Sunday, March 21, 2010

One Month Countdown

Hey all...so this weekend was one of the best in the last few weeks in Kenmare. It was highlighted by Lisa's birthday dinner/celebration yesterday. All of Lisa's daughters, the three other Americans and other friends were all in attendance. Pizza, cupcakes, cookies, and a few (or more) bottles of Proseco made it a lively evening of chatting and just hanging out. We all eventually made it into town as well and it was a happening Saturday night.

For some reason, if I am out late on a given night two things the next day will always happen: 1) I wake up extremely early for no reason whatsoever and 2), I end up having a great workout. So this morning after waking up first at a little after 7, I then only made it to a little after 8, I watched a movie then went to the gym. I had pretty much rested on Saturday so today I was well rested and it felt great. I actually ran for the longest I had ever have on the treadmill. I did 5k in under 30 minutes if you believe those machines. Now this may not seem like a lot to runners out there but I usually am good for 20 minutes max. End of story, it was one of those good work out days.

Tomorrow I don't have that much of a busy day, or week for that matter. But my COST director in Ireland, his Deputy Assistant or whatever the title is, will be coming in to observe me for one lesson. I'm not too worried about it but it will begin my last week as a full time teacher in Ireland. Today is actually one month until I fly back to the States, and after this week, I have two weeks off for Easter Holiday. More on that to come soon.

A couple observations on life in Ireland. First of all, there are dogs everywhere. This may sound like a dumb statement, but I mean most of them just walk around randomly by themselves. You may have seen one particular dog in my pictures that I almost always see sitting in front of a butcher shop. Today just on a walk to and from the supermarket I counted 5 dogs. Dogs here just seemed to be trained to be more independent. The first place I lived in, there were two dogs and they both lived outside; even when it was freezing temperatures in January.

Also I have written a lot on differences in food in the country. There are actually more options than I thought there might be, even in Kenmare which is a small town. However, as someone that occasionally likes a delicious salad, I think I am most disappointed in the lack of ranch dressing. I have found ranch dressing ONCE in Kenmare and it was at a small Petrol Station (and it wasn't that great). What is going on here?! The local Supervalu doesn't carry it and it was most missed last night with our pizza meal. I tried to describe to the Irish the benefits of the ranch dressing and pizza combination but it just did not work. I often find people in New England do not get this duo either however, it is hard to explain when people do not even have ranch dressing in their country to refer too. Ridiculous. I miss Hidden Valley.

I love how Glee is on here like four days a week. Glee, lesson plan, bed. Talk to y'all tomorrow. Happy Spring by the way...

Best,
MG

Song of the day: 'Question' by Old 97s. This song which is on my newly purchased Scrubs Soundtrack Vol. 2, has been one of my favorites lately. Well I watched the episode yesterday that it came from, and it is when Turk proposes to Carla (for those Scrub nerds). Anyway, in the spirit of the weddings I am attending this summer, I felt it was appropriate. It's a good listen!


1 comment:

  1. I think I know which dog you're talking about. That's all.

    ReplyDelete