5 weeks ago we got to Ireland, and in 5 week’s I’ll be headed home! This trip has gone so incredibly fast, and I have a feeling that the next few weeks will only go faster!
It’s been a while since I blogged, but we had a few weeks of laying low, which was incredibly nice. Unfortunately, it was accompanied by both Han and I having a cold, but we’re on the upswing of that, so we should be as good as new next week! In school, I’ve continued working with Senior Infants, 1st, 2nd, and 4th classes–we’ve been continuing with our clay projects in Senior Infants, and also with our drama unit on the Seasons and the Season’s Wizard! I only get to see them for an hour total each week, but each time they still ask “when are you coming back Ms. Lenz?” and love to wave and say hi every time they see me. And they are absolutely adorable as well 🙂
In 1st class, we got to do a fun art project after learning about cave paintings where they got to make their own out of pastel chalks and paper. Those turned out lovely and colorful, and it’s hilarious to see what they consider a wild animal, and how they chose to depict them! We also have gotten to sing along to some Frozen songs at the end of the day while we are cleaning up. They absolutely love that! I’m hoping that I can teach them some traditional American songs like Yankee Doodle, or Take Me Out to the Ballgame before I head home. We also did a variety of science experiments this week–their teacher and I set up a stations that explored magnets, one for static electricity, one for buoyancy, one that looked at what happened when you put raisins in water compared to 7-up (they start “jumping!”), and then one with string and what happens when you pull a wet cloth across the string compared to a dry one (the string makes a “clucking” sound). Their teacher was gone the entire day yesterday, so I actually got to be the real “teacher” all day long, on my own! That was a fun, but definitely exhausting day! I barely have a voice left today.
In 2nd class, we finished their creative writing stories on their dream holidays (vacations), and have started our new unit on light. We kicked off the unit with another episode of Magic School bus, which they go crazy over, and will be doing some experiments with that this week. We’re also going to look at the eye, and how the eye takes in light, and then transition to our main source of light: the sun, and look at the sun, moon, and planets.
In 4th class, we’re continuing our Literacy Liftoff program! I am in charge of comprehension questions, so I rotate from group to group, stay there for 10 minutes at a time, and in our small groups we debrief the reading that they have done. There are other teachers who do Work Work, Grammar, and Pre-reading with them, so it’s a packed 50 minutes, but they nearly cheer everyday when we walk in, which is encouraging! This weekend, Han and I actually are going to Killarney again to support our 4th and 5th grade students at their Peace Proms concert! Students from all over the country get together to put on a concert, and our girls get to be a part of it, so we wanted to be a part of that with them!
Grandparents day was a huge success! There was a record number of Nanas and Grandads there, and the ceremony itself was beautiful. We got to thank, celebrate, and pray over the grandparents, and it was followed by a small reception of tea and biscuits! I wore a new skirt for grandparents day, AND straightened my hair (quite the upgrade from the traditional pants and jumper I wear day in and day out), and the 1st class girls decided that “I looked so pretty that I needed to get married”. Kids just say the darndest things!
Valentine’s day is coming up, so this Friday I’m planning on doing a craft in both my 1st and 2nd classes. Pinterest has proved to be the best creation on the face of the earth, especially for a teacher with limited resources. I’m excited that I get to celebrate this holiday with them! I’ll be sure to post pictures of our finished products!
The host family is still as wonderful as always! We’ve had delicious meals of meatballs with baked turnips and parsnips and potatoes of nearly every kind, pancakes, sausage, toast and egg breakfasts (her pancakes are so much better than box ones at home!!), lasagna, stir fry, chicken and stuffing, a variety of salads, enchiladas, black pudding (if you don’t know what that is, look it up…I’m unsure how I feel about the fact I ate that…:/ ), traditional ham and cabbage, chips (fries) and pizza–their cooking skills never cease to amaze me! But all their food here is incredible to be honest! We had a movie/pizza/junk food night with our host sister last weekend, and we ordered delivery pizza, and that was even incredible! And I’ve become addicted to this granola/fruit cereal–I honestly can’t wait to have it every morning, and sometimes I can’t even wait a full 24 hours, so I have to sneak some in before bed. It’s getting bad…haha. Han and I decided that on Friday, we are going to cook dinner for them as a little Thank You and Valentines Day treat. It won’t be nearly as good as their dinners, but if anyone has any ideas for what to cook, let us know!! Our host mom also gave us our first cooking lesson! She taught us how to make scones–looks like I’ll be making lots of those when I come home! I’ve also graduated to just tea and milk! Sugar is used in tea, but not that commonly, so in an attempt to embrace my inner Irish (and take in fewer calories with all the other delicious foods I’m eating!), I’ve decided to cut out sugar. I’m authentically Irish now! This weekend, our host mom is also going to teach us to knit! We’re headed downtown shortly to pick out our yarn! Finally, we have a habit of settling down to an episode or two of Friends after school, and a Person of Interest episode every night, but I think we may be out of Person of Interest Episodes soon, so any suggestions?! Oh! and we had a baking night with our host sister too! What a blast we had as we made chocolately, chocolate chip cookies!
The weather has been less than spectacular unfortunately. They have had more storms, flooding, and cloudy days this winter than they’ve had in a long time, so that has made sightseeing somewhat difficult, but we’re still making the most of every moment here, and we’re sneaking in sightseeing when we can! The bad weather gave us an excuse to go to the cinema and see Frozen however!! My heart was so happy (even if it was my third time seeing it…)
This past week we managed to find just enough sunshines to visit Dingle Peninsula! The ocean was a gorgeous shade of blue, the sun was out, and it was an absolutely perfect day! I can’t even really describe it, but the pictures below should give you a glimpse of what we saw. We went through the small town of Dingle, which is one of the few places in Ireland that speaks only Irish, through the Conor Pass, to a few beaches, stopped at a pottery shop/cafe, and went up through the mountains. What beautiful sights to see! I even got to be ABOVE a rainbow when we were in the mountains–what an experience that was! God truly blessed us with a breathtaking world to live in!
Our host dad is a Pastor, so we have been attending the community christian church with them each sunday. Church here is quite a different experience than at home. Church “starts” at 11, which means there is approximately 30 minutes of chatting and drinking tea before starting. Then, we sing a few worship songs, but there isn’t really a schedule, so if someone wants to sing a different one, we will gladly do that! With only about 50 people attending, it’s a lot easier to accommodate those requests than it would be at my church at home of 3,000. Pastor then leaves time for anyone to share anything they have on their heart, a passage that has been on their mind, a thought, a prayer, prayer request, etc, which he then follows by an hour sermon. Church then ends around 1pm, but lunch follows! Each week, one member of the church volunteers to make lunch for everyone, so we sit around to another cup of tea and lunch for at least an hour and a half. So it’s a full day experience, but it’s filled with time to talk, catch up, encourage each other, and truly just let God speak through every person there. Just another reminder of how time-regimented our culture is at home compared to here. They take time for people and meaningful conversations here…
So this week we’ll continue in the classroom, and next week is our midterm break, so we have off on Thursday and Friday. And–get excited–I’m headed to London!! I’ll be meeting up with a few other SNC people who are studying abroad throughout Europe, so we’ll have an adventure of a lifetime together, I’m sure! And then it’s three short weeks until I’m home…CRAZINESS! But I’m loving every second, and every day I spend here makes me realize how hard it is going to be to say goodbye. But we’ll deal with that when it comes!
Here is a continued list of words I’m learning:
call–stop somewhere (i.e. I’ll call into the shop to pick up a pair of mittens)
ring–call someone
in hospital–how they describe someone who has been taken or is in the hospital (i.e. Is Mike still in hospital?)
drop–throw something away
sellotape–clear tape (CORRECTION ON THE SPELLING FROM LAST TIME)
class–something that’s really cool
lads–our equivalent would be “guys”
petrol–gasoline
dear–expensive (i.e. That purse is really dear!)
plait–a braid
biro–pen
mad–you really like, or are crazy about something (i.e. I’m not mad about peanuts)
nice–when referring to food meaning it tastes good (i.e. that pasta is really nice)
And I’ve noticed their pronunciation is significantly different when they say garage, renaissance, basil, oregano, and vitamins.
Oh! and they also sign all their text messages at the end with their name, and instead of using their fork as a utensil to scoop food onto, they turn their forks upside down and push food onto the rounded side. I’m not sure how that works yet, but I am so intrigued by even those types of small difference between cultures!
Miss you all! Until next time!
"A Whale of a Time" 