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visitor from South Africa, and her temperament was closer to
those living in the hot sunny countries.
A trip to the West was such a concession and privilege
that only a mere few could afford it in our country in those
years. Seventy dollars was not much, but that was the amount
one could legally change / take out of the country. Nobody
talked of it, but it was general that everyone used the pass that
was valid for a month, until the very last day of the month. You
have to know how to budget – said the phrase, but it was only to
be practiced abroad, because life in Hungary was very cheap
and modest. One could have a fine lunch that cost eight-ten
HUF, which was quite affordable for a salary of 1200 HUF, not
to mention additional extra incomes, which were significantly
more. Restaurants were few in number though, and the lack of
commodities was still typical. I travelled to England twice in
the sixties, in 1964 and 1967, and on one occasion, my
penfriend came to Hungary too to visit me.
Turnover of products was still slow, but gradually more
and more products popped up in the shops. I could buy a new
car called Trabant, an East German make, after waiting three
years for it. I attended university from September till June, then
I was a tour guide during the summer. But I could only do that
inland, because one could not just go abroad to be a tour leader
there. I was not in that position, plus I was “independent” not a
party member, so did not get any scholarship either. I could
have gotten some scholarship though, after the dean of the
University of Iowa invited me to that institution because I
interpreted a lot of his speeches around the country, when he
visited schools. I organized things he could never have had
imagined. He wanted me to teach the history of Central Europe.
These things were quite fashionable by that time in American
universities. Students could have learnt about things from a
witness and they could have asked their questions about the
details accordingly. It was all I could have ever dreamt of; to
travel and teach there. I went to Dorottya utca/ Street – the

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