We all got a shock when we arrived at school last Friday to find that everyone was wearing black trousers and a white top and a Hungarian flag brooch! We then discovered that Monday was their National Day when the country celebrate their uprising in 1848 against their hated Austrian rulers. The children in the school performed a play which reinacted the events of that day which was really interesting, even though it was in Hungarian. The children then explained to us afterwards what the play meant and the details of the Uprising and why they celebrate that day. It was a bank holiday yesterday for the National Day and the city was adorned with flags and statues, everyone was wearing a Hungarian flag brooch and there were parades and lots of parties. It was really interesting learning about this day and being able to be a part of it. I even bought myself a Hungarian flag brooch!
I did lots more sight-seeing this week because my Auntie and Uncle came to visit for the weekend and we even did things that I hadn't done before which was great! We went on a tour round the Parliament building on Sunday afternoon. It was really interesting hearing about the history of the building and about the Government in Hungary and the building itself was incredible! We also went on a boat trip on the Danube which was really interesting because we got to see even more of the city than I had seen before and we also went around Margaret Island and I was so surprised that it was so large. I think we will be going back to the island before we leave because we have been told it is beautiful in the summer time.
After teaching for several weeks now, I feel more confident when teaching alone. The children are gradually getting more and more used to my accent, which is promising! The teachers keep encouraging us by saying that it's good for the children to hear real, authentic English accents. However this has meant that I have needed to be extremely careful when speaking to the children and with our pronunciation. Unfortunately things are made even more difficult by the fact that all the cd's and textbooks the school use for English lessons are American.
Personally, I felt very assured by the fact that I was able to show my Auntie and Uncle around Budapest with little or no problems. I no longer feel like I have to plan a route to get anywhere, but that I can work out a way of getting somewhere at any end of the city as I go. I also love the fact that I have enough Hungarian and German to converse with most people and any others speak good English! I am looking forward to planning a trip to Bratislava possibly in the next week or two to do even more exploring!
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