lunes, 30 de mayo de 2016

Corpus Christi - Sunday

Surprise! This weekend I'm writing 2 entries - you are about to find out why.
As today was the celebration of the Body and Blood of Jesuschrist - the Corpus Christi - there was a procession at the church we go to every Saturday, Our Lady Queen of Peace. The priests asked me if some of the boys could be servants at the procession, so I asked the families. Since many families had already plans for Sunday, it was a bit difficult to gather a small group, but 4 families offered themselves and finally I went with Lucas, Pablo, Hugo and Pepe.
The boys did really a great job! The procession lasted for 2 hours and they did their tasks perfectly. Pepe and Hugo were dressed as servants with red and white (symbolising the Body and Blood of Christ) and carried the censers (=incensarios) and Lucas and Pablo, on their Viaró uniforms, carried the incense.
The day was beautiful - sunny, without a single cloud - and the procession took place without problems or incidents. We even saw people showing respect and adoration from their front doors.
After the procession, the priests were very thankful and I gave them a little prize for their effort...
I took them to McDonalds!
Tomorrow we are going to start our 8th week here in Ireland, only 3 left!
See you soon!

sábado, 28 de mayo de 2016

Fort Lucan - 8th Weekend

Finally the moment arrived - we went to Fort Lucan!

I had saved one of the best plans for the exam week, so all the boys got happy when I told them we were going to Fort Lucan.
As every Saturday, we went to mass to Our Lady Queen of Peace and then drove to Lucan (30 mins.).
There is not much I can say about the place - I think the best is that you take a look at the photos and videos I've taken.
 Poor Guillermo Puig couldn't take part and enjoy the slides, karts, golf and trampolines. But I gave him some privileges, such as playing with my iPad or having some chips. Let's hope he can join the others next time!
As always, here you have the best photos and videos of the day.
See you next time!

sábado, 21 de mayo de 2016

Glendalough and Pilgrimage - 7th Weekend

Another week gone here in Dublin!

I know I said it already, but time is going sooo fast! It's only a month left!
This weekend it was time to visit one of the most important sights of the Dublin area - we drove to Glendalough!
 It seems that every time the Spanish groups hear that name it sounds like a boring trip for them, but I really don't understand it! When you see the photos you will know what I'm talking about.
After the 10 a.m. mass at Our Lady Queen of Peace, we drove to Glendalough praying the first Rosary of our pilgrimage (=romería). Already on the bus we were able to see beautiful landscapes, look:
When we got there, we had lunch and then visited the cemetery, the old Cathedral and the tower. After taking some pictures, we started our walk to the lake - it was just 2 km. I had planned to play some football and pray the second Rosary, but suddenly... IT STARTED TO RAIN! I know it is quite normal here in Dublin, but after reading St. James' reading about Elias and how he prayed to avoid rain... I thought that Elias would keep the rain away!

Anyway, the rain was not going to ruin our plans. We waited under a roof and when the rain stopped, we had a nice ice-cream and walked back to the starting point. When we got there, we prayed the second Rosary and then got into the bus to drive back to Rockbrook and - after praying the third Rosary of our pilgrimage - play some football.
 There is only a month left and the boys are really making the most out of their stay here in Dublin. We have to keep on pushing them and encouraging them to talk, participate and work more.
See you next week!

PS: All photos of today, here:

lunes, 16 de mayo de 2016

Dublin Zoo (Phoenix Park) - 6th Weekend

We're halfway through!

In this week we completed half of the stay here in Ireland. The boys are improving and getting more used to the life here. At the end of this back-to-routine week we all met at Rockbrook to catch up and explain what we were going to do the next day.
On Saturday we went again to Phoenix Park, but this time the plan was different: we visited Dublin Zoo.
I don't know why or how, but we forgot to take a group photo! We splitted into 3 groups and spent hours and hours watching a great variety of animals. Wolfs, flamingos, lions, elephants, rhinos... It was great!

This time it was the boys' turn to take photos, so I will post the photos of the boys during this week. I know they are going to be great!
See you next time!

PS: Here you have the photos I took. If it doesn't work, you still have all the photos in the gallery on top of the blog.

martes, 10 de mayo de 2016

Croke Park Stadium - 5th Weekend

A very expected visit!

Like every year, the boys received the visit of two teachers of Viaró: the head of studies Mr. Dionis and the head of Primary and Ireland coordinator Mr. Gómez. They didn't come with empty pockets: they brought letters, presents and other objets, sent by their families - yeah, you! =) - teachers and classmates of Viaró.

Saturday arrived and it was time to visit one of the most important places in Dublin: Croke Park Stadium.
Croke Park is the 3rd biggest stadium in Europe (after Wembley and the Camp Nou). It really was a cultural plan, because the boys got to know the 2 typical Irish sports: Hurling and Gaelic Football.
We all watched a great video, saw the dressing rooms where the players get ready for the matches, wentto the pitch and sat at the spectators' seats. The boys couldn't believe the measures of the stadium (the pitch is more or less 145m long and 97m wide), I guess they were just very proud of the Camp Nou in Barcelona!
Then we went to the museum, saw the trophies and... finally it was time to play! The boys hit the ball with the Hurley (the stick used to play Hurling), kicked a football and tried many other mini-games related to both sports. I think it really was a good experience - it's not all about football!
Unfortunately Hugo was a bit ill and after the visit to Croke Park he was picked up by his host mother and brought home to have a rest.
After buying some souvenirs, we had some time left before going back to Rockbrook, so we drove to Dundrum Shopping Centre, where the boys had the opportunity to shop a bit. 
Finally back at Rockbrook it was time to say goodbye to Mr. Dionis and Mr. Gómez, who accompanied us during all the Saturday plan, talked to all and each of the boys and even gave a Rosary to each of them - I guess it's time to pray it, especially in this month of our Holy Mother!

This week we go back to the routine, we've almost completed half of our experience but there are still many great experiences to live and memories to gather.
See you soon!

PS: As usual, here you have more photos:

lunes, 9 de mayo de 2016

Dublinia and City Centre - Thursday of Holidays Week

Hello again!
I finally got some time to post again, the last days have been crazy!
On Thursday all schools except for St. Pius had holidays, so I went with 13 of the boys to do a cultural plan: we went to the City Centre and visited the museum Dublinia.

The first place we visited was Trinity College. It's a great sight in Dublin, with lots of buildings, gardens and a young and fresh environment. We took this 360º panoramic photo - I told everyone not to move, so that the photo could look better, but not everyone paid attention! That's why some of the boys appear twice or have a "Picasso" face.
After that we went to have lunch at St. Patrick's Park, right beside St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Then, it was time for the best part of the plan: Dublinia Museum!
Dublinia has 3 floors and each of them covers a different time or age: Vikings, medieval times, archeologists... As you will see in the photos, the boys had a lot of fun while gettingto know more the Irish culture and background.
All the photos here:
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miércoles, 4 de mayo de 2016

Golf at Marlay Park - Tuesday of Holidays Week

A full week off here in Dublin!

The boys are having the whole week free, so we are combining stays with the families with fun and cultural plans. After Monday - it was a bank holiday - we came to Rockbrook on Tuesday and took some time to talk and review the 4 weeks we have already spent here. There was some time to play football, too. This timewe were 17 boys - Guille Puig was doing a plan with his Irish family, what a great idea!
Then we went to Marlay Park, located very near to Rockbrook and with a lot of activities to do! After lunch we were ready to play golf. We went to a 'pitch and putt' and splitted into 3 groups to play the different holes. I think it was really a good plan and we all had a lot of fun!
Of course, not all of us had played golf before, and I could notice some of the boys had already taken some classes! The boys are always very competitive, so they were taking the competition very serious. As if it was the Masters!
After playing golf, we all deserved an ice-cream! We played in the playground until it was the time to go back to Rockbrook, where the boys played some football and finally were picked up by their Irish families. What a day! I ended up so tired! But it was very good and theboys really enjoyed it.

Until the next time!
PS: I took a lot of photos, take a look at them:
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