differences

liz came here and we had a lovely vacation together. we only took pictures with her camera, though, so a blog about that will have to wait. to hold you over i am posting about something i deal with daily. just thought you should know. :)

things are different here. more than just the language, you know. like...

celcius and fahrenheit: i never know the temperature and if i ask someone they say stuff like 4 degrees. sounds really cold.. and i can tell from being outside that it IS really cold, but exactly how cold.. well, i have to look on my computer to find that out.ű
when i want to cook something (who cooks any more, right? well i do here!) i have to go to the computer to convert the instructions to or from celcius so that i dont burn the flat down. so far, so good.

time: not only do we use the 24 hour clock here (and i am not a military person) - which causes me enough trouble because i always add or subtract 12 from the time and sometimes i do it... well, wrong... BUT hungarians tell time differently. if it is 5:15 we would say it is a quarter after 5. they say it is a quarter on the way to 6. we say half past 6 they say half on the way to 7. then things that end in 45 are the same. yeah!

the keyboard: if i didnát alter the waz i tzped here, this is what zou would be seeing. instead of dollar sign ,there is !, instead of ! there is ', instead of @ there is ", and all the numbers are moved over to the right one because yero is next to the 1. oh, and itás virtuallz impossible for me to get the @ without looking because i have to push ALT V to get that little guz. and there are some key we donát have, like ö ü ó ő ú é á ű.

the metric system: that means kilometers instead of miles. "how far do you live from school?" "oh about 50 kilometers"... that means nothing to me. "how tall are you?" "174 centimeters."... that means nothing to me. "how much cheese do you want?" "a decagram will be fine." ... a WHATgram?? "my new years resolution is to lose 10 kilos." ... uh, are you talking about drugs?

floors: it's not that big of a deal, really, but in europe they call the first floor the ground floor. then the (american) second floor is called the "first floor" because it is the first raised level. (the hungarian word for floor - when it isn't the ground floor - implies elevation, so i can understand them calling it that.) so if i lived in the flat i live in now but in america, i would live on the third floor. but here i live on the second floor. that's all just fine until you go somewhere and they say oh you're on the second floor, just take your suitcases on up. you might be thinking you only have to lug your junk up one flight, but in reality, it's more like 6. here's how i figure. in america there is usually ONE flight of stairs between floors. i have noticed here that there are two flights and a platform between two floors. so, flight-platform-flight, FIRSTFLOOR, flight-platform-flight, SECONDFLOOR, flight-platform-flight, THIRDFLOOR is the way to the second floor... good luck with all your stuff. there is no such thing as elevators in buildings with fewer than 5 floors - as far as i've seen.

clothes sizes: i have no idea what they're measuring here. but the clothes i've seen while shopping have numbers in the 30s and 40s. i just try things on until they feel right. this may take up to 10 tries. luckily, i have a lot of time.
i wear size 40 in shoes. 40 centimeters maybe? that's 4 decimeters, you know. oh you DON'T know? you must be american like me. but, it might not be what we're measuring. just a guess.

bags: BYOB... bring your own bags... to the grocery store. if you don't, you gotta buy one there

toilets: they have a shelf in them. there is not a lovely pool of water, but a shelf to display to all the world your most recent work. to flush, do not look for a handle. instead scan the toilet room (which is separate from showers and sinks in most cases) for a chain to pull from the overhead tank, or perhaps a button on the top of the waist-high tank, or even a lever to press into the tank. really, your guess is as good as mine.


i don't think these differences are bad. just different. i think the US should push metric and celcius again. we are one of like 3 countries who aren't metric and who aren't celcius-thinkers. in america it doesn't matter, but we are at a disadvantage in the rest of the world. unless we memorize some silly 5/9 + 32 formula or remember some conversions. or carry around calculators and sliderules and notecards and abacuses and and and...

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!

anticipation

ONLY ONE WEEK UNTIL LIZ GETS HERE!!!

can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!

thinkin' about ASHLEE

today is ASHLEE's birthday! we met in middle school (like 13 years ago) and after a weird start, became friends. we would call each other everyday and talk about nothing for hours. somehow, in the past 13 years, that hasn't changed much. we talk about life and school and boys and food and driving and weather and movies and t.v. and robbers and books and computers and grandmas and dogs and kids and clothes and pictures and family and furniture and god and fishing and politics and football (only a little) and laundry and jobs and anything that comes to mind. she's smart, funny, silly, trustworthy, a little crazy, loveable, happy, and lovely.

ashlee, i'm glad you were born! happy birthday!

birthday with jani (yonni) and pals

once upon a day trip to eger, we met some guy on the train. i said to my traveling companions about a fellow train-traveler, "wow, he's tall" to which the guy replied, "yes, i am!" well, who knew he spoke english? he ended up sitting and talking with us for the hour train ride back to my city. he gave me his card, we all found each other on facebook, and we said we'd hang out some time. and why not?! he is an ENGLISH TEACHER, not just an english speaker! he works in another town, but lives in my city. his name is janos (yah-nOsh) but he goes by jani (yonni). he's 24, pretty smart, and funny!

meanwhile, we decided to hangout around my birthday. in fact, this saturday. here is the proof:
some of his friends met us at a bar. we sat and talked in english and had a few drinks. jani and i left for a bit to go get dinner (can't be drinkin' without eating... learned that the hard way once)
i had some hungarian palinka (fruit flavored liquor) and hungarian beer (nothing noteworthy)
the crazy one, ohhh... uh.. the one in the middle, wasn't drinking 'cause he was the designated driver. i've never had to have a DD before. great, this is what i'm learning in hungary. :::shrugs:::

me and the yawn, haha... i mean "jani"

the other ladies, edina and some name i can't pronounce

unpronouncable and tamas

we went to another drinking establishment. it sounds so trashy to say "bar-hopping"
since it was my bday (sorta) drinks were on them. woohoo!

it was nice to hang out with people. especially weird funny people. perhaps we'll do it again sometime. (ok, so this isn't my proudest post, but it really was a good fun night!)