LAST DAY IN IRELAND!

As I write this blog I am feeling overwhelming excitement. I feel like I could jump out of my skin, partly because I just had a latte and a huge rice krispie treat with chocolate on top, but more because I absolutely cannot wait to come home tomorrow.

This has been THE experience of a lifetime, and I would not take it back for anything. I have learned so much while I have been here. I have learned to be more independent and confident. I have learned to just go for things, although I may not know the outcome. I feel like I am so much more willing to step outside of my comfort zone and take risks now. Although I had Stephanie here with me, there was so much time I was alone. I am usually very much a people-person and get very bored while I am alone, but this experience has helped me to cherish a quiet moment and to use this time to relax and reflect instead of thinking of the next thing to be accomplished.

I have seen SO many beautiful things here, and I have met people who are kind, loving, and caring- people whom I will never forget. As my Uncle Jeff put it, "What a great time and such a beautiful country to top it off, an unbelievable ring as well. A trip of a lifetime." I will never forget how much this experience has done for me, and I am infinitely grateful that I have been able to take a chance that many people don't get.

But with all these things being said, the most important thing I have learned here is how important my home is- most importantly my friends and family. "Home is where the heart is" is now one of my new favorite quotes. I have realized how much I take for granted the daily comforts of life; such as small things like being able to hop in the car and run a quick errand, to bigger things like feeling safe, and having friends and family who love and care for me. I have a greater appreciation now for my immediate surroundings, even if they happen to be on flat ground with not much to see. Although green grass, mountains, and sea are beautiful to be surrounded by, family and friends are without a doubt the more beautiful things in life.

With this being said, I cannot wait to get home and catch up with the people I love. I am thrilled to begin planning a wedding with Andrew, and to start a new chapter of my life. I can't wait to walk my dogs, start working again, sit on the couch with friends while being unproductive, and to just live a normal life again. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read my blog, and comfort me during my homesick moments. I love you all!

Indiana, sin anall liom!

Which is Irish for:

Indiana, here I come :)

Sunday, May 23

I'm just now getting ready to go to bed for my "first to last sleep" here in Ireland.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Hayley and I spent a day together. We went into Dublin and did some shopping, then we took the Luas (Louis) which is a tram into a place called Dundrum. There's a really big shopping center there, and a movie theater. We saw The Last Song together. It was a nice day. I'm glad to have gotten to spend a whole day with her before I leave.

Today was SO warm. It was 72 degrees! I have not felt sun actually beating down on me in "ages!" It was so enjoyable to just sit outside on the patio and eat breakfast and read. Diane did some garden work while I basked in the sun. Hayley and I also played a little "swing ball" which is sort of like tether ball, but the ball is a tennis ball and you use rackets to hit it. We also played some Hangman Deluxe which was "grand." She also helped me pack up all my things to go home, and she helped me weigh it to make sure I wasn't overweight.

At 6 we headed over to John and Nola's to have a dinner for Steph's family! Her parents and sister arrived yesterday to spend a week with her. It was a really great time, it's nice to be around people from Indiana!! AHH!

Tomorrow I am going to Hayley's school to spend the day. Diane works there as well. I think I'm just going to observe for the day. Then I'm going to Catherine's to have tea and say goodbye. Then I'll be going to bed for my last sleep in Ireland :)

Home on Tuesday night!!! And I will NOT be stuck by the volcano again this time.. I will NOT. I have been checking a website that shows which areas are affected daily, and for the past few days the only countries affected have been Finland, Sweden, and Norway. Volcano Eyjafjallajokull will not bring me down!

Last Day at Kill O' the Grange

Today was the best last day I could have had. I spent the day in fifth class, which is the class I have spent the most amount of time with. My Indiana students wrote them letters which arrived to Ireland this weekend. The fifth class students were able to write them back today, so that was fun. All the teachers were very kind to me and told me I would be missed. I didn't realized I would be so sad to leave, but I really will miss it. The fifth class students had a really big card for me, and one student even gave me a CD with a powerpoint on it. The powerpoint had several slides that said she would miss me, she enjoyed having me at Kill, etc. I was so touched that she would take the effort to do something like that. The most special thing about it was that I actually taught fifth class how to do powerpoints, so she was able to use something I taught her to do something special for me.

I want to share this cute comment. Yesterday was my last day with Senior Infants, so Mrs. Richards told them all I would be leaving. One boy gave me a very concerned look and said, "But what if your family doesn't recognize you when you go home?" Such cute things run through kids' minds, I love it.

After school I stuck around for a while to talk to all the teachers and to have one last tea in the staff room. Catherine took me home, as usual, and we ran by Tesco (the grocery store) on the way home. We were walking by the ice cream aisle and she was craving some, so we picked out a box of ice cream bars and shared some on the way home. She said she would like to go for coffee sometime before I leave so we can say a formal goodbye. I will miss her so much, she is so kind to me.

Now I am just reading and hanging out at the house before I go to a dinner for the teachers tonight. There is an appreciation dinner being put on by the PTA at the school, and any teacher who has been involved in the school during the past year is invited. Parents are invited too, so it will be nice to meet some of them.

This weekend will be fun. I am going to spend the day with Hayley tomorrow. Steph's family is arriving to spend a week here tomorrow, so my host family and Steph's are planning a dinner for Sunday night. I can't wait!

Wall Mural

Today was a nice day. Tomorrow is my last day at the school! It seems so crazy that I have been here for almost 10 full weeks.. it's all coming to a close!

I mentioned the wall mural Kill O' the Grange did a couple weeks ago, but I never showed a picture of it. Each student painted their own square then signed the bottom.

Some of 6th Class's works of art.

5th class girls working hard.

A mini beast from a Junior Infant!

The finished product.

It's kind of hard to see because it's so small, but if you click on the pictures they should enlarge.

Junior infants did the fish at the bottom

Senior infants did "mini beasts" which are the insects

1st class did the people with the red background

2nd class did the buildings with the orange background

3rd class did the vehicles with the gray background

4th class did the animals with the green grass background

5th class did the lighter blue sky

6th class did the higher, darker sky

The staff did the sun

I felt really special because this mural will be up in the school forever and they asked me to paint a square:) If you look at the one on the top row with the butterfly, and you move one down and one to the left you can see mine!

This was a HUGE project that was organized by Miss Caulwell. She did a great job!

Five More Days!

Everything is starting to come to an end to my Ireland experience. I have started to catch myself noticing "lasts," ie; last time to ride the 45 Bus, last time to do laundry here, last Thursday here, etc.

I have had such an amazing experience. It is funny for me to look back at the beginning of my blog and read about the different things that amazed me at the time. It has become more difficult to find something interesting to write in my blog each week because I have adapted to my life here, and don't find everything so different and strange.

Tomorrow is my last day in the school. I will miss all the kids so much. I absolutely loved Kill O' the Grange kids and staff.

I am really going to miss my family here as well. They have been so kind to me. There is something I will miss about each one of them.

I am getting ready to take a trip to Tesco, the local grocery store (I can't wait to pronounce it "groshery" again!). Hayley has asked if she could come along. She has started counting down the days to my departure, and I think she's trying to be with me as much as she can before I leave. I am so sad to leave her!

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my blog. I have enjoyed reflecting on my experiences with others. I hope it has been interesting enough- not too boring. I will be blogging for the next couple days as well!

Italy

We finally have arrived back to Ireland. What a crazy 36 hours this has been, but it was so much fun! This morning Steph and I left the B&B at 11, when our check out time was, and decided to walk around Bergamo for a couple of hours since our plane wasn't scheduled to leave until 8PM. It only took one blog of lugging our suitcases around to make us realize that we were not really up for dragging them around all day, so we immediately headed to the airport.

Steph and I chose some seats wisely, because they would be our home for approximately the next 8 hours. We each purchased a book and began reading immediately. And we read. And we read. And I played Solitaire on the back of my suitcase. And we read. And my back started killing me so I walked for a little while. And we read... FINALLY our flight left on time at 8:20PM and WE MADE IT BACK TO IRELAND!

I didn't have internet access over the weekend, but here are the blogs I wrote while I was there (I was also behind on Wednesday so that is thrown in the mix):

Wednesday May 12

I went to visit Steph’s school today and it was SO much fun! We had a blast. She teaches at a school that has only three classrooms. She teaches Junior & Senior Infants, the next room is 1^st-3^rd class, and the last is 4^th-6^th class. It is most definitely the smallest school I’ve ever been in, and it is said to be the oldest school in the country. The water even stops running after a while if you use it too long! I was trying to wash paint trays after an art lesson, but it didn’t work too well because the water was just barely dripping out of the faucet. I think my favorite part of the day was when three of the girls decided to perform an Irish dance for us.

After school Sadie, the principal of the school, took us to Glendalough just to show us around. It was beautiful. There are two lakes, the name Glendalough actually translates to “two lakes” in Irish. She took us to a park area with a big tower that is thousands of years old. Then she took us to a museum that focused on the history of Glendalough.

She continued to drive us around to several different places. There were SO many hills to see, I told her I don’t think I’ve ever been able to see so much land at once. There were “loads” of sheep and cows everywhere, Sadie actually had to stop the car because a lamb was in the middle of the road! I think that was the highlight of our evening.

After about 4 hours of driving around Sadie was dropping us off at Steph’s when she said, “Are you constricted for time?” Steph and I instantly said no because we have been quite bored in the evenings lately, so Sadie decided to make our trip last a little longer by taking us to two pubs. One was called Johnny Fox’s. She said it is a very touristy pub, but it was neat because it was up in the hills. It reminded me of a pub version of Cracker Barrel. She then took us to one of her favorite pubs called the Blue Light. There were lots of Irish people there who just struck up conversations with us about anything and everything. It was a lot of fun.

We didn’t get home until 9PM! Sadie was kind enough to drive us around for 6 whole hours! We learned so much about the surrounding area and it was most definitely the kindest thing anyone has done for us here. She is great!

Thursday, May 13

Today was a fine day. I spent the day in Senior Infants. They did some standardized testing, so I didn’t get much interaction with the kids. They are so funny though; they did not understand the concept of “no cheating by looking at someone else’s paper.” They each had backpacks separating their papers on the table, but they still managed to sneak around the backpacks to peek at their neighbor’s work. It was pretty funny.

Steph came over at about 4:30. We are going to bed at 7 tonight because tomorrow we head for Venice!! We have to get on the bus at 3AM, which means we must get up at about 2:15, YIKES! So far the volcano is not seeming that it will be an issue, so we are keeping our fingers crossed!

Friday, May 14

We made it to Italy! Venice.is.amazing. The first thing we noticed when we stepped off the plane was that it is actually WARM here. I forgot what it was like to be warm. The sun has shone in Ireland while we have been there, but the air is never warm. Today in Italy was the first time I have not worn a long sleeve shirt, a jacket, a scarf, and a puffy vest in several weeks. We actually wore t-shirts and were still a little warm. It makes me excited to get home!

We found our hotel very easily. We were actually very nervous about this because the directions on the internet were not very clear, and most people speak Italian here which makes it even more difficult.

People drive on the right side of the road here.. this has been nice, except now I’m confused because I finally got used to looking the opposite direction when I cross the road.

After we took a bit of a nap we headed into the city center of Venice. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. I absolutely love it. The streets of water are so neat, and we are hoping to take a gondola tomorrow or Sunday.

We managed to get ourselves some gelato and some pizza today. We just wanted to fit inJ

We are absolutely exhausted because we barely got any sleep last night, so we came back to the hotel at about 3:30. We are going to go to bed soon because we are tired and there is nothing to do since all the TV shows except BBC news and CNN are in Italian.

Right now we’re watching BBC news and there is “terrible” news about how the Euro is the weakest against the dollar as it has been in the past 18 months. Not too terrible for Steph and meJ

Saturday & Sunday

Venice has been great. Steph and I spent the entire time just walking around and souvenir shopping. It rained the entire day on Saturday. I knew it was supposed to rain but I said to Steph, “Every time they say it’s going to rain it only does for a little while and then the rain stops. When does it ever rain throughout the entire day?” I jinxed us for sure because it truly did not stop raining from the time we left the hotel until the time we arrived home (expect for a period of about 30 minutes when we were inside a museum).

We have had SO much fun. It's so beautiful and I can't count how many times I have said the word "picturesque" in the past few days. We have loved every minute!

I loved seeing all the laundry hanging outside.. it seemed to be everywhere we turned.

And seeing people actually hanging the laundry from their window was even better!

One of my main Venice goals was to ride in a gondola. If we came to Venice, walked straight to a gondola, then went straight back to Ireland I would not have cared. All I wanted was a gondola. Steph and I were all ready and excited to go until we found out it was 80 Euros for 35 minutes. No way.. that’s way too expensive. So we took pictures of other people on gondolas instead!

Check out this gondola.. it was tilted so far over to clear the bridge. I was sure they were all going to topple out, which would have been fine because I am an excellent swimmer and would have come to their rescue (not true).

Have you ever seen fish in the middle of the street? I have!

These kids were so cute. I felt like I was at the scene of a movie.

Monday, May 17

Today we got up at 5:20AM to get on the bus to Venice. We then caught a bus from Venice to the airport. We got to the airport at about 7:15 to find out that our flight had been cancelled due to volcanic ash. The Dublin airport closed last night and re-opened at 2PM. If our flight had been 4 hours earlier we would have made it back. We had been watching the news and were aware that this might happen, so we were prepared to make the day as exciting as possible. We did not know what was ahead of us though.. we thought maybe we’d just get on another flight from Venice tomorrow morning or something, but that would be way too easy wouldn’t it?

We went straight to a ticket office where a woman gave us about 5 options of how to get back to Dublin. The first available flight going to Dublin from Venice is on Friday.. four days from now. Steph’s family is supposed to be in Dublin on Saturday morning so that’s cutting it too close, and neither one of us wanted to be stuck in Venice for another four days.

The best option was to fly from Bergamo, Italy tomorrow at 8PM. So, we had to ride a bus back to Venice in order to get a train to Bergamo. We lugged our suitcases to the train station, and managed to learn what to do from there. The train ride was three hours long. Steph and I played rummy and had a really fun time, we made the best of it for sure. We had a “connection” train, which was confusing since everything is in Italian and there was no one working there to help us. Thankfully we made it and everything was fine.

We finally got to Bergamo, then had to figure out what do to from there. We got in line to ask what to do, but the woman spoke no English and we speak no Italian, so that was no help. We ended up finding a “do it yourself” machine where we could buy bus tickets to get to the airport. Our plan was to go to the airport and ask them what hotel we should stay in because we had no idea what to do. While we were waiting for the bus (not even sure which bus we were looking for since, again, everything is in Italian) we decided to maybe just go walking to maybe just find a hotel on our own. We happened to stumble upon a tourist office, which was the most exciting thing I think I’ve ever seen.

The woman in the tourist office helped us find a B&B, and the man who owns it actually came to pick us up! It was the first form of non-public transportation we’ve been on in awhile, AND it was the first car that drives on the right side of the road that we’ve been in for 9 weeks. Oh the small joys in life J

The man started talking to us and we suddenly found out that he speaks no English, and again, we speak barely any Italian (besides the few words we “Google translated” before we came here). We managed to understand one another enough to pay for the B&B and find out where breakfast and the restroom is located. He was very kind.

We were very hungry at this point, so we then decided it was important that our families know our whereabouts, so we found an internet café to email everyone.

Steph is feeling very sick.. she’s had a terrible cough for a couple weeks now. We are back at the B&B and are watching the only English channel available, MTV, which is accompanied by the most loud and echoing dog bark I have ever heard.

We have had a long, exhausting, expensive (we’ve spent over $100 just trying to get from one place to another today), nerve-racking, but yet fun day. There have been several times people start speaking to us in Italian, we always just look at each other with a confused look, hoping that the other one suddenly has learned Italian and knows what the person said. It hasn’t happen yet, but I’m thinking maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow being fluent in Italian. Yesterday we were saying it would be fun to get stuck in another country; it has had its fun moments, but I will definitely be quite grateful if we make it back to Dublin tomorrow.

Ciao J

Stuck in Italy!

I am currently sitting at an internet cafe in Belgamo, Italy. Our flight back to Dublin got cancelled this morning due to volcanic ash. Our flight was scheduled to come arrive to Dublin at 10:10 this morning, but the airport was closed until 2PM. The next flight from Venice didn't leave until Friday, but we didn't want tto wait that long so we took a 3 hour train ride to Belgamo and hope to leave here at 8PM tomorrow. It has been a scary day.. it's difficult to make rushed decisions, especially when most people around you aren't speaking English, but we are making THE BEST of it. We have seen more of Italy than expected, and it will be a fun story to tell some day:) I don't have much time left on here, but I just wanted to give a small update!

P.S. Venice was awesome, I'll upload pictures ASAP!

Tuesday, May 11

This morning started with me making my very short walk to Catherine's for a lift to school. I love spending time with her each morning, she is so kind and it's a great way to start my day. I am really going to miss her when my time is done!

I got to school without knowing which class I was supposed to be spending my day in. The principal was not there and had not left me any notes of what to do, so I ended up asking the Senior Infants teacher if I could crash her classroom for the day. Luckily she said yes. I LOVED her! She was so kind and really wanted me to be involved in the day. She told me I was welcome to come any day, so that felt nice. I really can't express how much one little act of kindness can make someone who is a foreigner feel good. Remember this! When I get home I definitely know I will be as kind and accommodating to anyone I meet who is not from America!

The kids in Senior Infants are the age of Kindergarteners. They were so very cute and polite. They all thanked me when the day was over without even being asked.

We went to the "hall" (gym) for P.E. today. I learned that jumping jacks are called "star jumps" here which makes a lot of sense actually.

Some of the interesting Senior Infant names:

Girls: Zara, Aoife (pronounced Eefa), Johannes, Leela

Boys: Hanni, Kuol, Maxim (pronounced Maxeem), Cyron (pronounced Siren.. speaking of, there has been a house alarm going off outside for an hour now. I'm not exaggerating either. I'm about to go nutty and call the Garda.. which is the police).

When I got home I took a nap.. I have been having a difficult time sleeping at night so I come home from school exhausted. After my nap I woke up and got to Skype with Andrew! Then I got a surprise call from my Indiana class! I was sooo excited because it was totally unplanned:) I really miss the kids so much.

I then packed my clothes and walked in the "lashing rain" to Steph's. I am going to her school to spend the day tomorrow so that will be fun! Right now we're actually really becoming worried about our scheduled flight to Venice on Friday morning. Steph has heard they are stopping flights at 1pm tomorrow due to the volcanic ash. It's such an awful feeling having no idea if:

a) We'll make it to Venice.

b) We'll make it back to Ireland from Venice.

c) We'll make it home.

We tried to purchase travel insurance for our flight to Venice, but apparently you can only buy it if you are from certain countries. Guess what country isn't on that list... you're correct, the United States. If that happens we are each out $260 and then another $60 for the hotel. Thankfully the hotel would only make us pay for one of the nights if we didn't end up getting there.

Random things:

-The word "keen" is used very often here. "I am not keen on the idea.. she's not keen on maths.. I am keen with technology..."

-Tic tac toe is called "noughts and crosses"

-I have learned that people here say "your man" and "your woman" here when referring to random people. It's hard to explain, but here are some examples:

"I was in line at the store and your man was stepping on the back of my heels." ---> This would mean, "I wan in line at the store and the guy behind me in line kept stepping on the back of my heels."

OR

"I threw my back out, Hayley hurt her ankle, and your woman was in the bathroom puking." ---> Nola said this to someone the other day.. she was referring to Anna, her daughter who was sitting right there.

Monday, May 10

I don't really have much exciting news today. Steph came with me to observe my school today. It ended up being quite a hectic day. Most of the teachers were gone at a funeral, so Steph and I covered Junior Infants for the morning. When the teacher came back we just kind of roamed the school so she could get a good feel for things.

After school Steph went home and I have just been sitting around, watching TV (for the first time on my own), and taking a nap. I was able to find American Idol on TV, although it was from a few weeks ago. I also watched two episodes of Friends :)

I'd like to not be so lazy, but going places every night begins to be tiring and not very cost effective. I'm trying to save a little money since I'm going to Venice in 4 days! That is if the volcano calms down a little.

Today in school I learned that they refer to scissors as a singular object. They say, "Can you bring me a scissors?"

That's about all I have to say for today. Sorry so boring! Tomorrow I have no idea what class I'll be in, but I'll be spending the night at Steph's because I am going to her school on Wednesday to observe. Her principal is also going to take us to Glendalough for the afternoon!

Saturday, May 8

Steph and I had an AWESOME day today. It was so much fun. We didn't have anything planned so we just went with the flow. We made our way into Dublin and walked by the National Gallery of Ireland so we decided to make a stop in. There were hundreds upon hundreds of wonderful paintings from even thousands of years ago. We really enjoyed it.

After the gallery we walked to Temple Bar for the Mexican food I have been craving so much! I saw my student, Isabel, and was able to talk to her family who was making the food as well. They were so kind and said very nice things. Steph and I both ate chicken fajitas that were even better than we had hoped for. It satisfied and went above and beyond my Mexican food craving.

Once we ate our delicious food we decided to stop into Dublin Castle. Unfortunately we had just missed a tour, so we only got use out of the restrooms. I was SO excited though because it was the first time I've seen the word "restroom" on a sign since I've been in the States. They always call them "toilets."

We then headed to Christchurch Cathedral to try and tour that. For some reason it is closed for the weekend, so that was a fail too. We then made our way to Dublinia, a museum about the Vikings entrance into Dulbin in the 800's. It was really neat actually. We learned a lot about what Vikings did for medicines, work, armor, etc.

This is me with a Viking helmet. I think I would have really fit in during those days. Too bad I was born about 1100 years too late and on the wrong continent.

This was absolutely hysterical. This part of the exhibit taught about how Vikings used the restroom and what they used for toilet paper, which was apparently moss. There was actually some moss in that basket near this guy's foot. This poor gentleman was accompanied with some sound effects. I'm sure if you use your imagination you can think about what they sounded like. At the end of his struggles he said, "Don't just stand there, bring me some more moss!"

After we went to Dublinia we decided to make our way over to the National Museum. Once we got about half way there though we decided it didn't sound all that exciting because we were pretty tired. We turned back around and walked against wind, which made something fly into my eye, which caused my eye to swell. It grew rapidly for about 15 minutes and I was actually very nervous about what I was going to do. I can just imagine being in a foreign country with an eye that is swollen shut without knowing what medicines to take or what to do.

Thankfully it went down a little and it's not too bad anymore. Phew. Kind of gross, I know.

We got back onto the bus and decided to get off at Dun Laoghaire for some ice cream that everyone talks up quite a bit. We found Teddy's after a bit of searching and were a little disappointed at what we saw. We had expected to see an ice cream store with lots of flavors and toppings. Instead it was just a small stand with soft serve ice cream, and the woman who served it was quite rude actually. Oh well, it was a sunny day and ice cream was nice to have.

Steph and I stopped into a grocery store today and found some GIANT tissues. They are called man-size tissues.

I liked this one because it says they are "gorgeous." In the states we use this word to explain something we have seen, but people here describe nice people as gorgeous, things that taste good as gorgeous, things that smell nice are gorgeous, and apparently even soft tissues are gorgeous as well.

Diane told me I must try a candy bar here called Mars. I bought one a few days ago.. it was pretty good. It kind of reminded me of a 3 Muskateers and a Milky Way put together.

Steph is spending the night at my house tonight. We're not sure what our Sunday plans are, but I'm sure they'll be fun.

Oh by the way, I graduated college today.

Friday, May 7

Sorry I didn't get around to blogging yesterday. Steph and I went into Dublin to walk around and shop so I was too tired by the time I got home.

I subbed in 5th class yesterday. The day went just fine. I have had a pretty bad cough yesterday so two teachers have given me Strepsils which are a medicated cough drop. One teacher actually gave me her whole pack of them to take home. Little things like this make me feel so good here because it's hard to be away from home where I am more independent and can do things like go to Wal-Mart to get my own cough drops when I am sick.

The class learned about the Renaissance today. Don't even go to Ireland and try to pronounce Renaissance to a bunch of 10-year-olds without thinking you're going to be corrected. "Miss King, it's Re-NAY-saunce!" A lot of times when they correct me they honestly think I have never heard the word before.

I kept saying Dollars instead of Euros again today. Surprise!

Today a boy from fourth class brought me a Chips Ahoy that he got from his mom. She was stuck in New York a few weeks ago when the volcano first erupted... he thought it would make me feel more at home to have a cookie from America. He wrapped it up in a paper towel and saved it for me. How precious.

Today the kids were asking me what my favorite food was. I told them how much I miss Mexican food! I asked them where the heck all the Mexican restaurants were and they didn't know of any nearby, EXCEPT one girl whose family is actually Mexican! She said her parents actually make and sell Mexican food on Saturday mornings in Temple Bar (which is an area in Dublin). You better believe Steph and I are headed there TOMORROW!

Today has been a fine day.. nice and relaxing actually.

School was very sad today. I was subbing in 5th class and we found out one of the 6th class girl's mother died unexpectedly last night. The news was announced during assembly. All the kids in the school are very close to one another because it's so small, so it was a hard day for all. Needless to say, we didn't get a whole lot done in class, but we managed to get through it.

A funny story: Today I was reading a story to them as they were following along in their books. The word "route" came up, and I pronounced it like I normally do- "rout." All the sudden every student was either laughing, or saying "it's ROOT!!! Not ROUT!!" They honestly thought that I, their American teacher, didn't know the word "route" and had said it wrong. I started laughing hysterically at their reaction, the teacher assistant was laughing too, and before I knew it the class was quite out of control. I had to explain to them that people pronounce it both ways in the States, and that I actually was familiar with the word. It was pretty funny. In the back of my mind I am always wondering when I will say the next thing that will set the class off. I seem to do it at least once a day.

There was a bake sale at the school today. I didn't have my money and THREE students AND two teachers asked if I wanted anything. I just thought that was really sweet; fifth class students were noticing that I wasn't buying anything and they offered to buy me something. I refused their offers because I didn't want my students buying me sweets, but I found a cupcake on my desk later in the day from an anonymous students. I love them.

This afternoon I made a happy mistake after school- I missed the bus! The weather was beautiful and I enjoyed the hour-long walk home. I did some laundry and am hanging out with Hayley now. Stephanie is doing her volunteering for IU tonight so I don't have anything to do. I have promised myself though not to be depressed that all my friends are getting ready to graduate tomorrow. I must remember that I am in Ireland and am going to Venice next weekend even if I am missing my last semester at IU and graduation with all my friends.

We had ice cream sandwiches for dessert tonight. Hayley just came home and asked me what she should eat. I told her to eat an ice cream sandwich and she had a puzzled look on her face. She said, "Ice cream with bread?" I tried to explain to her that it was ice cream inside of cookie/biscuit things. She said, "You mean chocolate wafers?" Once I said yes and cleared up what I was talking about she immediately ran downstairs for one.

Wednesday, May 5

Let me start out by saying I wish I could be at El Jaripeo today. I love going there on Cinco de Mayo because they always have fun lining in the chip baskets. Come to think of it, I really really really miss Mexican food. Tacos are my favorite food and I haven't been able to have one for 7 weeks. I think I'm going to have to make tacos the first night I get home, enchiladas the next, burritos after that, Taco Bell the next day, and so on.

Today has been a good day, but I'm really tired for some reason. I did not do one single thing after school other than nap, eat, and watch a show on my laptop. Very adventurous- I know.

I spent the day in 5th class again. I'll be honest and say it was quite boring. Miss Caulwell didn't even know I was spending the day in 5th class, so she didn't have anything planned for me to do. She also didn't have any open time slots that I could do something on my own. So I just spent most of my day observing.

The mums/tots group that I volunteer for took place again today. I love getting a chance to talk with the moms and get to know new people. There is a Japanese woman who comes, I spoke with her quite a bit today. We each asked one another how we ended up in Ireland and she told me about the Japanese alphabet. She is really sweet and her two toddlers are cute as can be.

The weather was quite Ireland-ish today. I woke up to cloudy skies and misting rain. It was cold too, not the type of weather I like to wake up to! It surprises me too about how much people here complain about the weather. I feel like they would be used to it and wouldn't mind the rain much, but they really hate it. I guess rain is miserable no matter who you are! Miss Caulwell kept saying it was "grotty" outside today. I had never heard that term but Steve told me it means gross or "yucky" or dirty. They use the term for anything such as a grotty house, a grotty hotel, etc. It's good to learn new things :)

Today the kids were talking when they weren't supposed to be. Miss Caulwell said, "What's all the chin wagging about?" This is another term I've never heard, but yourdictionary.com says it means "to chat or gossip."

I also learned that "giving out" means to scold.

It's crazy that I've been here for 7 weeks and I'm still hearing at least one new thing each day. It makes me wonder how much crazy slang I use on a day-to-day basis.

My Central students got the letters my Irish students wrote them last week! I told Miss Caulwell they were planning to write back and she said, "That's smashing!" She saw a picture of Andrew once and said he was "mad handsome." I love to listen to her talk.. she has the best expressions and the most interesting slang terms.

Hayley is sitting across from me on my bed singing the Alicia Keys song about New York. She is goofy.. I'll really miss her when I leave.

I will be subbing for 5th class tomorrow and Friday. That should make the rest of the week fly by. Tomorrow evening Steph and I plan to visit the Dublin Castle, I'm excited!

Tuesday, May 4

Today has been such a fabulous! Ahh I can't believe it.. Steph and I met someone from Indianapolis who goes to Purdue today! We were sitting in our usual Starbucks corner and Steph was Skyping with her mom. She was talking about some schools in the Indianapolis area she has applied to, and all the sudden this girl comes up to us asking if we were from Indianapolis. What a SMALL world! We talked to her for about an hour. She is studying at a college here and will be going home at about the same time we are. She was super nice and we have planned to hopefully hang out with her sometime. We totally wish we could have met her in March.

Today I subbed for 5th Class. It was a good day, but goodness they are chatty. They are a very social group of 10-year-olds, that's for sure. The principal has told me to give a warning and then extra homework to any students who are misbehaving. The funniest thing happened today. She came in to ask me if I had given extra homework to anyone yet, so I told her I had only had problems with one student. She said out loud, "Let me see if I can guess who looks guilty." As all the students tried to put their innocent faces on she scanned the classroom. About 10 seconds later she said, "Mr. Boylan, it was you wasn't it?" Sure enough, she was right! I could not believe the talent. She is a true principal at heart, that's for sure.

There were a few teaching struggles today. One of them ended up being actually kind of funny. The kids are learning about pie charts, so I made one up on the board. I made up a story about how I had eaten a bunch of cookies.

"Miss King.. we don't call them cookies."

So I changed it to "biscuits." Now, half the biscuits were chocolate chip. One fourth were peanut butter.

"Ewwww!! You eat peanut butter biscuits?? That's gross."

Yes, we like lots of things with peanut butter in America. Now, the last fourth of the biscuits were oatmeal raisin.

"What is oatmeal raisin?"

You know, what you call porridge.

(Laughter everywhere). "Eww that's disgusting!! How could you eat porridge with raisins as a biscuit?"

As you can see, this lesson was going no where fast.

Then, I was trying to demonstrate to the students what 9% of 90 was. Most of them thought it was 10, but I was trying to explain that the answer was actually 8.1. I was doing all this cross-multiplying and dividing and they were looking at me like I had come from another planet, not another country. We don't divide the same, we don't add quite the same, which makes it extremely difficult to calculate percentages together. None of the kids could explain it to the rest of the class either, so we left that problem for Miss Caulwell to do tomorrow. Sometimes I feel so helpless.

One thing I have found very difficult is to say "Euros" instead of "Dollars." After 7 whole weeks here I still can't get it through my head. I was standing in front of the class today saying "Dollars" over and over again during math problems. I finally told them to just shout it out when I make the mistake. Ten seconds later I had 27 students shouting at me.

As always, we had a small Q&A session in 5th class today. I love when they ask me questions about America.. I can't get over it. A lot of their perceptions of America stem from MTV.. what a tragedy. They think we all have extravagant 16th birthday parties, and they think people really live like the girls from Laguna Beach. One student asked me, "So what do the famous people do all day?" I had no idea how to answer that one. It was interesting for me to explain that there weren't famous people just walking all around the United States, especially not in Indiana.

One student's mother is a flight attendant. She got stuck in New York during the volcano a few weeks ago, so she brought him back Airheads, Warheads, and Chips Ahoy. He was asking me all about those candies and whether I liked them. He even brought me some Chips Ahoy to eat to make me feel more at home. What a sweet kid.

There is a woman named Catherine who takes me to and from school every morning now. I really like her so much. She's kind and makes me feel at home. I told her today how much I appreciate her "giving me a lift" each day, and she told me she really enjoys the company. It made me feel good to know someone actually wants to be in my company. Sometimes I feel a little bit lonely, and when people do me favors I feel a little like they're just doing it to be nice. It's nice to know she actually enjoys having me around.

Random:

-Sometimes they say "It's bucketing!" This is another way of saying it's pouring down rain. They also say, "It's lashing rain!" quite often.

Sunday, May 2

Wow, what a day it has been. Steph and I began the day with the same breakfasts as yesterday. We headed to the bus we were taking for the day, we were the first ones on the bus which is not surprising because we are always so early for everything. I felt sorry for the people who got on the bus next; they chose to sit right in front of Steph and me which was a bad choice because we’re both sick. We were hacking up some serious lung, they were probably wanting to move. We felt bad, but we couldn’t help it!

Our first stop of the day was at this castle. The bus driver said he has a daughter who is having her reception after her wedding here next summer. He told us it is so popular that you have to book in three years in advance!

The bus ride was absolutely beautiful throughout the entire day. At one point of time we could see a beach, green hills, cows, farm houses, and beach houses, . It was an interesting combination. The water was the bluest, most sparkling water I’ve ever seen. Pictures can’t show how truly amazing it was.

Our bus driver said this is the cleanest beach in Europe!

We saw lots of sheep and other farm animals today. Most of the sheep have spray paint on them. The bus driver told us the orange sheep are the Protestant sheep and the green are Catholics. This is funny because that’s actually what the Irish flag represents. He also said the black cows are the ones that make Guiness, and the black/white cows make the Bailey’s Irish cream. Too funny.

I had no idea what I was in for today before I began this tour. The bus driver stopped at this place that had some beautiful scenery with a few mini-islands. Sounds nice until you find out that we had to get to the next island by a rope bridge. It was ridiculous, shaky, and didn’t seem sturdy. It was obviously a “must-do” though, so we risked our precious lives. It ended up being worth it because we lived and it was a neat experience.

The bridge.

On the other side!

After this I was exhausted and thought we were probably about done for the day. I then realized we hadn’t even stopped at Giant’s Causeway yet, which was pretty much the main reason for going on the tour. We finally stopped there and it was, like everything else, amazing! I am having a difficult time coming up with better words, but I can’t describe how beautiful it was. Giant’s Causeway is an ancient volcanic eruption site. Somehow a volcano that erupted thousands of years ago formed countless basalt columns that are all shaped like hexagons. Everywhere you look you seem them. They’re really neat to walk around on and just look at. We had lots of fun jumping across the rocks and columns.

Doing some stretching after a long day on the bus.

Our next stop was at the oldest distillery in the world. A lot of people were really excited about trying Bushmill’s whiskey, but Steph and I weren’t too excited about it so we took one picture.

Then we went to the Spar across the street for some food. Did I mention I thought this tour stopped for lunch, therefore didn’t bring any food? I was wrong. The bus driver was very serious about leaving ON schedule today. He mentioned to us at every stop that he WOULD leave on time, whether or not everyone was on the bus. He even told us he left 12 people once. Once it was time to leave Bushmill’s there was one woman who hadn’t made it back on the bus yet. We waited for her for about 7 minutes, then we took off. The bus driver was telling us how unfortunate it was for the woman because taxis back to Belfast would be about 150 pounds (about $240), plus there wouldn’t be many since it’s a bank holiday weekend (not to mention all her stuff was still on the bus). Thankfully for her someone on the bus spotted her RIGHT as we were almost too far away to see anymore. The driver was kind enough to stop for her, and we all watched her BOOK IT back to the bus. Poor lady.

When we got back to Belfast at about 7pm almost everything was closed. Steph and I were super hungry so we were worried about being able to find food. Thankfully Subway was actually pretty much the only thing open. We bought some subs and made our way back to the hotel. Now we’re just hanging out here and getting ready to fall asleep. Tomorrow we’ll be going back to our houses at about 10am

Saturday, May 1

Today we woke up at about 8am. We needed some breakfast so I went for a small box of cereal and a little carton of milk. No bowl or spoon, it was an interesting way to eat cereal, but "convenient" is not a word in my personal dictionary anymore so it was no big deal. We made our way into the city center and found a bus tour of the city. We saw tons of stuff! Northern Ireland is separated between Catholics and Protestants; there is a lot of history of hate and crime between the two. There is actually a wall of peace that separates the two. This part of town is dangerous and is quite the eye sore with lots of junkyards and barbed wire fences.

This is peace wall. There is graffiti on it for what seems like miles.

I wouldn’t want to try to get over this.

There are so many political signs every as well. This one is celebrating Ulster's division from the rest of the country. Ulster, the northern province of Ireland, is the only province that still belongs to the United Kingdom.

This is a leaning clock.

We got to see the Parliament building and we learned about a man who is a large part of Northern Ireland being separate from the rest of the country.

I think this means “yield.” I can't say for sure though.. good thing I'm not driving here :)

The president, Mary McAleese went to college here, The Queen's University of Belfast.

Here are some other neat things we saw on the bus tour..

The bus ride was unbelievably cold because we were on the top, which was uncovered. We wanted to be up there so we could take pictures though. At one point in time I just looked back at Steph and there was nothing we could do but laugh hysterically. It was just cold, that’s all I can say. Then, I realized my carton of milk spilled in my bag, all over the phone my family let me borrow, my wallet, etc. (not to mention it’s Andrew’s bag- not mine). Shortly after I discovered this it started raining. So here I was on the top of a bus going about 55 mph on a motorway, trying to clean up spilled milk in the pouring, freezing rain. It was quite an experience, really.

The Titanic and several other famous ships were actually built right here in Belfast. Steph and I decided to take a boat tour of the harbor. I couldn’t get very good pictures, and nothing really looked significant, but it felt very strange to be in the place where the Titanic was constructed. I was actually surprised there wasn't some huge memorial there or something. I guess it's because they still do business there.

This is where the Titanic was first put into the water. The white posts were actually there. The boat tour guide was saying he's afraid they're going to lose them soon.

Steph needed to use the restroom after our boat ride, but as always it was difficult to find a public restroom. She had to resort to one of these. She had to pay 20 pence (20 cents in Pounds) to use it. The door slides open and you get 20 minutes to use it. I would hate to find out what might happen to someone who needed it for longer than this.. would the door just open on them?

Afterwards we made our way to this awesome shopping center, Victoria Square Shopping Centre. It was more or less outdoors, which was great because it was becoming a beautiful day after the rain.

We’re both trying to save a little bit of money, especially here because Northern Ireland uses Pounds which is even stronger than Euros (kills Dollars basically). Due to this, we went for McDonald’s for lunch. A cheeseburger, fries, and coke were about 4 Pounds, which is about $6.40. I can’t imagine spending $6.40 at an American McDonald’s, I could get 6 double cheeseburgers for that price!

Once we were full we decided to take a long walk to the Belfast Botanic Garden. It was absolutely beautiful. I want to get married here J, but don’t worry I won’t! It really was amazing though, full of flowers and a few greenhouses. It was such a peaceful and gorgeous place.

These white flowers^^ apparently are smoked in some cultures by people who have asthma. Mom and Kyle, I think you should give this a try.

Inside the garden was the Ulster Museum (there are four provinces in Ireland, Belfast is in the Ulster province). This was a good way to kill a little bit of time.

Check out this disgusting, but cool-looking fish. I was intrigued.

The bottom of a hippopotamus jaw!

Once we had enough of the museum we walked back to Belfast’s center. I saw these two stores that both were directed towards me I think J

My middle name is Jean, some of my friends call me this.

K squared, my initials!

We found a Starbucks and decided to spend a little time there (surprise). It was a nice way to relax because we had been walking around all day. After Starbucks we got some dinner at Subway and took it back to the hotel. We ate and watched a little TV. I also DJ’ed for a small 90’s concert in our room, consisting of a little Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Alanis Morisette, and 98 Degrees.

Now we’re watching the Tonight Show, hosted by Craig Dahle, who happens to have children that attend Steph’s school! Tomorrow we’ll be waking up early to take a tour of Giant’s Causeway!