On to Ireland

Hello all. This is John updating this time. I don't know that I can keep up with Leigh's great updates though!!!

On our way to the Conwy Youth Hostel, the delegates had a great time in the TESCO grocery store buying food for our lunches. Each group was given a list of what to buy with a certain amount of money. They were not told how much of everything to buy except enough for everyone...including the leaders. They did an outstanding job. They even had some change to give to Ben. Hopefully we can carry that money over and use it for our next Supermarket Sweep to buy some extra treats. We had some free time after dinner and some of us took a walking trip into the town of Conwy with John and Doug, while others stayed back at the hostel and played some football (soccer) and caught up on the computer and journaling, and meeting new friends.

Thursday was an extremely eventful day. It was our Full-On day. This is a day full of stretching your limits and stepping out of your comfort zone. The Full-On staff works with the students all day talking about positive attitude and state. You will have to ask the students about their RAS. Everyone was coached on how to get into a positive state and we were each able to break a board with our hand...what an awesome experience. It is amazing what a positive attitude will do for you. Then it was off to Penrhyn Castle. Interestingly, it is not really a castle, but a vacation home with 300 rooms. We enjoyed our picnic lunches on the grounds while we looked up at the 70' high Ice Tower that we would be abseiling down. What an amazing view and experience from the top. There were quite a few delegates who were not so sure about their feelings on heights...or down right scared of heights. During this activity, this fear was broken!!!


Thursday night was a bit relaxing. We had a Welsh lesson and were taught how to count to 10 and to say a few common words. Our teacher tried to get us to say the name of the longest train station...we had mixed results with that. After dinner, we had some more free time at the hostel. There was a group of Year 6 students (equivalent to 5th grade) also staying at the hostel. We decided to go out into the field and spend some time with them. A very challenging game of soccer took place with around 25 little Brits and 12-13 US delegates. What a great time. The Brits definitely taught us a thing or 2 about soccer. At one point it turned into a mix between soccer, rugby, and American football. Delegate were given an opportunity to go into town again with Doug.

Friday morning we headed off to Holyhead to pick up our ferry for the trip to Ireland. On the way we stopped at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch, the world's longest train station name, and everyone got their passports stamped there. Once we arrived in Dublin, after the 2 hour ferry ride, we headed to the Gaelic Athletic Association Museum. This is located at Croke Park, an 82,000 seat stadium that holds amateur games of hurling and Gaelic football. Everyone had a chance to test there hand at hurling and Gaelic football. They walked us out of the lockerroom and had corwd noise pumping through the sound system so that we could feel what it must be like to walk out of a tunnel to 82,000 cheering fans. We had a great bus tour of Dublin and were able to see the US Embassy in Phoenix Park. We all enjoyed a quick time for some shopping on Grafton Street before heading to Knocklyn, a suburb of Dublin. The families were there to greet us with open arms. The delegates were all looking forward to this time.


Saturday will be a day at Cossy (sp?) Farm. Included in the day is soda bread making , music, dancing, sports, and getting a bit dirty in the bog...well maybe ALOT dirty!!!


We hope to be able to update again tonight before we head to Killarney tomorrow.

Until next time,
John, Doug, Leigh, and Brenda