Posts

March 30th: Describe a childhood memory

-
The first one that came to mind was when my family and I were holidaying in Kinvara in County Galway during the summer for about a week or so. I must've been maybe 7 or 8 years old at the time. One of the memories from this holiday was a day we spent at the beach - my parents, myself, and younger brother and sisters - and we decided to build this sandcastle village. I can't remember whose idea it was, but all I know is at some point in the evening, myself and Tom were there with Dad making the sandcastles first and then Dad started building this huge wall around it like a medieval town, and soon enough it grew and grew, and began to attract a bit of attention from other beach-goers that day. We even dug a bit of a moat around the outside and collected water from the sea to put in to it. I recall decorating the castles and the town walls with shells and seaweed, and putting twigs into the ground to resemble trees as the evening sun began to set. It was really cool, we took some...
Post a Comment
Read more

March 29th: Are you patient?

-
It depends. I can be incredibly patient in class as a child struggles to read a word aloud, but I can totally lose my cool when I get stuck behind an incredibly slow car, even if I'm not particularly in a rush anywhere. Patience is a virtue, honestly, and it is something I need to work on a bit more this year. I have plenty of it at work (where tbh it's part and parcel, like if you didn't have some ounce of patience there is no way you could teach children for a living) but it tends to do a disappearing act once I leave the classroom. Not sure why. I guess time will tell. If I'm willing to wait long enough to let it show me how.
Post a Comment
Read more

March 28th: Ten things you love about spring

-
The return of the sun.  I can't emphasise enough how much I love warm, sunny weather. Absolutely buzzing with the mini-heatwave we're having of late. The Six Nations rugby championship . Slightly disappointing this year, but an essential part of spring nonetheless. Leagues . Champions League, GAA Hurling and Football Leagues, Premier League. Time off school. February mid-term break, St. Patrick's Day bank holiday, Easter. I love my job, I swear... My birthday .  Pancake Tuesday . The only time of year I have pancakes and so do the absolute dog on it. Getting to wear cute clothes again.  No more puffy parka jackets, woolly hats and scarves covering up whatever ensemble you had put together underneath. Winter-wear be gone! Making summer plans.  March and April are when you start looking ahead to that expanse of free time available in a matter of weeks. At the moment I'm busying myself getting stuff organised for heading away this summer. The majority of frui...
Post a Comment
Read more

March 27th: Pick a movie character you identify with

-
(This was actually a lot harder than I thought). A film character with whom I identify would be Gru from Despicable Me, oddly enough, because: He was evil, then changed colours as the movies developed. Similarly, I have found that life experiences in adulthood have softened me as a person and reduced the negativity and bitchiness with which I enveloped myself as a teenager. Now, I didn't have any plans for world domination, but if I did, it would've been death to all by complaining. Part of what made him more woke to the good things in life was the presence of children. Working with kids both in the classroom and as part of extra-curricular ventures has, without a doubt, deepened my compassion and empathy for others. We are both most often seen sporting dark clothing. Can't go wrong with grey. We both speak with Russian accents. Obviously.
Post a Comment
Read more

March 26th: Something you are looking forward to

-
I am looking forward to all the travel I get to undertake this year. I go to Iceland in Easter with my family for a few days, and then in the summer, South East Asia will be calling my name. A wise man once said: "Travel is the only thing you can buy that will make you richer" (the wise man being my daddy, who was quoting it from another wise man but that's not important). Ever since those words were spoken to me, I have tried to include in my life as much travelling as is humanly possible, more so now as a wage-earner than a miserly student. Seeing more and more of the world is bound to do nothing else for you only further your appreciation of it, at the very least. I am looking forward to the amazing scenery and natural beauty in Iceland, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, as well as the hustle and bustle of sprawling cities like Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. I am looking forward to having intellectual chats with my dad about geographical phenomena we will witness at play in I...
Post a Comment
Read more

March 25th: Three things you learned today

-
Not to pay a blind bit of notice to people who contribute nothing to my life only negativity. How the Irish rugby team ended up conceding the opening try against Wales (thanks to a live stream blow-by-blow analysis by the one, the only Brian O'Driscoll). That I can deadlift 45kg.
Post a Comment
Read more

March 24th: What are you good at?

-
I am good at: planning teaching learning playing music singing dancing doing crosswords making people laugh analysing speed-reading bull-shitting making salads languages creeping v far back into people's instas without accidentally liking anything art eating estimating the amount of time it will take me to do something texting back remembering stuff (most of the time) Hey, don't look at me. No-one specified that it had to be just one thing.
Post a Comment
Read more