christmas program!

i teach in two elementary schools this year and one of them had a christmas program and invited me to be part of it. so, for the second time in hungary (and in my life) i donned a santa claus suit.

the kids all knew it was me and were overflowing with excitement about their performance in the program.
eniko (enn-ick-ew), the first grade english teacher, arranged their part in the program. as "frosty the snowman" played the children built a snowman on stage. they put on its hat and eyes and nose and mouth and scarf and buttons while having snowball fights and dancing around.

but before we were on stage there was a lot of waiting...

which meant a lot of restless 6 and 7 year olds...

it's traditional in hungary to put up your christmas tree on christmas eve. they don't overdo it with lights and it's rare to see houses decorated with lights. they could use a little help with the method of adding the lights, but it doesn't matter, really... 'cause it still turns out nice. see?here is eniko as she normally looks:

before and after the kids decorated her

some restless kids got curious about the audience and i caught them peeking out before we started

our kiddies were so great! they sang their guts out and danced around with glee. and they were surprisingly patient while waiting for their turn. eniko and i hung out backstage until the end of the program. aren't we adorable??

so, big hit! there were lots of familiar tunes translated into hungarian, lots of christmassy songs and costumes, lots of variety on the stage, including singing, lipsynching, drama, choreographed uh... movements, poetry, and running. the kids had a ball and the parents and friends clapped in rhythm, in true hungarian style. :)

Zrínyi Gimnázium szalagavató bálja

though i haven't worked at ZIG since june 2009, i was invited to their ribbon-pining ceremony and ball for seniors again this year. it's always good to see my former colleagues, but this even was special for another reason.

when i began working at ZIG it took me a while to get to know the students. i took role everyday in every class - aloud - so i would learn the kids' names. i addressed them by name in the halls, too. i loved (most) of them a lot and i really missed that school last year.

the first ball i went to with ZIG kids was in november 2008. i had worked at the school for less than 2 months and NONE of the students i taught were seniors that year. so i went to the ball and ONLY knew the teachers, and i only knew them by sight and voice from the staffroom.

i was lucky enough to be invited to the ball again last year, but since i was working in two other high schools i had a duty to attend one of their balls that night first. i did make it to zrinyi's ball, but i only knew 2 classes of seniors graduating (and to be honest, they weren't my faves).

enter: this year. the kids i got to know and love in my first year of hungary, the ones who taught me hungarian and helped me learn to become a good classroom teacher, the ones who asked me about home and my dog and boyfriends and my opinions of hungary, lotttts of those kids are seniors this year. when i went to THIS ball of all the graduating seniors, i taught like 80%!

there was a time when the students toasted champagne with their teachers and offered cheek kisses. i was surprised and even moved when so many of my former students recognized and made an effort to greet me as well.

in extreme contrast to how i felt at kossuth all year last year, i didn't feel utterly forgotten and unappreciated at zrinyi.

we got dolled up...

we ate...

and we danced... a lot!

we had a ball. ;) (i just HAVE to say that!!)

end of school

today was my last day of teaching.

*deep and heavy sigh*

i couldn't be happier to be finished.

this year i was less content with my life than i've ever been. overall school was not good. not fun. not rewarding. i've weighed it in my mind and, though there were some good kids, good times, good lessons, good relationships, i honestly -and regretfully- think i would have been better off somewhere else this year. i try to live in such a way that i have no regrets, but this year got the best of me. i feel like i wasted my time here. that's a stomach-wrenching feeling i don't hope to experience again.

kids are kids everywhere, i realize. they're teenagers who have bigger things on their minds than learning english. it really sucks when your students don't care about what you're teaching. i think i was spoiled when i taught ESL in texas and my students were so desperate to learn english.

i also teach in language schools here where the students (adults) do their homework, pay attention for the whole lesson, and want to make up missed lessons.

i taught in a great school last year where the students are all college-bound, bright, and have good senses of humor. we got on pretty well (save 2 evil classes) and got a lot done. when we said goodbye there were cheek kisses, hugs, gifts, and even tears.

today, on my last day of school, i was jovial and jubilant and giddy and blissful, as i was wholeheartedly aware that i don't have to do this again. there were no cheek kisses, hugs, or gifts. i cried a tear or two of "wow, i actually survived" relief when i came home from the last class.

this year i taught in two schools. one is a catholic school full of mostly polite students. their ability in english varied, as did their attitudes toward learning, but at least their behavior was under control. sometimes they didn't want to learn or do anything, sometimes they whined when we had conversations for grades, but they were respectful and i felt like they cared about the kind of adults they will become.

the teachers in the good school were very friendly and helpful. they always asked about me and my classes and vacations and my life. we ate together, talked together, joked together, and had a memorable and pleasant year. i'll gladly stay in touch with the people i got to know there as long as possible. i'll likely offer them a speech of gratitude for the great year and thank them for their kindness toward a stranger in a strange land. they are the only reason i'm still sane. and that's the truth.

in the bad school... wow. there were good kids in every class, of course, but they were largely outnumbered and overshadowed by the bad behavior and attitudes rampant in the 'lutheran' high school. the level of english varied, certainly, but on a much lower scale. teaching here was nearly impossible and it's devastating to think these people will soon be RUNNING hungarian society. lord help hungary. to sum up the year: i had problems with, shed tears over, got fighting mad at, and mentally gave up on the students, teachers, AND administrators. it got me thinking i shouldn't even be a teacher because i seriously can't cope with people behaving in ways i witnessed this year.

i am certain i won't be missed (or even remembered) in this school. i say that because they forgot about me the entire year. i also say that because of their record with native english teachers. thankfullyly, they are not representative of all hungarian people. most hungarians strive to be hospitable and friendly (at least once they get tot know you...).

last year the teachers in my old school gave me a gift and a goodbye letter with all of their signatures. even the administrators, who didn't speak english, bid me farewell with kisses and good wishes. i felt sad to leave the staff last year and knew i'd miss those people and exchanged phone numbers with some so that we'd stay in touch.

i neither expect nor want the same goodbye from these people (bad school peeps). there are 2 or 3 teachers who would give me the time of day, so i'll say goodbye to them. i'll actually MISS the financial office ladies, the cleaning staff, the ladies who guard the door, the secretary, my neighbor the priest, and the handy man when i'm gone. i guess these are more 'my people' than my "colleagues". i've never felt like part of the staff here and i'm going to count that a blessing.

i'm sorry to report this to you, family and friends (and possible strangers), really sorry. honesty has won out. this year was an emotional roller coaster from which i'm happy to alight. i'm a different person now than i was. unfortunately, i'm think i'm more bitter and cynical, less inspired, less motivated, and less hopeful. i was unprepared for such a year and my spirit paid the price for it. i'll inwardly address this during the summer, but i'm burnt out hardcore and i really need a break.

*sigh*

done.

finally.

private students

it's normal for language teachers around here to have private students. so i, being a native english speaker, am often approached to be a private teacher. i've also been working in a language school for six months, so that's private lessons too. i have seven- no, SIX!- private students right now. allow me to introduce them.

lily: high school student in none of the schools i've taught in, i was recommended to her by a ZIG colleague. she wrote a book in hungarian and wanted to translate it into english. she speaks english very well - especially considering how long she's been learning (2 years max)- but she needed a native english speaker to make the book sound native and fluent and up to date. we've been meeting since september on monday afternoons and all day fridays. i mean like 4-5 hours monday afternoon and 6-10 hours on fridays every week. it's a long book (360 pages in hungarian, 263 in english) but it's finally complete.

we meet in her parents' workplace, a wholesaling warehouse that buys used clothes from england and sells them to other used english clothes stores in town. there are mountains of clothes, then mountains and rows and aisles of bagggggggs of clothes. i can't explain it or capture it in pictures, but it's like truckloads and truckloads and truckloads of clothes. once i sat on the mountain in the front... just because i had never sat on a mountain of clothes.

lily and an employee's son on the clothes mountain

gábor: a taxi driver. i called for a taxi once and he picked me up. i forgot the word for "ginger ale" and tried to explain what it was in hungarian. he looked confused. then i said it in english and his eyes lit up. "you speak english!?" i told him i was american and the lektor in ZIG. he asked to be my private student and we started meeting periodically throughout the year. now i've known him for about a year. he's very funny, very smart, and charming. husband, father of two, taxi driver and shop owner, he's very determined to learn and improve his english. no one is more proud of himself than gábor when he says a sentence or word correctly. he makes me love my job. (VIDEO AT THE END OF THIS POST)

he drives me anywhere in town for $2

this summer when i was here with no income, i went to a language school for a job. i basically said, "hi, i'm american. do you have any students who want to practice speaking with a native english speaker?" one of the people assigned to me was..

roland: an accountant for Michelin (there is a branch in town). he's very serious but witty. he pretty much just tolerates me, i think. he went to kossuth, the school where i currently live and work. he lives with his girlfriend, they don't have kids yet, but want some, though not too soon as he attends university and is earning a law degree. he has five years to go since he only goes on weekends. he collects paintings, loves reading, history, and politics. it's a wonder he puts up with me at all.

i forced him to smile :)

józsef/attila: michelin workers józsef and attila. there is a famous hungarian poet named "józsef attila" so we have a nice laugh when i call them that.
józsef (left) was an assistant principal of a high school for many years before retiring, then getting bored, starting work at michelin, and deciding to take on english. he's SO sweet, a romantic, a family guy. so, so sweet.
attila (right) is some kind of floor manager at michelin. he and his wife have two kids... or his wife has three. he's so silly and jokes a lot. his english isn't as good as his classmate's, but he tries very hard. the weirdest thing about these guys is that they have done a coursebook based on mechanics and production techniques so they know words like "fire extinguisher" and don't know words like "food."

my thursday afternoon entertainers

olga: she's my newest private student as she's just interested in preparing for job interviews. we talk about everything under the sun and she's great at going off on tangents. she's also fluent in german and sometimes substitutes german words for english words she doesn't know. maybe she thinks that will help me...? i'd prefer the hungarian word, to be sure. mother of two girls, madly in love with her husband, former professor, happy, well-educated, silly. tons of fun.

dictionary-aholic

i love working with these people. i can't believe i get paid. :D

name day celebration

in hungary we celebrate name days, as you may recall. under communism there was a government approved list of names hungarians could name their children, so i think to make it seem like that wasn't as sucky as it actually was, hungarians (and other countries) celebrated the names by assigning one (or sometimes up to 5) name a day of the year. it's a bigger deal than birthdays since name days are public - even printed on calendars - while birthdays are usually just a family affair.

anyway, at school we celebrated all the name days from september and october with one common party. the staff members who had their name days during those months brought in goodies and drinks for the other teachers.

before we ate the food, we (and by 'we' i mean 'they') sang a little song which was new to me. apparently it's a catholic thing... well, that's my guess.

the guy who started the song is a priest. he began by listing the names of the honorees, then led us into the song.


then cheek kissing ensued, which i expected...


and then we dug in! there were pastries and fruit and homemade dishes and candy and cakes galore, not to mention tea, soda, sparkling water, fruit juices, and coffee.

gotta love teacher parties in the staff room :)

halloween

i did a halloween lesson this week with most of my kids. some good classes got to have races to make mummies.

some were pretty proud of their work...

some were not so happy to be the mummy...

some had way too much fun...

and some kind of sucked at it...

after talking about halloween (15 minutes), and mummy wrapping (5 minutes) i gave the class the remainder of the time (25 minutes) to do a halloween word search. [hungarian kids equate cheating with helping so when they take a test there is ALWAYS cheating and no one feels bad unless they get caught. teachers have even congratulated students on cheating without getting caught, sort of encouraging them to beat the system however they can. i'm not making this up.}

when i told the students that the winner would get a candy bar, all conversations stopped. i told them they could help each other and they all refused. i had never heard such silence. even the most rambunctious kids (like the boy pictured below) concentrated and tried their best for the prize. i was really quite impressed, if not stunned.

so far, after two days of halloween, i'm willing to call it a success. the kids learned some new vocab, made mummies, and had a howling good time.... and so did i.

szent imre - the good school

szent imre is the catholic school i teach in on tuesdays and thursdays. the teachers are great and always talk to and help me. we eat lunch together, talk about lessons, and shoot the breeze in our planning periods. they make me like my job even more than the kids do.

that's not to say that the kids aren't good, because they are. most of the time the students there are interested in english and learning and so interested in my lessons. they are cooperative even when they don't fully understand what i'm saying.

since it's a catholic school, it's a bit more strict than other schools. the students don't greet teachers with the normal "csokalom" (i kiss you[r hand]) but with a latin greeting of 'may you be blessed by jesus christ'... or something like that. (no need to correct my latin, people. i'm working on hungarian right now.) i am supposed to respond with the latin for "may it be so forever."


if i see kids in the hall, they are supposed to say this phrase and i am supposed to respond accordingly. it's so long and strange to me, though, that i usually just say hi to them. oh, well.

here is one of my favorite classes at that school. i wanted to take a picture of them but forgot my camera. i ran downstairs to get it and told them to get in position. when i came back, they were ready and had surprised me with a different word than "cheese."
maybe a video will make you feel like you were there. :)



another favorite class of mine is the beginners. this is their first year learning english and they haven't lost their motivation for school yet. we do very elementary things in there (and i use as much hungarian as english!) but we all like it. this week we sang some songs: Old McDonald Had a Farm, Father Abraham, the Hokey Pokey, B-I-N-G-O, and the jazz chant that goes 'hi, my name is Joe and I work in a button factory.' when i took their picture they wanted to sing partof one of the songs. so here they are:

family day (at kossuth)

the other day i was walking through the school yard (where i live) and saw people setting up a lot of tents. i asked the priest lady who lives next to me what's going on and she said the next day would be "family day" and students will come with their families and have a cook-off at the school. she said i should come (or at least make an appearance, as i have been sick the past week or so) and enjoy the food. i dropped by for about an hour, taking pictures at will.

the sweetest table

fried apples... though after they're finished they salt them (i would have guessed sugar)

"grilled" chicken - um, delicious!

a typical table with goulash, noodles/dumplings, pickles, kids

and anotherthe food was then judged by 5 or 6 very lucky people

the winning class gets custody of this wooden spoon trophy? for a whole year

after i left there was some traditional hungarian folk dancing (of which i've seen more than my share)

here is a look around at family day (i was talking to some hungarian and had to speak slowly and clearly, just ignore, please)


some boy band was there and the girls were going a little nuts. i didn't recognize them, of course, but they may have been a big deal since news cameras were there. or maybe the news people just came because there was nothing else going on that day. i never know, plus, i don't have a t.v. and wouldn't watch the news if i did! :)


i went back home (on the other side of the school yard) and listened to the music and slept a while. the flu -weather swine or otherwise- has been limiting my activities and interest. hopefully i'll be back to normal this week. sorry about the long break from posting... did you even notice?

the start of school

yesterday i taught in the catholic school, szent imre. the students were well-behaved, helpful, good english speakers, and seemed interested in class for the most part. the teachers helped me find the right classrooms, gave me materials, asked if they could help me, and even told me which bus to take home, when it left, and where the stop was. nothing was really unexpected except that i'll usually have 6 classes on tuesdays but yesterday i only had 3.

today i taught in the evangelical school, kossuth. there were several unexpected things: the concert that took up almost two classes, the time i was teaching a class of 31 students though it should have been 15 or 16 and two other teachers came in to figure out what went wrong, the two classes i taught where no one spoke ANY english at all, and the classes where my hungarian is better than the students' english. most of the students were well-behaved, helpful if i asked anything, and ... kind of nervous/terrified. i don't understand the division of classes yet, but hopefully i'll get it soon. the schedules haven't been completed yet (it's the second day of school) so teachers and students alike are confused and wandering the halls. until 2pm all classes are mandatory, after that they are optional for students. you can imagine how many students will come to those classes. we'll see how that goes. i only have 2 such classes.:)

i met another lektor (native teacher)this afternoon. we were both sitting in empty classrooms waiting for our students. her name is amelie; she's the french native teacher. we're going out tonight as we are not hungarian and that's an instant bond. there is a big music festival in town this week (vidor fesztival! - joyous festival) where groups from all over come to play and sing. the city center is packed every night and the concerts go on until about 11. should be fun.

out with the old, in with the new - schools

today i went to my two new schools (szent imre and kossuth - you might as well learn the names because i'll have to differentiate between them all year).

magdi (who has been like a contact teacher for me so far, as she has taken me to the immigration office, helped me with paper work, come to my old school and translated for me at kossuth), an english teacher at kossuth, took me to szent imre today to meet with the principal/headmistress. when we arrived all the teachers were in a beginning-of-the-year meeting so we hung out in the hall for half an hour talking. when the meeting was over we went into the teachers' room for a party, as one of the english teachers is retiring and so threw a party - kind of a goodbye party for herself :) - for the teachers. gifts and kisses, food, cakes, drinks, the whole bit. i was also introduced to the staff at this party and given a plate (that had a deviled egg with sour cream sauce on it already). they seemed nice enough. several teachers came up and introduced themselves to me and some invited me to go get coffee/smoke with them. as i'm not a huge coffee drinker and i don't smoke... i went anyway. i had time to kill before meeting the boss lady. after "coffee" (and by that i mean ginger ale) a nice rita showed me around the school. we arranged for me to get reimbursed for a bus pass, to get lunch tickets, i saw the copy room, library, cafeteria, computer room, and language room. szent imre is a catholic school, recently partially renovated/updated, and clean. i noticed crucifixes in each room (not just class rooms, but every room) and there is a chapel on campus. it has three floors, one main building for classes and a really big dorm for students to live in (i was offered a room in the student hostel, but declined as it wouldn't have been good for xander... or me...). the headmistress was busy with meetings and couldn't meet with me, as it turned out, but that's ok. i'm used to this hungarian-ness by now. i was told i'll get my schedule on the first day of school, as will the other teachers. ON the first day. oy. i'll mostly be teaching 10th graders, with 3 classes of 9th, 2 or 3 11th grade classes, and one class of school leavers (seniors/12th graders). some of my classes will be "zero level" students who are learning english intensively (15 hours a week). this may the first time to study english for some of them! anyway, i'll be there on tuesdays and thursdays.

i took a bus back to kossuth (the school where i live) to find out what i could find out. the teachers in the staff room ignored me when i went in purposely looking confused and lost. i went to the assistant principals' office instead hoping one of them would speak english. one did! idk his name, but when he started speaking in english i seriously thought he was "doing" an accent because it was so thick and different from a typical hungarian accent. anyway, i said something like, "i have questions" and he jumped up to help. i asked and found out when the first day of school is (importnant, no!? and it's different than szent imre's first day... weird.), the opening ceremony, when we're leaving for prague on wednesday (4am, btw), and where my desk is in the teachers' room. that's about it, but that was the stuff i wanted to know, so, it's all good. kossuth is an evangelical school, also three stories, there's no chapel but we'll attend chapel services in the big yellow church.

i almost cried several times during the day. even though i'm in the same city i can already tell that life will be really different this year. that's not to say that it will be bad, just different. i had a really good introduction to hungary being at zrinyi last year and it's possible it will be hard to beat. i forgot how sucky it feels not to know anyone and not to have anyone know me. actually, i've moved once a year for the past 6 or 7 years, so i know how to start a new life, but this is the one time i haven't wanted to move and change, but i had to. i still have high hopes for the year and know it will be a good and unique experience. even for me, someone who likes, even craves change, change is still hard. the weird thing is that it all hit me today. not all the goodbyes from students, not the last day of school, not when i cleaned out my desk this summer, not when i signed the contracts at the new schools or when i signed a completion of contract paper at zrinyi, not even at my farewell party (another post), but today. the ushering in of new faces, new buildings, new everything, that's what made it real.

done.

today was the last day of school... well, last day of teaching... well, last day of teaching in ZIG... well, for now anyway.

this week has been surprisingly normal. the kids all behaved like it was a regular week. they don't have exams in every class during the last week like we do in america. they don't take a ton of pictures or go crazy getting people to sign their yearbooks or discuss summer plans.

i have a theory about why. the class called "10A" this year will be called "11A" next year. the same exact kids. these same kids were "9A" last year and most have been in the same class since elementary school. they know everything about everyone in the class. they know how many brothers and sisters each classmate has, they know where they were each born and what all of the other kids' parents do. they hang out with each other after school and in the summer, so there's no need to go nuts trying to stay in touch. they're certain to stay in touch... they have no choice. well, that's what i think anyway.

there are some end of school exams, but not for everyone. many students were on trips this week so i didn't see them for our last class. i expected to be sad about leaving these kids, most of whom i really enjoyed getting to know, but i really wasn't. i won't see them again as a class, but i expect to see them in the city some time, so really it's all good.

some students asked me when i'm going home, what i'm doing in the summer, where i'll be next year. a few students were shocked/sad when i told them i wasn't coming back to ZIG next year. it's nice to know i'll be missed, i guess. some students lingered around after class was dismissed to chitchat with me, coerce me into doing stupid human tricks for them, or give me hugs, kisses, presents, and well-wishes. those were the good-memorable kids.

the others, the kids i won't miss at all, were eeeeasy to dismiss for the last time. i perfected my "we'll never meet again, i'm happy to have met you, have a nice life" speech and tried not to beam too brightly when letting them go. my least favorite class didn't even show me the courtesy of coming to our last class (empty classroom pictured above). i mean, it was the last class of the day, the week, and the year so i guess they had better things to do. they are only about 1/2 awful but the bad half makes me not really appreciate the good half. sorry good people. then again, the "good" people didn't come to class either, so deduce from that what you will.

anyway, one year down. overall rating: 8 out of 10.
the 2 points were lost to culture shock and everything that includes, winter, missing home, bad kids, and personal life.
the 8 points were from accomplishing what i've always wanted to do (teaching english in another country), surviving all the stuff the 2 points were lost to, making new friends (like real friends, not just in-passing friends), becoming a real teacher, completing a whole hungarian language book, spring, hungarian culture, and absolute independence.

next year

i signed all the contracts and legal stuff so i can teach here next year. i will be changing schools, in fact i'll be teaching in two different schools than i am right now. so i met with someone from one of the schools, we had a few nice trips to the immigration office and the school, and now - if everything goes as we hope - the paperwork should be returned with approval by the end of june.

this summer i'm staying in hungary. i'll move from my current apartment to the small house i'll live in next year in june/july. i'll keep doing some private lessons and hopefully work in a language school. i hope to travel some, too. i'm sad not to come home and see everyone, but i'm glad not to forget any hungarian on the summer break.

i feel like i learned a lot about being a high school teacher this year. i know the system better and the language and the randomness that is hungarian life better. i'm glad to be changing schools and have a fresh start. i know i'll miss my colleagues and students tremendously, but my town isn't so big that i'll never see them. in fact, i see someone i know every time i go to the city center, no matter what day or what time. whenever i feel alone here i can just walk around town and i'm bound to run into one of my 331 students or 50 colleagues. and next year i'll just about double the number of people i know. i really do like it here.

hungarian revolution number 3

since i've been in hungary there have been 3 holidays commemorating what my kids call "hungarian revolutions." since i have little to no interest in history and i figure the story will include some sort of war and the hungarians eventually losing, i don't bother to ask what kind of revolution any more. on friday last week there was an assembly in the gym in which one of my favorite classes (10d!) performed dances, recited poems, and sang patriotic songs. i didn't know about the assembly until friday morning when i got there and everyone was wearing all balck and white... everyone but me, that is. oh i was wearing jeans and a blue sweater. i was the only person in the whole school not in the traditional black and white. greaaaat. i scolded a couple of colleagues for not passing along the wardrobe memo, but just chalked it up as another result of "well, this is hungary" and moved on. there was a cockade on my desk when i got to school, though. dear sweet english teacher agi had remembered me and brought me one so i would match the rest of the school. i'm not pictured, but mine looked like everyone else's.

the cockade

this is our principal - our "head mistress" ibolya (ee-boy-uh)
when i speak better hungarian i want to have a conversation with her. it's my goal.

those white shirts with blue trim are the school uniform which the girls only wear on holidays or special school events. i've seen them like 4 or 5 times, i think. the boys all wear suits on those days. they look all grown up; it's precious. of course the girls hate those shirts. but, oh well.

scarf dance

here they are singing about freedom and love

zrinyi things

a typical week in the life of christie

i gave a test and let this class take it in pairs. come on, how easy is that? these sweet girls who like me a lot but who can stand to improve their english wrote this on their test paper:

if you can't read it, click it. it's pretty silly. (sadly, they only got a 4)

here is a private student of mine (on the left) erika. she and her friend are school-leavers (aka seniors) and i saw them with their ribbons. they got those ribbons because they are leaving school and it's a thing of pride, i think, to have the ribbon and wear it around.

here is a close-up of the ribbon

aniko' takes me home a lot. so i see this sight all the time.

i was bored in the teachers' room.

actually, this is the teachers' room kitchen. in there people can heat up their food, eat, have a cup of coffee, talk on the phone, or just get away.

lunch one day. (bread soup YUM!, chicken, rice, and veggies - all delish)

when i came into the teachers' room on monday, all the women's desks had flowers on them - including mine. luckily people told me about women's day before it actually happened, so i wasn't so surprised. however, i got flowers, kisses, and chocolates from friday to tuesday. that's a gooood holiday, i'd say. (oh - it was international women's day and you can read about it HERE)

a borderline artsy picture of a typical bouquet of flowers given to a teacher by her students.

sometimes i'm late to class because of... well, life. (bus, late from lunch, potty break, meeting, etc.) today was one such occasion. so the kiddies drew me this on the board. click it if ya want.

this class beggggggged me to not do the whole lesson because they NEEEEDED to study for a chemistry test. i gave in and only did half the lesson with them (shh, don't tell my bosses) and while most kids studied chemistry, a few forced me to read in hungarian. i brought some hungarian material and they chuckled as i read aloud to them. two of the three recorded a video of me reading on their phones because they said it's just so cute. these are two silly and fun girls who were encouraging me to practice my hungarian. they both disapprove of this picture, but this is my blog, so here it is: