Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

(Sarah dear, the "peace"and "joy" pictures are for you!)

I spent Christmas Eve bustling around my lovely little apartment making vanocka, going on a run around Diosd, putting hostess gifts together, cleaning, and listening to classical Christmas carols. It was wonderful. And then I had dinner at the home of Parker's close friends, some of whom I already knew from BFA and Wheaton days. I had so much fun getting caught up with them. And then I spent the rest of the night with my good friends from the school, Paula, Emily, Heather and Lisa A. We made cookies, told stories, did hand stands, put out a fire, and fell asleep to "A Christmas Story".

Hungarians celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. And then they take the next two days off as holidays, where hardly any stores are open, especially on the 26th. It was amusing to me how many of them were finally getting their trees on the 24th. I saw so many cars with trees on top at the last minute.

Budapest is certianly a beautiful city to be in around Christmas. I will have to post some pictures of the Christmas Market and the lights down town at a future point.

Merry Christmas ans Happy New Year to you!

guess I haven't missed celery

I was sitting down to a beautiful salad (a rare thing, unfortunately), topped with some delicious "seasonal dressing" that a student gave me for Christmas, when I realized that I haven't had celery since I've been here! In fact, I don't think that I have even seen it at the grocery store! I love celery! How could I have forgotten about it?

encounter with the police

Yesterday as I was driving home from church I had my first encounter with the Hungarian police. Every once in a while they have days or periods of days when they're out en force pulling cars over randomly to check papers. Well, I had been asked last minute to drive to church (I am one of the few among the new teachers who can drive a stick), and so I presumed that the papers and everything were in order. When the lights started flashing behind us and we pull over to the curb, I wasn't too worried, because I hadn't done anything to break the law, so I figured it was just one of those random checks. I asked Sarah, who was borrowing the car, if I could have the papers, but she had not been given the papers, and had never been informed of the necessity of always having those papers on your person when driving around Hungary. Oops. So we were searching frantically all over the car, while the four cops stood outside my door looking at my passport and international drivers license. None of them spoke more than very minimal English, and I haven't yet mastered Hungarian, so communication was rather difficult to say the least. Sarah did find some registration papers in the glove compartment (not a good place to keep them...kind of like keeping your title in there). So we gave those to them, and after 10 minutes they came back to say that the papers had expired back in September. We were basically driving illegally. Not to mention that I am basically an illegal alien, as I have overstayed my 90 days visitor quota. So all the worse case scenarios started to play in my mind, like we'd be taken in and interrogated and then beaten with barbed wire, and I would be sent home to America with orders never to enter Hungary again. Sarah and I prayed. We were so nervous. It was very likely that they would tell us to leave the car there, that we couldn't drive it anymore. Or that we'd be fined for driving an illegal car. That's happened before to others, apparently. But God came through for us and we were let off very easy, not even a fine! We were simply told to take the car home and leave it there until the papers were renewed...

two of my girls

Meet Sarah and Sol Ji, two of the sweetest girls to traverse this planet. Sol Ji is one of my students, but I enjoy hanging out with her outside of class, too. And although Sarah is not in any of my classes, she is just so quality that I wish she was! It's been so fun getting to know them this semester. More than anything their hearts for God are such an encouragement to me. As we all love cooking and baking, we're going to have a bake day at my apartment sometime before the semester is up.

Speaking of the end of the semester, it's just aroung the corner, and everyone is feeling the pressure of finals, including me, as I have to write them, and then write the study guides for them, and then not to mention grade them... It makes me very tired just thinking about it. And so I will stop thinking about it, and just focus on the fact that it is raining right now. It's December 9th, and it got up to 56 degrees today! It was beautiful, but rather out of place. You're not supposed to be able to run outside in shorts in the middle of December.

Thanksgiving

The Bible study that I am co-leading for our Senior girls has been going through Hosea (click on the picture to open it and you'll be able to read it a lot better). It's not a book frequently turned to for encouragement, but after reading it again, and again, and again, I'm not sure why it isn't. I have been so encouraged by it. It is ever a reminder of the great, unconditional love of our God who wont put up with our disregard for him, but wants so badly for us to look to him and love him. These two verses particularly speak of the love and care and gentleness with which he has dealt with his people. What a good God he is! I am so thankful for Him and His love towards me.

Thanksgiving in Hungary is quite different, I must say, than in the States. I ended up at two different feasts with two different American families and ate enough food for the next month. That should help my food bill. And although you cannot find canned pumpkin here, somebody at each feast managed to make pumpkin pie. I love it. I think they actually took a pumpkin ("Tök" in Hungarian) and pureed the inside to get the necessary consistency. All natural, the real way to do it. A lot more work, but all the more appreciated!

So, Thanksgiving has already come and gone, and I can't believe it! I only have two more full weeks of school and then exams, and then Christmas break! Only two weeks away! I finally get into the swing of things, and then this! Actually the truth is that knowing I get a break in two weeks is what keeps me going these days.

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!