Tas Vezér u., Budapest XI (Kelenföld)
Perfectly refurbished 2 bedroom condois for sale in a small street at Kosztolányi tér, near Bartók Béla Park with the “Bottomless lake” (Feneketlen tó). Classic building! This is the best condo on the Budapest market, snap it up!
Price: HUF 35,000,000.00 [currency converter]
Perfectly refurbished 2 bedroom condois for sale in a small street at Kosztolányi tér, near Bartók Béla Park with the “Bottomless lake” (Feneketlen tó). Classic building! This is the best condo on the Budapest market, snap it up!
Budapest… But What Lies Beyond?
Travel outside Budapest! The merits of Budapest are obvious and abundant. The country itself though is a fascinating destination of contrasts, history and culture and it just might be well worth exploring. Read more »
National pride
A few days ago Tárki, a polling company, together with Image Factory, a firm offering “political and business solutions,” looked into the question of national pride and the nation’s self image.
Three years ago 40% of all Hungarians were proud of being Hungarian. Today, only 32%.
This question of national pride has always puzzled me. Where we are born and what language we learn as infants is really happenstance. Something over which we have no control. Why anyone should feel pride because of it is beyond me. Especially if we try to flesh out the basis of this pride. Read more »
Is the tide turning?
On Monday Gyurcsány appeared on Az Este, a late evening political program on MTV. He seemed to be in a very upbeat mood and was his old combative self. Yesterday morning he gave a long interview on Mokka, an early morning show on TV2. Here his performance when confronted with a rather antagonistic reporter reminded me of his debate with Viktor Orbán when he basically won the 2006 elections. He had at least three reasons to be happy. Read more »
Third Culture Kids in a Flat World
Giving our children roots and wings…
In Genesis 11:1 we are told: “…and the whole earth was of one language and of one accent and mode of expression.” Recent linguistic studies have proved that indeed this account to be true and accurate. But things have changed… Read more »
How to be conversationally fluent in a new language in one year
If you learn language as a hobby instead of a job, if you do it to build relationships instead of studying the language, and if you use curiosity as your greatest learning tool you can learn language even part time with great efficiency. You will be surprised at how you can insert language learning into your daily life without having to make it a time consuming, draining experience keeping the mind at its highest learning curve! Read more »
Orbán in trouble
I know this is a surprising if not ludicrous idea according to most people. How can I say this when according to the latest polls Orbán’s party could easily win the election if it were held this month? How can I say this when there is a minority government and when no one knows what Gábor Fodor will do? How can I say this when Viktor Orbán almost daily “negotiates” with, for instance, businessmen and representatives of the IMF and announces at least twice daily that he wants to have a new “contract” with everybody who is anybody. Yes, I’m sticking by my guns: the more he talks, the more he acts as if he were only a few steps away from being Hungary’s prime minister, the less likely it is that he will have the opportunity to become prime minister earlier than 2010 and perhaps not even then.
The performance of the last few weeks seems to me a series of desperate moves to extricate himself from the web of contradictions that he himself spun. His trouble began with his boastful speech to young political scientists. The politician who until then had publicly claimed that the country’s economic problems could be solved by simply lowering taxes and giving people more money privately proposed to seminar participants (they were sworn to secrecy) an austerity program twice as severe as that of the current government. When the private became public and he was confronted with the charge that he must have been lying to the Hungarian people, he tried to explain things away. But however he tried and is still trying things don’t sound any better.
Read the entire article: Orbán in Trouble »
Budapest, the Beautiful
Hungarians who have been living abroad for a number of years and who visit the country of their birth only occasionally report a fantastic change for the better both in the capital and in the countryside. People comment on the number of new buildings, the elegant shopping malls, the modern office buildings, and, yes, on the fantastic public transportation system. Read more »
Gyurcsány is satisfied
Sometimes it is enough to look at a picture taken after a meeting to know whether the gathering was a success from the point of view of the organizers. The photo taken of Ferenc Gyurcsány surrounded by a number of people as they are leaving the government compound at Dobogókő speaks volumes. Gyurcsány is satisfied. We don’t know too many details of the two-day discussions, but it seems that the party and the government are behind him.
They came to some broad conclusions about the strategy the government should pursue over the next couple of years. As predicted, Oriens’ plans for reorganizing the current economic structure found no sympathy among the politicians present. However, there was broad agreement on two issues. First, they were satisfied with the government’s efforts of the last two years in decreasing the deficit. Second, although budgetary restraint should continue, the focus should shift to economic growth. There was agreement concerning the methods of achieving this goal: more jobs, more investment, changes in taxation, modest welfare reform, and positive changes in education.
They decided that the amount of money allocated to social benefits cannot decrease. The Swiss indexing of pensions will be kept. However, the money spent on social welfare must be used more effectively: fewer welfare checks and for a limited amount of time…
Read the entire article: Gyurcsány is satisfied »
politics, Gyurcsány, government, socialist party, Dobogókő
The Hungarian parliament goes on vacation and the IMF visits Hungary
Although Hungarian politicians claim that there will be no real lull in governmental and political activity during the summer, parliament had its last session yesterday.
Some of the highlights: János Veres’s five-minute report on the economic developments of the first six months of the year. He naturally blamed Viktor Orbán’s ill-conceived and irresponsible announcement about the restructuring of Hungary’s debt load for the large drop in the value of the forint on Friday. As I mentioned in my letter to the blog, since Monday morning the forint has risen steadily against the euro. Other speeches of interest were those of Tibor Navracsics, Ferenc Gyurcsány, and Gábor Fodor.
I especially enjoy watching the faces of politicians when they are listening to their colleagues…
Read the entire article: The Hungarian parliament goes on vacation and the IMF visits Hungary »
politics, IMF, Viktor Orban, parliament session
Hungary: Talented Nation, Unfortunate Decisions
“Life is a series of choices, we try to teach our students how to think, how to decide. They will not learn this by accident…” Read more »
You Know You’re a Hungarian…
47. When you are snobby and think that anyone who has not read Dostoyewski and Bulgakow is not an intelligent human being.
48. When your language has two words for love.
49. When you deeply believe that Budapest (or your hometown) is the most beautiful city in the whole wide word and - just to make sure - you swear for that before climbing the Eiffel tower.
What happened to the Hungarian forint and why?
Over the past few months the forint was steadily becoming stronger, with all the positive and negative consequences of a strong currency. It was a bonanza for those people who bought their apartments or houses by taking out mortgages in Swiss francs or euros. It was made foreign travel less expensive for Hungarian tourists. On the other hand, it was not so good for Hungarian exports or the rate of inflation.
But on Friday, suddenly, out of the blue it seemed, the Hungarian forint lost 1.88% of its value. It happened around 3:00 p.m. By 4:00 one euro was worth 247.10 forints whereas a day earlier the exchange rate was 242.60 forints to one euro.
Read the entire article: What happened to the Hungarian forint and why »
money, forint, value, currency
SZDSZ elections solved nothing
Gábor Fodor received 346 votes and János Kóka 344. A year ago Kóka won by seven votes. It’s true that there were some suspicious ballots then but, given this new close contest, one can safely say that SZDSZ remains a deeply divided party. A few weeks ago most people predicted a much more lopsided result in Fodor’s favor, but it seems that there was enough hesitancy about Fodor’s ability as party leader that close to half of the delegates decided to stick with the known quantity. Running the day-to-day business of the party is a twelve-person committee. The composition of this group didn’t change substantially: there are some Kóka supporters (including Kóka himself) and some Fodor supporters.
So the election didn’t bring any seismic shift in the balance of forces within the party. Nothing was solved as far as the internal divisions are concerned. The importance of the elections, according to some observers, is how the new party chief will handle the relationship between SZDSZ and MSZP.
Read the entire article: SZDSZ elections solved nothing »
politics, SZDSZ, Kóka, Fodor
Town House For Sale in Budateteny
Listing Price: HUF 44,900,000.00 [currency converter]
Rent: $ 1400 monthly (only long term)
Rent to Own option!
Gorgeous 4 bedroom townhouse is for sale in a quiet part of Budatétény, on the hillside near Campona mall. Can be sold furnished, unfurnished or partially furnished.
A new economic plan?
In the last few days the news that has piqued Hungarian interest is a study called “Kilábalás” (loosely translated, “Recovery,” closer to the original, “Getting out of trouble”). The authors are four fairly young economists - Krisztián Orbán, Péter Holtzer, Tamás Vojnits and Gyula Barabás. They own Oriens, an M&A financial consulting company operating in Central and Eastern Europe, and also manage a private equity fund with investments in Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. It seems that George H. Walker, III, former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and first cousin of former president George Herbert Walker Bush, and George Pataki, former Republican governor of New York, are on the fund’s board.
The young economists claim that, although Oriens is a business venture, the economic program they prepared was not commissioned by anyone. However, the leaked Orbán speech in a primitive way echoes some of their suggestions.
Read the entire article: A new economic plan? »
Hungary, economy, economic plan, Oriens
You Know You’re a Hungarian…
44. When your mama starts making apple strudel (or any other type of cakes or cookies) at 9:54pm on a weeknight because there is nothing decent on TV and she is bored.
45. When Winnie the Pooh and The Flintstones is actually much funnier translated into your language than the original.
46. When you go abroad and joke with the people there as at home and they just don’t understand but get possibly offended by your funny remarks.
Trianon: the Object of Politics
Trianon Anniversary
June 4, 2008 by Eva S. Balogh
It was on June 4, 1920, 88 years ago, that in the Trianon Palace, just outside of Paris, Hungary signed the peace treaty with the Allied and Associated Powers. As a result, Hungary proper (that is, without Croatia-Slavonia) was reduced to less than one-third (32.6%) of its former territories, and it lost almost 60% of its population. However, out of the slightly more than 18 million inhabitants only about 10 million people claimed Hungarian as their mother tongue. Post-war Hungary’s population was reduced to about 7 million, most of them Hungarian-speaking. The rest, over three million, found themselves outside the borders.
Trianon was a national trauma for Hungarians. And it was exploited by a succession of Hungarian governments whose main foreign policy aim was the recovery of some or all of the lost territories and their Hungarian-language brethren who found themselves in Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia.
Read the entire article; very interesting and helps to understand the historical context of Trianon: Trianon: Anniversary (I) »
With the change of regime Trianon again became a topic of conversation and unfortunately the object of politics.
The role of Trianon in today’s Hungary
June 5, 2008 by Eva S. Balogh
Until recently only the extreme right was preoccupied with Trianon. This year, however, even Fidesz politicians have been involved in public demonstrations, unveiling monuments and giving anti-Trianon speeches. This is especially interesting because on June 4, 1990, the small Fidesz parliamentary delegation headed by Viktor Orbán unceremoniously marched out of the chamber when György Szabad, speaker of the house, asked the members to stand up and observe a few minutes of silence in remembrance of the signing of the peace treaty seventy years earlier. In 1990 Fidesz considered this gesture a sign of nationalism that might sow the seeds of mistrust between Hungary and her neighbors.
The Hungarian right hasn’t heeded Orbán’s early warnings. For instance, so far this year at least 150 events have been held in remembrance of Trianon. And then there is the proliferation of monuments over the past few years…
Read the entire article: Trianon: Anniversary (II) »
Trianon treaty, lost territories, nationalism, far right, extreme right, Fidesz, politics
US visa-free program - decision after October 1
The US decision whether Hungary is included in the visa-free program is expected after October 1, when it is verified if the ratio of rejected Hungarian visa applications is below 10 percent, the US Consul General to Hungary told reporters on Thursday.
The consul said that this ratio had been 10.3 percent in 2007 and added that he hoped that this year it would drop below 10 percent, which was a prerequisite for inclusion in the no-visa program.
The United States’ goal is to ensure that citizens of Hungary and other applicants for the program could visit the US without mandatory entry-visas soon, as early as January next year.
On May 20, representatives of Hungary and the United States signed an agreement on bilateral data exchange seeking to help identify terrorists. The agreement is a prerequisite for Hungary’s exemption from US visa requirements.
Source: MTI News
USA, visa, US visa-free program, USA entry visa
You Know You’re a Hungarian…
41. When you know what a pogácsa / a dobos torta / a kürtős kalács / a főzelék / a túrógombóc is, and love most of them.
42. When you understand cynism and sarcasm, and you are cynical / sarcastic yourself.
43. When you eat pizza with a fork and knife.
Vizsla
The vizsla is a breed of sporting dog. It can generally work both as a pointer and a retriever. Developed on the open plains of Hungary, the vizsla was bred to be a swift and cautious hunter, wary of alerting its quarry. Read more »
Budapest Cafe Culture
By 1880, Budapest alone had over 600 cafes, more cafes than any other European country with the exception of Paris. Budapest café culture has been alive and thriving to this day. Restaurants are places where you must wear a suit and tie, live up to class expectations or God-forbid, run in for a Big Mac (shudder). Read more »
A Treatise on the Hungarian Cheek Kiss
Foremost, let us establish the fact that this is not written from a Hungarian point of view. No doubt, as small children, Hungarians are taught this overly familiar type of greeting and see nothing wrong with placing their lips on the cheeks of the most far-flung acquaintances. Read more »
Roman Beach (Római Part)
Római part, or Roman bank, runs along the side of the Danube in District III, out by Óbuda. On a hot Sunday afternoon the grassy waterfront is filled with families enjoying the sun. Read more »
Budapest in 1908
“Can these things be.
And overcome us like a summer’s cloud,
Without our special wonder?”
- Shakespeare: Machbeth, Act 3, Scene 4
W. B. Forster Bovill: Hungary and the Hungarians, 1908 - CHAPTER VII
BUDAPEST AS IT IS
Art in Budapest a Century Ago
“Tis the privilege of Art
Thus to play its cheerful part,
Man in Earth to acclimate.
And bend the exile to his fate.”
- Emerson
W. B. Forster Bovill: Hungary and the Hungarians, 1908 - CHAPTER VI
BUDAPEST & ART
To Budapest I came with a mind eager to receive its myriad impressions. Budapest has never really disappointed me. It is of towns, towny. Many things I have grown to dislike, but others to love more. When I first arrived it struck me as better than I expected - and I had expected much. Now that I know the byways, and can unattended find my way through its less frequented avenues of communication, it seems to need a less oratorical municipal council. Despite this national weakness, the city is justly styled Budapest the Beautiful. It is the capital, and forces are continually emanating from it, which are but dimly realised in the districts I have already described. Here is much of the history, and all the machinery of the nation.
Hungarian Puszta - 100 years ago
“Down there on the ocean expanse of the lowlands
I am at home, that is my world;
my soul is like an eagle freed from prison,
when I behold the limitless expanse of level country.”
- Petőfi
W. B. Forster Bovill: Hungary and the Hungarians, 1908 - CHAPTER V
ON THE GREAT PLANE
Hortobágy and the Puszta
The poet was right. How well he expressed in a single sentence all that I put into the last chapter! Petőfi sang as a Magyar feels. The puszta was his rightful home, for there beats the great heart of the race. When first I visited Hortobágy it was but to stand amazed. Just imagine the impression created by a consciousness of being on a vast plain 300 square miles in area, the characteristics of which are immensity and the cattle from a thousand hills. Its very treelessness strikes a silent note of appeal. You yearn for a something you are accustomed to, then when it is not forthcoming settle down cheerfully to the absences of the grassy plain, its quaint huts like oases, and those picturesque acacia groves.
EUR 2 billion Dream Island Project
Álom Sziget Entertainment Zrt. has won the gaming concession and can now go ahead with its “Dream Island” project on Hajógyári sziget. Read more »
You Know You’re a Hungarian…
38. When all your curtains and tablecloths are lace that your mom or grandma bought from the Piac.
39. When in the West they refer to you as a gypsy (roma or cigány) descendant and you take great insult to this say “Don’t ever call me that again!”
40. When you know the difference between s and sz. and also u and ü.
Boat Trips on the Danube River
Boat companies provide boat trips along the Danube in the Summer season. Here are some short regular boat trips for you to try: Read more »
Hang out in Szimpla kert
In the evening of a warm day, hang out in Szimpla kert (”simple yard”).
“Szimpla has been running since October 2001. We keep trying to find out whether it’s possible to support alternative culture on a profit oriented basis, to survive seemingly hopeless construction works, to have one of the best cuisines in town, to screen self distributed movies in our own open-air cinema, to organize animation festivals, and things like this. The answer so far seems to be: yes, it is…”
