Birthday Week

Hello!
Well I am officially a year older..23.  For my birthday on Tuesday, we went out to this pub called "The Crane Bar" to hear some Irish music.  It was a very good time.  At school on Tuesday, one of my students gave me a dinosaur sillyband for my birthday.  Then the class that I only teach maths to, made me a card that had a "sweet" aka candy taped to it.  It was so cute.  Then at lunch the teacher from the class that I teach maths to, brought in a birthday treat for the teachers.  It was these little cadburry cakes.  They were delicious! That was so nice of her!

Bulmers Pear- My drink of choice

The Group

The live Irish music

On Wednesday, I had my final student teaching observation.  Jim, from UMD, came over to observe us teaching.  It went very well.  Then on Thursday, Jim, and us girls went out to dinner at this place called La Salsa. I ordered a quesadilla and taco fries.  The taco fries were amazing!

Friday night, Colin, David, Cassie, Brendean, Megan, Emily, and I went to a Galway United soccer game.  We lost, but it was so much fun.  But let me tell you, here in Ireland it is very normal and common to say F***. It almost seems as though it isn't a bad word here.  So let me tell you, when at a soccer game, if I had a nickel for all the times I heard that word, I could have paid for my whole trip here! If I counted all the times I heard it since being in Galway, I could have paid for everyones trip I think! haha.

On Saturday, Cassie and I went to the Aran Islands.  To get there we took an hour long bus ride, and then a 40 minute ferry ride.  The ticket was 26 Euro, and that included the bus rides and ferry rides to and from the Islands.  When we arrived on the island, we first rented bikes for 10 Euro.  We then went and ate lunch.  After lunch we began our biking journey around the island.  It started off a bit rough, as I was biking and changing gears, the chain came off...so Cassie and I put the chain back on and off we went.  As we were fixing it though, a nice lad came over and asked us if we got it fixed and gave us a tip if it happens again.  His tip was if it happens again, to keep petaling and switch it back to the gear it was originally in....well let me tell you, it happened again, and his tip didn't work.  So once again, Cassie and I were putting the chain back on my bike! haha.  I was afraid to change gears ever again after the two instances, but I did actually change the gears a couple times after that with no problems! :) lol.   Our bike ride around the Island was so amazing.  We were biking along the coast, so the sights were just gorgeous.  Along our bike ride we saw, a donkey, a very green house, horses, seals, cows, calfs!, and a teapot.  Yes a teapot.  There was a teapot sitting on the stone wall, and there were no houses around, so I am wondering how it got there and why it was there! haha.  The seals were so neat to see just resting out in the water.  They looked like logs or rocks in the water until I paid 2 Euro to use the binoculars to see out there and see that it was seals not logs or rocks.  We stopped at a beach for a rest brake and to eat some cookies that I had packed.  Our biking adventure, was quite the workout!  There were so many hills that we had to bike up!  
Saturday night, the group went to the Galway Greyhound Dog Races.  It was quite the experience.  It was very fun.  There were two people behind us that won just about every race.  They were winning big money last night! It was actually getting annoying with their winning all the time.  They would dance and cheer each time they won. haha  After the races, we met up with Colin and went to the pub called O'Tooles.  It was a lot of fun.  They had a man there playing the guitar and singing songs.  He would take requests and play the song if he knew it.  He played some American songs just for us. haha.

A view along our bike ride

our friend the Donkey

He really liked us we wanted to pet him, but we think he thought we had food for him! haha

The green house

another great sight along our bike ride- some swans

a local Irish man and his dog going along the road

yepp there's me and my bike! haha

the seals just chilling out in the water (had to make the picture a bit larger so you could see them better)

beautiful horses along our bike ride

the cows and their calves

Cassie and I at the beach having our rest brake consisting of cookies! :)

The random tea kettle

another view of along our bike ride around the island

Well today, is a typical Sunday of homework.  I need to finish planning for my last unit that I am teaching during my last week of student teaching!  Crazy how time flies!   I am also planning on starting to pack, and work on assignments for classes that are due next weekend.  I need to get those assignments done before I leave for Dublin on Saturday.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

<3 Amber