1st day at SAOL

I had my first day at my internship at SAOL today. I have a 1.5 mile walk to get there (which takes about 1/2 hour) and it was a lovely morning! Everyone was really friendly from the get go. The main boss, Gary, was very nice. He made it seem very clear that they will do anything they can there to make sure I am comfortable and getting the most out of my internship. The #1 rule of SAOL is that no one leaves with anything...if I have any sort of worries or troubling thoughts, there is always someone there who is willing to stop what they are doing and listen. He also lives one street over from me so he said if I ever need anything don't hesitate to stop by...good ole Irish hospitality!

So SAOL is a program that works with women who are drug addicts. They focus on education to self-empower and to help get the women out of poverty...the area that it is in is one of the poorest parts of Dublin, and really Ireland all together, and drugs are a huge problem. I am working in the children's centre. The moms can bring their children while they attend classes and we provide meals and activities and for the kiddos. Let me tell you, though, they are a handful! They are only there for about 3 hours, but they are exhausting! There is one girl, Lola, who took to me pretty quickly. She is 18 months old and was born premature so she has some developmental deficiencies. She cannot walk yet unless she is holding onto something and she doesn't really talk, but she is precious! She smiles and laughs a lot and has the most beautiful big blue eyes! All the boys are a handful, but that's to be expected. I could potentially work in the women's group a some point in time so that will be really interesting and I'm looking forward to all the opportunities to learn there.

They let me leave a bit early today because they have sympathy for my jet lag, so now I am just relaxing. I may find a touristy spot to go check out. There is another American intern at SAOL and she is living with 15 other American interns not too far from me, so hopefully I can meet up with some of them soon! I'm still exhausted, but things are getting better bit by bit...I am a bit disappointed though that I have been here for over 24 hours and still haven't had a pint! My stomach has been a bit uneasy though so I want to take it slow. I'm sure I'll get plenty of pints in in the next 2 months! Okay that's all for my ramblings today. Until next time...