A swim at the Strand

by OLGS, guest blogger

One tram stop away from the University of Debrecen is a group of run-down thermal "furdok" (bath spas). The one most popular with the students is the "Strand" which has a forbidding concrete exterior. The photo, taken from the spa's website in winter, incredibly, makes it seem warm and inviting, compared to its actual shabby fortress-like appearance. With my new camera, purchased at MediaMarkt, I will take a picture of the Strand on a future update to this post.

The Strand shows the same suspicion of people that seems endemic in post-Communist Central Europe, that is, people will try to take advantage of you if you are not careful. Exhibit "A" is the ticket sales. The Strand has a very good deal with reduced admission of 500 forints ($2.50) after 5:00 p.m. until closing at 8:00 p.m. The ticket booth is in bullet-proof glass with one of the ubiquitous non-functional microphones to communicate (or shout through the glass)with the bored ticket-seller inside. Upon payment of 500 forints, the ticket recipient walks five meters to the entrance and has the ticket checked by the next official. The Strand can't be too careful about people who might want to bypass the ticket booth! The same mentality is even evident at the University: a diner at the college cafeteria has to present a ticket to a student monitor. Otherwise, who knows? Any bum off the street might come in and dine on cafeteria food.

Back to the Strand-- once inside, I found three pools outside: the thermal pool, very warm at 99 degrees F; a kiddie pool with a rickety-looking waterslide; and the "Aquaticum" which was a wonderful, clean, low-chlorine pool, half-roped for laps and half open. I entered the Aquaticum and began my laps, thinking I would swim ten laps, the same as the former Joe High School swam competitively for Minneapolis South High. On my eighth of ten laps, an official shouted something at me in Magyar. To my delight, and his, I actually understood it: move to the right-hand lane, the open part on the other side of the pool. Got it, did it. Then after I finished my laps, I realized that the Debrecen "Orkakok" (Orcas) were training set aside for lap-swimming.

I resolve to go purchase some goggles this afternoon and visit the Strand again.

A visit to a palinka factory

by OLGS, guest blogger.

The Debrecen summer program took an overnight weekend excursion. Three buses full of students set out early Saturday morning for Kceskemet, a country town southwest of Debrecen and southeast of Budapest. We visited three folk-art museums, but the highlight for most students was a Saturday night visit to the Zwack family distillery, makers for more than a century of "Barack" palinka. No, the family did not anticipate the election of an American president by that name. "Barack" means "apricot" in Hungarian and the Zwacks annually turn out thousands of gallons of apricot brandy.

Sunday was a long day, with a side-trip to Budapest and an evening stop at a winery in the "Bulls Blood" region on the way back. The alcohol-soaked theme continues tonight with a Debrecen-region palinka tasting, but I have too much homework, so I will hit the books, not the bottle.

Alas, my old Kodak digital camera went kaput just a few photos into the trip. I'll continue blog-posting but without my own photos.

A visit to the Nagy Templom

by OLGS, guest blogger.

I went with my classmates to view the inside of the main Calvinist church, the "Nagy Templom" or literally the Great Church. Inside, it very spare. The walls are whitewashed and the windows are plain. Above the Isten Asztal ("Lord's Table" or altar) there is some beautifully carved wood for the pulpit and also for the organ loft. However, there is no crucifix or other religious display to distract the worshipper from making a direct connection to God. Very impressive and very Reform, unlike, say, St. Giles in Edinburgh which was very Presbyterian but not very reformed, at least when we visited in 2006.

Magyar Film Club: "Somewhere in Europe"

by OLGS, guest blogger.

Last night, the Debrecen Summer Program sponsored the "Magyar Film Club" and showed a 1947 film, *Valahol Europaban* ("Somewhere in Europe). There is a nice review at www.moviehabt.com. I was charmed by the film, especially the 25 orphan children who played their own lives as actors. I also was pleased how much of the Hungarian I could understand, with the help of the English sub-titles for context.

The only drawback was the late start. The Magyar Film Club did not schedule the screening until 10:00 p.m., and even then, the film was preceded by a 40-minute introduction-lecture by the MFC host. We did not finish watching the film until about 12:30 a.m., and I am dragging a bit in language class this morning.

Update on Kalvin Janos's 500th birthday

by OLGS, guest blogger.

The Magyar Post Office has issued a stamp honoring Calvin's anniversary. The artist seems to have captured the subject's uncertainty about the fate of humanity as determined, make that pre-destined, by an almighty God. See for yourself. It only costs 200 forints (about one dollar).

Rain--just in time

It finally rained in Minneapolis. Our water deficit in the City of Lakes is many inches for the year. The lawn kicks up a dust cloud when the lawnmower is foolishly applied to it.

The nice folks at the U of M have mapped the drought and show it hovering around the Twin Cities. Fortunately some of the major agricultural sections of the state are only "abnormally dry", whereas here in the Land of 10,000 swamps, we are in a "severe" drought. Gotta love that scientific lingo.

Kalvin Janos, born 500 years ago

by OLGS, guest blogger:

In the United States, the big anniversary this year is the birth of Abraham Lincoln, 200 years ago in 1809. Elsewhere, and some places in the U.S., people are celebrating the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth. In Debrecen, known for many centuries as "The Calvinist Rome," this year marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of "Kalvin Janos," or John Calvin.

There is a big exhibit on Calvin's life and writing at the Reform (Calvinist) seminary, located just off Calvin Square. It is amazing to think about the speed with which ideas traveled across Europe during the Protestant Reformation, thanks to the printing press and to travelers carrying texts and letters. By 1538, the reform seminary was established in Debrecen, just two years after Calvin published his main critique of the established church. I only had time yesterday to glance at the exhibit and resolve to return to the Reform Seminary Library to study it in more depth, this time with my Hungarian-English dictionary in hand so I can better translate the labels.

First day of Language Classes

First Day of Language Classes
by OLGS, guest blogger


I awoke to good news in learning my placement in the Debrecen Summer School: I am in Level 13 (out of 23), quite a promotion from last summer when I placed in Level 5. My class is small, consisting of eight students. We are quite a mix: Rolph of the Netherlands, Norbert of Poland, Sarah and Camille, both of France, Fabiana of Italy, Tibor of England, and Robin, once of Campbelltown, Kintyre, Scotland, but now of Perth Australia. We meet for language class for three 90-minute sessions each day. Today's classes were review and grammar drill. The language is quickly coming back to me. We have a morning teacher, Rita (pronounced the English way), and an afternoon teacher, Kati (pronounced as a crow would say: "Caw-Tee"), who divide the teaching between them. Last year, I had a single teacher, Dr. Csaba for all the classes, but I learned today that is unusual. Kati declared herself today as "kegyetlen" which I think means she is the mean grammar policewoman, while Rita gets to do the fun things in the morning.

Tonight, the University Rector hosted a reception for us in the courtyard of the main academic building. Very good food, lots to drink, and a pop group that covered Michael Jackson songs.

Return to Hungarian Language Camp
by OLGS, guest blogger

Hello, loyal readers of "Domestic Tranquility":

DomTran has graciously allowed me to write guest posts to the blog as I am once again taking the Hungarian language course at the University of Debrecen.

I arrived yesterday afternoon after a long journey from Minnesota, with stops in Newark, Milan, and Budapest, before reaching the university campus.

This morning, I took my written and oral language placement test. The written part was difficult, despite my cramming on the planes and trains en route to Debrecen. I recalled the conjugations of the three key verbs in Hungarian ("van" "megy" and "jon") ok and most of the directional suffixes (e.g., Minneapolis-*from* go I Newark-*to* go I, Newark-*from* go I Milan-*to*...and so forth), but half-way through the test, I realized that I was being asked about the conditional tense. Wait a minute, I thought, last summer we barely covered the future and past tenses, never mind the conditional. The examiner who reviewed my test gently comforted me on my overall low score. I learn tomorrow morning my placement and meet my fellow students.

Rain, rain

Apparently my grandfather frequently commented on the tendency of Washington County, Maine, to be foggy, rainy and generally unpleasant, if you want to go to the beach. And it is all those things, as our recent week spent on Kenebec Bay proved. But you really don't want to go to the beach in Washington County. The water temp is generally in the low to mid 60s, so who really cares about the beach?

Roque Bluffs State Park is still one of the loveliest beaches, whether or not you go in the water. OLGS did for about 30 seconds.

One afternoon, when it looked as the the fog might burn off, we went for a quick walk. When we arrived, it was impossible to see more than 50 feet off shore. Within five minutes, the fog lifted, and all the little islands appeared. Then the fog returned.

As we were picking our way down the beach, a girl with a clipboard and a lanyard appeared out of the murk. She was taking a survey about why we visited Roque Bluffs, where we came from and how long we were staying. When I suggested that she had the best summer job in the world, she waved her hand toward the fog and admitted that it was not alway glorious. But she appreciated our Minnesota nice ways--apparently not all visitors to the beach welcome her questions.

Joe High School Changes His Name

Another--and my last--South High graduation. South High has been part of this family's life since 1997. No more. A new era begins. He is no longer Joe high School.

It was a well choreographed event, and a good thing that was, as another school--Edison High--was waiting to get in exactly two hours after for their own festivities. And the precision was despite the inevitable disasters. The class treasurer fainted. The honor song drum didn't show up on time. The principal neglected to introduce the superintendent. None of this took away from the charm of the event. The Pop Singers, an excellent acappella group, sang. The band/orchestra, in which Joe College played four years ago, was probably great, but we couldn't hear them because there were no mikes.

And Joe HS, who had wanted to skip commencement, seemed to be glad he attended. I sure was. But, predictably, he neglected to pick up his cap and grown on time, so did not have the fancy hood for honors grads. Oh well--it's the diploma that counts.

Who's the killer?

News reports say that many anti-abortion groups are backing away from the murder of Dr. Tiller, the abortion provider in Wichita who was gunned down in church. If you're in the anti camp, it makes a lot of sense to back away. The shots fired in the culture wars are becoming less frequent -- people become weary of battle, even those who are the most fervent fighters. And the actions of a crazy like Scott Roeder only reduce the credibility of the anti-abortion movement even further.

Still--there are those who are saying that Dr. Tiller brought it on himself by providing late-term abortions. They are getting attention because of the journalism-school mentality that asserts that there are always two sides to an issue. And there may be, but why give credibility to the kooks by suggesting that their hysteria is on a par with a reasoned complex opposition to abortion? This is like saying that Africans enslaved themselves or that people with aids deserved their fate. You get the analogy.

And has anyone noticed the irony that this devil incarnate was gunned down in church? Guess I'm behind in my study of church history. Last I checked, Lutherans were not devil worshippers. That in itself should give the yahoos pause--Christianity is not incompatable with being an abortion provider. As I recall, Jesus was particularly interested in inviting those whom society had rejected into his circle--money lenders, prostitutes, etc. Wonder what he'd say about abortion providers.

Enough irony. Where's the outrage? Muslims shooting, immigrants demanding rights--folks get mad and everyone thinks they are justified in doing something silly and violent. Respectable church going doctors getting gunned down in church? The anger is surprisingly muted, to say the least. It's as if people are not sure where they should stand on this and don't want to draw attention to themselves and their side of the argument by having the wrong opinion--so they have none.

And it's a cliche--but why are most of the anti-abortion leaders, spokespersons and shooters men? It can't have anything to do with the cracks in the facade of patriarchy, could it? Nah...

Our nation's capital

Another trip, this time to Washington DC for a family event. The event was lovely, but we had time to do a little touristy stuff as well, so we demanded a ride to museum row, aka the Mall. We were dropped off in front of the Smithsonian castle, which is adjacent to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art. The Sackler is an underground museum, with a stunning selection of Asian art on permament exhibition. A temporary display featured gifts to the Russian empire from Iran and Turkey. If you have a yen to see lots of emeralds, rubies, and tapestries woven from silver and gold thread, take a trip to the Sackler before September, when the exhibit ends. The Freer is a more traditional building and houses a much larger and diverse collection from all parts of Asia.

These museums are free--and there's not even a donation jar or a exhortation to pay something--even $.10, as one of the Joes did when he went to the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Operating these institutions (the collections were almost all donated, but operations are underwritten in part by the government) is one of the best uses of your tax dollars I can think of.

There's a vacancy

Joe High School will become, like his older brother, a Gopher. The University of Minnesota, accepting him before Christmas, is his destination next fall. His other picks were either too much of a stretch (ie, he didn't get in), or a fleeting fancy (ie, he couldn't remember why he applied). The U of M, being right down the street and a place where he has already taken classes and worked, makes sense. However, I do wish he had had more real choices. Staying at home, even if you live in a dorm, can make you feel as if there's not much urgency to the matter. We'll see how it goes.

College Crap Shoot

College admissions time is here. Joe High School has been admitted to two, turned down by one and waitlisted by one. One of the two admissions he doesn't want and has already turned them down. He applied to six places, so he's waiting for the last two. It's an odd process, and I'm glad that this is the last time I'll have to watch it unfold.

One of the remaining institutions, to deter over-eager students, announces in very large letters on its admissions website: "We will be sending out letters on April 1." In other words, don't call us, we'll call you.