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! :)