Three Busy Days

On Thursday afternoon I left for Szombathely for the Faculty of Health Sciences Scientific Conference. This conference rotates among the various Hungarian cities in which the Faculty holds classes; that's why the journey to Szombathely. I walked over to the Vorosmarty Building to meet the bus and no one was there. I called Agnes and found that somehow I had missed the message that the meeting place was changed to the Ret building where my office is. She quickly called the trip organizer and also a cab. The taxi ran me over to the other address rather quickly. We didn't leave as soon as I was on the bus, so I guess I didn't hold up anyone.

The trip took 5 long hours. We have to drive west to get past the bottom of Lake Balaton and then all the way northwest to Szombathely. The drive is on 2 lane roads that carry also bikers, farm equipment, and horses and wagons. The road is up and down hills and very windy, and goes through countless villages, all of which require slowing down. There is of course road construction as well. And traveling at dusk and then in the dark required the driver to keep a keen eye out for deer.

The trip took me to some different types of scenes for Hungary than what I've seen thus far.

Here are some photos.

A village scene that I liked -- and this and several following taken through the bus window.

Logging operations and obviously then forest areas, too.

Cheerful flats

New single family homes

Rapeseed field

Rapeseed is increasingly raised as a source of animal feed or now also for bio-deisel. In the states we use Canola oil made from modified form of this plant and largely grown in Canada.

We finally arrived in Szombathely a bit after 8 PM. We went to a University of Pecs building and had dinner. Then a very kind professor there took me to my "accomodation." By this time it was very dark and I had no idea where I was.

Here is the room. I noticed all the art and pictures were religous. There was a crucifix over my bed and I wondered if perhaps I had landed in a convent. The next day walking about I finally found a sign and found I was in St. Martin's Academy Tourist Guest House. A panel on the outside of the building illustrated a tour with in Hungary, then within Central Europe and finally extending also in Austria and Germany related to St. Martin. Ah, the St. Martin that is celebrated in Poznan, Poland.

The tower I had glimped in the dark turned out to be:

The conference opened in the building in which I had stayed.

After the opening we all walked over the classroom building. This puzzled me for awhile, but I finally figured out the classroom building did not have a room a large enough to hold the entire group at one time. The opening included an address by a member of parliament and the mayor of Szombatlhely. The photographer is pertinent too. I've never been to an event or concert that didn't include photographers and press. (I've even been stopped in the street three times for interviews, but let go merrily on my way when I explain I don't speak Hungarian.).

I listened to presentations about graduate students' research projects until 14:00. Each was 15 minutes long. I was quite surprised how much I could make out from the power point presentations. Can't understand much Hungarian, but I'm beginning to be able to read a bit of it. I had a student with me and when she noticed I was writing down words to look up later, she whipped out her cell phone and used a dictionary on it to translate the words in questions.

She also took my camera and snapped the picture below. The color is funny because it was taken against a paneled wall. I played with Photoshop a bit to make it come out other than red brown.

After lunch I took off for some sight-seeing.

I quickly found the Evangelical Church.

It has very nice sculptures above each door. I especially liked this Nativity scene. It looks sweet and simple compared to how this scene if often portrayed.

More walking brought me to the market square. Szmobathely literally means Saturday market, and it is named after a market from 200 years ago. I saw this great big space and thought, "Szombathely has a rynek." Below are some of my favorite scenes in this huge area.

Most monuments that look like this relate to the plague. This one, however, is different. Each of the four panels commemorates a different event. I took a photo of the marker for the most recent event and will work on it as part of my next Hungarian class.

Walking back to my "accomodation" I found this lovely statute.

This may look like the Virgin Mary, but it is actually St. Istvan with one of his children. It is found on one end of park that is about 50 feet wide and extends for about 4 blocks. It is a great way to organize a park.

In the evening we went to a catering hall for a lovely dinner. We were greatly entertained by a group of dancers. The adults did jazz and modern dance primarily. There were elementary students who danced the classic Viennese waltz.

This morning found me dragging my suitcase down one block of stairs. Slowly, slowly and things finally get done.

Presentations today were by faculty members. The first was in German, and mine was in English, the rest in Hungarian. I have no idea how many people could understand me.

The conference closed with full hour of thanking people. I came home with a certificate thanking me for my presentation encased in a lovely velvet folder.

The bus ride was shorter coming back. This time I was in a front seat and could see out the window. I could observe that our average speed was about 45 mph. It takes a long time to make a big trip at that speed.

Walking back to my flat I came up a great crown at Szencheyi Ter. There were three marching bands about.

I stopped to watch for awhile, but it seemed like the only thing happening was taking photos. I wanted to get home to change clothes and relax for a bit, so continued on. That's when I found a surprise at Szinhaz Ter.

Wonder if I will see this now every Saturday. I didn't know it was a traditional place for wedding pictures.

After reading e-mail and doing laundry, I went out again to find something to eat. When I got to Szenchenyi Ter, it was obvious something was happening. The place was packed and flags were waving.

I stood around trying to figure out what was happening and enjoying the music that was played. Then a big stretch limo pulled up in front of the church and a woman got out. Everyone began cheering loudly. Then more got out. I was trying to figure out what musical group this could be. More women kept getting out and then I saw they were all wearing gold medals.

Finally put it together that this the Pecs Women's Basketball Team when a big banner was displayed. They were coming home triumphant after winning the Hungarian basketball championship.

They all addressed the crowd. Two members of the team are American. The fans are ardent! Back in my flat I did a bit of internet research and found this team is called a powerhouse. I felt lucky to have stumbled into this event. It was fun to be a part of the crowd and to generally people watch.

And other than the above, I've done nothing for three days!