Ride the Bus LIKE A BOSS

That's right; I can ride the bus LIKE A BOSS.

I know which lines will take me to the places I want to go. From where I'm living*, I can take the 7, 45a, or 111 down to Dun Laoghaire town center, and from there I can easily walk to the pier or the seafront. Of course, I prefer walking in that direction. Then I catch one of the aforementioned buses back to my accommodation.

* I am currently living with one of the teachers' assistants from the school I'm at. For a mere 170 euros/week, I have a room, no bills, and three meals a day. I don't have to clean or anything. I was hesitant, because, have you met me? I don't want to have to eat when I'm told, and I would much prefer to do my own laundry. But it turns out that if I don't want to eat at 6 p.m., I can just let Betty know, and she'll save my dinner for whenever I get back. And her meals are, in Irish terms, rather lovely. So I'll likely stay here. And I have someone with whom to walk on my way to school so I don't get lost. It's easy to get into Dun Laoghaire town center from the school, and I can catch a bus back when I'm ready. And in the case of poor weather, I have a ride into school.

I am currently in the Junior Infants classroom. That means 4 and 5 year olds... Though, I don't think any of the children in the classroom have yet had their fifth birthday. Currently the school day for them is running from 8:55 a.m. until noon. In two weeks, they'll switch to their full schedule which is 8:55 until 1:30. There are 22 children in the class. Since this is a disadvantaged school, the maximum number in the classroom for Junior infants is supposed to be 20, but since when do things operate according to ideals? In non-disadvantaged schools, they can have up to 35 children in a Junior Infants class. 35 four year olds - with only one teacher! That's mad.

Outside of school, I'm heavily contemplating a scuba class which would cost more money than I care to spend, butImean, water. Everyone knows I was supposed to be born a fish, walrus, or mermaid. It was only by fluke of heritage that I'm a human at all.

I now have a new most-valued possession, second only to Theodore Bear: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. This most coveted Bloomsbury version of the first book of Harry Potter is now mine. It's mine, and if anyone steals it or befouls it in anyway, well, I just don't think that anyone would care to deal with the consequences of that. I also have ordered Deathly Hallows as I've nearly finished Half Blood Prince for the 90th time, and I left my copy of book 7 at home. (Ok, I might have left that book at home specifically so I had a reason to by the Bloomsbury version of it while in Europe.) It won't be in for a week, so I hope that I can wait that long.