Time To Go Home

It's hard to believe it is soon time to start the journey home. It seems like a very long time that I have been here, yet the time has gone quickly. I have really enjoyed Dublin, even though there is so much more to the city that I never got to see. (Check Annie's blog for accounts of all she saw and did that I did not!) Working every day is a drag! The students left PA on October 25th (the same day I went to Phila for the World Series game!), so they have been here for a long time. I think they are ready to go home, ready to graduate, and ready to get on with their lives. They may never return to Ireland. I however, if all goes as planned, will be back. That is a bit comforting, as I have really enjoyed my time in Ireland.

We spent our last day packing and shopping, and packing some more. I have no idea how I fit everything in our suitcases. I must modestly admit that I have been blessed with great spacial and analytical skills (I kicked it on the GRE's, not so much with the math section), so I'm good at making things fit. Today was a real challenge, but we are all packed and ready to go. All that is left is a few hours of sleep and our early pick up. John Nolen will be here by 4:45am to pick us up, and then we will meet the students at Delaney's at 5:30. Our flight is at 9am and will be 7:43 minutes in duration, although due to the time difference (5 hours) we arrive at Newark at 11:30am. We connect at 1:30 for the final leg to Pittsburgh. Hopefully all will go well and by this time tomorrow I will have driven my CRV with heated seat, had a fountain Pepsi from Sheetz, checked email on my Blackberry, watches ESPN from my lazy boy, and fallen asleep to Dave Letterman in my own bed, with clean sheets. That will be nice...

Today Was a Good Day

Yesterday in Kilkenny was a pretty bad day, but today made up for it because it was a very good day! First, I got to sleep in. That is something I am very good at but haven't had the chance to do since arriving in Ireland. This AM I slept, and it was good! After a lazy morning we decided to head out and contribute to the Irish economy.

I'm not a big shopper. I don't particularly like shopping and am not very decisive in the buying process. When I realized that I would be leaving Ireland in two days, and I had made practically no purchases and Christmas is just a few weeks away, well I got into the shopping mood real fast. Time is ticking away. Last year I think I did all of my Christmas shopping online, and at the last minute. Bah humbug. This year would be different. So...Annie and I made our lists, checked them twice, grabbed our shopping bags and hit the pavement. Our goal was to cross off everyone on our list, and still manage to fit it all in our suitcases (still to be determined). We headed to Nassau Street, had lunch at Kilkenny's (the store not the town we went to yesterday), then to Trinity College bookstore, then back to Nassau, then to Grafton Street, then to George's Street then to a few other streets and finally ended with dinner at a great Japanese restaurant. After dinner we went across the street to Dunn's to buy some snacks for later in the evening and for our fight home on Tuesday. We spent way too many euros, and bought so much stuff I'm not sure how we are getting all of these things home, but I feel great with the gifts we found for friends and family and am very glad we had a day to just shop and walk leisurely around the city. It was a very good day, indeed.

NOTE: The picture to the right was taken on Grafton Steet. (If you click on it you can increase the size for better viewing.) It is a group of senior citizens singing Christmas carols to raise money for the elderly. When they put a very eldery nun with the collection container you just had to donate.

FYI: According to the pedometer, we ended up with a grand total of 12358 steps. We definitely pounded the pavement today.

Bad TV

So...it is 10:40pm and I am watching an episode of Desperate Housewives. It's the same episode I watched last week. Yes, they are showing the same episode two weeks in a row. When I first arrived I watched an episode that had aired in the states weeks before. Irish TV is really bad. Most nights I watch a couple of reruns of King of Queens and Two and a Half Men (both run 2 or 3 episodes back to back) and then go searching for something else. There are 20 some channels that come in, but there are not 20 different shows. There are about 6. They just run on 4 or 5 channels at the same time. One is the BBC news from England, and two are RTE TV (Ireland). The rest are a mix of American and English TV. They run way too many episodes of the Simpsons, Scrubs and Friends, to the point that it is influencing the children that our student teachers are teaching. They have commented on it a few times. They show the dark violent days of English and Irish history, like "The Devil's Whore" airing nightly (same episode!). I don't have much time to watch TV here in Ireland, but I do like to have it on in the evenings when I am in the flat. Those who know me well know that I am a bit of a TV junkie. I am missing my 47 inch HD LCD TV, and my TiVo. Currently I am following the Cowboys-Steelers game on my laptop, but reading text describing each play isn't the same as watching the picture on the big screen. I really miss Sunday afternoon football. I had to watch the Eagles beat the hated Giants via text on my laptop earlier this evening. At least they won!

Desperate Housewives is over...I wonder what wonderful show will come on next? Bulletproof Monk. I kid you not.

Saturday: Trip to Kilkenny

This weekend is our last in Ireland. Since there was no trip planned for the group, Annie and I decided to take a bus to Kilkenny. We got up early, the ride took longer than anticipated (2 1/2 hours each way), the weather was blustery cold, the castle was less than anticipated, the Black Abbey was having Mass, the Cathedral was closed, and the shopping was a nightmare. So...instead of elaborating further on the days events, I'll just let you know that we left on an earlier bus than we had originally planned and got back to Dublin by 7:30. As we walked back from the bus station we attempted to grab dinner. Problem is, Saturday in Dublin is a big night out, apparently. Without a reservation we could not get in to any of the 6-7 places we tried. We were both very tired (step count of 16288) and hungry so we just went home and raided the fridge. We had soup, and bread. (Our fridge is pretty bare.) It wasn't the best day spent in Ireland, but it was still an adventure and those are always good.

Pedometer and Step Counts

Perhaps lost in my complaints about the weather is the amount of walking I am doing on a daily basis. Having heard that I needed to bring good walking shoes, I also threw in a pedometer to document the walking to be done. That pedometer died the first day I wore it. So...I asked Annie to bring another when she arrived a week later, and I have been wearing it ever since. I wish I had a step count for the first week, because we hoofed it all over Dublin those first few days, and by midweek I was walking 45 minutes back from Croke Park after the Ireland vs Poland football game. I walked a lot that first week and a half. (For the record, it is recommended that a person walks 10000 steps daily.) In case you are interested, here are my step counts for the last 12 days:

November 25: 4814 (This was from 5pm on. I just got my pedometer this day.)
November 26: 8706 (Only had one school to observe on this day.)
November 27: 7693 (Four day Thanksgiving trip - on the bus most of the days)
November 28: 6974 (On bus most of the day)
November 29: 10026 (On bus plus Galway)
November 30: 9422 (On bus plus Dublin in PM)
December 1: 12630 (Observed two schools, walking between them.)
December 2: 12520 (Observed two schools.)
December 3: 5739 (Observed two schools and crashed for the rest of the day.)
December 4: 8997 (Observed two schools, walking between them.)
December 5: 13045 (Observed one school, did some sightseeing, walked to fareware dinner.)
December 6: 16288 (Took bus to Kilkenny and saw the sights. Long walk to bus station.)

As you can see, I'm pounding the pavement. Some days more than others. I know it's good for me, but I must admit I miss my CRV!

Last Observation!

It's hard to believe that today is the last day that our student teachers will be in the schools. There is no school on Monday and we head back to the states on Tuesday. I had one more school and two more student teachers to get to this week. For those counting, that makes nine schools and 19 student teachers for the week (and 13 buses). So my day started with catching bus 49 not far from the flat. I waited about ten minutes for the bus, rode it about 45 minutes and then another 10-15 minute walk to Scoil Carmel. I got there around 9am, with my observation scheduled for 9:20. Just enough time for tea!

I observed a language arts lesson with the senior infants (kindergarten, age 5-6). This was my third visit to this classroom so I was pretty comfortable on my little chair watching Chico, Tara and Sophia (the students nearest to me) work on their beginning words sounds with assistance from the student teacher. After this class went to PE, I went upstairs to observe a second class. I caught the tail end of their Irish lesson (yes, Irish is taught in all the primary schools) and then the student teacher taught a math lesson on symmetry. It was a good lesson and the students were all actively engaged in the activity. I have enjoyed supervising a variety of subjects this fall, instead of just health and physical education. It's been a great experience and one that I will repeat again next fall, as I will be leading a new group of students to Ireland.




After I returned from Scoil Carmel, Annie and I hit a local pub for a late lunch and then decided to visit Dublinia, which is right across the street at Christ Church Cathedral. I defer to her blog for all of the details. Check it out once she updates it. (No pressure there.) It was a great interactive visit through history with the Medieval time period and the earlier Vikings and their impact on Ireland. When we left we tried to walk to the old jail, but realized that our map is very disproportionate as we walked a good 20 minutes and then stopped and asked how much further (according to the map, we should have been there by then). When the answer was a good 30 minutes, we made the decision to head back to the flat. We have plans this evening and decided we didn't have the time (or energy) to go that far so late in the afternoon.



We will be leaving soon for a farewell dinner at the Arlington Hotel. It is located on the other side of the liffey (river) and about a 15 minute walk from here. John, our tour guide, arranges an evening of great food and music as our farewell to Ireland. We still have the weekend but everyone is on their own. Three students are going to London and a few others pondered Rome and another Scotland. I think funds are dwindling and most will be staying in Dublin for the last few days. Monday will be spent packing and Tuesday we head home, bright and early. We meet at Delaney's Pub at 5am for John to take us all to the airport for our 9am flight. It has gone fast.

Four More Observations

Today I visited Colmcilles Secondary and Primary Schools. I took the 15 bus to the secondary school first. I got there almost an hour early. I was thinking I could have slept in longer, but you can never tell with the buses, so it's best to be early. My student teacher was on the computer in the staff room when I arrived and so he logged me on so I could check email and do some online grading for a class that ended before I got here (better late than never). Then I went to watch him teach an English class to 12-13 year olds on advertising. After his class ended it was break time (tea) for the entire school, so I had ten minutes to catch up with my other secondary student teacher. After tea I observed her teach a lesson on Christianity in Ireland. She was a tad nervous teaching about St. Patrick to a bunch of 12-13 year old Irish students. When she told them that it was just legend (and not fact) that St. Patrick wore green, rid the country of snakes or used shamrocks I thought they were going to run her out of class (or the country). They would hear none of that drivel. She had to let them know that noted historians made those conclusions and they promptly told her that the historians must have been wrong. Everyone knows St. Patrick wore green, rid the country of snakes and used shamrocks.

I had an hour to make the ten minute walk to Colmcilles Primary School. Since it was noon, I decided to stop at the SuperQuin (grocery store) to see if I could grab something quick for lunch. I never actually get to eat lunch when I am out observing. There is either no time between schools, or no opportunity based on being way out in the 'burbs. Today I had time and opportunity, so I opted for the soup to warm me up. After I finished I wandered the store and wished we had a SuperQuin in Grove City. The salad bar had no less than 26 different salad options. And the pastries...

At the primary school I got to observe two PE classes. There is some comfort walking into a PE environment. The first lesson was a dance lesson to second graders. They did a great job and really enjoyed creating their own four person dance. I got a few on video. Very cute. The other student teacher was teaching a lesson using stations with a Christmas theme. It was very creative and the first graders really seemed to like the variety of activities. They were all active and busy and having a good time.

After leaving Colmcilles I walked about ten minutes to the nearest bus stop. My colleague had told me last week that you get on the bus on the other side of the street from which you got off. Makes sense. So...I waited by a yellow pole with a bus symbol at the top. No shelter, no bus schedule, just a random pole. Across the street there was a shelter and a schedule and even a bench. And about six people. As I stood alone I wondered if I was at the right spot. More people would be heading into the city, not further out in the burbs. Hm.... I pondered the situation. Ten minutes, fifteen, twenty...no buses in either direction. Finally a woman walked by on my side of the street. I asked her if I was at the right spot to head back into the city and she said, "Oh my no, love. This will take you into the mountains. You need to be across the street." I said something like, "Good to know. Thanks," and jaywalked across the street, maintaining absolutely no eye contact with the six individuals who were standing across the street from me this entire time. So...thirty minutes, forty minutes and still no bus. I was to meet Annie at Kilkenny's for tea at 3 and it is now 2:45. As the number of riders increased, and the school children walked past on their way home from school, one young man made a call and found out that the bus would be arriving in about 10 minutes. Apparently there was an accident and the bus had to take a huge detour. I waited about 50 minutes for the bus 15 this afternoon. In the bitter cold and wind. I was cursing the weather and all of Ireland at that time. The 45 minute ride back to city center seemed to take forever. So... I was almost an hour late for meeting Annie and had no way of contacting her. She was enjoying tea, and a scone, but starting to worry. Since she was exhausted from a full day of touring (check out her blog for updates!) and I was still chilled to the bone with frozen feet, we opted for a quick meal and then headed home for the evening. We just fired up the fake fireplace and the room is starting to warm up. Finally...warmth!