February 8

This Saturday, about 18 of us gathered together on a cold morning in a park near our flat to play American Football. There were seven teachers (two Hungarians) and the rest were students. Most of the students had never played before, and so the game got off to a slow start. Tackles were also broken left and right, as they tended to tackle with their arms (I should talk, though -- I'm still working on technique myself). But we had a great time beating each other up for a few hours, and the students are all excited for the next time we play.

Afterwards, Neal (my roommate), Michael (another ESIer who lives with his wife and baby in Vac, 45 mins north of Budapest), Kevin (an ESIer from last year in the Czech Republic who recently arrived here for a six-month teaching tour of duty) and I went to the baths for some relaxation. While there, Michael and I had a great conversation about Catholicism. Following the baths, we went to an Indian restaurant that none of us had been to before.

I was very grateful for that time. As one of the very few men who are here with ESI, I find that the interaction of an all-male group is sorely needed sometimes. Often, when I spend time with other teachers, I am the only male present. While it is a lot of fun to hang out with girls, it's just different. No hitting each other or loud belching, for one thing.

February 15

On Valentine's Day, all of us ESI folk got together downtown and had the annual Spiritual Renewal Retreat. It was a day of worshiping and fellowshipping and listening to a speaker speak to us about brokenness. This speaker, who works at the church many of the ESI people in Budapest attend, prefaced his remarks by saying that he did not know exactly what brokenness was. Then he proceeded to talk to us about it for several hours, with a break for lunch. The talk was good, and I was glad to hear that he was honest. Afterwards, when we were talking in small groups, we discussed the idea of whether brokenness was good as a goal in the Christian life, or merely something that must be endured. The consensus was that it must be endured. As the Bible says of Jesus, "for the joy set before Him He endured the cross."

Later that evening, I had the opportunity to hang out with two other teachers and the friend of one of them who was visiting. We went to a Hungarian restaurant (one that serves Hungarian food -- if a Hungarian restaurant were just a restaurant in Hungary, then they would all be -- even McDonald's) and later to a palacsinta place by the river. Palacsintas are thin pancakes, like crepes, which have all sorts of things rolled up inside them. You can order cheese, ham, pineapple, apple, chocolate, cherry; anything you want, almost. I had several palacsintas stacked on top of one another in a cake-like formation. I forget what it was called now, but it was good.