Busy Busy Busy

This week has been straight up insane.

Monday I was at work, my main work, from 730 until 1800. Well, I had a brief foray in the afternoon where I trekked all over, searching for a padded envelope and a post office that would accept it. I also got more Bencelita food, and happily discovered rat-formulated Vitamin C, which was splendid because the poor thing had a cold. After my adventures in mailing-stuff-in-Hungary (which is so much harder and more involved than it should be), I headed back to school for parent teacher conferences. Per normal, one parent popped in and asked how her (very good) child was doing. Balint and I said, "She's good." Otherwise we essentially played pictionary with each other, started with my display of my god-awful "5-second hamster," which was declared amoeba-like. I was offered the use of anything I find in the fortress of solitude, which is impossibly touching when you remember how awkward its owner can be. It was definitely an amusing hour!

Tuesday I went to work, then to Hungarian lesson. I had a small crisis while learning the imperative tense when I confidently answered what I figured was "dry your hands," only to discover that Hungarian has different words for dry depending on if you air dry or towel dry. This led me to declare that I was quitting Hungarian (don't worry, I'm not). Then I headed to H&M and purchased myself a lovely new bag and spring-weight coat. They are adorable. I headed home to drop off some stuff before going out to celebrate St. Patrick's day at a Mexican restaurant. As I approached my door, I reached for my keys, and discovered they were not there. Panic. Frantic emptying of my bag. No keys. Call Lyla, who was luckily at home. Called my Hungarian teacher, then texted Balint to ask if he would check if he was still at work. Headed back to H&M, no keys. In full-blown panic by now, imagining the 17-day long process that it will surely take to replace my set of keys. Nevermind my emotionally priceless Moose and Zim keychains! Get to dinner, and get a text from Balint (at 1915... dude works too much)... no keys. Heart explodes. One minute later get second text... keys found on the attendance book! Dancing in the restaurant.

Yesterday head into work, give oral exams and threaten children to be quiet all day long. Then it's off to Wille and Katerina's, where I am fed delicious cabbage salad and pasta, then force Wille to think deeply about short stories and annotate poems with Katerina. Satu, the mom, gave me giant bottle of sweet chili sauce as I left. They are the sweetest family ever. Leave, and discover that the beautiful spring day has turned into SNOW. Damning spring-weight coat and formal-shorts-with-tights outfit, run the km down the hill to the bus, getting laughed at by everyone I pass. Then it was out for my new weekly expat gathering, and home again to eat dip for a late dinner.

Today I finished work at 1245. I had my Hungarian lesson at 3 PM. Inbetween, I went from Obuda to southern Pest (a long way!), picked up my Avicenna paycheck, graded some exams, showed my boss that the key was in error, bought a sandwich, and made it back to central Buda (Batthany ter, for those in the know) in time to walk calmly to my lesson. I am awesome. My private lesson tonight was cancelled due to illness, so I even got to come home and write to all of you before I head to the lovely Hanna's for dinner.

The oral exams are killing me. The kids are doing very well, but they are taking about... four times as long to complete as I thought they would. It's awful. In the meantime, I have the children creating "extended nametags," basically their names in bubble letters with all their favorite things written and drawn inside. Again, I am amazed at their creativity and cleverness. Grading them, I have had to correct the spelling of things that I never thought I would, mostly relating to Star Wars characters. I can't help but laugh as I fix errors such as "Csubacka" and "Dedt Star." The girls give some pretty adorable favorites as well. One's favorite is "being kut" (cute). Another likes "all preddy (yes, my American accent is ruining their spelling) dings." Their tests are yielding some very interesting comments as well. For a picture of a boy asking a crying girl a question, one replied "What is your problem?... Cut it out, Boti!" For a picture of a boy with a cat on his shoulder, "The cat is dancing rock and roll on Benny's head!" For someone asking directions, "I go to supermarket now? What you want me do about it?" And most randomly of all, for two children clearly celebrating something, "Basket. Basket! BASKET NOW!!"

Tomorrow is a very short day since Avicenna is on holiday. Saturday, Lyla and I are going to the impossibly ghetto-seeming "Seal and Parrot Show" that has popped up in the Tesco parking lot across the street, mostly because it just seems so strange. Plus, Lyla can't resist parrots on tricycles. Who can, really? Then we are heading out to Tata to visit our friend Carla. It should be pretty cool, all together. I'll let you know Sunday.