It Comes In Threes

I've always heard that bad things come in threes and I'm not usually one who believes in superstitions, but I have seen this proverb to come true on more than one occasion.  Luckily I'm not writing about bad things, but rather all the good that has been happening to me here in Dublin in the last week.  It seems that I've got the good things coming in threes too. 

I've had my share of traveling and playing since I arrived here and I've even put in time volunteering so as to get my foot in the door at DCU, a college here in Dublin.  I have enjoyed my time but I have found it hard when I'm in between my adventures and volunteer hours because I'm not one who sits idle very long.  Back home in the states, I was quite known for going to work, teaching the full day and then tutoring or babysitting in the evenings after work and on my weekends, not to mention keeping someone's dogs for a few days at a time.  I like to be busy, and in a place where you don't know that many people, it can be difficult to do.

Fortunately, I have recently found myself a few things to occupy my time.  I began nannying today for an adorable little two year old boy.  I'll keep him three to four days a week in the morning while his mother goes to teach primary school and his father works in his studio.  The child is amazing and at his young age has an abundance of musical knowledge, which I find super cool. 

After nannying, I'll be heading to DCU at least twice a week to run a conversation class for the adults there.  The class is very informal and I can choose how I want to run it.  I'm taking my neighbor with me to have an extra set of hands because he has an ESL background and like me, he's not been working here. 

After all this, twice a week I'll be tutoring a Portuguese student for an hour.  Today was my first day with him and he's only been speaking English 7 months but he's getting a good grip on it.  He's very shy reading aloud but I told him to have a glass of wine before he comes over so he won't be so intimidated.  I'll buy a cheap bottle for Thursday to help him.  I've written many papers of the factors of second language acquisition and one thing I can say for sure is confidence counts.  If you want to learn, you have to practice, so I hope I can help him. 

It makes me feel really good because I've gotten myself into all of the things I love and I am finally finding my place here.  I am sure there will be times I'll be down on my luck or feeling homesick, but I am happy to have these "jobs" lined up and more happy to finally have a little income!