Travelling

I travelled to Vienna with my good friends this past weekend. It was the first time I had travelled to a different city with friends. Usually, I go by myself and meet families so this was a new experience.

I haven't laughed so hard and I got to see new places in Vienna!!

This was the first time that I had been to Vienna in the spring and there are so many things that I loved.. the flowers, fountains, buildings, blue skies, ice cream, not having a heavy jacket to tote around, people walking everywhere and being outside the whole time!!

35 Days

Only 35 teaching days left till I'm finished with my first year of teaching!! HIP HIP HOOORAYYY!!
I'm not counting :-)

SZENTLÉLEK TÉR

SZENTLÉLEK TÉR is 'Holy Spirit Square' in Hungarian. This square is close to my house and I walk by it everyday on my way to school. It's the old square where you could take the coach (carriage and horses) to Vienna. Its a beautiful square in the day and at night. I love to go there and look at the old buildings and cobblestones. In the spring it is extra pretty because of the flowers. My friend Shannon took these beautiful pics. I cannot take credit for them. If you come to visit me we can visit this square!!

Budapest Transportation Strike

Tomorrow in Budapest there will be a strike from 12am-12am. That means there will be no public transportation all day for the entire city. Kinda crazy huh! My school already cancelled for the day and we have a make up Saturday in May. So, I get a 3 day weekend!! Yippie!!

Karen and a Hike

This past weekend was very fun :-) Karen Coppage came to visit me for Saturday and Sunday. We decided to head up to NormaFa which is the side of a mountain with loads of biking and hiking trails. We packed a picnic and headed up there for the late morning and afternoon. It was a blast walking, talking and taking pictures.

Then we headed to the complete opposite thing of "nature" a mall. We watched 27 dresses, Karen killed 5litres of popcorn and we just enjoyed!! There was also a fashion show for the mall which we watched. That was a blast too.

Here are some pics from the hike!!

Birthday Cake

One of my favorite things to do is to decorate birthday cakes. I've made a few in my life but this one has to be one of my favorites. My dear friend Laura celebrated her birthday today. Yesterday, I made a yummy chocolate cake from scrtach and I didn't bake it all the way by accident. So the middle imploded on itself. So, I decided to make a pond scene for her cake because I know she loves spring :-) I must admit the Peep is the best part!!

grocery shopping

I don't like grocery shopping so much. Mostly because.. I usually have to carry it to my house, I don't understand everything and well its annoying...

but today I got to go grocery shopping with one of my greatest friends here in budpaest. We drove out to Budaors becuase on Sunday nights you must go to the 24-7 places. There is a Tesco (wal-mart) there that is gigantic! Its soo huge. Anyways. I love going to the huge shops every once in awhile because they have extra things like.. celery, white seedless grapes and baked beans in tomato sauce :-)

Usually you won't find these items in a normal grocery store. They had many other things I wanted to buy but i didn't need them :-) Like marshmellows but they were almost $5.00 for one bag. Crazy.

Its also fun to go grocery shopping with a Hungarian because well they can read everything. Like ingredient lists.. sure im taking hungarian lessons but when I buy Musli (granola) and the ingredients are listed as this:
zaphely, cukor, novenyi olaji, extrudait anyagok(kukoricadara, buzaliszt, terfogatnovelo szer... etc. I just quit.
All I can read is.. oats, sugar, some kind of oil, maybe extra mom something (anya is mom) corn something, sometype of flour, and no clue. But when you bring a hungarian a long they can read everything :-) hehe.

So just a random post but its part of me.. living here in the land of Magyars

encouragement

One of my students Timi became my friend on Myspace.

This was her comment..
You're my best teacher. I like that you're always smiling.

that made me smile.

weak faith

This week has been a good week but a hard week as well. I was slammed with a huge utilities bill and then slammed with the realization that I my utilities were 60% of my paycheck. My faith became weak. Finances weren't the only reason, I think it was just the ..i don't remember that phrase.. ya know the thing that makes everything just kinda worse.

Anyways, my faith became weak. I didn't think that I'd survive the finances, the extra hours at school, the loneliness, the desire to be needed, the sadness I see in eyes around me and the lost souls of my students I daily interact with. I thought.. my faith is so weak and how can God use it??!!

Immediately the verses from Matthew 6:25-26
Therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

God told me, I will provide for your every need. You will never be in Need. You may not get what you WANT but I will give you what you need. Then he reminded me that he will use me despite me and that he has been using me.

I'm so grateful that God took the time out for me.. to give me the wisdom, the reassurance and the kick in the butt that I needed to hear.