Annique auf der Grünen Insel: 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...)