Really, keep giving them this water!

Today started early! My first class begins at 7:45 which i know is not early to most of you, but for the girl who works with university students and is up late usually, this is early. Out of my 6 classes today only 2 were annoying. This is a fairly big improvement from last week. One of the classes was my fault for not having a lesson which suited the class so i will not judge them until next week. The other is well... i guess there has to be one of those classes in a semester. Kind of like there is always "that guy" in the class.
So i'm sure many of you are wandering how Hungarian High School is different from American High School. The answer, vastly different. Some example:
- the teacher change classes when the bell rings not the students
- students are supposed to stand when the teacher enters the room
-they do not have a set lunch time or for that thought a planed out lunch system. there is a bufe to get junk food and a place to get a hot meal if you would like to buy it but only if you have a free period, other than that they occasionally eat in class
- they do not call you by your last name, but the english equivalent to "teacher lady."
-To my knowledge there is not much of a disciplinary system, though i did see a kid cry today with who i think is the principle (we haven't actually meet).
- grades are both subjective and objective meaning when a kid annoys me i can give him a bad grade. (this i am a fan of and already have one in mind)
-there is no toilet paper in any of the bathrooms, you have to bring your own.
-the only accessories in the classroom are chairs desks and a chalkboard.
-the students are with the same classmates all day long.

i'm sure that there are many more, but here is a couple just to get your mind thinking. As for now, i'm glad that I do not have classes on Friday!

what's in a day

I am not sure what is either in the water or the air today, but i like it! I was a little nervous about going into work today from the not so lovely students that i had on monday. I shouldn't say that, only one class was terrible. anyways, i walked in today and went into a class that was a handful last week and there sat not 15-20 but 7 quiet teenage boys. The bell rang and a few more students wandered in. It was like i had entered another world. They greeted me, talked a very little about their weeks and then studied the lesson in which they participated. crazier things have happened, but not this week. I hope the same goes for tomorrow as well.

Did she really just say that?

Yes, yes she did. I found this question a reoccurring thought of mine this past week. There are many things that I did not think that teachers would really say, but guess what, they do in Hungary. My favorite example of this was during one of my first meeting at the school. I had written down some of my questions to try to get a better handle on school policies, organization and just school life in general. Most of these questions I received a strange look and a blanket answer. "Is there a dress code?"... no "Do you allow food or drink in the classroom?" .. no, but maybe if they are hungry. "Tardiness?".. they will come.. and my favorite " what do you do about misconduct? what is the disciplinary system?"... oh just ask them to stop.

Who could not be impressed with this well oiled machine? Even so, I tried to prepare myself, and come the first Wednesday in September I got on my bike and headed off to my first day of Hungarian High School. I arrived early, learned how to use the copier and was inform that Zsuzsa, who i think is the head of the department, would be sitting in on my first class. As I was waiting for her, a man full of presence, came bouncing in the teacher's room surveying with whom he would introduce himself, and landed upon me. He told me, in Hungarian, that he only taught on Wednesdays and that he didn't know anyone. I told him that i didn't know anyone either, and before another Hungarian word could come out of my mouth, I hear the other teachers loudly proclaim that i am the English lecturer and that i do not understand him. He then turns to me and says- are you not Hungarian? i replied no i am American, but i understand you to which he now says in English oh i am so sorry i also can speak some English. Before the next breath, he bounds off to meet the other teachers in the room with his funny story of how he mistook the American for a Hungarian, and everyone had a good laugh. This little incident occurred a couple more time that day. By the end of the day, however, my graciousness was about at its limits and decided that if i did not make this a joke, we were going to have issues. So the next time someone came up to me and began speaking Hungarian and the teachers gave their, by now rehearsed speech, I smiled and said something about never knowing what the crazy American would say, and thus ended that. Obviously I am still working on my relationship with the other teachers.

Now for what you really want to know. How are the students and what is the classroom like. Well they are all different. some classes are very quite and some are very lively. The one thing they have in common is that no one can say my last name. Another similarity is that they are not a fan of speaking English, but boy do they love speaking Hungarian. In my first class, I walked in the room and Zsuzsa introduced me, and one of the guys said that he did like to speak English, and something else in Hungarian- I don't remember now. I looked at him and told him that was such a shame since this was a speaking class. Of course all of their eyes got big and could not believe that the American could understand some Hungarian. So, for the most part this past week, was many many classes of students trying to push limits and me pulling teeth to get them to introduce themselves. The agenda for next week? Is survival asking for too much? Really only in a couple of my classes do they really try me, the others are quite lovely and over all i think this will be an entertaining year.