Friday - Week VIII

I woke up to a dreary overcast day but the sun was clearly drying desperately to break through the clouds so I had hope it would accomplish it’s mission and we would in the end have a lovely afternoon. Alas, that was not to be but the temperature did go up so having a bit of warmth outside made the day pleasant enough.

I stopped by the school to pick up my certificate since I am as of today an official English Language Teacher.

I spent the day reading and working on writing in various places in the city center. The library’s wireless internet was down so after an hour or so I went in search of a warm place to get some more work done. I settled on this lovely hotel in Eyre Square which has a very comfortable lobby and was a good place to spend a few hours reading. There was also a wedding going on so it’s always fun to see a happy bride and her guests enjoying themselves.

As I was walking about town and enjoying the Christmas decorations above the street, I bumped into several of my students. It’s hard to have any anonymity in a town this small but it’s okay because I love seeing them and we get to chat a bit and they get to practice their English. I saw Vanessa and Marisol in Eyre square as they were headed to the race track with a Japanese friend of theirs. Galway is famous for their race track and in August they pretty much all stop working here for two weeks and enjoy the races everyday. I of course I don’t believe in dog races, I can’t see the point but Marisol said in response to my surprised looked at where they were off too “but the dogs like to run so it’s okay.” We all have our differing options and that’s fine.

My friend Ruth from class had an art exhibit at the Town Hall Theatre so I headed over there after bumping into Marisol and Vanessa. Ruth’s a very talented artist and for her Graduate thesis she did a whole series of work on Greek mythology and tonight’s works were a reflection of the myth of the Sirens and the myth of the minotaur. It was so nice to see her work and catch up a bit. I also got to meet her parents and they’re just as lovely as she is. Also, I was so happy to see Roisin who is also a classmate and who had arrived to the exhibit just before I did. She is currently trying to decide if she wants to go to Spain in January and try teaching English there or do an internship at a theater in Dublin. So she has many choices but she’s very young and it’s a perfect time for her to do a myriad of things before she settles on one.

Niamh, another classmate was unable to make it tonight because she’s already moved to London to try and get a teaching job but her sister, Lisa, was so kind to come and even bought one of the paintings which is so exciting. She purchased one from the Sirens’ series where the Siren is looking out into the horizon. Here is just a sample of some of Ruth’s work.

It was wonderful to see the girls and I’m so happy for Ruth that she sold several works. You can see more of her work on her web site http://www.ruthcadden.co.uk/