Friday, January 29, 2010

Pieces Coming Together

Jet lag or bad biorythym or whatever hit last night and I didn't sleep much. I still got myself together to go to the office of the Faculty of Health Sciences to learn more about my work and schedule here. This building used to be a secondary school. It has been repurposed for part of the Health Sciences group, but is very basic. The Health Science group is presently separated in multiple buildings around town and hope to eventually all be together. Thus little renovation has been done on this building. It sure has a great entrance though!

And it's right across the street from one of the major Pecs landmarks: The Padlock Gate. One can hear many stories about how this got started. The primary use now is for partners to declare their love as shown by the example on the left.

I learned I will be helping with three English for Special Purpose classes. One is for recreation managers. Indeed that should be interesting. The other two are the same class, but with different groups. They are for nurses who want to learn the language necessary for patient care in English. I will also have a Hungarian lesson on Wednesday mornings with one of the teachers that I will help with the English classes. More may be eventually planned. We are still waiting to learn about possible registrants for a doctoral nursing class. And I may also help with an English class for University staff and faculty. Each class is 90 minutes long, including my Hungarian class.

Agnes, the International Coordinator, walked me around the building and introduced me to many people. When we were done, she took me to a nearby place where I could get my train ticket, saving me a walk to the train station. She also showed me a place to change American dollars that I brought for my first month's rent. I got a much better exchange rate here today than I did at the airport, but that is to be expected.

Came back and put things away safely and then took off to find some lunch. I had noticed a nearby restaurant that had an outdoor menu with typical Hungarian soups. When I went inside, however, the menu handed to me was entirely different. Just because I was curious about what it could be, I ordered flan. It turned out to be something like pizza dough with ham and cheese baked in the inside. It tasted good on a brisk winter day.

The restaurant decor was curious. There were numerous wall sconces that had carved African figures. Between the legs or held by the arms of the figures were candle holders marker Jagermiester. Quite a cultural fusion.

I decided to walk to where the above classes will be held, a building also belonging to Health Science in another part of town. On my way, I stopped at the post office. It is an amazing buildings. Watch for pictures from there someday. Next thing I knew I was walking by a T-Mobile store. I had a phone all picked out and was ready to pay, but we couldn't finalize the deal because I didn't have my passport. So I'll go back and get it tomorrow. One can buy a phone without ID, but they wanted ID to go with the minutes card.

I never did find the other classroom building. Good thing Agnes is going to walk me there the first time! I did manage to get back to the shopping center. After walking for nearly two hours, I was ready for a rest and treat. Here's what I got: Sour Cherries with yogurt ice cream and also fresh yogurt. It was yummy!

My final stop was the grocery store. I got a chocolate bun for breakfast tomorrow, among other things. The errand was for detergent. I got a small box and then even managed to wash a load of clothes. Took a bit of thinking. The directions given by the owners were very clear, but when I pushed the start button absolutely nothing happened. Well, I've done technology troubleshooting before. I looked under the sink and found a plug just lying there. There was a one plug connection in which the refrigerator was plugged. I changed things around and voila! the washing machine works. Since this is Central Europe, there isn't a clothes dryer, so things are hung all over the room now. Oh, well, needed a bit of humidity in here anyway. That's all for today

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