Demand, supply

Hate to think where these ducks are going..

Poultry processing became an important sector for the town's economy ever since the beginning of the 1900s. Such products are distributed all over Hungary as well as being exported to 35 countries.

Wish all of you Happy Sunday !

Taxis

Dusty floor due to lots of renovation works going on

Unlike the taxis at Edinburgh , ours are plain as can be. There are no regulations that say taxis must be of certain car model. The only standardisation are the stickers on the doors and the usual light box on the top. Hence, taxis here can be 4 wheel-drive or even station wagons.

I got to go do some shopping, read your postings later ..Enjoy your weekend :)

Convenient

Convenience stores such as this are converted from garage lots. They're small but packed with all kinds of household products . Best of all, they operate longer hours and even open on public holidays. So, if you sometimes have late night craving for a bag of chips or anything, you can always count on them ;) However, this particular one which sells alcoholic beverages/liquor do more harm than good !

People 3

Rehearsal for the up coming May 1st parade was going on for 2 hours yesterday evening. Naturally, a lot of people were watching the preparation on the streets. Me, I'm happy to get a stolen shot of this girl indulging in her cotton candy. Was wondering where she got it ? Miss the sweet stuff !

More about the actual parade on May 2nd :)

For artist wanabe

For students who dream to become performing artists, we have Mihály Horváth Secondory school which is well known for its drama faculty all over Hungary.
The school was built at the end of 19th century, specializing in languages and sciences while drama faculty was added later, a first in the country.
Though my wish is that they catch up in the area of languages, like I should in Hungarian ;)

New place to unwind

The latest landmark in town is this outlet call Chicago..yeah, I know! not very original :D . This will be the largest (not mega) entertainment outlet with restaurant/ café/ bowling/ billiard/ conference & Media room all under one roof. As you can see from the pic. that it's almost ready and due to open soon. I 'll give you an inside tour very soon :)

ps. no post yesterday 'cos blogger.com not working!

Nice day

*Hot spot by the river for sun bathing*

Looking out the window, seems like we'll have a promising sunny day! After breakfast, will walk to the river side (again!) to see if I can reserve that wooden plank all to myself ..would be nice to do some reading there :)

Enjoy your Sunday!

Morning walk

Its weekend, so just show you this nature shot. The past few days have been gloomy weather for us with occasional rain. It feels like late autumn which is not helping the flooded area of the neigbouring towns/countries! Oh sun, we need you to shine harder ,please ...

Local talents

Last year's championship in Szentes

Meet Csaba László/Anikó Német (couple in spot colour), our very own National Champion in Standard Dance (since 1999) and once International 10th placing in 1999.
Since young, they learn from a local dance teacher and continue to represent this local dance studio in National championchips. To broaden their horizons, they learn from Italian instructor abroad. Sadly, being a national champion doesn't guarantee sponsorships which makes it much more harder to afford learning abroad...

People 2

Done some spying and zooming (with good intention!) ..The lady was fixing the pot plant holder(see larger ) , getting it ready for her spring flowers, i guess :)
Slowly, am building up my guts to take photos of strangers on the streets and when doing they're daily activities.. to give you an idea of how life is here .

Air waves

Okay, the top photo has no connections with the topic. Just thought the fire hydrant is made beautiful with the matching tulips :)

Frankly, I've not tune in to the town's radio until this morning. Hmmm..the quality of the broadcast is not bad :) The station is about 10 years old and funded by the local council. The broadcast is 12 hours daily . Well , they play local and international music, have talks on lifestyles/films/dining/medical etc, just like any ohter radio station. I might listen to it more often :)

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I'd like to wish Mark of Atlanta a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY and many happy returns !

Flood

*sky yesterday, now is foggy outside*

You may have heard about the flooding of Danube, Tisza and other rivers all over Hungary/Romania/Belgrade. Luckily, our town, which is located at the bank of Tisza river, has not been affected by the flood; however, our neigbouring towns are not as fortunate.
Last Friday, additional 250 soldiers arrived at the town's barracks to assist the nearby communities and individuals affected by it. I'm happy to report that the situation is under control and hope all this will end soon.

Beautiful day

A beautiful day to be out and about as Easter's holiday continues today. I was at the river side trying to catch some shots of flowers, birds and bees..the usual subjects. While shooting on the ground, I couldn't helped but to take a grimp shot of this lovely couple (you 'll see them in larger view :D). They were taking photos of each other :)

You have a nice day !

Cultural Traditions - Easter

*Greek Orthodox Church*

In Hungary, Easter is celebrated on Sunday and Monday. Sunday is reserved for religious worship while Monday for cultural traditions. As my partner and I are not religious people, we intend to spend today with his family and at the same time perform the cultural part of the celebration. Upon arrival, the males will sprinkle perfume, cologne or water to females around them , in exchange for some coloured eggs or chocolate eggs.
If you want to know the reasons behind the tradition, see here :)


to those who celebrates Easter :-










HAPPY SUNDAY!

Happy hours

Let's treat ourselves to something ..anything for completing yet another week (almost) of city daily photo! *pat yourself on the back* Well, last night, I already had my treat at Galéria café for some very good live music! It's always a pleasure to listen to this band plays. Great music , lovely company, some wine , cappuccino , ice-cream dessert equal to a perfect evening for me :)

Enjoy your weekend !

Town's archive

Before entering Koszta Jószef Museum (went there Wed. afternoon), I imagine that I'll take lots of photos of significant pieces in the museum - Excited! ..forgetting the usual rule of no photo taking in museum (unless you pay) . I thought in a small museum this rule won't apply . Of course, that's wishful thinking!! I did managed to take a shot of a window on the inside while the exterior shot (below) was taken last week. All in all, an interesting experience and fortunately, they do have English titles for the paintings :)


Some info :-
The building you see is the recently restored County Hall which housed the precious museum pieces. The pieces include archaelogical findings, clothing of forefathers and human relics of bones . The collection is nationally acknowledged by the turn of the century

Greetings

One of the first things I learnt here is to greet , greet , greet!! There are many rules to greetings in Hungarian. Example, when we see our neighbour(s) or when entering a shop, there are 3 different ways to greet :-

... to someone younger than us (anytime of the day) - singular "Szia! {see-ya}" , plural "Sziasztok {see yas-tok}" basically means "Hello !"

... to someone older than us - "Jó reggelt! {yow raig-gailt}" , "Jó napot! {yow naw-pot}", which means "Good morning!" and "Good day! /Good afternoon!" respectively ..

...Then there's special greetings to women (with highest regard) - "csokolom {cho ko-lom}" ..usually to women elder than us .

I still often mixed-up the greetings and sometimes just say "Hello!" instead :). The funniest would be when you see a group of people (old,young,women altogether) infront of the apartment and you start greeting all 3 different greetings at once ..Phew !:D

What about your town/ city /Country ?

Change of plan

Our plan is to visit the Koszta Jószef Museum this morning. It turned out the museum is closed on Wednesday mornings (we have no details on opening hours) .. As always , we chose the wrong time *roll eyes* . Anyway, I took a shot of this fallen cherry blossoms just outside our apartment.

Home sweet home

The most common housing here is the service flat which existed since the 60s. Service flats are originally offered to soldiers in line with their services; that explains the dull design :D . One flat (2 bedrooms) will fetch between Euro 32k and Euro 40k. Of course, there are much fancier apartments available. Strangely, the prices are not much different.

Next, the landed properties (1 floor terrace) - cost just slightly higher approx. from Euro 48k but would require major renovation works. Such type of housing are popular among foreigners looking to retire here.

Finally, we are not free from ghetto areas. These areas are "gated" and hidden from the outside world. Inside , you'll see small shelters built near to each other. I don't know if theres any future plans for such areas. Hopefully, the town will relocate the residents to area with better infrastructures.

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The internet speed is darn slow !!! :SSS couple of comments i made keep freezing. Will read your posts later :)

Blogger .com problem

I can't seem to upload photo and blogger.com working very slow over here. Hope to be able to make a post later of the day :)

May the best win !

*Imre Szirbik , theTown Mayor*

Just thought this campaign poster is positioned in a rather distracting background , however, very well colour co-ordinated :D . The G Election just ended on Sunday with no majority win in some places..well, more election's campaigning in the next 2 weeks before the second round of balloting :s

The sky above me 3

Okay, this is how the moon looks like in Szentes..haha :D No topic for today seeing that it's a Sunday (mind blank :s) My first shot of the moon ,actually,not the best but am very happy ..woohoo !! wish you all Happy Sunday !

The sky above me 2

*The sky above me, Friday evening *

Tomorrow, Sunday is the General Election day for Hungary. So, the opposition party use this final opportunity to hold a concert/speech yesterday evening ;hence the closing of some roads.

ps. my turn to cook lunch today, read your posts later ;) Enjoy your weekend !

Simple amusement

*running up and down the bridge at park*taken discreetly*

*enjoying the swing* i made a little hand gesture pointing at my camera and the boy immediately stands on the swing to pose for me :)

As you can tell by now, life here is pretty quiet and simple. For the kids, they have no Ronald McDonald's play house, no video arcades (not counting internet cafés) ..which is great as they engage in much more outdoor activities. Each flat/apartment is provided with a play ground (2nd pic) , other than that we have playing fields, a small theme pool ..just very simple facilities :)

Where to go for flicks ?

If you're don't mind watching Hollywood/Europe latest releases a few months late, then the town's cinema is a nice place to get some entertainment :)

The cinema though small, offers comfortable seating (recently renewed) ; so, don't be "turned off" by the exterior. It also shows wide ranges of movies, I've even watched one of Wong_Kar_Wai artsy films here ;) . Oh..one very important reminder :- the cinema will not show the movie if less than 4 tickets sold! Would be wise to ask some friends to tag along or you can choose to pay for extra tickets to make up the shortage :D

However, one major dissapointment for me is that most blockbusters are dubbed into Hungarian. Animated films are definitely dubbed for the children. Not even subtitled :( Again, another reason for me to learn the language fast!!

Eating competition

Meet Szentes' well fed pigeons :) Once in a while, it's nice to stop and peep at them in action. I have no idea who fed them those bread crumbs, the pigeons don't care either, they were busy racing each other to see who finish first (I think).

Simple pleasure

I don't buy local magazines as I couldn't read Hungarian (yet!). Still, I love to cruise through the colourful magazine pages to get updated with trends, etc. The best placeto do so, of course, is at the town's library. You may see the exterior here (yup, that's me in the photo).

The extensive display you see above is renewed every month . Mostly elders visit the library in the morning to read the local dailies. It's also good place to enjoy the morning sun through those windows :)

Old time charm

Ice-cream craze has hit the town ! Since the queue at THE popular ice-cream parlour was too long, we decided to check out this café . Great ! No queue at all ! ....no wonder , 'cos they are selling "Walls" ice-cream and not those flavour- of- your-choice type, any name for that?

Some intro. of the café :- Petöfi Café/Confectionery . I've never set foot in the shop although I've tasted their delightful cakes before. They offer a varieties of freshly baked cakes. Well, I just love the old-school atmosphere (41 years old) . Will definitely be visiting more of this place :)

The sky above me

I leave you with these two shots, taken yesterday at dawn (top) and evening. I was designated to cook lunch for today and I forgot to defrost the meat last night *panicking* got to go prepare early ..will read your posts later ;)

Enjoy your weekend :) and HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S day !!