Alban Adventure

 ...

Quitted

A big journey came to an end at the end of June. Even by now I hardly believe that it is over. Four years full of experiences, development, great deeds, memorable projects, position and role changes, situations that allowed me to push my limits. So many leaders with different management styles. So many times being out of comfort zone. So many sacrifice. So many teardrops. Mixed feelings.

I joined Corteva on the 4th of April, 2022 through a labor hire company for a definite period as maternity coverage. Started as a contractor in the position of FS&RE specalist. Once joined, there was not much time to become familier with everything; I immediately got the office move project. It was carried out from zero till the complete move in within only 6 months with many comlicating circumstances eg. my then manager (Magda) has to go away with immediate effect, my function changed due to organization change and my role was combined with receptionist role, reported directly to the country leader. (I wrote about this at that time in detail, so no duplication.) 

After 8 months of incredible intense work, the new office was not only ready to move in but also in time, everything in its place. Without any recognition or compensation for sacrifying my private life, with endless disappointment I wanted to quit but at the same time I wanted to enjoy the fruit of my work as a queen of the beautiful new office – therefore I stayed and waited. It proved to be a good decision as a new leader (Sergii) came and I saw that there is hope. Hope that the hard work can be visible. He recognized me and soon got the offer of the marketing program specialist and became FTE (full time employee instead of contractor). With this I got a temporary manager for a few months (Maria), after her I started to report directly to the country leader again. To the whole office's dismay he was removed to Romania and I got my current/last manager (Peter). His personality lead me to make my decision of leaving the company without any hesitation. The idea has ripened for some time but he, the circumstances, the company split, the position expansion, the unchanged salary, suspected burnout, all could not hold me back from quitting.

If I weigh, the scale is out of balance. It was me, who gave more than got. The extremely huge responsibility and work load consumed me almost entirely. And the problem was not with those times  when I had to work but those times that I spent outside of work. Something was always weighing on me. Chaos and constant change are inherent parts of a multinational company which I tolerated less and less. If someone left, no new person was hired but the tasks was scattered among the existing colleagues – extra work without extra money. Good deal. But not for the employees. Working for a multi is just like a drug. You become addicted. There are many benefits with which they make you to stay. Hard to say NO but I finally managed to. It was neccessary to draw the line somewhere and that was the point. It was nice it was good but more than enough, thank you. They do not deserve me any longer. I felt I could not continue it with full heart and soul. Therefore rather in no way at all than at half steam.

What I am grateful most is for overcoming the ruhibition of foreign language. I had the chance to use English daily, in everyday work thanks to the foreign leaders. Then I’m grateful to get to know and work with the kind of brilliant leader (SK) personally and professionally which probably will never happen again in the future. Learnt to work extremely independently. Liked the international background within the company. Like all those experiences that only such a big company could provide. As a market shaper company we were always at the forefront. So many events and activities, numerous awards, really felt like we EXIST. I felt like I’m part of something good, something significant. Farmers know us and like our products.  

I hated the frequent changes. The changes in leadership. The uncertainty. The extremely high responsibility. No one knows anything. The hectic work load. The unreasonable decisions. The fact that you are just a number. And your name is not even mentioned after a great deed.   

As for the lessons, I was thinking whether I will act on the same way at another company in the future. The answer is probably yes. With full heart and soul. Because it’s not worth doing it any other way. But should add some brain as well which warn me again if I overdo it if it is at the expense of my private life. And a little more money would not hurt, either. 

04/APR/2022 - 31/JUL/2026

Japan for the 18th birthday

Birthday gift redeemed: Tokyo-Kyoto-Nagano-Tokyo mother-son program series well done, and so the eagerly desired trip came to reality. But be careful! Japan is infectious. I can declare my son was infected by Japan as well.

 

This is simply something different. Very easy to get accustomed to the fact that everything works. Returning home you immediately miss the whole and start to play with the idea of the next trip. Previously I had the chance to visit the island country twice and told a lot to my elder son about those trips in the past. He asked me a few days after we arrived home:

“Mom, how long does it usually take for you not to starve for it, again?” Yeah, that’s the nice part. The enthusiasm never stops. His question plainly proves his infection. That’s why I’m saying that Japan is infectious but mostly when you have own experience with it.

 10 days, 4 accommodations, several trains and bullet trains, continuous map diving, amazing places and people wherever we go, whatever we try – the essence of Japan is everywhere and in everything. And do you know what gives its essence, what is the point? The unique harmony of tradition and modernity based on deep respect, responsibility for the community, discipline, constant pursuit of perfection. Not just a geographical place but a lifestyle and a sense of life based on several pillars where quite contemplation and bustling city life coexists.

Gratis: the Sakura festival had just begun during our visit (02-12/MAR). Arigatou gozaimasu!

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Traveling to Japan is a good thing, traveling within Japan is even better. You can quickly get used to the intricate Tokyo subway network, and you can get used to the comfort, speed, accuracy, and safety of the shinkansen even sooner. The "super express" or "bullet train" is the technological symbol of modern Japan with a maximum operating speed of 320 km/h. The Nozomi is the fastest of the trains (a good choice between Tokyo and Kyoto), but the Hikari and Kodama are also top-notch. They are earthquake-proof; they stop automatically in the event of a natural disaster. Their delays are extremely rare, measured in seconds; if they are more than 5 minutes late, a lateness certificate is issued, which in railway culture already belongs to the category of shame. Disciplined passengers have 1 minute at the stops to get on and off.

Favorite: the seats that can be rotated in different ways

Gratis: His Majesty Fuji-san, visible only 70-80 days a year, showed us himself on our way from Tokyo to Kyoto!

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Kyoto or Tokyo? If I look at it from a UNESCO World Heritage perspective, 17 of Japan's total 23 UNESCO sites are in Kyoto. For collectors (for me), this is a treasure trove, so for me Kyoto takes the top spot.

Kinkaku-ji, also known as the Golden Pavilion, is really made of gold! Its wooden facade is covered in five layers of 24-carat gold foil. The use of gold is symbolic: it cleanses the soul of negative thoughts about death.

Gratis: the entrance ticket is also a blessing

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Arashiyama is a wonderful place to spend a not-too-exhausting day. It's a good idea to arrive early so you can stroll among the bamboo trees, which can grow up to 20 meters tall, before the tourist crowds (but be aware of the signs warning of bears and wild pigs). While walking along the main street, you can taste all kinds of Japanese delicacies, look around the gardens of temples, dress up as a geisha (or take photos with them), sit on the riverbank, or even go boating - the backdrop provided by the mountains will be picturesque in any case.

- Bamboo Grove

- Togetsu-kyo Bridge

- Tenryu-ji Temple

- Kimono Forest

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Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto is one of the most important Shinto shrines in Japan. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion-red torii gates that lead up the mountain like a tunnel.

A torii is a dividing line, a symbolic boundary between the ordinary and the otherworldly worlds, between humans and gods. Founded in 711 (!), the site is the central shrine of the god of business prosperity and rice cultivation.

Gratis: the crowds run out by the end of the 2-3-hour hike to the mountaintop

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Another place of historical importance, although for this we have to travel further north, to Nagano Prefecture: Edo-era Japan, NARAI-JUKU, the longest post town of Nakasendo. While/after wandering the streets, it's nice to sit down for a hot soba in a quaint traditional tiny family restaurant. While waiting, the notebook on the table encourages you to write anything you want.

We can find great hiking trails (Nakasendo Trail, Torii Pass Hike), following that we can explore the Kiso Valley.

Gratis: snowfall + the tourist crowds are completely gone here

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Japan's National Treasure: Matsumoto Castle

A medieval castle built in the 1500s in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture. It is one of the three most beautiful castles in the country. It is also known as Crow Castle because of its black walls. Every summer, the castle hosts the Taiko Drum Festival. (I would love to see that one day!)

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Tokyo Skytree is a broadcasting tower (a farewell to Japan for us) and the tallest man-made structure in Japan at 634 meters. Unfortunately, one of its elevators broke down on February 26, 2026, leaving 20 visitors stranded for almost 6 hours. Lucky us, that it did not happened during our visit.

2025 recap

2025 was the year of the rat, therefore only rats felt good.

January

Worldwide news >> wildfire in LA, inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the US

Hungarian news >> Client Gate switch, central exam for students in the 8^th class (Emil was affected)

Family news >> my Mom officially was retired, had a party on this occasion

Something new for me >> ice skate lessons

January is usually about >> making up for those things that were lag behind from December, screening tests  

Date to note >> 21/JAN – Aranka (my ex father-in-law’s beloved one) passed away

 

February

Worldwide news >> flood in Australia

Valentine’s Day >> celebrate it again since I’m single

Carnival Season >> Nolen in the nursery: Doctor Plague

                                 me at the workplace: rollergirl (first carnival at Corteva)

Family news >> Dominik applied for early graduation in English

Something new for me >> roller skates

February is usually about >> WORK, two important big events in this month (Yield Challenge & TOP100)

 

March

Hungarian news >> margin stop for the shops for certain products

Ramsons >> record number of visit (3x) on the ramson field in one season, experienced all growing phase, but my favourite one is still the smallest fresh sprouts in early stage

 

April

Spring holiday including Easter, with the traditional family get-together in Taksony. This month is also about running, and the preparation for running events – most optimal weather conditions for this activity in this month.

 

May

Leaving the nursery, final good-bye.

 

June

Noncsika again was brave enough to spend a few days with us, without her parents. First time to try the mullet hairstyle for Nolen. Relationship attempts (only) while cycling around Lake Tisza.

 

July

4S Street concert in Szigliget castle around Lake Balaton with the sunset and monadnocks as the most beautiful natural background – was a memorable one.

Kids turned to 18 and 7.

Short family holiday with sis and the kids at Sebes Körös. Nice solo SUP experience along the river.

 

August

Meteor shower. An exciting evening & night was spent with Nolen in a tent at Hármashatárhegy including a curious fox.

Short vacation with the boys at Tiszafüred in a floating house. Most memorable part is the breakfast on the tiny balcony directly surrounded by swans.

Two teeth of Nolen were forced to remove as the new ones were coming while the milk ones stood very still. Till then no tooth wanted to come out.

At long last for the first time we could go into Parliament on the day of our national holiday, 20/AUG.

Another attempt for making connection with a male (who was born on the very same day like me).

 

October

Worldwide news >> burglary in Louvre Museum, Paris

Hungarian news >> peacetalk between USA and Russia in view, located in Budapest but finally not happened

Something new >> vivifying ancient photos, weird experience

Class 1/B was started by Nolen, specialized in English. Same school like Dominik attended. I just fret myself that they won’t learn English at all during the first 2 years. (Dominik did.)

Traditional family grape harvest.

Spartacus pathway – solo extended hiking. 😊

ChrisFit Gym - bought monthly ticket twice but realized using gym machines is not my style and atmosphere.

We invited Noncsika for Halloween and had fun together with her.

 

November

Psychologist – looking for help in spiritual resolving as time not eased as expected but my thoughts were revolved around my ex and his girlfriend day & night and I was tormented by them.

 

December

First time to let Elfie in our home to start the year end daily routine spiritfully. So much fun, both parties enjoyed; kid and mom as well. Kept the habit for advent season: bringing as many miracles for the December days as possible.

 

2025 at work

- Organized 15 events with hundreds of participants each: 1x TOP100 (Marriot, Bp), 1x Yield challenge (Aquaworld, Bp), 2x job fares (MATE Bp, Mosonmagyaróvár), 5x summer field events (Kenderes, Szarvas, Debrecen, Dombóvár, Hegyfalu), 3x autumn field events (Szarvas, Debrecen, Hegyfalu), 2x internal kick off meetings for sales team (Kóspallag-Nagyirtáspuszta, Siófok), 1x Year end dinner (Danubius Hungaria Hotel, Bp). 

- Arranged 1x incentive trip (Corrida, Spain), regional meetings, an international meeting held in Bp. (Radisson BudaPart).

- Took part 1x prestigeous award ceremony (AGROmashEXPO), 2x round table discussions (Agrárium, AgroFuture), 1x charity event working as a volunteer (Hotel Vau sanctuary), 2x running competitions (UB, Diabolo), 1x marketing team building (Mártély).

- Received several recognitions.

- Faced many CHANGES: our beloved country leader Sergii was replaced to Romania, new marketing leader came, inside of the marketing team a colleague quit, a new one came and the split was officially announced in October, so the two businesses (seed & crop protection) will be separated entirely, after the team worked hard on the new one-face-to-customer conception just introduced…

 

Keep on in 2026 (year of the horse)

- Reform kitchen, cooking variedly, tastily, healthy, knowingly, seasonally

- Excursions, exploring new places, being outdoor

- Moving

- Following a bit better the national and international news

 

Songs describing 2025 best:

Nagy Ricsi – Kit érdekel

Rácz Gergő – Ja nem

 

Transition time

We are in between summer and winter. September is always gone away quickly; pulling out the summer as much as possible, busy with the school start. October is about Halloween and its preparations, attunement for autumn, delicious dishes. And then comes November that is usually an under evaluated month. November is the silent entrance hall of a new start. It is neither about spectacular starts, nor about big ambitions. It is rather a transition from the light to the darkness, from the external fizzling into the inner calm. While the nature steps aside, trees fall their leaves, we feel that it is high time to arrange, to let go, to resolve. Slowly, knowingly, honestly.  So this month is about inner work and systematization requiring deceleration, introspection before we get on the Christmas express. We have to decide not only what to present to whom for Christmas but also think through what worked in our lives this year and want to keep for the next year and what we have to let go.

Honestly, I fret and distress myself a lot recently, waste much time on thinking of the unprocessed past and the distracting present. 

Summer 2025

This summer no special destination was planned. We had some really short vacations locally, just within the border, and some habitual and new engagements.

In June, I had some field events throughout the country. In Hegyfalu, Nolen was with me and proved to be a great help at putting together the gifts, to distributing them at the registration, and also at the packing with the agronomist guys in the end. He really enjoyed the feeling of the event and being useful. Another habit of us is to invite Noémi, my cousin's daughter to stay a couple of days with us. We have some habitual engagement like Palatinus strand in the middle of the Margaret island approaching by buggy, climbing up to the hills, and this year we had the procession at that time and we also was looking for the mini sculptures of Kolodko in the downtown by scooter. Nolen had his first mulett style haircut. He attended even two summer camps: one was a swimming camp and the other was a farm camp with full of animals, together with Noel.

In July, we had a brilliant marketing team building in Mártély. Nolen spent his very very last week in the nursery. A magnificient and sooo memorable 4S Street concert highlighted this month in Szigliget castle at Lake Balaton where the sunset and the monadnocks were in the background at the same time. We had a big big party for the kids' birthday, as Dominik turned 18. Ex father-in-law made many programs with his granchild Nolen. We organized the habitual sisters with kids short family vacation at Sebes Körös, where of course my SUP was a compulsory part. I had some cycling tours like around Lake Tisza (70 km) and to Etyek and back (50 km). We have visited Nolen's early childhood health supervisor for the last time. Tooth Fairy visited him for the first time twice - although, those two teeth had to be removed forced by the doctor as they were not moving at all and the new ones were already coming, growing in the wrong place.

In August, we had a memorable meteor shower seen from the Hármashatárhegy with Nolen, where we brought a tent and slept there and were witness of a fox coming quite close to us and the sunset on the next morning. Me and both kids were experienced a special floating house at Lake Tisza as accomodation. The best part was to eat breakfast on the small balcony on the water while swans were around us. Our National Holiday, 20/AUG, was spent with my cousin coming from the countryside. Finally, we could go into the Parliament for the first time in my life. Regarding the fireworks on the same evening, just to remind everyone, forget the Batthyány square as a view point for fireworks. It was a real nightmare because of the crowd. 

Dominik 18

Can't believe that my elder son already reached the full age and entered the adult section. Still learning and does not have the exact idea what he really would like to do in the future. The outcome of this school (system administrator) seems not the most attractive walk of life for him. He excels in English and completed early graduation with great results. Thank God, he is still trouble free, avoids conflicts. Real gen Z, with all characteristics of his generation. What makes my hair stands on end is his dining. He eats very little, quite inordinately, mostly in the evenings which comes from the fact that lives the other way round mostly in summer - when we are awake, he sleeps.