Last Saturday, Karen and I went to watch our friend Caleb...
...play ball. Fortunately, the weather was stunning!
Unfortunately, they let him pitch (and play) only two innings.
On the way to the field, we saw
an old road sign ("Lenin Road")...
...a church...
...and a garden. Out in the countryside, people
use their yards to grow much more than grass!
Today, Doug, David, Caleb, and Jarrod dug
post holes for the youth field backstop.
The first game will be Saturday.
Crunch time!
Vác looks beautiful in the spring!
On Sunday afternoon, Karen took part in a photo scavenger hunt
with the youth from the International Baptist Church of Budapest.
We had visitors over Easter break: Lara, whom we have
known and loved since she was a newborn...
... and her friend Will.
They are studying in France this semester.
On the Saturday before Easter, we did Budapest!
Parliament (Parlament)
Saint Stephen Cathedral (Szent István Bazilika),
where St. Stephen's Holy Right Hand is venerated.
Saint Matthias Church (Szent Mátyás Templom)
The Chain Bridge (Lanchíd)
A few weeks ago, Karen sculpted lions to go on a
miniature version of the Chain Bridge at her school.
We are so blessed to have good friends to celebrate Easter with!
Joelle wanted Lara all to herself out on the porch.
The McBriers
Jarrod, Karen, and Will
Will celebrated his 21st birthday while he was here!
This is a grainy cell phone picture, but at least you can see his face.
Váci Youth Baseball Camp, April 2-3, 2010:
Caleb and David teach batting
Doug and Ádám, with Lara's help, teach throwing and catching
Jarrod and Norbi teach fielding
Snacktime
Transportation
For Karen's 15th birthday, she asked for a trip to Vienna—
which isn't all that far away. Here are a few photos from the trip:
Saint Stephan's Cathedral
Look at this woman's hat! Wahoo-wah!
The Easter (Egg) Market
The Hofburg
My favorite people:
The CEO Occasional Gathering for Partners and Friends
for Mutual Edification (CEOOGPFME) was this past weekend!
God was very busy, and everything came together fine.
Here are pictures, thanks to the Georges' camera:
Tom Foley, our esteemed leader
Erik (from Sweden) and Tom before breakfast
Superheroes Laci and Andy, with Michelle providing horns
Donna George and me
Jeremy and Petra Bohall: New CEO Partners!
The girls at home: Hannah, Karen, Sarah, Lauren
Almost everybody!
Our "Thriller" team got 6th place in the
nationwide competition for bilingual schools.
Here's their excellent poster;
hopefully I'll get better pictures later.
A group of students from Metropolitan State University
in Minnesota came to talk with my students.
My kids didn't want the others to leave.
Not pictured: Professor/Photographer Jeanne Grant
Lea's school, soon to be Karen's school:
Boronkay György Szakközépiskola és Gimnázium
Karen had the first of three flute recitals last Wednesday.
This was Karen's first recital in the big music hall.
On Saturday I escorted my friend Liz from the airport to Szeged.
I got to hang out with Sarah and Hannah...
...and Liz and Donna and Rob (not pictured).
We weren't all in top form, but it was
great to be together!
Last week four of my kids ran out of the classroom
right before class was supposed to start. A few minutes
later, they came in looking like this:
Matyi, Évi, Barbi, and Peti had dressed up for their
German class Carnaval (pre-Lent) party, and they gave
me the honor of seeing them like this, too.
When I do a unit on hobbies, the kids use play-dough
to "enhance" their oral quizzes on their favorite pastimes.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures:
Barbi is a photographer.
Dóri draws comics.
Lurkó likes rowing, but you can read that.
Our Brazilian friend Juliano celebrated his birthday
here in Hungary. So several of us took him out for pizza,
and then we went to our friends' flat for dessert and games.
Joelle was preparing to help Juliano blow out his candles.
Eliza wanted to share Juliano's tea.
Eliza is still one of Doug's greatest admirers.
Jarrod
These students will be preparing a presentation
for a nationwide competition in March.
The topic: Michael Jackson's Thriller.
The team: Gyuszi, Judit, Kriszti
Karen, Rebeka, and Cili at Cili's former school
Shannon and Eliza playing with Barni at church.
The daughters of our very first friends in Hungary were
2 and 4 years old when we met them in 1992.
Now those girls are 20 and 22, their little sister is 15,
and their little brother is 3! Here's Dani with his mom Zita.
My favorite place in Vác, the chocolate café or "csokizó"
closed their doors forever this past weekend.
My heart is sad, but it's time to move on....
The hot chocolate was thick—
more like melted chocolate than anything.
Five of my students were there on Friday:
Fanny, Zita, Tina, Vivi, and Dóri
Usually Virginia weather is the opposite of Hungary's,
but this past weekend, both places had snowstorms.
The difference is that nothing stops here when it snows.
Here's our apartment house.
(I would have chosen a different color.)
A bit of the main square
Snow-capped Hedvig, patron saint of the Danube Bend
A bunch of Americans got together to hang out with Juliano,
a Brazilian man who is teaching for six weeks at Lea's high school.
Here are Doug, Juliano, Éva (another teacher), and Karen:
Lee, Jarrod, and Caleb
David, Shannon, Eliza, Grace, Joelle, and Caleb
Alex and Kato (who is barely visible) playing with Joelle
This past weekend was the Senior Program at my school.
They had waltzing...
...a mafia play...
...hip-hop dancing...
...and some Air-Earth-Wind-Fire thing.
Our church in Vác always has a New Year's Party.
This year, people dressed up as something starting with A (or Á):
Karen: ács (carpenter)
Tamás (our pastor): Arnold Schwartzenegger
Markó (Tamás's son): állatorvos (veterinarian)
Dalma and Peti: Arabs
Adri: aquarium
Joelle: angyal (angel)
Jarrod: ajándék (gift/present)
Later in the evening we did Karaoke.
Karen sang a
Hungarian song called "Petroléum Lámpa,"
which is an
ode to, not surprisingly, a petroleum lamp.
Karen also impressed everyone by being the first to
identify quotes from A Tanú (The Witness),
a classic Hungarian movie.
The Hungarians gave her a very long ovation!
Cili, Karen's best friend in Vác turned 14 this week.
Her party was this past Saturday.
This is my current 10th grade American Culture class.
I only get them for one semester; after next week
I'll gain a new group. But I'll definitely miss this crew!
