I have been in Ireland now for a month and I can honestly say that I have enjoyed my time here. It wasn’t my choice to come home this time; the decision was kindly made for me by the Canadian government. For once I wasn’t apprehensive about coming home as I knew that I had a lot to accomplish while being here.
One area of my life I have struggled with (and I thank Carol Smith for pointing this out) is my memories. I have a terrible memory, whether it is birthdays, where I have just left my wallet, or events that have happened in the past. I have talked to Carol about this before because she says that you should be able to remember back to when you were 5 years old. I can hardly remember back to 5 minutes ago.
Being home has brought back a lot of memories. This is the main one.
While I have been back I have been fortunate to have job. I have been working as a classroom assistant in Dundonald High School. This is the school that I used to attend. Walking around has make me think of times that I was at school. Teachers I liked, friends I used to hang out with, parts of the school that we used to love to go to but now don’t seem to interest them and most of all the smell of the sausage rolls from the canteen. I must confess I did have one for old time sake. (It was gross)
School has definitely changed since I was there and I feel bad to say it but it has gone down hill. I feel bad for the quality kids that are in the school, the ones that want to learn but they seem to get out shadowed by the kids who have no desire to do anything other than disrupt the class, torture the teachers and vandalise the property.
All the staff that I was working with were amazing. They do such a good job. I feel that they are under appreciated. I don’t know how I survived being the only male in the staffroom.
The class I was working with was a year 11 class and they were great. At times they were noisy but they were nice kids. Every one of them is unique in their own way. With their own gifts, talents, humour. They would probably hate to hear this but even though they try to be annoying, and do as little amount of work as possible they are a great. In their uniqueness they work and function well as a team, and they look out for each other.
Some things haven’t changed though, and it is a very Northern Ireland thing. We are quick to criticise and extremely slow to encourage. We would rather encourage and build each other up with our sarcasm than actually say well done or congratulations.
And now I am on my return back to Canada. I will take these memories with me and definitely arrange a time with Carol to meet up and tell all. I have finally been approved with an 8 month visa so the next time I will be home to Northern Ireland will be for my brothers wedding on the 29th October 2005 – exciting.
I feel like the grandfather out of the movie Hook who has just found his marbles. Great to have some memories back.
Tootles from the Movie Hook
