Budhapest Hungary
I decided to come to Hungary in December of 2007. Much planning and many surprises later, I came here almost exactly nine months after I had first conceived the idea. Saturday was my 18 month anniversary in Hungary. If my life here in Hungary were a child... well, let's ask the internets, shall we?
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- likes to imitate parents' actions... well, not parents, but I do get around pretty much via imitation
- begins to show signs of independence; says "no"... much to the chagrin of my colleagues
- finds it difficult to wait and wants things right now!... language, results, understanding...
- gets angry sometimes and has temper tantrums... yes
- acts shy around strangers... I spoke to a colleague for the first time today. The first time.
- comforts a distressed friend or parent... Today I had to correct a few things on a test Balint wrote. I felt like I was shooting him in the heart. I left a cheer-up note.
- refers to self by name... "So Ms Lauren.... do I have an s?"
- uses the words "me" and "mine"... and in Hungarian, being that there are about a dozen different forms of "me," confuses them!
- enjoys looking at picture books... called the free newspaper
- tries to do many things by herself... wind up calling someone for help often. Occasionally I succeed.
- enjoys adult attention... successfully talked to a colleague on the bus, glowed all day
- enjoys simple pretend play like wearing hats and talking on phone... God, if I could talk on the phone without going into shakes...
- enjoys exploring, gets into everything, and requires constant supervision... yes. This one.
- generally unable to remember rules... which side do I kiss? Say "jó étvagyat!" when I see someone eating. Use the formal you...
- shows affection by returning a hug or kiss... on the wrong side
- may become attached to a toy or blanket... or a phrase. "Intenszív hávazás!"
- has a vocabulary of several hundred words, including names of toys... and all food items
- uses 2-3 word sentences... ha! I beat the 18-month olds there!
- echoes single words that are spoken by someone else... and then walk around mumbling them to myself all day long...
- talks to self and "jabbers" expressively... Na. Mit kell csinálni...?
- likes to choose between two objects... or just choose
- hums or tries to sing... Petőfi radio, the strangest radio ever
- listens to short rhymes or fingerplays... and therefore remembers in what order the colors are in the Hungarian flag.
- points to eyes, ears, or nose when asked... and most other things. "That. I want... that."
- uses the words "please" and "thank you" if prompted... and, especially, sorry/excuse me
Last week was very busy with university and school. One thing that really stuck out for me at school was on Tuesday morning when we were observing the grade 2 class the children asked the teacher for more homework. They are constantly so enthusiastic to learn and certainly never complain about the eight o'clock start, unlike us! So being in Budapest has certainly opened my eyes to the amount of things I take for granted. (I'm beginning to teach the children next week so I'm excited for that to start.)
We tried to fit in some cultural excursions last week!... and so we grabbed our swimming suits and took a trip to a thermal bath! It was absolutely amazing... and just what we needed after all of our early mornings... although apparently swimming suits are optional over here and so we were a little shocked when we walked into the pool! But the baths are one of Budapest's well known attributes and now we can see why!
We also visited the Merlin theatre in the Pest side of the city.. and we loved it so much that we went back last night to see, 'Stone in his pockets'... a play set in Ireland so it made us feel right at home!
We were beginning to feel a little downhearted at the end of last week as our halls do not have any other international students and so it is very difficult to meet English speaking people.. and to make things worse we got lost on Friday when we tried to find the international building (to enable us to go on the international weekend.) So we went to a nearby cafe to chear ourselves up with some cookies... only to randomly bump into a girl from Georgia, America. She asked me some questions and then we had lunch together. It turned out that she has been in Budapest for one month and was feeling some of the same emotions that we were feeling. She is over here with an organisation called, 'Hope for Hungary' and trying to build up relationships with Hungarians. We invited her to come to church with us last Sunday and so she and her friend came along. We soon knew that we weren't supposed to go on the international weekend as things just seemed to be working out. We went the International Baptist Church of Budapest and were made to feel very welcome. I was really excited as a lady approached us and asked if anyone would like to join the worship team... this is something I am really passionate about and so it excited me a lot to join it. I am really looking forward to see what I can be taught through another culture's style of worship.
So I really am feeling at home in Budapest. We even got three days of this week as it is a ski week at school... so that has made me feel even happier! I visited the main Budapest indoor market today and tried some Hungarian food for lunch, and tonight our flat is holding a fancy dress party.
The past week has been great for me also as I feel like I'm getting to know some of the Hungarian people in my flat well. Last night I was able to have personal conversations with them about how they feel about their country and about their views on religion... it felt great to talk about more than merely how their day went! Their even starting to understand my Northern Irish sarcasm which is very good!!
So I'm excited for my other two days off this week...and I'm hoping to head to Vienna this weekend with Kirsty and Kattie so I'm really excited to see new things there...
Until my next blog....
