Ippistle 4 Aug. 28

Thursday, August 28, 2008
Ippistle 4
Jack and Cindy Ippel

Dear Family and Friends,

We have been in Budapest for a week and have been making the adjustments rather well. We have experienced some frustrations, but fortunately those are resolved or short-lived. We arrived in Budapest with all of our luggage (and boy, did we lug!!!) and met by the head English teachers from the school. They took us to our flat where we were pleasantly surprised by the size. Since then we have been going to various stores to find household items to make this place feel like home. We have found the shopping very interesting. We have a huge open market with all kinds of interesting fruits/vegetables/meats right in front of the school (a couple of blocks from our flat). There is also a small grocery store and small fruit stand less than one block away…in front of our tram stop. We have done most of our big shopping at either Tesco or Interspar (very similar to Walmart). To get there we take a tram to the metro and then catch the subway and more trams and then walk, and remember, we have to carry everything out in our re-usable bags, onto the bus or the tram or the metro. The prices are hard to compare because things are measured in kilos or liters and bought with forints. Some things that are hard to find are peanut butter (we found it for about $10 a pound!) and syrup (also about $10 for a bottle) and spices…we finally found some at a little store downtown…but then you have to translate what they are into English…we ended up with fennel seed when we meant to buy oregano.

Monday and Tuesday were spent waiting at different rooms at the immigration office and the bank. Fortunately a couple of our fellow English teachers that are native Hungarian speakers came with us. In the end we were able to get our visas and residence cards (YEA, GOD!), and our bank account set up with direct deposit from the school, and our cell phones. (It took nearly two hours to open a bank account.)

Yesterday the four American teachers at Trefort, including myself, met with our Hungarian head teacher to discuss some of the important details for starting the school year. Our first day of school, September 1, looks like this: Opening Ceremony from 10:00 – 10:30, then all of the 9th graders take an English placement exam to determine what classes they will be assigned to, then we five teachers grade those exams and make our decisions. Then for the rest of the week, the 9th graders are gone "on a project" (visiting factories maybe?) With more than half of my teaching-load being 9th grade, it looks like a rather open schedule for the week. We have been told that our schedules won't be final for at least two weeks. I guess this is normal. I'll describe my work in greater detail in the next Ippistle.

The school is combining with another school this year, and rather than renaming the school, they have added two words and many syllables to an already long name. It is now Trefort Agoston Kettannyelvu Fovarosi Gyakorlo Szakkozepiskola. We have two buildings; the largest appears to be built in the early 1900's. There are three floors in the main building; rooms are spacious but quite old-fashioned (chalk-boards). I am still learning how to use the copy machine. Everything here seems to have a key, password, or code! The second building seems to be where the trades are taught (woodworking, electrical).

Prayer Requests: Please pray for new relationships we have begun. I don't recall ever having worked with non-Christians before, and now, being in a public school, anything is possible. I told one colleague that I taught previously in a Christian school. Arjun casually replied, "Oh, I'm Buddhist." My TeachOverseas partner Scott asked another colleague named Ocean whether he is a Christian. Here's his answer: "That's a complicated answer. I believe in God. I just don't think God believes in me." Ocean has been hurt by the church and sees no need for community. Cindy also met a very helpful Hungarian woman in the grocery store who lives in the next set of apartment buildings. She offered to help us anytime and gave us her phone number. Cindy hopes to be able to build a relationship with her (Gyongyi-pronounced June G) Please also pray for us as we continue to adjust to our surroundings, learn new procedures, and struggle a bit with figuring out our "cash flow" situation.

Our last Ippistle included a mailing address for us, using the school's address. Here is the official address for our flat:

Jack/Cindy Ippel
1193 Budapest
Deak Ferenc utca 5.1.1
HUNGARY

This is a bit long; sorry for that. Thanks for reading it all.
Serving Him,

Jack and Cindy