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!