That Time I Moved To Hungary

I've been here for nearly a month and still I haven't posted anything about actually being here. This comes from a variety of reasons, but mainly that I didn't have internet at my apartment for 3 1/2 weeks. I can't complain too much I did have ample access between my school and Starbucks but I need to write in a place where I'm totally comfortable. If not it just doesn't sound like me.

Of course there were also all the other things that go along with a trans-Atlantic move. Suddenly I need to learn a new language that I know nothing about, adjust to a new school system, learn how to shop for necessities. Don't get me wrong, these are the things I live for. I dream of waking up in new places, I plan on learning new languages, traveling is something I've come to expect from my life. Yet still they are things that take time and effort, there were many a days in the first few weeks when I was exhausted by 8pm just because everything I did that day was entirely new to me.

However I can happily report that these things are past me now. I can easily navigate "my grocery store" and my school no longer feels like a labyrinth. I've even memorized some bus and metro routes so I'm not constantly double checking my map.

A large part of me wishes I would have made myself post something during those first few weeks, I think it would make me feel less awkward about this one. I'm now ready to write about specific things but I've never written about basic things. Something occurred to me the other day when I was speaking to my Aunt; everyday in China I was actively trying to survive, everyday in Hungary I'm simply living. Of course things are still new and sometimes difficult but I haven't once worried about surviving a situation. I think that's why I haven't experience much culture shock here, why I'm ready to write about specific things so soon.

So what do I write about? How do I focus? I don't know. I suppose I'll just start with orientation. For those of you who don't know I elected to come to Hungary through the Central European Teaching Program (CETP) which I highly recommend, but I'll write more about that later. Part of teaching in the program is going to a mandatory orientation in Budapest.

My room in the hostel was filled with beautiful murals of locations in Budapest. CETP rented out the entire hostel so we could use the common rooms for classes.

During orientation we were taught a lot about Hungarian culture and history from two Hungarians who have been working with American's for a very long time. At first I didn't think that was relevant but I realized during the classes that because they are so familiar with American culture they were tailoring their lectures to things they know we need to know. We also learned a bit of the Hungarian language including some grammar parts.

On our first and last night we were welcomed to Budapest with a Hungarian dinner at this famous restaurant. In between we made use of our personal hostel and made pizzas!

Since I started in January our orientation group was small only six people! Two of use were destined to teach in Budapest, two in Debrecen, one in Makó, and one in Salgótarján. I'm glad we had such a small group, I think if there were more of us we would have naturally broken up based on our geographic regions, instead we were a group. I can happily say I have some interesting places to visit.

Our last night we went sight seeing along the Danube and took in some of Budapest's wonder. Night walks like this remind me why I came to Europe.

The end of orientation was bittersweet, on one hand I was excited to finally get to the school I had heard so much about. On the other I was weary of leaving the people I had come to know. But all good things come to an end, and I couldn't be happier with where I am now.