Friday, March 19

Today was a beautiful day! I walked down to the bus stop this morning in the beautiful, warm sun. It was fantastic. Thankfully I had the bus stop better timed, so I didn't have to wait so long this time. The ride home wasn't quite so smooth, but I'll explain that later. When I got to school the kids were in assembly. This is where the whole school meets together and sing songs, and a priest also comes and speaks for a bit. There was a mini-celebration as well because the Kill-O-the-Grange girls hockey team won a big tournament last week, so that was neat.

I spent my last day in Mr. O'Dwyre's class. Lots of interesting things happened. There was no religion lesson today. Instead, the day began with the writing of "colour" poems. The kids come up to teachers to ask how to spell lots of words, which is normally my forte (my friends all know this). Sadly, there are several words they spell differently, which really takes away from my great talent! A few words I got wrong were favorite ("favourite"), color ("colour"), jewelry ("jewellery"), and t-shirt ("tee shirt"). It is also sometimes very difficult to hear what word they are asking for me to spell. A lot of times I will have them point it out in the room or use the word in a sentence. One student was asking me how to spell "sharpener" and I thought he was saying "shoppin." It took me about 4 or 5 times to figure out what the heck he was saying! He actually had to go get his pencil sharpener to show me what he was saying. He probably thinks I'm the crazy American teacher girl who doesn't know how to speak or spell, haha.

Some of the kids started asking me about tornadoes today because they have heard of them, but have never really experienced them. They were asking me if I had ever been "sucked up" in one and what would happen if someone was sucked up into a tornado. I did my best to tactfully tell them you definitely wouldn't live. One kid said, "Why couldn't you just run away?" Another said, "I'd just hide in the toilet." Too funny.

I left school 10 minutes early today in order to catch the bus. It only comes every 45 minutes. I was standing there for a bit and was happy to see my bus coming down the road. I began to plan in my head what kinds of things I might do at home before I met Steph later. I was standing there waiting for it and I was preparing to hop on. As I prepared to hop on I watched the bus get closer and closer, then fly by me. I could not believe my eyes. Little did I know you have to stand at the edge of the sidewalk and stick your hand out in order for the bus to stop. This was the first time I had been at the bus stop alone, therefore the first time I have experienced this. I ended up waiting another 45 minutes for the next bus, that's how much I don't enjoy the walk. So, I decided to take a few pictures while I waited.

After I got home I walked to the next bus stop to meet Steph. We went into Dublin to experience some Grafton Street shopping!! It was very interesting. We were surprised to see how many people sit on the ground begging for money. There are a lot of really cool shops, but neither of us bought anything. There is a lot of entertainment everywhere. They have those people who stand there really still and are painted like statues. We passed one and thankfully Steph warned me that he was a statue because I totally would have fallen for it. It really creeped me out though. I watched him as a walked by because I was afraid he was going to jump out at me, and he knew I was watching because his eyes followed me all the way down the street. It was rather eerie. Sadly it began to rain and things aren't open very late in Dublin anyway. Most shops close around 6 so we headed home, but not without a minor struggle to find a bus station. We're becoming used to being slightly lost.

Terrible picture, but we saw men in kilts!

These college students were doing a 12-Hour Row to raise money for cancer research. There were about 5 guys who took 30 minute shifts. It looked difficult.

Orange "fizzy" seems to be very common. I feel like there are multiple different brands of orange soda. Steph tried some out tonight, it was pretty good. It tasted like fizzy Tang.

More things I learned today and other randoms:

-Ladybugs are called "ladybirds"

-Insects are called "mini beasts"

-Riding your bike is called "cycling"

-The number of automatic vs. manual vehicles is vice versa to America

-During breaks at school teachers don't talk about school! They talk about anything and everything, but never school

-Trying something out is called "giving it a go"

-French fries are called "chips"

-Potato chips are called "crisps"

-Puzzles are just called "jigsaws"

-Puzzle Pieces are called "bricks"

Now Hayley and I are watching Camp Rock and going to bed soon. I have been asked to do her hair in french "plaits" again, so I may do that before we sleep. Steph and I plan to go to Dublin again tomorrow.