Hi my dears. Due to the tremendous fuss at work I just wasn’t able to write about the Christmas show my girl was in last week. So, after previous my “Party time” post, this topic is a little more serious but I’m trying to keep it light.
Any news, such as plays, schedule changes, school activities, donations… is reported to us from the school by in a colourful A4 letter with pictures. And SMS’s with the same information. In addition, the teachers also kindly reminds us of any important events. That was how we got information about the Christmas show, which does not allow small children, a maximum of two family members can attend and admission is €6. In the absence of a nanny, I had to go alone.
While teachers did makeup and dressed the children in costumes, parents were treated to complimentary cookies, chocolates, biscuits, coffee and tea. There was a charity raffle and some participants won haircuts, free dinners, gift packages and other prizes.
When I saw my little Christmas elf with face-painted in her adorable sweet suit and cap, I melted. They performed the play “The Wizard of Oz“, try to imagine how touching it is watching and listening to 60 children aged between 6-8 years to singing “Somewhere over the rainbow“. When I became aware it was the first show of my child in a foreign country and realised she knew the song from beginning to end, the feeling is still indescribable.
I was particularly impressed by the way the teachers treated them. One teacher led the program and played all the songs on the piano and there were still at least 10 teachers assisting. When the children came down from the stage the class teacher would be the first to great them, cuddle and showed them the way to the next teacher, who was also on his knees waiting for them a few feet away and then did the same thing, then a third one took over and escorted the children to the classroom where they changed out of costume. Their care and concern for the children felt so genuine, the team put in incredible hard work and dedication. Even in Zagreb I heard from university professors how Ireland’s schools system is the best in the world and a school model for all. I’m not surprised. As a parent you are aware of this on a daily basis.
People are not all the same and we do not ask the same things out of life but it seems to me that Dublin offers so much.It has beautiful nature and wildlife, very rich and interesting nightlife, numerous types of restaurants and pubs, beaches and picturesque villages, friendly Irish people and foreigners… it’s hard not to feel at home.
When a child arrives to school they must be placed into the hands of the teacher, when you come to pick a child, a teacher will search the crowd in attempt to visualise you. Only when you have been spotted and waved at can you can take your child. Meanwhile another employee of the school stops the traffic at the crossroad in front of the school, until the last child passes safely onto the walkway. Can you imagine a better way of learning, teaching and caring?! I cannot.
Therefore, I am sure that we have chosen the perfect country for us, although I had no doubt of that from the first moment of our decision. People are not all the same and we do not ask the same things out of life but it seems to me that Dublin offers so much. It has beautiful nature and wildlife, very rich and interesting nightlife, numerous types of restaurants and pubs, beaches and picturesque villages, friendly Irish people and foreigners… it’s hard not to feel at home. Or even better, if you ask me.
Not a day passes by that familiar faces in supermarket ask me “How are you? Was work hard?” in a local coffee bar, one employee, a Romanian, even offered me my regular coffee on the house.
I walked in into a shoe store recently with my children and the staff asked me if they would like some balloons? In a moment the guy was climbing on a chair and taking balloons from shelves and giving them to my kids. Ok, the intentions were a little dubious hahahaaaa, even my husband asked when I came out “Where did these balloons come from?!” and laughed when he heard they’d received them from some employee. Hmm, actually now that I’m typing I can see that it is always some kind of act related to the male part of the population, so I’ll stop counting them, simply because I cannot think of any woman who did something very kind for me worth mentioning. When I count them up, I believe women are equally pleasant to my husband too, so after thorough calculation, Ireland is a friendly minded country in general.
Bye typing and have a nice night, good day or good morning, depending on your time of reading this post….
Ana