Champagne, Staff Retreat, and Our Street

On September 6th, we walked down the hill to a wine festival. It was a lot of fun. Torley produces champagne and I have to say it's pretty good. :)

September 12-14, the staff at our school went to Vajta, Hungary, on a staff retreat and to work on our ACSI re-accreditation. I thought I would take a picture of what we had for breakfast: sliced meat and cheese. There was also bread, OJ, cornflakes, and unfortunately, instant coffee. Overall, the weekend was very productive and we drank a lot of coffee from the cafe above the cafeteria.

A car we don't normally see on our street.
Ariel loves attention!
We drove home last Friday and passed up a pretty neat car on our street. So, I took a pic of it, and then as I was walking home, I took a picture of Ariel, a very gregariuos dog a couple of houses down from us. She's really cute and we used to call her Blondie, but then found out her name from the daughter of the family living there.

Love the Weekend!

Saturday was so great! We had no obligations during the day and slept in. I made oatmeal with apples and a bit of sugar and it was so yummy. It was a beautiful Fall day yesterday and we had some co-worker/friends over for dinner, so we just had a lazy day. (Justin would say otherwise since we had to clean before they came over, but it really wasn't a big deal.)

For dinner we planned raclette. We got the grill from our friends, the Whites, who moved back to the States over the summer. It was really a nice time with Lisa and Paula, as we grilled several types of marinated turkey and melted four types of cheeses. We also had wine, bread, potatoes, and broccoli, so it was a pretty filling meal!

You might have figured out that I like to cook. :)

Looking for Suggestions

Many people would not even think about becoming a teacher, especially a middle school teacher. But being a teacher has its benefits...all the time off to enjoy holidays. :) Being a teacher overseas has even more benefits with all the options of travelling. :) :)

Justin and I would like to visit Krakow/Cracow, Poland, either for the Hungarian holiday at the end of October or during the American Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November.

I am looking for suggestions:
From Budapest, which is the best way to travel to Cracow?
Which hostel or hotel would you recommend?
Know of any good and cheap places to eat?
What recommendations do you have as far as sight-seeing?

(Keep in mind that we will be travelling during colder weather, so outside activities might not be available.)

Thanks for any help you give!!!

First Bible Study of the Year

Another teacher and I started a Bible study with the 6th grade girls from our school. Today was the first one! Our study was on Matthew 5:21-24, about reconciliation. After reading that passage, we realized how serious God is about restoring relationships! But how do you do that?! It is quite risky to say to someone you've hurt that you're sorry. But we all agreed it is something necessary even if it may hurt to say you're sorry. There was a great discussion and the girls had great thoughts on this topic. I am looking forward to getting to know these girls better. Here is a pic of a "kickoff" we had a couple of weeks ago. (On that day we had them over for breakfast and games to get to know each other and gave details about when we'd meet for Bible study.)

Such fun girls!

Update on my parents' home in TX

Please continue to lift up the Texas Gulf Coast. Hurricane Ike left a lot of damage and people without homes and electricity.

Thankfully, Dad said there wasn't any damage to the house...no flooding...no broken windows. However, one of their trees is laying on the roof of their house! Here's some pics.

front of their house

back of their house

the uprooted tree

Ike

Please pray for the Texas and Louisiana coast as they are about to be hit by Hurricane Ike. I believe the rain and wind will start Friday evening and the bulk of the rain will be on Saturday. This storm is wider than Hurricane Katrina, so will affect a larger area. Here is the projected path as of Sept. 10, 2008.

School Pics

School is going well and got off to a great start, I think. We are going on our third week. Here are some pics of things that are going on in the middle school.

Here I am with my attempted 80's style ensemble for the "Dress As Your Favorite Decade" themed day of the middle school party. There wasn't any way to get my hair to be high.

One of my 8th graders finding out which diaper absorbs the most water.

Two of my students who won the Decade competition. They each got a root beer, which you can't find in Hungary, except by very few people.