Monthly Archives: March 2008

 Our building has added two new machines. We have the usual coke, candy and coffee machines.  I’ll say more on coffee later.  What was added is taking the food machine to an entirely new level as far as I am concerned. We have added a french fry machine and a fresh orange juice maker.  Zsuzsa & I were interested in trying out this new technology.  I’d call the french fry machine a failure in taste but of some technical interest. Put in your ft280($1.63) or ft300 ($1.76) for your choice of ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise on your fries. First a little light comes on and warns you that any change due will come out at the end of the process. (This fry machine works in your choice of any of 4 different languages.) Next a small sealed cardboard box slides down a chute on the left inside of the machine. In the box are a neatly flolded napkin and a plastic fork that is just a little bigger than a toothpick. This gives you something to open and play with while you wait. It seemed like heating french fries takes quite a while, at least one or maybe two full minutes. My french fries were mechanically placed, not tossed or slid, in a little paper bucket which I removed from a door, different from the chute that the napkin came down. My fries were extremely HOT. The only problem was no salt and no taste so they weren’t particularly good fries but they were VERY HOT and my change then tumbled down the money slot. I suppose taste is partially my fault.  I’m not a big ketchup fan so I probably should have paid the extra ft20 and tryed mustard or mayoinaise fries.  I think a good fry will taste good in the nude or with a little salt. 

The really great machine is the fresh orange juice machine. You watch an orange drop and get sliced by a sharp blade and it is instantly cut in half and two cupped circles hold the orange halves and then turn them over and stomp on them. This process is repeated three times I think. The last orange that drops isn’t yours. It is caught by the two cups and sits poised ready to be sliced by the blade for the next customer. The juice is good and just the right amount of pulpy for me.

This machine definitely deserves to be located in a technical university and perhaps the Vending Machine Hall of Fame. Cost for a glass of fresh orange juice is ft290 ($1.70) at the time of this writing.  Our dollar is sinking daily.  

Yesterday in my Intermediate Communications class the lesson suggested that the students give a little speech to their former secondary school class suggesting why the high school students should or should not consider attending this university. I had absolutely NO IDEA what to expect. I don’t know if our students love it or hate it here. One student mentioned that there are lots of pubs around the university and you can have a good time. I doubt that you would actually mention this in a speech to your secondary school but that was the sort of thing that I might have expected a student to comment on to younger students. I must have gotten a worried look on my face when two of the students said: “BME is the best university to go to because we have our own nuclear reactor for students to practice with, on campus.” I think the third student to mention the nuclear reactor must have looked at my increasingly worried face because he said: “The students don’t really use any materials that are actually nuclear; it’s just for practice.” I think I need to make further inquiries.

Things always go so much better when Zsuzsa leads the tour. Last Sunday she took me to Margaret Island.

I’ve just finished reading the history of King Bela IV 1235-1270. The tourist story goes like this: Hungary was attacked by the Mongols and King Bela promised God if Hungary was saved he would sacrifice his daughter to God. According to the history I just read Bela actually lost the war. Europe was saved because the head Mongol took his Mongol Hordes and went home. There was a death in the family and he needed to make sure he didn’t lose his place in the line of succession. The outcome was King Bela sent his 4 year old daughter to the nuns and eventually built her, her very own convent on the island in the middle of the Danube. She died at the age of 29 after leading a chaste, contemplative life, and refusing to allow her father to call the whole thing off and use her for some marriage diplomacy. Dying young in a convent reminds me of Galileo’s Daughter. For her sacrifice she was made a saint and got an island named after her. Not a bad deal really.

Because the temperature Sunday was almost 60 degrees after the previous miserable weekend, Margaret’s Island was a phenomena. The island was invaded by hordes of Hungarians enjoying the beautiful weather.

There is a Centenary Monument commemorating the joining of Buda, Obuda and Pest. Other highlights are ancient monastery ruins, a water tower in the middle of an outdoor theater and two fancy hotels. They are really proud of the swimming pool which was built by Alfred Hajos an 1896 Olympic swimmer. I understand the Pan-European games are held there but my swimmer sister will have to weigh in on whether is a suitable 21^st century facility. I didn’t get close enough to get pictures.

The island reminds me of a giant Manito Park with a rose garden, Japanese Garden and small zoo. There is something for everyone and there were LOTS of people. They have a bike track around the island and I understand they will run you over if you get in their way.

We walked the length of the island, went over the bridge and looked at Obuda which is the oldest part of Budapest but was ruined by the “socialist.” I’ve been told not to call them Communist. It is a little confusing because the Socialist party is part of the government now. How about the Russian influenced Socialist. Politics is even more confusing because the present Socialist Party is busy trying to sell off the public companies and trying to privatize health care. By the way the companies for sale are the electric power company and the Post Office both of which are making lots of money. 

We ended with great dinner at a Turkish cafeteria and a beer at an historic pub. I took the No. 6 tram home and it never strayed from the route but I would swear it was NOT the same route it took Saturday.  Very short slide show.