Last Days in the North/Cliften School

Our last two days in the North were busy and very interesting. On Friday we went to Belfast to see left over murals of the struggles and see the city. Most of the murals had been taken down because the country is trying to move forward instead of dwelling on the bitter feelings of the country's history. The few we saw varied greatly depending on the neighborhood. The first set of murals we saw were mostly colorful and commemorative. A striking contrast was the next street over where most of the murals were men in masks throwing bombs and holding guns. After the educational part of our visit was over we were dropped of in the city center for lunch and for some students shopping. We stooped into a little cafe for soup and sandwiches (paid for in pounds). After lunch we toured the city hall and bought a Gaelic soccer jersey for Liam.

Saturday we went to the Giants Causeway. On the bus our guide told us the story of Finn McCool. To make a half hour story short the Irish legend goes that Finn the Giant had a enemy giant in Scotland. Finn fell in love with the enemy giant's sister so when his enemy was gone he built a causeway across to Scotland and brought her back to Ireland. When the enemy/brother giant found out that his sister had run off with his arch enemy he was furious so he decided to go to Ireland a fight Finn. But in the end Finn was able to scare the giant away and as he fled back to Scotland he destroyed the causeway so Finn couldn't follow him. And that's why there are only two places in the world that look like the Giants Causeway. One in Ireland and one about eleven miles away in Scotland. However scientists know that the unique rock formations were formed when volcanoes erupted. As the tide came in the causeway began to disappear. It was windy so we there were huge waves that would hit the rocks and send ocean spray at us from about twenty feet away.
We spent most of Sunday on the bus heading back to Tully Cross. Monday morning I got up early for my first day of school! We spent about fifteen minutes in the headmasters talking about the weather, sports, the economy and pretty much everything but school. Then he told me to come back tomorrow. On Tuesday my mom drove me to the school for my first real day. For this week I'm just following one of my friends form last time around until I get my own schedule. Also I don't have a locker or books but I'm determined to make it work. The school is grades seven through eleven. In Ireland there are no seniors instead, kids that age job shadow as a way to decide what they want to do before they go to college. Although six different classes attend the school the school is still smaller than East Middle School. In my class there are about seventy kids. The school was originally built for one hundred twenty five kids but there are now about three hundred kids. Because of this about half of my classes are outside in small trailers. Another major difference between home and here is the length and number of classes. Here it is block scheduling so every day of the week I have a different organization of classes. Because of this I could go a two days without a math class but then have double math the next day. There are eight class periods in a day and they last forty minutes. My classes include French, Gaelic (neither of which I know), English, Geography, History, Math, Science, Religion, SPHE (social and physical health education), Culture, Home Economics, and Business studies. This combined with the fact that teachers share and rotate rooms makes figuring out where I'm suppose to be when very difficult. Another difference is there is no cafeteria so the only time to eat is during
the fifteen minute break halfway through our day. The school day starts at nine twenty five and ends at four o'clock but my bus picks me up at eight. And drops me off at home around five. This makes the school day very long and tiring but so far school has been a good experience. I'm working on learning and in some cases pronouncing my class mates names. I hope everyone at home is enjoying snow! Cant wait to see everyone! Sorry for the lack of pictures the wind is making our Internet very slow and choppy. I will try and post more pictures next time.