so, your second village....
many of you have lamented about leaving your first host families- but, do not fear, your second village has a lot in store for you.
here's the post to comment on with all your awesome teaching experiences, wacky ice cream flavors, adventures, and other topics.
once again, i will be living vicariously through you, so make sure you fill in all the blanks!
post away.
- catherine
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
Hi! I decided that I would be the first to post this time, since I was a little late with my last post (sorry).
YO SO I AM SERBIAN!!
... in about 2 minutes, my new host brother was able to find the town my Hungarian grandma was from.. which is in what is now Serbia. One of the reasons I couldnt find it was because I was spelling it the English way rather than the Hungarian way. I am super excited he found it.
Anyway...Right now I am in Tazlar, which is in the south-east part of Hungary. It is definitely a lot bigger than my last village... Tazlar I believe has at least 2000 people. And I am living on a large vineyard! The family showed me their wine cellar and 4 tractors. They also have 2 pet horses (not for riding) and some other animals.
Alison is also in this village. Her and I each teach a class from 9-1130, she has younger students (8-10) and I have those who are 11-14. Her and I are sharing an adult class in the evening. So far it is going well and the students are definitely as energetic as ever!
Im looking forward to a great next few weeks here and hope everyone else is having an enjoyable time.
I meant "she" and I, not her and I. Hopa.
I guess I'll go ahead and leave the next Tazlar comment, since it's been a few more days now and Bekki and I have gotten more comfortable here.
So Tazlar is pretty great. Bekki and I have become good friends with a group of people our age, and we do things together nearly every night. There's hardly any time to ourselves though, because the village sends us to little girls' houses every afternoon between classes to play and put on makeup with them. That part is sort of exhausitng... I'd really like to sleep in the afternoons, and hardly ever have time because I'm too busy playing dress up and taking pictures. Which is fun, for like an hour.
We also got to go to one of the fanciest ice cream parlors in all of Hungary, which was pretty incredible. And we spent the last weekend at one of our friends' lakehouse in a nearby town that was having its annual Beer Festival.
So, I like Tazlar. Bekki gave good details on the size and classes, so I decided to throw in some of the fun things. I hope everyone else is having a blast too!
Hi from Zalaegerszeg!
Living here is definitely a contrast from my last village, where my host family did not own sugar. Now I eat one of those awesome frozen Túró-Chocolatey things all the time. Also it's obviously much bigger--almost 100 times more people than Garabonc in the city.
I love my classes! They cooperate and will even sing for me, and my intermediate class is fond of Talk Show, the Verb Game and Ghetto Translator, where I give them a slang sentence and they have to translate it into correct English. The little kids like Blind Man's Obstacle Course the best.
Here I have a host sister who is turning 18 soon, so she takes me out all the time with her friends. I also get to play board games all night with her two little sisters, aged 10 and 12. The whole family has taken me to two festivals, Aquacity, and a museum...tonight we're going to archery practice (?!) and next week we're going to spend some afternoons at Balaton and see a castle in Sumeg.
Hope everyone is having just as good of a time!
Szia from Kamenica, Slovakia! I am living here in a small village that i about 5km from the larger city of Stúrovo and across the river from the Hungarian city of Ezstergom. I am staying with a family here that has two children, 11yrs and 14 yrs, a beautiful garden, a dog named Hofi and a mother cat with her three small kittens. The house is surrounded by grapes, blackberry bushes, raspberries, a greenhouse with fresh tomatoes and paprika, and a huge garden of roses and sunflowers.
My classes are small, with only about eight students total, but we do a lot of field trips, games, dancing, and singing. My whole village is just crazy about musicals so everyday we have rehearsal and I help them choreograph some of their annual production of "Somewhere in Europe". Then we walk the short 2 minutes to the café and eat ice cream...with flavors like cinnamon and melon. The second course is Kofola, which is the Slovak version of Coca Cola. Then while sipping our Kofola we sit around and play the American card game "liar", which they love, and listen to the radio...classics from the 80s, 90s, and NOW!
At night my host sister takes me out, and last night we traveled 100 km to a small village to see a friend perform in the production of "József és a szines szélesvásznú álomkabát" which is a musical production of "Joseph and the Magical dream coat". It was held in a park outdoors, and was fantastic! While we sat around they translated the story and songs into English to me, and we ate this great cinnamon cake thing that is amazing!
Hope everyone is having a great time!
Greetings from Káld! I am living with a great host family who takes me everywhere. They have taken me to the thermal spa in Sárvár, a folk festival, a mine museum, and lake Balaton. This weekend I went to a punk rock concert hosted by the Hells Angels Hungary branch (apparently they dont kill people here) It was really cool because it was held in the courtyard of Sárvár's castle. I went with my host sister and her friends and since my host mom didnt go I drove them all there in her car through the most terrifying rain storm ever.
My evenings are usually spent with my host family or playing soccer with my teenage students. I have 4 classes a day and about 40 students total so my days are pretty busy. With only a week left I am wishing I could stay longer!!!
Hello from Vasarut, Slovakia. I love living here, the people and the students are amazing. I am about 10 minutes away from a small city where we go a lot. The father of my first house is a cameraman so I got to go jobs with im. I have seen a lot of live music, a football game, and a weird water sporting event. I am with my second family but they are basically relted to the other family so I still see the same people. All of them are amazing and they have taken me all over. I have been to Hungary and back many times. They even took me to the village that one of my relatives from back in the day comes from.
I teach 4 classes, 2 in the morning and 2 at night. I think I started with 43 students, so once again I have a lot of kids. They are really good, not so into the games but they love to learn new words.
I can't believe that tomorrow is my last day to teach. But I am excited that I will be here for one last weekend
Days 1-4
After the long journey from Florida here I stayed with our family's friend friend (?), Jen, and she took me to Bikram yoga for 3 mornings. If you are not familiar with Bikram yoga, it is a form of yoga where the temperature of the room is cranked up to over 100 degrees. You drip sweat for an hour and a half. I feel that this got me used to the time change and the language. The instructor luckily spoke both English and Hungarian, so I did not feel totally out of the loop. These first three days I just relaxed at Jens and tried to get prepared for the upcoming adventure. I got to meet up with the rest of my group from Learning Enterprises on the fourth day. There are 13 other volunteers from all over the world, one is from England. Most of the volunteers go to school at Georgetown, one is from UC Berkeley, one from Yale, another from NYU, and a couple from small private schools. I am the only volunteer representing Florida. It was a bit intimidating to meet these brainiacs!
Days 4-6
Orientation was a blur of exploring Budapest and learning about all of the other awesome people that were chosen to work in Hungary and Slovakia this summer. I made friends with many of the girls in my group. We seem to have such similar interests and ideas about living life. Most of them are 19 and 20. Even our group organizer is 19. So, I felt old when they realized I was to turn 24 on the second. I even got the nickname "Grams". Err. Sunday we all dispersed for our villages. Some of us were to go to Slovakia and others were to stay in Hungary. I was picked up at the train station by my host brother, his sister, and her husband. The sister and husband live in Budapest, so they only stayed with us for the afternoon. We went to visit a castle, the largest in Europe after Versilles. My host brother just got a new tiny car. I'm not sure what they call them. Something French. Peugeut? It's the kind of car a Hummer would run over and not even realize what happened. It was nice to find out that they had all lived in England for a period of time and could speak some English.
Days 6-13
Just to let you know how I'm feeling, from now on I have no clue what is going to happen the next minute. I still don't. It is hard to ask "What are we doing?", and "What are we going to do next?". So I pretty much just go with the flow and have a nice surprise waiting for me every minute.
After being picked up from the train station on Sunday we drove to a town in the outskirts of Budapest and met my host parents. They are a really cute ++Hungarian couple in thier 50's that speak only Hungarian and Slovakian. They can say "hello", but this is only because Hungarians also use the word "hello" when greeting someone...
++Let me give you some Hungarian history before I go further. The Hungarian empire used to be gigantic. It spanned across many countries including Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, and the Ukraine. I suggest you look up the E-block (Eastern Europe) on a map so you can see what I am talking about. Anyway, all of these countries were a part of Hungary so many of the people in these countries still consider themselves "Hungarian". So, my family lives in Slovakia, but they consider themselves Hungarian. Understood? I know it is a bit confusing. I am still trying to understand everything...
After meeting my family I figured out why we were in this town. We were at a mayor's conference. My host dad is the mayor of Deter. At this conference we listen to music, and just hang out. I can't really describe what went on, but it was pretty awesome. We stayed the night in a dorm (the conference was at a college, I think), then went to more conf stuff, then we ate lunch at a buffet (yeah, I could avoid meat), then on to Deter. We drove 2-3 hours on small, winding roads that had a view that I wish everyone could see. Sunflower fields, corn fields, wheat fields, fields of things I do not know. It was amazingly peaceful. We pulled into a village (yes, a village=500 people) where all I could see was rolling hills and adorable houses. I fell into a picture book. I was looking for Hansel and Grettel to come around the corner holding hands and singing. I was asked if I'd like my own apartment or if I'd like to stay in their house. I saw the apartment and decided if the Pepto Bismol walls didn't hurt me the loneliness would. I chose the quaint upstairs of the main house. My room looks over my the vegetable garden and the dog Chirpy (tiny). It also looks over an old house and apple, peach, cherry, and other fruit trees.
I woke up the first morning to my host mom cooking me eggs from the chickens that live in the back. They have everything they need here and seem so content. I don't think I've seen too many Americans this content with such simple things. They even have pig hanging in their pantry (gross). When they need meat they shoot it (ew). I got to harvest cherry's on my birthday and when I want a carrot I just walk out back and pull one out of the ground. Awesome.
For exercise I have been running on the back dirt roads that lead to what seems like nowhere and have biked 20 kilos to a beautiful lake. Biking in the hills of Slovakia is something to add to your list of "things to do before I die".
So, after I tell y'all how awesome this place is I must tell you what a challenge I have stepped into. School has been really hard. I have 5 classes. Kids, young boys, teenage girls (uhh, hard), an advanced class (my host brother is in this one), and a beginner adult class. I can't explain how difficult this has been. Splitting up the classes was pretty much my feat last week. I realize how pliable children are. They learn so much, so fast. They are like sponges. I have also realized the opposite of adults. I can say the same thing over, and over, and over, and over, and they still can't pronounce Wednesday. I had to stop myself from banging my brains out on the desk on Friday when teaching the teenage girls. (Dad, I'm sorry for being so hardheaded. I know how hard I was, but now I see it even more). I tell them to do something, and they all just stare at me and start talking. In Hungarian. I know they know English, but they do not want to use it in conversation. Unfortunately, this is why I am here. To teach them conversational English is my job. So thank goodness for creativity and patience. I have worked this weekend on plans, and more plans, and backup plans. These girls WILL speak English tomorrow. And they will like it. Ha, maybe not, but they will speak it. In my next report I'll tell you how my classes go. Hopefully I don't bomb them! I have also learned that teaching is HARD (props to my mom, sisters, and professors for being great teachers!).
I was not planning all weekend, so don't feel bad for me. My host family took me to the High Tatra. This is the mountain range in North Slovakia about 3 hours away by mini car. I am in love. It was so beautiful, but it was very cold. There was still some snow at the top. At the top (we got there by cable car, yikes!) it was 3 degrees C. I pretty much wore the same thing that I wore in the airport in London (4 kilos of garments). I wish you all could have stood at the top of the 2,600 meter mountain and looked at Poland then turned around and gazed over Slovakia. It was breathtaking. It was hard to see the bottom because there were clouds blanketing the top of the jagged mountain. I liked this because I felt like I was in heaven. It may have been the altitude, but I really felt like I was sitting on top of a cloud. We drove back and I am putting off making more plans for the week. This email has been sitting in my draft box for almost a week, so I figured I should send it off before I have even more to add. I could gush about this place for hours. Again, I apologize for the choppy nature of my writing. If you have any questions, please email me!! I'm sure I have left out some important information.
Until next time,
Taylor Ann
Days 14-25
My second weekend in the village was spent on a one day road trip to a festival in Hungary. I think the trip was supposed to take 1.5 hours once calculated, but ended up taking over 3. We had to have the huge bus full of village people follow the 4 of us that went by car. Good thing I was not in the bus... The festival was awesome but I can't describe it. Ask me about it sometime... My host brother took me to a birthday party for one of the village girls and we drank homemade shots made from various fruits. I do not think a bus ride the next day would have been the slightest bit enjoyable. At the birthday party they all ate different types of pig cooked in some skillet that I could have fit in. The skillet hung over a huge fire pit and smelled pretty um, ah, piggy.
I ended up teaching a lot and loved every minute of it. I became so close with all of my students and they really opened up to me. Yes, even the teenage girls seemed to open up like little spring blossoms. At the end of the session I ended up leaving with 10 kilos of chocolate and some other really random gifts.
The food was always awesome in Slovakia. My host mom cooked dinner every night and the cooks in the town hall made me a veggie friendly dish for every lunch. I found it very interesting that they would eat desserts for lunch and dinner. We would have crepes drenched with chocolate and call it dinner. OK with me. My last night I requested my favorite Slovakian dish. It consists of potato pasta and some kind of cottage cheese then it is dolloped with sour cream. My host bro told my host mom of my request and not 30 minutes later she was out in her garden hoeing up potatoes to make the pasta.
The whole fam drove me to Komarno, Slovakia where I met up with the rest of the Learning Enterprises volunteers. They dropped me off at the dorm we were staying in and said our goodbyes. I held back the tears until they pulled out of the parking space. I will miss everyone in Deter, Slovakia very much. Especially my little host cousins, Barbi (she even wore Barbie shirts) and Edina. I have already been invited back in December to go snowboarding. Anyone want to come with me?
Komarno was a blur of speaking English, a lot of very fast English with my fellow volunteers, and sharing lesson plans. We had so much fun and none of us wanted the weekend to be over, but at the same time we were excited to meet our next host families. At the end of the weekend we all went our separate ways, some on trains, some on buses, and some in cars. Now we are all over Hungary and Slovakia. However, seven of us are in Zala county, Hungary. We are all less than an hour from each other.
Days 25-31
I am now in Zalatarnok, Hungary. It is a small village of 700 people where many of the people are old and poor. My living situation is a little different than the last village. I am living with a widow (her husband hung himself) and her 28 year old son. Again, my host mother does not speak English. She can only speak Hungarian and German. My host brother can speak a bit of English, but last night he had to look up the word "loud" to ask if the TV was too loud, so that might put his English level into prospective. My host mom sleeps in the kitchen. I do not think I have ever seen a bed in a kitchen. It might make teaching "rooms in the house" a little different. The bed goes in the ____? I guess I'll have to accept kitchen. My host bro smokes in the house, so that kinda sucks. I am just happy to have my own room. I did think there was going to be a ghost pop out of one of the creepy pictures, but it hasn't happened, yet. The food here is not near as good, but they still stare at me until I've eaten 2 plates of food. I ride a bike to school that has 2 half inflated tires. My students are Lucifer's children, well most of them, and I get in trouble for them being too loud. I eat lunch alone. There is a pig hanging in the pantry and I have to hold my breath each time I walk in there. The sun hasn't even peaked on Zalatarnok and it's been freezing here. I have one pair of jeans and one sweatshirt and today is my 6th day wearing the same outfit. On a positive note, I got to drive a tractor last night and I have been horseback riding and will be going again today. I miss Slovakia. Anyway, I think about my friends and family all the time and am getting excited about my trip to Norway with Sarah. Sorry it took me so long to get this update out. There is a crazy lady here named Kati that thinks I need something to do every minute. She had made a planner for me to follow every single day. I have already been to a Hungarian musical, been on the news, been in the newspaper, gone to an organ concert, been to the neighboring village to see their hostel (ya, really cool...not), been to the unemployment office with my host sister (she and her husband and son live across the street), and have taught 4 classes a day. Please send me a hello and update me on America.
Love,
Taylor Ann
Saturday 7.26.08 Day 33
My first Saturday was spent traveling 90km/1h45min to another village for a festival. This festival is a bit easier to explain than the other one I attended in Hungary. Kati, the lady that keeps me really busy, and I spent the day looking at arts and crafts. We also saw 3 musical performances. The first was a traditional Hungarian group, the second was a choir singing Christmas songs in a Catholic church (yes, Christmas, half in English, half in Hungarian), and the third was a newer Hungarian band that consisted of a guitar, singer, bass guitar, bongo, flute, fiddle, and some other mouth instrument. I think my favorite part of the day was when the choir started singing Christmas songs in English. "The First Noel" was translated to them as "The First Nowel". For some reason in my classes I have the hardest time explaining that "w" is not pronounced like "v". I guess the choir director had the same problem, or just didn't realize it. So, when the choir of about 50 sang it ended up sounding like "The first noooooovel". I almost died laughing then realized that probably would have been a bit rude. So, I looked down at my feet until I composed myself.
Also, Saturday morning was the first time I saw the sun shine since I've been in Zalatarnok. I went outside to stretch in the sun when my host brothers friends motioned for me to come with them. They led me through the backyard, which I had not ventured into because of the smell, and there was my host brother passed out in the hay. He had gotten so drunk that he had fallen asleep in the open-air barn. On the walk back to the house I dared to look over the stalls. What did I see? The biggest pigs I have ever seen, "normal" pigs, pregnant pigs, and teenie piglets. George raises 50 pigs and this is why the yard stinks so bad. One of the pigs was the size of a horse with short legs. George pets it like it is a dog and calls it by a name. This makes me wonder if he feels bad to know it will be going through a grinder. If I wasn't already a vegeterain the sight of these smelly, dirty, kinda cute pigs would have turned me into one. It is weird to know that one of these poor pigs had been killed and put in my pantry. This pantry smells so bad that I have to hold my breath every time I walk in.
Sunday 7.27.08 Day 34
I woke up to the smell of Thanksgiving (and cigarettes, always cigarettes). Waking up on Sunday was really exciting because my fellow teaching friend from Learning Enterprises, Zivile, came to Zalatarnok for village day (St. Ann's day). St. Ann is the grandmother of Jesus. We started off the day with food. I mean the amount of food was just stupid. Soup, they eat soup every flippin' day, then the many main courses, then a million "sweeties". I can't begin to describe what kind of food Hungarians eat on a regular basis, but it is mostly meat and sweets.
The people here like to drink on village day and pretty much forced homemade alcohol (palinka) down mine and Zivile's throats until we could barely walk. I was really sorry the next day and did not want to go to my classes for fear that my students would be laughing at me. No, it really wasn't that bad. We just danced a lot and rode on this sketchy ride a lot. Ok, to explain... The ride at the fair with 50 swings and it just goes around. Boring ride, right? Well it is in America because we are not allowed to grab each others swings and spin them around. Here we were encouraged to grab one another and fling the swing in front of us in circles. Luckily I only ended up with a bruised knee and elbow. One guy nearly broke his nose and was bleeding everywhere. Ya, it's village day in Zalatarnok, Hungary where you get broken noses and 12 year olds drink.
After the riding the swings we went up to the top of Zalatarnok where there is an old church that my host bro has the keys to (I'm not sure why). We looked out over the land had an amazing view. Also, up there is a bunch of vineyards and wine houses. These wine houses are where the people that own the vineyards keep the wine barrels in the dark to process the wine. My host brother also has a vineyard and a wine house and gave us a tour and of course a sample of homemade wine. It was pretty cool, and I am pretty sure all of these people are alcoholics.
Also, before the drinking and festivities began George let me drive the car through the fields. They have a 20-30 year old Lada. Its a Russian car and only has 4 gears. Even the ignition is on the left. Weird.
Monday 7.28.08 Day 35
I woke up (not feeling so well) and went to class. Anita, my personal manager, had arranged for a carriage ride. So, my class and I rode our bikes (yes, I still have flat tires) to Zoltan's house and got in a very scary, wooden carriage led by two beautiful horses, Fidel and Castro. We went for a 30 minute ride around the fields of Zalatarnok and the next village. It was beautiful, but I was gripping for dear life because I was sure that a wheel was going fly off. The only reason I thought this the whole time is because last week Zoltan showed me a carriage that had the front end ripped off by a horse.
Tuesday 7.29.08 Day 36
Not too eventful. Just riding in the forest with Zoltan, Fidel, and Castro.
I had to fill you all in on my big weekend. Hope all is well in America.
Taylor Ann
Hello again my dear family and friends,
My classes were still going a bit rough this last week. My young students (mostly my class of boys) did not want to cooperate and just ran around like crazy. I had a set of 12 year old twins with mohawks that I wanted to launch out of the windows some days. I will be headed to Budapest tomorrow where my next, and last, leg of my adventure starts. Luckily Sarah will be joining me. Giving her a hug might be the highlight of the past few weeks. I miss my family very much!
Wednesday 7.30.08 Day 37
I have another story about Zoltan, Fidel, and Castro. Wednesday night myself, my host mom, my host sister, and another girl headed for the village of Heviz ("hot water" in English). After driving only 30 minutes or so we showed up at nice, old school traditional Hungarian restaurant. I was excited to see Zoltan's wife and children when I arrived. Nikola was dressed in a traditionalish Hungarian outfit and Zoltan popped out from a corner wearing old school Hungarian horse riding clothing. He looked like a joker in blue with a little black hat and a whip. After offering me palinka many times (I kept refusing because that thought of palika after the past weekend made me feel a bit queasy) we went behind the restaurant for a horse show. The show included the horses lying down and rolling over like dogs, riding around with full glasses of wine and not spilling them, and the best was Zoltan stood on Fidel's and Castro's backs while three other horses led Fidel and Castro. He is crazy. At the end of the show he pulled me out onto the field and proceded to show his whipping skills. I did not like this very much. He is crazy.
We ate dinner after the show and drove home. The whole drive home I sung them silly songs. The best of the evening were "Hokey Poky", "Can't Touch This", "The Star Spangled Banner", and my personal favorite, "I Like Big Butts".
Thursday 7.31.08 Day 38
Instead of teaching we went on a field trip and it was awesome. Anita, her son, and another girl and I all rode to a nearby lake. Following us was the village van full of rowdy kids from my classes. We all went together to the lake and got some tour of a camp there, went on a canoe ride, and then the 3 of us that went by car said goodbye to the little ones. The rest of the morning and afternoon were spent lying on the bank of the lake, taking occasional dips, reading, and napping. Sweet.
Friday 8.1.08 Day 39
When I started to journal this day I was just completely blown away that I was first, writing that it was the first of August and second, that I was writing "Day 39". The time here goes by so fast that it is hard to believe.
What a failure of a day. I tried to have a "Fun Friday" and teach the kids how to play kickball. It ended up to be one of the worst lessons I've ever taught. The children are very lazy and did not want to do anything. When they did play they would not listen and would just run around with the kickball and try to peg each other with it. They ended up whining so much and so I gathered everything, walked back up to the school, and told them to go home. I am patient, but I snapped. It was not a "Fun Friday" after all.
The evening was spent riding horses through the forest. Zoltan tried to teach me a Hungarian song as we rode. He is crazy. Gabby (my host sis that goes riding with me) told me on the way home that Zoltan, his wife and their two children are all well known models in Germany (she is German) and that she was even a model for the advertisements for "America's Next Top Model". Really random.
A few things I didn't mention:
The roads here are crazy crappy and narrow.
I wish I could email smell.
I have been using hand towels for showering.
My sheets on my bed seem to always be short sheeted and I'm not sure why.
Where have all the veggies gone?
I'm not sure when the next update will be. I did not want to put too much info in one email, but I'll catch you all up sometime soon.
With love,
Taylor Ann
Hello again my family and friends,
Saturday and Sunday
8-2-08 thru 8-3-08
Days 40 and 41
Slovakian host family to the rescue. I got an email saying that they would be in Hevis for the weekend. When I looked up Hevis on the map I almost cried with joy realizing how close it was to Zalatarnok. I woke up Saturday morning and waited by the road for them to pick me up. Hevis is a world famous thermal lake that has healing powers, or so I hear. There are a lot of old people that hang there, so I fell in love with the place right away. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the lake swimming, basking in the sun on the lush grass, and watching people.
The night life was interesting in Hevis because there happened to be a mini music festival going on. There were little bands playing on the street every 200 feet or so. There was even an American Indian band. I think they were really Filipino, but it was still cool.
Tuesday 8-5-08 Day 43
Instead of class went on a biking adventure with some kids from class, Anita (my manager), and some dude from the next village. I should have known that it was going to be an intense experience when the guy from the next village showed up in full on biker gear including a helmet and gloves. We started off down hill then had to go up a mountain mad of clay. It was a trail made for tractors and hunters if that gives you some idea of the terrain. Round trip was over 20 kilometers and we saw a church and another village that houses over 300 horses. I even bit into a plum with a worm in it. That was before the decent when it started pouring down rain and the cold wind felt like I might get blown back to Zalatarnok.
The best part of Tuesday was when I came out of the house ready to bike to my afternoon classes and a dead pig was in the driveway being scorched by my host brother, George, with some kind of blow torch. Blood was everywhere and I though I was going to be sick due to the smell that stayed in my nostrils all day. It got worse. I got home after class to find the poor piggy's eyes stuck to the garage door. George had not only stuck them there, but had drawn a picture of a pig around them. It was horrible. That is not the end though. I went inside and saw that the intact pig I had seen earlier in the day was cut in many pieces and were in two buckets on the kitchen floor. The pig tail was on the counter.
Wednesday 8-6-08 Day 44
My last day of class!
I went to a another nearby village for a cookout and the ride in the 20-30 year old Lada with my host mom was a wonderful 40 minutes of stalling and restarting. The cookout was for the Learning Enterprises volunteers that were residing in Zala county. There were seven of us volunteers and we had a blast telling stories and drinking wine. I got home to Zalatarnok for a going away party. It was sad to say bye to all of (well, most of) my students. I gave them a great performance of the Hokey Pokey then went home to get ready for a night out dancing in Zalagerszeg with some of the LEers.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
8-7,8,9-08
Days 45, 46, and 47
My Slovakian host family was still close by, but at Lake Balaton and volunteered to give me a ride to Budapest on Friday. So, at noon I was picked up and spent the day hanging out by Lake Balaton which is considered the Hungarian Sea. It is really cool and I kinda wanted to stay there for a week or two. I hung out in the sun and reflected on the past three weeks. The next day they wanted to go back to Hevis because it is kind of magical before heading to Budapest. I felt bad for them driving me around so much so I offered to drive (half joking) the three hours to Budapest and they totally accepted. OK, so driving on the interstate where the speed is 130 kph (90ish) is pretty awesome/really scary. We eventually found the place where I was staying and I had to say good-bye to my lovely Slovakian family once again.
My dad has friends living in Budapest and ironically they they had been staying with him the first time I was in Budapest this summer, so this time they welcomed me into their home. Baked ziti, computers, and English sold me into a complete state of bliss. The next day I was shuttled to the airport. I cried as I walked to the plane thinking about how my E-block chapter had come to a close.
Love,
Taylor Ann
I hope all of my emails from the summer are enjoyed by all. I figured you all might be intereseted... I will miss you all dearly and hope to see you soon.
TA
Hey, so I taught in the village of Tomasikovo in Slovakia, which in Hungarian is Tallos. The village is incredible, there are about 1500 inhabitants, and the village has an old fortress, mill, and a beautiful lake with a beach volleyball court. I have four classes ranging from 7,8 year olds to adults. I live with a family of 5, the parents have two daughters and one son all in their 20's and the grandmother lives with the family as well. They have a dog, 10 cats, chickens, and a big garden. On the weekends I made trips to Bratislava and Vienna and in my free time here we swim, play Hungarian cards, play darts with the children at the pub, Laguna, and film a music video. It's a party.
Hey kids!
I miss you all so much and hope the beginning of your school years are off to a good start. I'm back with the Berkeley crazies and miss my second village of Zalaszantgyorgy.
The village had 438 members, and I taught two classes. The first was a beginning class with 6-10 younger kids. The second was an adult class. I found midpoint break to be so helpful in terms of lessons. My classes were smaller and more attentive. It was also my first time having adult students, so we had the chance to talk about subjects more thoroughly. They had incredible senses of humor, so we connected quickly!
Throughout my stay, I was with two host families (both of which were INCREDIBLE). The first took me to see castles in Kesthely, Lake Balaton, a scenic fortress, a village fair in Zalaegerszeg, and to my hostmoms nearby home town. The second family took me to an incredible village celebration in Kapolcs and to CROATIA. We lied on the beach a lot and explored the winding streets of the small villages above the Adriatic. I did NOT want to leave that place!
I became really close to both host families really really quickly. The first was really involved in village soccer, so we played a lot. I ran to the lakes surrounding the village on a daily basis and explored other areas with my village host, Adam (who was 21, so we became close fast). I also spent time bikeriding with my students, going to the local thermal baths, and getting into plenty of trouble with Elizabeth, Pippa, Taylor Ann, Aysha, Zivile, Alysha, and Sam.
The last day I was there, the entire village had a barbecue for me, which was so kind and meaningful. Leaving was an emotional experience, but it felt great to be back in Budapest and to have some time on my own to explore independently.
One question for you all....WHEN IS THE REUNION? I miss you guys and your mischief!
Post a Comment