No School- Election Day

Today was the Presidential Election in Ireland, and the girl's school was being used as a voting point. They were so excited to have the day off! It ended up being a pretty eventful day. I was sorely mistaken to think that they would sleep in until at least 9 like the weekends. At 7:58 there was knocking on my door and two little heads poking in. Thank goodness they were happy to watch a little TV while I took a shower and got ready.

We stayed around the house till about 11, and then headed over to Taylor's. The girls have skyped with the Forde kids plenty of times, but they have been asking for ages to meet them in person. They finally got to meet Katie and Grace today, but unfortunately Eoghan was in school (only the schools being used as voting sites were out). Aoife and Naoise were so excited to play with the younger girls, it was pretty adorable how they were interacting with each other.

We left Taylor's at about one and went to the cinema. The girls had been wanting to see Judy Moody, so Catherine and I decided it would be the perfect activity for the day off. They really liked the movie, and of course the slushy and popcorn that went along with it.

We picked Taylor up after the movie, and she came back to our house. She finally got to experience playing school with Naoise. Taylor will tell you she runs a pretty tight ship! I think we were being a little disruptive students because she threatened to separate us a few times!

Not sure how excited the girls will be to go back to school tomorrow after their day off!

Weekend update-

Not too much to report from last weekend. I had Friday afternoon off, so I went and collected Taylor and we went on a nice long walk in Rathcormac. She was planning on spending the night here because I was suppose to be babysitting, but Paul and Catherine decided not to go out. We had dinner with my family, and then decided to out in Cork City with some friends since I was off for the night. It ended up being a really fun night!

Saturday we slept for a good part of the morning and then headed into Fermoy for a big Irish Breakfast (Irish Sausages, Rashers, Black/White pudding, Beans, Toast, Potatoes). If you are wondering if I really just listed beans, yes I did! We haven't quite figured out why that is considered a breakfast food here, but beans and toast are a common choice for breakfast.

Taylor had to babysit Saturday night so we just hung out at her house. I was really good company and fell asleep on her couch about 10 o'clock. Sunday we went to lunch with one of our friends, and then relaxed for most of the day.

Better late than never....

So I am finally updating about last weekend!

Nothing too exciting to share, it was a fun but low-key weekend. Taylor was babysitting for Gill's sister Friday night while she was at a wedding. Marie had told Taylor to ask me to spend the night if she wanted, so I headed over there before dinner. Thank goodness I was coming because I saved Tay by bringing frozen pizza's for the boys to eat. We watched The Fox and the Hound and then the boys went to bed. Gill's other sister Carmel called over, as well as one of their cousins so we all just hung out. It ended up being a pretty fun night.

Saturday Taylor and I went into town and had lunch and shopped for most of the day. We went back to her house that afternoon and took a nap. I had to mind the girls Saturday night, so I headed home around eight. I got a nice little surprised when I got home. Everyone else was at Mass and they had set the alarm. I didn't know the code because it is normally only on after everyone goes to bed. Needless to say I was in a panic for about thirty minutes while this obnoxiously loud alarm was going off. Finally, after calling about 50 people, I got a hold of their old Au Pair who lives near by and she remembered the code. The rest of the night was a breeze from there.

Sunday Taylor and I went to Blarney and had lunch. Then we made our way over to the Blarney Castle, and of course kissed the Blarney Stone. It was a lot scarier than you would think. I knew I would have to lay on my back and over the edge of the castle, but I didn't realize just how far!

Funny quote of the week: Saturday night when I was putting the girls to bed Naoise asked "Caitlin, are you really 22?" Of course I answered "yes" her response "Are you going to stay that size forever?" (yes again) her response- "BUT I"M NEARLY AS TALL AS YOU!"

Friday

I volunteered in the school today, and got a new little assignment. I work in the Junior Infants class all day at the moment, but starting on Monday I will also be working with a 6th class student who is an English Language Learner. I am really excited to start working with him after spending three years volunteering with Neighbor to Neighbor in Raleigh. I met with his regular classroom teacher today to discuss what she wanted me to do with him, which I was really interested in hearing since I wasn't sure what type of work they do with ELL students. They have no ESL teacher or anything of that sort, and before this was brought to me I had not heard of any one-on-one work with ELL students. I think that this is something the Irish schools are just becoming used to because they have only had non-english speaking students in the school as of recently. I was telling the teacher about my experience and she has told me that I can use my own ideas as well when working with the students, so I think it will be very interesting to see his progress.

Kinsale

Friday night I had dinner here with the family, and then headed over to Taylor's to keep her company while she minded her kids. We just hung out and watched TV for most of the night, then Saturday morning we got up to go to Fermoy so she could finish some of her passport paperwork at the Garda station. We had an Irish breakfast, and then did some shopping for the rest of the day.

We met some friends in the village they are from later that night and then headed to Kinsale for a night out. Kinsale is on harbor, and near the coast so it is really pretty and a fun night out. We stayed in a B&B which is always nice because we get a full Irish breakfast the next morning. After we had gotten ready and eaten we headed out to do some exploring. We walked around town for a bit, and also went to one of the beaches nearby where a lot of people were wind surfing. It was a little colder than we are used to it being at a beach, but it was still really pretty. Taylor and I walked around for a bit and then sat and enjoyed the views while the boys decided to play soccer for about an hour. They also got a quick lesson on how to get a a wind surfing kite up from one of the kind people on the beach. After the beach we headed back into town to eat and get ice cream.

Teacher Talk

I just finished my Friday volunteering in the school. I have been assisting in a Junior Infant class for the last couple of weeks. Junior Infants in the first grade in the Irish school and is a cross between preschool and the beginning of K in our school system. It is really interesting to see the differences in schools here.

All of the students have breaks at the same time. The first break is 10 minutes and the second 30. All the students in the school are in the yard at the same time (almost 300) and there are only 2-3 teachers on duty. The rest of the teachers get these breaks as well, and spend it in the staff room. It seems so crazy to me that the students have that little supervision during their breaks. The yard is large and has several different areas, so there is no way the teachers can see anything going on. It is very different than recess in the states.

Technology-

The school has just recently gotten what they call interactive white boards for the classrooms, but this is really the extent of technology in the classroom. There are no computers for the students, no listening centers, or anything of that nature. The school has 1 maybe two copiers that are very outdated. It is interested to see how the school functions with so little to work with.

Today I was amazed to hear in the staff room that centers are a new concept here. They are just starting centers in 1st class (1st grade). One of the teachers was beginning to explain it to me, and was telling me how it is a very new thing here. I think she realized I knew exactly what she was talking about, so she began to ask if we had centers in America. (For all the education people reading this- I wonder what they would have to say about Daily 5)

Birthday Blog

I walked out of my room this morning and right away the celebrations began! The girls were so excited to sing Happy Birthday and She's a Jolly Good Fellow to me as soon as they could. They were so cute, and sweet! Then as I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom they rushed in with cards and chocolates! Such a great way to start my morning.

Photograph by Aoife...
Photograph by Naoise....

I took them to school, and then headed to Taylor's for our usual Wednesday together. She had all my birthday presents spread out on the counter, and had made chocolate rice krispies, as well as Banoffee pie (one of our favorite Irish things). William called over for tea and pie as well, which was nice.

Grace even wore her birthday suit...

The girls and I had a pretty normal afternoon, but of course they were on their best behavior since it was my birthday! Tonight we celebrated with dinner, and chocolate cake! It was nice to have a small family celebration like I would normally have at home. This weekend I will celebrate with Taylor and some of our other friends.

Finally updating

Okay- I have really been slacking on updating my blog! I just haven't made myself sit down and type it out recently! I am just going to go ahead and skip to this past weekend.

Friday night Catherine's parents came down from Cork city to stay for the night. We all had dinner, and then the girls went to bed soon after. Paul and Catherine's dad went to the pub around 9:30. Catherine, her mom, and I opted to stay in drink some wine, and watch a movie. It was a nice break from going out, and was just really relaxing.

The girls had a Gaelic Football match Saturday morning, so we will went to that around half past 10. It was fun to watch them play, although it's mostly a huge group of girls swarming at the ball since they are so young. Aoife had a nice time playing catch with her friend during the game, and could have cared less where the ball was for most of the game. Needless to say she takes it very seriously.

Saturday afternoon Taylor and I were suppose to go to Kinsale to sightsee, but the weather was bad so we ended up going shopping and to the cinema in the city. Saturday night we went out in Mallow with William. Sunday we all just laid around William's house. William and I exposed Taylor to The Town (you need to see it if you haven't!), and she loved it! Then William took us to the farm too see some lovely cows and tractors. We have been promised that we will get to milk a cow, and see a calving in the near future!