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!

Have I Mentioned the Weather?!

I'm pretty tired of being cold. I just had to get that off my chest. The temperature today, according to the free newspaper I grabbed prior to getting on bus 15, was to be 6 degrees Celsius. I was told that to convert it to Fahrenheit you add ten and double it. So, you do the math. It know it's probably colder back in PA, and perhaps there is snow on the ground, but this is such a damp, chill to the bones, cold. Plus, with no central heating systems every place is damp and cold. The schools, hotels, restaurants, buses - most every place is cold. I'm pretty tired of it. I dress in layers, put on my fashionable Philadelphia Eagles earmuffs, wear two pairs of socks, wear my scarf like a noose (it's the fashion around here), and I am still cold. And this is just to go do my student teacher observations. There are times that I never remove my coat while in the schools. Today a Honda CRV passed me while I was waiting for a bus (a 50 minute wait, in the cold and wind, I might add). I looked at it longingly and wondering if he was using the heated seat function. I miss my CRV, and my heated seats. Now I know why everyone walks so freaking fast around here, they are trying to either stay warm or get to their destination faster so they can duck inside where it might be a tad warmer. One other thing, most stores keep their doors open, despite the cold weather. As I ride around the city on the top of the double decker buses I see a lot of windows in apartments/houses that are open. I don't get it. These Irish must be a hearty bunch. Come to think of it, the kids go outside for yard (recess) in this cold weather. There is no indoor yard, so the teachers bundle up and the kids run around, and both come inside with rosy cheeks. Personally, I'm not a fan of the cold. Have I mentioned that before?

Another Day...Another Four Buses

Scoil Mhuire is the easiest school to get to, but the longest ride at about an hour on a good day. The school is actually at the last stop on the route, so there is no seeking out landmarks and intersections to ring the bell. I could just relax and enjoy the scenery from my second level perch on bus 15B. The teachers in the front of the bus were all commenting on how late they would be today with the traffic, and had to put a call in to the school to give them a heads up. One of the teachers who gets on at one of the later stops finally won the concert tickets that she had been bidding on eBay for the last three days. Each day she would give an update to her friends, and since I have been riding the 15B all week, I also was kept unofficially updated. She paid 205 euros for a group I never did catch, or perhaps did not recognize. It conflicts with her Christmas party though...Wonder what choice she will make!

The student teachers at Scoil Mhuire team taught a lesson on measurement, using Olympic track theme activities (straw throw for javelin, paper plate for discus and cotton ball for shot put). First, the students needed to estimate their throw distance, and then actually measure the distance. Finally, they did some basic math to find the difference. It was a good activity, and the fourth class (grade) enjoyed it. There were only five students present as the rest of the class left for their weekly swimming lesson shortly after I arrived.

I waited for about 10-15 minutes for the 15B to arrive to take me to my connection. I scoped out the stop on the way so I would know where to ring the bell on the way back, and so I was good to go with my connection to bus 74A. Now the waiting began. This is a tough connection because there are not too many runs for 74A and you are never sure when it will arrive. Last week we waited over thirty minutes, in the rain, with the Dean, before it showed up. Today was about the same length of time, but I found a ray of sunlight that I stood in to try to get warm. (Have I mentioned that it is cold here?!) It didn't help much, but at least it was not raining today. When the 74A arrived I asked the driver if he could give me a shout out when we got to the Yellow House (pub) as I wasn't sure when to ring the bell. He did and after crossing the street and a short 10 minute walk, I was at St. Mary's. As luck would have it, just in time for tea!

I observed two lessons at the boys school, first was a third class with reading comprehension and then a first class with an art project (Christmas trees). Both lessons went very well as the boys were a bit more behaved than I have seen them in the past. As I said my goodbye's at St. Mary's I was off in search of bus 16 or 16A, for the trip back to city center.

Moving Day, Again!

Today we were able to move out of the hotel and into the flat. I'm really glad to be here (and not just because I get Internet access for free). When I arrived on November 15th I moved into the flat with my colleague, who had been here since October 26th. Annie arrived a week later so we moved into the hotel next door, since this flat is too small for more than two people. We were at the hotel for three nights and then set out for our Thanksgiving trip. That resulted in three more nights of a different hotel each night. When we got back on Sunday we checked back into Jury's Inn where we stayed for two more nights. Today my colleague left to head back to the states, so we are back in the flat. I was really getting tired of packing and unpacking, and living out of a suitcase. Now we are finally unpacked and settled in for our last week in Ireland. I can't believe we only have a week left. It has gone by very quickly.

This isn't a very exciting posting...

St. Pius X and St. Josephs

Day two of tackling the Dublin transit system. I caught the 15B again at 8:15 and headed out of town in search of St. Pius X Girls National School. My directions were to ring the bell after the boat sign and past the 2 intersections after Bushy Park. That should stop the bus right at the Morgue (remember from yesterday: pub not dead people). It's amazing I find my way anywhere! When I got off at the Morgue I got my bearings and remembered an alley that we cut through in my other visit to St. Pius. I went down the alley, through a cul de sac and back to the main drag a few blocks closer than if I had gone to the light and turned left. From there, I just had to follow the masses (and strollers) since school was just starting. (NOTE: see yesterdays posting on strollers.) St. Pius is tucked away behind a row of five or six stores in a strip mall, and consists of a number of small buildings interconnected, boys on one side and girls on the other. With a little assistance, I found my two student teachers in a 5th grade class. This was only their second day with this class and they were team teaching today's lesson. They had the girls work in groups of six, focusing on the book they are reading (Amelia) and the news reports they have written in the past. Their goal: two students act as reporters and the others provide the acting, based on a chapter determined by the teacher. The girls were all actively involved and seemed excited about the project. I left before the actual production took place. I think that might be later in the week.

It was about a 10 minute walk as I made my way back to the Morgue where I picked up the 15B again to head back towards the city, and St. Joseph's Boy's National School. I rang the bell at Vaughn's Pub and the bus stopped right across from the church/school. Out of the nine schools I visit, this is the only one right at the bus stop and thus very easy to find. First I observed a female student teacher in a class of 30 3rd grade boys, with a male cooperating teacher. She admitted that it was very daunting in the beginning (an abundance of testosterone in the room!). She did a nice job with the boys and their reading assignment, "Six blind men and the elephant." After she finished it was time for the boys to have yard (recess) and the teacher to have tea. They have a couple of breaks each day just for tea. It is a very cool custom! After tea I went to find the primary infants. My student teacher taught a lesson on patterns. Big, small, big...blue, red, yellow, blue, red.... You get the idea. At least I hope you do because the four year olds got it. After they colored the correct pattern on their worksheet they were permitted to create a pattern with manipulative's (pegs, blocks, etc.). They did very well. Imagine 30 four year old boys in a very small room creating various things with patterns. Oy vey! I would have to do heavy drugs if I taught this age level.

I took Bus 15 back to the city since it arrived before 15B. I was really hoping it was going to take me to the same drop off spot on Dawson, but figured if I got to city center I could find my way home (optimistic, I know). As luck would have it, I got off right near the Starbucks on Dawson and made the 20 minute walk home from there. I survived another day in the 'burbs.

Oldest Pub in Ireland

This evening was the annual trek to the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland (1198). It is only a few blocks from Christ Church so my colleague and I walked there while the students all took the bus from the 'burbs. A few came in early to grab dinner at the Temple Bar district. Visitors to the Brazen Head sign a piece of currency from their county and hang it on the wall. Our students each had a one dollar bill that they creatively identified as their own, and since there was no more wall space, stuck it to the ceiling near the front door. What was pretty cool was finding a bill from a former SRU PE student from 2006 and seeing a bill that my colleague had posted in 2005. I guess I will be looking for this year's bills when I return in 2009.

I returned from the pub around 9pm and realized that I had not had dinner, and my one coke from the pub hardly made a dent in my stomach. Since the kitchen at the hotel was closed for the night, I went around the corner to the world famous Burdicks Fish and Chips and ordered some very tasty, but very bad for me, fried cod and fries (hench, fish and chips!). We split one order and both were stuffed. Burdicks is a tiny hole in the wall, literally just a few people could stand inside of it at one time, and you just order at the counter and take it to go (take away, as they call it). There is a sign outside listing all of the famous people who have eaten there. It was quite the impressive list. There is often a line down the street and around the block. Not so much at 9:30 on a Monday evening. By the way, they stay open until midnight. The flat that SRU rents (that we will be moving to tomorrow) is right above Burdicks.

Tomorrow I will catch the 15B once again and visit St. Pius and St. Joseph's. More to come...

On My Own: St. Patricks and Ballyroan Boys School

Today was my first day navigating the Dublin mass transit system by myself. I checked the bus schedule and decided to get the 8:25 bus (15B) to St. Patricks school. I left the apartment at 7:55 and must have walked very fast because I arrived at the bus stop at Trinity College by 8:10. Everyone seems to walk with a purpose in Dublin. You walk very fast and you do not yield. I haven't figured out the walking pattern yet. It's almost like human chicken. You just keep walking until someone moves to avoid a collision. And then you may, or may not say excuse me. I thought that since they drive on the opposite side of the street perhaps they walk that way as well. Not so much. There is no rhyme or reason to the walking process. Also, I might add, there seems to be an abundance of strollers with the cutest babies strapped in tightly. I suppose they are strapped in so well due to the warp speed that mommy or daddy push them about town. It does not matter that it is below freezing, those babes are wrapped up and pushed all over Dublin. All of the strollers have a clear plastic tarp that fit over the entire stroller, kind of like the Pope-mobile, to keep the toddlers protected from the wind and rain. Did I mention that it's cold and wet in Ireland?

So, I got on the 15B at around 8:15 (caught the earlier bus). I took a seat on the upper level so I could check off all the landmarks en route to my stop. First there was the canal with the swans, then a church tower, then St. Josephs (a school I will go to tomorrow), left at the Hyundai dealer, past the Morgue (pub not dead people), left over a small bridge, past the Topaz gas station, Bushy Park, Rathfarnean Shopping Center and another church on the right. That is where I rang the bell for the bus to stop. When I got off the bus I had to remember from my one visit there last week, which direction to head for St. Patricks. Luckily, school was soon to start so I just followed the masses (and strollers) to the top of the hill and voila, there it was. I checked in at the hall (gym) to make sure my two PE majors were teaching at 9:30 (it was now 9am) and went on to find my special education student teacher. I found her in another small annex building and we decided that I could observe her working with a student one on one after the PE lesson. Once this was determined I went to the staff room to find me some tea. I resisted the urge to enjoy the Weight Watchers cookies on the table and focused on getting warm with my cup of tea. As the morning announcements came on the intercom I realized why I was not getting any warmer. Apparently this is energy conservation week and they will not be turning on the heat. Yeah. Have I mentioned how cold I am in Ireland? They told the girls what they were permitted to wear under their uniforms to stay warm. I did enjoy the little girls helping with the announcements. They were given in both Irish and English and they finished up with a song. I'm not sure of the exact title, but the words to each stanza began, "Moses you're the man...." I kid you not. So...I observed a PE lesson to junior infants with my scarf and jacket on and then observed my special education teacher work with Conner on his spelling while playing a fishing game. Then I left St. Patricks in search of Ballyroan Boy's School, and another cup of tea.

As luck would have it, Ballyroan was only a few turns away and about a 10 minute walk. I did find the teachers room, accepted the invitation for tea (resisted the jam tarts on the table) and thawed out before finding my two elementary student teachers. I observed one teaching a short lesson on reading and the other using M&M's to teach her 7-8 year olds about fractions. The lesson was very well received, especially when the boys were permitted to eat their M&M's at the conclusion of the lesson. As I left Ballyroan I had to cut through yard (recess) and I observed the boys skipping and sliding on the frost covered blacktop. Despite the noon hour and a sunny day, the frost was still very apparent on the school yard. I witnessed a few wipe outs. I imagine the nurse was busy today, as I saw two teachers carrying in an injuried student as I left the gate.

I passed a number of bus stops as I left Ballyroan. None were labeled so I thought it best to backtrack to where I initially got off the bus to take it back to city center. There was a woman waiting who confirmed that it was indeed the 15B stop and I would get back to city center. Feeling pretty good that I was in the right spot I waited for the bus. It finally arrived after a 25 minute wait and I reviewed those key landmarks on our trip back to city center. This time I had the front seat on the upper level and had a great view of the sights. It only took 25 minutes to return (45 minutes to get there in rush hour traffic) and it was exactly 1:11 when I stepped off the bus on Dawson Street. (Those who know me well know that I am obsessed with the number 1:11 - it is my birthday, FYI). From Dawson I cut across Anne St. to Grafton and made a right. I walked a few blocks and then turned left on Wicklow. I made another right and a left and finally made it to Dame Street. From there it is just a ten minute walk uphill to Christ Church and home. I don't know if the route I took was the most direct (I'm sure it was not) or the quickest (again, probably not), but it got me home without having to ask for directions and without getting lost. That is a major accomplishment for me. My sense of direction is so bad I turned the wrong way out of my hotel room to get to the elevator last night! So... I survived my first solo trip to the 'burbs and back. Tomorrow I get to do it all over again. St. Joseph and St. Pius, here I come!

Back to Dublin & the Book of Kells

Our four hour trip back from Galway on Sunday morning was split at about the half way point with a stop at an old monastery. We saw a video about the history of the sacred grounds, saw some of the Celtic crosses that were now indoors to help preserve them, and then we wandered the grounds. (The tour guide seemed all too eager to get back inside after she gave her speil.)There were some wonderful old structures and tombstones from centuries ago. The most modern structure was one erected for Pope John Paul's visit a few dozen years ago. As always, it was bitter cold as we walked the frozen grounds. Even as we left at noon the frost on the grass and roads had not melted, despite the sun shining. As I mentioned previously, the waitress at breakfast in Galway called it just, "desperate" when describing the cold and the weather. I'm not a big fan of the cold, by the way. I've been cold since arriving in Ireland!

We arrived back in Dublin around 2pm and after checking into Jury's Inn, Christ Church, we walked a few blocks to a good Italian place for a late lunch. They seem to serve chips (fries) with everything. I did not think my chicken smothered in a red sauce would come with chips, but alas, it did. It is not unusual to actually have two potato side dishes. That has been an adjustment for the students when dining at their host families homes. It is still a surprise to me, but I haven't been one to turn down a good side dish, especially one high in carbs!

We decided to walk off our meal with a trip down Dane Street towards Trinity College. Since we still hadn't fit in a visit to the Book of Kells, we decided to check it out. Since it was 3:30, we had an hour before close. It turned out to be a good time to go as there was not a line and we could walk right in and see the Book up close. It was truly amazing when you read the display describing the process of creating the Book and also the preservation of it for over 1000 years. It was very cool. When leaving the secured, darkened room that contained the Book, we climbed stairs to the Long Room in the Old Library of Trinity College. It is appropriately named since it is 65 meters in length. It was originally only one story when it was built, but in the 1850's the shelves were full so they raised the roof to a barrel-vaulted ceiling and added another floor, which overlooks the main floor. The room now holds 200,000 of the library's oldest books. Some of the books open for display behind glass were from the 1400's and 1500's. Annie and I both love books, so we were loving this room. It was very overwhelming with the size of the room and the number of books contained therein. I thought of my friend Melba, the librarian, and how much she would have enjoyed the Long Room.

After we closed up the Library shop, buying some great gifts for family and friends, we drifted to Grafton Street and took in some of the street musicians and ducked into a few of the stores. I finally got some postcards to send to my nieces and nephews and now have to sit down and actually get them written and sent before I depart in a week. We ended up at a little coffee shop for tea/coffee and a chocolate dessert that we shared. I think the workers were more impressed with their little shop than they should have been. They got Annie's coffee order wrong and seemed to be bothered when we asked for a spoon and for cream. We are such the demanding tourists. There was a bit of an attitude by the Russian immigrant who, upon learning how to use the big fancy coffee machine, called herself a barista. We were not impressed.

Saturday in Galway

All of these days are running together. Since we didn't have Internet access during our trip (except for tapping into a wireless source on Friday night) we both fell behind on our postings. I'll try to remember Saturday.

I do know it started early, as every morning has. We had a fine Irish breakfast and then the bus left the hotel at 9am sharp. We only drove a few blocks to the beach for a group photo. As is the trend, it was bitter cold (0 degrees Celsius), but it didn't keep most of the students from leaving their shoes and socks on the bus so they could wander into the water. I did not.

We drove a few hours to Galway. We were very much looking forward to visiting this city. After we checked in we explored the pedestrian only streets full of shoppers and stores and even checked out a number of outdoor merchants. What a tough way to make a living. It was bitterly cold (and it did downpour for a few minutes). It was so cold the waitress at breakfast on Sunday called it "desperate". We grabbed an early dinner and planned on pub hopping just for some good Irish music later in the evening, but the cold weather and my lingering cold and cough kept us in for the night.

I know more happened on Saturday, but it escapes me at the moment. I will post this and encourage you to check out Annie's blog. She will have a more detailed account tomorrow.

Friday at Dingle

Friday was so jam packed I hope I can remember it all. I seriously encourage you to check out Annie's blog (http://annieire.blogspot.com/) because she really covers the day in great detail. It's all a blur to me, but she actually took notes of all of our locales and stops and recalls it wonderfully in her postings. I hope you are checking it out.

So, we had an excellent breakfast at the Tralee Inn and were back on the bus by 9am. We picked up Sheila, our guide for the day. She did a wonderful job of sharing with us all sorts of stories of the sights we were seeing. Her accent was different than those we have heard in Dublin. She was delightful.

Our first stop of the day was Inch beach, a beautiful long beach that was the site of the movie, Ryan's Daughter (which I now have to put on my Netflix list). A few of our students took off their shoes and waded in the bitter cold water. One brave student decided to mark his 26th birthday with a full body immersion. I was shivering with my scarf, gloves and earmuffs (taken off for the picture!). I can't even imagine taking a swim. The views from this beach were amazing.

All of our stops throughout the day were quick ones. We were definitely on a strict schedule, for a couple of reasons. First, we had to do the entire Dingle Peninsula by 2:30, as the Dean and his wife had to catch a train back to Dublin so they could fly home on Saturday. Second, we needed to catch a ferry by 3:30, or the rest of our day would be in jeopardy.

We made a few brief stops as we proceeded through Dingle and out to the Peninsula, mostly for photo opts. It was just an amazing display of beauty as the landscape and sky met the water. I can't even try to describe it. The weather cooperated perfectly as it was usually dry and sometimes sunny when we would stop, and rain and sometimes hail when we would be on the bus. It resulted in quite a few rainbows.

We did make it back to Dingle for the Dean and his wife to leave with Sheila to catch the 3pm train. We also made it to the ferry with ten minutes to spare. As you can imagine, the ferry was huge, as our bus and the other dozen or so cars were dwarfed by the size of the vessel. We traveled 20 minutes across the Shannon River to Lahinch. It was terribly cold standing on the deck on the ferry, and it did begin to precipitate, so the last few minutes of the ferry ride were spent on the bus.

When we arrived at Lahinch we checked into two hotels right next to each other, owned by the same person. The Atlantic Hotel was a wonderful old hotel with winding hallways and charming rooms, complete with a window seat. The few shops that were open in this mostly tourist seaside town were closing in about an hour so we quickly made our way to a local wool store where I was able to purchase a lovely scarf to match my jacket. We purchased a few gifts and then wandered back to the hotel to get ready for a late, but incredibly delicious, three course Irish meal.

We were determined to find some live Irish music for our evening entertainment, but the event was cancelled in the hotel next door and the pub down the street (where a number of our students were celebrating the birthday of the morning swimmer) was playing reggae. Not exactly what we had in mind. When the third (and final) pub on the street was playing something not Irish, we decided to call it a night.

All in all, a very good day on the Dingle Peninsula.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving started bright and early. John Nolen was ready to pick us up at 6am. We then drove to Delaney's Pub to pick up the students. That is always the meeting place for trips. All of the students live within walking distance from their schools, which are all south of the city. The drive to Delaney's can take 45 minutes or so, but that early on a Thursday morning we made it in 25 minutes. The students came from all directions out of the darkness dragging their luggage for the four day trip.

Our drive out of the city and across the middle of Ireland was nothing impressive, I must say. It looked very much like the view from I-80 on my treks across PA during the summer months. Lots of green grass, a few houses, and cows and sheep scattered about. I think I nodded off during the early hours. Actually, truth be told, I was out cold.

We stopped for an Irish breakfast around 9am. We had the typical eggs, sausage, bacon, blood pudding (not me!), scones, etc. We drove a bit more to Limerick. We drove past the University of Limerick, where SRU has a fall exchange program with their PE majors. I had three Irish students in class this fall. It was great to see where they came from. We stopped at King John's Castles and spent some time wandering the grounds. When I finally get my pictures uploaded I will be sure to include a few. We were blessed with a bit of sunshine during the visit, as it rained throughout the day. It rains throughout most days, actually. That does lead to some wonderful rainbows!

From Limerick we drove to Adare where we stopped so everyone could find their family name. I did find my mother's maiden name, Finn. It was a fast stop. Onward we went to Tralee. We had a few hours to visit the museum and do some shopping (in the rain!). Since we were in county Kerry, I was on a mission to find some article of clothing with Kerry on it. That is my brother's name, although we pronounce it "Curry" in eastern PA. I found him a scarf. Not as cool as perhaps a Kerry rugby shirt, but what are the odds that he would really wear something with his name across his chest?

We checked into the Tralee Townhouse, a small private hotel around 5pm and had a chance for some R & R prior to our 7:30pm Thanksgiving dinner. We had reserved the second floor of a local pub where we were served a very good three course dinner of soup, turkey, ham, stuffing, vegetables, baked pototatos and apple pie for dessert. The highlight of the meal was a local man, Derry, who played what he considered American favorites (Yellow Rose of Texas and the National Anthem, among others) on his accordian. All 31 individuals (minus Derry who just smiled and drank his Guinness) shared what they were thankful for as the evening drew to a close. It turned out to be a pretty good Thanksgiving, even without a football game to watch.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since I seriously doubt I will be anywhere near a computer tomorrow, I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. Please eat some turkey for me and cheer on the Eagles. From what I have been reading online, they desperately need some help! At least the Steelers keep winning (for now).

When I was last online I was at St. Colmcilles Secondary school, enjoying tea and checking email. When we left St. Colmcilles we caught the 16 bus (you know, I'm just making up bus numbers now, I really have no idea which one we took. I am going to be in so much trouble next week when I am flying solo!). Annie and I grabbed a very late lunch at the Larder, which is a wonderful store front cafe with the best homemade vegetable soup. It happens to be right next door to this Internet cafe. The vegetable soup here is actually more like a puree, but it is very good. They even gave us the recipe. When we left we had less than an hour before we had to meet again for a trip back to the suburbs. I spent that time copying all the notes my colleague had taken on the various bus routes and landmarks to look for in traveling to the nine different schools that are hosting our student teachers. It is very overwhelming.

So we met at 5, hiked back to Trinity College to meet bus 14A (?) to Ballenteer at 5:30 and arrived at the Ballenteer Pub at 6:30. This was the evening of our SRU social for the cooperating teachers and principals. Since the co-ops here do not get paid (unlike our co-ops in the states) we always host an evening at a local pub to thank them. The friends and family who are visiting for this holiday week also attend. It's the first time I have seen all of the student teachers together since I arrived over a week ago. It was a great opportunity for the Dean to meet and thank the many individuals who welcome our students into their schools and their classrooms. It was a nice evening, but another late one, as we did not get back until close to 11pm. It actually could have been later, as we (7 of us) actually got on the wrong one but realized it before we took off. The bus system is great, when you know what you are doing.

This morning wasn't quite so early, as we only have one school in the vicinity of Scoil Carmel. We met at 9:30 to catch bus 48 not far from the flat. It was nice not having to walk to Trinity to catch bus 15 or 15B, as we do for all the other schools. My student teacher was teaching the number 10, and counting down from 10-1. They created a rocket project as well. This was a class of primary infants (4 yr olds). My student teacher was entertaining us last evening with stories of her students. Apparently the big thing now during yard (recess) is pulling down the pants of the other boys. She claims to have seen way too many "winkies" on the school yard. That made me laugh.

Since we only had one school to observe we got back a little earlier than normal (1pm) so I was able to pick up my laundry and start packing for the trip tomorrow. We had hoped to visit Trinity College and the Book of Kells, but it ended up getting dark by the time we had a late lunch and ran a few more errands. That will be high on the list for next week. Annie was able to visit the Writers Museum (she was an English major!) and the Dublin Castle today, among many other sites. If you are interested in her blog check it out. She is much more eloquent than I am, and is having a different Dublin experience since I am in the schools every day, and she is able to explore the city. Here is a link to her site:

http://annieire.blogspot.com

As I mentioned previously, we depart tomorrow for the west coast of Ireland. I can't wait to see life outside of Dublin. We will be visiting Tralee (Thanksgiving dinner on the second floor of a pub), Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher, Lahinch and Galway. I doubt I will be online again until next week, but perhaps I will find an Internet cafe somewhere along the way. I will have my laptop but doubt I will get a wireless connection! I am bringing it so my elementary education majors can present their action research projects to me while on the bus. So much to do...

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the break from school and/or work. If you get a chance, feel free to post a comment or send me an email. Until next time...

St. Colmcille's School

I am updating my blog from the staff room at St. Colmcille's Community School, while drinking tea and enjoying an Irish bisquit! This is a secondary school where I just observed an English transition class. The transition year is 15-16 year olds and some students actually skip this year. 1st year is 12-13 yr olds, 2nd year is 13-14 yr olds, 3rd year is 14-15 yr olds, then transition, and then 5th year, 15-17 yr olds and finally 6th year which are 17-18 year olds. I learned that they have no assessments at all (no tests, quizzes, graded homework, papers, etc.) What they have is a week of testing in November (which was last week) and again in February and June. That is it. It is different than in the states, that's for sure, but the students are still about a grade level ahead of what we have observed back home. Here at Colmcilles secondary level we also have a student teacher teaching History.

We walked here from Colmcilles primary building. We observed two different physical education classes, one for first class (kindergarten) and the other with primary infants (4 year olds). Both of the classes went very well as they worked on locomotor skills, tumbling, personal space, and the parachute. The kids really enjoy our PE student teachers since there are really no organized PE at that level. It is the responsibility of the classroom teacher to teach PE, most of the time.

We left the hotel at 7:55am, caught the 8:25 bus 16 and rode it about 45 minutes. We will return late afternoon and then will leave at 5pm to walk back to Trinity College to catch a 5:25 bus to a place called Ballenteer. We are hosting a social at a local pub for the host families and cooperating teachers and administrators. That event will be from 7-9, so it looks like another late evening.

Today is still quite brisk, but at least it is not raining as it was yesterday. It was 39 degrees yesterday, but it felt like 29 (according to weather.com). My cold is progressing to the congested head and uncontrollable cough stage. I hope to turn a corner before the weekend. The weather should warm up a bit also.

The bell just rang, so I must be off. Until later...

First (of many) Moving Days

Today started bright and early with a walk to the bus stop at 7:55. The Dean joined us on this cold and raining morning. We took the 15B to the very last stop. This school will be easy to get to when I am alone, it's the connections that will be a challenge. We observed a wonderful lesson to 4th graders about Thanksgiving, and then they played a few songs for us on their recorders. They also sang for us as well. We stayed for their weekly Monday morning assembly where they practiced another song that they will sing on December 6 with thousands of other Irish students. They are going for the Guinness World Record. They also handed out a few award certificates, such as best behaved on the play yard, and a few others. Upon our departure we quickly hustled to catch the 15B just a few stops where we had to connect for the 74A. We started to get concerned when it didn't arrive right away, and contemplated our alternatives, but then in a distance, the 74A. What a grand sight! We took that to the Yellow House (which is not really a house at all, but rather a pub) and then walked to St. Mary's Boys School. We each observed a student teacher while the Dean took pictures and met a number of the teachers. We were able to catch the 16A bus which brought us back to the city. From there we went to purchase bus tickets for the next two days, as ours expire today. As my colleagues went to a local pub for lunch, I made my way back to the flat.

Today I moved from the flat to the hotel, Jury's Inn, next door. This is the hotel where friends and family stay when visiting, and where the Dean and his wife are currently staying. We have a few family's visiting for the Thanksgiving week, and they will join us on our trip later in the week. My friend Annie arrived this AM, so I joined her when I got back to the city. We walked down Lord Edwards/Dame St. towards Trinity but turned onto St. George's to show her the tourist center (where we buy our bus passes) and the post office right across the street. From there we walked to Grafton Street and wandered a few side streets. We settled on a wonderful Thai place for a late lunch. I'm glad she made it safely. I think she will love Dublin and is anxious to start exploring. She actually saw quite a bit when she ventured out earlier in the day, as her flight had arrived at 6:30am and we did not connect until close to 2pm.

Tomorrow is another early day, going to the only school I have yet to visit. They were testing all of last week so there was not a lot of teaching being done. We have two PE student teachers at the elementary level and then our two secondary students are at the high school, one in English and one in Social Studies. All four of these were assigned to me this semester so I am anxious to see them again and watch them teach in an Irish classroom.

Since I left the flat, I no longer have Internet access. It is 5 euros for an hour (10 euros a day) at the hotel. There are Internet cafes all over the city, so I am at one right now, paying 1 euro for 30 minutes. I hope to continue to update my blog, but it becomes more difficult now. During our four day Thanksgiving trip I am most certain I will not have Internet access, so I will be spending lots of euros when we return to tell you all about it. We drive to the west coast of Ireland, with many stops in between, so I will hope my memory serves me well when I try to update my blog early next week. Having said that, I do hope to be back online tomorrow.

I believe it's time for tea. And perhaps a scone. Until next time...

Visit to Howth and Irish Music

At 11am we met two of our students for the walk to bus 31, to take us to Howth. After about an hour we arrived not only at Howth, but at the summit of the seaside town. When we got off the bus we decided to stop at the Summit Inn for tea and scones. When we left the Inn we walked uphill to the very top of Howth. From there we had a wonderful view of a lighthouse at the point, and of course the ocean as far as you could see. We followed a muddy trail along the coast line, high up from the water, and finally ended up down in the town of Howth. The wind was so fierce that when we were walking down from the summit the head wind hurt my eyes! We ended up walking the entire length of the jetty and were faced with a wicked cross wind. It was fierce enough to blow you over and walking was a challenge. We braved the wind and went to the very end before turning back. It was worth it as we caught a glimp of a seal. We then walked through a number of outdoor vendors selling everything from fruit to scarfs to crepes. After being out in the cold and wind for a few hours we decided to have dinner at a wonderful seafood place called the Oarsman. I had the best crab cakes and seafood chowder ever! It was grand. For our return back to city center we decided to take the train (Dart) instead of the bus. It arrived to the city quicker, but involved a longer walk to the flat. Even so, the entire return trip with the train and the walk was about an hour. It was so worth the trip. Howth was a wonderful little place. When I download my pictures I will be sure to post a few.

We had about thirty minutes upon our return before we had to meet John, his friend Lydia, and the Dean and his wife for an evening concert of live Irish music. We walked to the small venue called the Button Factory. The concert started with two older gentleman, one on the guitar and one on the fiddle, playing wonderful Irish music for about 45 minutes. Apparently they were quite the legends in their time and they were very good. Next came a group of 6 musicians (1 woman) who played such lively and fun music the place was hopping. It was just grand!

Tomorrow is an early day. We will meet the Dean at 7:55 to make the 8:25 bus (15B) to the first of four schools that he will visit over the next two days. He is anxious to see the schools and we are excited to show him around.

Day off!

Today was a day to catch up on my rest since I haven’t been feeling too great these last few days. I initially got sick on October 25th, and unfortunately still have a touch of it. Actually this damp cold weather has made it a bit worst these last few days. For the record, I don’t often recall the exact date that I get ill, but I will forever remember October 25, 2008 as the day I attended game 3 of the World Series. Teaching a graduate class from 8-noon, driving 7 hours across the state, sitting through a two hour rain delay, watching 9 innings of riveting playoff baseball, connecting with my sister at 2am when the game ended (neither knew the other was there), getting back into the car for the long drive home, and arriving in my driveway at 9am MAY have contributed to my impeding illness. But it was so worth it!!!! (Yay Phillies!) Forgive me for talking about the Phillies in my Ireland blog, but it's been 28 long years. Humor me. It may be another 28 before it happens again!

I had a lazy morning of watching the Irish equivalent of the food network and rugby (not at the same time), in addition to the normal routine of checking email and my blogs. Our Dean of the College of Education was arriving today so we were sitting tight to make sure he and his wife arrived safely. When we got word that they did, we ventured out to meet Carmel, our tour guide’s sister, for a late lunch. She rode the bus an hour and a half to meet us at Kilkenny’s, which is a wonderful multilevel store on Nassau Street. It has a cafeteria style carvery on the second level looking down on the main floor. We had a wonderful two and a half hour lunch where my colleague and she caught up on all that has happened since they last visited three years ago. She met the president of Ireland last week and had pictures to share and stories to tell. She really was a delightful woman.

After leaving Kilkenny’s we went back to the flat for a few minutes before heading to Jury’s Inn, the hotel right next door. The Dean had invited us to stop by for some snacks and catch up on how things were going here, and also on campus. He will be visiting the schools with us this week, which is great. He will also be with us for the first two days of our Thanksgiving trip. I think he will be impressed with our students and especially with the Irish schools we will visit.

Tomorrow a few of us are going to Howth, a wonderful seaside town about an hour outside of the city. The kids have the weekend off from any group tours and so ten students flew to Paris and the rest are doing their own thing. I’ll be anxious to hear how the Paris trip went. Tomorrow I will tell you all about Howth.

It's Friday!

Last night we had dinner with a gentleman who is a Dean at a school in Iowa. He is interested in setting up student teaching in Dublin and wanted to talk to us about our program. He is good friends with our Dean who set up the meeting. We met for close to three hours and had an excellent dinner and good conversation.

Today we walked to Trinity College again to pick up bus 15B. I wish I would have brought a pedometer because I know I am far exceeding the recommended 10,000 steps a day! We started our visits at Scoil St. Joseph’s National Boys School. I observed one of the student teachers teaching math to junior infants. There were 28 four year olds learning how to write the number 1 and 2 and also connecting pictures of items to the correct number. Their day started with some class warm-ups in Irish, lead by both the class room teacher and a student. It was pretty cool.

We hopped back on bus 15B and went to Scoil St. Pius to visit two more student teachers. We saw a girls PE class playing Camogie and asked if I could take a picture. I definitely would have played camogie! Unfortunately neither of our students were teaching today (testing, specials and parent teacher conferences) so after we connected with them to make sure everything was going well we hiked back to the bus stop to catch one of the four bus options to bring us back to city center. We had a late lunch at the Hairy Lemon and are now back at the flat checking email and being very glad it is Friday! It’s very wearing to be out in the cold so much, hiking to bus stops and schools, and it’s also stressful to find the right bus heading in the right direction. I can’t wait until I have to do this by myself. It will be a challenge.

This weekend is the first since the students arrived in late October that there is no trip planned. Ten of the students are flying to Paris and the rest are staying local. We have a big four day Thanksgiving trip next week and a few students have friends and family coming for the week. We will travel to the other side of Ireland and I am excited to see what is beyond the city of Dublin.

I think I need a nap...

Thursday in Dublin

The football game was awesome!! I met two of the students for dinner and then we hopped on the 16 bus to head to Croak Park. The bus was very full and it didn’t take much intelligence to figure out who was going to the game, so we just made sure we got off the stop that the football fans did. The guarda (police) had all the streets near the stadium blocked off due to the huge crowd. Our seats were in the lower tier, 11 rows from the field. We were even with the end line and mixed in with many of the Polish fans. We were clued in due to all of the red and white and that was confirmed about two minutes into the match when the Polish team scored and everyone in our section erupted in cheers and chants. Across from us, in the lower tier, were all Polish fans from the end line to midfield. Security was positioned around the perimeter of those sections to keep the peace. Those fans like to cheer, chant, sing and sway. It was quite the sight. We left with about 7 minutes remaining in the game and Ireland down 2 nil. Believe it or not, the game ended 3-2 Poland. I guess we missed a great ending. We decided to skip the overcrowded bus and walked the 45 minutes back to center city. It was a great evening and everyone (and there were LOTS of people) were in good spirits. It was what they call a friendly game, so there were no great implications for winning or losing (except perhaps bragging rights). I am very glad I got to experience international soccer in Ireland.

Today we took the 15B bus to Scoil St. Patrick’s and then walked to Scoil Ballyroan, an all boys school. At St. Patrick’s I observed a PE class of junior infants. I was mistaken yesterday when I referred to them as primary and secondary infants. They are in fact, juniors (4 year olds) and seniors (5-6). I’ve enjoyed supervising all subjects this semester (English, Social Studies, Elementary, Early Childhood, Learning Support) but there is great comfort walking into a gym and being in familiar surroundings, even though their gym is referred to as a hall and is about a third the size of regulation basketball court. The lesson today focused on locomotor skills and balancing, using a bean bag. There were 23 four year olds testing the patience of our two PE student teachers. They were very cute though.

We arrived at Ballyroan Boy’s School as a PE class was in the yard playing hurling. We stopped and chatted with the male PE teacher. I got some wonderful photos of the boys. It looks like great fun. As a former field hockey player I could really get into hurling. The same game for the girls is referred to as camogie. (I learned that from a couple of my students that I had in class this semester. They are Irish exchange students from the University of Limerick.) I observed my student teacher teaching his second grade boys about Thanksgiving. They were a lively bunch, very animated and bright. While they were working on writing five things that they were thankful for, one boy came up to me and stood at attention in front of me and asked my name. I told him and asked him his name, and then we shook hands. Before returning to his seat Kelvin said, “Welcome to our class.” I couldn’t tell if Kelvin was just a very sweet boy, or an Irish Eddie Haskell. He checked back with me a few times and waved. I’ll look for Kelvin next week when I visit. At the end of the class their teacher asked me to pick the best behaved boy in the class. I know Kelvin wanted me to pick him, but I picked the boy who had an ice pack on his head due to a playground incident during yard. Three boys made trips to the principal’s office due to that event. The classroom teacher was a wonderful young woman who has great rapport with the boys, and excellent control as well. At one point Sister Margaret stopped by to remind the boys of the special mass on Sunday. It was a good day in the schools.

Scoil Carmel and Football!

Today we visited Scoil (School) Carmel. We had to take bus 48 about 30-45 minutes to get there. It is cold and windy today and even though we take busses, we often have to walk many blocks to the various stops and then wait for the next bus to arrive. It is quite a process to get to each school, and the bus schedule can be a bit overwhelming. I hope I can learn it all before I have to fly solo. I'm taking good notes! When we arrived at Carmel we were a bit early, so as is custom, we had tea! The students were in yard (recess) and so I stood by the window watching. It doesn’t matter how cold it is, they are still outside running around. There was no equipment (nor was there any yesterday at the Boys School, which is the picture above) but these kids were all active and moving. There is no obesity epidemic here. Everyone is active and looks healthy. When the students came inside I then observed a kindergarten class. I believe they call them secondary infants (5-6 year olds), not to be confused with primary infants (4 year olds). They were learning the letter R. It was an entertaining lesson and the students were very cute. They are definitely further advanced here than in the states. That has been the observation of many of our student teachers.

Tonight I am going to Coake Park Stadium to see a football (soccer) game between Ireland and Poland. I heard it’s a big one. The stadium holds 83,000 so it should be fun. I will be attending with three of our student teachers. It will be mighty cold, but I’m still looking forward to the excitement and atmosphere of taking in a soccer game in Ireland.

First Day in the Schools

I called my niece today. It is her fifth birthday. She doesn’t know where Ireland is, but she knows it’s far away! I caught her on a good day, as she has pre-school on TWR in the PM (at the Leighthouse Pre-school), storytelling on Mondays and gymnastics at “Boing” on Fridays. It is 3pm here, but only 10 am back home. I’m glad I caught her at home.

Today was my first day in the schools. We left the flat before 8 and walked to Trinity College to catch the bus, 15B. After about a 10 minute wait we boarded the bus and made our way to the top level so I could get a better view of the landmarks I will need to know for future trips. Sitting in the far front of the bus, just a few rows in front of us were three young women probably in their late 20’s. It wasn’t long until a fourth joined them and many stops later a fifth. They must all be teachers, by the nature of their conversation. One was from the states (Chicago) and is married with a toddler. The dark haired one, Judy, has quite the night life. Her friends were talking before she got on the bus how they don’t know how she stays out until 3am so often. I am told by my colleagues that they are regulars on the 15B.

We stayed on the 15B to the end, about an hour’s ride. We are staying in center city and the students are all in the ‘burbs, as are their schools. We started today at Scoil Mhuire (Mary in Irish, I believe). Inside the school the first thing I noticed was pictures of all the children’s first communion. All of the schools are parochial so the students are dressed in uniforms and have classes in religion. We observed two of our student’s team teaching a science lesson to fourth graders. They were wonderful. They were teaching about solids, liquids and gases and had an excellent science project using corn flour and water. The students were engaged and our student teachers really did well. Before we left we were treated to a song that the students had learned on their recorders. Their teacher, an older male gentleman, does a lot of music with the children and they really seem to enjoy it. In fact, he bought recorders for our two student teachers and they are trying to learn a song for our Thanksgiving dinner. The day started well at Scoil Mhuire.

We hopped back on the 15B bus and took it about a half a dozen stops to another bus stop to connect with the 74 bus. We waited about 20 minutes for this bus to take us to a stop near St. Mary’s Boys School. Our two student teachers were on yard duty (recess) when we got there. We enjoyed tea and a muffin while they had their fruit break, and then I observed the student whom I had for the first nine weeks in the states, while my colleague observed the one she had back home. As you can imagine, it is quite challenging teaching in an all boy’s school. The lesson I observed was first grade language arts. They are quite chatty and tough to keep quiet, but it is obvious that they are bright and energetic little boys.

After leaving St. Mary’s we had a very short walk to the bus stop where we picked up the 16 to get back to center city. We had a late lunch, picked up a few groceries and are now back at the flat planning tomorrow’s schedule. It is a very time consuming task to try and get to where these students are located. It’s tough to get more than two schools in a day. I am looking forward over the next few days of seeing all of the schools, and re-connecting with our student teachers who I have not seen since October 21st back in PA.

First Full Day in Dublin

Today marks my first full day in Ireland. I didn’t sleep very well and I don’t know if that’s due to the time change, being in a new location, or just a head that wouldn’t stop spinning with all that is ahead of me. As has occurred in the past, the first day for the new faculty member is a day set aside for the lead faculty member to give a tour of the area around the flat and this section of Dublin. Today was by foot and tomorrow, the first day we go out to the schools, will be by bus. First we went to the visitor’s center which is in a wonderful restored old church. I bought a large book that has maps of the entire city. I will need that to take notes for the various bus routes to all the different schools that our students are teaching in. That will be my life saver for the last few weeks of this trip and also for next year when I will be the lead and need to navigate the city myself, and then train a new trail faculty member. We also bought a weekly bus pass at the visitor’s center and priced some of the Irish souvenirs. When we left there we walked a few more blocks to Trinity College. You could pay a student 10 Euros for a half hour tour but we just wandered through the campus so I could see it. I will go back later to explore the library and also the Book of Kells. I did buy a Trinity hoodie sweatshirt, which was on my list of things I wanted. I hadn’t anticipated making any purchases so early in the trip but John, the kind Irishman who arranges all our weekend travels, scored me a ticket for a football (soccer) game on Wednesday night. It’s a big one at Croke Park Stadium between Ireland and Poland. Three of our student teachers will be attending as well. I will need the hoodie to stay warm!

From there we walked up Nassau Street and popped into a number of wonderful little stores that sold everything from Waterford Crystal to local pottery to jewelry of all sorts. Some stores had a little café or coffee shop upstairs or down and if not, there were plenty others to choose from along the way. After Nassau Street we ventured up Grafton Street. This is a pedestrian only brick street with shops and stores, including McDonalds, Subway and Foot Locker among the American ones we passed. We had lunch at a spot along this street. At the end of Grafton Street was a park that I will save for another day (perhaps a rain free day, as it was drizzling today) and a big mall called St. Stephens. I'm learning all of the key landmarks for future reference.

Last night we walked a few blocks to the Liffey, which is a river that separates Dublin. From there we ventured to the Temple Bar area and to some side streets that I did not explore in my initial walk up Lord Edwards (with changes to Dames) Street. (If you recall, yesterday I didn't know the name of the street, so I am learning!) After our excursion today, coupled with my two walks yesterday, and tips to get my bearings based on some wonderful landmarks, I am getting a feel for the area. Keep in mind, I am so directionally challenged I sometimes get lost in my own backyard! But I do believe, after only a day, I could make it to the visitors center, post office, grocery store, ATM and a pharmacy. I will never go hungry as there are so many wonderful options of ethic and local foods of all sorts on every corner.

It’s truly a wonderful city. At least what I have seen of it thus far. I feel very safe and the people are very helpful, friendly and welcoming. They are also very fast. No one seems to stroll, they walk quickly and with a purpose. I think I need to pick up the pace if I am to fit in with the locals.

First Day

Well, I conquered Dublin today. Actually, just about 20 blocks on what ever street I was on. In my search for lunch I walked to the entrance of Trinity College. I'll save exploring it for another day. I did snap a photo and included it on the left. After such a long trip it was nice to take a walk in the brisk Dublin air. No rain today, but it is overcast and in the high 40's.

There appeared to be quite a few map toting tourists out and about today. I forgot my map but the camera made me guilty of the tourist label as well. I am anxious to see the city and of course the beautiful country side that I have heard so much about.

Here are some photos of Christ Church Cathedral, which is across the street from the flat.

And here is a photo of game three of the World Series. It has absolutely nothing to do with Dublin, but I still can't believe I was there and that the Phillies won the whole thing. Go Phillies!!

Until the next time...

Made it to Dublin

Well, I arrived in Dublin this morning. My trip was extended a bit as my flight from Pittsburgh was delayed three hours due to bad weather in Newark. Who knew they had tornado warnings in Jersey in November?! I missed my connection but was able to get on the last flight out and arrived in Dublin around 9 this morning. By 10 I was at the flat and by 10:30 I was taking a much needed nap. Since I was delayed I missed the chance to go to Barney Castle with the students. But that is ok. Instead I will explore my surroundings here in Dublin.

The flat is right across the street from Christ Church Cathedral and it looks wonderful. I must say the bells work just fine and they have been playing on this Sunday morning. Trinity College is right up the street and that is on my very long list of places to see also. It's very exciting and I find it hard to believe I am actually here.

Of to find lunch. More later...

Departure Day

I am sitting at the food court at the Pittsburgh airport eating a salad from Quiznos. I figured now would be a good time to start my travel blog to Ireland. My flight leaves in a hour for Newark where I will connect to Dublin. It's hard to believe it is finally departure day.

I am going to Dublin to supervise 20 Slippery Rock University students as they finish their last few weeks of student teaching. After successfully completing their first nine weeks in the states, they departed on October 25th to begin their last seven weeks in Dublin. I will be joining my colleague who has been busy supervising them thus far. She will spend a week showing me the bus routes, introducing me to the various schools, and basically getting me acclimated to Dublin. After she departs, I will do the remaining observations and bring the students home on December 9th, just a few days before they graduate.

I am excited to finally be going, and my academic responsibilities at SRU are tied up for the time being. My classes have ended, my grading is done. Now I can focus on Ireland and enjoy my first visit to a country that I am very anxious to see first hand.

Off to my gate. I'll keep you posted.