News from Ireland

Hi everybody,

How are you ? I’m fine.
The weekend of the 1st February, I prepared my luggage and all what I would take with me.
Surprise ! Or not. How can you survive 3 months with only 15 kg of luggage ? That’s a good question, isn’t it ?
It’s impossible. I had to sort what I would take with me and what my parents would bring me 3 weeks later at Carnival.
So, I left Belgium on the 4th February at 6.40 am with a surplus of 7 kg ;-)
I woke up at 3.00 am and arrived in Dublin at 7.30 am. Jenny, a teacher, was waiting for me at the airport.
We went together to Whitecross Primary School in Julianstown and she introduced me to all the teachers and their classes.
The pupils are lovely, they are very respectful and disciplined. They are very curious too, they ask a lot of questions about Belgium and how it works in our country. And I love answer them.

I spoke with the headmaster, Mr. Burke, about my stay and what I would do. I will present Belgium and I will also give some French lessons to the classes which want it. Moreover, I will help the different teachers with their class and especially in arts and crafts.

At noon, Laura and Jenny invited me at the restaurant and they took me to the apartment where I will live during the following three months.
Then, Laura brought me to Drogheda, a city at 4 km from my apartment.
We spent two hours there together. She guided me to where I need to be and helped me very friendly.

About the accommodation : it’s about 5 km from my school. I share it with Mary, a lawyer.
I have a double bedroom and my own bathroom. There is a kitchen and a sitting-dining room with a big TV J
I also have a big store at 10 min on foot.

Finally, I unpacked my luggage and installed myself. I arranged everything and then I was so tired with such a first day that I felt asleep. My first day was very busy and I love it.

On Thursday and Friday, I went in three classes each day to observe and also to help a little bit the teachers. I will have a schedule next week.
The school is nice and full of colors. They way of working is different. I will try to make a comparison with the way used in Belgium.

Unfortunately, there is no Internet and no telephone in the apartment. But I found a solution with an usb key which is a kind of modem. It practical, useful for me but sometimes low. I borrowed it from Mr. Burke and I will buy one this weekend.

Everybody is very nice and helpful. The whole staff welcomed me very friendly. To go to school, I get a lift with a teacher who picks me up every morning and she also gives me a lift in the afternoon to go back.

Further on I will discover Drogheda this weekend and rest a little bit. These few days were plenty of emotions and animated and so I’m a little tired.

If you want to know how it looks like the place where I am, you can get a look on Facebook. I put some pictures and I will put some more this weekend ;-)

If you are not on Facebook, I will put some on my msn-blog but that will be for in a few days because it takes a lot of time to get them on the Internet.

That’s all for today.
I know we have to write on the blog on specific days, but I will certainly write again soon.

Have a nice weekend,

Catherine xxx