The Pursuit of the Overhead Compass!

When I left South Caldwell last year and packed up all my favorite teaching supplies, I was graciously given two things...packs of Vis-a-vis overhead markers (they don't sell them here) and an overhead compass. To be honest, I was most thrilled about the markers, especially the purple ones, and when I showed the bag to the other math teachers here, there were some pretty happy people.

The overhead compass (to my surprise) has been unbelievably handy! The Geometry curriculum here is filled with constructions and investigations, so I use it almost every day. Today, though, I realized how truly wonderful a gift it was. The middle school teacher came to my room and said.."Do you happen to have an overhead compass?" To which I replied, "Sure, you're welcome to borrow it!" Then, this morning, I was practically chased through the building by the 5th grade teacher who had heard of my handy tool. He said that he had been trying to purchase one for years, and that he really wanted his kids to be able to see one.

How strange, isn't it, that an overhead compass would be such an exciting thing! And yet, I am thankful!

Thanksgiving!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope you all had wonderful weekends full of celebration and thankfulness. I know mine was sure special. Several of the other new teachers and I were invited over to a Thanksgiving feast at the home of another teacher at ICSB. There were three missionary families there, along with about 10 other adults. We had a great time, and it almost felt like we were in the States. My biggest triumph was the green bean casserole! (I had to fry the onions myself, since Hungary doesn't stock French's Fried Onions!) We even had deviled eggs and sweet potato casserole, and turkey. On an interesting note, our turkey was really fresh...killed only a week ago! (There's not such a rush on turkeys here, ya know!) Anyways, pictures to come soon of the green bean casserole...it was pretty impressive!

Oh wow, I totally forgot....

On our weekend off for the 56 Revolution anniversary, several of us took a trip to Salzburg (home of The Sound of Music). We had a great time, and here are some fun pics from the journey!

Pics from the Orphanage

As promised in the post below, here are some pics from the orphanage trip!

A Return to Blogger

Hello everyone! Wow it has been an incredibly long time since I posted here. I could think of a million and one excuses, but basically, I have been busy...really busy. So, here are some highlights of the past month!

1. A couple of weeks ago I had a quite the day! I went with another new teacher and some children she was babysitting to Budapest's circus. The best part? It's a toss up between the trained weiner dogs and the horse and elephant act.

   

   After that, we went to the final game of the fall season for the Budapest Wolves... What are the Budapest Wolves, you might ask? Well, they are the best American football team in Hungary. By best, I mean it was similar to watching high school football.
   
   (It was lots of fun, and with the leaves changing, I almost felt like I was at home.)
2. October 23rd was 5oth anniversary of the 1956 uprising against Russian communism. It was a day full of sadness and remembrance. It's hard for me to imagine what it must be like to have gone through such a dark time. One Sunday afternoon, several of us went to see the new monument and watched a video with some historical footage. This is a picture of the monument.
3. The biggest highlight of the past several months for me has been my trip to a Hungarian orphanage. One Saturday I had the opportunity to chaperone the high school trip to a boarding school for orphans and other underpriviledged children with disabilities about an hour outside of Budapest. We spent the day painting fingernails, playing soccer (not me, the kids), doing arts and crafts, and telling Bible stories. It was obvious that the children were starved for love and attention, and it was a huge blessing to watch my students love and minister to the children. The pics don't seem to be posting, so I'll try to do them in a different post!
4. My birthday was last weekend! Woohoo! In honor of the special event and the birthdays of several others, we went downtown to the only Mexican American restaurant in Budapest, Iguanas. I ordered a taco salad, the first one I've had in a tortilla shell in three months. I cannot describe to you how good it tasted. Yippeee for birthdays!