RIP Phil. Love You Forever, Friend

As if it weren't enough to be living alone in a city where I have only 1 acquaintance who speaks English, more bad news came today.

Phil Boney-Scrivano passed away in a car accident this morning on Staten Island, NY. Phil has been one of my best friends from Camp Lindenmere and he is a big reason why I returned to camp for my second and third years. He had a hard exterior but a heart of gold, which is what I love most about him. Phil has been like a little brother to me since June 2008 and he will forever be in my heart.

I don't need to say it because you already know, but I love you more than words, Phil. I miss you friend. Thanks for my first Jack and Coke at Amanda's. Never forget. Love you Phil. <3

First Day of School Sept. 1, 2010

Today was my first day of school at Eotvos Joszef Egysegyes Gimnazium. It started off like any other first day of school would have. I picked out an outfit that I thought would be appropriate for the first day of class. Gray slacks, white top, kelly green cardigan, and of course, my pearls. I excitedly walked to school trying to hide the grin plastered across my face because Hungarians don't exactly mess around with a polite smile in passing after awkward eye contact, and I didn't want to stick out any more than I feel I already do. I arrived at school at 7.45 for the opening of the school year ceremonies and waited for Gotti to arrive so she could show me where to go.

I was unaware of two things this morning. The first was that it is tradition to wear black and white on the first day of school, and second, that the headmaster was looking to formally introduce me to the entire staff and student body. I didn't realize until I was standing in front of 600 pairs of judging eyes, all fixed on me in my kelly green sweater standing on stage next to the vice principals. I felt my ears and then my face immediately turn bright red as he said my name and something about 'Amerikai' in his funny Hungarian accent, in true Chelsea style.

At the end of my last class, after the students left and the door to classroom 10 was closed, I regained the same smile from earlier this morning and couldn't help but audibly exclaim, "I was just an English teacher!" After class I had to go to the Immigration office with Gotti to get my residence permit, and after an hour and a half I was in the books as a resident of Szeged! I made my way home, still on my high from my spectacular day and as soon as I walked in reality hit.

Brenna's Hungarian friend Anti from Lindenmere circa 2005 (?) was sitting on our couch and her bags were all packed at the door. I tried to make small talk and avoid the subject of her leaving by talking about my first day teaching, but it could only last for so long. I walked them downstairs, gave her a hug, and watched as they drove away. I returned to my 2 bedroom flat, turned on the tv for noise, and came to the realization that I live alone in a city where I know 2 people, and sat. Reality is tough when you don't have anyone to talk to.

I sat there with my computer on my lap trying to keep myself busy as BBC Entertainment blared into the emptiness of my apartment, and waited for something else to keep me busy, as all my friends and family had already signed off skype and facebook chat. And OH did something happen!

The buzzer to the front door went off and I got up to ask who it was, as I wasn't expecting any visitors. Being the optimist that I am, I thought it may have been Brenna coming to my rescue, deciding that she could stay, telling me she would face her fears and just do it. Not the case. Next, a loud and deliberate knock echoed down the hallway from the front door, except I hadn't let anyone into the door in the lobby. I hesitated to ask who it was, but after jumbling around with the chain lock I tried my best to have a confident voice and asked, "Who is it?" A muffled voice responded in English with, "...clean for you..." so I asked again. Same response. I tried to look through the microscopic pinhole that is my peephole, but all I could see was that there was a person standing there. No detail, just the shadowed silhouette of a person. Perfect. They knocked again.

I opened the door but kept the chain lock latched just in case she was trying to sell me into prostitution. (Credit for this assumption can be given dad who took me to see the movie "Taken" the day I told him I wanted to move to central Europe...) Through the 4 inch crack in the door, I could see that it was a woman, she was at least 6'2", she was sweaty, and she was mad. She started shouting at me in Hungarian, and I exhausted my knowledge of the Hungarian language by telling her, "Nem beselek magyarul, sajnalom," (Sorry, I don't speak Hungarian) and proceeded to close the door. The huge sweaty woman then thrust her fist through the crack of the door at waved a 500 forint note at me. My heart skipped a beat as I tripped over my feet to step out of her reach and I tried to think of the 'panic' word I'm supposed to say if I'm in trouble and need help, but my mind was completely blank. I tried to think where I put both my cans or pepper spray, but no luck again. I haven't even unpacked everything so they're probably somewhere in the huge pile of random items on my desk. She began to yell at me even louder.

It was perfect. The first night that I'm living alone in a city where I don't speak the language a large angry Hungarian woman tries to force her way into my apartment in an attempt to sell me into prostitution and get me addicted to heroin... Or so my imagination led me to believe.

She continued to shout through the crack at me, with her face less than 6 inches away from the gap between the door and the frame, her saliva spraying onto the floor and wall. This went on for more than a minute, but it seemed like I had to wait an eternity before she took her hand out of the door so I could slam it shut to call Gotti to ask why there might be an angry woman yelling at me. She went away after a few minutes and I dialed Gotti's number as fast as my fingers would allow.

Gotti's explanation made much more sense than mine. Big sweaty Hungarian woman was the cleaning lady looking to collect the dues for the last 3 months. Nobody has been living in this flat since June so nobody paid the lady. Wow. Perfect first night alone, I can't wait to see who else comes to my door.

Knock Knock. Who’s There? Chelsea made it to Budapest!

Hello all! This blog is meant to update all my family and friends with what’s going on in the next year as I begin this new adventure in Hungary with the Central European Teaching Program (CETP).

*Disclaimer: As this is my first blog, please don’t expect my first entry to be quite as riveting as they will (hopefully) be in the future, and despite this first entry, I hope you continue to follow me and my adventures in Europe... And tell everyone you know who knows and loves me, because I want more followers than Brenna... Love you Brenna :)

Brenna and I arrived in Budapest on Monday the 23^rd after three different flights into three countries. Ontario to Denver went smoothly, but Denver to Frankfurt was a different story. Apparently Lufthansa believes in seats that recline to a surprisingly comfortable position, and 'universal' air control, which means they never turn on the air. As we were overheating, the small French boy seated in front of Brenna decided to take advantage of his seat and recline his eight-year-old self into her lap so the ‘latest episode of DuckTales’ was inches from her face. Brenna was not a happy camper. There were definitely points where I wanted to laugh at her situation, but the gorgeous Brazilian volleyball player sitting across the aisle from me meant that I couldn't sit (or sleep for that matter) in an unflattering position. It wasn't the most comfortable flight for either of us.

We did survive that flight, but we almost didn’t make it out of Germany because the Frankfurt airport is about 18 miles long and our gates were at the exact opposite ends; in terminals A and C. After hurrying through security again and sprinting to our gate, we met Jaq from Las Vegas. Sweating from our unexpected exercise and fanning ourselves with our passports and boarding passes, Jaq noticed we were from the US, assumed that we were with CETP and awkwardly introduced himself, we did likewise. Thankfully, before any more 'we just met you and now we're supposed to have a lot to talk about' conversation could ensue, we filed onto the plane,shuffled into our seats, and were pleased to find that this plane had individual air controls, and no small French children near us, and no beautiful Brazilian athletes. As promised, Mary and Hajni (the directors of CETP) were right outside the gate at Ferihegy Airport with their homemade CETP sign, Hajni quickly arranged a shuttle to our hostel, and we were off again.

When we arrived, we hardly had enough time to shower and prepare for the welcome dinner at Dunacorso in Budapest, and my first experience on the public transportation went quite well. We followed Hajni’s simple commands in her thick Hungarian accent like a herd of sheep and made it there in no time. We enjoyed our meals and were the first table to return to the hostel to catch up on sleep as we didn’t get much rest on our flights.

Since the 23rd, we have been attending Hungarian 101 and methodology classes at Corvinus University during the day, and at night we explore the city and try to figure out how to convert US dollars to Hungarian Forints. Not an easy task considering my history in mathematics.

On the last night a small group of other CETP teachers and myself hiked to the freedom statue (the Hungarian version of the Statue of Liberty) that looks over the whole city. We were the epitome of ‘obnoxious tourists’ taking pictures of absolutely everything. Filling the camera with pictures from this night was well worth it because this was the first time I had seen Budapest from above and it’s something I never want to forget. It was beautiful. I loved the trip up the hill because the city was amazing at night, but if we had known better I most definitely would have brought water and worn shorts instead of jeans because it was sadly, a little more physical activity than what I’d been used to at camp all summer, and we’re hot messes in all our photos.

Tonight, Brenna, Lexy and I wanted to explore the the Buda side by ourselves so we took the ‘Budavari Siklo’ up to the huge castle that overlooks the city and, again, took too many pictures of the city, the castle itself and many of the statues around it. We are now masters of the trolleys in Budapest so we hopped back onto our familiar route and went to dinner at our favorite restaurant and had Italian food for the third time this week. What can I say, they make good pizza in Budapest... Tomorrow night will be our last dinner in Budapest this week and all the CETP teachers will be together, so I’ve promised myself I would try some traditional Hungarian food. I’ll let you know how that goes next time.