reaching Amsterdam

and meeting Bart :)

last time (in 2008) he took me to a nice Buddhist temple and after that, we just strolled along the fascinating streets of the capital. since the river Amstel goes criss-cross all over the inner town, almost every street is a walk on the riverside. this structure is part artificial and was created during the late XIX., early XX. century i suppose.

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much to Bart's surprise, i was really specific about my activities in 2010 here. this is my fourth visit to the city :)

we plan tovisit some great places like the market, a museum and perhaps a little bar...

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at the evening the bust takes us back to Wageningen.

reaching Wageningen

by this time i think we have reached our main destination.

at the town center, a short meeting is organized to welcome us, and then the guests depart with their hosts to the houses of the hosts to get some rest after the looooong bus ride.

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the evening is free - we usually spend it walking in the streets, or in the forest nearby, some visit bars and restaurants, some have a quiet family dinner.

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i am staying with an extremely friendly couple. they are middle aged and have already put me up in 2006 and in 2008.

whenever i think of the little room in the attic of their house, it feels like thinking of a summer house that somehow belongs to me as well. i kind of feeling like coming home there as well.

:)))

last year, in 2009 we hosted the man of this family in our house.

reaching Köln in Germany

about this time we are supposed to have reached Köln (Cologne).
here's a link to some photos from our 2008 trip.

off to the Netherlands

dear all,
i am away for a couple of days.

when this post appears our bus is about to cross the Hungarian-Austrian border.

we are travelling north, going through Austria and Germany to reach The Netherlands after a tiresome 24-hour bus ride.

until i return the upcoming few post are scheduled.

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as i type now, the washing machine is on and i still have my clothes unpacked for the trip.

i still have lots of things to do (like writing some more pre-shceduled posts.)

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among many other stuff, i am packing my camera, a good pair of walking shoes for all occasion (be it rainy or sunny), and two books, a sleeping bag and a thick pillow for the bus, and a flower pot i decorated with mocaic. the latter item is a present for my Dutch hosts. i know they have lots of flowers so i think they'll like this hand-made surprise.

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here's a photo of the mosaiced flower pot. that is my hand to give you an impression of the size of the pot.

without further ado...

1-
this blog has reached its fifth birthday on 30 august :)))
2-
between 28 september and 3 october i'm leaving for the netherlands: wageningen again.
the trip will take us to a women's organization and we will possibly visit a school.
on one of the days we will visit amsterdam, where i am to meet bart again :))
3-
on 27 november i will attend a reading. the event will be organized by an online writers' group i joined this march. i made some new friends and i will read a poem by one of them. he is a man in his early sixties with a serious hearing loss, so he would be unable to do the recital himself.
i am still hesitating about reading one of my writings ... :)
4-
the japan institute of budapest is having a haiku contest. the deadline is 30 september and a contestant can send in as much as two haiku :)))
i have written only six :)))
but i think i will be able to select two of them.
oh, my :)))
i wish i had like a hundred....
you know what is really interesting?
this contest is a themed one - and the theme is 'summer'.
believe it or not, all my hungarian haiku, yes, all the six are about summer....
:))))
wish me luck :)
5-
vesper has finished reading halo. some of my remarks are posted here.

inspired by a photo #2

to take a look at Ewen's another inspiring photograph GO HERE
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and here's my version.
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horizons

to connect the earth and the sky
first he drew a line with a sigh
he planted hope into the earth
and let the rain weep for our birth

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if the same photo inspires you in any way, please leave a comment.
have fun!

the seventh cousin

dearest Örs Domonkos,
the smallest boy in the family,
be blessed,
let us be blessed by you,
for angels must have carried
you all the way from heavens,
for you came peaceful, quiet,
flying on puffs of feathers,
this very morning.
six brothers and sisters,
two parents, five grandparents,
two cousins, an uncle and I, your auntie
and friends
- we all have been waiting for you.

this to your long and healthy life!

socializing event

in hungary you basically will never find those no-fence, lawn-frontyard, come-to-my-house setting that are so common in certain parts of the usa. we all have tend to have high, strong fences, where most of the fences are so formed that you just can't see through them.

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for an unexperienced foreigner this expressed need for safety may seem an unfriendly, a get-outta-my-place attitude.

i know that there is alienation, but not where i live :)
where i live and in many other communities, where the original hungarian hospitality is still alive, this is just the surface.

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i have already mentioned some of the activities (like plum jam, see the post below) we, the community that has formed in our street do together.

and now, i'm going to illustrate another event: a street party.

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there is a street just one street up from ours, where people do parties every year. this year it was the 8th gathering. they set up a large tent for stage performances , they bring tables with snack food on them, they make a large pot of goulash enough for at least 40-50 people. they gather in the evening and enjoy the performances. the night ends with dancing. it is usually rock and roll, or disco-whatever.

now this year, our community was invited to take part.

we rehearsed and came up with a performance that lasted about 20 minutes. we sang three folksongs - the one we chose were funny.

after that we improvised a short folk-tale, where there were three princesses (played by three of the little girls, one of them, the biggest was my daughter), an old king (played by one of the fathers) and a dragon (*coughs*). the story was highlighted by musical performances: traditional flutes and a doromb. (i don't know if that one has an english name at all...)

we needed three boys to make all ends meet, so we borrowed them from the audience. they enjoyed their role-playing. we received lots of applause and laughter.

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after our performance we stayed to watch others. there was a trio that played classical music on instruments, a play making fun of the story of Cindarella, and various singing activities.

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we arrived as one group and left as one, too.

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this is my husband and my daughter minutes before our performance has begun. you may want to click on the photo to see her hairdo better. this hairdo is quite common for folk dancers. dh is sporting a linen shirt with a straw hat. this combo is a traditional menswear in hungary.

this is us, our family, having some fun - my son is not dancing, for he was engaged in bicycling with his friends. no, i'm not having digestive problems :) - i think we were dancing the twist. my husband and my daughther were keen on dancing. i simply got tired :)
also pictured: the other two princesses, and the stage-tent in the background.