Scoil Carmel and Presentation Girls School

I had two schools and three student teachers to visit today to finish my week. Bus 49a stops right around the corner from the flat, so I didn't have to walk to Trinity College today. It was a shorter walk, but a longer wait, as the 49a doesn't run quite as often as the 15 and 15b lines. I was confident in finding Scoil Carmel, but had never been to Presentation Girls School, so I kept a keen eye out for some landmarks that my student teacher had given me so I knew where to get off the bus on my return towards the city.

After a 30 minute bus ride and ten minute walk I got to Scoil Carmel around 9am. The students were just arriving as school had not started yet. I found Bethany upstairs and chatted with her as her 1st class (6-7 year old) students arrived. Then I went downstairs to find Lizzy. She was with the secondary infants class. They have primary infants (4 year olds) and then secondary infants which is like our kindergarten. Lizzy had 5th grade in the states so this is a big change. We chatted in the hallway for awhile and then I went on my way. I will be back on Thursday to observe them both teaching a lesson.

I walked back to the bus stop and waited for the bus. And waited some more. This stop is in the middle of no where so I was getting nervous that a bus might not come for awhile. I ate my trail mix and watched the cars go by being very thankful that it was not raining like yesterday. Finally a man come to the stop, and that is always a good sign. I like when there are people at the stop (despite the awkward silence). It gives me hope that a bus might be coming sooner rather than later. It is impossible to read the bus schedules. They give you the time the bus leaves the first stop and then the time it gets to periodic stops along the way. If you do not know where your stop is between those periodic stops then it is tough to figure it out. Since I usually have no idea what stop I am at, I certainly have no idea what big stop is before or after. So...I wait and figure a bus will come along soon. That theory has worked so far.

I was waiting for bus 49a. In the distance bus 74 was approaching. The man at the stop signaled the bus. You have to put your arm out if you want the bus to stop. If not, they will speed right past. As the bus was slowing down I asked the man if the bus was heading to city centre and he said yes. I figured I'd give it a shot. I wasn't going into the city, but I knew the Presentation school stop was on the way (assuming the 74 was heading in that direction) I'm starting to see how the buses overlap and what buses come and go in what direction. I'm starting to see the big picture. I needed to get off at Rathdown Motors to go to Presentation. Well, through my astute observations all week, I noticed that a number of buses end up going past Rathdown Motors. They start to come together as they get closer to the city (15, 15a, 15b, 49 and apparently 74). The directions that my student teacher had emailed me had me coming from the city so I didn't ring the bell until after I saw Rathdown Motors so it took me a stop too far. No biggie. I actually got off right across from St. Joseph's, a school we used last year. I walked back to the five way intersection at Rathdown Motors and was contempling with one of those five options I had to take. I was pretty sure I knew but as luck would have it, standing at the light waiting to cross with me was a woman holding the hand of a little girl dressed in a school uniform. Hm...I'm looking for a girls school. So, I asked if they were heading to Presentation, and YES they were. I had a nice chat with the woman as we made a couple of turns to get to the school. Her daughter was in 3rd class.

Once at the school I was directed to Nichole's room but it was empty. Apparently they were having a science fair and the girls were in the hall (gym). I wandered around the school a bit. It's not the states: they didn't ask for my clearances, I didn't have to go through any metal detectors, no search of my backpack. I just wandered. They returned shortly to their classroom only to grab their coats for yard (recess). I snapped a few pictures. Nichole and I had a chance to talk while the girls were outside. I also met her co-op and answered some of her questions. I left as the girls were starting to eat their lunches. There is no cafeteria, they just eat in the classrooms.

I headed back to the main drag to catch another bus back to the city. This time bus 65a was approaching. I asked a young man if the bus stopped at Dawson St. and he said it stopped at St. Georges and Dame St. That was even better. So I hopped aboard and was back in the city centre about 20 minutes later. I had lunch at Bewley's, walked up Grafton Street and saw some street musicians, and then stopped at Dunne's for a few things. We have to take a packed lunch for our trips this weekend, so I needed to get some things for our trip to Belfast tomorrow. I got home around 2 and promptly took a nap. Conquering Dublin is exhausting!

It is pouring down rain at the moment. It doesn't look good for our trip tomorrow, but it will still be fun to get out of the city. It will be good to see all the kids together again. I have connected with all of them this week in their respective schools, but it will be good to have them all together. I'm sure they will have lots to share with one another regarding their school experience. Tonight, according to a Facebook posting, they will be doing a pub crawl around Dublin. As long as they are at Delany's at 7:30am, then all is well.

If you are interested, here is a link to all of my pictures. I have some school photos and sites around Dublin. Plus pictures from last weeks four day trip to northern Ireland. Feel free to check them out if you would like: http://picasaweb.google.com/joanne.leight