Teaching Mayhem and Lots of Golosh

Hello All!

So I now have two solid days of teaching under my belt and I must say it is seriously hard work! I really do love it though. Anyways, Let me start from Monday night. My new friend Edena and her boyfriend Zoolie invited me out for some sort of walk. I really had no idea what the plan was, but I was prety psyched to hang out with locals my age so away I went. Also, I don;t have a cell phone here, which in gewnerally has been extremly freeing, however it is about 10 times more difficult to find someone in a large Romanian market without one. I did find them, though, and we wne tfor a brief walk through a loval park. Both Edena and Zoolie are English majors at a local college, so they were excited to practice their English with me. Edena is sweet and a bit quiet, she wears long colorful skirts and her glasses always. Zoolie is very, very tall and thin, with a happy face, and a tiny mustashe. He wears glasses which he constantly switches for shiny avator sunglasses depending on the amount of shade. He is a pretty quirky, funny guy with a goofy sense of humor. They have been dating for a year and a half, and they are so sweet and loving to each other all the time. They hold hands whereever they go.

We walked for wuite a bit and then abruptly stopped in front of a closed, unmarked wooden door. Zoolie annouced this is the pub where I would meet some of their "colleagues". At first I was rather confused by how they called everyone we met up with their "colleagues" and not their friends. While on the tram yesterday, we had a very interesting chat about the word. They told me in Romania, you only have one maybe two people you actually call friends. This is someone you have most liely known for years, and trust completly. Everyone else is a "colleague", or an aquaintance. In America, they said, it seems everyone has many friends, however this is not quite true in Hungarian culture.

After the pub, which was quite fun, we headed back to my host family's home. I really feel pretty much at home here now. Dora, my host sister, si adorable and spunky, but she is too shy to speak English to me. As I speak no Hunagrain, we mostly just smile at each other a lot and I nod encouragingly. Hopefully she will feel more comfortable speaking to me soon. The talk of the house is her birthday party, which is on Saturday. Tomorrow I will help her mom make the cake. We have been debating cake flavors, fillings, and frosting for 3 days, but it was finally decided yellow cake, chocolate pudding filling, vanilla frosting.

I lesson planned for about 2 hours that night, but I was so anxious about the next day I woke up several times throughout the night. I was unsure of my students levels, and had no idea if what i had planned would be appropriate.

I had planned with my host mother the night before to wake up at around 745, in order to get to the school a half an hour before class to make photocopies and such. After tossing and turning all night, I woke up to my host mother Otilia gently sayign "Good Morning Emma". I rolled ou of bed and walked to the kitchen where she had layed out a beautiful breakfast of motzerella, tomatos, bread, corn bread with fruit baked in, homemade jam, and coffee. I sat down and lazily looked at the clock. It was 8:37. I was supposed to be my classroom 7 minutes ago! Anyone who knows me well knwos how much I hate being late. I started to mentally calculate how much time the tram would take (15 minutes or so) and started to panic. I downed my coffee, washed my face and put on clothes in 3 minutes flat. As I rush into the kitchen all ready to go, my host sister, who was to come to schoolw ith me on the tram daily, is leisurely drinking her hot coco. My host family, as I learned that morning, does not rush. Their mind frame was Ok we overslept a bit but why not enjoy your expresso? As I waited for her to dress, I took a deep breath and remembered this experience is all abotu fitting into thei culture and mindframe. And really it was going to be just fine. I also thought about how even though my host mother overselp, her first thought was to lay out a beautful breakfast for me and let me sleep a few extra minutes. Yet I had barely appreciated the meal. I am going to try to not rush foir the rest of my time here. It was a goodlesson for me, in a way, I think.

After Dora finsihed getting ready, we rushed to the tram. Riding the tram is a rather unique experience. The tram is sort of the giant, lumbering metal trolley with all sorts of graffitti and such. It goes about 20 miles an hour and makes very frequent stops. Also, it doesn't stop for anyone, so you better look both ways before you cross the tracks. We arrived at the school, which is in a community center in the town square. I ran up the stairs and walked into the classroom and their were instantly 25 curious pairs of eyes glued on me. My first class is my little ones, the 6 to 10 age group. They are seriously adorable.

Being a teacher is kind of intense. For a whole hour, you are on, on, on. My first class went well, we played a game where we stood in a circle and threw a small ball to each other. When you caught the ball you had to say "Hello my name is..." My second class, which is the beginner 11-13 year old group, was a bit more haphazerd. I totally underestimated their language ability so we blew through my lesson plans in 20 minutes. Then I had to freestyle a whole lesson plan baed on the theme, which I dreamed up in class, of "Going to the Doctor" vocabulary. I was exhausted by the end of that class, and I still had two hours left! My third class, advanced 11-13 year olds, went much more smoothly and I felt much more in control. My fourth class, which is the 14-17 year olds was the most fun. They are very advanced speakers so my lesson plans can be much more creative. We played an improv game called Taxi Driver and some icebreakers.

I fianlly went home with Dora, where my host mother had prepared a vat of golosh, a traditional Hunagrian stew. It was very good, and she even tryed putting soy in it because I told her I liked it. Later, I met Edena and Zoolie and walked around for just about 3 hours. They are so sweet, they have sort of appointed themselves my unofficial Oradea tourguides. They showed me just about every church and town, and even a synagog or two. They also wouldn't let me pay for anything. Later, I had dinner with my host family. Afterwards, I had a very long talk with hod mother about education and the Gypsies. There are many Gypsies in Romania. My host mother works in child protection services and has had a lot of experience with the Gypsy community. Gypsises are ostresized by most of Romanian society, and face many issues. She expressed frustation at what she sees at their refusal to integrate into soceity. It was really great to hear her prospective on the violatile issue, especially since she is so committed to education and child rights. We talked about other things as well, such as family and kids. It was a really nice conversation overall.

Teaching today went much more smoothly. My favorite part was the debate I am organizing with my older students. It will take place on Thursday. I am genuinly really excited. I actually like teaching a lot. It's hard work, what with four hours of lessons, two hours of lesson planning, and nearly 100 students, but very rewarding. It is one of the greatest challenges I have ever faced I think.

Edena invited me to her home this afternoon to have lunch. It was so touching, she had set the table the night before in her modest apartment, and had prepared the food. I am a vegetarian at home and her fried chicken was the first full meal of chicken I have eaten since I have been here. My stomach was a bit upset, but I could not refuse. Both her and Zoolie were incredibly focused on making sure I had absolutly everything I wanted. I have been absolutly floored by the amount of hospitality that has been lavished on me since I arrived, but especially by Edena and Zoolie. They will not let me pay for a single thing, and have opened thei hearts and time to me so freely. They are extremly geniune. There is no pretense of being "too cool" or any of that nonsense with them. Once they had decided to take me in, that meant spending every day with me for the last few days, and sharing their lives with me completely.

After lunch, Edena and I talked about food for a long time. We pured over recipes, and I think I will make an "American" dinner for her next week. She also showed me her textbook for her class on American culture, which was hilarous. I think she probably knows more about the American Dream and the Frontier than I do. We then went to the "cinema" with a friend of their and their favorite professor. It was a very funny American movie with Romanian subtitles.

Also, Zoolie informed me my picture was on the front page of the local newspaper, which I find flattering and slightly outrageous. He said he would bring me the article tomorrow.

I geel really happy and needed here. I am so glad I came.

I miss everyone and I love you all so much!!!!

Emma

My First Day Teaching (Sort Of)

Hey There

So today was officialy my first day as a teacher! But let me back up a little bit, because I had a very good day yesterday as well. I LOVE my host family. My host mom, Otilia, is really great. She is a social worker. She has basically bent over backwards trying to make me feel welcome here. Yesterday, she fed my 3 differnet and very large meals from 3 o'clock on. She made polenta for dinner, which i could barely eat because lunch was so filling. Then we went for a walk and ended up getting some pizza. The area I am living in is pretty nice. My family's apartment is small, just two rooms and a kitchen and bathroom. It is very homey though and every square space is covered with croqueted dolies. My room is the playroom of sorts and their is a balcony looking down on the busy street below. On the balcony lives Dora's rabbit, who is named Yasmin. Dora, my host sister, is 10 years. She doesn't speak any English, but I really like her so far. You can tell how close Dora and Otilia are, they are constantly holding hands while we walk. Dora is in one of my classes, however she is going to stay for the entire 4 and a half hours I teach so she can be my guide navigating Oradea's public transportation to work. He birthday party is this Saturday and Dora is beyond excited. We have already gone into about 3 different cake shops looking for the perfect sugar flowers to place on top of her cake.

My first day of teaching was rather hectic. I got the first solid nights sleep in 5 days and then my host mother woke me up. Breakfast was phenomenal, especialy since Otilia makes homemade jam. I took the tram with my host sister and mom to the community center where class is held. By the time 10 am rolled around there were 80 courious eyes staring at me, as I introduced myself and then divided them up into different classes. They are all terribly cute, and I like them so much already. They all kind of look at me as this sort of mysterious American girl who can magically make English fluency happen. One mother came up to me and asked if I would like to spend the weekend in their country home. It was such a nice gesture and I think I'll go for a day on Sunday. The kids are very cute and I hope to go on a few afternoon trips with them and let them show me Oradea. I cannot wait for my first full day of teaching tomorrow, although it is a bit tricky trying to design lesson plans. One of my coworkers, Edena, invited me to go for a walk and maybe to a cafe at 5. it was so nice of her to make the effort to get to know me. My first real Romanian friend! Overall I am loving being here so far and I really do feel at home with my host family. I am hoping to travel a bit the weekend after the next, and I am starting to plan that a bit.

Love and miss you all so much

Emma

I LOVE Eastern Europe

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well, I miss you all so much and I cannot believe you are half way across the world! My time here has been amazing so far and so much has happened. Sorry for not writing sooner, there was a computer at the hostel we stayed at in Budapest but it was quite competitive to get a few minutes to check one's e-mail. I arrived in Budapest after an insanely long flight and trudged up the stairs of an unlikely looking building with a night club downstairs and no obvious sign of a hostel. Once I got to the third floor I was in a clean, humble lobby and the ower was handing a key to me saying "Anything for you my darling" in a heavy Hungarian accent. I got to my room, which I was sharing with 8 other people and was immedialy invited out to lunch by one of the girls in my program. We met her freind from school, a native Hungarian and he took us to this itty bitty restaurant that served three course meals for the equivalent of 5 dollars in forunts (Hungarian currency). I got back to the hostel and met the rest of the people from my program. I must say, we all kind of clicked immediatly and even though I was only with these 12 people for a few days I already trust them with my life. Everyone is just so genuinly nice. They are all just good people.

My new friend Megan and I then went to St. Stephen's Basilica which was literally two blocks away from our hostel. We saw the famous relic, the preserved hand of St. Stephens. It was like Disneyworld meets the Vatican, because you have to put coins in this slot machine in order to light up the glass case the decaying hand is preserved in. It was morbiid, powerful, and a bit inspiring to see such a fantascally beautiful church. We went out to a beautiful restaurant that night with our entire program and our beloved in country cordinator Kinga. It was called the citadel and it was literally in an ancient fortress on the top of a very tall hill in Budapest with a sweet view of the entire city. It was wonderful. That night, despute our mutaul jet lag, we all decided to sample a bit of Budapests famous night life. It was so much fun to be with the whole group. Also, I got to witness the really hilarious Budapest phenomenon of everyone riding their bikes to go out to clubs.

The next day we woke up early and went through a teaching workshop. Then we walked aound Buda Castle, which is just stunning. We didn't have too much time their which was sad because it was really impressive. After lunch at this faboulous Greek hummus plate, my two friends and I decided to walk to the famous Hungarian Market Place. It was about a mile or so from our hostel and we decided to walk it. As I walked with these two girls I had met a little over 24 hours ago, our conversation fel like that of old friends. It was amazing how close we have become. The market place is truly hard to describe. There were hundreds of booths nestled in a massive warehouse. The bottom floor was filled with food: strudels and backlavas glistening with sugar, ripe pears peaches and some other mysterious fruits, and huge slabs of meat. Upstairs, there were booths with every type of touristy gift in the woirld. I bought Caitie a sweet present there. On our way our I bought a pear and it was so incredibly fresh as I stood outside eating it bite by bite. We walked back, and hung out a bit until dinner. For dinner we went to this Italian sort of restaurant where this tragic trumpet player was serrounading the entire restaurant. It was such unbelivable ambience, but we had to hustle back to make the Chili-Spain world cup game. Football is a huge deal here and I have watched a ton of soccer since I've came. In a park three blocks away from our hostel, they were showing the world cup game on a massive screen. Hundreds of people were squished into this pack, laughing, screaming, and cheering like no tomorrow. There is no open container law in Hungary, so everyone had beers out and was happily drinking. It was a bit strange to witness almost, but really fun. After the game, we went out to celebrate our country cordinator's birthday at her favorite bar. Our group got super lost on the walk there and we walked for a soild 45 minutes, just laughing and chatting. The bar was very cool and hip, we had a ton of fun.

The next day, we woke up a tiny bit later and headed out to a park for another teaching seminar. Afterwards, we went to the biggest and most famous thermal water bathhouse in Budapest. It was fantastic, there were a million pools of different temperatures, both inside and outside, as well as saunas galore. The highlight was definaly the massive swimming pool with fountains outside which was very hot. It felt like you were taking a bath with about 200 hundred other people. There also was this hectic whirl pool that whipped you around in a circle at a dizzying speed. We happened to run into the group of Irish backpackers we had met while out the night beofre and hung out with them for a while at the baths. After we left, with our Irish friends, we decided to check out the random Rob Stuart concert going on in the park where the baths were. It was pretty wild and the crowd was huge. We weren't lucky enough to get a glimpse of the legend, as some Hungarian artist was jamming out. We left, and agreed to meet up with our friends to watch the US v. Ghana game and eat dinner. We frantically got dressed and made the game. It was pretty thrilling and my friend Eli kept jumping up and screaming during our dinner to the surprise of the other people in the cafe. Then we very quickly got gelato and ran to another telivison. Every open air cafe on our street had a TV out with the game on, so it wasn't too hard to find one. After that, we went to our hostel, finished packing, and hung out with the group. Despite our promises to stay in, my friends and I were pulled in by the horrifically bad DJ blasting music at the night club below our hostel. The music can only be described as what you would play at a very bad wedding reception, but we danced and danced, each one of us trying to out silly the other. It was a great moment, all five of us in a cirle, dancing our hearts out to "Baby you can drive my car" and "Tainted Love".

The next morning we woke up early to catch our train to Oradea, Romania, where all our host families were coming to meet us. I was so excited and nervous. When my host mother and sister came runnign uip to me it was a really great moment. They are just the nicest people ever. My host mom speaks English very well, so we chatted for a while. She specifically made me bean soup and polenta with cheese, as well as a million Hungarian pastries. I am definatly not going to lose weight here. Her daughter, Dora, is adorable. She's ten and super cute. She doesn't speak much English but I really like her. I feel like I won the lottery with my hos family, they are just really great. I am so happy to be here, to start teaching, to start fulfilling the whole purpose of this program. I start teaching tomorrow and i can't wait!

I love you all so much!

Emma

Keep It PG People

Hey All,

Just a quick request: please keep all comments on posts appropriate as I am planning on giving this address out to relatives and other such important, nice people. So keep it PG please!!

Thanks!

Emma

I Leave Tomorrow!

Hello All!

I've spent all day packing and repacking my giant duffel bag (everything barely fits) and running around doing last minute errands. I am so excited/nervous/excited to finally get on the plane to Budapest. As I may have mentioned to some of you, I am going to have extremely limited access to the internet and almost no access to a telephone. I thought this blog was a good way to keep in touch with everyone, friends and family, on a large scale, let you know what I'm up to, and assure you all I have not been sold into white slavery (a la "Taken").

I feel so blessed and honored to have been given this opportunity to teach English in Croatia and Romania. I've always loved working with kids, but I have never managed a classroom on my own and I am pumped for the challenge. I can't wait to learn about Eastern European culture, language, and, of course, food. It's hard to leave home and I am certainly going to miss everyone I am leaving behind an insane amount. I think its worth it though. I really do believe in education, and I believe in the mission of this program.

So, my flight tomorrow will take me to Budapest, Hungary where I will have my orientation with my fellow teachers, and explore Budapest a bit too. After that, I am off to my first teaching assignment in Romania. It is going to be a very whirlwind week and I can't wait to start my adventure. I love you all so much.

Emma