Hello again from Dublin, Ireland!
So I am still having a lovely time, but this week I have especially realized how nice it normally is to have a car to drive around in America. Here in Dublin, I have to take the Dart or bus every where I go or I walk to my destination and it can sometimes be confuzing. I am definitely being immersed into the culture and experiencing it each and every day!
However, I am getting along quite fine and I actually encountered a family at the Dart Station yesterday that needed help finding their way to Tara Street. There was a language barrier though because they spoke a different language and were very hard to understand. They were unsure what side of the station they were supposed to be at so I showed them on the Dart map as best I could and used ellaborate motions to show them that they needed to be on the opposite side of the station than myself. It was an interesting experience and made me feel very good when they finally understood where to go! They did ask me if I was Italian, which I found humorous, considering I have no Italian genes in my family!
I am absolutely loving my family more and more every day! I feel very comfortable with the daughters and the parents(so confortable that I sometimes refer to the parents as mom and dad hehe). I have literally become in love with hot tea through my experience with the Malseed family. I usually have about 4-6 cups per day!
This past Sunday, I got the opportunity to attend St. Matthias Church with my family and, as well, take a beautiful walk on Killiney Hill. The cathedral was absolutely gorgeous! It was much different from any of the churches in America that I have seen! The church was almost like a castle in a way! I thought the service would be much different from what I'm used to at home, but it actually was pretty similar! I also got the chance to participate in communion, which was a bit different from communion at home.
At Killiney Hill, my family and I had a great bonding experience! I had my camera with me and wanted to take pictures of the scenery because it was such a gorgeous day. Well, the girls and I ended up having a photo shoot at Killiney Hill by taking multiple pictures of the scenery and ourselves in front of the scenery. It was such a fun time and James was our famous photographer! Killiney Hill was one of those memories that will remain forever because it was such a wonderful time!
Over the past week, I have also really enjoyed hanging out with Ericka and Alicia(a girl from Iowa). This past weekend, we hung out every day and night and just had a fabulous time! We are all very different, but we get along so well! Ericka is just a few houses down from my house and Alicia is about five minutes away from our houses, so it is so nice to have close friends nearby!
This past weekend, we decided to visit Dublin for the day and were able to visit many interesting sites such as Bewley's Oriental Cafe, St. Stephen's Green's Park, Stephen Green's Shopping Centre(which was SO LARGE), Christ Cathedral Church, and Trinity College. My favorite site that we visited was the Christ Cathedral Church, which was founded in 1030 AD! We actually got the chance to attend a service at 5 pm, which was entitled Choral Evansong. The church itself looked exactly like a castle and the ornate and beautifully designed structures inside the church were absolutely astounding! The service was beautiful and such a great time to be still and relax! However, my trip to Dublin would not have been the same if it hadn't been for the great company of Ericka and Alicia!
Rathdown Junior School has been and continues to be a great experience for me. The students are very respectful and very well behaved. I am very impressed with the students' behaviors, overall! Also, the faculty and staff have been so welcoming and inviting. They have been helpful in sharing information about places to go as well as sharing information about their classroom. Since my arrival, I have worked in a variety of classrooms. These include KG1, KG2, P2, P4,P5, and P6. The grades are different here than America, but P2 would be just like a second grade class and P4 would be like a fourth grade class, etc.
The principal has decided to place me in several classrooms throughout the day so I will be able to experience several classrooms instead of just one or two. This is a very neat experience for me, but I do wish I could teach more. In most of the classrooms, I am working on reading and mathematics with individual students rather than teaching the entire class. However, I did get to teach a geography lesson to the P5 class the other day, which was a great experience! I am very grateful to be placed in Rathdown Junior School and I look forward to teaching more throughout my experience here!
My Pictures above represent pictures from Dublin(Christ Cathedral Church, Bewleys Oriental Cafe) and Killiney Hill(Dublin Bay Overlook, Me and the girls at Killiney Hill)!
Bye Bye for now!
Heather