Cinderella, anyone?

Well, today was our first day of service jobs. Everyone in the castle has to serve at least eight hours a week, and we got our assignments yesterday. Guess who got housekeeping? Meee! I was not thrilled. I don't mind cleaning, but this is a BIG place and the idea of scrubbing baseboards or dusting 365 windows is not very appealing. Luckily, I don't have to do either of those. I get to clean bathrooms and hallways instead! Okay, so maybe I was a little frustrated. But when we were told to meet our cleaning-person-in-charge-person I actually got kind of excited. Marcsi is probably the sweetest person I have ever met. She plays the violin in worship and she is amazing. I'm actually pretty sure that she's in the Budapest symphony. She's so humble and her English isn't the best so she tends to speak simply. Marcsi chooses her words carefully and she speaks with a soft voice; it reminds me of my best friend, Kelsey. She was telling us how God used housekeeping to change her life. It's all about attitude. So I listened and decided that I wouldn't let this job get me down. Cleaning bathrooms isn't the best, but I'm not cleaning ones with showers, so it could be worse. Mopping the hallways is actually kind of fun. I just put my ipod in and start jamming away. Note: Dancing in flip flops while mopping a tile floor is not recommended for good health. But I'll be okay. It's just a small bruise. I kind of feel like Cinderella. We use old school mops and I think that the tile here is about the same color in the movie. I should watch that again... But not tonight because... WE'RE WATCHING THE SUPER BOWL. At first I was surprised, but then I remembered that most of the teachers and pastors here are American. Oh football.

Funny thing about the castle - everything echoes. Everything. For example: I just heard a bunch of people sing happy birthday to someone upstairs in the dining room and I'm in the basement on the other side of the castle. It's also kind of a bummer in the mornings when people get up really early and decide to have conversations with their friends directly outside of our door. But that's okay. It was a blessing this morning. I forgot to ask Autumn to wake me up today so I was almost late to breakfast. Then I had to sprint downstairs to shower before devotions. It was a rough morning. It's nice living in the same building as my classes, even if it is huge.

We have the "Welcome Dinner" tonight and we're supposed to dress up. I wish I had known about this before I got all nasty from cleaning. Oh well. I'm having so much fun here and I know it's going to be really hard to leave. I miss my family and friends, but this has already become a second home. It's so amazing to think that just 20 years ago all Christian literature was banned in Hungary. Now I'm attending a Bible College and it has the biggest library of Christian literature in the country. God is so good!