A Childhood Dream Come True!

Well folks you are in for another sensational segment of Leah's latest adventures here on The Never-Ending Journey! If I recall correctly (which I don't always do!) we left off with me still in Dublin but ready to make my way to Malahide Village where the real adventure was to begin! And it has been an adventure to say the least!

I have now been in Malahide for 2 and a half weeks (though it feels as though I've been here forever . . . but in a good way if that makes sense!) and have been having a wonderful time getting to know my Irish family. I was very pleasantly surprised when I made home that first night and saw where I would actually be living for the next year . . . the outside of the house left a lot to be desired, but the inside had been completely redone and was quite lovely! The best part of all though was my bedroom. I knew from communication with the family that I would have the entire upstairs of the house to myself, but I didn't know what that would look like since it wouldn't have been right for them to take me on a virtual tour there when that was still their current nanny's private space! So when we climbed upstairs during the tour I was met with a lovely sitting area in the middle of 2 guest rooms . . . they showed me the room on the right first and said really I could have my pick of rooms, but the other room was nicer. I was looking at this absolutely BEAUTIFUL room and thinking how could the other one be nicer!?!?!?! Well then they led me to the room which is now mine and I saw for myself how it could be nicer . . . HUGE bed, HUGE HUGE HUGE tv (bigger than any of ours at home!), satellite cable, my own bathroom, a big skylight to let in lots of natural light . . . yep it was AMAZING! And what was even nicer was that as a cute little welcoming touch the family had bought a little Canada flag and 2 Canada teddy bears to sit on the top of the headboard of the bed! It was very sweet and thoughtful of them! I also got to know pretty quickly (as in the first 1/2 hour I was there!) just how friendly and welcoming the WHOLE family was as Gillian's (the mom) parents decided to drop by the house to meet me and to say welcome! So yes that was my arrival to Malahide Village!

I didn't actually start work with the kids until the following Monday (I arrived on a Wednesday night), but I spent a lot of time with Mayah (3), Ruby (almost 2), Gillian, and Gillian's mom Marie so the girls could get used to me and I could see how things worked in the household and get to know Malahide Village a bit better! I did have some free time that weekend too and used it to explore the village. Since it was such a beautiful day I of course ended up down at the beach which was lovely and also scouted around for some nice coffee shops in the area where I am sure I will spend many a cold rainy Irish winter day curled up with a warm drink and a book! Last weekend I went to explore Malahide castle! That's right there is a castle pretty much in my back yard! It was fun and very interesting to learn some more about Irish history and especially about the history of Malahide Village. Unfortunately much of last weekend it was absolutely pouring down buckets of rain so I didn't get to explore as much as I wanted to, but it was nice to just hang around the house too and hang out with the family!

My time with the girls has been fun but also trying at times. I know from experience that kids are often really good for you the first couple of days you are with them because they are feeling you out and wanted to make a good impression on you. Of course then once they start to feel more comfortable with you they like to push the limits to see how much they can get away with and how far they can push you before it is too far. So the first week with the girls went well! They were pretty well behaved with only a few small issues and the weather was beautiful for the whole week so we were able to go for lots of walks to the park and around the castle and do fun things outside. By the second week they were more comfortable with me so were definitely testing their boundaries to see if I would budge! They learned pretty quickly that I'm not the type to budge on boundaries because they are set for a good reason. That's not to say they still didn't try things! Ruby decided the second week that she did not like it when mom and Mayah left to go to school and work so started throwing temper tantrums whenever they left and would throw herself down on the floor and cry and scream. The first time she did it I thought she might be sick or something since she hadn't done anything even close to that the first week so she got a lot of attention from me for her negative behavior. When she did it again the second day I saw a pattern starting so let her throw her fit and when she was finished we went for a walk and had a really nice day! The third day was the most trying! She was exhausted because she hadn't gone to sleep until after 9:30 the night before! So it was pretty much an unending temper tantrum all day long. We tried to go for a walk but before we even left the house she threw a fit so we ended up staying home. She then got so upset we weren't going for a walk she screamed off and on for about an hour (probably expecting me to just give in and go for a walk!). Little did the fiesty, stubborn redhead know she had met her match in me and I was NOT about to give in to her temper tantrum!

So the mornings last week were rough, but the afternoons were a lot of fun! Ruby was always so much better behaved after her nap. The weather wasn't very nice any afternoon this week so we couldn't go to the park at all, but we baked cookies twice and played games, and made decorations for our Canadian Thanksgiving celebration we're having this weekend! And I just have to say that after the first time I baked with the girls, Simon (the dad) told me I was now the reigning baking queen of the house (because he was blown away by how good the cookies were) . . . I proceeded to tell him that that was my official title at home too! So apparently my baking fame is now following me to Ireland!

Now to actually connect this post to its title . . . how is any of that really a childhood dream come true??? Sure it sounds nice and everything, but a childhood dream . . . really??? Nope that wasn't the dream (though it has been pretty great!). When I first took the train to Malahide Village I noticed a sign on the wall of the train station advertising for the show Mamma Mia. It didn't have dates or anything, and I only got a quick look at it, but it sparked my curiosity! So last weekend I did a google search for Mamma Mia and Dublin and found out that the show was coming to Dublin in less than a week! At that point I was starting to get pretty excited, but didn't want to get my hopes up because I didn't know what ticket prices would be like or even if there would still be any available since the website I was looking at said ticket sales opened November 2010! But I did my little search and found there were tickets available! And after spending time looking for the best deal for the best seat I ended up going to see Mamma Mia LIVE on Thursday night for only 45 euro! That was my childhood dream come true. I can remember being 8 or 9 and watching TV and every summer commercials would come on advertising for Mamma Mia which was playing in Seattle! I knew nothing about the story at that point, but I fell in love with the snippets of songs I heard on these commercials! Then when the movie came out a few years ago I was stoked and I still love it! I often play the movie when I am painting and sometimes when I know I have a tough workout to do because the music gives me so much energy and I always have the biggest smile on my face (yes even when I was doing my 50 lunges in that workout I had the biggest dopiest smile on my face!). So the movie helped give me my Mamma Mia fix, but I still dreamed of seeing the show live. And on Thursday night I finally got my chance! It was actually surreal . . . I wasn't even excited the whole day because I don't think it had sunk in that I was going! Then when I was in the theatre and the lights when down and the music started it sunk in that I was actually seeing my dream come true before my eyes! And of course I had the biggest dopiest smile on my face during the whole show and took forever to fall asleep that night when I got home because I was so energized, but it was worth it! The show was great and I would see it again in a heartbeat! Possibly one of the coolest parts of the night though was at intermission when I was standing at the window looking out at the canal with all the fancy lights and it suddenly dawned on me that I was actually seeing Mamma Mia something I had wanted to do since I was a child, in Europe of all places! It was one of those moments when I was like holy cow! I'm in Europe! How did this happen???

So that's about the extent of my adventures for now. Today Simon is taking me out for a driving lesson on the "wrong" side of the road! Little bit nervous about that one, but I'm sure I'll get used to it quickly! Tomorrow I'm heading into Dublin City to go to church (I found a great one which actually reminds me a lot of The Forge!) and then tomorrow evening we are having our own little Irish Canadian Thanksgiving celebration! I'm hoping to take off for the weekend in a couple weeks and head west to visit the other side of Ireland. And I'm hoping next month to pop off to another country for the weekend though I haven't decided which yet! You can be sure though that I am going to make the most out of this opportunity and fill my time with as many adventures as I can before I have to return home to the "real world"! For those who are praying for me I would ask you to continue to pray for me to connect with a good church here in Ireland. I think I have found a good one like I already mentioned briefly, but I really want to connect there and build relationship (something which is not easy for me but I totally crave it!). I would also ask that you continue to pray for me and my Irish family as we continue to get to know one another and build relationships there. I think we have mostly gotten over the awkward stage of strangers living together, but I would still like to see our relationships deepen. Finally prayer for health would be great. My throat has been bothering me a little bit the past couple of days feeling scratchy and a bit sore and I would rather not get sick and would certainly rather not get the girls sick because I don't think they would handle being sick very well just based on what I know about them so far! So that's about it! Stayed tuned for further adventures in the weeks to come!