Yikes. Over a month since I blogged.
Well, this past weekend I went on a trip to a city in the north of Hungary with the class that I'm assistant form teacher to. It was fun, but anything except for restful. We stayed in a cabin and just hung out around the campsite and visited the zoo and stuff during the day. It was pretty low key. There was quite a bit of drama and a few hiccups, but that's to be expected when you have 21 high schoolers in a contained area.
It was a great time for me to get to relax and connect with all of my students outside of the classroom. I do that quite a bit with certain students, but there are a few that I'd really like to get to know more. I'm also super thankful for the time that I got to spend with one of my colleagues, Erika. She's an incredible woman who has helped me through so much this past year... I probably wouldn't have survived without her.
All-in-all it was a great trip, but it's definitely going to take me a while to recover from it. There are 3 weeks and 1 day left of school and I have to say that I'm rather pumped about my up and coming trip back to the States!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Parental Unit Visitation
This past week my dad and his wife, Pam came to visit and they leave tomorrow. It's been a blast so far and I'm going to be very sad to see them leave. Two days before they got here I was hit (HARD) with some sort of flu thing and had a temperature hovering around 100-101 for 2 days (the highest was 101.9). So, I was really scared that I was going to be stuck in bed for most of their visit which would have been a huge bummer all around. Through a lot of prayer, though, I recovered and was only lagging the first full day they were here.
We got to spend time seeing the sites (we spent 5 days sight-seeing and still didn't get even close to all of it) and just had a lot of fun hanging out. Tonight I cooked dinner for everyone and 3 of my students came over to join. My dad had a lot of fun interrogating them, essentially. It was so nice to be able to catch up with people from back home and just spend some quality time with them. I also loved being able to show people from America my new home and showing them what I get to experience everyday.
Now that my dad has spent almost a week here, he's also told me that he's much more comfortable with me being here. Budapest is a lot nicer than what he thought it would be, I suppose. I head off to Amsterdam tomorrow as they head back to America. I'm spending the rest of my break with my friend Esther (the Dutch girl who used to live here) and I'm beyond excited to see her again! I'll make sure to try to post a few pictures of Dad and Pam's visit when I finally get the pictures uploaded.
We got to spend time seeing the sites (we spent 5 days sight-seeing and still didn't get even close to all of it) and just had a lot of fun hanging out. Tonight I cooked dinner for everyone and 3 of my students came over to join. My dad had a lot of fun interrogating them, essentially. It was so nice to be able to catch up with people from back home and just spend some quality time with them. I also loved being able to show people from America my new home and showing them what I get to experience everyday.
Now that my dad has spent almost a week here, he's also told me that he's much more comfortable with me being here. Budapest is a lot nicer than what he thought it would be, I suppose. I head off to Amsterdam tomorrow as they head back to America. I'm spending the rest of my break with my friend Esther (the Dutch girl who used to live here) and I'm beyond excited to see her again! I'll make sure to try to post a few pictures of Dad and Pam's visit when I finally get the pictures uploaded.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Child-like Faith
I love the little reminders that God gives us throughout our lives through the simplest things.
I was sitting on the tram today watching this little girl with her grandparents (who absolutely adored her, of course). This little girl was sitting on her grandmother's lap looking out of the window with so much amusement and awe. It was like she was discovering the world for the first time. She couldn't really talk, so she was squealing with delight at every new sight that came into view.
It reminded me how Jesus called us to have the faith of a child. To sit there in awe of his creation and of Him. That child had no cares in the world other than what was happening right at that moment and she was relishing in the love of her grandparents. She had no worries about what tomorrow holds or even if she was going to be safe. She completely and utterly trusted nanny and papa to protect her.
I pray for that sort of faith. That I would have no cares or concerns and that I would just be able to sit in awe and complete trust every single day.
PS: My dad comes in less than 2 weeks!!!
I was sitting on the tram today watching this little girl with her grandparents (who absolutely adored her, of course). This little girl was sitting on her grandmother's lap looking out of the window with so much amusement and awe. It was like she was discovering the world for the first time. She couldn't really talk, so she was squealing with delight at every new sight that came into view.
It reminded me how Jesus called us to have the faith of a child. To sit there in awe of his creation and of Him. That child had no cares in the world other than what was happening right at that moment and she was relishing in the love of her grandparents. She had no worries about what tomorrow holds or even if she was going to be safe. She completely and utterly trusted nanny and papa to protect her.
I pray for that sort of faith. That I would have no cares or concerns and that I would just be able to sit in awe and complete trust every single day.
PS: My dad comes in less than 2 weeks!!!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
typeTAP
My ah-mazing friend, Tiffany, has guided me to this project that is going on called typeTAP that is trying to bring clean water to people around the world. Tiffany and 3 other people created this ridiculously ambitious goal to raise 
$10,000 in one day in order to help others. On March 22 (3 days) an organization called The Adventure Project is using the blogs of 100 different people in order to make this goal know. I'm blogging about it a little bit early because I know that people don't read my blog that often. So- I'm doing my part and asking four of my readers to go to the adventure project site and donate at least $20 in order to help those in need.
In my Bible study recently, I've been learning about loving to those who you don't even know. Paul was a great example of this. Paul was constantly praying for and acting on the behalf of those who he never met and probably never would. My friend Tiffany is a great picture of this. I ask you to truly consider donating to this amazing goal on March 22nd. We're all very excited about it. :)
PLEASE DONATE AT:
www.theadventureproject.causevox.com
(I'm sorry if the link is not working, I'm having some trouble with it in my blog, but you can just copy and paste if nothing else)
$10,000 in one day in order to help others. On March 22 (3 days) an organization called The Adventure Project is using the blogs of 100 different people in order to make this goal know. I'm blogging about it a little bit early because I know that people don't read my blog that often. So- I'm doing my part and asking four of my readers to go to the adventure project site and donate at least $20 in order to help those in need. In my Bible study recently, I've been learning about loving to those who you don't even know. Paul was a great example of this. Paul was constantly praying for and acting on the behalf of those who he never met and probably never would. My friend Tiffany is a great picture of this. I ask you to truly consider donating to this amazing goal on March 22nd. We're all very excited about it. :)
PLEASE DONATE AT:
www.theadventureproject.causevox.com
(I'm sorry if the link is not working, I'm having some trouble with it in my blog, but you can just copy and paste if nothing else)
Friday, March 18, 2011
The Motherland!
This past week on the 15th was a national holiday for Hungary to celebrate their '56 revolution. So- lucky for me I got a 4 day weekend!!! Where did I go? Sweden!!! I say it's the Motherland because my friend Nicki's 
(who I travelled with) great-grandparents came from. It was absolutely fantastic and so relaxing. The best part of all was the fact that there were no plans- it was a "wing-it" type of trip which was exactly what I needed. We walked around the city, shopped, visited second-hand stores and the like. (The picture is one of the streets that we got to go shopping on- a pretty popular tourist area, I believe)
We even took a day trip to Norway which I will never do again- it was the most expensive place I've ever been. It was approximately $5 just for a Sprite!!!! The trip to and from was quite beautiful though. Nicki high-jacked my camera and proceeded to take about 100 pictures of the same place.
BUT I was superrrr excited because on the way back on the bus I saw a legitimate Norwegian moose on the side of the road! I know most wouldn't find that exciting, but I was quite enthralled. (This is NOT one of the pictures that Nicki took- all of hers were at sunset and therefore slightly blurry. This was on the way in to Norway- the city looked like it was floating because of all of the frozen water)
We met some AMAZING people too. We were both very sad to part at the end of our journey, but I know that we'll see them again soon. :) (These are two of the most amazing people in Sweden; Ivar on the left and Jonas on the right. Ivar is studying to be a clown and Jonas is studying magic... it's pretty awesome. They gave us a magic show before we left just so we'd leave laughing- it was great!)
(who I travelled with) great-grandparents came from. It was absolutely fantastic and so relaxing. The best part of all was the fact that there were no plans- it was a "wing-it" type of trip which was exactly what I needed. We walked around the city, shopped, visited second-hand stores and the like. (The picture is one of the streets that we got to go shopping on- a pretty popular tourist area, I believe)We even took a day trip to Norway which I will never do again- it was the most expensive place I've ever been. It was approximately $5 just for a Sprite!!!! The trip to and from was quite beautiful though. Nicki high-jacked my camera and proceeded to take about 100 pictures of the same place.
BUT I was superrrr excited because on the way back on the bus I saw a legitimate Norwegian moose on the side of the road! I know most wouldn't find that exciting, but I was quite enthralled. (This is NOT one of the pictures that Nicki took- all of hers were at sunset and therefore slightly blurry. This was on the way in to Norway- the city looked like it was floating because of all of the frozen water)We met some AMAZING people too. We were both very sad to part at the end of our journey, but I know that we'll see them again soon. :) (These are two of the most amazing people in Sweden; Ivar on the left and Jonas on the right. Ivar is studying to be a clown and Jonas is studying magic... it's pretty awesome. They gave us a magic show before we left just so we'd leave laughing- it was great!)
Women's Retreat
I know this post is...oh...two weeks late, but in my defense, my computer has been in the shop! But I can't express what a great time we all had together "shippin" as Petra called it. We just spent the entire weekend hanging out, spending time together, reading magazines, and laughing a ton. It was all of the women from CEO (plus Laura) for the weekend at our house. We were supposed to go to a little town call Pec, but that wasn't going to work out since my roomie's poor ankle wasn't healed yet.
It was so refreshing to spend the weekend with all of these godly women who are willing to share all of their experience and just have a good time with you. It's also fantastic to have so many women who are willing to play with your hair :) I'm at a different stage of life than most of them (most of them have been married for several years with kids), but I never once felt excluded because of that. We all had such a great sense of unity. This is a picture of all of us when we ventured out to a restaurant (which did NOT help Joanna and I'd diet...). From the left it goes: Petra, me, Laura, Joanna, Keri, Jo, Lea.
It was so refreshing to spend the weekend with all of these godly women who are willing to share all of their experience and just have a good time with you. It's also fantastic to have so many women who are willing to play with your hair :) I'm at a different stage of life than most of them (most of them have been married for several years with kids), but I never once felt excluded because of that. We all had such a great sense of unity. This is a picture of all of us when we ventured out to a restaurant (which did NOT help Joanna and I'd diet...). From the left it goes: Petra, me, Laura, Joanna, Keri, Jo, Lea.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)