Eventful Weekend

Well my weekend went something like this:

Friday- Movie night with my students
Saturday- Babysit in replacement of my roommate who breaks ankle while babysitting
Sunday- Visit said roommate in hospital

It was an absolutely crazy and pretty much non-stop weekend. Friday night was fantastic. I had about 6 students over for a movie night. I baked them brownies and apple pie while we watched Date Night. They had never seen it before and they seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. It was a great time to have them over and bond with them even more. I'm even making some progress with some students that I though didn't like me too much at the beginning of the year. Turns out that they just take a while to warm up to someone new. :)

Saturday was crazy. My house was left looking like a fraternity had torn through here because there were plates and glasses as well as food remnants everywhere left over. Well, while I was eating breakfast and even before I had the chance to clean up, I got a call from my roommate who was laying in the snow at a park saying that she had broken her ankle. The ambulance and her fiance were both on the way, but she needed me to take a taxi over there ASAP in order to cover for her while she went to the hospital.

Turns out, she has a severely fractured ankle and they had to do surgery in order to repair it. They had to put a metal plate and some screws in there in order to strengthen it again. She's going to be in the hospital for a few more days in order to recover, but she'll be stuck at home for about 5-6 weeks. BUMMER! She was supposed to start teaching at the University again this week, but has to find some sort of replacement since she can't cancel that many classes. I visited her yesterday and gave her some company for a little less than 2 hours. She's in a lot of pain, but she's a tough gal. She said that God is already healing her ankle and it already felt astronomically better before they even did the surgery. So, we're all obviously still praying for a ridiculously quick recovery. I can't wait for her to get home since she's been gone to various places for almost 2 weeks. SO, please be praying that everything heals correctly and quickly, but also pray that something works out for her classes. It's a huge stress factor for her and we're all looking for some possible options in order to help her out.

Prom

My students had their version of Prom this past weekend and it was so much fun to attend. They don't have anything like in America, their dances are more like performances. They actually have choreographed waltzes that they do as a class, then a dance that they make up on their own for fun, then a dance with their parents. All of the girls wear wedding dresses and the boys wear tuxedos. The main point of the event is for the 13th graders to recieve a ribbon from the school that is a sign of their up-and-coming graduation. It's to encourage them to keep going and finish strong.

A lot of the Hungarian teachers felt indifferent to the event because they've been through so many of them and the think it's a little pointless, but I really enjoyed it. First, it really made me realize the differences in culture. This is a REALLY big deal to the students here and much more classy than prom. Second, even though it wasn't any of my students getting the ribbons, it still made me proud to be a part of that. If I stay next year, I will be the one up on stage pinning the ribbons on my class that I am the assistant head-teacher for.

Coming back is something that I am continuously praying about since it's such a big decision. I have to make my decision in March and that's only a short time away. There is so much to offer in both places and I know that there isn't any right or wrong answer, but I want to make sure that I'm in the place that God is going to use me the most. Keep praying for me!

Coffeehouse

I took two of my student girls to Coffeehouse last night and it was fantastic. It's in a basement of a church and it's open every Friday night for a few hours where you can just hang out while they play music (either live or from a playlist). It was supposed to be 4 of my students, but one got sick and the other one had a transportation conflict, so it ended up just being 3 of us, but it was so much fun. We just sat around and talked for about 3 hours and hung out together.

I'm really excited that I get these chances to keep bonding with these girls. They said that they'd like to come back more often, so I'm looking forward to those times too :)

Connections Galore

I know it's been a while, but I've been busy running all over the place here in the big city. BUT it's been so beneficial because I've been making so many connections and really building my relationships.

First, I'm going to attend an exercise class with a few of my girl students twice a week and I'm really excited about it! It's called Kangoo Jumping and it's basically a dance class where you wear these crazy space- agey looking shoes and jump around to some great, upbeat music. They've also invited me out with them for hot chocolate and just some general hang out time. I have to say that I'm incredibly blessed because it means that my invested time and many, many prayers have started to bear fruit. :)



I also met a guy last night that might possibly start joining the Bible study that I attend every Tuesday. I was meeting with my friend, Nicki, before the Bible study at our little slice of American-heaven...Starbucks. Well, she asked me a question about baseball that one of her students had asked her and we spent a little time discussing it. Then we spent some other time talking about our schools/students, etc. A few minutes later a guy behind me perked up and asked what company we teach with. We started up a conversation with him and then come to find out that he actually went to Lynchburg college which is about 5 miles away from my college, Liberty!! It was crazy. Anyway, we invited him to join our Bible study some time. He said that he goes back and forth in spiritual things, but it interests him nonetheless. So thanks to a loud conversation about baseball being overheard, we might have a new member to our home fellowship group.

I'm really, really excited about these opportunities (among others) that I've been given in order to build relationships and get to know some people through the city.