Katy's Post - Barretstown Day 2

Barretstown Camp Castle

Barretstown Camp

Hi all!

Last night, the girls that flew in from Madrid, Spain arrived about 1:00 am.  They had a long day of travel, and were excited to finally be at camp!  They went right to bed to get a little bit of sleep before a Friday full of activities.

It's a cloudy day here in Ireland. And not to mention a bit chilly - I am wearing pants, long sleeves, and a scarf.   The sun came through for about 10 minutes and everyone went gangbusters to put on sun "cream" as they call it.  (They don't see much sun!)

We met in our activity groups this morning. I am with a few Irish girls from my cottage, and a some girls from Scotland and some boys from Sweeden.  We played some games and learned peoples names.  This afternoon, we are doing Creative Station - in which they do different creative thinking activities. We will also be participating in music - in which the students get to play instruments, sing, and do recordings of themselves.

Many of the girls from Spain in my cottage only speak a little english, so I am finding it hard to communicate.  We are getting through with lots of hand gestures, and the Spanish Cara's are also there to help with interpreting. They have lots of interesting things to share. This morning, I heard from one girl about the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona and we've been talking a lot about what music and dancing they girls like to do.  I have been doing lots of smiling - so much that my mouth hurts!  A friendly smile and a wave is similar in most countries, so I try to do that with everyone!

This evening we have our "Opening Program", so I am interested to see what that's all about. I am still having a fabulous time and although I am a wee bit tired (we have gone to bed VERY late the past few days...) I love being with the campers and other cara's. 

The food is pretty good here. There are lots of potatos - for breakfast (potato waffles/hash browns) for lunch (potato salad, french fries) and dinner (stuff potatoes, fries)!  I've also tried two traditional Irish dishes called white pudding and black pudding. It's very different than the pudding we have in the U.S.

I just found out my day off is on Monday, so I decided that I will take the bus into Dublin to visit again, and to be able to add some photos of the camp and of my hiking trip.

Hope the weather is nice in the U.S.!

Geography challenge - Find out about the Running of the Bulls and black and white pudding in Ireland!

Math Challenge - This morning, I had the job of meal runner. That meant I was in charge of getting all the breakfast food for the girls from the kitchen.  I came back with a basket of 30 croissants for the table.   There are 11 girls in my cottage. Are there enough for each girl to have 3 croissants? (They looooove croissants!)