Absolutely Anything Else

Rawlee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Best not to inflate your arguments with hysterical statements please as it detracts from the discussion.

You just claimed clearing minefields for money (at gunpoint) is perfectly fine. You are sick.

Do try to keep up.  And ditto on what I said before.

Forced labor was a nightmare for so many people.
I can't even imagine getting over that if that happened to me.
My FIL did take "advantage" of his 5 to 6 years of slave labor to educate himself, he learned how to speak Russian and German pretty well.
That was the only plus in his experience.
He actually was a German person from the HU part of Romania. After the slave labor he was also "asked" to leave Romania and his old homeland.
Nice parting gift from the Soviets.
My step- father was a 2 time POW , once in WW11 and once in Korea, he was a Navy medic.
Not sure they made him do forced labor or not, he did however get their "special" medical coverage... Just kidding ,  they removed all his toe nails and teeth under torture.Got free dentures at age 26 via the US gov VA benefits.
Neither my FIL or step- dad let those horrible experiences devine them. They moved on and had a life after all.
It's sort of embarrassing how weak and whimpy people are in these current times compared to past generations. How many people alive now would off themselves within the first 72 hours of their wifi going down?

Sorry, dislike typo's define not devine... Need to use spell check sometimes...The old brain isn't what it used to be.
I honestly would hate to witness what would happen if the power grid went down for a little as 72 hours. No tv, internet or phones. People would lose it. I would be willing to take odds on it.
I know that in Russia they were not paying a cent for their forced labor with my FIL.
5 years gone out of his young life plus the few years spent in the Army beforehand, drafted like most everyone else was.
My MIL did receive a small pension for her husband's years in the labor camp in her old age but that came from the Hungarian gov. not from the Russians.
My step-dad did get a small monthly check from the US gov. for his 2 terms in a POW camp and the 3 bullets he took but as he used to say, he could take that small amount and add a dime and maybe he could afford a cup of coffee.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
Nice parting gift from the Soviets.
...

Those Soviets and Communists sure have a lot to answer for. 

My paternal grandfather was in WW1 and was injured in the trenches.  Shot in a number of places but significantly in the arm by machine gun and left paralysed.  It was a disaster for the family in many ways. He was originally a baker and you need two hands for that.  He  spent 3 months in hospital recovering as best he could.  The only work he could get was to become a postman as this was all he could do because of his injuries.  He never really recovered from his injuries and died when he was about 50 years old.  He was treated very badly by the government of the day who seemed to think his and his comrades' sacrifices were not worth recognising.

That is really sad.
So many vets are forgotten, many of the homeless in the US are vets with mental issues.
My grandfather, the German one was 14 years old when he ran away from home and lied about his age to the US Army.
He was very tall, 6'4" so they believed he was 16.
He was a "Rough Rider" in the Spanish -American War.
My cuz just mentioned to me a few days ago something I heard years back but didn't really pay much attention to. My mom said he had been a driver ( horse and buggy) for a US president.
My cuz said it was for Teddy himself but not when he was Pres, It was while he was just a soldier, before he got into politics. Still that is a interesting family fact.
Anyways, my grandfather was treated like gold after his service in the Army.
He was slightly hurt on his hand from protecting a fellow soldier when a enemy soldier jumped into their mess hall through a window. He grabbed the guys knife and stabbed him before he could hurt my grandfather's friend.Guess that time being tall came in handy.
He moved into the VA hospital in Rocky Hill, Conn, and was in and out during the depression years when there were few jobs and later moved in to the home to stay until his death at nearly 95 years old.
Met him several times but he was about 78 years old when I was born, I also had to treat him like gold or rather like china, he was so old.
I saw his room, not bad and the nurses treated them like special guests.
Not sure why vets now are treated so poorly.
WW1 was a horrible war and those vets deserved better.
My other grandfather was a "commie" from what my father said about him. He was born in the US to immigrant parents but went over during the Russian revolution to fight.
I am not keen on military history but my dad said he was a "White Russian" not sure what that means exactly, either pro gov or rebel I suppose.
We were not allowed to ask questions or say that my grandfather had spent years in eastern Europe. He had family in Poland and met my grandmother over there.
Odd family tree for sure, have both hero's and zero's .

I tried some research on what is a White Russian, looks more like they were pro Czar then rebel.
I am confused as to why my father always called his dad a "commie" behind his back, never to his face, he was afraid of his father.
I wish I knew more about what really was going on, so many strange stores and secrets.
I heard my grandfather was a "wild man" a so called,
man's man" a horse back riding sword carrying fighter.
Sounds scary , all I remember is playing a board game with him when I was 3 or 4, I won and he cried, I got yelled at for making him cry... Crazy or what?

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

...all I remember is playing a board game with him when I was 3 or 4, I won and he cried, I got yelled at for making him cry... Crazy or what?

Maybe he was crying for joy!

Interesting posts. Sad stories about poor treatment after the wars too. Now days vets are well treated in the US for the most part. My grandfather was in both world wars in Austro-Hungarian and then the Hungarian army. I saw pictures of him in his uniform, was told he served in Ukraine, Serbia, Romania and Italy. All my uncles were in the HU army in WW2, luckily no one was captured or injured. Aunts were also safe when the Russians came through. Very lucky I guess. Nicely, the 56's are honored in Hungary now, so it seems. I noticed almost all towns have memorials for vets from WW2 these days. Must have been somewhat controversial initially. Looks like Horthy has been rehabilitated to a degree as well. History often moves in unexpected directions.

Coming from a family of military men on both sides in my fam and on my husband's as well, I 'm so against wars.
I respect anyone in uniform but not so much respect for the gov. that send them off to war.
The only person I ever knew who had anything good come out of joining the service was my BFF's mother. She came from a tiny hick town in Alabama and joining the service in WW11 was her way out of there.
She changed her name from Sue Ann to just Sue and never looked back.
Met her husband in the service and was stationed in the US and only did office work.
Nice lady, she just passed on last year at age 93.
My father was a strange guy by any standards, very cool dude and way too smart or smart A** for his own good.
He thought if he signed up to be a medic the war , WW11 would be done by the time he finished his medical training in the uS. That took him a bit over 18 months to do.
He had the "pick of the litter" with the ladies in CO. while he was in training, handsome with a uniform on...
Too bad his number was called up before his plan was done. He was sent to the S. Pacific in the heat of the war.
He used to faint during surgery, would wake up when the surgeon would toss a bucket of cold water on his head. He hated the sight of blood.
He told us that he used to leave early in the morning before his unit was sent into the field to find himself a good "hiding place".
He said in his mind it did no one any good for him to get injured and not be able to attend the wounded after the dust had settled.
He used to scout out a nice strong tree, climb up and lash himself in for the ride. Shoot himself up with his medical supply of drugs just in case his tree was hit. He said he was not about to be screaming mommy like everyone else was doing who was hit.
being a medic he had a bit more leeway on his movements and his CO didn't ask him questions as to where he was during a battle.
He said only a sucker would go out with a huge white cross painted on their helmet and not expect the enemy to shoot them first.
Think he was probably right but still... Kinda not exactly the bravest of people, smart but not brave.
My step-dad was a medic in the Navy and sent in with the Marines , right in the very thick of it , also in the S. Pacific.
He was a bit much with his 3 purple hearts and being captured 2 times. My dad only picked up a bad case of trench foot.
Hard to say which one was right, they both came home with a lifelong serious drinking issue, so there wasn't that much difference in the long run between being a hero or someone who took care of number one first.

Chikagoan wrote:

......,looks like Horthy has been rehabilitated to a degree as well. History often moves in unexpected directions.

Horthy definitely drew the short straw to end up as Regent at that time.  It was an impossible situation for him.  Messed up by Trianon, squeezed by the French etc.

There's an apocryphal story of how Hungary declared war on the USA. The story is how their declaration of war had been relayed to President Roosevelt by U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull:

Hull: "Mr. President, Hungary has just declared war on us."

Roosevelt: "You don't say? What is Hungary?"

Hull: "Hungary is a small Balkan kingdom on the Danube."

Roosevelt: "A kingdom? Who's the king?"

Hull: "Hungary has no king. It is run by an Admiral."

Roosevelt: "An Admiral? Where's his navy?"

Hull: "He has no navy, only an army."

Roosevelt: "An army? Where is it fighting?"

Hull: "It is fighting against Russia."

Roosevelt: "Russia? What is it fighting Russia for?"

Hull: "To gain more territory."

Roosevelt: "From Russia?"

Hull: "No, from Slovakia and Rumania."

Roosevelt: "Then why don't the Hungarians fight Slovakia and Rumania?"

Hull: "They can't. Slovakia and Rumania are their allies."

Very funny and very representative dialogue.
It was interesting how many WW2 memorials began appearing in Hungary in recent years. Conversely in Szekesfehervar there is still the Soviet war-dead memorial too, which if I am not mistaken, was visited by Orban or Putin or someone lately. I have visited the memorial, 2 years ago.  Quite sad and melancholy.

Chikagoan wrote:

Very funny and very representative dialogue.
It was interesting how many WW2 memorials began appearing in Hungary in recent years. Conversely in Szekesfehervar there is still the Soviet war-dead memorial too, which if I am not mistaken, was visited by Orban or Putin or someone lately. I have visited the memorial, 2 years ago.  Quite sad and melancholy.

I didn't know about the Szekesfehervar memorial.  I have been to a few Soviet war memorials, including one in Mongolia which had some rather rusty tanks on it but a significantly larger (and very poorly maintained) Soviet memorial nearby.

Closer to home (in the next villages actually), we have the German-Hungarian war cemetery at Budaors and the Commonwealth war cemetery at Solymar. 

As a matter of interest,  the Commonwealth* just had its Remembrance Day which is always 2 minutes silence on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11am (this is the date/time of the WW1 armistice).  The next Sunday (always closest to the 11th November), see the wreath laying ceremony at Commonwealth war graves all over the world.   Be sure to note in your diaries.

In Hungary, it's attended by the Commonwealth ambassadors and staff (usually it's UK, Australia, Canada,  New Zealand, South Africa etc).  In some countries, it can be a substantial event, with 1000s of people.  In Hungary, anywhere between 30 and 50 turn out for it. 

* I am not qualifying the Commonwealth with British Commonwealth as that's not reflective of the Commonwealth as it stands now.

Budaors is a nice town. I stayed there in an apt. many years, like 22 years, ago. I understand it was once a predominantly Svab community. Szekesfehervar is an OK community, the downtown is fixed up very nicely, like many town squares, with EU funds I assume. I noticed that on the town squares there  are billboards that state the funding of the renovation is from the EU. Once again, curious how times change.
Also, how many Hungarians are leaving to work in the West these days? esp. Britain. How is Brexit going to affect these people?

Chikagoan wrote:

Budaors is a nice town. I stayed there in an apt. many years, like 22 years, ago. I understand it was once a predominantly Svab community. Szekesfehervar is an OK community, the downtown is fixed up very nicely, like many town squares, with EU funds I assume. I noticed that on the town squares there  are billboards that state the funding of the renovation is from the EU. Once again, curious how times change.

Also, how many Hungarians are leaving to work in the West these days? esp. Britain. How is Brexit going to affect these people?

Ah, well, the EU requires that notices are displayed whenever and wherever EU funds are being utilised. I was just picking the kids up from school and I noticed the school had a sign up to say it had received money from the EU.  Basically acknowledgement of co-funding.  There's a whole science (or art) to getting EU visibility right - from free hats and pens to TV news reports.

Re: Brexit. Latest news on this is that EU citizens (of any country) in the UK now and those even arriving on the last formal day of membership (assuming paperwork is done) will be allowed to stay indefinitely.  The thought is that it will be reciprocal for the other EU states for those already formally in-country.  Thereafter, there are rumours of waivers for certain sectors - engineers, bankers, stockbrokers etc. The waiver would fast track EEA nationals into the UK but elsewhere, it'll be merit based.  There was some discussion of much looser  and less bureaucratic labour arrangements on a reciprocal basis with some countries like Canada, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.  Unfortunately nothing much is truly substantiated but the UK Parliament will debate the final agreement so we will all get to read it before there's a vote.

Hungary is not that well represented in the UK - perhaps 50-100 thousand (guesswork).  The real numbers are the Polish - up to 1 million.   The Polish and the British are supposedly good friends.  Britain entered WW2 because of Poland and there were many Poles living in the UK during and after WW2.   Even my mother was going out with a Polish airman at one point during the war.  People with Polish family names are not uncommon.  Obviously there are many other types of people - Asians for example - about 3 million I believe.

The UK is a bit similar to the USA - there are people from all over the world living there.  I read a statistic once which said there were 180 or so nationalities living in London with 100s of languages being used between them.  I even heard a statement that there were up to 500K French citizens in the UK which meant campaigning for the French presidential election occurred also there.   Some groups seem to corner the market in different sectors - Polish are builders whereas Albanians all seem to have car washes.

Thanks for the info. I have been to London a few times. I observed that it was quite similar to Chicago, New York, etc. Very diverse and most European appearing individuals working in services were not, upon closer examination, British. That's OK. Last time I went through Heathrow, I heard and saw airport staff speaking Magyarul. They had little flags on their shirts alongside their ID. Can't say I found London the nicest city in Europe, more like the US in some respects as you pointed out. I have heard that other communities, especially those further north, are more congenial.
I personally like France and the Benelux countries in terms of Western Europe. Also Germany along the Rhine. Koln, Ghent and Amiens, for example. Nice places and I hope Hungary gets there some day soon in terms of lifestyle (but not cost).

Oh, and by the way, South Asians; Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, etc. are not really 'Asians' from my perspective. Totally different from East Asians; Chinese, Koreans, Japanese. It is interesting how much more accepted East Asians are by White or European Americans, than any other non-European groups. I am not sure if this is true in Europe though.

Chikagoan wrote:

Oh, and by the way, South Asians; Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, etc. are not really 'Asians' from my perspective. Totally different from East Asians; Chinese, Koreans, Japanese. It is interesting how much more accepted East Asians are by White or European Americans, than any other non-European groups. I am not sure if this is true in Europe though.

Yes, we British tend to just say Asians for Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis.   This is of course not correct at all.   If we want to distinguish we say South East Asians for those countries a bit further around the corner.  We don't qualify much with British Indian or British Pakistani like one might say elsewhere,  African American.  We might say British of Indian origin etc.  But we don't really refer to people's origin much these days unless it's somehow relevant to the conversation.

I would say in the UK, it's different but IMHO it's based upon their perceived isolation within the country.  The Pakistanis and Bangladeshis tend to live separate lives in larger communities from the majority of the population whereas the South East Asian  folk tend to get spread out and are more integrated and therefore seem less visible as a minority.   

I don't know if anyone really cares much about where you come from in the UK these days.  Like the USA, you can go to a car rental, get served by a Somalian, go to Starbucks and get your coffee from a Bosnian, phone your bank and speak to an Indian, walk into a supermarket and see Chinese people on the till, see a Nigerian or Polish or Korean  doctor or get your fuel from a Pakistani.  It's all a blur anyway

Chikagoan wrote:

Thanks for the info. I have been to London a few times. I observed that it was quite similar to Chicago, New York, etc. Very diverse and most European appearing individuals working in services were not, upon closer examination, British. That's OK. Last time I went through Heathrow, I heard and saw airport staff speaking Magyarul. They had little flags on their shirts alongside their ID. Can't say I found London the nicest city in Europe, more like the US in some respects as you pointed out. I have heard that other communities, especially those further north, are more congenial.
I personally like France and the Benelux countries in terms of Western Europe. Also Germany along the Rhine. Koln, Ghent and Amiens, for example. Nice places and I hope Hungary gets there some day soon in terms of lifestyle (but not cost).

I tend to agree about London and I'm actually from the suburbs of the place. I studied there and I hated the heavy commuting.  I couldn't wait to get away from that style of living.

Of the towns in Europe I've lived and worked in (and there are quite a few), the ones I enjoyed the most were den Haag (the Hague), Munich and Bonn (when it was the capital).   I wasn't that keen on Koln although the Dom is nice to look at.  Frankfurt is better if a little sterile. Berlin (before the wall come down) was very interesting to be in because of its unusual situation. 

But overall, Munich is certainly  the place I would prefer to live in - good weather (Föhn), mountains,  skiing, lakes, good roads, city, metro and nice big airport.

Yes, everyone looks for certain things in a city. I like Koln because I like the Rhine and the feel of the place for some reason. I was in Berlin the first time 2 years ago and can't say i was very impressed, I prefer the Western part of Germany. I am considering Den Haag for this Summer as a break from Hungary. Why did you like living there?

Chikagoan wrote:

Yes, everyone looks for certain things in a city. I like Koln because I like the Rhine and the feel of the place for some reason. I was in Berlin the first time 2 years ago and can't say i was very impressed, I prefer the Western part of Germany. I am considering Den Haag for this Summer as a break from Hungary. Why did you like living there?

Den Haag - smaller sized city, easy to get around, short hop to the airport, right next to the beach (short tram ride), excellent transport links to other parts of NL and Europe and in my case, a good social life (I was working there and obviously had my work mates).  I lived on the beach (ok, cold North Sea but could be nice weather sometimes).

I like the cool, relatively mild weather in that part of Europe. How would you contrast it to Hungarian weather? Also, what about costs compared to Britain or Hungary?

Chikagoan wrote:

I like the cool, relatively mild weather in that part of Europe. How would you contrast it to Hungarian weather? Also, what about costs compared to Britain or Hungary?

NL is expensive.  Much more expensive than HU.  It's more expensive than the UK. Weather is typical Northern Europe by the sea - relatively mild wet winters and overcast summers with some sunny days here and there.  While not an island like the UK, just like the UK, it's relatively unpredictable as far as the weather goes,

Are there many Hungarians in France or the Benelux? Also, it seems as though some British and some German people, for example, complain about the so-called "Polish Plumber". This supposedly being a major reason for the Brexit. Are attitudes towards Hungarians also negative in some countries? Or are the numbers too small to be specifically noted and critiqued?

Chikagoan wrote:

Are there many Hungarians in France or the Benelux? Also, it seems as though some British and some German people, for example, complain about the so-called "Polish Plumber". This supposedly being a major reason for the Brexit. Are attitudes towards Hungarians also negative in some countries? Or are the numbers too small to be specifically noted and critiqued?

I've never really heard anyone actually complain like that.  The UK government is operating an austerity budget which is really pressuring public services and the influx of EU citizens exercising their treaty rights has annoyed some people as they (the British) see some incomers getting prioritised higher than them.  If the country was "on the up", they wouldn't be complaining but that's just an ongoing complaint.

I believe  there are a few Hungarians in France - don't know about Benelux.  They seem to be working in France which is a bit odd as it's not a natural fit language wise or educationally.   

There are a lot more Hungarians in Germany of course - Mrs Fluffy's cousins live there and work in medicine.  We also know Hungarians who live there and have lived there for many years.  On the other hand, some other cousins of Mrs Fluffy lived in the UK but they have recently departed for the USA. 

Someone told me that there are some villages or small towns near Darmstadt which have significant  Hungarian populations.  But I don't know how true that is.

Hi All, 

I am preparing a budget to live in Budapest...  According to what I could find online, the monthly food encompassing shopping at the market/cooking and once a week mid-priced restaurant for one person would come to approximately HUF 70,000 (I am including bottled water) and I do not drink alcohol, nor do I smoke or eat sweats...  Is this accurate? 
In addition, I gather that Utilities, with Wi-Fi and cell phone added would come to about HUF110,000 per month for a small studio or one bedroom in Budapest (for one person)... 
Gym about HUF 15,000 and clothing budget I figured for HUF 10,000 (really don't need anything; have ton of nice clothes from the U.S.) and transport (monthly pass for public transportation) HUF 10,000... Is this in the ballpark?

HUF 110,000 - Utilities plus Wi-Fi and cell phone
HUF  70,000 - Food bought at market/cooking + once/week mid-priced restaurant for one
HUF  10,000 - Monthly pass public transportation
HUF  15,000 - Gym
HUF  10,000 - Clothing

TOTAL: HUF 215,000

Am I leaving something out?

Thanks, Livia

Back in 1998 I worked with a young Hungarian man in a Vegas casino who was from Szekesfehervar.
Thought that was a tongue twister of a name and odd.
He had the most wicked , funny sense of humor ever, nice guy.
Very good games dealer too.
I have sense visited there many times , was even considering buy there instead of Budapest.
I like the place, reminds me a bit of where i grew up. Plus it's not too far away from the lakes.
There are so many really nice places in Hungary, Budapest is not the be all and end all.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Back in 1998 I worked with a young Hungarian man in a Vegas casino who was from Szekesfehervar....Thought that was a tongue twister of a name and odd.
....There are so many really nice places in Hungary, Budapest is not the be all and end all.

His name wasn't Mr Sarga gerber burgra gerber  was it?

I live effectively in the burbs of Budapest, so we have a villagey feel but we can get to town quickly enough (15 mins to Moscow Square on the BKV). No parking issues, plenty of open and green spaces, nice hills and good for kids.  I liked living in Budapest but I was actually in District II up on the hill overlooking Arpad.  Wasn't so easy in the winter but lovely view.  I don't think I'd like to live downtown nowadays - jammed up and noisy.

Exactly how we feel now, Budapest is too busy.
Since we don't work it might be nice to have a bit of land to grow some flowers and or get a dog.
I have a feeling I might just move back at some point to the US.'My sister keeps asking us to come live with her because she is alone and has a few extra rooms at her place. Guess since she is aging as we all are, the shared costs would be helpful to her.
I am not ready at all to be a roomie with my older sister but maybe in a few years time when we are "Golden Girls".She is leaving me her place if she checks out before me, not something I even want to think about, Can't see myself shoveling snow for 6 months a year.
She lives up in Minn. and I do not think that weather is for me, if I can talk her into a beach condo in FL. Maybe we can work something out!
I used to work with several Hungarian, Russian and others from the old Soviet block in casino's. Many dealers are Asian too, and most all have a degree in something from their home country but do gaming because the money was good and the work didn't require allot of schooling , just a quick wit, good counting skills and allot of patience with people.
Not everyone can do that job without jumping over the table and punching someone in the face, we all thought about doing that but don't.
Sometimes just changing the shuffle was enough to get even with a bad player... Smart players knew, make the dealer happy and you will also be happy.
My son, I doubt it is true but he swears when he was dealing roulette, he could control the ball falling within a few numbers.
If anyone beted a section he usually could have it come up.
totally illegal, he never did it to let anyone win, just helped them lose faster and go away.
The house will not say a thing if they are making money, on the other hand if a player is winning too much they do notice.
I was never that good at dealing roulette to know for sure if that was true, being able to control where the ball landed.
I know many times players TRY to upset the dealers so that they get angry and their hands tighten up, that also changes the outcome of a round.
After a bit one gets used to not listening or hearing the players, noise is a God send sometimes.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

.... noise is a God send sometimes.

I used to live on a main road in London with buses going past continuously.  It was really noisy but when I visited my parents (in the country) it was so quiet I couldn't sleep.  I was used to the rumble!

I woke up at 4am the other day because a dog was barking far away.  Otherwise  hereabouts you can hear a pin drop in the middle of the night.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I live effectively in the burbs of Budapest, so we have a villagey feel but we can get to town quickly enough (15 mins to Moscow Square on the BKV). No parking issues, plenty of open and green spaces, nice hills and good for kids.  I liked living in Budapest but I was actually in District II up on the hill overlooking Arpad.  Wasn't so easy in the winter but lovely view.  I don't think I'd like to live downtown nowadays - jammed up and noisy.

Which village? Also, I have asked before, but what is your experience with your neighbors? Are they friendly to expats? I am assuming that your children are well assimilated being Hungarian themselves. I like Budapest a lot, but I couldn't imagine living there is the Summer with so many tourists. I have stayed in a number of areas of Budapest and other towns in Hungary, from Szombathely to Debrecen. Some places, like Szekesfehervar seem a bit reminiscent of the Soviet era. Somehow it looks like those kinds of communities might be a little depressing to live in. Kind of run down and sad.

Chikagoan wrote:

.....Which village? Also, I have asked before, but what is your experience with your neighbors? Are they friendly to expats? I am assuming that your children are well assimilated being Hungarian themselves. I like Budapest a lot, but I couldn't imagine living there is the Summer with so many tourists. I have stayed in a number of areas of Budapest and other towns in Hungary, from Szombathely to Debrecen. Some places, like Szekesfehervar seem a bit reminiscent of the Soviet era. Somehow it looks like those kinds of communities might be a little depressing to live in. Kind of run down and sad.

You can see where I am on the marker just above my postings - Budakeszi.  Mrs Fluffy just pointed out that we lived in District III before.   That's older age for you - was a while ago.  Anyway, Budakeszi borders II and XII and so is serviced by the blue city buses.  I can walk to the border of Budapest in about 15 minutes.  Bit hilly but I like hills and I can use my MTB on the trails in the forests.

Our neighbours are all friendly.  We have a minor land boundary dispute with one of them but this is coming to a conclusion but the system is slow here - only taken 4 years to get there.   The very elderly neighbour who is in dispute with us has taken it very personally. But he's got a chunk of our land and we'd rather like to have it back.  The rest are all friendly and helpful although there are some odd ones. 

There are few different nationalities in the village.   We've got British, Dutch, Spanish, Polish, Ukranians etc people living here.  Being a foreigner here is not really an oddity.  And of course, our kids were born in Hungary, have Hungarian passports and attend school here so there's no assimilation really as they are natives.  Having kids is a real ice breaker - it's helped us get to know people via the school system.   

One could do worse than Budakeszi but for many younger people with kids, it's simply too expensive to live here (no idea why!) and they usually end up  moving to Biatorbagy or Telki as this is the only way they can get a house with a garden for the kids to play in.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Chikagoan wrote:

.....Which village? Also, I have asked before, but what is your experience with your neighbors? Are they friendly to expats? I am assuming that your children are well assimilated being Hungarian themselves. I like Budapest a lot, but I couldn't imagine living there is the Summer with so many tourists. I have stayed in a number of areas of Budapest and other towns in Hungary, from Szombathely to Debrecen. Some places, like Szekesfehervar seem a bit reminiscent of the Soviet era. Somehow it looks like those kinds of communities might be a little depressing to live in. Kind of run down and sad.

You can see where I am on the marker just above my postings - Budakeszi.  Mrs Fluffy just pointed out that we lived in District III before.   That's older age for you - was a while ago.  Anyway, Budakeszi borders II and XII and so is serviced by the blue city buses.  I can walk to the border of Budapest in about 15 minutes.  Bit hilly but I like hills and I can use my MTB on the trails in the forests.

Our neighbours are all friendly.  We have a minor land boundary dispute with one of them but this is coming to a conclusion but the system is slow here - only taken 4 years to get there.   The very elderly neighbour who is in dispute with us has taken it very personally. But he's got a chunk of our land and we'd rather like to have it back.  The rest are all friendly and helpful although there are some odd ones. 

There are few different nationalities in the village.   We've got British, Dutch, Spanish, Polish, Ukranians etc people living here.  Being a foreigner here is not really an oddity.  And of course, our kids were born in Hungary, have Hungarian passports and attend school here so there's no assimilation really as they are natives.  Having kids is a real ice breaker - it's helped us get to know people via the school system.   

One could do worse than Budakeszi but for many younger people with kids, it's simply too expensive to live here (no idea why!) and they usually end up  moving to Biatorbagy or Telki as this is the only way they can get a house with a garden for the kids to play in.

Thanks for the very informative post!  It must be pretty nice there, based on the Google maps photos. Why do the other expats live there; Spanish, Ukrainians, etc? Do they work in Budapest? Are some of them ethnic Hungarians from abroad?  Would 926,458.23 HUF monthly be sufficient for a reasonable lifestyle in a community like yours?
In any case I think a smaller city might be nice, like Szeged with its university. Are you able to take frequent trips to Vienna or Frankfurt for example? Maybe Croatia for the holidays?
Thank you as always

Also looks like Budakeszi was a Svab village at one point. Do Svabs still live there in any significance?

Chikagoan wrote:

...
Thanks for the very informative post!  It must be pretty nice there, based on the Google maps photos. Why do the other expats live there; Spanish, Ukrainians, etc? Do they work in Budapest? Are some of them ethnic Hungarians from abroad?  Would 926,458.23 HUF monthly be sufficient for a reasonable lifestyle in a community like yours?
In any case I think a smaller city might be nice, like Szeged with its university. Are you able to take frequent trips to Vienna or Frankfurt for example? Maybe Croatia for the holidays?
Thank you as always

Oh, with that kind of money, you're loaded.  People survive on far far less.  Assuming you have capital you could get some quite nice houses here.  There's a lot of building going on here.

I have no idea why the foreigners want to be here.  There aren't many of us anyway and it's hard to tell who is who.  Most commute to Budapest as far as I know.  Some people come here from District II and XII for the same reasons as others moving further out - having a garden for the kids.  We're not far from various schools - American, British, Jewish and other schools.  The population I suspect is of a higher educational level than some other districts - not being superior, just thinking of the higher incomes.

My own criteria was to live somewhere close to Budapest but wasn't too city like. We also want to have access to public transport, services, medical care and shops etc.  Basically I wanted to be able to walk places for the basics.  Not so bothered about the foreigners here - everyone I know speaks Hungarian (and many speak English and sometimes German).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                .

Chikagoan wrote:

Also looks like Budakeszi was a Svab village at one point. Do Svabs still live there in any significance?

Yes, the Schwabs are here but I have no idea how many. There are a lot of these villages here anyway.  Nearly all of them in this area.  But there's a German kindergarten and if you look at the town hall web site, it's got a much better write up in German than in English.

The term Schwab is a bit derogatory I was advised.  One of my neighbours speaks to me in German but I think that's just because he doesn't speak English.  Even the postman has started to speak to me in English sometimes and he must be about 70 but like I said I think people are well educated here.  Things are different here compared to when I first came in 1994 when German was more prevalent. The level of English has improved significantly and nearly all my younger generation in-laws speak English to a decent level.  Some of them are truly at ease in it and some of them speak German without accents as well.

I personally enjoy Hungary allot more when I avoid the winter months.
all this grey gets on my nerves.
Wasn't planning on staying here this winter but my upcoming surgery on my shoulder still has not been settled.
Thailand will have to wait...

I wonder if anyone here is doing a Thanksgiving dinner American style?
I think we will do some homemade pumpkin pies but that's about it.

Was hoping for snow in the city this week but looks like it isn't going to get that cold just yet.
What sort of outdoor activities are there to do when the weather is just grey, damp and gloomy.
I only find this time of year to be good for long walks.
Bike rides might be nice too.
Not cold enough to play in the snow but to icky to hang outdoors for long.
Playing pool and drinking in bars are not our thing.
Any tips on surviving the grey, damp and early dark nights?

As you can tell from my email I am from Chicago. It is often very cold here In the winter, sometimes very hot In Summer. Rather like Hungary, but I believe  Hungary is bit milder. How do expats feel about Hungarian weather?

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
Any tips on surviving the grey, damp and early dark nights?

Looks pretty miserable out there today.  It says on our thermometer 4C.  It's only 16h'ish and it's almost dark.  There are heavy rainy clouds over the hills.  I cannot even see Janoshegy from here today due to low cloud. 

I think these dark days are time for home and self improvement.  I can sort out all the junk I meant to sort out before.  I am finding the short days particularly difficult this winter as I have so much outside work to do around the house.  But there's always stuff to do inside, from trying out new recipes to painting walls.

Forecast says 12 C and sun (!) next Saturday!  Wow!  At that kind of temperature, it's going to be car repairs, dog house repairs or MTB'ing.

1st December it'll be the Xmas lights to put up - I spent 3h  repairing them all - an "amusing" job making up new versions from previously broken ones.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Any tips on surviving the grey, damp and early dark nights?

A bottle of wine.

fluffy2560 wrote:

But there's always stuff to do inside, from trying out new recipes to painting walls.

just curious: How do you deal with ventilation of paint fumes?

I am an old DIY renovator. But I am low tech. No fancy doohickies to heat exchange in and out air in the winter. So any and all indoor paint jobs stop in the fall and do not start again until the spring when I can open a window for at least 24 hours.