Christmas Time in Ireland

Well, this weekend brought my travelling in Europe to a close for this trip. I was invited to Co. Laoise to go home with my cooperating teacher. This area is very rural, and extremely beautiful. Over the weekend we visited the city of Kilkenny. There we toured Kilkenny Castle, St. Canice’s Cathedral, did some shopping downtown and then ate lunch in a pub that was established in 1324. Later in the day we took a short drive to the small town of Cashel. This is the home of the famed Rock of Cashel. The Rock is a massive ruin of a castle, and cathedral. Both are located at the top of a massive cliff; no elevators or escalators to reach the top. We climbed up to the front door and enquired about a tour. The man at the desk informed us that the Rock tour was closed today due to the gale force winds. So after all the work to reach the top we headed back down the cliff. I can see why it was closed though. If someone were to fall off, there would be no saving them. It was a great weekend. It was great to see this part of the country and it was also nice to spend some time with my teacher outside of the classroom and get to know her on a personal level.
This is my second last week here. Our Christmas play is due to take place this Thursday evening. I had all of my student bring in their costumes yesterday for a dress rehearsal. It was a little crazy but it looks great and I think we are ready for a grand show in only two days! I wish I had a video recorder, but I think I’ll just be stuck with taking a ton of pictures that night. Putting this show together has been quite a feat for me. I wrote, casted, rehearsed and got all the props together for it. I’m rather proud of how things are coming along. I hope the final show is a success for everyone!
Not only have I been very busy with getting everything ready for the play this week, but I have now been teaching fulltime for quite a while. It has been going very well, but with 30 kids in large classroom, my voice is beginning to get a little sore. One class that I have never taught prior to his placement was religion. I was initially nervous about this because I went to a public school and only had religion classes on Sunday. After teaching a few lessons, this has become on of my favourite classes to teach. For one reason or another, the students are always very calm during this time and they seem to do a better quality of work for this class. I really enjoy teaching the material, as I am Catholic myself. This week’s lessons have been about the Nativity and the Christmas story. I have truly enjoyed teaching these lessons and helping the students to understand that there is more to Christmas than Santa and presents.
With Christmas less than two weeks away now I am beginning to do more and more holiday lessons. I truly enjoy this time of year. It is a little more chaotic in the classroom, but it doesn’t seem to bother me. I know they are just excited about the Christmas season, and I don’t want to be the nasty teacher who squashes their excitement.
Well, It’s down to only eleven more days for me here. I cannot begin to tell where the time has gone. I truly feel like I was picked up at the airport in Dublin last week. It has been an amazing time, and I will truly miss this place when I leave!