Hello all, and happy hump day! 3 weeks from today, I will be landing safely in Chicago, IL, USA!!! How crazy is that?!?! It’s been a while since I last checked in, but so much has happened since then, so I’ll do my best to update you to the fullest degree that I can!
Well, the first thing is my list of new words/terms that I’m learning (my apologies if I start repeating myself!):
messing: fooling around
car park: parking garage/lot/ramp
fine: when you ask “how are you?”, in America, we say “good,” but here they say “fine”
will I: instead of saying “CAN, or MAY, I (fill in the blank with an activity or task),” they will say “WILL I (fill in the blank).”
post: mail something
note: paper money, so instead of a dollar bill, it’s a Euro note
hoover: vacuum
fiver: when somethings costs 5 Euro, it’s a fiver
tener: same as above, except for something that is 10 Euro
torch: flashlight
love heart: heart–they just always put “love” before it
clothes rail: clothes rack, as in the ones at a store
parcel: package
off: when someone is absent or gone
biscuits: cookies
digestives: graham cracker cookies
maths: subject of math at school–they add an “s” to the end!
dinghy: inflatable raft
bog: marsh or swampy area
tick: to correct something; i.e. “I’ll tick your homework”
ring: to circle something, you RING it
holiday: vacation
cork: cover to a glue stick
zed: their name for the letter “z”
hach (?): not sure how to spell this one, but for the letter “h”, they pronounce a hard “h” sound like in hate, where we say an “a” sound like in “ate”
tipex: white out
factor: SPF when referring to sunscreen; i.e. factor 15 (SPF 15)
desperate: so describe something that is awful, or intense; i.e. the wind was desperate!
wind screen: windshield on a car
queue: line; i.e. make a queue over by the door
bestie: this was a word from London actually used to describe a girlfriend (in the romantic sense)
stone: a unit of measurement related to weight; i.e. she’s approximately 2 stone (which is about 14 lbs)
skipping: jumping rope
film: they pronounce the “l” very distinctly as well as the “m”
interesting fact—“hell” is not a swear word here, so you’ll often hear the young girls saying “what the hell” which is no big deal here!
and one last thing: when saying the Our Father prayer, they have very different ways of pausing and emphasizing than we do! Same words, very different feel
I’m learning a lot, and am so intrigued by the words they use! We hear a great deal more unique words than the ones I share, but it’s somewhat strange for me to pull out my phone and document words during the middle of a conversation…haha, so I can only document the ones I remember at the end of the day!
At school, I’ve continued teaching in 1st class, 2nd class, 4th class, and a little bit with Senior Infants. In Senior Infants, we finished up our drama lesson on the seasons. We were able to act out various activities in each season, become Season’s Wizards ourselves where we created the weather and environment associated with each season, and then discussed how we can prevent the “actual” Seasons Wizards from fighting–so a little bit of life skill training on conflict! In 1st class, we did some work on Aerial Views, where we looked at Google Earth and saw our school, my house in America, and my host family’s house; we did a lesson on spring today since spring starts February 1st for them, are making hot air balloons out of paper, cups, and pipe cleaners–they are having a blast decorating those! We are also working on their cursive writing, and joining the letters (they call cursive “Big Writing”), and an interesting thing to note is that every student is still learning and is required to use cursive writing throughout primary and secondary school. In American schools, that has faded out, but here is it still a strong component, and I’ve found it somewhat interesting to teach since they create their cursive letters somewhat differently that we do in America (go figure!), so I’m learning as well as my students! We made collages of our homes by cutting out pictures from magazines and gluing them together, discussed the life cycle of a frog and butterfly, and then made Valentine’s Hands as our Valentines Craft! We traced their hands, cut them out, they decorated them, and then we attached them with a sheet that says “this much!”–just a simple representation of them telling their families they love them as far apart as their hands can spread! We’ve been practicing counting by 2, 5, and 10, and are working toward addition and subtraction, so we’ve been using lots of popsicle sticks and interactive SmartBoard games to give them practice with that! Finally, I taught a music lesson where I got to teach them some simple American songs! We learned Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and Yankee Doodle!
In Senior Infants, we have finished creating our clay monster projects, and now they are just painting them! It’s amazing how long painting a simple clay figure no bigger than 1″ wide and 3″ tall can take a 6 year old! 🙂
2nd class has been somewhat sad as one of the girls moved away last week. Her mom got a new job, so they had to move to a new city in Ireland. We had a going away party for her where girls brought in desserts and snacks, we watched Despicable Me 2, made lots of cards for her, and took pictures to remember the moment! She was an incredibly bright, fun girl to have in class, so we are definitely going to miss her. But besides that, we have been exploring light and the characteristics of it by watching magic school bus, and doing small experiments with mirrors and such. We also then looked at the eye, and how the eye takes in light. They created their own eye diagrams, and depicted how the eye adjusts to different amounts of light. We finished by learning about Neil Armstrong and the moon by creating a newscast (“The Blue Girls”–the name they came up with for our news station) where they each got to have a role in creating our own video. We ended our light unit by exploring planets and creating their own visual representations of individual planets, and a class representation of the solar system. We explored the importance and role of commentary by analyzing and watching some of the Olympics, and made Valentines Bumble Bees that said “Bee Mine!” Oh! And for Valentines Day, one of my girls made me homemade white and dark chocolate, and wrote me a card. It was the sweetest thing ever 🙂
Unfortunately, some sort of flu was going around our school for about a week and half before our midterm break started (which was Feb. 20 and 21st). Nearly half the school was out sick! In my class of 27 1st class girls, we had more than one day with only 12. In addition, we had some crazy weather that they haven’t seen in years that kept girls at home. Half the city lost power for multiple days, other places throughout Ireland were without power for a week, the damage was extensive with roofs being blow off, trees being ripped out of the ground, sheds flying away–it was crazy! We lost power at school for a while too, and teachers were panicking as they called home to see if their loved ones were safe, and parents came flocking into school to get their children home before it got worse. Talk about a stressful week before midterms. I think the entire school community was excited for, and needed, a few days off. There was also a parent visit day last week Wednesday, where any potential parents who are thinking of enrolling their girls in the school could come learn about the school, hear the band play, ask questions and talk to teachers, and participate in interactive demonstrations that showed what students were learning and doing in school. The school band was great, and it made me smile to see so many of them playing accordions–we’re used to more brass and woodwind instruments in a band, but the accordion definitely led the way! Each week, the girls also are learning Irish dance, have a chance to participate in gymnastics, and now get to play football (soccer) as well! They love having these small breaks from academics to get physically fit and involved in their learning, and I love watching them do it!
I’m not sure if i mentioned this in one of my first posts, but something interesting about the school is that the teachers are in charge of teaching nearly every subject–gym, art, music, along with the core subjects! It’s quite a diverse list of tasks for teachers! Also, they have small lunch, which is a 10 minute recess, and then big lunch, which is about a half hour. For lunch, there is no cafeteria, but instead, all the girls bring in their own homemade lunches and eat them in the classroom for about 20 minutes, and then go outside. Our school is also connected to a school specifically for individuals with disabilities. The classes are held separately, but the buildings are connected, and there are still some opportunities for integration, which is great for both schools’ students!
So beyond school, watching the Olympics was quite an experience here! It was strange hearing the updates on the Irish and English teams compared the U.S.–and since our host family really isn’t into sport, we didn’t get to watch them nearly as much as we would have at home, but we still got to see a few figure skating and skiing competition throughout the past few weeks. And regardless of our new location, we were still cheering strongly for the USA!
Han and I have learned to knit!!! Han has finished a scarf, and is starting on a headband, while I am working on a tea cozy for my friend’s tea pot, and then working additionally on a scarf. I’m hoping to make either a headband or mittens before I leave, but with only 2 weeks left, we’ll have to see what we can get done! It’s a bummer you can’t bring knitting needles on an airplane anymore…
And speaking on planes, I had the most INCREDIBLE trip to London over my midterm break! I had the chance to meet up with some of my dearest friends from SNC who are studying abroad at different locations throughout Europe this semester, and even got to make some new friends! All together, there was Maddie Cremer, Logan Jadin, Heidi Studinski, Alex Clemetson, Elizabeth Paitel, Tara Cunningham, Lily Space, Rebekah Melcher, Katie Danielson, Dani Mason, and myself. I literally cannot even begin to describe the amount of fun we had on this trip, but I’ll see how much I can type before my fingers give out! (or you get bored!)
I flew out on Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm. My host family dropped me off at Kerry airport, and I sat in the smallest airport I have ever seen. 2 terminals, and the plane literally almost flew into the windows the runway and such was so close. I was feeling somewhat nervous about traveling to London on my own, but God was definitely taking care of me! I was sitting waiting to board, when suddenly I hear someone call my voice from behind. Here was one of the teachers that I work closely with at school flying on the same plane to the same place as I was! She chatted with me over a shared chocolate snack, and even offered me some sterling to get started with London’s currency. She was even going to met up with me once we landed to make sure I got off well…I cannot tell you how seeing that friendly face just settled all nerves I had. Then on the plane, I sat next to a really kind man who offered to let me read his newspaper before he shut his eyes to take an afternoon nap. How kind and thoughtful! When I got to the airport, the man at the ticket counter was beyond kind and helpful, and pointed me in the right direction. When I got to the train platform, however, I was feeling somewhat lost, so I decided to ask a young woman who looked somewhat near my age for some help. Well here was another God moment, because turned out she was traveling to the same destination I was, she had some experience traveling around London so she offered to travel with me, and she was an primary school teacher in Cork! What are the chances of meeting such a person 🙂 God really had my back throughout this entire trip, right from the get-go. I eventually made it to our hostel (after calling the receptionist at the hostel and having him walk me the entire way there from the tube station)—which turned out to be undergoing some intense renovations! It was quite a mess, and needed some updating to be honest, but it looked like it was going to be beautiful when it was done. No one else was there when I arrived, and I was staying in a room with 5 other strange women, so I walked in for the first time, the girls just sort of looked at me, and went back to their own business. They spoke a different language, and seemed to be long term residents as laundry was hanging up all over, but I kept to myself and them to themselves, and I left shortly after to see if I could find anyone else. Once again, God was working in that as I was walking around the hostel, I suddenly heard an incredibly familiar voice. Alex Clemetson. I screamed so loud, and hugged him so tightly when we first saw each other! It was an absolutely wonderful, and somewhat amazing moment to be meeting up with him IN LONDON! After we finally let go, myself, Alex, Tara, Lily, and Rebekah sat in the basement of our hostel and chatted until late in the evening. The girls were actually studying there in London, so they left, and Alex and I wandered around the part of London that was around our hostel for a while. Then around 11:30, we headed back and shared a “dinner”or PB&J sandwiches and cereal at the hostel. That was one of my favorite moments of the entire trip!
The next day, we met up with Elizabeth, Katie, and Heidi at the hostel’s breakfast (which consisted of toast, hot chocolate, orange juice, and corn flakes), and spent the morning exploring London! We went to Buckingham Palace, Queen Victoria Monument, took a photo in the traditional London Phone Booth, Canadian Gate, and Green Park. Then we met up with Lily, Rebekah, and Tara after they finished class, and headed to Gloucester Arms for lunch where most people had fish and chips, but I had a delicious chicken and mushroom pie/pastry; then we went to Kensington Palace where Princess Kate, Prince William, and Baby George live! Alex decided to walk in a little farther than he was supposed to, so that initiated the first instance of one of us getting kicked out of somewhere in London (more to come!) We went to Ben’s cookies, Royal Albert Music Hall, Prince Albert Memorial, and Hyde Park.
We made a trip back to the Hostel to pick up our last few members–Logan, Maddie, and her roommate Rachel. Alex and I made a mad dash up the stairs and barged into Logan’s room, nearly knocking him over in our excitement to see him! Maddie has not checked in yet, so a few of us decided to walk around town for a little bit to show Logan around, and then return later to collect Maddie. Well we got about 5 blocks, and suddenly I heard my name being screamed from across the street! I turned around to see a girl running toward me, and I took off as well to find myself in another wonderful embrace with my beautiful friend. We returned to the hostel to collect the girls who were resting their feet (I have never experienced such tired legs and sore feet as I did walking around London these past 4 days—I was literally limping around the airport before I flew home!), and then we headed out again. We went to Trafalgar Square, and walked along the Thames River at dusk. Walking along the shore, and seeing the skyline and lit up buildings illuminating the night sky was the moment I fell in love with that city. I never knew what it was really like to feel your heart so connected to somewhere, and feeling like you never want to leave because everything that could ever bring you peace and joy was captured within the place you were. But I found that there, and that continued to get stronger throughout my time there. We finished the night by grabbing dinner at a Lebanese place, Comptoir Libanais, where I had a delicious chicken wrap, and then going to Wafflemeister for a warm waffle with vanilla cookie ice cream and dark chocolate sauce on it. Seriously…most delicious thing ever.
A few of us headed back to Buckingham Palace to see it at night, and then returned to the hostel. The manager at the hostel was kind enough to place all 4 of us girls staying at that particular hostel together, so we all spent about an hour journaling and chatting, and even Logan and Alex joined us for a while before retiring to their rooms. What an amazing and successful first day!
Day 2 was just as full! We started by going to Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey.
From there, we headed to see the changing of guard at Buckingham Palace, where the streets were lined with excited people, all itching to see the parade of guards and horses pass by. Afterwards, we went to Notthing Hill, which was a street lined with colorful shops, food stands, and vendors selling the most unique and beautiful items!
Maddie and I shared a Banana and Toffee sauce crepe for lunch while there, and then headed to see the musical Once! (how often do you get to see a musical in LONDON, so when we saw tickets were only 19.50, we couldn’t say no!) Maddie, Elizabeth, Rachel, myself, and Dani all met at the Phoenix Theater, and spent a few hours listening to the most soothing male voice imaginable, and watching a love story develop before our eyes. The ending actually turned out to be quite the surprise, but the experience and show overall was amazing! We went back to the tube station to meet up with a few people from our group–and after about a half hour of trying to get in contact, and developing a bit of anxiety that we were lost forever, never to find anyone again, we finally made contact with Lily! She saved us from the massive crowds entering the streets as the night life came alive at Picadilly Circus and Leicester Square, and we ventured off to dinner! We had to split up for dinner since we were such a big group, but I ended up at an all you can eat Chinese restaurant in the center of London’s equivalent to NYC Time Square! The line was crazy long, but the food at Little Wu was absolutely delicious! After dinner, we began our Harry Potter tour!
We went to platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross station, saw where they actually filmed it, went into the gift shop to get some lovely Harry Potter paraphernalia, saw Westminster tube station where Harry and Mr. Weasley struggled to pass through the entrance gate, and St. Pancreas International where Ron and Harry fly around the clock tower in their magic car. I haven’t been the biggest Harry Potter fan in the world, but after being at these places, I have become a hopeless addict! I’m so excited to watch the films and be able to know exactly where the events are taking place! We finished the day with Gelato from Cremerie Creperie–I had cappuccino flavored gelato in a waffle cone! Day 2 was another wonderful day, and I was lucky enough to have one left! Everyone else except myself, Alex, and Logan had to return to their countries early Sunday, so the three of us got to make the most out of our last day!
Day 3, we had breakfast early, said our goodbyes, and the three of us headed to Wimbledon! It was quite an adventure to get there, as we wandered throughout “Wimbledon Park,” only to discover that was not the location of the actual tennis court! We did, however, come across kids playing rugby with their dad, a track where lots of little kids were learning to hurdle and jump (Alex and Logan, being track guys, had a dying desire to take quick a lap around!), and got to see some more of Europe’s lovely green scenery. We eventually asked a very nice couple, who pointed us to the right place. We walked into the gift shop, after having a pleasant chat with the security guard who told us he has a brother in Indiana, and unintentionally (intentionally I guess for Alex and Logan!!) walked into the museum for which an entrance fee was required. Needless to say, this was the second time some of us got kicked out of somewhere…but no real harm done!
We made our way back to Regent’s Park, where on the way to we saw a Beatles shop, and the Sherlock Holmes museum!! With my new addiction to that show, I wish we would have had more time to go through it…but we moved on toward the Zoo. We took a quick picture in front of it, and headed to meet Rebekah at Hillsong church for service! What an experience that was! Tons and tons of excited, spirit-filled individuals praising the Lord together in a beautiful venue. I’m so glad we got to be a part of that!
Unfortunately Alex lost his gloves while we were there, but we made our way toward the British Museum after that. After only 10 minutes, though, we somehow LOST Alex. That was a scary feeling knowing that this museum was enormous and we had absolutely no way to contact him! Logan and I were able to see a lot of history as we wandered through the endless rooms of the museum, and even got to take a picture with THE Cleopatra and THE Rosetta Stone, and after about 45 minutes and many prayers, we somehow ended up running into him on our way out (another God moment!) We made our way to Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge after that. This trip was filled with unbelievable moments where I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the architecture around me, but standing in front of the Tower Bridge nearly surpassed everything. I was just in awe, and it was another one of those moments when everything in me wanted to stay in that moment, in that place forever. We attempted to take pictures to capture its beauty, but it was just impossible, so all I can say is if you have a chance to go see it—TAKE IT! Without any hesitation, go. I have every intention and hope of making it back to that very sight at least one more time in my lifetime, but hopefully more! (as Alex and I decided we are moving there 🙂 )
We met up with Rebekah, Lily, and Tara one last time for dinner at Cafe Floris, had another round of gelato, said our goodbyes (which was truly heartbreaking knowing our trip was coming to an end!) and headed to our last stops: the Millennium bridge, Globe Theater, London Bridge, and Tower Bridge to see it at night. The city at night, like I said, was absolutely stunning, so taking our last walk around the city, along the Thames River, through the Tower Bridge, across the London and Millennium bridges was a beautiful experience. Alex, Logan, and I just had to stop and smile every so often just feeling blessed and overwhelmed by the beauty of the city, and to cherish the once-in-a-lifetime moment we were sharing together. Our hearts were so joy-filled that we actually broke out in song multiple times, randomly throughout that 2 hour adventure! Seeing the Globe Theater where Shakespeare wrote and performed his plays, walking across the Millennium bridge that was destroyed in the last Harry Potter movie, putting our hands into the historic river Thames, and catching every glimpse we could at the astounding beauty of the Tower Bridge at night was just…incredible. I wish I could put into words how I felt, but it’s just something you have to experience to know and fully understand.
It came time to say goodbye to good friends, and to this amazing adventure, so we headed quickly to the Australia House, where Gringots was filmed in Harry Potter, and to St. Paul’s Cathedral where Princess Diana was married, as we made our way to the train station. Logan and I were headed back to Luton airport, and Alex to Stansted, so after getting help from the most kind-hearted train station security guard, we parted ways, realizing the next time we see each other will be May…and I will no longer be an SNC student with them. This was the last time we would all be students together. We somehow held it together, and Logan and I boarded the train after running into yet another beyond kind train station worker who helped us grab our last glance of the city skyline. Our train took us to the airport where we did our best to find a comfortable place to spend the evening, awaiting our flights in the early hours of the morning, and trying to get as much sleep as we could. I was fortunate to meet a very nice English man while I was sitting next to a random outlet charging my phone who wished me the best of luck on my travels yet to come–and that just warmed my heart. The people that I have met in Ireland, and those we also interacted with in London, were just so thoughtful, genuine, personable, and lived out communio (SNC’s model of radical hospitality and caring for those around you) in a real way!! I loved being a part of that, and am so sad to leave. And in all honesty, my trip to London was more than I could have ever asked or imagined. From the people I was able to share it with, to the laughs and memories we made, to the gorgeous, breath-taking history we got to see and experience, to the sense of home that London gave to me–there is not one part I will ever forget, and I will cherish those moments for as long as I live (not to be cliche…but it’s just undeniably true 🙂 )
Whew! Tired of reading yet!? I know this was a lot, and I have lesson plans to do for tomorrow yet, and it’s already 9pm, so it’s time for me to go! But I have 2 and a half weeks left, with plans to travel to Galway this weekend, Cliffs of Moher next week, Bantry and the Ring of Kerry next weekend, and finish up with a trip to Italy before heading home. These are going to be a busy last few weeks, but I’m so excited to see what’s in store, and am just doing my absolute best to be present in every single moment, for I know leaving these people, this culture, and this beautiful country is going to be beyond difficult.
Until next time!
"A Whale of a Time" 