Wednesday, March 24

Last night's concert was unbelievable! It was a concert put on by Rathdown junior and senior schools (elementary and high school). The girls were absolutely amazing. There was so much talent like I've never seen before in such young people. There were singing acts, singing/dancing acts, instrumental acts, choirs, etc. Some of the girls even sang opera. I can't say enough how impressed I was, I kept getting the chills. It's not even a very big school, yet every girl who performed was incredible. Hayley was part of a choir that didn't sing for long. I didn't even realize she was out there until half way through their act. Duh. The concert was a bit long though, 3 hours and 20 minutes. I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera. I was so bummed! I decided to take pictures from the internet to show what it looked like.

You'd never know I didn't take them!

After my cream cheese incident at the grocery yesterday, I somehow ended up home without my bagels. Are you serious? I know I bought them, I just don't know where they landed. Now after all that trouble getting cream cheese I don't even have bagels to go with it. Oh my.

When I woke up today I crossed my fingers for good weather. I have a blind that completely closes my view, so I have to get up and raise it before I know what I'm in for. Luckily I have to get up to do this, because the weather was disgusting, I would have never gotten out of bed if I would have known! It was rainy and extremely cloudy, I could barely even see anything. It was almost eerie and scary-looking. Yuck. The rain is never a downpour though, it's just a mist. By the end of the day the weather was gorgeous with beautiful clouds and the warm sun.

I taught my first lesson in Ireland today! It was an "arts" lesson. Instead of taking the kids to art class once a week, the teacher must actually teach art once a week. Since spring is here I decided to have the kids make birds out of paper and tissue paper. They did a really great job, I was impressed. They were even allowed to use glitter, which was of course the highlight for them because it's messy!


I also got to teach a small lesson on verbs. It was very last-minute, so I didn't really get to do anything creative. It was fun to get to teach again though. I have noticed that the kids constantly work on worksheets here. They don't seem to do much "hands on" activity.

Miss Rankin was teaching the kids how to write dates today. Here they write them with the day first, then the month, then year: 24/3/10. One student mentioned that America does it differently so I showed them how we do it. Second class loves to ask me how I say things. They thought "soda" and "pop" was hilarious. They say "cola." They also think "french fries" is really funny because they call them "chips."

I noticed today that there aren't telephones in classrooms. One boy was sick today so Miss Rankin had to go down to the office to "ring" his "mum." Their technology is a bit behind ours. Their TV shows are too. Most the American shows they have are a few seasons behind. The Blind Side movie with Sandra Bullock comes out in "cinemas" on March 26. I saw that movie months ago!

Tomorrow I will start in 5th class. I am supposed to be there for two weeks after the Easter break as well. I'm getting a little tired of switching around because once I get warmed up to the kids and they start to like me I have to leave. One girl said to me today, "I wish you could stay here forever." I agreed.

I also am going bowling with several of the Kill teachers tomorrow night for a staff get together. We are going somewhere afterwards, but I'm not sure if it's for dinner or what. I couldn't understand, so I will just bring cash and figure it out then! I am excited, I hope to make some new friends.

Things I learned & other randoms:

-Not all streets have speed limits. It's more common not to have a limit, and when there is one they aren't enforced as heavily as America's are. My family mentioned this to me on the first day I was here, two days after I had just paid a speeding ticket. The speed limit signs look as if they have come out of "Cat in the Hat"

-Cursive writing is called "joint writing." A student asked me if he had to write in "joint writing" today, I had no idea what he was asking. (My Indiana students know I would respond to this question with "That's a silly question" because they know they always have to write in cursive:) If I was a teacher here I might say "That's a daft question.")

-The letter "r" is pronounced "or"

-This is the Lidl's grocery I shop at sometimes. It looks like it's a spaceship because it's all silver.

-Instead of recess being taken away, it is common for students to get extra homework when they don't behave

-The letters "n" and "l" often sound very much the same when they speak. I have been confused several times. Example: I didn't know whether Steph's host sister was Nora or Laura when I first arrived.

-I mention the bus often, so I thought I'd give a visual. They are two stories high! It is not easy to walk up and down while the bus is moving, so I usually stay on the first floor.