Thursday, November 8th and Friday the 9th....

Since mid-September we have hosted an Adult English Club at our home almost every Thursday evening from 5:00 til 7:30p.m.  Usually we have about 25 eager students of all ages join us.  Some live right here in Tapolca and others drive from a distance to be with us for these evening lessons.  Preparing for these events means Ron makes sure the pub next to us is thoroughly mopped and dusted with the heat turned up and the place warm and ready for the Carlaw's beginner students who meet with them there.  Meanwhile Thursday mornings normally find me here in our kitchen tutoring a young woman from Budapest and preparing snacks for our evening sessions. Sondi always makes sure there is an abundance of good food to share with our students. There are also lessons to review as we prepare for our evening sessions.

 While I teach an intermediate group of students in the living room Ron gathers with his small conversation group around the kitchen table.  Our students come from all walks of life and add much variety and interest to our own lives.  Some tend to come and go; others are very regular and come every week to both the Thursday night classes and our Monday and Tuesday Bible studies too.  We are so happy to see some meaningful relationships developing as we spend more time together with these Hungarian friends.

This past Friday we  enjoyed having one of our students come for supper along with his wife and son.  Charlie faithfully attends our sessions on both Tues. and Thursday evenings; and son Balasz is one of our regulars for the Tuesday Teen Club too.  But we had not met wife and mother Edit before and understood that she knew very little English.  However, they all came and we had a delightful evening together here as we shared supper and played some of our favourite interactive games.   We also soon discovered that Edit likes crafting and thus she was back again on Saturday for our ladies' craft classes here, this time bringing me a pretty little hand-crafted ceramic angel.  This dainty angel is now part of my special Christmas display here in one corner of our kitchen...a lovely reminder of my new and crafty friend, Edit.



Friday evening supper with Charlie and family

Friday morning.... 

Our walk through the park to the train depot
 

But last Friday was not just work as we prepared supper for Charlie, Edit and Balasz.  We also made time for a special little trip away....another quick jaunt by train  to Lake Balaton and back again.  We left about 8:15 a.m. with a light rain misting down upon us. I decided this was a good time to try out my new umbrella!   But within an hour or so it as clearing and we were well on our way....this meant we were off the train and heading home again.  Yes, this idea of doing some kind of walking holiday in Europe has been a long- time dream of mine.  Last Friday, with some free hours and a forecast for sun, we gave it a try and found it to be a wonderful way to explore new territory, get some exercise and take in lots of the local culture too.  We figure we walked about 9 miles along the bikepath bordering the lake with several detours into small villages along the way.  But all of this is another story for another time!  For now we've shared with you just a few of our  200 pictures snapped as we strolled along on a warm and sunny afternoon.....could this really be mid-November in Hungary?!