On Monday morning, Emese (our country coordinator) and I met and I was introduced to my new job. We went to the foundation and met the lady who runs it, her daughter and a few other workers. After going through all of the introductions (times for things, job ideas, what the foundation is all about, etc.), i shared a tea with one of the ladies and we stumbled through a Hungarian conversation. (note: no one speaks more than a little English here, so this is going to be really fun! :D) Then, some other teachers and I sat and painted for a while... and no children showed up. I left a little early and had lunch at the hospital and worked in the office.
On Tuesday morning, I went to the Gyerekekért and during that morning, we had 6 different children and 4 mothers. It was very interesting to watch the kids interact and to see some of their tendencies already.
On Wednesday, I went to the Gyerekekért and was told to keep my shoes on; I would be going somewhere. Turns out, Teri's (the lady who runs the Gyerekekért) husband works for the government with minority issues. He specifically works in the Roma department and I went and met with him. I got to go inside a Hungarian government building (thank goodness I was carrying my passport!) and follow Mr. Raduly around for a day. It was very interesting and definitely something that I wouldn't have gotten the chance to do with any other placement.
On Thursday, I got one of my amazing migraines, so life got put on hold.
However, on Friday, it was back to work. We had 7! kids on Friday, with 5 mothers. I wasn't so sure more could fit in after 6, so when we had 7, it was a full room :) I practiced my colors with a 3 year old, and drew pictures with a 2 year old. It's definitely challenging and tiring, but it has potential to be really fun :) Also, Teri invited me to come to her family's home for a weekend (they live outside the city) and also to a theatre performance next weekend with her family. Sadly, I can't spend the weekend at their home, but I may join them at the theatre. Next weekend, I will be helping the ÖDÉ staff with interviews for volunteers wanting to go to the USA and Italy.
Because my placement is mainly mornings only, I will be spending my afternoons regularly in the office doing everything from copying and sorting to sending out letters letting volunteers know that they've been chosen to come to Hungary. My current project is writing up short descriptions to send to the German/Italian/French/American/etc volunteers coming to Hungary so that they have an idea of what they'll be doing. It's really fun and interesting, and allows me to get a look into all the work that goes on behind the scenes in ÖDÉ :)
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probably some of the most random pictures I could have ever chosen :) - i'm running out of pictures! haha!
here, i tried a recipe for oven-less cookies. It involved frying, which explains the reason they look like pancakes. They were yummy, but yet very strange. The things we do when we're living without :P
One night, we had a very spontaneous dinner - tacos (complete with homemade tortillas by yours truly) and Settlers of Catan (in Hungarian!) with Dick, Carolyn, Matt, John S. and I. It was a good time :)
"Keepers of the Lights" - I did some research hoping to find a historical reference to these guys, but couldn't find it. But this is around the famous "New York Palace Hotel" in Budapest, which is just across the street from the church I go to on Wednesday evenings. These "Keepers of the Light" illuminate your path and creep you out just a little bit. Angelic or demonic? You decide. They kinda remind me of some of the creatures from Chronicles of Narnia :P
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