These 3 years I'm going to write
about coincide with the very first three years of my sweet little Nolen. I
treat these years like a project because this period will never repeat again in
my life. (Never say never!) My second and last maternity leave, so I wish to
get the most out of it. Therefore, I'm much conscious as I ever was. On one
hand, I knowingly enjoy every minute I spend with 'baby' Nolen. He is an
amazing little boy, it is a special experience being with him. On the other
hand I completely utilize my time at home, away from work. And of course, I had
plans. A few. Quite a few. Only a few months left out of the 36, and I think
I'm quite OK with the implementation. Covid horned in a little but everything
is good as it is.
So I was allowed to stay away
from work for the max length of maternity leave. Thanks for my employer not to
hurry me back. The first two years are financed 'quite well' by the government,
the allowance received in the third year is negligible. This is not the time of
big spendings but everything is solvable. I already have some routines in
situations like this.
From the very beginning, all were
in my head. I knew exactly what I want to carry out. I didn't have the
university up my sleeve, it just came. Of course, it had an exact reason but
stands besides me. After all, working out a brilliant idea is often heard from
mommies during their maternity leave. As for me, the school gave me inspiration
and some "seeds". At the beginning, I wanted to deal with company
things but I was refused to do this by the management so I found a new way and
theme which finally gave me more pleasure and inspiration. This was actually
what I was really in, baby-mother themes. At the beginning, I was thinking
about a smog filter built in the stroller which protects babies from outdoor
air pollution. And then, the second semester brought the subject of food marketing.
We needed to write about the marketing strategy of an enterprise (SME) working
on niche market dealing with something healthy. I immediately had the idea of
a so called farm-to-table restaurant - based on my visit in a restaurant with
the same conception in Amsterdam during a business trip years ago. I totally
fell in love with this idea and started to think of as my future business. I
start to deep into the theme in more aspects, worked on it within the frame of
different subjects. What's more, I extended it, made some research, admit and present
at the conference of Council of Student Research Societies. My tender titled 'Management and marketing in the development
of short food supply chain businesses - Project case study of a Hungarian
farm-to-table restaurant' has been nominated to participate in the National Conference
by the institutional conference jury. Here is the resume to get to know more
about it:
Confirmed
by national and international researches, in the countries of the EU and in our
country as well there is increasing tendency of those food consumers who
prefers buying foodstuff grown locally or in the near. As a housewife, I
experience that besides me there are more and more consumers who assign key
importance to the origin of the food, search for local, native, traditionally
prepared goods, avoiding mass products as much as possible. Foodstuff produced
and promoted in short food supply chains means several advantages for the
producer and for the customer as well. However, the short supply chains are not
able to compensate the damaging effects of the increasing urbanization, but
besides the above mentioned, it can generate several economical, social,
environmental effects. In the chosen theme point of view, it is important to
emphasize that the advantages of the short supply chains can be utilized
wonderfully in the catering industry as well. As a precondition, the management
needs to rethink the seasonal range of food offer on a creative way under the
direction of a professional chef, and for this they need to get the quality
ingredients from controlled sources. The conception of
"farm-to-table" which means "termőföldtől a vendég asztaláig"
in Hungarian, wants to fit to this new restaurant management conception.
My
TDK composition was prepared under the mentor direction of HELIA working group
on EDUTUS University of which primary aim is to illustrate - through the
example of a fictive restaurant - which tasks (strategical analysis, market
analysis, producing own resturant ingredients, planning the menu, marketing
strategy, business plan, etc.) fall on the management on the way of reaching
business success. To understand the point of the modern restaurant management
based on the this new conception, my TDK composition describes the basic terms
on one hand, and on the other hand it presents national and international
examples which allows to draw a lesson to establish the project case study.
Based
on the research and the project case study worked out, it can be identified
that the farm-to-table restaurant conception is a whole new thing in Hungary,
therefore the educated receptive clientele is missing, which incorporates the
market demand. This new kind of well-conscious, solvent clientele still needs
to be trained and the key of this procedure is the advanced marketing
communication and advertising supported by the most up-to-date ICT tools. Lack
of these, business success is insurable and the results may be under
expectations. Probably, after few years less expenditure could be enough to
reach success in this branch. If somebody wants to start a business like this,
he definitely needs to count on the extra time and extra cost of clientele education
requiring high competence. My
research based on studying and working out mostly secondary literature and
partly primer research, including a deep interview with a creative chef.
Completing this tender -
which was absolute optional - I'm much closer to my final examination paper.
The main part is already ready. This was my main goal. To work in advance.
Additionally, being part of such a conference sounds good everywhere. Another
easement came with it: a freely chosen subject can be quitted in the next and
last semester. In one word: IT WAS WORTH IT! And I'm happy not to give up.
Another project is to update my
CV and linkedIN profile just before returning to work. I want to look around on
the labour market and perform some interviews. My goal is dual: to check the
competitiveness of my position, to update my knowledge about job interviews (I
did it more than 10 years ago) and try how it feels when there is no bet.
Performing the biggest assortment
ever is in progress. Cloths, toys, everything to their best places: orphanages,
those in need, recycling organisms, some items preserved to the after-ages, some
converted into money, etc... Loooong, time-consuming procedure but I ten times rather
do this than everything ends up in the trash, unselected, in bulk.
To get into my very best shape by
healthy nutrition and daily exercises is not a new project but follows me in my
whole life. This needs to work not as a campaign but as a maintainable lifestyle.
I was closest to my dreamshape 6 years ago, than after the second delivery and
nursing everything happened slower with my body. I build myself increasingly,
with the thought that I’m working on my final shape, with no other brake. I do
this with pleasure. I get up very early in every morning to enjoy my me-time,
do the exercises and start the day with the healthiest bites, with a
substantial breakfast. Good to know that time doesn’t work against us, it works
for us.
One of my wish was to come through
a plastic surgical intervention, namely my upper eyelid needed to be corrected.
It was said to be a routine operation so I took a deep breath and brought
myself to lay under the knife. All was OK, the scab made fast and nice recovery
and I’m happy with the result. In the doctor’s opinion, this is generally a
thankful operation because a relatively tiny procedure results big change on
the face with the wider look. The next step will be a tattoo, beauty tattoo on
the eyelid instead of using eyeliner day by day.
My plan was to try and start the nursery with
Nolen (governmental institution before kindergarten till the age of 3 and
under) but we quickly finished with it. I thought this as a program only in the
mornings and go home after lunch before sleeping and only on certain days,
three times a week. The two-week adaption period went smooth, there was only a
little crying ("kis sírás volt"). I was crying too, mostly only from
within with no sign, but out of eyeshot, freely. I was proud of my little
prince to become a big, independent nursery boy, but all our mornings started
with crying hard, saying that "we no longer need to go to the nursery"
and on the way in the car "mom, please go to the toilet at home". And then feelings came. When I went shopping and saw mothers with their
children, my heart was bleeding and thought he could be with me, too. To made
the final decision the government call helped which said that only those
parents should have taken their children to the nursery who are in serious need
of this service, considering the pandemia. So we finished, just before we have started
it truly and I'm terribly sad that he needed to live through those few days
which are the worst days in a little one's life. There was a cute little girl in the group named "Lulu" (Laura) who I thought to be equivalent to Nolen, mighty like, just in girl. I never forget her figure standing in the door on the last day saying "Goodbye Nolen".
