February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day! Working with the students at Holy Child Sally Noggin was fun, and are excited to go back tomorrow. The school is right next to Dun Laoghaire. To get there Dana and I must take the Dart into Dun Laoghaire and then a bus that drops us off right near the school. Surprisingly the double-decker bus faire is only .65 Euro. Their school day started off with us meeting the students, there are about fifteen of them. Many girls from our school had volunteered at this school before and warned us that these boys like to flirt. And boy were they right! The ages range from thirteen to twenty and the disabilities range from ahtism, to down syndrome, and to being deaf and dumb. After being introduced we were split up into two groups to go into Dun Laogherie where we ate toast and tea and walked to many stores to observe the different Valentine's Day cards. After about three hours in town we returned to the school on a public bus and sat in class to discuss what we saw in the stores and what we did during the weekend. We then had lunch in the dance studio above the school's gym. After lunch we went downstairs into the gym and played fun games with squishy balls and trash bags which lasted a couple more hours. Then it was time for dance class where the students rehearsed the dances they would be performing in a couple of weeks. Once the day ended Dana and I hurried for the nest bus into Dun Laoghaire to drop us off at the closest Dart station to get back home. Around noon today the grey clouds cleared up to reveal a beautiful blue sky, but that doesn't mean it got warmer. At around 9:30 pm this night there was a sudden downpour of rain for about five minutes. Tonight is really cold.