Precycling

Precycling

Refuse what you don't need
Reduce what you do need
Reuse what you can't reduce
Recycle what you can't reuse

Rebuy (buy recycled) when ever possible

Eco mantra researched by Liv Kaur, New Mexico, USA
http://www.3ho.org/#qom

the details and their role...

Tuesday I went back to Dorottya gallery and while the theme was the same, the exhibition was new. This time it showed "when I was adult.." instead of when "I was young.." and the link between them strengthen the message that we all have the same basic needs. The first exhibition (that I didn't visit) told - "when I was a kid I also had to live of something" It is not hard to guess what it will be for the last one..

when I was adult I also had to live of something

There were some differences between last time and this time.

last time I went for the finissage and this time it was the vernissage
last time it was easy to find by accident and this time I got a bit lost in searching it
last time there was one exhibition and this time another
last time I went alone and this time with several friends
last time the place was empty and this time it was full
last time it was all new to me and this time the artist recognised me
last time I didn't expect anything and this time I did
last time I came from a weekend of yoga and this time from work and critical mass

Both times were good, so similar but still so very different. It is fascinating how different the same situation can appear when only small variables/factors change.


Maybe I'll go there a third time. I wonder how I will experience it then and how the variables will change..?

When I was young I also had to live of something..

Today, walking from Gellert to my place, I came across an art exhibition in the Dorottya gallery: All you can eat 100 forint and I entered by curiosity.

My weekend was concentrated on breathing so I continued with that while enjoying excellent Indian spicy food and homemade energy drink. I was also breathing while watching Simpson in Hungarian and talking with the artist cooking the food and with the man who was documenting the exhibition.

Breathing and eating clearly have something in common. Breathing is needed to survive, and the way we breath will have an impact on how we survive. The same is true for food - eating is also needed to survive and what and how we eat will also have an impact on how we survive.

When I was young I also had to live of something

At the exhibition, all visitors got food full of art and art full of food for the small price of 100 forints (not even 5 kronor, 5o eurocent) - and we all, independent of age, have to live of something, right? and we also have to live for something.

During two weeks, the two young artists are having new exhibitions continuously. One day is vernissage, then finissage the day after and it goes on like that with something new every third day. On Tuesday 19.19, I'll try to go there again for the new exhibition.

the smile of helping

I think if everybody tried to help a little bit more here and there, we would all be happier.. Last week in Holland, a short exchange of help is still causing a big smile whenever it comes to my mind so I'm sharing this little story

the art of stamping a ticket..
Arriving to a new city, my friend had kindly given me very detailed instructions on how to take the tram; where to buy the ticket, how many squares to stamp, where to find tram number 3 etc. It seemed very easy, so I bought my ticket and went to stamp it. The machine only let me stamp 1 square instead of the 3 as I had been instructed. With my mind somewhere else I tried in the same way several times without success.. Anytime I leave Hungary, I take advantage of the situation to speak a little with the people at the street, so I asked the lady standing next to the machine if she knew how to do with my ticket.

the pleasure of helping each other..
She answered with a friendly smile; "Let me see" and placed my ticket very very close to her face and started to feel with the fingers of both hands. Surprised I looked at her, and I realised that she had a white stick and a dog....! With a smile on my mind, I kept on the conversation as it is normal to ask a blind for help in checking details such as weather the tram ticket is correctly stamped or not... and she told me that I should fold it to stamp three squares. It all made sense, I just didn't think of it...:) . I thanked her and she said: "And then maybe you can help me; can you see the entrance??" I looked around and told her "we are standing next to some big glass doors, maybe that can be the entrance you are looking for?" We both smiled very much, said goodbye and split.

Thanks to the help of the other, we were both happy; me to know how to stamp the ticket, and she to know where to go...:)

Isn't it nice to help each other - we shouldn't underestimate who can help. In this case, unexpectedly a blind and a visitor could solve each other's small issues...

Going up the stairs to catch the tram, I started to laugh because the story was so nice and beautiful. The lady next to me looked at me with a smile and I had to tell her the story and we were laughing happily together

What a nice start of mine, hers and most likely also the blind lady's evening..

like a love story..

Today, coming back from Sweden, I fell asleep as usual as soon as the engines of the plane started. Then for some reason I woke up, and half asleep half awake I was listening to the neighbors' conversation for the rest of the flight.

Amazing what you can get to know just sitting next to someone..:)

Budapest - a beauty

There were four Swedish persons apparently going to Budapest for holidays. One of them had been before, and she described the city in such a beautiful way, like someone in love: What to do, what to see, what to try and also what is strange there.

Very positive adjectives accompanied the more factual information describing the baths, the view from the Margit bridge, the thermal baths, the interesting architecture which is in many cases hidden, the sunset over the Buda hills, the Danube, the flowers on the Margit island, etc etc. Of course she also added some historical stories as they are always told to foreigners; the tragic story of loosing big part of the country, the braveness of the Hungarians and how they have suffered throughout history...

Hungarian to know..

She knew Budapest so well, and the girl asked also to learn some useful sentences; The women said with a smile in her voice; "You can always learn köszönöm, kerem egy sőrt, you will not need anything else. You know, probably nobody will speak with you, and even if you try, they are likely not to understand you; it is not just that type of country, but you will get around easily anyhow."

In a love story, you accept the less favorable part of the other as well, often even turning them into something positive. Like; yes, nobody speaks with you, but they also leave you to be how you want to be..

the luck to live here..

I smiled internally, thinking that this lady and I, we have the same understanding of this place. And hearing her vision of Budapest, made me feel happy to be on my way home again after some traveling, even if it means that I cannot use my new winter coat for a while..:)

Again, I realised that I'm lucky to live, at least for a while, in this beautiful city - somehow it compensates for its small mistakes. Today, I even kept the smile when discovering that the sky today is grayer here than the one I left in Sweden a few hours earlier.

Maybe, tonight I'll go to see the view over the Margit bridge..

Dutch - a new dimension to the street sign game

Pretending to be a serious blogger and no posting for a week or so... To my defence, I've been to Holland for a few days and what a pleasure it is to get away from computers, internet and other electronic stuff for a while.

the street-sign-game
For me, a Swede in Hungary, the street signs and advertisement are more part of the game “Guess what is written here..” than actual information. A player in this game gets points every time she understands a word with the final aim to get a full sentence and hopefully to learn some new words or grammar constructions. This game has the great feature that the full message is in many cases lost and the player can escape all stupidities violating our public space such as “How to loose 15 kilos by eating a lots of Christmas food” or "which famous person did what kind of un-interesting things lately".

the Dutch language - a Swedish perspective..
The same game in Holland is very easy, almost too easy. Again, I realised that Dutch (atleast in a written form) is so similar to Swedish. Walking on the street, everything seems to be a bit misspelled (hehe) but it is still very understandable. In addition to all the words that are almost like in Swedish (straks, begreipen, stroom and many more), there are many words inspired from English and also of course with Latin origin. At an outdoor bar, I realised that I can even order my orange juice in French - jus d’orange.. :) What concerns the rest you can easily imagine it from German, even the grammar structure is similar to German. So, as conclusion, if the Dutch language didn’t have all those crazy “hrrch” sound in almost every word, it would be the most easy language to learn!

Maybe one day, I'll give it a try and become one of the 5 millions who have Dutch as a second language. It may even be proven to be useful; Dutch is actually the native language in several countries and also the official one in three Unions. Knowledge of Dutch can also be useful if you want to learn some of the creole languages or Afrikaans. Apparently, also in Namibia many people can understand it. However, without moving to one of these countries it may not be worth it – most Dutch people has a really high level of English and other languages...

Of course, this is not news to anyone, Swedish and Dutch are naturally similar, both being members of the Germanic languages family (North respective West, but still..). Anyhow, I was very happy to play my street-sign-understanding-game in Holland and to bring it to another dimension with the Dutch…:)

And if anyone got tempted to learn.. here is a nice free online course:
http://learndutch.elanguageschool.net/

szerviz or the pleasure to go to the dentist

Szerviz is one of the few words that is similar in Hungarian and Swedish and theoretically it should have the same meaning. However in practice it is quite different; where ever you expect to receive a service here, (shop, post office, the baths, etc) you can instead expect a completely bored and unpolite person doing as little as possible to help. Ok, there may be some language barriers and cultural misunderstanding, but most Hungarians would tell the same. However, in this big beautiful city there are exceptions - my mission to find them! Little by little I'm discovering different places for different needs.

One of those places that I like very much is the dentist, I went there earlier this week. In addition to being professional, my dentist has two main features; being friendly and cheap. Interestingly it always costs the same; no matter what he fix or not fix - I always pay 10000 forints. Thinking of it, it's a good deal; 10000 for healthy and clean teeth including the reminder that it is actually possible to get good and friendly service in Hungary.

Some people are scared to go to the dentist, it is normal - quite often it's at least a little painful. However, me I’m not scared, I actually like it and moreover I’m impressed..:) At least my dentist seems to know what he is doing; dealing with all those cables and instruments in a very confident way. The cooperation between the nurse and the dentist is also fascinating, even without speaking they know what the other will do in a prefect harmonized way. Amazing.

So if you ever need one or if you are scared or find it expensive to go to the dentist, visit Hamid! He is a cool guy with friendly eyes doing a good job for a very good price. What more to ask from a dentist?