Strand Day

So I woke up at 7am today, everyone who knows me please take a minute to get over your shock, to bake cookies before meeting with friends. Emily's birthday is tomorrow so I made some chocolate chip cookies to share with everyone. I was very excited to get out of my flat as after baking, it was about 6 bajillion degrees. No, seriously though, I had a chocolate bar in my living room that melted in the wrapper, I'm not actually exaggerating that much.

Emily and Atilla (and Emma) picked me up around 11ish and we headed to the strand. To the Americans reading this, a strand is a pool complex kind of place. The Mezőtúri strand has a long lap pool (this has the coolest water), a hangout type shallower pool (medium warm) and a thermal pool (hottest water). Thanks to a friend we got into the strand for free which is always a great mood booster. We had packed snacks as well as real food because we planned on staying all day (and we did).

It was just a great day overall. The weather was warm but not too hot (if we were in the water at least) and relaxing and chatting in the pools with various friends was a great way to spend a Saturday. We helped people practice English and I got to try and work on my, admittedly poor, Hungarian skills. (After this blog is done I'm going to go practice with my flash-card program, I promise!) I got to talk to several people I've only had brief conversations with for longer periods today, so here's to building friendships while lounging in a pool!

Some sunburn aside, this has been one of the best days this summer. :D


Workout update: I actually worked out after spending 8 hours outside at the strand, so today was a win for self-discipline. Tomorrow is a rest day but I may do some slow yoga to stretch my muscles out. I have a 75 minute audio only class I haven't tried to work through yet so that might be on the schedule. I will have to see how I feel.

Off to watch the Olympics, night all!

Summer Updates

Okay, so it’s been 6 bajillion days since I updated. Mini-recap of my life:

• Got better at teaching, easier after a few months of learning the kids strengths and weakness (mine too) and I owe the internet a lot for lesson ideas and fun activities to keep kids interested. 
• I downloaded an extra keyboard program to let me make this letter -> ő so that I could properly type the name of the town I live in finally!
• End of the year makes everyone crazy, interesting to see it from a teacher’s POV instead of a student’s.
• Wonderful visit from my mom! Spent a few days in Hungary (garden party in Mezőtúr, main sights in Budapest) and then time in Italy (Pisa, Cinque Terre, and Florence). I will always love Italy, the food, language and history contribute to an indescribable experience every time. I loved being able to read (mostly) the signs at various sights/museums in Italian. Very sad to see Mom go and there was definitely the urge to jump on the plane with her.
• Strand (pool complexes) visits in Gyoma with Sanyi, Erika and her family were great and I got a decent tan! It’s always nice to spend some time in other towns with good friends and I got some great Hungarian food too.
• The new flat is awesome and having a separate bedroom and living room again is nice. I feel like I have too much space almost but it's in a great location and I enjoy having my own place, even if I do need to get a little better about cleaning it.
• Workout wise I've been trying to follow the Insanity plan. I was good for two weeks but the last 4 days I haven't done anything so tomorrow I need to get back into it. It's a lot of work but I feel better when I work out and I can tell I'm losing weight so I need to stick to it.
• Craft wise, I made a fleece tie blanket (sometimes known as a no-sew blanket) in scarlet and grey. Go Bucks! The blanket is the perfect size to curl up in although I haven't been doing it right now as it's been hot.
• I finally got a used bike to get around town and I am loving how much easier it is. Especially since we’ve been having 90 degree weather pretty often, I only get half as hot and sweaty trying to get places.
• Still loving having Emily and Atilla in Mezőtúr. Their daughter Emma is blossoming as a new little bilingual kid and with my love for linguistics it’s endlessly fascinating to see her language evolution. Her grandmother speaks to her solely in Hungarian so Emma (at 20 months) ends up teaching me words quite often. I’m over at the Tóth’s at least a couple days a week these days. 
• Hungarian lessons with Judit have been a lifesaver (had a bit of a break but I swear I’ll get back to practicing soon). She’s a great teacher and I feel like I jumped up several levels in understanding after only a few lessons with her. I need to get braver about speaking and stop worrying about making a mistake! I tell my students that all the time so I need to practice what I preach :P I found a flash card program (Anki) for my computer and I’ve downloaded a Hungarian deck to start working through. I’ve also bought a beginner’s Hungarian-Spanish dictionary (for speakers of Hungarian wanting to learn Spanish) with lots of illustrations so that I get some double duty practice in to stretch my brain a little more. (Yes, I know I’m a giant nerd)
• I took a short trip to Bratislava in Slovakia with Wendy the week before she left for the states. We had a great time in the little city. I'd recommend the free tour if you go. Bratislava was nice but you can definitely see everything in 1-2 days. We ate at a pub that had great chicken wings and brewed their own, delicious beer. We had to move tables midway through the night and ended up sitting with a man and his son who spoke some English and wanted to practice with us. It was great to see Wendy before she left and now I've been to 11 countries!

And that brings us up to the present:

 Today was one of those days that reminds me why I love Hungary. I was invited to a mini-Topogo (not sure on the spelling there I think there is at least one accent over an o) party by friends who were cooking some topogo outside in a bogracs (cauldron) over a fire. Emily, Atilla, and Emma came and our hosts were Lajos and Szilvi and their 2 year old Dóri. We sat out in the garden and chatted in English and Hungarian while the dish cooked. Topogo is a delicious mixture of potatoes, bacon, and spices including paprika. Definitely one of my favorite Hungarian foods. After the food we played with the kids for a bit and had some lovely desserts before heading out. When we got back to Emily’s family’s house I hung out for a while before getting coffee at the czukrazda (café/confectionary) next door with Emily. 

I was about to head home when she invited me for a bike ride and we ran into Atilla coming home so we waited for him and then headed out. I definitely need some more practice with the bike so that I can confidently take at least one hand off to signal with, etc while riding without being worried about falling over. Atilla is completely at home on his bike and Emily and I were jealous to see him riding without holding either of the handlebars! We went down a street with lots of fruit trees along the side that are free for the picking. The plums weren’t quite ripe but I snagged a körte (pear) that was pretty firm but I prefer mine crispy so I enjoyed it anyway. Riding along Atilla stopped and motioned Emily and I over because he noticed a group of people in the middle of preparing a pig in their garden. He went up and rang their bell, explaining that Emily and I were Americans who hadn’t seen the process before and these complete strangers let us come into their yard to watch what was going on! 

The pig was already dead at this point (thankfully, I’m not sure I’m ready to see them actually kill it but I can handle an already dead one) and they had what basically amounts to a flame thrower going to burn the hair off the skin of the pig. The family who had let us in gave us some hazi pálinka so of course we toasted and downed the rather large shots. The alcohol was strong (like all good pálinka) but it didn’t burn too much and I still had enough food in my stomach to soak it up (at least a little bit). Atilla chatted to the people for a bit while explaining to Emily and I how they would clean the pig’s skin and then open it up and cut out all the meat for sausage, etc. We left while they were still washing the skin off with some cheerful waves and hearty “köszönjük szépen”s (we thank you very much) for letting us, as complete strangers, crash their party for a bit to experience something new. Mounting our bikes we headed out and after a short discussion we stopped by a restaurant for some drinks (beer, water, and Coke for Atilla, Emily, and I respectively), mushroom soup for Emily, and some great conversation . We ended up splitting another dessert (I had about 9000 calories today, whoops!) and then heading home. 

I'll add some more pictures from today/around town later/in the next post. 

[Insert Lame Apology for Not Blogging]

So, as a ton of things have happened since I last wrote, we are going to work in blurb form.

• 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. 

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.