Ok, so some of you may have immediately noticed my type-o in the title. The term "Sziasztok" can mean "hello" or "goodbye" in Hungarian. One day however, while walking through Alvin's village, we noticed a family of storks living in a next on a telephone pole. I then proceeded to yell out, "SziaSTORK!" and have a laugh attack for about 10 minutes following. This isn't the point of my blog, though. I've spent the better part of the last 3 weeks saying lots of "hello's" and "goodbye's" here. A big hello was when my sister and her (now OUR) friend Kate came to visit Hungary. I couldn't have enjoyed their visit more. They were even initiated into the Statue-Accosting Association of Hungary while they were here! We made a visit to Vienna and Kaposvar, and even made a visit to my school to see my kids wonder who the heck this girl that looked exactly like Hanna was!
I've also had to start saying a lot of the word "goodbye" here already, which is heartbreaking, really. My kids have been a huge part of my life this past year, and saying goodbye was not easy for me. I thought I was going to be able to hold it all together and get through it without tears until the last day of teaching as I was explaining to 1.c that I wasn't coming back (some of the kids still don't fully understand I won't be here in September, which hurts me more). As little Zsofi came to the realization, I saw little tears well up in her eyes as she sat with her chin in her hands and yup, that did it. Suddenly, I had 15 crying kids surrounding me making me realize that I really did have an impact on them. Enough of the sad stuff, though. I got to enjoy so many flowers, chocolates, and my favorite...lots of pictures they colored for me. I will not go home empty handed! I also got to go to an end-of-the year swimming party and watch the kids just have fun, outside of school. I couldn't be happier.
Here is little Zsofi from 1.c. 
Lili and Mate, enjoying the water.
And now I have a couple weeks to just enjoy Hungary! Alvin and I have already started aimlessly wandering around Budapest, along with hitting up sites on our "list". Here we are, climbing up Gellert Hill in Budapest!
I'm happy to know Hungary isn't done with me yet! Nor will it be in July when I leave...I think I'll be back soon enough :-)
I've also had to start saying a lot of the word "goodbye" here already, which is heartbreaking, really. My kids have been a huge part of my life this past year, and saying goodbye was not easy for me. I thought I was going to be able to hold it all together and get through it without tears until the last day of teaching as I was explaining to 1.c that I wasn't coming back (some of the kids still don't fully understand I won't be here in September, which hurts me more). As little Zsofi came to the realization, I saw little tears well up in her eyes as she sat with her chin in her hands and yup, that did it. Suddenly, I had 15 crying kids surrounding me making me realize that I really did have an impact on them. Enough of the sad stuff, though. I got to enjoy so many flowers, chocolates, and my favorite...lots of pictures they colored for me. I will not go home empty handed! I also got to go to an end-of-the year swimming party and watch the kids just have fun, outside of school. I couldn't be happier.
Lili and Mate, enjoying the water.
And now I have a couple weeks to just enjoy Hungary! Alvin and I have already started aimlessly wandering around Budapest, along with hitting up sites on our "list". Here we are, climbing up Gellert Hill in Budapest!
I'm happy to know Hungary isn't done with me yet! Nor will it be in July when I leave...I think I'll be back soon enough :-)
We spent Saturday at Lake Balaton wandering around the lake and also saw Alvin in a bike race. This wasn't just any easy bike race though...it went the whole way around Lake Balaton (that's about 200km, people!). He finished in about the top 30 out of about 1,000 racers, and I'm really proud of him. He even managed to have enough energy afterward to meet the girls and answer their pressing questions :-) In the picture below, Alvin is all the way on the left of the group, in the elbow pit of the man with the tattoo. Good lucking seeing it! It was quite the sprint to the finish!
In other news, this is my last week of teaching! I'm trying to enjoy and savor the last hugs and fun moments with the little ones before I leave. Tomorrow I get to go to Parliament with 2.c! So excited. Also, my sister Katie and her friend Kate fly into Budapest Thursday. I absolutely cannot WAIT to have my sister here. So yea, there's way more fun to come before July 8th...so we'll consider that later :-)
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