My blog's title once again matches its address

Yes, folks, I am back in Budapest!!  Well, right now I am in Krakow, spending a quick night here before heading to Debica for Magda and Bela's wedding tomorrow.  But I arrived in one piece and with all my things to Budapest on Monday, and it's good to be back.  Even if the summer appears to have "failed loading" as so many facebook statuses say.

I'm currently staying with Anna out in Budakeszi (a suburb) while she house sits.  But I've already found a flat, and will start moving in next week with any luck.  I've also seen Balint and gone to a Hungarian metal band's concert.  Internet is iffy, but I will give more details on everything at a later date.

But now it's off to have a drink with Lyla and then get a good night's rest.  Apparently four bottles of vodka await me tomorrow at this wedding!

It takes the shape of a place out west

Almost exactly four years ago, give or take a week, I headed out to California to start my adult, post-undergrad life.  I was going to volunteer for the Americorps, teaching kids English and running an after-school program.  This was a rather big revelation for most people I knew, as I had spent the past eight or so years certain I was going to be a lawyer, as well as announcing this fact to everyone I knew.  Studying abroad, to be totally cliche, changed me, though, and to my dismay I found myself wanting desperately to work with languages rather than with law.  With graduation looming, though, I found myself with few options.  So I decided to go volunteer.  I figured a year of goofing off and teaching language would get it out of my system, and then I would be champing at the bit to head to law school, with a nice little experience on my resume.

Of course, this year was probably the most intense one of my life.  The kids came from such a difficult place, avoiding gangs and immigration officials all at the same time.  Their parents were generally illiterate even in Spanish, and spoke little to no English.  And I had around ten bosses who each seemed determined to make my life difficult.  Nevertheless, I discovered I loved teaching.  I still wasn't ready to call myself a teacher, though, so I grasped at straws and came up with Hungary.

And I went to Hungary, and fell in love with it, and now I am a teacher.

Tomorrow my little sister heads from home.  She is going to Arizona to teach high school biology.  I can only hope her journey takes her as soundly to where she needs to be and she is happy.

Good luck, Weasel.

Cleaning the closet

And no, that's not a metaphor.  I am literally cleaning out my closet, and it's disconcerting.  For one, how did one person possibly accumulate so many clothes in ten or so years?  (I say ten years because I don't think I have anything from before the middle of high school.)  And it is just a remarkable amount of stuff.  I have already filled 6 full-sized garbage bags to donate and there is more to go.  This doesn't include, by the way, my three suitcases of general stuff that actually travels with me.

Another discovery is how SHORT everything is.  Style has definitely changed.  My style, also, has definitely changed, from jeans and casual tops to skirts and dresses with more tailored shirt options.  I guess I grew up a bit.

Nevertheless, it's a bit sad to find old relics from high school or college and shove them into a trash bag.  I hope most of them can be reused by somebody who needs them.  They have some memories, that's for sure.  Isn't it strange how much things, inanimate and seemingly meaningless items, grow to have feelings and history attached to them?  I wore this shirt when x, I got this while visiting y, this was a gift from z.  And then this thing, which is really nothing at all, becomes so important.  Nevertheless, it's pretty much time to let go.  And an empty(ish) closet will be lovely.

Fireworks!

On Sunday my sister had her graduation party.  And while it was lovely to eat junk food and see some family members and family friends I haven't seen in awhile, I must admit that the best part, as always, was Dad's enormous semi-legal fireworks display.  It's amazing what you can get to shoot out of a little cardboard box nowadays.  All of the below is courtesy of Dad, and exploded over our little lake.  Awesome.

Back in America

I am back in the States, safe and sound.  I am slowly falling into the stupor of doing nothing at home, embracing the utter laziness it offers.  Which is fun, because this is really the first day I've been lazy.  Friday I arrived in the evening, Saturday we spent the day getting ready for my sister's graduation party, Sunday was the graduation party, on Monday Dad and I went and played mini golf and gokarts and batting cages and all that stuff, and yesterday Mom and I went to the DMV to get my new (horizontal, adult!) drivers licence and to the movies.  I've been running around, and it's been pretty awesome.  But today everyone but me is at work, and I've been so lazy.  I took the dogs out to play, fixed some dinner, and that's all.  I haven't even had the energy to pick up my book, just to laze about and watch food network.

Tomorrow I'll get back to it.  I'll work on cleaning out my disaster of a closet and drawers, and do a bit of curriculum planning.  In the meantime, though, this summer laziness at home is so, so nice.