Taste of the Nations

Last week we had the best class EVER in Civics. A little background...our class examined the government structure and history in the United States and the United Kingdom for about 10 weeks. Then we began a whirlwind "tour" of the world by studying the governments in Germany, India, South Africa, Brazil, and China for the rest of the semester. We barely made it!

We celebrated our new knowledge with a Taste of the Nations. The students were divided up into "country groups" at the beginning of class. After research, planning, and cooking the 9th grade had quite a feast prepared! Click on the album below to see more pictures from our fun and unique class.

Taste of the Nations

"All my bags...."

Aerosmith (or John Denver, Janis Joplin, or Jewel - Depending on your generation) said it best:

"All my bags are packed I'm ready to go..."

It is hard for me to believe that my time in Hungary is coming to a close. In fact, I have just 6 days left in Hungary! AHH! We have exams Monday through Wednesday, a staff workday on Thursday, and graduation on Friday. I then plan to "chillax" (my favorite word that I have picked up from middle school - it is chill and relax mushed together) on Saturday and then get on an airplane to fly back to the US on Sunday mid-morning. Notice how I didn't mention packing in there. I was so uptight (yes I'm admitting it) about fitting in my bags, so I packed! I wanted to make sure that I could fit everything in. So you see...my Aerosmith quote is perfect.

Please pray for this week. It is not going to be fun enduring all the goodbyes (ask any member of my family how well I do with goodbyes on a simple telephone call...I usually just don't say goodbye. Sad I know.) Anyways, Pam and Kristen (pictured below) took me out to one of my favorites here in Diosd - the Greek restaurant - to start the goodbye process on a good note. It was great!! I will be posting more this week as we count down...to air conditioning.

Side note- it is in the mid to high 80's here and I'm literally melting. I had forgotten just how "fun" it is to teach inside a room with one fan, one hot teacher, and twenty smelly adolescents who are tired of school. Whew...the fun!

Junior-Senior Banquet

Recently I had the pleasure of being a chaperone for the Junior-Senior Banquet. This is the school's version of prom. As you can see Oliver had not one but two hot dates.

We are 13 school days away from exams...so crazy. I just finished updating and proofing my last exam. Such a weird feeling.

Check back soon for more pictures documenting my journey back to America. Currently (seriously) you cannot see the carpet in my bedroom. I have that much stuff everywhere. AHH!

PS - Yes mom, I know I need a haircut.

Family Field Day 2008

A few days ago we had the annual Family Field Day for ICSB. The weather was a perfect 70 degrees. Last year I was in charge of the egg race. However, many people (not me) thought the Egg Race was boring. For this reason I was switched from the comatose game to the highly contested Tug-of-War. I ended up having a great time despite my attitude (at first). The pictures are hysterical because the middle schoolers were trying so hard. It was definitely a comedic experience. See the album below for more pictures of the fun day!

Family Field Day 2008

I will be back in Alabama in less than 30 days. Wow. Will I make it back? This thought comes to mind more than I would like...

"Vienna Waits for You..."

Billy Joel said it best:

"Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You'd better cool it off before you burn it out
You've got so much to do and
Only so many hours in a day
But you know that when the truth is told..
That you can get what you want or you get old
You're gonna kick off before you even
Get halfway through When will you realize,
Vienna waits for you?"

I, along with 2 of my roomates and a friend, decided to follow Billy's advice and head to Vienna for the day. We rented a car and make a run for Austria...just for the day. No one really wanted to spend money on a hotel (very very expensive in Vienna) especially with the declining value of the dollar so we left around 8am and returned to ol' Budapest after 9pm. Each of us had one expectation. Laura wanted to shop, Sara wanted to see a museum and return to Schonbrunn, Audrey wanted to see Kunsthistorisches (a famous art museum), and I...sadly just wanted to have Starbucks at least twice. sigh. I know that is pitiful but it's true!

Our journey, of course, started with Starbucks. Then we took Vienna's great public system to Schonbrunn. We spent the most time at Schonbrunn (beautiful summer residence of the Hapsburgs) because of the great weather. This (along with Starbucks, duh) was my favorite...as you will see in my many many many pictures of the gardens and the grounds.

See the album below if you want to see more of the lovely Vienna that I experienced this past weekend.

Vienna Revisited

This trip was bittersweet because it is the last adventure that I will have! I leave for America in 34 days. AHH! When I think of all the things I must do and everything/everyone that I will have to say goodbye to...well it's not a pleasant thought. Hopefully I will be more diligent in my final days in Hungary in terms of blogging...

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..."

Today I made my mother proud...I had a theme in my class. In 8th grade we are reading The Hobbit. In Hungary they have cookies called "hobbits."

So of course we had to eat hobbits while reading The Hobbit! My class thought I was crazy but we had fun. Maybe they thought I was crazy because we ate hobbits at 8am...

Please notice that this student not only has 2 rolls of the cookies but he also has a hobbit cookie sticking out of his mouth. I think he ended up eating over 12 in 45 minutes...at 8:30am. Wow. Very impressive.

Well...

Life over in Hungary has been a bit crazy as the school year is coming to a close. However, I still have managed to be an inspiration to a sixth grade girl. This is what she had to say:

“You have inspired me to be an English teacher because you are able to sit down and eat Oreos while you teach. Oh yea and because English is really easy.”

Wow. I’m glad I have "touched a life" by eating and being lazy. By the way this is the Director's daughter. Perfect.