Hello from the Land of Paprika, 8/24/06 - 9/02/06

Hello! I arrived in Budapest on Thursday, August 24th to begin Orientation for the Central European Teaching Program (www.ticon.net/~cetp/). Right away I met some fantastic people. They had a welcome dinner for us on the 25th at a nice restaurant on the Danube and then we had four intense days of class on the following three topics: Teaching Methods, Hungarian Language, and Cultural Differences. The latter was extremely interesting. You don't hear much about Hungary but the country has gone through a LOT! The language is really difficult - it is Finno-Ugric in origin and not related to any Indo-European languages; instead it comes from a Mongolian tribe and there is a bit of Turkish in there as well! I've been spoiled with Germanic languages so Hungarian seems impossible at times.

There are about 30 teachers in this year's program and we are all American except for a British girl who was my roommate in the hostel. Half are in the 20s. The majority of us are here because we wanted to get experience teaching in Europe but were not able to get a work permit or visa in any other country but Hungary. So, they were a fun group and we had a lot of laughs and then on Wednesday the 30th we all had to leave for our respective teaching placements. Sad! I am working at a Lutheran school and living in an inefficiency next door to the pastor for the Lutheran Church, who is also the sponsor for the School, so he has been my contact person and was the one who had to come get me and bring me here to Szarvas. He spent a year and a half in Chicago and wants me to help him with his English and teach his 4 year-old son English. I haven't been approached about any tutoring opportunities yet but I have only been here for 24 hours and as usual expect everything to happen overnight! (Tidbit: A program participant (herafter referred to as a Teacher) was attempting to describe everyone in the program to a returning teacher using just one word, and mine was URGENCY. How true, woops!)

Szarvas is a little town of 18,000 people ( www.szarvas.hu) and is described in The Rough Guide to Hungary as a "pretty green town" - and how it is! It is very green, but also very small. There is a well-known arboretum here as a well as a Canoe and Kayak Club. I haven't had a chance to see either but plan on doing so tomorrow. Apparently some Americans will be coming here next week for a Habitat for Humanity project. Nobody speaks English here. This morning I was taken to the school, Benka Gyula Lutheran Primary school to meet some of the teachers and to get some paperwork done, but in the afternoon I was on my own to do whatever. About the efficiency -it is a cute little flat with an exta twin bed and a little yard (shared). It's missing furnishings at the moment but otherwise it is clean and cozy. So who's visiting? Next door is a dog called a Puli. The Puli breed is Hungarian -- they are the black dogs with the dread locks. Everyone has them here but they are rare in the States. Actually whenever you see a picture of Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale walking around (oh how I am missing Us Weekly right now!), they usually have their two Pulis with them.

I begin teaching on Monday and it looks like I won't have the chance to observe any classes before school starts. I was told I was teaching Elementary and brought along children's books and cool crayons and colored pencils and stickers -- but now I'm told I am teaching middle school! So. I believe I have to go to Bratislava, Slovakia next week with a few other people to get the visa-work permit. Additionally, I have to leave the country after three months. Luckily Romania is about an hour away. We don't get paid until October 1st so things are tight!