Magyar Mayhem: The River Körös Runs Through It (Oct. 2006)

Ever wonder why we answer the phone with "Hello" in the States? According to one of the program participants/teachers, it is because the telephone is a Hungarian invention. True, Alexander Graham Bell toyed with it and introduced it to the masses, but it was a Hungarian that first put it together. In Hungarian (Magyar), "hallo" means "can you hear me". I tried to look this up online to learn more but wasn't able to find anything.

So, I'm almost through my second week of teaching. Most of the classes assigned to me I have co-taught with one of the two other English teachers. There are good days and bad days but things seem to be going pretty well so far. I am teaching Grades 5 - 8. The two fifth grade classes are total sweethearts. They are adorable! I love them! The three Sixth grade classes are really hard to manage when I'm alone (I have stories!) and the same goes for the 7th grade classes. At those times it is madyar mayhem but hopefully it will get better. The 8th graders seem to be ok so far. When I walk down the halls the kids are really sweet and say: Hello Miss Young!, Good Morning Miss Young!, Hi Miss Young! etc. There is a word here, czia (pronounced see-ya), which is the equivalent to ciao in Italian; an informal way of saying hi and bye. Some of the kids think "hello" in English is the same as czia so at the end of class or when they are leaving school they'll say "Hello Miss Young!"

Some of the popular names here are Norbert, Béla, Bence, Attila, Ferenc, etc.

Last weekend I met up with Laura, Jenna, and Sara in a town up in the Northern Uplands, Hernádnémeti. I am in the Southeastern part of the country near the Romanian and Serbian borders. I got there around 9 p.m. (it took 4.5 hours by bus to get from Szarvas to the hub of Miskolc and then another 45 minutes to get to Hernádnémeti) and it was sooo much fun; a good old-fashioned slumber party and we were talking nonstop as a result of not really being able to converse during the week. On Saturday we went to the Aggtelek caves in the tiny village of Aggtelek way up north on the Slovakian border. Just getting their involved a train to the hub of Miskolc, then a train to Aggtelek, and then a bus to the top of the mountain where the caves take up roughly 12 kilometers. We had an amazing one hour tour of the caves where actual cavepeople once lived and at times we were on the Slovakian side! A huge concert hall was carved out at some point in time, which is where they presented a spectacular light show - very Phantom of the Opera. All kinds of events are held their year-round in this underground cave concert hall. It looked like they were preparing for some sort of wedding when we were there. Then we got a bus back down the mountain to the train station, hopped on a train to Miskolc, and then splurged on a taxi back to Hernádnémeti.

The Habitat for Humanity group arrived a few days ago and yesterday I met them. There are three Americans (S.F., Portland, and Annapolis) and ten Canadians (all from Toronto, Victoria, and Vancouver). The Szarvas Habitat spokesperson met with me beforehand to tell me the current group's itinerary and then invited me to a ceremony they were having at the worksite. The Szarvas Mayor was there as well as the four families the house is being built for. Then we had dinner - they're a fun bunch. It looks like I will be helping out in the office and with upcoming groups (one from the States is arriving next month) -- I jumped at the the chance since I have a lot of free time here. And the best part: at the worksite there's this handsome and totally playful gaurd dog. He looks like some sort of big lab mix and is probably a good 130 pounds and I hope to be able to take him for some walks and runs in the woods here.

So far, the hardest part of this whole thing has been adjusting to life in a foreign small town and not knowing the language - very stressful and at times I feel like a mute or a mime. From talking to the others, it sounds like I've been having more of a hard time than the majority. For a while there I would just tune out the language but now I am really trying to learn something. In addition, things were weird in the beginning with the whole Lutheran connection that exists since I am living on church property and teaching at a Lutheran school. My next door neighbor and contact person, The Pastor, was expecting me to go to these daily prayers in the school cafeteria and I was like, "But I'm not Lutheran". This was after he told me to come to the church on one of the first days here for what I presumed was the opening school ceremony, but instead it was simply a service. Anyway, I've definitely gotten a bit of a bad vibe from the pastor since the whole "I'm not Lutheran thing" - but my program confirmed the obvious. Anyway, I'm really glad I'm here, it is certainly a challenge -- but after all I asked for a change and got one!

I haven't gotten a visa yet but the program did take a few people to Bratislava a few days ago. Hopefully they will call me soon! No one seems to know why we get Slovakian visas but a lot of things here don't seem to follow an order.

More about the town of Szarvas: the river Körös runs through it and there is also a small lake and a lot of woods. I usually walk through the woods in the afternoons, either attempting to go for a jog or while I'm attempting to read a book, or while I'm on the phone. The program gave us mobiles, so my number here is (36)30-372-4735.

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!