December 20, 2010: Christmas Day at school

December 20, 2010: Do you remember my description of Halloween and Thanksgiving Day at school? (See October 27th blog entry for details). Well, a similar type of day took place today for Christmas. The boys from each class were brought into a room and divided into three teams that competed with each other in various competitions. There was a game similar to pin the tail on the donkey where the blindfolded person was told by his teammate to move his hand "up", "down", "right", or "left" to get to the target -- this to be done in 15 seconds. A second competition was for members from each of the three teams to hold a piece of paper on his head and draw a picture on the piece of paper to see whose drawing was most like the picture that was being held by the teacher. In another competition, the boys were given a hundred votive candles and told to place them on the floor to be like a Christmas tree and then light the candles. Then another group was given questions on a piece of paper about various Christmas customs and told to find the answers to the questions by reading various articles about Christmas that were posted on the walls. Another group was commissioned to create Christmas cards. So, you can see that there were a lot of things for the boys to do. The coordinators were very organized and supportive at the same time. I think the boys enjoyed the activities.

Student drawing a picture on his head

creating a Christmas tree of votive candles

Creating a Christmas tree of votive candles

After that, classes were held according to the schedule except none of the students had their minds on learning English. I only had one class to teach by the time the Christmas parties ended so I just led the students in some games that I've always enjoyed in the United States. The students seemed to enjoy them, too. At least they told others about the games that they played, but refrained from telling them the "secrets" to the puzzles I presented.


After school ended, Ruth and I joined the teachers of the English department for a small party in "the club" of the school (really a recreation room where students can play foosball and hang out). We had a great time talking about serious as well as funny matters regarding life in Hungary. One thing I learned was that the Hungarian population has been getting smaller year by year by 20,000 people per year since 1981. This is alarming. The reason given for this is that many Hungarian women prefer their careers to getting married and so put it off indefinitely if not forever. 


When the party concluded, Ruth and I returned home to rest after such a busy day.