Can You Hear Me Now?

For many years,  we have been involved with the Fulbright awardees who arrive to Hungary for a semester or a full year. Depending on their needs, wants, and desires, we have become friendly with those who choose. 

One such person was Nicole Fiore. She was here half time as a Fulbright counselor for potential US recipients as well as those who wanted to study in the US with the rest of her time working at Central European University. The reason I mention her now is because she sent me the note below. This just so happened to come in at an optimal time allowing me to connect it with something else.

Hi Ryan,

I saw your latest blog posting and just wanted to let you know that if you ever want to give some property away I would be more than happy to take it off your hands!! Just kidding!

I hope you and Ron are well and enjoying some much deserved time off from teaching.

I love reading your blog postings as they come into my inbox. I imagine you telling the stories at the kitchen table as we are all drinking wine and playing apples to apples. The thought puts a big smile on my face.

Have a great time traveling this summer and be safe.

Nichole

Nicole imagines me telling these stories at the kitchen table. Well, in the same batch of e-mails, there was an article about a program called Podcastomatic that will convert blog posts into podcasts. Instead of reading them, you can listen to them. You can find the online program here; there is nothing to download. I tested it out and can say it is marvelous for the short-term or perfect for those with vision issues. So you don't miss a thing, it shows:
“New episodes added since this page was loaded: 9 (please reload this page to show the new episodes)”
 
Actually, the voice sounds somewhat like me if I had a cocktail of Thorazine mixed with a touch of Ativan before recording. Regardless, it is worthy of checking out. There may be other blogs you want to hear.

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The Vagina Monologues

If you did not read the title of this post, reread it and proceed with caution. 

Although I had heard about The Vagina Monologues in the past, it was usually from my lesbian friends. The title alone produced not so appealing images of talking vaginas. Thinking I could end up being the only man in the audience was no incentive to see the play either. The last interaction I had with a vagina of any sort was in 1999, when I taught the last semester of Psych 110 - Human Sexual Behavior at the college in CA, a class I had taught for twelve years. Prior to that, my in-ter-actions with the V-word were not so in-ter at all.

Since then my life has been perfectly fulfilled without having to resort to vagina monologues, dialogues, diatribes, explorations, visualizations, sightings, or any other sensory confrontations. Who convinced me I needed to see this show was one of my former students, Dorottya Karsay. She asked me to attend this production at Central European University. Because she was always special to me and she was part of the cast and I could get Ron to go with me, I agreed. Our friend Laszlo joined us too.

The tickets were free, but based on a donation which went to two excellent causes. One recipient receiving 90%, is the only shelter in Hungary for helping the survivors of sexual abuse and assault, the Eszter Foundation. Each year, 10% of the donations from around the world go to one charity. This year it is the "City of Joy" for the women and girls of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is said that the DRC is the world's most dangerous place to be a woman or girl.

The smallish theater was packed. My guess is that the audience was a 50-50 gender mix. Consisting of sixteen vignettes with a cast numbering more than twenty, some of the contemporary themes made it apparent that the play is rejuvenated with current vagina related events keeping it timely. A point to be made here is that the play at any time will be entirely different than the movie, which was made in 2002. The latter consists of the author as the sole performer.

Ninety minutes after entering the theater, my emotional repertoire had run the gamut. I laughed hysterically at parts. I wanted to cry hysterically at others. Some just made me sad, while others made me angry. This group of young women gave us their all while draining it all from us. Bravo and thank you!

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Flashback to Saturday

Last Sunday, we went to welcome another American who has come here to live for a year. Michael has come to study at Central European University for a Masters in History. About six months prior to his arrival, he was given my e-mail address through a friend of a friend of a friend, that sort of thing that brings people into connecting. We had many e-mail exchanges about living here, the quality of life, and then much ado about his decision to earn another Masters degree here versus in the States. Many quandaries later I suggested he was earning me a Life Coach designation due to my mentoring and haranguing for his making a change in a life he claimed was not satisfactory. The kicker was that he too is an MSW; both Ron and I are social workers besides. During these e-mail exchanges, we discussed politics once. He was a strong Hillary supporter as was I and both of us were disappointed she did not make it to the top. It was not until he arrived that I found out much to my chagrin that he is now supporting McCain due to Palin. My initial reaction was to rip his skin off to see if it was masking a hostage Democrat under wraps, but I controlled myself. We have limited friends here, so we have to turn the other cheek at times as much as I would like to sock his when he makes a comment about how qualified Palin is in comparison to Obama-Biden. I have suggested we disassociate ourselves from political discussions or the seed of friendship is never going to sprout past to reach the top of the soil. We have done well thus far. Being new to the city, everything is exciting to Michael. We have been here seven years and though we still find it a beautiful urban area, we don't have the need or desire to go running about to museums and such unless there is a new and grabbing exhibit that demands to seen. Michael has time on his hands until school officially begins. His first week was orientation only. We decided to replace one sofa bed in the small bedroom while replacing the sofa in the large bedroom with a sofa bed. After more than one guest has broken the frame on the bed in the large room, we have also caved in and put a new bed frame on the shopping list. This meant a trip to Ikea; we invited Michael to join us. There is nothing that makes my blood circulate at premium efficiency than shopping. I love to shop, but when I know I am actually going to make purchases, I am like a greyhound chasing rabbits. It did not take long to find two different sofa beds that were on wheels, not sitting on the floor like our current model. Both had extremely comfortable mattresses; unlike many Ikea We stopped at the food court to lunch and refresh our spirits. Their meals are usually excellent and bargain prices. Their Swedish meatballs are my favorite. Along the way, going around Ikea is like following the yellow brick road. They were ingenious in setting the store up so you follow the path they want you to walk, most of the time, you ignore the detours through departments. That is how I found the most wonderful blankets. They are ivory color, look like bubble wrap, but are soft and squishy. Mental pictures of curling up with one on a cold winter's night while watching TV prompted me to buy one for us and one each for the bedrooms. How could I not share this cozy pleasure with guests? We also spotted some bolster type pillows for the small room's sofa bed to add some color completing our shopping tour. With bin numbers in hand, we grabbed a trolley and scavenged for the parts we would have to assemble to make our ideals a reality. Our trolley runneth over as we headed to the cashier and then to the delivery services. Feeling satiated, we left, I was in seventh heaven. I had not been able to shop until I was ready to drop in so long, I had fears that my stamina had run dry. The day was a success with no political talk, but good conversation and an exchange of ideas on other topics. There is hope. products the choice of colors was not obnoxious either. We also found a bed frame suitable for the over sized guest, which would not make our hearts palpitate with fear of finding them sleeping on the floor some morning. Just for good measure, we assured ourselves by finding out which parts were replaceable 'just in case'.

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