The Rolling Stones Sang It

Time is on my side, yes it is
Time is on my side, yes it is
Now you always say
That you want to be free
But you'll come running back (said you would baby)
You'll come running back (I said so many times before)
You'll come running back to me
Rolling Stones
Where does the time go? It certainly is not on my side. I am so far behind.

One great thing about having a bed and breakfast is when guests return and return and return. It is like the song claims "You'll come running back". Actually, it is only great when you categorically enjoy the guests. Such was the case most recently when Beth and Bob returned for, geez, I have lost count now as to how many times this makes.

Beth is a nursing professor and a lawyer. She was here on a Fulbright a few years back teaching home health nursing. Bob is a retired microbiologist who was a contributing scientist to identifying the coding of DNA chains. I could be wrong about the details. I only just passed microbiology barely, because the Kreb’s Cycle made no sense to me whatsoever. Add to that the gram stains you had to add to some cultures to see the little buggers. Good grief! I spend hours trying to remove some stains, not create them.

Yet again, I digress. Beth and Bob were in one room. In the other corner, in boxing parlance, or the other room as in B and B vernacular, were Dr. Laurel Benson, her sister Karen (a physician’s assistant) and their maternal aunt Marilyn (a retired English teacher). Laurel works with Ron’s, now our grandniece Andrea in Colorado. We met her at Andrea’s wedding in Florence last year. She came to our wedding in April. The three of them had just disembarked from a river cruise and extended their stay in Budapest for another two nights.

This is the general idea of what was going on at our place. Yes, all of the above peeps cared for themselves during the day; we totally sucked up all of their friendliness. Socialization here is feast or famine. During this time, it was a feast. 


Speaking of feasts, 9 of us went out for dinner. That is another story entirely.

The negative side to this is their leaving. Yes, we hate to see great guests leave, but we even hate it more when they do so at 4am. We have never let a guest leave without our being there to offer nourishment and to escort them out. Laurel and her clan were up at 4:30 am and the following day, B and B were ready to make their kitchen entrance by 5:30. This really throws off my sleep cycle, which is way out of whack at the best of times.

I am still having problems with the cut on my foot. One would think that with all of the medicos around me, I would partake of my own private clinic. However, being Italian, martyrdom is part of the gene pool. If it gets worse, I will see my regular doctor.

Pin It Now!

Party Time

Each year we try to host some type of welcome for the Fulbright group coming to Hungary. Generally, we wait until the end of their orientation, but years past have shown this is not the prime time. Not all of the incoming group will be working in Budapest, so after they finish orienting themselves, they take off for various parts of the country. Some, never to be seen again, but us at least. 

This year, we wizened up and are hosting it pre-in-service. It worked. We have 26 people coming tonight. 

Busy times!

Pin It Now!

An Almost Tearful Goodbye

Two years ago short of a month, Jamie and Bill Hoversen arrived in Budapest. After doing a meet and greet with dozens of Fulbrighters over the past 12 years, when I went to their aid getting these things out of the taxi, I went into full stomach wrenching laughing spasms. When we left the US with the intent on traveling for a year, we had one suitcase each and one backpack between us. When I was able to catch my breath, they both took my guffaws in stride.

With all of their things sitting in the bedroom of their new temporary home, Feri Place, we gave them a walking tour of the neighborhood. As many times as we have toured people around, it still is exciting to share this gorgeous city with someone for their first time. It feels like it was last week.

In the beginning of their great adventure, Jamie was a Fulbrighter on a student grant, which included her teaching some classes at ELTE in my journalism program, but she also worked part-time for the Fulbright office counseling students. Bill found a teaching job with a local high school. 

At the end of Jamie's Fulbright grant, they decided to stay another year. Bill's school was thrilled to have him stay on. Jamie found work with an educational component through the Aquincum Museum and continued part-time at the Fulbright office. We were delighted to have the apartment filled for another year.

Being the adventurers that they are, they covered a tremendous amount of territory during their time. They are fearless travelers, not having extensive bus rides impede their discovering destinations where cheap airfares don't exist. Just getting a tiny review of their wanderings, it is clear they should write a budget manual for those that follow them. We have been envious more than once, but for an extended period on a bus, I would need to be shot with a tranquilizer gun. If not for that, we could replicate their journeying.

Today, we went to pick up the keys to the apartment. As true explorers, they are not leaving Europe just yet, but returning to Riga and then busing to a national park outside the city. July 16th they will be reacquainted with US life for a short time before heading off to China to teach.

They have been great tenants and though we did not see much of them, we will miss knowing they are around. "Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow." Though there will be no morrow for us with them, we wish them the best. They have been inspirational.

After a couple of summer guests visit Feri Place, our new tenant Arnold from The Netherlands will be moving in around August 20th. He will be teaching full-time in the Dutch department at ELTE. We are looking forward to welcoming him and giving him the extended neighborhood tour.

Pin It Now!

Friendship is a Single Soul Dwelling in Two Bodies. Aristotle

For 11 years, we have cultivated a close relationship with the Hungarian Fulbright office. One of the first FB’ers we had met back in 2002 was Jennifer Norcross, an exchange teacher. She has continued to be a good friend ever since. From then on, every semester when there are Fulbright scholars, teachers, researchers, or students coming to Hungary, we have been provided with the list by the FB office so we can send out a welcome letter. For the first 3 years, the majority of the group had no or little connection with Hungary, so they depended on us for guidance in day to day planning. That has changed over time with many of the grantees having Hungarian roots, family here, or even own property here.

This semester, two FB’ers reached out. One was Dr. Janet Holmes who will be teaching with me at ELTE and the other was Dr. Andrea Mitnick.  Janet had a connection for an apartment as she is friends with a former FB’er, Dr. Karla Kelsey (who has also remained our friend). Andrea needed help with apartment hunting, but since she was coming at the end of January and we were going to be gone, I suggested she use our apartment until she found something suitable.

Over the course of months, we had a gadzillion e-mails back and forth. We knew immediately we would love each other as soon as we met. On Sunday, Andrea was here to greet us when we returned from our 50 days away from home. She had some basics on hand for us to survive our first day back. There were eggs, bread, butter, cereal and other things so that we did not have to run out immediately for food. She lovingly had a large pot of homemade soup ready for us. We sat and talked for some long, even though she has found an apartment, she did a sleepover.

In the morning, we picked up where we left off until I had to leave for school, but we know we will all see each other soon and often.

Related articles

• U.S. Historian Returns Hungarian Award Over Holocaust 'Whitewash'
• Hungary apologizes at UN for role in Holocaust, says ambassador

Pin It Now!

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.

Related articles

• Turn Lengthy Blog Posts into Podcasts with Podcastomatic
• Applying for Fulbright Funding to Support your Graduate Research
• US Scholar Fulbright Opportunities in Digital Humanities and Digital Culture
• Obama taps Giffords for Fulbright Scholarship Board
• Student Fulbright winners to study and teach abroad

Pin It Now!

Mourning Time Again

It is a good thing I can control my abandonment issues, because they would certainly kick in at the end of each semester. One of the roughest things about being an ex-pat for me is the continual cycle of relationships. People appear in our lives, for 3-9 months and then disappear. Well, they at least return to the US, so they may as well disappear. Unless they return here, I will never see them again.

Just over a week ago, Todd Berliner, the Distinguished Chair Fulbright scholar and his wife Dana Sachs Berliner, left for their Carolina home to the humidity and mosquitoes. Dana sent a note stating this fact. Dana, a celebrated author is her own right was a member of the writing group I belong to. Ron and I bonded with these two immediately. There was nothing not to like about them, but tons to things to want them to hang out here for a decade at least. I for one was very sad when they left.

Now it is Jeff Frawley's turn to leave. Jeff was a Fulbright student here last year. His grant was to write a novel. He was here for 9 months off the regular track of other Fulbright grantees. We also formed an immediate bond with he and his girlfriend Allison Layfield. When they left, it there was a vacuum in our lives that had not been refilled. Eventually, I talked Jeff into taking one of the teaching positions at ELTE where I teach, but in the English department. He did and returned solo in January. From February on, he rented our other apartment. We were close and spent a good amount of time together. At the end of the semester, Allison returned for the summer and again our foursome socialized to a healthy extent.

Tonight the four of us went to the movies together. We had drinks first and then saw Moonrise Kingdom. Jeff and Allison had seen it already and wanted to see it again. It is beyond me why they would suffer through it twice, but Ron liked it so I was odd man out. Perhaps, I couldn't stop thinking of their leaving, so there was that distraction.

Tomorrow, we will take them out for dinner and have our final good-byes.

Related articles

• The Literary Writer's Guide to Getting a Fulbright Fellowship
• Record Number of Fulbright Students Choose Montclair State University
• Great Overview of The Fulbright Program

Pin It Now!

Mixed Messages - With a Chuckle

Anyone who has ever been in therapy or is even aware of Pop Psychology has heard the term "mixed messages". Here is a reader comment that made me chuckle.


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Plus One":
Bob has been reading your blog. Our best to you and Ron! ......Beth and Bob in Omaha 


Not so anonymous after all with both Bob and Beth identified. Further, what makes me wonder is if Beth is reading the blog too in order to comment on the fact that Bob is reading it?


Regardless of the logistics, Beth is a Professor of Nursing and an attorney who happened to grace Hungary as a Fulbright Scholar. Bob is her dry humored, ultra intelligent microbiologist husband who accompanied her here. While Beth was teaching public health, Bob was out in swamps collecting water samples. 


To say we have been graced with meeting a wide range of highly intelligent, interesting people is the ultimate understatement. Greetings to Bob and Beth in Omaha!!

Pin It Now!

Overseas Citizens Count Project

If you are an American living abroad, consider being part of this census. Overseas Citizens Count Project

Pin It Now!

The Write Speaker

Last night was a great success at the Budapest Creativity Group meeting. Dr. Margaret McMullan was our speaker. She is currently a Fulbright professor teaching this semester at the University of Pécs. It worked perfectly as there was a Fulbright gathering this weekend. We hosted she and her husband Pat along with their son James here at our place. They are such a delightful family, it is disappointing they have to return to Pécs on Saturday.They were invited to a sauerkraut tasting at someone's home where they will sample five varieties. They certainly will not have to be concerned with scurvy after loading up on that much vitamin C. 


Dr. McMullan graced us with a copy of each of these two books, but she had many more to her credit for both the adult and young adult reader. Our crowd of about twenty people was disappointing for me considering the amount of energy I put into publicizing it, but Margaret was pleased.



Afterward, we shared a dinner at the Indian restaurant around the corner. As soon as we arrived home, the McMullans headed for their bedrooms, while Ron and I went to the computers. Just as I turned on a light, the electric blew out. After Ron checked the circuit breakers, he could not find anything amiss. This morning at 8am, we had to resort to calling our Angel Anna for assistance. Well, actually we needed her husband's aid; he does electrical work. 


Serving our guests breakfast by candlelight, I ran down to the cafe next door to get four coffees to go. After Laszlo arrived, it only took minutes of investigating to realize the main switch aside from the circuit breaker was on the electric meter itself. Seconds later, there was light and we all said "That is good."

Related articles

• American Fulbright researchers add to international scholarship at Sussex (postgrad.com)
• Tufts A Top Producer Of Fulbright Scholars (huffingtonpost.com)
• Tis Better to Try Than Never Try at All (budgetnomad.blogspot.com)
• C is for Courtesy and P is for Pariah (budgetnomad.blogspot.com)

Pin It Now!

C is for Courtesy and P is for Pariah

I am a bit bedazzled that people today seemed to have lost a good portion of their common sense along with a large chuck of their manners. Case in point - every year we invite the incoming Fulbright scholars for a social. For a number of years, our place was the hub of socialization. 

This year, I was invited to speak at their orientation about cultural differences. A few of the group came up afterward and greeted us with introductions. At the time, we extended an open invitation to visit or contact us if needed.

Fulbrighters are spread throughout the country, so the main time that the majority may be in Budapest is for the monthly cultural trip the commission provides. For November, it was put off until tomorrow. Over three weeks ago, we sent out an invitation for a wine and munchies get-together. We offered to supply some of each, but they were welcome to supplement with their beverage of choice. The invites went to over twenty people with explicit mention that families were welcome as well. 

As days passed we waited for some signs of recognition, so acknowledgment that we had written. Nothing came our way. Finally, one of the group had graciously offered to replace a canceled speaker for the Budapest Creativity Group. I had asked if he were coming with his family, but he was not sure he had received the e-mail. Later, he did respond with the original e-mail as well as a note that he would be in Sweden that weekend.

Ron wants to believe that the reason no one responded was because I did not include RSVP in the note. From years of entertaining in CA, I knew that RSVP was a social custom often ignored by those appearing at the door who never provided a warning there was another mouth to feed.

Statistically, one would presume that whether or not directions were included to RSVP, amongst twenty plus professional people there would be a few at least. Nary a one. 

What was even more shocking was that at the appointed hour of 7:30 pm, not a single tinkle of our doorbell was heard. In fact, the entire night was quiet. Ron and I drank wine and had munchies while we watched TV, wondering if this is how a pariah feels.

Pin It Now!

Tis Better to Try Than Never Try at All

“It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.” — Edward de Bono

This is an idea that awakened in my for some time, but a former Fulbrighter brought it to the surface. Bruce Holland Rogers was a Fulbright scholar at my university. He taught creative writing and I did con him into teaching Ethics in Journalism. This was out of his repertoire, but he withstood the challenge successfully for all concerned. One other thing that Bruce did aside from the university was hold "parlors", a social space at his apartment. It was attending and listening to students, other instructors, and friends of friends at these groups that I realized it needed to continue in some form.

What I have become aware of over the years of living here is that my own creativity is like the stock market in uncertain times. There are frequent highs and lows that shift quickly and significantly. What I realized is I need some support group to balance myself, yet at the same time, realizing how creativity is lacking in the educational system. Just as I decided I needed to do something pro-active, I had read an article that admonished the US educational system for no longer teaching creative skills. How can they when they have to teach to the test?

Well, I am doing something for me and hopefully for others as well. I am planning on starting a "Creativity Group". This is not a class, it is not something for credit. What it IS as I envision it is...

• A safe place for ANYONE who speaks English to come to develop, share, or support each others' creativity.

My thoughts are that eventually it will split into other groups such as a prose writers support group and a poetry support group. Any other groups are waiting to be born.

Do I have this clearly organized in my own mind? NO! If I did, I would be limiting the creativity of the group. Flexibility is the key to creativity. Are others welcome to contribute? I am counting on it. I know some people including former students who have done some really creative things or are doing them now. I want them to come speak to us about how they develop ideas. 

Is this open only to students at ELTE? NO, see "ANYONE" above. Past students, current students, future student, you sister, your father, your boss, ANYONE is welcome to attend. The only requirement is a working knowledge of English.

Today, I received permission to use one of our large classrooms as I have high hopes of a good turnout. Now, I have to figure out days and times. My thoughts are one Tuesday and one Thursday a month. Those that cannot make it on Tuesday, have another opportunity on Thursday. At the moment, I am thinking something like the 2nd Thursday and the 4th Tuesday, at least until the winter break. We have to be out of the building completely by 7:45 pm, so my thought was starting at 6:00 pm to 7:00, which gives us some wiggle room if we run over.

If anyone has ideas, feedback, please send them in. 

Pin It Now!

Fulbright Evaluations

For a number of years now, the Hungarian Fulbright Commission has asked me to be an evaluator for applications for those Hungarian hopefuls who wish to go to the US to study, lecture or research.


Each application is reviewed and scrutinized by one American and one Hungarian reviewer whenever possible. Generally, in the past, the request comes in at the very end of the spring semester, one of the worst possible times to fit in yet another activity, but I have never said no. Not only do I enjoy it, they pay me besides.


This year, it seemed that they had forgotten me, at least until a couple of days ago when I received the call to action. They had 8 proposals that needed to be examined. All were in the field of literature, not my area, per se, but I am able to muddle through with some Internet research where needed to fill in my information deficits. 


Basically, I examined two categories: Lecturer/Research all those from here with a doctorate already and those who are applying for student status. Ninety percent of the time, I can say that the Lecturer/Research proposals leave me feeling like a total underachiever, waste of professional life slug. The list of publications, conference lectures and other professional activities makes my head spin. My only consolation is that they have access to the foundation research, which is in Hungarian. I don't have access to databases in English.


Then again, I do justify my sloth with the fact that I try to put the majority of my energy into the classroom and working one on one with students. This leaves less time and much less energy to pursue tracking down professional resources as the foundation for further research followed by writing and publishing. That is my justification and I am sticking to it. 


For those outside or within the US, I highly recommend you check out the Fulbright Commission Scholarship program, but clicking here. To learn more of its history, you can check out this article.

Pin It Now!

Saying Good-bye Yet Again

We met with Beth and Bob to say our last good-bye for the fourth time. This was the final, final though as they leave on the shuttle at 7:30 am tomorrow for the airport. Beth was a Fulbright Scholar here for one semester. She is a nursing professor in Nebraska. Bob, her husband, is a microbiologist. They are two fantastic people that we had the pleasure of sharing life experiences with over the semester. We will miss them and truly hope our paths cross again...but not in the States, here in Europe.

Pin It Now!

School is OUT! But the losses continue

School is OUT! But the losses continue

The semester is over. Yahoo!! Yesterday when I entered the grades into the computer system, marked my last day for this semester. My only summer obligation is to be on the committee for Masters Thesis defenses on June 14th. Other than this, I am free until September.

I am publicly stating my goals for the summer to try to keep me accountable for accomplishing them. I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, because we are usually on vacation at that time, so who in their right mind wants to resolve anything while having fun?

Here are some of my goals:

• Move our second website to a new provider (boring)
• Rewrite my children’s ABC book (exhilarating)
• Rewrite my book on our travels since leaving CA (demanding)
• Re-title all of my photos that have 200099392.jpg on them to make them more identifiable (mind numbing)
• Visit every museum in Budapest and write a summary of it, whether or not it is appealing to me (challenging)
• Read two novels a week (easy to do)
• Blog, blog, blog (loving)
• Prepare three new classes for the fall (invigorating)

Summer is so anticipatory in April, but when it actually rolls around, I miss my students. One class has been with me for four semesters; it is emotional saying good-bye to them. They become part of my extended family, having spent hours with many of them outside of the classroom as within. Many contact me over the summer months to meet for a coffee or beer; contact with them will not be totally absent. I always want to do the group hug thing, but Hungarians are not huggers. Darn them!

Yesterday, John and Mike left for the States. John was the former Fulbright Scholar who returned for a Hospice Conference. He has made inroads with the Ministry of Health by showing them money saving options for in-patient care. His partner Mike is a pleasure to share time with. We will miss them both.

In another ten days, Beth the Nursing Professor and her husband Bob will be returning to the States also. They have been exceptional company and mentally stimulating.

Our adopted nephew will be leaving in August for a year in the States. As happy as we are for him, he is closer to us than my own nephews. It will be a major void in our life not having him around. He is such a high-quality human being; he deserves the honor and scholarship he received. I will be at a loss without his assistance at the university next year. He has been indispensable with the new students, getting them oriented to university life.

In August, we will have to start our cycle all over again with meeting new Fulbright Scholars and creating a social network all over again. And life goes on.

Pin It Now!