Friday, 23 & Saturday, 24 April
FRIDAY
We met for breakfast at the usual time and quickly departed for our schools and the last day of classes, saying “good bye” to students and teachers, final shopping and then packing as we prepare to leave on Saturday morning.
There was a concert at the Catholic Church in the center of the city. Anna Buza and Susan, at teacher at List School, are part of the choral group. There was a visiting group from Austria who also sang.
Hotel Fáma is full because this is the weekend for the Agricultural Convention.
We had supper at Fisherman's.
SATURDAY
Breakfast was at the usual time of 7 am. Packed luggage was placed near the front door of Hotel Fáma in preparation for a 8 am departure for the airport. The luggage was loaded, good byes said to the hotel staff and we started the trip to the airport.
The good news is that we arrived at the airport and all of us were able to continue on the next phase of our journey.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Update from Hungary
22 April 2010Kedves,
It appears that the European airspace is now open. This morining there were over 400 planes in the air at 7 am. At the moment I believe all of us will be able to travel.
Yesterday was a nice day, but this morning there is light rain which might clear the air of some of the dust.
The adult classes have gone well. A total of 52 adult students signed up and 44 to 46 have attended all the lessons. The volunteers and students have bonded well and many of the students have asked me for the dates when the next team will be here and will be contacting city hall very soon to sign up.
The volunteers have done such an outstanding job!!!! Please find me at 10 to 12 volunteers for each of the next teams this fall!!!!
One of the students is a friend of Rita's father and he and his daughter have been attending the classes and Rita has told me how pleased they are with the classes. The mayor has accepted my offer to give English lessons to employees of Municipality during working hours which we will start in Sept. In the past he has required them to come to class after the normal work day. This is an example of the increasing degree of acceptance of what we are doing in and for the community.
There are many more stories of a positive nature to report, but I must now go to class with students who I enjoy being with very much and it is a mutual feeling. The students in this class have been so responsive to interacting with me.Ok, story time is over for now.
Take care and I expect to be back in the States on Saturday.
Best wishes,
Milt (Hungary Team Leader)
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Another Day of Teaching, Culture & Delicious Food!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
QUOTE FOR THE DAY: “You must strive for a quiet mind. If the eyes are perpetually restless, they cannot appreciate a beautiful object set before them; they glance this Way and that, and so fail to discern the subtlety of the object’s form and color. Equally, if the mind is perpetually restless, distracted by a thousand worldly concerns, it cannot apprehend the truth.” - St. Basil the Great (329-79)
At our bountiful breakfast this morning, we had the additional choice of tasty scrambled eggs. Over conversation, some implied that that sweet, quiet Lee could, on occasion, manifest a strong temper. After packing our lunches, we walked through a light rain to our individual classes.
Peggy said her classes were abbreviated because had swimming and the pool was some distance away. Lee had additional classes combined with her own after a regular teacher fell ill. Kathleen engaged her classes in a variety of conversations. Patsy faced the quandary of having two strong speakers in an otherwise silent class.
Joan’s supervisor, Susan, presented her with yellow socks to match her sweater. Frank had “a heck of a time” with his students and passed up dinner to work with one of them. John, in one of his classes , learned the Hungarian word for “whistle” and ended the hour conducting a chorus of whistlers!:)
In addition to their morning classes, Terri (the music teacher), Patsy and Mary Martin are team teaching. Today, they worked with the topic of Travel: Departure, Flight, Arrival – acquiring passport and visas, clearing Security and then Customs, meeting one’s needs while on the plane and collecting one’s baggage. Several had specific reservation for trips to Barcelona, Florida, and New York, so this is reality for them.
Milt traveled to the train station to purchase tickets for the six of us traveling to Budpest this weekend.
At 1500, Milt led a small group of us to the studio of the master potter, Ambrus Sandor, a world famous artist. It was breathtaking to witness the creative process to see in action lumps of clay being transformed into a bowl or a candle holder. Joan was so absorbed by the activity that she donned an apron, immersed her hands in the clay, and proceeded to shape a bowl!
From there we continued to our adult classes, followed by dinner at The Black Eagle. Cherry soup was the speciality, which made Terri’s heart sing, especially when Mary Martin offered Terri a second helping with her bowl. (1940’s cherry-flavored cough syrup had cured MM’s desire for cherries.) Plachinta was the grand finale, a chestnut kind of pureed pancake.
Departure was somewhat chaotic as three took off walking to the hotel, Joan was taking care of personal need, Milt joined Reta at a table with Dutch guests. Well, our crowd looks after each other, so Terri, Lee, Patsy, John and MM piled into one taxi – to the consternation of the bewildered driver who wanted to call a second taxi. We reassured him we were just “crazy Americans”, as he dubiously pulled away from the curb. We paid him two taxi fares, for no doubt, he was violating company policy, he reported his dilemma over this intercom, and he was good-natured about our U.S. American independence. “This is fun!” we all agreed, reverting momentarily to the behavior of our adolescent students.
All in in all, it was an eventful day!
Written by: John Doty
QUOTE FOR THE DAY: “You must strive for a quiet mind. If the eyes are perpetually restless, they cannot appreciate a beautiful object set before them; they glance this Way and that, and so fail to discern the subtlety of the object’s form and color. Equally, if the mind is perpetually restless, distracted by a thousand worldly concerns, it cannot apprehend the truth.” - St. Basil the Great (329-79)
At our bountiful breakfast this morning, we had the additional choice of tasty scrambled eggs. Over conversation, some implied that that sweet, quiet Lee could, on occasion, manifest a strong temper. After packing our lunches, we walked through a light rain to our individual classes.
Peggy said her classes were abbreviated because had swimming and the pool was some distance away. Lee had additional classes combined with her own after a regular teacher fell ill. Kathleen engaged her classes in a variety of conversations. Patsy faced the quandary of having two strong speakers in an otherwise silent class.
Joan’s supervisor, Susan, presented her with yellow socks to match her sweater. Frank had “a heck of a time” with his students and passed up dinner to work with one of them. John, in one of his classes , learned the Hungarian word for “whistle” and ended the hour conducting a chorus of whistlers!:)
In addition to their morning classes, Terri (the music teacher), Patsy and Mary Martin are team teaching. Today, they worked with the topic of Travel: Departure, Flight, Arrival – acquiring passport and visas, clearing Security and then Customs, meeting one’s needs while on the plane and collecting one’s baggage. Several had specific reservation for trips to Barcelona, Florida, and New York, so this is reality for them.
Milt traveled to the train station to purchase tickets for the six of us traveling to Budpest this weekend.
At 1500, Milt led a small group of us to the studio of the master potter, Ambrus Sandor, a world famous artist. It was breathtaking to witness the creative process to see in action lumps of clay being transformed into a bowl or a candle holder. Joan was so absorbed by the activity that she donned an apron, immersed her hands in the clay, and proceeded to shape a bowl!
From there we continued to our adult classes, followed by dinner at The Black Eagle. Cherry soup was the speciality, which made Terri’s heart sing, especially when Mary Martin offered Terri a second helping with her bowl. (1940’s cherry-flavored cough syrup had cured MM’s desire for cherries.) Plachinta was the grand finale, a chestnut kind of pureed pancake.
Departure was somewhat chaotic as three took off walking to the hotel, Joan was taking care of personal need, Milt joined Reta at a table with Dutch guests. Well, our crowd looks after each other, so Terri, Lee, Patsy, John and MM piled into one taxi – to the consternation of the bewildered driver who wanted to call a second taxi. We reassured him we were just “crazy Americans”, as he dubiously pulled away from the curb. We paid him two taxi fares, for no doubt, he was violating company policy, he reported his dilemma over this intercom, and he was good-natured about our U.S. American independence. “This is fun!” we all agreed, reverting momentarily to the behavior of our adolescent students.
All in in all, it was an eventful day!
Written by: John Doty
Monday, April 12, 2010
A Positive First Day of Teaching!
Monday, April 12, 2010
QUOTE FOR THE DAY: “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” - C Buddha
Our day began on an early note with an energizing breakfast provided by the wonderful staff at Hotel Fama. Milt made an announcement that we were all to meet back at the dining room area for a meeting at 1400 hours.
Each of us made ourselves lunches and proceeded to our respective schools:
Frank Dajka, Nemeth Laszlo and Josef Attilla. John Doty, Nemeth Laszlo Gymnazium es Alta Laqnos Ishola. Terri Hankins, Lizst Music School, 4-8th grades. Joan Himmes, Klauzal Gabor Elementary School 9-14 grades. Mary Martin Lane, Corvin Matyas Commercial and Technical Secondary School. Ji Lee, Varga Tamas Elementary School, 4-5-8th grades. Peg Scatterfield, St. Istvan Iskola, 4-8th grades. Patsy Welton, Eotvos Jozsef Secondary, 11,12,13,10 grades. Kathleen Yasumura, Hiszk Gregus Mate Member School, 9-14 grades.
Upon returning from our school experience, we attended the team meeting with Milt at 1400 hours at which time we wrote and discussed our three reasons for being in Hungary as volunteers. Each person’s reasons were grouped in the following manner:
•Learning about volunteerism
•Learning more about Hungary, its culture, language, and history
•Working with children
•Personal growth and development
Next, team members discussed characteristics of a good team. The following qualities were mentioned:
•Interdependence, tapping into each other’s riches
•Good communication, sharing, developing trust, honesty, respect
•Selflessness, sharing, generosity, consideration
•Self-care, humor, laughter
Mary Martin initiated the description of her day as she taught five classes with students ranging in ages 14-20 years. She related that she enjoyed her mentoring, gentle redirection and action-filled activities. Milt complimented her creative teaching strategies.
Patsy related her “lost and found” experiences in getting to her assigned school. She enjoyed her experience but asked Milt about strategies which might be attempted to overcome the shyness factor several students presented.
Peggy stated her introduction and singing strategies were implemented during her four classes for grades 4,5, 6, and 8.
Lee noted that she enforced simple situations and had students interact with each other in asking similar questions to one another in grades 4, 5, and 8.
Frank related that it felt like “old home week.” He noted that three of his classes were great, but his fourth class was a challenge with discipline issues.
John noted that all of his students and classes were great. He said that his teaching experience went well. However, he did inform us of his directional confusion difficulties in finding his way back to Hotel Fama.
Kathleen related her teaching experiences at the Gregus Technical (Agricultural) School which were fine overall.
Joan stated that her first day went very well. Overall, the first day of teaching appeared to be a positive experience for all.
Written by: Kathleen Yasumara
QUOTE FOR THE DAY: “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” - C Buddha
Our day began on an early note with an energizing breakfast provided by the wonderful staff at Hotel Fama. Milt made an announcement that we were all to meet back at the dining room area for a meeting at 1400 hours.
Each of us made ourselves lunches and proceeded to our respective schools:
Frank Dajka, Nemeth Laszlo and Josef Attilla. John Doty, Nemeth Laszlo Gymnazium es Alta Laqnos Ishola. Terri Hankins, Lizst Music School, 4-8th grades. Joan Himmes, Klauzal Gabor Elementary School 9-14 grades. Mary Martin Lane, Corvin Matyas Commercial and Technical Secondary School. Ji Lee, Varga Tamas Elementary School, 4-5-8th grades. Peg Scatterfield, St. Istvan Iskola, 4-8th grades. Patsy Welton, Eotvos Jozsef Secondary, 11,12,13,10 grades. Kathleen Yasumura, Hiszk Gregus Mate Member School, 9-14 grades.
Upon returning from our school experience, we attended the team meeting with Milt at 1400 hours at which time we wrote and discussed our three reasons for being in Hungary as volunteers. Each person’s reasons were grouped in the following manner:
•Learning about volunteerism
•Learning more about Hungary, its culture, language, and history
•Working with children
•Personal growth and development
Next, team members discussed characteristics of a good team. The following qualities were mentioned:
•Interdependence, tapping into each other’s riches
•Good communication, sharing, developing trust, honesty, respect
•Selflessness, sharing, generosity, consideration
•Self-care, humor, laughter
Mary Martin initiated the description of her day as she taught five classes with students ranging in ages 14-20 years. She related that she enjoyed her mentoring, gentle redirection and action-filled activities. Milt complimented her creative teaching strategies.
Patsy related her “lost and found” experiences in getting to her assigned school. She enjoyed her experience but asked Milt about strategies which might be attempted to overcome the shyness factor several students presented.
Peggy stated her introduction and singing strategies were implemented during her four classes for grades 4,5, 6, and 8.
Lee noted that she enforced simple situations and had students interact with each other in asking similar questions to one another in grades 4, 5, and 8.
Frank related that it felt like “old home week.” He noted that three of his classes were great, but his fourth class was a challenge with discipline issues.
John noted that all of his students and classes were great. He said that his teaching experience went well. However, he did inform us of his directional confusion difficulties in finding his way back to Hotel Fama.
Kathleen related her teaching experiences at the Gregus Technical (Agricultural) School which were fine overall.
Joan stated that her first day went very well. Overall, the first day of teaching appeared to be a positive experience for all.
Written by: Kathleen Yasumara
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