Looking Forward

Looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them – L.M. Montgomery

What did summer mean to you? It depends on who you are. If you aren’t part of the big, bad education system, it might just means it’s hot outside. You might squeeze in a trip outside of your hometown/state with the little ones. It might mean that you made a list of home improvement projects and you got two out of ten finished. (Hey, two is better than zero!) To a lot of teachers, it means finally sleeping in a little, or touching every piece of paper in your classroom so you can decide what to throw away. For students, it means making a little extra money or spending money taking summer classes. Needless to say, people look forward to summer. It’s a change of pace from the rest of the year. Admit it. You needed it. I needed it.

I looked forward to coming back to the States. To be sure, my time in Hungary was great, in the school and in the culture, but I was worn out. I think that’s how a lot of people feel at the beginning of summer. Unfortunately there is the danger of taking a break from the wrong things. I mean, you probably shouldn’t stop eating healthy foods during the summer, or forget about going to the gym. Refusing to learn ANYTHING all summer might not be your best choice either. The same goes for your spiritual life. It’s amazing to me, how beneficial it was, meeting with a Bible study group at the end of each week in Hungary. It was a time of rest AND learning. I was taking care of my spiritual needs, just like I need to take care of my physical needs. Why would I give that up during the summer? It’s important.

Now, I’m back in Hungary. I stayed a day in Budapest because August 20th was Hungary’s National Holiday of the Foundation of the Hungarian State and King Saint Stephen. I think Hungarians like long titles. Or maybe it’s shorter in Hungarian. (Ha, I know that’s not it.) It’s time for some history! Stephen (997-1038) was the last grand prince of the Hungarian conquerors in the Carpathian Basin. He was also the first Christian king of Hungary. He fought for the unity of Hungary against pagan Hungarian warriors and for the independence of the Hungarian Kingdom against Western European Christian troops. He established a legal-administrative system and brought Christianity to the country. I guess the title of this holiday has to be long because it’s both a national and Christian holiday.

Every year, for this celebration, there is a big baking contest. The best of the best compete to create a delicious and unique cake to represent their country for an entire year. The winning cake (dubbed “Hungary’s Cake”) will be served in bakeries all over Hungary for the rest of the year until the next competition. This year, there was a record number of applicants (43 of them!), competing for the best cake. The winner was Gellért Szó, and the name of his cake is "‘The Green Gold of the Őrség". I’ll be sure to grab a slice sometime. I wanted to visit the holy crown, but it would have taken all day, the line was that long. There were too many other things to see. There was a festival of folk art at the Buda Castle and an “Avenue of Hungarian Flavors”. I partook in that, of course. There were more people in Budapest than I had ever seen. The weather was sunny and pleasant and concerts throughout the city could be heard around every corner. I, along with Samantha, John, Dora and Kellan, emerged from the train into a morning of bustle, thinking we could make it until 9 o’clock for the fireworks. We were mistaken. A combination of jet-lag and being in the sun for so many hours sent us back to the train and to an all American dinner of French fries and hot dogs at the Braun’s.

I’ll wrap things up by saying that today was my first day of meetings. To be honest, it was a few hours of me doodling in a notebook while everyone else spoke in Hungarian about the coming school year. Said notebook is now filled with lots of little bunnies. I got the information I needed from an English teacher afterward. All of my stuff is unpacked and I found that I had time to write a blog post. I’ll keep you informed on what’s happening this year, so don’t go away. More is coming!