So I totally get that I completely suck at blogging...and to be perfectly honest I'm only blogging today b/c i'm bored/I don't want to do my report. But I needed to reflect a little bit because for some reason today has been tough. So today is just a down day for me...I miss my Indiana students and I miss having my own classroom. I hate being seen as the substitute. The lines of how to deal with things are so blurred here that it's just frustrating! AHHHH!!
Ok enough about teaching.
So as much as I love it here I'm ready to live in my own house and see my friends and family. I've always been that person who needs a goal or something to look forward and thankfuThe landscape is truly breathtaking here! Next weekend Emily and I are going to see the Nutcracker lly I'm closing in on some exciting times!! Elyse may come to visit this weekend which is awesome because she is so much fun and I really want to show off the city that's become my home away from home! Also Emily and I are going on a "Wild Wicklow" tour of the county below us on sunday and on Friday we are going into town to go out in Temple Bar. Next weekend Emily and I are going to see the Nutcracker in Dun Laoghaire and it's Emily's last weekend here so we have to make it memorable! Then the week before the week of Christmas Abby comes to visit!!! I'm ridiculously excited to have her visit! I want her to have as much fun as I had in Glasgow! The next week is my last day at school then I get on a ferry to Wales and spend Christmas with Carl and his family! After I get back there is only 3 days until I fly back to the US and get to spend 4 days in NYC with Amanda! She's going to get the brunt force of my withdrawal from everything American but she's already promised me pizza when I get there! After that...home sweet home!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
More pics...
View of Newpark from the road
My room
Tiny coke bottles at the Spar (convenience store). Each cost about 1.95 Euro which is about $2.50. They are much smaller than 20 or 16 ounces.
Newtownpark Avenue where I walk to and from the bus stop and school everyday. Every house has a gate and some houses are huge and don't have a street number but a name as their address.For Janice...
K so I've been asked...or should I say Janice demanded that I update my blog. :)
My first day of school was Monday and I didn't have to be there until about 11 am so I took my sweet time that morning...my mistake. I had to catch the bus so I went to the designated bus stop that Steve had shown me earlier and waited for the 45 bus. Well I didn't know that you had to flag the bus down so I just stood really close to the curb and looked pleadingly at the bus driver...didn't work so well and I ended up chasing after the bus a bit. He stopped for me but when I got on the bus he was laughing as were the other passengers. Needless to say it was slightly embarrassing. Also I need to invest in a bus pass because it costs about 1.70 euro each trip so 3.40 euro per day and it's getting expensive!
Ok...well sorry janice but i'm really tired so i'll just leave you with a few pictures and finish up this post tomorrow!
My house...well you get the idea
Gearoidin's classroom! It's in a Victorian brick home that was converted into part of the school, is bigger than it looks from the outside and is quite drafty!
Ceiling of classroom
View from front of classroom
Newpark sign
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Finally!
Sorry I haven't blogged in a few weeks but things have been crazy! But it's okay because finally...FINALLY I am in Ireland! Now you have to forgive me if I start going off on random tangents b/c at this point i'm running on the 4 hours of sleep I got on the plane overseas. So here is a rundown of my day/2 days!
Basically my flights are kinda boring. Everything went very smoothly and there weren't any problems. My Aer Lingus flight was on a huge plane that was half empty so there was plenty of room to stretch out! There was also a baller in flight entertainment system with tons of movies and tv episodes and games etc. Needless to say I was fascinated and I watched Baby Mama on the way over with my own remote control. So cool lol. Also Aer Lingus served dinner and a light breakfast on the flight which I have to say was quite good!
Customs was interesting. It took no time at all but the lady just didn't understand how I could be here for 3 months to teach without being paid. She let me through anyway though!
Ok so flights went smoothly but when I arrived at the airport my troubles began with my now least favorite thing....my international cell phone. Basically I got to the airport and wasn't able to call my host family so I had to convert my money to Euro ($20 = about 13.60 Euro), save 7 Euro for the bus ride and use a pay phone. Well no one picked up and I started to panic until Haley saved the day and called me back....on the pay phone! Haley is my host family's 11 yr old daughter by the way.
So after I let them know that I was at the airport and about to board the bus I got on the bus that was to take me to an area close to my host family. There were several stops along the way and we went through the heart of Dublin which was just awesome and is much smaller than I had imagined...but I have only seen it by bus :)
I got off at my stop and Steve (my host dad) and Haley came to pick me up! They live about 10 minutes outside of Dublin in their neighborhood is really nice! It took me a second to adjust to riding on the other side of the car and on the other side of the road, but it kept me entertained! I gave Haley the Nim's Island DVD I brought her and she was quite excited and we watched it together later with much interruption from her friends who were fascinated by me. Now I know what zoo animals feel like lol, but they weren't all bad.
I met Di (my host mom) really quickly then she had to run, so I unpacked a little, downed a coffee and chilled with Steve and watched "Something For The Weekend" basically like the UK version of a morning talk show. Later we went to Haley's swim lesson, I got to talk to Di a bit more and Steve fixed my phone...kinda. The swim lessons were at Newpark (my school) so I got to see a bit of that and after they were over we went on a drive. Steve had shown me earlier were to walk to the bus stop and what bus to take. Di took me down to the coast and I got my first look at the Irish Sea aka the water between the UK and Ireland. It was so beautiful even for the kinda windy/rainy weather! Later I discovered I could see the Irish Sea from my window!
So basically now all I want to do is sleep but apparently the only way to limit jet lag is to stay up for as long as you can. I was told I can go to be about 8pm after dinner (3pm U.S. time). I'm off to read a bit now! Struggling to stay awake for another 2 hours!
Basically my flights are kinda boring. Everything went very smoothly and there weren't any problems. My Aer Lingus flight was on a huge plane that was half empty so there was plenty of room to stretch out! There was also a baller in flight entertainment system with tons of movies and tv episodes and games etc. Needless to say I was fascinated and I watched Baby Mama on the way over with my own remote control. So cool lol. Also Aer Lingus served dinner and a light breakfast on the flight which I have to say was quite good!
Customs was interesting. It took no time at all but the lady just didn't understand how I could be here for 3 months to teach without being paid. She let me through anyway though!
Ok so flights went smoothly but when I arrived at the airport my troubles began with my now least favorite thing....my international cell phone. Basically I got to the airport and wasn't able to call my host family so I had to convert my money to Euro ($20 = about 13.60 Euro), save 7 Euro for the bus ride and use a pay phone. Well no one picked up and I started to panic until Haley saved the day and called me back....on the pay phone! Haley is my host family's 11 yr old daughter by the way.
So after I let them know that I was at the airport and about to board the bus I got on the bus that was to take me to an area close to my host family. There were several stops along the way and we went through the heart of Dublin which was just awesome and is much smaller than I had imagined...but I have only seen it by bus :)
I got off at my stop and Steve (my host dad) and Haley came to pick me up! They live about 10 minutes outside of Dublin in their neighborhood is really nice! It took me a second to adjust to riding on the other side of the car and on the other side of the road, but it kept me entertained! I gave Haley the Nim's Island DVD I brought her and she was quite excited and we watched it together later with much interruption from her friends who were fascinated by me. Now I know what zoo animals feel like lol, but they weren't all bad.
I met Di (my host mom) really quickly then she had to run, so I unpacked a little, downed a coffee and chilled with Steve and watched "Something For The Weekend" basically like the UK version of a morning talk show. Later we went to Haley's swim lesson, I got to talk to Di a bit more and Steve fixed my phone...kinda. The swim lessons were at Newpark (my school) so I got to see a bit of that and after they were over we went on a drive. Steve had shown me earlier were to walk to the bus stop and what bus to take. Di took me down to the coast and I got my first look at the Irish Sea aka the water between the UK and Ireland. It was so beautiful even for the kinda windy/rainy weather! Later I discovered I could see the Irish Sea from my window!
Ok so the area between the trees and the house in the very back...kinda hazy but that's the Irish Sea! View from my window!
So basically now all I want to do is sleep but apparently the only way to limit jet lag is to stay up for as long as you can. I was told I can go to be about 8pm after dinner (3pm U.S. time). I'm off to read a bit now! Struggling to stay awake for another 2 hours!
Monday, September 29, 2008
contact info
Hey all! So today I bought an international cell phone so I can speak to everyone! In terms of contacting me there will be several options:
1. AIM
2. Skype - my name is ashface820
3. Calling/texts on my international phone
4. I may also call you using skype b/c the rates are cheaper
Basically when I am gone my regular cell phone is off limits b/c the rates are ridiculous. I will have a UK phone number that you can call me at but you will still be charged international rates unless you call me with a phone card or you call me through an 800 number. Here are the instructions for that: http://www.statravelus.ekit.com/ekit/MobileInfo/FFzone
I will recieve all my text messages for free but I'll be charged $.69 a minute to send one back...so don't be offended if all I send back is a message telling you to talk to me on skype. Another thing to remember is that I will be in a completely different time zone so if I accidentally send you a text at 3am I'm sorry! Dublin is 5 hours ahead so it would be 8 am there. Well I'm sure this will be an adventure! 19 days to go!
1. AIM
2. Skype - my name is ashface820
3. Calling/texts on my international phone
4. I may also call you using skype b/c the rates are cheaper
Basically when I am gone my regular cell phone is off limits b/c the rates are ridiculous. I will have a UK phone number that you can call me at but you will still be charged international rates unless you call me with a phone card or you call me through an 800 number. Here are the instructions for that: http://www.statravelus.ekit.com/ekit/MobileInfo/FFzone
I will recieve all my text messages for free but I'll be charged $.69 a minute to send one back...so don't be offended if all I send back is a message telling you to talk to me on skype. Another thing to remember is that I will be in a completely different time zone so if I accidentally send you a text at 3am I'm sorry! Dublin is 5 hours ahead so it would be 8 am there. Well I'm sure this will be an adventure! 19 days to go!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Beginning
I've never blogged before so this should be an interesting experience for me. I'm one of those people who tried several times during their life to keep a journal and ended up writing a total of about three entries...hopefully this blog will go much better!
Ok so It's about 3 weeks until I move to Ireland and it's finally hitting me that this is it. Soon I will be living across the ocean and will be surrounded by new everything and I am excited and terrified at the same time. I am also beginning to panic about having everything I need for my experience. My Indiana student teaching is beginning to wind down (it went so fast!) and as wonderful as that is I find myself making tons of lists. Now those of you who know me well know that I make list upon list upon list (only actually using about 10% of them) when I get stressed or overwelmed. I have a list of things to remember to pack and I mean the most obscure things that I just don't want to forget. I have a list of things I need to buy and papers, addresses, lessons, etc. that i need to organize before I leave. Soon I will be packing up my apartment to make the moveout process easier on my parents, considering I won't be in the country :)
Let's just say it's been a little crazy and getting more so by the second. This blog has just made me think of more things I need to do.....I'm gonna go make a list.
Ok so It's about 3 weeks until I move to Ireland and it's finally hitting me that this is it. Soon I will be living across the ocean and will be surrounded by new everything and I am excited and terrified at the same time. I am also beginning to panic about having everything I need for my experience. My Indiana student teaching is beginning to wind down (it went so fast!) and as wonderful as that is I find myself making tons of lists. Now those of you who know me well know that I make list upon list upon list (only actually using about 10% of them) when I get stressed or overwelmed. I have a list of things to remember to pack and I mean the most obscure things that I just don't want to forget. I have a list of things I need to buy and papers, addresses, lessons, etc. that i need to organize before I leave. Soon I will be packing up my apartment to make the moveout process easier on my parents, considering I won't be in the country :)
Let's just say it's been a little crazy and getting more so by the second. This blog has just made me think of more things I need to do.....I'm gonna go make a list.
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