My fourth week in Ireland

The last week was so busy and I am really tired now, but here comes my short report of my fourth week in Ireland.

Aldi stand :)

On Tuesday all students from the TY(Transition Year) went to the "Ploughing Championships 2015". I was really tired because we had to be at school at 6.30 am. We drove ca. 2-3 hours until we were there. It was so huge! Tuesday was the first day of the "Ploughing Championships" which was also on Wednesday and Thursday and on Tuesday were over 60.000 people there. I walked around with two girls from my class and an exchange student from Spain. There was an exhibition of vintage irish maschines etc. Aldi and Lidel also had a stand but I didn´t go in because the queue was too long. We walked around the big place until we had to come back to the bus at 15:30.  At 19:30 we arrived back in Blarney and I was really tired after the lot of walking.

On Wednesday I had my  first riding lesson here. I arrived at the farm at 13:45 and the riding teacher should come at 14:00 so I really had to hurry. The riding teacher Liz arrived a bit earlier while I was still brushing Rocky. She showed me how to put on the Martingal and then she lunged (longieren) Rocky. She is really good and she has trained her son for Olympia. Then she lunged Rocky with me on him and after a while I rode Rocky alone. I trott (traben) with Rocky on different fields and along the long drive (Auffahrt) to the farm. It was arduous  (anstrengend),  Rocky and me was both sweaty afterwards, but it was also really good.

On Thursday we had three lessons "First Aid". It was quite interesting and I could understand the most. We learnt and practiced the recovery position (stabile Seitenlange). After school I rode Rocky again and on Friday too.

My little host brother had his Birthday on Friday and is now eleven years old. It was interesting to see how irish people celebrate Birthdays. They hadn´t decorated the house but at the evening the hole family was together to celebrate with a chocolate cake.

On Saturday I was in Cork again with Elisabetta and Ilonka, the both exchange students.
We walked along Cork and I ate my most healthiest takeaway food ever- a delicious soup with black olives and other vegetabels from the "English Market". We saw really cool and sweet shops ( cute Book& Vintage stores).  Then we met Julia who had met a friend in Cork. We drunk together the "best hot chocolate Irelands"( at least the cafe said it). The hot chocolate was really good but not the best. I had one with pepermint and there were also other interesting tastes like orange, rose and ginger (Ingwer).

On Sunday we were again in a mass and afterwards we went to the "Secret Garden". It was so dreamy and idyllic. There were lots of different plants and my host family bought four hens. I could choose one and now they own a black and white hen called "Amsterdam Rose". There was also a really cute cafe/ shop, a bit bigger than a summer house (Gartenhaus). They had lots of old vintage things. We drunk a cup of tea there and when we arrived back at the farm I rode Rocky again. It was a good and interesting week and now my fifth week has already started. How time flies! ( Wie die Zeit vergeht...)

Old tractors at the "Ploughing Championships"

Old steering wheels

A cute Vintage shop in the " English market"

Blarney Castle

Yesterday I visited Blarney Castle together with Julia, the german girl, and Carol, an girl from my class.
It was great. The park was huge and the way to the castle was, like they say it in their booklet, "mystical". The view from the castle was amazing, altough I was a bit scared of the high. There were lots of lucky charms like walking up and down a stairs with the eyes closed and not thinking about the wish, then the wish "will come true". There was also a stream full of lucky pennys. And I kissed a LEGEND- the Blarney Stone. They say if you kiss it you will never miss to grow eloquent( Wenn man den Stein küsst, wird man nie missen wortgewandt zu sein). I don´t believe that it´s true but I did it to overcome my scare of the high. On the top of the castle you have to sit down and hold on two bars and through a hole in the wall you hang out to kiss the stone. It was a bit scary although someone hold you.
The gardens were beautiful with nice little bridges everywhere, waterfalls and lots of plants. All in all it was a really nice and cool day.

Carol, Julia and me

The Wishstairs

I am already 3 weeks here!

Here comes, a bit late, my report about my time here in Ireland since the last Wednesday until now (Sunday).

On the last Thursday, the day after the celebration of the Junior Cyle Exames, all were really tired. The girls and boys from my  class had celebrated their exames a bit long. On the same day we had lessons in Druming. It was fun and cool but I really had to concentrate on the rhythm.

The lasagne.

 On the last Saturday I was again in Cork city with Ilonka and Julia, the  exchange students from Germany, and Elisabetta from Italy. We watched Maze Runners 2( I can totally understand why it is called runners:)). Then we went to a really cute and small Italien restaurant. I ate an delicious lasagne and drunk a dark hot chocolate with chilli. Afterwards we walked to the English market. It was really cool and I tried my first Scone.

On Sunday we went to church again. I really have to get used to it because it´s so different. The one reson is of course the English, the Gospel have all other names. The other reason is that it is chatolic. They don´t have a homily, just prayers which the priest says and the people have to repeat them.
After the church my host family went with me to an Italien restaurant(again=)). It was really nice. I had a pizza magherita and an orange juice with a citron ( that is normal in Ireland- orange juice with citron). It was funny because the pizza tasted like lasagne.

On this Thursday we ( all students from the TY) went to the big TY EXPO 2015 exibition. It was my second exibition this year. On the first I was with my father to look for an exchange organisation.
There we different stands from the Irish  War Museeum to exchanges to Germany. I talked with a young german women who works for an exchange organisation which makes exchanges to Germany.

Minion cake in the English market

On Friday we made Cookies in school which tasted and looked like Scones.=) After school I saw my second hurling match. It was the match from my little host brother. Unfortunately his team lost 9:23.

And yesterday I visted Blarney Castle! More on the next post.=)

A day in Cork...

 Von dem Tag heute habe ich zwei Versionen geschrieben. Eine auf Englisch, die zweite auf Deutsch:

Die englische Version:

We had the day off today, because the students who are in the TY(Transition Year) got their results of their exames, which they passed at the end of the junior cycle( the first three years at high school).

Cork

 In the morning I worked in the charity shop in Blarney from 10- 12 o´clock.  I put the tags with the sizes and prizes on the clothes. I accidentlly hurt myself with the maschine from the prize tags:(). Afterwards I walked along Blarney village. I was in "the biggest irish shop in the world" which was really big:). Then at 13:30 o´clock I went to the bus stop near the school where I met the other exchange students to drive together to Cork city.We were three students from Germany, one from Italy and five from spain. When we arrived in Cork city we got into two groups. The spain students went to McDonalds and the student from Italy, the two students from Germany and me went to an irsh version of McDonalds, just with irish and healthy food. I ate a baggle with crisps ( altough I still think crisps don´t fit into a meal) and drunk two cups of tea. It was really nice. Afterwards we walked along in Cork city and I saw my first irish busker.=) It was a little bit difficult not to speak German but because of the girl from Italy we spoke half German half English. We went into some tourist shops and into a nice book shop. We ate a delicious frozen yougurt, then we had to take the bus back to Blarney. The bus drove maybe an half hour from Cork city to Blarney. In Blarney my host mother picked me up and drove me back to the farm.

 For dinner we had pasta, chips( Pommes nicht Chips=)) and meat in curry sauce with bell peper. It was an interesting combination which I had never tasted before. Tomorrow I have school again and I am really intrested in what the other students are going to tell about how they celebrate their exames:)

Und die deutsche Version:

Wir hatten heute den Tag frei, weil die Schüler aus dem TY( Transition Year) ihre Ergebnisse von dem Examen, das sie am Ende des Junior Cyles( Die ersten drei Jahre an der High School) schreiben mussten, bekommen haben.

The Luch( das Mittagessen)

Frozen Yogurt=)

Am Morgen arbeitete ich im Charity shop in Blarney von 10- 12 Uhr. Dort habe ich die Klamotten mit Preisschildern versehen.( Ich habe mir aus Versehen die Maschine zum Preisschild antackern in den Finger gestochen:(). Danach habe ich mir Blarney angeguckt. Ich war in dem "größten irischen Laden der Welt", der wirklich sehr groß war. Um 13:30 Uhr bin ich zu der Bushaltestelle, nahe der Schule, gegangen, um mich mit den anderen Austauschschülern zu treffen und mit ihnen nach Cork City zu fahren. Wir waren drei Schüler aus Deutschland, eine Schülerin aus Italien und fünf Schüler aus Spanien. Als wir in Cork City ankamen, teilten wir uns in zwei Gruppen auf. Die Spanier gingen zu McDonalds und die Schülerin aus Italien, die beiden deutschen Schülerinnen und ich gingen zu der irischen Version von MCDonlads, nur das es Irisch und wessentlich gesünder war. Ich aß einen Baggel mit Chips( obwohl ich immernoch finde, dass Chips nicht zu einer richtigen Mahlzeit gehören) und drank zwei Tassen Tee. Es war sehr nett. Danach schlenderten wir durch Cork City und ich sah meine ersten irischen Straßenmusiker=). Es war ein wenig schwer nicht Deutsch zu sprechen, aber wegen der italienischen Schülerin sprachen wir halb Deutsch, halb Englisch. Wir gingen in ein paar Touristenläden und in einen sehr schönen Buchladen. Danach aßen wir einen leckeren Frozen Yogurt, dann mussten wir den Bus zurück nach Blarney nehmen. Wir fuhren ungefähr eine halbe Stunde von Cork City nach Blarney. In Blarney holte mich meine Gastmutter ab und brachte mich zurück zu der Farm.

Zum Abendessen hatten wir Nudeln, Pommes und Fleisch in Currysoße mit Paprika. Dies war eine sehr interessante Kombination, welche ich vorher noch nie probiert hatte. Morgen habe ich wieder Schule und ich bin schon sehr gespannt, was die anderen Schüler darüber erzählen, wie sie ihre Examen gefeiert haben=).

Being at the cinema, a hurling match and a catholic church

So that was my first weekend in Ireland! I am really tired now because I have done a lots of things:
First of all I have been to cinema on Saturday. In the morning I slept until 10 o´clock because we stayed at friends of the family until 23:30 o´clock on Friday evening. Then I had a shower and ate my breakfast. At 12:40 my host mother drove my to Blarney where I waited for my friend Carol and her mother to pick me up. They arrived and her mother drove us to Blackpool where the cinema is. She was really nice and we talked about shop brands in Ireland and Germany. In Blackpool we waited for Karen, our other friend. When she arrived we went into the cinema and bought our tickets. We went into "Me, earl and the dying girl". The film was a little bit strange sometimes because they used a lots of different camera perspectives and it was really experimentical ( and also a little bit sad). The hole cinema cried...
Afterwards we went into a shopping centre and picked out some outfit for us. I picked one for Karen and Carol picked one for me( it was amazing I looked forty years older=)) Then Karen and I went to the hurling match of her brother. Hurling is a real popular sport in Ireland and it´s  a little bit like lacrosse. The match wasn´t sooooo interesting, I think it´s quite more interesting if you play it yourself or understand it( Karen tried to explain it to me but I still don´t really understand it=)). Karen and I shared some chips together and it was really nice to talk to her. At the end the team of Karens brother lost but all in all it was really nice day.

Today( Sunday) I had been  to a catholic worship for the first time in my life . It was interesting but it seemed to me as if it was really short. They had to fall on their knees and repeat the prayers the priest said. Afterwards we talked with friends of the McSweenys and then we went shoppping in Blackpool . I spent a hole hour browsing through some magazines. In the meantime my host mother did the shopping for a hole week while she made a phone call. At the end she had over five shopping bags.=)

The school starts tomorrow again and I am excited what will happend next.=)

Meine erste Schulwoche

Heute kommt mein verspäteter Bericht über meinen ersten Schultag. Weil es schon Freitag ist, werde etwas über die ganze Schulwoche erzählen, ausnahmsweise auf Deutsch.:)
Am Dienstag war mein erster Schultag an meiner neuen Schule in Blarney, die "Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal" Schule. Es gab erst eine große Verwirrung, weil ich in der falschen Klasse war. Der Direktor hatte mich und Julia, das andere Mädchen aus Deutschland=) verwechselt und hatte uns zur jeweils falschen Klasse geschickt.

Langsam habe ich mich eingewöhnt und die Mädchen aus meiner Klasse sind sehr nett. Ich habe ein paar Fächer, die ich in Deutschland nicht hatte: Irisch( Klingt ein bisschen als würde jemand versuchen Russisch zu sprechen und dabei mit Steinen gurgeln:)), Buisness, Competition (wo ich mit zwei anderen Mädchen ein Kleidungsstück aus Müll herstellen werde) und Home, wo wir heute gelernt haben wie man BROWNIES!!! bäckt. Das ist ein bisschen lustig, den in der Schule hängen überall Poster über gesunde Ernährung, denn Irland hat ein großes Problem wegen Übergewicht bei der Bevölkerung, und dann lernt man in der Schule wie man sich ungesundes Essen kocht und bäckt. Die nächsten Wochen über werden wir lernen wie man Pizza, Toffeepudding, Cookies, Reis mit Curry und Cookies macht. Also sehr gesund:) Bis auf das Curry natürlich=)
Ansonsten ist Englisch genau so wie der Englischunterricht zu Hause in Deutschland, nur das zwischendurch nicht Deutsch gesprochen wird=). Mathe ist auch sehr einfach, denn sie machen gerade eine Revision vom letzten Jahr und die Themen hatten wir ca. vor 2 Jahren.  Auch Science( Naturwissenschaften) sind einfach, den das Thema ist gerade das Auge und optische Täuschungen und das hatten wir letztes Jahr schon in Deutschland. Der Deutschunterricht ist total lustig, den eins der Themen das wir durchnehmen werden ist "Meine Familie und ich" und das hat mich total an unseren Französischunterricht erinnert.

Am Mittwoch war ich im Charityshop in Blarney, wo ich die Kleidungsstücke gebügelt habe( mit etwas das aussieht wie ein Staubsauger), staubgestaubt und die Kleider nach Farben sortiert habe=) Es hat echt Spaß gemacht und ich hätte wirklich nicht gedacht, dass es dort so viele Abendkleider geben würde.

Am Donnerstag( also gestern) haben wir einenAusflug zum "Glen activity centre" gemacht. Dort haben wir ein paar Ballspiele gespielt und dann sind wir auf einer Art hölzernen Leiter geklerttert. Es war ein bisschen unheimlich, weil sich die Leiter bewegt hat, doch beim zweiten Mal bin ich bis nach oben geklettert.

Heute hat das Wochenende begonnen und Morgen oder Übermorgen werde ich mit zwei Mädchen aus meiner Klasse Cork besichtigen.

Es ist total merkwürdig auf Deutsch zu schreiben und mir fallen manche Wörter zuerst auf Englisch ein=) Das nächste Mal werde ich auch wieder auf Englisch schreiben.