can you say guyash party? July 27, 2009

Hello lovebirds,
week two over here in alsobodok. the first week went by surprisingly fast. it was difficult, but brief. definitely tested my emotions and grew me up just a little bit more. im hoping for the next two weeks to follow suit. thats not to say im not having a good time here. i am. i am making friends and my host family is really starting to open up to me. i think the difference between to two villages is mainly this: my first village liked me before they ever met me, which is why when i left, we were all at the love stage, already like family. this village, however, really didnt care about my being here for some good reasons...
1. this is the 7th year the village is hosting a volunteer, so its really not so novel that im here.
2. the mayor is kind of a prick and a bully. he never asked my host family if they wanted to host me, he basically just told my host sister one day that i was going to be staying with them for 3 weeks whether they liked it or not.
3. other people planted toxic preconceived notions in their heads. now that my family likes me so much, they feel its ok for them to laugh with me about all the stuff people told them about americans-- that we are spoiled and rude, demanding and thoughtless. my family really just expected me to be a monster, which i guess makes it easier to prove them wrong!
anyways, thats what i spent this past week doing-- breaking down the walls that they had put up. and i think its safe to say ive done it. this morning my host mother said i was part of the family. my host sister said i was like her sister. thats a big deal considering i look like a gypsy (i will explain in more detail when i get back)
on saturday we had a guyash party, which is basically the hungarian equivalent of grilling out. we all went up to the vineyard and made guyash outside. it was delicious, and many friends and family stopped by. on sunday, my host brother, a couple of other guys and i hiked up a few slovak mountains. it took 3 hours or so, but it was awesome. it was about time i got a real work out! this weekend im going to prague with the other volunteers. i am so excited. its my motivation for getting through the week!
to be honest, another thing i am learning is that i dont want to be a teacher. not that i dont love this program and the kids and the teaching, in fact, i think im pretty good at it. but it doesnt fulfill me the way i think a profession should. which brings me to my most recent discovery: the truest challenge comes when the enthusiasm runs out and you must rely solely on willpower to complete a task. i think this goes for most things. we cant be excited all the time about the endeavors we take on, but what shows us our strength is how we handle things after the honeymoon is over.
not that my honeymoon is over--far from it. in fact, i am still loving this, the traveling, the immersion. im already planning my journeys for the coming years. i ache for new york. i ache to see you girls and be a part of your adventures in our apple. its so good to hear about the magic that is happening in your lives, and i want too badly to be a part of it again. soon enough, though. its hard to believe that in 4 days I will be in prague. in 11 days i will be back in budapest. in 16 i will be in Cyprus. in 23 i will be in manhattan! what a life!i applied to my first job from abroad today. it was for an imprint of simon and schuster, the huge publishing house. it was such a thrill to write in my cover letter, "Currently, I am in rural Slovakia teaching English, creating and executing daily lesson plans and becoming acutely aware of the power of language." i hope i hear back from them. i plan on applying to as many jobs as i can while im over here. it will give me something to focus on and probably ease my transition back into reality. ok enough about me.
keep talking about you.