So I fell off the face of the earth....

My sincere apologizes for not updating for a millenia. I've had a lot to say, but at the end of the day, I'm so tired it's hard to organize my thoughts. So this will not be too big, just an overview with some flashbacks to come as I fill in the blanks of the last few weeks.
To be perfectly honest, updating this blog hasn't been the only thing I dropped in discipline. It's funny how sometimes we forget how important an intimate relationship with Christ is when we need him most. That pretty much describes the last few weeks, but I'm back on track now. I decided to start James and see what God has to say there, for no other reason than divine inspiration. In an example of God's omnipotence, when visiting friends in Bratislava, their pastor spoke on the first chapter of James. the passage I was set to read the next day. James 1:19 says we should be "quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry". The pastor mentioned that Slovak translates the word "humbly" in verse 20 as silently. He talked about spending 4 days at a monastery and following their vow of silence. He said be silent outwardly happened much faster than inward silence. That inward silence is shown in so much of ourselves when we are quick to hear and slow to speak. His message went on to continue being amazing and I really appreciated that time with friends out of town.

In generalized hilarity I am a triumphant teacher. Or at least I was two weeks ago. I have a particularly rowdy group of 10th graders who make flatulence noises and are generally disruptive. Deciding, on my second day of teaching them, that I could take no more I went completely teacher face. You know that face a person of authority can make that immediately makes you sorry for anything you have ever done whether they know about it or not. You become oddly sorry for being disruptive, causing global warming and the murder of Abel though you never met the man. (Explanation: In Hungary, students carry a small blue book called the "Ellenorzo". In it are their grades, announcements and any comments teachers may leave for parents to see. To have your ellenorzo written in means that your parents must read it, sign it and then you must meet with your class teacher-a sort of mother hen to the class that freaks out about ellenorzos.) I told them while we were doing this writing activity, we would also play a game. "I want your ellenorzo on the table in front of you now." I said this several times in my most menacing voice possible. They were silent and terrified. The rules of the game were simple. The next person to speak in Hungarian or be disruptive in any way, I was taking their ellenorzo and writing in it. Silence. So they get back to the task. A quieter kid made some smart-aleck remark to his friend. I strode calmly to his table and said "If you can tell me what you said in English, you can keep the ellenorzo." He sighed and shook his head. Note that this was not one of the kids causing trouble earlier, but rules are rules. I took the book and put it in my planner and carried on with the lesson. I looked back over a few minutes later at this kid. Tears welled in his eyes and drifted sadly down his cheeks. I. felt. so. bad. I could tell he was very sorry and gave him the book back at the end of class. It's amazing what you will do when backed into a corner.

Final note: Learning Hungarian is like trying to explain astro-physics to a mosquito. The language has no rules, no order and no logical pattern to follow. Yikes. I never thought I would miss French, but here I am. Wishing I could follow a pattern of verb endings and conjugates. Stupid King Arpad and his stupid new language. 44 letters in the alphabet. really? That's necessary?

Hungarian phrase of the day: Nincs hazi! = No homework!

first day of teaching

So Monday was meetings and organizational stuff, like new office desks, so today (Tuesday) was the first day of real teaching. It went well. I am very pleased, my students are funny and sweet and I hope that I can challenge them and be a positive addition to their lives. It is a bit challenging as the levels of English vary vastly by class. I see three groups of freshmen every day (9a1, 9a2, and 9a3). They are all in the bilingual program and the 2s and 3s are really good. The 1s no almost zero English so they are going to be a real challenge. The 9c2 I taught today are a little rowdy but fun. That class goes from zero english to a basic understanding. Whew. This is going to be interesting. I'll only see the 9c and 9b twice a week and the 10b and 10c once a week each. Basically I'm teaching 21 hours a week.
The thing about these 9a kids is this year for them is crazy hard! They take 30 hours of school a week, 20 of those are English. Holy moly. I can't even imagine. And since the ones speak very little English and I speak zero Hungarian, its going to be a challenge.
That's all I can report on today as I am quite tired and still need to lesson plan for tomorrow.
I'll be praying for you and ask that you pray for my students.
hugs and misses, em

Szia!

Szia is kind of like ciao in Hungarian. So hello!!
I know I have not posted in quite some time, but I have been trying to get good pictures of life here so you could see some of Budapest and home here. So I live on an island in the Danube called Csepel (pronounced che-pell). We live on property owned by our school so its pretty neat. Why you ask? Because our school, Kossuth Lajos....., is aimed at students pursuing airplane and vehicular mechanics. So this is what the house looks like:

It's pretty sweet. Of the three windows on the second floor, mine is the one on the left. And this is what I see when I look out my window:
Why yes. That is a helicopter on the right and some planes on the left. Way cool.
Living in Europe is definitely an interesting experience. It is quite freeing to know that even if you have been sweating all day, without air conditioning, you still showered this morning and are wearing deodrant. This by default makes you one of the best smelling people on the tram. Fabulous!
Since it's late here and I have church in the morning, I'll end with a couple of prayer requests.
School starts on Monday. I feel a bit direction-less and confused. Pray for wisdom and leadership as well as classroom managing skills.
I'm having trouble sleeping all the way through the night. I have trouble going to sleep and then wake up several times. It would be wonderful to get some good solid rest as school gets started.
Discipline in my walk with the Lord. I've had a hard time for a while now in regularly reading the Word and I know that will be necessary in the coming year.

I thank the Lord for each of you every day. Even if you accidentally landed on this page and have never even met me. God bless and I'll try to be more dilligent in blogging as well.
hugs and misses!

a barrage of ants...

Training continues and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have 10 days left until we fly to Budapest on the 19th (technically we leave on the 19th and arrive on the 20th but ya know). It's a bit difficult to imagine leaving all my new friends since those of us in the Central Europe group have grown pretty tight. My teammates themselves are amazing and it begets a great excuse to travel to the Czech Republic and Slovakia to see them. Teaching last week wasn't too bad although there was a panic when we had to plan lessons for that evening and buy international life insurance all in three hours! Again, the Lord is good and carried me through the stress.
If you all could pray for more supporters for myself and the rest of the teachers here at TeachOverseas.org, we would all really appreciate it. I am fortunate enough to be in a pretty good spot for support (minus the new insurance policy) but some of my compatriots are struggling. Also if you could lift up the visa situations. The Slovak girls are all set and most of my team to Budapest is almost done, but only five of the 18 people going to the Czech Republic have their visas. If they don't go through the process in time they have to wait and find something to do and somewhere to be until they are free to enter the country. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to be prepared and leave not to mention if I had to go home until I could leave again. What a heart breaker! Oh, the "Barrage of Ants" comment is a reflection of the epidemic proportions of ants that live in our dorms. They are by far the dumbest breed ever as they much prefer pouring over books and sunglasses to candy and chips.
In other news I survived my first earthquake. Yes, I panicked a little, (Ohio does not move!) but we're all quite fine.
I'll be praying for you! Hugs and misses!

Hungarian word of the day:

paradicsom (pair-ah-dee-choam) = tomato!

Beginning of training...

So I arrived in Pasadena CA on Saturday with no disasters or even an extended lay-over. The schedule for training (now through the 19th of August) is packed to the brim and we have very little spare time for anything but sleeping. The general tactic is to keep us unprepared and slightly nervous, which is supposed to closely mirror the overseas experience. While I understand the idea behind it, the general concept of being thrilled to leave training. But it's stressful. Anyways, I taught on the first night but I survived. Life is good and the people here are incredibly encouraging and Christ-like. The team going to central europe is way cooler than any of the others, we love ourselves. I'll try to update again at a better time. I'm praying for you all. hugs and misses, em

I'll fly away....

So I leave July 19th at 8 a.m. Good gracious! It's been a difficult last few days. I'm trying to prepare myself emotionally and though I'm not scared I am admittably anxious. I will dearly miss my friends and family in West Virginia, Georgia, Ohio and will think of all of you often. Check back frequently as I hope to update regularly.

Word of the Blog:

Szia! (see-ah) = Hello!

Just a quick post

VBS rules. What else could I say about the greatest VBS in the whole wide world. I'll had some pictures in the next couple days. Also, I'm gonna try and be more regular about the blogging. Feel free to keep me accountable on this fact or just drop me a line at emdotsdotreynoatgmaildotcom. I know that's a wicked complicated way of listing my email address but it cuts down on the spam and randomly clicked stuff so says a blog pro.
I'm so not emotionally ready to be done with West Virginia. I would say more but I'm so scatter brained right now it'd be nuts. So suffice to say, I love the good people of River Cities Community Church. They mean the world to me, some more than others wink! Hugs!

January

So mid January finds me in the usual place. Although, not entirely. I am posting from the secretary's desk at RCCC cause I'm helping them answer phones and what not. So, while I don't have a job I am working. Huh. Not having a full time job has turned out to be a sort of blessing. I have time to get odds and ends done as well having oodles of time to relax. I do have heartburn though. eck. The greatest benefit I find is my availability for involvement at church. Let me tell you, if i was still working at the "Ancient Army", there is no way I could be this involved. I really and truly enjoy being invested in the lives of these kids and youth and the adults too! While I still look for open opportunities to at least be part-time somewhere, I relish this time as there will probably never again be a time where I can do as I please. Also notable is that I have gotten back into reading the Word every day. Now, I realize it's only been like 10 days, but it's still good news for me.

While wedding plans for others continue to abound I have to say it is comforting to hear of how other single persons feel, especially the male of the species. I was talking with my friend Bryon the other day and he feels the same pressure and social judgement that I do. Very few of his friends are without counterparts and it was nice to hear someone else complain of the annoyances that coinside with such dire peril. Such as rarely seeing said friend or finding that they are different from their "old/single" self. At any rate I guess misery loves company and while I wouldn't consider myself miserable, it's still nice not to feel alone.