Travel is fatal.

The longer I'm away from my home country, the more places I go, the more people I meet and the more conversations I have... this rings more true: My world view has changed and continues to change.

My view of myself. My view of my country. My view of religion and wealth and stereotypes. All these things have changed because I chose to travel. I have lived new places. I've had new jobs. I have worked with people from all over the world.

And I'm so grateful I did! Because these experiences have made me more open-minded, more accepting, more hopeful that people all over the world are really the same. We're all people - wanting the best for those we love, wanting peace and love and hope. And I am proud to be a person on this planet who has experienced the fatality travel brings.

Odd Bathrooms

I sat in the bathroom in the Chicago airport and the first thing that popped into my mind... People can see me doing my business! My mother-in-law recently sent me an article: Odd Things About America that Americans Don't Realize. One of the things on the list was "odd bathroom stalls". The gaps between the door and the stall allow anyone to take a peak of you doing your business. As I sat there, I watched people pass by, wash their hands and walk into other stalls. All from the crack in the bathroom stall door. And I realized... that's only in America. In the rest of the world there are no bathroom stall gaps. They actually make the doors to give you privacy. In a country that likes their rights - the right to guns, bashing the president and most recently marijuana - it seems very strange that Americans don't seek the right to privacy in a public restroom. Maybe it's because they're free. They may be less private, but you can go to the bathroom for free all over the country. (FYI - Most bathrooms abroad coast a euro or so to use.) Maybe that's what keeps people from complaining. Or maybe Americans just don't know it's odd. Or the fact that we call it a bathroom - who is taking a bath in public?! America, your public bathrooms are odd, but I can't complain about the availability and convenience, even if people can watch me wee.

Do we stay or do we go?

This question always arises in the fall, before teacher contracts have to be signed. International school teachers have to decide if they walk the plank, don't sign their contracts for next year and take a leap of faith they'll find something else. Something better.
OR
They piddle around on job search sites seeing if anything catches their eye before that December due date in which their contracts have to be signed. Not really getting serious about the job search but looking just in case.
OR
There are those that just know they're staying. They love it where they're at and they want to stay another year.

I feel like we've been in category two, the piddlers, for two years now. And I think it's the worst place to be. Who knows what we're doing? Who knows if we're satisfied where we're at? Has the bug to move hit us or are we just hitting the shorter days of winter and feel a little sunlight deprived?

When people ask us what we'll do next year, we usually say, We'll probably stay. Which we totally mean. Until we see job openings in Lima and Prague and think, maybe we should apply and just see. But then we don't have all our application stuff together because you need references and current photos and updated CV's and hours to spend filling out little boxes on whatever site that school uses to recruit teachers. And then half way into filling in all those little boxes we think, We'll probably end up staying. Is this worth a try?! And of course it is, but who wants to spend all their free time filling out little boxes and making sure our teaching licenses are the right PDF size?

As you can see we're definitely not in the ready-to-go category. Because you really have to decide that in September and spend all your free time job searching. And we're just not ready to commit to that. But then we wonder... What if? What if we fill out that application and end up on a grand new adventure?

I guess we'll know by December 10th when our current contracts need to be resigned. After that we don't have to deal with it until next fall when we ask ourselves again, Do we stay or do we go?

Not so popular on Facebook...

A month ago I posted an article on Facebook. It didn't get a single 'like' or 'comment'. Not one! I realize I'm not so popular as to get loads of comments on my Facebook feed, but when I looked back, EVERYTHING else on my feed had some likes and comments. EVERYTHING, except this one article. Why? Because this is what it said:

Why You Need More Muslim Friends

Ok, don't stop reading yet.
Just read a little further. 
Please. 

I realize this is a hot topic. A hot topic in America. A hot topic amongst Christians. A hot topic amongst Muslims too. And since most of the people reading this blog are the Christian/American side of this hot topic, don't get frustrated or annoyed or think "here goes the Christian girl who has become liberal" yet. I just want to say...

This article is actually from a CHRISTIAN magazine. Just consider reading it. Whether you agree, disagree or think I'm totally crazy (aka liberal), I really think it reflects the WWJD idea. And whether you believe in Jesus or America or Christianity, it really reflects human decency from a regular American Christian guy. And we all need a little human decency in our lives these days. So be encouraged at the good things still happening in this world and take a look at this article. I think it shows that all we need is love. (Ok, that last comment was cheesy, but it's true!)

It's getting sticky in Hungary.

Hungary has been in the limelight recently because the politics here is crazy! Here are the recent highlights...

First country in the world to put forth an "internet tax" to Parliament, so that every gigabyte of usage is taxed.

Hungarian government officials are the first ever to be blocked from entering the US because of corruption issues.

The current Hungarian prime minister, Mr. Viktor Orbán, is making headlines for his stance against Western ideas of government and his illiberal (or non-liberal) ideology. He likes the Russian and Turkish authoritarian regimes.

So politics is part of expat discussion a lot lately. What will happen in the next few years in Hungary? That's what we all want to know. Will we be moving on to other countries or will outside economic and political pressure force Hungary to move back to the EU/Western/Democratic politics that Hungarians have leaned toward throughout their history? I guess we'll see.

Thousands protest against the internet tax in Budapest.

Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, is making enemies,
but he still has many Hungarian supporters too.