Numbers 6:24-26

"The Lord bless you

and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you

and give you peace."

November Update: Windows of Opportunity

Greetings from Budapest,

Over three months have passed since I have arrived and become a conversational English teacher at Trefort Agoston. I teach nine groups of students, ranging from ninth grade to thirteenth grade and beginner to advanced.

The first three months have been a learning period for me as I try to understand the Hungarian school system and teaching – it’s coming to me slowly. At the same time, it has been an important time for me to create opportunities to build relationships with teachers and students. And boy, have those opportunities taken shape!

First, my love for baking has been able to start a lot of conversations in the English teachers’ office. Soon after I arrived, I decided to bring in a baked good at the beginning of every month. My colleagues have enjoyed this; in fact, they look forward to it every month just as much as I do. This opportunity has helped me break down that initial barrier between strangers. I’ve found out that many of the teachers have a love for baking and cooking as well, and it has given me the chance to swap recipes and learn cooking tips.

The second opportunity came with my students. Sharon Bauer, Jack Ippel, and I started an after school English club that the students have dubbed JUBAIP – figure that one out. It’s an hour and a half a week of homemade American treats, fun activities, and English conversation. It has been an amazing time to hang out with the students and to get to know them more. On October 26, we celebrated Halloween with pumpkin carving and a costume contest – it was a big hit! Jack pointed out that the most important thing about JUBAIP is that it is a comfortable place for the students to talk and spend time with their friends instead of sitting at home and playing computer games or doing some other mindless activity.

Being able to call Budapest home has taken time; however, these windows of opportunities have brought a comforting breeze into my life and have helped me find God’s peace here.
Thank you all for your constant thoughts and prayers, and bearing with me as I figure out what it means to be a missionary with supporters. My blog will continue to grow as I continue opening

windows, so please stop by and stay awhile: desperatedistractions.blogspot.com

May the Lord’s face shine upon you,

Justin

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Cheb - The Beginning of Fall Break

I had fall break from October 30 to November 7. I began my fall break by going to Cheb, Czech Republic. (From my understanding, you say the Ch in Cheb like you are hawking a loogie) This smallish town is as far west as you can get in the Czech Republic; it is a 2 mile walk to Germany, I believe.

We visited two and a half other ESI teachers who work in Cheb. (I say half because the third teacher was with ESI last year.) Cheb is a beautiful place with supposedly one of the oldest castles in the Czech Republic. To note the size, we were given a tour of the city and we ran into several people that the teachers there knew.

I know that I live in a place filled with an elaborate history, ranging from Roman civilization to Nazi occupation to the reign of communism, but the history of the places that I live and have visited didn't hit me until I visited Cheb. When I stayed in Cheb, I was in a dormitory/class building that I found out was occupied by the Nazi offices. Upon further investigation, we found a picture of the town square with a huge crowd "heiling Hitler."

I'm living in a place with a huge history...

Garages

Lenin
The Town Square

If you have not done already, continue reading to find out about the rest of my fall break.

Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Karlovy Vary. Our first day trip of two while we were in Cheb. This place is beautiful, yet bizarre. It is about 45 minutes east of Cheb; Cheb is as west as you can get in the Czech Republic, which means that one must travel through all of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Belarus or Ukraine to get to Russia -- that's a long distance.

If you want a hint of Russia, though, you can go to Karlovy Vary. This spa town has almost every sign translated into two languages: Czech and Russian. Three countries to cross, yet a huge Russian population is there. It's not like a Chinatown or a small area devoted to another culture, this whole city is largely influenced by Russia. (There was even a beautiful Russian Orthodox church.)

I can understand why Russians would flock to Karlovy Vary. It is gorgeous. It weaves through the hills following a river; it is a spa town -- there were tons of 4 star or 5 star hotels and resorts advertising relaxing spa treatments; Karlovy Vary has money -- it shows. It also has the Grand Hotel Pupp. You might say, "What the heck. Who cares?" I'll tell you the significance. This hotel has been featured in two movies, most notably is 007: Casino Royale. Yup, I know, right?

The Russian Orthodox Church

A Sweet View

Probably Another Resort

Like I Said, A Sweet View

Behind the Grand Pupp

The Grand Hotel Pupp The River that Runs Through

Regensburg, Germany

On Tuesday of my fall break, we took a day trip to Regensburg, Germany. We had a difficult decision to make. Go to a small town and spend the afternoon there or go to Berlin and experience it all in one day. After experiencing Karlovy Vary, we quickly decided that we wanted another small town.

Regensburg was an excellent choice. I don't know the exact details, nor will I look them up so that I can bore you with them, but I will say this. Three major items to note:

1. The Danube passes through the town. If you don't know, the Danube also passes through Budapest. I was tempted to either find a stick and tie a bright string around it and see if I could spot it when I got back to Budapest, or make a raft and sail back to Budapest.

2. The bridge that you see in the photos below is, in fact, a medieval bridge that was built during the crusades. It was used to crossed the river during two of the crusades.

3. The cathedral is St. Peter's Cathedral. It reminds me a lot of St. Vittus in Prague; however, I think that St. Peter's has much more amazing stone work. I wish I could have taken pictures of the hundreds stone wall carvings in the cathedral because the intricacy was spectacular. I don't think any work had to be done to renovate the cathedral after the World Wars; Regensburg was not significantly bombed.

St. Peter's Cathedral
David and Goliath...ON A WALL!

Graffiti Lovin'
The River, The Flag, and The Spires

Me, the Bridge, and the Spires

Reflections

Prague's Second Chance

It's been ten months since I last visited Prague, and my first experience was hard to enjoy; it was a cold blur. It was meant to be two enjoyable days in Prague during January, but we quickly found out that Prague in January is bitterly cold -- We left after an afternoon.

I finally had a chance to return during my fall break and make some warm memories. I spent three and a half days in Prague staying with several other ESI teachers (Ben Nielson, Ryan Troglin, and Dave). The weather was wonderful.

On Wednesday, I was given a mini tour of Prague and then I sat outside, finishing The Book Thief, until the guys were done at school.

I took full advantage of being off on Thursday and lounged around the flat, taking my day of rest. I also took a walk in an awesome park by the guys' place. (That is where the first picture is from). In the evening, I joined Ben and David Reynolds (another ESI teacher) at their pub talk; it is a chance for students from their classes to come and talk about anything in English with each other.

I walked all around Prague on Friday. I sat on a hill overlooking the city for lunch and I was able to feel my hands and feet the whole time -- a rare occurance during January's visit. In the evening, I went out to dinner with all of the ESI folks in Prague and played darts after that.

Staying in Prague made me realize how much I have learned about Hungary so far. I don't understand the meaning of what people are saying, but I can understand the words of Hungarian; where as, Czech sounded like mumbling. The public transit makes perfect sense in Hungary, but the public transit in Prague seems like a maze of trams and metro trains. I also found that Prague is a lot more touristy than Budapest is -- I heard tons of english.

In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed traveling, eating, reading, writing, and spending time with friends, but all these things made going home a comforting thought.

Fall in Prague. Nice.
Memorial, St. Vittus, and the Castle.

The Charles Bridge.

I think this message is clear.

The John Lennon Wall

Charles Bridge and St. Tyn's Cathedral.

The cross and St. Vittus.

Starting the Gears Again

I got back from fall break a happy person -- as you can tell from the picture above; -- however, I still felt behind. It's one of the worst feelings to go on a break and return feeling behind in everything you have to do. Break was suppose to be a relax and catch up time; instead, I'm still chasing after the ball rolling down the hill; I kicked it and missed my shot. Because of this, I decided I needed a change. I needed to start anew, strip myself of my security. So as a way to do that and say goodbye to the Ippel's guests (Dave and Mary Bosscher), I had Dave Bosscher cut my hair.

Bring it on rolling ball, I'm more aerodynamic now!

Kit Kat Bars

I have my first extended break from school this week. It is a week long, in honor of the October 23 revolution and All Soul's Day on November 1. I'm spending my time in the Czech Republic -- Cheb and Prague -- with fellow ESI teachers.

I've spent most of my time travelling so far on a bus or a train, but this travelling has reminded me about the comfort I find on the "open road." Seeing passing villages. Following a glistening river. Weaving through the hills and fields. Peace fills me up as the sun sweeps across my face.

The attributes of the week will be the following:

1. Relaxation - It already feels so good not having to think about class for a week

2. Writing - Currently, doing it

3. Reading - The Book Thief (highly suggest it!) and The Magician's Elephant

4. Picture taking

I never realized how important the weekend was to recovery for another week, so I'm excited to see what a week has to offer.

Note: I wrote this on October 30, but I didn't have some substantial computer time until today. So since this post I have gone to Karolovy Vary (Do you remember the hotel in Casino Royale? It's located here) and Regensburg, Germany on day trips. I am now back in Prague until Saturday.

The following pictures are from Cheb.

I get weak in the knees for good graffiti.

A view of supposedly one of the oldest castles in the Czech Republic and two steeples of a cathedral.

The town square.