Magyar News, 1999. szeptember-2000. augusztus (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1999-11-01 / 3. szám
HELLO MAGYAROK A Warm Reunion with Team Hungary by Judit Vasmatics Paolini The 1999 Special Olympics World Games were held in North Carolina. My mom Rozalia Vasmatics and I attended cheering for Team Hungary—whose members we befriended in 1995 when the Games were held in New Haven, CT. After driving for two days which in itself was an adventure, we finally arrived at North Carolina State University in Raleigh; I knew that part of the delegation was housed here and the rest were housed in Chapel Hill. After a few inquiries, we finally caught up with Team Hungary and were greeted by Janos Wisinger, Head of Delegation; Peter Osvath, National Director; Marianna Szabó, Team Manager; and Ferenc Varga, Technical Director. These were the friends we befriended it 1995, in addition, we had the pleasure of meeting team members who were here for the first time. Mom and I arrived on Monday, June 28th; the games were already well underway. Yet, we had plenty of time to make new friends, applaud the athletes, and give a ride to team members when one was needed. It was quite a challenge trying to drive a delegate to a venue site in Raleigh when we had no idea how to get to where they needed to be. Of course, a map helps; but as most travelers know...sometimes, it's just not enough! Today we can chuckle at the time we gave a ride to Marianna Szabó and an athlete in her charge to the Raleigh Convention and Conference Center, the venue site for gymnastics . It was only ten minutes by car from campus; yet we had to stop and ask for directions. We were downtown and the traffic was utterly miserable. Mom was driving; 1 desperately pondered the map. Finally, I said, " it's got to be right here, but I don't see it! " We noticed a policeman directing traffic a few feet away and asked for assistance. Boy, were we glad to discover that we were right in front of it and could enter from the other side! Sure enough, the Special Olympic banners were in view as we turned the comer! On Tuesday, we headed for Chapel Hill; we called Maria Osvath, Peter's mom, and made plans to take her site seeing. Her hostess Maria Petrusz, a Hungarian- American, pleasantly surprised us with an invitation to breakfast! In addition, she too had plans to take Maria site seeing and offered to be the "chauffeur" since she knew the area very well. Realizing she was absolutely right, we accepted her kind offer! Upon meeting Maria Petrusz, we felt like we were old friends who had known each other for many years which is not surprising for we had the same roots; Hungary was our common bond as we shared the same ancestry, culture, and history. No wonder we felt like old friends embarking on a new adventure as we set out to show Maria Osvath the sites in Durham and Chapel Hill! Our short tour in Durham included the prestigious Duke University where we spent a little extra time visiting the Chapel. We also visited the Sara Duke Botanical Garden which is absolutely charming with an arboretum, many different types of flora, a gold fish pond, etc. There was so much to see, smell, and simply enjoy. Suddenly, Maria Petrusz asked all of us to be absolutely still and quiet; we couldn't imagine why the alarm! Then she whispered, "See the humming bird? Look! There!" It was so tiny and colored, we were absolutely exhilarated as we watched it flutter by! We had lunch at a deli in an upscale supermarket, I encouraged Maria Osvath to taste a little bit of my pecan pie since I thought it to be a delicious Southern dessert. Not having a sweet tooth Maria thought that it was okay but was able to resist ordering one That evening, we went to Fridays Center in Chapel Hill—the venue site for table tennis Luckily, the tournament was held inside, and we were shielded from the intolerable heat. Here, we caught up with Peter Osvath and Lajos Lengyel; Lajos is the Finance Director of Team Hungary and was assigned to head the delegation members housed at Chapel Hill. He had heard that we were in town and was happy to see us. Waiting for the tournament to begin, we exchanged Special Olympic pins. I had great fun passing out my pins—1 had painted small, wooden hearts red along with a simple inscription in white, NAUGATUCK. I too received some nice pins; and simply by chance, one day I was exchanging pins with the Head Coach of Aranyka Kanalas and Ilonka Horváth with their gold medals, in the center coach Margó Dunai Watching the Awards Ceremony at the Friday Center. Front row: Judit Paolini, Mária Petrusz, Rozália Vasmatics, Margó Dunai, Lajos Lengyel. Second row: Péter and Mária Osváth. Page 6
