I <3 HEART <3 My School

Son of a bitch, man. Over the past four months I've had my ups and downs, some weekends where I was super lonely, and some days where I hated teaching. But in the past few weeks, I have officially fallen head-over-heels in love with my school and everyone in it.

It started a couple weeks after October break: I started getting into a "groove" of sorts, feeling better about my lessons, feeling like I was really, genuinely starting to click with my students, and feeling just more....relaxed at school. Thanksgiving threw me off a bit, as all weekend trips do (and it was amazing, by the way)...but I got right back into the swing of things pretty quickly. Then I spent the first weekend of December in Szeged visiting Jon with Hanna and Franny (it was ALL THREE of their birthdays that week!), which was a great time. I think spending time with them contributed to my overall sentimentality, because I like all three of them so danged much.

Anyhoo, so after that weekend, I've just been, I dunno, "in the zone!" I've really been enjoying all my time with my students, and in the past couple weeks there have been a whole bunch of ADORABLE school Christmas presentations. The first was called the "Renavato," which is reindeer-related...basically, the 11D's force the 9th-graders to do various embarassing stunts, all while they wear reindeer antlers. It was the funniest/most heartwarming thing I've ever seen. The funniest part was watching my 11th grade girls do a skanky hip-hop dance to "Soulja Boy," and I had to try my best to stifle my laughter....holy shit, a bunch of innocent Hungarian girls dancing to a song advising us to "Superman that HOOOO!" Hahahahahha!!! Brilliant! (One of my 13th grade girls saw me laughing and eventually convinced me to tell her the meaning of the song....and she said it was going to give her nightmares. No joke.) Oh, and at the beginning of the show, my 13th grade boy Aron came up to me and said, "So, Eliza...are you excited for the show?" I said, "yeah, it looks like it's gonna be good." And he responded, "Yeah, it's gonna be LEGEN.......wait for it.......keep waiting........DARY." That kid is gonna be president of something someday, mark my words.

Other highlights included watching my 9D's do a choreographed dance routine, have an eating contest, do a slow-motion fight scene, and do a skit where Zoli dressed like a woman, Martin was a gypsy, and Tam wore blackface. Amazing.

That's a photo of me at the top, with my little winners, the 9D's!

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This is a short anecdote, but a good one: a couple weeks ago, I walked into my 9D beginner class, and Zoli (not my teacher's son, but the other one) was running back to his seat from the chalkboard. He and the class had collaborated to write, "Eliza, we [need, love, miss] you!" on the board. They defended this charming piece of work by explaining, "We're practicing our adjectives!" (For all you dummies out there, please note that this is extra-cute, because those are verbs, not adjectives.) Anyway, this was just one of many times in the month of December where I've said "Awwwwwwww!" and told my students they're amazing.

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Move ahead a week: I was at my Hungarian lesson that Thursday morning, and Nori invited me to a holiday concert Saturday night, where Zoli, Tam, and some of my other students would dance and sing. (They're all in the local youth folk dance group, which I think is so great, because...they actually HAVE folk dance.) Anyway, of COURSE I accepted. I met Nori outside the Castle (because, again, they fucking HAVE a castle). Her husband is the head of the A/V department in the castle's auditorium, so we got to sit in the front row....next to the MAYOR! Oooooooh! (Check the Koszeg website...he's on the main page! I HUNG OUT WITH THAT GUY!) The performance was the cutest thing I've ever seen....I almost died from "overcuteness." The youngest group were only about 5 or 6 years old, and couldn't handle any form of dance beyond holding hands and spinning in circles. Sometimes their teacher had to come onstage to herd them back to their places. Then my older kids (some girls, but mostly the boys) danced, and oh my god, watching them jump around in their traditional costumes...ahhhhh. I felt like a parent. A very, very illegitimate parent.
(there they are in the photo!) After the concert was a reception, where I spent some time first with Nori and her husband (who, once again, forced me to drink a few shots of palinka!), and then with my boys. One of my 12th grade boys actually asked me to dance, which was terribly awkward but cute as well. Then they all showed me music on their ipods, and asked me about American movies I've seen, and so on. Nori told me she was leaving, and that her son and the other boys could walk me home. Oh, small towns. Apparently this is all totally normal for teachers to do, or at least the American teachers. Who knows. Oh, and before the night was through, I bitched out a couple of my boys for smoking. That was fun too. Here's me with my star folk-dancing students: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next adorable moment. OK, this was odd: this Wednesday, I was walking to my class with 11D, when suddenly Sanyi, the tech guy, grabbed me and said I was needed in the Diszterem (auditorium). I was like, "oh, uhh...aright?" (thinking it would only take a second.) Turns out--SURPRISE!--today was the day that my school did a Skype video-conference with a guy from the US Embassy in Budapest. I had heard word about it, but nobody clued me in on when it was happening, or what the details were. Supposedly, upper-level students were preparing questions to ask the guy about the US. Long story short, I got thrown in there to "introduce the school" and host everything. It was slightly awkward....but I think I handled an auditorium full of nervous students AND teachers pretty well, and without having any time to get stage fright. The students were all really scared to read their questions (and the PA system was awful, so no one could understand the guy's answers), so I stayed behind the students while they asked them, just in case they needed backup. One of my "bad" 12th graders (who has been getting progressively better), asked shyly if he could sit next to me the whole time because he was so nervous. Awww.

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As for other heart-melting events, all week long I've been coming into classes to find myself presented with a gift of chocolate or an ornament, offered by one brave student on behalf of the whole class. Then they all say, "Boldog Karacsonyt, Miss Plous!" Ahhhhhhhhh. The best was my 13A's: both sections asked their other English teachers for help selecting Christmas poems to read in English, which they then recited to me, WITH CANDLES, in the dark in the Lieb room when I walked in. Then they sang Christmas carols in Hungarian, and gave me a hand-drawn card and candy. I seriously almost cried in class like 8 times this week.

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Today was the last day of class before break, on Saturday. For the first hour, I watched "Scrooged" with my 12D's (the class with the bad boys who are getting better), and one of them offered me a Christmas ornament from 12D. Again, adorable. Then I had class with my 9D beginners, by far the cutest class in the world, and we watched Mickey's Christmas Carol. Some of them gave me cards. I now have a collection going. My favorite is other-Zoli's, which says, and I quote:

"Dear Ms Plous,

Thanks for the teaching of this year. I appreciate your hard work with a crazy child like me. I'm sorry that I'm sometimes crazy. I'm lucky to have a teacher like you. I hope you are happy in the new year. I wish you the best of luck in the new year. I'm glad that I met with you. I promis to work harder. Have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!
-Zoli"

Granted, most of that came from a template of appropriate phrases to use in a greeting card, but the "crazy" parts were 100% Zoli. That one is goin' on the fridge.

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One last tale of cuteness: my last class on Thursdays is 12C. This is a really small class, and their English isn't very good. The best student in class, by far, is Norbert...a really obedient, round-faced blond guy with glasses who--get this--isn't even actually in the class. He just goes for fun, to hang out with his friends. Anyway, the first thing is that on November 12, he presented me with a note and a bouqet of flowers for my nameday (Aliz, on the 13th). Then he read me a description of my character, which he wrote himself. The other students all stood up while he read it. Omg. Then, a couple weeks ago, I came into class and Norbi immediately showed me a beautiful Christmas tree he'd brought in, on a table in the corner. THEN he showed me that he had constructed a self-watering system, complete with a time-release....every 12 hours it gets watered for 1 minute. I'm pretty sure Norbert is a genius, but I don't know because he doesn't speak much English. Anyway, it's the coolest freaking thing I've ever seen.

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OK, well now that I've shared these little tidbits of my darling little students, I'd better get crackin' on packing! (ha.) I leave for London and Dublin tomorrow.....meeting Trash! Should be amazing, and by amazing I mean expensive. Boldog Karacsonyt, errrvrybody!

A Very Vas- and Gyor-County Weekend

Hi errvrybody,

Well, it's Monday evening, and I must say, it's been a fun couple of days! Last weekend I was definitely a little down on this town. I sat inside almost all weekend, except for when I went to a cafe for about an hour....but it proved to be less exciting than I imagined. I started thinking about the fact that I need to get out more. So this weekend, I ended up having two travel adventures. First, on Saturday, I finally took myself to Szombathely for the afternoon (that's the county seat of Vas county; population of about 90,000). Up until this weekend, I'd only really been in the train station, and in their county offices to do my work permit. Then on Sunday, Agi invited me to meet her in Sopron, where her bellydance troupe had a performance. I keep hearing great things about Sopron (which is in the very northwest corner of Hungary, in Gyor county), but I'd never been there. So this weekend, I really got a better sense of what's in my neighborhood here on the "west side" of Hungary. (Photo: Szombathely's pedestrian center)

First, on Saturday, I took the bus to Szombathely. It's really easy, because there's only one bus in town, and Szombathely is basically the only place it goes. It's about 20-25 minutes south of Koszeg, and the view out the window is very picturesque: you go through some tiny villages (imagine them as "suburbs" of Koszeg, I guess?), lots of fields, and the whole way, you've got the foothills of the Alps on the horizon.

Just as I was getting on the bus, one of my 12th grade students, Moni, came running up. She's really nice, so we sat together and she gave me advice on what to see in the center of Szombathely. (By the way, in Hungarian "Szombat" = Saturday, and "Hely" = place. That's right, "Saturdayplace." The name comes from medieval times when there was a market at that site on Saturdays. Oh, old-timey times!) When we got into town, I got off before her, and started off walking. It's a small place, so I figured it wouldn't take me long to find the center. I took some photos along the way--mostly just of cars and facades (see photo). I figure I should document regular streetscapes, because in hindsight, that's always the stuff I'm most interested in keeping in my mind. Nobody needs more pictures of churches.

I successfully located the town center, and was impressed to find that it's a) pretty big b) all pedestrian--high five, Europe, and c) very old-fashioned! A lot of the outskirts of town are more modern, with Soviet flats and graffiti, so I didn't really know what to expect. But it turns out Szombathely's a nice little place. After awkwardly (and very conspicuously) taking photos of some city workers hanging Christmas lights across the main square (<--see photo), I found a place called the Art Cafe, got a cappuccino, and busted out my Hungarian language books to do a little studying. After ordering a couple drinks in Hungarian, I eventually got to the point where I apologized to the waitress for my shitty abilities. She noticed my books, and I told her I was American, teaching in Koszeg, yadda yadda...and she complimented me on my accent! It was definitely a nice confidence-booster! Hungarian is a tough language, for sure...plus, I've been slacking on my studying lately. But I actually do feel like I'm improving, slowly but surely! I left the cafe and headed in a different direction, kinda intending to make it back to the train station to catch the free bus to Tesco (the British version of Wal-Mart), but on the way, I ran into one of my 13th graders (and private students), Dori. She was on her way to the high school in town, where Koszeg's advanced English students have to go to take their exit exams. She invited me to come check her score with her, so I did, and we ran into a few more students along the way. Afterwards, Dori took me to a hamburger place in town, where you can order veggie burgers (turns out Dori, and another one of my students, are vegetarians!)...but it turns out, when they say "veggie burger," they really mean bun with vegetables on it. Luckily, chili beans were one option, which acted as a good meat substitute. After the "burger," Dori and I parted ways. I successfully located the Tesco bus after AGAIN busting out the Hungarian skills to ask for directions at the depot. The guy working (I later learned his name was Tamas) went way out of his way to help explain where to go. Nice guy, that Tamas! Anyway. I'll spare you the details of Tesco....let's just say anything "white trash" you can get at Wal-Mart also exists in some kind of weird, distorted form in Hungary. Right down to the hilariously tacky clothing, only this time, it's also funny because it's in English....which they don't necessarily understand. Check out this photo of one of the kids' shirts. Apparently t-shirts suffer from identity crises, too. They're just...like...us! Ahem. Anyway, so that was fun. Afterwards, I caught the bus back to Koszeg (after more help from Tamas) and intended to do "work," but really just watched half of the Blues Brothers and dyed my hair. Good times.

SO. On Sunday, I ventured out yet again, this time to Sopron. Here's what I knew about Sopron upon leaving: Soproni beer is brewed there. It's old-timey. People like it. End of list.

I hoped I could confirm at least 2 out of these 3 things, hopefully all three. First, I took the train to Szombathely (basically the same thing as taking the bus, but this way I had the security of buying my train ticket 30 minutes before needing it--a slight advantage.) The railroad between Koszeg and Szombathely, by the way, it pretty rickety. The trains themselves are more like really shitty old trams--they're usually only 2 or 3 cars, and for all intents and purposes, might as well be city transit. (I mean, 25 minutes and you're in a completely different town? In Chicago, I might have gotten as far from my house as, say, Fullerton on the Brown Line. I guess they don't need anything fancy--see photo for the interior.) But when I got on the connecting train to Sopron, I instantly noticed the difference: the cars were much newer, with clean upholstery, and the track was as smooth as silk. I actually got embarrassed a couple times, because I realized when the train made stops, it was completely silent, and everyone could hear my headphones.

When I arrived in Sopron, I was charged with the task of successfully locating a building, the name of which I didn't know, by address alone. Ady Endre Utca 10. Not too big of a problem, except asking for directions in a language you don't really speak is....umm...interesting. Somehow, though, I managed to do it--and I only had to ask one waitress and 3 elderly couples! I found the building (the Gyik children's community center) pretty quickly, but MAN....it was a cold, cold walk. I should mention that we finally got a cold front here in the Carpathian Basin, but in Koszeg, it was still above freezing. Here in Sopron, there was light snow on the ground, and it had to have been about 20 degrees at the most, with a stiff wind. So when I finally found the place, I decided even if Agi wasn't there yet, I'd hang around for a bit to warm up.

After completing said task (and browsing bellydance costumes for sale), I ventured back out to find the town center. So far, I had decided I really liked Sopron--it felt like a "city," but much cleaner than other Hungarian towns I've seen. On the way to the center, I had ended up on a wide, very bourgeois boulevard--stately, well-maintained apartments on both sides, with a grassy median. Very pleasant. Kind of Logan Square-esque, except, you know, more authentic (as far as bourgeois boulevards go). Aaaanyway, so to find the town center, I used my tried-and-true method: find the tallest steeple, and follow it (see above photo). Obviously, it worked. And I discovered: Sopron is beeeaaauutiful! I was fascinated to discover it reminds me of a mini-Prague: a medieval old town with narrow, winding cobblestone streets; several formidable cathedrals, and scores of just disgustingly charming storefronts. I took some pictures while my fingers were freezing off, stopped in a "British Pub" (false advertising) for some superb garlic cream soup in a bread bowl, and then headed back to meet Agi for the performace.
(Photo: Old-timey church tower? Check!)

During the show, I was really struck by how, uh, "cool" the world is: here I am, sitting in the middle of Hungary (well, the far left of Hungary, I guess) watching Hungarian moms and daughters do middle-eastern bellydance, set to, among other things, a Gogol Bordello song. The world is awesome and hilarious. Also, without hearing the dancers speak, I recognized facial types that could've been people from anywhere--all of them reminded me of someone I've known in the US. It's really funny to realize how similar we all are. Until the host came out to give a quick announcement in Hungarian, I could've forgotten we were in Hungary. (Oh, also: I had so far confirmed that yes, Sopron is old-timey, and yes, I liked it...still needed to secure the beer fact. I chugged a .5L Soproni in 5 minutes at intermission. Take THAT, Chicago Eliza!)

Agi's group was by far the best. Apparently, she and some friends have been in the group for 5 years now, and they've gotten pretty good. This also reminded me that it's possible to have a time consuming job (read: teaching) and take up a hobby in one's free time and still have enough time/energy to get considerably good at it. So there IS life outside teaching! I left the show (in Agi's friend's backseat, awkwardly silent next to the Hungarians) thinking about all the crap I want to learn to do: speak more languages; play fiddle; what the hell, take bellydance. Hopefully I'll read this blog again when I get home and remember my interest!

So that was my weekend, absurdly verbose considering it was only 2 days...sorry about that. The last thing I have to report is that today at school was awesome! I was totally in the zone, I felt like I actually did a good job in all my classes, and I got some really good language use out of my students, especially my 13s. I think the best was when I came in for class, and this "cool kid" Aron came up and said, "Yo, Eliza....what uuuuup." He then reminded me of a scene in "How I Met Your Mother" where a character goes to church and says, "Dear God, it's me, Barney. What uuuup." Isn't it great how much these kids are LEARNING?

Aaaaaand done.

JMG: Behind the Music (and by "music" I mean "door to the school")

I just realized that I'm about to hit the 3-month mark here in Hungary, and I have yet to write anything about my actual job. The deal is, I teach conversational English to high schoolers. My school is a "bilingual school," which means it has higher education standards, and an option to study as a "bilingual" in English, meaning you study other subjects in English (including math and science), and you take a 5th year of high school. I teach both bilingual classes and non-bilinguals, which basically means some of my students are awesome and are really conversational, and others are awkward and nonverbal.

I'm not the only teacher for any of my classes--I "share" all of them with one or two other teachers. This is good because it means I have help in planning the curriculum (I just follow the major topics other teachers are doing in their books), but it's also inconvenient because it means at any point during the week, I'm desperately waiting for one particular teacher to appear so I can ask them what the hell they want me to do with their class next. I tell you, Hungary is CRAZY with organization. As I mentioned, the grading system is retarded: there's a different "osztalynaplo" for each class, which is a big book with all the students' names. There's a spot to write if students were absent, another spot to write what we did that day (but nobody ever tells me which spot is mine), and in the back, spots to write grades--only I'm not allowed to write grades, because I have to talk to their other teachers and we agree on a grade. What?

Anyway, organization aside, my job is stressful, funny, frustrating, hectic, and of course, rewarding. I really love all my students, even the "bad kids." I have grades 9 through 13, so my youngest students are 14 or 15. Oh my god, I....love...the 9D's. They're just adorably charming....I want to hug all of them. Sometimes after class, the beginner group swarms my desk and the girls, like Fruzsi and Lilla, wring their hands awkwardly and try to complete a sentence such as: "Umm, Miss Plous? Does....you....NO. DO you stay in Koszeg for Christmas?" And I smile and chat with them and tell them their English is improving, and they leave the class beaming. These kids, I tell ya.

The other 9D group is just as awesome, but in a different way. (By the way, the "D" denotes that they've signed on as bilinguals--impressive especially for the beginner group, because they came in knowing nothing, and have already made plans to be near-fluent within 5 years.) The second 9D group are intermediate, and some of them are WAY ahead of the pack because they study English privately with one student, Zoli's, mom--my Hungarian tutor. So some kids don't really need some of the activities we do in class (like giving directions, for example). Zoli, Tam, Attila (another endearing "bad" kid) and a couple others do fine with most tasks. Unfortunately, as with all language classes, there are also really awkward, quiet kids who still get nervous completing a spoken sentence. Overall though, they're great--but some of the boys are a little on the ADD side--which is why they now know the word "spaz."

The older kids get progressively less adorable, especially this one group of 12th grade boys who think they're hot shit and try to invite me to drink with them. Ummm....what do you think, dumbasses? Do you think I want to spend my free time hanging out with a kid whose real name is Gabor, but tried to convince me to call him "G"? Nice try. Morons. I still like them, but I have this one group of 12th graders which is unusually huge--about 24 students--and it doesn't matter HOW cool I am (which is very, by the way)--there is no silencing a room full of 17-year-old guys at 7:30 on a Monday morning. I usually spend half that period (the "zero" hour because it's so early) just yelling at the boys and separating them, which really sucks for the obedient girls who sit in front and always pay attention. Ugh. Boys.

My oldest students, the 13th graders, are really promising. I have two groups of 13D's (one is MUCH quieter than the other, for some reason), and this is where most of my private students come from. Most of them are preparing for pretty rigorous English exams either in the next couple months, or in May-June. They know their shit and want to improve even more. They also seem to have known M.C. (the American woman who was here for 2 years before me) pretty well, and one group of girls let me know the first week that they wanted to extend their friendship to me as well. At first I was a little apprehensive about being "friends" with students outside of class--I didn't want to be accused of favoritism or what have you--but the other teachers let me know that M.C. was very much appreciated for her strong relationship with her students, so I figured, what the hell. I went out for pizza with 5 of the 13D girls one night, and it was really great. They even talked in English with each other so I knew what was going on. And they helped me order in Hungarian, and then complimented me on my (very minimal) abilities! These girls are all great in class, by the way--their group has a really energetic dynamic and they all seem to get along well--but when I hold classroom debates, they are NOT shy about holding down their side. I know they'll all be just fine in whatever they end up doing.

Meanwhile, in the other 13D group, I have a few standout students who approached me early in the semester for tutoring (which is definitely earning me some nice pocket money). These are also the few students in that group who actually lead the conversations. I'm finding that a lot of Hungarian students are fairly liberal, and have really diverse taste in music and interests. The students who I tutor also have informed me they all love one American show, "How I Met Your Mother." (They actually got me watching it too--it's just a mediocre sitcom, but now I'm into it. Damn!) The reason this is significant is because they watch it in English rather than dubbed into Hungarian, which shows their interest in catching conversational speech. I told them to keep it up!

Ultimately, school's a nice place. Of course I have my good days and bad days--anyone who knows me knows how easily I stress out about simple things, and lesson-planning has never been my favorite hobby. But the last couple weeks, I've definitely felt myself falling into a groove. I know I'm really lucky to have such a nice school, adorable students, and helpful colleagues (even if they always forget to tell me when class is cancelled!). The teachers I talk to most (Istvan, Ica, Agi, Imre, Melinda, Marietta, Marianna, Kati, and Anna) are all really nice to me and even offer to do absurdly kind things for me, like drive me to neighboring towns, or help me fix things in my apartment. They definitely keep me from being too lonely, and they make me feel more included in the school faculty. The kids can drive me nuts at times, but I'm sure I'll leave here with only good memories of all the hilarious things they've said and done--including the time last week when Zoli set his chair on fire with a lighter and a spray can of Axe body spray.

October Break: Prague and Vienna!

What up? It's been a while. As you can see, it's now mid-November. That means I'm back from my October Break trip to Prague and Vienna! I went with my friend Ashley, who's from Florida and teaches in Budapest. We get along really well, and thus ditched the Transylvania trip (which was WAY expensive) and decided to do this instead. It's already been two weeks since I returned, so before I forget, here's how everything went down:

PART I: BUDAPEST
Wednesday, 10/22:
-School finished a tad early. I BOOKED it home and packed, then ran to the bus to meet a student I have private lessons with. I had made the mistake of letting her know what I was doing on break, so she discovered we'd BOTH be leaving for Budapest on the same day and offered to take the train with me. I agreed, not realizing until later that it was gonna be pretty weird. Sigh...I've gotta stop agreeing to things like that.

Aaaanyway. So, 4 awkward hours later, we arrived in Budapest at Deli Palyaudvar (South Station), where Ashley was waiting for me! And the fun began!

Thursday, 10/23
Thursday was the anniversary of the 1956 Revolution against the Soviets. It's a very solemn/political holiday, and though there are peaceful gatherings, the holiday also brings out the crazy, radical, often very racist or nationalist groups who demonstrate in major city squares, and occasionally can become violent against tourists. Therefore, Ashley and I decided to "lay low," and took it easy at the mall seeing Pineapple Express. ("Waaaaait...." hahahahaha!) That night, we went out to a pretty well-known Budapest bar called Szimpla, frequented more by expats than locals. While we were there, I got a great idea: call Dani! (Dani was my closest friend here in 2004--wonderful guy. He just moved back to Budapest.) Much to my surprise, he actually showed up!

It was SOOOOO great to see that kid. He took us to another bar or two, and then Ashley and I realized we were too lazy to take a night bus all the way to her place, so Dani let us sleep at his flat. (He lives with his mom, but she was out of town.) It was adorable, especially since Dani lent Ashley his suitcase in the morning.


PART II: PRAGUE
Friday, 10/24:
This was the day we left on our 7 HOUR BUS to Prague. We were super excited, but our bus didn't leave until 4 pm, so we decided in the morning we'd go boot shopping. 'Cause, you know....going to Prague and Vienna...gotta have boots. So we successfully completed this task, and then went off to find our bus. We almost panicked when we got to the bus station (where our tickets said to go) and the lady said, "Oh, it's not here." Then she started going for her Budapest city map. Ummm...was there a DIFFERENT bus station by the same name?!

Luckily, it turns out our bus company is hilarious, so instead of having an actual platform at the depot, they park on street half a block away. Um....OK. We made it onto the bus, with enough time to buy some delicious cheese pastries. Perfect! We were in a fantastic mood at this point, and to celebrate our recent success of having found the bus, we ate our cheese pastries immediately.

The bus was amazing. I wish I could take that bus everywhere. First of all, they give you free coffee. They also show movies (sure, it was "New York Minute" starring the Olsen twins, but still). They also show "Friends" when the movie is over. They give out Czech magazines. And finally, there was Tomas. Tomas was the Czech announcer and steward. He was SO polite, but not only that, he would get up on the speaker and give his speech in Czech, then actually TURN HIS HEAD AROUND (scene change!), and turn back and do the same speech in English. Maybe it's hard to explain in writing why this was so awesome, but trust me...it was.

Anyway. 7 luxurious hours later, we arrived in Prague. We got out off the bus and realized......we had no idea where we were going. I had the address of the hostel, but I didn't know where we were in relation to it, what the currency exchange rate was, nothing. Real smart. So first I went to an ATM and tried to take out 2000 crowns...too much. I started freaking out, wondering how little money I actually had. I texted Jessi (my friend from Chicago who's teaching in Prague) and she invited us out for the evening, but Ashley and I decided maybe we should just go to our hostel and crash out. We took a cab to our hostel (Ashley graciously covering me)...about 3 blocks away. Oh. (By the way, our cabbie was the first of many types I saw in Prague: middle-aged, with a shaved head, totally terrifying-looking...but really, really nice!)

We got to our hostel (which I stayed in in 2004, under a different owner), rang the bell, and another terrifying bald man opened the door and just glared at us. "Well? Can I help you?" he said. "Uh...we're staying here?" we awkwardly answered. "In the hostel? Levir?" he replied. "Yes...." (we figured this was obvious, since there was only ONE hostel in this building, and he owned it...) He led us inside, and Ashley and I exchanged terrified glances...this guy did NOT seem pleased with us. But after just a few minutes, he became really, really friendly as he got us our room. Turns out there were about 50 Hungarian high schoolers staying there, being drunk and loud and making a mess...so he was just a little on edge. His name was Tony (Anton, from Siberia, actually) and he ended up being the nicest guy ever. Oh, Prague!

When we got into our room, Tony told us there was an American guy named Sean staying on the next bed. We took note of this information. Nobody was there at the time because it was Friday night. We decided, fuck it...time for bed. But not long after starting to unpack, the other guys staying in our room came in, including Sean. Ashley said, "Oh yeah, Sean, we've heard so much about you. You're American." He was like, "Uh, yeah, how'd you know?" After casually talking for a while (he's from California, going to med school in Prague, staying in the hostel until his new flat is ready), he noticed Ashley and I had the same sense of humor and kept making the same jokes, which prompted him to ask, "are you guys, like, soul mates or something?" Oh, Sean. And thus he became our oldest and dearest friend in Prague.

Saturday, 10/25:
Our first full day in Prague! As I recall, it started with Ashley and me being served coffee by Tony. He then told us a little about his life. That man is so nice. Then we walked into town to find some food. We walked down the main street into the old town center, and it started coming back to me....Prague is BEAUTIFUL. Seriously. Every single building, every tram that goes by, the city is incredible. We went straight to the touristy area just because hey, ya gotta do that. We had some delicious Greek food for lunch, and made friends with the waiter. He is Macedonian and wants to study in the US. Good luck, kid! Then we spent the day marveling at everything....the Old Town Gate, the church, Wenceslas Square...I got myself in the habit of saying "Fuck you, Prague!" because I'm actually mad at it for being so gorgeous. Ugh. Stupid Prague, thinks it's hot shit.

Prague has become SO Westernized since 1989, and even more so even since I was there 4 years ago. The signs are everywhere: Swarowski, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and other major designers all have super-fancy storefronts along the main shopping streets. They're all in beautifully restored neo-Baroque buildings, with white stone facades and artistic lighting. The Old Town (Stare Mesto) is so miraculously well-preserved, you don't realize at first that you're walking amidst over 1000 years of history. Everything is beautiful; there's really no other way to say it.

Anyway, given the Westernization, Prague has something Budapest does not: Starbucks. (I know, I know...there's a billion things wrong with going to Starbucks ever, let alone in Prague. Spare me...we were homesick.) It was so funny to go in there. It's designed based on the universal model, so everything inside looks exactly the same as it does at home (except the cathedral ceilings, of course). The employees all speak English, and given the store's location (right across from the Astronomical Clock, rad!!), they don't even bother to address you in any language other than English.

We got some drinks and chilled out, and then talked to Jessi. My friend Jen, another coworker from Chicago, lives in Liberec, a town about an hour away, and she had come in for the weekend to hang out. We all agreed to meet in an hour at the Jan Hus statue in the main square. So we walked over after our coffee, and all had an "OMG we used to work at Solex in Chicago, now we're all totally hanging out in Prague!" freakout, Ashley met them, and then we went to get MORE coffee. (Basically, it's the cheapest thing to do, and I always want to be drinking coffee anyway, so it really works out.) We all talked for a while, but Ashley was falling asleep...turns out she hadn't been able to sleep the night before. So we agreed that we'd go our separate ways, and then meet up later to go out on the town.

Back at the hostel, Ashley took a nap, and I hung out with Sean. When she woke up, we convinced Sean to come out with us, and we all walked back to the town center. First, we all went to a pretty fun bar, just inside the old town area, which is underground and has rounded ceilings and exposed brickwork and overall just makes me jealous of all the old ass buildings in Europe. We hung out for a drink, met some of Jessi's other friends, and then began a looong walk...

Jessi and Jen had some friends who lived way out in a different neighborhood, and I guess they always walk everywhere, so we followed them....we had to go to their flat, and then get directions to a neighborhood bar. Well this is where things get interesting: we were going down a particularly steep dark street, and Ashley fell in a "Prague hole" (her words) and sprained her foot. Um....ouch.

Now luckily for us, as I mentioned, we happened to be with Sean, who's a third-year med student in Prague. How convenient is that? So he offered to help her with it the next day. In the meantime, we told Jessi and Jen sorry, but we wanted to go back to the city center, since it was our only Saturday in Prague. Sean led us back, and we went to another bar he knew of. We made a bunch of hilarious friends from around the world, and I spoke Spanish/Hungarian/English with a Hungarian woman who spent the last 8 years in Spain. Um, awesome! Then we left, and Ashley started to realize her foot really hurt. We decided that maybe on Sunday, we should go to a pharmacy and buy her some crutches.

Sunday, 10/26:
I forgot to mention that Jessi told us we could stay in her former apartment for free for the next 2 nights if we wanted, because she still had a week on the lease. We decided to take it, so we talked to Tony, and I'm pretty sure broke his heart by saying we were leaving early...but we took a picture with him and told him he was the nicest guy ever, so hopefully he's ok. We then packed up, and enlisted Sean to help us find some crutches for Ashley. I'll spare the details, but but basically, we ended up checking into the new apartment, where we slept on a futon in the kitchen and the real occupants stayed in the bedroom...and then Sean successfully got Ashley into the Prague ER. As we were waiting for Ashley to be x-rayed, I said, "We LITERALLY could not have made a better friend here." Seriously--MED STUDENT. You can't make this stuff up. Thanks, Sean! Wherever you went....(did we dream him? We got no email!)

So, Ashley got her crutches, and then Sean took us to a delicious Greek place inside a mall nearby, where we forced him to let us pay for lunch. Then we went to a coffee shop and chilled out more (emphasis on NOT walking) and eventually took a cab back to our new futon-home. Sean said he'd call us later when he got more minutes on his phone, but that was the last we saw of him. It was like he was a con artist, except instead of stealing from us, he was just really, really helpful and then disappeared. Weird....

Monday, 10/27:
This was our last full day in Prague. We wanted to do stuff, like maybe take a tour, but we also realized walking would be difficult. Instead, we once again spent most of the day eating delicious food or hanging out in cafes, and then in the evening we went to a puppet performance of "Don Giovanni" (seriously). Then we walked along the Vltava river and admired the castle on the other side, all lit up. It was actually pretty romantic. Then we found a local bar and hung out for a bit, and then went to bed. We had to leave in the morning, so this was pretty much the last we saw of Prague....but we vowed to be back!

Part III: VIENNA

Tuesday, 10/28:
The bus to Vienna was 5 hours. It was the same company, but the stewardess was NOT as friendly as Tom...as if anyone could be! They showed "Madagascar." Ew. We got to Vienna just at dusk, and decided to be daring and just take the Ubahn straight to our hostel without buying tickets....ooooo! (By the way, we were successful....we didn't get busted once the whole time we were there!) Now, the problem here was that Ashley had her crutches, and the hostel is at the top of a hill. Hmm. Basically, we painstakingly made the hike, and Ashley somehow survived. We checked in, and were happy to see that the hostel is pretty cool. There's free internet, free breakfast, nice desk people...and we thought at first we had our room to ourselves, but it turned out our roommates just weren't there yet. Well, whatever. Then Ashley and I went out for dinner, where we had soup, french fries, and coffee. Healthy? We also made friends with our waitress, who it turns out has lived in Oregon and plans to move back. She was cool. That was it for day 1, since we got in kinda late.

Wednesday, 10/29:
So! We were in Vienna! I didn't (and still don't) know much about the city, so we decided to just take the train to random places and walk around. We got some advice from various people on where to go, so we just figured we'd take it easy and find some of the places they mentioned. We had some delicious Chinese food (something I hadn't eaten in 2 months), and then toured around the main streets a bit. Then we remembered we had looked up shows playing at the Wien Operhaus. We had learned that Liszt's ballet, "Mayerling," was playing. We went to the box office and secured tickets for 8 euros apiece! Then we went across the street to the most adorable freaking cafe I've ever seen. I bought some Mozart chocolates to give to my Hungarian teacher, and then we continued on our way.

The waitress from our first night had told us to go to the Heitzing stop on the U4, where there's a zoo. We went up there and had a lovely time walking around, but never actually went in the zoo because it was too expensive. Then we found...you guessed it...! Another cafe! It was in the lobby of an old hotel...we actually felt like we had walked into the 19th century. I loved it.

We decided that, being Ashley and Eliza, having friend-making superpowers, we definitely needed to go out and make friends in Vienna. We took the advice of another stranger and went to a particular street with a lot of bars and clubs. We picked one, but it was packed and we used this as an ice-breaker to share a table with some dudes. They ended up being our new Vienna friends. Their names were Markus and Chris, and umm...they work at a beer company. Markus is also from the same town as Arnold Schwarzenegger. Oh Austria. They were super nice, except Chris was only 18 and really awkward and didn't speak any English. Except he understood when Ashley mentioned Heidi Klum, and smiled sheepishly. (See photo: Me, Markus, Ashley, Chris. As you can see, Chris looks like he has no idea what's going on.)

Our new friends were great. They helped us find the right Ubahn to take home, and convinced us to buy street hot dogs (I've been cheating on vegetarianism big-time). We parted ways when they got off the Ubahn at their stop. Ashley and I were silently enjoying the ride home when a tiny asian-looking man got on and sat next to me. He smiled terrifyingly in my face, and then introduced himself in English. (I don't know how he knew we weren't from there...we weren't talking.) Then he said, "Nice to meet you! Where are you from?" "America." "Guess where I'M from?" "Uh....somewhere east?" "I'll give you a hint...I'm from a country that your country has troops in!" (This continued. Basically, he was from Afghanistan. For the next few minutes, never losing his weird grin, he told us that the US government should leave his country, and that "America will fall." Then he got up, politely said goodbye, and disappeared.

...So. Other than meeting a future terrorist, we had a lovely evening.

Thursday, 10/30:
Our only other full day in Vienna. Sad! We had a great day. First, we took the Ubahn back to the center and found the major shopping area. We may have gone to H&M. Okay, we may have gone to TWO H&Ms, within a few blocks of each other. But you have to understand, we hadn't been shopping in a while! I didn't spend very much money. But it was fun. Then we got some italian food for lunch at an outdoor cafe, and again, just cursed Europe for being so picturesque. We found yet another cafe (that's basically my main reason for being in Europe) and relaxed. We returned home to change into our new clothes (ha), and then went out for dinner. We had some AMAZING indian food...god bless western europe for being so cosmopolitan! Then we returned to the same bar we'd gone the previous night, and made some new friends, Tom and Stefan. They were OK, but they were no Markus and Chris. We headed home kinda early because we wanted to be awake enough to get out of our hostel in time for our bus the next morning. And so ended our time in Vienna!

. . . . . . . .

You may realize that this whole time in Prague and Vienna, we never once took a formal tour. Well, that's just our style...we never actually learned where the hell we were the whole time. I think it was actually a good idea, because as Ashley and I said, we didn't want to feel obligated to do anything during our break--we just wanted to have fun. And that's just what we did! If you actually read all of this, I commend you--it probably isn't that interesting to read unless you were there. But hey--I got all of it down before I forgot, and that's the important thing! And so, I bid you good day.

America vs. Europe: Round I

Hey there. So I don't wanna write a bible like I did last time, so I'll keep this one short. Just wanted to record the great game I invented, that I play in my head. It's called "America vs. Europe." I try to keep track of who's winning, but it's hard. Here are some examples:

America wins:
-sandwiches. this one's easy. since when is butter a sandwich dressing? nice try, europe. you also might wanna cultivate some non-gross lettuce.
-pillows. i wish i could get some foam rubber up in this bitch (by "this bitch" i mean hungary)
-basic organization. the grade books at my school require like, 5 million different entries and signatures. i have no idea how to evaluate my students.....who there are also 5 million of, by the way.
-windows. ....seriously, hungarian windows are weird! they all open like shutters, and on the old buildings, there are 2 sets of windows....they're always blowing open and closed, and there's no screens, so the totally weird, loud hungarian beetles get in the room and then shit just goes crazy.
-sports. i'm sorry, football (soccer)....i'm really sorry. but we have baseball. treated.
-checking accounts. we have them in america. they seem pretty easy...i'm just sayin'.

Europe wins:
-cars. call me crazy, but i think europe might've had the right idea all along by driving conservatively-sized hatchbacks. in a wider variety of colors, no less!
-Fanta. europe knows that oranges are NOT the color of hazard vests! (see photo--->)
-socks. seriously, why DO we wear white socks in america? can i get one good reason?
-booze. stronger, more abundant, and offered at all times of day. i had a shot of whiskey for lunch with two middle-aged women last sunday.
-courtyards. nothing to compare it with in the US, because we don't even HAVE courtyards, because we're too greedy to save space between buildings enclosed behind fences to be used to house adorable outdoor restaurants, flower gardens, and pedestrian space!
-language learning. most of my students have already passed various levels of english and german exams, and won't stop until they're accepted into bilingual schools in western europe. meanwhile, i struggled awkwardly through 2 years of spanish (where we rarely actually conversed in spanish), and then gave up. and no one stopped me, because they all gave up too.

More to come, folks. I'm collecting oodles of valuable cultural research over here!

Palinka Works Its Magic Once Again

Well I should be planning lessons right now, but I took some notes when I was in a cafe earlier today (I figure I should gay it up while I'm in Europe, and sit in cafe windows sipping cappuccinos romantically) so I don't have that much left to do.

Basically, yesterday was 100% hilarious. First, in the middle of the day, I met with my new Hungarian teacher at her house. She's the mother of one of my 9th grade boys, Zoli, whose English is really good, but he's a total spaz....anyway, so they met me on the corner by my building, and walked me back to their house, which is really close. First she and I met in her "classroom" (she's a private English teacher, so she has a classroom in her house, adorable!), and we discussed Hungarian business for a while. She also told me she won't let me pay her! I told her I'm gonna leave gifts around her house secretly.

Anyway, after the lesson, she took me into the main part of the house to meet her husband. (Their house is super nice....I guess teaching English really brings in the forints!) Then Zoli brought their little weiner dog in, and I nicknamed it "Virsli" (hot dog), which they all thought was hilarious, apparently. And then.....they busted out the homemade palinka. Oh lord. Zoltan, the husband, poured me a shot....and then they all watched eagerly as I picked up the glass. "Isn't anyone else doing one?!" I asked. "Well, I don't drink, Zoli's too young, and Zoltan is about to drive to work," was Nori's answer. "Well....Egeszseg....em.....re," I said awkwardly ("Here's to MY health"), and did the shot. It was really good, and strong. Then we talked a bit more, and I looked over at the glass, and...it was full again! I said, "Wait a minute, do I have to drink another one?!?" And Zoltan told me that it was a magic glass that refilled itself. So, I did the second one.

Luckily, Zoltan had to go to work and this was my cue to leave as well....I say "luckily" because as I walked home, the 2 shots hit me, and I realized I was pretty damn drunk for 3:30 pm. I decided that since I was drunk already, THIS would finally be the night that I went out and made friends! I went home and made myself a snack, and then headed to the town center to get a beer. I drank a huge beer by myself at the blue restaurant, the place I always go. I kinda hoped people would be like, "who's that obviously awesome girl drinking by herself? Let's go be her friend!" Not surprisingly, that never happened. And I also realized the place was full of old guys playing chess.

I paid and left, and decided to finally check out the bar that is RIGHT next to my building. I hadn't been there yet because, as previously posted, Agi had mentioned it was kinda seedy. Turns out "seedy" by Agi's standards equals "perrrrfect" by mine. I walked in, and some kind of alarm was going off. Seriously...I dunno if it was the fire alarm, or a security alarm or what, but I just sat down and listened to it. It was pretty deafening. Then I watched four guys poke a box on the ceiling with sticks. They finally got it to turn off. Everyone, including me, said "Eyyyyyy!" to this victory, and it seemed like a good point to make a friend, so I somehow struck up a conversation with the dude next to me. I was really happy to see that everyone in the place seemed to be about my age. I asked this guy how old he was, and I was right: exactly 25! His name's Tibi, and we proceeded to converse with the help of my notebook. He bought me another beer, and it must have taken effect quickly, because at one point I got really excited explaining what a home run is, and knocked over my stool. Whoops. He didn't even seem to care, so that was cool, I guess. Then he and his friend invited me to go with them to a different bar, the "Bahnhoff Bar," which, you guessed it, is right next to the train station. I agreed, and we walked over.

Ummmm yeah, another success! This bar is AMAZING! First of all, it caters to the disco-loving crowd, and they had a DJ....but it was no ordinary DJ. The guy playing the music was like 45, but the star was a girl about my age, who was singing the songs live. WHY would you need a Hungarian girl to do a pretty crappy job of singing ABBA songs when you could just play the CD? Let's not ask stupid questions. It's Hungary. Hungary does whatever the fuck it wants.

OK, so we've got hilariously bad music, we've got my new friends buying me MORE beers (I didn't pay for any drinks in their company the whole night)....and what naturally follows is me doing what I always do in these situations: try to start a dance party. This venture was somewhat successful, since all these Hungarian bros wanted to dance anyway, but there was this ONE dude in the corner of the booth we were in (whose name is Istvan, as I learned) who looked like he was having......nooooo fuuuuuun. So I, in Hungarian, was like (this is a rough translation): "Yo, what's your problem, son?" His answer (translation): "This music BLOOOWS!" I tried my best to explain that he was definitely right about that, but let's just deal with it and party on. He wasn't having any of that, so instead, this was the point where I found a way to take embarrassing pictures with everyone, including a somewhat surly Istvan. It's too bad I annoyed the crap out of him; I would've liked him to be my friend. Ha...oh well.

This was basically the extent of my evening, if you throw in some dancing and twirling to bad Hungarian disco (which also exists). I woke up SOOOOO hung over this morning and decided to do what I normally do when I'm hung over, which is to check my cell phone and see when the last text I sent was, to determine roughly what time I came home. The last text I had sent was to Istvan, across the table. It read: "YOU SUCK!!"

Thank you, Hungary! I'll be here all year, folks!

My Introduction to Koszeg!

I left off last time talking about my first week. Basically, I had orientation, made lots of new friends, went out and got drunk a couple times, of course.....had a good time. Our last day in BP was Thursday, the 28th, when we got picked up at various times from the hostel by our contacts from our new schools! We were all a little nervous, I think. We all sat in the lobby of the hostel, eating the last of our breakfast rolls and drinking vending machine coffee. I watch as my friends disappeared one by one, and definitely felt a little worried about what my town would be like, if the contact people would be scary, etc....

Soon, Hajni called my name--my contact was there! I was really happy to see that she was fairly young. We introduced ourselves--her name is Agi. I said goodbye to my remaining friends and got into one of the ubiquitous white minivans that all schools rent when they need a vehicle.

Agi and I rode in the back seat together, and I started asking her all kinds of questions about Koszeg. She was really friendly, but I'm sure I kind of annoyed her by talking so much. I think she kind of hoped I'd fall asleep, but that seemed super awkward to me....waiting to be asleep, wondering if I should talk or not...so I stayed awake, even though I was pretty tired. The drive was really beautiful. My town, Koszeg (there should be a long umlaut over the "o" but I don't have the button for it) is right on the western border of Hungary, about 10 minutes by car from Austria. The closest medium-sized city is Szombathely, about 15 minutes southeast. The terain between BP and the west looks surprisingly like Wisconsin: rolling green hills, the occasional tree, and lots of corn. And something I don't see frequently at home--sunflowers! Lots and lots of sunflowers, in huge fields. Really beautiful.

So finally, after much conversation with Agi, we came over the last little hill and saw the foothills of the mountains (the hinterland of Koszeg) on the horizon. In just a few minutes, we were rolling into my new town! Agi pointed out the main streets as we drove in, but I was too bewildered to remember anything. I DO remember noting to Agi that seeing this small town, with its colorful facades, large wooden doorways, and shared courtyards, reminded me of of San Miguel (Janna's town) in Mexico. I think it has less to do with Mexico, and more to do with the European style of town-building...but it is comforting that some details are consistent on both sides of the Atlantic.

We went past some residential streets lined with pretty pine and birch trees, and then turned onto a street with mostly larger flats. Agi pointed out the post office and a grocery store. We pulled into a small strip mall parking lot next to a big yellow building: my new home! Agi and the driver (a really nice middle-aged man, I forget his name, but I thanked him profusely) helped me carry my bags up three flights of stairs. So far, the building appeared standard: Glass front doors, kind of plain stone stairs, and....wait a minute: my door was made out of some kind of padding! I'll post a picture later...my door looks like an old rich guy's chair. It's made of black pleather, and it's bolted down in a quilt pattern. Baaaasically, it looks like I live in a mental institution. Oh, how I've come to love my door.....anyway, after Agi struggled with the keys, and then got help from one of my neighbors, we got inside! I was VERY happy to see that the apartment was exactly what I would need. When you come in, you step into a little hallway lined with closet cabinets. The kitchen is on the right, and it's narrow, but it has a table and 2 chairs. The toilet room and bathroom are opposite each other a little down the hallway, and then you step into the living room. My bedroom is off to the right, and on the other side of the living room, to the south, is my balcony! How exciting! I immediately envisioned myself drinking whatever the Hungarian version of a lonely Sparks out there. The living room is pretty damn big, and I have a big set of cabinets and shelves (obviously from IKEA), and a TV! The kitchen and living room are both decorated really adorably, with some decorative vases and tablecloths. I have 2 beds in my bedroom, and the living room couch pulls out. Sooo....who's coming over? Bed party!

After we got inside, Agi let me know there would be a teacher's meeting at my new school the next morning (Friday) at 9 AM. She said she'd call me in advance and meet me outside to walk over. And with that, she and the driver left me to unpack. After I closed my door behind them, the realization hit me: I was completely alone. Well! no time like the present to unpack a bit, I thought. So I did, and then I realized I was EXHAUSTED. So I chose my preference of the two beds, dressed it up in the adorable linens provided, and crashed the fuuuuuck out. It was niiiice!

I woke up in the evening, and bravely decided to take a walk into town, since I realized I was super hungry and had no food in my adorably tiny fridge. I ventured out, and walked down my street, headed north. I remember taking careful note of landmarks because I didn't want to get lost (turns out this would NOT be a problem....this is truly a small town.) I didn't really know where I was going, but I had seen a church steeple out my window to the north, and this being Europe, usually church = downtown. Luckily I was right...the church goes by the nickname "The Big Church" and is the crown jewel of the town square. I was delighted to discover immediately that my town is BEAUUUUTIFUL! The main square is pretty big for a small town, and there are tons of outdoor cafes lining the edges. There are about 3 banks (all major chains), a bakery, 2 hotels, some clothing stores, a pharmacy, a gyros stand....pretty much everything you would need. Since we're so close to Austria, this town is a weekend tourist spot for Austrians, which explains the many, many cafes and other amenities. And all the menus are in Hungarian, English, and German. Hey, no problem here!

After circling the main square and its neighboring streets, I settled on dining at Ciao Amico, a pizza place/bar. I ordered a cheese pizza and it was delish! This town is pretty good at pizza, as I've learned. It's very convenient that everyone likes pizza. Although, again, this being Europe, they put freaky shit like corn and cauliflower on it sometimes. Awww nasty. When I was ordering my food, I recall having to climb up on a kind of tall stool to sit and read the menu. After I ordered I decided to move outside, and I stumbled down very awkwardly, with the waiters obviously seeing the whole thing. Everybody who works there is like 17, so I remember thinking, "Please...don't...end up...being...my students!"

After dinner, I successfully made it back to my flat, and relaxed for the rest of the evening. So that was my first day! So far, so good. The next morning, I woke up early and showered, discovering the fun experience of showering with no shower curtain. Let's just say good thing I had some extra towels. Then I went down to meet Agi, and she was right on schedule. We walked off to my new school (turns out I had almost walked myself there by accident the night before!), which is down that main street, left a bit (rather than right, to the downtown), and then you go down a long alley next to a cemetery. At the end of the alley, you turn left and cross the street, and there it is: Jurisich Miklos Gimnazium!

My first thought was "I am luuuuuuckyyyy!" It was immediately evident that the school has money. I mean, it's no Francis Parker, but it's a beautiful old building, and very well-maintained. It follows typical Hungarian school architecture of being "W" shaped, with a flat facade and the three wings going backwards. We walked into the lobby, which has a beautiful stone staircase leading up to the other 2 floors. Second floor, left, end of the hall: "Tanari Szoba!" (Teachers' Room!) I followed Agi in, and....wow! Everyone was really, really nice to me. I said a lot of my stock phrases in Hungarian, like "Orulok, hogy megismertem!" (Nice to meet you!), "Koszonom szepen a segitseget!" (Thank you for your help!), etc. I sat where Agi told me to sit, stood up when she told me to stand, and said a few words about myself in English, which Agi translated. I think it went something like this: "My name is Eliza Plous, I'm from Chicago, I love Chicago baseball, and I'm a vegetarian in Chicago, but not here!" When she translated that part, everybody laughed. (It's true: it's really rough to be a vegetarian here, at least when dining out. I HAVE kept it up at home, though!)

I had a chance to look around the teachers' room while the igazgatono (literally, "Mrs. Director," aka the principal) was making some announcements in Hungarian. The room is decently sized, with rows of desks for each of the teachers. Like all Hungarian schools, the outer wall is lined with HUGE tall windows, with long curtains. There's a lot of natural light. The landscape out the window is really picturesque: I hadn't noticed it, but the walk to school took us slightly uphill. When you look outside, you see rolling hills becoming mountains, with little houses and churches tucked amongst them, in the distance. Back in the room, there are cabinets on either end, which teachers use as "lockers," filled with stacks of books and extra packets of instant coffee. A very comfortable room, I thought. After the principal's speech was finished, the other English-speaking teachers started introducing themselves to me and welcoming me. I was finally starting to relax and feel ready to start teaching--and not only that, the room made me feel like a REAL "faculty member!" Cool! (However, all the teachers' names went in one ear and out the other, which would become a pretty amusing problem for me in the coming weeks, as I came up with creative ways of learning their names without offending them!)

After the announcements, Agi sent me out on a break for an hour, but told me to come back at 11 for a meeting with the cleaning staff of the school so I could be introduced again. I went out and got a cappuccino, and drank it at a picnic table in the main square. An older woman asked if she could sit with me, "Elnezest, es szabad?" And I said yes. Before I knew it, I was saying, "Bocsanat, csak egy kicsit beszelek magyarul!" (I'm sorry, I only speak a little Hungarian!) and she was helping me think of words, and showing me pictures of her grown son, who lives in Canada. It was so nice! It really boosted my confidence and made me feel like, wow....I'm gonna be OK here! So then I headed back to the meeting, where I only had to stay for about 5 minutes....the principal introduced me in Hungarian, and then said something else and everybody laughed. I asked Agi what she said, and she told me that the principal warned everyone that I'm NOT a student, I'm a teacher. Damn my youthful good looks.

After that, Agi sent me home to enjoy my weekend and get ready for Monday. She also let me know that the school had its commencement ceremony Sunday evening, and I was expected to be there. So, off I went, back down Velemi ut to my "flat," to chill out and enjoy my last 2 days of unemployment! And that, my friends, was my first visit to JMG.

Well THAT took forever...

FINALLY!!!!

...I finally have the internet in my apartment (or, should I say, "flat"). There's only one guy in town here who installs wireless internet, so he's kind of a hot commodity. Hence the month of no blogs. ANYWAY...now that we're in business, it's time to write about my first month! I'm gonna break this up, of course. I'll start with my arrival and orientation, and then write about my town and school later. And away we go....

So! If I think back all the way to August 21st, it seems like both a long time ago, and like it FLEW by, somehow at the same time. Man, was I freaking out when I left. It was a rough couple of days: $120 expired city sticker ticket, $170 doctor visit because I apparently had typhoid (what?!?), a flat tire at 2:00 AM on my birthday....I was lucky I made it out of the country before having a heart attack. My flight from Chicago to Dublin was fine. I had an empty seat next to me, which meant 2 pillows and 2 blankets. Nice. I made friends with an old Irish woman waiting to use the bathroom. She had just toured the USA with her friends. She helped me find my gate when we got into Dublin.

At the Dublin airport I was too exhausted and bewildered to venture out into the city during my 7-hour layover, so instead, I had a bloody mary for breakfast and did some reading. I also made friends with a Nigerian woman who now lives in Dublin, who told me she thinks Obama's gonna be assassinated. She said some other really weird stuff too, but I can't remember what. Then, on my connecting flight to Hungary, an old woman asked me the time in Hungarian, and I tried (very poorly) to respond. And thus began my reacquaintence with Hungary!

When I touched down, I was completely out of touch with reality. I had NO idea what time it felt like, I was disgusting and in need of a shower, and I just wanted to be in a bed. While I was waiting for my luggage, I noticed two people who were VERY Hungarian looking: one was a super-hot chick with blond hair that went past her ass (and I'm 99% sure was a porn star), and the other was a scrawny, unhappy-looking middle aged man with an absurdly large mustache. He made me laugh to myself and I actually had to turn the other way so he wouldn't see me. Ha.

Once I had my bags, I went through the gate, and.....there was Hajni, smiling and waving! (Hajni was basically a mother to me when I studied in Budapest 4 years ago. She runs my teaching program too.) I was SO happy to see her! She hugged me hello, and helped me collect all my bags. Then we went to meet Mary, the American woman who oversees the introduction, and to collect the last teacher to arrive. His name is Rob, and he's from Montana/Wisconsin. He and I were then stuffed into a cab and sent to the hostel. We made friends in the cab and shared our ridiculous tales of getting into the country alive.

It was so weird in the cab to look out the window and see neo-baroque buildings and signs in Hungarian....it felt like a dream. I remember the drive to and from the airport from 4 years ago, but....my mind wasn't ready to comprehend that I was really here again. It got even weirder when we got to the hostel, because it's down the street from the Collegium, where I used to live. Rob and I were greeted by Emily (from Beloit!), who's been here for almost 4 years now, and the other teachers. I went upstairs and met my suitemates for the week: Ashley (from Florida), Hanna (from Colorado), and Franny....from Chicago!! (Well...and Aurora. But that's ok. I guess.)

We all spent some time getting to know each other (all four of us ended up being really good friends...we've been talking regularly and meeting up), and someone came into our room and mentioned going out for the evening. We had all been contemplating going to sleep, but we decided....what's a few more hours? Fuck it, we're in Hungary! So we all went out, led by a couple of returning teachers, to a hilarious place called Zoldpardon. It's basically an outdoor beer garden/carnival. The weirdest thing was, it was one of the last places I hung out before I left....Dani took me here. Totally surreal. I ordered a couple beers in Hungarian and didn't even realize til later how bizarre it was that I was using Hungarian and spending forints instead of dollars.

We somehow made it back later, and I slept better than I had in at least a week. I woke up, and we had breakfast in the hostel: bread, cheese, eggs, and.....some weird yellow juice that franny aptly decided to call "YJ." The other girls then went out on the town, and I immediately went back to sleep. When I woke up, I discovered a fun fact: I was locked into my room! (Turns out the key locks the inside, too!) Well, the girls weren't gone too much longer, so it gave me a chance to catch up on some pacing. That evening, we were taken out to dinner, where I cheated on vegetarianism and had the stuffed cabbage....I felt dirty, but it was sooooo goooood. Ashley, Hanna, Franny and I all sat together in the corner of the outdoor cafe and got to know each other better. It was fun!

The next morning (and the rest of the week), we all woke up, had breakfast, and then headed down the street for our orientation. It was led by Mary, Hajni, and....Maria, my Hungarian teacher from 2004! Seriously, it was like an all-star cast of my study abroad. And it took place in the Collegium, in the same room where we had class! Too weird. Anyway, we mostly received teaching tips and some introductory Hungarian, and I had a good time. We were allowed a lunch break each day, so we all ventured down to Moricz Zsigmond Korter and ate falafel (holy crap, SO GOOD still!), drank cappuccinos, and one day, I took Franny and Rob to a restaurant I remembered from last time, with the most amazing cream of onion soup in a bread bowl. OMG I want it now. Basically, good times! I think we really got lucky with the group of teachers. There are about 20 of us, from all around the US, and everyone is pretty cool.

At the end of the week (Wednesday, the 27th), we got taken out for a farewell dinner to the Owl's Castle restaurant in BP near Heroe's Square (very fancy area). We had a lovely dinner and then there was a weird high school jazz band having a concert in the area behind the restaurant patio, so we all ended up sneaking into the area behind the stage and dancing to everything from the Mexican Hat Dance to Bomboleo (they seemed to favor Latin music...). It was hilarious! One thing I was reminded of during my first week was that Hungary makes no sense. Their concept of pop culture is completely skewed, since they get so much of it from the US or elsewhere, so lots of things, especially music, TV, and clothes, are just........ridiculous. More on that later; I have plenty of examples.

In fact, I think I need to end this here today. There's a harvest festival in my town this weekend, and I hear a marching band going by outside. I think I'll check that out.

More to come! Miss yaaaaaallz!

Checklist

Ay caramba, the day is approaching! I'm allowing myself to be fooled into thinking I have much more time in Chicago than I actually do. My family and I leave for Michigan on Saturday, and we're there for 2 weeks. When I come back on the 16th, I only have 5 days until I leave! But since I have that 2 weeks in Michigan, my mind is somehow not understanding that in reality, I have about 8 days left in Chicago. Jesus christ.....8 days.

There's a ton of stuff I still have to do before I leave. Maybe if I write everything down I'll remember....

Checklist to self:
-Change ComEd and Peoples Gas accounts to Bob's name.
-Cancel YMCA membership.
-Get free manicure from former student (she gave me a thank-you note with a gift card!)
-Visit Chicago Teacher, Inc. to buy lame teacher supplies.
-Practice Hungarian in car, in Michigan, in sleep, etc.
-Finish ripping CDs onto laptop.
-Test negative for AIDS.
-Get Skype.
-Buy "professional" clothes so I don't look like an American bum.
-Fake pack, so I don't freak out when I pack for real.

I know that 2 weeks in Michigan is gonna be reeeeaaaal good for me. I've been just a tad stressed out here. It'll be nice to have no excuse not to relax. But when I get back, DAMN, I'm gonna be in a panic!

Ok, time to cut down that list up there. See ya.

We're In Business

Well well well. This makes it official: I know I'm definitely going to Hungary in a month and a half, because I signed up for a fancy new blog. (Is it fancy? I dunno, it was free....looks fancy to me, though. Blogs have come a long way since the early 2000s!)

So, here's the deal: I leave August 21 for Budapest, will be there for a week, and thenceforth will live in Koszeg. It's right next to the Austrian border, which means Vienna should be pretty easy to visit, that is if I can find a reliable mode of transportation. I don't think Koszeg is on a railroad. In retrospect, I probably should've checked that detail in advance.

On to my job: I will be teaching conversational English to high schoolers. Will it suck? Will it be amazing? I have no idea!! One thing that makes me feel a little better about the terrifying job of teaching to high schoolers is that I've basically done it already. I currently teach English at a private school only for adults, which you'd think--you'd REALLY think--would mean they're more mature...but have you guys MET Poland? Any Pole under 40 is basically fifteen. They make up hilarious reasons for missing class, they text each other from across the room, and they cheat on tests...RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! So, all things considered, I might be kind of well-prepared to teach a bunch of teens. Only time will tell!

Anyway, these are the basics. I don't leave for another 7 weeks, so in the meantime, my agenda includes a lot of watching Cubs games, eating Mexican food, hanging out with actual Mexicans, drinking drinks with lots of ice, enjoying this fine city of Chicago, and getting my fill of torrent downloads while I can. Wow, I don't think I've ever summed up my love for this country in more accurate terms!