Basketball Tournament

At the International Christian School of Budapest there is a large basketball tournament with teams from Moscow, Kiev, Bucharest and the American International School of Budapest. The event started Thursday evening  and lasted all day Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, I was able to help the Gibson's with serving breakfast and then I babysat two twin girls at the tournament as their parents went shopping for their new home. 

The American candy is quite a hit - Laffy Taffy, Twizzlers, Reese's, Jolly Ranchers, Butterfinger….  
At the tournament, there were GF cinnamon rolls, brownies and every meal had GF options. 

Valentine's Day

 Each child made a valentine bag and one card for another child.  Each of the children drew a name out of a hat and drew a picture on the inside of the card. Agi asked them individually what was special about that person and what they enjoyed to playing together. As the children opened the card and Agi read what they said, the child then guessed who it was. After they guessed, the card maker went to give their valentine a hug and a kiss. It was so precious!

Each of the children had a Dino valentine to color from their teachers when they arrived in the morning.  L brought heart gummies to share with the class, D brought valentines for everyone and D brought Agi and I heart crafts that he made.

Hodge Podge

So these are a few pictures of happenings here and there. 

A few snowy pictures from late January/early February:

On a Sunday afternoon stroll, we happened across the WAMP design fair. There were many treasures, handmade crafts and clothing, art and food.  

RUTH! I am so thankful for our friendship. We were blessed to do our student teaching at Perritt Primary and Central in Arkadelphia. We met our freshman year and had many classes together at Ouachita. Little did we know that at graduation the next time we would see each other would be Budapest.  She is taking the semester to do missions with Hands On with a family in Erd, a suburb outside of Budapest. We spent the day together with and went to the Culture Museum. 

Jana, Ruth, Sarah and Emily headed to the museum. 

Jana and I went to the Silent Auction at ICSB and they had some yummy treats. 

Prague

Jana and I decided to take a weekend trip to Prague, Czech Republic!

We took an overnight bus (thanks Dia) and arrived early on Saturday morning. We had time to get coffee then walk and see the beautiful city. It was fairly quiet and as the day continued we realized people just weren't awake to go the the touristy sights at 8am. ha! 

We walked around the Old Town Square and thanks to Rick Steve's we knew what the statues were and what they meant as we looked at them. 

Here are a few pictures of the weekend.

Jana by the lovely bus

Old Town Square

It was first constructed in 1410, quite impressive for all that it displays. Click Here for history of the clock.

Astronomical Clock

27 crosses to commemorate the 27 rebel
leaders that were executed after the Battle of White Mountain

Band playing music and food stands beside the bridge. 

Infamous locks on the bridge

I liked the clouds. 

On our walk back from dinner at the castle crossing the bridge.

English bookstore

Store with traditional handmade Czech items. 

Market

Precious cafe where we had lunch

One of the many artist along the street. 

Castle

On out Sunday morning stroll

Gluten Free Restaurant

GF Apple Strudel. I must say it was quite tasty. 

let's just say I took quite a few pictures of doors...

We came back on a bus and arrived in Budapest on Sunday evening. Then off to work on Monday morning. 

Overall, the city was beautiful and such a nice place to visit. We noticed there were a lot more tourists with their huge cameras. It was funny to me how much I remembered from being there on mission trip during high school. I remembered the bridge and the artists that did their work in front of you, and a place that we stopped to get gelato. 

Farsang

February is a season of Farsang in Hungary and somewhat reminds me of Mardi Gras. As Agi explained this celebration to me, men would wear scary masks (Buso) and they would scare away Winter and welcome Spring. 

For Farsang all the children dress up in costumes. We had one vampire, two knights, one Cinderella, two Snow Whites, one SWAT man and one Judo boy. The kids were so excited about what the costume they were going wear. (I have lots of pictures but due to privacy, I don't want to post them on here.)

Instead of Circle Time we played Farsang games that Agi lead. We played musical chairs, dancing games with a bean bag stuck between their head and dancing on newspaper with partners. There were a few competitions that included transferring a bowl of water to a cup with a spoon, transferring popcorn to a plate using a straw and a race to see who can eat the pastry off the string. 

Dancing on newspapers

List of games

One of the children brought Fank, miniature doughnuts, for everyone to eat which is a traditional food for this event.