Home, sweet home.

So the bus journey is over. It arrived late and we were joined by the bus driver's wife and another couple of their friends, but we got to the airport so all good!

We made it through another 'all you can eat' meal, despite being so late, nearly everyone left a few pounds heavier than they entered. We also enjoyed Mr. Clarke's birthday, four months too late, but thanks to Noel and Robbie none the less, the cake was delicious!

We spent a lot of money in the covered market in Budapest, but everyone got good value for money.

We made it to the airport and we got back to Ireland safe and sound. A busy day and nothing to be sneezed at!

But one of the most impressive feats was not of our manufacture. What is most impressive is the effect that the trip has had on most of us in the group. I can only speak for myself but I know that I have learned a lot about both myself and others over the past few days.

For now I, along with all the other members of the team, wish to thank you all for your generous support over the past fewe months. Please rest assured that you have helped us make a difference in the world!

Day 10 - That's all folks! or is it?

We come to our last day of our trip! Our last day of work was hot and fulfilling to see the last of the plaster boarding finally finished. We also found time to make the sign Michael and Piggy are holding. It was also sad to know that this was our last day and that our work was 'finished' and that we wouldn’t be coming back.

We left the site and began packing in preparation for Mr. Clarke's judging of the TIDIEST ROOM which both of today’s writers won.

We left for the final dinner with the families who we were the houses for. During this we were given a crash course in Hungarian folk dancing which you can see in the photo. We sat down to a very tasty three course meal and chatted with the families. Fergus was burned when the waiter accidentally poured Goulash on his back which many are convinced was the hand of God revenging his lack of work during the past few days! There was a disco next door which we joined and even got Clarkey dancing!

We have only the long day of buses and planes to go before we are home and it is with a mixture of sadness that it’s over and pride in what we have done that we leave

Quote of the Day: Clarkey to Michael “It doesn’t taste that bad. Just swallow it!”

JACK A and THOMAS E

Day 9 in the Big Brother Household!

Another early morning. On the way to the site we looked up and saw a stork’s nest on the very top of a telephone pole. The nest was perfectly balanced and a real example of how stable a building should be.



We arrived at the site and immediately set off to our intense but enjoyable jobs, which included plastering walls for the third day in a row and screwing Styrofoam to the exterior of the house. It was easy to see that a minority of the team were suffering from lack of sleep.


The second half of the working day featured a race between two teams on either side of the house, racing to see who could finish screwing Styrofoam to the exterior of the house. Progress was easy to see as it was a very quick and basic job, which just required cutting pieces of Styrofoam to certain measurements and then just putting them into place and screwing them in.

The day ended with a small talk on the day’s progress and then a quick retreat back to the hotel, where team members could relax in the thermal baths or walk to the shop to stock up on food. We had supper which was a weird looking Hungarian pizza and then back to the rooms to have a long team meeting, which examined how the trip has affected us on various levels.

Quote of the Day:
Mr. Clarke: We still need quote of the day… (10:19 pm, we’re getting desperate!)

Day 8 - Breaking in Debrecen

Today, being April Fool’s day, most of us woke up afraid of being plotted against. The boys had been talking in whispers of the possible tricks they might want to play on some of us. I remembered the fact that it was the 1st of April (April Fools day) when I saw Ms Hanna with her face painted like a cat. Mrs Heffernan put on fake nails with the characters from high school musical printed on them. For the rest of the time working almost everyone was in high spirits, and it was a fun day.

Today was a half day on site as it was our second R’n’R day. We arrived on site to find the gate locked and Pisti and Sandor were nowhere to be seen. The teachers pretended that it was an April Fools and told us that they had only got us out of bed as a prank! When we started leaving they quickly explained that it wasn’t a prank and that Pisti and Sandor were not there yet. Some of the lads then went looking for them and found them around the corner hiding in their car and van! Immediately we realised we had been pranked and after having a laugh decided we wanted a lift back to the site. So 9 of us climbed into Sandor’s Suzuki Swift (Only slightly bigger then a mini!) and two into the open back of Pisti’s pick up truck and we made our way back to the site. The teachers and others quickly turned around again when they saw Sandor and Pisti driving 11 of us back to the site. The half day of work then went quite fast as Sean, Michael, Fergus, Robbie and I hid all over the site avoiding teachers as they went.

After our half day of work we headed into the 2nd largest town in Hungary for a bit of R’n’R. The trip was good fun as we went up into the tower of a huge church and had the chance to see views over all of Debrecen. Later on we visited a museum which contained lots of old historical Hungarian objects which seemed to send off an alarm every time you went within a meter of them.

Later on the same Sean, Michael, Fergus, Robbie and I had a brainwave and we got a picture of Pisti (The GOD of our trip) printed. We then got him to sign our copies as if he were a celebrity, before presenting him with a copy we had signed, entitled “The Habitat Boys”.

Quote of the day:

Michael McBurney – Can we not just climb in the back of the pick-up truck?
Pisti – No… I have no licence…

By Tanaka and Patrick

(Note from the editor, this is a simple mistranslation… we think… hope…)

Hello Judith!

Over the past few days we have had the pleasure and privilege of working with Judith, a woman from Budapest who often works with Habitat for Humanity on their building projects. Today was Judith's last day with us and we marked this occasion with a small gift and swapping of emails and other details. Hopefully we will be able to keep in touch. Judith is a real hero for us, a truly generous and compassionate individual who we will never forget!

As for the title, in Hungary 'Hello' is used both as hello and goodbye...

Day 7 - Taking the Pisti?

Today we continued building. The Few that were unlucky enough to get plaster boarding were close to shooting themselves in the head with the staple gun. Blocking was much the same as other days; basically it was a place where you could doss without the hassle of Pisti. The lads found a way of amusing themselves by hanging from the beams on the ceiling but the almighty Fergus destroyed all in every competition. (Note from the editor: Self praise is no praise, Fergus!)

Pisti
You may have seen Pisti in previous blogs. Let me explain how this one local man has become our God amongst the team. He has been famous for having godlike skills and godlike goulash. (Which we have yet to taste, and have been told contains the limbs of local malcontents, who Pisti slaughters in his sleep) Pisti is basically the Chuck Norris of Hungary and the jokes concerning him are becoming more and more outrageous as the days pass. His accent has been attempted by many around the site but only one can truly master it. The habitat families are loosing hundreds of euro per hour due to the help of Fergus and Seán guessing the measurements of the plasterboard. But with one swift call of the godlike name he appears from the plaster with the phrase ‘You want goulash?’ Our goal is to get a signed picture of him holding a bowl of goulash.

This evening we went to the house of one of the families we are building for. Some of us believed that it was going to be very uncomfortable, but after 15 minutes we were playing Lego and enjoying ourselves. The house had only three rooms, the kitchen, bedroom and sitting room. They had no running water in the house, an outside toilet and the two children shared a bed in one room. They had all the necessary things needed to sustain life but none of the luxuries that we have come to expect in life.

Quote of the day:

Jack: Is this ok? (referring to his plaster board work)
Pisti: Eh… No… Not really… Take it down…

(Note from the editor: We feel it better to leave out some of the ... more choice words which follow Pisti around the work site, from even the most unlikely sources!)



By Fergus and Dalton

Day 6 – Back to work!

We got up at the usual time today, and went to the site, exhausted from yesterday. Some of us were dry walling, which nobody liked to do, but we did none the less, and the others were putting supports in the roof. Sean, Burney and Fergus had finished dry walling a wall but when Pisti saw it he was not impressed, and told them to take it all down. Later in the day he wittily thanked them for changing jobs!

For lunch we had a taashty dish of spiced chicken and rice, with lots of clean plates. As we went back to the site we counted squashed frogs on the roads, and reached a total of seventy two, in just the short walk!

Towards the end of the day people started to grow tired, and the work slowed down. Tonight for dinner, after a swim, there was another taashty dish of spaghetti bolognaise. At the moment, our tour guide from the other night and from the local school is here playing cards with some of us, and I’m sure it will be an early night after they leave!

Quote of the day

Dalton: ‘‘I have at least eighteen thousand Pistis in my pocket!’’ (Pisti is our hero of a building supervisor!)

By Robbie and Steffan

Day 5 - R'n'R

Today was called a rest and relaxation day but was actually quite the opposite! We had breakfast at seven which was actually six because of the time change and actually five in Ireland. The day consisted of walking, hiking, fishing and extremely long bus journeys. We started off by travelling two hours to Eger to visit a castle which we got a tour around. It was extremely interesting! Fergus rode a cannon as pictured.

We also played on the horses which were actually for fourteen year olds and younger which we found out once we finished using them! We were so blown away by the war stories that we couldn’t resist!!

We then went to Szilvasvarad on the bus and got the train with only a second to spare. Once we got there, there was a really pretty lake which was crystal clear, we then hiked up the rest of the way to see a cave. It was wizard!! Prehistoric bones were found there and were traced back to early cave dwellers.

While we hiked back down there was a trout farm and Piggy managed to catch a fish with his bare hands. There were also lots of frogs and Dalton thought it hilarious to pick up a mating couple!

We hiked down the rest of the way and got to go on the bumper cars. There were some nice tourist shops where people bought souvenirs.
We then went to a torture jail which made us feel sick because of all the gross methods of torturing. We then got the bus to an amazing pizza restaurant, Piggy managed to eat three whole pizzas and then asked for a doggy bag!

Quote of the day: Mr. Clarke: “Noel, stop encouraging the children to crawl down the small, dark holes!”

By Jessy and Robbie

Quote of the Day

One of the ideas that we had while over here in Hungary was that we would put up a quote of the day along with our normal evening post but because we have been so busy (exhausted!) we haven't really gotten round to it yet. So I find myself playing catch up! Here are a couple of the best ones from the past few days, enjoy!

Day 2 - On the Building Site

Dalton Tice- I really want to use one of those saw things.
Mr. Clarke - That's a drill Dalton...

Day 4 - Teacher Training

Both by Seán Ralson

“In the early 1970’s, music was invented by Sir John Music.”

Runner Up- “Another famous Irish musician is Britney Spears who was born in county Wexford”

Day 4 - Teacher training!

Today was quite a different day than normal because today we visited a local school and taught in English classes. The previous night we were all gathered and given fifteen minutes to make a PowerPoint presentation on a topic of our choice. The groups were split up by room and the task was quite hard and surprised us. The rooms were in the following groups; in 'New Stack' were Jasper, Patrick, Dalton and Steffan, who did their presentation on rugby. In the girls group were Steph, Suz, Jesse and Tanaka, who spoke on Dublin. The second male group consisted of Fergus, Jack and Patrick O’ Malley who spoke on Irish film, specifically the film Intermission. The final group was made up of Michael, Sean and Robbie, who did their presentation on Irish music. When we first entered the school it was huge and incredibly intimidating because everyone was staring at us. We went to the first class and presented our slideshows as a whole group and were eventually split in half, with one half of the class presenting their slideshow to one class and the other half presenting it to another. This made it a lot more difficult and it forced us to improvise more, but all in all completely added to the experience. In the end we articulately spoke to 5 different classes and represented our country and our school incredibly well.

By the end, we were unbearably tired and faced another 3 hours of work on the site, which was a very strong mental battle, but one in which all the team leaders think we did very well.

By Jasper and Patrick Mc

Day 3 - Free Fergus Morton!

We had a busy day today. We put up lots of plywood continuing on from yesterdays walls made of the same board. One of today's humourous highlights was burying Fergus, as punishment for his awful jokes! We entertained ourselves during the day, watching Jasper riding the motorcycle and generally making fun of our attempts at imitating 'real' builders!

We were taken out on tour of Hajdu with two local school girls. We went to a memorial statue of the First World War which was very moving.
We also saw a Greek Catholic church which is unique to Hungary. Mr.Coldrick insisted on going to a bakery to see (and taste) some nice traditional cakes. At the end of our tour we visited three bakeries, purchasing at each one.

After the entertainment at the building site we were taken out to go bowling. We really enjoyed ourselves with our site manger Pisti. We didn’t succeed with the bowling so we went to play pool.

David Lynas said 'Serve and Learn' were the two aims of this trip and this was a very good day for both!

BY THOMAS AND JACK

Day 2: 26th March 2009

Woke up at a rather early hour in the morning by the lads up for their 6am swim, just outside our window. Hungarian breakfast was, emmm, lets just say different, though it was to keep us going till lunch time. We got into our rather sexy working gear, man we looked hawt, socks over tracksuits, gloves, steel top shoes and a hard hat. We walked to the site, only about 10 minutes away, past some rather vicious looking dogs.

When we got there we had a tour of the houses, and a feel for the work that was ahead of us. Some of the houses had already been completed to a higher standard than we expected. Pisti (who we ended up calling fishy) was our site manager, and showed us the jobs that we were to do. At about 8:30, we started doing some ‘blocking’, we found it hard to hammer in nails at the start, what we did hammer in tended to get bent, and break but by the end of the day we were sorted. After four hours of intense ‘blocking’ and ‘screwing’ we went back to the hostel for lunch, where we were greeted with a soup, and turkey lunch, again not our usual.

Rushing back to the site, we immediately got back into our routine, with no complaints, surprisingly. Finishing off what we started earlier, some setting challenges… bit keen. We were all looking forward to 4pm, when our working day ended. When we got back, we quickly got changed and headed to the Thermal Spa, for some T.L.C. We weren’t expecting the baths to be so hot, up to around 50˚C.

Supper was at 6.30pm, so we had time to swim and shop. After supper we went back into the swimming complex for a ‘Team Gathering’, where we discussed our day and the week to come. Off to bed now…
Caio caio,S
Steph and Suz

Day 1 - The Journey

This latest entry, features our journey to Budapest, our ‘All you can eat’ lunch in the Trofea Grill, our tour of Budapest and then our arrival in Hajdu, the town in which we are working.

Our journey to Budapest started at 5am in Dublin. We boarded a bus and drove to the airport. We checked in and soon after were standing in duty free and flying through security. We had around 15 minutes in which we could look around and buy whatever we wanted, which for many was breakfast.

The first thing we did when we got to Budapest was to collect our bags and exchange our Euro into Hungarian Forints. Then it was straight off to the Trofea Grill, which is an ‘All you can eat’ buffet in Budapest. We highly anticipated this, as Jonesy had said, and I quote ‘listen guys, I would leave my wife to go to the trofea grill one more time ’ (Actual Words May Vary). We had a good feed, which included many different styles of cooking including grill, fish fry and boiled foods as well as traditional Hungarian Food. Mr Clarke needed some sort of crane and removal of a window to exit the restaurant.

Once we caught our breath we were put in the smallest bus known to man and brought on a wonderful tour of the Castle District of the Buda part of the city. From the Fisherman’s Basket, a collection of towers at the top of the city, we saw the contrast of the very modern wealth and old communist poverty.

We arrived in Hajdúböszörmény at 7.30pm. It was considerably colder than Budapest, there was snow on the ground, and more is expected! My first impression was of a bit of a ghost town. We ate a traditional Hungarian supper of Goulash and pancakes. The apartments are very modern and comfortable. The spa and pool are also very tempting but we are here for business not pleasure! Speaking of which we start work tomorrow so we better go. Goodnight from Hajdu… From Midget Man (Michael) and Gingerbread Man (Seán)

And they're off!!

The Habitat for Humanity Team have just departed for Hajdu in Hungary to begin their house building project. Over the past few months the team have been busy fundraising for the charity and have amassed a total just shy of €34,000. The team will spend ten days in Hajdu there they will help to build houses for the homeless under the direction of a building project manager. A final boost came with the retiring collection from the Choral concert on Tuesday night. €1140 was donated to the fund. Regular updates will be found here, as the team post photos and thoughts of their trip. The party consists of four teachers and fifteen pupils. So, good luck everyone! And enjoy!

Humphrey Jones (Ground Control)

Habitat Team

Mrs. Heffernan, Mrs. Hanna, Mr.Coldrick, Mr.Clarke, Jack Armstrong, Robbie Hollis, Seán Ralston, Steffan Davies, Michael McBurney, Fergus Morton, Patrick O’Malley, Patrick McGonagle, Dalton Tice, Tanaka Khosa, Jessica Sheil, Susannah Cooke, Stephanie Brann, Thomas Emmet and Jasper Pickersgill.

Final Arrangements!

We're nearly ready!

Final arrangements are now being made for this year Habitat for Humanity trip to Hajdu in Hungary. The fundraising is near complete and we are very close to our €30,000 target. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the past few months, especially considering the times we are in. Well done to all our team members on their amazing fundraising efforts.

Once in Hungary, the team will post pictures and a daily diary outlining what's happening in Hungary!

Merry Christmas!!

The SCC Habitat for Humanity Crew would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, especially to our friends in Csurgo and in Habitat for Humanity Ireland!

The New Gang

Habitat Trip 2009

I am delighted to announce the team for next years Habitat for Humanity Trip, which will take place between March 25th and April 4th 2009. The team will travel to Hajdu in Hungary and will consist of 16 pupils and 5 teachers. While there, the members of the team will partake in a variety of building activities, working with the home-owners, as well as exploring the countryside and culture of Hungary. The following are the individuals chosen to represent the school and Habitat for Humanity on next years trip. I have, in an effort to embarass them, put down their full names (as you might see on their passports)!

Teachers

Frances Geraldine Heffernan
Tristan Clarke
Laura Hanna
Michael Eric O’Shaughnessy
Noel Martin Coldrick

Pupils

Jack Edward Ellis Armstrong
Robbie Hollis
Seán Angus Ralston
Steffan Davies
Michael Charles McBurney
Fergus Henry Morton
Patrick Harold O’Malley
Patrick McGonagle
Dalton David Newson Tice
Tanaka Alicia Khosa
Jessica Elizabeth Sheil
Susannah Madeleine Jane Cooke
Stephanie Joanna Brann
Thomas Timothy Emmet
Joshua Bowring
Jasper Alexander Melliar Pickersgill

The best of luck to all involved. Each of the team must now undertake some serious fundraising in order to reach their individual target of €1750! Good luck and please support them!

HJ

Day 10 - Friday 21st March 2008

Our work here is done!!!

It's just before 5pm on Friday and we have wrapped up our brief contribution to the building project here in Csurgo in Hungary. It has been a wonderful 10 days and we are deeply proud of the work we have done in this short period of time. It takes 10,000 man-hours to complete a house and together we contributed about 1000 hours, nearly 10% of the total time. The experience has been life changing. The sense of team work, co-operation and mutual respect amongst the team and the community in Csurgo has been a powerful emotive outcome to our brief stay. The people have been so friendly, the hotel staff exemplary, Peter's hard work and vision has been an inspiration to us all and we will all leave with a deep sense of sadness but I hope pride as well.

The pupils of St. Columba's College have been a shining example of industriousness and duty. They have made the teachers' role as team leaders an easy one. They should be commended for their excellent behaviour and hard work on site!

Today, on site, we completed the final coat of primer on the outside walls, sealed the woodwork in the interior of the houses and tidied up the site! We also got an opportunity to visit two families in neighbouring Habitat Houses to see what a completed house would look like. The first thing that struck me was the quality of the finished product. The houses were warm and cosy and extremely comfortable. Considering each house costs just over €30,000 it is amazing to see such a high quality product emerge. The families contribute just over €100 per month to pay off their interest free mortgage on their home. The pride each family has in their home is admirable and inspiring. The Habitat for Humanity principles and philosophies are expressed here to the fullest. But none of this would be possible without SUPERMAN himself, Peter Geszti. He single handedly runs the work site and co-ordinates the teams (including their R&R). He is a one man Habitat machine.

So another year down and another Habitat experience over. It has been an excellent trip for all concerned, despite sickness and ill-health, and I hope this is not the end of St. Columba's connection with Habitat Hungary and the wonderful people of Csurgo. Although, I'm not sure we will be allowed back for St. Patrick's Day again!!!! Only kidding!

Goodbye for now and thank you all for your support and encouragement over the past two years. Here are some pics from today:

Humphrey Jones, Paul Cron, John Fanagan, Frances Heffernan, Peter Watts , Laura Hanna and all the pupils!

The house as we leave it!

Laura and Lauren tidying inside the houses.

Neighbouring Habitat Houses.

Our final group photo!!

Day 9 - Thursday 20th March 208

Today was our penultimate day on the site and once again we were exceptionally busy, making up for lost time on Tuesday. The day started off bright and sunny, cold but pleasant, and work quickly began on the foundations for the side walks and on repairing any broken or distressed plaster on the houses. We completed our assigned tasks for the morning well before time and began a thorough clean-up of the site. The area looked immaculate some lunchtime, with all work completed and the site well organised. After lunch we continued to tidy the site and paint any repaired plaster work from yesterday. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worst and snow began to fall at around 2:30. But we persevered and finished our assigned tasks for today. After work, the team travelled to the hills for a BBQ, with wonderful spiced chicken, local sausage and traditional paprika potatoes. We danced and sang around the glorious bonfire until the light had faded and so too the energy. All have returned to the hotel and have began the arduous task of packing for our early departure on Saturday morning. Tomorrow looks to be another busy day, but all are feeling both excited and disappointed at the end of our trip!

Here are a few pictures from today's work and R&R:

Some of the girls help to tidy the worksite.

The family members work alongside the team to repair the plaster and prepare it for painting.

Josh and Alec finishing the sidewalk foundations.

The BBQ on the hills. The view of Csurgo is spectacular and the food wonderful.

The gang sing and dance around the bonfire!

Habitat Table Quiz

The pupils competed in a high quality Table Quiz this evening with questions ranging from general knowledge to music to cartoon trivia. The standard was very high but the overall winners were Team 1: Alec, Josh and Philip!!!! Well done to all the pupils in what was a very entertaining hour!!! Who knew we had so much useless information inside us!!

Day 8 - Wednesday 19th March 2008

The sun has returned to Csurgo again today and all of the team returned to work, devoid of sickness and ill-health. We all worked extra hard today, knowing the time that was lost yesterday. We began the day planting some trees, donated to the Habitat Project by the local government, along the road leading to the Habitat Houses. We planted a dozen or so trees today and hope to do more tomorrow. After our water break we continued to plaster around the windows of the houses in order to seal the glass and to provide a flawless finish on our painting. (It must be noted how much care and attention goes into the houses and how much the families appreciate the minor details) We then dug the foundations for the pathways around the house, removing the dirt and putting gravel in. We will mix concrete soon to fill the pathway. And finally the plumber completed his work on the sewage and water pipes and we were able to fill in the final holes!

A great day's work! Here are some of Joanna's Photos from today!

Some of the girsl stop for a well deserved break!

Digging the foundations for the pathway.

Laura doing somthing??

More digging!

The trees after planting!!

The Csurgo Bridge Club

Bridge has come to Hungary, and with a bang. A recent influx of Irish People to the town of Csurgo has caused a bridge sensation. The sights of the newest bridge club in the "Panzio" on a nightly basis has caused a stir! The echoes of double and redouble have rebounded from the walls of the dining hall and, to be honest, we are lucky no one has been shot yet!!

Day 7 - 18th March 2008

SNOW in Csurgo!! After the glorious day yesterday and highs of 17 degrees, we were greeted to snow showers this morning in Csurgo. This unfortunately meant that no work could be carried out on site so the team went to a larger local town for some shopping and then onto a spa, with volcanic pools and swimming facilities. Unfortunately, the vomiting bug made an unwelcome return and claimed yet more victims this morning so Mr. Watts, Mr.Jones and Ed Teggin were not well enough to travel to the spa. The team will have a meal out later and look forward to getting back onto the site tomorrow morning.

Day 6 - Monday March 17th - Csurgo gets painted green!!!

St. Patrick's Day in Csurgo and we went a little silly. We weren't quite satisfied with covering ourselves with green, but we also (literally) painted Csurgo green too. The house received its first base coat over the bare plaster and Peter insisted we use green!!! It was a glorious day here and all members of the team are feeling better, if not quite 100% just yet. But all returned to work for some of the day and we had a ball sanding and painting. Tonight we are going to have a sing song and a bit of Irish Dancing!!!

Beannachtaí Lá Feile Padraig!!!

Peter "Guinness" Geszti

All the gang in their best GREEN!!!

The Leaders sport their Paddy's Day Rigouts!!

Painting the town green!!!

The coat is placed on the houses before lunch! Don't worry, we painted over the green with yellow in the afternoon!!!

The Day at the Lake

Here are some pics from Sunday's trip to the lake!

A wonderful view of the lake and surrounding houses.

Goulash been cooked over a log fire. Absolutely gorgeous!!!

The Lake in the background with a local hotel in the background.

The gang that made it feasting on Goulash!

Day 5 - Sunday 16th March 2008

How the mighty have fallen!

Today was a difficult day for the team as an agressive vomitting bug swept its way through the hard working and exhausted troops. A number of the team were ill throughout the day, which was very unfortunate as today was our day off from the site. However, the troops that remained standing braved the icy waters of Lake Gekenyese and sang songs over a camp fire and gorged goulash til the night grew dim! As the ashes faded, so did the songs and laughter until the faint crys of zip, zap and boing echoed through the hills of South West Hungary! Tomorrow the team will venture back to the trenches of the the Habitat Site and celebrate St, Patrick's Day and paint O'Csurgo green!! Faith and begorra!! Top of the Habitat to ye all!!! Slán agus póg me I'm Irish!!!!!

The Gang (2nd SCC Habitat Battalion)

The Town of Csurgo

Here are a number of pictures of some of the landmarks of Csurgo.

One of the five churches in Csurgo, this newly built Reform (Calvinist) Church is one of the finest buildings in town. Built in 2001, it is built alongside a local boarding school, run by the church.

This is a picture of an appartment block in central Csurgo. One of the families we are building the houses for currently live in a small, run down appartment within the block. The building was built by the Russians in 1950 to a very poor standard. Water leaks into all floors when it rain and damp and mould are found throughout.

Another local appartment block, not far from the town park.

This is the Csurgo Town Hall, where the local council sit. The beautifully restored community centre is oppositite, although not completed yet.

The view from the CBA, one of the local supermarkets. This is main street Csurgo, a town with a population of 6000 people. Although the town is run down in some places it is impecible clean and crime free.

Day 3 Pics - Saturday 15th March 2008

Here are some pics from today on the site!!! And what a glorious day!

The Senior Plasterer!!!!

Filling in our lovely hole!!

Plumber on site, connecting sealing the sewage pipes!

Frances started the day with a plastering age of 3 but progressed to age 12 by lunchtime!!

The end of the day and some of the gang return to the airport. They will spend the evening Hungarian Bowling!!!

Day 3 on site! Saturday 15th March 2008

Today was an extremely productive day on site again. Everyone was busy busy busy and we were extremely lucky to blessed with glorious sunshine. The day began with the completion on the trench to connect water and sewage to the main supply.

The local plumber was on site and when he was finished his work, we refilled the trenches dug over the last few days. Some of the team were plastering over the insulation fitted yesterday on the foundations while others were sanding loose plaster for preparation for initial priming on Monday.

Today is a national holiday in Hungary and flags are hung from most houses. Tomorrow the team will travel to a local lake for some swimming, fishing, boating and a BBQ with traditional Goulash!

Birthday Celebrations

Today was the birthday of Rebecca Murtagh and we celebrated during our evening supper. Here are some pics:

Matron's Photos!

Here are some photos taken by Miss Hanna, the school matron!!

Ed give Joanna a helping hand (She must have dug a hole for herself!!!

)

Laura Hurley enjoying the work!

Alec and Lauren relax in the local playground after a hard day's work!

Day 2 Pics - Friday 14th March 2008

Day 2 on the site and work continues!!!

JCB (Jonesy, Cronners and Beans)

Rebecca taking the JCB for a spin!!

Cronners and John comparing shovers again!

Some of the team are seen here insulating the foundation. The temperature in Csurgo can be as low as -15 degrees in the winter!

The end of the day and all the insulation is finished (we must plaster over the aeroboard later), the main trench is finished and the connecting trench is nearly done!

Good job everyone!!!

Half way through day 2!!!

Hi everyone. Jonesy here! It's half way through the first day and it has been tough. We are continuing with digging trenches for sewage and water (we're nearly finished). Although it is very physically challenging, everyone is up-beat and in great form. Some sillyness appears at times (nothing to do with me, honest!) but work is still done effectively. It sounds like a job that could be done quickly but the home owners could spend weeks completing the trenches if they were by themselves! If it was completed using machinery it would cost the equivilant of €10,000 (one eight of the cost of the entire build!). Also today some of the team were insulating the foundation. Csurgo can be as cold as -15 degrees in the winter! Lunch was fab with wonderful soups and spag bol! (we were introduced to one of Hungary's major exports - paprika, which added a "little" more spice to the occasion!) Anyway, must now head back to work. Hope all is well back home!!

Oh and Happy Birthday Rebecca Murtagh!!!!

Ed's View of the day

I personally had a great day and thought that it was really good that both students and staff were able to work together in a light hearted environment. I thought that it was a great day and I hope the rest of our time here will be as enjoyable. Hi to everyone back home, am taking ages to write this as the keyboard is at a funny angle!

Mr Fanagan's Daily Update

Thursday 13th, 9 pm

We've just finished our group meeting, after a long, satisfying day. The mood was wonderfully upbeat. We were told we shifted about 30,000 kilos of earth.
We started digging at about 9 a.m. after being shown the first Habitat houses built in Csurgo. The town of about 6000 people suffers quite high unemployment and is a bit down at heel in places, though spotlessly clean and very safe: no crime to speak of. The two families were on site and the husbands,Istvan and Sandor,were digging the sewage trench with us all day. We saw the interiors of the duplex whose frame last year's Columban team had constructed. They're nearly finished and it is hoped the two families will take possession in May. Their pride in their emerging homes lifts the heart.
After a lunch break 12-2, we worked on till four. Dinner at 6 then a guided walk around Csurgo with our site supervisor,Peter. The town was rather eerily quiet. Now a few are playing pool, but I suspect many of us will be asleep early.

John Fanagan

Day 1 - Thursday 13th March 2008

Here are some pictures of our first day's work. We spent the day digging a trench for the sewage pipes of the two houses we are hoping to finish. Progress since last year is amazing and we are delighted with our days work. Mr Fanagan will write a more detailed diary of the day later but in the mean time, here are some pics of our first day on site (in what was a beautiful day in Csurgo)!!

Hard hats are handed out!!!

The families who will eventually move into the houses.

All the gang!!!! (No one missing this time)

The dynamic duo, back in action!

Pottsy DIGS DEEP (Get it?)

Some of the diggers!!!

Jonesy and Phil

Jonesy & Phil giving it loads!

Most of the gang in action!

Pottsy & Ed stuck in a hole!

More pics

John Fangan (Senior Digger) & Laura Hanna

Jonesy

Pottsy & the Dog Rex (Don't ask me to distinguish)

Cronners (we gave him three shovels and told him take his pick)

Get back to work!!!!

Even More Pics

Josh with some rather dodgy safety glasses!!

Rex, how we were sick of throwing stones!!

Go on Ireland!!

Mrs Heffernan (Head of Digging Support) and Helpers!!!

The hole, after just 2 and a half hours!!!

Even, yes more pics!!!

Jonesy, Josh and Alec

The work line, with oher completed Habitat Houses in the background.

It's trench warfare!!!

Bex and Lauren must be trying to avoid work!!

Bex digging deep (I know I used it before but it's a good one!)

We are here!!!!

Well we are now settled in to our hotel here in Csurgo on the South West of Hungary. After what seems like a very long day we are truly exhausted. But that's not to say the day was not fun. In fact, great fun and craic was had by all. On our arrival in Budapest we had a quick walk around the city and had a wonderful meal (where Laura Hurley gave new meaning to the words "all you can eat"!!!!). The train journey to Csurgo was long but we entertained ourselves and our fellow passengers with games and chat and banter! After a meal in the hotel and a very productive team meeting, some of the pupils and staff partook in a game of pool, with Philip Kidd ending up the eventual winner! Here are some pictures from our first day, and as you can see all are in fine spirits!!!

Jonesy, one of our fearless leaders

Gina, our resident Leicccchhhhensteiner!!!

Some of the guys wait at luggage collection!

Mr Watts and the fearless duo!!!

The masked leprechaun!!

We here again!!!

Some more pics!!!

Kim (or Tina?), our Canadian Leader

The Hungarian Parliment Building

Laura and the "all you can eat" - Cronners is still there we think!

Mr Watts with a light snack on the train?

In the Leiccccccchhhhhenstein hood!!!

Group Send Off

This morning in Chapel, the school said goodbye to the habitat group. The Chaplin, Rev Heaney blessed the group and sent them on their way. Many thanks for all the kind words from pupils and staff throughout the day and I hope we do you proud!!!
Mr. J

We're off again!!!!

Hey there everyone. It's Monday the 10th March and we are but a few days to our departure for Hungary. The good news is that we have just reached our target of 34,000 and are looking forward to what will surely be a great trip. Taking flight on Wednesday will be:

Josh Buckingham

Edward Teggin

Philip Kidd

Alec Cherry

Kate Haslett

Fiona Boyd

Laura Hurley

Joanna Coldrick

Rebecca Scott

Rebecca Murtagh

Lauren Meyler

Poppy Vernon

Emma Davies

Jessica Dean

Gina Mirow

Also six members of staff will be heading:

Paul (The Hoover) Cron

Peter (Potts) Watts

John (Senior Plasterer & Head of Painting)

Humphrey (Insert Nickname here) Jones

Laura (Matron) Hanna

Frances (Painting age of ...) Heffernan

We would like to thank the entire community of the College for their support over the last few months and the many wonderful organisations and individuals that contributed so generously to our cause.

We will endeavour to post as many pictures, comments and funny highlights here over the next two weeks. Please make comments and support us!

Global Village Night

The Global Village night highlighted the wonderful work by all the teams who travelled out of Ireland to help with building projects around the world. Our current team, along with all of last year team, presented photos and memories of their experience in Hungary last June. Here are some pics:

We've just finished up!

And here you see how these houses become homes with gardens, porches, sheds and fences as families continue to use the skills they've learned

This is the duplex house that was dedicated last Friday. It gives you an idea of what ours will look like by April.

Walls up, windows cut out and roof well on it's way. Wood nearly all treated too. That's our work for the last fortnight

Our last day on site - the final beams are going on the roof

38 degrees in the shade

Thursday afternoon hit 38 degrees in the shade. We have our last working day tomorrow followed by a farewell meal with the families we are building the houses with. We are all looking forward to coming home, but have had a brilliant time that we will never forget.
Hope the farewell evening goes well.
PC

Busy at it

Muscles from Brussels 3

Muscles from Brussels 2

Muscles from Brussels 1

New buddies

Thursday morning

The victims of building

Tuesday morning

Meet Chris - team number '21'

Persistance.....

Check out the guns!!! (biceps)

Monday 18th - the lads painting

We are so HOT RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Thursday has been 35 degrees in the shade. The thermostat was left out in the sun and hit over 45.... if it goes above 35 in the shade we are not allowed to work.
Chris our American friend, who is the assistant site supervisor, always finishes sentences with RIGHT NOW... we took the opportunity to quote "Zoolander", for those of you who know it, "I AM SO HOT RIGHT NOW!!!!'' as the sweat pours down everywhere.
Finishing every sentence with RIGHT NOW for the past few days has proven too much for some of the members of the group, even Mr Fanagan was getting into the habit, so Peter the construction superviser taught us how to say it in Hungarian (MUSTA ZUNIM). There is a good mood in the camp. Plenty of work is being done and there is always a lot to laugh about. There is a serious amount of trash being spoken by some groups as people paint and get to grips with power tools. We hope to finish off the walls before we go.
Anyway i gotta go MUSTA ZUNIM (Hungarian spelling????)
PC

The hottest day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was by far the hottest day we have had on site, at least 35 degrees. We worked from 8 to 12 and 2 till 4. There was more painting for half of the group and the rest were getting to grips with power tools in order to secure the siding boards (walls). Mr Fanagan was very frustrated with the power tools at first, after having just mastered hammering. Before lunch he dropped the drill and went off in a huff of frustration. After lunch however the old dog learnt a new trick, and had to be dragged off the site at 4pm. Everybody is in good form, even Moritz who lost to some of the female staff at pool!!!!
This evening we went into the hills for a BBQ.... Braai... it was great craic. We were entertained with impersonations of all staff members by Hal Downer and David Beresford. Milano sang some lovely traditional songs around the camp fire as we were all being devoured by giant mosquitoes!!!
Miss Bustard will post some photos soon.
Thanks to all who have followed our progress and have helped make this trip possible.
PC, Cronners or Nut

Review of Week One

A feature of the trip has been our daily meeting, usually held after dinner on the landing in the hotel. This evening we went over many aspects of the past week and had some suggestions for activities over the next few evenings.
Today we worked from 8 till 11.30. We're finishing spacing in the frame and have started to treat the wood with preservative - a pretty tedious job compared with the thrill of nailing (I'm not kidding). We spent the afternoon in Kadarkut, a village about 50 km away. The teachers of the local vocational school had read about us and wanted to meet us. It was more interesting for us teachers than the pupil members of the team, since the school was almost empty: few of heir pupils to chat up.
Tomorrow is a full working day - as long as the rain doesn't come: the site is too dangerous if it's wet. It's a million miles away from school exams, Bertie's house (not, I swear, built by Habitat for Humanity) and other things that we were thinking of ten days ago.
JMF

Lake Gekeynes

Our first day of relaxation in Hungary was spent by lake Gekeynes. A lake in western Hungary. very hot. water cold. me like. The diving board was the high light of the day with all team members giveing it a go, some with better conviction than others. we even had a few hungarian families laughing as people ran to the edge of the diving board and abruplty stopped and ran back with a very pale face. we would like to point out that the diving board was a ginormous seven meters above the water. though we are convinced it was more along the line of twenty. After a refreshing dip in the lake we returned to the shore house to celebrate Moritz's b day. Super sweet 17. nothing else to say apart form the majority of people getting burn cause we thought we could all go down a few factors in suncream. johnny wearing a modest factor 60 and crispin on a burning 10.
l.o.l
Johnny and Crispin

Rex

the higlight of the trip so far is either a buffet in Budapest (for dave cooper) or rex the dog (for everyone else) the dog is big and is a german shepherd and sheds hair wherver he goes including all around are dorm and on my bed which is now rex's. will try and put up some pictures of rex soon. just to make you all jealous it was 31 degrees today in csurgo.

Crispin

Catapults and benches

Hey chaps,

Today there was a shortage of wood so Ross and i made huge catapults from spare pieces of wood littered around the site. Our huge weapons fired over a massive distance of about one and a half metres. They were much cooler than the bench Dave and Moritz made. Its really cool to be able to talk to you guys and i hope all the exams are going well. I love Ginge!

Oli

Quote of the day

Earlier on the site we were discussing allergies and this one came out..

"Imagine if an astronought was allergic to space..."

nice one Paddy

Ems

And still smiling.....

More than 100Kg of nails later, we are still hammering!!!

Moritz and David make the bench Yah!

Laying the cornerstone of the duplex we are building!

Home Dedication: Each family was given their keys, a letter box, bible, hammer and bottle of wine to mark the occasion!

Trying to look busy.....

Day 3 - Nearly all the walls are up!

The man who makes it happen-Peter

Most Improved Hammerer of the day!

Comparing hammers

sexy workers

After a hard days work..

Mr Fanagan and Mr Cron with "the real" hammer..

Hard at it.. Double Crampton sporting the moves..

Starting the framing..

|Day 1., Walking to the site. Look who's well prepared'

Romeo and Juliette

pADDY THE GREAT

We played football against the locals today and won. we did more building and visited a school which had a savage library there were loads of old books. building is coming on nicely although its really warm and i keep getting sun burnt. there is a deadly ouhouse because we need to go to the toilet lots because we have to drink lots of water. hello to everyone
PADDY THE GREAT

a great victory

Today the Saint Columba's All Stars took on Csurgo in a very competetive football match. Of course the All Stars from Ireland didn't let our country down and won 3/1. Though Paddy Owens and myself we secured a handsome victory. The dermination and teamwork was outstanding and it resembled how close the whole group is. We did a lot of work on the building site and on the football pitch so the whole group is pritty fatigued but on a whole i feel the future of construction is in very good hands.

james Crampton

Day 2 building.....

There are signs of blisters and I'm feeling muscles I didn't know I had, but my eye and hand co-ordination is improving and the nails are going in more quickly.
Miss Lawson and I have got some good team work going on and have built a few frames for doors and walls today! It is amazing how much is getting done and how satisfying it is to see the progress. I have great photos but managed to bring the wrong lead so hopefully I track down the right one pretty soon......
Miss B

Morning Building and then visiting school..

This morning we did some more work on the site which started at eight. we worked till 9.30 and the houses framework and walls are really starting to look good. we then stopped and went back to the hostel before walking down to the nearby high school. the school is mixed with about 300 people in it. it is a prebyterian school and people come from lots of neighbouring towns to go there as it is a very good school and has boarding houses. we we shown around the school and grounds and the library there is amazing with over 20,000 books and manuscripts some dating back to martin luther. some of the pupils also showed us around and took us around the grounds, were the boys all started to play very bad football and so the pupils at the school arranged a match tonight against us, i think they thought they will have an easy win.. come on the gwynn boys..( girls arent allowed play according to dave)
Emily

Head of English becomes Head of Poultry

on the way back from the site after 6 hours of hammering, we were dragging our sun burnt bodies and blistered hands back to the hostel, when mr fanagan stopped to admire some chickens..... he is now officially the head of poultry.
hal downer

The First Morning

The day started cool and grey, but by the time we broke for lunch, it was pretty hot. It was astonishing to see the wooden frames we were nailing going up and the rooms in the two houses taking shape. We were supervised by local man Peter and his new American assistant Chris, who arrived with us and is staying for six months. We're going back on site at two and finish at five.
I've found the first experience of this work quite interesting: it's quite fulfilling to hammer things together. Everyone is working happily.
JMF

READ THIS ONE....

WE WENT TO A CHURCH THANKS TO MR. FANAGAN, AND HAD A GOOD TIME, WE WILL WRITE MORE LATER WHEN WE ARE NOT BEING WATCHED BY UNWELCOME EYES.
SIGNED DAVE AND PADDY

Mr Fanagan shows us Buda

Before getting on the train to Csurgo Mr Fanagan showed us around Buda which is the one side of the river. The other side of the river is Pest Mr Fanagan said he'd show us the other Pest on our return.
Emily Plunket (Yes Emily, we can edit these so little people can't put the wrong name down!!!)

Day 2 in Hungary

We have just had our first meal in Csurgo and met our host and director of construction- Peter. Our work begins on site tomorrow morning at 8 am after an important safety brief and general introduction to the site that will set out aims for the coming days. SjL

The adventure begins: a post by the head of IT Hungary also head of English!

Greetings from Budapest where we arrived safely. We've just had dinner and are about to turn in. Tomorrow we'll do some sightseing before setting off for Csurgo late afternoon.
JMF
Everything has run smoothly and everybody has been great....apart from Mr Fanagan snoring on the plane.... he just called me a liar....he is now laughing.... even John has been great!!!!
PC head of nothing

The group depart Dublin Airport

As the group set off for the flight to Budapest, a final photo is taken of the group. The pupils are Celeste Guinness, Milano Izumimoto, Emily Plunket, Jane Quigley, Sarah Wilson, Paddy Owens, Ollie Smith, Allen Crampton, James Crampton, David Cooper, Johnnie Cooper, Mortiz Baring, Ross Gilmour, Hal Downer, Crispin Maenpaa and David Beresford.

Also travelling are four teachers, Mr. John Fanagan (Senior Master and Head of English - how will the school survive), Mr Paul Cron, Ms Sarah Jane Lawson and Ms. Jane Bustard (Our leader!!)

While the group are away, the Transition Year pupils are busy completing a day of Leadership Skills and tomorrow will begin the preparation for the Action Track Project.

A final good luck to all the group as they head off on the experience of a lifetime. Good luck and safe travelling!!!

Travelling Group are commissioned in Chapel

The Chaplain, Rev Heaney commissioned the 16 pupils and 4 teachers before they departed from Dublin Airport on the first leg of their trip to Budapest, before heading to Cursgo to begin building houses. The Chaplain congratulated the pupils for the excellent work in fundraising the €35,000 during the last year and for the entire school community for their support.He asked all those remaining at home to pray for the group as they undertake this excellent project.

What is Habitat for Humanity?

Habitat for Humanity is a non-denominational Christian Charity, which helps build houses for people who simply can't afford them.

Habitat works in partnership with families to build their own homes and other homes in their community. It is completely non-profit, with all funds used to build houses and create the structures in other countries to do the same.

Habitat for Humanity have built over 200,000 homes in more than 100 countries, including Ireland. Once built, Habitat supplies the family with an easy to pay loan. The family will help build their own house but also build other homes in their community.

Currently in Hungary 1,000,000 homes are overcrowded (1/4 of all homes), over 500,000 have no pumped water supply and over 900,000 do not have a flush toilet. St. Columba's College are delighted to be involved in this fantastic charity and we hope this will be the first of many such adventures.

Fundraising

Over the past year, the Transition Year pupils and the staff of St. Columba's College have been funraising heavily to raise the required €35000 for the trip.

Events included a golf classic, bag packing, busking, cookie sales, bake sales, no uniform days as well as some corporate sponsors (and much more).

Thanks to all who helped over the past number of months!!!

Hello There

Mr. Jones here. Welcome to the new Blog for the Habitat for Humanity Project. Everyone in the schools Transition Year Programme are all very excited about the trip to Hungary in a few weeks time and fundraising is still ongoing. This blog has been set up for the pupils and teachers that will be travelling to Hungary, hoping that they will post photos and a daily diary for the school comunity back home.

Anyway, bye for now and look out for further updates!