Hey all...this weekend I made it up to Dublin, late Friday night. Kathryn and I took a train from Killarney to Dublin and got there around 9:30. By the time we got to the Kathryn's friend's house it was enough time to stop at Eddie Rockets and grab a pint at the local pub. Yes, Eddie Rockets is the Irish clone of Johnny Rockets and is pretty much the same from the logo to the food; just Eddie is the Rocketman in this case. Stephen and Kim (whom we stayed with) were very nice and accommodating and had two setter/golden retriever puppy mixes who were fun to play with of course..
Saturday was our day to tour Dublin and although a little cooler, was a nice day with sun all weekend. We got into the city center midday and pretty much hung around Grafton St. which had a lot going on for a saturday. Musicians, mimes and other beings lined the streets. Of course as soon as I got off the Luas (tram), I immediately found the nearest H&M but refrained from buying everything until my next trip; I know, I was impressed too. In the nearby shopping centre, going to the toilet cost 20 cents. Other things that amazed me about the mall area were the similarities but not exactly the same stores and restaurants like Eddie Rockets. For instance, Tk Maxx as well as Supermacs were very close connections to the American ones. However, pictures (I know they are coming!), will show you the subtle differences that make me laugh. There were plenty of McDonald's and Burger Kings in Dublin as well.
Bonnie and Megan from Auburn were traveling Europe this past week and we met up Saturday and hit up the Guinness Storehouse later on. The museum-like building was 7 floors that ascended into the final floor known as the Gravity Bar. Up there you get your ticket for your free pint and can see most of Dublin. With the sun setting the sight was amazing. The displays and going through the process of the Guinness creation was interesting as well....the Irish certainly take their Guinness seriously.
Later on that night after dinner, i met some more Irish folks that came over to the house we were staying and hung around until going to Club 92 later on that night. I was a little rusty, but I managed to dance the night away until the wee hours of the morning. Definitely was a busy and great saturday.
Sunday Kathryn and I made it to the O2 concert hall where we saw 'We Will Rock You.' The three-hour musical is based on Queen's music and the music itself was amazing. The story line was a little out there but I think in a way, it just proved how unique, creative and absolutely insane Queen's music really is. Also, I think the show in a way, embraced and made fun of it while continuing to reference pop and rock stars and songs of old and new. One of the male 'Bohemians' was named Britney Spears (just to give an example). I had heard on Sunday that Brian May (original member of Queen) would be playing...he came out during the finale, and played the guitar solo to Bohemian Rhapsody while the rest of the members sang and danced. It was truly amazing. I wish Freddie was still around. Queen has always been my favorite and after that, always will be.
After some dinner and a late train getting us back into Kenmare around 11:30, it was a goodnight sleep to conclude the weekend. Today I officially started with my two geography classes along with a few others beginning this week, will be a fun week. I also managed to get asked if a) I had a girlfriend and 2), could a few girls be my girlfriend. I was flattered....but did I mention they were first years (13-14 years old)? Haha ummm....but all the kids are sweet and funny so it made it a good Monday.
Irish Translations:
'Lift'-Ride (in a car)
'Petrol'-Gas(for a car)
'Half 7'-7:30(time)
'School'-School
More to come...
Just ate, so I am full enough to go grocery shopping. Cheers and have a good week.
MG
Monday, February 1, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Mars Bars
Hey all....okay so things are ALMOST coming together. I moved into my new place which is pretty easy when you can get a ride from a friend and only have a few bags. Dennis my roommate, is pretty cool like I said. I am pretty much the same distance from town but only 5 minutes from the Supervalu (cheap groceries) and the school, which is nice.
Today was an easy day at school. Unlike most schools in the States, you can come in late and/or leave early if your classes are done with. This week I have not picked up the full load but Wednesdays and Thursdays will be somewhat light for me. Hopefully I can get most of my planning done at this time which has been going good so far. I know I have mentioned my schedule but basically for the next few weeks I will have two Geography classes with first years(7th grade) and one Hist/Geog class with fourth years (10th grade). Also I will be splitting time with three different first-year History classes. It shouldn't be too bad but like I said, it will be good experience with a variety of teachers and students.
I didn't get to Cork last night but I did manage to give my computer to Lisa's daughters to bring in to get worked on. Hopefully I will have more on that soon.
So tomorrow immediately after school Kathryn and I are getting a ride to Killarney (about 45 minutes away) and heading by train to Dublin. It should be a good weekend and because I will probably have even more limited internet I will just plan on being online again on Monday. Kathryn has friends in Dublin and two of my friends from Auburn will be there too....fun times.
So I learned Cadbury has a factory somewhere close here....I didn't realize it was an Irish brand? This could explain the numerous Cadbury Cream Eggs I have consumed even though it is only January. They are everywhere. Also, the store I am in now I just bought a Mars bar which I am pretty sure doesn't exist in the States anymore.....anyway, I am thinking about getting a second. It is a good thing it is like 5 kilometers round trip to the school and gym that I walk everyday.
That is all, till Monday....
Cheers,
MG
Today was an easy day at school. Unlike most schools in the States, you can come in late and/or leave early if your classes are done with. This week I have not picked up the full load but Wednesdays and Thursdays will be somewhat light for me. Hopefully I can get most of my planning done at this time which has been going good so far. I know I have mentioned my schedule but basically for the next few weeks I will have two Geography classes with first years(7th grade) and one Hist/Geog class with fourth years (10th grade). Also I will be splitting time with three different first-year History classes. It shouldn't be too bad but like I said, it will be good experience with a variety of teachers and students.
I didn't get to Cork last night but I did manage to give my computer to Lisa's daughters to bring in to get worked on. Hopefully I will have more on that soon.
So tomorrow immediately after school Kathryn and I are getting a ride to Killarney (about 45 minutes away) and heading by train to Dublin. It should be a good weekend and because I will probably have even more limited internet I will just plan on being online again on Monday. Kathryn has friends in Dublin and two of my friends from Auburn will be there too....fun times.
So I learned Cadbury has a factory somewhere close here....I didn't realize it was an Irish brand? This could explain the numerous Cadbury Cream Eggs I have consumed even though it is only January. They are everywhere. Also, the store I am in now I just bought a Mars bar which I am pretty sure doesn't exist in the States anymore.....anyway, I am thinking about getting a second. It is a good thing it is like 5 kilometers round trip to the school and gym that I walk everyday.
That is all, till Monday....
Cheers,
MG
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Birthday Weekend
Hey all...thanks again for everyone on facebook and by other means that sent me nice birthday messages and such...my birthday was wonderful and it started very late on Thursday night with a few pints at some of the local pubs...which started it off right.
Thursday like I said I went out with some of the teachers at Kenmare, Lisa and Vince. Friday I went out with Lisa and some of her daughters and Kathryn (from UGA) and some others met us out. Saturday night was more of the same with a good band playing in Kenmare followed by time with friends afterwards. Is it sad that my favorite thing about the pubs I learned is that after last call, you can buy beer to go? Anyway, I had a good weekend and remember most of it which is a good thing.
Mixed with a little movie watching and another Lisa-made dinner on Sunday was the extent of my weekend. It was pretty lazy at times but exactly the weekend I needed. The first couple days of this week I have taught a few classes. On Tuesday afternoons I have Humanities with Transition Year Students. This is equivalent to 10th graders in a class that is mixed with history and geography. Over the next month I am going to be doing a study on Haiti with them which out of all my classes, will allow me to be the most creativity and freedom in my teaching. The kids are great and the class should be very interesting. The rest of the week for teaching is not too busy which will give me a lot of time to prepare for next week.
Wednesday and Friday I will be leaving school early both days for some traveling. Tomorrow I am getting a ride with Lisa to Cork which is a little over an hour away to hang out there and hopefully give my Mac to some people to get it fixed up. Friday I am leaving with Kathryn to travel by train to Dublin. A couple friends from Auburn will be in Dublin that weekend and Kathryn has friends there as well so we have a place to stay. There is a lot to see Saturday but Sunday we are going to 'We Will Rock You.' This is the musical based on Queen's music and I got word that Brian May (original member of Queen) might be playing on Sunday...who knows, but it will be nice to get around other parts of Ireland.
Everything else is going well. I found a new place with a guy named Dennis who is a carpenter and probably not too much older than me. He lives right past the school I work at and about a kilometer from town. This situation is considerably cheaper and a better deal for me. My new address is on my previous post. Here I will NOT have internet but will have a washer/dryer, more than four channels of cable and control over my own heat. I randomly got Dennis' number when calling another add and was referred to him...I went over last night and had made the decision within almost a minute. Dennis even gave me a ride home....just a good deal. The only disadvantage I can forsee besides internet is the gym is now further away and to get there, I basically have to walk by the pubs. Ohhhhh well.
All is well, how are you? Meeting some cool people here in Kenmare, and things are coming together.
Cheers,
MG
Thursday like I said I went out with some of the teachers at Kenmare, Lisa and Vince. Friday I went out with Lisa and some of her daughters and Kathryn (from UGA) and some others met us out. Saturday night was more of the same with a good band playing in Kenmare followed by time with friends afterwards. Is it sad that my favorite thing about the pubs I learned is that after last call, you can buy beer to go? Anyway, I had a good weekend and remember most of it which is a good thing.
Mixed with a little movie watching and another Lisa-made dinner on Sunday was the extent of my weekend. It was pretty lazy at times but exactly the weekend I needed. The first couple days of this week I have taught a few classes. On Tuesday afternoons I have Humanities with Transition Year Students. This is equivalent to 10th graders in a class that is mixed with history and geography. Over the next month I am going to be doing a study on Haiti with them which out of all my classes, will allow me to be the most creativity and freedom in my teaching. The kids are great and the class should be very interesting. The rest of the week for teaching is not too busy which will give me a lot of time to prepare for next week.
Wednesday and Friday I will be leaving school early both days for some traveling. Tomorrow I am getting a ride with Lisa to Cork which is a little over an hour away to hang out there and hopefully give my Mac to some people to get it fixed up. Friday I am leaving with Kathryn to travel by train to Dublin. A couple friends from Auburn will be in Dublin that weekend and Kathryn has friends there as well so we have a place to stay. There is a lot to see Saturday but Sunday we are going to 'We Will Rock You.' This is the musical based on Queen's music and I got word that Brian May (original member of Queen) might be playing on Sunday...who knows, but it will be nice to get around other parts of Ireland.
Everything else is going well. I found a new place with a guy named Dennis who is a carpenter and probably not too much older than me. He lives right past the school I work at and about a kilometer from town. This situation is considerably cheaper and a better deal for me. My new address is on my previous post. Here I will NOT have internet but will have a washer/dryer, more than four channels of cable and control over my own heat. I randomly got Dennis' number when calling another add and was referred to him...I went over last night and had made the decision within almost a minute. Dennis even gave me a ride home....just a good deal. The only disadvantage I can forsee besides internet is the gym is now further away and to get there, I basically have to walk by the pubs. Ohhhhh well.
All is well, how are you? Meeting some cool people here in Kenmare, and things are coming together.
Cheers,
MG
Monday, January 25, 2010
ADDRESS CHANGE
ok so this is rather important.....i found a new place and my address is changing tomorrow. just got the keys and will be moving in stuff tomorrow. I did get the things that were sent out for my birthday. Thank you it was a great weekend and I will have more updates on what I did tomorrow.
Matt Goula
23 Killmurry, Cill Mhuire
Kenmare, Co. Kerry, Ireland
Parts of that are in Irish, do not be confused. As a side note, I miss the Jackson 5.
Cheers,
MG
Matt Goula
23 Killmurry, Cill Mhuire
Kenmare, Co. Kerry, Ireland
Parts of that are in Irish, do not be confused. As a side note, I miss the Jackson 5.
Cheers,
MG
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Schedule
Ok so I have to run and I will write more this weekend or tomorrow possibly if I have time, but I have my tentative full schedule for the next 8 weeks. Pretty amazing that between the week off in February and two weeks off for Easter in April, I will be done with all my teaching by the end of March, in only about two months. I will be teaching some courses the first four weeks, some the second four weeks and some all eight weeks. There are a lot of opportunities but most of my teaching will be with first year (7th grade) Geography as well as younger levels of History and Civil, Social, and Political Education classes with possibly room for some mentoring of students behind in their classes.
Tuesday night I went to dinner with Kathryn from UGA, who is staying in Kenmare but teaching outside the town. It was a good time and it was fun to learn of a new American in this small town even though she had heard about me this weekend already. Tonight I am going to dinner at Lisa's house who is the American English teacher here in Kenmare and has been very nice (like everyone) and helpful with my stay. Really she is just the tip of the care and concern for every teacher and other Irish soul in this town that looks out for how I am adjusting and doing. After dinner, it may be time for a few pints.
This weekend I will be hanging out here, but possibly Dublin next weekend as well as Cork sometime within the week. Hopefully there I will have a place for the Mac to get fixed. I have to go shower before dinner with the teachers. This next week is very exciting. I hope all is well.
Cheers,
MG
Tuesday night I went to dinner with Kathryn from UGA, who is staying in Kenmare but teaching outside the town. It was a good time and it was fun to learn of a new American in this small town even though she had heard about me this weekend already. Tonight I am going to dinner at Lisa's house who is the American English teacher here in Kenmare and has been very nice (like everyone) and helpful with my stay. Really she is just the tip of the care and concern for every teacher and other Irish soul in this town that looks out for how I am adjusting and doing. After dinner, it may be time for a few pints.
This weekend I will be hanging out here, but possibly Dublin next weekend as well as Cork sometime within the week. Hopefully there I will have a place for the Mac to get fixed. I have to go shower before dinner with the teachers. This next week is very exciting. I hope all is well.
Cheers,
MG
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Good day
Hey all...when I was at the gym, Judge Judy was on...three different channels. I guess Irish TV is lacking. However, today was a good day at school. I observed with a few classes, mostly second years which would translate into 7th graders, roughly. One history class was going over the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution which was convenient since I just got done teaching that this past semester. That class also gave me a round of applause when I introduced myself although I am sure it was mostly to drag out time...
I will most likely be teaching at least a couple Geography classes it looks like this semester. Students have either the choice to pick Geography OR History for their schoolwork and I am pretty excited because I think Geography is underrated and I think I could have some fun with it. Also I might have some options to teach History classes, Humanities (Geography and History combined) and this class CSP (Civic, Social and Political Education) or mostly like Civics in the states. That would also be super fun as I went through the text this morning and looked like it had lots of options. Also one teacher Dianne, who might be giving me her two Geography classes, also has a class that is strictly case studies in which we basically pick what we want to teach and I might have that. Whatever the case, I have a lot of options and probably will be finalized tomorrow on what course(s) I will be teaching. It looks like I could have short stints teaching them all over the next few months. Very cool and looking forward to it.
Have to run, about to go to dinner with another American......from UGA.....;) More on that later.
Cheers,
MG
I will most likely be teaching at least a couple Geography classes it looks like this semester. Students have either the choice to pick Geography OR History for their schoolwork and I am pretty excited because I think Geography is underrated and I think I could have some fun with it. Also I might have some options to teach History classes, Humanities (Geography and History combined) and this class CSP (Civic, Social and Political Education) or mostly like Civics in the states. That would also be super fun as I went through the text this morning and looked like it had lots of options. Also one teacher Dianne, who might be giving me her two Geography classes, also has a class that is strictly case studies in which we basically pick what we want to teach and I might have that. Whatever the case, I have a lot of options and probably will be finalized tomorrow on what course(s) I will be teaching. It looks like I could have short stints teaching them all over the next few months. Very cool and looking forward to it.
Have to run, about to go to dinner with another American......from UGA.....;) More on that later.
Cheers,
MG
Monday, January 18, 2010
Monday
Hey all...today was a good day at school. I met some more teachers, met and talked with the COST coordinator for Ireland and sat in on a couple classes. The COST coordinator who basically is just responsible for getting my placement and is available in case I need anything, was a real nice guy. At this time the Principal, along with many of the teachers who are familiar with Mr. Burns (coordinator) sat down with us too. It was really cool because although the Principal and Vice Principal are super busy, they both make time out to make sure I get situated and just to talk to me the two days I have been there so far. I am not sure about classes yet, but I will probably be taking over history, geography or civics classes in the near future. I shall know more tomorrow.
Lisa (the American teacher) let me sit in her English class while they were discussing Afghanistan which was not only interesting, but probably information I could use more knowledge on. She has been probably been the most helpful and she invited me and some others to dinner this week and I may also take a trip one afternoon with her to Cork which is about 45 minutes away and a pretty cool smaller city in the Southern part of Ireland. Also made friends with the music teacher today along with some others....Nothing against Opelika High School where I did my student teaching last semester, but this one-on-one time with the Principal and having been introduced to most of the teachers the first day was something I wasn't used to. Don't get me wrong, the Opelika High staff was very nice and accommodating but the camaraderie I have felt since entering Kenmare Community School has been great.
Looks like I am going to have to call Apple for the laptop issue, so I will be trying to get online as much as possible in the next week or two without it. May try and get to Dublin in the next weekend or two to visit some American friends but also the Queen musical, 'We Will Rock You' is playing....how could that not be a good time?
Talk soon,
MG
Lisa (the American teacher) let me sit in her English class while they were discussing Afghanistan which was not only interesting, but probably information I could use more knowledge on. She has been probably been the most helpful and she invited me and some others to dinner this week and I may also take a trip one afternoon with her to Cork which is about 45 minutes away and a pretty cool smaller city in the Southern part of Ireland. Also made friends with the music teacher today along with some others....Nothing against Opelika High School where I did my student teaching last semester, but this one-on-one time with the Principal and having been introduced to most of the teachers the first day was something I wasn't used to. Don't get me wrong, the Opelika High staff was very nice and accommodating but the camaraderie I have felt since entering Kenmare Community School has been great.
Looks like I am going to have to call Apple for the laptop issue, so I will be trying to get online as much as possible in the next week or two without it. May try and get to Dublin in the next weekend or two to visit some American friends but also the Queen musical, 'We Will Rock You' is playing....how could that not be a good time?
Talk soon,
MG
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