Questions

At the end of every school year, we film our students speaking in English. The videos are all put on one DVD, so every year the students and their parents can watch them and see how they have improved and progressed in their spoken English. This year, with my seventh graders, one of the things on the videos is the "random question" section. They have to give me three numbers between one and ten and answer the question that matches that number. I thought it would be fun to answer the questions myself (excluding the two that are just really studenty).

1. If you could have any super power, what would you choose and why? Teleportation, because this the only correct answer for obvious reasons.
2. What annoys you? Many things, really. Too many things. The number one at the moment is that I can never talk about my quest for fitness badassery. The moment I say anything about it people groan and roll their eyes. And, yes, I know how annoying it can be, but I try really hard to keep it to a minimum. I've never once made an "at the gym" or "on a run" FB status, for example. But I do spend 12-15 hours per week working out! It's a huge part of my life, and I'd love it if I could even just mention it.
3. What is your greatest fear? (one silly, one serious) Now that I've mostly gotten over the clown thing, my silly fear is deep space/black holes. It's not even a fear, exactly, more just that I feel quite anxious and uncomfortable when considering the infinite void. A serious fear (besides death, obviously)? I fear that I won't ever be able to forgive someone for how they have hurt me. I've tried, and thus far I just cannot get over it. I'd love to. I'm so afraid I won't.
4. What is your greatest hope? (one silly, one serious) I hope that the rest of my time here in Budapest goes smoothly and that I have a lot of fun and a few more awesome journeys in Europe with Lyla and my Dad. A more serious hope is that I someday find myself living happily somewhere for more than a few years at a time. I'm starting to get the settle-down urge, but I'm afraid of it.
5. What animal best represents you and why? A lot of my students said some variation on dog, and I don't disagree. Loyal, distrustful of strangers, floppy, happy, protective of those I love, competitively obedient...
6. When was the last time you were really happy? I think that I am generally happy. The last time I remember feeling really completely happy and at peace, though, was in Montenegro in November. Lyla and I climbed up this mountain, and I could do it without much difficulty, which was amazing in and of itself. The views from the fortress at the top of the mountain were incredible, of the fjord bay curving out to the sea. It was cold, but the sun and the breeze were warm. I just sat there and hung my legs over the side of this ancient place and looked at the water, felt the wind move my hair and the sun warm my cheeks, and listened to the silence all around. Slowly, everything inside of me just sort of stopped, and I just existed for awhile. No inner chatter, no worry, no self-hate, no planning, no stress. I just was. It was pretty amazing, and I just felt like nothing in the world could hurt me. (It makes the next day pretty ironic.)
7. When do you feel best about yourself? When I am lifting free weights. I look down at my strong body and I feel invincible when I shove something heavy above my own head. Also, when I laugh with some of my favorite students.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I would make myself less severe. I hold myself to really, really high standards. I try not to do the same to others, but I do. My face can tend to look stressed, even when I'm just relaxed. I don't like it, and I think that it limits me. On a superficial note, I would get rid of this darn extra skin under my upper arms, because it is gross.

Oh, sweet Lord

The doctor says something. I stare at him blankly.

He says something else. I think I understand "dust mites." I stare at him blankly.

He pats my hand and says "You have too many itsy-bitsy bugs in your eyelash holes." This time, I understand. I wish I didn't. Ugh. What a gross infection to have!

Medicine

I swear to God, if I could ever just get damned medical care for a simple problem without having to go to at least three different places and being forced to take days and days off work, I would eat my own shirt. And die of damned shock.

Too many parties

Talk about a middle-class problem, right? I'm so worn out from all the socializing I've been doing!

On Thursday I went to pub quiz. On Friday I went to Jaci's going-away party, and then to a private Karaoke party where we rented a room and sang all night long. On Saturday we finally had the brunch we won at pub quiz a month ago, and then I helped friends get things tailored (and dropped off some of my own things), and then there was a graduation party in the evening. I was so tired that I headed home before midnight, and slept from 1 AM until noon.

Granted I had a lot of fun, and even managed to not spend all of my money doing so! But damn if I'm not tired.

Two Schools

I hate working at the high school. Don't get me wrong, my partner teacher is fantastic, and I love getting to teach Spanish with official support, textbooks, and a curriculum. It's just the running about, the sprinting between the high school and Krudy, and the feeling like a totally despised and left-out weirdo at the high school since I just run in there three times a week to teach a single lesson before running away again. It's the worst thing about this year, for sure.

Pub Quiz

Every second Thursday I go to Pub Quiz, where my team "Let's Get Quizzical" is awesome and usually places in the top three and sometimes even wins. We answer questions, have a cider or two, and get angry at the inept Quizmaster. It is super fun, and it is definitely something I will miss once I have gone. Here is to the ridiculously long film and song clips, the stupid answers to lateral thinking questions, and a regular meeting with friends!

Simplicity

It was storming. The power went out. I lit a candle and continued to read. Eventually the power came back on.

I had nothing to reset, plug in, or anything. I even let the candle continue to burn.

I cooked today

And I don't just mean that I pan-seared some chicken breast and teamed it up with steamed veg and quinoa, or tossed some whole-grain pasta with (yup) pan-seared chicken breast and steamed veg. I mean that I actually combined many ingredients and spices to create something beautiful, and delicious, and still rather healthy. And it felt really good. I need to remember how awesome food can be!

One-Way Ticket

I have a one-way ticket to leave Hungary on the 29th of July.

I do not yet have all of my paperwork submitted for Korea. I do not yet have my official placement. I do not yet have a visa. I'm trying really hard to not be stressed about the whole thing.

I was thinking about it, and I figured that worst-case scenario, I could always crash on my dad's sofa or whatever and find a job for January somewhere. I thought to myself, "I can stay 90 days in the States, no problem." Then I remembered: I'm an American citizen. I can stay in the States for as long as I want, no visa required. Funny.

Sorority Sisters

In college, I was in a sorority. This is generally surprising for people who know me nowadays, which is probably due to my current staidness or to a misconception of sororities. Probably both. My sorority days were fun and helped me to grow. I wouldn't take them back, especially because they also brought me my darling little.

Since I've been in Budapest, I have had two people come into town from Lycoming. Both of them have wound up being sorority sisters. On Friday Abbey messaged me and told me she'd be in town on Saturday. It was a surprise for sure. We managed to meet up for some tasty lunch at Magdalena Merlo's and then again for an improvised tour of Budapest's pub scene. It was so funny to catch up and reminisce with someone I haven't seen since 2008!

Ok, now this is no longer funny

I've been naturally awake for like two hours now. Seriously, the inability to sleep in on a weekend is starting to grate the nerves. I miss the luxuriousness of it all. It's not even that I'm tired and need the sleep, I just want it! Oh well, I guess I'll get in some extra gym time before I'm off to meet Abbey, who is in town for the day!

Doctor Who

I love Doctor Who. It's a great show. That being said, I really think it is about time for Moffat to step down as showrunner, because I am growing so very tired of episodes and storylines being wrapped up with some ridiculous timey-wimey nonsense. It's a cheat, and it makes stories matter less when they're just "erased."

Also, if Moffat decides to make Sherlock not dead through some time-based trickery, I'll break things.

(Apologies to my readers that have no idea what I'm talking about!)

May 1st in Esztergom

Yesterday was a national holiday throughout Europe (Labor Day) so Lyla and I took advantage of the day off to get out of town. We headed up to Esztergom, a town on the Hungarian-Slovakian border and the seat of the Hungarian Catholic Church. After our rather hot and miserable bus ride, we arrived to the (as always) terrifying bus terminal. Once we wandered into the downtown, however, all was beautiful and well. We got a snack and then wandered across the bridge into Slovakia. I do get such a kick out of walking to another country. Walking across the bridge also offers the best view of the magnificent basilica, which is the third largest in Europe. There was also a chill pigeon on the railing, and I touched his tail feather, thus accomplishing my childhood dream of someday touching a wild bird.

We wandered around the border town a bit. It was sort of strange, as always: a few restaurants, fireworks for sale, casinos and strip clubs. Ah, border towns. Extra funny was seeing all the typical Hungarian street names translated into Slovak. We also stumbled across the Communist cemetery, which rows of Cyrillic gravestones and a huge Soviet-Realist statue.

We headed back into Hungary and had some yummy lunch at a pizzeria. Next, we climbed up the hill and visited the enormous and beautiful basilica, taking in some great views of the Danube from the patio around the church. Then we caught the bus back to Budapest, and I had a little bit of heat stroke and stumbled about for a bit. It was a great day.

Zumba

Today at Zumba lesson there was a new lady, and she wound up next to me. At one point she messed up again. She laughed and told me that I made it look easy. I asked, "Who? Me?" and then I tripped over my own feet. (I am starting to really love it, though!)