- Fall Break: Ireland. Dublin and Sligo County with Kristen. I love the energy the city of Dublin has, it's definitely a place I would return to. We did the touristy stuff and then headed to Tubbercurry where Kristen had cousins. Ireland is gorgeous beyond words and I think I left a little piece of my heart there when we left.
- Winter Break: Ridiculously awesome world wind tour of Europe with my friend Mike who is teaching with the JET program in Japan. We hit Munich for beer gardens and the Christmas Market at Marienplatz. In Venice we took a Gondola ride and saw Piazza San Marco. I have been taking Italian lessons and I could actually understand a good majority of the signs in the museum we went to. We were in Paris for about 36 hours but we managed to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower (great view, freezing cold), take pictures outside the Notre Dame, and spend a few hours in the Louvre [which I got into for free because I'm under 25 and a resident (temporary) of an EU country]. I bought a book on learning Middle Egyptian hieroglyph cause I'm a giant nerd. London was the last stop and probably my favorite (partly because I could speak English there). We drank in a pub, saw (sort of it was very crowded) the guard change at Buckingham palace, took pictures outside 221b Baker Street, rode the London Eye, saw the Cliffs of Dover, and we were on Westminster Bridge during the fireworks for New Year's which were spectacular.
- Emily Tóth: Emily is an American who has been living in the Bay area in CA. She's married to a man from Mezőtúr and they have an adorable daughter Emma who is 15/16 months old. They decided to move to Hungary for a few years and it has been awesome having another American in town to speak English with and we also practice Hungarian sometimes!
- Hungarian: I am at times impressed and frustrated with my Hungarian skills. Another teacher has helped me a few times but I really need to get a steady 1-2 hour lesson at least once a week. I'm terrible at self-motivation mostly because I feel like I am not making any progress even though I'm now able to follow a super basic conversation if I'm really paying attention. There are just so many differences in the grammar and I am used to Spanish/French/Italian where I could pick it up decently well in a much shorter amount of time. I love the Hungarian language and I'm really trying to get better so I can speak to more people!
- Teaching: Teaching is going well overall. There are always more challenging classes and sometimes my lessons don't work because of communication error, too easy, too hard, etc. I really do enjoy teaching, more than I thought I would. There's definitely a lot of satisfaction in planning a lesson and seeing the students actually learning something. I have also just started a conversation table type group with several of the teachers who have expressed interest in learning more English. The meetings have been fun and I'm enjoying the chance to talk to more of my colleagues.
- Outside Teaching: My private student left for America, so my only outside lesson is an adult group that normally has one or two people. Both the students are enthusiastic and we manage to get around the language barrier most of the time with electronic or hard copy dictionaries. I really need to look into trying to find some private students for the summer or I am going to be bored beyond words.
- CETP teachers: We've had a holiday party and a Super Bowl party in Hajdúszoboszló with a big group of teachers. It's great to get together and compare horror stories as well as lessons that have/have not worked in the classroom. It's also great to hear who has travelled where to pick up some tips for where to go and what to do. Lee and Emily are party planners of the highest calibre and so we always have delicious food and a great time. I also had two Thanksgivings, one in Szolnok with Emily Handler, her fiance and some friends and one at Jon and Franny's with several other CETP teachers. Both Thanksgivings had great food and it was nice to celebrate the holiday with others when I'm so far away from home.
- Spring Break: We have April 5- 9 off (Thursday - Monday) and I am going to Barcelona with a couple other CETP teachers. I am excited to be in a Spanish speaking country even if I doubt I will be able to communicate with any skill. My main goal is to get some paella, yummmmmmm.
- New Flat: I will be moving on April 2nd into a new flat that's about a 15 minute walk from the school. It has a separate living room and bedroom, a balcony and I should have my own washer in the flat. I will also be getting a bike from the school to use so that will cut down on the commute time, though 15 minutes really isn't far at all. I'm looking forward to having to interact a bit more with the town and I'll be closer to the Lidl and Penny which I really haven't shopped at with the Spar so close. I'm excited about the separate living room/bed room and I think I will split my bed (it's two twin beds) and put one half in the living room against the wall as a couch. I'll have to purchase some cushions to use as back rests but it'll be nice to have some separation between my sleep and work areas. I'll just have to make sure I don't forget anything on the way to school now!
- International Women's Day: This was March 8th and I got 4 flowers from other teachers, the school and students. It was nice to have a day to celebrate the women in your life and I love getting flowers :D
- Things I need to purchase: With going to Barcelona soon I've been hesitant to spend money but when I get back I need a serrated knife to cut bread, another set of sheets, cushions, a muffin tin, a full length mirror, more pencils, and possibly a hand mixer. I also need to get the guitar I bought fixed but that's pretty far down the priority list.
- Yoga: I also need to buy a yoga mat and yoga blocks (or something to use as yoga blocks). "Do more yoga" was one of my New Year's Resolutions and I really haven't gotten into it until this weekend. I downloaded several free 20 minute yoga class podcasts from iTunes (yogajournal.com) and I've done a few of them. I really enjoy the ones I've gone through so I'm going to make it a goal to do them at least 4 times a week. ( I know it should be everyday but I'm being realistic about goal setting)
- Future Plans: I'm officially teaching at the school next year. I'm happy they liked me and wanted me to stay :D but that's the last year I can teach without having to pay Hungarian taxes. My new somewhat vague five year plan is to teach for the next few years (3-4) then try and get into a forensic linguistics grad program (there's one at Hofstra, which is the only one in the US currently). I'm not sure if that teaching will all be in Hungary or not. I'm looking into places in South American to teach as it'd be a different experience and I'm sure getting my Spanish up to speed will help in future job opportunities. Plus, I would have then lived on three continents, which is pretty cool. My main hesitancy in teaching longer in Hungary is that the renewal fee for each year is $750 and as that's about 16% of what I make teaching for a year here it's a big deal. My parents paid for my renewal fee for this coming year thankfully or I would be zeroing out my savings account to buy my ticket home in the fall. I'll be in the states for about two weeks, one week in Ohio including Kayleigh and Alex's wedding and one in New York/Connecticut to see Tim and Ash. It'll be my first time home in 15 months so I'm looking forward to it.
- My Next Sewing Project: There is a fabric store in Mezőtúr and whenever I get around to going I think my next project will be an apron. I'm a messy cook so it would definitely be useful.
That's the last few months of my life summed up and I'll try and update more than once every 4 months fro here on out.
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