End of School... etc...

I have officially finished my first year as a teacher!

The last week of school was pretty intense. Lauren and I had to give oral exams three days in a row. Overall I was impressed with the progress that our students have made over the course of the year. There were a few students from our lower level classes who did not study and were pretty much silent, that was pretty frustrating. All of 9a did very well and that was good.

On Wednesday after school we had a big end of the year party for all of the bilingual classes. This resulted in a ginormous water fight, and I spent quite a bit of time grilling. One of our student, Erik, cooked in a bogracs, which is a big pot that you put over a fire. He made paprika potatoes, and it was very tasty. We had students at our house from about noon to nine pm. It was intense, but very enjoyable.

Last weekend I spent a lot of time with Lauren because it was her last weekend here. Friday night we went to Hero's Square one last time to climb on the horses. Lauren is more skilled in this than I am and can actually get on top of the horse, which I can not bring myself to do. Afterwards we went to a Turkish hookah place for wine and cheese. It was really relaxed and I enjoyed it. Saturday we both spent packing. Sunday we went to church, then to sushi one last time. In the afternoon we went to Godollo to meet Tracey. We visited the palace in Godollo, saw the museum, and had antique photos taken (for free!!! compliments of Tracey's friend Agi... Thanks!). All three of us decided that we would have done much better in the clothing styles back then than we do now... Eventually I want to scan those photos in so you can see them, they are pretty sweet.

Monday night we had a big going away party for Lauren. It was really cool to see how many people came out. A lot of our other friends also left or are leaving soon, so it was also a great chance to say goodbye to all of them. Once again I got to man the grill, which has now become my station at these parties. I thoroughly enjoy it. We also watched Eur08 games... Germany won and I was really happy! Tonight is the next Germany game... so I have to find a place/people to watch it with.

Tuesday 16 of our 9A students accompanied us to the airport to say goodbye to Lauren. They were really sweet, some of them made little photo dvd's and had other trinkets for her. Our students loved Lauren a lot.

Wednesday I spent packing in the morning, then went to meet my friend Gabor in the afternoon. He is the son of our old landlord from when my family lived here. I ran into him by accident last week in the grocery store and was so happy that I did. I have been trying to track him down this year, but he moved to a different apartment since I was last here, and I could not find his email. We went out and had coffee and caught up on life. I am looking forward to continuing building this relationship when I get back in August.
After that I went to the Hungarian Language School to do the language test. They had told me that they would call me when it was time for the test, but they never called, so I figured it was best to just drop by. They went ahead and let me take the test. There were a few questions I was not entirely sure about on the multiple choice and fill in the blank, but it turns out I got a perfect score. When I looked at the answer sheet for the fill in the blank it was funny because there was a question where I was thinking there could be two answer's and sure enough there were two possibilities on the sheet. When the lady went over the writing I had just had a few spelling errors or accent errors, so that was also good. Then she did the oral exam with me and that was a little bit more difficult. She asked me really difficult questions like: Why do you think that people in Hungary are hopeless? What was the hardest thing about teaching this year? What is the worst thing about Hungary? How can God and faith help Hungarians?
She really latched onto the fact that I was a missionary/teacher and had a lot of questions. I hope that this can be a good relationship opportunity. I will take a class at HLS for two weeks in August to try to get my Hungarian up to speed. :)
Last night I went to the Hillsong London and Matt Redmann Concert at Westend. Aniko, the secretary from school who is my age, went with me, Bogi and Ildiko from church. It was really good, with the exception of a lady who insisted on standing on top of something right in front of us, so we couldn't see very well. Later her friend got up in front of us too, but I asked her to move because then we truly could not see anything at all. I was frustrated because I know that they just wanted to see better, but it was really inconsiderate of us and the people standing around us who could not stand up on something to see around them. I was trying to decide if the right thing to do was just move somewhere else where I could see better or ask them to move because they were blocking ten people's view. When I finally asked one lady to move she looked like she was really hurt, but I didn't know how I could have handled the situation better. Regardless, the point was that Aniko enjoyed it, even though she could not stay for the entire thing.
My favorite part of the concert was when they sang "How Great Is Our God" in Hungarian!!! It was so amazing because Matt Redmann was singing in Hungarian and it was very touching and cute because his pronunciation was a bit off. At that point everyone was singing and raising up their hands and worshiping with their whole heart. It was fantastic.

I leave for the states next Wednesday. Between now and then I have to pack up everything that is in my room, say goodbye to lots of people, go to Kiskunhalas to visit people, purchase souvenirs, and write the last APU paper of the semester.

I will be back in MT on June 26!!!

Grace and peace-
Em