My First Week

Hello all! Well I apologize for not posting in a week but I've been busy figuring out my normal schedule (which isn't that blog worthy). However a few things were: On Monday, I took the bus for the first time ever to school. Which was kind of awkward because I didn't know anyone and sat in a two seater by myself, but it was okay because I was able to just look at the town and embrace it all by myself. I do continue to ride by myself, but I don't mind. There's also a store called Hanrahans that I can go to before the bus arrives for a warm croissant for breakfast. Tuesday was pretty boring, but on Wednesday, I have Home Economics, a class I've never taken, nor had the opportunity to take. So, like the food addict I am, I was so excited to spend two periods making a delicious meal (My partner Naimh and I made a butternut squash, carrot and potato soup-it was so good I almost forgot to save some for my mom to try at home)! Thursday and Friday were just normal school days that consisted of me just learning more about how the girls all interact and the way they speak and their society than the actual subject. On Saturday,  I met two of my cousins- Aine (Anya) and Fionn, who are absolutely adorable at the ages of 3 and 5. They're my first cousin Jane's children and my second cousin Danny's (who I used to play with all the time when I was younger as he is just a year older than me) siblings. Danny is away in Spain for about a year, with only his school Spanish to speak with, which makes me feel as tough it's my duty to keep going on my trip, and not even think about giving up. Anyways, Jane, Aine, Fionn, Fergal (Aine and Fionn's dad), Lilli, my mom, and myself all went to the new Swim and Gym center, fully equipped with a sauna, a kiddie pool, lap lanes, and a water slide that goes out side the building! It was super fun hanging out with all my cousins and helping them learn to swim. After a few spins on the waterside for us kids and a good relaxation in the sauna for the adults, we took our showers and headed home. Now, this part is going to get a bit hard to follow, but stay with me. We had two parties to attend (my mom and I); a dinner-dance for the Pantomime, and my cousin Anthony's 40th birthday party. Lilli was so excited for the dinner-dance, she couldn't stop talking about it and making sure I was excited too. I was, but also nervous because I'm not a great dancer, and I wouldn't know anyone. All four of us (my mom, Aunt Carol, Lilli, and I) coincidently dressed in all black dresses and shoes, we were "like a clan of witches" as Aunt Carol said.The dinner-dance was actually quite fun! The food was delicious and during a little award ceremony for the cast and crew,a very close friend of Grandpa Tony spoke welcomed my mom and I over the microphone and spoke bait about my grandfather, even getting a bit choked up which of course made my mom tear up. I am a little upset that I never had the pleasure of meeting the famous Tony Stacey, but I know I will someday. Anyways, after the ceremony, there was lots of dancing and I requested California Girls and dedicated it to my mom, and I even led a conga line! So later my mom and I headed to The Bullet, a pub my grandparents owned, for Anthony's 40th birthday party. And at that party I met some more cousins, and chatted with my Uncle Neil who is a really really funny guy. And I mostly hung out with Megan, Neil's daughter, who was really really nice to me the entire time which I appreciated a lot. So, after a full night of dancing and meeting a whole bunch of people, our night was finally over and I could rest. On Sunday the only thing that was notable was a little get together for some of my cousins so I could say hello to everyone. I met Liona and her daughter and saw Dean, Megan, and Samantha and was able to meet her daughters Keeva and Kelsey. Tomorrow, I will post about Tuesday's work experience and I will try to post a family tree so those of you who are so overwhelmed by all these names, as I am, can stay on track.
Aoife

First Day of School

The night before my first day (Friday the 18th), I cried myself to sleep. I was so jet lagged that I was not only really tired, but extremely emotional. every time I thought about my dad, I broke into tears, I missed him so much. However, in the morning, after 11 hours of sleep, I was refreshed and ready to go. Our home was a mad house; everyone was running around with their uniforms, and had toothbrushes in their mouths, and everyone was looking for socks. I met two more of my cousins (remember, I have a big family), Bobby and Josh who were very sweet and they were going with Lilyanna (the cousin I'm living with) to their school. 

When I arrived to my new school, Our Lady of Lourdes,I was so nervous I had to keep asking my mom where the front of the school was over and over just to make sure I didn't embarrass myself. Our Lady of Lourdes is a very small school, as I mentioned before, and is a tall building rather than laid out flat like my old school, Miramonte. Anyways, I walked into the office and the assistant principal took me up to the classroom. All of the girls were very excited to see me, with took some of the pressure away. The first person to talk to me was a girl named Niamh (pronounced Neev). She told me all about the school and introduced my to all of the girls as we headed to our first class in the computer lab for YSI, or Young Student Innovators. She explained that YSI is a part of their curriculum where the class must start a charity and raise money for it throughout the year; ours is to help the elderly. Once we arrived in the computer lab, I met another Aoife! I had never had another Aoife in my class before and I was always confused when someone called my name, but was talking to the other Aoife. Then after two hours of YSI, we headed to maths, however, we spent the whole class introducing everyone and then the girls asked me questions about my school, what my home town is like, what I like about Ireland, and telling me about New Ross. Then we had Study Buddies, which is when we go to the nearby Primary school and help the little kids. When I arrived, a girl named Sarah explained what we needed to do and introduced me to all the children as the new Study Buddy from San Francisco. Three girls all immediately gave me hugs. The boys were different, they were pretend shooting each other and shoving each other around. One boy was actually named Tadgh, which is my brother's name (except he spells it T i g h e), they even had the same coloring! We helped the teacher photo copy some test packets and then watched over the kids so they didn't cheat. It was interesting because most of them tried to even though it was a very very simple test. After the Study Buddies, we had lunch and all the girls were telling me how to were my uniform and that they all go to the disco. From what I learned, the disco is like a club for underage people; i.e. no alcohol or drugs and there is supervision. However if a girl sees a boy they think is cute, their friend will walk up to that boy and say "shift her," which means the two of them need to go off and make out. However, when I heard this, I was a little disgusted because that is way more provocative than the kind of stuff kids in Orinda do, so I think I'll keep away from the discos. Anyways, alter in the day, when we had Irish class, and since I've never taken Irish before, and I can't really start now, I will only study the cultural part of the class, not the language. So, my first assignment is to color in the counties of Ireland by their official colors and then write a page for 6 of the counties. 
After school, I went home and later we went to the theater to see Lily in a Pantomime, Hansel and Gretel. A pantomime is a type of fairytale play where there is musical numbers, lots of jokes, a lot of slapstick comedy, and breaking of the fourth wall (talking to the audience). At the end, they sang "What does the Fox Say?" and brought a bunch of audience members on stage to dance. I real didn't want to go, but a guy recognized my mom and I and dragged us on stage. It ended up being really fun! Well that's all I have, I will keep blogging but probably only once every few days unless something really exciting happens.
Until next time,
Aoife

Getting Settled

So on January 16th, (yesterday), my mom and I arrived at the Dublin airport at 8:00 am exactly and were greeted by my Aunt Carol and cousin Lillianna shortly after. Then we headed back to New Ross, which is 2 hours away, so it was quite a long journey. It felt so good to be back, everything looked and even smelled the way I remembered it. Once we got back to New Ross, we headed straight to my aunt's house, the same house my grandmother lived in for the last few months until her passing. Then we headed to my new school, Our Lady of Lourdes to meet with the principle. The school has about 365 girls and is very small, with about 15 girls per classroom. The principle talked extremely fast and with her irish accent, it was almost impossible for me to understand her! However I did make out that I will have a certain number of classes each day, and not the same each day. We normal stay in the same room and the teacher comes in to teach us. On Tuesdays we have the day off to work in a field we'd like to pursue and on Fridays we go to a primary school (like elementary school in America) and help out the little ones. Now, I'm going to take a minute to describe a bit about my family and the town I will be staying in. New Ross is a small town with about 8,000 residents. My mom has 5 siblings, which all have children, and then even some of those children have children. My grandmother and grandfather also come from a big family, so you can just imagine the amount of cousins I have. Also, everybody knows everybody. After the school visit, we left to go downtown, where about 10 different people recognized my mother as a Stacey (her maiden name) or just from growing up with her! Can you imagine not knowing some one, and them recognizing you just because they know what the rest of your family looks like? Anyways, we went to a shop where we bought my uniform and p.e. clothes  (see picture). Then headed to a shoe shop to grab some navy AV8s for my uniform, which are like Sperrys topsiders, and a book store called Nolan's for some school supplies. Finally we went to my favorite chipper (or burger joint) called the Penguin, for some chips (fries) with salt and vinegar. Lastly I wrapped up the day by decorating my side of the room, and putting away all of my things, and finally going straight to bed.
Aoife