Vienna and Dublin Part 1

Train travel makes me anxious. I can't help it, being basically illiterate and only having basic speaking skills in Hungarian adds a whole new level of difficulty to navigating public transportation. Thankfully, Maggie not only drive me to the train station, she also helped me purchase my ticket as well as the two extra tickets needed for the IC and Railjet sections of my journey. It took three trains to get to Sopron but I made all my connections so life was good. The train from Gyor to Sopron was a little crazy because it split up and only two cars went to Sopron. Luckily, saying Sopron? with question intonation worked and I knew I was on the right section of the train.

I had an hour and a half to kill before Kristen arrived but the station had wifi! I ended up skyping a friend who is teaching in Japan for a while and then watching Wednesday's episode of Happy Endings (great show).

Kristen made it on time and we waited for a bit and then boarded the train to Vienna. I was surprised that our passports were never checked either at the ticket counter or when we arrived in Vienna. After a bit of mix up regarding where the bus to the airport was we figured it out an arrived at the airport hotel where we would spend Thursday night with no other problems.

The hotel was nice but they originally had us in a smoking room with one bed instead of a non-smoking room with two twin beds. The situation was resolved and we ended up in a nicer room before heading to the airport to get dinner. Kristen and I ordered a gnocchi dish and a pizza and split them. The food was delicious, especially because I was feeling a little light headed from not really eating much during the day.

After dinner we headed back and I passed out around ten. Traveling exhausts me even when I'm just sitting on trains or in train stations all day.

This morning we woke up and headed back to the airport, this time to catch our flight. I had a moment of panic where my carry on wasn't fitting in the luggage measurement thing, but I shoved it a couple times and the guy let me slide saving me a 30 euro charge to check the bag.

The Vienna airport has a TON of really nice duty free shops after you get into the boarding pass only area. Kristen and I ended up grabbing breakfast and I got a Carmel macchiato and a bagel sandwich. (side note: I have missed bagels since coming to Hungary. I got some from Emily after I visited her but they just aren't really available normally) The sandwich was actually pretty good, the herbed cream cheese spread was particularly fantastic.

After breakfast there was more waiting as you can't go through security (which is right before your gate) until the previous flight has cleared out. Unsurprisingly, I got patted down as an extra security measure. The last few times I've flown it's happened, so I've given up being annoyed. Strangest thing was, there was a kid playing with a lighter while we were waiting for the plane, so they must be allowed past security here. Maybe because so many people smoke in Europe?

Only bad thing about the flight so far is that you have to pay for any kind of drinks. We should arrive in an hour and a half.

To be continued.....

We made it to Dublin and after running around the area outside the airport because no one could tell us where the city bus picked up we finally found it, (thank you helpful other kind of bus driver) and made it to our B&B. Ashling House is lovely and my bed is comfier than my Hungarian bed so I'm a happy camper.

Bernadette let us settle in and then helped explain the buses we needed to get to the city centre and back home. Our first plan was to go to the tourism office and get these Freedom Passes that allow us 3 days unlimited city bus travel and 2 days hop-on-hop-off bus travel (the tour bus that stops at all the touristy areas). It ended up that Bernadette actually had one for us to purchase and then very kindly sold me the city bus and hop-on-hop-off separate passes for the same price as the freedom pass. Nice people for the win!

We ended up just walking around the city for a while and taking in the sites. Our quest for (relatively) cheap food was stymied by the fact that everything except junk food in Ireland seems to be extremely expensive. Luckily we found a place that had lunch specials until 6pm and we both ordered Irish Stew and brown bread with Harp. The food was delicious, the beer was cold, and we both felt much better afterwards.

Wandering in the Temple Bar area on a Friday night right before Halloween was an experience! A fair number of people were in costume (sorry no pictures my camera is no so great at night time pics) so that was amusing and I appreciate the Halloween revelry as Hungary does not celebrate it.

Pics are taking forever so go look for them here. (only works if you're my friend on Facebook). I'll add more to the next post when we did the tours and such.

Next Post: First Full Day in Dublin

Angel Inductions

Ok, last Thursday was a fun day. It was "Angel Inductions" day which meant the fifth and ninth graders (the new students to the school) were dressed in pajamas and carrying their books in pillowcases instead of backpacks. The older kids also got to write all over those dressed in pajamas (this mostly happened to the ninth graders) so by the end of the day they had some interesting looks going on. 

The ceremony itself started at 4pm and I got to take part. The new teachers each year do some kind of fun skit or something. I got the lyrics (in Hungarian) of a re-tooled folk song. The other new teachers made up new words to the traditional melody about things like giving grades and not being able to find kids for classes (a problem I've luckily only run into once). We had practiced earlier in the week as there were also some dance steps involved in our performance. 

The ceremony was fun and each class did a choreographed number. The fifth graders were adorable and part of their number was Cotton-Eyed Joe which made me laugh. I have the 9 a and b groups so it was fun to see their performances. I have to say the numbers were rather impressive and I found out they'd been practicing for a whole month before the ceremony. 

When the teacher's turn came we came forward to some pretty loud cheers. A few issues with where we were in the song (we had chosen to only do 3 of the 5 stanzas and we mixed up the ones we got rid of) and which direction we were supposed to be dancing in aside, it was fun and the kids seemed to love us. After our song, the other new teacher who had joined in with the 9a group for a performance, came and joined us up front. We crossed arms and repeated an oath in Hungarian (aka they repeated and I mumbled some sounds) that I'm sure was made up by kids because at one point we said "something, something, Facebook." It was supposed to be a funny take on the oath the students take upon entering the school. 

After our oath, the new students had to take a funny (I'm assuming because of the laughter) oath and then there were some games and contests for the kids. 

The song I "sang"

Our new gym

Cotton-Eyed Joe with the 5th graders

My 9a before their dance

9a during the dance (I wish I had been sitting in front of them)

9b group (I only have half these kids)

The new students had to hold this position while saying their oath

I got this pin from one of my 10a students. I'm an angel now too!

The kids had to get a ping pong ball across the gym and back
using pvc pipe things cut in half as ramps

The three ladies who sang and danced with me

Last weekend I headed up to Szolnok to get some shopping done and see Emily. I found perfect (aka waterproof and warm) new boots and a silicone baking pan. I also got fabric to sew myself a new purse!

My new baking pan.

This morning my power went out and it took awhile to fix it because today is a national holiday in Hungary. It commemorates the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, you can read about it here. So people were in church and then with their families. But not having power made me more productive as I finished my purse and sewed a camera case. I plan on decorating the camera case with some bright red thread once I decide on a pattern. The purse certainly isn't perfect but it'll work well as my personal item on my flight to Ireland (on Friday morning!!)

Camera case and purse

Another picture of the purse, I'm rather proud of the
corners at the bottom

This past weekend my school hosted their annual English Competition. It was really interesting to see because we don't really have anything like it in the United States. In April, students at the religious schools in Hungary took a written exam. All those who scored higher than the cut-off point were invited to participate in the listening and oral parts that were held on Friday and Saturday. On Friday everyone arrived, there were almost 70 students as well as teachers and people who were helping out. Emily, a CETP teacher in Szolnok, and Christian, a CETP teacher in Karcag, were both acting as judges with me. 

The competition consisted of a listening part and 3 oral exams, a powerpoint presentation, a situation and a picture description. The listening and powerpoints were on Friday and there were some interesting topics. All of the topics were related to the Bible, so we heard about animals in the bible, mothers in the bible, sins in the bible, jobs in the bible, etc. I had helped a few of my students who were participating although I was not judging their group so I didn't get to see how they did but it was still fun. The juries were made up of 3 judges and if one of us had a student in the group we were judging, the scores of the other 2 judges were averaged so that it wouldn't be biased. 

Friday night we had a big dinner with all the teachers. There was delicious food, wine, beer and homemade pálinka from my contact teacher. It was nice getting the chance to relax with the other teachers and talk to some people I'd never met before. 

Saturday dawned bright and early with breakfast starting at 7am. Then from 8-12 we had the situations and picture descriptions. The situations were hilarious at times, like when I had to pretend to be an 18yr old kid's mother telling him paintball is too dangerous! Then the people organizing the competition tallied scores while Christian and I gave presentations. He talked about Washington DC and I spoke about Columbus, OH. I've noticed that because the Hungarians know I was born Cincinnati they always are surprised when I introduce myself as "from Columbus." I do this mainly because I feel more connected to Columbus as a city, no offense to Cinci. Anyway, I hate presenting (and yes I'm aware I'm a teacher and speak in front of teenagers every day, it's different) so I was super nervous but one of the other teachers told me I did fine so that was a relief. 

The awards ceremony was nice as there were a lot of books as prizes donated by different publishers. One of my students won 2nd in his group and 3 others placed somewhere between 5th & 9th (they were announcing in Hungarian and I got a bit lost, but I swear I know most of my numbers in Magyar now!) Also, the jury members got flowers and ceramic plates as a thank you for helping out, which was a nice touch

Here are some picture from the weekend:

Nametags!

Hungarians think my name is too short so they always add Lyn in.

Sanyi and Erika are so cute.

Niki giving the opening announcements and many of the jury members.

Representing CETP :)

Dr. Papp Andrea and Dobos Lászloné (I think I spelled that right)
the lovely ladies on the jury with me.

Mezotur pottery with my name on it, as well as the name if the competition.

Attempt at a dramatic shot of the flowers I received.

Sunday was a catch up day for lesson planning, laundry, and sleep. Tomorrow I will be participating in a group performance with the new teachers (where we will dance and sing in Hungarian) so I'll let you know how that turns out.

Sziasztok.

It's Already October!

It's hard to believe I've already been in Hungary for 41 days! I am finally getting into a rhythm with teaching, both my regular classes and the extra ones. I am not as comfortable in my town as I should be at this point, but I blame myself for not getting out and exploring more. That is something I need to work on, but I have the time so I'm not too worried.

Today was a great day as I got to visit the farm one of my private student's family owns. They have cows, horses, chickens, turkeys, and ostriches! The ostriches were cool, they always remind me of dinosaurs, especially their feet. I was a little wary of the birds as they are a lot taller than me and the males are very protective but it was fun to see them up close. I also got to pet the horses for awhile and I enjoyed it as taking horse back riding lessons was one of my favorite things in junior high.

My student's father made a traditional dish from the area that shepherds use to make while camped out with the sheep. It takes four hours to make! I need to get my student to write out the name for me because I'm not sure how to spell it, but it was delicious. Paprika, pasta, potatos and bacon = finom. It was also fun to get out of the flat and spend some time outside with other people. I can tend to be a bit reclusive and it's easy to fall back into that when in another country. But her parents were very nice and her mom gave me an (empty) ostrich egg to take home!

I'm off to type up situations for the English competition my school is having this weekend. Emily and Christian (two CETP teachers from Szolnok and Karcag) are coming to be judges so it should be a good time.

Sziasztok.