(upbeat music)
- Good morning everyone, my name is Hector Hernandez,
and today I'm taking over ITA's Instagram story.
I'm coming to you live from Nyirpazony, Hungary.
Where is Nyirpazony?
Nyirpazony is located on the Northeastern part of Hungary,
about an hour away from the Ukrainian border
and an hour and 30 minutes from the Romanian border.
A little bit about myself, I'm from San Diego, California,
I'm 35 years old and I'm a graduate
from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
I'm gonna drop the box question
so you guys can ask me any question regarding CETP
or living here in Hungary.
I have class at eight, so I'm gonna eat breakfast fast
and then I'm off to work.
So this is my morning commute.
I walk about five minutes.
My house is down the street
and the school is next to the church
that you see at the end of the street.
(people talking)
(kids screaming)
(wind blowing)
What made you choose to teach abroad in Hungary?
Well, since I was a little kid
I always wanted to live in Europe.
So that's why I took this opportunity.
But being honest, Hungary was not my first option to teach.
What grades do you teach?
I teach in elementary school
and I teach grades one through eight.
The process of getting hired was really easy,
I emailed CETP,
they asked me to send my resume,
the person in charge saw my resume
and she emailed me saying that she wanted
to interview me the next day.
After her interview, I had to
(indistinct) a packet with documents
and also the fee for the program.
The fee depends whether you want to teach in Budapest,
which is more expensive,
than teaching in a small town like I do.
Now let's open the door.
(door opens)
You usually take your shoes here in Hungary
before I enter in your house,
but I won't be doing that today.
Now let's go to my room.
My room is also my living room,
so there's the heater, the window,
my closet mirror, I mean.
My bed, my desk, my TV,
the sculpture I made and the drawing.
Here I have the materials I use for work.
So these are the books I use for teaching.
And that's about it,
this is my room.
Now let's go to the kitchen.
Here's my table, here's a window.
My fridge, my microwave, cabinets.
I don't have a stove but I do have this
hot plate where I cook and it works fine.
My sink,
and that's about it.
Now let's go to the restroom.
Here's the toilet,
my washer, my sink,
my shower.
It's a little bit different,
it's Hungarian style,
cause it has a shower hair like that.
But then it's weird because it has curtains
and this is not common here on Hungary.
But at the same time, it reminds me of a wet room from Asia,
because even though it has curtains and little (indistinct)
water still gets into the floor.
So every time I finish taking a shower, my floor is wet,
so it reminds me of a wet room from Asia.
So that's the entrance for my flat.
This is the backyard.
Yes, that's a well,
and then this thing is used
by the nonprofit, which is the building over there.
Yes, my apartment is entire nonprofit.
They rent my flat to the school.
The nonprofit helps people here in need in Nyirpazony.
They also have a woman's club,
which they meet and they do yoga
and they have like small parties.
But because of COVID they haven't been able to do that.
So basically the backyard is all to myself.
What tools or programs do you use to teach online?
Well, first of all, not hired by any company,
I just do this on the side, by my own.
And I started to do this because my school had a...
Like I was saying, I started to tutor actually
because there were a few students
at my school who needed extra help.
And then a teacher from school asked me if I...
So once the teacher knew I spoke Spanish,
he asked me if I wanted to tutor,
a few students from (speaks in foreign language)
because they needed to practice their speaking skills.
So basically that's how I started.
Do you get to pick where you go
or do they assign you a place?
Yes and no.
In my case, I was offered five cities
where I could get hired.
I had to choose number one being my first choice
and number five, being my last choice.
Once they have the list of your first choice
and your last choice,
they send your info to the schools.
The schools decide if they want you or not.
In my case Nyirpazony was number two on my list
and they were the first school to pick me.
So that's how I got hired here in Nyirpazony,
or ended up here because they were my second choice
and they were the first ones to say,
"Oh, we want this person in our school."
Good question, I use a book,
but once in a while I do have to create lesson plans
from scratch.
But you have to keep in mind that every school is different.
This is the main square park,
this is usually where the town makes events,
but because of COVID,
they haven't made any event this year
but it seems like, several next month they might.
(heavy breathing)
I'm gonna call it a night.
And I would like to thank everyone who watched
my story takeover.
If you have more questions
please feel free to message me on my personal Instagram.
And I hope everyone has a wonderful night.
Bye.
(upbeat music)