aoife in ireland : February 2014

Monday, February 24, 2014

quick update #1

Hello everyone! So remember how I mentioned that there are a lot of Aoife's in Ireland? Well almost every other girl on my bus has that name and they all sit near me. So right now I'm going back home and I keep getting confused because normally if someone says "Aoife," they're talking about me! This was just a quick random update, and you will see a lot of these.
Aoife TEJADA
(I put my last name in case you were confused which one I am)

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Work Experience

Every Tuesday, instead of school, I go to the Dunbrody Famine Ship to work as a tour guide and cashier from 10-4. The Dunbrody was a ship that carried passengers from Ireland, Co.Wexford specifically, to America because of the famine in Ireland that started in 1845 and lasted about 6-7 years. So, on my first week there I met two tour guides that I would work with, Jason and Frank. Jason is very eccentric and lively and does all of his tours differently, and he reminded me few times on my first day the "every tour is different because every person is different." Frank is a little older and does his tours by the book and all of his tours are the same. Both of them are excellent tour guides but with completely different styles. I met another person-Kevin. Kevin is the son of Sean Reidy, the manager of the Dunbrody, and his brother, Peter is also a tour guide. Kevin looks a bit like a pirate, and talks like one too, but he has a good heart and works really hard. On my first day, Kevin walked in and said "what is Pocahontas doing sitting' on my stool." Then Frank then said that he christens everyone with a new name, Frank is "big boss man," and Jason has a new name everyday. So then Frank properly introduced me saying "This is Kevin," to which Kevin said, "I'm not Kevin," to which I said, "Hello Not-Kevin," christening him right back.
These past 3 weeks have been really slow which is good for me because every big tour is scheduled, s and all the unscheduled tours are small groups or couples. This is really good because I'm able to learn how to give tours and ring people up step by step. The first day I was given a sheet which will act as my script for the tour, and just tagged along as a tourist on the tours. However, by the second week, I was able to pitch in at times to give bits of information to the tour. And this last Tuesday, I gave almost half the tour! Jason was really impressed and said that we must "toast with toast" up at the Dunbrody cafe that sits above the front desk and souvenir area. I really enjoy working at the Dunbrody because I love learning about people's lives, and I'm a bit of a show-off if I know something someone else doesn't, so I can have the opportunity to show my knowledge without being rude :).
Aoife

The Dunbrody

Me at the desk where people buy souvenirs and tickets for the tours

My interview for the job with Sean Reidy, who was very interesting and had a lot of stories about when the Kennedy's came to New Ross last year.

Monday, February 3, 2014

New Ross? More like Venice!

Today I experienced my first Irish storm while going to school! It was "lashin'" as they say here; extremely windy and rainy. When I left to go wait for the bus, it was so rainy my aunt offered to drive me there, even though its only 30 seconds away. and when we got to the bus stop, there was only one girl from my school waiting for the bus (and also trying to brace herself from the wind), so we offered for her to stay in the car once the bus arrived. So, once both of us were on the bus, there was literally nobody on it, and the driver said it's going to be quite the trip trying to cross the bridge. As we headed to school, the roads started to look more and more like a river, buses had their own wakes, and people were stranded on sidewalks that turned into islands. Being the new girl, I didn't want to seem too in shock, as I secretly took pictures, but I noticed that girls who have lived here their whole life were just as, or even more amazed than me by the intense floods.

A lot of girls got off the bus, after we sat in traffic for about 20 minutes, trying to walk home or get a ride. However, many came back, as their parents forced them to go to school, or it was impossible to go back home. Nevertheless, the number of people shrunk a third in size. When we could finally at least see the bride, it was about 9:15, and was nearly underwater, but still crossable, so Stevie (the bus driver) pushed on. At 9:30, we approached the bridge and the traffic worker told us to turn around, but Stevie told him that we've already come this far, and he is going to get us to school. So, after some persuading, we were let on the bridge! We sat in that bus for about half an hour on the bridge waiting for the tide to go down so we could physically get off the bridge. We were even able to get off the bus and go to a shop on the Wexford side and get some snacks and hot cocoa. Finally, when a girl named Leona and I got back from the shop, the bus had moved to await its last obstacle. The street to the hill my school is on looked like a canal in Venice; cars were half-way submerged and a workers helped try and carry kids trying to get to school.

So, we slowly rode in the the "river" and drove ever so carefully to the hill. Water came in through the door and we could feel the current pushing the bus. And at last, we touched dry land and made the slow trek up the hill on wet wheels. We arrived to school about an hour and a half late, but we still made it. Stevie said to us as we left "It's my job to get you to school, rain, hail, or snow." (Which kind of reminded me of my grandpa back home who used to take me to school and back every single day no matter what.) School was pretty boring because there were only about 6 people there in my class and 2 of my teachers, but man, was that morning exciting!