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