Budapest, Hungary Dec. 16-18+1 extra day

When I was at UBC, together with my friends Akiko and Hyesong, I sang a few pieces by Bartok Bela. I would have loved to hear some real Bartok in Hungary, but the weekend we spent in Budapest turned out to be a rather quiet one in terms of Hungarian music. So we decided to go see the Nutcracker at the National Opera House, as we were staying only two minutes away from the venue. We grabbed one of the last remaining seats for about €30, which turned out to be the golden tickets. We really lucked out and got seated in the first row in a balcony facing the stage straight. The colours, the sounds, the movements, and the muscles! It was all beautiful and dreamlike.

Budapest has so much to offer. I truly regret that I did not research enough before we visited. Using a couple of free maps we were given somewhere, we gathered that visiting the Castle area would not be a bad idea for beginners. Got on the tram, left the Pest side and went to the Buda side across the Danube river where the castle stands, we climbed up a couple of steep staircases, and voila. We were welcomed by a superb view of the Matthias Church, a neo-gothic style architecture with colourful roof tiles (dusted with snow). It is also called the Coronation Church, and the coronation of the Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austro-Hungarian Empire took place there in 1867. Prior to that in the 16th century, the church was once transformed into a mosque by the Turks, and then back to Christian church. We believe that the circular stairs that is attached to one of the pillars near the front right is a minbar, where the Imam delivered his sermons.

Despite the bitterly cold winds, Nathan from Regina was up for some more walk outside. We wandered around the Palace, then down the hill towards the Danube, and walked across the chain bridge. This is the exact weekend when the entire Europe was hit by a winter storm and millions of travelers were stranded. Without knowing we would become one of the victims the following day, happy winter travelers experienced an outside thermal spa Széchenyi Bath. Yes, it is just like onsen in Japan, but with white Romanesque statues and fountains spitting out somewhat hot waters out. It is a medicinal bath, and is said to help various gastric disorders. Apparently, the water of the drinking well contains a substantial amount of fluoride, alkalises, and calcium, magnesium, hydro-carbonate, chloride and sulphate. Mmm, it tastes yummy!?

No mention of Chana on this trip because we left her in Grenoble with another Canadian mathematician who also loves cocker spaniel. We are happily reunited, enjoying the winter holiday.

Veszprém, Hungary Dec. 12-15

My friend Mio and I traveled quite a bit in Europe. In 1998, we backpacked throughout western Europe for one month, and two years later we were on a short bus tour to see a bit of eastern Europe. I now realize that since then I had not been expanding my travel map until this past week. Nathan had a conference in Veszprém, Hungary, so here we went, to wintry Hungry!

The city of Veszprém is the 16th largest city in Hungary, with a population of 64,000 people. Historically rich, I believe the city is full of visitors in warmer seasons. Most of the museums and galleries were closed for the year. I spent a day to explore the castle district, with an organ concert at Szent Mihaly (St. Michael's) cathedral for the finale.

On the following day, I attended a one-day porcelain painting course held at Herend Porcelain Manufactory. It turned out that I was the only participant of the day, so I had the full attention from the master painter who has worked there for 26 years since she was 14 years old. The course even included a half an hour guided tour, where the artists demonstrated their work from shaping to painting, just for me!! Incredible amount of time and energy is spent on each product, and you understand why it is so expensive. I painted a 15 cm plate, with a pattern called "Vieille Rose de Herend." You mix glass powder and serpentine oil until the desired consistency. The colour of the glass powder is determined by what type of mineral is inside. The purple we used have gold in it, so it is very pricey. Of course, the instructor did not let me do the mixing. You can also see that the finished colour is not purple but pink. This occurs during the firing process. I truly enjoyed this experience and if I had another chance to go back, I would visit Herend again.For the third day in Veszprém, I pulled a hikikomori and stayed in the hotel room. Believe me, it was cold, and the hotel we stayed at was so lovely and comfortable. Hungary, though a member of EU, still uses its own currency called forint. When we were there, 1000 forint was equivalent of $5CDN, and we were able to have a set menu (soup, pasta, and dessert) for that amount of money. The average monthly salary in Hungary is €340, which is 1/4 of that of France. So we were able to stay at a four star hotel, and reading a book in the cozy hotel room was priceless!

Tartiflette & Giada's Lasagna Rolls

I have been cooking fair amount of Indian and Iranian food thanks to Canada, and now France has opened a door to the Maghreb for me. I have yet to master Tabouli, and I have to challenge Tajine. However, before I take a big dive into the Maghrebian cuisine, I have been doing more conservative cooking. One French dish we did recently is called Tartiflette; very rich but very simple. It calls for boiled potatoes, lardon (similar to bacon), onion, fresh cream, and one entire Reblochon cheese. I only used half of reblochon, but it was still rich and flavourful. As you can see in the photo, two hunks of cheese is put on top which melts all the way down and gives off all the yumminess into the potatoes. I served it with a fillet of sea bream and green beans. Yum.

Nathan's request last week was Lasagna. I decided to make Giada's Lasagna Rolls. What a great idea to roll the cheese fillings in the noodles! Well, my plan got trashed as I could not find the lasagna noodles that were long enough. I have to check other stores, but the ones we got from Carrefour were much shorter and wider. I also could not find mozzarella cheese... I was in the "other than France" cheese section and found Ricotta, which I needed, and bocconcini (fresh mozza), mascarpone, etc, but not a sight of mozza! I used emmental cheese instead, and worked just fine.

The lasagna turned out great, and I will definitely do it again. BUT, it was missing Jason's dad's pepper! The key to my tomato sauce, it was. We miss you Jason, although you would not have liked this lasagna as it had bechamel sauce in it :P.

Immigration and integration

I attended an obligatory one-day seminar sponsored by OFII (Office Francais de l'Immigration et d'Integration) to learn about "Life in France." There were 12 attendants: a Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Thai, Pakistani, 6 Turkish, and myself, of which one person was a male.

The purpose of this orientation is to accelerate the integration process, and a strong emphasis was placed on acquiring the language and respecting the French values: Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (liberty, equality, and fraternity). I guess the government has decided that the concept and the definition of fraternity is rather complicated for the newcomers to comprehend. So instead of fraternité, they employ the concept of Laïcité (secularization) and Soliderité (solidarity). Oh yeah, they made it really easy to understand.

Besides learning about the responsibility as a resident in France, various kinds of practical information and available resources on job, school, health, and citizenship was given, which underlined the fact that France is truly a social state. The number of public services is enormous. For example, I learned that we could have requested to rent kitchen equipment from CAF (Caisse Allocation Familiale) who provides housing support and child support. The CAF is not only for the socially unprivileged but it is for everyone. Being a single income household, we may get some housing support from them as well.

I have two more obligations to complete before I get to renew my carte de sejour next year: another one-day orientation to learn about the French Republic, and 105 hours of French course. What have I to complain? This is a pretty good way to get one's life started in France! Canada also provides free language classes to immigrants, but they should also offer orientations on life in Canada. Integration should not have any conflict with the concept of multiculturalism, right?

Rations

Every winter, my mom and dad would send us a box of food from Japan around this time of the year. However, it was a big surprise to receive it this morning, as my mom had just sent it a week ago. In Japan there is a service called SAL (surface air lifted), which is much cheaper than shipping by air but much faster than by surface. When we were in Ontario, I would wait around three weeks to receive the box, which gets transported by train from Vancouver.

I do not cook much Japanese food as buying ingredients for it was ridiculously expensive in Ontario. So "the flavour of Japan" in our households solely depends on this box. We usually get soba, udon, and mochi. This time, as I complained how expensive the soya sauce was at a nearby Carrefour, my mom also sent me two bottles of it. And of course, more than enough amount of anko and yokan, Nathan's favourite. The supply lasts for quite a long time, as I am so stingy.

Nathan and I are both happy eaters, and we love to eat what is in the season and most importantly what is available in the area. Our new gas stove and gas oven!! is serving us great. My quiche (lardon, spinach, cauliflower, and brebis---sheep milk cheese) turned out great, and so did Shepherd's Pie---or I should start calling it Hachis parmentier.

Snowy Grenoble

Grenoble had its first snow fall of this winter on November 26th. Most of the ski hills in the area are now open, and we can reach some of them by just taking the tram and bus for 40 minutes. I cannot wait to go check it out.

As a true Japa-nadian, I got excited with the snow. After my French test that I had to write for the immigration purpose, I rushed home and took Chana to the Bastille. The view was gorgeous, but I forgot that the snow melts. Chana came back covered in mud and bur. Luckily, now we have a bathtub to bathe her.

My life here is very close to the one I enjoyed in Vancouver. It does not have the ocean, but now I have the view of the Isere river from our apartment. I am constantly charged with what Japanese calls "minus ion" which was recently renamed as "negative air ionization" with a bit more research done. Anyway, being close to a body of water with current is essential for human happiness.

As we welcomed the 1st of December, we got more snow over night. This time the city is really covered in snow! Here is a shot of my first snow man in Grenoble, standing on the ledge of one of our balconies, with tears in his eyes as his buddy just jumped, or slipped...