Last pitstop before coming to Bp for three months 36 years ago was heading the West Coast office of a NYC based headhunting firm in the graphic design industry in LA. It was fun seeing my clients' designs and the '84 LA brand on colorful street banners and napkins during the 1984 Olympics.

Left LA-LA-Land when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down and the Gulf War did not resurrect the US economy as expected. My clients were not hiring new talent but putting staff on retainer. Headhunters were idle.

Checking out Hungary's transition to democracy on the crest of the last wave of hope and optimism after the first post-Communist municipal elections seemed a worthy investment of time and energy, especially as a curious journalism and government major back in the day.

A serendipity of events led me to serve the next four years as a Hungarian civil servant at the Municipality of Budapest in Mayor Gábor Demszky's first administration, Special Projects Director, a most fulfilling and exciting position in the thick of it all.

Left the Municipality when the Horn government came into power and was chosen Public Affairs Director at the Budapest History Museum, responsible for all English exhibition captions and publication, as well as English guided tours, taped and live. Both positions required regular interpretation and translation, which became my mainstay as I ventured into private practice, ongoing upon request.

Besides articles on social, political and cultural issues I've translated books, poetry, song lyrics (most difficult--not only meaning but meter come into play). Love words, love translating these two very disparate languages, cultures, ways of thinking, making words out of thoughts.
 

1. Where did you grow up?

Raised in IX. Ferencváros in what was originally my perfumer (a "Nose") father's bachelor pad until the 1956 Uprising, when my parents, teddybear and I wound up Christmas Eve in Bremerhaven on the US Army transport Gen. Haan, refurbished to ship Hungarian refugees to NYC (along with András István Gróf, aka Andrew "Andy" Grove, eventually head of Intel) - still leaking smelly oil tho'.

After two storm-tossed seasick weeks, during which we were treated to root beer (still can't abide the taste), Coca Cola, and the worst-tasting thick palacsinta, i.e. pancakes, such that the women were given permission to take over the galley for a proper Hungarian meal New Year's Eve, we docked in Brooklyn Harbor Jan. 7, 1957 to the welcome strains of the Salvation Army. Our wobbly sea legs and psyche boarded an Army bus to Camp Kilmer, NJ, the primary US reception center for the some 30,000 Hungarian "56-ers".

About two weeks later we were assigned to stinky oil-refinery "Joyzee" City, NJ, raising my Father's second thoughts about the States being rosy. I picked up English in school in about six months, my parents much longer. About a year later we were ferry bound to Staten Island, NYC, where we became acclimated to living in America among a largely Italian population, and still some of the best pizza in NYC. Lox and bagels came later.
 
2.  If you could be an expat anywhere in the world, where would you choose?

Born Hungarian, at my insistence always speaking Hungarian at home (otherwise it did not feel like home), I insist I am 100% Hungarian and 100% American. I started out an expat in the US as a child, a good place for such since there are so many, unless your skin is black or brown in which case you may be snared by ICE these days. 
 
3. What would you miss most if you moved away from Hungary?

I miss the negativity and increasing rudeness most when I am away from Hungary, and glad of it. Hungarians used to be courteous and welcoming, even in the '90s when I arrived to Budapest. Otherwise, I miss the full succulent flavor of fresh ripe fruits and vegetables. They may not be as photogenic as in the States but they taste as they should, real. I admit to loving cukrászda treats.

In the States I miss affordable cultural events, spas, cosmeticians, overall general public safety even late at night. And I miss the Noon bells (commemorating defeat of the Turks from expanding further into Europe, 1456); the ride across the Danube on any of the bridges; the smell of lilacs and acacia blossoms along some streets.
 
4. Friends are in Budapest for a weekend - what must they absolutely see and do?

As the world's spa capital city, a soak in one of the baths is a must. My other favorite is a cruise on the Danube toward Budapest from Szentendre or further, just at sunset when the city lights come on and the sky turns from a glow to darkness and twinkling lights.
 
5.What is your favourite food?

I admit to falling prey to lángos at the beginning and end of the summer season on the strand in Alsóörs (with cheese and sour cream please on the principle, "if it's a goose, let it be fat", an old Hungarian saying: "hamár lúd, legyen kövér"). Too many of these can apply to humans as well. 
 
6. What is your favourite sport / form of exercise?

I like to swim. Learned on one of those old-fashioned fishing poles used at Lukács when I was about 3, my Mother having been a county champion at 13 in Kalocsa. They said of her and my Father that she would give birth at Lukács, swimming late into her term. It's still my go-to in town. Swam the cross-Balaton event first in 1999--so I could say "last century", then 10 years later. Who knows what this year will bring? Am also a certified yoga teacher, the practice is not a sport, the discipline to do it all the more so.
 
7. What is your favourite place in Hungary?

I'm on a quest to find a spot as magical as the view from my deck at Alsóörs overlooking Balaton, deer grazing my fig tree, fox and I locking eyes, boar gobbling fallen apricots at dawn, my cats cuddled by my side. My stewardship there is over.
 
8. What career other than yours would you love to pursue?

Digging around in dirt as an archeologist would have been fun.
 
9. What's a job you would definitely never want?

Would never want to be a ticket inspector on public transport.
 
10. Where did you spend your last vacation?

My last vacation, other than summers at Alsóörs, was visiting friends who moved from San Francisco to Ajijic, Mexico.
 
11.  Where do you hope to spend your next one?

Going on a Danube cruise this May: Prague, Passau, Linz, Melk, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest.
 
12. Apart of temptation what can't you resist?

Hard to resist quality pastry shops.
 
13. Red wine or white?

As my mood or dish inspires, red and/or white, but generally dry wines, unless it is 6 Puttonyos Tokaji Aszu.
 
14. Book or movie? 

Depends...
 
15. Morning or night person? 

More a night person
 
16. Which social issue do you feel most strongly about?

Caring for our planet Earth, less a social issue, more human responsibility.
 
17. Buda or Pest side?

Prefer to live in Buda, more green, quiet, better air.
 
19. Which achievement in your life are you most pleased about?

Pleased that I was instrumental in the early 1990s to fundraise a tidy sum Stateside for the Duna Kör movement that thwarted the construction of a dam between Slovakia and Hungary at Bös-Nagymaros for environmental reasons, among others, maintaining the territorial integrity of Hungary thereby. The issue is not entirely resolved to this day.
 
19. What would you say is your personal motto? 

Personal motto at the moment: Live and let live.