My First Week in Convent Primary and My Travels...

SCHOOL:
I finished my first whole week at Convent Primary School on Friday. It was a hectic week as it was their last week before their term break holiday (which is currently going on right now). The students were also very excited about Halloween, which surprised me. I did not realize that people in Ireland were into Halloween. The students were also excited for Friday, which was what they call a "Fun Day." They haven't had one at the school in about four years, so the anticipation has been building for quite some time. They younger students were able to dress up for Halloween. The 5th classes wore pink and the 6th classes wore rainbow colors. My host sister, Lisa is in 6th class so I braided her hair and then put my multicolored bows all the way down the braid. It turned out to be very rainbow-esque and she loved it. The 6th class organized activities for the whole school and ran them. They had a bake sale (or a cake sale as they call it), and all different booths of fun things to do. There was a coloring competition for the younger children, a skipping competition (jumping rope), fingernail painting, face painting, karaoke, and a dancing competition. I helped Lisa make a few things for the bake sale and we made quite a mess. We made caramels and dipped them in chocolate and sprinkles. We also made frosting for her cake. I am glad I could participate.

The Fun Day went really well except that it rained. The point of the day is to make money for the national telethon for charity. So the students all brought little purses of coins and were excited to spend. We were supposed to do all of the activities in the yard, but because of the rain, we had to do things in the hall (gymnasium). It was loud and chaotic, but the students had a blast. I was supposed to teach my first lesson on Friday but everything was so crazy that really no learning took place that day and I was enlisted to help the drama teacher face paint all of the 2nd class. They were very particular and couldn't sit still for excitement. I have a few pictures of the students that I will add to my blog.

I am currently on holiday due to the term break, but I am looking forward to see how things calm down after the students return.

OUR TRAVELS:
Since our holiday began, Maggie and I have been to Dingle and Killarney. We have also spent a little time in Tralee, but mostly at the bus station.

On Saturday, our host parents took us to the Dingle Peninsula. Sadly, the weather wasn't the best so we were unable to see a lot of the views. I also got extremely car sick but I was quickly revived by the sea air when we stopped by a beach. This beach literally took my breathe away it was so beautiful. We were almost in an inlet and the tide was coming in (I almost got swept away I was so busy looking at the view!). The water was brilliant and was crashing all over the rocks and sand. I wanted to stay there all day, but I didn't fancy being carried out to sea. We stopped in town and I got some really Irish wool so I can knit a few scarves for people at home. We also stopped in a pottery place that was having a large sale (our host mom was most excited about this).

On Sunday, Maggie and I went into town a little ways to go to Lidl, an inexpensive store. We just wanted a few snack-like items. On our way back, it started POURING rain. By the time we returned to our house, we were soaked through. We ended up spending time warming up and playing cribbage.

On Monday, Maggie and I had our first adventure on the bus. We wanted to go to Killarney and our host mom was headed to Tralee so she dropped us off at the bus station there. We went inside but no one was around (as it was a bank holiday, everyone starts much later or not at all). We were there much earlier than anticipated as we were planning on getting the bus from Listowel to Tralee and then Tralee to Killarney but our host mom was so nice as to take us to Tralee. We hung around and figured out the bus schedule. I wanted to be extra careful as I didn't want us to be stranded somewhere. We left on the 10:50 bus for Killarney.

Once we arrived in Killarney, we found out that there was a local arts and crafts fair so we walked around and saw some of the local art. We also shopped for small souveniers for people at home in the shopping complex, and in town. We found a really nice restaurant and ate lunch. It seemed that anytime we were inside, it was gorgeous outside and anytime we stepped outside, we enlisted the help of our umbrellas. I really don't mind the rain too much but I thought that was kind of interesting. We started to walk towards Killarney National Park and we ran into a Jaunty driver and his horse, Paddy. He offered to take us for a ride into the park. We jumped in and were able to stay a great deal more dry this way. He was an extremely nice gentleman and told us all kinds of historic facts about the places we were passing. He also took our pictures in front of a cottage, the cathedral and Ross Castle. We were going to go to Muckross House but it was four miles each way, so we decided not to and headed for the bus station (as it began to rain again).

We caught the bus back to Tralee and then the bus back to Listowel. It was a bit cold when we disembarked so we motored it back home. We made some dinner and then relaxed for the rest of night. The girls have headed off to camp for the week so we were on our own.

I think I have written far too much! I think I am going to add my pictures and then work on a few things.

Slan for now!