appears to be a small village tucked in the valley but is actually the end of Dioskal village - until then, we didn't realise it stretched so far over into the hills.

Back at home, Plum sported her new Xmas jumper as it was getting a bit chilly. Finished the food prep including the Xmas cake and some duck liver pate.

So presents are wrapped and the food is in hand and we can't wait till tomorrow. Even though the children are now older, we still tracked Santa on Norad - well, it wouldn't be the same without Santa would it ;-)

Before I o. I would just like to thank everybody who sent messages wishing me well and asking after my health - it was much appreciated.

A special thank you to my dear friends John and Trish who are themselves going through a tough time this Xmas, all our love to you both and of course Marie - our thoughts are with you all this Xmas.....

I'll be back before the New Year with my list of resolutions as I feel 2012 is a time for change :-)

For now, Merry Xmas to you all and I hope it's a good one.

So much to say, so little time to say it in!

2011-12-10T17:45:00.000-08:00

So much has happened since I last posted that I really don't know where to begin!

You'll have to bare with me as I'm still a bit woozy and events won't be in chronological order :-)
The wooziness is a hangover from yesterday when I had a general anaesthetic. I guess this story began 3-4 years ago when I started having monthly problems and permanently looking as though I was 8 months pregnant. Okay, I'm overweight but the enormous lump in my upper abdomen just doesn't fit in with the rest of me and so I knew something wasn't quite right. In Ireland, I consulted my doctor and consultant and neither seemed particularly interested, with the doctor informing me that as it wasn't a life or death situation, I would be a long time on the gynecologists waiting list. Consequently, I never mentioned it again and carried on as before. However, over the past few months, even the easiest and most enjoyable jobs have become a chore and walking round the market leaves me in excruciating pain. Soooooo, having put it off for longer than was sensible, I finally dragged myself along to the gynecologist at the private clinic in Keszthely and the speed at which things happened left me somewhat dizzy, never mind woozy!
The squeamish amongst you might want to skip the next couple of paragraphs... I HAVE WARNED YOU
Anyhow, off I totter to the gynecologist (thankfully he speaks perfect English) for a pap smear and ultrasound - as I have done many times over the years in the UK. Walking into the room, I immediately look for the bed as usually I put my bag under it before pulling the curtain round and getting myself prepared - you know, bottom half off, jump on the bed, cover the belly bulge with the paper or cotton sheet that is usually at hand. And yes, there was indeed a bed in the room but there was not a snowballs chance in hell that I would be lying on it as it was strewn with the doctors coat, bag, remnants of a half eaten dinner poking out of a tinfoil wrapper (yes, on THE bed, don't even think abut it) and reams of paperwork. Next in my line of sight is THE CHAIR. Well, if this didn't come straight out of a medieval torture chamber, I don't know what did. Numerous thoughts ran through my mind, not least - what is the tin bowl under the seat for and how do I get my legs in those stirrups without losing my dignity. Needless to say, my dignity was going to be flying across the room and out the window long before I even got near the aforementioned chair! Having ran through the paperwork, the doctors aks me to go behind the curtain and undress before positioning myself in the chair. Of course, the "curtain" had to be in the opposite corner of the room to the chair (had I know this, I would have worn a top that at least covered my backside) admittedly, the room was no more than 16sqm but believe me, every step was the equivalent of a mile and every second an hour as I traversed the obligatory shiny white "modern clinical" tiles. Boots off, socks off, bottoms off - yes everything and there I stood, sucking my tummy in, clenching my buttocks, head held high, smile fixed on face (focus on a point and keep walking) and off I went, smile at the doctor on the right then the assistant on the left, keep walking, reach the chair, right foot on step, turn, sit, right leg in stirrup then left - I did it. In the chair, legs akimbo, I wondered why I even bothered trying to maintain an iota of dignity...... Now, I have to admit my ignorance here, I had never heard of an internal ultrasound, when I phoned and booked an appointment for an ultrasound, I envisaged lying on the aforementioned bed, abdomen smothered in freezing cold gel then a ball like instrument being ran back and forth across my tun. When the doctor produces what I can only describe as another instrument from his bag of medieval torture relics, only this one is in the guise of a metal dildo, complete with a flashing light on top (perhaps he was getting in the festive mood?) I seriousley considered making a run for it. "Relax" he says, RELAX, are you serious? Needless to say I didn't relax and it was somewhat more painful than I imagine it should have been but he seen what he had to see. Before I knew it, I had been instructed to phone in 6 days time for the smear results and to find out the cost of a biopsy and D&C. Phoning, as instructed, I learnt the cost - which was affordable -and was booked in for the operation four days later.
Four days later, at 6.30 am, I set off for the hospital. Having only previously experienced Nagykanizsa hospital, I was pleasantly surprised at how modern and clean the hospital in Zalaegerszeg was. As a stand by, I had a translator ready at the other end of the phone but quite amazingly, I managed to communicate with the nurses, filled in the relevant paperwork, had bloods taken and an ECG, The only real problem was fitting the needle for the anaesthetic as having thin veins prone to collapsing, even taking blood can be difficult. Several failed attempts by both the nurse and an older doctor proved fruitless. The nurse then started to bring up the vein on my hand whilst at the same time, the older doctor, positioned his needle ready to enter the vein in my wrist. Until then, I had suffered in silence as I knew they had difficult job with my veins but having previously experienced blood taken from my wrist, I was fully aware of how painful it was and would only allow it as a last resort and not before trying the backs of my hands. Well, even with my limited Hungarian, I fully understood the old doctors mumbles and grumbles and thanked - whomever you beleive in - that he wasn't performing my operation. Thankfully, the nurse appeared to agree with me and rolled her eyes at him before telling me there would be no problem with my hand and she was true to her word - easily inserting the needle into my, now trembling, right hand. Before I knew it, the procedure was done and I was back in my room. With foresight, I had taken my own food - tuna salad and a roll - I was right to do so as the direness of the food was the only similarity I noticed with Nagy hospital, dinner consisted of a dry slice of bread, a dry roll, two slices of spam and a yogurt. Currently, I'm awaiting the result of the biopsy though I know it will be negative so not too concerned. Though I also know that due to discoveries during the procedure, I will need further treatment and depending on the severity of the problem, I might have to return to the UK, time will tell....

Our darling little kitten was killed by a waterboard worker who was driving too fast in the village, screaming abuse at him in Hungarian did not bring her back and to be honest, did not make me feel any better. What it appeared to have done though was to alert somebody in the village that we had lost a kitten and would need a replacement (something I had said we would not do). Having been out on Xmas day, the Hungarian Xmas, we returned home around 8pm to discover a little sickly kitten sitting on the steps. It really was in a bad state, thin, bad eyes and slightly wheezy. We know it's not from any of the neighbouring properties and having never seen it in the village before but guessing who the mother is, we assume the owners couldn't find a home for it, herad about our loss and decided we wouldn't shoo it away but instead would take care of it. Naturally, we will take it to the vet next week for a check up and all being well, it has found a new home.

Going back a day to Xmas eve, myself, Sprint and Doc were at home when we suddenly heard the tinkling of bells getting louder and louder. Before we could even ask where they were coming from, there was a loud banging at the door. Doc came running into the living room whispering "mum, there's a man ringing a bell and looking through the window" Sprint then comes running from the toilet shouting " Santa's at the door and the neighbours with him ringing a bell!" Up I get and off the three of us go to open the door and before I knew what was happening, Santa and his helper were in my hallway chattering away in Hungarian -this particular neighbour has a very broad regional accent which makes him harder to understand, though Santa was easy enough as I believe hohoho is the same in every language? They kindly left three bags of sweets as well as a "switch" for beating the children if they have been bad, strangely, the switch vanished quicker than the chocolates hmm! Watching them return to the horse driven cart on which they arrived, I told the children to quickly take a bottle of wine down to them as a thank you present. Running over to the cart, which had now driven to a neighbours house, they handed the bottle to the driver who turned out to be none other than Freddie, the mayor (he not a bad old sort, just wish he would smile more often). Talking of the mayor, he has been a busy chap. A few weeks ago, pallets of paving bricks suddenly appeared at the monument and fountain in the centre of the village and there they sat for a while. Sprint said, "wow, Freddie must be going to do something with those, bet I know why he bought them" we of course asked why, to which she replied, "well it's end of season, they must of been in the sale otherwise he wouldn't have bothered" such scepticism in one so young.... Regardless, the area around the fountain has been paved as has the front of the church and it looks really amazing, so well done Freddie. That said, it didn't stop me from mumbling, every time we passed the pallets of bricks, "bricks, bricks! What the heck is he doing buying bricks when he still hasn't fixed the blasted potholes? By the end of this winter there will be no road left at all, it'll just be one big pothole".

I have to share this with you, I shouldn't because it'll probably come back to haunt me but it just really deserves to be shared as it's a classic. It was prefaced with, "I hope this doesn't offend you" and "I'm not racist but.." well, that's always a good start and you sort of know what to expect don't you? Oh no, not this time and to be honest, how could I be offended whilst being in complete shock at the total ignorance. I digress, this is what followed, "why don't all they (sic) Roma just go back to Romania....... Don't get me wrong, I feel sorry for them and that what with the woman and girls having to be muslim" I only just managed to point out that Roma did not originate from Romania, so why would they return there? Further, I pointed out that the majority of Roma are definitely not muslim. Where do you begin though, considering this comment came from a British person, living in Britain, they have never lived in Hungary (though they intend to do so in the future) and will in fact be immigrants when they move here. How do you begin explaining that the Roma they refer to have lived here for generations and are more entitled to live here than they are? How can a person make such a racist comment without personally knowing any Roma? Is this honestly what the UK is coming to? It is disheartening to say the least and saddest thing is that people like this see no wrong in what they are saying and will always find a way to justify their comments to themselves and thus negate (in their minds) the fact that it is blatant racism.

To end with, on a happier note, Xmas shopping tomorrow (don't know if I'll be up for it but the rest of the family will) and hopefully the buying of the Xmas tree so that it can be decorated by the children as I make the Xmas cake, Turkish delights and truffles, yum :-)

Getting cold now and busier than ever!

2011-11-28T03:39:00.000-08:00

Feeling guilty at not having posted in a while, I have decided to squeeze in a quick post before my mother arrives as once here I doubt that I will have a minute to myself.

Following on from my last post - I did indeed manage to make fire gel, also known as Ethanol gel :-) It was simply a case of creating calcium acetate from hydrated lime and 30% vinegar and adding this to the ethanol. There are a multitude of different ways to make the compound and some suggest filtering the mixture (takes forever if working with large quantities) or evaporating the filter (or unfiltered) compound either in the oven or at room temperature. However, I found it works sufficiently well enough for my requirements just using the compound once the reaction is complete.
Once creating the gel had been mastered, I set about building a small tiled ethanol fireplace (pictures to follow). So whilst it isn't the most affordable form of fuel, it is very clean and solved our problem, at least for the short term..... Must admit that I did look into creating our own ethanol and was pleasantly surprised to discover that Jerusalem artichokes (anyone remember the invasion that was Jerusalem artichokes??) provides the highest yield of ethanol per acre so long as it is cut three times a year. After cutting, it must be crushed to release the sugars then fermented and then distilled and then distilled again and for all that effort, we would have enough fuel for perhaps a year :-( Where would I find the time? Never mind the energy, in fact I would probably expend far more energy and emit more CO2 doing the work to create the "green energy".... Do I feel guilty for not attempting this pathway on the self sufficiency trail? Honestly, no, I do begrudge paying the high cost of 96% ethanol though and will now probably look at whether it is possible to convert 85% ethanol into 96+ as it's much cheaper. Pondering...... does petrol react with calcium acetate? Does it gel? Is this a possible separation method hmmm - if I don't blow myself up in the lab, I'll let you know.
Cat house is nearly finished as is the tiling of the balcony so they can soon move into their des res on the balcony which will hopefully keep them cosy and warm during the winter.

Recently, I again looked into the school situation here for the twins and yet again I am sure that home schooling is the better option for us. There is no doubt that Sprint would cope but my concerns were with Doc. After inquiring about help given to children with needs ranging from Aspergers to dyspraxia and everything in between, I was informed that there is no equivalent to SEN in Hungary and that many children with special needs attend an "institute" where there are children with varying degrees of needs (I assume similar to the UK years ago when many children with lesser degrees of SEN were discouraged from attending a mainstream school). If in mainstream school, any special assistance must be paid for by the parent and will be in Hungarian as are the "institutions" though there are apparently some English speaking ones near Budapest.
Well, I know he can be somewhat challenging and drive me to distraction with his quick witted replies but an "institution" is certainly not for him and if no support is given in a mainstream class, it's back to the schoolroom. Personally, I have no concerns about his education - he is ready to sit IGCSE physics, chemistry, Biology and Maths though I might put him off for another year as there is no rush, he is only 12. It is simply the social integration that I worry about and at times the looks I get from people when the children say they are home schooled...... Becoming more difficult as time goes on and I believe it will be the deciding factor on whether we return to the UK. Do I regret not putting them into a Hungarian school to begin with, not really. Having witnessed other children who admittedly can speak Hungarian more fluently, none that I know personally are doing particularly well and that for me was always the main issue. Would bright, intelligent children manage to achieve the same level in a foreign speaking school in comparison to continuing an English education. Of course there was no definitive answer and without trying we will never know, guess it was a risk I didn't want to take.

Many of my friends comment on the goings on in our village, likening it to Coronation street or Eastenders and granted, for a village of around 300, it has it's fair share of drama. The past month has been no exception and the village grapevine has been working overtime....

You'll have to wait for the rest though as my mother arrives today and I really must do some housework! Promise not to make you wait too long.....

That time of Year Again

2011-10-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

And before I knew it, Summer was over.

It's been a whirlwind of a summer what with work, meeting up with friends and finishing the renovations. I most definitely feel more settled now than I did this time last year and having met some truly horrid Brits in our first year, I can honestly say we now have a core group of people who will be friends for life :-)

At the beginning of Summer, we were somewhat unsure of our next move, mainly because of the lack of children in our village and concerns over the children's lack of social interaction - despite everybody assuring me they are the most well rounded and well mannered children they have met - well, I wouldn't be a mother if I didn't worry.

Such was my concern that at one point I actually put the house on the market, I had an enquiry and very quickly took it off again!! In my heart of hearts, I know it will be difficult to find somewhere I love as much as here. Granted the village is rural and the road has more potholes than tarmac but it has a charm that you don't find in many of the more developed villages. Add to this the fact that our friend Michelle moved over permanently and next year will see the arrival (permanently) of our good friends Yvonne and Richard as well as a family of 7 so it makes sense to stay put and see what next year brings.

So now it is time for the winter preparations to begin...... Walnuts have been harvested along with the remnants of the tomatoes, including about 10 kilo of green tomatoes - green tomato soup anybody? The wood burner, which was on it's last legs, was taken apart and rebuilt at the weekend and is firing up brilliantly again.

My latest bright idea is to have bioethanol heaters for Sprint room as well as the school room. It makes sense as these do not require a flue and can be portable meaning one heater could serve both rooms. As with most things in Hungary though it isn't as straight forward as it should be. Obi stock bio heaters, they had one on special offer which I considered buying but then refused to do so on principal because the chap we spoke to was a complete and utter moron. Now I don't usually call people morons without good reason and the reason this chap gave me was quite beyond belief. Having stated our interest in purchasing a fire place we asked whether they stocked bioethanol, a resounding no. Okay, so where do we buy it? At a paint shop. I resisted the urge to say, "but you sell paint" and focused more on the fact that paint shops sell ethanol as a thinner but never have I seen them stock bioethanol or more specifically - bioethanol gel. His moronic statement followed, the garage up the road sells it just take a container up and fill it??? Trying to explain that along with bioethanol the stuff in the garage also contains 15% petrol and burning that in your bedroom without a flue wasn't a terribly good idea, didn't get me anywhere. Can you imagine how many people he has given the same advice to? Anyhow, after much searching, it appears the closest source of bioethanol is in Austria which is somewhat frustrating considering it is manufactured in Kaposvar - about an hour from us. If and when I eventually get my hands on this elusive liquid, I will then attempt to make a gel block by adding calcium acetate in the hope to slow down the burn rate and make a safer fuel....

Some photos of a visit to Tapolca with my friend Michelle. We visited the caves but both of us chickened out of taking the children on the boat which was more akin to a tin bath than any boat I have ever seen.

Don't worry! I'm still alive :-)

2011-08-27T02:39:00.000-07:00

Where has the summer gone!!

Haven't had much time for blogging due to finishing the renovation work and trying to stretch out every minute of my time with Nicole.... Realising that when she finishes uni, her stays might not be as frequent or as long, I'm making the most of the time that I have with her. Not sure how I would cope without the internet, regular gmail chats, skype video chats and updates on her Facebook, they make it just about bearable, though not quite ;-)

So it's been a summer full of BBQ's, lazy days by the lake, lunches, dinners and forest walks. The past few weeks have been extremely difficult though with daytime temperatures well into the 30's and stuffy airless nights, much of the time has been spent in or around the pool. The lack of rain and extreme heat has been a complete nightmare for the garden and the local farmers. The corn has suffered terribly, which means less animal feed over the winter and vegetables which usually thrive here have done terribly. The heat also seems to have been beneficial to the Colorado beetle which has descended on organic potato crops meaning they have had to be lifted early, not good. Tomatoes however, have benefited by the dry heat, which has kept the blight at bay and I couldn't believe it when our neighbour along the road came by with two bags of tomatoes. Those of you who read my blog last year might remember that I was due to be paid in tomatoes for helping out one of our neighbours? You might also remember how frustrated I was that no tomatoes were delivered? Well, apparently last year their plants died from blight but as soon as they had a tomato crop this year, they fulfilled their promise - I was stunned, anywhere else, it would have been long forgotten....

This summer also saw the commencement of summer camps in the village, all of which appear to have been well attended. It's great to see the village having some initiative and making use of the facilities available to them.

Of course, the summer has also seen me somewhat tied to the kitchen with chutney and jam making, pickling, preserving pears and this year..... making melon sorbet! Yes, I finally cracked it and managed to grow 4 melon plants which have so far provided us with at least one melon and sometimes two from each plant. I never realised what a sense of accomplishment could be gained from cutting open a fresh honeydew melon, grown by own fair hands LOL They were planted on the geo textile and I'm sure this was why they were successful, previously, they had struggled to compete with the weeds and it is near impossible to control them organically - unless you can spend 24/7 weeding ;-)

Having been so busy, there aren't many photos but I have added a couple.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention - we ended up keeping two kittens and two went to a very good home with a British chap we met a couple of years ago - you might remember the Welsh slate/asbestos tile drama ;-) Well, he is now the proud owner of two of our babies - and worth mentioning, he had a tile sent to Wales for analysis, they informed him that it was indeed asbestos... Now I bet, had it been a man who originally said they were asbestos, it would have been a different story........;-)
Finally, we have a new addition to the family, little Almond, a lion head to keep Simba company - she really is the sweetest little thing - but now! No more animals.....

Forest minutes from our house - there was a deer - honest!

Is it a moth? Is it a mouse? Strange looking creature...

Two of my girls :-)

Summer is well and truly here :-)

2011-06-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update whilst the children are busy with their English Grammar. This week sees the beginning of their online group's "Olympics" writing competition, as such, plots, themes, characters and settings are being explored, disregarded, rewritten and again disregarded!
Doc is currently working on this for the 100 word short story comp:

The Man stood surrounded by nothing, waiting for something to happen. He had been waiting... forever. It's hard to gauge time when you are surrounded by nothing.
The Man was weary of waiting for something, anything to happen and so he finally decided to do something. A sheet of paper, infinitely broad and infinitely tall, suddenly materialised in front of The Man along with a simple graphite pencil. The Man picked up the pencil and began to draw. He drew people, their souls, their thoughts and their very being.
The Man was drawing life....

Talking of children, Doc, who can now cope with the different items of food on his plate touching, has another irritant. Socks! Seriously, it has been driving me insane and the arguments, shouting matches and near breakdowns (moi) do not bare description. Apparently, socks "strangle" his feet! Believing that the summer, when he could wear sandals and go sock free, would offer a reprieve from the aforementioned, I was dismayed by the recent colder spell and subsequently the chore of enticing Doc back into his socks and trainers. Having lost count of the number of social visits and appointments we are late for due to Docs refusal to wear socks - I realised something had to be done. Wearing trainers with socks was a non starter as his feet have an odour deserving of more mature and less clean feet, naturally a day in trainers in muggy weather only serves to enhance the aroma. Further, athletes foot just thrives in his trainers and there is then no chance of anything coming within 10 feet (unintentional) of his lower appendages! Whilst at the market on Sunday, we bought him several pairs of socks which are 4 sizes too big, in the hope that they will be less "strangling", so far so good, he pulls the front of them so that there is about 2 inches of sock extending from his toes. However, we have yet to try them with trainers, wish me luck ;-)
We met friends of ours at the market, which always makes it more enjoyable, there is something about browsing with people who enjoy it as much as ourselves. On occasions, we have taken other friends who don't like rummaging through the boxes and stalls and you end up rushing round without buying anything.

So a quick catch up. A couple of weeks ago we visited friends in Bereny, I had just completed a webpage for one of them offering her Hungarian/English translation services for doctors visits, hospital appointments etc. So if anyone needs an accurate translation or an interpreter, let me know and I will pass on your details. We had a pleasant afternoon there, meeting our friend's mother who was 90 yet didn't look a day over 70! Leaving Bereny, we visited another friend's house where I picked about 10kg of cherries. Half of which is now jam and the other half in the fridge for when I eventually find the time to make pie filling for the freezer.

Wednesday was a bit manic as we planned on visiting friends in Kethely then onto Tapsony to see "that nice Scottish man" and his lovely wife before dashing back home for a quick refresh and onto a friends near Letenye for a BBQ. I must admit to having doubts about going as it had been a full on day, I was exhausted and suffering from yet another tooth abscess. That said, I am so glad that we made the effort as we spent the evening with a really pleasant and entertaining group of people. Furthermore, being unwell, I hadn't managed to bake the birthday cake that I intended taking along for the twins (as the following day was their birthday) yet they ensured that there was a cake available and utilised the "emergency supply" of candles in place of birthday candles, I was amazed by their thoughtfulness and kindness :-)

For the twins birthday, we had intended going to the waterpark in Zalakaros or having a picnic by the lake but the weather wasn't playing fair so we gave it a miss.

Summer is definitely here now the pool has been filled and yet again we are battling the algae. Only days after filling, it is already a shocking shade of green - Sprint said just to add some sulphur and water lilies and say it's a thermal spa then charge an admission fee!

As previously mentioned, I haven't been feeling quite right for a few weeks. I knew exactly what the problem was and how to resolve it but being a wimp were doctors and dentists are concerned, I had been putting it off. The issue was a tooth for which I knew a root canal was needed and I had put off more times than was good for me. The infection was so bad that I ended up in the emergency doctors room at Nagykanizsa hospital where the doctor (who was wonderful and spoke perfect English) wanted me to go to A&E to be admitted. Well that was just a step too far for me and I refused, collected my prescription and vowed to get to the dentist asap. So an appointment was made with our dentist in Zalaegerszeg (it's brilliant, brand new practise, hi tech equipment and he speaks English) and with the support of Doc and Lecito (Sprint and Rab had a football match in Nagykanizsa!) I made it into the dentists chair. The tooth was opened and is currently being treated for the infection - which will take two visits due to the severity - then the 3 canals will be filled and the top rebuilt with a composite filling. The boys also had a check up while they were there. The 3 visits, including the check ups, an xray and all of the root canal treatment will cost around £120!

Kittens, onions , friends and memories :-)

2011-05-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

As always, it's been a busy few weeks though not as busy as June will be what with BBQ's, garden parties, clients and friends arriving, as well as the twins birthday. Consequently, I thought it best to post an update as I'm not sure when I will next find the time.

Early in the month saw the arrival of a couple who have become dear friends. I have mentioned previously the problems of break ins at the house they had originally purchased. Not giving up on their dream to live the Hungarian lifestyle, they came to view a couple of "little gems" I had found which were very reasonably priced and in good villages. They decided to buy a cottage with several outbuildings/animal houses, a large plot of land with a stream at the end bottom, all for the bargain price of less than £4,000. I am sure they will be happy there and can't wait till they arrive and begin living their Hungarian dream :-)

After many days and nights worrying and wondering when Fig would have her kittens, they finally arrived :-) She did exceptionally well considering the first was breach as such, a little help was required but she managed the remaining three by herself and she has proven to be an excellent little mother. There are 3 boys, one girl and of course the children want to keep them all!

My geo-textile has caused quite a bit of interest in the village and I am sure many villagers believe I am completely "őrült" (crazy). When explaining that it will keep the weeds down and save time during the summer, I can tell that they don't understand and wonder why I do not want to spend several hours a day, through the summer, battling hoe against weed in 30 degree heat as they do - without even breaking a sweat.
Apparently though, some neighbours are more concerned that I am stunting the growth of my onions. Especially Ionika, who helps me in the garden. Last week, she knocked on the door early in morning and as I was in the bath poor Lecito had to take the telling off. He endured a ten minute lecture, in Hungarian, on how some onions were having difficulty coming through the hole in the geo-textile and as such, their leaves were slightly slanted and this will affect their growth. She felt so strongly about the matter that she flagged hubby down in the middle of the village and lectured him also. So now I am determined that those onions will grow, just so I can prove to my neighbours that it wasn't a stupid idea!

The photos above show one of the geo-textile sheets (about 4m by 10m). In the centre is a giant pumpkin plant on which the main stem split and dried out a week or so after planting, not sure why as it has never happened to any of my pumpkin or squash before - answers on a postcard please - whether it will survive or not, time will tell.

Referring back to our friends mentioned in the beginning of this post, one of them is Scottish and we had a long chat reminiscing about everything Scottish, including food. This inspired me to make some lorne (or square) sausage. It wasn't quite like the original but very close, I think it needed some more bread crumbs, drier bread crumbs and a finer mince. That said, everybody seemed to like it, even the stovies I made with the leftovers. Scottish pies next!

What else have we been up to? That's the problem with infrequent posts, I forget most of the things I intend to write about!
Well, the ducklings have a new enclosure and once their "pond" is created I am sure they will be vary happy - they are still being brought into the kitchen at night as it is too cold and they are too young to be left out.
I finally managed to meet a person with whom I been corresponding with for a while, the rest of the family met her during her previous trip to Hungary but I wasn't very well so couldn't go. All I can say is that she is a character and I can envisage many fun and unforgettable get togethers with her in the future ;-) Watch this space.
Oh yes, I wanted to mention how the children, after much debating, worrying and considering, decided they would give Hungarian school a try - mainly for the socialaspect. So whilst I was schooling them, hubby went and enquired at the local school. Their response was that they had "tried" some English speaking children before (Spaniards who apparently had lived in Australia for a number of years) and it didn't work out. Therefore, they felt it would be too difficult for everyone concerned unless the children were fluent in Hungarian . My initial thought was to wonder how many British schools did their utmost to turn away foreign students who weren't fluent in English? Needless to say, this was enough to convince the children that I was lying through my back teeth when assuring them that, due to being intelligent and confident children who can speak and understand basic Hungarian, they wouldn't have too much difficulty integrating into a Hungarian school! So, for now, we continue home schooling - which with 3 pubescent children is, as I am sure you can imagine, a truly satisfying and enjoyable experience......... I have yet to find a website that provides an in depth study on aspergers and puberty - from recent experience, I'm beginning to believe it might just be too scary a topic to cover ;-)

New Arrivals and Imminent Ones

2011-05-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures I thought you might like to see.

First is the Easter procession through Marcali which we got caught up in returning from a wonderful lunch at our friends in Tapsony. Obviously, the image doesn't quite capture the hauntingly beautiful atmosphere of the candlelit procession as it made it's way through the town chanting and singing hymns.

Next is a photo of Sprint being "sprinkled" by two of the village children. She was much in demand this year, ending up with 8 or 9 sprinklers in total;-)

This little one was saved from the cat, unfortunately it's friend wasn't as lucky! After photographing him/her, a new hole was dug - well away from the cat - and it was released.

These little cuties are the latest addition to the family! Having gone to the market hoping to find a sink for a client, only to find everybody closing up early due to the rain, we instead acquired a couple of little ducklings. Admittedly, I hadn't planned on buying ducks though I have been searching for silkies - which I used to breed in the UK but are like gold dust here - however, they were just too cute and if female we will have some lovely duck eggs.

Final photo is of our heavily pregnant cat! As her milk has come in, we are guessing she is due within a day or two and as such the children are both excited and nervous - I'm just hoping she doesn't go into labour in the middle of the night! As soon as possible, mother and little uns will be marched to the vets and "done" so that no more "mistakes" can happen.

Some of the geo textile is now down - photos to follow - and it is already making a difference! Still waiting to get my potatoes and onions as the farmer hasn't finished ploughing the field, I will wait another few days and then have to go ahead as it really is getting on now. It doesn't affect me if I plant them now but it would make it much more difficult for him as he would have to avoid going over the area planted, hope he hurries up!

Playing catch up - yet again !

2011-04-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't last long with my post a day! What can I say except I am just too busy. That said, I decided to work out exactly where my time goes - apart from the obvious such as schooling, housework, cooking and gardening. Considering the 15-30 emails received each day take roughly 1-2 hours to reply to, 20-30 minutes twittering, another 1-2 hours replying to questions on other sites and a chat with Nicole 2-3 times a week (15-60 minutes) not to mention updates, or should I say trying to finish, different websites, my lack of blogging time is understandable.

Those of you who read my blog last summer will remember the carved concrete on the balcony. I am shamed to admit that once Nicole left for uni, I sort of lost interest in it and it was left half finished over the winter. However, I am pleased to say that recently I have been trying to complete it - encouraged by my neighbour who told me to do a little bit each day and one day I would finish it - and should soon be able to post photos of the finish balcony :-)

Also, just to prove we didn't rest on our laurels over the winter, I have included a picture of Sprints room. Not sure about the render, I wanted a rustic finish to the render as it would be painted with an iron oxide mix, creating an organic finish. For now we haven't rendered the side as I don't know whether to change it to a smooth finish hmmm. Sprint loves it though, finally she has her own space which will soon be completed with a reclaimed brick path and semi circular flower beds as well as a small terrace.

Seeds have been planted into trays and bulbs were given a head start before being planted in the garden.

Raised beds have been dug over by my wonderful neighbour who took 500 ft, a couple of free phone calls and a few items of clothes in return. Just need to nourish them before my geo textile arrives - I discovered it was much cheaper to import from the UK than buy here and it is my last resort attempt to deal with the weeds which usually take up so much of my time during the summer before driving me stir crazy on realising that yet again I have lost the battle.

Whilst working in the garden, I realised that my Hungarian has come on immensely since I first moved here. My helper, talks none stop and for four hours rabbited on about everything and anything that had happened in the village over winter and I understood most of it. Even when Mary from across the lane joined us, whom I usually have great difficulty understanding - probably because she shouts at me in the belief that the louder she is the more I understand - managed to convey her horror that my málna canes (kindly donated to me by Brian at the Brits club) were planted too close together. She couldn't quite understand that I haven't decided what is being planted where yet but proudly informed me that her whole field will be corn this year :-) So the canes were duly moved and having been told by three different neighbours that I must start watering them now, they were also watered.

At the weekend, Sprint had her first official fencing competition in which she made it to the knock out stage before losing 6-10. Naturally, she was disappointed but also elated to have made it to the knock out stage. On the way back from the competition, they called in at Jo's, who some of you may remember gave me bags full of wonderful clothes for children in our village. Well, this year she did it again and on the Sunday, we spent the day sorting the clothes and toys by age before distributing them to four families in the village - it is difficult to explain how poor some of them are and just how much they are appreciated. On Monday morning, whilst I was still in bed, one family showed their appreciation by leaving a near mountain of seed potatoes on the balcony. Whilst Rab and Sprint were at the fencing competition, the boys and I stayed at home and baked some dark bottom cupcakes and chocolate profiteroles for our friend Michelle's garden party.

The party was a great success, good food, lots of wine, nice mix of people and excellent hosts. Best day/night out we have had in a long time.

This week I heard about a government scheme which will apparently provide employment opportunities for 100, 000 Roma, critics are already claiming it is nothing more than a working welfare scheme and will be of no real benefit, I haven't yet found detailed information on the project so I will refrain from commenting until I do.

Today saw, what maybe, the start of Aprils couple of weeks of rain and wind and I certainly won't forget it! Sitting in the living room, the windows behind me were suddenly blown open with one smashing into another and showering glass all over the place. At the same time, we had a power cut though fortunately it has only effected the house sockets though that said, it has been off for 5 hours now with little chance of EON fixing it through the night so goodness what will happen to the fridge and freezer full of food!

Well, I think that's it for now - till next time :-)

School, more seeds and pizza.

2011-03-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

Not much to report today.
Weekdays are mostly filled with schooling from 9-4, no time for much else. That said, I managed to plant up some chili and melon seeds. As yet, I have had no success with melons, hopefully it's third time lucky.

Made some yummy homemade pizza for dinner - they always go down a storm.

This evening, just as we were winding down, our neighbour knocked on the door, in a panic, asking if she could use the phone. Having managed to work out that she wanted to phone her son at work as she had heard he was seriously ill, we discovered we couldn't find the phone.

There followed 10 minutes of frantically searching for the phone whilst the dog barked her head off and refused to let me leave the living room - she believes it's her duty in life to keep me safe from anyone or thing that comes within 10 feet - including, neighbours, the hoover, the cat and the mop. Finally, we found the phone. The son was called and mother was reassured to hear that he was indeed at work and in perfect health.

It's Nicole birthday tomorrow, sad that she isn't here with us though knowing she has a great group of friends at uni is a comfort and skype video chat makes the distance between us more bearable :-)

Not good news :-(

2011-03-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I managed to pot up some seeds, tubers and bulbs, still lots to do but getting there slowly.

Discovered today that a friends house had been broken into, fortunately the house was basically empty but it didn't stop them taking all of the sockets, light switches, light fittings and some of hubby's tools. As such, his morning was spent at their mayors office then waiting on the police.

It is so frustrating to know that estate agents sell houses to unsuspecting foreigners, in villages which are known locally to have "social issues", more so when the prices have been inflated by as much as 60%. I hear more and more these days of Brits facing problems due to living in a "problem" village and sadly many of them find themselves living in a self imposed Alcatraz so as to ensure nothing goes "walkabouts".

Most annoying though is that there are many lovely villages in Hungary which have no social problems and house prices are not overly expensive. However, they are further from the lake which, apparently, is a major selling point for buyers.

Bathroom is nearly finished and then there is only the hall floor to tile, will try and get some photos of the bathroom and Sprints room posted soon.

A Month of Goodbyes

2011-03-20T07:05:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I posted, mainly due to keeping up to date on the revolutions in Egypt and Lybia.
Knowing that not everyone is interested in or shares the same opinions with regards to international politics or human rights, I try and keep my blog a "politic free" zone.

Yesterday however, saw the death of an amazingly courageous, selfless and noble young man called Mohammed Nabbous. I came to know Mohammed, or Mo as he was know, through the Libya Alhurra "Free Libya" Internet TV channel of which he was the founder. Initially, I worked on some graphics for the station and began following intently, Mo's daily updates from Benghazi. As the revolution progressed, through Mo, the international users of the channel co ordinated and organised medical supplies, flights for the wounded and donations for medical aid as well as helping people make contact with family members in Libya. It soon became apparent that the speeches given by Gadaffi were nothing but lies. He claimed there were no civilian deaths and yet Mo was showing the world footage of men, woman and children both dead and seriously injured. When Gaddafi announced to his sleeper cells in Benghazi that they should "take out" radio and TV stations in the town, it was clear that Mo was a target and yet he continued to endeavour to show the truth of what was happening in Libya. When asked if he was scared he might die, his reply was "I am not afraid to die, I am afraid to lose the battle".
On the day of his death, Mo had filmed a family home which had been hit by one of Gaddafi's missiles, two children - 4 months and 5 years old - were killed as they lay sleeping. The missile attack and subsequent footage were taken after Gaddafi had tried to fool the international community by announcing a ceasefire. Hours after the footage was shown on both Mo's channel and international TV stations, Mo, who had returned to the streets of Benghazi to film further attacks on his town, was shot by a sniper and died soon after.
Mo was 28 years old and leaves behind a wife and an unborn child..
Others now continue his work on the channel and have vowed to do so until Libya has been liberated, this I am sure would be as Mo would have wanted it, his favourite quote was “A Candle loses nothing by lighting another Candle” and this young man lit many candles across the world.

Nearly everything else I have done or that has happened since I last posted, pales into insignificance now, so not much point in posting. Hopefully though I will be back on track tomorrow as I have decided to try and post a daily post, even if just a couple of lines. Posting once a month doesn't quite seem to be working as there is always so much to say and no time to say (type) it.

I say nearly everything as this month also saw the death of a friend of ours from Balatonszentgyorgy. Pat was a wonderful lady who coped with her illnesses without complaint, always had a smile on her face and never had a bad word to say about anyone - she will be dearly missed.

For now, it's a lovely day so I'm going to try and plant some seeds - really behind with the garden at the moment - too much time spent online, ill health and hubby having to work weekends (due to so much work at the moment) so haven't managed to get much done, or perhaps I'm just not as motivated as I was last year (probably the thought of a summer fighting the dreaded weeds again!).

Take care :-)

World Maths Day 2011 - March 1st

2011-02-18T03:47:00.000-08:00

World Maths Day
Hi my name is Simone (Sprint) and I am the English Four Nations Champion of Mathletics. I am currently living in Hungary and being home schooled, as such, I have been asked to become the Home School Ambassador for the upcoming World Maths Day on the 1st of March.
The event is hosted by 3P learning who also produce the website Mathletics, which encouraged me to do more maths and participate in the Four Nations Challenge.
This year World Maths Day (and its sister event World Spelling Day on the 3rd March 2011) is partnered with UNICEF with schools able to raise money for education projects around the world.
We are looking for home schooled children throughout the world to join us in the World Maths Day Challenge. For more information, please visit the World Maths Day site www.worldmathsday.com or feel free to ask me any questions you might have.
Simone
Mathletics Ambassador

It's been a while so lots to catch up on!

2011-01-31T16:38:00.000-08:00

It certainly has been a while since I posted, what else can I say except that I have been busier than ever!

So a quick catch up.

Sold a few paintings recently which was a miracle considering I have had no time to promote anything lately, a nice miracle though as it is forcing me back into the studio and reminding me just how much I love painting - I knew there was something missing in my life;-) Seriously though, it is the best therapy I have found and the fact that I get paid as well is a definite bonus, roll on the summer when hopefully my studio will be built ( my old studio has now been renovated and converted into a bedroom for Sprint).

Met several new friends in the past couple of months and had a lovely lunch on Saturday with two of them - so if your reading this - see, I am updating my blog so that you have something to read ;-)

Over the winter, along with converting the little outbuilding next to the house into a super girly bedroom, I made a batch of wine. I am far from being an expert on the subject of wine making and last year must have been a lucky fluke. This year, there was a huge number of fruit flies about and I think some must have got into the wine as it started to turn vinegary, fortunately I caught it in time but it left the wine with a very acidic taste. As you do, I added more sugar and a high alcohol yeast in the hope that it wouldn't be too sweet, it still wasn't drinkable. Tonight however, after leaving it far longer than last year, I decided to give it one last try before resigning it to the cooking wine shelf and believe it or not it is actually drinkable. Strong - yes, thick - yes, so more like a liquor and you definitely wouldn't want to have too many glasses of it.

I mentioned previously, the lady in the woodpile, well we discovered the full story and had a word with the chap next door who had supposedly been letting her stay at his house over the winter, we told him if he ever made her feel uncomfortable again - to the extent that she had to sleep in the freeing cold in our garden, he would get a serious telling off (all in good humour of course). He is an elderly Hungarian chap and doesn't appear to have any family, since then, he appears to have decided that we are his adopted family and sends someone round whenever he needs something, hears a strange noise etc etc. This evening, I sent Rab round with some Nurofen and Strepsils having heard he wasn't very well. When Rab called, he was in his bed so he left them with his guest - the elderly lady. Just as I was dishing up dinner, the door goes and Rab is summoned round to the house, the chap had got out of bed and summoned Rab just to say thank you and tell him he was a great neighbour, bless him. I really do love our village, life is so easy here and the simplest things that you do for people are appreciated in a way they never would be in the UK.

Lately, I have been looking for property for two Brits, I love it as it gets me out and about enabling me to see parts of Zala that I haven't previously visited. The downside is that I see so many potential projects which I would love to tackle, for example, this house is near a lake, near the Slovenian border and has some stunning render work on the walls, all for £1,570, the price of a secondhand car in the UK !!!!

Well I think that's all for now, hopefully the warmer weather is on it's way and we can start on some garden projects. I want to move the reed bed (don't know why I put it in such a stupid place!) into the field, we have a large one there already and hope to create another large one which we can utilise for watering the garden. This year I am determined to conquer the weed issue, I spend too much time weeding and have twice now given up on my crops in the bottom field, thinking of geotextiling the whole area and planting seedlings through it hmmm

A New Year - Let's Hope It's A Good Un

2011-01-09T05:26:00.000-08:00

Having been ill most of the festive season and only now managing to catch up on emails, painting, websites and business - this will need to be a quick one. Quite a few photos for you though (bet you can tell which ones I took!)

So Xmas came and apart from several of the neighbours, dropping off gifts cakes, wild boar and wine, it was "family only" and we had a great time.

Nicole was mightily disappointed that having finally made it through the snow in both the UK and Hungary, not a flake was to be seen over the holidays. She did however manage to take some photos of the frost which covered everything in a wintry blanket.

Again, I extol the merits of the traditional Hungarian heaters (ugly? Yes but so warm) and I'm not the only one!

On New Years eve, we had a couple of friends visit, everything went well, homemade oatcakes, profiteroles, cheese sticks and mulled wine were enjoyed by all. However, not long after they left, I began to feel more ill than I can ever remember feeling before. It was the first New Year for a long time that I didn't eat, drink and I certainly wasn't Merry! However, we did manage the fireworks for the kids, sang Auld Lang Syne and Rab first footed with the traditional coal, mistletoe, shortbread and coin.

Whilst here, Nicole loves nothing more than driving through the villages looking for photo opportunities and so, the day before she was due to leave, I had the brilliant idea of combining her winter drive with house hunting for a client. We had been to the area on numerous occasions but always approached it from the Nagykanisza side. This time though, we decided to take a short cut and go over the hills from Gelse. Now this area is one of natural beauty, little villages nestled in a circle of hills and forests with a small spa resort at the centre. Little did I realise just how steep some of the hills are and it wasn't until we were half way up an 18% grade hill that I began to realise the snow and ice hadn't fully cleared yet. If there is one thing I hate, it is driving down steep hills, with sharp bends in the snow and ice! Yet higher we climbed and the more nervous I became; after all, what goes up must come down and down it came, 15% grade and lots of ice laden sharp bends...... By the time we got the village, I was a nervous wreck. At that point we had a decision to make, do we continue to the villages to view the properties and risk our planned return route being worse with the added difficulty of negotiating hills in the dark or do we turn back. Everyone except Sprint and I wanted to turn back, the thought of driving down the hills I had just driven up did not appeal in the slightest so the minority ruled and on we went. Having managed to visit all but one of the villages, we now had to get out of the hills. I had decided that we could meet up with our usual route into the hills without having to traverse further hills but the satellite map didn't make it clear whether we would go around the hill or over it, it was a case of fingers crossed and hope for the best. By now it was pitch dark and after 25 minutes of my best "Sunday driving", we were elated to just about make out the lights of the 7 in the distance and on driving up to the sign below, I nearly wept with joy. Lesson learned, don't decide to try a new route in the winter! Had we stuck to our usual route, we would have been in, around the villages and out again, within the hour. Some photos of the view from one of the hills, one with a pretty little white church set on top of the hill. Photos by Rab as Nicole decided it was too cold up there to get out the car!

Tis The Season To Be Jolly : Merry Xmas

2010-12-23T16:57:00.000-08:00

Well it's that time of year again and what a busy time it is.

Nicole finally made it home from uni, though it was touch and go for a while and she had to sleep overnight in Gatwick airport - it was -10 brrrr.

Xmas cake is made and iced, mince pies have been made - eaten, made again and eaten again. Having made a batch along with homemade sausage rolls and minted lamb wraps for the expat party, I ended up spending the evening at home unwell. However, Rab and the kids went and an excellent time was had by all, Brian who hosts the meetings really made an effort by dressing up as Santa Claus, thanks Brian.

This year we are having a family only Xmas. Last year, as I mentioned at the time, we had a couple of expats join us and sadly it turned out to be the Xmas from hell. We can look back on it now and laugh but at the time is was extremely stressful. It was like a scene straight out of "One Foot In The Grave", from their dog throwing up and them leaving it to Rab to clean up, to the chap saying he wanted the Turkey drumstick (which one of the children had asked for) not eating it and sitting at the dinner table breaking it up for his dog - no wonder it was sick - then moaning because the children wanted to watch Dr Who (the only time the TV went on all day), then snapping at me when I asked if they were cold and wanted a heater in because they thought I meant the heater I had designated for their dog, though the most comical moment was the next morning when I found him rummaging through my fridge to see how many of the beers that they had brought were left, we told them just to take the lot - including ours. Subsequently we found out former friends of theirs had a similar experience the year before including their dog being given a toy that had been used and was covered in mud and more recently he tried to rip off "friends" by having them bring shopping from the UK then arguing that he would only pay the bill based on the exchange rate on the day he placed the order (which would have saved him a couple of pound) and giving them nothing for their trouble. So on Saturday, we are letting nobody through the door - strictly family only!

As you can see from the pictures, we finally got the tree up though Rab was nearly a goner at one point.

Yesterday was spent at the market shopping for Turkey, veg and last minutes presents. Fortunately, we got there early enough to grab the very last Turkey and then discovered some gorgeous little handmade decorations. It's lovely as the Hungarians do seem to prefer the more traditional decorations made from all manner of natural materials, I loved the seed pod angels but the girls preferred the acorn ones so we ended up with silver and purple acorn angels, so sweet. As well as the turkey, I had to buy a joint of pork along with a fortnights supply of meat for the freezer. So through the market we traipsed to my usual butcher, once there and whilst trying - with my pigeon Hungarian - to explainthat I couldn't see the cut of pork that I wanted, I was accosted by an elderly Hungarian woman telling me that I had to buy a cured ham to go with my cabbage, at the same time my butcher was telling me that the only piece he had left with the cut I required was "complete" at that moment I was approached by a chap we had spoken to the previous Xmas (talk about coincidence) who informed me that he had been looking for me (since last Xmas!) as he needed help with his Canadian tax returns and though he speaks English well - he doesn't write it. By now an extremely large queue was forming and again the butcher asked if I wanted a "complete" piece, to be honest he could have offered me a whole pig and I think I would have taken it; what with the elderly lady now pulling on my sleeve and insisting a "complete" piece was too much and I should stick with the cured ham, my new "friend" relaying his life story, Xmas songs blaring loudly and the children becoming visibly bored, I just wanted to get out of there! The "complete" piece was bought and will feed us for weeks! We then met up with a friend of ours, a lovely Scottish chap, his wife and their friend Linda, John had
brought me over some Iron Bru and oxo cubes - thanks John. After a good natter we headed off for some last minute present shopping before tackling Tescos.

So apart from visiting some friends and dropping off Xmas cards, I'm fairly organised for the big day.

A final photo before I go, I think this is just too adorable, Fig the kitten decided to have a go at making friends with Simba :-)

Merry Xmas to you all, hope you have a good one where ever you are xxx

Kitten, Mathletics, Flybalaton, Ryanair all in the one week!

2010-11-19T14:52:00.000-08:00

Good news! Fig the kitten was given an anti inflammatory injection and tablets for 5 days and I am pleased to report that she has now recovered.

The more observant of you will have noticed that I said she instead of he and yes, yet again, one of our pets has experienced a sex change! Our rabbit went from female to male overnight and now our kitty has done the opposite. On receiving the kitten from a neighbour, I never thought to check, believing that she had given us; as requested, a male. Since it's arrival, I really haven't had any reason to go inspecting kitty's private parts and it wasn't until her injury that I had a good look at her. Having ensured that everyone agreed there were "no male bits" hiding away somewhere, we declared him female and will now have to get her to the vets ASAP as she must be due her first season soon. Imagine if she hadn't been injured.... How long would we have joked about our "fat cat" before realising "HE" was pregnant and the patter of little paws is something I definitely do not want to be hearing.....

Before I mention anything else, I must say a HUGE congratulations to Sprint who recently took part in the Four Nations Maths Challenge and came 1st in England and 3rd in the Four Nations. The dedication she showed was amazing, working through exercise after exercise until midnight before getting up and starting again at 7am, for five days. For those who are thinking, "what on earth is Mathletics?" I will explain. It is an interactive maths site used by schools throughout the world, it's stimulating animations, ease of use and "awards" make it a fun and engaging way for children to learn, especially those who usually find maths a chore. The challenge included schools and home schoolers from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with 77,854 pupils taking part and 36,693,618 questions answered over the 5 days, competition was intense and Sprint just about wore her brain (not to mention her fingers) out in the race to the finish. Again, a huge well done, 3rd out of 77,854 is no mean feat and I am so proud of you.

Finally, it appears that Ryanair has confirmed the recommencement of flights from Flybalaton, Sármellék. Supposedly, flights will resume in April 2011, lets hope SCD group manage the airport more efficiently than the previous owners and that Ryanair show more loyalty to their passengers than before (Ryanair, loyalty? haha)

Had a wonderful evening last week in Keszthely when we attended a night of dancing, singing and jazz, organised by the Keszthely English language club. The atmosphere was great, there was a good attendance by both Brits and Hungarians, free tea, cakes and entertainment from Scottish dancing to an Indian flute player. The kids had a great time as did everyone we spoke to.

The carved concrete is nearly finished now and I have photos to put up but can't find the cable for the camera at the moment so it will need to wait until next time.

Not much else happening, I have been busy painting and building websites for Nicole and her friends at uni so not much time for anything else apart from the usual; schooling, sourcing furniture and clothes for less fortunate locals and doing what little we can to make life a bit brighter for others.

So until next time :-)

Onwards & upwards from now - Continuing our life in Hungary

2010-11-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I last blogged and to be honest, I was beginning to question whether I would again.
My mind has been somewhat in turmoil over the past few months and unfortunately caused several projects to be put on hold whilst working through a truly horrendous episode.
Without dwelling on it too much, suffice to say that someone I had believed to be a friend turned out to be a poisonous snake in the grass. Throughout the summer, I began to realise that she was capable of lying through her back teeth and having been warned about her by another expat, I should have been more wary. However, when a friend informs you that a mutual friend has been touching your child in a way that makes them uncomfortable and later implies the same person was showing an unhealthy interest in a young Roma girl, you don't question their righteousness or pause to consider that it may be contrived ; after all, no decent person would consider this just "idle gossip", would they? Well, apparently yes, they would.
Surely, she considered that I, a mother, would replay ever interaction my children had with this person, torturing myself as to whether I had missed something, subsequently questioning why several other friends claimed there was something "strange" about the person. At the least she must have expected me to consider involving the authorities or seeking further information on this persons background. No, even after she enquired whether I was going to confront the person involved - apparently - I was still expected to treat this as local gossip, bitch about the person and carry on as normal, including going out to dinner with him. All of this, I realised when I confronted the person and my "friend" basically denied everything she had said, claiming that I had misread the situation. How on earth you can misread a grown woman demonstrating what she had seen by slapping and rubbing her leg and prodding herself in the body, I do not know, neither does my eldest daughter who also witnessed her. Truly a piece of work, stirred it up then stood back and watched the fireworks.
Now I can imagine her reasons for not standing by what she said, as she had introduced the person to her circle of friends and claimed the situation made things "awkward" - admitting what she had said could well have resulted in the loss of at least one friendship.
However, what I do not understand is why, if she genuinely believed what she told me, would she continue to seek the friendship of this person - surly nobody is that desperate for friends? On the other hand, if she exaggerated or concocted what she said, what was her motive and again, what sort of person does that make her?
The best I can hope for from the whole sorry episode is that the person concerned thinks twice before making such serious implications and accusations again. There are subjects that lend themselves perfectly to idle gossip but a child's welfare is not one.

So, as I said, onwards and upwards. Thankfully all expats aren't the same and there are some wonderful Brits in Hungary, not not to mention the ever supportive locals.

Well much has happened lately, not to mention the near completion of new apartments in the village and several new foreigners purchasing both holiday and permanent homes. For a sleepy little village, nestling in the hillside, it certainly has been subject to much activity of late.

What with the recent announcement that Ryanair will be flying into Balaton again come the Spring, I am hoping that some of the little cottages ripe for renovation will find new owners and be given a new lease of life. Considering they can be bought for 4-10,000 euro and renovated for 9-15,000, they really do represent incredible value for money. However, sadly, many buyers see them as what they are, old rundown cottages and can not envisage the finished project and as such they remain empty for yet another year. Considering our village is a 15 minute drive to the airport, 10 minutes to a renowned fishing lake and 20-25 minutes from Lake Balaton, it is ideally situated for both permanent residency and as a holiday home. So it's not glamorous and touristy like Zalakaros or Keszthely but it is genuine, just like the people in it. There's no materialism, fakeness or attitude - what you see is what you get, traditional Hungarian living in a beautifully scenic location.

Why, you may ask, have I suddenly taken to selling the merits of my village? It's a long story but simply put, a neighbour who is trying to sell one of her three properties, for health and financial reasons, recently asked me why I thought she hadn't yet found a buyer. Firstly, I said that there were few British buyers around due to Ryanair pulling out of Balaton before stating that it takes a certain person to love Kerecseny - in fact, to love any traditional Hungarian village- they are a world away from the revamped lakeside resorts and less tarted up than the towns or "satellite estates". I believe that to buy in a traditional Hungarian village, to see past the peeling paint, the unpainted fences, the makeshift gates, the overgrown empty properties, you have to be searching for a way of life (many claim it is like Britain in the 50's - I'm too young to know!) and if the buyer is looking for something different, you will never be able to sell to them.

This summer was horrendous for the crops, except of course the squash which grow like triffids here, due to the amount of rain. Blight was in abundance so I waved goodbye to any hope of a freezer full of tomatoes and the cabbages suffered from the blazing sun (when it put in an appearance) scorching the rain wet leaves. Cest la vie.

The mystery of the missing walnuts...... okay, I have a thief, not something I would say lightly but I am not stupid - load mouthed, opinionated, stubborn - yes, but not stupid. Last year I had two sack fulls of walnuts and yet this year struggled to fill a carrier bag. Having taken into consideration frost damage to the buds caused by late frosts and having had a nosey at the neighbours walnut harvest, I conclude that my walnuts have most definitely been stolen. Whether it be squirrels, birds or the local "walnut seller", I do not know and it's hardly something to get worked up about; that said, next year I will be keeping a closer eye on them :-)

Lastly, some sad news..... Our darling little kitten has somehow gone and broken his front leg. As I type, I am waiting on his return from the vets. After googling "kitten broken leg", it appears he has all the symptoms of a humerus break, goodness knows what he has been up to. I will keep you updated as I know more.

Our very own sitcom !

2010-08-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think we are living in a TV sitcom, stroke, soap opera.

Lecito was accosted on the way to the village shop yesterday evening. Marika, one of our Roma neighbours, managed to convey to him that she needed a lift to Nagyrada (a village 10 minutes away) and would he tell us to take her, note - not ask us but tell us, this is typical Marika and we have learned to accept her forwardness whilst trying to gently teach her not to be so expecting.
On his return from the shop, Lecito passed on the message and I sent Rab up to find out whether it was urgent and who was going. Eventually Rab returned, not much wiser, it was something to do with the children and a relation in Nagyrada and they would only be five minutes once they got there. Having agreed to pick the 3 of them up in ten minutes, he went to clear the van. Shortly before he was leaving, Edite and Renata walked past asking if they could jump in as they were also going! At Marika's, he discovered that the original 3 had grown by another child and Edites mother, so including two of our own children, there ended up being 10 in total!
They soon discovered that they were in fact heading to Garabonc and not Nagyrada and once there the 5 minutes turned into an hour with Rab being introduced to every member of the family before being taken to the local cafe by Edite (who for reasons unknown, didn't want to stay with the family). On returning from the cafe, Rab was then presented with a further 4 people who were apparently to be dropped off on route (believe me, when Roma have access to a vehicle they fully utilise it!) thankfully Edite's mother saw the look of horror etched on Rab's face, as he would never have said no, and quickly insisted that they didn't have time.
The currency for the ride had been agreed beforehand, kukorica (sweetcorn) though I have since changed it to paradicsom (tomatoes) having realised the corn is now starchy. 5 minutes into the return journey, Marika let out a yelp and insisted Rab stop the van. Thinking something dreadful had happened, he quickly brought the van to a stop only to discover that in fact Marika had forgotten to tell her brother - in - law something "very important" and promised, "sok paradicsom" (lots of tomatoes) to about turn and head back to Garabonc.
Eventually, two hours later, they finally arrived back in the village. Thankfully I am now used to these "5 minute" mercy missions and hadn't dished the dinner but instead kept it warm for them.

Hopefully I should be receiving my tomatoes tomorrow but to be honest, I am now feeling guilty for asking for tomatoes as it has been a bad year for blight and most tomatoes have been affected :-(

A quick and excited update!

2010-08-19T16:28:00.001-07:00

You can not imagine my surprise when an email arrived from the Soros Foundation in Budapest. I wrote to them about our village, our Roma friends and the dream I have held for the past year to provide help and support to the children and women of our village. They replied that not only had they taken the time to read my email but also this blog and consequently, the deputy director of the Roma Initiative plans to visit the village and discuss my ideas!
Of course there is no guarantee of funding but it is a better response than I had even dared hope for.

Also, a quick thank you to my new friend Michelle, she is a truly lovely person and has kindly giving me three beds and a sofa to give to needy Roma families. I already know who they will be given to, two families in our village and another in Udjvar whom I know will be more than grateful to receive them.

I have more photos to add and will try and do so over the next couple of days :-)

And so the cycle continues

2010-08-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

Despairingly, this week I witnessed the beginnings of a new cycle of Roma discrimination and was reminded that I must strive harder to realise my dream of a facility in our village that will bring together both Hungarian and Roma children.
My daughter, whilst walking to the village shop with two Hungarian girls, was quite shocked when passing a Roma friend as the two girls sniffed loudly and exclaimed, "Sinti (sniffed again) nem jol" in other words, the gypsy is bad and she smells.
It wasn't the encounter itself that surprised me most but the fact that the two sisters have a Roma father. Theirs is a long story, put simply, they live in an orphanage/boarding school from Monday-Friday as the parents Hungarian/Roma, can not cope. Therefore, presumably, it is within the "school" environment that this racial hatred is being learnt as I certainly can not see their father telling them that Roma are smelly and worthless. Though that said, the latter may very well be the case. Last year, I heard a rather disturbing story, I may have already posted it but I believe it worth repeating.
A young Roma couple, from our village, were preparing for their child's christening and invited our German neighbours. During the conversation, they stressed the point that there would be no Roma at the event, only "white" people were invited and they were extremely proud of this fact. Now, this isn't a case of Roma having done exceedingly well for themselves and disowning their roots, as sadly some do, this chap has a drink problem, there are domestic issue within the family and he lives, as most Roma do, in impoverished conditions. This is simply a case of a family believing that by disowning their own colour, culture and ethnicity they will be more readily accepted by Hungarians. Therefore, it maybe possible that a father could indeed tell his children that Roma or Sinti and smelly, worthless and bad in the hope that they too will forget their roots and grow up believing they are Hungarian and therefore worthy!

There is so much wrong here that sometimes I truly despair. Many of the Roma I have regular contact with do believe that they are second class citizens in Hungary and indeed the world and unless there is radical change a new generation of children will grow up devoid of aspiration and self worth.
I am now sick to death of hearing Hungarians and some expats stating that the Roma don't work and live in self imposed poverty. My mantra is now, "how many Roma have you seen working in McDonald's, Obi's (Hungarian B&Q), Tesco's or bars and cafes?", the reply to this is always, "none". I then ask where in the UK do many unskilled workers find employment and they reply, "McDonald's, Tescos etc ". So if Roma are deemed unworthy to even flip burgers at McDonald's, where on earth are they supposed to find work?
The only employed Roma I have met are self-employed, employed at minimum wage on job placement schemes or gardening for the mayor of their town or village, again for minimum wage. Where is the incentive? How can we convince them to complete their education when the likelihood is that they will struggle to find employment even with a degree? Perhaps by helping them believe in themselves from an early age and teaching them that there are people out there who care and not everyone will discriminate against them because they are Roma, is a good starting point.

Okay, that is my rant for the week and so as not to be hypocritical, I am going to have a concerted effort at fundraising (something I have never done before and I don't have a clue where to begin but begin I will) I will of course keep you up to date with my successes and failures.

Website finished and Come October We May Have A New Mayor

2010-08-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the website for my artwork so just have to work on the SEO now.

Well, was I surprised to hear that unlike the last three elections, our mayor has opposition! From what we can understand, one is the village shopkeeper and the other a policeman from the neighbouring village.

Even this news has found us treading the line again.... Many villagers are concerned that the new mayor will not be as "hard" on the Roma! I assume they mean that they might actually allow the Roma to attend the village fair without being terrorised by the Magyar Garda or welcome the children to the library and internet in the village hall which is supposed to be opened on a Saturday yet anytime our children have tried to visit it has been closed. Naturally, we are hoping that after 12 years a new Mayor will breath some fresh life into the village and be open to ideas on promoting the caravan and wildlife park which few outside the village seem to know exist.... Watch this space...

Well, back to the studio, there's nothing like painting to de-stress :-)

A Year In Hungary : Some things change & some stay the same

2010-08-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

Nicole has been staying since the middle of June so I haven't had the time to update for a while. So much has happened that I don't know where to begin!

Last month we attended an expat dog show which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Several rosettes were won by Plum, including a joint first for the fancy dress category, well what else could you dress a dashound as other than a hot dog!

Hot Dog

A visit to the waterpark and spa for Rab's birthday provided everyone with a brief respite from the extreme heat, 35-38 degrees. Not that we are complaining, makes a change to dreary and bleak summers in Ireland.

Zalakaros waterpark

Whilst visiting, Nicole discovered a new talent (though by the end of the job, she wishes she hadn't!) concrete carving. For nearly a year, I had been debating what to do with the balcony and stairs, knowing I didn't want plain render or a stucco effect, we experimented with concrete. The "stones" are finished in an ochre and dark umber with oxide mid tones and actually look quite good, well we think so :-)

Carved Concrete

Housing hunting for a client last month, we managed to "acquire" two tortoises, the owners wanted a new home for them and of course Sprint, when offered, was more than willing offer to accept. Now.... Doc had been promised that the next animal we bought would be his kitten, so you can imagine the commotion when he saw the tortoises! Returning home, Rab promptly visited a neighbour and returned with the most flea ridden, skinny little kitten you have ever seen. Never in my life have I seen a kitten with such colourless nose and gums but Doc decided he loved it and promised to give it some TLC. Two weeks on and it is like a different kitten, still a bit skinny but definitely healthier and happier.

Aphrodite

Aeschylus

Not sure which one!

Fig the kitten

Last month also provided one of the most harrowing events of our stay. Driving home one afternoon, about a kilometre from our village, we came upon an accident involving a car and a bicycle. Naturally, we got out to see whether we could help only to discover it was one of the Roma from our village, the uncle of a friend of ours. He was in a terrible state and there was little anyone could do until the emergency services arrived. As the road was blocked, cutting off access to the village, Nicole and Sprint offered to run to the village and inform his family of the accident. Meanwhile, I stayed with him and his nephew to find out which hospital he was being taken to in case they needed us to drive them there. Eventually, the ambulance and subsequently the air ambulance arrived though he was in such a bad way that it took an hour to stabilise him, during which time he stopped breathing and had to be intubated. Watching the intubation procedure brought back floods of memories of when Lecito had to be intubated, I ended up close to tears and visibly shaking but tried to keep it together to offer support to Lotsie (the nephew). The good news is that after two days in a coma, he is now on the mend. He has no brain damage but can not walk, whether this is permanent or not, the family do not yet know.

Finally, it was that time of year again and off we trotted to the village fair. To our dismay, the Magyar Garda were yet again in attendance. Since last year, we have heard from a villager that our Mayor is in fact paid by the Garda in return for allowing them to attend, is this true? We don't know. What we do know is that the Magyar Garda are illegal and should not be congregating anywhere, regardless of whether they exploit the loophole allowing them to do so by wearing different ensembles of the "uniform". None of the neighbouring villages request the attendance of the Garda and it sends out the wrong message to both young, impressionable Hungarians and the Roma (who believe they do not have the right to attend their own village fair). That said, we were delighted to see a far higher Roma representation at the fair this year and though we would never take credit for this, we hope that perhaps our encouragement for them to attend last year, might have helped persuade more of them to come and enjoy themselves.

The fair itself was better than last years and we were delighted and honoured when invited to our neighbours table at the Főzőverseny (cooking competition). Having plied us with Goulash and homemade wine, they wouldn't accept a forint in return, so we bought them some beers. Next came the "guess the weight of the pig" competition and I am pleased to announce that we didn't win; the children were disappointed but we honestly had nowhere for it to go - as such, we did not bid at the goat auction ;-)

Having experienced two village fairs now, I have to say that I find the children's entertainment somewhat....... strange. This years offering included a theatrical show involving two men and a women, a man being shoved into a sack then kicked violently, a sword, a wooden stick, much pushing - punching - kicking, a little else hmmmm. The highlight of the show was our young Roma friend, who is pregnant, telling me she did not like the show as it portrayed violence as acceptable and questioned why it was being acted out in front of children as young as two. Though too young, she will be a good mother :-)

Magyar Garda

Winner of the pig

I know Winter is some way off yet but if anyone has children's clothes (especially baby clothes) or old toys that they no longer have use for and could donate to the Roma children, please contact me as they will be greatly appreciated.
Well that's it for now and I will try and update more regularly, promise :-)

Busy in the kitchen

2010-06-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks in the kitchen. Walnuts are just right for pickling (if I can find the right vinegar), elderflower champagne/cordial has been made and the sour cherry jam was poured into jars this evening.

Walnuts left to soak in brine for eight days before storing in jars ready in time for Xmas.

Having an abundance of elder trees in the garden, I decided to make some elderflower cordial - which the children love. However, I soon discovered the amount of sugar needed to make cordial and quickly decided against it; instead altering the recipe to make something in between cordial and champagne. Thankfully I had read that due to the lower sugar levels, the natural yeast in the elderflower would ferment the liquid - even during freezing. So instead of fitting the lids of the bottles I loosely covered with clingfilm and as you can see from the picture; luckily avoided a sticky explosion in the freezer.

After 7 hours of pitting sour cherries, trying in vain to find pectin and instead purchasing something akin to gelatin (I was assured by the village shopkeeper that it's what everyone uses to make jam) I finally made, what I hope will be, cherry jam. For now it is still very runny though hopefully it will set as it cools; nevertheless, it tastes gorgeous and I managed to fill 8 large jars. Photos to follow.

Nicole arrived home from uni and presented one of our neighbours with a framed photo, they were absolutely delighted. She had taken a series of photos in April to use in her Roma project, yet again it was an example of how something that we take for granted (a family photo) can mean so much to them.

Whilst on the subject of Roma, we have lived here for over a year now and in that time various items have been left overnight in the garden, the driveway and on the balcony, amazingly :-) not one of them has been taken and no one has tried to break into our property, considering we were originally warned that anything not screwed down would be stolen and the minute we left the house it would be robbed, we must be doing something right. As always, we believe you take people as you find them, regardless of race.

Friends, parties and Flybalaton

2010-05-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have seen us meeting some wonderful people (about time considering recent experiences but I'll leave that story for another day!). We had a gathering at Piki Centrum in Balatonszentgyorgy followed, a week later, by another at the wonderful Kis Balaton restaurant and then a garden party at ours where I served homemade Scottish style pakoras, Korma, Balti and homemade nans. I made enough to feed an army and there were no leftovers, I was absolutely delighted. Photos below show everyone having a good time at the various venues. Doc decided to be the photographer so some are a bit fuzzy!

Some TLC and the garden is really starting to grow. Peas, radish, lettuce and carrots have been some of our early crops.

Enjoying the sun! Our gorgeous lionhead Simba who, until three weeks ago, we thought was a female. Full of the joys of spring, we soon discovered, courtesy of Sprints mohair cardigan, that she was in fact a he!

Jamie Oliver eat your heart out. Inspired by Jamie does Stolkholm, Doc made a wonderful Gravlax which not only looked amazing but tasted wonderful.

Finally, a petition has been started at : http://www.petitiononline.com/balaton/ in the hope that Easyjet will consider flying into Flybalaton airport. Since Ryanair pulled out; in a disagreement over airport fees, Brits, Hungarians and Germans in the Balaton region are having to fly into Budapest, Graz, Zagreb and Bratislava. If you have or would use the Flybalaton airport, please take a minute to sign the petition. Thanks

Earth Day : Louis Theroux : The Cove

2010-04-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day! Sometimes I amaze myself; it’s just a quick one though whilst I drink my tea. Lessons are finished for the day and I am about to go to the studio to finish some paintings.
The past couple of weeks have been difficult with Doc and I have seriously questioned whether homescooling in Hungary is benefiting him. However, having watched Louis Theroux’s “America’s Medicated Kids”, most of my doubts have disappeared. Granted, Doc ‘s behaviour is not as extreme as that of the children on the show but it left me wondering how we would have coped in the UK had he been attending mainstream school. My nephew, who has been diagnosed with autism, is to attend a special needs school whilst my 17 year old half brother, diagnosed with aspergers, spends the majority of his life, in self imposed exile, in his bedroom. I can not judge them but know that neither of these solutions, nor medication is what I would ever choose for my son and have to accept that I am just treading a different path; trying something different in the hope that he has the best start possible in life.

Finally, as it’s Earth Day, I wanted to post a link to the Go North team’s website www.polarhusky.com
In class we have been avidly following their progress as they prepare to travel across Greenland. There are excellent PDF modules, live chats with the team and comprehensive information on phenoloy; the artic; the Inuit people as well as the Polar Husky dogs. It’s an excellent resource for homeschools.

And continuing a theme, please take a look at this video from Ric Obarry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k62kc07m1Dc (don’t let your children watch it until you have deemed it suitable) and if you love dolphins but haven’t yet seen the film “The Cove” find yourself a copy, it’s one of the very few films to make me cry with sadness and frustration.

Pigs, Ash Clouds, Fly Balaton and Asbestos tiles! What a month...

2010-04-22T03:11:00.000-07:00

Pigs, Ash Clouds, Fly Balaton and Asbestos tiles! What a month...

Finally, the arrival of our long awaited half a pig was imminent and we busily readied the kitchen in preparation. In other words, we ran about like headless chickens trying, in vain, to sharpen our largest knives and rereading numerous articles on how to butcher a pig. Our neighbour had previously informed us that the pig would arrive at 2pm. The knock at the door came and we opened it expecting our neighbour and his son to deliver the pig onto the prepared table in the hallway but oh no, it was not going to be that easy! If we wanted our half pig, someone had to attend the killing of the pig, fair enough, if you are going to eat meat, I believe, you should respect where it comes from, that said - I was NOT going to be the one in attendance. So off went Rab, Sprint and Nicole (with camera in tow). I won't go into the gory details of the killing as I think the photos below explain all you need to know (DO NOT LOOK IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH) suffice to say it was quick. It definetley had an impact on the children who, before it's arrival where running around chanting "Kill the pig, Cut her throat, Spill her blood!", Lord of the Flies will never be the same!

Two hours later, the pig duly arrived in our hallway and the fun!?! began. After an hour all of the "how to butcher a pig" diagrams where out the window, every knife, apart from my favourite cleaver, had been discarded as useless and even the jigsaw had been tried in an act of desperation. After 6 hours, we had a freezer full of chops, tender loin, mince, hams, belly roll stuffed with fresh sage and apple and more. Subsequently, over the following days, liver pates, sausages and sausage rolls where made. After hours of butchering, we enjoyed a huge tray of pork ribs roasted in a sauce of vinegar, honey, tomato puree, cinnamon, chilli, star anise, cumin and coriander - they were the most delicious, succulent ribs we have ever eaten.
Many lessons were learnt for next time and we now knew why our neighbour wanted to start at 6am!

On first hearing of the ash cloud, like many others, we weren't too concerned. It appeared on the Thursday and as Nicole wasn't due to travel until the Sunday there wouldn't be a problem, or so we thought. Friday was my birthday and much of it was spent checking cloud maps, wind speed and direction forecasts for the weekend. By Saturday we were genuinely concerned, especially considering she had a project review on the Monday which she really couldn't afford to miss. After hours of searching every possible means of transport across every viable route, driving to Croatia and hiring a rowing boat was beginning to sound almost feasible. Eventually, we concluded that the only option was a bus to Amsterdam and then from Amsterdam to London. Unfortunately this would not get her back to the UK until Wednesday, thus missing her project review. However, on Saturday, out of the blue, I received an email from an acquaintance in Zalakaros whose flight had also been cancelled and as they now had to drive to Manchester, would Nicole like a lift in return for to contributing to the cost of the journey, consequently she would arrive in Dover on Sunday evening where she could stay overnight at her grans before getting a train to Rochester in the morning, in time for her project review. Don't you just love it when things, occasionally, come together?

Okay, the past couple of weeks have seen me unintentionally upset a couple of people. Whether it is to do with aspersers traits, morals or just plain personality, I acknowledge that I tend to be fairly blunt and to the point, even when writing. With friends I have always believed that if I have a problem or issue with them, it is better to air it rather than bitch behind their back. Granted not everyone shares this view and many friends have been lost along the way, however, those that have remained are what I call true friends and I know that I can turn to them no matter what.
Anyhow, I transgress, the first was a chap , who was brought to my home by friends, Andy and Carol. Along with a dear friend of ours from Zalakomar, we all had a lovely afternoon, I made profiteroles, sausage rolls, sushi and carrot cake which was washed down with local wine. This was followed by a wonderful evening at Kis Balaton restaurant. During the conversation, the chap expressed his feelings regarding the estate agent from whom he had purchased his property; I won't mention their name ;-) His belief was that he had paid over the odds for his home, which is probably true considering the aforementioned agent is renowned for adding 10-20,000 euro to the true value of the property. Anyhow, he then mentioned that he wasn't too bothered as he, in the main, purchased the property due to the stunning Welsh slate roof. Now at the time this struck me as strange, Welsh slate, being transported to Hungary in the 1950's hmm, didn't quite ring true. A few days later we had a day out in Keszthely and on passing his house, noticed that the roof was, to the best of our knowledge, asbestos tiles. These tiles are very common in much of Eastern Europe, though we first came across them in Ireland where it is difficult to obtain a mortgage on a property with an asbestos roof. I felt awful for the chap, not only had he paid over the odds for his property but he had also been led to believe that his roof was Welsh slate when in fact it wasn't. Now if it were me, I would want to know as there are serious health implications to be considered when repairing or removing the roof. So I sent the chap an email, gently advising that I didn't think it was a Welsh slate roof and perhaps he would have some recourse against the estate agent. No reply. I then heard through friends that he now believed it wasn't Welsh slate but instead it was bitumen. Again, gently, I emailed him again to suggest that he gets it in writing from the estate agent that the roof is bitumen as I know of no bitumen that could survive, intact, nearly 60 years of Hungarian frozen winters and extremely hot summers and still believed them to be asbestos which I was concerned would cause him problems in the future. Asbestos is dangerous and I would certainly want to know if it was present in my home, if only to be aware of its existence so as to ensure caution. These roofs are extremely hard wearing and can last “forever”, you just have to be extremely careful when altering or repairing them. His replies made it clear that he was shooting the messenger and he was in fact, rather rude. On reflection, I understand that he didn’t like being told but surely it is better to be aware of the facts, especially when there are potential dangers. On one hand I do sympathise with people such as this but I guess they are an estate agents dream.

Asbestos Roof Tiles

My second upset was on a forum. Without writing a historical novelette, I will endeavour to give you a quick background on my relationship with forums! My first internet experience was in 1995 and I pretty much avoided forums as the few that were around were mainly filled with techs and a splattering of weirdoes. However, around 2001 I joined an art forum where I soon attracted the attention of a sociopath. What started as flaming on a forum, soon developed into stalkerish behaviour and a promise that they would destroy my life and business. My crime, I was competition and didn't give into his bullying on the forums. I was soon to discover that he was trawling local galleries asking if they sold my work, phoning my daughters art tutor and pretending to be a dealer interested in representing him before fishing for information on me, hiring a private detective to sit near our house and record our activities. The worst of it were the comments on the forum concerning my children, including, when my son was in intensive care, mocking the fact that he was asthmatic. In those days the police did not take online bullying, stalking seriously, I believe, and hope that it is handled differently nowadays. This went on for 4 years, until we left the country and scarily, even today, the same individual lurks around the forums of a well know UK home decor magazine, harassing and bullying other artists and threatening to "ruin their lives", hence the reason I use pseudonyms on my blog. As such I have tended to stay away from forums as you honestly do not know who is at the other end of that keyboard. That said, I had recently started posting on a Hungarian expat site and felt that I was helping contribute to a small community of users in a similar position. My main purpose was to try and stop others from being ripped off. The latest Welsh slate roof drama and a quote for £50,000 for a new roof adding to the list of horror stories qualified this aim.
So when a user posted asking what a reasonable price for language tuition was, I advised that 1,000ft for a local teacher was the norm in our area and knowing the user was in Spain at the time, suggested an online site that they could use. The reply I received from a different user was rude, unreasonable and questioned how much I value my children. Okay, these are the type of people I don't understand and often wonder if they are as nasty in real life or does the anonymity of being behind a keyboard bring out a whole new side of their personality. It transpires that they felt I shouldn't have replied as they had given advice on a local translator, whom they wouldn't give a price for online! They felt my post suggested I knew more than them, well, perhaps considering they have a holiday home in the area and we have lived here for nearly 18 months, we might just know a bit more than them though that is not the issue for me. For me it is the fact that they felt the need to bring children into their argument and due to my previous experiences, I will be taking a break from the forum. It is a shame as I had several posts and PM's of support from other users expressing their disbelief at the rudeness of the poster and giving appreciation for my previous input and it is because of those expats that I will probably return to posting once the dust settles.

On a happier note, we had a wonderful day out in Keszthely, took a walk along the lake, had lunch and discovered these strange looking building, I don't have a clue what they are used for. On the way there we stopped in at Flybalaton to discover that a huge clearance operation is in progress hmmm. Wondering if this has anything to do with the lease of the land and old military buildings being taken on by SCD group. SCD group have recently taken over the running of the airport and announced plans for a holiday complex on the site next to the airport.

Well till next time :-)

Easter in Kerecseny Hungary

2010-04-05T02:53:00.000-07:00

As always, we had the easter egg hunt for the children, though this year we didn't manage to paint our boiled eggs. This was mainly due to having visitors on Friday and as I had batches of carrot cake, sausage rolls, choux buns and sushi to make, time was not on my side this weekend. We had a lovely time with our visitors, reat company, good food and then we went to Kis Balaton for a meal on Friday evening. More good food and wine brought to a close, a really enjoyable day.

We had plates of cakes brought over by two of our neighbours and in return we decorated an egg box with grass, flowers and straw before fillin with sweets and small chocolate eggs, for one of our neuighbours children, the other dioesn't have children so I will make some cakes for them.

Our chicken in now broody and the eggs haven't yet arrived but we were given 12 fertiliased eggs bya neihbour so our poor chicken will end up with 24 eggs to sit on, I will sadly have to select 15 for her and dispose of the rest.

The cat is still living in the barn but has now taken an unhealthy interest in Simba, our lionhead rabbit, so I'm not sure what will happen there.

Weather has taken a turn and is a bit colder with light showers of rain so I have to postpone the rest of the sowin until it clears though we have managed to dig out and line the pond at the end of the reedbed system. We hope that by planting the pond with more reeds, we can it for waterin the bottom field. Also pleased to announce that the system didn't appear to fail over the winter, even in temperatures as low as -26, the beds still functioned.

Till next time :-)

Sowing seeds and our ever expanding family

2010-03-31T08:44:00.000-07:00

Unlike the UK, which is apparently experiencing some freakish winter weather at the moment, we have been basking in glorious sunshine. Last year, I soon discovered that I had to grow much more than I originally thought to be truly self sufficient. I also learned that there is no point in growing veg that we don't like, if we didn't like it before, we won't like it now, despite it being organic and home-grown. So no chard, kohl rabi or Jerusalem artichokes will be grown this year.
At the weekend it was all hands on deck and we managed to sow most of our seeds.
(sorry! photos were taken with the camcorder so not great)

Yesterday we watched the live webcast from CERN as history was made when they managed to observe the first collisions at 7Tev.

We appear to have gained a cat! Personally, I love cats having previously owned two of the most gorgeous Persians, a blue and white. However, Lecito is allergic to them and when he was born, I had to re-home mine. Our new guest has taken up residency in the barn roof, deciding it prefers Plums leftover to its previous diet, which is fine so long as it stops trying to come into the house! Adamant that it will join our family, it sits at the house of the house and the schoolroom, meowing for all its worth and rubbing against everyone and everything that it sees. This has caused Plum to become even more neurotic than usual and the chicken is running around like the proverbial one albeit with its head still intact as she has laid her eggs by the door and is due to go broody in the next day or two. As I have a dozen Silkie eggs due to arrive any day, in anticipation of her going broody, I am getting quite worried and hope that the cat realises quickly that its place is in the barn!

Earth Hour Fiasco

2010-03-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

This evening we all agreed to turn off the lights during earth hour. Unfortunately I stayed later in the studio than intended and was subsequently late starting dinner. Half way through making homemade spring rolls, the lights went out and, despite insisting it wouldn't be a problem due to my excellent eyesight, I found myself plunged into darkness, I couldn't see a thing. Rab thought quickly and ran to the garden returning with 2 solar lights which enabled us to finish cooking.

However, it wasn't long before we realised just how difficult it is to adjust to not having electrical lighting and despite candles and the solar light the children were soon falling over the dog, each other and banging into every possible obstacle. This of course set Doc off and he had "a moment" during which he refused to eat his dinner, informed everyone that they were hypocritical anyway as burning candles was polluting the air and using carbon based fuel in the wood burner was a heinous crime against the environment. Reasoning that the candles had a very small impact brought forward the reply that "every little bit helps, it doesn't matter how small" and so on and so on. Did I breathe a sigh of relief at 9.30pm when the lights were switched back on? Thank goodness it’s only once a year.

The past couple of weeks I have been busy setting up a website offering building and maintenance services in our area. It was something that we never intended on doing as Rab left the building trade some years back and now, being half way through our third renovation, thought that we were about finished with building works. So why did we do it? Well recently we have heard horror stories of Brits paying ludicrous prices to agents and builders: £250 to fix a leaking pipe, £10,000 for a concrete kennel and yard and of course our own horrendous experience with the electrician. Unfortunately many Brits believe they have no alternative, especially if the work is urgent and so they pay the price. To date we have a UK black card site manager working with us as well as Hungarian tradesmen whom we know and trust and if we can help anyone and prevent them from being ripped off then it will be worth the extra work.

To buy or not to buy? A couple of weeks ago, we heard about two properties that are currently for sale in our village, the sale includes two houses, a barn and assortment of out building, two gardens and a huge field (totalling 6300 msq), all for £1,500! Do we buy? Hmmmm more building work.

Still waiting on our half a pig though we have been assured it will be here within the next fortnight. Also we have decided to leave the lamb until July when it will be a bit bigger. Seeds have now been sown in trays and the raised beds are dug over in readiness for planting so it will be a busy few weeks. Will post some photos when the pig arrives.

Spring Is Just Around The Corner

2010-02-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

The birds are singing, the buds are swelling and the ants are back :-( A sure sign that spring is indeed on it's way. So I thought, as I have been busy of late with little or no time to post, that it's time for a quick catch up.

During winter the village has been akin to a ghost town with snowdrifts instead of tumbleweed. One of the only signs of life has been the gritter man with his barrow and spade in tow, another was our heroic postman who amazingly made it to the village on all but one day. Sadly there has been many deaths this winter, though apparently this is common place during the winter. There were five deaths over the winter which I find surprisingly high in a village with a population of less than 300, it was sad to see the black flag in the village raised time and again.

Crime really is relative! For months I have struggled to understand local attitudes and opinions on the subject of crime. If you took everything you heard literally you would believe we are living in the Hungarian equivalent of the Bronx! So let's put some perspective on this, in our village this winter, the only crime has been the theft of 40 liters of homemade wine from a villagers cellar. Now I do not in anyway condone this and the circumstances were horrendous as a resident of the house was one of those who sadly passed away this winter. It was a crime and a violation of the owner of the wine and thankfully the criminal was caught. However, there were no cars broken into, no houses burgled, no muggings and no senseless violence. Trying to explain to neighbours that, in our opinion and in comparison to the UK, the village is crime free; produces only looks of suspicion! I honestly think they believe that Western Europe and in particular the UK is a crime free utopia, if only they knew!

I had a cookery lesson this week! My neighbour had brought us some donuts and having commented on how delicious they were, I was soon being roped into a lesson on how to make donuts the "Hungarian way". The lesson went well considering my pigeon Hungarian but utilising my charade skills, we managed to communicate well and the donuts were a HUGE success. During the lesson we also discovered three properties in the village for sale and we are very tempted to purchase one as it is only £1500 for a house, huge barn, outbuildings and 1 and 1/2 acres of land, a project for the future hmmmm, watch this space.

Having a difficult time with Doc at the moment who appears to believe that he was born purely to push his parents to the limit and then push some more. Lately, our "arguments" go like this:
Doc has been told off and has to have the last word,
I say "be quiet, I don't want to hear another word from you"
Doc says, "I thought we lived in a democracy in which we believed in freedom of speech and therefore I have something to say and should be free to say it"
I say, "yes we do but right now I have told you to be quiet as I don't believe what you have to say is relevant "
Doc says, "in that case we do not live in a democracy and you are a tyrant and you are teaching me that you should not listen to others, you should suppress them"
I say, "look, I'm getting annoyed now as you have been told off and I have told you to be quiet and you really have to learn to respect your elders and do what you are told"
Doc says, "and now you are teaching me that you should get angry when you don't get what you want, are you going to threaten to smack me because then you are teaching me that you deal with issues by resorting to violence so why should I respect that?"
I think, "okay - count to ten"

At dinner Doc decides he doesn't want to eat anything, he announces that he believes that his recent bad behaviour is due to his eating meat again after being a vegetarian for two years. I agree that may be a possibility but explain that having made dinner I am going to sit and eat mine and can not make a vegetarian version, suggesting that he eats the vegetables and leaves his meat. His reply that, "actually I haven't liked the food that you have been making lately", forces me to leave dad to deal with it (whilst again counting to ten). After ten minutes of verbal battle, Doc decides that he needs a different fork to eat his meal with, sensing victory, dad extracts a promise - knowing Doc would never renege on a promise, "if I get you a fork do you promise you will use it", "okay", replies Doc and dad breathes a sigh of relief. Returning with the fork, he hands it to Doc who starts beating a rhythm with it on the table, "for goodness sake what are you doing, will you just eat your dinner" says an increasing irate dad. "I'm using the fork dad, I promised I would, I just didn't say what for!"
I think, "okay - count to 100"
Some photos from the last snowfall :

Sorry!! Very bad photo as the lighting was terrible, thankfully my neighbour will never see it as I don't think she would forgive me.

Photos from our life in December and January

2010-02-06T04:00:00.000-08:00

Haven't had time to post lately as things are extremely busy at the moment!

Getting to know our neighbours better! Having found Hungarians more reserved than most Europeans, moreso in our small rural village where change appears to be viewed with suspicion, we were beginning to despair of ever being truly accepted and making real friendships. Don't get me wrong, everyone will smile, wave, say hello and readily help if you have a problem but that was as far as it went until recently. Nearly a year of persevering and learning the language seems to be paying off as our neighbour across the road has declared himself "a friend" and gave us a wonderful hough of Venison to seal the friendship, furthermore, our other neighbour who uses our field has agreed to give us half a pig each year and his mother sent Rab home with a plate full of cakes and an invite to visit.

"A year to get invited for tea!" I may hear cry, well yes but considering when we purchased the house, the house had been empty for years and our neighbours had used the field; collected the walnuts and tended the garden. The year before moving here permanently, our only conversation with the old man of the family was when he stood in the street demanding to know when we were leaving, so you can understand how far we have come.

It is difficult at times though as our Hungarian friends still bemoan the Roma whom we have found more open than the Hungarians and as such we have several Roma friends. For now we tread a fine line of friendship between both cultures.

Some photos from December and January : Kids winning gold, silver and bronze at fencing, fun in the snow, the village nativity (absolutely stunning and a huge effort made by the Kerecseny villagers, considering the size of the village) and the Xmas fair in Budapest.

Laptop crisis and Electricity at last - no sorry it's gone again!

2010-01-10T05:14:00.000-08:00

If asked to describe my life, those who know us fairly well are certain to respond: "chaotic", "if it can happen, it will happen to them". It's generally accepted that we are usually in the midst of some crisis or problem, fortunately things normally work out and we have learnt so much during our years of travelling and renovating, so having had a week or so of relative calm it wasn't completely unexpected when...............

The laptop charger gave up the ghost. Granted it had been on its last legs for a couple of months, but supported with copious amounts of electrical tape and lots of persuasion it had struggled on until just after my last post. Now it's not that I hadn't tried to find a replacement, I had. At Mediamart I purchased a universal charger (70 euros) and was guaranteed that it would fit my HP 8240 workstation, of course it didn't but it did ensure that we endured a 40 mile round trip to return the charger (yes I know, I should have taken the laptop but I was ill and as such Rab went and him being a man Rab, he "didn't think"). So, aforementioned charger and laptop were taken for repair, as by now I was convinced there might also be a problem with the fitting in the laptop.

Two days, 50 euros, a new charger jack and socket later, Rab collected the laptop. Now the jack was completely difference from the original, the socket was different, neither were standard to the laptop and didn't "feel" quite right, further, the jack was loose and after one day it started charging intermittently, after two days it stopped charging. Rab returned the laptop to the technicians. The following day we returned to collect it and were told that would be another 40 euro, thank you. Apparently the socket had detached from the motherboard (hadn't been fitted correctly or considering the subsequent failure, more probable that the part wasn't compatible) and the inside of the jack had snapped! We ended up in the shop for nearly an hour during which we were told they didn't guarantee any of their work, this second repair wasn't gauranteed and if it broke again they would just refuse to work on it. I insisted that if the jack was of a sufficient quality then it would not have broken as no excessive force was put on it and if a part detaches from the motherboard after two days then it definitely wasn't fitted correctly.
The boss, in my opinion a mafiosa type character, was adamant that we would pay whether it was faulty workmanship or not, to the extent that he phoned an English speaking colleague/friend to relay this to me. By now I had had enough and sensed a darkening atmosphere so I gave my laptop to my son and told him to put it in the car. I informed the English speaking c/f that according to EU consumer rights, all goods and services are automatically covered by a 7 day guarantee, I don't have the slightest idea whether this is true or not but it seemed to work. The boss then spoke heatedly with c/f before passing the phone back to myself to tell me that the boss no longer contested the validity of a guarantee but instead decided that he didn't want to work on the laptop and would therefore undo the repairs and return it to the original condition whereupon, he snatched back the charger looked for the laptop and stomped to his workshop. Raging and still holding the phone connected to C/F, I told C/F that we had a camera on our mobile and would photograph him taking it apart, that I had three witnesses and I would sue for criminal damage etc. All the while, the young chap who worked as an assistant, spoke a little English and had been extremely helpful, kept apologising to us: at one point I even thought he was going to burst into tears, it was such a surreal situation. Whilst holding back Rab from jumping the counter to go into the workshop and retrieve the charger, I convinced the C/F that we were serious and "the boss" could not and would not get away with trying to bully us and rip us off. Finally, the boss came to his senses and claimed that he hadn't fully understood what had happened after the original repair and that if we came to him in the future.... when he said this Rab couldn't help but burst out laughing and we said our goodbyes.

This time the repair lasted one day! Fed up, I decided to buy a docking station and forget about the charger and do you think we could find one? No. Okay, plan B, have the tower which I have been meaning to fix repaired and use that in the meantime then order a docking station from the UK. Computer repair shop number two: Hi, I have a problem with my PC, it's either the power supply or the motherboard, there are a couple of bulging capacitors but I don't think they are bad enough to cause the motherboard to fail so would lean more towards the power supply.
No problem, leave it with us and the technician will take a look and phone you later today.
No phone call. The following day Rab returns.
Hi, any news on the PC.
Yes, it's the motherboard and the power supply, 80 euros to repair it.
Okay, I'll let my wife know and give you a call.
Admittedly I was surprised, the motherboard and the power supply but by now I am desperate! So the following day we traipse back to the shop where a different assistant is in charge.
Hi, we spoke with the girl yesterday and were quoted a price for the repair; can you tell us how long it will take?
Please wait while I phone the technician, okay, the technician should have a chance to look at it later today and see what is wrong with it. (Alarm bells ringing)
Thanks but I think we will just take it back and try elsewhere, somewhere that won't charge us for what I thought "might" be wrong with it!

Onward to computer repair shop number three.
Yes I can take a look at it but it won't be until tomorrow, I'll give you a call.
Now I of little faith am beginning to realise that when Hungarians say they will give you a call tomorrow, it means in 2 or 3 or maybe 4 days, if at all. As my daughter is due in Budapest, my mum is trying to book flights for the new year and I have just begun working again, I DESPERATLEY need internet access, so off we go to Tescos. Quickly we purchase a PC, take it to computer repair shop number three to have windows installed and head home. So now I am online again, I am still waiting for the phone call and trying to master a Hungarian operating system and keyboard :-)

In the middle of this drama, we were honoured by the presence of the EON electricians, bunting was hung, fanfares sounded and white doves set free, such was our joy in anticipation of finally having 36amps and no more falling over the dog, chicken, child as we stumble blindly in the dark, fumbling our way to the balcony to throw the trip switch. Within an hour they were finished, the new sockets and lighting circuits that Rab had fitted were given to all clear, thanks were given, more doves released etc
As it started to get cold, I put the heater in the caravan on and low and behold the electrics tripped! On examination of the consumer unit and main box, Rab discovered that EON had connected the 10amp from the consumer unit to the 16amp on the main box and vice versa! On phoning EON we were told they would call out in a day or two so Rab decided to swap them himself and we now have electricity YIPPEE!

I had written this post before XMAS but didn't have time to complete it, so to update, electrics are still working, docking station arrived from the UK and laptop is working again and we still haven't heard from the computer repair shop!

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, that is the question!

2009-11-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

And the answer? Not at the moment thank you.

My dilemma is that the only vaccine available in Hungary is cultured in egg and uses aluminium phosphate as an adjuvant. Due to a severe egg allergy and subsequent negative experience with the MMR vaccine (also cultured in egg) this is not an option for Lecito. Throw in the fact that the latest mutation of the H1N1 is apparently resistant to Tamiflu and the only antiviral alternative, Relenza, also contains egg and you have one truly stressed out parent.

Googling and reading too many "swine flu pandemic" and "Ukrainian black lung mutation" stories, I felt it time to discuss my concerns with a doctor.
Our local doctor, whom we have never used due to several neighbours implying he enjoys a "good drink" including whilst on duty, isn't an option. A previously consulted doctor resident in a village ten minutes away doesn't speak a word of English. As such, my hopes hung on a friend’s doctor who practises near Zalakaros and is fluent in English. However, there’s always a however in my life these days, on enquiring about the surgery times and exact address of the doctor I soon discovered that this doctor also "likes a drink or two" before driving to her surgery in the next village and no doubt another before returning home.
Two things spring to mind.... One, Hungary has a zero tolerance drink driving law and if the doctors can't abide by this law then god help us all.
Two, do I seriously want to discuss and take advice on such an important matter from a doctor who maybe half sloshed? On this occasion I don't think I'll pays my money and take my chance.

So, plan B. I will monitor the local, national and global situation; trying not to get too freaked out by the daily deluge of mutations, black lungs, deaths and "the end is nigh" stories.
I have began operation antivirus which includes coughing into our elbow crease, discreetly covering our nose and mouth with our jumper when in near proximity to a suspected virus shedder and running around town with mini sprays of antivirus ; spraying anything before touching, hands after touching and double spray before eating.

Plan B part two, boost, boost and boost again. Normally I don't bother with vitamins as we typically eat a healthy diet, home grown organic when possible nothing processed, sugary foods and sweets on rare occasions as a treat etc Now it's daily zinc, multi vitamins, fish oils, garlic, black elderberry (for Lecito and I) and a multi plant/herb tincture I made in the summer. THEN, if the virus still manages to make an appearance, I have extra supplies of black elderberry in liquid form and a concoction of; star anise, chillies, honey, cardamom, mint and parsley, made into a tea (this is excellent for reducing inflammation caused by allergies and thinning mucus thus making a bacterial infection less likely)
Our final part of plan B was FLEE the country! So seriously was this considered that we consulted a "swine flu map" and discovering that our only options of a swine flu free country were; Turkmenistan, Chad, Libya, Niger and Mali, we decided to scrap this part of the plan.

Presently I don't see what else I can do, I realise that swine flu could in all possibility kill Lecito, the common cold and winter flu can be life threatening to him but I know that an allergic reaction to the vaccine could also kill him, only more quickly.
Should I take him to a country which has licensed the egg free vaccine? This would be the perfect solution but I have yet to find anywhere that this vaccine is available, it's like gold dust. If anyone knows where it can be bought please let me know.

In the meantime I have to decide whether to have the others vaccinated. I won't be, for now.

Ron's 80th Birthday Party

2009-11-23T11:52:00.000-08:00

Finally, here are the photos as promised of Ron's party.

It was held in their village hall in Zalamerenye and there was a good turn out including friends from the village and surrounding area. There were Hungarians, Brits and Germans so a truly international party and an excellent night!

Ron looking decidedly dapper, with one of his many cakes.
He is such a character that the girls from a cafe in Zalakaros were delighted to attend his party and brought this wonderfully scrummy cake with them. Not bad for someone of 80;-)

We were all extremely well fed, as well as traditional Hungarian goulash there were a selection of curries from the Taste of India in Zalakaros.

Ron's delightful wife Mary with yet another stunning creation, I believe Ron ended up with about 6 birthday cakes!

A real knees up of an evening and what a turn out! Lovely company and great food, really makes us feel we are beginning to settle.

Herman, after the birthday boy, was the star of the show. Apparently he performs this act in Germany (I didn't have the chance to find out more but will definitely ask when they are here in December). Having persuaded some of the villagers to participate they performed an outstanding rendition of the "Bells of Rome", happily clanging away in time with the song (fortunately there were no casualties.... ouch)

I just had to end with........yes, another cake.

Will try and blog soon again as there is a lot happening. Indecision over the flu vaccine, Nicole coming to Budapest and the run up to Xmas but which Xmas, the 6th or the 25th? I'm confused.......

Parties, Halloween, Green Day Concert - Wow have we been busy.

2009-11-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a busy few weeks.

First we had our friend Ron's 80th birthday party in Zalamerenye. What an excellent night, met lots of lovely people especially their German neighbours who are wonderful people.

Hope to have some photos of the party soon.

Having to collect Rab from Siofok, I managed to visit another Scot who lives in Hungary. Jo, who I met through her blog, had offered several bags of clothes for some of the Roma children in my village. I can't begin to describe the gorgeous items of clothing she gave me, there was a mountain of new and nearly new trousers, dresses, jackets shoes and more; I felt like Santa travelling from house to house delivering them. Needless to say, the families were delighted and many children will keep warm this winter, thanks again Jo.

Then we had Halloween. Pumpkins were carved, apples bobbed for and ghost stories told. Admittedly it wasn't the same for the children who usually dress up and either attend a party or go trick or treating but I think they enjoyed themselves.

Finally we had Lecito's 13th birthday. For his birthday we had purchased tickets to the Green Day concert in Vienna. Having only managed to get two tickets it was decided that Rab would take him as it's more his kind of music. Lecito claims it was the best night of his life and his best birthday present ever so a huge success. After staying the night in Vienna they returned home where we had arranged a small family party for him before he collapsed, exhausted into bed.

Winter is fast approaching and I love the atmosphere in the village at present. Even though the trees are shedding their leaves and the mornings are shrouded in mist, I still adore the view from our schoolroom, how lucky am I?

Renovations are continuing and the living room is nearly finished though the on going saga with the electrician continues.... more next time

It never rains but it pours Final part

2009-10-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

While visiting Lecito in hospital our "Master electrician" decided to arrive at our home unannounced and without our consent to begin work installing a new pole and electric meter box.

We had previously agreed to the work and informed him that when we had confirmation of the upgrade from EON we would contact him and arrange for the work to be done. Apparently, his builder was only available at the last minute and he didn't feel the need to phone us.

A neighbour phoned to inform us he was at the property and our puppy, who was so stressed with people walking around the house and climbing on the roof, had jumped onto a table then a shelf before finally reaching the kitchen window frame and dropping 6 feet to the ground. Our friend David found her in a terribly upset state running around the garden barking at the "intruders". Rab had to leave the hospital and return home to ensure Plum (our puppy) was safe where he informed the electrician that he was not pleased, before returning to the hospital.

It was late that evening when we returned, we were exhausted having spent all day at the hospital but were greeted by a scene straight out of builders from hell! There was dust everywhere, the stairs were covered in rubble and a whole had been knocked through in the newly decorated bedroom. In the morning we discovered the extent of the damage done by the builder and electrician. It appears that because he did not have access to the attic, he could not brace the pole securely to the beam and so decided to cut open the wall and wedge the pole into the existing brick work, further where he fitted the new box, he did not bother to fit a lintel and we risk future sagging of the brickwork above as he has removed a full skin of bricks.

On contacting the electrician we were informed that it was not his problem and we had to deal with the repairs. Consequently we have had to instruct a lawyer and threaten litigation, the electrician is now grudgingly agreeing to fix the damage but I am not holding my breath as we have already had to stop him from trying to repair the damage by filling with 12 " of cement and rendering over it.

At the same time we had a washing machine technician call to repair our machine. I guessed it was the PCB (printed circuit board) and had I not been teaching when he called, I would have stopped him from taking the machine away. However, Rab spoke with him and after confirming it was the PCB informed Rab that he had to take it with him to search for a replacement. Two days later he called to say he couldn't fix it but would keep the machine and we could have 5,000ft off a second-hand machine. Knowing I could have the PCB repaired in the

, I told him we would collect the machine and was suspicious when he didn't seem happy about it. Rab collected the machine and on removing the PCB to retrieve the serial number, discovered it had been snapped clean in half. Whether out of spite of incompetence we will never know but I do know it cost us 55,000ft for a new washing machine!

Thankfully, this week things have been slightly less eventful. We are getting ready for the winter, continuing with the renovations and harvesting the remaining produce from the garden.

I am still sending trays round to the workers next door and in return I regularly receive gifts of apples, pears, chillies and chestnuts, it's really nice as it makes me feel that despite the language barrier I am slowly integrating into our end of the village. Also we took Dave and his girlfriend out for dinner as it was his 18th and he didn't really receive any presents, a lovely evening was had by all and as my mother was over for a visit and the following day was Dave’s girlfriend’s birthday, there was a lovely atmosphere.

Latest batch of chutney, beetroot, sweetcorn relish and pickled walnuts.

Until yesterday, the twins had established a toad and frog sanctuary in the bottom of the drained swimming pool. At the last count there were 11 or 12 and each had a name. Unfortunately, having witnessed the neighbours cat jump in the pool for a free lunch before exiting by climbing up the side of the liner, leaving a multitude of tiny claw holes, the sanctuary has now been shut down (all toads and frogs having been rehomed first) and we will have to wait till next summer to find out if the pool is repairable!

It never rains but it pours Part 2

2009-10-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

Driving through St Etienne in 1998, hopelessly lost, trying to find the stadium for the Scotland versus Morocco world cup match, we stopped an elderly French lady and in pigeon French asked for directions. Her reply was short and abrupt, "you are in France and we speak French here". Regardless, we found the stadium, Scotland lost and on reflection I had to agree with the old lady, though not with her attitude.

On phoning the ambulance station in Zalakaros, I experienced a similar attitude, "no, we don't speak English, in Hungary we speak Hungarian". This I do take issue with. Zalakaros is a developing spa resort consequently; the elderly and the sick are specifically targeted by the resort to avail of their mineral water treatments for arthritis and other ailments. Google Zalakaros and there will be a multitude of pages in English indeed, the main Zalakaros website has an English translation. Now in my opinion, there is a greater likelihood that the elderly and sick may require treatment by a doctor or hospitalisation, therefore, surely there should be at least one English speaking staff member at the ambulance station (I believe the ambulance station is connected to the local emergency doctor, who doesn't speak English either)? I would hate to think of an elderly person being enticed to the resort for treatment, based on an English written website, then falling ill and having to cope, in Hungarian, with unhelpful medical staff! If you do not want to accommodate English speaking tourists then do not advertise in English.

Fortunately, I have picked up some Hungarian and managed to explain that I required an ambulance. "Do you have a car" replied the operator, "yes, I have a car but I want an ambulance, I explained for the 3rd time that I believed his oxygen levels were low and I would prefer him to be started on oxygen as soon as possible. It took nearly 10 minutes to persuade them grudgingly, to send an ambulance.

Thankfully the ambulance arrived quickly and I can not fault them at all, they were friendly, professional and helpful. With ambivalence, I watched as they confirmed his levels were low and immediately started him on oxygen; due to the "interrogation" on the phone I had been questioning my decision to call the ambulance.

At the hospital I presented them with a translated version of his medical history, including a list of his main allergens, drawing particular attention to those which could trigger anaphylaxis.

After being taken to the ward, he was given a carton of Peach juice, Peach was on the list as a serious allergen.

Pointing this out, we ensured that they still had the list, which they did and we attempted to convey how important it was, there was no apology, just an agreement that he wouldn't be given peach juice again.

The following morning, the phone rings, it was Lecito. "Mum, can you bring me some breakfast when you come to visit", "of course", I replied, but didn't they give you something?" "Well they gave me a roll with an orange coloured jam on it, I thought it might be peach so I asked the nurse and she said it was, so I didn't eat it"

From then on we took him home cooked food three times a day. This started a comic routine with one of the nurses who, on seeing us arrive with his food, would run into the room with his "hospital meal" and start shouting that there was nothing wrong with their food, it had no "allergiát" and we shouldn't be bringing him food. "Their" non "allergiát" food consisted of; a dry roll for breakfast; a dry roll with processed chicken meat for lunch and; two dry rolls with anaemic looking spam for dinner. Trying to make them understand that the organically home grown salads, home cooked roast chicken and pasta and non sugared breakfast cereal was far better for a recuperating teenager was draining and we ended up just ignoring the rants.

On admission I had translated that his asthma was usually stable, that the ragweed had made him congested and I believed an infection may be starting. Fully expecting the usual treatment of nebulisers and antibiotics, I was concerned that he was actually started on two completely new medications, my concerns growing when I discovered he was given an ECG. Requesting the names of the medications, I went home and googled them to find that one of the medications had known side effects such as stomach cramps, insomnia and dizziness all of which Lecito was suffering from yet the doctor had denied that that these were related to the medication. Most worryingly though was the warning that the medication should not be prescribed to patients with existing heart conditions. Immediately I contacted the hospital and explained that Lecito had coarctation of the aorta (in Hungarian: coarctatio az aorta, comprehensible in either language I would have thought) not sure I had been understood and the medication still being prescribed, I had a Hungarian speaking friend speak with the nurse on duty. We were duly informed that everything was fine, his ECG was fine (apparently, it later transpired that this was untrue, a second ECG was done due to the original showing an increased heart rate) his blood work was fine, no sign of infection and his medication would continue. Still not satisfied that anyone was listening to what we were saying, I phoned an English speaking doctor who had helped when Lecito was first admitted. She arranged a meeting with Rab, the consultant (who didn't turn up) and herself. When informed of our concerns regarding the medication, we were asked why we hadn't told them before now! Rab informed her that we had on three occasions informed them and asked why would a child be started on a treatment with potentially serious side effects without asking about any existing conditions. Finally she found a note added to Lecitos file, informing them of his condition, it had only been added that morning!

Consequently, the medication was removed and subsequently, 5 days after he had been admitted, he was prescribed antibiotics and he began to recover.

The day before he was due to leave, he was again given a carton of peach juice, can you imagine if this had been a younger child!

Granted the language barrier caused difficulties, however, this can not explain the worrying incompetence and lack of communication between the kitchen staff, the nurses the consultants and the parents. It was obvious that the domestic staff had not been informed of Lecitos allergies. The consultants and to an extent the doctors do not, as in the UK, discuss the child’s illness with the parents, on the consultants rounds, the parents are asked to leave the ward and the consultant does not even acknowledge the parents existence. If you are lucky, in between their cigarette breaks in their office which is on the ward, the doctor may deem you worthy of 5 minutes of their time. Granted, the offer of a gratuity payment may have resulted in better care but this should not be so.

During his 10 day stay we were witness to a teenager, who was administered an iv drip, having a seizure minutes later and falling violently to the floor as the beds do not have safety rails, an autistic child who broke his toy bus and had a tantrum whilst his mother tried to fix it causing said mother to whack him in the face with it and another autistic child around the age of 9 being left on his own to wonder the ward and attack Lecito at his pleasure.

We had arranged, through the English speaking doctor, to collect Lecito before 1pm on his "release" date as my mother was flying into Zagreb and we had arranged to collect her. At 1.30pm we were still trying to arrange for the return of his medications and completion of the paperwork. Eventually we were told that we had to wait until the doctor and consultant had completed their rounds (another hour at least) becoming frustrated and trying to explain that we had been told he could leave at 1pm and that we had to be in Zagreb and could not wait, a nurse who until now had not spoken a word of English said in a perfect English accent "you do not speak Hungarian, it is not easy for us" and understood perfectly our reply of "yes and its not easy for us either" amazingly she also understood our limited Hungarian when we told her we had to leave now and would return that evening to finalise the paperwork and collect his medication!

Since then, we have been told by several people that the hospital in Zalaegerszeg is far better than Nagykanisza and that the latter should only be used for minor incidents.

Whilst we were dealing with all of this, I had a moronic electrician ripping my wall apart and a spurned washing machine technician taking his revenge out on my PCB.... to follow

It never rains but it pours - in this case for 2 weeks solid! Part 1

2009-10-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a long one, so I'll have to post in parts.

It all began on or about the 12th of this month. Firstly the washing machine gave up the ghost, quickly followed by the dishwasher and the following day, the PC.

On the 15th, Rab had to fly to the UK for a few of days. Booking at the last minute, the best deal was from Bratislava. Having never visited Bratislava before and being able to catch a train from Nagykanisza, only 20 minutes away, it seemed a good idea and so we booked the flight.

There was only one train which would enable Rab to make his connection and we excelled ourselves by arriving in town half an hour before the train was due to depart (usually we arrive as the ticket inspector is about to board the train - Rab running ahead with us bringing up the rear shouting our goodbyes as the doors close).

Deciding to buy some food for the journey, we pulled into Interspar.

"Have you got the bank card?"

"No, you have it!"

"No I don't, I left my handbag at home as I didn't need it"

" You don't have your bag?"

"No, but you've got your credit card haven't you?"

"No"

"Your debit card"

"No, I put them all in your bag after you booked the flight"

"OMG, how much money do you have on you?"

"7000ft (about 25 euro)"

"how much is the train ticket"

"6000ft"

"leaving you 1000 for a taxi in Bratislava, something to eat and a hotel for the night (flight was early morning) OMG what the heck are you going to do" (note transference of problem, not we but you ;-)

Major argument ensued as to whose fault it was; the stupidity of even considering getting on the train with 7000ft; and the fact that he had to catch the flight. It didn't help that our phoneline had been dead for two days so we would have no contact until it was fixed, as Rab was taking the mobile.

Exasperated with the whole situation, I wasn't particularly bothered when he finally decided to board the train, clearing my conscience with the fact that "he" was a "grown man" and fully capable of ensuring he had his credit, debit or bank card with him......

Thankfully the trip went smoothly and he managed to return unscathed and apologetic.

The following day I noticed that Lecito seemed slightly wheezy, so I kept a close eye on him. By early afternoon I was quite concerned and decided to take him to the doctors. This is not an easy task in rural Hungary ( I am not sure if the situation is the same in other areas) as our village has a visiting doctor one day a week for 3-4 hours. Gelse, a large, nearby village, has a resident doctor but is only open 4 mornings a week. Having spent an hour phoning numerous doctors in Nagykanisza town, with no reply from any of them, Lecito told me he was feeling dizzy. Knowing this meant his oxygen levels were dropping, I phoned the ambulance centre in Zalakaros and that was the beginning of a 10 day nightmare......

How life changes!

2009-09-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

In a previous life I used to get excited about a new outfit; a pair of shoes or going clubbing. Those days are long gone and nowadays I am more likely to get an adrenalin rush when I finally manage to track down one of these:

For the uninitiated, this is an air purifier! How, you might ask, did a mundane object like this present me with one of the most challenging and enthralling adventures of the year? Well it's like this...

I am currently living in Hungary, but you know that already...

Hungary has a problem with Ragweed (horrid plant, zillions of tiny flower heads producing gazillions of pollen)

In fact; Hungary is the ragweed capital of Europe.

Therefore, you would presume that shops in Hungary sell a large range of air purifiers to ease the suffering of the 1,000,000+ people allergic to Ragweed. No, not so, as I soon found out.

Having a son who is allergic to just about everything you can be allergic to, we have had an air purifier and dehumidifier running 24/7 for the last four years. Knowing the ragweed season (all four weeks of it) was approaching, I decided the filters needed changing. There then began two weeks of fruitless searching and the ragweed pollen levels were now climbing, I decided to give up and order them from the UK. The day after ordering them the levels went through the roof; Lecito was started on steroids and so began our search for an air purifier as we couldn't wait for the filters to arrive.

Firstly we tried Obi's and were rewarded with a look that said "of course we don't sell those here are you STUPID". Three different chemists, Tesco's, the Health food shop, Electromart (or whatever it is called) drew a complete blank so we resorted to the Internet and telephone. Now I don't know about you but I can just about make myself understood with my Hungarian dictionary in hand, a bit of sign language and some miming. Telephone conversations are a whole different ball game so I made Rab phone on the pretence that I had to keep googling for alternative possibilities. Having assured him that he only had to say "eladod légtisztító?" : "do you sell air purifiers?" and prepping him on pronunciation, he tentatively called the first number. "Eladod laygteesteeetoo" he's offers, nem ertem comes the reply. (I have slowly come to hate those words, I mean where DO you go from there?) "He doesn't understand," he whispers to me, "that's because you’re not pronouncing the layg correctly, it's more of a laygee but the ee is short, try again". Three more tries and three more nem ertems are swiftly followed by a köszönöm, viszlát.
The fifth or sixth call was to Mediamart, by this time the pronunciation was near perfect and the girl answering the phone immediately understands. However, instead of the desired and expected yes or no, the assistant launches into an extremely detailed reply in, of course, Hungarian. She actually turned out to be amazingly helpful, calling for a colleague who spoke English who in turn personally searched the store and found details of the available air purifiers. I can not begin to describe how excited I was, someone was actually saying that they stocked air purifiers and we wouldn't even have to go to Budapest for it. Unfortunately, my excitement was short lived, though I didn't have the heart to tell her that what they actually sold were ionisers and not hepa filter air purifiers. Quickly running out of possibilities we decided to try Praktiker, I wasn't optimistic considering our experience at Obi's.

Strike one, the operator spoke English. Strike two; they were in stock at the Zalaegerszeg store. Strike three, having literally flung the kids in the car, broke the speed limit to get there (in case they sold out), grabbed the box from the shelf (not caring that the instructions were in Hungarian, nor the fact that we probably couldn't buy replacement filters and it cost nearly twice the UK price) at the checkout it was reduced by 15,000ft.

I won't tell you how thrilled I was taking it out of the box and discovering it had a remote control, I'll save that for another time ;-)

Suffice to say Lecito is getting better, the air purifier has worked wonders and the pollen levels should be dropping soon.

Well it seemed like a good idea at the time!

2009-09-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning saw the appearance of a small tractor and several workers in the empty plot next to our house. What they are doing there we have yet to discover and with the current atmosphere between ourselves and the mayor, all sorts of paranoid conspiratorial scenarios have been imagined....

What I do know is that Rab informed me they would be there for the day removing five tractor loads of soil from "the mound"(pre Tuesday there was a large overgrown mound formed from the debris of an old collapsed house). As they were working directly outside the kitchen window, I couldn't help notice, while making lunch, that only one of them appeared to have a packed lunch and there were no drinks in sight. Deciding to share our lunch, as it was a one off and I could make it stretch to another four people, I sent Rab and Sprint round with a tray of homemade pizza.
Imagine my surprise on Wednesday morning to discover them hard at work again! It transpires that they were not to move 5 tractor loads, instead they are to clear the whole plot (what IS going on hmm). With four sets of hungry eyes watching me as I cooked lunch, I realised that I had now set a precedent and as I personally couldn't sit and eat lunch without feeling guilty, a tray has been sent round every day since.
However, today I was behind with everything (Latin 2nd conjugation and declensions, need I say more?) as such we were having leftovers which I couldn't stretch further than David (our regular helper) and ourselves., So did I carry on with making and eating lunch? Of course not, I felt terrible that I didn't have something to give them, convinced that they now expected something, I got the mixer out and whisked up some fairy cakes.
Having served up lunch to my own motley crew plus David, I set about fairying the cakes. Already hot and fractious from cooking, baking and serving in a kitchen with no worktops and limited space, I began cutting the wings in half just as the lunch table banter was becoming somewhat rowdy.
"Please children, less talking and more eating", noise level rises. "Children, please, you know it will end in tears, just eat your dinner", "we're only messing around mum" . Well I know from experience that messing around usually ends up with one feeling more messed around than the other two and an argument ensues. Not having the time nor the motivation to singularly threaten them with loss of horse riding, reading or computer privileges, I went for an all encompassing threat. "If you don't stop it now you will be banned from doing anything at all for a very long time", "great that means no schooling" pipes up Doc, "no I meant fun things" I reply, "yeah, I love school it's great fun", "Doc, you know what I mean". Without realising it, they had stopped "messing around" and continued eating their dinner. Score to mum, unintentional diversion tactic worked!

August

2009-08-31T16:25:00.001-07:00

August, originally uploaded by Rural Life Hungary.

What an eventful month it was.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

2009-08-31T16:04:00.001-07:00

Nicole, originally uploaded by Rural Life Hungary.

Last week we set off for Croatia, destination : Zagreb airport, mission : send one daughter safely back to uni.
It started off well, easy enough drive to the border and traffic wasn't too busy at the crossing. Slowly edging closer to the customs control, as usual, I started to panic, smiled manically whilst trying to look inconspicuous and babbled nonsensically. Now I don't know why I get nervous at customs, it could be the trips to Italy and France as a child when my father would caution us not to mention the over the limit boxes of wine in the boot (well he had driven from Glasgow to Pisa and back, as such felt he was entitled to a few extra cases) or it could be the time we took my dad and his family to Euro Disney for the weekend, only realising, at Dover docks, that my daughters passport was out of date resulting in us smuggling her out of the country hidden beneath a duvet or maybe its the time we drove back from Morocco only to be informed, after being directed into the search bay at Dover, that the children had brought themselves a pet tortoise all the way from Rabat! Whatever it is, I panic and when my daughter points out the sign for no dairy products or meat, I look at the picnic lunch of roast chicken and yoghurt and start having palpitations.
Thankfully, after a quick search, which neglected to look inside the tin foil covered plate, we were again on our way.
A quick detour into Zagreb centre looking for a supermarket ended in a visit to an extortionately expensive mall, we used the toilets!
Arriving at the airport, having commented on how much quicker and less stressful the journey was compared to Budapest, we were all geared up for the tearful goodbyes. Still blissfully unaware of what lay ahead, we sauntered through the airport towards departures. A glance at the departures board left us confused, the wizzair flight wasn't listed. Believing they may have cancelled the flight, we headed to information where hubby showed the booking print out to the receptionist. As he read her the flight details, Zagreb to Luton, 23rd of SEPTEMBER, it slowly sunk in.
Cest la vie : we visited an expensive toilet in Zagreb, experienced the panic of customs, received a stamp in our passports and I had my daughter with me for another week. However, she is now in the UK due to return to uni to continue studying photography and I miss her so much.
Good luck babe and keep in touch.
PS, don't forget the charger and cable for your dads camera or there will be no more photos for my blog.

Red Bull airshow

2009-08-31T15:15:00.001-07:00

Red Bull airshow, originally uploaded by Rural Life Hungary.

Having made the last minute decision to drive to Budapest for the St Stephens day celebration; endured nose to tail traffic in central Buda and spent what seemed like an eternity looking for a parking space, this was the result.

After the airshow, which was amazing and included Red Arrow type displays and something I have never witnessed before, a helicopter doing nose dives and 360 degree spins, we waited patiently for the competition to begin.

Deciding to watch the remainder of the race from the castle (it was 32 and there was little shade on the river bank) we made our way to the cable cars for the ride to the castle.

For St Stephens day, the castle was hosting the annual Folk festival, which was manically busy! The array of stalls was quite mind boggling, every nook and cranny of the castle was crammed with lace sellers, pottery workshops, woodworkers, weavers and jewellers, to name but a few.

After a lunch of Roosters Testicles, I am serious and have a photo of the menu to prove it, will try and find it soon, we watched the Blessing of the bread ceremony. Whereupon the mayors 15 minute speech enthralled the boys so greatly that they fell asleep.
The girls then participated in some of the craft workshops before finding ourselves a space at the castle wall, overlooking the river, for an hour and a half's wait to watch the fireworks. Next year we plan to be more organised and arrange the day differently to ensure we watch the fireworks from the riverbank as the wait was far too long for the children but joining the hoards any later would have given us a birdseye view of countless rows of heads.

Will update soon!

2009-08-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

Lots to blog about including; visit to the Red Bull Race in Budapest and the Folk fair; driving to Zagreb for daughters flight to London only to discover we were a month early and cramming for the Eton scholarship exam. Unfortunately I don't have time this evening but will try and catch up tomorrow.

Canna flower festival : Zalakaros

2009-08-19T14:35:00.001-07:00

candy floss, originally uploaded by Rural Life Hungary.

There is much being said in the village with regards to the Magyar Gardas appearance at the village festival. I have also voiced my opinion on several other matters from segregation to community action, plans are forming and hopefully we will see some progress. Will try and explain in detail over the weekend.

We took some time out and visited the Canna flower festival at Zalakaros. The children had a great, if sticky time, filling up on candy floss but only after some delicious Hungarian kebabs and stew. The atmosphere was wonderful and there was live music, dancing and a small craft market. One stall was making and selling blown glass animals which were unbelievably cute as such we ended up with a puppy a penguin and a scorpion.

We also found time this week to visit our friends Ron and Mary, an adorable couple who moved here from Spain having originally left the UK over 20 years ago. On leaving them we decided to have dinner at the Kis Balaton restaurant where we met a Dutch family who on asking which village we lived in and us replying Kerecseny, said "ah, Ron and Mary", for a couple nearing their 80's, they sure get around :-) (we discovered the family knew Ron and Mary who had mentioned us to the Dutch couple, telling them which village we lived in)

Bananas for bananas

2009-08-14T16:25:00.001-07:00

Bananas for bananas, originally uploaded by Rural Life Hungary.
Feeling guilty about working night and day on the house, I promised the children we would have a day off to visit the market and have a picnic lunch at Zalakaros.

At the market, we managed to find some more lino cuts for my paintings at an unbelievably cheap price and a gas mask for my daughter ( you really don't want to know, suffice to say she has begun collecting all manner of weird and wonderful objects, early onset OCD Hmm).

Arriving at Zalakaros, we drove past the bottom picnic area and continued uphill to the watch tower. I knew there were several picnic tables marked on the upper part of the walk and having not ventured in that direction before we were looking forward to the walk.

Setting off down the path I had an "oh no here we go again" feeling, it's similar to the sinking feeling but different. The sinking feeling is one of dread or apprehension, the ONHWGA feeling is one of apprehension quickly followed by the realisation that you are helpless to avoid the imminent drama about to unfold which will, with time, become another "family story".
The first clue that things were going as planned was the signs, or lack of. Then the chosen path which originally went uphill (seemed a logical choice as the picnic area was uphill) began gradually descending. Jokingly I mentioned that it would rather funny if we walked round in circles for half an hour only to find ourselves at the bottom picnic area, the one we originally drove past. Hubby, who was carrying the hamper, cooler box and blanket, failed to see the funny side of that scenario.
Continuing downhill, we came to another cross roads, letting the children choose which path to take (the creepiest looking one) we carried on.

Bringing up the rear I could hear the children up ahead and their usual woodland chant "lions and tigers and bears oh my" only this time it was "lions and tigers and bears and ANTS" - we had entered ANTHILL alley.
Now we have seen ants, anthills, ant mounds and many other ant associated things that I can't think of at the moment, we have seen them in countries from England to Morocco to the USA and back (you get the general idea?) but never have I seen so many ants. There were huge anthills every couple of feet for over 100 yards, each about 3 feet tall and FULL of large (edit: VERY large) ants. By the time we passed the third hill, the children were becoming less curious and slightly apprehensive, it was then I noticed that the further we went down the path, the more the ground was becoming a seething mass of blackness. Quickly I realised that the seething mass wasn't staying on the ground and dozens of the little blighters were making the journey over my sandals and up my legs. Trying not to worry the children but on feeling the first bite, I let out an involuntary "ouch" this was quickly followed but my daughter realising the ants were also out for an afternoon stroll across her feet, then my sons and someone shouting run, that was all it required to trigger a panic fuelled sequence of events which culminated in hubby (plus hamper et all) leading the pack whilst running cowboy style, closely followed by the three youngest screaming and hollering, myself and then bringing up the rear, my eldest daughter dragging Plum, our puppy, who had momentarily forgotten she was a Dachshund and believing herself to be an ant eater was attempting to devour as many of the critters as she could.
Once out of ant alley we spotted a clearing a short distance ahead. Hot, hungry, thirsty and out of breath we desperately wanted to eat so on we trudged in silence until I piped up " it would be just our luck to have gone through all this only to end up at the picnic area at the bottom (yes, the one we had driven past over half and hour earlier). Stepping through the trees on the brow of a small mound, there in front of us was the picnic area... at the bottom of the hill. Needless to say I sent hubby up to collect the car!

The picnic and the killer ants

2009-08-12T16:25:00.001-07:00

harvest from the garden
Originally uploaded by Rural Life Hungary

Busy harvesting, blanching and chutney making but made time for a picnic on Sunday, only to be attacked by giant ants! More about that tomorrow.

Summer camp, renovations and cute things.

2009-08-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to post yesterday seeing as the children were supposed to be packed off to summer camp allowing me to crack on with work but it wasn't to be.

The phone rang Tuesday evening; it was the twins asking or rather begging to come home the following morning. It transpires that the fun, activity packed summer camp consisted mainly of a morning jog then 5 hours constant workout; I'm amazed and proud that they lasted the whole day. Now it wasn't solely the thought of another day of torturous exercise that had them in tears, it was the vegetarian menu or should I say the lack of it. I could understand this had we not previously informed them that our son was vegetarian what I can't understand is how you can give a child, who by choice has been vegetarian for two years, a pepperoni pizza, you know the type with the tiny chopped up pieces of pepperoni strewn everywhere and tell him he either has to eat it or go without! The poor love was starving and had no choice but to eat it.

Yesterday I learnt a new skill, rendering. Now don't get me wrong, I have never had any desire to learn how to render and it certainly isn't included in my must do before I die list, it was one of those things that just sneaked up on me. Originally we had a chap in to quote for rendering the stairs and balcony, he then tried to quote us for the old adobe house/schoolroom, explaining that I wanted the schoolroom rendered in adobe (lots of boring technical reasons to do with the hardness of concrete render and not letting the adobe breath equalling long term structural problems... phew) he basically spoke to me as though I didn't know what I was talking about and proceeded to tell me in Hungarian that it was a waste of time and would all collapse as soon as it rained. Now I don't mind being told that I am wrong if there is a chance that I might be wrong but when I know I am right it bugs me somewhat, more so when the other two men present (who previously agreed with me) start nodding their heads in agreement at the builder! Well I rendered the house in adobe that is local soil sand and straw before finishing it with 3 coats of whitewash and I think it looks good and no it hasn't fallen off yet. Feeling buoyed that I was, of course, correct, I proceeded to tell hubby that we wouldn't be requiring the builder as we could do the rendering ourselves. Just when I believed hubby or Dave were going to have time I don't know, I didn't think that far ahead so a month later and sick of staring at my crumbling balcony, I decided it couldn't be that difficult and have now started the first layer. A couple more pictures of the school, yes I know I have posted some in Julys post but I am soooooo pleased with it. Having homeschooled in my bedroom for three years, a properly fitted out school such a blessing.

This poor little thing was on the floor of the barn having fallen or been pushed from the nest. I don't think he's fledged as he looks way to young. Eldest daughter, after taking nigh on 200 photos of it, picked it up and returned it to the nest, will check on it later.

On the subject of pets, minutes before the tearful phone call asking to come home, our puppy had jumped out of my eldest sons arms and fallen badly n the tiled floor. Visit to the vets assured us nothing was broken and he gave her some painkillers so she’s not quite herself at the moment.

Coming back from Sarmellek we stopped at Kis Balaton to watch the sunset, stunning, moments like this remind us of why we moved to Hungary.

A Better Future? The Summer Festival

2009-08-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am somewhat more composed although still unclear as to how Sunday’s events will affect our future inHungary.

Throughout the summer, the children had been looking forward to the village fair, especially as last year we only managed to attend the tail end having opted for the Gelsce gymkhana instead.

With three extremely eager children, we firstly set off to see this:

the corn peasants at the village entrance.

Disappointingly, there were not many activities for the children, particularly considering the number of children in the village. The main/only entertainment for the children was a rather strange (I know it was in Hungarian but believe me it was unlike anything I have ever seen before) act which for the most part involved a man dressed as a half chicken, half Thomas the tank engine leading a group of despondent children round and round in circles, encouraging them to shout whoo whoo every five minutes. Perhaps it would have succeeded with an audience of 2-4 year olds, however the average age of the children was 7-9 years but as it was festival day and with the encouragement of our friend Dave (the overgrown child in the picture) they did their best to enjoy it.

On leaving the barn we were greeted warmly by the mayor who insisted that hubby join him for a drink in his private room (read caravan at the back of the barn). A scotch whisky, declarations of friendship and a slap on the back later, we headed of to what we thought was an arts and crafts session at the village hall. Arriving at the hall we discovered it was locked, “never mind” says Dave in Hungarian, “I’ll ring the bell”. At the time I couldn’t understand why his girlfriend Eady seemed horrified by this suggestion though I now think that the mayor must have a pager system connected to the bell, or perhaps it was just coincidence, whatever it was, within minutes the mayor pulled up in his car and you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife, a definite change from the welcome shown less than 30 minutes before.

Well as regularly happens to us something was lost in translation and the arts and crafts turned out to be a display of artwork by local children. Leaving the hall I asked hubby if he thought our “crime” had been our association with our Roma friends, we knew the mayor had a reputation of disliking Roma but as the large majority of Hungarians have the same attitude we had thought no more of it.

On returning to the main festival, we were stood watching the horse trailer arrive for the afternoons show when I noticed numerous people in uniform and one with a black dog. My mind must have been in UK fair mode as I was thinking that in addition to the horses they must also be putting on a police demonstration. Suddenly it dawned on me that they weren’t police and the dog, jet black and looking like a cross between a pitbull and a bulldog, was definitely not a police dog. By this time 5 or 6 of the uniformed teenagers were standing about 40 feet away, staring at us with the dog straining at its lead. Why were they staring at us? The minute I heard the words Magyar Garda (Hungarian Guard) the pieces quickly fell into place, they were intimidating us, not specifically us but our three Roma friends.

Immediately all sorts of questions filled my head and tumbled out of my mouth in a mixture of English and horrendously bad Hungarian, “what are they doing?” “Miért itt, miért most? Why on the day of the festival?” Looking from the shocked expression on my children’s faces (we had previously discussed Jobbik, the Hungarian right of the right wing political party of whom the Magyar Garda is the military wing) to the intimidators in front of us, I became more irate and as a Garda walked past I shouted, “nem problemo itt, nem minden Roma rossz”. Subsequently, I looked to my left where the majority of the Garda stood, including men, women, teenagers and children and felt my stomach literally tie itself in a knot. Our village mayor was in a bear hug of a greeting with the “commander” of the guards making it perfectly clear that even if he had not personally invited them, they were more than welcome. Something was said between them and the crowd of them looked in our direction and pointed, by now it was obvious to all that I was not impressed and the more they made it clear that their attention was on our small group, the more frustrated I became. At this point they must have been informed that our friends were “not a problem” as our intimidators stood down and the pointing stopped, when the mayor passed us, very tight lipped forced acknowledgments were exchanged.

At this point I should explain that there were only three Roma teenagers at the festival, our friends and 4-5 young children who came for the aforementioned show. There was no trouble; there had been no trouble last year as again the Roma stayed away from the festival. Our village has a minority of Roma and yes some can be unsociable with regards to the volume of their music but then so can some of the Hungarians in our village. Occasionally they sing loudly in the street after one too many but again so do some of the Hungarians. There is high unemployment in the village and many Hungarians and Roma are on benefits and just as some of the Roma work the black economy so do some Hungarians.

We were forewarned of the Roma and how they would steal our chickens and eat them; steal our car, pots, pans and indeed anything that wasn’t nailed down. Unknown to our neighbours, who were kind enough to forewarn us, I have studied the Roma culture and one of our reasons for relocating to Hungary was to try and establish a studio where Hungarians and Roma could work together as well as providing football training and arts and crafts classes for the children. We have made a good start and now teach English to a Roma girl, our friend Dave helps us regularly with our renovations, his girlfriend plays with the children and we have started holding film nights in the school room. None of these teenagers drink, smoke or take drugs, they are the friendliest people we have encountered in the village and are forever bringing us wild mushrooms, corn, and anything else they have and that sadly is not much. In our experience they are far better mannered and behaved than many British teenagers and most of the Roma in our village are any worse than some of my previous neighbours in the UK. Admittedly there are 2 or 3 that I don’t trust but that was the same in the UK particularly when our elderly neighbour sold her house to a private landlord who subsequently let it to some very unsavoury characters.

What I find especially disheartening is the acceptance by the Roma that they are second class citizens, for example, the festival had a sports day program (not for children I hasten to add!) which literally translated as Peasants Olympics. On asking if he would be taking part, he replied that he wasn’t a peasant he was a Roma and couldn’t take part. Expressing the wrongness of this and pointing out that he was still a resident of the village, he just shrugged and said that is how things are here.

Sunday has truly put life in our village into perspective and we now realise that should we continue with our plans it is likely to be an extremely steep uphill struggle and a rather isolated one at that as the number of residents we saw embracing the presence of the Garda was disconcerting. Regardless, I stand by my opinion that there is no place on this earth for extremists be they political or religious and there has to be a better way to a better future - inviting the Magyar Garda to your village summer festival is not the way forward.

There is so much more that I could say but for now I will leave you with some pictures.

Village Fair. What was it all about?

2009-08-03T07:35:00.001-07:00

I am still asking myself that very question. All will be explained later! For now I am still angry and shocked and do not trust myself to write a post until I am in a better frame of mind.

What to read next? (copied from old blog)

2009-08-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

Currently, I am trying to decide which of two books to begin reading, The Bookseller of Kabul and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun.

Inevitably I will end up swoping between the two until, by the second or third chapter, one has taken hold. Until recently, motherhood, work and “she admits sheepishly” TV and the internet had pervaded my life and left no time for reading. However, three months in Bulgaria and subsequently Hungary, with no English TV or internet connection, allowed me to rekindle my love of reading. I lost count of the number of books I wormed through over the months, even reading the children’s books when my own supply ran out! Two books which I would recommend everyone to read are:

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin is a remarkable story about Greg Mortenson’s perilous journey to build schools in some of the remotest parts Pakistan and Afghanistan. His determination, resilience and achievements are truly inspirational.

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang tells the story of three generations of women, grandmother, mother and daughter. It provides an insight into China’s tragic and tumultuous history during the 20th century. This is a truly gripping tale and takes you on an emotional voyage which is, in parts, extremely dark and even unbelievable.

Time to move on Part 2 (copied from old blog)

2009-08-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

Where did I leave off?

On our return from Hungary, we began in earnest to look at the possibility of relocating to Hungary rather than Bulgaria. However, we had made several contacts in Bulgaria, purchased and left a car there as well as learning some of the language, it would be a while before we completely let go of Bulgaria. Looking back, it was definitely the right decision.

Research however was difficult! There is a tremendous lack of websites, forums or written material relating to expats looking to relocate to Hungary. Whilst considering France and Bulgaria, a simple search on Google would throw up hundreds if not thousands of been there done that accounts. Estate agents replied instantly, even if it meant a partly ineligible computer translation. Not in Hungary! I must have emailed at least 20 estate agents and had replies from 3 or 4, none of which had anything suitable. My experience of the letting agents was not dissimilar, unless I wanted, what I considered to be, overpriced holiday accommodation. Eventually I managed to rent a chalet on the shore of Lake Balaton for a week and decided to play it by ear once we arrived. Positive that we would find less expensive accommodation and more receptive estate agents on our arrival, we set off.

Fortunately we managed to sort out accommodation and spent our first five weeks in chalets on Lake Balaton. The children loved it as there is such a variety of things to do. They went canoeing, played basketball, table tennis, made masks, screen printed t-shirts and more. Never once did they claim to be bored and that was without a TV, internet or Nintendo Wii. In fact the only time they moaned was when we trailed them round estate agents.

After visiting numerous agents, we realised that we had to learn Hungarian, to a reasonable standard and quickly! This is easier said than done as Hungarian is unlike any other language I have attempted to learn, it is part of the Finno-Ugric language group. To date we have mastered the alphabet, can introduce ourselves, ask where something is, how much it costs, the days of week and other basic phrases. We are now looking at suffixes and as there are three different groups of suffixes in Hungarian, many dependant on the “sound” of the word, you can imagine the fun we are having. However, as few Hungarians speak English -even in the tourist resorts - we know we will not experience Hungary to its full unless we learn.

Unfortunately we could not learn quick enough to help us with the house hunting and thus endured many torturous weeks searching for an agent who either spoke the language or had access to a translator. Eventually we decided to try a nearby town, Nagykanizsa. By sheer luck, or divine intervention (which ever you believe in) the first agent we approached spoke a little English and assured us there would be a translator in the office later in the day. Later that afternoon we returned to the office and arranged to meet the following day for our marathon viewing trip and subsequent purchase.

This Is The Life : Fishing on Kis Balaton

Dusk on Lake Balaton

Playing table tennis at the campsite

Canoeing On Lake Balaton

Time to move on : but where? (copied from old blog)

2009-08-03T06:06:00.000-07:00

In 2006 we had become disillusioned with Ireland, we wanted to do something productive with our lives and as we are home schooling the children, thus allowing us a certain flexibility, we knew the time was right.

Summer of 2007 was spent exploring Bulgaria, after 10 weeks we were having serious doubts as to the viability of living there and building the studio. Our main concern was the lack of medical facilities, the majority of the staff are wonderful and extremely well trained, however the facilities as desperately lacking. From ambulances to the emergency room to the wards the lack of adequate equipment is worrying.

Other concerns were the blatant corruption and obscene amount of red tape, the thought of establishing a business in such an environment gave me nightmares!

Bulgaria is, in some areas, a beautiful country and the majority of the people are welcoming and helpful. Unfortunately there are numerous conmen and women, as such it is a country where you have to have your wits about you at all times, personally, I like life just a bit easier.

We left Bulgaria a fortnight early and decided to get the train to Hungary where we hired a motorhome and travelled road the regions of Vesprem, Vas and Zala.

Typical of our luck the weather turned as we arrived and it rained daily. Regardless, we fell in love with the country, it was fairly relaxed, people were friendly and the countryside was gorgeous.

On our return home we decided to spend the following summer exploring the Zala region and began house hunting online. To our surprise, we found that we could buy a larger property, in better condition, for the same budget that we had in Bulgaria! Considering the better quality of life in Hungary, compared to Bulgaria, I can’t understand why more British haven’t “discovered” Hungary. Not that I am complaining, I like the fact that we are “the only Brits in the village.

When I say I don’t understand, that isn’t strictly true as years before we visited Hungary, I had been browsing property online and came across a whole hamlet for sale, several houses, a church, barns and acres of land. The price was something ridiculous, around £50,000; admittedly this was about 7 years ago. I didn’t even consider the property as I, wrongly, believed that Hungary was a damp, cold country with infrastructure and facilities equal to its neighbour Romania, how wrong I was!

The old town, Veliko Turnovo

Lace maker in VelikoTurnovo

The First Step On A Long And Winding Road! (copied from old blog)

2009-08-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

Finally we have found the property for the studio!

After months of searching and on the verge of giving up, it was typically the very last property that we viewed. Suffering from heat exhaustion and viewing fatigue, I didn’t bother to even get out of the car. It was the 8th house that day, 32 degrees (air con wasn’t working) and everything we had viewed so far was soul destroying. Having instructed the others to have a quick look round with the agent, I switched on the battery operated fan, closed my eyes and awaited their return.

Within minutes I was being dragged from the car by an overexcited daughter insisting that I had to come and look as this was “the one”.

Standing on the balcony completely mesmerised by the views, I had to agree. Okay the house needed completely renovated, the garden was a jungle and don’t even start me on the outbuildings which still contain contents left by the previous residents, goats! Fortunately I have imagination in abundance and can envisage the possibilities; well that’s what I tell myself when I have a “what the heck are we doing” moment.

In theory the plan is to convert the barn into a studio and another small building into an art centre for local children. We hope to work with both Hungarians and Roma residing in the village, more about this in later postings. Having spent the summer in Hungary (again more details to follow) we have now returned and will spend the winter making plans and contacts for when we return in March 2009.

For now I have included some photos of the barn and the views from the property

View across our field

Amazing view of the surrounding mountains

Today is the village fair.

2009-08-02T03:29:00.001-07:00

We are just leaving for the village fair. Will try and add some photos this evening.

Internet at last! It only took 3 months.

2009-07-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

Finally, after three months, we have internet. At times it seemed we were doomed to fail before we had even begun, I'll explain:

Before leaving Ireland, we confirmed with Magyar Telecom that we could have a phone line and DSL at our property, certainly we were told and hence proceeded to put through the application. On our arrival in Hungary, our translator informed us that Telecom had lost the order and it had to be resubmitted. A month later and three subsequent orders having "been lost" we began to suspect something wasn't quite right. Several weeks later; phone calls to the village mayor and Telecom technical staff and chats with some of our neighbours it became apparent that internet was indeed available in the village........ If we lived at number 1-60, needless to say, we don't.
Numerous phone calls and translations later, it transpired that there is no more capacity at our end of the village, the available 2 YES 2 connections being already in use. There followed weeks of "oh my god what have we done", decidedly suspicious drives around the village with binoculars searching for the illusive wireless internet mast, tears and tantrums! Our saviours came in the form of the mayor and two neighbours whom we have become friendly with. During one of our many brainstorming sessions trying to resolve the problem, I had mentioned that surely it must be possible to take a connection from the other end of the village and route it down to us. Impossible I was told. however, it was then mentioned that an old building in the village, belonging to the mayors office had a connection which wasn't used, with my neighbours translating, the mayor agreed that if possible we could use that connection. It took a further four weeks, understandable though considering the number of strings which had to be pulled, for the connection to be routed from the centre of the village down to us and Hey Presto! We have internet.

I have much to write about, so much has happened that it feels as though we have been here three years instead of three months. So please bear with me while I try and bring the blog up to date.
Firstly those who followed my previous blog will notice I have changed to blogspot. Whilst I was without internet my site server went down and I had no way of knowing nor resolving the problem, the site is up and running again but it seems more prudent to host the blog here. In time I will add the posts from the old blog.

It’s been manic and non stop since we arrived. The septic tank and reed beds are now in place and after a shaky start, are operating well. The pool is in (I know priorities but in this weather the kids would be a nightmare without it) and I am especially pleased with it considering it was a second-hand above ground pool which we sunk into the ground and surrounded with decking. The schoolroom is also complete and it now feels like a real school, admittedly the novelty wore of for the children after a few weeks and it was back to the usual complaints and excuses!
I have so much else to write about, the live river muscles we were given to take care of, the baby bat (again for us to take care of) the gardening successes and failures, the realisation that Hungarian is even more difficult than we imagined, our wonderful neighbours, our not so wonderful neighbours and us slowly falling in love with our little rural Hungarian village (warts and all).