Jacob & Nathan had their Christmas parties at ovoda yesterday.  I think Nathan ate the majority of the snacks in both his class and Jacob’s class.  And somehow he still ate a big dinner. Here’s Jacob giving one of his teachers a present and the traditional double-cheek kiss.

Laura found the charlie brown christmas movie at the grocery store the other day.  Wow.  Such a classic.  I still love the scene where all the kids start dancing on stage.  Remember that?

Did you know that there is a forest near Budapest where you can go hiking, and if your lucky, you can find Santa Claus?  It’s true!  Our friends took us on this adventure recently.  Seth bácsi (Uncle Seth), from Italy, has always wanted to do this, so he flew over and joined us for the Santa hunt.  After 2-3 kilometers, we finally found Mikulás (Nicholas) and his krampusz.  The kids sang a song, and Santa gave them some candy.  Thanks T&Z!!

On December 5th, the night Mikulás comes to put candy in all of the children’s boots (at least the ones which the kids clean and put by the window), we had a special appearance of Mikulás himself. He came with his helpers, the krampuszok (no, elves are not a part of the Santa story here in Hungary). Mikulás surprised the kids with bags of candy, and the boys immediately spread all of it out on the floor to make sure they had equal amounts. Before long, Santa and the krampuszok rode off in their sleigh.

Some of you know that recently I started a new job at Corvinus University.  I love it so far, and the people I am working with are really great.  I’m working in the Gazdálkodástudományi Kar (Faculty of Business Administrations), and I’m helping the International Study Programs and the Correspondence Program with some administration, some student coaching, and some teaching.  Our NC friends stopped by for a visit, and here’s a picture of the office.

Seth had his first big show at school, and you can see his special part between 2:13-2:30. The video is about 4 minutes!

We had a great weekend in Miskolc, and four friends from North Carolina were able to join us.  It was a great time sharing stories, thinking about Donnie’s questions, hanging out at the orphanage, soaking in the cave baths, riding the train.  Thanks Reni, Réka, Eliza, János, Zsolt, Dávid, and Kristóf for organizing everything!

We had the opportunity to get away with several friends to Badacsony last weekend.  It is definitely one of my favorite places in Hungary.  Just a small vineyard covered village stuck between a handful of extinct volcanoes and Lake Balaton.  We were so glad to have two friends from Sweden, Rinus and Joke, join us for the weekend.  Rinus stirred up many conversations as he shared about the life and writings of William Faulkner.  Specifically, we took a look at the themes of alienation and wounded families.  Thanks Rinus for your contributions!

While in Badacsony, Kristof saw a hedgehog in the grass, I said, “let’s get it!,” and Oliver immediately picked it up without hesitation.  Oliver, you are a natural.  Needless to say, our boys had an awesome weekend playing with the hedgehog named Prickles.  Seth now has changed his daily request for a pet turtle to a daily request for a pet hedgehog.  I’d love a copy of the group photo from any of you who took one on Sunday!

Here are some of Seth’s thoughts from his first two weeks in the first grade at Dr. Szent-Györgyi Albert Általános Iskola.

“Hi, this is Seth.  I am in first grade.  I have some letters and words that I am learning how to write and read in Hungarian.  For example, ‘kék’ means ‘blue,’ and ‘faházak’ means ‘tree houses.’  Some of the letters I am learning to write are V, Á, A, Z, í, K, F, É, E, H, and I.  Everyday I have házifeladat (homework).  I have a magic box with magic sticks and beans in it.  What I do with it is I use it to spell words (see the picture).  The magic box in Hungarian is called a ‘varázsdoboz.’

“In the morning, I go to the closet in the hallway, and I hang my hat up, and I get my inside shoes on, and I go sit at my desk in the classroom.  Then the teacher comes in, and all my friends arrive.  My teacher tells me what to do.  First I have Hungarian class and then math.  We also have torna (phys. ed.), an English class, and drawing.  We go to the play ground and come back to eat a snack.  Mom and Dad pick me up from school.

“My favorite parts of the day is when I have torna, drawing, swimming, and snack time.  I also like lunch, math  and Hungarian class.  When I go to Hungarian school, everybody speaks Hungarian.  I speak Hungarian to them too.  I have some friends who I talk to.  We talk in Hungarian about things like animals.  Some of my favorite animal names are kutya (dog), hal (fish), and technősbéka (turtle).  In class I understand everything, but some things I don’t.

“I have some friends in class.  There names are Kinga, Bendegusz, Jenő, Dani, Márk, Benedet, Patrik, and there are a couple others, but I can’t remember their names.”

-Seth Whitfield Newell

The boys started school this week!  Below are a couple pictures from Seth’s first day in first grade at Szent Györgyi Albert átalános iskola.  He has wonderful teachers, and he is doing great so far.  He’s especially excited about all of his classes and books.

Here’s a picture of my normal 5K run. I’ve been a bit lazy with running this summer, but building back up.  This northern Budapest run along the Csillaghegyi Duna part is great. Though I do miss the run around Margit Island (5.5 K) which we used to do (with my friend Péter), especially in the evenings when you can see the city lights.

With this run, I start from our house and run .75 K to the river. Then we go north on a running/bicycle path along the riverside for another 1.75 K before turning around. Seth and Jacob (on their bikes) are my usual companions, and they keep my pace steady. I run a lot slower without them! Today we made one of our fastest 5K times: 21:44.16. We’re aiming to break the 20 minute barrier. Just need to keep my legs healthy.  Anyone interested in the Budapest half marathon next weekend?