Constant Kids

Today marked the end of my 5 month placement in St. Malachy's Primary School. I went from 9:15am to 10:45am every Thursday morning. I absolutely loved going and interacting with the class. They were so talkative and attentive to anything I told them and I got to know them so well during my time. I definitely want to go into teaching as a career. I get such a buzz from teaching children something new and knowing that it will carry on with them throughout their school career.
I realised today, that the P3s at St. Malachy's were a blessing to my life. When I first started at the start of Novemeber, everything was changing around me. I'd had a bad breakup, friends were starting to drift away and everything I had known from last year was gone. And yet suddenly, there was this P3 class they expected me every Thursday morning, rain or shine!
They were a constant in my life's timetable and while things seemed to be going badly, I always felt better after coming away from a morning at St. Malachy's. I loved feeling needed and they were always so interested in what I was doing.

One of my favourite days there was when we went for a walk around town and they completed little worksheets on the different shops we had. I was asked a million questions and helped each and every one of them at some point! The photos of the walk are up on their classroom wall and where I sat in the room every Thursday, I was able to look at them and remember such a good day.

They were a wonderful constant to have in this ever-changing life



 Left: A little note that one of the girls gave me one morning a few weeks back. Can you guess her name!?




                                                                                           

Above: A signed card from the class and a card from the teacher along with a £10 voucher :)

(My presents to them! Definitely struck a chord!)

Double Freak Out

This week I freaked myself out...twice! The first freak out was when I was sitting in RE. We were talking about how Christians can take comfort in life after death. The teacher asked us to write out a few notes from our textbook and it was then that I started thinking about death. I've always been pretty afraid of it. The concept of dying and being burried scares me and it's times like these where I begin to start to panic.
So, picture the scene; i'm sitting in a classroom of students in RE. On the outside I was calm and just writing out notes, but on the inside I was thinking, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I eventually whispered to my friend beside me. The conversation went like this..

"Psst.." (that's me)
"Yeah?" (that's her)
"I've scared myself"
"What?"
"I've.scared.myself"
"Oh. About what?"
"Death"
"Oh"
"Yeah"

Death just makes no sense to me at all. I can't seem to get my head around it. You die and then you're burried but life keeps on going and going and going and going... and you never get a second chance. It goes on for eternity and how long is eternity!? I just don't get it. And then it scares me because once you die you're alone and everything is gone. I believe in God, I believe there's a Heaven. What scares me about that is that that means there's a hell and that people go there for eternity. And then I think that what if I don't live a good enough life on earth and I end up there? I feel like nothing I can could ever be good enough and just as soon as I'm trying to get on the right track, I slip back into my old ways. And then I think, am I really meaning this as i'm praying it? This all scares me soooo much.

On a lighter note, my second freak out was about something so ridiculous I can laugh at it..
We had an Honours Assembly today. Basically it's a chance for the untalented people (like me) of the school to watch the rest of the school get honours for music and sport etc. (Apparently being a good people person or being good at science or something isn't considered 'honourable)
Anyway, we were sitting there clapping for everyone and I suddenly thought, "what the heck even is clapping!?"
So, like earlier I whispered to my friend beside me, (yep same girl...hehe whoops)

"I've just freaked myself out"
"Over what?"
"...Clapping!"
"Clapping?"
"Yes! What even is it!?"
"...."

I never saw her again...
Just kidding.

How ridiculous is that!?
I don't know what I was on that morning, maybe it was the sudden change in the weather that caused my hysteria or maybe I was just overwhelmed by all the honourable students that I went crazy. Either way it was weird.

Oh and just in case you're wondering, being crazy also isn't classified as 'honourable' either... I checked.

I Think I Missed The Memo

I haven't blogged in a while... okay a really long time. But that's because SO MUCH HAS BEEN HAPPENING. Yep, not really, but thought i'd add that in there for a bit of hyperbole. There is one little thing that's got me thinking though, so here I am!
In reference to my title, I have a question to ask. When did drinking and having sex become 'cool' and the 'in crowd' thing to do? I hate to repeat myself, but I literally think i've missed some kind of memo or meeting about it because suddently everyone around me is doing it! (Pun not intended)

Some of my closest friends I barely see anymore because they're out getting drunk or just drinking in general. Now don't get me wrong, I personally don't drink myself but I for the mean time I don't see anything wrong with it if it's what they want to do. It just means that i've been left with nothing to talk to them about because we no longer hang out at the weekends and we have different social circles. It's sad to see them have changed so much but I suppose things and people change and maybe it's just a phase they're going through and they'll come out better at the other side.

Another concern; I was talking to two girls today in my free periods. They're not my best friends or anything but i've known them for years and so we often share stuff with each other. Anyhoooo, they were discussing today how a girl in my year recently slept with someone for the first time this past weekend. When I found this out, my face literally went... :O (!) I couldn't believe it, she was the last person I would expect to do something like that. She wasn't even going out with the guy!? He's the sort of guy that says he loves you but in actual fact he's 'loving' you and about ten other girls.
After I heard about this, the other two were talking about the countless times they've slept with guys and how other girls in my year had started a long time ago. I couldn't believe it, somehow my year group has gone MAD. I hate that some girls feel pressured into that sort of thing once they get a boyfriend who might be a little older than them.

(Just to clarify, i'm not trying to make myself sound completely innocent here and that i'm all 'anti-drink and boys should be banned from existence) 


It's really made me realise that there are loads of girls in my year who have really changed in the past few months. I just hope they don't regret anything they do.

There's a chance that girl from earlier may be pregnant, she's not sure yet. I can't help but think, will he still 'love' her if his world is turned upside-down and he becomes a dad?