(Sorry all, I wrote this post about a month ago, and didn't realize that I had only saved it, not posted it. I will write a new one ASAP with the latest information.)

Hello everyone!



It has been a long month since I have given an update. So many things have happened!



First, about work. I am now working for 5 different language schools, collecting classes from anywhere I can find. I am also teaching a number of private students. Things are going well, although the schedule is pretty demanding. The days are still very long, starting at around 6.30 am and ending around 8 at night. There is still some free time in the afternoon, although not much. And most of it is used for planning the next classes.



I also have another project I am working on at the moment. I am working with a team of teachers to plan a training conference that we will be conducting in June and July. One of the largest IT companies here, E-ON, is sending its employees to our conference. Our topics will be "International Communication and Networking," and it will teach the participants how to conduct certain aspects of their business in English (with international companies). I am really excited about this project. I hope this teaches me some skills that will be useful when I finally come home and try to put an International Relations major to use!



In addition, I am excited because these conferences will be at Lake Balaton: a resort town on the largest lake in Hungary. I will be staying at a wellness spa (expenses paid)! I am hoping to be able to stay an extra day or two after the conference to make sure I get to see the city.



It is also interesting to mention the weather we have been having for the last few weeks. Since Olivia's mom arrived, we have had nothing but rain and clouds. I think it has rained almost every single day for the last month! We had a 45 degree day last week (the last week of May???), and a hail storm in the city next to Budapest. One of my students spent an hour shoveling little ice balls out of their yard. Some are claiming that this weather is due to the volcano, but whatever the reason, I AM READY FOR SOME SUN! Ahh, it's raining now...



In other news, we attended a free concert in a square near the Parliament building, called Szabadsag ter last Friday. A Hungarian band "Kispal es a Borze" (or "Kispal and the skunk"), famous for the last 20 years among the older and younger generations, gave what is likely to be their last performance together. We met up with our Hungarian friend, Rita, and some of her co-workers. I had a blast! It was a packed park, but the music was great, and the company extremely welcoming. We are hoping to attend a few more of these music concerts this summer. There are some extremely popular ones coming up soon, but they are a little bit pricey, but one called the Sziget festival is on our list to attend. In addition, Vodaphone presents a huge free concert every summer in the City Park, and we definitely plan on seeing that!



On Saturday Olivia and I took a trip to Esztergom over the weekend. It is a 1.5 hour train ride from Budapest. We arrived in Esztergom at about 1pm on Saturday, and walked (quite a distance) from the train station to the city center. We then had lunch (of course!) and explored the small downtown area. Unfortunately it is a bit of a sleepy town, and there wasn't too much activity. Esztergom, however, boasts the third largest basilica in Europe. It is a beautiful, stunning building that sits atop one of the peaks in the city on the bank of the Danube. Absolutely stunnning!



One of the other main attractions of Esztergom is its location. A bridge across the Danube (which takes about 10 minutes to cross by foot) connects it to a border town in Slovakia. Of course we had to visit Slovakia as well! So we walked across the bridge, and again to the "downtown" streets of Sturovo, Slovakia. It is amazing how different some things felt just because we crossed an imaginary line! All of the sudden, everything is in a different language and people use a different currency. There was a different atmosphere, though it is hard to describe why.



Finally, after a long day of sightseeing, we hopped a ferry for the 4-hour boat ride home. The ride offered some of the most beautiful landscape views we have seen since being here. The Slovakian hills were such a deep, lush green, while on the other side of the river, red brick houses dotted the Hungarian's. We passed the town of Visegrad (about an hour from Budapest by train), where a castle still stands on the sea, guarding the Hungarian city. We are planning to get there as soon as the weather is more predictably pleasant. Our boat ride was topped off by floating the last 20 minutes down the Danube amidst Budapest's grand shorline. We passed by the best sights of the city including the Parliament building, the Castle, and under the Chain bridge.