New members of the Hungary forum, introduce yourselves here - 2018

(cross.posting to bittabi)

I am a married male but my wife works away across Europe for much of the year. We own our own house and it is in a quiet suburb of budapest. It is not a palace or a poorhouse but I am redecorating it. If you want you can stay at my place it has its own little kitchen, living room, shower and toilet and so on and we can agree on a reasonable rent, I would say about 75.000ft a month would be reasonable you have all your essentials and of course share the garden and whatnot but you have essentially your own private flat and of course your own keys and so on, even your own front door. If that would suit  you, it might suit us. Certainly I can give you a hand doing the paperwork etc when you land in Budapest, I can show you around to do all the paperwork etc.

So if you are a married man what is your wife doing, staying back at base? Or is that too personal a question I am sorry. I do not know much Turkish but apparently you invaded this country about one thousand years ago, but better late than never

SimonTrew wrote:

SimCityAT wrote:

Ehopp wrote:

Thank you for you kind words...I am enjoying Budapest.

You will get on well with a lady called Marilyn Tassy she is a fellow retired American and married to her Hungarian husband. Look out for her posts.

I am not sure that I would describe Sassy Tassy as a lady. She was a croupier in Las Vegas, many years ago, and somehow even on Internet chat she has managed to deal me from the bottom of the deck and I owe her $450 (according to her), which is rather unladylike. Especially since we were only playing cribbage at a forint a spot.

I have never met her inreal lfe,  I think she was born in Hawaii, and you can never trust a  Hawaiian, because their i's are too close together.

It was brought to my attention by a friend who was also a victim of a smear campaign, that it was my turn for a humiliation ritual.
I am not taking the bait.
I find the above statements to be a character assassination that is not warented.
I could PM this poster but I will not except any personal messages from a stranger who doesn't know me, never met me but feels like they can say flippant disparaging remarks .
To clear one thing up, I do not and never have been responsive to any nickname,
My name is NOT Sassy Tassy.
When I mentioned the use of this  name it was in a mocking manner that was used in another ritual at a former job.
We all were given names as caricatures in a jesting teasing manner.
Such as if anyone would called a person something like," Simple Simon" not exactly in a kind of gentle manner.
Being a former croupier is also nothing to laugh at.
It was spoken of here as if It was some criminal enterprise with a critical air .
No mention of having extensive background checks, police and FBI checks with fingerprints and credit checks to even be considered for hire. We also must have a state license which must be renewed every 2 years.
Drug and alcohol tests are given and can be required any time.
As far as being announced to the voyeur's and anyone who ever is online that I am no Lady, I take personal offense to this commnet even if it was suppose to be in jest, it missed the mark.
I am not accustomed  to just overly familiar behavior from a stranger.
It's not like we were ever in the trenches together or as they might say in Hungary, we never raised pigs together.
I do not owe anyone a thing and I am not from Hawaii, as if it matters.
Please do not PM me no apologies needed, I let it go too far by not stopping these off hand remarks a long time ago.
If I were not a ,"lady" would not be able to restrain my comments.

Hello Everyone!
In my research I am collecting attributes of expats about motivation of moving, why were you choosing Hungary, based on job, family, and home-country background stories. If you have a story and willing to share it, please send me a priv message
Cheers, Peter

Sziastok! Johann vagyok! My greatgrandfather  was born in Hungary and moved to south Brazil earlie's1900. I had aproved for the hungarian citizenship, and still studying hungarian for better fluency. I intend to understand the best business options to start.

Hello I am Martina,

I moved to Hungary, now Heviz, permanently Oct. 2015.
Still in the process of learning hungarian but in this area everybody speaks either german or english :-)

I have the most beautiful plot, a small house and 8 dogs.

Cheers, Martina :-)

Hi everybody!

I would like to meet up with new people Im from Kaposvár (its a smaller Hungarain city) now I am living in Budapest and I would be happy to meet up with new people and make friendships   I can show some nice places or just have a nice coffee somewhere. Feel free to contact me.

Have a nice day

Eszti

Hi all,

My name is Pankaj, i have been living in Prague since last 3 years.
I do visit Budapest every month, I have fallen in love with the city and the food.
Well my girlfriend is also from Hungary, So i am planning to move to Budapest in nearby future.

Cya

Hi all,
I'm an Australian moving to Hungary. My wife and I have met a number of expats living in our village but would like to extend our circle of acquaintances/friends. Keen to meet other Aussies and other expats to exchange ideas, impressions etc.

RedBack1 wrote:

Hi all,
I'm an Australian moving to Hungary. My wife and I have met a number of expats living in our village but would like to extend our circle of acquaintances/friends. Keen to meet other Aussies and other expats to exchange ideas, impressions etc.

Welcome to the Forum

I am only aware of British and American Expats that are most active on the forum. That's not saying there aren't fellow Aussies kicking around. What part of Hungary are you living?

Thanks! We own a place in the Balaton Felvidek region and are looking forward to spending time there. Our renovations are well on the way so hopefully we will be moving early next year. As we are new to the area we will  probably need suggestions and recommendation as to where to buy fresh produce as we've found availability and variety of these in Tapolca and other surrounding towns rather limited.

Hello,

My grandfathers brother was:

Charlie Taylor Coutts

He was a broadcaster, journalist known for his work on radio budapest. I understand he died in 2000 but I would very much like to trace any of his family, I would really like to understand how the record system works over there.

ross-mac-taco wrote:

Hello,

Charlie Taylor Coutts

He's buried at the Farkasréti temető cemetery.

His wife's name was: Erzsébet Coutts 1927 - 2008

ross-mac-taco wrote:

ross-mac-taco wrote:

Hello,

Charlie Taylor Coutts

He's buried at the Farkasréti temető cemetery.

His wife's name was: Erzsébet Coutts 1927 - 2008

I wonder if they are related to the founders of Coutt's Bank, that would be interesting to find out. https://www.coutts.com/ I wouldn't be at all surprised. Hungarian registry keeps records going back for generations so it would be interesting to find out.... Erszébet is Elisabeth, etc in English... so I presume he married a Hungarian. You might find that she took, it is difficult to do with foreign names, but might be Couttsné "wife of Coutts" or something like that, in the records. Interesting.... presumably not the actor "Charlie Taylor-Coutts" that my google search is giving me (from ImDB results) as that is far too young...

The cemetery also keeps records but you have to hunt for the plot number unless you know it from paperwork, so you just have to walk around searching... it is quite a big cemetary so take a picnic

Welcome to expat.com, by the way

ross-mac-taco wrote:

Hello,

My grandfathers brother was:

Charlie Taylor Coutts

He was a broadcaster, journalist known for his work on radio budapest. I understand he died in 2000 but I would very much like to trace any of his family, I would really like to understand how the record system works over there.

They will have records, if he lived here in Hungary, you either go to the land registry or to one of the other offices, it is a bit bureacratic but you will find his records. It is all done electronically now, but often you have to turn up in person at the office, and if you are not a Hungarian citizen they may not give you the records. You can look it up online, I try to find you a link, but will not be an "official" copy.  NÁV is the tax office and so if he paid any tax, you can get it from there, but that is not the land registry... if he owned any property it will be on the land registry. If he had an address card, it will be on that. It is a bit of bureacracy as there are several different systems that are not really connected together, if he is buried here, you will have to go to the cemetary. Now, you need to know the PLOT NUMBER of the grave where he is buried. This is entirely different from the address or anything else, this is just kinda a grid reference essentially, that says which plot in the cemetary (témető) he is actually buried. If you have that, you can work backwards from that one, you have his name, you have his plot number, you have his dates of death and birth (I assume) and they will find it out for you on their system.

You need really to go to the central records bureau, I can give you a facsimile copy of his record here in Hungary online, or you can do it yourself, it costs 1.000Ft which is about 3 pounds sterling or five US dollars. It is difficult to do it, if you are not here, but I am happy to go and search for his grave for you, and I don't want any money, and do the legwork. It usually requires going about three different offices, everyone will send you to someone else, for this and that.

https://ugyfelkapu.magyarorszag.hu/ should get you started. "Kapu" is Hungarian for "gate", so kinda means "entrance" or "way in", in a general sense.... you will have to register there and then you will be able to look up his records... you may well have to do it all in Hungarian but it is not too tricky, just remember that dates in Hungarian we do year-month-day and so that is the order they expect. As a foreitner (like me) his name should be in Western Name Order, Hungarians use surname first but for "everyone else" they put it in the order you would expect, so sometimes I am Trew Simon and sometimes I am Simon Trew, it depends on who is asking. You should be able to find out his Hungarian details via that website but you will need to register. It won't cost much, if anything - I think to look up someone in another's family was 1000Ft which is about three pounds sterling or let's say five dollars american - it is not a lot of money.

But what you will get is a copy that is not valid for any official purposes, ours were overprinted in orange saying (in Hungarian) "not an official copy" even though they came from the office. Official ones, you will have to come to Hungar3 my, get it stamped, spend about five thousand forints on shoe leather as you run around the various offices, and they are valid for 3 or 6 months. How a death certificate can somehow go invalid is beyond me, but that is the way it works here in Hungary, that official documents are only valid for 3 months or 6 months depending on the type of document. But the cemetary will have a record, and if you have the plot number you can trace back from that. I have half a mind (about as much mind as I have anyway) to go there just out of interest to check up for you...

I'm completely speechless that you would go to this effort for me, thank you so much.

I will try to find out more information to help in the search.

- Ross

ross-mac-taco wrote:

I'm completely speechless that you would go to this effort for me, thank you so much.

I will try to find out more information to help in the search.

- Ross

It is my complete pleasure..... perhaps it seems a bit morbid but I like looking around cemetaries, and of course respecting the dead and remembering etc, it is not as if I throw coke cans over the graves. I can have a look for the plot number for you, if you want. I know this sounds bizarre but I could do with a day out, I am usually stuck in the house with a paintbrish so it would make a nice change for me.

bittabi wrote:

SimonTrew wrote:

Hey bittabi,

I have a friend who could maybe do with a roommate but I would have to ask her first. She by no means would mind sharing with a man as long as you do not mind sharing with a woman. (Your profile does not say what sex you are but it doesnt matter).

She is called ibolya  (a common Hungarian name)  and has a flat in central budapest with a spare room. She needs the whole place decorating, the wife and I are going to do the decorating hecause we are very good at that. But I would have to ask her first. She is a work colleague of my wife's. She is very lovely woman and easy going and she can show you around Budapest, she is Hungarian but speaks good English,.

Hello SimonTrew,

Thank you very much for your reply. I am a married man and my first choice would be staying with a male roommate. I have around 2-3 months before I arrive at Budapest. I will be looking for a roommate by the time I arrive at Budapest because I have to start working right away without any chance to look around for a roommate.
But if I can not find someone to stay, I might be asking you for the availablity of that lady's apartment.

Thank you very much.

We have a spare room, it is not five star but has a big bed and lamps and a telly and stuff, you know, the basics, and you are welcome to stay there. I am male and my wife is female (that is sort of obvious until a few years ago now ye have homosexual marriages) so you would have to put up with my wife, but you are more than welcome to crash here. It is not perfect but you get  a bed and a telly and some bookshelves etc, it is not a hotel, but it is cleam and comfy, and has all the mod cons. Don't want any money, but if you want to crash at my place, just ask. Just pay your own way, that is all i ask.

SimonTrew wrote:

bittabi wrote:

SimonTrew wrote:

Hey bittabi,

I have a friend who could maybe do with a roommate but I would have to ask her first. She by no means would mind sharing with a man as long as you do not mind sharing with a woman. (Your profile does not say what sex you are but it doesnt matter).

She is called ibolya  (a common Hungarian name)  and has a flat in central budapest with a spare room. She needs the whole place decorating, the wife and I are going to do the decorating hecause we are very good at that. But I would have to ask her first. She is a work colleague of my wife's. She is very lovely woman and easy going and she can show you around Budapest, she is Hungarian but speaks good English,.

Hello SimonTrew,

Thank you very much for your reply. I am a married man and my first choice would be staying with a male roommate. I have around 2-3 months before I arrive at Budapest. I will be looking for a roommate by the time I arrive at Budapest because I have to start working right away without any chance to look around for a roommate.
But if I can not find someone to stay, I might be asking you for the availablity of that lady's apartment.

Thank you very much.

We have a spare room, it is not five star but has a big bed and lamps and a telly and stuff, you know, the basics, and you are welcome to stay there. I am male and my wife is female (that is sort of obvious until a few years ago now ye have homosexual marriages) so you would have to put up with my wife, but you are more than welcome to crash here. It is not perfect but you get  a bed and a telly and some bookshelves etc, it is not a hotel, but it is cleam and comfy, and has all the mod cons. Don't want any money, but if you want to crash at my place, just ask. Just pay your own way, that is all i ask.

I am not going to correct that, obviously when I said "put up with my wife" I did not mean you have to share a bed with her... that would be really tough as she is a light sleeper and I usually end  up sleeping on the sofa anyway.... it is hard enough for me to put up with her, let alone expecting another to

Hello, I am new to Budapest. Getting to know the city as a part of a project i am involved in.
Looking forward to make new connections personally and professionally

Hi, I am a registered professional nurse in South Africa. I love working with babies and toddlers, i am currently working in a clinic, in South Africa at the obstetrics division . I am looking for a job starting in February 2019. I am open to any kind of work relating to children, it does not necessarily have to be nursing related.

Thank you very much
Sincere
Chante Kotze

Hi everyone,

My name is Mihaela and I will be moving for work to Budapest in December.

I know no one there and so I think it might get a bit lonelier at times so I am looking fwd to meeting new people

Hope to hear from some of you. See you soon !

My reply will probably be incoherent. If it is your first time in Budapest,get a public transport pass from BKK that is the public transport provider who run all the buses and trams and metros and everyxthing, and you can travel anywhere on that. They also have three river buses so you can go down the Duna/Danube and just have a looksie, on your public pass. Mine costs me 9.500ft for a month but they also do half month tickets and I think three day tickets. Don't waste money, just use the public transport which is excellent,. get a pair of boots and have a look around, best way to do it.

I went to a couple of churches today but as it was Sunday and I am not Catholic I did not want to interfere with the service, but there are many beautiful churches in Budapest-

All it takes is to look. To look at everything around you, that is all it takes. It is beautiful today with the trees, in the autumn/fall, dropping their leaves. Hungarian for leaf is lélevel which we also use for a piece of paper,  an official document, is called an oklével, or your passport is called an oklével.

The trees are beautiful now in autumn/FaLL BUT  I A am not sure what species as they different from  what I grew up with in Britain, so something that looks to me like an elm might well not be. They are looking so beautiful at the moment.

Mihaelasamson wrote:

Hi everyone,

My name is Mihaela and I will be moving for work to Budapest in December.

I know no one there and so I think it might get a bit lonelier at times so I am looking fwd to meeting new people

Hope to hear from some of you. See you soon !

Budapest, Hungary, gets very cold in December it is often about -25C overnight. We have had a beautiful summer but now it is chilling down, so I suggest you get a nice warm overcoat!

My name is Simon Trew and I should be pleased to meet you when you get here. I have lived in Budapest for five yearsas now, with my wife. Then we can say Boldog Karácsony, that means Happy Christmas, and share a bit of pálinka, the local spirit.

Now you know one person there - me - so that is not doing so bad, is it? Please try learning a little Hungarian, it is not a hard language to learn, and a  little goes a long way, it is very respectful if you know your numbers and so on and to be able to say kosszonem (thankyou) and kerem (please) and things like that. You don't have to be an expert, just to learn the basics. My cat (macska) has just come in his door (ajto) or gate (kapu) his catflap, I am not sure how to translate as it is called a SureFlap that works on his microchip, I think it is mascskapu according to the missus, who is Hungarian - my Hungarian is dreadful but I know the basics.

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the welcoming message, of course, I would like to meet a lot of people while there and make new friends.

I would be getting there at the beginning of December We shall see each other soon

Hi,

I am András living in Budapest. Earlier I lived a while abroad (Germany, Vienna, Brussels and Berlin), no moving in sight right now.

I am a lawyer and like to meet interesting people, like expats. Myself I am intereseted in culture, history, wine, trekking, sailing and good experiences.

see you

***

tarand wrote:

see you

Ohh, that is one of those "false friends", szia in Hungary means completely the opposite from "see you" in English. In English it means "Goodbye". "hello" is another one, why do Hungarians say hello when they leave someone? You say hello when you greet them... complete false friend...

Hello, just moved to Budapest to live! Half Australian / Half Dutch, classical musician, looking forward to getting to know this wonderful city and people.

Welcome to Hungary!

I suggest you contact the Opera, which is on Andrassy utca in Budapest, I don't know right now but a couple of years ago they were looking for "staff" if I can put it that way, as a classical musician you should probably get work there. I know when I was learning Hungarian, a fellow student was asked by the Opera to work there.

There is no point giving directions etc as you can look that up yourself. It is worth a try.

There are lots of music schools here so you would easily get work as a music teacher, at the worst (and excuse me but I am not very musical, I get there within a note or eight, but can only play bugle and trumpet and guitar and a bit on the joanna). I  am just an engineer so I can tell you how a violin or piano WORKS but can't actually play it very well. A bit paradoxical maybe.

You will as someone speaking English, assuming you "understand all these squiggly lines" (Eric Morecambe to Andrew Preview) find no problem getting work as a music teacher. I think at the Opera you will probably get work as a musician. But at least that is a start.

Welcome to Budapest, hope that helps a litle.

Hi,
I'm Sarah Just moved to Budapest I am a self-employed licensed barber from Miami.
Ive been Cutting hair almost 10 years. It is what I love to do. Hope to open up a school for the less fortunate people to learn this particular trade of the technical arts of barbering.
I really like Budapest and I am very happy to have the opportunity to be here.

Hi everyone,

Working for an international humanitarian NGO for 20 years I lived abroad and travelled quite a bit in my life. At mid-life turning point (and in denial regarding a mid-life crisis :-)) I'm ready for another big move, this time to Budapest, Hungary, so that my two kids would be closer to their father.

I have an in depth HR knowledge, I've been training people, facilitating events, managing projects, I like visually presenting data and doing smaller designs. I'm fun and easily adaptable and I really do care about people. I would appreciate any help I could get to land on a job that could benefit from my skills, preferably in an international environment.

Yes, I'm looking on various job portals, but from what I see, it's not going to be easy to find a job as HR, even if I speak Hungarian.

Wishing you all happy holidays!
Andrea

Hi Sarah,
barber shops are opening up everywhere in Budapest these days.
At least that was my impression last time I went home.
Add your own flavour to colour it up even more.
I wish you good luck!
Balazs

Hi all, I am moving to Budapest in early February. I will be living in Budapest but as an HIV positive person,  I need help on how to get the right medication and also just connect to other expats with my condition but living the positive way.
I definitely  look forward  to hearing back from you.

Thanks,
Bulamu
#positivelife

Hi All,

I just start to work in Hungary for 3 weeks, nice to join this forum. My company is a Thai noodle company in Ipari Park, Esztergom. Thanks

GGDaddy wrote:

Hi All,

I just start to work in Hungary for 3 weeks, nice to join this forum. My company is a Thai noodle company in Ipari Park, Esztergom. Thanks

Mama-mia!

They should put less sugar in those.

Welcome!

Dear fluffy2560,

Thank you for your suggestion. ^^

Shesadamngoodbarber wrote:

Hi,
I'm Sarah Just moved to Budapest I am a self-employed licensed barber from Miami.
Ive been Cutting hair almost 10 years. It is what I love to do. Hope to open up a school for the less fortunate people to learn this particular trade of the technical arts of barbering.
I really like Budapest and I am very happy to have the opportunity to be here.

I live in Budapest too, also a licensed cosmetologist from S. Ca, Hawaii, New Mexico and NV at least those are the US states I worked our trade in.
Retired now.
I'm not really sure about opening up a barber school in Hungary, they already have some of the best schools as I have known a top styling team in Las Vegas that did hair shows in Budapest and used local talent to do their models. Forgot the name of the styling team ATM but I went to one of their trade shows in Hawaii and then just happened upon them for my haircare when I later moved to Vegas. They used to travel the world doing hair shows as they also had a teaching program besides having their shop in Vegas. They told me some of the best if old fashioned work was done in those small little salons in Hungary where the ladies still went to work in their white uniforms.
Another old hairdressing friend who did my hair in S. Ca for 14 years and later I worked under him in a Westwood salon in S. Ca. is Jerry Tyler. 4 or 5 time president of the Ca. barbers association, He is pretty much world famous in our field, can look him up on line even. He is most likely retired now as well but he even did a few hair shows years ago in Budapest for pros. He also said they had fantastic stylists in HU. A women who did my hair a few times in Budapest knew exactly who Jerry Tyler was. Guess their schools do a good job in Hungary.
My husband is HU and told me many times that the Hairdressing schools in Hungary used to be more of the trade school sort.
You go to school plus work as an assistant in a salon for a few years.
Used to be a very good paying job in the commie days as it was hard to do and it was a very popular field to learn as the tips were very good in the day.
My husband said only those with very high school grades were expected into hairdressing, not exactly poor souls with no future. Only top grades would get you into hairdressing so those people could chose any trade really.
I have a ex-pat friend  who does my hair in Hungary who is from OZ. Been working in HU for over 4 years.
He was able to get a job with his OZ papers but they have strict rules on how many hours he can work because he is not licensed in Hungary.Not clear but it seems he has some sort of guest worker thing.
I also used to have a Hugarian man do my hair.
He owned and  operated his own high end salon for over 30 years on Vaci Utca. Closed a few years back but still does hair in his home salon by appointment.
He told me you must have HU papers to even own a salon in Hungary.
Not so in the US, in the states you can own a salon and never know a thing about doing hair.
He had to take more courses to be allowed to own his own salon.
I also knew a cosmetologist from S. Ca about 10 years back.
She worked at another high end Budapest salon but was only allowed to work limited hours with her Ca. papers and only got hired from a family connection. The salon was semi- famous in Hungary, Hajos Laszlo.
She didn't do it for long, lots of work and not much in tips for her.
Not anything like what she could earn in the US doing hair.
Really sad to say I doubt you can get the business paperwork to open a school in HU without getting a HU license.
I opened a salon in NM and only had to pay for a business license and not have to take extra classes on how to run a salon like one needs to in Hungary.
I wish you luck but think to open a school in Hungary would be allot of hills and mountains to climb. Everything is so official here and everyone wants to see your papers first.
I do notice allot of barbers could use a few tips on doing fades...Barbering and cosmetology are a bit different but not all that much these days, women wear fades now
and men wear braids.
Let's not even discuss man buns...

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
Let's not even discuss man buns...

I thought non-gay women and gay men like man buns.

Non-gay men and gay women like women's buns.

Elephants also like buns.

Oh dear.....I think I got the wrong end of this particular stick.....