Hungarian-American Club of
New Mexico

PO Box 3454

Albuquerque, New Mexico 87190

 

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Just in:

5/2010

Hello HACNM!

Hetfon reggel ( Majus 3-an) az Albuquerque Academy kozepiskolas csapata megnyerte az orszagos tudomanyversenyt ( National Science Bowl). A csapat tagjai Eric Li, Andy Chen, Bence Zolyomi, Jason Hou es Raya Koreh.
Jo reklam az Albuquerque-i Magyar Klubnak is :)

Andrea
 
na meg egy kep is jott vele, de Weboldalon van a hir roluk..

 

http://www.aa.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=204&nid=532611#cmntloc

 

 

9/23/2009

The German-American Club invites all its Associate Member Clubs (that includes the Irish and the Scots) to

Associate Club Gathering
Sunday, September 27

NO DOOR FEE

Music by the Jazz Band
12:30 - 2:00 PM
Music by Swing Shift
2:30 - 5:00 PM

All associate club members, friends and family are invited! There will be other entertainment and door prizes.

PLEASE BRING A POTLUCK DISH TO SHARE.



9/2008:

Dear Mr. Borbas,
I am an old friend of Piroska Rohosy's from 1969 when she lived in New York 
state. I last spoke with her when she lived in Albuquerque and lost touch 
with her. I discovered your website and want to know if Piroska is still 
with us.
I have tried to find her sons, Oszkar and Adam, to find Piroska, but have 
not met with success.
My home telephone is 831-458-0228.
Please let her know my phone number or email address.
Very Sincerely,
(Ms.) Randall Jarrell

 

8/2008:

Greetings,
I offer the following for inclusion into your newsletter and/or for a permanent entry into your "links" section.

Is anyone aware that there are a group of Hungarians, about 8 presently, that meet on the air-waves every Sunday morning at 10:00 MST?

They are amateur radio operators, (aka Ham radio operators) talking about everything and anything, mostly in Hungarian exclusively. What they have in common is the fact that they are all Hungarian with amateur radio licenses. There is a west coast "Hungarian Net", as well as an east coast "Hungarian Net", but you would not receive the east coast transmissions net as well, if at all, from New Mexico. The west coast Hungarian Net transmits and receives on a frequency of 7.280MHz LSB (lower side band). Anyone with a good shortwave radio, (with a Single Side Band (SSB) feature) can pick them up through the air; all for free.

I listen every Sunday and occasionally chat, even with my poor command of Hungarian. Listening is great fun and helps me to learn new Hungarian words in context.

Below is a current list of the West Coast Hungarian Net members, along with their Radio Call Signs, so you may identify them while listening.

If you’ve never listened to shortwave before, you should know a few basics. Sometimes it is not possible to hear/receive a station clearly, do to the background noise level. that is always present, to a lesser or greater degree at any particular time. Background or ambient noise, is a result of sun spots and other atmospheric factors. These factors are always changing. The sun has cycles of radio magnetic flares every 11 years. You may find that you may here/receive everbody just fine in the begnning of the hour, but some or all of the stations may fade into noise as the day progresses; this is normal at the frequency they are on: 7.280, which is also know as the 40 meter band. Some of the members may not be able to get through the noise level at all, to be heard buy the other members/stations. So don’t expect to hear all 8 member stations, all together, every Sunday. Most of the time, you may hear only two or three stations. Enjoy.

The following is public information available via FCC database.

1)  Laszlo Fabian  (KB7MOV)
     2210 W. WagonWheel Dr.
     Tucson, AZ. 85745

2)  Luis karolyi (WA6YPP)
     P.O. Box 177
     Prather, CA 93651

3)  Paul Lukas (N6DMV)
     4828 Garnet St.
     Torrance, CA 90503

4)  Laszlo Kapitany, aka Freddy (AA7UY)
     6261 Newville Ave.
     Las Vegas, NV 89103

5)  Julius P. Hajdu (NOFHP)
     1685 Avalon Ave
     Lake Havasu City, AZ 86404

6)   Mihaly Biro (VE6AGB)
      5507 142 Ave
      Edmonton, AB T5A 1J1
      Canada

7)  Istvan Kaposzta (VA7IK)
     1584 Southview Terr.
     Kamloops, BC V2B 7R5
     Canada

8)  Emil Pfeiffer (KD5VVW)
     149U Calle Ojo Feliz
     Santa Fe, NM USA 87505


4/25/2008

A very special thanks to our membership for the donation toward the Peto Institute (Mozgássérültek Pető András Nevelőképző és Nevelőintézete, Budapest, Villányi út 67.).          Our contribution supported the kids' awards and presents for this year's  folk tale and
poem competition.
Here are some pictures of the competition and the winners taken by the Peto Institute's PR manager, Mr. Daniel Faber.

(Click on the thumbnails to see a larger version.)

 


9/11/2007

Albuquerque Museum

September 16, 2007

2:00 PM

2000 Mountain Rd. NW

Old Town

 

ALBUQUERQUE: A TAPESTRY OF CULTURES

 

Join the Albuquerque Historical Society (AHS) on its 2007-2008 program journey featuring many of Albuquerque’s cultural groups. Community boosters and tourism efforts have long focused on the idea of the state’s “tri-cultural” identity, but each third Sunday of the month a different community group will be featured that expands on  Albuquerque’s intertwined “tapestry” of cultures.   Since the city’s founding in 1706, and especially with the NM statehood in 1912, Albuquerque has been enriched by individuals who came to the United States and the region seeking opportunity, education, and political freedom.

 

Hungarian-American Club of New Mexico

 

Come learn about the Hungarian culture which goes back over 1,000 years. Topics to be covered include:

Panel Moderator: Ann Powless.

·        Hungarian History & Language—Ann Powless

·        Architecture--UNM Professor Steve Borbas

·        Music--Joan Shaw

·        Famous Hungarians--Eszter Erdei

 

Next Meeting: Sunday October 21 THE ALBUQUERQUE MUSEUM TURNS 40 !

A new exhibit features the 40 year history of the Albuquerque Museum and its connection to the Albuquerque Historical Society which celebrated its 60th anniversary this year. The presenter will be Deb Slaney, Curator of History for the Museum.

 

 

Officers/Contact Information:                       website: www.albuqhistsoc.org

 

President                                  Vice-President              Treasurer                      Secretary

Jan Dodson Barnhart                 Janet Saiers                 Steve Eagan                 Joe Sabatini

271-0727                                  299-5019                     889-3774                       344-9212

 

Presentations are open to the public.  AHS, founded in 1947, welcomes all who are interested in the history of our city to our monthly programs, the 3rd Sunday of each month at 2:00 pm., normally held at the Albuquerque Museum, unless noted at another site. Our next meeting is October 21, 2007.


3/6/2007

Steve Borbas, UNM campus planner, took part in the UNM Language Expo recently. He presented a slide show of Budapest, provided a brief snapshot of Hungarian contributions in the United States as well as giving the students an idea about the Hungarian language. The expo participants were high school students from around New Mexico who came to UNM to learn about the world's cultures and languages.


02/20/2007

Kodály Concert at Keller Hall! 3/1/2007 8PM

Click here for details (these are .pdf files, you'll need Adobe Reader to open them):

1.    Kodály cocert page 1

2.    Kodály concert page 2

(You can go to http://www.adobe.com to download the free Adobe Reader)


01/04/2007

The complete tour date list for the fantastic 2007 Tour of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble:

click here


12/23/2006:

Karacsonyi lap Erdelybol:

Koszonjuk a tamogatast kedves magyar baratainknak...

(click the image to enlarge it)


11/11/2006:

Today, November 11th, 2006, I had the good fortune to meet Marika and her husband Tom at the Eldorado market plaza  just outside of Santa Fe.  Their miniature poodle got us talking as he was so friendly and frisky.   I came to find out that Marika is a fellow Hungarian.  We talked about her history and mine and she mentioned the  "Hungarian American Club of New Mexico."  So here I am now writing this note to the web-master and wondering who will read it and how this all came to be.

 

I am a second-generation Hungarian-American with a mother of Slovak decent.  My mother was fluent in Slovak while my father had long forgotten his native language by the time I was born in 1954, in Trenton, NJ.  My paternal grandparents immigrated from the present day Ciumesti, Romania, in 1912 (along the northwesterly border of Romania and Hungary).  When they left, it was part of Hungary.  They left separately, but were married in Trenton some time later.  They both were deceased by the time I was born.  Unfortunately, I was raised without any link to my ethnicity.

 

In 1995, I was contacted by my (Hungarian) cousin Paul Reszler, of Baia Mare, Romania.  Later that year, I made a trip to visit (July 1995) him and his family there and that was the beginning of the re-connection of a family long separated in time.  It was an amazing visit to say the least ! 

 

I studied some of the Hungarian language from a CD and found it to be extremely challenging ... especially when I got there and tried my best to make use of it.  It was and is all worth it.  I feel very blessed to have a chance to connect with my past - my family history and all that it is.  My cousin Paul is a wonderful and loving man and I am forever grateful that he made the effort to find us in America.

 

My wife and I made a return visit there in 2003 and I hope to return again and again to keep the connection with my family in Eastern Europe

 

Perhaps I will attend the next meeting of this group that Marika has brought to my attention and find out more about all of you.  My best wishes to all of you and I applaud your efforts to maintain a cultural link to your past and present as proud Hungarians living here in New Mexico.

 

Sincerely,

 

John D. Ressler

Santa Fe, NM


10/16/2006

Now that’s HUNGARIAN!

There’s more to nation than Gabors and goulash as a few Albuquerqueans remember 1956 revolt

 

BY TOBY SMITH Journal Staff Writer


   An old gag: What do you get when you put three Hungarians in a room together?
   Five opinions.
   On this recent night in the
Northeast Heights, five Hungarians have gathered. Opinions? A couple of dozen, at least.
   Laughs? Many more.
   Tears? Somewhere in between.
   The Hungarians have come to eat and to drink — and to opinionate, an exercise in which they’re considered world-class.
   Much of the conversation this evening is about the revolution of 1956, which shook the world 50 years ago this month.
   A bloody revolt that claimed more than 2,500 lives and forced 200,000 people into exile is not typically marked by celebratory drinking and jokes.
   But Hungarians are an emotional, sentimental lot and at times it’s difficult to separate their laughter from their sadness.
   “We do love our revolutions,” says Steve Borbas, an architect and planner at the
University of New Mexico and host for this gettogether. “We’ve had several of them, you know. Unfortunately, we’ve lost them all.”
   Goulash, or gulyás, as Hungarians know it, is naturally the main dish this night. There’s wine, too, lots of it. And pastries for dessert.
   The goulash is a stew made by Judith Balazs from a recipe passed down by her grandmother in
Transylvania. The wine is Bull’s Blood, one of the most popular in Hungary. The pastries are from Costco.

Tumultuous history    

Before October 1956, few people paid much attention to Hungary. To outsiders it was a country known chiefly for its peculiar language and that goulash. Landlocked in central Europe, about the size of Indiana, Hungary seldom made news — except when Zsa Zsa Gabor got remarried.
   To natives, though,
Hungary was a land that gave the world composer Franz Liszt, physicist Edward Teller and publisher Joseph Pulitzer, among many other luminaries.
   Achievements aside, the ’56 revolution didn’t just pop up. Periodic unrest in the country — spurred first by the Nazi presence and then by the
Soviet Union — preceded the tumult by several years. Intellectuals were imprisoned, restrictions placed everywhere. By 1956, students in Budapest, fed up, held street demonstrations, demanding independence and free elections.
   Ostensibly, the Soviets had been pushing — from a distance — their brand of communism since the end of World War II. For the most part, they let the Hungarian military take care of any problems.
   On Oct. 23, Hungarian soldiers and police fired into the crowd of protesting students. The locals fought back and by Oct. 30, the revolutionaries had triumphed.
   Fearing that this turn might imperil the Soviet empire, on
Nov. 1, 1956, fresh Russian troops descended into Budapest and the real battle began.
   By
Nov. 4, 1956, heavy fighting extended into other cities. Hungarians hoped for help from the West, but none came.
   The populist uprising was crushed and a new regime installed. The Iron Curtain prevailed as 80,000 Soviet troops patrolled the capital. Life in
Hungary went on as usual until 1989, when communism toppled across Europe.
   But it’s that spirited period from late October through early November 1956 that resonates five decades later. The Hungarian freedom fighter was Time magazine’s Man of the Year for 1956. His courage and others caused the first tangible crack in the Soviet bloc.
   Regrettably, the ’56 revolution emptied a good deal of
Hungary. At the same time, the experience filled natives with an enormous pride that endures.

Fighting back    

“We had about two weeks of freedom,” says Attila Csanyi, hoisting a glass of Bull’s Blood.
   Now 71 and a resident of
Albuquerque’s South Valley, Csanyi on
Oct. 23, 1956, was on his way to a
history lecture in Budapest with his
girlfriend when he came upon the
student demonstrators.
   “I said to my girlfriend, ‘Let’s forget
history. Let’s make it!’ ’’
   They joined in the rally.
   Soon, Csanyi was handed a rifle, which he used. With a knife, he hacked out the Soviets’ hammer and sickle logo from the center of Hungarian flags.
   Setting down his wine glass, Csanyi says, “As rousing as that time was, I saw a lot of friends killed.”
   Anna Kormas Powless, who now works for Intel, was 9 when the Russian tanks darkened
Budapest.
   “I knew nothing,” Powless says. “I had to ask my mother what ‘revolution’ meant.”
   Early on she remembers watching Hungarian soldiers rumble by in trucks. “ ‘Don’t hurt the Hungarians!’ people yelled.”
   By the time the Soviets arrived, Powless says many of those Hungarian soldiers joined the side of the revolutionaries. But that didn’t take away the pain.
   Says she: “There were whispers about the man across the street being lynched by the AVO (Hungarian Secret Police).”
   Steve Borbas was 11 and was living in
Pecs, a city southwest of Budapest, but he can still see the destruction: “The walls of houses in Budapest were like Swiss cheese.”
   Borbas clearly recalls the ways
Hungarians fought back. “They threw
rocks or used slingshots. Little kids
would hand sandwiches to Soviets in
tanks. Sandwiches that were made with
rat poison.”
   And then there were the cocktails.
Freedom fighters liked to touch
matches to rags protruding from
gasoline-filled bottles. They’d then
throw the bottles at the Russians, who
had invented the Molotov cocktail in
the first place.

Leaving
Europe    

Nearly every Hungarian refugee has a “getting out” story. In late 1956, many refugees sneaked across the border to Austria or Yugoslavia. There they were put in contact with a sponsor, primarily in the United States or Canada.
   “If you had a relative in the
United States, even a distant one,” says Borbas, “suddenly that person became the most important human being in your life.”
   In the heat of the revolution, Louis Magyari, then 15, told his father one afternoon that he was going out to buy shoes. He wound up in
Venezuela.
   The senior Magyari had told his son about a long-lost cousin in that South American country.
   “
Venezuela?” says Louis Magyari, now retired from a printing career with Albuquerque Publishing Co. “I didn’t know what Venezuela was. I thought it was a fruit.”
   Magyari did know he wanted to get out. He had seen tanks blow apart every 10th house on his street. He had seen Soviets shoot people in the head.
   He had seen enough.
   Before leaving, Magyari surreptitiously scooped up some souvenir grenades and hid them in the attic of his home.
   From
South America, Magyari wrote to his parents and told them of the grenades in the attic. They wrote back saying that they couldn’t find them. Eight years after fleeing Hungary, Louis Magyari went home for a visit and got the grenades out himself. “I thought they might blow up everybody I loved.”

Uneasy immigration    

Anna Powless didn’t get out of Hungary until 1965. Her father was a physician and, following much anguish, he had decided to stay. “The fear of the unknown,” says his daughter.
   Anna Powless got out legally, on a visa used to visit her aunt in
Los Angeles.
   “Promise me you will come back,” said her mother.
   “Promise me you will never come back,” said her father.
   Powless eventually returned — after 13 years in the
United States. “Where did you get that accent?” her friends asked. Attila Csanyi didn’t return to Hungary for 30 years. Thirty years of not seeing his parents. “I didn’t believe in that amnesty stuff,” he says. “I was afraid.” Fear clung to Hungarian refugees for years, says Borbas, who fled to Rochester, N.Y., with his parents and brother. “You always thought there was a border guard back there waiting for you with a bullet that had your name on it.” Remaining in Hungary was not easy either. The Secret Police knew which family members had slipped out. “My father was taken in and beaten,” says Magyari. “There were spies on every street.”

Proud and outspoken

In due course, the number of Hungarians in New Mexico grew. Many found a connection here — with other Hungarians. “It’s the language that holds us all together,” says Balazs, president of the Hungarian- American Club of New Mexico. “It carries our history and our culture.” “We have a bunch of extra letters in our alphabet,” says Borbas. Hungarians reach out for those who have shared experiences — in that language. And they look for mutual similarities. “We are smart,” says Balazs. “Supersmart,” says Csanyi. “For me, it’s the music,” says Borbas. “Gypsy music especially.” “Waltzes on the Danube,” says Csanyi. “Singing and dancing makes us Hungarian,” says Balazs. “Swearing does it,” says Borbas. “We all swear. The dirtier the better.” “We Hungarians are patient, but don’t push us,” says Csanyi. “Great wine defines us,” says Powless. “In Hungary, it’s hard to make a bad wine.” “You’d think Hungary was a country of drunkards,” says Borbas. “Well, it is,” says Powless, laughing. Of course, that’s only one opinion.


 

Elevenmonth-old Anna Balazs Tomasson gets a hug from Steve Borbas. Borbas was hosting a gathering to salute the 1956 Hungarian revolution.

DAVID LIENEMANN/JOURNAL Szervusz! say Albuquerque Hungarians as they offer a toast to mark their homeland’s revolution 50 years ago. Joining the toast are, from left, Judith Balazs, Anna Kormas Powless, Attila Csanyi, Louis Magyari and, partially, Steve Borbas.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hungarian rebels wave their country’s flag from atop a Soviet tank captured in Budapest on Nov. 2, 1956. The uprising against the Soviet regime was crushed later amid bitter fighting.

 

DAVID LIENEMANN/JOURNAL A train pass that Louis Magyari kept from his youth lies on a table as Magyari, background, talks about his escape from communist Hungary 50 years ago.

 


8/26/2006

We would like to let all Hungarians know that there will be a 3day long
Earth Changes Conference in Taos on October 8-9-10, 2006 at the Sagebrush Inn. The state of the current warming trend will be discussed, but more importantly an urgent warning : - there is an expected large solar Flare
eruption 'prophesized' for the summer of 2007. Astronomy, Earth's
geo-dynamo, Mayan Calendar ending of 2012, mythology, bible will be
discussed. There will be a good amount of Hungarian mythology and
linguistics - to prove that our language is more ancient than all others.
Info about the Conference is on the web page <www.celestialclock.com> .
There are also some short 'articles' to look at. Magyaroknak meg tobb
'discount-ot' is tudunk ajanlani.   Koszonettel, Gaspar Vili es Eva

(Phone: 505-387-5816)


4/28/2006

Dear Countrymen!

        I am very pleased and forever grateful for getting my novel on your web site. I am sending here the page that is on the back cover of the book, and the design on its front as an attachment. Please make the editing most suited for you. At present, the presses are rolling and I should be getting  the copies of the book for distribution about the middle of April.

        In my first letter to you there are two addresses. (it is also at the bottom of this communication.) For a faster service could it be mentioned that there are two appropriate places to order the book. In addition, I am spending most of May on a Book Signing Tour across Ohio and Pennsylvania. On the 20-th I am invited to attend the 100 anniversary celebration of the American Hungarian Federation in Washington, DC. Therefore, all orders mailed to my New York address will be processed around the end of the month.

        My I also remind you of my minuscule philanthropy whereby: To support ongoing efforts that in someway keep our Hungarian culture and heritage alive outside of our Motherland, I would like to donate $3.00 from the cover price of $13.00 of each book I sell to your organization. If you would like to read the book please order as follows: For a single order please mail $13.00 (including postage and taxes where appropriate) to one of the addresses above. For multiple orders, please send $10.00 and discount $3.00 each to benefit your group. I appreciate your support.

        Sincerely,

        Arpad J. Gergely

 

 

BACK COVER OF THE NOVEL: 

The year is 1956. The people of a small nation in Central Europe are rebelling against their government to demand human rights; and for a few days, the glimmer of hope for real freedom in democracy blooms in Hungary. But, as the whole world watches in disbelief, Soviet tanks crush those who reject communism.  Thousands die, the distraction is tremendous. In the aftermath, more then 200,000 Hungarians flee their country to escape retaliation.

Erika Molnar, a not yet sixteen Jewish schoolgirl is the main character in this novel. Orphaned during the 1944 Holocaust, she is raised as Christian by one of her father’s employees. When her ‘grandfather’ is killed in the revolution, she retaliates with a Molotov cocktail. Now she must escape from the turmoil and run for her life, but in the refugee camps of Austria she comes into another world that is just as dangerous for a young and naive teenager.

           It is the story of Erika and Ken Williams, an American Red Cross worker; a romantic match of a misled communist with a moderate Catholic; the dreams of the deprived combined with the materialist’s ideals. But it is also the story of a select group of suddenly ‘free’ men and women, who find a rare opportunity in their lives to change their names, ages, religions, and even marital status, to alter their past, to suit their present, and modify their future; to change everything but their faces.

Time and location schedule for ordering:

        Winter Home: October through April

        275 Winter Haven Lane

        Brownsville, TX 78526

        956.831.4569

 

        Summer Home: May through September

        1226 Schoharie Turnpike

        Catskill, NY 12414

        518.945.1535


4/8/2006

A card from the Laszlo Family:

(click to enlarge)


3/8/2006

Thank You letter from the Szekely Magyar Kanadai Egyesulet.  (click to enlarge)


2/13/2006

hello,

 

joli lenar vagyok reno nevadabol, szeretnek egy clubot alakitani a web-en, de nem tudom hogyan kell csinalni.

tudnanak segiteni?

koszonettel, joli lenar

E-mail: regiseg@charter.net


Hi!

 

I am traveling to Hungary in April. I have never been there and I speak no Hungarian.

 

My destination is Mariapocs by way of Budapest and Nyirbator. I am going as a pilgrim to the Shrine at Mariapocs.

 

I am trying to someone in the US who can advise me on the trip and someone in Hungary who can assist me with things like making transportation connections and so on. I’m willing to pay for this help, of course.

 

Can anyone there assist? Does anyone there have a friend or relative in Hungary who can assist?

 

Many thanks!

 

bob rossi

Salem, Oregon

E-mail: rossib@opeuseiu.org


2/9/2006

University planner Steve Borbas and Zsofia Drjenguszky attend a Hungarian Heritage Month event as part of the City of Albuquerque’s Tricentennial. Borbas delivered a slide presentation on Hungarian architecture and introduced Drjenguszky to the local Hungarian community.

UNM trains Hungarian mediators

By Carolyn Gonzales, UNM Today


Not long after the Iron Curtain came down, Hungarians started arriving at UNM. One at a time, they came as visiting research scholars to spend a semester studying alternative dispute resolution, mediation and arbitration.
“Conflict is a component of the work place,” said Zsofia Drjenguszky, a doctoral student in sociology from Budapest. Drjenguszky is enrolled in human resources in the public sector taught by Zane Reeves, professor in public administration. She is also taking an introductory course on alternative dispute resolution and a class in theory of conflict, both taught by School of Law Professor Scott Hughes.
“I am also taking an intensive mediation training over two weekends. We work with real mediators in small groups. Although the training is controlled, it gives us real world experience,” Drjenguszky said. Her semester also includes tagging along with Reeves to observe arbitration in the courts.
The program got its start when Julius Rézler, a professor emeritus from Loyola University, who relocated to Albuquerque and to UNM. Rézler, an economist, sociologist and labor arbitration specialist, became Reeves’ colleague.
“He became my mentor and encouraged me to become an arbitrator. It was his dream to train arbitrators at UNM to go back and introduce the art of dispute resolution in Hungary,” Reeves said.
Rézler, who died in 2001, established the Julius Rézler Foundation in 1995 to introduce and develop dispute resolution and arbitration techniques in Hungary and Central Europe.
Of the students, Reeves said, “They are outstanding, eager and delightful students. It is amazing to see how well they do when they go back.”
And they do quite well. Some former Rézler students organized the Julius Rézler Mediation Institution in Hungary.
“The purpose of this organization is to use the knowledge in Hungary that we gained in the USA. So, we do mediation, we train and we conduct research in the field of conflicts and conflict resolution. Our specialty is that the members have the highest qualifications on ADR (alternative dispute resolution) in Hungary and most of the people are working on Ph.D. in this topic,” said Eszter Balogh, who came to UNM in 2003 and now teaches conflict resolution at Corvinus University.
Many of the visiting researchers have been law students. Hughes became acquainted with the program when one of the Hungarian students showed up in his legal writing course about five years ago. “ADR was her real interest, not legal writing. I fell in love with the students and with what they wanted to do,” he said.
He added that his American students “adopt” the Hungarian students. “They take them home, invite them places. They bring a broader worldview to New Mexico. Our entire program is enriched by having these students here,” he said.
Maria Kulisity, now a junior judge at the Capital Labor Court of Hungary and labor and employment law instructor, attended UNM in 2004. She said, “When I was in Albuquerque, I researched the connection and interaction between the judicial system and alternative dispute resolution. I gained lots of experience and knowledge, more that I can even imagine. Nowadays in Hungary we are building an alternative dispute resolution system because in the past for a long time we didn’t have any,” she said.
She added that the Hungarians are also building an alternative dispute resolution system connected with the courts in response to a European Union directive.
Steve Borbas, university planner, is the students’ unofficial Hungarian “dad” in Albuquerque.  Borbas sets up living arrangements for the students with his next-door neighbor, shuttles the students to and from campus and arranges cultural outings. “They come over to do their laundry or just chat,” he said, adding that Hungarian conversation helps him stay in touch with his own heritage.
“Every time when I think of New Mexico, I realize that it was one of my happiest periods of my life and often I miss it very much. I can say on behalf of the other scholars, too, that we all loved and enjoyed the time in Albuquerque and got lots of professional and personal experience. Somehow we all work with alternative dispute resolution and the UNM program gave us the start and the determination for this,” said Kulisity.
Edward Teller, co-developer of the atom bomb in Los Alamos, was Hungarian. New Mexico now hosts Hungarians with more peaceable goals.


 

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Page last updated on: Saturday, May 08, 2010 10:14:58 AM