Bosnia

This is the eternal flame that is lit downtown to remind people of all of those lost in the war.

This past weekend was a holiday here in Hungary celebrating the revolution against the Russians in the 1950's. So we had an extra day off of school. I chose to go visit some friends living in Sarajevo, the Duerods. Malcolm is teaching at the American University there and Corah is working with Roma children to try and create a preschool for them! It's really a blessing to see how they love on the people of this hurting country trying to recover from a war that ended not that long ago!

We had a great time just catching up and hanging out. It was the first time I had gotten to see their beautiful daughter, Tikvah Joy, since she was born over a year ago! We also got to go walking around downtown so I could see old town Sarajevo. They took me on a driving tour of the city as well where I got to see the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics and the many large cemeteries from the war. It was extremely interesting to see buildings full of bullet holes and right next to them brand new mirrored sky scrapers going up! The old and the new trying to co-exist!

One of the funniest things that happened was one day we were driving through town and this guy gets behind us and starts flashing his lights and honking his horn. We think that maybe we have a flat tire or something wrong with our car - so we get over in the next lane to let him pass so he can tell us what is wrong. He passes us and waves and smiles and then drives up to the car in the lane ahead of us to curse him out! I couldn't believe it!!! He just wanted to pass us to get closer to the guy in front of us and curse him out! WOW! I'm glad that was so urgent - we caught up to him again at another light and he smiled and waved like a thank you. I just had to laugh!

The 12 hour train ride there and back gave me some time to really process through all that has happened in the past 3 months. In fact, I had my own private car for the last 9 hours on the way there. I just spent the time singing, dancing, journaling & praying. I know that I was definitely entertaining the ticket guy that kept walking by - at one point he stopped outside my door and just danced with me!!! The whole thing just helped me to feel refreshed, focused, and loved. Because of course, Corah & Malcolm spoiled me rotten while I was there. It was just nice to see some beloved friends from California!

Spreading the Love!

Most people I know don't know what it is like to be homeless. I can honestly say that I do. More than once in my life, I have either had to live on people's couches or sleep at the office or hide out in my car. So when I walked onto the former Russian Army base that is the living area for several Hungarian families, I was taken back to those periods in my life. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words - and the one above I feel is worth a million. This mom and daughter were blissed out because we took their picture and gave them a picture frame to hang it up in their small apartment. How simple is it to spread the love?

Last weekend, the Middle School here at ICSB did service projects. The 6th graders walked around Diosd, our city, picking up trash. The 7th graders went to visit a mental health facility to throw a Harvest Festival. I was with the 8th graders at this homeless ministry out in the middle of the Hungarian Countryside.

We arrived on Friday to do some much needed yard work. There were tons of thorn bushes and trees that needed to be taken out of the back yard so that these adorable children could have a place to play that was safe. So we took on some war wounds and rounded up the trees and yard waste and made them home more ascetically pleasing! Then, we had a good ole fashioned bonfire complete with sausages on sticks to roast! We had a round of worship with guitar around the fire and then followed it up with a movie night of Ratatouille in Hungarian with English Subtitles. We traveled to a hostel for the night's devotions and rest.

Saturday morning we got up nice and early to return for breakfast with the residents. They proceeded to give the students a tour of the facilities, while us chaperons set up the craft time. We had brought picture frames for the kids to decorate with paint, feathers, stickers, glitter, etc. They had a blast making them beautiful and we had fun communicating cross-culturally! The families got all dressed up and we took and printed up their pictures so that they would have something to keep! We had a communal dinner where they expressed their gratitude and then we headed out to catch the train ride back to Budapest. The students were excited because we got to ride on a "Harry Potter" Train - it had compartments instead of rows of seats!

All in all, we were supposed to make a difference in those families lives. However, I know that it made a difference in mine. Once again I am reminded of the many things God has carried me through in my life and how grateful I am to be blessed even with something most people take for granted - a place to live!

Color Clash Calamity!

Color Clash Calamity was the theme for our Welcome Back to School Party in the Middle School. I volunteered to be one of the sponsors of middle school student council since I have all of those years of experience in school politics - hahahaha! Plus, you know how I don't ever pass up an opportunity to plan a party! So I made sure that I joined in the fun and dressed in my most clashing outfit! In fact, I was the only teacher that dressed up - that surprised me! But I had fun in my pig tails and crocs and I got some votes for best dressed!!!

We had fun playing a skit game, octopus tag & guessing games. Our prizes were some good old fashioned american food - oreos & doritos! The kids went crazy! We also surprised them with root bear floats for the snack time!

All in all everyone seemed to have a blast and the parents said we did a great job! Not to bad for a first time class sponsor!