Since my arrival, I have been moving nonstop between sightseeing, teaching, and drinking beer. People really do just go to the pub after work for six to seven hours and just drink here. There are two stereotypes about the Irish that have yet to fail me. Number 1: We eat potatoes with EVERYTHING, sometimes I get two or three different kinds of potatoes at one meal! Number 2: The Irish take every occasion or even just every weekday to go out and have a pint, or three, at the pub. Thus, as everyone says "when in Rome"...therefore, I have been spending most nights in the pub.
Yesterday was Friday and it was my first day teaching class periods all on my own and I was more than a little bit terrified. The boys are fine, well behaved, but my cooperating teacher is so intimidating! She is very posh, and very cool, and I always feel just a little bit shitty about myself when I am standing next to her. Regardless, my lessons went well, but as always there is the leftover feeling of inadequacy and fear that I messed up or that I did something completely wrong. The boys have talent, but their voices really need to be shaped. This is my number one goal while I am here, help them create a fuller, more resonant sound. I hope that if I remember this, it will help me in planning my lessons and aiding in my teaching. It's kind of hard to walk into this situation because there are so many things that I could work on to help them be better. It is the first real situation in which I have to decide which things require the foremost attention and, as it turns out, this is REALLY challenging. After all is said and done, I did enjoy my first day and I really liked being in the classroom...
Today...I got a free ticket to the Navy vs. Notre Dame game. It was a very interesting experience that I will not soon forget. We got up early, went down to the pub (with all the 50,000 other Americans here for the game) and had a few early morning cocktails. There were just people everywhere. Drinking inside and outside, walking around town with drinks in their hands. Dublin was completely taken over by yanks this weekend and they made an awful lot of money in the process. It was actually very interesting because all the pubs had "American" or "grid-iron" football on all day and they were all waving American flags outside to show their warm welcome to all that were coming in for the weekend. Aviva stadium was super awesome and I have a number of pics to upload on here to document a bit of my day today. I'm also going to post them on facebook, so I apologize if you get notifications about them twice. Alas, I am very tired and have to prepare myself for the Gaelic football match tomorrow.
Missing you all,
Jackie
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