A Day with Orsi

December 17, 2005 Today, we are meeting with one of my former students from Hungary, Orsi. She has married a Frenchman and is living in Paris for the time being. They are both dear people and we are looking forward to seeing them again. She is to meet us at 10:30 am, but we were up early and had been out walking for over an hour by the appointed meeting time. She was as happy to see us as we were to see her. She showed us around the city with the sophistication of a true Parisian. It was surprising how well she knew her way around. Although the day was sunny, it was still freezing cold since we did not bring heavy winter clothes. Since we are continuing to the summer of South Africa, we did not want to be weighted down. We covered the city until 5:30, when we were ready to collapse into a nap coma. There was one lunch stop for crepes and another for a coffee, but the rest of the time was spent walking. She did take us to areas that we had never been before. The modern buildings at La Defense are stunning in their visual differences from the rest of Paris. After leaving Orsi, we went for a nap to rest up for the dinner invitation at her and Florin’s home that night. We had a light dinner of escargot, cheeses, and meats. She had a lovely selection of desserts and considering that Florin has not found work yet, we had some concerns about the cost of the dinner in our honor. Their friends Frederick and Christian were invited also. They were delightful young men and the evening sped by. At 11:30 we headed out the door with Orsi asking that we get together yet again the next day.

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Paris Here We Come

December 16, 2005 School was finished yesterday and we had one of my classes over for my annual Christmas Pizza, and American Christmas movie night. They were a great group and it seems that they all had a good time. Today, however, is our big day for travel. First we leave Budapest on Wizz Air for Paris. We landed at Beavais 2 hours after we took off. Where is Beavais? It is not Paris, but a suburb airport. Delayed by having a cup of coffee on our arrival, we missed the bus to Paris. Tickets for the bus are 16 Euros each. It was freezing cold outside and the bus does not have a sheltered stand to wait, poor planning. We were told the next bus would be at 6:00 pm a whole forty-five minutes from the time we asked, but it did not show for yet an additional fifty minutes at 6:50 pm. It only appears when there is a flight coming in and the last flight was delayed, thus the bus is delayed also. It is a direct bus to an open parking lot in downtown Paris. From here, we took the metro to the B and B where we were staying. Our host Christian Petitjean was waiting for us. His flat accommodates two people and he charges 47.50 Euros a night for both of us including a French breakfast (petitjean75@wanadoo.fr). I tried smsing him a few times to tell him we were running late, but he never responded to them. He has a nice flat, but only the one bedroom in the 2nd Arr.. When he lets it out, he sleeps in the living room. There are two water closets or specifically one has the toilet only, while the other has the tub and sink. He is on the 6th floor with a lift in a very convenient location. Christian’s English is perfect since he is an English professor at one of the universities, but is retiring at the end of the spring term. It was late and we had not had dinner, so we ventured around the neighborhood. There were literally dozens of restaurants for any cuisine one could desire, but the prices were shockingly high. We did come across a Lebanese restaurant that looked appealing and was reasonable. The food was excellent and the cost was modest. The bed and bedroom were well suited for our need for sleep and quite comfortable. Breakfast was coffee and toast with an amazing assortment of jams and jellies, many of which he orders from Corsica.

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Ron's Christmas Note

Dear Family and Friends, There’s a thin blanket of snow in Budapest, the Christmas Markets are bustling, tree lined boulevards glitter and glow each night… and we are prepping for our Great Holiday Escape! On Dec. 16th we fly to Paris to spend a few days there. Now that’ll be hard to take, right… bundling up to explore the City of Lights at Christmas. Joyeaux Noel! Then the 15 hour South African Air journey. “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” No, no, no, sport fans… not Detroit, Detroit and Chicago! Except for the tigers and maybe the bears, we will be celebrating the, ahem, Summer Holidays with King Leo and other wonderful beings in South Africa! Fortunate us, we’ll bask under colorfully lit Christmas Palm Trees in Capetown, on the Cape of Good Hope, in the rolling hills of their wine country, and in the jungle, the mighty jungle. We first stay at Ashanti Hostel; we’ll join the backpacking crowd for Christmas dinner, which features ostrich! I’ll be on the lookout for an authentically African Midnight Mass celebration. On Boxing Day we are guests in the back flat of two writers, she a children’s book author and he a travel writer. The final week, we’ll welcome the New Year with Kruger Park jungle companions. [While way down South until January 13, we’ll be checking e-mail; ron@ebab.com or drryanjames@gmail.com are the best couriers. We hope to hear from some of you.] All is well here. My classes have ended; Ryan’s soon will. Our B & B is going strong… we just said goodbye to Manfred of Germany who spent a week here. He was an amazing guest… 70 years old and he was out and about every day by 9 AM until 10 PM! We’ve now had guests from all over Europe, Venezuela, Canada, Australia and the US of A. It’s been a great experience. We are already getting bookings for May and June ’06. Speaking of bookings, my Christmas gift is a ticket to Colorado next June. I also hope to spend some time in Iowa. I’m working on the timing… around June 19 to July 6, I hope. Runaway thoughts: Our Christmas cactus is blooming… how fine to have a living, blossoming being in the midst of winter chill. I feel warmer when I am wearing my University of Iowa Hawkeye sweatshirt. The movie “A Christmas Story” never gets old… did you know there are tons of blogs that dissect all the trivia of this 25 year old classic? A joke worth recycling??? What if there’d been Three Wise Women?? They would have asked for directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts! A little beauty, warmth and laughter are needed in our troubled world, but everyday we see so many sorrowful sights… be they the street people in our towns or the people of Darfur or Baghdad, or North Korea or the West Bank. Robert Ellsberg once wrote: Dorothy Day was a great believer in “the sacrament of the present moment.” In each situation, in each encounter, in each task before us, she believed there is a path to God. We do not need to be in a monastery or a chapel. We need not become different people first. We can start today, this moment, where we are, to add to the balance of love in the world, to add to the balance of peace. My wish is that we may be signs of love, reconciliation, and peace… and learn that differences are gifts to be celebrated… in each present moment. Bekes karacsonyt es boldog uj evet.. Ron and Ryan "Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect."

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Immigration Office Appointment

We had our appointment this morning. We met our worker from Inter-Relocation and the Immigration Attorney at the office. Our appointments were for 8:30 this morning, yet we still had to take a number when we went in. Go figure. What was the reason for the appointment then? We had some last minute papers to sign, one being an authorization for the attorney to act on our behalf. He went with Ron, but Zsofia went with me as we were called at the same time. They are very professional workers having all of the paperwork completed and handing it to the officer as the officer checks it off of their list. Then the problem arose. The Visas in our current passports were for only the last two years. We needed three years to apply for this Residency Permit. The attorney and I kept counting the years, then it dawned on us that the first Visa was in our old passports. I offered to run home to get them, but they said we had 3o days to produce them. They also wanted copies of our bank statements from the States to show that we had sufficient income. I guess if we were Hungarian, being paid peanuts would be acceptable, but being foreigners, we had to have more money. The whole appointment only took about 30 minutes, but my heart was racing. We are going to be leaving the country soon and need to get this completed before we go. By law, they are supposed to make a decision within 6 months, but the attorney said they do not always follow the law. The agency can check the status of the application after 90 days have passed. Zsofia is going to come by early next week and pick up our old passports and bank statements. It is going to be tough holding my breath for 90 days, but hey, what does not kill you makes you stronger.

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Ok just picture this

Ok, just picture this... a grown man ripping his hair out and screaming at the top of his lungs, tonsils showing if he still had them and you would have me. For the last 3 months we have been gathering documents to apply for our 5 year Residency Permit. This will allow us to avoid the yearly renewals we have been subject to until now. We have had to have an FBI criminal clearance, complete physical exams including HIV, TB, and would you believe Leprosy? We needed to log all of our travels outside of the country for the last three years and cannot have been outside of the country for more than 90 days a year. We have had to have all of our degrees, birth certificates, and in my case, name change translated into Hungarian and then signed off by the Official Translation Office. In addition, we have had to collect about 20 different documents from our places of work, about buying our apartment, our business, and other assorted things. We have our appointments with Immigration on Monday at 8:30 am. I am feeling like a cat on a hot tin roof. The application takes a minimum of 8 months to process. It has to go through the Hungarian version of the FBI as well. Last night I dreamt that our applications were approved, but by the time they did it, the law had changed and we needed to take a test in Hungarian. What a nightmare that was. Hungarian has 44 letters in the alphabet, just one of the first obstacles to learning it more than the pre-kindergarten version we have.

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Athens and Thessalonkia

Athens for Fall Break - 10/28 to 11/7 2005 Ron’s reflections And what a fine time we had. We flew to Athens in civilized time, leaving here at 10 AM and arriving about noon, then took new Metro train from remodeled airport to the center of the city. After settling in at our hotel, we hit the bricks and were magnetically drawn to the Acropolis, a mammoth 100 yard high mesa that dominates the mostly flat city. Atop the hill the Parthenon temple of Athena presides in all its glory. In the daytime it's white marble columns and triangular pediments can be seen from all sides, the changing sunlight affecting the color. But it's always breathtaking, especially when the sun suddenly bursts out of the clouds. The first days we wandered around the foot of the Acropolis, taking in the flavors and excitement of the Plaka, the old preserved cobbled quarters. The food was fine, especially the olives, fish and moussaka... Greece is a bit pricey so we made do with breakfast at the hotel, some snacks and one big meal a day (some at Goody's, their much better version of Burger King et al). After wearing our feet out, we hoped to have a good rest. No way... we were unaware of the huge mosquito problem in the city. The next day we found out the front desk provides a plug-in repellant... it must be an ongoing problem. So the next nights were OK, after initial battles with the ones we could see. During the four days in Athens, we bought a pass to 5 of the big sights. So for two days we climbed up the hill to the Parthenon, then down to the Agora temple, then over to the few ruins (major great Corinthian columns) in the Temple of Zeus. So at least two days walking among the glorious and ancient (most 4th C. BC and older) grounds of Athena's city. We found Eden too... that's a vegetarian cafe on a hill near the Acropolis... we had eaten there in a visit in 1998. We were kinda vegetarian in those days. Great spot with view of the Parthenon with floodlights all round it, and a cresent moon glowing above it. The Greek people are very friendly, and very expressive with each other. I had to keep remembering they are Mediterranean folks, so the 'in your face' volume and hand gesturing were quite normal. In both cities, we were pleased with the hospitality of the hotels and food services. I splurged in Athens for a great fish dinner... and again in Thessaloniki with our final night dinner at the "Door Knocker" alley cafe in the Socrates labyrinthian quarter of the city, near the Agaean Seaside. Our hosts explained the menu's history (this meatball recipe from Izmir, "which used to be Greece", this Sun wine from Mykonos Isle). And finishing with gratis halvah and cake dessert, make by the hands of Mom and Grandma in the kitchen. A pleasant finale. Oh, but the treasures of Thessaloniki for me were the amazing bounty of Greek Orthodox Icons throughout the city in the many Byzantine Churches and an entire museum devoted to their history. Even the early 6th C AD icons are still vivid with color and feeling. I also just happened on to an art show of modern icons while wandering in the hills along the Roman walls there. I went overboard using my new, and first, digital camera. They're now on the Kodak gallery on line, if you're interested. (Learn from mistakes moment: as I was downloading my first travel pictures, I accidentally goofed and hit the power button as they were floating through the mysterious cyberspace and lost most of my Athens pics... however, Ryan has a great bunch on his gallery.) Ryan was very successful in his presentation for the Macedonian EFL conference in Thessaloniki. His topic was related to building curriculum for EFL, and teaching vocabulary. Fortunately, he only needed to spend one evening and one morning, so we were free to explore the Churches, museums, parks and seaside the rest of the time. We returnen to Athens via a comfortable 4 hour train ride through villages and mountains (came close to Delphi Temple) and spent the last night wandering the Plaka again. To be early as we had to rise at 3 AM! to catch our 5AM flight back. Yawn. But a wonderful trip to remember. Next stop... after we finish the flurry of final classes... Capetown and Kruger Park in South Africa (thanks to our Frequent Flier credits) for Christmas and New Year's. Aren't we lucky to have two summers this year!!! Got to finish up some of our final long term Visa Residency paper work. We just got out FBI clearance and now have only the local physical exam to finish up the loooooong process. Love.... Ron

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Google Fked Up Royal

Google f*&ked up royally this last week. I had students with papers due and they send them to my Gmail account, since my aces-hungary.org account has been accused of bouncing all of the time. I have 39 students in the class and when I only received 14 papers, I knew something was wrong. I was up at 4:45 am yesterday morning, trying to figure out what was going on. I have Google set up to dump into my regular e-mail client and then move the sends into the trash. I logged into my Google account and found a couple of dozen e-mails that had never downloaded into my regular e-mail account, but had gone into Google's trash bin. I moved all of these into the Inbox and then reconfigured the settings to try to get them to download. What happened was what downloaded was EVERY email I had sent out from May, 2005. Over 4,000 e-mails downloaded into my e-mail account. The strange thing was, I could not find these old sends in any of the folders in Google to delete them before they started downloading. Even with cable it took well over 1 1/2 hours to download all of them and I was deleting as fast as I could. Also, after much hassle, we finally were able to be fingerprinted for our security clearance for the Residency Permits. We had to go through the FBI, which does not take personal checks. Ron went to both of our banks here and they would do a Cashier's check for a fee of $100.00 and it would take a week. Instead, we Fed Ex'ed the cards and requests to our friend in NJ. We asked that she get a MO and include it with the info and then Fed Ex it to the FBI. I sent her a check to cover the cost of Fed Ex to the FBI and then Fed Ex back to us, plus the cost of the MO. Fed Ex picked up the documents at our apt. on Wed. night at 6:00 pm. Thursday, I received an e-mail from our friend that Fed Ex delivered that morning. At the same time, in the trash of Google, I found a response to the e-mail that I had sent to the FBI and they stated that they now take credit cards and attached the form. I could have done all of this direct and saved $$$ and time. GGGRRRRRRRRR!!!!

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Our New Bed Set

Beds and other things October 2, 2005 About two blocks from us, there was a new rattan store. They imported everything from Indonesia. They had a nice selection of things, but Hungarians being Hungarians, the store never had customers. Perhaps since it was called "The Rattan Shop", no one could understand what it was and just ignored it. Who knows? I found it by accident one day and we bought a couple of small pieces there for the hallway. I had noticed they had this bedroom set with 9 different pieces: Bed, end tables, large dresser, upright dresser with mirror, upright dresser without mirror, etc. I have never had a nice bedroom set before and loved this set at first sight. The bed and the two end tables were included in one set. Being imported, it was pricey, but really sturdy and well crafted, obviously from hand. Each week, I would go and visit it to make sure it was still there. I took a student with me to translate since they did not speak a lick of English, though the store was owned by three young guys. The set was also available in colors like green or gold, but it would take 4-6 months to get from Indonesia. I thought a color would just cheapen it and loved what they had in the store. My fear was that they would sell the set in the store close to when I saved the money for it and then would have to wait 4-6 months for another set. At the end of August, I took a student there with me and told the salesman that I wanted the set, but could not buy it until the first of October. I had retro pay coming from the university. He said it may be sold by then and they could not order another. I had to risk it, though each and every time I had been to the store, it was empty. By September, they were there with the doors open, but the lights off. I had this feeling they were saving on electricity. I feared the store's contents were going to disappear one night never to be seen again. By September 23rd, I had the money and took a student to go buy the set. I had gone to the store the night before and peaked in the window to make sure it was still there. As the student and I approached the store, he pointed to signs in the window and said "This is your lucky day. Everything in the store is 10% off. We verified that this offer was for the bed set too and I bought it. They offered delivery and asked if that weekend would be good for me. I said yes and was thrilled. Since there was the savings, I decided to buy the dresser too. I plunked over a whole bunch of money and they gave me receipts for all of it. It always makes me nervous to give a big chunk of money and only get a flimsy printed paper in return. They were to call my student in two hours and arrange delivery. Two hours went by and I did not hear from my student. Three hours, four hours, and then five went dragging by and not it was close to five o'clock. I called my student and asked him to call them and see what the story was. When he called back, he said they could not tell him when they would deliver yet. They would call him on Monday. MONDAY? They have a lot of my money and all I have is a sheet of paper that I signed. Then I worried that by signing it I had signed that I had taken delivery of it. The student had received a phone call on his mobile just as I signed the paper, so I did not ask him what I was signing. Holy cow!!! By Monday morning, I haunted my student to haunt them with phone calls. By Tuesday, they finally told him that they were "moving the store" on Thursday and it would be easiest for them if they delivered on the same day. He shared his thoughts with me that "moving the store" meant going out of business for good. I had visions of my bedroom set being put in storage somewhere, never to be seen again, our money along with it. I had to keep reminding myself that we had paid for our apartment in cash and did not have any paperwork stating we were the owners for over a year. I told my student to make sure he safe-guarded their phone numbers so I could turn them over to our lawyer here just in case. Thursday morning at 10:30, they did indeed deliver. After the pictures on the wall behind the bed are rematted, it will look perfect.

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Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn, Estonia - This was a continuation of our Helsinki trip As difficult as this is to admit, in my US American mind, the names Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were still shrouded in the dark cloud of USSR days. Thoughts of there being anything worth seeing and doing in any of these places seemed out of the question. However, reports from more adventurous people piqued our curiosity and we went to Tallinn, Estonia. Estonia entered the European Union in May, 2005, at the same time Hungary did. As noted in a different log, we took the Viking ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn. The comfortable ride was three hours long. We sat in the Lounge and were entertained by a Finnish duo who played and sang ‘Golden Oldies’ (think “Lady in Red”, “Bye Bye American Pie” or any Elton John pieces) while a few couples danced over the sea. A lively MC in white tuxedo was very upbeat as he awarded prizes to ticket holders… we hadn’t a clue what was going on, but the Finns and Estonians were having a ball. We were pleased that Border Control was faster entering Estonia with our US passports than it was in Finland. Estonia is a tiny country, but size should not be equated with might and a very long and interesting history. There were some major surprises that awaited us. This country did not become a country until 1918 when they declared independence from Russia. However, politics being what it is, they lost and gained their independence until August 20, 1991. The population of the entire country is only 1,351,000 people. About 1/3 of the country’s population live in Tallinn with a city population to 396,375 people. The ethnic mix are 49.5% Estonian and 40.5% Russian as well as other smaller groups. The language spoken is Estonian, which is part of the Finno-Ugric language family along with Finnish and Hungarian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finno-Ugric_languages . Estonians are quick to point out that they cannot understand Hungarian regardless of the language tree associations and there are many words in Finnish, which are the same, but have very definite different meanings. Although, Estonia is now part of the EU, along with all of the other new members, they are not allowed to use the Euro yet. They are projecting this will change in 2007 at the earliest. Their currency is called the kroon (rhymes with tune) or EEK (!) for short. Euros are not legal currency there, but we found many places would accept them. The kroon is pegged to the Euro at 15.65 kroon to 1 Euro, so you will notice many shops and restaurants with a printed Euro amount next to the kroon amount. The currency exchange you get will be based on current exchanges rates, though, so you need to take this into consideration. We had booked an apartment (45 Euros a night) with the Romeo family thanks to Chris, a member of one of my travel groups. The Romeo family hotel only has three rooms, but they also have three apartments in the same building. The apartment we rented was in a different part of town and was newly remodeled. Their website is www.romeofamily.ee . I had tried booking through their website, but had difficult, so I e-mailed them directly at booking@romeofamily.ee or info@romeofamily.ee . You may also call them at +372-6-444-255 (the extra numbers is not a mistake.)After a couple of SMS messages with our arrival time, Mr. Romeo was waiting for us as we exited the ferry station. The pick-up and delivery to the apartment is complementary. Our apartment was located in the Old Town area, the most popular part of Tallinn, just opposite famous St. Olaf Church. The flat, however, is not in the downtown area, which made it perfect (Address is Lai 45). Within a two minute walk in one direction, we reached the tram stop where three different lines stopped. In the other direction, we could walk to many restaurants, museums, and the downtown center within 10 minutes. The location was quiet; the apartment was perfect for two people. The Romeo family thought of everything. As you entered the apartment, there is a large hallway with a modern bathroom to the right. To the left of the hallway, there is one large room that has a kitchenette, a breakfast bar, chairs, and the bed with a lamp. A stone fireplace on one wall looks like it has been used, but it was cleaned out. There was no need for heat since we were there in the summer. The tiny kitchen area has a two burner stove, but no oven. The apartment was not only furnished with the usual linens and towels, they had pots, pans, dishes, silverware, coffee maker, hot water heater, toaster, and any cleaning supply you could need. Surprisingly, there was also a clothes washing machine and a drying rack. Be forewarned if you are not European, that a load of clothes can take up to 1 ½ hours to go through all cycles. This was the case with the one load we washed. The only things we had to buy were ground coffee and the food we wanted to prepare for any meal. The only suggestion we had upon leaving was for dark shades for the one window that is directly behind the bed. It never gets dark at night in the summer. I was able to take pictures at 11:30 pm without a flash. The sun starts really shining at 3:00 am. The light in the window will disturb light sleepers and I had to use an eye mask. To the left and about 30 feet from of our front door was a small Meriton hotel. The hotel was a converted historical building and the old carriage house is now a small coffee and snack shop. We found this perfect since they had outdoor seating, but closed at 10:00 pm. They do not take in their tables and chairs, so we were able to relax outside in the evening sunlight. There was a small cobblestone road that ran behind the apartment but vestiges of the old wall and towers also ran the length of it. After settling in, we immediately went to the town square to visit the tourism office. We were fortunate that this particular weekend was the Estonian Handicrafters Association festival. The entire square was covered with booths of homemade crafts and foods for sale. All crafters must have the mandate to wear old traditional costumes, because everyone was dressed in this manner. It was like walking into the familiar Renaissance fairs in California. The tour office is one block off of the main square. We chose to purchase the 72 hour Tallinn card (www.tallinn.ee/tallinncard ). It is available for 6, 24, 48, or 72 hours. With this purchase, we were given a complimentary copy of In Your Pocket – Tallinn (normally 35kr), a very nice set of postcards, and a booklet of all the card would do for us. The card is good for free transport on all buses and trams throughout the city, free admission to almost all of the museums, a one hour bus tour of the city followed by a one and a half hour walking tour of the upper and lower old town area. The bonus with the 72 hour card is a free four hour rental of a self guided audio tour with a headset. Old town dates back to the 13th century and is divided into two parts: Toompea Hill and Lower Town. Most of the sights any tourist will want to see are in the lower portion, but there are some great vista points (Kohtuotsa and Patkuli) and churches on the hill. One word of warning: the majority of the streets are cobblestone, which can be murder on your feet without the appropriate shoes. After an hour of wearing my Birkenstocks, I had to change to sneakers for comfort. Points of interest on the hill: the Estonian Parliament building – it has a 20th century Art Nouveau façade built on the structure of a medieval convent. We did not tour inside. The Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral completed in 1900, is well worth a visit. The Dome Church or also called St. Mary’s church is the oldest church in Estonia dating back to 1219 by the Danes. The Kiek in de Kök (Peep into the kitchen) is a cannon tower built in 1475. The old joke of the soldiers who used it was they from their vantage point, they could peek into the residents’ kitchens, hence the name. It is now a tiny city museum and free with the Tallinn card, but only of minor interest to us. The lower town is where most of the museums, restaurants, shops, and other things are to keep the tourist happy and satiated. Town Hall Square is the main court of the downtown area. It dates back to medieval times and has been the heart of the city for over eight centuries. There are a number of restaurants along this area, but if you are budget traveler, it is best to find restaurants away from here. We went to a garlic restaurant and for a simple meal without a starter or salad, but one small beer each, the cost was 30 Euro. Elsewhere, we were able to eat better for half that price. The museums in Tallinn are small. Some are as small as two rooms. It was possible to spend all of the time we wanted to in a museum and still go to five to six museums in a day. The one perk we always find with city cards is that we usually see museums and sights we normally would not pay for, but if it is free entrance with the card, we do just for the heck of it. One example of this is the Health Museum. As quirky as it was, there were some interesting displays that caught our attention. Some displays had English, but not all. The Estonian History Museum – The Great Guild Hall (there are two history museums) is located in as the name indicates in the guild hall dating back to 1407. The explanations were in English, Estonian, and Russian. Near the Town Hall Pharmacy is a Marzipan Museum. The pharmacy is where marzipan (pan martii- the bread of Martin) was invented by the local pharmacist who used it as a treatment for different illnesses. The card gives free admission to all of the museums and none of them are a far walk from each other. It is possible to visit three or sometimes four museums in one block. The architecture all around the city is diverse and amazingly beautiful. For a bit of relaxation, the parks are wonderful respite spots. Most of them are well maintained and lovely. There are coffee shops everywhere and it is possible to get a beverage to sip on while resting on a park bench or the grass. We are always interested in churches. Tallinn has a large selection of historic churches to venture through. Many of the churches were once Catholic and then changed over to Lutheran during the reformation. The Holy Spirit Church, 13th C., is a fascinatingly different Baroque style, with intricately wood carved interior, the choir stalls and pews in a horseshoe shape, with wonderful preserved oil paintings above each stall… they depict major Biblical scenes, from Creation to Pentecost. The altar sits before a monumental gilded triptych with scenes of the life of Christ. We also visited the old Dominican Convent and Monastery, 13th C., and the still functioning Sts. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church. The docent was an older man who spoke no English, but was charming in directing us by pointing to the chapel and chanting “In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritu Sancto” or pantomiming reading a book and pointing to the library. Our apartment was across the street and about 30 feet from St. Olaf’s Church. The church dates back to 1267 and at one time, it was the tallest building in Europe. If you like to climb, the Tallinn card allows you free admission to the tower. We also were impressed with St. Peter’s (Niguliste) Church, also 13th C., now an art museum and concert hall. The jewel is Bernt Notke’s 15th C. masterpiece Dance Macabre, a heroic size painting (about 3 X 15 meters) that depicts Death warning the King and Queen, Burgemeister, Cardinal and Pope to mend their ways before it’s too late. We kept seeing signs for a concert by The New Amsterdam Choir. It was being held at St. Michael’s Swedish Lutheran Church. The church was difficult to find and we had gone early in the day to see if we needed to buy tickets, but it was closed. We ran into some others from the US at the church and they as it turned out were part of the choir. The said their concerts are usually free. We thought it was the “NEW” Amsterdam Dutch chorus, but the choir was from New (Amsterdam)York City… Manhattan actually. When we returned later that evening, the concert was indeed free and there was a good size crowd. The minister of the church started out with a prayer first in Swedish and then in English. He explained it was the only church for the Swedish minority in Tallinn. The concert first started with the choir of the church singing in Estonian and Swedish, and then The New Amsterdam Choir sang in English and Estonian. Finally, both choirs sang together in Estonian. The finale included an anti-war song “Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye” and several Black Spirituals. It was a marvelous experience. Outside of the city center, we took the tram to the park outside of Kadriorg Palace. This is the palace of Peter the Great who had it built as a gift for his wife, Catherine I in 1718. This is also the Foreign Art Museum on the same grounds. The card gets you free admission to both. Also on the outskirts of the city is the Estonian Open Air Museum, which has about 100 farm building replicas from all over Estonia, depicting rural life during the last two centuries.. Although I was not appreciative of the buildings, the park itself is beautiful, on the seaside, and there are many trails to follow. The ‘farm boy’ enjoyed the history, and was able to manage the climb down the cliff to collect a few shore mementos… he also took the opportunity to go barefoot, lie on the sun-warmed bank, twiddling his toes in the cool grass. There are a number of picnic tables for a lunch out in the fresh sea breeze. In the distance you can enjoy the sight of the towers of Old Town across the Bay. For food, our favorite Happy HAPPY (the beer is strong) Hours and restaurant turned out to be (no groans, please) St. Patrick’s. We stumbled on one of their three locations when we were hot, tired and thirsty. The snacks we had were delicious and very inexpensive. We decided to return for dinner one night and were so satisfied with the portions, the quality of the food and the cost, we went two different nights. Locations are Vana-Posti 7, Suur Karja 8, and Párnu mnt 20. Each location has a unique decorated style, but all are pleasant. In one, there is a modernistic mural of the Saint in full regalia, tipping a beer, with a brightly hued angel holding a scroll reading “Welcome to Estonia”. They have Happy Hour from 5:00 to 6:00 pm with two for one price Saku beer, an Estonian brand that is very flavorful. The second favorite restaurant was the African Kitchen. The food was excellent and their roof top terrace is lovely in the warm weather. Don’t order the fish though. The people at the next table ordered before us and were still waiting as we were leaving. We overheard the waiter say it took special preparation and he had warned them when they ordered. Since we had a kitchenette, we did some grocery shopping. In the basement of their modern and large mall, there is a wonderful supermarket. There we were able to find many cooked items in their delicatessen section to buy and heat up for dinner later. The mashed potatoes and carrots were particularly tasty with the stuffed cabbage rolls. The bakery section has many types of breads, rolls, and sweets both pre-packaged and baked fresh. Surprisingly, they stocked many American brands of food we are not able to get in Hungary. We also brought back about 10 pounds of cheeses that are difficult to come by in Hungary without paying an outrageous premium. There they were inexpensive. If you leave the supermarket and go out the door on that level, there is a bus terminal on the other side. On that side, there are a few shops also, but most importantly, there is the least expensive Internet café in the city. For approximately 2 Euro, you can surf the net or check e-mails for one hour. The connections are super fast and there are a plentiful number of computers. Most other places are much more expensive. One of the shopping surprises was that there have been a number of Estonian authors translated into English. This is true for adult literature as well as for children’s books. Other shopping bargains are the hand painted silk scarves and decorative hankies, beautiful handcrafted ceramics, linen shops everywhere, and hand knit sweaters and socks. I found bleached linen embroidered gift bags with ties of linen for 1.50 Euro and unbleached linen wine bottle bags for 1 Euro each. We did a great deal of shopping and were thankful we had brought our nylon collapsible bag to bring the entire haul home. Amber is also prevalent, but we heard most of it is imported from Poland. If you do not care and do not plan on getting to Poland, it is a bargain here. We were in Tallinn for six full days and had thought we would take day trips outside the city. However, the tours offered from the tourist office looked uninspiring and were 56 Euro a person and up. Nothing looked that appealing to spend that much money. We were never bored and filled each day from 9:00 am until 11:00 pm or later without much rest time other than a lunch or coffee break. Having so much light and never any real darkness helps one forget the time. It is almost impossible to walk more than 30 feet in any direction without finding something to catch your attention be it a museum, a shop, or just fantastic architecture. This last picture was taken at midnight without a flash.

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Helsinki

July 5, 2005 We only stayed in Helsinki for a few days. We flew in early from Budapest, spent two nights in Helsinki and then took an afternoon ferry to Tallinn. On our return, we took a morning ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki and then flew home early the next morning. This was a sufficient amount of time to see Helsinki. After arriving at the airport, we immediately went to the Tourist Information booth and bought a Helsinki Card http://www.helsinkiexpert.fi/helsinkicard/ . They go on the honor system where you fill in the date and time you start it when you start it. However, just by having it and before filling it in, you get a 30% discount on the FinnAir bus that goes to the city’s central train station. Normal fare is $5.20 per person without the card. The ride is 30 minutes. There are public buses that go the same route, but the ride is 55 minutes and they do not have room for suitcases. At the train station, we only had to walk two blocks to get the number 4 tram to our hostel. We stayed at the EuroHostel www.eurohostel.fi which we reserved via their website. It was fast and efficient. The number 4 tram stops about 40 feet from the front door of the hostel. We had used hostels before in Ireland and I had concerns about hostel stays again, but this place is amazing. They have thought of everything you could need and most of it is available for a small refundable deposit. Our room was ready on arrival and we had a choice of smoking or non-smoking. The fifth and sixth floors are the smoking floors. Our room had two single beds, a huge bookcase and two closets with locks on them. All sheets, comforter covers, and towels were provided and in the room already. There is a sauna that is free for using for the first hour and a half in the morning. It is an invigorating and relaxing way to wake up; there are separate saunas and dressing/shower rooms for men and women. After 9 AM, there is a charge. The cost of the room was 40.80 Euros a night for both of us. There is a restaurant on the ground floor and you are able to purchase breakfast tickets for 5 Euros each person per day from the hostel reception. Buying them at the restaurant was 6.50 Euros a day. The restaurant had indoor and outdoor seating. The breakfast buffet selection was not extensive, but adequate and worth the cost considering the prices in the city. Eating outside, we were visited by a few seagulls looking for a change of menu from fish. I succumbed by sharing my bread with them. Before we ventured out to see the city, we had asked the reception at the hostel for some suggestions for ‘cheap eats’ restaurants. We received a chuckle bordering on a laugh and the response ‘there are none, everywhere is expensive’. He did suggest a Nepalese restaurant so we stored this information for later in the day. Most of our arrival day, we walked around the city. The city is surprisingly small and very convenient for walking, though the trams are great for when your feet start aching. The President’s house is a small building with a fence around it. Finland currently has a female president. The Parliament is a rather plain building on the main square where the most impressive building is the Lutheran Cathedral. Across the square is the major university. There are parks and old markets along the quayside where the open air markets are also located. From there, it is a pleasant walk into the commercial center via the Esplanade, a narrow green park with fountains, floral spaces and the oldest coffee house. We were impressed by how dead the city was. If we saw five cars in an hour on the major streets, it became what we referred to as “Rush Hour”. It was people deserted also There were not many tourists or shoppers about, which we thought was strange considering this is tourist season. Down by the waterfront and about six blocks from the hostel, they hold a daily ‘market’ with tourist items as well as fresh produce. The prices are high!! 4 Euros for a ½ kg. of peaches. We opted to get a bag of chips and two Sandel beers at a nearby Kioski chain store, then headed for a hillside bench in a nearby park overlooking the harbor. As we relaxed, we were entertained by gulls and pigeons dueling for the scraps of chips we dropped. Later in the day, to utilize our Helsinki Card, we took the ferry to the Old Fortress out on an island. The trip was about 20 minutes and a nice relaxing time. The Old Fortress is a preserved park that was once used as a fort built by the Swedes. There were various buildings and parks. We went into the church and into the little museum to see the historical movie. Headsets are provided to listen to the narration in 10 different languages. Neither of us is enthralled with the maritime history, so we did not visit many other buildings and it was too hot (high 80’s) to bother climbing the wall. When we returned that evening, we found the Nepalese restaurant. We were two of the six customers there. We were informed as we entered at 8:00 o’clock that they would be closing at 9:00 that evening. The food was excellent and abundant. At a total cost of 35 Euros for the two of us, we felt we had found a bargain. Other restaurants we had checked on were pricier by far. It was not uncommon to see items listed at 15-25 Euros for an a la carte menu with a beer priced at 6 Euros. We had heard that the Finns take the ferry to Estonia to shop and it was becoming evident why they do. After dinner we took a long walk around the water on the opposite side of our hostel, through some parks. It was quiet, relaxing and refreshing. When we returned to the hostel at 11:00 pm, it was still ‘daylight’ out so it took some getting used to the light. By midnight, it was twilight, but not even close to dark out. The sun was peeking through the sheer curtain again at 3:00 am. We took the 1 ½ hour Helsinki bus tour also included in our card. There were only 15 people on the tour. Elisabeth, our guide, was quite knowledgeable and was open to questions. The tour made two stops: one at a seaside park which featured a large modern chrome/bronze pipe organ sculpture commemorating Jean Sibelius, Finland’s foremost composer… he composed Finlandia, which many wish was the national anthem. The second stop was at a modern Lutheran Church called the Rock Church; it is ‘carved’ into a rocky hill, with a copper and glass dome peeking out of the hill… a young pianist was performing during the quiet time there. The most interesting thing about the tour was learning that Finland was once Swedish territory, then Russian and they only gained their independence in 1907 to become an autonomous country. There are only 5 million in the country and over ½ million live in Helsinki alone. The largest minority is Swedish who make up 5% of the population. All signs are in Finnish on the top and Swedish on the bottom. The only two language options for the tour were English or Swedish. Both languages were mandatory in schools, but now only the Swedish minority schools teach both Swedish and Finnish. Their current president is only the 11th one they have had. There is a rather unflattering modern statue of her head sitting outside the Modern Art Museum. The country has 190,000 lakes and their only natural resource is ‘green gold’, namely trees, mostly birch. Their flag with the white background represents snow, while the blue cross is representative of the sky. We were also told that all Scandinavian countries have a cross on their flags to show their affiliation to the Lutheran religion. Elisabeth also noted that 93 of the 200 Parliament members are women, and that 9 of the 22 Cabinet Ministers are women. As noted, the President is also of the female persuasion. She said they have a long history of “persuasive” women and egalitarian society. Women gained their equal footing in the society early on in its history. After the tour, we took the ferry out to the zoo. The ferry ride and admission to the zoo are included in the Helsinki card. The zoo sits out on an island unto itself. If you are an animal lover, this is not the zoo for you. In many exhibits, we had a difficult time spotting an animal at all. Most of the areas where animals were supposedly kept were overgrown fenced in weed farms looking totally unkempt and not suitable for animals. It was a major disappointment, with the only highlight being the peacock that wandered into the zoo restaurant looking for a hand-out. I felt sorry for the little Finnish children that seemed to have high hopes of seeing wildlife, but instead saw a variety of vegetation instead. We walked back to the train station to take pictures. During our tour, we found that the four guardians outside the station are characters in the Finnish national legendary epic story Kalevala. Beside it to the right and sitting back off of the street, is the National Theater. Submitting to our fondness for Mexican food without a decent opportunity for it in Budapest, we chose to go to the Iguana Mexican restaurant for dinner. The first clue should have been that the restaurant was crowded with YOUNG people, but we forged forward. Looking like a normal sit-down place to eat, after we seated ourselves, we saw the sign that we had to place our orders at the bar. A youthful waitress brought our burritos or the Finnish version of a burrito. As she placed them down, she said “Oh, I forgot the salsa.” We never saw her again. Well actually, we did, but could never get her attention without making it a contact sport. I tried booking our ferry trip to Tallinn online, but could not find a decent price that did not include a car. The day before we were to leave, we went down to the dock, only a two block walk from the hostel. Viking seemed to have the monopoly, but from the brochures in the hostel lobby, this was the best deal anyway. Because we had booked it the day before, we received a 10 Euro discount per person, for booking 24 hours ahead of time. Each round trip was 20 Euro. Our ferry for Tallinn was at 12:30 the third day in Helsinki. That morning, we got up and to breakfast early. To make the most of our Helsinki Card, we went to the Ateneum Art Museum http://www.ateneum.fi/acms/core/default.asp?docId=11876. This was a great way to spend our last hours. The collection was interesting and the building was really unusual. It had many half floors, creating a series of mezzanines on different levels. There was a large exhibit of wood cut prints that were totally fascinating. They ranged from the simplistic, but lovely to the most intricate designs imaginable. The ferry to Tallinn was reminiscent of a mini cruise liner. The lounge bar had entertainment for most of the 3 hour cruise, there were electronic gambling machines in all of the hallways, and there was a Duty Free shop that carried everything from soup to nuts, including frozen foods. Of course there were the mandatory restaurants and bars. The scenery did not warrant any attention, so even if we could not understand the entertainment, the amusing part was watching our fellow passengers get involved. On our pass through back from Tallinn, we again stayed at the hostel. We bought about 20 lbs. of cheeses in Tallinn that we cannot get here in Budapest or at outrageous prices (Budapest when available, cheddar runs $9.00 for about ½ lb.). The hostel has a huge refrigerator on each floor. When you open the door, it is like a safe depository. There are many little doors and each requires a key. For a 10 Euro deposit, you can get a key to lock your goodies away. As small as the cubbies look, there was more than enough room to store our cheese supply. One thing we found out our last evening in Helsinki is that Stockman’s Department Store, the largest in Finland is a treasure trove for cheap eats. In the basement, there is a full deli with many prepared foods to choose from. You can order by size of container and the container is microwaveable. They also seal the top of the container with the same plastic wrap commonly used in store bought frozen dinners. There is no danger of leakage is they are not kept flat. If you wish, they will microwave it for you on the spot and provide plastic spoons only at no additional charge. We ordered a nice Thai chicken and rice for the two of use and it only cost 4.20 Euro. Had we wanted, we could have bought other dishes and stored them in our cubby in the refrigerator. They could be stacked sideways for easier storage and the wrapping would hold tight. 95% of the Finns speak English, so it is not necessary to start out with “Do you speak English?” Tallinn next.

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Ryan's Trip to Bulgaria

May 4th to May 10th 2005 Two weeks ago, I went to Sofia and Plovdiv, Bulgaria. I was invited to give lectures at the University of Plovdiv. When I arrived at the Sofia airport, I was not too surprised as to how small and run down it was, but it really looked like a throwback to the Communist times. I took a taxi from there to the bus station (8 Leva or about $3.75) and then the bus to Plovdiv (2 hour ride). I am used to the travels between airports and city centers being less than attractive. Coming from the Budapest airport to the city is not a good impression either. However, I thought that as the bus made its way through the city to leave, I would see some sights of note. All that I saw were old run down buildings in block style without any decoration to distinguish them from one another. Everything looked drab to me. The few statues I noticed looked like the Communist statues that Budapest has since relegated to Statue Park. Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria was not much different. There were little oasis patches of interest, though. There is one area that they uncovered an ancient Roman amphitheater in tact. One of the Bulgarian professors told me when she was a girl, it was just a hill. Now this entire section of the city is restricted digging. No matter where they dig, they find Roman treasures or ruins. There were some interesting restored buildings in this area, but few. All of the restaurants I was brought to were amazingly attractive once off of the street, but you would never know from the outside or the neighborhoods. I was also taken to the second largest monastery in Bulgaria. Unfortunately, I did not write down the name. It was lovely and very interesting, but very small compared to others I have seen. Lining the road up to the monastery entrance were stalls selling pottery, jams, jellies, and honey. I bought a beautiful 4 gallon sized dutch oven type pot, a large platter, and four bowls all hand painted with a gorgeous design for $16.00. A cooking lesson was included. The dutch oven has been used at least 6 times since returning and it was a great investment. I had to return to Sofia for two days for a conference and although I was cloistered at a university, the bit of city that I saw around my hotel in the center, was nothing to cheer about. The university was fantastic and well equipped, which was an anomaly. It also has a wonderful restaurant on the campus, since there was nothing else within walking distance. I had to take taxis everywhere when I was not traveling from city to city with the exception of the monastery, where I was toured by a professor. Taxis are cheap. Trips ranged from 75 cents to $2.00. My hotel in Plovdiv (Saint Petersburg, formerly the Lenin) was newly remodeled and was far above the 3 star rating it held. My room was huge with a sofa, tables and chairs. They have a huge water 'playground' outside, though the pools were not filled yet. Breakfast was a tremendous buffet each morning. The staff was fantastic and accommodating. My hotel in Sofia was less pleasant, but clean. I have since talked to others who have been in Bulgaria. I heard of one person who was a Fulbrighter who spent a year in Sofia and loved it. Many others thought it was drab and depressing. I understand there are other parts of Bulgaria that are magnificent. At this point, I am only interested in returning for professional reasons or to buy more pottery. : )

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Bulgaria Professional Report

Ryan James, Ed.D. Trip Report for Bulgaria May 4- 10, 2005 At the request of Ronda Critchlow, Junior English Language Fellow at the University of Plovdiv, I was invited to give educational presentations to the faculty and students. The dates were set based on faculty advice and convenience. The Bulgarian EFL conference was also scheduled during this time frame; therefore it was agreed that I would also attend and present at this conference. A presentation for Oxford Publishing was also included. The list of presentations follows. They were decided after Ms. Critchlow surveyed the faculty for topic suggestions. I arrived in Sofia on May 4, 2005 and took a taxi to the bus station, where I took the bus to Plovdiv. I was met at the bus station by Ms. Critchlow and her Bulgarian counterpart. After settling into the hotel, the three of us went to dinner to discuss the presentations that would follow. Both were most hospitable and made me feel welcomed and relaxed immediately. May 5, 2005 I delivered three presentations. The full schedule is below. All presentations were well advertised. The university had flyers posted on bulletin boards, professors had announced them to their students, and invitations were sent out to the public school teachers. The attendance at the presentations was as follows: At the first presentation there were 28 participants. There were 27 participants at the second presentation. The third presentation at Oxford Publishing had 12 participants. The Oxford Publishing rep was disappointed at the turnout since she had 25 confirmations; however, she was overwhelmed that the participants became so involved in the activities. May 6, 2005 was a national holiday and everything was closed. We originally had plans to leave for Sofia on this day, but it was decided to wait until Saturday morning, due to the holiday. This necessitated booking the hotel in Plovdiv for one extra night not planned, and then canceling one night at the hotel in Sofia. May 7, 2005, Ms. Critchlow and I took an early bus to Sofia. We arrived at the conference during the registration period and spent the entire day and evening at the conference. May 8, 2005 we both had presentations at the conference. I was extremely pleased that the conference organizers assigned me to an extra large room. Every seat was filled and late comers left due to lack of seating. The room held 50 seats. Later in the afternoon, I attended Ms. Critchlow’s presentation, which was excellent, well received and well attended. We left Sofia to return to Plovdiv late in the afternoon. Monday, May 9, 2005 I again gave three presentations at the university. Presentation one had 8 participants. Presentation two had 30 participants. Presentation three had 14 participants. I had an opportunity to meet many of the staff and students. Many faculty members apologized for not attending various presentations as they had time conflicts. They admitted that when this was first arranged, they thought they would be able to attend more sessions, but other things occurred in the meantime. Due to issues with infrastructure, there was no possibility to make copies of the hand-outs for attendees either at the university or for the conference. The university only has one photocopier that is not coin operated and it was not working by the time I had arrived. Each hand-out was lengthy and it would have taken an unusual amount of time and coins to prepare copies for the participants. However, all lecture notes and hand-outs were given to Ms. Critchlow on a DVD for reference and to be distributed as needed. I would be remiss if I did not add that Ms. Critchlow was an exemplary hostess. She guided me along the entire stay, to make sure that everything ran as smoothly as possible. She went above and beyond to entertain me in the free time I had and make my stay extremely enjoyable. Even in our free time, we met with and had dinner with students and other professors, so this was productive time also. It is evident that Ms. Critchlow’s presence at this university is welcomed, appreciated, and honored. The faculty and students have a great deal of respect for her as a person and as a professional. Being able to work with her, the staff, and the students was a significant highlight in my professional career. I sincerely hope I have the opportunity to be of professional assistance to Ms. Critchlow again. Ryan James, Ed.D. May 16, 2005 The Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv Presents: Teacher-Training Workshops and Student Enrichment Seminars Guest Lecturer: Dr. Ryan James, American Council for English Studies; Budapest, Hungary Location: Plovdiv University (New Building); American Corner, 5th floor, rm 502 Thursday, May 5, 2005: Event 1 Time: 10:30-12pm Topic: “The American Educational System: Background and Current Issues” Event 2 Time: 1:30pm-3pm Topic: "Uses of American Slang and Other Expressions: What's Up With That?" Event 3 Time: 4pm-6pm Topic: "One Picture Is Worth 100 English Lessons" Monday, May 9, 2005 Event 4 Time: 10-12pm Topic: “Developing Your Curriculum: How to Enhance Learning with Authentic Materials That Will Motivate Student Learning” Event 5 Time: 1:30pm-3pm Topic: “Academic vs. Social English: How to Use and Teach the Differences” Event 6 Time: 4pm-6pm Topic: “The Teacher as Researcher in the Classroom: Are Your Students Learning What You Think You Are Teaching?”

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Stress

Greetings, Well life here has been stressful to say the least. I was having major problems with the computer. It would shut off on its own and do other bizarre things. Our friend Fernando, who works for IBM, convinced me I needed to get a new one. He offered to go shopping with me and get all of the components and then put it together for me. I had just bought a new hard drive for the old one, a CD R/W, and a DVD R/W within 4 months of his proclaiming my computer on the death watch list. We decided to make the leap of that expense, but when I asked him when we could shop, he said he was sorry he ever mentioned since I want everything yesterday. I told him to forget it and I would handle it on my own. With this, I asked around among my students and one of my T.A.'s has a brother who works in Information Systems for a company. His brother bought the parts for me and then assembled the computer. This took about three weeks longer than estimated and I was fighting with the old computer the entire time. When he finally finished it and I received it, I needed someone to put in the Operating System, as well as move my second hard drive, and the two burners. The guy who put the computer together did not have time to do that. In the meanwhile, I had ADSL, but decided to switch to cable since everyone was raving about it. They offered a super fast speed, faster than ADSL along with a 10 MB website and 5 e-mail addresses. They also have a package where they can be your phone provider as well as the television cable company. This inclusive package with a two year contract would be less than my ADSL alone. It took six weeks for them to show up after the application, but they did right before the new computer came. When the guys came out to install the cable for the Internet, they said the wiring in the building was too old for the computer line, so they would have to hook it up differently. They saw I had a router and took it. This was fine, we now have wireless Internet throughout the apt. The problem was that the new computer did not have a WiFi card. I then had to ask my student to get his brother to get me a WiFi card for the computer, an additional expense. My co-teacher has a private student who also works for an Info Sys company and he came over to move all of the components to the new computer. It took five hours with all of the problems getting hooked up to the Internet again to download updates, patches, etc. When he finally finished, the computer went BLUE screen with an error message. He corrected some program and then an hour later, it did it again. He worked on something different; the message was different. All seemed to work well until the next day when the Blue screen returned with yet another message. The guy came back and spent three hours changing parameters and making sure it would work. It has since. But after he left, I realized the two USB ports in the front and the sound card were not working. I had to get my student's brother over to fix it or replace it. He did, they just needed to be turned on with the motherboard. Then the guy came to change the wiring for the phone to the cable system. He looked at the Internet wiring and said they did a lousy job. He called the company and told them they needed to send someone else to redo the whole thing. The next day, I was at school and another guy from the cable company came. Ron said he looked at the wiring, said "Jo" (good) and left. He did not do a thing. When Ron went down to the cable company, they said that their monitors show our connections are fine and there is nothing wrong. While all of this is going on, I am trying to correct student papers. They turn them in over e-mail as attachments. I figured out last semester that I read and correct 3,940 pages of student writing a semester. This is not including the four thesis students I have or the other thesis committees I am on. Amongst all of this, I have six presentations to prepare for Bulgaria for the first week in May. In the meanwhile, I have to go to the university's financial office to tell them that we now own the flat and they should not be paying the 56,000 Huf to our former landlady any longer, but it should be coming to us. They said that this is not part of my salary, so now that I own the flat, they will no longer pay it. I had to go through a song and a dance through the student I dragged down there with me to say the business bought it and not me personally. They still did not want to pay it, but eventually they relented. However, we now need a special code on our business documents that shows the business has the right to rent the apt. They also gave me a pile of papers to fill out and return and I had to bring in the official paper from the Land Management office showing the business is now the owner. I called our attorney and asked about this code. It is not on our business papers, but it can be added for 40,000 Huf. My TA came over and helped me fill in the papers, I got the paper from the Land Man. office and went back. They then decided they did not need the paperwork anymore, but now I have to get a letter of support from the Director of the university stating that she supports their continuing to pay a portion of my rent even if my business owns the flat. My department head is in San Diego on a Fulbright, so I have to find this woman and plead my case myself. As all of this is going on, Thursday night, a friend calls on my mobile, but we were watching a movie and I did not answer it. Finally, I called her back and she was hysterical worried about us. She had tried calling us on the land phone, but got a message that the phone was disconnected. She was going to take a taxi here to check on us. The phone was dead and so was the Internet. Ron called the cable company and again they said there was nothing showing wrong at their end. When he insisted, they said they would come on Monday to look at it. When he mentioned the router, the guy at the cable company got furious and said they would never use a router for installing the Internet. Fortunately, my TA was here when they did use the router and he was here again when Ron called on Friday. The TA called the cable company, went up to the router box, unplugged it and plugged in again and everythng worked again He showed us the wiring they did. Two exposed wires wrapped around each other. While all of this is going on these last weeks, Ron had to renew his Visa. Due to a screw up with mine last year, I do not have to renew until June. He has had to make mulitiple trips to various agencies collecting papers for the agency that is charging us 250 Euro each for our Work Permits and 320 Euro each for our Visa. At the same time, we have had B and B guests for the entire month of April with the exception of five days. I leave for Bulgaria on May 4th and will be there for six days. I was supposed to do 5 presentations in Plodviv and one in Sofia at the Bulgarian IATEFL conference. The woman in Plodviv sent the announcement last night. She has me booked for 6 in Plodviv. I am doing this whole thing gratis with only expenses covered by the RELO's office since he could not afford to pay me. With all of this, I am trying to keep up with my Spanish class at the Spanish Institute, but I may not be able to continue. The teacher is great, but she is treating us like we have nothing better to do than study. She has been assigning 6-7 pages of homework on Tuesdays for Thursday class. This is not simple fill in the blanks, but many times writing a short essay. It is too much to keep up with when I have to teach and grade papers. She then lectures me about my motivation. I went from loving it to dreading it. I will most likely take this course again next semester and hope for the best. This is my second class there and the last one was much more relaxed.

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Salaam Alaikum Morocco

Salaam Alaikum Peace be unto you April 12, 2005 With a smile and a slight bow, right hand on heart, Moslims frequently extend this greeting to each other and to strangers. A very disarming and sincere wish the world needs each day. Ron’s reflections: Easter/Spring Break 2004 found us winging from Budapest to Marrakech, Morocco. It’s always difficult to encapsulate a new experience, but I will share a few highlights. We taxied early Monday to the airport and Malev Air was very efficient in getting us to the northwest corner of Africa… Marrakech to be exact, the second largest city and one of the most ancient fortress establishments of the Berber people, whose leaders became the Moslem Caliphs who set up a high culture there. Most of the citizens are descendents of the Berbers, one of the few ‘nations’/peoples of the world who were never conquered. Eventually they became a protectorate of France, but that was mainly economic and political, I think. We flew into M about noon, deplaning into a warm, but dry climate (in the 80’s F/ high 20’s C). It was striking to be surrounded immediately by palm trees and roses (they LOVE roses), with a backdrop of the snowcapped Atlas Mountains. M is about 60 miles from the Atlantic, and semi-arid, but fertile with the miracle of water. A short trip later, courtesy of Budavar Tours (who set up the flight and hotel), we settled into a clean, colorful 3* hotel, the Le Grand Sud. We were surprised to have a full suite with kitchen… simple décor, but a frieze of Islamic border art in every room. In addition, there was a small balcony overlooking Café Amondine, a patisserie (bakery) and coffee shop, and the center city neighborhood. The staff were so accommodating, especially our daily waiter for breakfast and dinner all seven days (we arranged a half board plan). The Moroccans or Berbers are handsome and very friendly… they are olive skinned, but their faces seem softer and less angular than other Arab people. Although they also speak Arabic, it was very interesting to hear people of color speaking the soft sounds of French most of the time. Once, as the woman at the desk was arranging a day tour, she broke into Arabic and we thought she was giving hell to the tour agency… her voice was sharp, piercing and louder than the adequate English she had been using to speak to us. Then she switched to French and sounded much warmer. We later noticed that it’s the sound and style of the language to be clipped and loud and “in your face”. The personal space is so different… they speak almost nose to nose and use many hand gestures. The entire city, including the one and only McDonald’s on Mohammed V (previous King) Avenue, is painted in different shades of desert tones. I found that appealing, but Ryan would have liked a bit more variety. The buildings are usually quite plain on the exterior because they concentrated on comfortable and beautiful interiors. Once you enter, often through a horseshoe shaped gate or arch decorated in complex carved ornamentation, you often come into a garden space with succulents and roses, sometimes a fountain. In one hotel, the lounge had rattan chairs spaced under a skylight, with cut roses in a fountain in center stage. (That was our other favorite hotel, half the distance to the central Medina/Old City, that served well as our ‘refreshment stop’ for rest and necessities). On the walk from our New Town area to the Medina, where the central Mosque and the Royal Palace are located, we passed through one of the many old gates/arches in the 20 foot high mud/clay wall, which surrounded and protected the ancient city. Immediately, the setting becomes more peaceful (except for multi-present Petit Taxis/Little Taxis and motor bikes)… parks filled with palm trees, roses, winding paths… people in caftans, some women in burkas (some with faces partially covered)… children playing or trying to sell small souvenirs…the broad new rues/avenues change into winding, shadowy, ‘hallway’ alleys … lots of activity but still a serene feel and slower pace. Entering the old, revered setting of the Medina’s ancient and high culture brought feelings of awe and excitement. A time warp, with a sense of visiting an unknown (and in many ways, unknowable) way of life. Many of us have been sold short in our knowledge and appreciation of other, both simpler and more elegant, traditions and relationships. It’s in places like the old Medina that I’m learning how wonderful the differences in the human family can be. That’s so compelling now, given the sad and tragic separations we’re experiencing in our world these days. It seems to me that we need more “Respect and Awe” rather than ‘shock and awe’. Our first days were spent in getting oriented (translation: getting lost) to the layout of the Medina. The Koutoubia and Ben Youssef Mosques and the Royal Palace are the centerpieces which are “fairly easy” to locate; as is the Jmaa el Fna, the central open market triangle, which covers about ten of our blocks. Note how concise and economical Arabic language can be… one has to provide the vowel sounds in many words… saves ink, right : )> The Jmaa is the meeting place for everyone, locals and tourist (mostly French it seems). Things start slowly. The empty square gradually comes to life in the morning, with portable stands for vegetables and flowers, then a row of about 20 fresh orange juice stands (great treat!), followed by a scattering of varied vendors wandering about. We were taken with the old women sitting on the pavement under their sunsheltering umbrellas, painting henna motifs on the hands of tourists… and enjoyed the circles of people gathering around musicians and ‘break dancers’… and the storytellers (didn’t get the gist, but appreciated the pantomime)… but we kept our distance from the snake charmer-they were real Cobras and the pipers were very close to them! Our favorite was probably the local Dentists who set up card tables brimming with teeth, singles and dental chops, and were wielding huge pliers!!! No sale here. After the second day, our feet had trod on lots of new ground… and over much old ground as we wound our way through the labyrinth of the Souks that swirl in and about the Medina. Each Souk (market) specializes in certain goods… spices (food, cosmetics, medicines) or cloth goods (caftans, hats, elaborate leather or cloth slippers) or carpets/kilims or jewelry or home décor (for example, metal or colorful camel skin lamps) or skilled metal crafts from gates to window grills to tea pots and many little cafes. Most goods are handcrafted, but some imports sneak in (China products, e.g.). We ended up with a painted camel skin wall light cover, a mirror with engraved copper and camel bone inserts, and a bellows with more camel bond and stone insets. Poor camels… Ryan is convinced they all had long lives and expired of natural causes! The vendors are friendly and not aggressive. Negotiation is the name of the game… and it’s a pleasant bantering, with a smiling close of the deal. The custom is to stop and rest from the heat of the day at about noon, then things begin to liven up again around 3:00. We would head for a fresh mint tea refresher or back to the hotel to rest. Fresh mint bundles line the alleys in the morning. If you brush your hands on them, the pleasant scent stays with you for quite some time. One favorite rest stop was the coffee/tea café inside a new central art museum… it also had the advantage of a free and elegant toilette. These are rare in the Medina. In the evening the Jmaa (central triangle) changes a bit. Long tables are set up in the center… braziers are lit and the succulent spiced meats and side dishes are arrayed on banked shelves for custom cooking. They’re able to seat hundreds. At one end of the banquet, we spotted six booths, with chefs on high platforms; as we approached, we smelled garlic and clouds of steam coming from great cauldrons. It seems these are the Caliphs of Chefdom, the Escargot Sheiks. After seeing hordes of snails trying to escape huge baskets in the souks earlier, we declined their cheerful offers. After a stroll among the entertainers, we plopped down on a café balcony, enjoyed the sights of the Jmaa over excellent café au lait and super gelato or pastry. One evening we bargained with the horse taxi fellow. I’m glad we did, since our feet had played out, and the balmy evening was perfect for the open carriage ride from the old city via the newer hotels in the new town (only a few centuries old). Day Trip One found us huddled in a mini bus with mostly French friendly folk. We wound our way up green valleys into the Atlas Mountains. The scenery was inspiring, but the chance to observe the simple but difficult life of the Berber people was most interesting. Farmers and shepherds still. We were halted by a large goatherd crossing the highway. From a distance, one could spot unusual geometric patterns on the hillsides. Then we could make out the stacked shoebox mud houses of villages that blend into the red and caramel colored mountains. We eventually made the top, about 7500 feet altitude, where we visited a sultan’s Kasbah (Harem), which is currently unoccupied, so we saw no ‘birds in the gilded cage’. What a lifestyle that must have been. I think the mountain people are a bit more liberated now… women seem to bear the burden of the hard work as much as the men. At lunch, we shared a table with a young Hong Kong couple who were on a whirlwind trip through Spain and Morocco… they spoke English and were very pleasant company. As were the friendly ‘house’ cats who wanted some of our Couscous and Tagine tasties. The trip back down was quiet except for quite a bit of sleep sounds. On Day Trip Two, we packed into another mini bus, cozier than the other, and enjoyed a day in the historic Atlantic port town of Essaouira. It reportedly was a major entry for Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Portuguese and French sailors over the centuries. Unlike Marrakech, the dominant color here is a vivid blue as accent. It’s very accessible… the souks are central, with lots of veggie and fishie stands… a walk along the 18th C. Portuguese fortress walls was a highlight… and it was good to be by the sea again. On the way back, we saw our first live camel… one dressed to the hilt for tourist pictures. We also got a kick out of the acrobatic goats who actually climbed into the trees for their lunch. Finally, for me, the topper… Easter Sunday Mass back in Marrakech. We’d tried for the Saturday Vigil, but had the wrong time. Meant to be, cuz Sunday Mass was one of the most lively and joyful ever. French Franciscans serve there, so that was the lingua franca! But they had the readings printed into about 8 languages. The simple church, with subtle Moorish designs and horseshoe arches here and there, and simple plain green, red and yellow high windows, was packed. The clergy and choir procession was uplifting, with the very dark skinned choir shouting their Alleluias as they danced down the center. The musicians vigorously played their long necked guitars, drums and rattles. The choir men and women were gloriously full voiced as they led our celebration. At the Offertory, they sang a hymn in French and Arabic, including piercing ululating high notes… at the same time, the ushers brought forward the gifts in a choreographed sauntering dance. So hard to capture the emotions of the experience, but their music and movements made me feel that I was truly experiencing Good News, the Gospel message of life and hope. A wonderful finale to a great adventure. Salaam alaikum … Peace to you … Happy Days ! P.S. If you didn’t get the e-mail invitation to see Ryan’s pictures on Ofoto.com, just let us know.

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