Cultural
It has been a while!
The past two weeks feel like they have been centred around the volcano eruption and checking the ryanair website to see if more flights are being cancelled! Kirsty had a friend (Leanne) staying with her, originally for 3 days, however due to the ash she stayed in our bedroom with us for 11 days! I was supposed to have a friend over but her flight was cancelled. Luckily however my sister's flight was not cancelled and I got to spend last weekend showing her around Budapest.
Two things which stand out in my mind which I tried this week, which are very new to me, are sushi and Budapest's best spa baths! I went with my sister on Sunday to an 'all you can eat' restaurant where I tried lots of raw fish for the first time in my life. I know this perhaps isn't a typical hungarian thing to do! But I don't think I would ever have had the nerve to try it in a local restaurant in Belfast!
The spa baths which I took my sister to were recommended by all of my Hungarian friends. It was certainly an experience! There were over 30 baths and an outdoor heated swimming pool. It was cold and rainy outside and to be in a bikini outside in the water was a very bizarre feeling, but so relaxing! There were also men beside us in the water playing chess and others, seemingly just coming after a hard days work to relax in the thermal baths with a book of suduko! It was definately a memorable experience!
Kathryn and I also took Leanne and my sister and some friends from our flat to climb the citadell by night. This is one of my favourite sites in Budapest and so it meant a lot to get to show my sister it's beautiful view. I also went with my sister on the Budapest bus tour. I had previously went on this at the start of my trip, but I think it meant a lot more to me this time as I could place everything into a context, and everything wasn't abstract, as the sites had memories for me now.

Personal
The past two weeks have been a bit of a rollercoaster emotionally. I was so disappointed that my friend didn't get to come, but wanted to remain positive and hopeful that my sister would get to come! Also when Leanne's flight was cancelled it was hard to know what to do, there were no parents there to help!! It was this day, when we all went to the airport to see what her options were, that I realised my own strength and independence. We were told that she would have to stay in the country for another 3 weeks, or get the bus to London which would have left there and then! The airport was crowded with people shouting at the airport staff and so it was certainly a day where my skills of patience were developed!
When my sister left yesterday she told me of how shocked she was that I was able to get around Budapest successfully by public transport, and of how much she thought I had changed within three months. She was shocked by my independence, (which I had very little of before I came to Budapest!)

Professional
I'm now into my last week of teaching.
Over the past 12 weeks I have certainly been learning a lot of how Hungary's education system works and also about the musical background of the country. I feel very relaxed with my classes and more and more confident in teaching them everyday.
A new teacher at the school asked for one of the 3 Irish girls to come and help out in her class, as well as our normal timetable, and so I volunteered. I prepared lessons for her classes and it was so encouraging to watch her take notes on my lesson and say that she actually wanted to use the ideas. This teacher is taking a course at our university on the English language and so she was asking for my help with her assessment lesson. I was really encouraged when she later told me what her planned lesson was and it contained different parts of the lesson which I had used with her pupils.

I am now into my last week of studies in Budapest, Hungary! I can't believe it1s all coming to an end!