The "Smart" car?

You know you're in Europe when...

the hills are alive!

We recently had a long weekend, which a bunch of the teachers and I took advantage of to blitz into Austria.

From the top:

1. the crew, minus a few
2. the city of Salzburg, from an obscure window in the castle on the hill
3. Mirabel Gardens. The place of the scene in Sound of Music where the kids and Maria are singing and hopping up and down the steps. They also walk around the fountain in the background.
4. our cable car up to the top of Untersberg, just outside of Salzburg.
5. the view from my perch on top of Untersberg

God's handiwork

Another beautiful sunset, as veiwed from the comfort of my balcony. I love our view.

We have been enjoying such mild, beautiful weather, around 65 degrees. I went running yesterday in shorts and short sleeves. I could take this for a while yet. All the veterans like to ominously say to the novices, "ha, just wait until winter". Apparently it gets pretty bleak.

cell commercials

"Might"ochondria energy drink definately won. Soon to appear at a store near you!

just wait

I have a quick ten minutes before my Biology class (what? 10 free minutes?!), so I thought that I should throw something up here to let the faithful viewers know that I am still alive! I'm not so well, as I seem to have caught the flu, but my spirits are still up and I am at least functional. I have lots to share, but not enough time right now, so please take a look at the blogs of my friends Emily and Paula (their links are in the right margin of this page). They have some good pictures from our HS retreat last weekend, and some really cool shots of our new HS building, that we are VERY SLOWLY moving into. Routine does not exist here. OK, off to go watch some "commercials" that my Biology students are enacting. They have to try to "cell" an organelle to me. I'll let you know which one I am most inclined to buy.

My elusive roommate

This picture, taken a month back, actually includes my roommate Mary! Somehow I haven't been able to get many pictures of her, which is funny, because she is always taking these crazy pictures of herself. But I recently came across this one. So, can you guess which one she is? I'll give you a clue: she wasn't in the picture of my co-workers that I posted a while ago...process of elimination...(tune of Jeopardy plays in your head)..."who is...the girl in the...?" If you guess it right, you'll increase your final grade by 3 percentage points!

I should take this opportunity to say that Mary is awesome. We always have great fun and great talks together, whenever we're actually together, which is unfortunately rare. But she is solid, and I am so thankful for her!

the other side of parliament

This shot is taken from the other side of Parliament (scroll down to see prettier pictures of the building). On Saturday the demonstrators in front of the Parliament building were 20,000 strong. For the most part they have been peaceful. The Hungarian people simply don't want to be lied to, as their PM has blatantly admitted to doing. There is a lot of political upheaval, as elections are coming up on Oct. 1. I'm trying to stay up with it all, but I definately feel somewhat detached, as we are 25 miles from where stuff is happening and I can't see beyond my lesson plans for the next day at this point.

...from whence I came

From this...

Gurnee, Illinois Health Club Location - Centre Club

...to this!

I miss the Centre Club!

I have been tapping into my stores of creativity and improvisation to maintain a good workout regimen. It can be done, right Mel? I've been mostly doing body weight exercises and Pilates. The burn isn't the same as working with the machines, but it still feels so good. And it works. Fortunately the new building will be done soon (that's what they keep saying anyway) and the weight room will be open. I plan on frequenting it.

the haircut!

So sorry to keep you all in a state of nail-biting anticipation! This actually isn't the best picture of the haircut, as it's kind of dark. But I'm the one on the left, in case I look too different to recognize =). And next to me is Paula, the HS English teacher. She lives right next door and is super cool. We were hanging out with a bunch of the teachers (in the background) at a festival at the castle. More castle pictures later.

As promised...The Co-workers

Unfortunately, after MULTIPLE failed attempts and a lot of wasted time, I have given up trying to post any more than two pictures at a time to this page. Apparently it can't handle the load. So my hope is to publish a picture album somewhere on the web, complete with the promised pictures of where I live and work, and who I live and work with. And my new haircut. I will send out the link once I get that in place. Please forgive the uploading incapabilities of Blogger. It means well.

These are all of the new teachers at the school, minus my roommate. She can be rather elusive. I'll get a picture of her yet!

Coming Soon...

Pictures of:

1. my apartment
2. my coworkers
3. my new haircut!

My favorite building in Budapest

This is the Parliament Building, located on the Pest side. It is incredibly elaborate, and incredibly big. The top version with the giant cones was taken on St. Istvan's day, and those pylons comprised the course that the stunt pilots had to fly between. They're similar to those air-blown giant snowmen you see in people's yards at Christmas, only bigger. Anyway, the botttom picture is a sunnier version. of Parliament. So Beautiful!

Here's to Pops! Happy Birthday, Dad! I know this is a little late, but I wanted to honor you with a picture on my blog, my present to you =). This was a great memory, the long-sought for zmrzlina! Love you!

Touchdown

I have been officially in Europe for two weeks now. My passport can vouch for that, as I now have stamps from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and my new home, Budapest! I spent the last two weeks with my dear parents travelling around the Czech Republic visiting our old home and reconnecting with old friends. It was such a rich time to be back there and see everyone again. We ended the trip back in Budapest where we met up with a missionary from Boston and his translator, and they took us to a Hungarian house church and then for a quick tour of the castle hill in the city. Our friends from Kenosha who now live just outside of Budapest then picked us up from the school and gave us a couple more days of sightseeing. This family is my newly adopted family. They were the ones who took us to the airport, where my parents and I exchanged a tearful good-bye. It was such a great time travelling with my parents, and I am so thankful for the connection they now have to where I'm living and the people I will be involved with. And I am also so grateful for the people who I already know here. I am certainly being looked out for.

This is just an intial posting to get my blog set up. So more pictures and details to follow!