Welcome to South Africa

Johannesburg has one of the worst Passport Controls we have ever encountered in 43 countries. There are six lines for South African passport holders, three for other African states, and only two for all other countries. For heavens sake, this is a tourist Mecca, give us some credit here and have more lines for the rest of us. Strangely, they do not even want the people from most other African countries coming into the country, so why so many lines? Our designated lines were horrendously long, winding this way and that, taking over an hour to get our passports stamped. This is not unlike our experience from last year, so nothing has improved in a year’s time.

After finding our little bags and one suitcase we will leave with friends in Cape Town, we walked from the International terminal to the Domestic terminal. We will continue on to Cape Town in an hour, so we make our way to the relaxed and well equipped Diners Club lounge. It is not only spacious, but beautifully decorated, and there is a well filtered smoking room. Due to Passport Control, we only had 35 minutes to enjoy it. Children are playing games on the two computers, so e-mails from here will not be going out.

None of the porters that usually mangle tourists to assist with the luggage for a tip dared come near us. From the way I was clutching my bag, they must have thought I had a gun, not realizing it was cold hard cash.

From Jo’burg to Cape Town, Gellé found us tickets on Nationwide Airlines based out of South Africa. The plane, a 737, was spacious for the number of people aboard and the service was excellent. The flight was close to two hours with a snack being served. This was an add-on flight because we had originally planned on taking a tour from Jo’burg, but that was three mangled tour plans ago and credit card balances changed a number of times from then to now.

E-tickets are certainly taking hold. All of our tickets for short and long hauls were paperless. The only paper we had were our boarding passes.

When there are lots of details involved with a trip, I get nervous that something is going to go wrong. I think of that old movie West World where nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong…

Thanks to Gellé at Go2Africa, we were met at the Cape Town airport by Elaine from Backpackers shuttle service to transport us to the Ashanti lodge for our first night. This new group that we are joining have already left Cape Town today. They all arrived last night and had their first night in Cape Town. Elaine had our names on a board and I had our voucher in hand, but she insisted it was all taken care of and did not need it. I chuckled thinking how in other countries, they would have wanted it in triplicate, and stamped with six stamps showing it is official. After finding her two other riders, we were on our way to Ashanti.

We had stayed at Ashanti for a week last year and were impressed, so this year, we thought we would try their guest house, which is not in the main building. We loved the main house, but the party people can be too much after a long day’s travel and we have another long day in a car tomorrow. The tour company wanted us close in town or we would have spent the night with our friends Don and Patricia.

The guesthouse is around the corner from Ashanti’s main building, in a historical monument building. There was no explanation on the plague imbedded into the wall near the door as to why it is considered historical, so I will take their word for it for now.

The building has a wraparound porch from the front door to the right back of the house. The security-gated front door protected a sturdy wooden door with a huge brass knob. The entry hall has a magnificently polished golden amber floor with different rooms off of it . Our room, number six was the second door on the right. Beautifully decorated, in African motif, this expansive room was luxuriously comfortable; it even boasted a fireplace. One bed was king size with an additional twin. Even with two beds in the room, there was still plenty of living space. In one corner, there was a seven-foot high wraparound wall, which hid the bathroom and the shower. The shower was a small semi-circle, which the sliding door came off when it rounded the bend in the track.

After being refreshed, we called Patricia and Don. Don came to fetch us to join them for dinner. We had met Patricia and Don last year for the first time, then they came to Budapest in May of this year. (See the archives in this blog for the day by day stories). Don wrote an article for GetAway magazine on the trip, the city, and our B and B.

They exude the feeling that we have been close friends for years, and we always feel welcomed and cared for when with them.

We finally were able to meet their son Gaelen and their daughter Romaney as well as her boyfriend Brent. All three are charming young people who are comfortable with all people is seems. They are as welcoming as Don and Patricia and are intellectual delights. Patricia made a splendid dinner and in spite of our exhaustion, we by being amongst good friends again was enough to recharge our souls.

Don mentioned that he hoped we would not be amongst a group of 23 year olds drinkers on this trip, since trips like this seem to draw this crowd. I think my face falling was enough for him to add “You guys know how to separate yourselves from the crowd, so just do it.” Sounds like a Nike commercial to me, but it did add to my concerns about this venture.

After much fanfare, Don drove us back again for a good night’s sleep. We have a taxing day tomorrow to catch up with the group.

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The Start of Our Adventure

Today, we embark on our great adventure to parts unknown. I have been having a lot of anxiety over this trip since the plans have changed so often. It is really costing us much more than we had anticipated since we originally bought airline tickets to Johannesburg and returning from Cape Town. The additional airline tickets were not in the plan. The bright side is that when booked tour was cancelled, we received almost $2,000 in refund from Go2Africa for the second trip we booked to replace it. That was a pleasant surprise.

Gellé our agent at Go2Africa has been great all along, answering innumerable questions as they come up and sometimes a list of ten at a time. She has been so very patient with us while assuring us we will have a splendid time. We are hoping to get together for a coffee when we return to Cape Town.

Caring $1,700 in cash is giving me heart palpitations, but we need to give $350 each to the tour guide as land usage fees for Botswana. The rest is back-up if we don’t find bank machines along the way. The wad of bills is so thick it will barely fit in the money pocket I bought and it is too bulky to keep inside my pants as intended. I would look like I had a tumor. The bills had to be smaller than 100s, but I had misread the note and thought they had to be smaller than 50s. They also have to be issued after 1996 so they have the large heads of the presidents on them. Getting these here in Budapest has been a challenge, but we did it. Why they will not accept Euros is anyone’s guess. Gellé was not sure, but knew they would not.

We received taxi vouchers from Chris and Mark for Christmas, so we don’t have to take the shuttle to the airport. The taxi has been sitting outside waiting for us patiently, though early, we rush to let the driver know we do want to make this trip. Checklist: Passports? Check!, E-Tickets? Check!, Vouchers for the trip? Check! Small, soft sided luggage under 20 kgs restricted by the tour company? Check! Cash? Check! Pills for anxiety for carrying so much cash? Opps! Forgot that.

With more than two hours before the flight, we are now at the airport. It is the usual hurry up and wait syndrome of flying these days. There was no line at check-in; we were the first. It was the same with Passport Control, almost having to wake the officer to check our passport. Security was empty; no questions about liquids in our hand luggage, just waving us through without removing my laptop from the bag. The waiting area is deserted, not a soul around. until finally we found at least one. This is an airport, isn’t it? The plane should be quite empty if this is any indication. We were the only patrons at the airport restaurant. Like a sunrise, slowly appearing on the horizon, the lobby unhurriedly turned into the bustle of a busy day. So much for the thoughts of empty seats on the plane for a good stretch.

The flight on Lufthansa from Budapest to Frankfurt was uneventful, but it was only an hour and 10 minutes. Surprisingly for such a short flight, they had a snack service and two drink services. We bee lined to the Diners Club lounge once in Frankfurt, only a “10” minute walk, but in reality, more like 20 when uncertain about knowing where you are going.

We had to buzz to get in and it took some time for the attendant to work herself to the door to let us in. It is a no smoking lounge so we had to go outside to the smoking area buzzing to get in and out each time. This annoyed the attendant, but we were the only ones there, so she could put forth some effort. We only had about 40 minutes before our next flight.

The plane from Frankfurt to Johannesburg was a 3-4-3 configuration. We had seats at number 46 on the right side of a very full plane. There was only one monitor in each aisle, none overhead or on the seatbacks making it difficult to see. For those further back, it would be impossible to see the screens. The movies were Flicker and You, Me and Dupree, neither worth staying awake for. I slept most of the flight, awakened only by meals and drink services. We had flown Lufthansa in the past and were very impressed with the service, but this did not add to their reputation. It seems to have been greatly reduced since our last experience. This flight is 10 hours plus. I should have taken a sleeping pill, but was concerned about being groggy when we landed.

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The Absolutely Last

This is the absolutely last blog entry before we take off on the Lufthansa flight today for Frankfurt, then to Johannesburg, but it has to be done.

My fantastic LP 3 students insisted that I have one more coffee with them before departing, so I carved an hour out of the stress filled days of planning, packing, and preparing to meet with them yesterday. As it turned out, it was good therapy for a number of reasons. The day before, I had problems with paying bills online, one of the documents I had scanned for next semester had to be done over completely, the “To Do” list kept growing instead of shrinking. Conversely, my nerves kept shrinking, not growing. I needed an hour of pure socialization.

We met at California Coffee Company. Seven of them were able to make it. We shared stories of Christmas and I was asked to retell stories of my childhood celebrations, which I did giving the versions from early childhood to later ones. They shared stories of their holiday celebrations too, which enriched the conversation, learning more about each other than classroom time ever allows. Best of all, we had lots of laughter, always the best medicine for stress.

The last story was perhaps the best, as I was about to leave, Imola had a confession. She somehow thought that we had class today; consequently, leaving a present they had for me at home last Thursday. This was the urgent need to meet with me today. They presented me with a pink crepe paper package with a purple ribbon and wire decoratively holding it together. The wrapping looked like a swan, but I had no clue what it could possibly be.

To say I was flabbergasted is an understatement. It was a bowl by a ceramicist who I have loved since first coming to Hungary. We have bought many of her pieces of work for gifts, but have never bought one for ourselves. It always seemed like an indulgence we could not rationalize at any moment in time, but always made the promise that ‘some day…’ I was given a beautiful bowl with the colors and style that I would definitely have chosen myself. It could not have been more perfect. I was so taken aback, it was astonishing. Usually, in instances like this, I start bawling like a child and I actually felt it trying to push its way out of my tear ducts. I think the fact that we were in a café allowed me to have some control. Coincidently, two weeks ago, I was thinking about American Christmas ribbon candy and how traditional that was growing up. The other present they gave me was a little metal box with ribbon candy in it. It was amazingly perfect.

After thanking them sincerely for the gifts, Balazs and I ran back to my place, I

walking a light lighter than earlier in the day. Balazs had to run to ELTE’s main campus and took Ron with him to have some papers signed. I grabbed some Euros, ran to the currency exchange to change enough to pay for our annual transportation passes. This year, the cost was 80,850 Huf each. That was 660 Euros, a big chunk of change. I made it to BKV at 3:31 and they close at 3:30, but I snuck in and bought them. The guard was standing at the door to unlock the door for me and let me out, locking the door behind me.

We had translating for Balazs to do, so he stayed on when he returned with Ron and then joined us to meet up with Fulbrighters at the Christmas Market. There, we had a cup of hot wine, then continued to Govinda’s, a vegetarian restaurant for dinner.

After dinner, we all went to the laser light painting show that was on display. They do this outstanding light show on the walls of buildings and on the ground. It is truly amazing and artistic. The artist is a woman named Dóra Oröm and the show will be on display until January 1^st. It was a
spectacular event, an incredible day fill with great people and a wonderful start to a

holiday season and our trip.

Photos by Ron.

Happy Holidays to all and a Healthy, Prosperous, Educational New Year.

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Holiday Letter

In case I missed anyone, here is my all-holiday note to be inclusive.

Dear Friends,

As much as I dislike generic holiday greetings, our list of wonderful people to reach out to has expanded exponentially over the years thus making it impossible to write each of you individually.

December 14th marked our 5th year anniversary of living in Budapest. It is amazing how many things have transpired since the day we arrived, planning to stay a couple of months and then move on. The roads of life are many and varied and one never knows which path will have that special light to follow a dream.

This has been another exciting year both in and out of Budapest. I took off for a few days of rest and relaxation in April to Amsterdam, while Ron kept the bed and breakfast running. Then he took off for the States with the primary intention of attending his 80 year old sister's wedding. While he was there, he was able to travel some to visit other friends and relatives.

In August, we went back to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival. We had no idea of the enormity of it when we bought tickets, but it was definitely a high point in our travel adventures.

On December 19th, we will take off for another great journey. We leave for South Africa. The day after we arrive in Cape Town, we will have a private driver to connect us with our tour group. Our tour will cover parts of Namibia, Botswana, and finally Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Our original tour was cancelled due to lack of bookings, so we had to modify our plans. Sadly,this tour leaves the morning we arrive, so hence the need for the private driver. At the end of the trip, we will return to Cape Town and spend a week with new friends there. Last year, we found them by renting their little apartment attached to their home.

Don is the Associate Editor for GetAway magazine, a travel magazine that focuses on all of Africa and is distributed to 80 countries. Patricia, his wife is a novelist with 5 novels, 6 childrens books, and three books of poetry to her credit. Two of her novels have been sold to movie studios in the UK. We immediately felt like long lost family with them.

They came to Budapest in May when Don had the writing assignment to go anywhere in the world for 10,000 Rand per person (Approx. $1,500. at that time). They stayed with us as B and B guests so he could include our B and B in his article as a paying guest. The article came out in the November issue. We are excited to see it in print, though he has send us copies online. To read more about them or their week here, search this blog for Don Pinnock or Patricia Schonstein.

We were also thrilled to open our home to Ruth and Henry Ferguson for a weeks visit. Ruth and I worked together at AIDS Case Management in Stanislaus County. It was wonderful to share time with them and catch up on all of the happenings from the time I left to the time Ruth retired. They are such neat people to have around. On a similar note, another nurse Karaan, also from the same Public Health agency and her daughter Heather spent a couple of nights with us. It is such a pleasure to share our experiences with those we have known from the past. My friend, now our friend, Dawn who I went to USF with, is in and out of Budapest as she is an educational consultant and spends a good amount of time in this part of the universe. She stays with us when she is in the city, giving us a sense of continuity with what is happening back home.

We have been fortunate yet again to make friends with the Fulbright Scholars who are studying or teaching here in Hungary. Those that are in Budapest grace us with their presence at least once a week for the 'game night' that Ron has made into a tradition over the years we have been here. They are a wonderful source of socialization and entertainment. They are bright, caring and generous people that add greatly to our lives. Kate, who is here on a dance and choreography Fulbright has been our buddy for many dance performances. Lynn, another Fulbrighter went with us and one of my students to Vienna for the day to see the Christmas decorations.

Ron has taken on the challenge of becoming a docent at the Fine Arts Museum. This is the only museum that offers free tours in English twice a day, six days a week. For the last ten weeks, he has been going to classes twice a week for three hours each time. He is learning art history and public speaking. In January when we return, he will do his first training tour. He has been really charged about this and has made friends with another Docent in Training or DIT as they refer to themselves. Mark is a great guy and is here with his partner Chris who is finance manager for EDS. They have been great fun to have around and share things with. I met a fellow named Laszlo, a Hungarian-American who returned here to live. He is also well educated and fun to spend time with. He has been a great social outlet.

As difficult as it is to believe, this is the middle of my 5th year of teaching at the university. I continue to love it, my students are a great joy and want to spend as much time with me outside the classroom as they do in it. I still find it challenging as they give me great latitude with the courses that I can offer beyond the required ones. This semester, I created the courses 'Ethnicities in the US, Part 1' and 'Critical Thinking'. Next semester, I will offer a Part 2 of the Ethnicities class, 'Critical Thinking, 'Survey of American Culture', and 'Gay and Lesbians in Film'. I have also received permission to create the first online course ever offered, but I have to work out the web space issue first. This will most likely be a summer project.

We will not have e-mail access until January 10th at the earliest when we will return to Cape Town.

This is a quick synopsis of our life and with this, we want to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and warm wishes for 2007 to be more healthful and prosperous than any expectations could allow.

Ryan and Ron

www.budabab.com

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I have to order books from the States for the classes I teach here. I usually spend anywhere from $150.00 to 200.00 each semester to get books for my courses. This semester, I ordered another six books and all arrived except the one for the new American Culture Survey course. This is the course for the new freshman, a lecture course. Since I have not had to lecture for some years now, I needed a book that was set up nicely into readable chapters. The course could have anywhere from 150 to 300 students in it.

The book was ordered October 25th with a 4-6 week arrival date. As of the last day of teaching, it had not arrived. In a panic, I went book shopping to every English language bookstore and those that sold English language books. I hit ten bookstores on Friday and was dismally disappointed at the void of available materials. At one university bookstore, I found a poor substitute. If the original book doesn't show, it will have to do. The days are ticking away until we leave and I really don't need this stress when there are so many other things that could be occupying my time and energy.

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Last Week of the Semester

This semester has really flown by. It is hard to believe that we will be leaving one week from today. I have read and graded two Masters Theses, two teaching theses, over 3,000 pages of essays, wrote the curriculum for six courses for next semester, and created blogs for three of them. I am ready for a break and fun in the sun in South Africa and countries north.

All of my grades are done and there are only two more days of teaching left this week. Yahoo!!

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Christmas in Vienna

Ron and I took one of my students, Balazs, to Vienna for the day. He is my unofficial Teaching Assistant and is continually looking for work from us to keep him busy. He is over here whenever we need something translated. Many times, he will stop by just to be social. It amazes me how many hours he can spend with me a day and then later call and see if I want to go for a coffee with him. He is the most determined student I have ever met, who wants to perfect his English. He even makes his roommate speak to him only in English, though his roommate is Hungarian. He really is a delight to be around. We both enjoy him immensely.

Sunday morning, the three of us met with Lynn the Fulbrighter and off we went to Keleti train station for our great adventure to Vienna. Our train was at 9:10 and we found our reserved seats in a smoking compartment since all of us smoke. Ron, Lynn, and Balazs played Scrabble on the way and I read my book. Neither of them had been to Vienna before and we have been there dozens of times, so it was exciting to see it through their eyes. Our mission was to see the Christmas markets and decorations more than the sights.

We arrived a little past noon, the sun was shining brightly, and the sky was clear. We found the first street market within minutes of our arrival. We putzed and puttered at the booths and then decided to stop at a restaurant for lunch. We knew that hot wine was waiting for us back outside, so we just had a snack rather than a meal.

When we bought our wine, the man let us skip paying the 2 Euro deposit on the mugs since I told him we promised to return them. Across from where we were standing, there was a clown making balloon animals. Balazs and Lynn were joking about wanting one and after fifteen minutes, the clown came over to Lynn. He started hitting on her and told her that he does not meet to many women his size or shorter. He made her a dog balloon in pink.

We took them to two of the palaces on the outside. There were Christmas fairs at both. Our public transport was included in

our train ticket fee, so we covered lots of territory walking or by taking trams. By the time we needed to head back to the last train at 8:00 pm, we were tired, but feeling fulfilled. It was an excellent day filled with laughs and merriment with good people. Who could ask for more at the holidays?

These are Ron's pictures.

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More Christmas

We are wrapping up the semester at school. Things are getting hectic trying to prepare for a month’s vacation at the same time. Yet, we took some time away for more Christmas fun. The Applied Arts Museum hosts a special Christmas Fair with juried artists. They charge 400 Huf to get it, but it is usually worth it to look around.

After spending forty-five minutes at the tourist office trying to find out what weekend it was to be held, I came home to find an e-mail from one of my students telling me about it. There was a particular artist I was trying to find and she was going to be at this fair. That is why my student alerted me and asked to join us there.

Imola, my student, met Ron and I at noon. Our friend Dawn was staying with us and she tagged along. Dawn is a contractor for one section of the Soros Foundation. Imola is an enterprising young woman who is working as an agent for a large number of artists, which I happened to mention to Dawn. As it turns out, the different groups that Dawn is working with are looking for illustrators for children’s projects. The two of them hooked up for possible work together. Imola joined Ron and I as we browsed the different artists’ work. One particular artist made clothes out of cork. It was amazingly beautiful. If I ever wore a vest or tie, I would have bought one, but I don't. They were washable too, which was really different. Even the umbrella she had was 10 years old and looked brand new.

After a hour or more Imola and Dawn went back to our place to discuss business. Ron and I went with Mark and Chris, another couple to get some lunch. Chris had heard about another possible fair, so we checked that out too, but it was a bust. All in all, though, a good day.

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From Aniko

Dear Dr. James,

There are no words that would be enough to express how thankful I am.

It must be hard to keep everything going based on what you wrote and I apologize for adding to the clogging of tasks.

You may remember what I said when we met late summer that I hope there is a good reason for me to do this extra term:) and now I know the reason.

I had to read these texts assigned, esp in the ethnicity class to get rid of a burden I had been carrying with me for a long time. There were things about my childhood that were left unspoken, hurts and feelings that never got comforted, and now it's out, which is a great thing.

One of the reason I chose humanities for my university studies, despite the fact I had always been better in sciences is because of teachers like you. Not because you make exceptions and are always helpful, but because you are interested in the whole person, and you don't just look at someone from one perspective. I know you make people work hard, but it is a work that builds and adds to the quality of that person.

So, thank you again for this term and all your efforts invested into my shaping:)

I appreciate everything you are doing for us, students!

Best regards,

Aniko

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Christmas Market

The first weekend of December, we met some Fulbrighters and Ron’s new friend from the museum at the Christmas market. It was the opening weekend and we arranged to get there at 4:45 to see the opening of the Advent window. Unlike years past, there were no live musicians playing on the balcony of Gerbreud’s restaurant as a prelude. There was some recorded music and one of the windows opened to display some unusually non-holidayish gaudy picture of modern art. Each window is sponsored by a different company. The first year we were here, they were all a holiday theme. Since then, they have been the same ugly pictures of abstracts in hideous colors.

The booths are the same year after year too. Once you have been there, you know exactly where each vendor will be year after year. When I regret not buying something one year, I know where to head first the following year. For the uninitiated, it is new and exciting. This is our sixth year, so we go for the gluhwein, the hot spiced wine that is served all over the market. We had dinner there too, some fat sausages with thick mustard and perfectly deep fried potatoes.

It was so crowded, we could not walk around as a group, so we only lasted an hour before others decided to call it a night. The only booth I knew I wanted to return to was where I bought our sugar bowl, creamer, and butter dish last year. We needed another creamer for when Ron makes pancakes for serving the syrup.

Lynn, one of the Fulbrighters came home with us to use our WiFi and called all of her family for a post-thanksgiving greeting via Skype. Normally, she does this at cafés. I can see her sitting in cafés, looking like she is talking to herself in English.

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Joys and Concerns of Teaching

I have decided on two research topics that are interrelated, which I need to pursue. Through my five years of teaching here, I have developed a great concern about my students’ health. They seem to get ill at a greater statistical rate than U.S. students. Each semester, I have at least one hospitalized, but many others suffer with major illnesses that seem to manifest just at the time that an essay is due. An allergy to research or writing perhaps, I am not sure.

Strangely, this poor gene pool must be heredity, directly from the grandparents. This leads me to the second piece of research into Hungarian genealogy. It seems that many of my students have as many as ten different grandparents. The way I discovered this is, each time a paper is due, a grandparent is being buried, and the student needs to rush back to their hometown for the burial. When you have the same students for 4 semesters or more, you begin to realize that they have run out of the customary four grandparents, exceeded possible step-grandparents, and are now working on borrowed grandparents for their funeral get-out-of-Budapest escapades. Further research into these matters will be something of an avocation, but keeping an Excel database of family tragedies would help also.

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Kudos for Hungary

Ron and I went to the Department of Epidemiology to find out what immunizations we would need for our trip to four African countries in December. I was a bit taken aback at how easy it went. Ron was about to find the questionnaire we needed to have filled in, online and in English. With these in hand, we found our way to the office where we took a number after pressing the button for ‘Consultations’, also written in English.

We only had to wait about forty minutes when our number appeared on the board to go to room 1. There a woman doctor, who immediately sized us up as English speakers, greeted us. Her English was excellent. We had our records of previous immunizations from trips to Egypt and Thailand. After she reviewed where we were traveling, she looked over our records and explained the effective longevity of each one. I only needed Yellow Fever and the Tetanus/Polio Booster updated, while Ron needed three.

We discussed Malaria and she told us the options, but we prefer doing it homeopathically. None of the drugs or the homeopathic options are 100%, but the drugs do have a greater likelihood of making you feel ill as a side effect. She admitted she did not know much about the homeopathic options, but went to fetch a colleague who did. She gave us the names of 2 remedies to take twice a day.

While we had been sitting in the waiting room, there were flyers for ‘travel socks’. These are special socks that aid the circulation when flying long distance. This helps to prevent blood clots, which are common when cramped for periods of time. I had seen these in the States and in magazines, but we had never bought them. This listed a place where we could buy them for 2,500 Huf, a bargain when considering the consequences.

As I was Googling around, I looked for natural mosquito repellants. I found a product made in the States, but did not know of anyone coming over to bring it for us in time. Coincidently, there was another flyer advertising the same thing on the waiting room table, so I took one with us. A student called them for me also and it turns out it is sold in many pharmacies. Am I impressed or what!

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Funny Notes

A friend of mine sent this to me with some other funny notes, but I don't think I will try calling him and leaving a message any time soon. I dialed a number and got the following recording: "I am not available right now, but thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I don't return your call, you are one of the changes."

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Happy Thanksgiving

When we lived in CA, Thanksgiving was one of my favorite holidays of the year. Yes, I loved Halloween too, but Thanksgiving was more meaningful. Our tradition was to invite any friend or acquaintance who did not have others to share the day with to come for dinner. We always ate mid-day to have a longer evening to relax, share, and sometimes play cards or just talk. This also gave us time to digest from a hearty meal, so we could attack the leftovers one more time.

The meal always started with pumpkin soup and it was served in a beautiful pumpkin shaped tureen that my friend Brian had made for me years ago. Even those that do not like pumpkin, have tried and loved my soup. Then the meal would consist of all of the usual fixings, but I always added my grandmother’s stuffed mushrooms as an added side dish.

Living here in Budapest, our holidays are different. I had to teach on Thanksgiving since it is not a holiday here. As I walked home, I forgot to stop wondering why people were not rushing home for their last minute preparations as I was. We too continue to enjoy the holiday in a modified way. One cannot buy whole turkeys here unless you order them ahead of time, but our oven is so small, it would be impossible to cook a complete dinner with the turkey stealing all of the room. We bought a healthy sized turkey breast instead. The conveniences that I was used to at home, do not exist here. I had to make stuffing from scratch. It turned out better than what I had made in the States, surprisingly. We also had green beans and parsnips. Ron found sweet potatoes at a store at the end of the red metro. I made fresh mashed potatoes, squash pudding, and by chance, we found dried cranberries in the supermarket. Ron boiled them in water and a bit of orange juice, then cut up bits of orange rind. It was a delicious relish. We almost did not miss the turkey gravy and the fresh baked rolls. The turkey comes boneless and skinless, so there was no juice to try to make a gravy.

Continuing with our tradition, we invited a new friend that Ron made in his Art Museum Docent Training Program. Mark’s partner works here for a US company, as an accountant. Chris had to fly to London for work on Wednesday, so Mark was alone and came to share our dinner. We had a great time, though I kept thinking of all of the special serving bowls that would decorate the table at home, sitting in storage now. The food and company more than made up for any feeling of loss. Mark found Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and brought that for dessert. No pumpkin pie since there are no cooking pumpkins in Hungary and as close as squash is, it is not close enough for me. Then to make my own evaporated milk, was beyond my time limits.

Latter that evening, some of the Fulbrighters came over for wine and chatter. We had a eight others here, making for a festive evening. This certainly made it feel like a holiday and a special occasion.

Counting all that I am thankful for, I have to start with Ron and his willingness to stand by my side living here. Living here, regardless of the trials at times, is well worth it and I am thankful for the ability to do so. I love this city. As well, I adore my students and want the best for them. Sometimes they think I am too demanding on them, but I want to make them the best they can be. When they share with me the little opportunity they have to get time and attention from other staff, I am thankful I have the time to give for those that want it. I am especially thankful for those students who feel a need or desire to take me under their wing and be my translator, my helper, my teaching assistant, and my friend. I am thankful for the Fulbrighters that we meet each year and those who stay friends long after they have left. I am thankful for our friends who we have left behind long ago, but still love us enough to stay in touch and send up little gifts from time to time.

I am thankful for all who read my blog. It makes me feel like my voice is heard beyond those whose faces I know.

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A New Museum to Check Off the List

Ron and I went to the Kiscelli Museum/Church Ruin as it is called (also known as Budapest Historical Museum and Municipal Gallery), but actually it was on Saturday, November 11^th. I am just now taking a moment to write about it now. What actually drew our attention to it other than its being on my list of museums to visit was the article in The Budapest Sun. There was a review of the special exhibit, called “One of the Rare Moments”.

Let me say first that getting there took more than a little motivation; we are without a car. We took the 4 tram to Erszabet Bridge, then down to the number 17 tram. Prior to this, I had no idea the 17 tram existed. After six stops, we disembarked from the tram and walked back toward the last stop one block. The sign for the museum pointed to the right. RIGHT up a small mountain, that is. When the article said this museum was off the beaten path, they were not speaking lightly. Walking up this hill to reach the museum, would have made any backpacker feel a sense of accomplishment. I on the other hand was questioning where I wanted to budget my energy, but went anyway. The hill is also steep. The incline is such that there are 3 feet deep steps to help you make the ascent, with a handrail on one side. The temptation to hitchhike up the hill was certainly persistent.

Reaching the top and gasping for air, we reminded ourselves that the museum was once a Trinitarian church and monastery, built 1744-60, and filled these functions until 1784. As with many other buildings in Budapest, it was severely damaged during WWII. The present carnation occurred in 1949 as a museum.

Everything above the ground floor was closed off to the public and most of the exhibits on this floor as well, were blocked off. What we were able to see was statuary that once lived on buildings around the city and reliefs that were originally part of other buildings’ décor. As we walked through these exhibits, we finally came to a grand room that had the lights out. Beamed by projection on the back wall was a clock, second hand ticking away. What was interesting was that beyond the projector, there were a series of mirrors illuminated the sidewall. While the whole clock was being projected, the sidewall contained smaller elements of the same clock. One only showing the seconds, one the minutes, and one the hour.

Turning to the right, there was another dark room, but being oxygen deprived, I had not realized this was the exhibit. It is often the case that lights are not turned on until visitors actually enter a museum room, to save on electricity. This was not the case in this situation. The room in pitch darkness was the ruins of the church and the lights were out for a good reason. The artist, Gyula Várnai had created a sacred space out of an old sacred space. Hanging and swinging from the ceiling by four long chains, was a metal sculpture replica of the church with sections cut out of the metal. Within the sculpture, there was a bright light.

This sculpture created light shapes on the walls of the church, creating new and life energizing space on the walls and ceiling. It took a few minutes for my brain to attempt to the lighting and the fact that the sculpture was moving. In the beginning, I had not realized there was movement and immediately became dizzy. One adaptation had set in, the dizziness returned, but this time it was with awe. The artist augmented his art with 60 speakers in a cage like construction that played the sounds recorded outside the church walls.

The review has spoken of the deconstruction of space and time, but it was not until I had experienced it, did I fully understand it. The exhibit closed the next day, so it was fortunate we made it in ‘time’.

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So Much to Say, So Little Time

I have been overwhelmed with reading and grading papers as well as daily chores. I have not had the time to keep up-to-date with hundreds of e-mails and writing here too. Hopefully, I will get caught up soon.

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Quote for the month

People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering.

Saint Augustine

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Out of Africa Before Getting In

We are returning to Africa over the winter break. After looking over dozens of sites for tours that go to multiple countries, we finally picked one from Go2 Africa. Many that we had looked at were outrageously expensive, running close to $6,000 each for ten days. Since all countries in Africa are third world, it seems like a contradiction I cannot wrap my mind around. After much web surfing this summer, hundreds of e-mails with various agencies, reading hundreds of travel newsletter posting, we found the tour that was expensive, but still within our wanting to endure financial pain in order to take it. We immediately eliminated all tours that were camping tours. Both of us have bad backs and sleeping on the ground in tents with an air mattress and sleeping bag brought back too many nightmares of years in Boy Scouts. Our tour was settled with Go2 Africa. We paid our deposit. Our flight from here lands in Johannesburg, but the found us an inexpensive flight to Cape Town where the tour starts. The tour ends in Victoria Falls, so they found another inexpensive flight to Cape Town from where we depart from for Budapest at the end of the trip. The tour goes from South Africa to Namibia, then to Botswana, and finally Zambia. All nights with the exception of 2 are in B and B's along the way. Two nights are camping in fixed tents. This was reasonable. Then today, I received an e-mail from the tour company rep. She wanted to know if she could call me. Sure, why not! We had exchanged so many e-mails and some photos, I thought this was a social thing. When I told her we had plans for the day, she shot me back an e-mail. Our tour was cancelled due to lack of participants. They will run the tour for 4 people, but only had three. The company did not think they would get the 4th in time, so was bailing on us. She did have other options and would send them along. Here we go again, having to make decisions, look over options, plan out costs: will we owe more or get a refund, and other considerations. I don't have time for all of this!!! I have papers to read and grade. I have curriculums to write and eye doctor appointments to get to. That psychology exercise is haunting my memory once again. Everything is pulling at me in all directions.

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Fall Break Work

It is fall break. I have spent four days working eight hours a day preparing courses for next semester. Under normal circumstances, it would seem logical to do this during the Christmas break. Fortunately or unfortunately, we will be gone from December 18^th until January 17^th. That will only leave me with three weeks when we return to get things finished. That is not enough time.

Next semester, the teaching load more than doubles due to new regulations of the university. There are no promotions in sight for me since there is a moratorium on promotions, so my course load increases due to my peon status. A doctorate degree does not come into play here. My classes for spring will be:

• Language Practice 4 – I will most likely use a curriculum I have already written and just revise it. The LP classes are American Culture classes with an emphasis on academic English.

• Ethnicities in the U.S. II – Have to write the curriculum for this one. I am teaching Part I this semester. Part II will focus on Jews, Hispanics, and Native Americans.

• Critical Thinking – I am teaching this this semester so there is little to do. I have the curriculum done, I just need to revise the syllabus.

• Gay and Lesbian Film in the U.S. – This is where much of my time and attention has gone. I have had to research the films, find them, watch them, create study guides for each, make decisions on which to use, and so on. I have close to 60 movies, but they are not all American films. I am trying to decide if I will have each student watch a different foreign film as well to do a comparison to the U.S. one. This is much more work than I ever anticipated, but I expect the course will be great.

• Survey of American Culture – This is available and mandatory to freshmen. We have had 300 enroll this semester, but none of them have been eligible for my classes. My first introduction will be with this course. My co-teacher and I will both be teaching sections of this, but based on the time slot, one of us may have more than ½ of the group. I usually teach my freshmen class at 8:00 am, while he has his at 9:30. Since the students take so many classes, it is more an issue of class conflict, rather than sleeping in. This course will be 1 ½ hours a week, but all lecture. I ordered a survey book from the States and will lecture on a different chapter each week. There is no chance of making them write essays. I will never have time to read all of them. They will have weekly quizzes instead with homemade scan-tron answer sheets and then a TA can grade them for me. I am dreading this. It has been years since I have had to lecture.

Then to complete my teaching hours, I will offer a two hour tutorial for the survey course for students who cannot keep up with the lecture. This is a glorified office hour, but it prevents me from having to offer yet another course.

I spent days looking at film reviews, book reviews, and ordering books and films from the US. The university does not buy the books and the students don’t either, so it is my responsibility to make sure they have the materials they need for each course. This is how I spent my four eight hour days of vacation. The method has a “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy agreement.

Now I am hoping beyond hope that the books and movies arrive before we break for winter. I could not find anyone that was coming over to bring them back with them or I would have ordered them and had them sent to these people. Everyone coming back or coming to visit someone is arriving after we leave. Time is of the essence.

I am going to be a bear next semester.

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Never Get Caught Up

I thought the fall break from teaching would give me time to catch up on things I wanted to do. The last day of teaching, my students arranged a “Coffee Social with Dr. James”. This was something that I had done weekly in the semester past. I would have 6 – 20 students show up to gather in a coffee shop and practice their English. The only rules were that we did not discuss school and everyone paid for their own drinks. We broke rule number one often. I did not realize that what was intended to be an hour of socializing would turn into three hours or more at times. I had not started up the practice this semester. Although I have less students this semester, they do have longer papers. There is also next semester to prepare for, being like a treadmill, you never come to the end of the road.

So on Thursday, October 26^th, we had a coffee social. Only two students showed and the wife of a Fulbrighter, who is from Poland, but speaks incredible English. One of the mental strains of the coffee social is that I do not get to relax and enjoy them. I am the moderator yet again. I feel a need to keep conversation going since the purpose is to practice English. My mind is always in multi-task mode of speaking, listening, and thinking of the next question to spur on the conversation. By the end, I am mentally exhausted. After two hour, I announced that it was time I departed. With a week of vacation, I was declaring this my student-free week, mental rehabilitation.

It was not to be so soon. Hours after getting home, my TA called and asked if I would meet him for coffee on Saturday. He was leaving on Sunday to go home for the week, so I thought sure, why not? He is a wonderful guy, always on the spot when needed, checking in perpetually to see if he can be helpful, so if he wanted another hour or two of my time, I could do it. THEN I am becoming a student-free zone under all costs.

As much as I love my students, I have this reoccurring image from when I was an undergraduate in a psychology course. I don’t remember the concept the instructor was trying to demonstrate, but he had a student, a woman stand on the desk. He then had a student simulate a child and pull on her skirt. Another student was her husband who pulled on her arm, her ‘boss’ pulled on the other arm, her ‘elderly mother’ pulled on her back, a student representing her ‘household chores’ was grabbing her upper arm. Within a half hour, she looked like she had been attacked by a mob and the instructor simply asked “How do you feel with some many people and things dependent on you?” That is how I feel at times. There are occasions when I want to shake off all the responsibilities like a wet dog shakes off water and free myself of everything that drags me down. It is not that I don’t like what I do. If I did not care for my students, I would not offer them my time, concern, and give them the motivation that I do. However, there are bills to monitor long distance, bank accounts to balance, household chores to take care of, computer maintenance to do, school preparation, and the list goes on ad infinitum. Sometimes I just want to do what I want to do and know there is money and time to do it without worrying about someone else.

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Happy Halloween

In case I should get busy and forget, I want to wish all a Happy Halloween. It is not celebrated here, unfortunately. I love the holiday.

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The Newest Invite

The last invite was for me and a guest. This one is for me and my spouse. Is the Embassy broadening their mind?

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Invites of Note

Interestingly, I have been getting some impressive invitations lately. One back in September and then some more recently.

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The Faculty Meeting

We had a faculty meeting today to learn the state of affairs of our department. The university is bankrupt and the administration is trying to cut corners everywhere. Like most large organizations, they are penny wise and pound foolish. They cut the minor things while letting the large expenditures continue needlessly. This is not only evident to me, but to my Hungarian colleagues who are just as helpless to do anything about it. Government at its worst, the country does not matter.

We are still fighting to maintain a department at all, the university wants to combine departments, thus lessening staff at the same time. Our American Studies major has been reduced to a concentration within the English Department as of this September with the advent of the Bologna Plan instituted within 44 countries.

We were informed that the perception of the public as well as the administration is that we are just another glorified language school without any other purpose. Therefore, we must do whatever is in our power to change that perception. We are after all, a program to teach about American culture, history, and literature in the English language, not a language school. The options for my colleague and I are limited since neither of us speak Hungarian, but we will brainstorm what we can do in the English press.

The other unfortunate news was that our teaching load will increase starting next semester. Although I am one course short this semester, due to the new programs, it behooves me to have to add yet additional courses. Needless to say, the lower the rung on the ladder, the harder hit one becomes. We lectors will have to teach 14 hours a week, the associate professors 12 hours a week, while the professors have 8 hours a week. Now, I do understand that this is the same way in the States, but it is lop-sided. Those at the bottom need the extra time to do the work to move up the ladder. With an added burden of extra classes, this does not give them that luxury to fit in the needed research and writing to be upwardly mobile.

The real shocker was that one of our classes would be a lecture and could conceivably be up to 150 students or more. This lecture will be divided between my colleague and myself, but there are 300 new students this semester. In reality, the scales of equity could be unfavorably tipped by the time offering of the course. One of us could have 200 students, while the other has 100. There is no way we will require papers due for this course with that many students. Added to this course, we will have six other courses to teach at a higher level than freshmen. This is going to have a dramatic impact on the quality time I am able to spend with my students.

Next semester looks like this.

American Culture Survey lecture

American Culture Tutorial

Language Practice IV – A cultural themed based class

Ethnicities in the US II

Critical Thinking

Gay Films in the US

On top of all of this, I am supervising six teaching thesis students and two Masters thesis students. I will be praying for summer break starting in March.

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New Courses

I received permission to teach some new classes next semester. They are Gay Films in the US, Gay Literature, and an online course of my choosing. As far as anyone knows, no one has done an online course at the university, so this will be groundbreaking here. The issue is that the university does not have the money to buy a program for doing an online program, which is probably the reason. However, someone had recommended Moodle to me. This is a freeware program for just such purposes. I downloaded the program, but it seems overwhelming now and I had not done a thing with it. Most likely, this will be a summer project and I will create the course for the fall semester.

In preparation for the Gay Film course, I have been collecting films and information about gay films. Who would have thought it would be so extensive. I have over 30 US films and another 30 plus of international ones ranging from Canada to China. For as many as possible, I have been collecting NY Times reviews and planning the course in my mind. This has kept me busy along with correcting the first papers that were turned in by my current Pop Culture class.

What I had not anticipated was that all of this research was going to decimate my bandwidth for the month. I started receiving e-mails from my Internet provider that I was getting close to using my maximum of 60 GB for the month and they were going to reduce me to 20% of normal service once I went over this limit. Hmmm….that is going to be a problem with an online course. I have a free website with the Internet provider that I have never used; however, if students are continually checking the online course, this is going to be a major issue of bandwidth abuse each month. Another hurdle to jump over, just when I thought I was coming in to the finish line.

If you do not see me for periods of time, it is because my bandwidth is too slow to post anything.

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Another Eye Appointment

I finally received another appointment with the eye surgeon with the correct office address. I had an appointment at 6:50 pm or so I thought. I checked it a couple of times, but 6:50 was ingrained in my memory. Tonight when I looked one more time, it was 6:20, not 6:50. There are some pluses for being compulsive. I shot out the door and still made it on time to the building I need to be at. However, when I reached the building and looked at all of the buzzers, there was none for my doctor. I immediately called Ron to have him check the e-mail once again, but there was no further information in it. I stood there wondering if I should just keep punching buzzers until someone let me in and then go door to door of the five story building until I found her. It was now 6:18 pm.

As I stood there contemplating my next move, double checking my mobile to make sure I did not have her phone number, a gentleman used a key to get into the door. I asked him in English if he knew this doctor. He responded in English “you have two choices and they are both on the first floor.”

When I went to the first floor, there were only two doors, giving me a 50-50 chance of choosing the correct one first. I lost that bet and went into a waiting room full of people for a doctor who was not mine. The male receptionist took me to the second office and told my doctor I was there.

After another full exam, the doctor gave me the good and bad news. She had just performed this surgery on someone else who only had double vision for three years. He turned entropic, I believe was the word she used. His vision went outward for ten days before it normalized. She warned this may happen to me or not work at all since my problem has been 30 years in the making. With this information, it was not a surgery I could do over a weekend like she had originally suggested. We decided to wait until the winter break and she only does surgery one day a month now that she is a new mother, so it would be the end of January. This works well with our being on vacation until the 12th.

She did suggest and prescribe prism glasses. They are non-prescription glasses that have prisms in them to draw my vision together. This is to develop the muscles while waiting for the surgery. I am having second thoughts about this whole thing.

She also discovered that the bifocal contacts the other doctor ordered were finally in and waiting for me. They can only be picked up on a Monday and this coming Monday is a national holiday, so I have to wait yet another week.

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Eye Surgery One of These Days

If you read my blog, you may remember that I was a guinea pig for a Hungarian eye surgeon who was studying double vision. She offered me surgery to correct my double vision when she returned from her pregnancy leave which to be in September. Not wanting to rush her, I waited until October to send her an e-mail. She responded promptly and gave me the number for the receptionist to call for an appointment.

Today, I went to my appointment at 4:50 pm, but I arrived at 4:30. I went to the waiting area where I was the last time for the experimental visit. The exam room door was ajar, but I did not want to be intrusive and waited reading my book. The absence of a reception area was not helpful in determining what to do. When four people eventually left the exam room and I no longer heard voices, I knocked on the door and entered. Sitting at a computer was another female doctor. I cautiously stated that I had an appointment with Dr. Doumas for 4:50, not knowing if she spoke English or not. She responded “I don’t think she is here yet, but please wait.” Being grateful that the insurance would cover this without any expense to me, I sat patiently and waited.

At 5:40, the doctor who originally told me to sit, came out of the office and with surprise asked if I was sure I had an appointment. She then went in to call Dr. Doumas. When she had her on her mobile phone, she came out and handed me the phone. Dr. Doumas said she was waiting for me, but that her office is in the 2^nd district on the Buda side. She explained that she thought for sure the receptionist would have told me this. Well if she had, I certainly would not be waiting in the eye clinic at the medical school in the 9^th district. We made another appointment for next Monday and she is going to e-mail me the address.

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Blast from the Past

When still in CA, one of my contracts was with the AIDS Case Management program for Stanislaus County. I had contracted with them for over ten years, but during the last two years I was there, I worked with two nurses, one was Ruth.

Ruth and her husband Henry visit Germany often since Ruth is originally from Munich. When I heard they were coming this year, I convinced them to come visit us for a week. They arrived today. Henry and Ron tuned us out for the first few hours as we rehashed the county days, the clients we worked with as well as co-workers, catching up on gossip. How I miss gossip! Without Hungarian friends and without the language, gossip is hard to come by.

It is great having them here, a touch of home, coming to us for a change, so we will enjoy our visit, even if we cannot play tour guides. Ron is suffering with a bad back and I am suffering with a bad back that is affecting my leg. Then there are B and B guests to tend to, papers to correct, work to go to, but we will enjoy the sharing time.

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Lunch With Frank and Jean

As I have mentioned in the recent past, one of the added benefits of blogging and posting on travel websites is that interesting people contact you for more information. About a month or more earlier, I had received an e-mail from an American named Frank. He and his wife were considering living in Budapest for part of the year and he wanted to pick our brains about how we coped. We set up a lunch meeting for the time they were to be here and today was that day.

We met at Café Eklectika, my choice since we were meeting after I finished teaching and it is easy for all of us to get to. Ron went along and we had a lovely lunch consumed in conversation to the point that we neither Ron nor I realized our B and B guests were directly behind us eating as well.

Frank and Jean have one major advantage that we did not have. Jean’s parents were from Hungary, allowing her to apply for citizenship. With Frank as her spouse, this limits the red tape he will need to go through to stay here long term legally.

Frank is a retired teacher and Jean hopes to retire next year. Then they will be free to follow their dreams to come and go as they please. Ron had to leave after lunch to do some grocery shopping, but I stayed and continued talking, something I thrive on. When we finally said our good-byes, it was difficult to comprehend that we had been there for four hours. The time flew by as it usually does when one is engrossed in a pleasant activity.

Later that evening, I received a call that the founder of the Central European Teachers of English as a Foreign Language was in Budapest for the IATEFL-Hungary conference. We wanted to know if I could meet with he and another teacher. My back was kicking up, so to go out yet again would have been too much, so I had to offer my regrets. Another time, another place, perhaps.

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The Vagabonds Are Here

It is rare that I blog about our B and B guests, but sometimes it is worth writing about. Melissa and Julie booked our place months ago, but we had no idea at the time that they were beginning a great adventure. I had many e-mails back and forth with Melissa’s mom, Trudy. It was Melissa’s birthday and she wanted to pay their room while here.

The day before they were due to arrive, I received a panicky e-mail from Trudy. The airline did not want to let them travel out of Portland, since they had no return ticket to the U.S. from any destination. They had a connecting flight in Salt Lake City, so they were to call her from there if there was a problem. They were able to continue their travels to NYC and then to Budapest without incident, but were ready to crash on arrival.

When they had regained their energy and they were back to their perky selves, we were able to get the scoop on their plans. They both quit their jobs, sold their house, and set off to travel for six months. Wow, ladies, this is how we started out, so be careful. Julie was up for an out of the States long term experience, but Melissa was nervous when the idea was mentioned.

So while they were touring around Budapest, these were their plans. When they left Budapest, they were going to Eger on a Servas stint. “What is that?”, I can hear you asking. Well directly from their website, here you go.

What is SERVAS?

With every true friendship we build more firmly the foundations on which the peace of the whole world rests. Mahatma Gandhi

SERVAS is ...

• ... an international, non-governmental organization.
• ... based on understanding, tolerance and world peace.
• ... an organization of hosts and travellers.
• ... based on volunteer work.
• ... founded in 1949.
• ... non-profit.
• ... divided into nine areas around the world. Each area has its own coordinator.

http://www.servas.org/index.php?id=InfoCenter%3AWeb+sites%3AInternational%3AWhatIsServas

They contacted their host. He and his family were moving from one place to another and his home was not yet ready, but he was going to arrange accommodations for them. I cannot wait to read that story.

Their next stop after Eger will be Prague. It is Julie’s birthday on the 14^th, so she got to choose her destination. Then this adventurous duo will be doing Conversational English in Spain for two weeks. Each day, they trade their English conversation with Spaniards in exchange for room and board at one of five English schools in Spain. Before your mind starts working overtime with opportunities, know that you are committed for 12-15 hours a day, talk, talk, talk with no time to tour, shop, or tour and shop. They also have two weeks working on an organic farm in France as part of a free labor project. If you want to read more about their experiences, their blog is in the link section of this post.

When we have guests who have a birthday while they are with us, we get a birthday cake and celebrate with them. We were able to celebrate two at once since Melissa and Julie’s special days were only a bit over two weeks apart.

I cannot wait to continue reading your travel adventures women and I will not be surprised to find out your home in the future does not have a U.S. address. Calm down Melissa, it will be fine. Oh, and lest I forget, they had business cards made up with their blogsite, their names and e-mail addresses and Vagabonds in bold letters. Great idea! www.wegougo.blogspot.com

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Books, Books, and More Books

Dawn went to help a friend of hers pack up to move to London. She and her friend Sarah came over with huge bags of books. I LOVE books. 99.9% of them were books we did not already have. I am in literary heaven.

Dawn took the four of us to Indigo, an Indian restaurant. It was lovely and the food was some of the best we have had here.

Ron's back has been bothering him and my leg is being a problem stemming from a pain in the back. Kate, a Fulbrighter suggested we try the Alexander method for some healing. She is going to get us a number of someone who does this. Here is hoping, it is getting worse.

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