Ray Wrote

Ray Ruiz has left a new comment on your post "Umm...I Am Not Out of Here Yet":

Congratulations, Ryan!!! Wonderful send off.
Now--- the world is your oyster-- not that that hasn't been so your entire life.
But, now you'll have more time to pursue your dreams and fantasies.
I hope so, anyway :-)
Hugs,
Ray Ruiz in New Orleans



It figures! Now the world is my oyster, but I am allergic to oysters and mussels, (but not muscles). 

On a side note, Ray is a B and B owner in New Orleans. Check out his site here. He is also personally responsible for our buying a condo in Pompano Beach, Florida.

We have never met Ray in person. We have never seen the condo that we bought. Funny world!

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Motivational Teaching

I was advising a BA thesis student. His topic concerns teachers’ motivation and its impact on student learning. He sent me this story he found particularly enlightening. It came from the book Teaching Well and Liking it: Motivating Faculty to Teach Effectively. This is the story as the student sent it to me. Since this has been published in the book above, I am leaving the names intact.

Dr. Ralph Connors and Dr. Carol Raynor have been colleagues for eleven years. They have adjoining offices in the modern science center of Eastern State University. Both teach introductory physics to undergraduates. They have much in common, but they are entirely different teachers. Among the undergraduates, Dr. Connors is known as “Dr. Snores.” As he lectures, Ralph has the curious habit of looking down at his weathered boots while constantly counting and recounting his pocket change. Occasionally his right hand emerges from the side of the podium to add emphasis to what is being said or to flip pages. But only his hand is animated. His speech is soft and slow. There is little life in what he says or in the way he says it. All the fraternities have copies of his notes, copies of copies that date from 1984. But he is popular with them because “Snores only gives two multiple-guess tests, and if you’ve got his notes, you can skate his class.”

Dr. Raynor has a different reputation on campus. Students call her Dr. Rap because in the spring of 1990 she invited to class a local group to rap about Ohm’s law. Midway through their performance she suddenly turned off the lights and told her two hundred students to join in: “The louder you sing, the brighter the lights will become.” Sing they did, much louder than she ever expected. The lights swiftly rose to glaring intensity and then flickered and began to fail. After their applause she said, “Now let’s talk about the role that resistance can play when circuits get overloaded.”

Dr. Raynor no longer needs the rap group; it has become a tradition for students to rap on their own on the day that Ohm’s law is scheduled. She constantly works on her teaching. She enjoys physics and shares her enthusiasm with students. When asked by a campus reporter about the best class she ever taught, she replied “Teaching is a work in progress; I’ve been pleased with some of my classes, but I have yet to teach my best class.””

On that note, I want to share my pride in all 9 of the students who I advised for their thesis this semester. For some I was their direct advisor and for others, they were part of my thesis writing class. Each and everyone of them received a grade of 5 (the highest possible) on their written thesis. So far, they each have received a 5 on their defense as well.

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At Home Around the World

When I first posted that we had joined a home exchange club, particularly HomeExchange.com, someone wrote me warning of their negative experiences with this group. It was not a problem with exchanges, but rather the lack of exchange opportunities. From what I remember, this person was not successful in getting one exchange completed during her enrollment.

We are doing our first exchange this August for 10 days with a woman who has a home in Cádiz, Spain, though she lives in Seville. Since we agreed to this exchange, we have had offers from:

Somewhere on the Canary Islands
Palermo, Sicily
Strasbourg, France
Como, Italy
Salinas, Ecuador
Toledo, Spain
Livadhia, Cyprus
Guebwiller, France
Rome, Italy
Oslo, Norway

Oslo, was my first choice when I ventured into this as a project. Knowing the expense of Norway, this seemed like a somewhat affordable way to see the country. Our suitcases would be packed with food, even if it only left us with one set of clothes for the duration. Prices up north are astronomical. Denmark nearly killed off our wallets and that was back in 2005. 

As luck would have it, I contacted every Oslo member, around 9 of them. Not one was interested in Budapest at this time. It was then we accepted Cádiz, Spain. 

This last week, I received an exchange request from a couple in Oslo. How strange I thought; I sent a request to each and every member. Looking at their profile, they had just joined the service the previous week before their contacting me.

So far everyone wants to exchange this August. I have offered the months of October, November, and December, but no bites yet.

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Hungarian Go-Round

Hungary may be chomping at the bit to reestablish a national airline after Malév's demise in 2012 (gosh, has it been that long already?), but it seems unlikely that it will happen. 

As an article in Portfolio.hu points out, Wizz Air has the area wrapped up in a neat cloud covered package. There really is no need for another significant national airline. After Sólyom Airways, with their non-Hungarian moniker attempted and failed rapidly, it should be obvious that another attempt is futile. It is like riding the merry-go-round; there is no ending point, just going in circles.

You can read the Portfolio.hu article here.

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Umm...I Am Not Out of Here Yet

Hmmm…current events have brought to mind the misquote of Mark Twain “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”. (‘The report of my death was an exaggeration’. It was his cousin James Ross Clemens, who was seriously ill and he was confused with the author).

Reports of our leaving Hungary have been greatly exaggerated. It is funny; I resigned from ELTE at the end of the semester. Wednesday was my last official day at the university, where I spent close to five hours administering thesis defenses with three of my colleagues. After each student defended, I kept thinking this is the last time I will have to do this. The night before, I was awake most of the night, so this was the one thought that energized me through the tedium of the exams. When we finished grilling the last student, there were two hours to spare before a faculty meeting scheduled at 2pm. I gave serious thought to skipping out on the meeting; whatever they discussed no longer pertained to me. However, it did occur to me that there was still a paycheck hinging on my being cooperative, so I decided I had better go.

After everyone was there our department head announced there was a long agenda. As it turned out the faculty meeting was a ruse for my goodbye party. She said that my students will probably remember me for many years to come and of course I had to add that I hope that some of those remembrances would be positive. This provided a chuckle.

She reminded me that I should take all of the equipment I have purchased over the years, since it is mine and not ELTE’s. She didn’t know was that my office was wiped clean weeks ago.

The television that sat in there for the last 5 years, which I had purchased for my classroom was given to an orphanage in Göd. They also received a large bag of Legos I used in my Critical Thinking classes. My printer went to a former student. I took home my laptop, speakers, and of course the projector; all of these were my purchases. Every book that had accumulated on my bookshelf, came home in small easy to carry bundles until my bookcase space only had old theses I advised and books donated by former Fulbrighters.

At the party, all of the women colleagues gave me a hug, while the two male colleagues who showed up, shook my hand. The ‘refreshments were Hungarian pogácsás, a tray of chocolate chip cookies, but the highlight was special.  One of my colleagues thought enough of me to go out to buy three pieces of diabetic cake.

My going away presents were a novel by a Hungarian writer translated into English. Another present was a travel coffee cup with the ELTE insignia on it. I was assured that the top could be flipped around to I would not have to look at ELTE any longer.

Funny, but each of my colleagues had a different version of what my plans were now that I have left the university. They ranged from my leaving the country to move back to the US, to South America, to another European country, to sailing the blues seas in a life raft.

So I am officially or unofficially no longer working although my contract continues until August 31. I'm not sure what I'm going to do beyond that, but as always, I have some ideas brewing.

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Call Me the Human Shar-Pei

For the last couple of weeks, I have been suffering with dryness on my eyelids extending up into my eyebrows. Since my eyebrows are not naturally thick, the scaliness was definitely apparent. Some people commented it was just in need of moisturizing, but I generally do this daily anyway.

As time went on, I noticed there was a sandy feeling on my eyelids. This alerted me to there really being a problem. I used natural oils to moisturize them before bed, but it did not help. It just kept getting worse while my eyelids swelled. It was when my eyesight started getting blurry that I started getting really concerned.

After consulting WebMD, it looked like I may have blepharitis. Repeated searches on various sites all came to the same symptoms and conclusions.

One of my former students that come to the university to meet me to pick up some things I was getting rid from my office. She went with me across the street to a pharmacy, to ask the pharmacist to look at my eyes to see if there was some over-the-counter medication I could buy to treat them. The pharmacist said that I would need to see a doctor, since the medication would require a prescription.

Later that day I went to our house doctor. On Thursday his hours are 4pm to 8pm. I was so proud of myself being there at 3:30pm and being the first one in line. About 10 minutes after my arrival to elderly gentleman arrived and took their seats to my left. We sat there patiently waiting for the nurse or the doctor to arrive. Close to 4pm, a nurse from the other side of the building happened to come over to an office close to where we were sitting. She looked at us with a question on her face, but didn’t say anything immediately. She walked over to our doctor’s office door, slapped on the sheet of paper taped to the door, and turned to us and said something in an incomprehensible Hungarian. At least the Hungarian was incomprehensible to me. I waited to see the reaction of the two gentlemen before making a move. They both continued to sit there as did I because I was not giving up my place. The nurse continued to hit the sign on the door, clearly enunciating the word nincs. It was then that I took a good look at the side and with my limited Hungarian knowledge realized that the doctor was going to be gone till June 17.

I finally returned to the doctor after he returned from his vacation, he looking dapper and tan, while I looked like a Shar-Pei puppy. He prescribed a steroid ointment for me to put on my eyes, but said if this doesn’t work I will have to see a dermatologist. I am hoping that this does work. My experience with the dermatologist here has not been the most positive sense getting an appointment proves to be extremely difficult. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Related articles

• Dry Skin on Face, Feet and Eyelids
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Hungarian Irony

 

This is a wonderful example of Hungarian irony. If you do not recognize this store, you have yet to come to Hungary. This is the ubiquitous outside décor for all Hungarian state authorized tobacco stores. All may be redundant, but I want to drive the point home. The Hungarian government in its infinite wisdom decided to license the sale of tobacco related product with the expressed intention of limiting sales to those less than 18 years of age. The rumor was that all tobacco store licenses were doled out to friends of the current government’s administrative friends. One such person reportedly has over 1,000 licenses.  

Adjoining our apartment building used to be a small shop rented by an animal groomer; however, she was evicted to make room for a tobacco store. There are only 10 of them in a one block radius. 

The irony at this particular shop is the sign on the door. It states that smoking is prohibited within 5 m of the entrance. I have looked at other tobacco shops, but they don’t all have similar regulations.

If this were not enough humor, almost on a daily basis when I am coming or going from our building, there is an older man, presumably the worker, standing on the shop step smoking away. Apparently he cannot read the sign on his own store.

We certainly miss the pet groomer; it was always a great joy to pass by to get a peek at whatever dog was getting a haircut at the time. Now all we get to view is a drab looking building with the Hungarian version of the old Indian statues once used to signify an American tobacco establishment.

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The American Dream or Nightmare Updated for 2014

http://www.nefe.org/press-room/news/american-dream.aspx

For years, my Hungarian students were hooked into the lifestyles of the rich and famous as they viewed Hollywood films and US TV shows. When I tried to bring them back to reality, they accused me of being the devil incarnate. They still believed they could go to American where hard work would produce tremendous success, which in turn would make all dreams come true.

One year, I went to Bulgaria to do training for a week for university students and faculty. I mentioned something about leaving their country when they graduated, but it was entirely nondescript. On young man raised his hand and said “What makes you think we would want to move to the United States?” That fascinated me since I had never mentioned any country or even a region as a destination. At the time, this notion seemed so dissimilar to my Hungarian students' views. Though that was years ago, so things have changed with them as well.

This article The top 5 reasons why you're broke from USA Today will be an eye-opener for all nationalities, including some Americans.

Speaking of dreams, I came across this blog Envisioning The American Dream. If you click on the main picture, it will uncover a number of advertisements that tried to lure us onto the path of righteousness where there were the lifestyles we really couldn't afford, but bought into regardless.

Last of all, I found this cartoon significantly on target.

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Multiple Ways to Skin a Cat or an Airline

When the airlines try to screw you over, it demands my resourcefulness. If you read my post Are You Joking? Redeeming Reward Miles Cost a Fortune!, you may realize that I was not lulled by Delta Airlines’ venue that required me to flush away miles like dirty water circling the sewer drain, while still having to pay exorbitant fees for trumped up fees.

Remembering that American Express also has a dedicated travel agency, with trepidation, I went clicking on over to their website just for the sheer torture of it. Admittedly, I am a travel masochist if allowed to expand the definition of the term. Generally, after I have conjured up fantasies of travel grandeur, research doesn’t provide for deals within our means, which in turn propels me back to reality. It was with lackluster hope that I approached American Express.
 
After entering my departure city: BUD and the destination city: UIO, I entered the departure date: January 11, 2015 followed by return date: April 11, 2015. Then I clicked on the box “Adjust dates +/- three days”.
 
After striking the search button, I primed myself for disappointment. After all, I was raised in an Italian Catholic environment, where pessimism and guilt are fed to children as side dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The site displayed colorful little graphics ensuring me it was grinding away searching the world for options fitting my needs.
 
When it displayed the results, it took my breath away. Incredibly, not only did this service offer flight options that never appeared in other search sites, but it also offered much cheaper flight options overall. Historically, this route runs about $1,752.00 per person. Having run fare alerts using similar dates, over a 6 month period last year, I knew the fares remained steady with only minor differences, throughout the year. Although it can go as low as $1,358.00, the primary airline for this fare is generally always Air Berlin flying from Europe to the US. After reading a number of reviews about Air Berlin, I knew this was not a choice for us; it would entail an insufferable 8 hour flight for the minor savings.
 
What AMEX offered was a flight for $1414.00 each including the entire list of phony and trumped up fees and taxes that the airlines adds to a ticket. Best yet, I could use 136,202 of my AMEX miles toward the tickets to reduce the cost. The price of two tickets was then $1466.00 inclusive and we are flying on TAP Airlines through Lisbon > Miami (hate this) > Quito. Done and booked. Three months in South America, here we come.
 
We will look at renting an apartment in Cuenca as our base and do some traveling around the country from there.

I hope Bissell allows for the use of their photo for their pet clean attachment on their vacuum.

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