folk dance festival

There was an international folk dance festival in my town in August 2009. There were 8 countries represented and there was a LOT of variety among the dances. Belgium, Portugal, Hungary, Japan, China, Taiwan, Israel, and Turkey.

I didn't label all the dances, sorry, but the last one is Japanese people doing traditional Hungarian folk dancing and it got the biggest applause of all of them, as it was in Hungary.

the new place

so i realized i didn't show you around my new place yet. i've done a lot of work in it (moving things around, cleaning, taking doors off hinges, and getting things situated) and though i'm not completely done, i'm proud enough of it to show it to you.

no need to comment on all the things it's not or all the things it lacks, believe me i'm aware. i've made my peace with it by comparing it not to the apartments i've been living in for the past several years, but to the dorm rooms i lived in for 2 years. in that comparison, this place wins. no roommate! first floor with a gated front yard! cable internet! some other things i like are the full-length mirror, the really tall windows, the extra office room, the brand new washing machine, the 12 foot (?) ceilings, and the handyman who (theoretically) will repair anything i need repaired.



i'll readily admit last year's place was better (as it was an actual apartment) but i'm not scared or bummed to be living here. it's inside the gated school campus. a handyman and a preist (lady) will be living here with me the whole time, but in different "flats." the location is about 5 minutes walk to everything in the city center. as i've been exploring a new part of town i've been in some new sweet shops, two paper stores, a new convenience store, an "american" themed restaurant, and two new grocery stores. in fact, next week i'm going to have to learn where the bus stops are around here because i haven't even taken a bus since i moved in (end of june).

ok, so, it is what it is. my new home sweet home :)

cukrászda video

i was given the honey cake, the 'cottage cheese' cake, and the ones called "bambi"
at the end of the video the lady who worked there asked what i was doing and anna told her i was taking pictures, that i'm an american teacher in Nyiregyhaza, that she spoke highly of this ice cream from this place, and that she brought me here to taste it. (it's hard to hear and understand her on the video, but that's what i can make out.)

that little dog of mine

xander is my little baby. ok, he looks kinda fat laying down. omg, i love him so much!

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

farsang

this week was farsang (far-shong) at ZIG (my school). it's a celebration of sorts where kids dress up to scare winter away/welcome spring/just have fun. it's like halloween in america, except high schoolers still dress up and go to school... and there's no candy.

when i got to school that day one of my kids (the kid in the hat behind the cowgirls) was in the hall waiting for me. i got close to the classroom door and he flashed me! all he was wearing under his trench coat was an undershirt and some tighty whities (that were aqua). what the!?!?

9A

this is one of the assistant principals.
later he was joined by a group of playboy bunnies.

some students of mine... nuns and playboy bunnies.

some 12Cers... they are the cleaning ladies (aren't they cute?)... and a scary fairy.

these kids - dressed as the #10 bus - came into a few of my classes to count how many students dressed up. they even made beeping sounds when they backed up.

this is gabi - one of two teachers who dressed up.

here are laci and aniko'. laci found someone's sword and tried to kill aniko' with it. she doesn't seem to mind. they are so freaking funny!

here i am with agi on farsang. we are not trying to scare winter away. we're just sweeties.

here is 11E (wind up doll, gogo girl, part of the scooby gang - the rest are in another class - and a certain cowboy who makes me laugh so much in class)

aww, velma and daphnie from scooby doo. (later these girls and i went to a costume shop so i could scout the wig selection available for drama festival)
11A - balasz and david didn't really dress up, one had fake tteth, the other a sign pinned onto his hoodie. a school girl, devil girl, wizzardess, bunny, and little kid. good bunch, i like 'em.

how does he even know who that is?


all in all, farsang was fun. there was an hour-long contest in the gym during school to decide who had the best costumes. i wasn't in a place to get some great pics, so i didn't take pics of the winners. JOKER was the best one... he was terrifying. if i can get the school's photographer's pics, maybe i'll post some another time.

for valentine's day

in hungary, the name day for valintine's day is "balint" so people wish each other "happy balint day" more often than they wish "happy valintine's day."

this week some of my students asked me "what color are you going to wear on friday?"
i was like... "uh, i don't know; it's tuesday."
they explained that if you are taken/in a relationship then on friday you should wear red.
if you are in a complicated relationship which may or may not continue, you should wear yellow.
if you are free/single, you should wear green.

i wore a burnt orange shirt on friday... because i forgot all about valentine's day.

BUT, there were signs all over the school reminding people (in hungarian) and in each class i had people take it seriously.

this is one of the many signs around the school. the first word in each circle is a color, underneath it says what each color signifies. under green it says "i am free"

here are some kiddies advertising their status to the school (and via my blog, to the world).

it also snowed a lot on thursday night/friday all day. here is a short video:

sorry i was grouchy in this. i think i'm so homesick because i'm sick of the cold weather. i miss texas!! or even florida. :(

end of school

if you'll recall, i was given this poinsettia for my brithday from lovely aniko' (student turned friend). well i put it outside of my door to festive-ize the hall along with the wreaths on all the doors. then one day i stepped out to buy some potatoes. i saw the plant when i left. i walked to the store and back, was gone about 20 minutes, not longer. and what did i find upon my return? NOTHING, that's what. big, fat NOTHING.
so i was sad/mad/amused that someone would steal my plant (in hungarian it's called a santa claus plant, come on, how can you steal that?!?!). i wrote this little note which says "thanks!" like thanks a lot, jerky thieving hungarian who stole my plant. i left it outside my door in the plant's rightful place.
here is my sad little door with its lone wreath and no poinsettia. see the card?
i'd love to tell you that the thief saw my sad card and returned the plant. but no. no, no, no. :(

anyway, i know you've all been wondering, so here is what xander is doing these days...
the last week of school was stressful but good. on monday i gave a drama workshop for teachers in my city. there were several english teachers from my school and some from a few other schools. altogether there were like 16 english teachers. the workshop was called "using drama in the ESL classroom" so i presented ideas, activities, and reasons to use drama with english learners. overall it went pretty well. i wasn't as nervous as i thought i would be, probably because of all the familiar faces. the activities we did were so fun and funny. that's really why i liked doing it: free entertainment... also, it was all in english. muahahaha! afterwards, a british native english speaker, karen, invited me to come to a gathering she and some other english speakers have every tuesday. i am glad for the invite, since i love talking... in english... and meeting new people. i couldn't go this week, but i will definitely go sometime. it's just coffee, tea, and visiting. sounds perfect.

after the workshop i went to a christmas party for the teachers at my school. it was held in one of the huge classrooms. there were a million different kinds of sweets, foods, and drinks. seriously, millions. they were all set up on the perimeter of the room and there were two circles of chairs going around the room, too. not what i expected for a party. in the middle of the chairs there was a long table with weird things on it. as people got there, 6pm on the dot, some students came in and presented a little christmas performance or something. they were 9 or 10 standing in front of all the teachers. they were supposed to be people on a bus or metro. they just stood perfectly still for a really long time while some voices from a cd player expressed what each person was thinking. if i could have understood it i'm sure i would have been much more interested. as it was, though, i was mostly impressed with how perfectly still they all stood for about 10 minutes. they were my students, by the way, 12d.
after the students left, some teacher passed out lyric sheets and we all sang a few christmas carols (in hungarian, of course). aniko' was sitting next to me and translated some for me because that's my favorite. some teacher read a story and cried during the reading. i asked aniko' why and it turns out she's just sensitive and the story wasn't sad or anything. i can sing a christmas song in hungarian now. only one, though, 'cause some of them were pretty advanced for little ol' me. the lyrics seemed very holy.
thennnn the party started. i brought a cd of christmas songs (per some colleagues' requests) and it was played while people ate, mingled, and gathered at that long table in the middle of all the chairs. the weird stuff on there was actually craft stuff. we could make some cards, gift labels, and/or ornamental things. it was fun; i made some card thingies. i am bad at crafts.

in my classes i played christmas music, gave out some lyrics, and mostly gave people a free day. see? these are 9a girls. they really like me... and it's good, 'cause i really like them, too.

it was cold and rainy everyday. here are some umbrellas in the teachers' room.

friday after school got out (at 11am by the way!) there was an assembly in the gym which included some ninth graders performing "the happy prince" by oscar wilde. it was nice. there was dancing, acting, singing, and reciting of poems. i really wished i knew hungarian.
here are some assembled kids....
girls reciting poems...that gold guy is the prince and at his feet is a swallow....
friday night the language teachers met at a mexican restaurant to celebrate the end of the year. i wasn't too into taking pictures as i wasn't feeling too hot, but here are a few.
this is the guy who picked me up from budapest back in august. he's the first zrinyi representative i ever met. laci (lotzee) took way more pictures than i did. maybe i'll get to see them some time. (hint hint, laci!)
this was my delicious "tex mex salad" with cucumbers, corn, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, beans, bacon, and chicken. i'm describing it in such detail because i will forever remember its goodness.
here is spanish teacher gabi (who also speaks english) and is very fun.
this is judit, my hungarian tutor. she's not usually so blurry. ;)
so i ordered a drink ('safe sex on the beach') and i specified that i wanted a cherry. the guy thought i meant i wanted a bottle of cherry drink so that's what that other drink is. ugh.
this is a teacher who is on maternity leave from zrinyi (my school). she's been gone for a few years and isn't sure when she's coming back. i hope it's soon 'cause i really liked her. she invited me to come to her house to play with her little kids in english. woohoo!

here are some kids singing at the assembly. i don't know those kids but if i'm here next year i'll have them then.


tomorrow i'm going to budapest and on wednesday i'm going to collect LIZ from the airport!

birthday at school

when i walked into my first class on my birthday, my precious 9th graders all stood and sang to me (in english). i was so happy they remembered. of course, i did mention in passing last week that my birthday was the 4th. i wouldn't normally have been so shameless in doing this, but i'm sure i would have been so bummed if no one told me happy birthday on my birthday.

in another class, this was on the board for me!

these students gave me a gift of chocolate and a small bear that smells like perfume or potporri or something. i love it and it's freshening up my living room we speak.
there is some magical chocolate in this region of the world. milka. mmmm. some kids gave it to me. my very first hungarian birthday present!
aniko' (colleague) gave me a clock radio because i mentioned i didn't have a radio. i'm pretty sure she wants me to listen to hungarian music all the time to learn the language. little does she know i'm just using this as an alarm clock. muahaha.an overwhelming percentage of the loot was/candy, so my sweet tooth is taken care of until christmas, i'm sure! there is also a black and white purse (from rita - coworker) and it's so cute!! i can't wait to use it, little cutie thing. don't be jalous of my chocolate, guys.here is a video of some birthday greetings students wrote on the board before i came to class. so sweet and thoughtful. :)

ice skating

aniko' (private student turned friend) called me today and invited me to come ice skating with her and some other people. she is a member of "animal friends foundation" and there was a little outing planned for those animal friends to meet up and skate. so, i tagged along.

she took my picture while we were waiting for the animal friends to arrive

we braved the ice! aniko' was pretty scared at the beginning, but she mustered some courage and even let her picture be taken! way to go, aniko'!

she took some "action shots" of me

i wasn't as cold as i thought i would be. maybe winter won't be so bad!

blurry but cute

for the first hour or so, aniko' sort of didn't want to let go of the wall. i think she even said "the wall is my best friend" at some point. but when she wanted to pass by other wall-clinging people, she had to let go and come out in the open. hahaha!

here i am with some animal friends. that red jacket girl is EH-MESH-EH and she was very helpful in getting aniko' and that brown jacket guy (YO-ZSEF) off the wall. yay, MESHI!

after we got used to the ice, we even picked up some speed. there were several laps around with all of us holding hands, some with just me and aniko', one or two with me and meshi, and some with me, aniko' and brown jacket jozsef. in the end, aniko' wasn't scared any more and i'm certain she was having fun too! of course i was having a blast, too. we both fell one time each, no major injuries though my ankles and one knee are a bit swollen. that's the price you pay for winter fun.

i walked xandy when i got home and he was just lookin' cute and i had a camera... so here ya go.


LIFE-CHANGING EVENT! aniko' (colleague) took me shopping last week and guess what i bought!! that's right: a microwave! welcome back to the 21st century, crumb! it's not like this is a rare thing to have here or anything, it's just that my flat didn't have one. i had been cooking on the stovetop and even *gasp* in the oven! well, never again. now i can heat up leftovers with just a touch of a button. happy and thankful, that's what i am!