My Birthday

Sunday was my birthday! I know it's shocking, but I'm now in my late 20's, whatever that means! Here are some things I'm thankful for:

1. A warm, fuzzy bathrobe
2. A bag full of chocolate covered apple slices
3. A handful of Reese cups!
4. Being sung to by over half the high school students at church on Sunday morning.
5. Being sung to by one of my favorite families in America - one wearing ski goggles. (I think that's a birthday first, by the way.)
6. Eating out at the Greek restaurant.
7. Laura's amazing cake.
8. Sara's somewhat amazing pictures.
9. A birthday party with my calculus class which included a cake that was supposed to be me - my hair was made with sushi rolls dyed pink.
10. Quentin thinking I'm 37!

Making Sushi

I have two students in my AP Calculus class and today they took a test - yuck! Half my class came after school yesterday for a little extra help (ok, just one student). Little did I know that after explaining differentials to Emily I would get my own lesson! That's right, Emily brought the supplies and taught me how to make sushi. I wouldn't get too impressed; I'm not sure I could do it again, but I thought you guys might like a few pictures of the adventure.

1. Emily and I, building sushi.
2. Me with my sushi - impressive, huh!
3. My roommate Sara trying the sushi - she said it was good, I choose to believe her!

Bible Study Party and First Snow!

Last year was one of the warmest winters on record in Central and Eastern Europe. As I recall, it only flurried twice. I have been hoping that we'd see some more of the white stuff this year, but I had no idea it would come this early. As we exited church this morning I could hear excited screams of the kids going through glass doors into what was becoming a winter wonderland. I haven't ventured very far outside this afternoon, but I thought you all deserved a picture! Ok, I admit I took the second one from behind a screened window!

On a completely unrelated note, those of you who have played the animal game with me in the past will appreciate the picture of some 10th grade girls, and another teacher and I acting like moose (Is it meese, or mooses, or just plain moose? I'm not absolutely sure, but I'm going to stick with moose!)

Shoes

This posting is a little late - I should have told this story back at the end of September when it happened, but better late than never.

Each Monday, Mary comes to our house and cleans. (I love Mary!) She comes after we leave for school and is gone by the time we return home. Mary does great things like clean the grill on our stove, change the sheets on our beds, and wash our laundry. She's sort of like a little fairy.

As is the custom here in Europe, we leave all our shoes at the front entrance to our house and wear slippers when inside. About six weeks ago, in late September, the highs were in the 60s or 70s most days. Wonderful fall weather. Mary decided it was time for us to no longer be wearing sandals. Hungarian customs, I think, no sandals once it's not hot! We came home from school to find all our sandals wrapped up in grocery bags, ready to be stored away until summer reappears. Needless to say, we didn't leave them there any longer than was necessary to take this picture! I might decide to put mine away now that the temps are rising to about 45!!

1st Quarter Projects

We finished the first quarter of school a couple weeks ago, and I wanted to share some projects from my Geometry class. The kids created their own string art designs and we used them to discuss symmetry as well as lines that are tangent to curves! If the math doesn't matter to you, maybe you'll appreciate how pretty they are!

Trip to Poland!

Finally! I'm sitting down at my computer and ready to post another entry on this blog. Things have been more than crazy a while, babysitting some great kids, the first quarter at school, and visiting Poland. This weekend has been a much needed time of rest. Yesterday was Saturday and I did no schoolwork AT ALL! (More rare than you would imagine!) What's more, this weekend was the time change and I gained an hour of sleep last night.

I thought I'd post some fun pics from my trip to Poland.

Last weekend I went to Poland with several other women from the missionary community here in Budapest. Jennifer, one of the ladies who planned the trip, is an aficionado in this area, and boy was I thankful. We drove about eight hours to the town of Boleslawiecs and spent two days exploring the factory stores that sell Polish pottery. On the last day, we even went to a factory where they make and decorate the pottery by hand. It was so much fun, and I purchased my first set of real dishes! These pics are from the factory. The lady is stamping a plate and the man is cutting the stamps from foam with a tiny pair of scissors - amazing! (Another interesting note, inside the factory we saw boxes that were being shipped to TJ Maxx and Marshall's!)

A Great Saturday

This morning I met a group of teachers and students at school and headed about 1/2 hour away to Velence to an orphanage. We played games, drew pictures of our shadows, painted each other's fingernails, and told the story of Noah and the ark. I chaperoned the trip to this orphanage twice last year, but this was the first one I have been on where I was basically in charge. Praise the Lord, nothing scary happened! The kids seemed to have a great time - I know I did. One of the biggest hits every time we go are our digital cameras. They are amazed every time they look at themselves on the tiny screens. I've attached a few to this blog entry for you to see.

Also, this coming week, there are several school families away at conferences. That means I am "babysitting" a family of 4 kids for the week! The highlight thus far? I pulled the lasagna out of the refrig. and it was stuck to the package of bacon below. I laughed, amused, and held the lasagna up with the bacon. It was fun until 30 seconds later when the two were no longer frozen together and the pyrex baking dish with the homemade lasagna burst on the floor. (Thankfully, there's a second lasagna in the other freezer! YES!)

Bible Study

Tonight I ate dinner at Iguana's, the Mexican restaurant in Budapest with my friends Robyn, Meg, and Laura (L to R). We only eat somewhere like that on special occasions and Laura's parents are here visiting from the US. It's fun to meet the families of the people you spend all your time with!

I've uploaded a picture of the four of us because I am so thankful for these friends. Laura teaches 3rd grade at ICSB, Robyn works at the regional office for the Evangelical Free church, and Meg is serving as a missionary with World Gospel Mission. We meet once a week to study the Bible together and pray for each other.

Clinton is here...or so I'm told

After church today we passed a large group of people carrying cameras and standing outside the most expensive hotel in the city. Apparently, they were all waiting for photos of Bill Clinton. I didn't know he was even here, but that doesn't mean much. We drove through the round-about a couple of times so that I could snap these shots. No, Bill isn't in any of them, but we had bigger fish to fry and headed home.

High School Retreat

After 3 days filled with fun, I am now back at home in the village of Diosd. We took all 95 or so high school students to the Word of Life Hungary Bible College outside of Budapest for the weekend and had an awesome time.

We sang some great worship songs, spent time studying the WORD played on the tire swing,
participated in a few small group activities - my group was a toaster,built boats with cardboard and plastic bottles,played a little Capture the Flag,had a bonfire, and much much more.

I love watching the Lord work in the lives of young people, drawing them into a closer relationship with Himself, and I saw that this weekend (along with a little ridiculousness)!

Thanks for your continued prayers!

September Highlights

Hi everyone! I just realized it's been over a month since I've posted anything on this blog. My apologies those of you who have been disappointed (I can't imagine there are many of you in this category, but I apologize just the same.)

Some highlights of the past month?

1. My friend Mary had her 23rd birthday. It was special for two reasons. One, we had her birthday party at our house and served soup from America and chocolate peanut butter cake. Two, according to the speaker at our staff retreat, Mary has finally made it through adolescence!


2. The entire staff of ICSB traveled to Vajta for a retreat last week. We took a few personality tests, drank some great coffee, and enjoyed spending time together. (Ok, some people enjoyed playing volleyball, but I was not one of them!)
This last picture is of my group pretending to be a vending machine. (You can't see me, I'm the keypad.)


3. Sara and I have begun leading 10th grade girls Bible study. So far, we've had 8 - 10 girls meet us during lunch each week. We're reading through Galatians together, so pray for wisdom and clarity and that I would

4. I am teaching (or at least attempting to teach) AP Calculus this semester. I have a grand total of two students, and they are both great kids. It's definitely been consuming, but it's been good.

5. Yesterday I got a haircut! That's right, it's all gone...stay posted for a new pic!

Oh, and please pray...High School retreat is next weekend!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

The first week of school is now complete, and wow...was it full of interesting adventures and ridiculously hot temperatures. Yesterday, my friend Sara and I had lunch in the principal's office. It's one of the few places in the building that has air conditioning. Hmm...it almost makes getting called to the principal's office worthwhile!

I must admit that I had forgotten the full extent of the wonderfulness (is that a word?) of the people here at ICSB. I have been continually overwhelmed by what a privilege it is to be here, and I had a blast getting back into my school routine. I'm looking forward to starting up 10th grade Bible study next week!

I thought I'd share a few of my most recent pics. The first one is of my finger - after I plugged my laptop into the outlet for the first time. Notice the two lines that appeared after a large spark came out of the plug. (Don't worry, my finger is now normal and the laptop still works!)

I've also included a few pics of my new house! The first ones are of my new bedroom and the last one is of the couch in our living room. For those of you who don't understand the significance of this, last year my couch was "Sesame Street orange" and the uphostery had more holes than a block of swiss cheese!
The lovely automotive in the picture above is owned by two of my roomates and has made my 2nd year quite different already. Although not in peak condition (aka. we only drive it around town), it definitely gets us where we want to go, smoke doesn't come out from the hood too often, and we have a tape deck! Things to be thankful for!

Last Monday was St. Istvan's (St. Stephen) Day. On our second attempt to enjoy the enourmous fireworks display along the Danube River, things were much more successful. The storm (yep, there was a storm again this year) cleared in plenty of time for the fireworks, and we ended up in a perfect spot! Pics coming soon!

Driving Lessons

So now that I live in this house with three other teachers I have access to a car! It really has been amazing to be able to go to the grocery store whenever I want, and I am extremely thankful. The big problem now is that I can't drive the car. It's a stick shift, like every other car in this country, and I am clueless. Tonight my roomate Sara and I went to the mall to enjoy some air conditioning and on the way home she gave me my first lesson. I didn't stall out more than twice, but I now know exactly what it means to revvvvvvvvv an engine. That is something I am apparently good at! Who knew!

I'm Back!

Ok, I did it! I've posted another entry in this blog. I know, it's been about 8 months, but better late than never.

I'm here in Hungary now and working hard to prepare for my first day of school (Wednesday). My student desks are supposed to arrive Tuesday...hmm...something to pray about. I am loving living at my new house and I can't wait to see all my students again.

I'll try to have some pics of my "living quarters" and my "teaching quarters" up soon!

Love and miss you all!