Plot Twist!

Szia, Barátok! Hello, Friends!

Well, it has been a hectic past couple of weeks, which is why I'm slacking on my blog update. But enough of my excuses... after my last post I wandered into the city center (for the first time on my own) and found a lovely spot to sit and lesson plan. It is a place called the Terrace and overlooks the city. I ordered a pina colada and sat ready to tackle the daunting task of organizing my upcoming 24 lessons for the week.

I created a binder with more tabs than I've ever dealt with in my life. I planned a "parts of the body" for my 1st and 2nd graders, a school supplies lesson for my 3rd-5th graders, and a "design your own monster" for my 6th-8th graders. They had to draw a monster from their imagination and present it to the class, describing their monster's physical appearance, what it liked to eat, where it lived, and what super powers it had. I got some VERY creative responses, including "it has toxic spikes and shoots fireballs" and my personal favorite, "it lives in the school and eats homework." 

My name is really really hard for Hungarians to pronounce. I've gotten everything from "Shay-non" to "Shin-in." So when my 1st and 2nd graders started calling me "Shannenani," I thought it was just another name confusion. Come to find out "ani" is a suffix tacked on to a name that means "auntie." Actually the most adorable thing ever. I love their little chorus of voices saying "Shannenani!" when I walk into the room. For their lesson last week, they each drew a different body part, and then we cut them all out and put them together to make one person. This is how my 1st graders' creation turned out... they named it "Shannenani." 

That weekend I made plans to head back into Budapest for a wine festival that was taking place at Buda Castle. A lot of the CETP teachers were meeting up to enjoy some good wine, good company, and a get together at our friend's flat afterwards. I met up with my friend Jen at Starbucks, where I was able to get my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season! Hurray! From there we grabbed some lunch and made our way across the bridge all the way up to Buda Castle. It was quite a trek, and I was definitely huffing and puffing. When we reached the top the entire place was lined with tents and booths with different wine vendors. Although it was cold and rainy, we had a great time sipping on all the amazing varieties of wine and catching each other up on our first teaching adventures. Plus, we got these handy dandy wine holder gadgets! 
  

After the wine fest we went into the history museum. Unfortunately we walked in 10 minutes before it closed, so we didn't see much. So we wandered the castle grounds and saw some pretty breathtaking views. We explored fisherman's bastion, which has yet another amazing view (this city is full of them) of the Parliament Building and the Danube. From there we made our way to our friends Tiffany and Daniel's apartment, who graciously offered to host everyone for the evening. We stopped at the store to get snacks, where Jen convinced me to buy "Honey Ham Chips." How she talked me into it I'm not sure, but these things were DISGUSTING and literally tasted like crunchy slabs of meat. Gross. At Tiffany and Daniel's we all sat in the living room sipping beer, eating popcorn and enjoying each others company. It was great.
 
The following day, Jen and I went to yet another festival, this time a cow festival, where we saw a bunch of Hungarian longhorn cattle; alive, dead, and inflatable. 

We had fun wandering and exploring both the festival and Hero's Square, which was right next to the

festival. Jen (who has already been in Budapest for a year) gave me some tidbits of history and showed me around. After a little while we met up with our friend Kate for lunch. I hadn't seen her since orientation, so it was great to catch up. After a nice long afternoon I caught the second to last train back to Kecskemet to begin week 3 of teaching.

...And what a challenging 3rd week it was. I'm not going to lie, I felt rather overwhelmed. Suddenly the reality of managing close to 400 students was starting to kick in, and I was feeling like I didn't have the experience to take on the position and be the kind of resource these children need. I only see each group of students once a week for 45 minutes, and I don't have time to even learn their names. As much as I love my colleagues, and as much as it broke my heart to think about leaving my students, I had to face the reality that I am just not the right fit for this school. I called the CETP director, Hajni, who was more than understanding about my situation. I am so beyond lucky to have this program for support. It looks like I will be moving to Budapest to teach...Kindergarten! What a change, but I am truly excited to take on this new adventure. As DIFFICULT as this decision has been, I am lucky to have not only the support of Hajni and Mary from CETP, but also my colleagues in Kecskemet. They took me out for cake and coffee, where I opened up to them about my feelings. They were so understanding, and I look forward to visiting them even when I am back in Budapest. I am a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason" and I am so fortunate to have met the people and formed the connections that I have here. 

I will be in Kecskemet for two more weeks, enough time for the new teacher to get settled and for me to get prepared to move out of my apartment. I know this new position will present it's own set of challenges, but I truly feel that it will be a better fit for me, and will help me grow and learn as an educator. Although my new students will be much younger than I am used to working with, I will be be teaching a smaller group of them alongside bilingual Hungarian colleagues. My students in Kecskemet need a teacher who has some experience under their belt who can offer them the tools for success that comes with it. I wish I could be that person, but me being fresh out of college, I am not. Someday I hope I can be, and I know that this position in Budapest is a stepping stone toward that goal. 

I will keep everyone posted in these next upcoming weeks... Until then, thanks for tuning into my adventures. Despite the bumps in the road I've encountered, I fall more and more in love with this country everyday. And, more importantly, I'm learning more about myself everyday that I am here experiencing these new things. 

Csókolom! Kisses to all!

Kecskemét, Come at Me!

Whew! So much to tell! This past week and a half has been a complete whirlwind. On the last day of our orientation in Budapest I was picked up by the headmaster of my school. I said goodbye to all of the friends I had met over the previous 5 days and driven out to the great unknown- the city that I am going to call home for the next 10 months. Although Kecskemét isn't very far from Budapest- about an hour by car or train, I could not have felt more isolated- and quite honestly- more terrified. All the confidence and excitement I had worked on building in preparation for this exact moment quickly disappeared as we inched further and further away from the capital city. Don't get me wrong- the headmaster, whose name is Laci- was very nice. He made plenty of friendly conversation, answered all of my questions, and kept assuring me that I would have an amazing next few months. However, I don't think anything at that point was going to stop my mind from racing or my nerves from bouncing around like crazy. As we pulled up in front of a huge, old building that would temporarily be my home until my apartment was ready to be moved into, my anxiety went through the roof. This place was apparently housing for college students- so it had around 35 bedrooms and two levels. However, since the school year hadn't started, it meant that this place was completely vacant, and that I was going to be staying in it alone. Somehow I managed to put my fears aside, go with the flow, and the next 3 days came and went. Laci took me grocery shopping and introduced me to his colleague's daughter Eszter, who is 17. She is wonderfully sweet, and her favorite TV shows are Friends and Gilmore Girls. Needless to say, she and I got along splendidly. She took me on a tour of the City Center, which is AMAZING! The buildings are all colorful, the people are bustling with energy, and there are plenty of cafes to sit and enjoy coffee or lemonade:

Town Hall in the City Center

The "Cifrapalota" or "Ornamented Palace"

On top of the Terrace overlooking the City

In the days before school started I was invited over to three families' homes for some amazing Hungarian cooking. Everyone has been so welcoming and kind. Eszter's family made me some delicious desserts and served me Tokaji, a traditional Hungarian sweet wine, while we watched an episode of Gilmore Girls in Hungarian. I felt like I was home away from home.

Palanscinta! A Hungarian Pancake Dessert

I am writing this post all settled into my new apartment, which is beautiful and amazing. I have a huge bedroom, a nice kitchen, a living room, and even a place to do my lesson planning, which is filled with materials left over from previous teachers. Heaven. I've attached a couple pictures of my bedroom:

My Big Old Bed with Manatee 

My photo heart collage I created

View from my Bedroom Window

On the day before school started, my school had their Opening Ceremony to kick off the start of the new year. All of the staff, children, and their parents attend, putting the number of guests at over 1,000. At some point during this ceremony I was supposed to be introduced to all these people. However, I was not exactly told when. So, not understanding a word of the head master's speech, I somehow had to figure out when he was introducing the new teachers and navigate through the sea of people when my name was called. Luckily I figured it out- but it did cause some panic. During the ceremony I also got to see students perform amazingly well-rehearsed, perfectly choreographed traditional Hungarian dances. It was probably in the top 10 most adorable things I've ever seen in my life.

I am also happy to report that I have survived my first week of teaching unharmed. Also, I need to update the description of this blog because SURPRISE! I'm not teaching 2nd and 3rd grade English- more like 1st through 8th! This week has been a hectic time of planning, getting my bearings, and figuring out how the heck I am supposed to manage 24 lessons a week at such varied levels. I'm trying to come to grips with teaching 1st graders, who are little balls of energy. The only phrase they know in English is "My name is..." Me not knowing any Hungarian, they think that by putting "My name is..." in front of any Hungarian word, I will be able to understand them. So I get a lot of, "My name is mosdó?" Yes, you may go to the toilet. No, your name is not toilet. A perk of teaching the 1st grade is that I get a group hug at the end of every lesson. Although this week has been a mess of navigating my schedule (written all in Hungarian), learning to pronounce my students' names, which is often followed by a chorus of giggles, and trying to track down the naplós, or registry books, which I have to fill out for every lesson, it's been an overall truly rewarding past 5 days. How can I not smile when I hear a group of second graders walking to the playground holding hands, singing the days of the week song I just taught them? How can I not melt when my 8th grade students fill out their acrostic poems with adjectives like "Polite" "Lovable" and "Romantic?" As crazy as everything is, these small moments make it all worth it... for now anyway. It's only my first week after all! :)