Random stories from the frozen tundra (also known as Hungary)

Snow Apocalypse My Foot!

Our hometown of Dallas/Fort Worth is being hit with a lot of snow this week and we couldn't help, but laugh a little. I felt like saying to all my friends back in Texas, "Take your last 3 days of snow and multiply that by 3 months and then tell me how bad it is!" I would of course say this with smile on my face. You see, since living in Hungary, snow has become a daily part of our lives. We always wear about 3 layers of clothing when we prepare to go outside now. We thought the snow was magical back in the middle of November, but now that it is February....the snow is a little less cute. On the plus side, we have definitely built up our tolerance to cold and have learned to walk on ice (shuffling very slowly sometimes). 

Scoot on Back.

My kids continue to be adorable on many levels. However, they also get me sick. That is the tragic downside of working with nursery kids, they tend to carry a lot of germs and spread them around (to me for instance). When I work with my nursery kids we usually sit on the floor for "circle time" where I show them pictures of new vocabulary, play games, etc. The kids love to get close to me and that means I get a little claustrophobic feeling. So I do a little chant that Ben said had worked for his sister and mom. I shuffle myself backwards and sing, "Scoot, scoot, scoot on back" and that gets the kids to move back as well. Giving me a germ free buffer zone for a least a minute until the next activity. 

What's In a Name?

I love all the names kids come up with for me at school. I teach almost 200 kids a week, so some interesting nick-names were bound to be made up for me. Some of my kids call me "Teacher Dana," "Dana Néni" (which means Aunty Dana in Hungarian), or "Angol Néni" (which means English Aunty in Hungarian). 

I Can Teach Anywhere!

The other day when I arrived at my nursery school in Ebes they had a new teaching arrangement for me. Normally I teach in a classroom with small desks and a carpet area where we sit on the floor. When I looked in the classroom instead of the room being empty it was filled with a dozen sleeping little kids on cots. I guess they decided to use my room for nap time, but where do I go? All the rooms seemed to be filled with sleeping children so I was showed to an empty hallway. They put down three mattresses for me and my 10 kids to sit on while we did class. No big deal right? Except we had to be super quiet because everyone was sleeping! So we whispered the "Hello Mickey" song and we whispered our vocabulary words. Luckily my lesson plan for that day wasn't a loud one with lots of songs and dancing! It is times like this when I am teaching on a mattress with a bunch of little eyes on me that I think, "How did I get here?" It is strange and funny all at once. 

Usually I have boots on, but this was on
a day where the streets didn't have any
snow for once.

The view outside our apartment window. Tropical isn't it? 

Ben gearing up for a cold walk or
maybe robbing a bank?  :)