The first snow!

Long Weekend

This past weekend was long because October 23rd is a National Holiday here. So we had Thursday and Friday off. My friend Becca and I decided about a week and a half before the weekend to go to Prague (said Praha in Hungarian) for the weekend. We were able to see some of the most famous sights. Now let me tell you that Prague is beautiful and extremely quaint and perfectly European. It has a charm that other big cities like Vienna and Budapest don't have. The main reason is that the streets and sidewalks are mostly cobblestone, the streets are narrow and the buildings talk. There are many shops lining the streets - they don't really open till around 9:00 or 10:00 am, but they stay open late. The city is quite lit up at night and certain buildings just glow. I have included some pictures of some of my favorite things. Church of our lady before Tyn - is a unique church with amazing gothic towers. At night it looked almost fake. This is the dial of the Astronomical clock found on the Old Town Hall Tower in Old Town Square. The lit up building is the Rudolfinum, a large concert hall where we were able to hear a wonderful concert of the Prague symphony orchestra. The last picture is of Charles bridge looking over towards the Prague castle. It was very crowded starting about mid morning. This bridge was full of street venders and is lined with statues. If you've never been to Prague, I recommend it highly.

Orchestra Concert

So, yesterday night I went downtown and went to the Hungarian State Opera House to hear an orchestra play Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. It was simply wonderful. What was especially exciting is that my friends and I bought the 400 forint tickets = $2.20. These tickets have limited view (and I mean limited), in that you can only see about 1/4 of the orchestra and that is if you are leaning forward. Sitting back you really can't see the orchestra, but you can hear the music. Several different people caught my eye. There was the box with 3 college boys, in their shirt and ties, as if they had come out for a bit of culture but weren't use to this style. Then there was the man in the box below them whose hand barely stopped moving. It was as if he knew or had played the piano part for these songs, or had conducted them at one time many years ago. As my eyes drifted across the rows and boxes on the opposite side of the tall auditorium, I was drawn to the box with 6 Hungarian ladies in it. They were probably in their late 60's and were dressed up and truly enjoying the music. The Hungarian people love music and are very intent listeners. They sit so still and focus on the players and conductor. To show how much they love the music they applaud and applaud. They never stand, but instead they all syncronize their claps into a very slow steady clap and then get faster and faster all together. At this point they break into normal clapping again. But pretty soon, they'll all find the beat again and start clapping together. This can go on for minutes. Last night they clapped for probably 4 minutes, then the orchestra did and encore. Then the audience began clapping all over again. They truly have a love for the arts. I have added two pictures for you. The first one is the outside of the Opera House. The second one is the inside. The stage, you can't see it, is to the right. I was sitting in the top row on the far right of the picture. The reason you can't see is because you face the other side of the room, not the stage. ENJOY!!!

Strange thoughts

Welcome back! School has begun and is in full swing, so it is now time to welcome you back to my weekly blog. I will be updating each week (sometimes more), just to give you a taste of my life here in Hungary and what goes on. Kind of a "Day in the Life" of Hannah. Living in another country brings about unique (at times awkward) situations. Like the other day a man on the street decided he wanted to talk to me. I had no idea what he was saying, so I smiled, told him in Hungarian that I only spoke a little. He nodded, smiled and and said something like "Oh, I understand dear, have a nice day." It made me smile a bit. Or yesterday when I called the pizza place, asked if anyone spoke English and got a solid "Nem" (no). So in my limited Hungarian I proceeded to order a szalami (pepperoni, but we call it salami) pizza and give my friends address for delivery. About 45minutes later the pizza showed up (I always feel like I've conquered the world when it works). Well, yesterday I had the strangest thought. Here in Hungary refrigerators are quite small, making the freezer even smaller. I had a roommate so I get half of a very small freezer. Now as I was growing up we had a giant deep freeze so we could stock up. Well, it has been really hard for me to stock up and freeze leftovers for later meals. So yesterday, I saw an aid for an upright freezer and I got so excited and wanted to buy it. Now I don't know about you, but I have never had an urge to buy a freezer before. I don't think I'll buy it, but it sure got me thinking about buying a smaller one or freeze things in the school freezers. I'll keep you posted if I decide to get creative.

Fun in my apartment!

This was a fun night. Kendall and I, totally beat Mary (my roommate) and Tarissa in the game hand and foot. Kendall and I were pretty excited! There is also a video of Kendall telling about her day!

Moody Chorale in Budapest!

The Moody Chorale came to Budapest and was hosted by ICSB. Rebecca (the other music teacher) and I worked hard to put all the details together. We heard great things from the families who hosted the students. I was really glad to have them come and share their music with the school community and the Diosd community. It was especially important to me because I knew about 1/3 of the students, as well as Mr. Ed, Dr. and Mrs. Cornman and Beth Naegele. It was really special to show them my life here in Hungary. On the Monday they were here, I guided the tour bus downtown Budapest and showed my friends, Matt, Joel, Nicole, Jonathan, and Beth (plus some other students) some of my favorite places. We ate palaczintas (similar to crepes) and then went up to castle hill and walked around. I got some sun and was able to talk to my dear college friends and see what was going on in their lives after graduation. These pictures are of Matt and I and Joel and I from Castle hill, overlooking the Danube River.

High School Play

These pictures are from the day of the Spring Play at ICSB. Sarah, Rachel, and I worked on the costumes, sewing them up, combing wigs, etc. Sarah was the stage manager. My roommate Mary and I gave those girls flowers for all their hard work. We got a bit silly! The play was called "The Brother's Grimm Spectacularthon," and was a collection of many fairy tales all intertwined. It was quite funny and the kids did a great job.

Hearts for Hungary!

As mentioned before, the public transportation here in Hungary has been having strikes recently. This has not been good, because basically there are then too many cars downtown and it disadvantages all the citizens who daily use the public transportation. Yesterday a strike was to begin and last for who knows how long. This was to make a statement in hopes of getting some guarantees for better conditions for the workers. However, the two parties involved were able to come to a peaceful agreement, resolving some issues. Therefore there was no strike today!!!

Elementary Spring Concert

On May 20th, the elementary students performed the Spring Concert. The dress rehearsal the day before went okay, but the energy level was much higher for the real performance. I was really proud of the kids, they did great. This concert was a culmination of what we had studied throughout the semester. We sang songs from Africa, a broadway show, a song the students worked on composing, the 4th graders played xylophones in ensembles and the 5th graders played recorders and chimes. It was a very diverse concert. I think the audience enjoyed it too.

May Day

May Day in Hungary is similar to US labor day. It was declared this in 1958 by the Soviet Union and the Hungarians chose to keep it as a holiday. The celebrations here in Hungary were very fun. During the day there was a festival at Hosok Ter, Hero Square. Each hour there was a new musical dance style presented, then taught to the audience (great fun). Then in between the presentations, there was a group of traditionally dressed people, a man on stilts and musicians playing. They would parade out to the music and tie ribbons to birch trees, the audience helping in this, and then erect them around the square. I especially enjoyed dancing and watching the "rock and roll" dancers. I worked my way into the crowd the 2nd time, and tied a ribbon onto a tree myself. At the end of the night there were fire works and they played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".

A day in the sun!

On Sunday, I was able to go downtown for just a couple hours and hang out in a park. It was a sunny, warm spring day and it was fun to just soak up the sun. I was with my friend Ruth. I got some ice cream and then we found this bench beside a pond to sit on and visit. The only problem was that the bench was out on a small pier. You had to climb over a fence to get to the pier. Now there was a sign (in Hungarian) beside the fence you had to climb over. We have no idea what it said, but others were sitting on these benches on different piers. It wasn't so hard getting to the pier, but getting back over the fence posed a problem for my friend who was wearing a very long dress. There were some ladies nearby and they must have gone home laughing, because I literally was holding onto my friends waist helping her not fall on her seat. It was a very fun afternoon. Pictures, soon to come.

Hearts for Hungary!

Here in Hungary the transportation system is regularly on strike. The buses, trams or trains will go on strike for a day or more in order to get better working conditions or pay. Usually it is announced, so people know to plan ahead. This past week there was a strike and therefore there were many more cars in downtown than usual. This affects many of our school's students who live in downtown and come out of town to the school.
One time I was coming back from visiting my cousin in Germany. I went to fly back to Hungary and the ticket clerk informed me that there was a . . . riot in Hungary (she was unsure how to translate strike, so she told me it was a riot). I wasn't shocked because in addition to strikes, riots or demonstrations, are pretty common here. Later I learned that one of the airports was on strike. Good thing my flight went into the other airport.

This week!

This week I would like to ask you to pray for the elementary students. Many of them are struggling to follow directions and respect their teachers. Although these attitudes are so important, the heart is much more important. Pray that God will touch their hearts and challenge them to care and honor Jesus in everything that they do. Please pray for me and the other teachers as well. I want to give grace but lovingly correct and discipline. I need wisdom on how to do this the best way for each student.


On a different note, I bought a crockpot (or slow cooker) here and am so excited. The other day, while walking home from a friends house, I met up with a parent. We began talking and somehow cooking came up. She mentioned that she had seen slow cookers at Tesco and I got so excited. I had wanted one of these this past fall, but didn't really know if they existed here. Apparently they are hard to find. Well, I got one for around $20 and tried it out today for the first time. It was wonderful and such a save of time for a busy teacher like myself (see picture).

Also, this past week I have had major progress with my 6th grade class. They will be singing one song and playing a few songs on recorders. It took a while for them to understand and catch on to what we were doing in class. I think my expectations were a little high. So I reconsidered what I wanted them to accomplish and they practiced. They sounded great today! I am feeling much better about the concert on April 30th.

I will be heading out on Friday for Vienna. I am helping with a highschool German field trip (they will be practicing their German in Austria). Please pray that as I hang out for 2 days with the highschool students that I will be able to get to know some of them better and be a good encourager and listener. Please pray for great spiritual and life conversations to occur during this trip. Love to you all, Hannah

Hearts For Hungary

I wanted to tell you a little bit of what God has done in Hungary in the past few years. I attend a church that is in Hungarian, but then translated into English. About two weeks ago they held their first baptism service and about 40 people were baptized. It was so amazing to see people of all ages publicly dedicating their lives to Christ. The church is growing and is considering adding a third service. I guess we are told that God is moving among the people of every nation around the world, but to have first hand eye witness was so encouraging to me and challenged me to continually pray for the souls of the nations.

I have included some pictures

Easter Sunday!

Well, every Easter is a little different I guess. This year I went to church in the morning and then went to my favorite palacsinta resturante with my friend Paula. We sat upstairs and looked out at the Danube river and the Parliment building. While eating we noticed this elderly woman who was literally being attacked by pigeons. They thought she had food so over 50 swarmed in to see what she had. She eventually stood up and started to walk away, but they all followed her. It was quite a sight to see. After lunch, Paula and I took a train to Szentendre, a small town where we tried to take a bus to an outside Easter Folklore museum. Tried is the key word. We had just missed the bus, so we went into town to get some chocolate and walk the hour off. As we were heading back to the bus stop, we saw a bus driving away - we had missed it twice. At this point we decided to just go back home. Although we didn't see what we set out to see (an Easter Festival, traditional egg painting etc.), we did have a good time talking and laughing. That was my Easter Sunday 2008!

Enjoying LIFE!

Tonight I'm just thinking about life and how good it is. It has been some time, since I last wrote which means so much has happened. But today, right now my mom is visiting me here in Hungary. We have had a great time, especially that we went to the comic opera of Cinderella by Rossini at the Thalia Theater in Budapest. It was wonderful. We really enjoyed it. There was this darling man, in his 80's, from the UK. He was so fun to watch as he shared his thoughts on the opera with his traveling companions. He reminded me and mom of my Grandpa Landreth, so sweet. In just a few more days mom and I will leave for our spring break trip. We are traveling to Vienna and then on to Salzburg to enjoy some rest and see some new things. I will then return to Budapest for my 2nd Easter here. Just a little taste of what I'll be up to in the next couples weeks. Just wanted you to know I'm still alive and kicking.
Hannah