Guest Blogger - Balazs Losonczy

The poll hasn't quite closed yet but it looks like Balazs is going to win by a landslide. Balazs is my coworker whom you've read a bit about - he is one of the funniest people I have ever met. And if he is so funny in English, I can only imagine what he is like in Hungarian. Friends, meet Balazs. Balazs, friends. Enjoy!


I wish I could be a candidate for being the next U.S. president with this 77%. :-)

The reason why it took me so much time to post an article in the blog was up to my shyness and the heavy workload we have to cope with here at GTS...

Well I think in my first note I would go back to the corruption in the health system in Hungary...I have just seen on TV that there is a heavy discussion going on about the State being part of National Health Care system in the U.S. and due to our experiences here in Hungary and probably in Central Europe as well I would not suggest it at all however I have to say it is not as bad as it was written down through Adrienn's experiences [doctors told Adrienn’s family that they would have to amputate her father’s leg following a skiing accident. However, after the family gave the doctors a large sum of money, the amputation was no longer necessary]. It is true that a huge sum of our salary goes to the State as a health contribution and unfortunately we do not receive too much in return but still the quality makes some progress. The main problem with this system is that we do not have a chance to step out of it since the contribution is deducted automatically and most of the people who can afford it go to private clinics in case of need and pay the bill instead of giving "halapenz" to the doctors. Of course just like anything else this has some advantages.

From my personal experiences I can tell you how I survived the mandatory military service that used be a one year service with basically no salary and one year out of job for doing nothing (it is not like the Marine Corps). After all my university papers expired someone suggested to me to go to a psychologist and pretend to be someone who has panic being in a community...(this is absolutely not me)...As there was no other option I went to the doctor and at the first visit I had to go though a one hour chat with nurses and doctors where they wanted to collect evidences about my illness. It was really horrible to answer questions like these:

How do you feel getting on a bus or on the subway?
How do you make contact with a girl when you want to have a date with her? How often do you have sex? Of course I did not even know this word....
What do the others think of you at the work place..?

and so on...

After this one hour I was completely convinced about the need of "halapenz" and whenever I had to go back for further check-ups I "contributed" the doctors to avoid similar situations...

OK: How are you? - I was the witness of this conversation between Alex and Geza and have to admit it is partly true [the June entry titled Happiness is Not a Fish You Can Catch]. This is something that is very often discussed in an international environment in Hungary. When you ask this question to a Hungarian guy it might be the start of series of complaints, however I would not definitely link it with "Hungarians being so negative" - it is just up to the different cultures. It is true that most of us do not even try to see the bright sides of things but somehow this formal way of general daily contact is missing from our culture. That is why it is always great to welcome someone from abroad and drink palinka and exchange experiences and culture it is a benefit for everybody. :-)