National Holiday

At the first evening of the 1956 revolution, usual radio broadcasting was made impossible by street fights.

Before the national radio station was moved to the building of the Parliament, journalists grabbed a few vinyl records in a hurry and later on, played them during the days of the revolution.
This record, Beethoven's s Egmont overture got played so often that it is connected to the Revolution. For many magyars who think about 1956, this is the music that pops right to the mind.

This to remember the heroes of '56.

my whereabouts, whenabouts and ifabouts, oh, geez

Now, as I am working on this translation about nematodes, on pine wilt nematode to be more specific, I came across this grammar problem and some of you might share a thought or two about it.

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While I was searching (and finding) some neat advice on the use of that/which for restrictive/nonrestrictive clauses**, I came across the problem of 'where'.

As my English develops (that is: revives and collapses and the loop starts all over again...) during the years I noticed myself using the word 'where' more, than ever.

Now I found on a website that using 'where' is more informal, and when the audience expects you to be more academic, or formal, you should use 'which'.

So I'm going through my translation text and check whether my style suits the needs of a PhD thesis.

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Take this sentence for example (uhm, this is a direct copy from the thesis, please do not use it for your purposes, I'm sorry, it is ridiculous, but still...)

'However, where pure-bred nematodes are maintained on a PDA medium, the method of the lysis procedure is not crucial.' This is how I translated the Hungarian sentence. But now I feel I should change 'where' to 'when', or 'if', or with a different structure, to 'which'.

I am almost done with the text, it's 20 pages with references and all, and once I'm finished, I'm giving the whole document a style checkup.

I just peeked into it here and there and was surprised by the amount of 'where's. I am in awe. Or shock :)

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Is it something informal, or modern, or is it just floppy writing?

Were those 'were's correct was it an informal text, like a diary, or something?

Should I change them all?

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**

This is something a non-native speaker, like I do not necessarily embrace naturally. We have to learn it. And I admit sometimes I make the strangest mistakes. I was well into all sorts of Times and Sequence of Times and whatnot, but still was unable to manage the interrogative form of Simple Past. There you have it :(

But I digress.

25 years

we are having the 25 year high school graduation reunion this year.

yes, it's been that long.

there are two meetings, one tomorrow at the capital of Hungary, and on the 24 August at the city of the alma mater, hometown for me, and for most of the members of the class of 1988.

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at this point of one's life there are still a lot of paths available, but not as much as there were 25 years ago. the path is narrowing.

one might feel a tightening, a squeeze of possibilities, a terrible loss of all the could-have-beens...

but also, one might feel the strength coming from the realization that no more bullshit is allowed. this is it, and this is as good as it gets.

and also, for the lucky ones, there is a strong support of all the things achieved by one so far, all the validation of one's existence.

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as for me, i am torn somewhere in the middle.

one day i will be able to write about all the things i did not do, and all the things i still miss of not having done.

and one day i should be grateful for all the other things i have.

wait, i am not that nasty - i am grateful for lots of what i have today. and i mean relationships, persons and positions. i am grateful.

yet...

i think for one time of the year, for this one reunion day, one is allowed to weep over the loss.

to be able to elaborate and evaluate the so-called loss...

for if i had the things i do not have now, then i would not have all the things i acknowledge today.

and for this one reunion day, one is allowed to shed some tears for the dreams torn.

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there were 38 of us.

now there are only 37, for one man, still not much more, than a boy at the time of his death, was drowning in the sea near India.

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it appears that there will be only two of us tomorrow in Budapest.

the woman who's coming is one of my best buddies of the old days. i am looking forward to meeting her :)

at present

there is a great flood in Hungary (as almost everywhere in Central Europe). they say this is the biggest one in the century, but it is also said to be bigger than any flood in the 1900's.

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the school my kids attend provided strong young boys and even girls to help the locals build mobil dams with the use of large sand sacks.

i am proud of my son (16+) who worked at Nagymaros, a small town by the Duna (River Danube) on Wednesday.

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this photo depicts a cemetery.

Hungarian success

you may not be watching Britain's got talent all the time, but the seventh season has just started and with a massive success from a Hungarian dance company.

here's the video, it takes only 4 minutes and your breath away.

:)

a new anthology

the writers' group i attend at my town (note to self: i have almost called it my hometown, when it is clearly not, and although i did spend half of my life here in G..., i was born in N.... and i still consider N my hometown. this notion may or may not change over time, as the number of years i spend in G... slowly outnumbers the first twenty i had in my original town. and i guess this paragraph just makes no sense to all those people moving to and fro between towns, counties or even countries. well, here i am, old fashioned and all.) is preparing an anthology next year.

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this is the second one!

we are all busy editing each other's and our own writings to make them ready for publishing.

you know, it's coming out in paperback-like version, with the number of copies around 500.

this is what we are able to do - spreading our words to families, friends, and more often than not, to guest lecturers at our meetings.

well some of the books are sold to the general public at special book events like the Week of Books (I guess it's around mid-May or something), or at the Day of Poetry (11 April each year).

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i'm in, of course :)

there will be two translations, one is Carl Sandburg's Fog, and the other one is Robert Lowell's For Sale.

also, there will be two other pieces titled Shadow (a flash fiction when the main character keeps seeing a shadow on the wall while there is nothing there) and The Tale of the Crow (a tale about a crow, uhm, why, yes....this was written in 2007 in English and was first made public here in this blog.)

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for our National Freedom Day

Hungarian patriots remember October 23, 1956 - and recall that some of those are still in power.

this compilation starts with the National Anthem and the radio message screaming for the 'free nations of the world' to help us out, to help get rid of the Russian invasion.

(no-one came and the Revolution was halted. in the forthcoming years the memory of this uplifting event was mucked by labelling 1956 a 'counter-revolution - something that is against the normal order)

then you are to hear Mindszenty's speach.

the female voice belongs to one of the fighters of '56. she says that the crime should not be forgotten. 'a crime is a crime a crime all right'.

some shocking original footage supplements the memorial.

we shall not forget you, heroes of 1956.

gardening activities

this photo was made before the ice hit and damaged our tomato for good.

about half an hour of storm, with ices of about the size of a small cherry (!) and the whole lot is done.

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on the other hand, i am happily engaged in taking care of a garden, which is kind of a new paid job for me. there won't be much activity to do in the winter, meaning no money as well, though.

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whenever i go to that garden, i get up at 4:30 and get to the garden by 5:00 and work there until 7:00. it gives me a good start for the whole day.

with all this heat around the day i would not be able to work on the sun - but early mornings are just fine.

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and the Danube keeps flowing on

my recent job sort of ended this tuesday. 

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this is good news, my friends.

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new ways

well, the job i kind of like, kind of hate, but generally is a source of feeling incompetent - isn't that great? is still on.

there are still six more months to go.

we'll just see.

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someone i met in relation to this aforementioned job offered me another job.

we'll get money for it.

we are to take care of a garden, fruit trees, bushes, roses and there are lots of grass to mown.

the garden belongs to an old lady who lives in the capital of Hungary and is unable to do all the work by herself, but whenever she visits her property she wants to see it neat and clean.

that's what we are here for - from now on.

i am excited :)

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pictured below is our 27 year old toyota corolla. we got it 3 months ago, from friends, for use for unlimited time.

this is the first car we ever own. 

silly april

this night we had a slight recurring frost. it was minus 3 degrees centigrade. with all the cherry and apricot trees in blossom, this is not a promising fact at all :(

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yesterday we were hiking in the Pilis mountains. here is one photo of the beauties of spring around there. the mountains have special flora and fauna.

this one is an Adonis vernalis, otherwise known as the pheasant's eye.

more photos may come soon.

former pm in jail

blah, he was only there for a couple of hours.

read THIS and come back for the truth :)

Gy.F. was unfortunately released shortly after being arrested. his calling his detention an 'absurdity' is a clear reference to 'absurdistan', a name liberal and cynical people often call our country. i think our former prime minister should have been arrested much earlier.

like back in 2006.

what happened in october 2006?

according to the article, people were rioting.

according to the liar (aka Gy.F.), the police was ordered to not harm the protestants.

(i already sense some incongruency here...)

and the fact is something else. as per usual when you are dealing with news from hungary... :(

today, there was about a 40-something crowd playing the democracy card in front of the building of the national parliament. the police made them go away by courting them away.

some of them were taken to jail for a couple of hours.

and that is all.

back in 2006, hundreds of onlookers and peaceful protestors, including the elderly, were abused by the police. water bombs, gas sprays, whatever. there were some serious injuries, like the loss of eyesight. i think i did posted about it. i am still quite outraged about it.

today these young what-not-else-the-world-is-ours liberal politicians, chain themselves to each other and the police guides them away.

and voila, our former pm appears, joins the party to place just another hit on his opposite, Orbán.

hiking near the capital

these photos were taken on 6 november in the buda mountains. the exact location is called 'szenasok', meaning 'hay fields' because the slopes were used for producing and collecting animal fodder.

it is within a one hour ride by car from budapest.

join us in this virtual tour and enjoy the photos!

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'intelligent people never litter, all the others are not allowed to'

a great view. you can see the limestone.
a lizzard. sorry for the quality.
juniper berries. they taste delicious. i only ate two, just in case ;)
boys enjoying fighting. they never seem tired of playing swordsmen with sticks. they pretend to attack and defend their imaginary castles. both these boys will turn 15 this december and next february. i'm so glad and thankful they have not lost their interest in playing normal, non-virtual games like real fighting.
on the way home. i'm wearing the green jacket that my son used to wear last year. now my son has gone larger than i. that's also great: i have a new jacket, just free of charge :)

my son and his friend with his dog. i love this phot very much.
my daughter walks in a valley and in this final picture, she makes a message out of stones. it reads 'we were here'.

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a joke

the following joke is translated from hungarian. we usually make jokes about policemen. in the jokes, policemen are dumb.

that's all you need to know to get the joke :)

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have you heard about the policeman, who dug two holes in the ground?

he acted so, because the first hole was not deep enough.

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the job i didn't get

was selling organic produce in a neat organic shop. the shop is located right in the middle of the city, within no kidding! - one minute walk from the high school my kids attend.

the lady who works there is an old friend of mine, and they had a grant to support the paycheck.

the reason i was rejected: the grant was set for someone above 50 years of age.

i wanted this job so very much.

duh.

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a short break

shortly after my fifth (is it the sixth???) bloggiversary, i'm taking a short break.

don't be afraid, i'm not going very far.

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on Saturday for once, i'm going on a one-day trip with my daughter to the Dobsi.na ice cave - it's worth to take a look HERE.

i found the trip via a newsletter i receive from an online hiking group i have recently joined. their main profile are inland trips and trips to countries around Hungary. this one trip aims at an interesting cave up north where Hungary's Uplands are. now they belong to a country that is younger than me.

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for a couple of days more, we are going to have quite a mess in the house.

beginning Monday, we are going to have the old oven renovated in the living room/bedroom.

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also, as the kids are getting older the need to have a separate room emerged. it is not easy as we have only four rooms.

let me break it down for you.

room 1.

the newest one, where a new oven was built this August. see the photo attached.

room 2.

the one with lots of windows.

due to the location and circumstances of the room, temperature goes below 10 or even 5 degrees centigrade in the winter, so this room can not be used all year round.

it's great to play or read as there are plenty of light there, but is unsuitable for sleeping. also, it is really small, so we can't place a cupboard or table there.

room 3.

also knows as : office.

it is rather small. two large bookshelves, and a large cupboard and a table under the window with two computers basically fill the room completely.

room 4.

the one room out of the four fit and large enough for all-year-round sleeping.

it is the largest room.

but now we must change the situation one way or another.

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memories of a memory card

while the fuji camera is still in koma, we discovered the memory card was alive.

here are some pictures. enjoy, enlarge or feel free to save on your pc for further family or personal enjoyment :)

on slightly related note:

i have recently joined the book with faces ;)

i post photos there and have confirmed relationship with some of my blogging buddies. i have asked them however, not to use my blogging name as i definitely want to avoid mixing the two faces of me. since i had posted photos of the canoe trip earlier on the fb and secondly here, i chose photos for the blog that were not posted over there.

some people live in a fog - while i translate it :) UPDATED

okay, the title does need some explanation.

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phase 1:

i translate Fog, a short poem by Ca_rl San_dburg.

during translation i do some google research as to the meaning of expressions and to the type of poem.

phase 2:

i submit the translation to an online literature site. i am a regular member and from time to time my writings are published there. it takes one or two editors to let a writing published. sometime the editors suggest some modifications.

phase 3:

the editor completely rejects said Sand_burg translation, quote: 'Although I am not classified to deal with translated poetry, it is all clear that your version is not even coming close to a word-to-word translation'.

phase 4:

*facepalm*

phase 5:

i wonder about the diversity of mind and people, about understanding poetry and translating poetry...about stupid editors....about the need to leave this site...about the urge to laugh... the urge to sob...

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and a brand new update!!!

phase 6:

my account is deactivated on that site.

it means that i can not contribute to its contents either by writing and submitting poems or translations or by writing comments on other people's writings. there you go.

am i to return to this site?

i mean, ever?

like accepting or asking for being reactivated again?

like... asking anything from these incompetent bunch of editors?

anthology

and yes, the anthology that contains pieces written by the members of the local writers' group is ready and published.

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as some of you may know, there is a special series of cultural events called "the week of book" in Hungary. it is a nationwide event. most publishing houses come out with lots of different books. new and well-known authors, all kinds of genres alike: this week is to celebrate reading and books in general. most libraries have at least one special event, larger ones have a whole week filled with a series of events like meeting the author(s), discussing a special book.

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i have three entries published in the anthology, which was introduced on 2 June, as the first event of the week, they are: Winter Fairy (a 4 stanza, abab rhyming poem about the natural wonders and the harsh reality of winter) , Fellas (a short story about the end of a friendship between a blackbird and a hen - of course this one is a parabole) and Homeward bound (a short story in three pieces about a roadside mistery and about at least 3 deaths)

i translated the latter and put it up here a while ago. for the first piece click HERE.

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so, on 2 June, the authors were seated in front of the visitors and the professional leader of the group (an acknowledged young poet) introduced us and the book. this quite formal talk was followed by a short, informal meeting between the readers and us, and the evening was finished off in a pizza bar with lots of friendly discussions. we just simply enjoyed that we reached this stage.

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if i had to choose one word to describe the evening it would be: 'unbelievable'

i translate and write articles to magazines, so i frequently do see my name in print. it can't be that. my poems and short stories are being published in a virtual writers' site. people can read and comment on my writing... so it can't be that either.

is it the form?

that this anthology is a book, a good-old fashioned, REAL book?

:)

this feeling makes me happy, makes me want to learn more about good writing, makes me want to write more, makes me excited and horrified at the same time.

:)

wow, i had to face potential readers...

Finland 2 - Kangasniemi 2

a toilet, a small kitchen where organic waste is separately collected and a friendly recreational area, ... nothing really exceptional for the ecologically and socially conscious... except that all photos were made in the state high school of Kangasniemi.

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please share your thoughts - here are mines.

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toilets are as basic to urban life as electricity or running water. you have it and you have it well equipped and clean. i don't own an office, but if i had, i had its toilet kept as clean as the one in my family house. because it is just the way things operate.

at the same time however, and i know it's a shame to admit, but most public toilets in my country are the ones people tend to avoid. they are dirty and neglected. and i don't really understand.

the same applies to collecting organic waste.

just until recently, organic waste was just mixed into communal waste, paper got mixed with metals and glass...

whereas our family follows the easy steps of composting organic and collecting separately.

i wonder when people will follow the obvious and stray from the unsustainable...

thoughts...thoughts...