Christmas Market!

Well, Christmas is just around the corner. Here in Hungary they have a Christmas Market each year at this time. Vendors come and set up booths to sell their merchandise. Almost everything that is sold is hand made and very beautiful. There is lots of pottery and jewelry. Also there are food vendors who sell traditional foods such as stuffed cabbage, sausage, and many pastries. Enjoy.

December

Well, December is already here! Crazy, I have been here for 11 months now and feeling more and more settled in. It snowed here the other day and has been rather icy since. Today one of the missionary families had a Christmas open house for all of the teachers and their families. It was very enjoyable. Then I went to a friends house and watched the movie "Awakenings" with Robin Williams. What an incredible movie. I really recommend that you watch it. It is very thought provoking in regards to the value and quality of life and what is really valuable. But be ready to cry, it is very touching. Well, that's all for now, but more pictures soon.

Chinese Dinner, again!

Well the other night Heather and I were planning to get Peking Duck. We got home from being out in town a little later than expected and weren't quite sure we wanted to venture out into the cold. So I decided to try and order over the phone, in HUNGARIAN!
I opened up my Hungarian phrase book and rehearsed how to say my address, how long will the wait be, how much will that cost, and could you repeat that. After organizing my phrases and practicing I made the phone call. And it Worked. There were some moments when the lady was talking and I had no clue what she was saying, so I just said ok. Well, it all came in just a few minutes and we got everything we bought. It was great. I felt like I had accomplished so much. So here are so pictures of us enjoying our food.

Pottery

Today, my sister and I joined a couple friends and went pottery shopping. We went to the famous "Herend" pottery store. They have had several patterns that are more than 17 years old. There are patterns with blue flowers, primrose, morning glories, and poppies. They are really lovely and I'm thinking I might begin to save money and start buying one of the patterns and build up my dish collection.

Heather in Hungary too!

Heather is visiting for a week or so and would like you to see the uniqueness of Hungarian bathrooms, which have the toilet in a separate room from the sink and shower. Also, toilets are flushed all different ways. One must guess, and to date, Heather has not seen any flush like US toilets. Hannah's is her favorite with the water tank above and the draw string. WAY COOOL! You must appreciate all things unusual when visiting a foreign country. Please enjoy the pictures of the two crazy sisters and the sister with the growing belly. (No unkind comments, please)

My Apartment!

Hi,
I had a request to show pictures of my apartment. This is my roommate Mary. We live very close to where we work. Here is a picture of the apartment and the school with only a street to separate them. The apartment is little but cozy. Enjoy!

Chinese Dinner!

Well, it has been a while since I last updated, so here is just a simple "Day in the life of Hannah" entry. Tonight I was able to catch up with my friend Sarah, who by the way got engaged this weekend, over a Chinese dinner. We took the bus to the resturant, I enjoyed some Peking Duck, and then we went to wait for the bus home. But it was going to be 30 minutes. So we decided to just walk home. It was a nice evening (not too cold) and the walk felt good.

My adventures!

Well, this week it has been cooler weather wise. Today I was actually cold while sleeping and it was great. On Monday, I was coming home from language school and got on a bus that I thought would take me home. However, about 1/2 way through my ride I sensed that I had never been there before and I realized that I was not on the right bus. I decided to stay on and see where in Erd (the next town over) it would take me and if I would know where I was and could catch another bus. However, it proceeded to stop somewhere in Erd, that I had never seen. I asked a couple bus drivers if the bus would go to Diosd, but I don't think that they understood me and I don't think the buses did go to Diosd. So I called one of the other teachers from my school and told him where I was and asked if he could try and find me and pick me up. His wife had just arrived home from taking graduate classes in Germany, but he said that he was on his way out and could help me out. I was concerned that he wouldn't be able to figure out where I was, but thankfully after about 20 minutes he showed up. My heart was so relieved and I learned to really check out which bus I get on. Well, that's all for now.

Had a great time in America!

My time in Illinois was really fun. I was able to enjoy my family and dear friends, as well as drive a car and drink rootbeer. It wasn't that hard to go back to America (because I've always lived there), but the biggest culture shock was that everyone spoke English. It was great to be able to understand and to be understood. That is something that doesn't happen everyday here in Hungary. I have learned to listen and be quiet more here, but ones ears to perk up when you hear english from anyone on the bus or the sidewalk or in a store. Comprehension is a gift, not always a given.

Hearts for Hungary

I wanted to share with you all what I did today. Tomorrow is a holiday here in Hungary (in honor of May 1, May Day). Here in Hungary when there is a holiday, most things are closed, including the smaller grocery stores. The shopping stores and museums and such are closed too. A real holiday for everyone. The only thing that is hard about this is that these are the days I have off of school and I want to see things, but most things are closed. Well, today not everything was closed quite yet. So I joined another family, the Myers, who are from my mission and we went to Visagrad (about an hour and a half away from Diosd where we live). There are Roman ruins as well as medieval castle ruins in Visagrad. It was great to see the country side and Visagrad is right along the Danube river (in Hungary it is called the Duna) and the castle is up this very tall hill looking down on the Duna and the valley. It was really pretty. The Medieval castle was first built in the 1200's and was used at times as the Hungarian royal seat. I have included a picture of the Hungarian flag flying high at the castle. I also included just for fun a picture of McDonalds. It is here in Hungary and very popular!! I just wanted you to know that I still can get a cheeseburger and fries.

At school

Right now we are in the midst of putting together the musical West Side Story. I am actually playing violin in the orchestra pit. It is very challenging music, but I'm having fun. Here is a picture of the 'Jets' dancing at the very beginning. The guy in the Green shirt is my friend Joel. He is a senior at ICSB and playing "Rif", the leading of the jets.

Also I have included a picture of two of my sweet first graders, Katie and Mimi. They were very glad to have their picture taken and you can tell how dear they are by their smiles.

Spring Break Trip

During my spring break I went to Germany for a teacher conference. Here is a picture of Austria from the bus window (it was about 17 hours to drive from Budapest to southern Germany). It was so beautiful to see mountians. I was also able to see two friends who graduated with me from Moody Bible Institute, Rachel Hosan (serving at Black Forest Academy as an RA) and Sara Leszczynski (serving as a piano teacher at a Christian school around Madrid Spain). Here is a picture of us at the house where Rachel lives. It was so great to see people that I love and already knew, as well as to see what God is doing around Europe.

Girls winning Basketball Tournament!

Honors Choir in Budapest Hungary!

U tube videos

I thought you might enjoy a few videos of my life here in Budapest. There is a video of me downtown, the honor's choir that was held at my school (they are singing in an old church right off of the Danube river), and the ICSB girls team winning the basketball tournament that was held at ICSB (my school). I hope these give you a better idea of what I've been experiencing.

Downtown Budapest, Hungary!

I'm still alive

Sorry it has been so long since I posted. I am doing well and enjoying living here. I was sick for the past week and so had several days off to just sleep and relax. I went into downtown on Friday (because we had the day off from school) and finally feel like I could take the public into Budapest by myself and figure out the public transportation! This is such a liberating feeling. My friend Lisa and I first tried to find the American Embassy. We walked around looking for an American flag. We eventually asked for directions, but seeing that they were half in Hungarian it was hard. I didn't know this, but the American embassy is completely blocked off and you have to have your passport to enter the building. We eventually made it in and took care of some business. Then we went to the covered market (a very touristy place) where there are so many wonderful and beautiful wooden boxes and table clothes, runners, and doilies. I had a Langos (pronounced lon gosh)which is a deep fried piece of bread and then they put toppings on it. It was a little greasy for me to eat the whole thing but was good. It was a very fun day.

The pictures are as follows:
The house is where I live right now.
The pictures of the girls brushing their teeth is Audry (in 4th grade)who is the daughter of the people is live with, Sarah and Emma who are the other girls who live upstairs in my house. We were having a teeth brushing party just for fun!
There is a picture of my friend Lisa in front of Iguanas (a Mexican restaurant). We were so glad to have found it. We wandered around for about 30 minutes looking for it and were about to give up when Lisa said, "there it is". We had literally walked about a block away from it twice.
Then the last picture is of Parliament.
More later
Hannah Bea

Life as a teacher!

Well, it has been an interesting two weeks. Last week was a great week. I felt like my students were understanding me and I them. They were asking and answering questions and applying what I have been teaching them. With my highschool students I was able to have some conversations with them and learn more about them. My 2nd grade boys were actually enjoying class and participating. Then came this week. Monday I had 6th grade band and it was awefull, I cried after it was done. It is very hard for me to be extremely strict because I feel like I'm being mean, yet I have to be strict or the class is totally out of control. So throughout the whole week I've just been dreading today when I have band again. But by the Lord's grace they were much better behaved today and I was holding to my own rules and being strict but kind. I guess I realized that some days in life are easy and some are really hard. I don't know what to expect each day I walk into a class. Each week it is different, but I long to rest in the Lord more and rely on him each moment of each class for inspiration, patience and the ability to discipline as I need to promote learning and character growth (for both me and and my students).

Downtown Budapest, Hungary!

Below you will find a picture of Sarah, one of the girls who lives at the house where I live, and I waiting for the Volanbusz (the bus) to go to Budapest on Sunday morning. We went to mass at the Church in the picture, we thought it was going to be a concert, but it was just high mass (but the choir sang and the organ was played). Then walked around Fishermen's Bastion, which is a stone walkway, that overlooks the Danube river and Pest. The next picture is of my lunch, fried camembert cheese with rice and berry jam. It was amazingly delicious. I'm working on putting a video on here of a man playing a violin.

This week!

Well, this past week went rather well. I thought I would be going out of town this weekend to Croatia for a prayer retreat, but some of the people coming were not feeling well so it was canceled. It had been hard to find a sub anyway, and it was good to be with my students. I was able to plan ahead for next week since I thought I would be gone the whole weekend, so that was good. Next week is Spiritual emphasis week and I am in charge of a 10 minute chapel time each day. It did actually snow here last week but only about 1/2 of an inch. It has been cold this week and I've been grateful for rides to and from school through out the week. Oh, there is this great Greek resturante in Erd, which is the next town over, but still very close and it has very good food.
more later,
Hannah

Greetings from Hungary

I wanted to be able to share with you all pictures of what I'm doing and seeing while I'm here in Hungary. So I hope you enjoy learning more about Hungary and what I'm experiencing. The pictures include the wall, door and front of my music classroom, looking down the elementary hallway from my room, the high school music room and two pictures from my window where I live. You can see that there is not really any grass in people's yards, mostly trees and every fences their yard.