1st day at my placement

Wake up and shower. I chose to wear black pants and a nice sweater for my first day. My college advisor in Ireland, Joe, picked me up at 10:30a and he drove me to my placement. We talked with my placement advisor, Pam, at the agency I will be working at. I will be working with kids who have typically refered by a juvenile justice system. I will be helping them with social skills to help them cope with their anger issues more effectively, their communication skills, etc. As soon as Joe left Pam and I got a cup of tea and talked some more about the placement. She mentioned that I may be working with the "Angels" group which is a group of girls who are phasing out of the program so I would help them in the phasing out process of group work. I think this would be a lot of fun as I can help them with self-confidence measures and helping them become more independent. I immediately started thinking of ways in which I could help them do this. I wrote down many of my ideas as soon as I could so that I could try to implement them. After we talked it was about 1pm and at that time on Mondays there is a group meeting with the workers and we go over what happened the past week and how to better the program or the methods. I worked nearly all day with Elizabeth who is maybe in her early 30's who has twin 11-year old boys at home. After our meeting at 1pm we waited until 2:30 when the kids would start arriving from school. All the kids in public schools wear uniforms. Adam was first in and once learning I was from America asked me who I voted for in the presidential elections. I had to ask Elizabeth if it was OK to tell him that since that same question may have struck a cord with someone in America. So I told him I voted for Obama and thereafter when someone came in he introduced me as Kate and that I was from America and I voted for Obama. He then went on to tell me that he loved when "George Washington" had a shoe thrown at him by a reporter. I helped kids out with their homework for a while. One girl told me that I didn't know how to spell because I was from a different country...witch maks cents. I could help them with everything except for their Irish lessons. I don't know any Irish so Elizabeth helps them with that. At 4pm we had the games room open which was the worst. I don't bode well with screaming kids. In fact, I'd like to say that I avoid kids at all cost between the ages of 3 and 13. Not too fond of that age period. Luckily I'm working with kids 8-16...phew. So I stood in the game room with more tea for an hour until the next group started. This group, "the Gangstaz," consisted of a handful of boys. We made chocolate muffins. I had the chance to grate a candy bar to use as chocolate chips. I ate the remaining pieces that were unable to be shredded. The chocolate just isn't as good here and it is in one of the most obese nations in the world. I miss America. So the muffins I'm sure didn't taste too good. While they were cooking we played Spongebob Monopoly. I have never played and hopefully never will so I sat and watched them cheat their way through the game. After that was...game room. Dear god. This time it was worst. Jordan, a fiery Irish kid, would swear all the time. If he missed the cue ball while playing pool: "oh bollocks...for fuck's sake..." I was told that they all swear though and it's not a big deal. I'm not comfortable yet to reprimand kids but I have a feeling that Jordan and I will have a lot of face time. The other kids were pretending to be sea monsters or aliens or something. I have no imagination when I'm tired and was not pumped that they were throwing balls at eachother and all around the room. The music was up way too loud and I seemed like the only one who cared. Thank god for Skips who came in and we started making scones. I've never had a scone before and it was delicious. I think I'll make them here sometime...though it was disgusting watching them make the scones. There is something about sticky children hands that makes me nauseous. After all that was over I cleaned up and was talking to Ursula who is in a running club in Waterford. Stefan, another worker, also runs. I think next Monday I will take my running clothes with me and Ursula and I will head to the track to run for a bit. Ursula is maybe 60 years old and will probably kick my ass at the track. Stefan brought me back to my building on his way home (which he will do when I leave in the evenings). I got home around 7:30pm making it a 9hour day today. It was supposed to be another two hours but I opted out of it. It would have been another hour of sitting around and at 8pm would have been another game session. Once home I slipped into my moccasins and cooked up come chicken patties with a bowl of peas and some french fries. People here love their chips. Love them. Always the big steak fries, too. You can buy the thinner fries for 60 cents more at Lidl...not worth it. My roommate Lisa was cooking chicken curry with white rice. It. Was. Amazing. Had she not been sitting there I may have eaten it all. I took out my shorbet and ate the rest of it. Since then I've been "chillaxing" (a word that Pam uses 100% too much) in my room. I'm tired but I don't have to be at my internship until 2:30pm tomorrow.