I have made it to Ireland!!! I was quite excited to arrive here (although extremely tired). Maggie and I came in on Saturday morning and had no problems going through customs, getting our luggage and finding out host father. He drove us to where we will be staying and I absolutely loved getting to see the countryside a bit. We passed many farms and quite a few castles. The weather was a little gloomy as it was early morning, but everything was still so beautiful. There was a point when we were coming around a bend and you could see down into a valley of houses and farm fields. The way the sun was breaking through the clouds made it look quite picturesque... like something out of a film.
Our host family is incredibly friendly and welcoming. They have a lovely home and they made us feel as though we are quite a part of it as well. They also have been very informative and helpful in regards to answering all of our questions.
Sunday, Maggie and I took a walk into town and got a feel for everything. We stopped in a small shop for a "fizzy drink," as sodas are called here and took a few pictures around town. Not many things are open in Ireland on Sunday, due to church services so this was mostly just getting the lay of the land, although regretfully, we did get a bit turned around. We have since mastered the downtown area, however.
Monday was our final day of jet lag adjustment, so we rested a bit and then headed into town once again. Our host mom drove us in and pointed out a great deal of useful things to know, such as the best place to buy which things. We stopped at the bank to cash our traveler's checks in order to pay our host family and then we headed to our respective schools.
My principal had a schedule to give me so I will know where I am at any given points during the day. She said to return to her office in the morning and I would meet my first teacher.
This morning I did just that and was introduced to the way that the 3rd class is learning subtraction with big numbers (which differs from how it is done in the U.S. a little). However, maths gave way to Irish Dancing class, so that was really the first thing I observed in my school, which was quite interesting. I have seen performances in America but seeing the practice was great.
Afterwards, many of the classes walked into town to attend mass. There is a mission in town this week so there are masses for all different reasons throughout each day of the week. This was a children's mass so our pupils sang for the service. The visiting priest for the mission really enjoyed the performance. This was my first mass in Ireland and I enjoyed it as well. The church was beautiful and the service was interesting. I was a little thrown when the congregation said the Our Father in Irish instead of English, however. I will have to work on that.
After mass, we walked back to school. As we missed the morning break whilst we were gone, we went straight to that and I got to stay in the teacher's lounge for a few minutes. I am constantly being offered a "cuppa" so I suppose I will have to take up drinking coffee or tea just to acquiecse the people here.
After break, I went to Mrs. Regan's Junior Infants class. This is akin to Kindergarten in the States. I helped out where I could and observed a bit. Then we went to lunch. At this school, 6th class students come in and watch the younger ones eat so that the teachers can go to the lounge for lunch. I was interested to learn that as this is much different than any school I have been in before.
After lunch (which was a great deal of talking and planning in rapid fire English and Irish - I tried my best to keep up), I went to another Jr. Infants class with Mrs. Murphy. Her students were really quite curious about me and had many questions. I was there for sounds work and a bit of reading. I was able to help out a bit. The sounds practice is really interesting and I hope I get to participate in more in the coming weeks. I think it would be really beneficial in the States. I will observe some more and write up a bit on it soon.
Afterwards (Jr. Infants leave at 2 instead of 3), I went to Mrs. McCarthy's 3rd class. Because of the mass, the schedule had been rearranged, so I was there for Irish lessons. I was very interested to see what they were doing and I hope to pick up a bit of Gaelic while I am here. They say greetings and prayers and the like in this language so hopefully I will hear enough to be able to learn some.
School is over at 3 so I left shortly thereafter. I stopped in to say hello to the principal again. Then I walked to Maggie's school to meet to go into town. We came across an interesting experience when going by the bank. They were changing the money or taking it out. So the bank manager had those finished inside leave, and then there were armed guards everywhere making sure nothing was to happen. A teacher from my school was actually there and she explained it to us, and I am glad, as I was quite concerned at first why there were armed guards in the square! I am learning all sorts of things that are done differently here and I hope to learn many more.
That is all for now. My second day of school is tomorrow and we will see what that will bring.
