Daily Adventures

Ah, a morning that didn't require an alarm clock.

The large door/windows that open to the terrace can be covered with a white rolldown shade for privacy in the evening. When I awake, I usually see a pattern of black against the translucent shade. This morning I saw only a sea of white and I knew we had received a snow again. Looking out on the terrace it was very beautiful. See how high the snow was piled on the tree branches.

I had a 10 AM appointment at American Corner and was astonished to see how much snow there was on the street when I went out. After the sidewalks were shoveled, there was usually a pile about 10-12 inches high along the street edge. No street plowing here, and truly there isn't that much snow. One just has to drive carefully because it is so wet that it is easy to slip on a hill of even the smallest incline. The statutes on the top of the building in which American Corner is housed still had their snow coats on.

We planned that I will make some visits to high school English classes so that students may interact with a native speaker. I also got my library card, so now I can check out books, magazines and DVDs! Hurrah. I can now read to my heart's content without it costing a minor fortune. Later in the day I got an e-mail about a conversation corner at the American Presidents Exhibit (see posting for Tuesday). I'll plan to go to that next week, too. And I'm so lucky that this place is only about two blocks from my flat.

My next goal was to get my mobile phone reactivated. I don't know exactly what the problem was. The phone disappeared into the back room for awhile and came back working. I've loaded contact numbers onto it and even managed to make one phone call.

Hungary is to have a parlimentary election in April. Today I saw the first signs of that here in Pecs. Last week in orientation we had a lecture about the various political parties and their stance on social issues. So when I saw Jobbik, I knew what it was. Jobb, in Hungarian means right, so the name should tell readers what the political view of this party is. If I understood correctly, this is an emerging party and one of its goals is to get enough votes in the upcoming election that it becomes a recognized political party in Hungary.

I got some groceries, including this time eggs and some olive oil, so my cooking can expand a bit. I lighted the stove and made a grilled cheese sandwich for supper. One of the guidebooks said there wasn't any good cheese in Pecs. Well, there may not be cheese made in Pecs, but there certainly is good cheese in the grocery store from other places. We have a lot of states in the US, too, that don't produce cheese!

I spent some time reading labels on what I've brought home. My toothpast, Colgate, looks just like it does in the States on one side -- English all the way; on the other side it's in Hungarin and if you read the fine print, one discovers it comes from Slovakia. My shampoo, Garnier Fructis, comes from Hungary. My bath gel, Fruisse, comes from Paris. The label on it is written in six languages. My deorderant, under Isana brand, comes from Poland. The Dove lotion, with the brandname in English, but the rest of the labeling in Hungarian, comes from the Czech Republic. And, oh thankfully, I found something like Zip Lock bags coming from Germany. This find will make food storage ever so much easier.

So just a little slice of life in Pecs.