September 7, 2010: Six classes in a row!

September 7, 2010: I had a great sleep last night and woke up ready to attack what looks to be one of my busiest days of the week. I arrived at school with a little time to rest before my first class at 8:40. My first class was the one class I felt was a bit weak and I had planned on giving them an oral test. I started out by giving them a dictation consisting of two of the more complex sentences that were in the dialog they would be reciting for today's oral quiz. When they were finished, I had them correct each others' papers and when the papers were corrected there were quite a few papers that were almost perfect. Good sign. I told them that these dictations were for practice only but that some day I'd do it for real. Then we went over their dialogs for practice before I had them stand up in pairs and recite their dialogs. I was VERY impressed with how far they had come. It was very obvious that they had studied them hard. I can see that this class will do very well if it wants to. Now to just keep the interest going.The next two classes were classes I was meeting for the first time for teaching them the dialogs. They all seemed to share the same problems with their "th" sounds -- practicing saying the "th" sound always brought about tremendous laughter on their parts. I guess showing one's tongue is just not the thing to do in Hungary. The next class was another one to which I would give a practice dictation and then grade them for their oral dialogs. Again, the students did very well. At least now they know that I mean business and they're more aware of what to expect from me. Then there was my lunch "ten minutes". I wolfed down my food and went to teach again. The class was the other half of the 9E bunch, the students who were not quite "good enough" for the bilingual program. And just like their other half, they were quite playful. The boys were like a bunch of giggling girls. Little things would bring out tremendous laughter and comments in Hungarian. I learned that if I stood absolutely quiet long enough that they would get quiet and listen to me. I told them that starting with the next class I would be grading them every class and if they weren't prepared "Oh well, you'll all get 1's (=F)". This seemed to get their attention but only momentarily. We'll see what transpires when I actually start grading them each class; otherwise this could be a real challenge. Here are pictures of two of the classes I have not yet shown you. Can you guess which class is the unruly one?

However, day by day, I seem to be getting acknowledged more and more by the boys. They always greet me in the hallways as they pass from class to class or are leaving school. They're very respectful.

So, I finished six classes straight going from 8:45 to 2:10 with only a ten minute lunch break. Imagine how it was between classes racing from my classroom to turn in my classroom key and get the key to the next classroom clear on the other side of the building all before the bell! Then, to add to the fun, I was told to be at a meeting with CETP who was going with all of us Budapest teachers to get our resident visas. This meant leaving school at 2:10, walking ten minutes to the subway station, taking the subway all the way downtown, transferring to a tram, and going to Buda by 3:00! That's like going from Pasadena to Hungtington Beach in 50 minutes. I was a few minutes late but I made it. The trip by bus to the visa department took me through parts of Budapest not yet seen. I actually saw my first gas station (Imagine: 240 forints per liter of gas! I believe that translates to $4.80 per gallon), a bowling alley, an Office Depot, and a Testco (like Costco). So, I know where to go to get pots, pans, towels, etc. if they ever find me an apartment. 


Now for a suggestion for Manhattan and its terrible parking problem: in Hungary, people park their cars half on the sidewalk and half on the street. This leaves little of the sidewalk for us pedestrians and a mere one and a half lanes on the streets for the two way traffic. Interesting?


Tonight, as I was on my way home after having gotten my resident visa, I decided to stop in a Hungarian hamburger joint where I ordered a double patty burger, French fries, and a coke. Only the Coca Cola was familiar to my taste. The hamburger was very well done - almost to a crisp, and the fries were seasoned with paprika and other herbs. It was dinner, however.


Well, I guess that's it for today. We'll see how much new stuff I can write about in the future. Things are starting to take a pattern. But you can be sure that I'll be informing you of the state of my apartment, wherever that is.

On the way up the elevator to the 5th "penthouse" suite that I occupy, my elevator stopped at the 3rd floor where a rowdy party of young college kids were partying and what a party it was! Very rowdy. I thought to myself, I sure am glad that the 5th floor is far enough removed that I won't hear that noise! Those were, unfortunately, very naive thoughts, for when the elevator door opened on the 5th floor, there was such loud music emanating from my end of the hall, I thought the windows would shatter. I walked in the area where the noise was coming from and could see these kids seated/standing around with bottles of beer and wine having a great time with the loud thumping music. I entered my room and tried to escape the noise by closing the inner door to my suite, but that did little to help lessen the noise. Hopefully the music will settle down by 10:00 or I'll have trouble falling asleep, and I start teaching at 7:45 a.m. tomorrow morning so I have to get up early!