The weekend in Gyöngyös.

Well here are the pictures taken yesterday morning before we headed back to Budapest. We stayed there overnight. Was great. Really a pleasant change from the daily Budapest city life. Gyöngyös is only an hour drive from Budapest. Not so far, but you can see the difference in the air quality and colder too. Here, people like to have weekend houses. Even my mother in law has one. Somewhere in a place called Gödöllö. Don't know whether I've spelt that correctly. :) Have yet to check the weekend house yet, the place was newly renovated but still no water.

Anyway, back to the story of Gyöngyös.

The arch that leads to the entrance.

The surrounding area. Not much difference from Malaysia sometimes I feel.

The weekend house itself. It's a weekend house but fully equipped with cable tv, internet and other things. LOL They really know how to combine technology and nature. The biggest house in the area. They just bought the piece of land next to theirs. Might build a few more houses. For friends and relatives they say. Real lucky people, but they worked hard.

Vineyard on adjacent land. People here, they make wine.


The cherries are already popping out. Wait for them to ripen. This place is also our source of cherries supply. LOL. Too many so they would give to friends.


Few pictures taken with my handphone camera. Too lazy to run up to the room to get the camera. :p Hanging out time. Literally. LOL

Bonnie in front of the house playing cleaning.



In the living room. That's the lucky future owner there sitting playing with his laptop. Behind, that's Bonnie in the middle of the room playing. LOL

Finally a picture of a field full of yellow flowers. Reminds me of a paddy field. It's by the highway so took it from a moving car. Couldn't take a much better picture that shows how much more love the view was. These plants are actually for making biofuel.


Next mission is to get a weekend house in the country side. :D

Daily photos.

I sometimes check the daily photos websites. Especially of cities in Malaysia and also Budapest. Here's today daily photo of Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Budapest, Hungary. Unfortunately I can only choose Petaling Jaya photo because the other daily photo blogs are not frequently updated. Some even stopped posting since last year. :(

From Petalingjayamalaysiadailyphoto.blogspot.com

From Budapestdailyphoto.com.

Seems like we get, not the best view of both cities today. But there are prettier sights. Though fond I am of my country, I never liked the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. I simply do not like big cities. I came from a rather small community back in Johor, South of Malaysia.

Budapest has many beautiful buildings, more than you can find in Kuala Lumpur. Well, Budapest has been around longer than Kuala Lumpur. While Kuala Lumpur, in my opinion is a little disorganized clutter of a city. LOL When ever my father drove up to Kuala Lumpur, we always end up lost and get caught in the traffic jam. Maybe it was just my father? He he he. However, even if I didn't like that city, I miss it now.

Zulejka road in Budapest.

My daughter's second name is Zuleikha. In Arabic means fair or beautiful. The other day I was browsing the map of Budapest, searching for a place. I found Zulejka utca. Or Zulejka road. The spelling is different but same pronunciation.





It is a surprise since the name Zuleikha is indeed foreign to people here. Even my mil, and friends here didn't know such road exists. When I told I found the road they were skeptical until I show them on the map. Not that it is a big deal, just surprised. Most probably the remnants of Islamic Turkish rule hundreds of years ago.

The mole - Czech cartoon.

Kisvakond in Hungarian which means Little mole, is a cartoon my daughter watches nearly everyday. Everyday if she can. The cartoon was created by a Czech Cartoonist, Zdenek Miler. The main character is of course a mole. He lives among his other animal friends, the mouse, rabbit and the hedgehog. Since it's publication in 1959, it became a hit in Eastern European Countries and a few other European countries. Hungary is one of them. So most Hungarian kids grow up watching this cartoon.

At first I couldn't understand what is so fascinating about this cartoon. But after sometime I began to like it too. :D The mole is cute, simple and innocent. He is trying to help others all the time, dreaming and enjoying life too. The cartoon is evergreen like so many other old things. Something, modern cartoon lacks.

You see, the creator wanted to make the cartoon universal so that people can understand regardless where they are from or what language. So the cartoon didn't have any narration besides just a few short words of expressions or sounds which, I read, were voiced by the cartoonist's daughters.

Watch it everyday that some of the music got stuck in my head. LOL. If you are interested you can check the series on youtube. :D

See Budapest city center live.

Wanna see how Budapest looks like live ? Click here. You need to have java for this. I was amazed at how clear and good quality images it gives. Click start camera control. Then a drop down menu will appear after sometime. You can choose what you want to see. You can even zoom it. Of course by choosing that option at the drop down menu. Cool...

There's a time limit of how long you can control the camera. Most probably they rotate the usage with other users too. Enjoy!

Great Hungarian Plain.

While looking browsing about places that we can go to during the summer here in Hungary, I found about the Great Hungarian Plain or Nagy Alfold. Not that I have not heard of it, just did think of it. The Hungarian Plain made up to 8 % to Hungarian land mass.

Below is a video of the Hungarian Plain. Well, a collection of pictures with a Hungarian folk music in the background.

Those pictures makes me think of the American cowboys. LOL Consider them the cowboys of Central Europe. Would be nice to just drive a caravan or travel trailer and stop by a field and set camp. :D But travel trailers are not popular here since people prefer having weekend houses.

Interesting Facts about Hungary

I found this facts online. Thought I'd share it here. Though I've been here for a year, it is still interesting to learn more about this country. Reading about their achievements at international level, enough to create a new found respect for them. At least for me. :)

• The official name of Hungary is ‘Hungarian Republic’. (Magyarorszag)
  

• Hungary is situated in East-Central Europe and shares its borders with Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.
• The official language of Hungary is Hungarian and its currency is Hungarian Forint - HUF.
• The main religion followed in Hungary is Roman Catholicism, followed by Calvinist, Lutheran and Greek Catholicism.
• Hungary follows republican form of government.
• The largest city in Hungary, Budapest, is also its capital and its cultural, economic and industrial center.
• Hungary is one of the oldest countries in Europe, founded way back in the year 896.
• Hungarian language is also known as Magyar and is the direct descendent of the language spoken by the Huns, who gave the country its name.
• Asian genes form only a tiny percentage of the Hungarian population.
• The Kingdom of Hungary was one of the largest states in Europe, around 1000 CE.
• Hungary was amongst the first communist-era countries that opposed the Soviet regime during the Cold War.
• The Hungarian Grand Prix of 1986 was the first Formula One race to take place behind the Iron Curtain.
• In 1989, Hungary became the first communist-block country to open its borders with Western Europe.
• As per EU statistics, Hungary has the highest death rate by cancer in Europe and also the highest female suicide rate.
• The noiseless match, Rubik's cube, holography, ballpoint pen, theory of the hydrogen bomb, BASIC programming language and the krypton electric bulb were invented by Hungarians only.
• Hungary has one of the most important thermal spring cultures in the entire Europe. There are as many as 1,500 spas in the country, adorned with Roman, Greek and Turkish architecture. Hungary also boasts of 450 public baths.
• Numerous established composers, like Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and Franz Liszt, belonged to Hungary.
• Till 2007, 13 Hungarians had received a Nobel Prize.
• Hungary has won the sixth highest number of Summer Olympic gold medals.

Critical Mass on Earth day.

On the 21st of April, while I was spending a quiet day with my daughter, there was a critical mass in the city of Budapest. No, it's not a riot. Critical Mass is a world wide event where bicyclist, unicyclists, roller skaters gathers. Though it is held on different days, depending on the organizers and varies in number of participants.In Budapest they hold it twice a year. On, International Car Free day on 22nd September and Earth day on 21st of April. Last year, 70,000 bicyclists gathered in the big city of Budapest. This year, it increased by 10,000 more.

Critical Mass Budapest 2008 from Kultplay on Vimeo.

The saddest people in Europe.

According to a poll done recently, by the MTI, Hungarian News Agency. Hungarians are the 3rd( after Russians and Bulgarians) unhappiest people in Europe. The poll was done in 19 European countries.Who are the happiest Europeans ? The Danes and the Swiss.

I've been living here for a year and I began to understand why the Hungarians are sad people. Everybody is complaining about this or that. Many even say they would just give up on the idea that Hungary would become better. All I can say is that, one thing is wrong here, is the mentality. The politician talk too much and do less. (well that's what the Hungarians are complaining about. LOL) I am glad to be able to think that I can always go back to Malaysia, but feel a little pity for those here who can't even dream of leaving but keep on hoping for a change.

Chinese Market in Budapest

Been to this chinese market twice only because it is rather far from where I live. Being Malaysian and having grown up with chinese friends, even being so far away, I feel a little bit of a comfort among the Chinese here. Though I'm not Chinese but at least we are Asians and also both are foreigners.

The market is usually crowded on a Sunday. Of course people are not working. You can buy clothes from china, shoes, imitation perfumes, designer glasses and other products. I was excited at first to go there at first but later was slightly dissapointed due to the lack of things that I expected they would have.

Now, since there is an Asia Center which is rather nearer, I go there instead to buy some asian ingreadients. Before they built the Asia Center, most probably people were flocking here.

Check out the video, chinese stalls any where around the world looks kind of same isn't it? LOL

Learn Basic Hungarian Through Youtube.

I am learning Hungarian from various sources. From books,television, speaking and listening to other Hungarians and even my daughter. Yes I learn from her. She seems to speak better Hungarian than I. LOL Naturally, she's half Hungarian. Anyway, some months back I found some basic Hungarian lessons through Youtube. Though most of the lessons are for formal usage but it is a good start for those who would like to learn Hungarian.

Hungarian Lessons On Youtube Here.

Hungarian and Malaysian dance.

This is a Hungarian traditional folk dance. I don't know much about Hungarian dance. But I think this is interesting. My dear husband I think knows a few steps. LOL



And here is the Hungarian gypsy dance.




This is a Malaysian traditional dance. It is called a Zapin. Originated from Johor. The southern state of Malaysia.Where I came from. :D The kids are really cute. I really love this traditional dance. They have many types of zapin. Some of them are quite graceful. Bonnie would definitely learn this. :D

Easter in Hungary

Photo copyright of Emese Kerkay, American Hungarian Museum Publication,
Passaic, NJ

This Monday, Hungary will be celebrating Easter. The above eggs are the typical Hungarian easter egg traditional designs. I doubt just anyone would be able to decorate an egg like that.

I have written about this in my other blog, but I think I would write it here for this blog's reader. The way Hungarian celebrate Easter, the men will be going around visiting carrying a bottle of perfume each. The women stay at home and cook some dishes for the men. The men will then recite a poem which sounds something like this translated into English to the ladies:

I was walking by the park,
I saw a flower withering,
I wish to sprinkle it with water,
May I?

When the lady says yes, the guy will then sprinkle a little perfume on the lady. Well, one type of perfume is fine. But imagine 10 men or more all with different smelling perfumes? Easter is more like stink fest for women in Hungary. LOL

If you think that is terrible, traditionally they don't use perfume but buckets of water. Splash it on the girl.

Pic from hungaria dot org.

Perhaps in the villages they still practice the old tradition. I'm happy with the perfume sprinkling. Stinky or not.

So once the sprinkling is done. The lady will give the guy a decorated egg or chocolate. I would rather do the sprinkling and get the chocolate. :D

Hungarian Name Days

In Hungary, not only they have Birthdays. They also have Name Days. Each day of the calendar has name or names. Today is the 29th of January. On the calendar it's a Name Day for people called Adél. Pronounced awdeel. Yesterday the 28th was Name day for Károly and Karola i.e, Charles and Carol in English.
Usually people celebrate Name days here as they celebrate birthdays. Cakes and presents included. Only that sometimes Birthdays are more of a family occasion but Name days are for celebrating with family and also friends.
I was told, in the communism era, when people have children they have to choose a name from the calendar for them. I guess they didn't promote creativity those days. My daughter's name is a combination of Scots and Arabic and not in the calendar, so no name day for her. Good in a way no need to buy extra presents, but hey, if you want to celebrate something you don't need an occasion.
One thing about Hungarian names is that, like the Chinese, they mention the surname first before the First name. For example Kovacs Imre. (I don't know any Kovacs Imre) Kovacs (smith) is the surname and Imre is the first name.
Another interesting fact is, normally when a couple gets married, the wife will adopt the husband's surname right? Well usually. But in Hungary they take not only the surname but the first name included plus -ne. So if a Kovacs Imre gets married, his wife will change her name to Kovacs Imrene. All official matters must be handled under this name. Well, this is customary. But nowadays, more and more women choose to keep her first name instead and add the husband's surname. I'm glad that I don't have to change my name. It's like losing your identity. It's like after you get married the old you died. Well practically that is. Anyway that is only my opinion.

A rather blustery day

It was a cold, wet, blustery day. I woke up in the middle of last night to the howling sound of the wind outside. The wind continued to blow strongly for the whole day. And still is even as I'm typing this. I even felt nearly blown away today outside.





Anyway, I went to the Asia Center today. Bought some asian cooking ingredients. It's a huge place dedicated for Asian products. But mainly I could see from China. Although it is a big center but I could only find one small provision shop at a discreet corner of the building. We nearly missed it the first time we went there. I was excited at first to know about this place but when I went there, it was a disappointment. Not many choices.(what do you expect from a small 15 sqm tiny shop?) I only bought packets of dried rice vermicelli, coconut milk powder, and some dried curry leaves. Fortunately I could get ginger, lime leaves and sometimes chili padi in Tesco here.




But if I want a wider range of things then I need to go to the 'Great Market' at the vamhaz korut. The first floor, mostly there are fruits, vegetables, and meat stalls. The second floor you can find Hungarian crafts,such as traditional clothes, thimbles, table cloths etc. The Asian shop is at the lower ground. Well, here you can get more ingredients and also some asian cooking utensils like the wok, the mortar (lesung batu), and even rice cookers. However, still not many asian ingredients than what I hoped for. I'm just waiting for the time when I can buy dried anchovies (ikan bilis) here in Budapest. :-)

What the Hungarians have contributed to the world.

• Donat Banki, (1859-1922), — inventor of carburetor

• Laszlo Biro, (1899-1985), — modern ballpoint pen

• Otto Blathy (1860-1939), — co-inventor of the transformer, wattmeter, alternating current (AC) and turbogenerator

• János Csonka, (1852-1939), — co-inventor of carburetor

• Miksa Deri (1854-1938), — co-inventor of transformer

• Dennis Gabor, (1900-1979), — holography

• Peter Carl Goldmark, (1906-1977), — vinyl record (LP), CBS color television

• George de Hevesy, (1885-1966), — radioactive tracer

• János Irinyi, (1817-1895), — noiseless match

• György Jendrassik, (1898-1954), — turboprop

• John George Kemeny, (1926-1992), — co-inventor of BASIC

• John von Neumann, (1903-1957), — Von Neumann computer architecture

• Tivadar Puskas, (1844-1893), — telephone exchange

• Erno Rubik, (1944-), — Rubik's cube, Rubik's Magic and Rubik's Clock

• Bela Schick, (1877-1967), — diphtheria test

• Charles Simonyi, (1948-), — Hungarian notation

• Leo Szilard, (1898-1964), — Co-developed the Atomic Bomb, patented the nuclear reactor, catalyst of the Manhattan Project

• Edward Teller, (1908-2003), — hydrogen bomb

• Kalman Tihanyi, (1897-1947), — co-inventor of cathode ray tube and iconoscope

Okay this is a lazy cut and paste job from wikipedia. I think the most used hungarian invention is the ballpoint pen and the carburetor. (thank god not the hydrogen bomb) Though I'd like to add another important Hungarian contributor, Gábor Csupó who, together with ex-wife, brought us Rugrats!!, The wildthornberries. LOL. Few of my favourite cartoons from nickelodeon. :D

Hungarian famous graffitis.

When I first arrived in Hungary last year, I was quite shock to see this kind of graffiti nearly every where. I read somewhere that Hungary is one of the countries that has the most graffiti in the world. These ones are the ones near where I live.




Quite an eyesore really. What's strange for me is that, it's as if they have like an association for doing this. LOL. Can you imagine whole city of Budapest (mostly pest side) is full of these things? Though now, I'm quite used to it. Almost didn't notice it.

Kind of sad too. Because there are some nice buildings vandalized this way. What's wrong with you Hungarian delinquents?? (I assume they are delinquents and Hungarians)

Though I can't deny that there are those that look kind of nice in certain places. Like at a Hungarian Subway here.

picture from http://www.xlab.co.uk/photos/read/65

Not the best example but there are really nice ones. These people must have spent a fortune on spray paints.

Christmas Tradition.

Christmas is just around the corner. Which is the reason for this post. It will be my first Christmas here in Hungary. I got to know that, children were told by their parents that, the angel comes night before christmas (usually) to decorate the tree and leave presents for them. I don't know if the same story (or lie :P) told to children in other parts of the world, but not in Malaysia. The other day, when I was at the house of one of the children I was tutoring English. He had some friends at his place that day. His parents set up the christmas tree early and gave him presents early since they won't be in Hungary for Christmas. (To Mauritius. Lucky bastards people) The conversation between him and his friends was something like this:

Friend1: Who did this tree??
Boy : The angel.
Friend2: Wow, really.... when did he/she came?
Boy : Yesterday. This present is from the angel. And this 2 from my dad.


I was laughing listening to the innocent conversation. I couldn't help wondering, how would the kids feel realizing that the parents lied to them all these years. LOL. Perhaps nothing. That they would do the same to their kids. And yeah...right... parents say it's a sin to lie. LOL

Few years back I watched "Queer eye for the straight guy" and they were giving some Christmas tips. One tip that I found interesting is creating a Christmas tradition in the family. They collected some small stones and wrote the names of the family members and each of them got to write down what they want for Christmas. And these small stones were then put under the Christmas tree. So every year they can do this and the stone are then collected in a box.

So, I thought of this and decided to create a Christmas tradition too. Instead of stones, I thought of making paper cranes. I wrote about this in my last post, The Crane (0rigami) .
Since paper cranes are a symbol of hope, I would write my hope and dreams for the coming year. After some years, I can look back at the paper cranes collection and see whether my hopes had come true or not. :)

Boldog Karacsonyt!!

Hungarian Humour.

Another video Clip!! I think you will enjoy this. LOL. I was browsing Pestiside.hu when I stumbled upon this video. :)
Trust me, it's entertaining!



The song "Cuki Vagyok". Cuki pronounced something like 'tsuki"
came from the word "cukor" which means sugar in Hungarian.
While "vagyok" means "I am". So the girl is singing about how sweet
she is. I can't help laughing away I nearly fell of my seat watching the
part where those guys at the door with sunglasses nodding their heads
to the rythym. These guys can't be serious!! LOL I like the music though
really catchy. After listening to it 2-3 times, I seem to be not able to get
the "cuki,cuki vagyok" out of my head!

I haven't seen any other music videos in other languages that's similarly
funny. If you have seen or know where to find, please share!!

To Laugh Or Not To Laugh...

When you see the video clip below you'll know what I mean.




You see this lady who drove right into the water was already informed
that there was a pipe crack, and told not to drive through. See, what
stubborness or plain not listening can cause?

Further going into the water afterwards... What was she thinking??!!
Funny yet I don't know whether to laugh or not cause it's sure is a pitiful
sight too.

It happened in Malaysia a few years back. Quite a long time ago. But I
do remember the story went something like this. There was an old chinese
man who rode on a bicycle. He was riding quite fast and he saw a puddle of
water. Assuming that it was shallow he just went through and what do you
know, it turned out to be a very very deep "pothole". Yes, he had to be taken
to the hospital and get several stitches. So people if you see a puddle, ( yeah
I know it's fun sometimes to drive through water :) ) never assume that the
water is shallow.