Ring of Kerry and Killarney

What a weekend! Katie and I traveled to Killarney on Friday after school and we had an incredible weekend.

I think I might be finding that they saying 'The Luck of the Irish' is true, because Katie and I were so lucky this weekend. To make a long story short:

Lucky #1~ Well, I guess there will always be something that doesn't go our way. And on the way to Killarney, it was our bus. It smelt so bad. Noone else seemed to notice, but Katie and I sure did. It was so awful and I was almost gagging. But our second bus smelt great, and we didn't have to wait an hour and half, like previously planned. So that saved us a good 2 hours (because normally the bus would have of been late!) Very exciting for us!!

Lucky #2~ When we have been traveling lately, we randomly select B & B's to contact and see if they have openings. Usually things are so booked, and you can't be picky about the location. Well it just so happened that our B & B for the weekend was a 5 minute walk from the bus station and a 5 mintue walk into town. It was so awesome! We didn't have to walk forever, nor did we have to pay money for a taxi! It was pretty grand!!!

Friday night Katie and I 'quickly' walked into town, it was raining of course, and we had some dinner at a pub. The pub we chose had live Irish music every night of the week, so we thought that would be a great way to kick off our weekend. The place was very crowded, but it was great to be in an Irish pub, with Irish music! Our Irish entertainment was a solo artist who sang along with his harmonica and guitar. We didn't really know the songs, but it was still nice to listen to!

We got an early start on Saturday morning and were excited to see the weather. We walked in our B & B on Friday night leaving rain and lots of wind outside. But when we opened up our blinds at 8:30am :

Lucky #3~ The weather on Saturday was perfect! The sun was shining and their was no wind. On our walk into town we even saw a rainbow!

I think we were so thrilled about this change in weather because we had planned on taking a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry. A beautiful, historic, and scenic tour of one Ireland's most famous and favorite part of western Ireland to visit. Our bus tour was from 10:30am to 4:15pm. It was a loong day, but well worth it. We made several stops along the way to shop, to take photos, or to just enjoy some lunch! There were several other Americans on the bus, but Katie and I did not talk to them much. They seemed to keep to themselves a lot. Our huge bus cruised along the narrow roads, flew over the bumps, and went winding around the mountain sides. There were 4 women in the back of our bus from Scotland and I think that they had the best time being thrown around the bus. It could have helped that they had a glass of wine at every stop we made :)
A picture of our bus. Not too huge, but when it is taking you on Irish roads, around the Ring of Kerry, it is huge!
Here is a picture of Katie and I at one of our stops. The river ----- is behind us (I don't remember the name off hand). I just cannot get over how beautiful the scenery can be around here. The towns are very old looking to me and very old fashion, but the scenery is so amazing!

I am posing infront of the Atlantic Ocean. Everyone of you is just a short swim across it. I was tempted to swim home!

If you look closely at this picture, on the right you can see the rain coming in. This picture was taken moments after the one on the left.

Lucky #4~ We missed the rain literally by seconds. It poured pretty hard, but within minutes it was gone..and the sun was shining! But I suppose it is not uncommon here for rain to come and go like that. But I was thankful that it left!

Here is a picture of Katie and I at Ladies View. Only women can pose for photos here...it is true! Not sure why, but it is true!

Saturday night Katie and I went back into town to listen to some Irish music. At the pub we were at, there were a bunch of young lads dancing all around to the Irish music. Totally not something that boys in their 20s would do at home. But over here, I don't think they care quite as much as the boys at home do. It was funny. Their pants were all hiked up and their pant legs rolled up.

We met a lot of people from around the world on Saturday, and crazy enough some girls that go to college at Eau Claire, LaCrosse, and River Falls. It was so nuts to meet them and it was great to hear American accents. They are studying in Scotland, traveling all over Europe and Ireland has been their favorite! We also talked to some Aussies, Brits, Hungarians, French, and some very TALL American basketball players. Overall it was a great night and nice to meet people from all over the world.

Enjoying our time in Killarney!

We also did some shopping in Killareny. I'll tell you, it's very stressful thinking of gifts to get people back home. I feel pressure to find the right gift for everyone. (Not that anyone is pressuring me by any means... I do it to myself!) I am hoping to be done with shopping soon because I only have 3 weeks left and I don't want to have to be running around the last weekend looking for stuff. But knowing me, I probably will be! So if you want something certain, please do not be afraid to let me know. Actually, I would love it!!

Dingle and Week 5!

I was so busy that I did not have a chance to blog last week, so I am a bit behind. But I am catching up. My mom, sister, Aunt Debbie, and cousin Michael visited me on Sunday, November 19. It was so nice to see them. I spent the day with them on Sunday, but then would only see them after school. They traveled during the day, but they stayed in Listowel so that they could see me during the night! The weather was not too great for them, but I think they enjoyed seeing the sights in Ireland that they did see!

On Saturday, November 18, the family that we are staying with, took Katie and I to Dingle Peninsula. The weather was so awful during the week, that we figured their would be rain. But for some reason the luck of the Irish has been with Katie and I since we have been here. The day was beautiful. It was sunny with some clouds, which apparently is perfect for this type of sightseeing.

Dingle is mostly seen by driving around the peninsula. There were several scary moments due to these narrow roads over here. There was a portion of the trip called Connor's Pass. It is was so narrow and the road winds around the mountains. The road is only about one car's width. If a car is coming in the opposite direction you have to pull over as far as you can, and then slowly inch past eachother. Fidelma, the lady we live with, was even freaking out and she is from Ireland. Not going to lie...was a bit scary!


Here is some of Dingle. I love the mountains. They really intrigued me! The views were absolutely breathtaking. I cannot believe that people are able to see this everyday of their life. There are houses scattered throughout this picture, might be hard to see with the naked eye. People acutally live in this valley! It is just so nuts.
A waterfall in the Dingle Peninsula. I love how there are random waterfalls all over Ireland!



This past week at school (November 20-24) was so busy! Neville visited us on Tuesday and Wednesday. He is our supervisor over here. He lives in England and is responsible for placing us in schools and homes, as well as helping us with any issues that we may have over here! I was really nervous about him observing me, but it went so well! He made me feel so calm and comfortable while I was teaching. He walked around the classroom and helped out students. It was great to see him interact with the kids as well. I really enjoyed talking with Neville afterwards and hearing about his stories with teaching, and listening to all of the wonderful advice that he gave me. He such a patient and encouraging man.

I was also busy with teaching my three classes about Thanksgiving this week. In each of the classes we made turkeys for our art projects.


Here are the Junior Infants turkeys. They loved the idea of using hands as the feathers and wings. They did such a great job decorating them and taking their time. I also read each of the 3 classes a book on Thanksgiving. I first explained to them briefly about Thanksgiving, coordinating my story with the age group, and then read them a book about what Americans do on Thanksgiving day. Some of the girls knew what Thanksgiving was about because they have family that lives in America. All of the girls were extremely jealous to hear that American children have 3 days off of school to celebrate Thanksgiving. I had every class get in a cirlce and hold hands and tell us one thing they were thankful for. It was great to see how appreciative they are of things in their life. Some of the things they shared were quite humerous, and the teacher and I had to laugh. The 4th class decorated their turkeys and wrote on the lines provided things that they were thankful for. On Friday, not one of the classes failed to ask how my Thanksgiving was. They are so thoughtful over here!

When Neville observed my 4th class, my lesson was an introduction to the solar system. One of the things that we talked about was the orbit of the Earth around the sun. I did an activity with the girls in which they were all given a different size balloon. The girl with the yellow balloon was the sun in the middle of the solar system. The girls that could tell me what planets came next in correct order away from the sun got to hold a balloon that represented that planet. So the girls that were holding the sun and the planets all stood in a line. I had them demonstrate the orbit for around the sun for a year, and a rotation for a day. The planets furthest from the sun take longer to orbit the sun, therefore their year is longer than Earth's year. It worked really well and the girls were able to physically see how the planets orbit the sun! They also created, with a partner, their own way to remember the order of the planets. My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas was the one that I gave to them. They had a great time coming up with their own little story. I was really glad that I had them do it. I was able to see a creative side of the girls. I was going to stop them from doing it because it seemed like they were struggling at first, but eventually they got the hang of it. I did an American lesson with them on Friday and they loved talking and hearing about America. I promised them that I would do another one the last week. Next week I will continue with the solar system for 4th class.

This week in 1st class we talked about healthy foods. We learned about serving sizes, the food pyramid, and how to eat healthy. The girls learned how to identify the foods in the different food groups, and where vegetables, fruits, and dairy products come from. One day I drew pictures of all of the things I ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the day before (made up of course!), and told them that they needed to help me eat better. It was so funny because I think that they think that I really eat as awful as I pretended to. (I heard them whispering to eachother that Miss Burmesch will get really fat if she eats that all the time!) They loved thinking that they were helping me! I then gave them paper plates and they created their own dinners, healthy of course.

My Junior Infants are developing their fine motor skills. We have been working with writing letters in the small amount of space provided. They would use the entire page for one letter if it were up to them. I am doing a painting activity with them to help them develop these skills of drawing/writing in small spaces, as well as work on detail. They each brought in a favorite toy of theirs. I had to explain to them that it has to be something that they can leave overnight. They will be painting a picture of their favorite toy. We just started this week with using water colors to paint our background. This whole project should be interesting, because a majority of them struggled with simply painting back and forth. They wanted to go up and down and all over. I really stressed to them to go from side to side. Most of them were able to do it. This is only the first step, and I am eager to continue working on this with them!


Junior Infants playing in the sand! So cute!

Oh, I also taught my classes the 12 Days of Christmas!! If anyone knows me...they know I cannot sing. Either the girls didn't realize that I was out of tune, or they were just being extremely polite. God, I was so awful.

Week 4

So I just completed week 4. I cannot believe how time is flying. Quite amazing! I have been extremely busy with school, lesson plans, and traveling...so that could be a factor.











Here are some pics of my house. The one on the right (I have them backwards) is the front of my house. And the one on the left is the right part of my house. I would change them but it takes forever to upload these pictures. Sorry! You will have to use your imagination. The room that sticks out there, behind the car, is my room! I am in my own little oasis, off the rest of the house. I even have my own bathroom! So...I guess I am not that anxious to get home :)

School, I love going to my school. I am finally managing and juggling all three classes that I am in. A huge factor in this adjustment for me was the girls. All three classrooms are full of wonderful girls. They treat me with so much respect, always are listening, and willing to help me with any questions I have. I suppose it helps that I am from America, young, and not the same teacher that they have had for the past 3 months. But it is still nice to have all of the attention that they give me.










So here are my first class girls. Aren't they adorable? I agree. We just finished our 3 day project of creating pigs. They were so excited and proud of their pigs. It was quite the process. We had to collect magazines, and then search for pink in the magazines. Then the girls ripped the pink paper into small sections and glued them on their paper plates. They turned out really nice. They also insisted that I take a picture of them with pig faces. They are the cutest little porkchops! Although, I walked out of school each of these days with glue all over my clothes. It definitely was a messy art project!











The left is a photo of my 1st class girls hard at work. This week we discussed and identified people at work. We thought of many different jobs that people have, how those jobs help us, where these jobs are located, and so on. They thought of so many, I was very impressed! They also loved discussing what their parents jobs are, and it was funny to hear how they interpret their parents occupations! We also did a mini lesson on the sun, earth, moon, and stars. I taught them the different sizes of the objects and shared information about each of them. It was amazing how intrigued they were. Although, the solar system and how huge everything is, is a very large concept for them to grasp at such a young age. I taught the children money, but I had to teach myself about euros first. The other teachers and the girls that I am living with were a huge assist to this! I also did a Thanksgiving introductry activity by making turkeys. You will find our final project above and to the right!











Again, here are my Junior Infants hard at work. Their classroom is obviously full of color and art projects. The hand prints that you can see was an art project that I bravely took on. There was lots of paint everywhere, but they turned out wonderful. I will be cutting them out to make one big mural. I will show that at a later date. The Junior Infants do not have a class photo because they felt it was unfair to leave out a girl that was absent. They are so funny! Kind at the same time. They are a busy group of girls and I am constantly on my toes in this classroom. They kept me busy this week with reading big books, talking about healthy foods and bad foods, learning the letter p, and talking about the seaons. This class is probably the biggest challenge for me, yet the most rewarding! I have never worked with children this young in a classroom environment and it amazes me how much attention EACH of them needs! Yikes! I do love it though, not sure if I could ever teach it full time. But the times I am in there, I love it!

My fourth class girls are camera shy this week. I am only in their room 3 times a week for about 45 minutes each time. Of course those days I did not have my camera handy. They are a large class, which also need A LOT of attention. They are excellent for me and there is never really any discpline problems. I find that the girls work very well independently. I have done some group work with them, which they seem to enjoy a lot. I have not seen a lot of group work done in Ireland. Teachers will teach a lesson, and then the students will do their work. We did a science experiment with partners and they loved it! I also taught about changes that have occured over hundreds of years. They found it very hard to believe that there was a time when there were no computers, televisions, or phones. I found it hard to have the girls think of what people did before those times. I think they thought that I was completely nuts and that the American girl did not know what she was talking about :) But they are a lovely group to work with and always make me feel so welcome!

Next week will be extremely busy with Thanksgiving lessons to teach, an observation from Neville our supervisor, and my family is visiting. This week was great, and I can't wait for next week!

Up the Dubs!

Dublin, Dublin, Dublin...what an amazing city. Angela, Katie, and I had a great weekend in Dublin, Ireland this past weekend!

We left immediately after school to start our weekend. We spent 6 hours on a huge bus, traveling along little roads. A bit of a nail biter, but we got there. The first thing we noticed about Dublin was there accent. Extremely different than the west side of Ireland. We could barely understand the swears coming out of our taxi's mouth as he took us to our B&B! It was quite the ride. We first arrived in Dublin at 9:30pm, but still wanted to see some of the city. We are getting so good with city transportation, and managed to figure out the bus system.

This is a picture of Temple Bar located in the center of Dublin. It is one of the main attractions in Dublin. The cobble stoned streets on which it lies, are filled with pubs, restaurants, shops, and many, many people. A major tourist attraction....hence our visit it to it.

Here are some of the Irish lads that we met on Friday night. The Irish love to hang out in pubs, drink their pints, and socialize. They were friendly boys who made our first night great. There was never a dull moment chatting with them!

On Saturday morning we took a tour through Dublin city. It was called the City Bus Tour. It took you to over 25 different locations through out Dublin. You could get off when you pleased and pick up the next tour bus that came by every 10 minutes. It was very convenient!














Here is a picture of Trinity College. The man who took the picture of the three of us apparently had difficulty including us and the building in together. But oh well! Trinity College is the oldest college in Dublin, built in the 16th century. It has 12,000 students! The Book of Kells is currently in the hands of the university. Only four pages are displayed at once. And I think they said the pages are turned once a month! Interesting fact: David Beckham, the European soccer player, attended this college!

Another stop of ours and perhaps the most exciting one for multiple reasons was the tour of the Guinness Factory. This is the most visited place in all of Ireland!! Shocking...probably not!

Let's begin with the line outside of the Guinness Factory. It wrapped around the building and down the block. There was also a que (line) that continued to wrap around the inside. Well, the lady that Ang lives with knows someone who works at the factory, so we received three free tickets. Not only did we not have to pay the €25 for the ticket, but we also did not have to wait in line. IT WAS AMAZING!! We got to walk right past everyone to the very front. We felt very VIP. It was probably one of the best moments of my life! It saved us 2 hours of waiting in line and $40!! So we were liking the Guinness Factory already.

It was self-guided tour through the factory. So we were able to stop and look at what we wanted to!
The first four ingredients of Guinness is water, barley, hops, and yeast. Here is a picture of the three VIPs holding up the ingredient of barley. The large smiles and glows appearing from our faces is due to the fact that we just got to skip the whole line!

The tour provided us with loads of information about how Guinness is made, interesting facts about Guinness, and how Guinness actually does give you strength. Guinness contains a lot of iron, and it is recommended by doctors that those who lack iron should drink a pint of Guinness a day!

The first photo was our final stop of the Guinness Factory. We are in Gravity Bar, and about to taste our first complimentary pint of Guinness! The second picture was our reaction to the Guinness. I think that explains how we felt about the taste. A bit to bitter for our liking!

Our three pints of Guinness. Clearly Katie was the better sport and enjoyed hers more than we did! Overall, it was a great tour of the Guinness Factory. I recommend you get free tickets if you would like to visit it...it makes it all the more worth it :)

Week 3

I cannot believe how fast this week flew by. I was very busy with lesson plans and planning for our weekend trip to Dublin.

I had a great week at school. I am really starting to feel like I fit in. The staff is so wonderful and welcoming. They are always checking up on me to make sure that I am fitting in and enjoying my time. I find the Irish to be very friendly and personable people. They remember small details that I tell them, and always ask about my weekend travels! The staff at my school is excellent with giving travel advice, and helping Sandi and I to book tickets online and such.

Since I am in the three different classes, it has taken me some time to find my place and role, but this week I think I finally figured them out. My Junior Infant girls are absouletly adorable. This week I read them a book and fruits and vegetables. We did an activity with the book and an art project. I also taught them how to write the letter p. The girls struggled at first, but eventually caught on. In my school, they are very precise with the girls writing. Everything is to be perfect; in the lines, not too big, not too small, and evenly spaced. At first I felt bad being so picky about their writing, but I realized that if I want them to master the letter p, I have to be very picky and encourage them to practice it over and over.

My 1st class girls crack me up everyday. They are quite the energetic bunch. But are all wonderful girls. This week we learned about magnets, static electricity, we memorized an Irish poem, and did an art project on pigs. The girls are so willing to learn and very hard workers for their young age. I also did a lesson on the differences between America and Ireland. They were very jealous that American children can decided what they want to wear to school and are able to have some many lovely things to eat for lunch (that is how the girls put it!). I also made them realize that they are lucky for several reasons; school starts later, their school days are shorter, and they do not have to spend 20 minutes deciding what to wear in the morning! They are an awesome group of girls and I really enjoy working with them!

My 1st class has a wide range of learning abilities. I have 3 LD girls who are pulled out for reading class, but are included during the rest of the day. There is also a girl with Cerebal Palsy. She is a very bright girl, but needs a lot of reminding to stay on task and finish what she starts. I also have a another girl who recently moved from Hungary. She speaks barely any English, but is extremely intelligent. I have been working with her a lot while my teacher is teaching Irish to the other girls. We read the books that Junior Infants are reading and play different literacy games on the computer. The girls in my first class are very accepting of everyone. They see oneanother as being exactly like them. They are extremely helpful to their classmates. I will very often see them helping those they sit by stay on task, open their books to the right page, and sharing their utensils. I think this is reflective from the Irish people in general. They are a very caring and helpful culture.

I only was able to do one lesson with my fourth grade class this week. The teacher was gone for two of the three days that I am in their classroom. And at the Primary Convent School they do not get subs. Girls are spread out two by two, and go to other classrooms. They are given a list of work to get done through out the day, and that is what they work on all day long. The lesson that I did with them was on Shops and Shopping in ancient times. The girls enjoyed the lesson I think due to the fact that they LOVE shopping. They mentioned this to me a numerous amount of times during the lesson.

I met a girl from the University of Limerick this week. She is student teaching in the other 1st class at my school. She only has to do 6 weeks of student teaching at one school and one grade level. She could not believe how long we are required to do ours (18-20 weeks).

This week was great and full of many new experiences. I was nervous at first about my teaching experience in Ireland and going to a school with a completely different education system. But I am finding that I am learning so much and it will hopefully it will reflect my teaching when I arrive back home!

Croagh Patrick, Connemara, Cliffs of Moher, Kinsale, and the south coast

My Dad arrived on Monday night to visit me for the week. He had a rental car, so I was excited to finally be able to drive somewhere and not have to walk, take a taxi, or a bus.

Here is a picture of a famous hill, Croagh Patrick, located in County Mayo in western Ireland. It is located in the Pilgrim's Path. is a view of Croagh Patrick from a neighboring city Westport. It is named for Saint Patrick, who reputedly fasted on the summit of Croagh Patrick for forty days in the fifth century and built a church at the top of it. Below is a picture of Croagh Patrick from the neighboring city of Westport. My dad and I were going to attempt climbing it, is round trip of 3 and half hours. There is no nice foot path, but rather it is very rocky. I did not feel like taking my chances with dad and having him fall and break his leg or something. I can't drive a stick car, especially with my left hand...so we decided to play it safe and only walk up some of it. And that was exhausting enough!

We decided to swing back down to Galway and drive through Connemara National Park, It is a very mountainous region situated in the heart of the west of Ireland in County Galway. Connemara covers some 2,000 hectares of scenic mountains, expanses of bogs and heaths, and grasslands. Some of the Park's mountains, namely Benbaun, Bencullagh, Benbrack and Muckanaght, are part of the famous Twelve Bens range. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. I could have dealt without the narrow roads and stone walls along the roads, but overall it was amazing. The landscape is extremely rocky, and that is why the roads are so narrow and seem to wind around everywhere. Unfortunately, Dad and I got lost in an Irish speaking part of the Connemara. We eventually figured out where we were, but it was quite scary because we would of had no way to communicate with anyone!

The Cliffs of Moher! An amazing site in County Clare, was another stop along our travels. The set up has changed drastically since I was last there about 8 years ago. There is a historic castle on one of the cliffs, but you do have to travel up a couple of steep hills in order to reach it. It is defintely worth the hike however. We had an amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean, and since it was a clear day we could see the Aran Islands and Galway Bay. It was incredible!

We drove down to the south of Ireland. We went through, which I believe is the second largest city, Cork. We did not stay there long, the traffic was awful...as it is everywhere in Ireland. We visited a town called Kinsale. (I will post pictures of it soon!) It is on the south coast and has a gorgeous harbor. Sailboats fill their harbor! It is known as the Gourment Capitol of Ireland due its plentiful supplies of seafood restaurants. This was my favorite city in Ireland so far!

We continued on our adventure around the south coast of Ireland back up to the town I was living in Listowel. I need to get more pictures from my dad to post on here!

My first weekend

I was very excited to hear that my second week of school in Ireland was their mid term break. All of the schools in Ireland had the week off of school. It falls on this week because of Halloween and a fall break before Christmas comes. So Ang, Sandi, and I decided to take a holiday!

Due to our late planning, we could not find any where to stay in Galway for Saturday night, the city we really wanted to visit. There was a big Gaelic Football match in Galway between Australia and Ireland. We really wanted to go somewhere, so we decided on Limerick. Sandi and I arrived early Saturday morning, and walked along the streets hoping to find a bed and breakfast. We took the first one that we could find, and later regretted it. It was only 20 euro a night for each of us, a good deal, but it was not located in the best part of Limerick. Ang later arrived, and told us that the lady she is living with, Claire, said that a couple of years ago the Irish used to call Limerick stab city. Needless to say.......we were quite nervous then! We decided to make the best of it, and do some shopping.

We also went out to a pub by our bed and breakfast in celebration of Sandi's 22nd birthday. We were approached by the ex deputy mayor who taught us how to do a toash in Irish. We usually say 'Cheers', but the Irish say 'Slainte', which means health. Several older men, very friendly, kept coming up to us and giving us information about their country and Limerick. It was quite humerous. We were going to go to another pub, but due to the fact that we were extremely scared, we called it a night. There was also Halloween parties going on in every pub, so people were all dressed up......does not make one feel the most comfortable, even if we were in De Pere. We spent the night with our door locked, and our luggage piled infront of the door.

On Sunday we finally made it to Galway, and spent 3 days there. We really enjoyed the city, and it was just as I remember it. Galway was the city that my family and I used to live in 8 years ago. I revisited my old house, school, soccer field, favorite shopping places, and the prom. We walked the streets and did some shopping, visited a cinema, had a pint with the Irish, and of course chowed down on some amazing Fish'n Chips. If anyone is traveling to Galway, McDonaugh's is the place to visit. The food is lovely....as the Irish would say!

Our bed and breakfast was in Salthill, which is still in Galway, but not the heart of Galway. So we needed to take a taxi to get from and into town. It was Angela's first time in a taxi, so it was quite exciting. I think one of our taxi's was even a Mercedes. One day we decided to walk from our bed and breakfast, with our luggage because we were checking out, to the prom. They call the shore line of the Atlantic Ocean the prom, and there is a nice walkway there to walk along the ocean. It was a very windy day, and our luggage was extremely heavy....so probably not the best day for a stroll. But we walked to the prom, the three of us in a row. Well walking the prom, turned into walking all of the prom, then the streets, going around roundabouts, through stop and go lights, and eventually we made it all the way into town. Roughly 4 miles. We were nuts! But apparently we wanted to save money and did not want to call a cab. The three of us must have looked ridicilious. All of us had heels on, in a line, usually with large gaps...Sandi always last because the wheel on her luggage broke and she had to carry it :) It was not funny at the time, but when we look back it was hilarious!

My favorite things about Ireland

Angela and I are compiling a list of the things that we like most about Ireland. Here it is:

* Their fish and chips are to die for. Their cod is delicious and they put vinegar and salt on their chips, french fries. We seem to find one every where we go, and they also allow you to have it go!

* We have definitely seen some American restaraunts which is a comfort: McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Dominoes, Papa Johns, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Quiznos.

* Long car rides are not bad at all due to the amazing scenery. Ireland is green everywhere with a variety of different landscape. Their are mountains, coastlines, rocky landscape, rolling green hills, etc.

* The chocoloate and sweets over here are delicious. They have amazing deserts and pastries.

* It is so easy to travel from one place to another. Buses and trains run all day everyday. Their prices are reasonable. Bus Eirann, our choice of travel, stops in several towns, so you can get to almost any destination.

* School starts later than in America, so I am able to sleep in. It first starts between 9 and 9:30am! I have to wake up at 7:30am, but that is way better than 5:45am at home!

The Primary Convent School

Here is a picture of my school. The building on the left is the Primary Convent school where I teach! The middle is where the offices and staff lounges are located. There is also another building connected on the right which is the special ed school.

The schools in Ireland are very different than the United States. The Primary Convent school in Listowel is an all girls school. The Primary school, our elementary school, goes from Junior Infants through 6th class, or Kindergarten through 6th grade. And then students go onto the Secondary school which is 7th grade through your senior year in high school. The students entire schooling, from Junior Infants until their 6th year (Senior Year) at the Secnondary level, is to prepare them for a huge exam they take to get into a University.
School does not start until 9:30am and goes until 3pm. There is a break at 10:30am where students go into the yard to play, and teachers have a tea break. The girls also have lunch at 12:30pm, and they eat their lunches right in the classroom. Older students 'mind' the younger ones while they eat so that teachers can eat their lunches in the staff room. There is also 2 bathrooms in each classroom.

Students in Ireland are extremely respectful of their teachers and other staff members. They stand up and speak in Irish everytime an adult enters the room. I am not sure what they are saying, but one of the girls said they are saying 'Welcome and God Bless'. But I believe that there is some that I am missing there.

The students in Ireland do not go to a different teacher for their elective classes in the Primary School. Each teacher teaches music, art, and Irish in their classroom. Students will have Phy Ed about two days a week. A man comes in to teach that and it may be Irish dancing, rugby, or Gaelic Football. They call their gym a hall. But it is very similiar to our gym. There are no computer labs, but rather one or two computers in each room that the students take turns using.

The Primary Convent school is divided into 2 separate buildings. One is for the regular classes, Junior Infants through 6th class. The other half of the building is for Special Ed students. They have an entire wing of a building for these students. They are all of the students in the area, boys and girls, who have special needs.

Ireland vs. America

Ireland and America are not only countries in two different continents, but there are several differences between the two countries. I am trying to keep track of as many as I can so I do not forget!

1. The Irish people are extremely laid back and enjoy having tea and relaxing and talking about their day. In America we tend to be very fast paced trying to fit in and do everything that we need to get done that day.

2. Schools and work start a lot later around here and end the same time at home. School starts between 9 and 9:30, so do most jobs. Traffic jams occur around 9am here, rather than around 7 like they do at home.

3. There are so many words that they say to mean different things:
trunk- boot
french fries- chips
potato chips- crisps
cookies- biscuits
1st grade- 1st class
good job- well done
a lot of something- loads of
to say that something happened a long time ago- ages ago
delicious- lovely, gorgeous, nice
mean- cross
nice teacher- sound teacher
candy- sweets
call someone the phone- ring
stop by somebodys house- call on them

4. They drive on the left hand side of the road. So the steering wheel is on the opposite side that it is in the US. I still find myself going to sit in the drivers seat thinking that it is the passenger seat. Their vehicles are also very small. Most everyone has cars, you will not see many vans, SUVs, or trucks.

5. Their roads are not nearly like the US. Dual carriage ways (freeways) are starting to be built, but they only are about 5 miles long at a time. Their roads are very, very narrow and windy. There are also brick walls alongside of the roads, which makes it scary when having to pass another car.

6. Many of their houses are connected to one another. They call them semi-detached houses. Streets upon streets can have houses lined up right next to eachother looking the exact same. They have very small square backyards, called gardens, that are separated by brick walls, not fences.

Week One

I cannot believe that my first week in Ireland is already over. Once the week started and I was in school it seemed to fly.
The town where I am living, Listowel, is a very quiet and safe Irish town. It is located in western Ireland, more towards the south, along a river. It has about 3000 residents, a large historic church, several Primary and Secondary schools, a small university, a larege Gaelic Football pitch, a golf course, loads of shops everywhere, 3 internet cafes, and of course 99 pubs! There is also a nice park where I run through every day. Everyone in the town seems very friendly and respectful of one another. Katie and I are known as the American girls, and several people have come up to me and asked if I was the American girl visiting.
My family, the Walsh's, are extremely kind and welcoming. Fidelma and J.P., host parents, are very accomodating and try to make us feel right at home. Fidelma is a stay at home, but spends all of her time volunteering at their church, having tea with her lady friends, cleaning the house almost everyday, and cooking all home made meals. So I will never go hungry, nor complain about the food! J.P. teaches Maths and Science at a Secondary School in the town next to Listowel. He is extremely intelligent! And it seems that their 3 oldest sons have also inherited their father's intelligence. Steven, the oldes, just received his PhD in engineering, Phillip just graduated from a University in Limerick in engineering, and Steven, is going to the University of Limerick for biomedical engineering. Very impressive. They also have two younger girls Abigail and Lisa. They are 13 and 11, respectively, and go to the school in Listowel. They are the sweetest girls. They really seem to enjoy having us stay with them, and are constantly asking us questions about America! I feel very blessed with the family that I was given to stay with.
The Irish drink tea...a lot. Tea is offered to me at school, at home, and if we go visit anyone else at their home. I am gradually starting to drink it, but I never drank it at home so it is new for me. They do add milk and honey to their tea. Tea is also always served with biscuits, which is a cookie or some sort of pastry.
Fidelma cooked us an Irish meal this week. Cabbage and bacon. We were hesitant at first, but Fidelma had been such an excellent cook all along, we felt as though we had to have faith in her. Well it turned out to be an incredibly delicious meal! The bacon is just like our ham that we have on Easter. (They call their bacon rashers). And the cabbage was very scrumptious. She told us that they cook the caggabe in the water that they boil the ham to give it some taste. It was a very delicious meal and our first 'real' Irish one!