Week 11 times...

Personal & Cultural

It’s Easter Sunday and I am patiently waiting for eggs to arrive from home…waiting…waiting. Let’s hope they come on Wednesday after the bank holiday. As a few people have left the country for Easter it was the perfect time to get a little work done for the course. On Easter Sunday we decided to have a group dinner in the evening. Caroline and I made the main course which was a traditionally British roast beef dinner and I can safely say I done myself and Britain proud as it went down a treat and the first roast dinner I have had in the last 10 weeks! Two of the Polish girls created a traditionally Polish starter of rice and also an egg mayonnaise. The Portuguese couple created a Spanish tortilla to compliment the rice dish which was also really delicious. The dessert was apply pie created by the Polish girls and it was one of the nicest pie’s I have every tasted even though we disagreed if it was traditionally British or Polish. That evening we had a games night with card games and other board games like connect 4.

The weather has been fantastic over Easter so on Tuesday assignments were set aside and we decided to go for a picnic in the sun. Along the canal there is a small farm where you can sit and relax and it also has a small play park for the children. As the sun shone we ate our lunch watching the employees chase after escaped chickens and listened to the snoring pig. That evening we relaxed along the canal in the sunshine trying to get the boats to honk their horns. I believe we got 1 honk from about 20 boats.

Its wednesday and a package from home finally arrived! Easter gifts of chocolate! Thank you family! This shall keep me happy for a little while.

On Thursday the entire erasmus group went to Lazerquest. It was amazing craic and we will definiately be making a return visit in the near future. I managed to come third even though my gun broke half way through, i was pleasantly surprised by the actions!

One of the lectures was leaving Pabo on Friday and in Dutch tradition they had a farewell ceremony for him in the Pabo Pub after school. Its very different here as students and staff drink and socialise comfortable on a regular basis. It is tradition in Dutch bars that if you ring the bar bell, you must buy everyone in the pub a drink and every time someone leaves we get free drinks and food.

Klara celebrated her 23^rd Birthday this week so we had a special dessert evening for her and I don’t think I have ate as much dessert on one evening ever! We had Banoffee Pie, Baked Alaska, fruit, custard and chocolate.

Alicija, a Polish student, had friends arrive on Saturday so we decided to have a traditional Polish party as they brought Polish drinks with them for us to sample. A brilliant night was had by all, tasting Polish drinks and food. Here is hoping for a repeat when we visit Poland in May.

Professional Development

Like last week we continued with the ICA course on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. This was an emotional rollercoaster for the entire group as we discussed some difficult and controversial topics like bullying, sexuality, racism and many other phobias. This was very well lead course as the leaders/trainers could read the group so if the energy was going down they would have an energiser game or a break for the group. They also could get the mood back to top form again after difficult discussions. Many members of the group broke down during some of the activities in this course so we all learnt that we would need to be very careful when we are leading these activities. Thursday and Friday we became the trainers so in groups we had to lead certain activities which were very interesting and enjoyable. Each time an activity was complete we would give feedback to the group and get feedback from the trainers on areas we excelled on and areas we needed to improve.

In the end of this we received a manual with the activities that suited the groups we would be teaching. Many of the activities we have done are within the manuals. This was a very good course to be involved in as we could use many of the activities within LLW classes in NI to challenge topics that are already within our curriculum. The entire group grew together as we found out so many things about each other and our lives before the Netherlands. The course ended with an activity called the Compliment Flower. Everyone received a flower with enough petals for everyone to write a compliment about you in. This was a really nice activity and the things people were now confident to say to each other was incredible and it was touching to read. We are now certified to deliver the ICA course.