It's snowing...and Sarah's last day

I woke up to clear skies and a light wind and now 12 hours later it is snowing. The weather changes here must faster than at home, and more often luckily! I really can't complain about the snow when I keep hearing how much snow there has been in Juneau this year. We've barely had any on the ground for more than a few days. Yea, I'm liking this idea of winter!



Today was the last day for Sarah, the AFS exchange student. She was only signed up for a six month exchange, so is flying home next week after the weekend in Budapest with the other AFS exchange students who are here in Hungary. It was also her 18th birthday today. There is actually a boy from Juneau here in Debrecen, not far from here (relatively). We said goodbye to Sarah in one of my classes and they gave her a really nice little photo album that had a picture of each of the students in it along with something they wrote. I'll miss her, as we compared our experiences on a weekly basis. She is the first exchange student they have had here and it was through default as her first home in another town did not work out. She was hostted by the headmaster's daughter, who is a local dentist. Will be interesting to see if they pursue an exchange student in future years.

I used the Brach's heart candies sent by Patty and the heart stickers sent by Mom in many of my classes this week. They students act like little kids, trying to get more than one sticker out of me. It was a lot of fun trying to explain what the sayings on them met: "u go girl", "cup cake", "mad 4 u", "too hot", etc. I was accosted in the hallway from one group who got candies wanting the stickers to put on their mobile phones.

School is becoming more and more routine as well as my attitude towards it. I've got the classes who really don't care to learn English, and I put as little time into preparing for these classes as possible; I really don't see how I can change their attitudes when I can barely communicate with them. According to some of the English teachers, this is a poor use of my time and I would agree; I should be matched with more advanced students who want/need the experience of listening to and learning from a native speaker.

Then I have the classes in which we really connect and have fun challenging each other. Some won't let me move on to a new subject until I pronounce a word or phrase correctly. They participate in the activities and I love to hear and see their creativeness. This also brings out new twists and turns that I wouldn't have thought of.

The kids aren't supposed to eat in class, but I have allowed them to as long as they ask me politely before they start. This morning in one of the classes in which no one did the homework, I would not let them eat until all of them had done the work in class. Great incentive! (Students seem to have at least 2 sandwiches in their backpacks and are always trying to hide them and eat them during class. One of the other CETP teachers had a pretty determined kid in her class who wouldn't put it away after many requests, and the teacher finally took it and threw it out the window! She hasn't had a problem since!)

Yesterday I had a lesson with David from the dorms, so instead of sitting inside, we walked around the town with him telling me about his family, showing me different houses that are being built, etc. On our way back, we ran into a number of students hanging out smoking. I asked how much the cigarettes cost, and they explained not much because they are black market cigarettes from the Ukraine and they only cost about 200 forints a pack - less than $2.00. Later, I ran into some other students smoking and I asked them about their cigarettes and theirs were not black market and they paid close to 300 forints for theirs. So many kids and adults smoke it's a way of life. There is a smoking room for the teachers and an area outside for them to smoke as well. The students are not to smoke on school grounds, but once off, there isn't much that can be done. I usually just tell them that it's bad for them and their boyfriend/girlfriend won't want to kiss their smelly mouth! After dinner the dorm students often smoke in the courtyard area and the teacher doesn't say anything, so I don't either...I really try to stay away from that role.

Will head to Tara's for the weekend for her school's charity ball. Three other CETP teachers will attend as well and we will buy lots of tickets for their raffles - just want they want as they are trying to raise money. Tara lives in a very small village of about 2000 people called Mariapocs. It has a statue of the Virgin Mary that bled tears eons ago and is a place of pilgrimage for many people. Will be interesting to see the village.