Kitchen Adventures at Christmastime

I love making goodies during the holidays - coconut bonbons, peanut butter balls, fudge, orange balls, peppermint bark.....yum! When I lived in the US I made them all, but now that I live overseas I seem to be able to tackle only one tasty treat a year.

So, this year I chose orange coconut balls - and here's my story. Coconut orange balls call for chopped nuts, but I don't have a nut chopper. At the grocery I found walnuts, but no chopper. Not to worry: I discovered a nut grinder on the kitchen aisle. Here's a picture of my new nut grinder. It's a beauty. You put the nuts in the top and turn the handle.......
And here's a nice little picture of the inside. Tada.Next comes Nilla Wafers. They don't sell those here, but they do sell similar types of cookies. I crushed them in the nut grinder to make sure I got my money's worth out of that contraption.

The recipe also calls for condensed orange juice. For the first batch I used regular OJ, but the finished product didn't turn out very orangey. They don't sell condensed juice here, so on try #2 I boiled the OJ a little so that some of the water would evaporate. It wasn't completely successful, but better.
And here's the finished product - a gift for my student teacher. Disclaimer: After buying the nut grinder I discovered ground nuts at the grocery store. Woops!

Where did I put my electric rollers?

I got a haircut today, and I must say, it is delightful. (Or at least I think it will be once I get to style it for myself.) I took a few pics to share with you because the "do" I got today reminds me of being in high school again.

The hairstylists here in Hungary have redefined blow-drying for me. To them, it is an art like I have never seen. I think it takes them twice as long to style my hair than it does to shampoo and cut it, but boy does it look sleek and shiny when I leave.

Today was a little different, though. The girl who cut my hair asked if I wanted "blow-dry, curly, or straight". When I said I didn't care, she said, "Ok, a little curly." I wasn't too sure what that meant, so I thought I'd let you know.

It means....

She got two round metal brushes and used them like hot rollers, taking pieces of my hair and rolling it around them until my hair cooled in curls. For a while I had so much metal in my head I thought I was going to pick up a radio signal.

The result? Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. And I thought this look was only cool in the 10th grade. I took a few pics in the bathroom so you could see :) I'm not great at self-portraits, so be gracious.

Thanksgiving

Last year for Thanksgiving I visited Krakow, Poland with some friends. I loved the city, the architecture, and especially their Christmas market. Auschwitz, the infamous concentration camp used by the Nazis during WWII, is only an hour or so from Krakow, and that's where we spent our Thanksgiving day. We feasted on potato pancakes for lunch, but mostly I just remember a monumental feeling of sadness and loss. I can't say that I wasn't thankful for God's blessings in my life after that experience, but I can say that I was ready for a turkey and all the fixin's this time around!

My roommate Kim and I were invited to join several other families for a Thanksgiving celebration and we had a blast. We played games, shared memories of previous holidays, and ate a whole lot of good food.

My friend Deb bought the turkey - 16 kilos - at a little store in her neighborhood, and it was so big it barely fit in the oven. (I think it actually did break some glass on the way in!) We had green bean casserole, cheesy mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, cranberries, rolls, cider, salads, and more pies than you can shake a turkey leg at!

The picture below is of me displaying our dish full of leftovers. I'm looking forward to partaking of that real soon :) Please note the size of the turkey leg.

Here's the turkey itself and Kim acting very impressed at its size. You'll notice there were 15 of us and we only at about 1/3 of that bird! Turkey sandwiches here we come!

Christmastime is here...in Hungary, anyways...

The commercialization of Christmas is in full force here in Hungary. I went to the mall this weekend and my favorite Christmas tree is now decorated. It's about two stories tall, but the fake snow is only on the bottom 3 feet or so - only at eye level. Apparently at the mall, snow falls from the ground up. Go figure.

This weekend my roommate Kim and I attended a delightful perfomance of Narnia (the musical) put on by a group of homeschool kids in our community. Beforehand we went Christmas decoration window-shopping. I took some pictures at Kika that I thought I would share with you.

This glitzy thing is probably an angel - we weren't totally sure.

Here is Kim with angel wings...isn't she cute!

I tried on some reindeer antlers, but the pair I picked up was broken, so my antlers are a little floppy.

On a more interesting note, there were trees hung from the ceiling throughout the store. I'm going to have to do a little more research on that one...

Partied Out

I think I am partied out. Tonight I sat in my green chair, surfed the Internet, chatted with my wonderful friend Bethany, read a book, and relaxed. This is the life! As much as I enjoy organized fun, I think I've hit my threshold for a while!

It all began with my friend Becca's birthday dinner. We ate at a Greek place in town and watched Nicholas Nickelby (a Dickens movie) afterwards. It's more depressing than celebratory, but that's ok. There are some redeeming aspects for sure.

The next night I helped with a fall party for kids in the school community. My friend Becky was in charge, so I came and manned the cupcake walk. As you can see from the picture below, I decided to dress as a bed-head. It sounded like a great idea - put on your pajamas at 4pm and wear them for the rest of the day.

My only mistake was adding the facial mask. Those things can get a little itchy after three hours! I also went to a teacher party afterwards but by that time I was no longer white-faced. These pores can only take so much exfoliating.My roommate Kim turned 30 on Monday, so Hannah (another roommate) and I threw her a surprise party that night. We did a pretty good job fooling her and I think I might have seen tears well up in her eyes whe she opened the door.

The pic above is of Kim blowing out her candles. Hannah made lemon pies and I made brownies. We put the candles in the brownies. Lesson learned? Candles will melt into the chocolate if you put them in the brownies before they cool.

We also gave Kim gifts - 30 of something. She got 30 chocolate bars, 30 paper clips, 30 chocolate chips, 30 gummies, 30 toilet paper pieces, etc. I discovered yesterday that she is storing all her chocolate in her desk at school, so I think I'm going to begin helping her get rid of it all. Tuesday night we went to see Phantom of the Opera - in Hungarian! Note the impressive pose below. The show was awesome - great music, amazing set, and thankfully, subtitles. We had seats on the first row of the balcony which was a great view.

Last night, the youth group at my church came over for pancakes & praise and worship. I went to McCafe for a caramel latte.

Needless to say, I'm hoping the celebrating is over for at least a week. I can't take much more of this!

Holiday Goodies

I love baking holiday treats - yummy smells in the kitchen and great friends to enjoy them with. Since tonight I'm attending a few fall parties, I decided I would try a new idea I found on the Internet.

We can't buy Candy Corn here in Hungary, so I made my own! My roommate Kim "accidentally" stuck her hand on one a few minutes ago. That meant she had to eat it, and apparently they are pretty tasty!

High School Retreat

I love the students here at ICSB. I also love retreats, so last weekend was a blast for me!

Each fall we take every high school student on a retreat for the weekend. In an effort to teach the seniors about leadership and responsibility, the 12th graders plan the activities for the weekend, invite the speaker, design the t-shirt, and lead the small groups. We teachers are responsible for wise guidance and crowd control. Sometimes this "hands-off" role is fun for me, but let's be honest, we who teach love being in charge. It takes a lot of self-control for me to sit back and watch them make mistakes. Sometimes "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry", but sometimes the plans of teenagers implode.

This year the seniors did an excellent job. Even when it rained and their game of Capture the Flag was cancelled, we played board games inside and I heard almost no complaints.

The theme of the weekend was "Survivor" and the speaker focused on living a life of brokenness and humility. The kids responded well to the talks and I've been encouraged this past week by their comments about what God is teaching them.

I was encouraged by the speaker's reminder that if we want to live lives of humility we must first see the Truth of who Christ Is and who we are. When we have a right perspective of ourselves and of God, then our goal will not be what others think of us, but what others think of HIM!

One of the highlights of the weekend for me was speaking to a student who is not a believer. During free time one afternoon I was reading a book (The Pursuit of God - so good!) and when I looked up, he sat down and began to chat with me. I've only known this student since August, but he asked me questions about the authenticity of Scripture and if Jesus truly was perfect while living on earth. We talked for about half an hour until it was time for dinner. Please be praying with me that God will continue to work in his heart!

Snapshots of the Week

Last Sunday, several of the teachers went out to lunch after church at my favorite Greek restaurant. It's right on the banks of the Danube River and they serve an amazing hamburger. Since I don't get a lot of good beef around here, I've never even tried anything else on the menu. And, they know how to treat a girl right - every one of us was given a rose as a parting gift!

Monday afternoon was the Staff vs. Students soccer game. The staff team put up a good fight, but the students won 3-2 (or something like that).As you can see from the picture below, I was socializing more than participating. Really I was doing the staff team a favor. It would have been worse had I played. The people beside me are Izabella, Sari, and Hannah. Izabella is a wonderful Hungarian friend of mine who teaches Hungarian language classes to elementary and middle school students at ICSB. Her daughter Sari is a fifth grader this year. Hannah is one of my roommates and teaches at the school as well.Tuesday morning I decided to pay some bills. You might be interested to know that in Hungary, you pay your bills at the post office. Every bill comes in the mail and has a yellow perforated part at the bottom. You just take them to the posta and pay the lady at the counter. The ones pictured below are the receipts that I keep as proof I paid the bills.

Interestingly enough, this bill paying event was a little more exciting because the lady at the window didn't count my change correctly. Instead of giving me 3420 forint, she just gave me the 420. (A difference of over $15.) That meant I had to stand there and explain (without words) that I had been underpaid. After a game of charades, another lady came out and together the two women spent about ten minutes counting all the moolah in the cash box and comparing it to a computer printout. Finally, after much delay, she apologized and gave me my forint! I am so glad I was paying attention!Wednesday was our faculty meeting. In hopes that we will be prepared for emergency situations, we practiced fire drill procedures. This pic is a little behind the action, but you should know that we got to intentionally pull the alarm. I felt a little rebellious even being present for such an event.Thursday I made a long-awaited purchase! There was a mini sewing maching on sale at Tesco (British store sort of like a Wal-Mart) and I'm always needing to hem something, so I went for it. I should have known better. I guess you get what you pay for, because it only made it around one hem of one pair of pants. Now I have to figure out how to take it back. Oh the joys of living internationally!

And today I got a package from my dear friend Laura! THANK YOU!!!!! Even the padded envelope was cute. Inside were some very fun items, but I must admit the best part was when one of my students offered me $25 dollars for my box of Cheese-Itz!

Staff Retreat

This weekend was ICSB's annual staff retreat - we spent Thursday and Friday nights at a thermal hotel near Lake Balaton (Kehida). Although sometimes we use staff retreat to work or prepare for the coming year, this time we were blessed with a couple of days of rest and refreshment.

We swam in the thermal pools, slid down a water slide or two, listened to the Word preached, and enjoyed fellowshipping with each other. As you can tell by the pictures below, some of us even enjoyed the playground!

Here's one of my favorite quotes from the weekend:

Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small

Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.

Acronym of the Day

Everybody needs to learn a new acronym now and again, and the acronym for today is RAFT. It floats (haha) around in the International Christian School world as a tool for helping students say goodbye well in the midst of an abundance of transition.

RAFT stands for:
R - Reconciliation (forgive each other)
A - Affirmation (affirm each other)
F - Farewell (say your goodbyes - to people, places, and things)
T - Think Ahead (duh)

When I came to ICSB in the fall of 2006, I began to look for ways to serve the Lord and be involved in the lives of the students outside of the school day. God gave me a wonderful opportunity with the 9th grade girls. At the time, every freshman girl was in my math class, and almost as nervous about starting high school as I was about teaching overseas. We began meeting weekly to study the Bible, pray together, and encourage each other.

I can't believe it, but now they are seniors. I am so proud of them and so thankful to have had the chance to watch as God has used them here and around the world. I'm already mentally preparing myself for what it will be like to say good-bye to them in June. I'm collecting as many sticks of memories as I can so that my raft is buoyant when the time comes. We had dinner together a couple nights before school began and they wrote notes to the new 9th grade girls, welcoming them to high school. And here are some of the new freshmen working busily in my Geometry class this past week. Don't they look engaged! I promise this was not a staged photograph, but it may never happen quite like this again!

Trouble in the Rubbish Box

The city of Diosd picks up our trash on Friday mornings. That means on the way to school, we girls drag the trash can out to the side of the road in hopes that the garbage men will take it all away. It's always a fun time, especially when I don't get anything gross on my school clothes!


Today is Friday, and we faithfully took our trash can to the curb this morning. This afternoon, however, we forgot to bring it inside. I thought it was going to be a very uneventful Friday night until Kati, our landlady called. The conversation went something like this:


Me: Hi Kati, how are you?


Kati: I am fine, but Emily, there are animals in your rubbish box.


Me: What animals? What is a rubbish box?


Kati: Your rubbish box that you put your rubbish in.


Me: You mean our trash can?


Kati: Yes, there are animals in your rubbish box.


Me: What animals?


Kati: I do not know their names.


Me: Ok. What should we do?


Kati: Fill your rubbish box with water. And Domestos. (aka. Draino)


Me: Uhhhh.....


Kati: Then wash it out. Make sure you do it right away. It is very hot. You do not want the animals in your rubbish box.


Me: Ok, Kati, we'll take care of it. Have a great night.


So a few minutes later, Hannah, Kim and I went to check out the trash can. I wasn't brave enough to do it alone. We weren't sure if there was a racoon in the trash can or maybe a snake or who knows what.



It turns out we had maggots.


So we got out the water hose and the draino and went to work. After letting our trash can sit for a while, we decided we should dump it out. It was quite the adventure. But don't worry, we took some photos!

St. Istvan's Day 2009

St. Istvan's Day has become one of my favorite traditions here in Hungary. Celebrated on the 20th of August, this holiday honors St. Stephen, the first king of Hungary in 1000AD as well as the person credited with bringing Christianity to the region. (You can compare it to July 4th in the US.) Since school workdays usually begin on the day after the holiday, I like to think of it as my last summer celebration as well.

This year (YEAR 4!) was no different. We piled 5 teachers in my car and 7 more in a van and carpooled into the city after lunch to watch the Red Bull Air Race, meander through the city, and watch some awesome fireworks.

The picture below is of a few teachers and me on the banks of the river.

As we were wandering through the crowds of people, I bumped into my walking buddy Becky and her family. Becky's husband is the math teacher for our middle schoolers, and they brought their children into the city as a surprise to watch the air races. I decided I needed a picture one of my favorite little people in the ICSB community. Isn't she a cutie!The air races lasted from 2 until about 4:30, but to be honest, we only lasted until about 3! It was hot, and we have a favorite cafe that sells cold lemonade. We enjoyed our spot there for as long as possible and then transferred locations to a pizza place for dinner. It was fun to catch up with friends before the marathon we call a school year begins.

The fireworks started at 9 and were one of the best shows I have ever seen. They were shooting explosives of some kind off two bridges, a hillside, and 2o pallets in the middle of the river, and it was all choreographed to Hungarian classical music. Amazing, and totally worth it!And now begins the start of school. I'm going to dream of bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils tonight!

Shaq and Me

I know I'm not normally a basketball fan, but who wouldn't want to have their picture taken with a life-size LEGO version of Shaquille O'Neal?

Internet and Teacups

First, my wireless is fixed! Praise the Lord! I went to the Toshiba service center this morning and they replaced my card for FREE!!!!

Second, the HS Bible teacher and his son came over this afternoon and installed my two little shelves. I've been collecting teacups as I travel and wanted a place to put them in my new room. Thanks, Linc and Caleb!

Since When is Hell an Energy Drink?

There is no such thing as a quick errand. This evening all I wanted was to develop a few pictures at the local Kodak store. It should have been easy (famous last words, I know). You put your card in the bright yellow computer, make a few decisions, and pick up your photos 15 minutes later from the very unhappy lady behind the counter. But tonight it didn't happen that way. Tonight it took over an hour. Ah well.

That meant I had an hour to meander through the mall and exercise self-control. Below is a photo of my most fascinating find, or at least a portion of it.

Yep, that's right. I've seen "Hell" energy drinks before, but tonight in Tesco there was a display so big you can probably see it from outer space. At first, it made me chuckle (and take a picture). Who would want to drink something called Hell? How could Hell possibly be a good thing? Yuck.

And then I realized it must be appealing to a whole lot of people, otherwise it wouldn't be for sale. Lots of people must think a drink called Hell is exactly what they want. Seems crazy to me.

Wow. What a reminder that without Christ, Truth is just plain foolishness, completely distorted. Join me in praying that God would continue to draw Hungarians to Himself. Pray they would find satisfaction and refreshment, not it a can of caffeine, but in Jesus!

A Visitor From Home, Computer Glitches, and a Hungarian Wedding

It's been a busy but good week around here. Sonja, one of my closest friends from college, came to visit! It was great to share my Hungarian life with a friend from my American life. We had a blast being tourists and even got the chance to spend a day in Vienna. This pic was taken at the summer palace in Vienna. Here we are on top of the Basilica in Budapest. It's one of my new favorite views of the city!
One of the more frustrating parts about my return Hungary has been computer trouble. When I was in the US a few weeks ago, my computer decided to call it quits. Thankfully, I have amazing and technologically advanced friends who helped me purchase a new one on short notice. I love it - very cute and snazzy if I do say so myself! The only problem is that after about three days in Europe, the wireless stopped working. (Sigh!) It's a good thing I've had lots of hours to spend dealing with it and even a better thing that I have an international warranty. (Yay!) Now I'm just waiting for the English speaking employee at the Toshiba place in Hungary to order a new wireless card from Germany. Let's hope this fixes my problems!

On a brighter note, my friends Meg and Gabor got married "Hungarian style" this weekend! Meg and I have been in a Bible study together for the last two and a half years; I am so thankful for her friendship. Gabor is a great Hungarian guy who helped me find an awesome car to buy last fall. I am going to miss them a ton when they move to the US next month. (And I'm going to have to find a new mechanic!)

The pic below is of the Hungarian wedding coordinator. We don't have anything quite like him in America. It's this guy's job to direct all the festivities while speaking in riddles and rhymes. He even has a stick with ribbons from each couple he's helped with wedding madness. Those of you who know me will be impressed to learn that I stayed at the reception until 1 AM! By that time I was pooped and tired of killing mosquitoes, but I'm pretty sure the party was going until about 4 - yikes!