Slow Friday...

We thought spring was here, but winter wasn't done with the argument and  is back to yell some more at us apparently.

It's cold and drizzly outside. I love days like this - when I can stay inside. Perfect weather to snuggle under a blanket, sipping Turkish coffee, catching up on things, and just generally taking it easy. Yesterday, March 15th, was a Hungarian holiday, so school was closed. It doesn't make sense to have no school on Thursday and then school on Friday, so we have today off too!
I have the house to myself today and I have four piles of laundry to do (one load is already finishing). Which means, our little house will be decorated with colorful clothes hanging on racks throughout it. That's life here in Eastern Europe.

This slow, quiet morning is a nice respite from a very busy week. How come short weeks always seem to be the busiest? I was feeling a little under the weather this week (which made me nervous since all the "sicknesses" have been going around), but I honestly think it was from exhaustion.
So, today is dedicated to all the "catching up" I need to do - on laundry, on communication, on cleaning, on lesson plans, on spring break plans, and various other "adulting" tasks.

The past three months have been a whirlwind of work, winter, and weariness - with enough play mixed in to help me make it. I have genuinely felt Satan at work here, in my own heart and mind, and also at school. He must be getting nervous about the light that is breaking into the hearts and minds of students at our school. Please be lifting up the teachers and staff at ICSB as we keep pressing on through the attacks. Pray for the hearts of our students and parents (believers and non-believers) as God keeps working. The last week in March (right before spring break) is our "Spiritual Impact Week". We will have special guest speakers, special school-wide activities, and lots of opportunities to talk about deep, spiritual things.

Spring break is going to be one of those "I can't believe I live in Europe and I get to have so much fun" times.  These moments are precious and are highly anticipated! I will be traveling to Naples, Italy with one of my coworkers and I still can't quite believe it! I've been saving up for this one, and I'm pumped.

In the midst of all my "regular days work" at school, I am helping with choreography for the high school musical several days a week after school. We are doing "The Fiddler on the Roof". It is pretty neat to be living here and doing a play that is based on historical events in the lives of people in Eastern Europe. Please pray for us as we prepare for this play. The performance is May 11th and 12th. We have a lot to do between now and then!

TRADITIONS!!!!

Another major life event was our water heater getting fixed. Let me tell you, that has been an adventure...and not a good one!
My housemates have lived in this row house for 4 years now, and have had issues with the water heater for all of those years. However, this year (apparently due to my arrival), the water heater decided to heighten the experience. In August, the radiators turned on.Yes it was 90 degrees outside...and yes it then felt like an oven inside without the help of the radiators. A day or so later, we realized that the radiator in my room had been leaking...and water had seeped under the wood floor. Now, water was sitting there (probably molding) under the floor of almost half of my room - with no way to get it out. Within a day, the floor starting warping, and short panels of wood started popping up, creating nice, pointed peaks for me to trip over and cut my feet on. During this time, the water heater proceeded to continue it's downward spiral, randomly turning off (sometimes mid-shower).
[The landlord fixed my floor within a month...I think he realized that was an easier fix than the water heater]

Fast forward to winter...
Here is where the story gets really interesting...again, not in a good way. Radiators are how our house is heated. Radiators are run by hot water. Hot water is created by the water heater, which now, apparently haunted with a mind of it's own, was operating willy-nilly, like a menopausal woman having hot flashes and mood swings. Our house (and water) was freezing cold! My housemates informed me that it had never been this bad. Apparently, it was me. Sorry.
The landlord would come and "fix" it (no clue what he did because it never worked). It got to the point that we started keeping a list of the dates and times that the water heater went out and had to be reset. When the water heater was working, we had lukewarm water. We haven't had hot water since September. Sometimes we would even have what we called "goosebump" water - not hot or cold but also not lukewarm.
Showers were interesting as well. We began to figure out that no other water in the house could be used during a shower, or the water would immediately go cold because the water heater had stopped.
No water could be used - no toilet, no sink, no washing dishes, no radiators...not even for a moment.
So, we started trying to make it work that way.
No luck...our possessed water heater figured it out and decided to not even work that way! It ended up taking all three of us to shower - one in the basement resetting the water heater, one in between the basement and the second floor shouting instructions, and one attempting to shower. After many tries (one time up to 15 tries just for one shower), the water would finally get warm (mind you, not hot) enough to shower, and said shower person would jump in. It got so finicky that we would even sometimes not turn the water off and after the first person would finish showering, the second would jump in, etc. Typically, you had between 3 minutes and 5 minutes of warm water - so you had to be fast. And heaven forbid someone touched the water elsewhere, or even tried to adjust the temperature - then you had to start the whole cycle over again.
This kept up for months, gradually getting worse and worse, and harder and harder to reset. In February, it got to the point that we were having to reset the water heater every hour, whether any water had been turned on in the house. And showers were practically a no-go. We were all about to lose our minds, and freeze in the process.
Then, magically, on March 6th, our landlord said that he had a new water heater and that he was ready to replace it. Well, ready or not, it was happening. The house was full of Hungarian workers, yelling and banging on things, from attic to basement (yes, I said "attic" - I have no idea why they needed to be up there). When they finished, the house was covered in dust and this beauty resided on the dirty basement walls of our little house.

Praise. The. Lord.

glorious water heater

After giving the house a thorough cleaning, my whole body was covered in dust and my hair was so dirty it was crunchy. I took a shower and could've cried. WE HAD HOT WATER!!!! For the first time in forever we could shower and not be frigid. There was steam. There was warmth. You could flush the toilet or wash dishes at the same time. You didn't have to have someone in the basement watching the water heater. We were "independent shower-ers" once again!!
Honestly, the first few days were shocking. We would cringe and hesitate about showering and then remember that we did, in fact, have hot water. We would turn on the water to wash dishes and exclaim in shock that there was hot water after 20 seconds.We would wake up in the morning, prepared to trek downstairs to reset the water heater, only to realize the house was actually warm!

It was life changing.
Hopefully, the saga of the water heater is over. [The day after the water heater was replaced, the light in our little upstairs bathroom went out. I guess if it's not one thing, it's another. Now we have mood lighting from a tiny flashlight in that bathroom. But I'll take it.]

Parliament building from the side

Very Budapestian, the Number 2 Tram.

Snow day pancake feast

I send out a newsletter, so if you are interested in getting added to that list, let me know! In the newsletter I am able to add more specific prayer requests. On the other hand, I will use this blog for more of the "fun stuff" that I do while I live here.
{Ideally I will be able to stay on top of posting about life here in Budapest...}