Well I suppose I don't have many more of these to write. I just got done with my last group yesterday. I have to tell you, it was one of my favorite groups! It's no secret that the kids groups are my least favorite. Well that all changed when I was paired with little Niamh (neeve). She is nine years old and has downs syndrome. Niamh is the sweetest child in the entire world. (Even sweeter than my nephews, I must admit!) We spent the entire weekend playing catch, reading, and cuddling! She is so cute and sooooo funny! Her day on Saturday had a rough start. Danielle (who I've been with before...the one that constantly roams and doesn't sleep) grabbed Niamh's glasses off of her face and bent them almost in half! I took Niamh to get them fixed at the Pavillions. She was so good! She held my hand the entire time through the mall and waited with me patiently while we got them fixed. On the way back to the bus, she ran ahead of me and tripped and scrapped her knee! The poor thing... Even after all that she was back to a great mood and we continued on in the day. We took the kids to an indoor playground called Hurly Burly. It was the best place to take them!! It was safe and fun and there was something for each kid, which is hard to achieve with our groups. Niamh had a blast! Darren was giving Kate a bit of trouble on the way back regarding his constant request for crisps (chips for us Americans.) (It's really cute when he says crisps with his lisp. It turns out to sound like "crips.") Kate told him that he can't eat crisps all day long. He thought about that and then responded, "YES. I. AM.....CAN!!!" It was soooo funny!
At the end of the day, Danielle was walking past Niamh and I in the hall. Like a flash of light Danielle went straight for Niamh's hair! She latched on and wouldn't let go even with Canada and I pulling her away! Poor little Niamh. Even after all that Danielle did to her, she still talked to Danielle and asked how she was. She's so sweet! Before bed I took her upstairs to have a bath. She LOVES bath time! She even brought bubble bath! So we had a fun time splashing and playing in the bath, and she gave me no trouble when it was time to actually wash her hair. haha
The next day we finished up at the Swords house and headed over to the Malahide house for games and a treasure hunt. (Another group needed the Swords house that afternoon.) Niamh loved the treasure hunt that Kate set up, and even suckered Kate into two more hunts! After the hunts, Niamh sat on my lap and we looked through the photo albums. Every time she saw me in a photo she said, "There's Claire!" or my personal favorite, "Claire and her smile. Gorgeous!" haha Her parents came to collect her a little early, which was a real bummer! I had a hard time saying goodbye to her. :(
The group was led by one of the managers, Kay. I haven't mentioned Kay much because we don't see her much. She does a lot of behind the scenes stuff. I have to say that I enjoyed her as a leader immensely! She was a perfect back up without being overbearing. She was relaxed and organized the entire weekend. The wrap up meeting was actually productive! She gave us positive feedback (for each volunteer!) and some things that could make groups better in the future. You're probably thinking that this is how a wrap up meeting should go. Well sadly most of them are complete wastes of time. Mostly we just say how we feel about them and then that's it. This was so great! We left the group feeling really positive about our work. It was a great way to end my time here!
Normally we have a few days off after a group, but this week is weird. We had a minister come to the house today to see if he wants to help the funding for CASA. Because of this we invited six members over to the house for a few hours to show him what we do here. I got to see some of my favorites which was so great! Now everyone is gone and I'm going to relax! I have a few days off which are filling up with plans fairly quickly. Thursday is meetings and then Kate and I are gonna go see my two favorite members Gillian (who sings Neil Diamond with me) and Paul Lockery, the one who arm wrestles me and sings me my song. It's going to be so great! I'm dreading coming home after that day though... Friday is another day of visits. I'm gonna go see a bunch of our members at one home, and then head over to see Dora and Marian (!!!).
I can't believe I have just a bit more than a week left! Ah! I wish time would slow down just a tiny bit!
Well I suppose that's all I have for now. Maybe I'll get one or two more in before I come home. Love you!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
My Italian Easter
Hello all,
I finally have some time to write in this thing. I suppose I'll only have a few more posts....I can't believe I'm coming home in a few weeks! My year here is almost over.
Before my ten day holiday, we had a teens group. I was paired with Ashleigh. She's a 15 year old girl with spina bifida. She's a very sweet girl who unfortunately doesn't get enough attention at home. Because of this, she can be very difficult. But most of the weekend was really fun. We all played games and even went to a place called Dublinia: Viking World. It's a museum for kids about the time of the vikings. I wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to be a great time. One of the teens, Conor Dillan, was paired with Lennart. He met Ovidiu, our new volunteer driver, and he couldn't pronounce his name. He started calling him Gary and it stuck! He also has the cutest accent in the world! His father is from Ireland and his mother is from Scotland. He sounds like a young Sean Connery. He kept saying, "Go left, Gary!" "Gary, slow down!" It was adorable. The kids loved Gary!
When the group was over I spent the evening cleaning and packing for my very early flight the next morning. At 4am Kate and I took a taxi to the airport. By nine, we were in Madrid with Jose! He was so sweet! He took us to his apartment in town and fed us a traditional Spanish Easter dish, much like French toast. He also has a huge espresso pot, which made me very happy! After we were fed, we went to explore the south western side of Madrid. Unfortunately, due to Holy Week, all the churches were closed. But we spent the day walking around and seeing very cool buildings including the palace, the cathedral, and an Egyptian Temple that was given to Madrid as a gift and brought to them piece by piece. We stopped for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that Kate wanted to try, followed by, of course, ice cream! After checking out more of the city, we headed back to Jose's apartment for a late dinner. Jose has the box set of the nighttime drama from the 90s, Twin Peaks. Kate happens to love that show, so we decided to watch a few episodes. I totally got hooked! What a crazy series! It was so nice to relax and enjoy the time with the two of them.
The next morning we walked to the garage that held Stefan's car. Stefan is Jose's long time friend from Germany. He's been living in Madrid for over seven years while working at the Prado Museum. He's incredibly smart! He drove us to a small town south of Madrid called Toledo. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been! (I know I say that all the time, but you know how it goes with me. Every new place that I connect with gives me another piece of my heart that was missing.) We began the day by having espresso at a hotel outside of Toledo to get a good look at the entire city. It is an older city built of beige stone houses. After we took loads of pictures we headed over to park closer to the city walls. Once we got inside we began our walk. We stopped for lunch before continuing our tour. In the evening we went inside the immense cathedral to view a procession for the stations of the cross. It was so nice to witness, even though I don't understand any Spanish. After the procession we headed back to Madrid for a very late supper and bed.
The next day we swept the south eastern side of Madrid. We began by stopping at a gallery with an exhibit by Jose's favorite artist, Miguel Barcelona. I couldn't take pictures unfortunately, but I really loved his paintings. Afterwards we went to a huge city park called Retiro. It was so amazing!!! It used to belong to the royal family and includes a few man made lakes and a big glass green house. We fell in love with it instantly. After a few hours of walking through the park we stopped at an outdoor cafe. I had the best pork of my life! I can't remember what the style of the pork was, but I don't normally like pork and I thought it was outstanding! Next up was the Prado Museum. We got to see lots of masterpieces by Raphael, Rembrandt, and Goya. After about an hour we moved on to the modern art museum. I got to see many pieces by Picasso and Dali. I had never seen any paintings by Dali so I truly enjoyed that. Unfortunately my leg hurt quite a bit at this point of the night, so we decided to leave and get a drink. I wasn't hungry, but Kate and Jose wanted tapas. I had a bit of theirs, but mostly I drank summer wine. :) Stefan joined us and we went to another part of town to one of Jose's favorite bars. It was in the basement of a building and it had dim lights and a rounded ceiling. The waiters had red coats and there was an old time piano player. Everyone was drinking out of little pitchers of very strong and delicious sangria. I loved it there!
The next morning we had breakfast with Jose before he left for Manchego, his hometown. He was going to be in an Easter parade later that day! (Oh how I love Jose...) Kate and I went out to get a bit of food for the apartment. On the way back down a narrow street, we were walking on the small sidewalk and a car flew by and hit me in the arm! My huge container of yogurt flew out of my hand and onto the ground with a big splat. I was ok, but I was shaking from anger! There was no reason for him to be that close to us. The driver just kept on and I angrily shouted at him in a dramatic response. He got out a block away and I yelled at him to just go. I'm sure he didn't understand my statement, but he figured out the meaning. haha Kate left about an hour later for her train to Barcelona. At this point I had two choices. I could have gone out and tried to figure out what else to see in Madrid, or I could have taken advantage of a full apartment to myself. Of course I chose the latter. I spent the day watching Twin Peaks, drinking espresso, and writing in my journal. It was amazing! At half eleven that night I made my way through the metro system to the airport. I was about to do something I would never have dreamed of doing before. I found a spot on the floor and tried to sleep for a few hours in the airport before my flight was to leave at seven. It wasn't an ideal situation, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
I got to Milan at half nine and found Audrey and Andre right away. After a few hugs, Silvia, Gabriele's sister, came over to us. No one in Gabriele's family speaks English. It helped that I met her once before when she came to Ireland. The plan was for her to take us back to their house in Legnano and wait for Gabriele to get off work at half three. I was ok with this plan because I was exhausted. His mother was so welcoming and wonderful! She made us a great meal and even invited one of Siliva's friends over (who is half Italian, half English) to translate for us. It was SO great to see Gabriele when he finally got to the house. He took us to a lake in Como that has views of the Alps. It was so lovely! We walked along the lake and took lots of pictures. After an hour or so we went back to Legnano and got pizza. :)
The next day Lele, Silvia, her boyfriend Simon, and I went into Milan to meet up with Audrey and Andre (who were staying in the city center.) We went to the Duomo first. It was an extremely beautiful and large cathedral in the middle of the city. We had a quick lunch after this followed by a walk through the city center. To be honest, I wasn't impressed with Milan. It was a busy, ugly city with a beautiful cathedral in the middle of it to redeem itself. It was raining that day so by the time we were done wandering around we were all soaked. We stopped at another church called St. Ambrosio. It was a very nice church, complete with the skeleton of St. Ambrosio himself! We decided to leave Audrey and Andre in town and go back to Legnano because I wanted to go to the Easter Vigil Mass with his family. The Mass was really nice. His father knows a bit of English so he was trying to translate some of it from me. I knew what Easter Vigils are like so I knew it would involve lots of extra readings and prayers. I was able to follow along for most of it. I really enjoyed the service, especially the translations. :)
The next morning was Easter! It was a really nice day. Audrey and Andre came to Legnano by train. We all had a huge meal in the afternoon with several courses. Among all the dishes were lamb chops, home made bread, mushroom risotto (!!!), lasagna, and a few other vegetable dishes. There was also an excess of chocolate, dessert, and espresso. Lele's two grandmothers and grandfather came over as well. Gabriele got into an argument with his grandpa during the meal and we were wondering what was happening. He finally translated for us English speakers and it was nothing that we could have guessed. His grandfather bought a deer skinned coat, and Lele is very against that. Apparently the way that they kill the deer in Europe is very different from the way we do it in the States. Regardless, I was very surprised to see him talk to his grandpa just like he would talk to me if we were in an argument. I wouldn't dream of raising my voice to a grandparent. But I suppose it could be a good thing, if it means that he feels comfortable enough to talk to him in that way. It was entertaining, nevertheless. :)
It was raining that day and we were all tired so we just relaxed and watched movies. Audrey and Andre left and I went to bed. The next morning Lele took me to the train station. I met up with my friends and we left for Venice! I was sad to say goodbye to Gabriele because I'm not sure when I'll see him again. He and I always had a lot of fun when he lived in the house.
The train ride to Venice was a few hours but it went by quickly. We went from the train station to our hostel with a few bumps along the way. Andre booked the hostel so I asked him if he had maps of how to get there because Venice is known to be very difficult to navigate. He assured me he had everything he needed. I didn't get any maps because I was planning on getting one from the hostel. Andre just had a GPS program on his phone. This didn't work at all. We kept getting lost and it was giving us the wrong information! It was so frustrating! We were all starving and caffeine deprived so it wasn't pretty. :P We got there eventually and then we all felt much better. Our next order of business was lunch. We stopped at a cute restaurant for some pizza. It was delicious, of course. We all needed money, so we went in search for an ATM, stopping first at one of the notable churches, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. It was a beautiful church and well worth the 1.50 euro! We went back to where the train station was (not an easy task!) and we finally found an ATM. After Audrey and Andre got money out, I tried to as well with no luck! I was so frustrated! I knew I had money in my account. We went to another one and it also didn't work. At this point I was freaking out! We finally found another one near the water buses. Success!!! I felt SO happy at this point, because everything was finally in order. Afterwards we decided to take a water bus down the Grand Canal. We ended up saving a lot of money by using public transport instead of a tour boat. We got on first and we got to sit up front, which was prime for picture taking! The rest of the day was spent wandering around the southern island of the city. We stopped for tiramisu and wine at a little restaurant after they promised no cover or service charge. (Most places were charging both!)
The next morning we began as early as it was possible. (Traveling with a couple can be complicated.) We began by walking to Piazza San Marco. The basilica was SO BIG! Inside was something I especially appreciated. I'm very partial to mosaic and this church was covered floor to ceiling in gold mosaics! It was absolutely stunning. Audrey and I went up to the top to see the museum and take pictures of the square. We went to have a picnic along the water with Andre afterwards. Andre really wanted to go to the park at the end of the island so we walked down there and around the park for a few hours. We decided to try to make it to a few more churches before they all closed. We made it all the way out to one of them that ended up closing an hour before schedule! So we raced over to the cathedral named after Saint Paul and Saint John, which I found unusual. There isn't much to say except that it was very big and very beautiful inside. We were all hungry at this point so we stopped at a small restaurant near our hostel. We all had pizza and wine...the perfect end to our night! We were all tired from all of the walking that day. (It's hard to explain how much walking it takes just to go somewhere that would normally take 15 minutes but ends up taking 30 because of how many zig zags are necessary...) We ended up going back to the hostel to hang out and talk before we went to bed. I had to get up at six the next morning to get to my bus on time. I didn't want to leave Venice or my friends. But the walk in the morning was really nice. Everyone was still sleeping I'm pretty sure. I came across just a few sweepers on the sidewalks. Venice was so beautiful and I wished that I could have stayed there much, much longer! The buildings were so cute and the rivers and canals add so much to the uniqueness of the city. I can't wait to go back again! My plane left at ten to take me back to Dublin. I spent the day relaxing and visiting with Ovidiu and Lucy who hadn't gone anywhere for the break.
We were all back to work the next morning. We had to clean and prepare for the group that began the next afternoon. I was paired with Paula, who I was with last summer. She is 30 years old and has a mild intellectual disability. I really love Paula. She's a very sweet woman and very easy to get along with. It was nice to see her again before I leave. June Mills was also in, and I loved seeing her again! I was with her last fall and we had a blast! She was with Kate and they got on very well. It was hard to say goodbye to people knowing that it was my last adult group. It's been such wonderful year and I have so many memories. I can't believe it's coming to a close.
My weekend has been really quiet, which I appreciate. Yesterday, Kate, Canada, Lisa and I went out to Dublin bright and early for a girls day out! We began with hair cuts at one of the teaching salons. Lisa got an amazing hair cut with a big flare of pink in her blond hair. I know it sounds different, but it looks SO good! Both the Kates got trims that turned out very nice. I cut a few inches off my hair and also got some layers. At first I wasn't so pleased with the cut because it wasn't really what I asked for. But I'm coming around to it. It's nice to have it short again for the summer. After the cuts we went to get lunch at Cornucopia, Kate's favorite vegetarian restaurant. We walked to St. Stephen's Green after that and lazed in the sun for a while. When we were ready, we left to go to Queen of Tarts for some dessert. We all got different things and shared equally. It was SO good! We shared a chocolate scone (literally award winning!), raspberry cheesecake, chocolate cake, and chocolate pear tart with almonds. MMMM! We headed back home after that.
I woke up at half one this afternoon! I must have been very tired! I haven't been doing much with my time except for hanging out with my house mates. I'm really trying to spend lots of time with them before I go. But I promised Mom and Kris that I could do this so here it is. I hope it's not too boring! :P
Love you all!
I finally have some time to write in this thing. I suppose I'll only have a few more posts....I can't believe I'm coming home in a few weeks! My year here is almost over.
Before my ten day holiday, we had a teens group. I was paired with Ashleigh. She's a 15 year old girl with spina bifida. She's a very sweet girl who unfortunately doesn't get enough attention at home. Because of this, she can be very difficult. But most of the weekend was really fun. We all played games and even went to a place called Dublinia: Viking World. It's a museum for kids about the time of the vikings. I wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to be a great time. One of the teens, Conor Dillan, was paired with Lennart. He met Ovidiu, our new volunteer driver, and he couldn't pronounce his name. He started calling him Gary and it stuck! He also has the cutest accent in the world! His father is from Ireland and his mother is from Scotland. He sounds like a young Sean Connery. He kept saying, "Go left, Gary!" "Gary, slow down!" It was adorable. The kids loved Gary!
When the group was over I spent the evening cleaning and packing for my very early flight the next morning. At 4am Kate and I took a taxi to the airport. By nine, we were in Madrid with Jose! He was so sweet! He took us to his apartment in town and fed us a traditional Spanish Easter dish, much like French toast. He also has a huge espresso pot, which made me very happy! After we were fed, we went to explore the south western side of Madrid. Unfortunately, due to Holy Week, all the churches were closed. But we spent the day walking around and seeing very cool buildings including the palace, the cathedral, and an Egyptian Temple that was given to Madrid as a gift and brought to them piece by piece. We stopped for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that Kate wanted to try, followed by, of course, ice cream! After checking out more of the city, we headed back to Jose's apartment for a late dinner. Jose has the box set of the nighttime drama from the 90s, Twin Peaks. Kate happens to love that show, so we decided to watch a few episodes. I totally got hooked! What a crazy series! It was so nice to relax and enjoy the time with the two of them.
The next morning we walked to the garage that held Stefan's car. Stefan is Jose's long time friend from Germany. He's been living in Madrid for over seven years while working at the Prado Museum. He's incredibly smart! He drove us to a small town south of Madrid called Toledo. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been! (I know I say that all the time, but you know how it goes with me. Every new place that I connect with gives me another piece of my heart that was missing.) We began the day by having espresso at a hotel outside of Toledo to get a good look at the entire city. It is an older city built of beige stone houses. After we took loads of pictures we headed over to park closer to the city walls. Once we got inside we began our walk. We stopped for lunch before continuing our tour. In the evening we went inside the immense cathedral to view a procession for the stations of the cross. It was so nice to witness, even though I don't understand any Spanish. After the procession we headed back to Madrid for a very late supper and bed.
The next day we swept the south eastern side of Madrid. We began by stopping at a gallery with an exhibit by Jose's favorite artist, Miguel Barcelona. I couldn't take pictures unfortunately, but I really loved his paintings. Afterwards we went to a huge city park called Retiro. It was so amazing!!! It used to belong to the royal family and includes a few man made lakes and a big glass green house. We fell in love with it instantly. After a few hours of walking through the park we stopped at an outdoor cafe. I had the best pork of my life! I can't remember what the style of the pork was, but I don't normally like pork and I thought it was outstanding! Next up was the Prado Museum. We got to see lots of masterpieces by Raphael, Rembrandt, and Goya. After about an hour we moved on to the modern art museum. I got to see many pieces by Picasso and Dali. I had never seen any paintings by Dali so I truly enjoyed that. Unfortunately my leg hurt quite a bit at this point of the night, so we decided to leave and get a drink. I wasn't hungry, but Kate and Jose wanted tapas. I had a bit of theirs, but mostly I drank summer wine. :) Stefan joined us and we went to another part of town to one of Jose's favorite bars. It was in the basement of a building and it had dim lights and a rounded ceiling. The waiters had red coats and there was an old time piano player. Everyone was drinking out of little pitchers of very strong and delicious sangria. I loved it there!
The next morning we had breakfast with Jose before he left for Manchego, his hometown. He was going to be in an Easter parade later that day! (Oh how I love Jose...) Kate and I went out to get a bit of food for the apartment. On the way back down a narrow street, we were walking on the small sidewalk and a car flew by and hit me in the arm! My huge container of yogurt flew out of my hand and onto the ground with a big splat. I was ok, but I was shaking from anger! There was no reason for him to be that close to us. The driver just kept on and I angrily shouted at him in a dramatic response. He got out a block away and I yelled at him to just go. I'm sure he didn't understand my statement, but he figured out the meaning. haha Kate left about an hour later for her train to Barcelona. At this point I had two choices. I could have gone out and tried to figure out what else to see in Madrid, or I could have taken advantage of a full apartment to myself. Of course I chose the latter. I spent the day watching Twin Peaks, drinking espresso, and writing in my journal. It was amazing! At half eleven that night I made my way through the metro system to the airport. I was about to do something I would never have dreamed of doing before. I found a spot on the floor and tried to sleep for a few hours in the airport before my flight was to leave at seven. It wasn't an ideal situation, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
I got to Milan at half nine and found Audrey and Andre right away. After a few hugs, Silvia, Gabriele's sister, came over to us. No one in Gabriele's family speaks English. It helped that I met her once before when she came to Ireland. The plan was for her to take us back to their house in Legnano and wait for Gabriele to get off work at half three. I was ok with this plan because I was exhausted. His mother was so welcoming and wonderful! She made us a great meal and even invited one of Siliva's friends over (who is half Italian, half English) to translate for us. It was SO great to see Gabriele when he finally got to the house. He took us to a lake in Como that has views of the Alps. It was so lovely! We walked along the lake and took lots of pictures. After an hour or so we went back to Legnano and got pizza. :)
The next day Lele, Silvia, her boyfriend Simon, and I went into Milan to meet up with Audrey and Andre (who were staying in the city center.) We went to the Duomo first. It was an extremely beautiful and large cathedral in the middle of the city. We had a quick lunch after this followed by a walk through the city center. To be honest, I wasn't impressed with Milan. It was a busy, ugly city with a beautiful cathedral in the middle of it to redeem itself. It was raining that day so by the time we were done wandering around we were all soaked. We stopped at another church called St. Ambrosio. It was a very nice church, complete with the skeleton of St. Ambrosio himself! We decided to leave Audrey and Andre in town and go back to Legnano because I wanted to go to the Easter Vigil Mass with his family. The Mass was really nice. His father knows a bit of English so he was trying to translate some of it from me. I knew what Easter Vigils are like so I knew it would involve lots of extra readings and prayers. I was able to follow along for most of it. I really enjoyed the service, especially the translations. :)
The next morning was Easter! It was a really nice day. Audrey and Andre came to Legnano by train. We all had a huge meal in the afternoon with several courses. Among all the dishes were lamb chops, home made bread, mushroom risotto (!!!), lasagna, and a few other vegetable dishes. There was also an excess of chocolate, dessert, and espresso. Lele's two grandmothers and grandfather came over as well. Gabriele got into an argument with his grandpa during the meal and we were wondering what was happening. He finally translated for us English speakers and it was nothing that we could have guessed. His grandfather bought a deer skinned coat, and Lele is very against that. Apparently the way that they kill the deer in Europe is very different from the way we do it in the States. Regardless, I was very surprised to see him talk to his grandpa just like he would talk to me if we were in an argument. I wouldn't dream of raising my voice to a grandparent. But I suppose it could be a good thing, if it means that he feels comfortable enough to talk to him in that way. It was entertaining, nevertheless. :)
It was raining that day and we were all tired so we just relaxed and watched movies. Audrey and Andre left and I went to bed. The next morning Lele took me to the train station. I met up with my friends and we left for Venice! I was sad to say goodbye to Gabriele because I'm not sure when I'll see him again. He and I always had a lot of fun when he lived in the house.
The train ride to Venice was a few hours but it went by quickly. We went from the train station to our hostel with a few bumps along the way. Andre booked the hostel so I asked him if he had maps of how to get there because Venice is known to be very difficult to navigate. He assured me he had everything he needed. I didn't get any maps because I was planning on getting one from the hostel. Andre just had a GPS program on his phone. This didn't work at all. We kept getting lost and it was giving us the wrong information! It was so frustrating! We were all starving and caffeine deprived so it wasn't pretty. :P We got there eventually and then we all felt much better. Our next order of business was lunch. We stopped at a cute restaurant for some pizza. It was delicious, of course. We all needed money, so we went in search for an ATM, stopping first at one of the notable churches, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. It was a beautiful church and well worth the 1.50 euro! We went back to where the train station was (not an easy task!) and we finally found an ATM. After Audrey and Andre got money out, I tried to as well with no luck! I was so frustrated! I knew I had money in my account. We went to another one and it also didn't work. At this point I was freaking out! We finally found another one near the water buses. Success!!! I felt SO happy at this point, because everything was finally in order. Afterwards we decided to take a water bus down the Grand Canal. We ended up saving a lot of money by using public transport instead of a tour boat. We got on first and we got to sit up front, which was prime for picture taking! The rest of the day was spent wandering around the southern island of the city. We stopped for tiramisu and wine at a little restaurant after they promised no cover or service charge. (Most places were charging both!)
The next morning we began as early as it was possible. (Traveling with a couple can be complicated.) We began by walking to Piazza San Marco. The basilica was SO BIG! Inside was something I especially appreciated. I'm very partial to mosaic and this church was covered floor to ceiling in gold mosaics! It was absolutely stunning. Audrey and I went up to the top to see the museum and take pictures of the square. We went to have a picnic along the water with Andre afterwards. Andre really wanted to go to the park at the end of the island so we walked down there and around the park for a few hours. We decided to try to make it to a few more churches before they all closed. We made it all the way out to one of them that ended up closing an hour before schedule! So we raced over to the cathedral named after Saint Paul and Saint John, which I found unusual. There isn't much to say except that it was very big and very beautiful inside. We were all hungry at this point so we stopped at a small restaurant near our hostel. We all had pizza and wine...the perfect end to our night! We were all tired from all of the walking that day. (It's hard to explain how much walking it takes just to go somewhere that would normally take 15 minutes but ends up taking 30 because of how many zig zags are necessary...) We ended up going back to the hostel to hang out and talk before we went to bed. I had to get up at six the next morning to get to my bus on time. I didn't want to leave Venice or my friends. But the walk in the morning was really nice. Everyone was still sleeping I'm pretty sure. I came across just a few sweepers on the sidewalks. Venice was so beautiful and I wished that I could have stayed there much, much longer! The buildings were so cute and the rivers and canals add so much to the uniqueness of the city. I can't wait to go back again! My plane left at ten to take me back to Dublin. I spent the day relaxing and visiting with Ovidiu and Lucy who hadn't gone anywhere for the break.
We were all back to work the next morning. We had to clean and prepare for the group that began the next afternoon. I was paired with Paula, who I was with last summer. She is 30 years old and has a mild intellectual disability. I really love Paula. She's a very sweet woman and very easy to get along with. It was nice to see her again before I leave. June Mills was also in, and I loved seeing her again! I was with her last fall and we had a blast! She was with Kate and they got on very well. It was hard to say goodbye to people knowing that it was my last adult group. It's been such wonderful year and I have so many memories. I can't believe it's coming to a close.
My weekend has been really quiet, which I appreciate. Yesterday, Kate, Canada, Lisa and I went out to Dublin bright and early for a girls day out! We began with hair cuts at one of the teaching salons. Lisa got an amazing hair cut with a big flare of pink in her blond hair. I know it sounds different, but it looks SO good! Both the Kates got trims that turned out very nice. I cut a few inches off my hair and also got some layers. At first I wasn't so pleased with the cut because it wasn't really what I asked for. But I'm coming around to it. It's nice to have it short again for the summer. After the cuts we went to get lunch at Cornucopia, Kate's favorite vegetarian restaurant. We walked to St. Stephen's Green after that and lazed in the sun for a while. When we were ready, we left to go to Queen of Tarts for some dessert. We all got different things and shared equally. It was SO good! We shared a chocolate scone (literally award winning!), raspberry cheesecake, chocolate cake, and chocolate pear tart with almonds. MMMM! We headed back home after that.
I woke up at half one this afternoon! I must have been very tired! I haven't been doing much with my time except for hanging out with my house mates. I'm really trying to spend lots of time with them before I go. But I promised Mom and Kris that I could do this so here it is. I hope it's not too boring! :P
Love you all!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
