It's Not Easy Being Green

This will be my final post for my Hungary Adventure. I know it is a few weeks in coming, but I finally found something that I felt was worth posting. Who knows, maybe someday I will have the opportunity to have another summer like this one. Full of new culture, language, people, food, and adventure. As I completed a book full of pictures to share with people. I looked high and low for some quotes to summarize my experience. I started reading quotes, some which made me laugh, some which made me cringe. However, I couldn't find that one quote that stood out to me. Reading the travel quotes reminded me of why I travel: to learn and grow, to challenge myself, stretch my limits, and foster and appreciation of both the world at large and the world waiting for me back home.

We just received a re-entry to the U.S packet and survey to fill out about the summer and some suggestions on how to make adjusting to the U.S a bit easier after living in a culture that is so different than your own. I loved the little story they included called "It's Not Easy Being Green"

It’s Not Easy Being Green…

Before going overseas, you lived in blue world. You were a blue person. But, then you traveled to and lived in a yellow world. There, you became a green person—a mixture of both worlds.

You never quite became yellow, since that is not your home. And, now that you’ve come back to this blue world, it doesn’t quite fit as well anymore. And, that’s OK. Because, now you have a responsibility as a green person to share what it means to live in a yellow world.

By sharing, you can help make both your blue friends and your yellow friends a little greener than they are now.

I have lots of pictures and stories for anyone who wants to visit or hear more about my journey. Thanks for following my journey and for all the support and prayers you offered while we were gone!

Hello From Croatia!

Hello! Right now I am enjoying beautiful Croatia! We took a 14 hour train ride through the countryside and arrived at the coast this morning at six in the morning. We have two days here and today I enjoyed the rocky beaches as well as time in town just exploring. I have hit my energy low for the trip and am hoping to get some energy stored up for tomorrow. We have all day here in Croatia and then we will board our train back to Budapest. It will be a short trip, but a much needed time of togetherness and relaxation.

Tonight we are hopefully heading back to the beach and hoping to catch the sunset. The coast here is so beautiful and clear. The water is chilly at first but so nice once we are used to the temperature. It was a great day for swimming today as temps reached 38 last time I checked.

Hope all is well. I am back to Budapest for debriefing then will soon be heading home. I can not wait for my own bed, shower, and real toilet. Again I appologize for any errors in spelling. I finally get used to a Hungarian keyboard and it switches a bit on me again.

The End Is In Sight...

Well today we finished our last day teaching...yep school on a Saturday. It was only a half day today so right now I am sitting in bed while the students watch a movie in Hungarian. We have had a challenging but good week here in Bicske. Tomorrow our time here will end with Sunday morning worship and then we will be off on a mini vacation to Croatia before heading back to Hungary for some debriefing before heading back to the states.

Yet again we have met some fabulous people and have had a great time exploring the city. Since we were on our own for dinners this week we decided to go out to some restaurants to decompress in the evenings. It is kind of fun to order off the menu and not know what you will get. Now if only we can figure out how to pay and get the heck out of the restaurants. It took us over a hour last night to get a bill.


We are starting to wear down as our time in Hungary ends. I can't even express how excited I will be to sleep in my own bed after weeks on mattresses and cots. Well, I don't know much else. I am headed off to the coffee shop down the road in a bit for some coca-cola light and delicious pasteries.... all for under 4 dollars total. Amazing I tell you! Enjoy your weekend! I know I will as I hopefully find a nice beach to lounge on!

There Is Goulash In The Shower

You know you are in Hungary when you walk into the shower and in it is a large pot. Yep...sitting in your shower just waiting to be opened. I open the pot and what do you know? It is a whole large pot of Goulash! RANDOM. This trip has been nothing but random! Currently I am writing to you from my mattress on the floor which is located on the balcony of the beautiful church we are staying at. This week we are in the city of Biscke. It has been a long week and it is only Wednesday. The children are on brain overload and it is really long days for them to be learning English. They start to act up and are naughty because they can't communicate with us. We have been busy learning colors, foods, greetings, alphabet, emotions, and much more. My challenge this week is helping create a Hungarian/English skit for the students to perform on Sunday morning for a church service. It will be the story of creation and it will be interesting to see how everything falls into place. We are also going to sing If I Were A Butterfly in English and Hungarian. This has been a great way for me to practice my Hungarian.... through singing.

The best part of this week has been that we have had some time to get out and about. On Monday we went to Slovakia and visited a beautiful town. Last night we went and saw Budapest by night. It was so beautiful. Tonight has been a great night of rest. One that has been much needed. We are hitting week five of traveling and it is wearing on us. Many of us are feeling a bit sick this week from the food we are eating and we are really tired and low on energy.

Hopefully I will get a chance to post again later this week. Have a great day!

Yo Reggelt From Biscke!

Good Morning from Biscke. We have moved on to our next location in Hungary where we are again teaching an English Camp. We are not sure what this week will bring in terms of students and such but it should be another good week. We have been so fortunate to have such wonderful people put into our paths here in Hungary.

This week we are living in a church balcony. We could literally wake up in the morning and sit in our beds to watch the church service. It is a beautiful church but this does not give us anywhere where we can escape for peace and quiet throughout the week. It will be interesting.

Last night we joined the worship team for a BBQ where we enjoyed lots of Hungarian food including of course MEAT. We also ate chunks of fat that were cooked over a campfire. Yes... you heard me right. Chunks of fat. It is like us cooking marshmallows over the fire and eating them. It was a very interesting experience that I hope to not have to repeat soon. I still have a fatty meat taste in my mouth after two brushings. It is not polite to turn down food when it is offered so we are being brave and trying lots of new things.

Anyway, I think that is all for now. I will update again later this week when I know more and English Camp has started! Have a wonderful week!

Hungarian Food

Well, it is Thursday and tomorrow will be our last day teaching at this English Camp. We have yet again met some amazing people who have helped to guide us through our third leg of this Hungarian journey. My class has been doing a good job participating and practicing English, although I wish they would use more English and less Hungarian. We have made it all week with no intrepreter and still everything has gotten accomplished. The students have created skits, made weather forecasts, given speeches, done an activity about being stuck on a deserted island, and tomorrow we will be learning about fact and fiction and the students will be participating in murder mysteries. Tomorrow I am doing an English challenge and giving all my students three post it notes. If I hear them talking in Hungarian I will take a post it. Whoever has post its at the end of the day will win a prize. Not sure if this method will work, but I am going to try it.

Each day after we are done teaching we have been going to lunch at this fantastic resturant. The resturant serves traditional Hungarian food for us. This includes starting with soup and then having a main meal. We have had bone soup, pea soup, and dill soup. Some of our main courses included Creamed Potatoes with meatloaf on top, stuffed cabbage, rice with pork and sauce with cabbage on the side, and today crepes.... delicious!


Next week we have heard we are heading to Biska where we will be again teaching at an English Camp. We are not sure how this week will work since we will be teaching all day plus an evening class. We have heard we will each be teaching for four hours a day, but do not know the levels of our students or anything. Yet again it will be a surprise. We have also heard we will be living at a church which makes us wonder if we will have showers... at least it is not a chicken coop right?

Well, that is all for now. I don't really know much else. Hope that you enjoy your day!

Hello From Pécel

Hello Friends!

Although it is only Tuesday this week has been going well. Currently we are in the town of Pécel. We are staying in church dorms and working at an English Camp in a nearby town. My class has 14 students who are pre-intermediate. That means they can understand me, but sometimes they struggle to put words together to communicate or ask questions. On Monday our lesson was on people and families, today we studied foods. The students have done great participating in all my activities and really surprised me with their comprehension when they created skits about ordering food at a restaurant. Today I think the highlight of my students' day was laughing hysterically at me when they tried to teach me how to say Happy Birthday in Hungarian. Tomorrow we are studying travel. I just finished planning for the day. The three other groups have their activities planned, but somehow my group was overlooked so I have to lesson plan this week. Not a problem since this is what I do anyway.

In other news, today is my teammate Chelsea's birthday. She would not tell us when her birthday was so last week while living in the Coop I broke into her purse, stole her wallet, and found out when her birthday was. Our hosts took us into a mall area where we had the most artfully arranged ice cream I had ever seen before. It was delicious. Three of my teammates decided to stay in town and three of us came back. It has been nice to have a bit of quiet time this afternoon. I am glad I decided to come back because a bit ago it was pouring rain. It has been like that often this week, but this keeps the temperatures cool and for that I am thankful.

My goal for this week was to find some postcards and Diet Mountain Dew....two impossible tasks where we are staying. We are not really tourists so I do not often have the chance to go to town or stores. In fact I have not even used any of my bankcards at all since I have been here. Amazing I know. I really wanted to be able to send our some cards, but I can not promise anything at this point. Sorry for those of you who are waiting! As for the Diet Mountain Dew, I do not think it exists. I have searched high and low. At least I can find some Diet Pepsi. I have only had two bottles since leaving California but I am hitting the point where I need some caffeine. I think that is all for now. I am heading up to my room to hopefully finish lesson planning for my whole week. It is difficult when I do not have many supplies so I have to think outside the box at times.

I hope everyone has a great day. Hopefully I can post later this week. Miss you all!

What Does Rustic Mean To You??

Well, last week we were deployed to a "Rustic" Horse Camp. "Rustic" in this case means no electricity, porta potties, outside showers hooked up to large barrels which are filled with hose water, sleeping quarters in a chicken coop, storage of food in a cellar infested with spiders, and a fly infestation like you have never seen before... the flies were the worst part. Millions and millions of flies. They were literally swarming everywhere. We would hang up a fly strip and it would be covered in like five minutes. I KID YOU NOT!! The first day I think all of us cried at one point. It was culture shock like I have never experienced before. They told us in training we would experience shock the second week but we never thought it would be at a horse camp in the middle of nowhere where everyone speaks English. We were not prepared for for life in the wilderness. We had nice teaching clothes, no work clothes or appropriate shoes or anything and a bit in shock from the facilities.

Moving on, the Horse Camp was located about an hour outside of Budapest in a small village that is on a dirt "sand" road. The camp was run by this amazing family with an amazing vision. They run a Christian horse camp which allows them to minister to the people of Hungary and share the love of God with the Hungarians. This week we did much work and as one of my teammates Amy said this week we "Starved the flesh and feed the spirit" There were many tears, laughs, and hard work done this week. Tee pees were built, beds made, garbage picked up, flies killed, horses trained, curriculum planned, a library organized, canvases sewed and so much more. The most frustrating thing is the whole Hungarian time. Again... not like American time. I will write more later in an e-mail when I have a chance to process the week. Right now I am to busy enjoying a flushing toilet, running water, indoor shower, and lack of flies. Before I sign off for the evening, and enjoy my pizza, here are some great quotes from our week. Hope you enjoy them!

• During a thunder storm as we all are getting a bit nervous our chicken coop will leak in the rain, Chelsea says "What's the worse thing that could happen guys? Our electricity will go out?"
• "I popped a squat" Amy (something we all did this week since the bathrooms were NASTY)
• "Shall we poop together my friend?" Adrienne
  
• "We can't breathe" Adrienne's response when asked how we slept.
  
• "This can't be healthy. There is black stuff coming out my nose" All of us said this at one point in the morning
  
• "I want him to be repulsed when he thinks of me" Amy in regards to an old boyfriend
  
• "Now I know the meaning of Cooped Up" Amy
• "Let's put this in prospective guys, We are in Hungary, where we don't speak the language, in the middle of nowhere, standing in front of a nasty outhouse where we will be sleeping in a chicken coop" Chelsea
• "Flies... Varmint of the sky" Chelsea
• "I'm sleeping in filth" Adrienne

Greetings From Budapest!

Hello everyone!  

Today we are relaxing after a very busy weekend.  Yesterday was sad as we said good-bye to our first hosts.  John our American contact picked us up in this huge white van and took us into Budapest which was about 30 minutes away from where we were staying.  We spent the day checking out the sights and visiting the large castle, the island in the center of the city, and just checking out the sights.  It was a perfect day temperature wise for touring... an absolute beautiful day!  After that we headed to John's house for dinner where we met his wonderful family and spent the evening visiting and eating.  

Today we headed into John's church where they had the worship service in English and Hungarian.  John's wife Zsophie translated at the service so we could understand what was happening.  Then it was into town quick to buy a few necessities for next week like shoes and pants.  We didn't really plan on spending a week in a horse camp so none of us are prepared for this clothing wise.  We all bought super ugly, cheap shoes to wear so we can dump them after a week of being smelly!  Should be interesting at the camp.  We heard it is really rustic and has only one bathroom inside, the rest outside.  We also heard there is not a lot of hot water.  Who knows what next week will bring as we work in this place.  We do know that they are extremely grateful to have us helping at this mission site and are so blessed to have us.

Otherwise, things have been great.  I will never understand why you can never find a bathroom in Europe and why you have to pay for the restrooms.  Very frustrating!  However, everything else is going well and our travels and work have been great.  I am not sure what kind of technology I will have next week so I will post things as I am able.  Have a super day!

 

Jó napot tól Magyarország!

Hello from Hungary!! The keyboard is very different and I dont have much time so disregard the misspellings and lack of correct punctuation :)

Things here have turned out to be very different than expected, but nevertheless awesome. Our team was originally going to be working at a refugee camp but our contacts in Budapest were in a severe car accident and werent able to house us. So our great organization TeachOverseas scrambled to put something together at the last minute! This week we will be teaching English/Bibleness at a Vacation Bible School for children. I have been working with the preschool children all week and have never wished harder that I had Kathy Weber here with me right now. She would get a kick out of the interesting group we have been working with.

It has been interesting to adjust to teaching as no one speaks English there so we have been getting crash courses in Hungarian. Today I taught the students to play Tail Tag and they loved it!! Otherwise there is lots of pointing, gesturing, and speaking of poor Hungarian. The preschoolers just jabber to me and expect me to understand and I smile and nod a lot! I have a whole new appreciation for the ELL students in my classroom. I came home the first evening with a pounding headache from trying to communicate.

Chelsea, Amy and I are living together this week with a wonderful woman named Greta. She speaks great English has has been so kind and generous to us. Her house is beautiful and just a short walk to the Danube River. We have been enjoying our time with her and she has been brining us to see the sights when we are not teaching at the Bible School. We have seen some castles which housed Matyas the Righteous, old cities, and tried lots of interesting food. Today we had Janos which is fried bread covered in sour cream covered in cheese with garlic on top. Good thing Amy and I shared one because it was really rich. There are so many cultural differences that I would love to talk about and hopefully will soon, but I must now get ready to teach for the afternoon.
All in all, we are having a great time. The hardest thing thus far is the intersting looking old men running around almost naked. They definately love their speedos here! It is also hard to ignore the loud roosters and intense sun at 530 every morning but we are adjusting.

Since I am not sure where we will be next week or what our situation will be, I may not be able to post for awhile. I will keep the blog updated as I can. All this uncertanity has been unnerving, but has really brought our team together. We dont know where we are going or what we will be doing, but we are trusting that God has a plan for us! I will be as interested as you to see where our next posting is from! Much love! Happy Fourth Of July to all!

We Have Arrived

Hello Friends!

We arrived in Hungary last night and enjoyed almost a full night of sleep. Today will be a hard day because we start teaching right away this afternoon. The flight here was long! We had a 4 hour wait at LAX, an 11 hour ride to Germany, a 4 hour layover and delay due to a stike on the airline we were riding then a 2 hour plan ride and hour drive to our first village. This week we are staying with families and helping a local church with their VBS. I am staying with two others from my group with a lovely woman named Greta. Her flat is about a 200 yards to the Danube River. It is beautiful and peaceful here....Even though the Rooster woke us at 4:00 a.m. with the sun rise.... the sun rises really early here! I will keep you posted as to what we are doing this week with the Church!

What I Learned In California

• If a man named King Midas comes up to you while you are waiting at a bus stop and stands really close to you blowing cigar smoke out of his nose, beware, he may grab your butt!
• If someone puts gasoline in garbage cans, and has aerosol spray and matches attached a dorm room could blow up. You think they would evacuate the building but I guess not... kind of scary!
• The beach is beautiful but don't forget to reapply sunscreen or you may have sunburn on your 15 hour plane ride.
• When you fly into LA the pollution is really evident and you can't see the mountains even though they are near to you.
• When you put six people who have never meet each other from all corners of America together, expect amazing things!
• There are Christian Pow Wow's in CA.
  

Please keep my team in your thoughts and prayers as we leave tomorrow morning. Please pray our luggage makes it with us and our plane ride is smooth flying! The next time you hear from me I will be in Hungary!!!

Greetings From Pasadena!

Hello Friends!

Well, I made it to California in the middle of a HEAT WAVE!! IT WAS HORRIBLE!!!! In less than three hours riding in the plane I experienced a 50 degree weather change. It was very difficult the first few days. On Sunday our team participated in a Scavenger Hunt which lead us to downtown Pasadena where we searched for over an hour in over 100 degree temperatures for a restaurant called the Equator. We only had our clues to go by no restaurant name, so we had to talk to random people on the street and ask for help a lot. We were greatly relieved and pleasantly surprised by the restaurant and enjoyed a nice lunch there. Despite the heat, our team did not give up and we ended up winning the scavenger hunt at 4:00 almost a hour and a half after the deadline. We worked together and did not give up like all the other teams! It was nice to see a movie at the budget theater to cool off before heading back to campus for an evening of very hot sleeping!

My team for Hungary consists of six people. They included: Chelsea, Adrienne, Tim, Cristianna, Amy, and myself. I am the oldest on the team and the only teacher, but am so excited for the enthusiasm on the team and willingness to learn. We have been teaching practice lessons and sitting through many mini workshops which are helping us to be good teachers overseas as well as teaching us how to adjust to living in a new country. The days are long and jammed packed with mini lectures and workshops.

Well, I have to sign off and prepare my mock lesson for the day! I am so thankful for cooler weather! With the cool wave going though I have been able to at least sleep which was not easy the first two nights here. I will post more later! Enjoy your day!

Six Days

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware
~Martin Buber~

Well, I am down to the six day mark. In six days I will be in California ready to begin my preparation for my summer adventures. This week we found out some of the places we will be living and working while in Hungary. It has been a fun weekend looking up the various places on the internet even if I could only read some of the sites. The dreaded, very difficult Hungarian language is still tripping me up.

Our time in Hungary is going to be jammed packed. We will be working at four different English Camps in the surrounding Budapest area while we are in Hungary. These camps will be located in Tahi, Budakeszi, Rakoskeresztur, and Bicske. Even though I have not a clue how to pronounce these names I am excited to move around to different locations and have variety while we are gone. At the end of our work camps we should have a few days to tour and sightsee and relax our brains and bodies before coming home. We will be coming home a week earlier than originally anticipated, however this change has brought me great relief. I was very worried about having only a few days getting everything ready at school and not having time to adjust to life after being away, but I feel so much better knowing I will not have to feel so pressured once I get home.

Well, I think that is everything. I have all my bags packed and I am ready to go…well except for my carry-on… I will post again before I leave for CA with any last minute news! I hope all the dads out there had a Happy Father's Day!

16 Days And Counting....

Well, a great school year is done. I have been putting my trip to Hungary in the back of my mind so that I could focus on getting through the last weeks of school. It was not an easy group of students to say good-bye to and was an even harder end to the year knowing that my teammate next door was moving on to a new school. I don't think I should have passed along all my unused Kleenex boxes. I think I used a whole box myself the last day of school! Now that school is over, I can finally focus on my work in Hungary.

I will be leaving for training in California in 16 days. I know the next few days will go quickly as I pack and prepare to live out of my suitcase for the summer.... PLEASE LET MY SUITCASE ARRIVE WITH ME.... that is my greatest traveling fear! The last weeks have been nerve wracking. The weekend before Memorial Day we heard that the people who are normally the contacts for Hungary were in a bad car accident and unable to do the program for the summer. I was a bit nervous when we had to come up with a backup plan since my heart was set on going to Hungary. After lots of work from the home office in California, they found some new contacts and Hungary is back on. It has been an up-down-all around journey the last couple weeks, but I feel a lot better knowing all the research and language studies I have been doing are not going to waste. The Internet has been a wonderful thing. I found two people on Face book who will be on my team this summer and we have been chatting back and forth. I am feeling better knowing I will at least be able to put some faces with names when arriving at training.

I am off to do some organizing and packing! I hope that all you teachers out there enjoyed your last few days of school and will be enjoying your summer break! I will be posting again as more news comes my way about where we will be working and living this summer. We hope to know before leaving for training!

About Refugee Camps In Hungary

Who Is A Refugee?

• A Refugee is someone with a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, who is outside of his or her country of nationality and unable or unwilling to return. Refugees are forced from their countries by war, civil conflict, political strife or gross human rights abuses. There were an estimated 14.9 million refugees in the world in 2001 - people who had crossed an international border to seek safety - and at least 22 million internally displaced persons who had been uprooted within their own countries.

Refugee Camps In Hungary:

• There are currently 11 refugee camps in Hungary, which fall into one of two categories: Reception Centers and Border Camps. Reception centers are for those persons seeking asylum. Border camps, however, are for those persons who are either denied asylum or found crossing out of Hungary illegally. In general, border camp residents stay for long term periods. Over 1000 refugees including 300 children are lacking schooling and recreational facilities. The average stay in a refugee camp is three to six months, but many stay longer. The Refugees hail from over 30 nations including: Somalia, Ghana, Iraq, Afghanistan, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia. Spacing in the camps is very tight and nearly filled to capacity

My Summer Hungary Adventures

Hello Everyone! For those of you who are checking this site, I am just in the beginning stages of preparing for my summer to Hungary. I thought this would be a good way to keep in touch with those of you who would like to follow my jouney! I can't wait to share this adventure with you! More to come later!