Today as I was coming home from school, I had a hard time stopping the tears from falling. It's so ironic to me, I think back about 19 months and I was doing the same thing. The only difference is then I was crying because I missed my family immensely. This time I'm crying because I only have two more days at my school. All these relationships that I have formed over the past two years (different from relationships in the states) are soon coming to an end. I know I can still keep in touch with many people. Although, there are some, who barely speak English, that I can communicate with face to face, once we loose that proximity, I think the relationship will be almost impossible to keep. These are people that I have grown to love and I will miss them more than I can say.

May 31 in Hungary is Pedagogus Nap (Teacher's Day). Often the students will bring flowers or bottles of wine to the teachers as a thank you for their service. It's kind of similar to Mother's Day for children.

Well this year, my school decided to give the teachers the day off from teaching. So we went into school at 8:00 am for a meeting that finished in less than an hour. After that we were free to play ping pong, chess, and some other games. The teachers worked together to make lunch for each other.


It's totally different than anything in California. They set up two fires outside and were cooking meat these pots. I couldn't imagine this back home. The fire department would come and shut the school down.

The month of April passed by so quickly. It was actually a very difficult month for me so I'm glad it's over. I had meetings on two Saturdays and had to work another Saturday. That is part of why it was difficult and why it passed so quickly.

I do have to say that my students blessed me. The group that I meet with most often outside of school invited me over to one of their homes for lunch. It was very sweet. Betty made three different kinds of chicken. One was a chicken and cheese casserole another was baked chicken legs and the other was basil chicken. It was all very good. She also had rice and french fries. Oh, and she made chocolate/coconut balls... can't really explain it, I haven't had anything like it in the states before. It was all very good. I'm really going to miss my students as I won't be returning to teach next year.

Today I went to a botanical garden with three of my students. We didn't have school. The teachers had to go in for meetings, but I didn't have to go because everything is in Hungarian.

It was really nice... I wanted to share some pictures. This is in the middle of the city, but I didn't even remember I was in the city, it was so tranquil.

Iskola Nap
(School day)

Today we had a different day. It's more for the students to have fun than anything else. There are movies showed in some classrooms. One classroom was full of chess boards another had tables set up like a casino. We had a school talent show as well as other contests. Since my school is a catering school, they also had some contests involving food and drinks.

One of the food contests was involving cooking out on the football field. You might think that's okay... kind of different, but no big deal. It wasn't what (in America) would be a normal cookout. On the football field, they set up about 6 or 7 firepits (just put some brick and wood down) and were cooking soup in big pots over it. I felt like I was at a campsite with the way the firepits were set up. I did try some of the soup, it was very good.

Today I was playing 20 questions with one of my classes. Basically, I wanted to know what they do in school. I only see them once a week. They have three English lessons, but I only teach one of them. I have noticed that they don't bring much to school. The girls basically come to class with just their purses. I found out that they don't have any books. They only have notebooks and papers.

They have approximately 30 lessons a week, Monday through Thursday. On Fridays they work at different places around the city and receive grades for it. I would consider it an internship, but I'm not sure if that's what it is or not.

This group is one of my older groups, so they will be finishing school this year. I asked them what they will do when they are done with school and they said that they aren't sure. They will probably work in a similar position but in a different workplace. I asked them if they will continue schooling at another school. They all answered with a resounding "NO".

They really aren't learning this year. They feel hopeless and I think abandoned for reasons I can't post.

The students just say... this is the education system in Hungary. I wish I could help them. My heart goes out to them. I know there is nothing I can do but pray for them and hope that one day they will have the same hope I have. This hope doesn't rest in a position in life, but in the one who created life.

Trying something new...

I decided two weeks ago that I'm not going to work on weekends anymore. Well in work, I mean grading, lesson planning ... school stuff. I still have other work to do, ESI administrative stuff, housework, and wedding/marriage preparation stuff. It worked last weekend. I was surprised at how much energy I had going into the week. I felt like I had been away from school for a while, when in actuality it was the same amount of time as any other weekend. I am hoping that I can keep this up for the remainder of the year.

Back to school...

In Hungary, Christmas break ended on January 2. We were all back in school on Thursday January 3. It was a nice way to ease back into school for me, having only two days before the weekend. I ended up staying home from work for almost two weeks before the break. So it has been about four weeks since I've seen many of my students.

Yesterday, the graduating or leaving students had their Szalagavato. I enjoy going because it gives me a chance to see the students in a different setting as well as learn more about the culture. The students receive a pin from their form teacher as a symbol that they are becoming adults. There are a couple of fun dances; one group of students danced to Grease, another did the Charleston. Then there is the big waltz. They are all choreographed and the students look beautiful.

Joey was able to go with me. It gave him the opportunity to see a little bit of my work life. He was able to meet some of my colleagues as well as see some students. I really enjoyed having him there.