Wednesday - Week IX

A beautiful, sunny day that lasted from morning until night. Cold, yes, but sunny so most people were clearly in good spirits around the city.

I was running late this morning so I took a very direct route to meet my students so nothing much to take pictures of but I did find this beautiful patch of frost on top of a stone wall and could not resist taking a picture. The beauty of nature is always worth pausing to admire. And, as I walked past the little park near the river, I couldn't help but pause and take a picture of some dogs with their owner playing and enjoying themselves. Sunshine makes everyone happy two-legged and four-legged alike.

I had a pretty big group today. Martin, Patricia, Marisol, Vanessa, Maria Jesus as well as two of my favourite people, Nuria and Diego. You'll remember me mentioning them my first week of class. They were students in the first teacher practice session I did and they are both very smart. I just adore them they're such a sweet married couple from Argentina. They have been living in Spain for the last 8 years and decided to come to Ireland so Diego could go to the University and they could both practice their English speaking skills. They will be going home to Argentina soon where, as Nuria puts it, they will begin their life all over again. I think they are in their mid to late 30's and are thinking about having children so they feel it's better to be close to their families. Here is a picture of Nuria and Diago reading a script.

We accomplished a lot and they all got a good amount of time to practice speaking. I had them tell 3 minute stories about something very funny or very dramatic that has happened in their lives. We didn't get to finish so we'll continue tomorrow with the story telling and I anticipate some very interesting conversations to come out of all this.

Jean Marie had a meeting tonight so we won't be going to the gym but I'm sure tomorrow we will. I spent some time in the library reading and bumped into Ben from my class. He was there for a lecture on Western Sahara so stayed and listened. It was very interesting and I learned a lot about the country. And it was great to get to catch up with Ben on what's been going on since class ended. He has applied for a job in Japan so fingers are crossed he will get it and he'll be off to teach early in the New Year if it all works out.

He was very sweet and walked me home which was about 10 minutes out of his way. It restores my faith in the future that there are 21 year old men who are so mature and respectful and It really was so nice to chat and talk about what our other classmates are up to. I think a lot of great things will be happening for each student as soon as the holiday season is over.