Little did I know that the Irish have a full blown turkey dinner for Easter!!! We laughed a lot, ate even more (if that is at all possible), and enjoyed being with our Irish family. Sleep-over as usual. It was gas.

Please note the calendar starring Audrey’s boyfriend Tom(asito). 

It’s confirmed: My dad and Karin are coming to visit me in Dublin on May 1st. This is going to be fun!

Something else is confirmed… the little mouse in my room lived here with his family. We already caught mouse number 4. Yikes. Yikes. Yikes. Yikes.

This week I’m writing the methodology chapter. My supervisor said it would be much easier than the literature review, and she was right. I wouldn’t actually say easy, but definitely not as difficult… I’ll work on it one more day and then I hope to pass it on to one of my academic sisters for reviewing. Then I can use next week to work on the literature review AGAIN and start organizing some of the data I already have.

And why am I so motivated? Because of my trip to Germany in April, then my dad and Karin’s are coming for a visit in the beginning of May, Jörg will be here for a weekend in the middle of May, and then I go hoooooome. Yeah.

By the way, we have caught 3 mice. I can’t believe it. The landlord is thinking of getting a cat. Or maybe Spring will solve our problem.

Nooooooooooooooooooo!

And I was worried about my selection of shoes for Dublin because I only brought hiking boots and winter boots. Glad my spring shoes aren’t weighing me down here in the arctic…

After a little surprise meeting under my blanket (yes, under my blanket!) I haven’t seen my new pet again. Needless to say, I slept downstairs on the sofa that night! Mouse:1 – Antje:0. Last night I was exhausted enough to fall asleep in my own bed and I woke up in one piece in the morning. Phew!

xoxox Antje

I was watching a movie where the guys had to move out of their house because of some huge poisonous spiders that got into their house by accident. And then, worst timing ever,  I discovered my new pet behind the heater: A tiny mouse. I’m sure it is going to attack when I go to sleep, so I’m probably going to be up all night.

IMEC 1, 2, & 3 in Dublin.

IMEC 1 already graduated last year. IMEC 2 is writing dissertations. IMEC 3 is in their first year of the program.

It would be too easy if nothing went wrong, right?

I survived and even had fun. I just checked and I have the audio file for sure, it’s on the laptop now and I can transcribe it this afternoon. Wowa, that was exciting! I think it took longer to set up than to have the meeting. TIme just flew by. One more meeting with the children tomorrow , then one with the teachers, and then Easter break 🙂

xoxo

After spending last week at the Early Childhood Center playing, observing, and getting to know everyone, this week I have a few focus groups lined up with the children and the teachers. I got my participants on board last week. Three teachers and five children and everyone is happy to help. While I asked the children for consent, one of the boys said “But how are you going to do that?” Good question, we’ll see this week. They are eager to help me write a story about their school.

I’m meeting my supervisor tomorrow to go over the topics for the focus groups. So much has happened since I last saw her, I feel like I could spend all day with her tomorrow. I’ve also organized a recorder from school and will have to practice tomorrow to make sure I’m really recording the meetings. Busy week ahead, but then we’re off for Easter.