February 27, 2011: A movie at West End

February 27, 2011: The past week has been rather nominal so there is nothing particular to report. However, I have started to observe significant reluctance on the part of four classes in particular to do any work at all. Lessons that I have taught to other same level classes where the students seemed engaged and interested in what I was doing didn't impress these students who continued to show no interest in anything I was doing. At this point, there is not much time left in the school year for me to impress on them the importance of learning English -- after all, starting next year all their classes will be conducted in English only so they must "conquer" the language this year. Nevertheless I will persevere with those students who are motivated so that I can end my year teaching in Hungary on a positive note.

Yesterday I was invited to a colleague's apartment for dinner. His parents had sent him some specially prepared sausage from a village close to his hometown so he prepared these for dinner last night. The sausages were the meat of a pig indigenous to his hometown area and they made mighty good tasting sausages! He also served mashed potatoes and pickles so there was a nice balance to the meal. On the way to his house, I got a picture of two bicyclists who were advertising for a mini supermarket on their bicycles. (Since I was on the bus when I took this picture, only one of the bicyclists is visible as we drove by.)

Today I decided to take in another movie in English. Since my students tell me all the time about West End Shopping Center, I decided to go there to see the movie. The shopping center is enormous! There are five floors and there are several wings to the shopping mall so you can imagine how immense the place is. There were many clothing shops trying to lure shoppers in with prices such as 20,000 HUF (~$100) for a shirt or pair of shoes. I can't imagine who has that kind of money to spend on clothing in Hungary, certainly not the teachers who earn so little! Over all, the quality of the shopping center was not quite as upscale as the shopping centers I've visited in Buda. There just seems to be a different feel to the shops and the clientele at them between Buda and Pest.

West End Shopping Center

The movie theater was similar to other movie theaters in Hungary and the US. The movie I saw was "New York, I Love You" since it seemed to have a cast of thousands. The movie had no story line per se, but rather a number of vignettes of couples and their interactions with each other. The movie was entertaining, but no Oscar winner for sure, although the acting was good.

Palace Theater at West End

After the movie I returned home to prepare the next few nights' dinners -- beef stroganoff.


Meanwhile, plans for my trip home in June are materializing. I've prepared a tentative schedule: Budapest to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Siem Reap, Cambodia to Seoul, Korea to Beijing, China to Shanghai, China to Los Angeles. It will be great to see all my longtime friends again in Malaysia, Korea, and China as I travel home. I also reconnected with old friends that I had when I lived in Korea in 19776, an English couple who now live in London. I was pleased to receive an e-mail from them inviting me to visit them, so I may do that, too before I begin my trip home. This will make for a busy spring since I'm also planning on going to some cities in Hungary before I leave.