Last Day in Dublin

The group at the Brazen Head Pub
(oldest pub in Ireland)

Grafton Street

Side street in Dublin

It's hard to believe today was my last day in Dublin. The time has gone fast.

We had a full day planned, as today I needed to show Rob the remaining six schools. We started early so we would be sure to get to all of them. We met at 8am and walked around the corner to catch Bus 49. It was another terribly windy, rainy day. We rode Bus 49 to Delany's, where we got off to walk the rest of the way to Scoil Carmel. We were early, arriving about a half hour before the students (school starts at 9:20). We saw Bethany in the teachers room slicing banana bread that she had baked for her Thanksgiving lesson. She had a real challenge in trying to cook when she had to convert the recipe to metric. Then we went and found Lizzy in her classroom. Her co-op still hadn't arrived at 9:10. Things are a bit more laid back in Ireland. I dropped off some chocolate for the principal who was so kind to give me a ride last week in the horrible wind and rain, and then we walked back to pick up Bus 49. This bus is notoriously late, but we were so lucky that it arrived minutes after we got to the remote stop in the suburbs. That was a huge break.

We headed back towards the city to see Kendra at Terenure College. Since they have early dismissal every Wednesday, we needed to get there early in the day. She was in the middle of teaching a lesson to the 13-14 year olds so we waited until class was over to connect with her. Our visits this week do not involve any formal observations, since I only have two days to show Rob all of the schools. So, we stop by each school, connect with the student teachers, and I introduce Rob to secretarys, prinicpals and cooperating teachers, if they are available.

Our next stop was St. Colmcilles. It meant a 10 minute wait in the rain for Bus 15 which would take us back near Scoil Carmel. Had the weather been better, we might have tried to walk between the two. The wind today made that task impossible. We got off the bus at SuperQuinn and walked behind the supermarket to find Luke. He was finishing a lesson as we arrived. He was on his 7th cup of tea for the day (it was 11am) as he was recovering from two days of not having a voice. It is very difficult to teach physical education when you are unable to speak. He seems to be getting better.

We walked from St. Colmcilles Junior to St. Colmcilles Secondary, a ten minute walk. Adam was teaching, but we found John in the teachers room. After a quick visit we continued on.

We waited about 15 minutes to pick up Bus 15 again to head into the city. Our next stop was Presentation girls school where we found Nichole. Her students were doing a timed math test, so we chatted in the hallway. If you are counting, that was school number five.

I'm not sure what bus we picked up next, but I think it was the 15 again. Any of the 15 lines would work. It was a short ride and about a 15 minute walk to St. Louis Community, a girls secondary school. The secretary called the teachers room and Tara came down to meet us. Another quick visit. We caught Bus 15A back into the city. 

Whew...six schools...all before 1pm. There was no time for tea today. We hustled around the city, got on various busses six different times, and made it back again. I think Rob has his bearings and should be ok when on his own next week. 

I showed them the Trinity College bookstore and then we split up to run some errands. I ended up stopping at the Larder for a late lunch and then went back to the flat. I had some serious packing to do. Before I could make a dent in the packing process, Lydia called. John needed to give me something and had forgotten last night. She asked if I could meet her at the pedestrian bridge near O'Connell. I had planned on going out again around 5, so this just moved that time earlier by an hour. I found Lydia, we said our good byes again, and I walked the long way to Grafton Street. It was starting to get dark and the city was very busy with rush hour traffic and lots of people. Sunday was light up night in the city and I hadn't made it out much after dark this week, so I wanted to take some pictures of Grafton Street, and a few other places on my list.

I ran into Lauren on Grafton. Her friend Jen arrived today so she was giving her a tour. It always surprises me when I run into the students in the city. After all, it's a BIG city. Lauren's host family texted me late this afternoon inviting me to dinner at 7. I kindly declined, as I had much to do on my last night in Dublin. Riding the bus back to the suburbs for an hour plus each way was not on my list. It was kind for the invite, but not on my last night.

I stood at the end of Grafton, in front of St. Stephens Green and just took it all in. It's my last night in Dublin, perhaps forever. I've enjoyed my time here very much. It is a great city and wonderful county. Having said that, I am ready to go home. A month is a long time to be away. I miss the comforts of home (i.e. lazyboy, TV, Tivo), my CRV, and Sheetz fountain Pepsi. It will be nice to go home.

Tomorrow will be a long day. Paddy will pick me up at 5:20am for my 9am flight. He has to come back and pick up some of the guests at 6:15 to take to John at Delany's. They begin a four day trip to western Ireland tomorrow. It is a wonderful trip and I know they will all enjoy it.

This may be my last blog posting. It's been great to be able to document the trip using this medium. I have no idea if anyone is actually reading these postings, but if you are, thanks. I hope you enjoyed following my travels.