A month already!

New week, so new update!
3-10 t/m 9-10

This week was my first full week of working. I was a little nervous for it, don’t know why really haha. In the morning we (Iarlaith, Conaill and I) dropped Naiouse off at the bus and played with the lego the whole morning. Conaill went to school and Iarlaith went for a nap after that. When Naiouse came home, we played with the lego again. I have to say I’m getting really good! Reminds me of the times Rik and I played with the lego in the attic.. ah so cute! Around 5 Kevin got home, but he went for a work-out in the backyard. We had dinner, talked for a bit and I went to the gym at 19.15 with Tadgh. I had to do push-ups, which were kinda embarrassing haha. But other than that it was a good work-out! I took a shower and watched the Originals after that and went to bed.

On Tuesday morning we went to post office and the ATM. It went really well and Conaill collected leaves along the way. On the way back I met Lisa, Katie’s sister. It was a good morning! The rest of the day was pretty uneventful and it ended with an episode of the Big Bang Theory and American Horror Story.

Wednesday, another work day. Nothing really to report. I did go to the au pair meeting in the evening. It was fun! Saw most of the same people again, so we swapped stories of that week. It’s funny that you have so many of the same things, even though you are in different families.

Thursday was pretty good as well. I made toilet roll animals with the kids. Katie got some paint the other day and I was saving up the toilet rolls. The kids really got into it. Conaill and Iarlaith painted theirs in the morning and we made everything (ears, wings etc) for the animals, so we could assemble them in the afternoon. I made one with Naiouse when he got back from school. You can see the results on the pictures below. They played with them for quite some time.
In the evening I went for yet another work-out, just a little later than usual. It was 9 PM. Yes, you read that right, 9 PM! How is that for dedication? There were some other guys still there and now I know how much bullshit they can talk there. It was so funny! I laughed my ass off!

Friday, last work day of the week! I had to start at 12, so I could semi sleep in. The afternoon was pretty uneventful. In the evening a friend of Katie’s came for dinner with her daughter. The food was really nice! I arranged a skype-date with Janine for after dinner. So when I was going upstairs for that, Katie topped off my glass of wine, just ‘to empty the bottle’ haha. I talked to Janine for 2,5 hours!!! And there was no pause in between :O! We had a lot of catching up to do! It was a lot of fun! After that I went downstairs to get the ice cream that was saved for me and watched some Netflix.

For the weekend I had a Galway trip lined up! The agency that Ayleen came with organized that. They would pick everyone up in Cork, but because they were coming this way, they would pick everyone from Mallow up at a gas station. Ann, Ayleen’s host mom, dropped us off there in the morning at 9. Because we were there a little early, she gave Ayleen some money so we could buy a coffee. That was really nice and greatly appreciated! The bus was going to arrive around 9.45, so we went outside a little before that. There were 2 other girls waiting, so we talked to them for a bit. They both seemed really nice. The bus came and we went inside. It was such a weird thing, it was really fun and these 18-19 year olds were staring at us and speaking German. Luckily Ayleen found 2 seats next to each other, so we could sit next to each other.
The first stop was Bunratty Castle, but that was just a coffee break. We would go in tomorrow. After that we went to the Cliffs of Moher. We went into the information center first and saw an exhibition they made. After that we had about 1,5 hours on the cliffs itself for pictures and just walking around. It was drizzling, which was too bad. But nonetheless we made some nice pictures and walked on the cliffs for a bit. The next stop was in the Burren. The Burren (Irish: Boireann, meaning "great rock") is a karst landscape in County Clare, Ireland. It measures approximately 250 square kilometres and is enclosed roughly within the circle made by the villages of Ballyvaughan, Kinvara, Tubber, Corofin, Kilfenora and Lisdoonvarna. We went to a stone formation called ‘Poulnabrone dolmen’.
Poulnabrone dolmen (Poll na mBrón in Irish, meaning "hole of the quern stones" (bró in Irish)) is a portal tomb - one of approximately 174 in Ireland - based in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland, dating back to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC and 2900 BC.
After those photo ops we went to Doolin and Galway. The road there was very bumpy and the girls in the back were very obvious about it. The screams and insane laughter was a little much. There wasn’t much in Doolin that we saw. There was one street and that was it. So we didn’t stay there long. It did have a great chocolate shop and the night life is supposed to be really good. When we arrived at the hostel we were divided into rooms, which in my opinion could have gone so much smoother. I was in a room with Ayleen, 2 other Germans girls and 2 of the female guides. What I really appreciated was that they spoke English when I was there, although I have to say that I understood a lot of the German as well. After we dropped our bags we went down for dinner, which was subway. This again was set up so messy… They could really benefit from some suggestion cards. The girls from my room and I went into Galway to look around and get a drink. By the time we found one to go into, the 2 other girls wanted to go back, so Ayleen and I went in. We drank some cider and listened to good live music! It’s a bar that I definitely want to go to again. It had a lot of different areas, so a lot of people fit into it. It was called ‘the Quays’, which I later learned is pronounced ‘the Keys’. We got back to the hostel around 11, haha very respectable.
On Sunday we had to check out at 10 and then had free time till 12.30. So we decided to go into Galway and look around. Unfortunately on a Sunday most of the stores open at 12, so we only really got a look at the souvenir shops. We stumbled upon the Galway market, so we had a look there. There was also a church Kevin told me about, that inside has obituaries of weird deaths. But there was a mass going on when we were there, so there was no sightseeing.
We went back to the hostel around 12 and our next stop was Bunratty Castle. We had a guided tour there, which entailed some information about 2 rooms and then we were send on our way to explore the castle by ourselves. Not much of a guided tour if you ask me. But we had a look around ourselves and it was pretty cool. Although those stairs were AWFUL! I’m still surprised I didn’t fall. They were very steep and small and some of them were even a two-way thing. There was more to see outside, so we walked around there as well and ended in the pub there. We got a drink from the agency and there was an option for an Irish coffee. So I of course didn’t pass that up! They say it is one of the best and it was really good!!!! After that we left the castle around 5, on our way back to Mallow. Katie picked us up at the gas station. It was a good weekend!!