beginning the journey.

Well today finally came, the day that I’ve been preparing for and anticipating since I started training back in July, my first day of teaching at Levay Josef Gimnasium in Miskolc.  I woke this morning to a beautifully thoughtful note from my roommate wishing me luck… and she also set her alarm for 7:15am (even though she had nothing to be up for) just to be able to pray with me before I left for work.  I was feeling quite nervous about the day because I had received very little information about school procedures and didn’t get a tour of the school, so I had to guess where my classrooms were located.  Upon arriving at the school and heading into the staff room to get my things organized, I walked into and interrupted the mandatory staff devotional/prayer session that I was never informed of, but instead of getting angry the headmaster graciously took it as an opportunity to introduce me to the rest of the staff and welcome me.

My first class of the day was an 8^th grade class with a pretty beginner level of English.  In Hungary, the students are assigned a classroom and the teachers move around from room to room, just as the students do in American high schools.  When I got to my classroom the door was locked and my students were nowhere to be found, so I had to hunt them down.  Since the door had been locked, they decided they would just find a random open room to occupy, so I had to ask another English teacher to help me find them.  After a short introduction, I began my first class as an English teacher.  I could tell the students could understand more English than they were willing to try speaking, but eventually got them to write down their names and a few other bits of information and collected their papers to take roll call.  Because of the Hungarian students’ accents, it’s much easier to figure out names by reading them; however, the way they write some of their letters is slightly different as well, so I had to ask a student to help me call each name.  I made it through the class, but with minimal English usage from the students…

After a 3- hour break to go home and recharge, my next class was a combination class, a few students from different 11^th grade classes.  I had a total of 4 students today, all of which spoke very good English.  I ended up ditching my entire lesson plan, and just sat down and chatted with them for 45 minutes, and we all shared about ourselves and learned about each other.  One of the girls noticed my WWJD bracelet and asked if I was a Christian.  I was excited because I didn’t know if Hungarians would know what it meant, so it was cool that she inquired. It was really great to get real with the students and hear about their lives and their interests, and of course, they were also practicing their English simultaneously and working on fluency… my favorite class of the day by far!

My 3^rd period I ended up sitting in my classroom alone for quite a while until another teacher informed me that my students’ class master had gone home ill and told the students that they could leave as well…

The last 2 classes of my day were 10^th graders, and I can tell already that they will be my hardest classes in the area of behavior management.  It’s not that they are naughty or act out, but I felt the least respected by them of all my students today, and I remember from coaching softball that the sophomores were the hardest to handle when it came to attitude.  I think that my mom could verify that it was probably around that time in my own life that I was the hardest to deal with as well. 

It’s amazing that with all the differences I have had to learn to adapt to in Hungary, I’ve failed to realize how many similarities there are among the different cultures, but I’m beginning to become acquainted with the many parts of culture that are universal throughout the world.  Things like the invincible attitudes displayed by 16-year-olds in the presence of adults, flirting that goes on between teenage girls and boys as they mingle in the city center, having to take a number and wait for hours in the tax office the same way we would in the DMV, men holding doors for women, and the way that children play… my first morning in Budapest I awoke to the voice of a child outside the window of the room I was sleeping in, and based purely on the tone in the child’s shouts I learned that the Hungarian word for ‘mom’ is ‘anya.’  Some things never change…

During our closing ceremony at ESI training in Pasadena, the president of TeachOverseas pointed out that, “When God is about to do a major work in us He will take us on a journey.”  This is just the beginning of my journey with God, and though I don’t know the exact path that He will lead me, or the precise destination that will result, God does, and His desire for me is that I will run His race at the pace that He gives.  Please pray that I will stay focused on Him and His direction and purpose for my time in Miskolc… that I will remember in the times when I feel like the Lord isn’t speaking that the real problem is that I’m not listening… and that I will be able to love my students abundantly and teach them with all my heart. 

So for now I won't worry about the small details that my school fails to inform me of, or how I will possibly learn the names of my 100+ students before Christmas, the whereabouts of my security guard at the times when I feel like I need his help and he is nowhere to be found, or why the internet has such a bad connection during certain times of the day, or even what exactly is waiting for me at the finish line of this journey.  Instead, I want to be content in waiting on the Lord and resting in Him, taking each day a step at a time, living in the moment, and learning to rely on God in the times when I feel restless, anxious, or lonely.  This is my prayer...