Day 5

 

We started today off bright and early for breakfast at 7.30 this morning. Our first class on our timetable started at 8.40, so we met briefly before to discuss our ‘game plan’. Our first class was with Class 5 and it consisted of our language Jenga and lots of entertaining chats with all the students. Our next stop was Class 3 where we played a game of Headbandz lead by Katie, Ruby and Ava. We finished the class with some singing and dancing, and we were met with high enthusiasm from all the students. After a short 5-minute break of playing in the yard, we headed into Class 1 where we taught them the ‘Hokey Pokey’, ‘Cha Cha Slide’, the classic; ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, ‘The Macarena’ and ‘The Dreolín’ of course to add some ‘Irish feels’. In our last class of the day we did come more of our Jenga game, hot seat and some descriptive games.

We had a brief break to recover from the heat. Today the school were celebrating the win of the ‘Blue House’- which is very similar to our house system in HCK. We were welcomed to the celebration by big smiles, games, and treats. Emily was our proud winner of ‘Musical Chairs’ (which got very competitive). We were taught some new dances by some of the girls and were very impressed by their coordination and skill. One boy in particular showed the whole school how to really dance!!! After our enjoyable celebrations, we had a delicious lunch back in the accommodation thanks to the chef Patrick.

While we were taking part in the festivities Izzy O’R, Issy O’D, and Rachael were helping out in the Mary Rice Centre for the day. Today was the school’s celebration of all the birthdays within the month of February. It was described to us as not only a celebration of new age and becoming older but an overall celebration of life itself. The girls were very grateful to be included and involved in the gathering. There was cake, music, and dancing, as well as laughter filled room! It was such a rewarding day for both groups.

Once lunches were eaten and activities finished, the group in St. Georges regrouped with some of the students that Br. Franco had arranged to tour us around the New Market quite close to our accommodation. There were stalls ranging from food to electronics, along endless streets yet surprisingly we were drawn mainly to the jewellery stands. Arriving safely back to St. Georges the girls took part in various rounds of basketball with the students who were very patient with some of our lack of skills reminding us that “we are playing for fun and not to win or lose.”

Our meeting of reflection started promptly at 6:00pm continuing up until dinner at 7:30pm. We reflected on the day talking about new bonds and friendships made between us and the students as well as different things that caught our attention throughout the day that we may not have noticed before.

Overall, today was agreeably one of the most enjoyed and activity packed out of the week so far, the days was full of friendship and laughter, and the girls look forward to the coming week and what it brings!