Reawakening

I haven't used this blog in a long time.

The adventurers
South Beach, WA (8/2017)

I started it 8 years ago because I wanted to talk about food -- cooking, growing food crops -- stuff like that. I wrote a handful of posts over the next two years, but...I don't know that I had much of a direction beyond that, so it didn't go very far. Not at all surprising, right? I still want to talk about food, but I have a lot more ideas now, and I'm also a lot more comfortable with myself -- especially with thinking of myself as someone who writes.

See what I did there? I didn't call myself a writer; I just said that I was someone who writes. At some point in the future maybe I'll feel comfortable calling myself a writer. For now, I don't think I have that level of confidence in myself to use that label. But I can be someone who writes. 

I'm about to go on a pretty big adventure. If you're already my friend then you know that I'll be heading out to Hungary in two weeks for a Fulbright in Szeged. I'm starting with a four week intensive language program in Hungarian (and before you ask, I've been studying Hungarian on my own for the last year+. It's a pretty cool language, all things considered. Would I say that about every language I've studied? Yes, probably. Languages are exciting. If you don't know another one besides for English then you should consider trying to learn one. I won't sugarcoat it: it's tremendously hard mental work, but it's super cool to realize that your brain can do this kind of thing. And despite what you might have been told, you're never to old to learn another language. Or another new thing. Quite the opposite, in fact: there's a lot of research that shows that doing mentally challenging tasks helps prevent things like Alzheimer's. So get right to it!)

Now that I've convinced you to go to your library and check out some language CDs, or use their Mango subscription, or try the Duolingo app...I'll get back to my original point: the current adventure.

I'm excited about going to Hungary not only because it's a new country, a new language, a Fulbright, and it'll be my first experience living abroad (I don't count the couple of overseas holidays I've taken. I won't be there exclusively as a tourist, so it's going to be a significantly different vibe.) I'm also excited because I won't be relying on a car to get me around. We'll be living within walking distance of the University of Szeged, where I'll be teaching for fall semester. I'm expecting to get bicycles, and otherwise rely on public transportation or trains to get us where we want to be. I haven't worked with this kind of transportation model since college, so it's going to be fun remembering how this works, and sharing the experience with my children. I also expect that it's going to be amazing for my body.

Am I nervous about it? Of course! Anything new is also a little scary. But I've received nothing but amazing support and helpfulness from my wonderful hosts at the university, the Hungarian Fulbright commission, and from the others in the community that I've interacted with, so I am confident that if we need something there will be people to help us out. That helps to offset any nervousness I'm feeling with a warm glow of security.

Anyway, if you're interested in hearing what's going on with these adventures, then here's a good place for me to share. Welcome!