I cannot believe that in only two weeks from today I will be sitting on a plane on my way back to Canada.  As you can imagine, this reality has caused some mixed emotions, especially knowing how fast the weeks go by around here. But I am also clinging to the fact that I still do have two weeks left to enjoy. And, there are many things I am looking forward to when I get home, especially seeing friends and family again.

The weather has been dreary this week, which really seems to affect all of us, plus we get a bit of cabin fever. I've tried to get out more and so I spent a few days at Shaun and Sondi's this week. Of course, I am not complaining about the weather, considering we had some of the best weather we could have asked for in October and early November.

I discovered recently that our friend Szilvi is a very talented artist, and I mentioned that I would love to learn from her. So she invited me over to teach me some painting techniques with oil painting. I was very happy about this because I have tried acrylic and watercolor, but had not yet tried oil paint. Of course I enjoyed painting (very relaxing), but the big deal for me was the sheer joy of being in the presence of an expert artist at work. I'm hoping to at least have one more chance to do that again before I leave. I am so excited about the opportunities I've had to learn a few new things of interest to me while I'm here, such as painting and violin.

Tonight we had a real treat. Miklos and Szilvi took us to Sumeg, a town about 1/2 hour from us, and we went to a medieval horse show and dinner in a cellar.  So incredibly fun. The horses were all Andalusian (for you horse people) and some of the show reminded me a little of the Lipizzaner show. But everyone was in medieval costume, and the show included jousting, archery, knife throwing, fencing, etc. 
And then dinner - wow. Dinner was held in a hall and the atmosphere was like a medieval banquet. We had roast goose leg,  baked potato, corn bread, and a sort of pickled cabbage salad. We even had to eat our main course without any cutlery, so, with our hands only. For those of you who know me well, etiquette isn't really my forte anyways...so this was perfect. I could eat in a barbaric fashion and still be considered socially acceptable. Maybe it's good I can't attend these events too often. Who knows what I might become :)
There was a live violin concert in the hall as well. We were originally supposed to hear the most famous violinist in all of Hungary, but he called in sick. So there was a replacement trio, which I still enjoyed very much. I can appreciate it even more now that I am trying to learn violin.

After dinner we walked up a hill to the Sumeg castle. It was so foggy you could see the mist almost right in front of you, and the castle looked really cool all lit up in the fog in the dark. 

And the other day I ate brains on pizza, just so you know. Originally I just wanted to try it so I could say that I did, and then ended up eating three pieces. In case your wondering, the taste was pretty good. The texture was a little too soft for my preference.

So that's about it for out of the ordinary this week. I wanted to write more, but I'm going to have to save some of the deeper stuff for later when It's not so late at night. It's a big day tomorrow as we will be having a church service at my flat, and then we will be going out to a family's house for dinner.

A portion of the crowd at adult English club

Feeding the multitude, as I like to call it.

We teach an English song after classes, and Shaun shares a short message

The Medieval horse show (I got better videos than pictures)

Dinner with Miklos and Szilvi in the cellar (Matt is there but he's taking the picture)

 A platter of goose legs, potatoes and cornbread.
Might look simple, but was oh so delicious!

Sumeg Castle in the fog. That illuminated figure on top of the castle in the middle
was one of two German Shepherds who apparently think  they own this castle at night. 

Random brain pizza. Food for thought...or maybe thought for food...I dunno.

It's been a relaxing and quiet week. It seems like there has been more quality time with people this week, which I'm thankful for, considering my time here is so quickly drawing to a close.

Around November third, the weather took a turn for the worst, and the rain began. I was thankful it had held off for so long, but was very sad to say goodbye to the beautiful sunshine and outdoor activities. Plus I wasn't sure how I felt about riding the bike to the grocery store in the cold rain. And yet, just as I was accepting that it was over, the sun returned yesterday, and I could once again walk downtown in a t-shirt! I can't believe it's November and still so warm.

Again this week I had only one student for teen club...probably due to the rainy weather. Most of the teens walk, and so I imagine they just wanted to go home. But my numbers for teen club tend to be a little inconsistent regardless. So if one student shows up, I usually just bring out an English game that suits their level. This week it was Apples to Apples, which is actually a great game for English students who are at a low-advanced level. I've been using the Junior version because it's a little clearer for English students, and actually still just as fun.

I've really been enjoying adult English club. I feel like I am just really starting to figure out how to teach these classes, and now I sadly only have about three left. My greatest challenge has been that my students are intermediate and have a lot of vocabulary, so they are more interested in the rules of grammar, which is not really my strong point. I know how it should be said, but I don't always know why it should be said that way. There have been some questions that have stumped me entirely, and at times it ends up that my own students teach me the rules instead of me teaching them. Their biggest interest is in the English verb tenses. There are only three tenses in Hungarian, but there are twelve in English. So my last class ended up being more of a Q&A on English grammar, which was actually really good. The students seemed very eager, and it helped me understand what they want to know, and what areas they are finding difficult. I've also begun to find my own knowledge of the Hungarian language useful in teaching every once in awhile. But if I have learned anything it's that English is so confusing!! 

Today was our day off, and Szilvi and Miklos invited us to go to the hot springs lake in Heviz. It is the biggest hot springs lake in Europe, and a popular tourist location. The water was not too hot to swim, but more like the temperature of a heated indoor pool. There are pink and purple lily pad gardens everywhere. At first it kinda grossed me out because, as much as I like plants, I don't like swimming with them :) but I got over it. It was very refreshing. It felt a bit like we were going to the beach in November. 

After the lake, we walked a little bit around Heviz (it was dark) and had ice cream cones (the Gelato ice cream here is very delicious). Then we went back to Szilvi and Miklos's for dinner. 

Heviz Lake (I didn't take these pictures)

                                

                          

With six weeks in Hungary now come and gone, there is less time in front of me than there is behind me...a very bittersweet thought.

The last two weeks or so have been beautiful and more reflective of a cooler summer than fall, averaging sunny with a high of twenty-five degrees and hovering around fifteen degrees in the evening. The locals say we have had exceptional weather here this year and I am loving it!

These past couple weeks I have been finding more balance in my schedule, and perhaps just getting more and more adjusted to the routine, and it has been so nice just to feel like there is a little extra time here and there. I have found grace to see my priorities a little better, and I'm seeing where I need to spend more time and where I need to spend less time. So I would say I have been much more relaxed as of late and I don't feel so crazy busy. We have used the nice weather to climb several of the mountains in the area. There is a lot of great hiking and breathtaking views!

There have various school holidays over the past weeks, so we didn't have any kids club last Wednesday, and no kids clubs this week. This has given us a bit more time to visit with some of the Hungarians we know at their homes or farms.

The Carlaws and us visited Eva's farm last week (one of my adult students), and had a traditional Hungarian dish cooked in a cauldron over a fire outdoors. This is one of my very favorite Hungarian dishes. I don't know how to spell it, but it is sort of  pronounced per-cooht, and it's like a meat stew over homemade dumplings (if any of you are familiar with a german noodle called "spaetzle", it's the same thing). We topped the day off with a hike to some basalt pillars on the mountain that make the mountain face look like a pipe organ.

We had a little Birthday party for Sondi on the 20th, and so I finally got to host a dinner party at my house which I was quite delighted about. Of course the one meal that counted would be the one meal that turned out to be a blunder...so disappointing...but I'm over it now and I hope it's made me a better cook for the future :)
We had the five Carlaws and four extra guests, so there were twelve of us in my little kitchen. But somehow we all fit!  The Carlaws and two of our friends, Szivlia and Miklos stayed and played some games. It turned out to be a very fun evening.

Last Saturday, a young adults group from Budapest came and hosted a youth weekend at the hall in Hegyesd where we have summer camp. Most of them spoke English quite well so we had a chance to visit and get to know them a bit. We played some games and then they performed a few skits which were followed by discussion groups. Then we ate a whole lot of gulyash and went for a hike to a castle, followed by a time of singing. My friend Roxy from Budapest also came down for this weekend and stayed at my place so it was nice to have some extra company.

This past Tuesday, because we had the day off, Paul, Matt, and myself went to Szilvia and Miklos's farm to help out a bit. It turns out that much of their hay was too wet when they baled it, so we were helping cut open the bales so the hay could dry. After, they took us horseback riding for a bit in the riding arena. I ride occasionally at home, but these horses were trained differently, and they don't usually use bits, so you have to depend almost entirely on your muscles to direct the horses. I wasn't having much success, and I couldn't tell if it was the horse testing me or if it was my riding. I find it takes a lot more fast thinking and coordination to ride horses this way. But, all the same it was very nice to ride again, and I think Szilvia plans to train me a little more the next couple weeks. I was pretty sore for a few days :)

Last night we had a team from Chicago join us for adult English club. It was really great to have some new people in the mix. It added some variety to the classes, and the student really liked it.

I am finding I am starting to pick up on some Hungarian. I've been taking an audio course, which helps a lot. But for the most part the extent of my use of the language is telling people that I don't speak the language. Shaun said tonight that Hungarian is rated one of the most difficult languages to learn, and I was like...oh shoot...what have I gotten myself into?

This is a shot of the main street that my house is on.
I still love walking down the street even if it's just for grocery shopping.

On sunny days I like to sit in this spot in the park for some peace and quiet.

Riding with Szilvi

Lunch with Szilvi and Miklos (that's Miklos on the left) 

Paul and I posing for the cover shot of the next issue of Farm and Ranch :)

Cooking over the fire at Eva's farm

On many of our hikes we stop occasionally to play in the leaves.

                          

Haven't taken a picture yet that does justice to the beautiful scenery.