Hungarian meeting / magyar talalkozo

Szoval a magyara talalkozo augusztus 15en talan a legjobban sikerult magyar talalkozo volt itt Szingapurban. Sokan is jottek el, kellemes is volt a hangulat. A Botanikus kertben talalhato allandoan kihalo es ujraultetett magyar fanal volt a talalkozo, melynek sajatossaga volt, hogy Schmitt Pal, illetve az egesz magyar delegacio hivatalos volt egy tiszteletlatogatasra. Miutan most zajlik a vilag elos diak Olimpiaja kicsiny varosunkban.

So last week, on Sunday the Hungarian meeting was held in the Botanical Garden, and I have to say probably this was the most successful get together for a long time. Lot of people came, unfortunately the Biggest Hungarian Mike couldnt join me as he had work to be at.
The specialty might have been the honey for the bees, the new President of teh country was invited with the Olympic games delegation. Among thise people there was Krisztina egerszegi, who is an icon from my childhood as she was a great swimmer, winning on 3 Olympics in a row.



Nem vagyok a Koztarsosagi elnokunk nagy hive, de Egerszegi Krisztinaval nagyon szivesen talalkoztam, igy gondolkodas nelkul el is mentem a vasarnapi kis osszejovetelre. Mindenkinek kell ilyenkor harapnivalot vagy valami etket vinnie a piknikre, meg a kovetseg is megeroltetett par uveg magyar bort! :)
Mindig ostorlom a kovetseget, de hat...



Szoval kis eso, kis kenyelmetlen aldogalas, de kepesek voltunk majd 3 orat eltolteni szeretett "magyarsagban" - Mike a legnagyobb magyarunk sajnos nem johetett miutan munkaja akadt, bar sokan kerestek. :)

Ime a kep, amiert mentem :)
Well here is the picture with Krisztina!!! :)



Egerszegirol korabrol:
Some details:

-2 Olimpian vett reszt, 1988, 1992 es 1996
-5 arany medal!

-3 Olympics 1988, 1992, 1996
- 5 golden medals from the 3 Olympics







Par hete elkapott a hev, hogy vegre megtanuljak Indiai konyha nyelven fozni es ne csak imitaljam, ez a tudomany viszont a fuszereken alapul, melyeket a magyar konyha hirbol sem ismer, igy az interneten kellett megamba szivni a tudomanyt, majd a jegyzeteimmel bevetettem magamat Musztafaba, mely az itteni indiai fozes/let alappillere, 24h-as ultra mega nagy bevasarlo hely. Nem is lepett meg, hogy mindent megtalaltam a fuszer szekcio alatt, es hogy kincseim kelloen tisztan, elkulonitve es gondosan el legyenek rakva, bedobozoltam oket.

Couple of weeks I decided to learn how to cook India meals, not just pretanding that I know, so as I wasn't to sure what are the little tricks, as I know the bigger ones, I googled all the information, had some notes and then run into the biggest empire of Indian cooking/living - Mustafa.
Wasn't a surprise that I found everything I was just looking for under one roof and to keep them nice and separate I boxed them up which pleased Mike so much, he had to take some pictures :)

Singapore in August

Dear All,

Well let's talk about Singapore, we gotta acknowledge the fact that Singapore is a piping hot place to be in 2010. The country can boast about the following:



-Singapore's a Garden City, literally.

Amid the concrete jungle we call home, but the most common impression left visitors to Singapore concerns the rows of trees that line roads everywhere, from expressways to suburban streets.

-Singapore is the world's easiest place to do business

Economy 2010 Rank 2009 Rank
Singapore 1 1
New Zealand 2 2
Hong Kong, China3 3
United States 4 4
United Kingdom 5 6
Denmark 6 5
Ireland 7 7
Canada 8 8
Australia 9 9
Norway 10 10

Source: Doing Business 2010 Report, World Bank

-Singapore is the world leader in foreign trade and investment
-Singapore is ranked first for having the most open economy for international trade and investment
-Singapore is ranked the most competitive country in the world
-Singapore is the best business environment in Asia Pacific and worldwide
-Singapore is Asia's most "network ready" country
-Singapore is ranked 4th in the world and 1st in Asia for having the least corruption in its economy
-Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. He led Singapore to independence in 1965 and served as its first Prime Minister for 31 years, setting the record as the world's longest-serving Prime Minister. He's the architect of Singapore's present prosperity, laying a foundation of nation-building which has taken Singapore from a sleepy little island to one of Asia's most developed states, despite its small population, limited space and lack of natural resources.

(literely they mean it, there is no land to fool around with)

-English that no one else understands

It's the unofficial 'first language' of most Singaporeans and one that would bewilder the remaining English-speaking world. Singlish is the creole of choice for citizens, cobbled together from various influences including Queen's English, Bahasa Melayu, Tamil, dialects such as Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Bengali, Punjabi and even a smattering of various other European, Indic and Sinitic languages. Word of warning -- if you don't know it, don't try it. It'll make you sound sillier than we already do. Eh, dun pray pray ah …

-The best Airport in the World...

Should I list more, but I tell you one thing though, I am sure I will never ever list "chili crab" as the best food option in town, as many say. There isn't one favorite for me, but surely chili crab will never make it NEITHER DURIAN!!!!!
DURIAN NEEEEEVER.

i can't wait to see my parents' face when I first "introduce" them to the local Devil. :)

BTW I am very happy to share that in the near future Margaret, Mike's sister is going to visit us first time on the tiny Lion-Fish city.
And shortly after that my parents are coming to stay with us for 3 loong weeks.

I am already very excited as we will hold their hands and "walk" them through the fusion of "coming to Asia"!!! It is going to be a city "rediscovering" for us as well, explaining all the knowledge and earned details from the past 2 years...

With my parents we plan to have 1 week here and then 1 week on the wonderful island of Bali and then 1 more week back here in Singapore.

This time will be precious as our X-mas Hungary visit is greatly in danger, although I am desperate to see my family as 2010 is absolutely the most successful baby boom year of my family's history, both of my sisters will be new moms by the end of the year, one with the 3rd one, the other with the first one.
Andrew and Adam should meet us!!!!

So about Singapore, this boasting parade was advancing the base to explain that Singapore just celebrated its 45th birthday. And the city likes to celebrate... we got everything you can possibly imagine, first of all a day off (although I still worked and actually Mike too) anyway

...just a story came to my mind that Mike had a lovely Spanish couple in his class for couple of weeks and you know Spanish, they make friends withing seconds and they are usually everybody's favorites, so it wasn't different this time either. On the last day they went out to have some drinks and I joined in later on that night, of course the "ice-breaking" with Maria took about 3 seconds... as being expected
And it was funny because as Mike and I explained our daily routine and life-style blabla...
They were just looking, vaguely confused when Mike and I asked... what?
... answer: you guys work a looooot

Well everybody knows how Spanish standards are but still... nobody can call us lazy folks that is for sure. Nowadays at work I am busier than a desert cobra at a mongoose convention.
Definitely I need to find a fine balance between work and life, hasn't found it yet... when was the last time I sent a letter to you???

You see? Told ya'

I guess the constant stress is the one killing me the most, if I continue with my recently developed life-style I am sure I will turn gray at age of 30, and I am going to be 27 in December.

My hobbies are the same, actually one thing is cool I took the reins regarding Mike's daily food. As I want him to live 150 years at least and play succor with his great great great grandchildren, so I figured he could eat better for somewhat less than main mall-packed road of the city, just I need to cook his lunch and prepare his breakfast...
Well knowing that I LOVE to cook it is really not a big deal. Last night we came home at 11pmish and I started to cook when he came into the kitchen saying "Dear you really don't need to do this now"

I first did not want to stop my work (wasn't the first time cooking lunch after 11pm) but I thought to myself "ok let's not push it maybe he just wants to have a break from my cooking... so sadly I finished what I was doing..." and then I realized it is almost as important to me as to fulfill the main goal which is having him eating well.

BTW he had Subway for lunch instead...

I always think, what I should do to engage myself with healthy eating and make a living out of it. No, I don't want to be a chef, nor a food specialist... dunno, I guess as it is now, it will remain a hobby till my beloved Jamie Oliver finds me and turns on the light.
Thanks for the Cajun package! :)

Well I guess I am not as organized this time rather brain dump all the things here, talking about life and small things... I guess that's fine, because really life is about everydays.







BTW today I was lucky enough to run down to the street and see the Youth Olympics games' torch running in front of the offices! It was definitely cool, such an event brings people together, we all greeted the fire of the torch, smiled, clapped and being proud that we are hosting the first Youth Olympics in Singapore.

Next week we try to get tickets to see some of the tournaments.

This Sunday the Hungarian President is coming to town to participate on the opening ceremony and after that he invited all the diaspora Hungarians to meet him on a casual get together. So I guess if you ask me what I am going to do on Sunday at 11am, I guess I will be sipping champagne and wine with the Hungarian President! :)

That's him:

Gorgeous Spain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn8zSTwQNoQ&feature=related

I gotta feelin'..., I gotta feelin'...

... the people who know me are aware of the fact that I am in love with 1 specific European country, don't get me wrong, I in LOVE with Europe generally speaking and being a lucky gal I could visit 81.5% of the EU countries so I think I can honestly declare that...

So anyway about this 1 specific country... something hit me yesterday and I can not stop thinking of it... I wanna live in Spain!

It is sort of a thing that you think of it and you like it gradually even more as being the perfect idea.

So people I guess that is our long term goal, don't get too excited we will stay in Singapore for another 2-3 years maybe, especially if Mike can enroll into one of the universities in town, but in 5-10 years time... definitely I will be aiming to get us there, meanwhile the horrible economical situation might clear up there, I hope. It is plenty of time for us to learn Spanish as there is no other way to get around in Spain!!!

So maybe I am just day-dreaming now, but feels good - and you know I LOVE SPAIN!

Crazy / Orulet

1 minute ago my colleague from the Philippines came up from lunch saying, hey I have something for you guys, and she pulled out a pack of gums...

Knowing that it is basically illegal here I asked how did she have any?!
She said, well i went into the pharmacy and I showed my passport and Singaporean ID and then I could buy some!!!!!!

Crazy, you need your passport to but chewing gums!!!!!!!!!

Bitter - or it is just the truth!

Last night while having our light dinner we turned on the TV (we watch TV for approx. 1h/week or less)so there is this show on the travel-cooking channel which is Mike's recent favorite.

The guy is an American football player and his show is about traveling around the world and trying himself out in other countries' sports. (UK fox hunting, Thailand boxing etc)

Last night he had his show in SG, so Mike was all excited, the football player tried "dragon boating" as one of the only traditional sports here in town (it came from the Chinese anyway) so the reason I am telling this because there was a seen where this American guy is interviewing/asking some basic questions about the sport from a local young team member.

I was laughing so hard because the show editors subtitled his English answer!!!!!!!!
Singaporean English is so horrible that a native speaker thought it'd be useful to add a subtitle, just in case.... embarrassing indeed!

We can't argue with it Singlish is damn ugly!
Here is an example:

What is it? It is a bread made flour, but there is no sugar in it, so it isn't sweet.
Singlish translation:

This (is) wha(t)? It's a bre' made of fla', no sugaaar, noo't swee...(t). Can Can!

And their Chinese is just as "good"! Imagine living your life without speaking at least 1 language well, fluently!!! and they don't even acknowledge it...

Mike made some business related calls and when he said "this is an English teaching bla....bla...bla" the Singaporean answered: No need, we hire only Singaporeans.
Mike didn't comment on it just continued with his speech....

hahahah

Singapore in "winter" and summer / Szingapur "telen" nyaron

These images are from our bedroom window, nowadays the weather is pretty funny, 1 day sun and beautiful weather the next day is sever storm, rain and gloomy gray sky...?

Ezeket a kepeket az ablakunkbol keszitettem, manapsag az idojaras igen szeszelyes, egy nap szikrazo napsutes, kaprazatos jo ido, masnap eso, vihar es depressziv szurkeseg...?