Time at Balaton and CRM Retreat House

We had a great May 1st Holiday Weekend at the CRM Retreat House near the Lake Balaton. My Mom was here from NY and special Szeged friends came with us - Apjok and Mencser families. We had some good adventures and fellowship time around the house.

Pic 1 - A group photo above the Balaton at Tihany
Pic 2 - Looking out behind Retreat House into the "Káli Basin" as the region is called
Pic 3 - Mom G with girls at a renovated stone "wash house" outside town of Kővágóörs
Pic 4 - Girls at pretty town of Tapolca

Ongoing Changes and Contrasts in Szeged

I've posted some of the various buildings we see each day in our neighborhood and on our walk to the girls' Hungarian school down the street. The contrasts are significant. Some very nice Western-style Euro apt bldgs are going up, but these are rare.
















Pic 1 About 100 year old house in disrepair


Pic 2 New 5+ yr old apt bldg


Pic 3 Tearing down old bldg to put up new


Pic 4 Over 100 yr old Szeged train stn


Pic 5 Under construction - new apt bldg looking out Sarah's window
Pic 6 Larger grocery store
Pic 7 Our favorite corner grocer

In this world of great change we live in, it is so interesting to see how fast some things change, while others stay the same here in Szeged.

In terms of economics, Hungary has been riding many waves since the fall of Communism in 1990. In 2004, the country joined the European Union with big fanfare from up above (Budapest capital leadership), but the average citizen has not received much benefit.....yet? In 2006 a huge scandal was leaked in which the socialist government was hiding its federal deficit problems, to the tune of 3x what they had been telling the populace before they got re-elected!
Meanwhile, prices of most everything have increased significantly. Utilities, bread, milk, all staples up 25% in cost at least, while salaries went up maybe 10%, and worse is that some have actually received less salary based on cost of living, including state-employed doctors (it's a "government" job here for most doctors!).

For us, with the $ as our basis for salary, it is even more "interesting" converting to Hungarian forint. A bad scene, indeed. We arrived in 2003 getting about 225 forints for our $. Now we get about 160. This is a 35% decrease in 5 years. Yikes.

A Sunday Picnic

It was the perfect day for a picnic at the Szeged Botanical Gardens. Together with our friends, Andras, Erzsi, Anna, and Balazs, we enjoyed walking the trails, finding turtles and lizards, and taking pictures of pretty flowers. These are some of my favorite pictures from our outing.

The Latest Treasure

Whenever we travel, whether two hours away, or to the next country, we visit grocery stores. Part of it is the fun of seeing something new, but we partly go to see if they have any products that we can't get here in Szeged. I have a running list in my head. The most looked for goodies include: frozen blueberries, cheddar cheese, vanilla, brown sugar, tortillas, and peanut butter.
While in Gyula last weekend, we hit the jackpot! Interspar was selling TWO kinds of frozen blueberries (afonya) and THREE kinds of cheddar cheese!! Gyula is a very small town compared to Szeged, so I must admit I was surprised to find such delicious treasures.
This morning we enjoyed Baked Blueberry Oatmeal! Thank you, Interspar! Thank you, Gyula! Thank you, Rob, for going grocery shopping with me on our weekend getaway!!

My New Favorite, Little Town: Gyula

Here we are in a great "cukraszda" - pastry shop - where we had exquisite pastry for under $2!

This is the 600 year old castle of Gyula, where they fought the Turks centuries ago.

Downtown Gyula walking street, all renovated with brick and fountains.

A city canal that runs thru downtown.

Another section of pretty walking street area.

Going over walking bridge.

Join the Line

By all means, get in line!! One of the things I've learned while living in Hungary is that if you see a line, it's almost always a good idea to get in it! Most of the lines I'm talking about involve food--langos (fried pastry topped with sour cream, garlic, and cheese), fornetti (pastry stuffed with a variety of yummy things--fruit, cheese, mushrooms), ice-cream. Or in this case--HAMBURGERS!
Rob and I went to a small town for a weekend birthday celebration. Every time we passed this little window stand, there was a line. There was a line at 6pm, 9am, 11am, 3pm. So, on Saturday, we got in it! And we were very happy we did! We enjoyed the best hamburgers we've ever eaten in this country. And the french fries were better than McDonald's.
Not to be outdone by the citizens of Gyula, we decided to be FIRST in line on Sunday--which meant eating lunch at 11am. It was just as delicious the second time around!

"American Style" House in Szeged!

Just this month, our Szeged friends Boldi and Zsuzsi completed their American-style (wood-framed house) in a nearby suburb. This is a big deal here. First, they built a house, which very rarely happens (about 90% of city-based Hungarians live in apartments). Secondly, they chose not to use the big European block to build the house, mostly because it is much more expensive. They invited us out to see the almost finished product and have pizza dinner with them. We were honored to be one of the first families to visit.







Sarah enjoyed playing games ( their favorite is Hungarian version of Monopoly - "Get Rich Wisely") with Panni, and Hannah and Lili love to play "Ponies" together. Yes, My Little Pony toys are here in Hungary too!