Ireland 1: Dublin

We arrived in Dublin, Ireland around 8am on a Monday and took a bus to our hotel... where we stored our luggage until we could check-in at 2:30pm. That first day was a total blur. We wandered around (a lot!) and tried a couple restaurants recommended by our guide book. We ate a "traditional Irish breakfast" for 5 euros at a place called Flanagans (on O'Connell street).

I took a couple pictures at Trinity College. We didn't get the full tour till day 2 but it was sunny and lovely as we walked around. Old buildings are cool. We stopped to have a scone & coffee at Bewley's which was recommended by our guide book. It's on Grafton Street right near TONS of shopping.

Tons of houses and apartment buildings had Irish decor all over them in support of the soccer team who happened to be playing Italy on our first night. Joel watched the game but I fell asleep for 90% of it.

 Other sights we saw in Dublin are St. Patrick's Cathedral:

 Christ Church:

 Anddddddd the Guinness Factory. We took the full tour which was intriguing & interactive. Plus they give you a free pint at the top-level bar...

...which has glass on all sides and provides a sweet view of the entire city:

 Apparently our hotel was near James Joyce's home so we wandered around looking for some sign of him. All we found were ivy covered homes. Still pretty rad.

One thing that shocked us was how late it got dark. We went out for a beer at 10:30 and it was still completely light!

The best food we ate in Dublin was at The Black Sheep on Capel Street. We found it by mistake and stopped in because they advertised craft beers. Most places in Dublin serve Guinness & not much else so I was pretty pumped for some variety (aka: something I might actually like!). Apparently The Black Sheep is affiliated with a bunch of other places and gets their beer from a brewery in Galway. On our last night in Dublin we went back for an amazing dinner & to share their "trio of beers". Here are a few shots of their decor:

Recommended hotels:
Best= Hotel St. George (the room was slightly small but the shower water pressure was really good, so it gets high ratings in my book)
Not best but still good: Castle Hotel (Both hotels are part of the same group & both had excellent reception services. Their staff were SO helpful!)

goal making: summer 2012

i'm always sooooooooo pumped for summers to start. i love making fun plans and traveling cool places. and i love being able to sleep past 5:50 am.

then summer starts and i realize i had unrealistic expectations. i could spend hours and hours doing nothing online. at the end of the day i feel worthless & frustrated with myself.

so here are a few goals i've set for myself this summer. to hold myself accountable.

1. exercise every day. this will be by running, biking, or just taking a quiet walk around the neighborhood at night with my darling.
2. eat more fruit & less desserts. (tonight i resisted buying PB cups for cookies!)
3. get a job for next fall
4. refinish the awesome dresser we found on our neighbor's curb
5. spend quality time with those i love. this includes joel, my family, local friends, and church community.

some lessons learned

it's been 12 days since i found out i don't have a job for next year.

in those 12 days a million emotions have filled my heart and about 3 million thoughts have filled my mind. i've lost a lot of sleep, talked about the same things over and over with joel, prayed, thought, cried, and prayed some more.

i felt afraid. what are we going to do without my salary? joel's health insurance would only cover 60% of my care. i felt sad. i'll never see my little tykes from this year again. oh my gosh, i love these kids. they'll be surprised next year when i'm not in my classroom. frustrated. ARGHHHHHHHHH i spent sooooooo many hours making lesson plans for this curriculum. i put so much effort and thought into this year. confused. if the decision wasn't based on my performance and they said i'm doing a great job, why did they choose to let me go? useless & unimportant. sure they had to cut 18% of the budget but why am i replaceable? what am i missing that others have so they could keep their jobs? angry. confused. anxious. so so so sad.

a few lessons that i've learned, though...
1. God has given me a precious, precious gift in giving me Joel. he has become more and more the perfect man for me. he listens when i say the same thing for the gazillionth time. he hugs me and tells me i'm awesome and helps me edit my resume.
2. i'm not in control. i can plan our life to the very last detail but i can't control things like jobs, finances, and the future. that needs to be okay.
3. money should be kept carefully and spent wisely. i cannot be frivolous or spend it carelessly as i have done some times these past two years.

thanks to the dads

my heart is heavy as i write because two days ago i found out my contract wasn't renewed and today i packed up my classroom for forever, it seems. i may post about that separately but i want to use this sad circumstance to shout-out to my dad & dad-in-law.

my dad's the funniest guy. he's patient and loving and generous. he taught me to be brave and drive on the highway. he waited patiently while i stalled out our first civic a million times. he sends me funny emails and he always starts our gmail chats by saying "bye!" he has forgiven my numerous failures and encourages me to grow. he uses random japanese phrases because he knows the language and country are still so dear to my heart. thanks, daddio. i love you.

joel's dad, my dad-in-law, is a wonderful man, too. his sense of humor lightens family dinners. he has a twinkle in his eye and gives generously to us. he's really patient and supportive. plus, he knows how to do about a million different home repairs. 

both our dads have been utterly aweomse these past few days, during what's probably the biggest challenge of our 19 month marriage. i'm so grateful. 

plus, i'm grateful for joel. he isn't a dad. but someday i hope he'll be the dad of my children.

and i love him so much my heart hurts if i think about it too long.

three new blogs to read

this weekend i've spent an excessive amount of time in the blog world. joel has exams to grade. my report cards were submitted on friday. i do have lots to do for work in the next couple of days, but nothing i can really accomplish at home. SO. i stumbled upon three new blogs that are really fun.

1. cute family with darling little kids & friends that seem amazing.
2. dual effort by a few stylish ladies (also with darling kids). they include fun tutorials.
3. a family of FOUR little boys. their mom has awesome style and they take great photos.

read 'em!

when joel is gone...

... i take photos of my borrowed cowboy (cowgirl?) boots for lauren's wedding next month

 i do a ton of work for report cards & eat brownies/drink soy milk for dinner.

 i sleep with the pillows snuggling me in our gigantic bed that feels so empty

 i make late night runs to target wearing my softest hoodie and new shoes for ireland.

the fruit bowl on our counter is full of things joel doesn't really like (tomatoes/peaches).

worst.bus.ride.ever.

i've been on some pretty awful bus rides in my 27 years. but today took the cake. and involved tears.

we're about 20 minutes into our 45 minute bus ride back to school after our field trip. my student, T, asks if she can go to the bathroom as soon as we get back to school. of course i say she can.

5 minutes later she asks how close we are and says she has to go really bad. i tell her i'm sorry but we're in the middle of a neighborhood on unknown back roads & she doesn't have a choice but to hold it.

3 minutes later she's sobbing. tears are running down her face. it's pouring outside, we're on a bus with 40 kids, and i can hear her cries from three rows back. my heart is breaking and my mind is racing. peeing her pants would be the worst experience of her 9 year old life. but what else can we do? there's nowhere to stop. oh, there was a port-a-potty. oh, too late. gosh, what if she pees her pants? she's CRYING! that's pretty serious. what the heck can i do? is she still crying? yup, there are her sobs. what will the bus driver do if she pees her pants all over the seat? should i ask to stop? shouldn't fourth graders be able to hold it? oh gosh she's still balling. okay, i have to do something.

as soon as i told the bus driver that this was a real-life-about-to-be-wet-seats-situation, she said she would stop at the dunkin donuts up ahead. praise the Lord. T and i walked to the front of the bus and ran inside the second the bus door opened. she made it in to the bathroom on time but as i waited i noticed a sign on the door that said, "sink out of order. no water." gross, i thought. but not as gross as cleaning up pee off a bus seat. oh well. then the door opens.

"mrs. alberts... my nose is bleeding."

i open the door to see blood ALL over the floor, all over my student.

no toilet paper. no paper towels. no water in the faucets. i run out of the bathroom, grab napkins from the counter, hand her some and proceed to clean the numerous red puddles off the floor. pretty tough job with no water.

many napkins later, the floor has a few already-dried drops of blood left, but i know i can't get it off so we head back out to the bus. her bleeding stops. we finish the school day. i call her mom to explain the situation. i stop at the dunkin donuts to thank the incredibly kind staff & to offer to clean up the mess i'm sure is still in their water-less bathroom. they refuse my help and repeatedly say it's no problem. i smile with tears of exhaustion and gratitude in my eyes.

i get back in my car and cry.