Notes from my travels in Hungary October 1-10, 2004.

Szombathely..so many impressions. Will I remember them all..no time to write..
1. The Fins think Hungarian language is related to them their language. The H'rians don't!
2. My contact, Szuzanna, made an interesting comment about the past and present of Hungary.

• The Hungarians have endured eras of submission. They were held back by the Turks, the Hapsburgs, and the Soviets.
• Hungary has only been a democracy for a very few years.
• Everyone refers to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall as, 'the change' or 'after the change'.
• Szuzanna says Hungary is "rushing to catch up" with the rest of the world.

3. I watched the Golden Girls on TV in my motel room in Hungary. Imagine the Minnesotan woman, can't think of her name right now, speaking in Hungarian?
4. The Hungarians are proud people, proud of their heritage and their ability to survive generations of subjugation, proud of their wines and their linens.
5. I visited a rehab center today for homeless men and women. The are 3 caseworkers, they call them street workers, for 60 homeless persons. The provide a very active day 'treatment' program. They are developing work training programs for the 'residents' and spoke about the problems of finding work programs for the gypsy population (they refer to this group as Romas). They offered painting, gardening and healthcare paraprofessional. When asked why these specific options, the staff indicated they asked the gypsy families what types of work they wanted. They love being outdoors, they are good with their hands and they wanted their women to work in a job which honors their love of caring for others. What a unique approach to integrating the clients voice in the decision making process.
6. I was asked if our social work students were able to marry and 'hold together' a family while working as a social worker. I was puzzled by this questeion but the social work educators I spoke with indicated that the Hungarian males were still rather traditional in their appraoch to the role of women and that the job of being a social worker in Hungary was so demanding there was no time left for families. The pay scale is low and several of the women I visited with were divorced and working several jobs to make ends meet.

Late observations from Amsterdam and traveling and the return to the reality of life.

The euphoria has gone, the business of doing day to day stuff is back, but my brain and my words and my thinking are not yet on the same wavelength. I came back to multiple responsibilities and demands, and worked non stop for several days. My sleep patterns are not yet normal. I was up to 1:00 a.m. last night. Can't get a rythym yet. I do absolutely love to travel, but my body does not adjust as quickly each time. Of course, it does not help that I go from 7:00 a.m. in the morning to midnight or later each day that I travel! LOL.. I am so afraid I will miss something and if I could figure out how to go without sleep I would.

Amsterdam grew on me this time. I had more time to sightsee. It is a quaint, antique town carved into sections by canals and filled with diversity. It is a city with thousands of houseboats and old buildings packed tightly together in small places, many of which lean precariously out to the street at an angle. Amsterdam 'bustles' with energy, with life and with people.

It has cafes in which you can walk in and purchase hashish and related items. Most of the resturants we passed had at least one person with their pet in their laps or sitting beside them. The walking lanes (kind of sidewalks) are very narrow and we, as a group, often had to walk single file. This makes for very interesting conversations! I could not get the hang of looking to the right and left for the 'thousands' of bikers coming at me from both directions, hundreds of people, tens of cars and several trams all passing at once. It was dizzying. Fortunately, I was with friends who kept pulling me back from the path of the bikers, hikers, cars, and trams. And I will have to tell you about my experiences in the Red Light District when I know you better!

Some of the discoordination I am experiencing today, I am sure, came from the long flight over and lack of sleep. I can't sleep on airplanes..so I usually go about 32-26 hours without sleep before I crash into my bed.


debra:)