July 4

 Happy Independence Day, American friends!

Today, I went to the immigration office. Last Wednesday, I signed the contract to teach at the University of Szeged next year. The dean's secretary gave me a copy of the contract as well as another document that I would need for immigration. I went this morning to see what documents I would need to extend my residence permit. I needed only two documents: a bank statement from my Hungarian bank and a residence form signed by my landlords. The immigration officer made a point of reminding me that two people owned the flat and I needed both signatures. Of course, I haven't forgotten last year's fiasco. 

From immigration, I went to the bank to get a statement, but it was not open at 8:40 am and I had raw chicken in my grocery bag and it's hot outside (It has been in the high nineties/low hundreds for the last week), so I went home.  After putting my groceries up, I texted my landlords to see if they could sign the paper for me, then I went to the bank to see about a bank statement. The wait was an hour, so I went on to the university to have the secretary for the English department check that everything was in order on my application. She showed me how to download and print the bank statement from my web account. She also make inquiries concerning the housing contract. 

In the afternoon, my landlord and I continued our volley of text messages. He had not understood my first text and asked me to send "the link" (a photo I had sent of the form) to his daughter. I sent the photo to his daughter with an explanation of the situation. A couple hours later, he sent me a text asking when to meet. I suggested this evening. He suggested 8 pm. I said. "Yes." They came a little before eight. I noticed them drive up while I was filling out the form on my window sill (the light is better there and the sun does not set until 9 at this time of year). Tomorrow, I will make another trek to immigration to submit the application.

This week, I'm also working on another application for a remote teaching job. I'm actually putting together my thoughts and planning my lessons for the writing course here in Hungary. The remote job uses an LMS (learning management system) that I am familiar with, so if I can finish assembling the materials this week and can put my application together before the deadline, I'll submit it. I worked on it in my air-conditioned office this afternoon, but made very little progress except to have the gradebook set up for the grammar class.  This afternoon, back in my apartment, I was able to review some of the free online textbooks that I had found and started thinking about how I might use them. I still haven't mapped out the course, but I have a few more days.

 

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