Friday Lunch Hour

lunch-hour.jpg

Ever get a little sick of the average lunch time routine in the office? Maybe lunch no longer means a mental break, because you’re having the same conversation about last month’s turnover as you were having in the board meeting ten minutes ago, just with a cup of coffee and a sandwich in front of you. Maybe the gossip gets a bit heavy in the canteen, or maybe you keep falling into the trap of dropping a tenner on a nice lunch, losing half of your lunch break standing in a queue in the process.

lunch-hour.jpg

As a partial remedy to this, YWCA runs a lunch hour every Friday in our residence on Baggot Street. It provides a relaxed space for both residents and people working locally to chill and chat – we also provide tea and coffee and plenty of scones and biscuits too! Therese, our most loyal lunch hour-er puts it like this –

I love coming to lunch hour because it’s exactly the kind of cosy, restorative break I need during a long work week. It’s so nice to share a table and coffee with friends, old and new, and to listen to each other’s stories.

Doing it has reminded us the importance of commitment, and recognizing that the value of doing something for a few can be equal to doing something for many. We’ve had great chats, and often learn something new too, with people from all over the world joining us at different points. We would absolutely love to have you pop in any week; we’re here every Friday from 1-2 at 64 Baggot Street Lower.

A sad Goodbye

Unfortunately, sometimes we have to say goodbye to some important members of our team, in this case after many years of service.

How many years have you been working at the residence?

From 2003 to 2005 I lived here as an Assistant Manager and then, since 2008 until now, I have filled two roles Supervising and Cooking so around 10 years altogether.

What have been some of the Highlights of working here?

Building lasting friendships with both staff and residents. The biggest highlight has to be my god-daughter Lilly. Without the YWCA her mum, Ildiko, and I would never have met and become friends through our shared love of baking.

image.jpeg

What will you miss most when you leave?

Most definitely the staff and residents. The way our kitchen is positioned has made for many a conversation while cooking and this was one of the most enjoyable aspects. Whether we spoke about the English language, homework, places to see round Dublin or Ireland, job searches, nights out, life’s highs and lows or just generally had a giggle it was great to be able to be part of people’s lives here in that way.

What are you doing next?

I’m moving in to an administrative role in property management. This was the aspect of my job here that I found I had most talent for and that allowed me to utilise my brain cells so I have trained to develop those skills and now want to focus more fully on that.
I have also recently been involved in setting up a not for profit, C-Squared Dublin, which seeks to build up the community of Smithfield (my local area) through creative community based programmes so I will continue to work on that, albeit with less time to spare. I’m looking forward to seeing that grow and develop.

What are you looking forward to about your new job?

Full time, regular hours. It is hard to work shifts for such a long period of time and I’m looking forward to some routine and a rhythm that will hopefully lead to a healthier lifestyle.

GOOD LUCK!
On behalf of all of the staff and residents we want to thank you and we will miss you.

Photo Safari

Last Friday night we had a photo safari where the students were given the list below and sent out to take some pics.


ps-list.png

They got some great shots and there were prizes involved.

Here are a few of my favourite shots:

dsc_0092.jpg
img_3579.jpg

THANK YOU to everyone who took part.

Silly Games Night

A couple of Sundays ago we ran a silly games night. There were about 15 students that attended and we played a bunch of fun games……

Including:

Chinese Pictionary, which is a mash up of Chinese Whispers and Pictionary.

1.jpg

Charades

(I think this was meant to be sunburn)

2.jpg

The After 8 game, where you are required to get an after 8 from your forehead into your mouth….this one gets messy .

3.jpg

We also played gargle a song…unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a pic of that one.

Last but not least we played Sardines….and this is where I found them all…

4.jpg

We want to say a special THANK YOU to the volunteer that joined us all the way from Canada; I hope you will join us for more social events soon.

WHAT THE STUDENTS HAVE TO SAY.....

m-interview.jpg

How long have you lived in the residence?

I arrived here last year at the beginning at February, so just over one year.

What are you doing in Dublin?

I want to improve my English for my career. I am a Lawyer specialising in intellectual property and all the biographies are written in English so I need to improve my English.

How do you find living with us?

I like the environment. In the beginning I was a little afraid because of the name: Young Women’s Christian Association. In my country we have residences but we have two types. One is traditionally related to religion and that sort of thing and the people who work there are either Nuns or Monks, so no one wants to go there. So, when I read the name YWCA, I called them because I don’t believe in anything and I didn’t want anyone to impose to me what I should or shouldn’t believe and I wasn’t sure about the residence for this reason but they reassured me that my beliefs didn’t matter and it’s nice so I am happy here.

What has been your favourite aspect of living in the residence?

The best thing is that you get to speak with different types of people and different nationalities so I think it’s very good because you can improve not only your language skills but also get to know other cultures.  If I didn’t live here it would be difficult to meet a Korean for example. It’s great. Also if you get lonely you can come here and speak with other students, there’s always somebody to talk to.

What do you like about living in Dublin?

In comparison to my City, Madrid, Dublin is like a little village.  I like this aspect because the way of life in Madrid is sometimes impersonal, people are always rushing and nobody cares about you. I like living here for that reason.  Irish people are very friendly and easy going so you can chat to anyone.

What are experiences that have made your time in Ireland special?

In my experience it relates to the residence. Here you have a lot of opportunities, for example I am able to do volunteer work in the residence.  In my country these kinds of opportunities don’t exist. I also never expected to have a good relationship with my roommate because it’s our culture and beliefs might be very different. When I got the letter saying that I was getting a new roommate and she was from Turkey I was scared initially about this, but it’s only prejudice.  I discovered that it’s not necessary to be scared of other people and other cultures. It’s a very valuable experience for me.

Danish Group

danish-group.jpg

We had the privilege of hosting a group from Denmark. We hosted them in Hillside church in Greystones.  Where we played a number of St. Patrick’s themed games including; St. Patrick themed charades and Pictionary. The language barrier was an interesting but yet fun hurdle to overcome.

pictionary-2.jpg
pictionary-1.jpg

We then played Ultimate Tag, this required a little less use of the English language once the rules were translated.

ut-1.jpg
ut-2.jpg

We then fed and watered them with cake, crisps and jelly and lemonade and fizzy orange. Everything obviously green, white and orange.


cake.jpg
jelly.jpg

They loved the food! Although they had never had Jelly before so this was a new concept for them!


We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to our amazing volunteers. You guys did an amazing job and without you the day would not have been possible.

volunteers.jpg

THANK YOU!

We Have Moved

cover-photo.jpg

We would like to announce that our office has moved, a whole 2 meters! This 2-meter move in a south-west direction has at least doubled if not tripled our office space. We have converted, what used to be the prayer room into our new office. The prayer room and quiet space will be moving across the hall, and be incorporated into a multipurpose room.

Here’s some before and after photos’

BEFORE!

The Office The Prayer Room

office-before.jpg
prayer-room-before.jpg

Almost there…

empty-office-1.jpg
empty-office-2.jpg
empty-office-3.jpg

Now we have settled, everything has a new home and we are loving the extra space that we have gained. We hope that is a more welcoming space for all who call in or pass by.

final.jpg

Thanks to this move we have been able to welcome Our Daily Bread to the YWCA.

our-baily-bread.jpg

They are all moved into their new office. For more information on Our Daily Bread http://odb.org/

CHungwha who works for Our Daily Bread has also settled in nicely.

CHunghwa.jpg

What the Students Have to Say...

sara-photo.jpg

How long have you lived in the residence?

Since September 8th so almost 5 months.

What are you doing in Dublin?

I’m studying for my MFA in creative writing.

How did you find out about us (The Residence)?

My school said that this was one of the accommodations that they worked with, so American College Dublin actually pointed me in this direction.

What has been your favourite aspect of living in the residence?

I like that we get to meet so many people all the time. Constantly new people coming in and out, which means there are a lot of friendships to be made. I have made so many friends from here. Yeah that’s definitely my favourite. I still keep in touch with a lot of them.

I like the family dinner thing that we always have going on. People might not be around during the day, but we always end up having dinner together. Always.

What do you like about living in Dublin?

I love the city. For a writer it’s a very influential city to be in, there is a lot of inspiration that comes from here. There is a lot to do. There is a lot to see. There is so much history and knowledge to be gained from here. That I think is overlooked sometimes. I feel people don’t see what the city has to offer. There is always live music, book launches to go to, and loads of readings. Always something.

What are experiences that have made your time in Ireland Special?

Honestly it’s going to be something vague like going out with all the friends I have met here. Right before Christmas we probably had the most fun, because it was all of these different people from all these different countries and some were coming back and some weren’t. So we were just constantly doing things together so we would remember the time. Even once we left for break we were keeping in contact all the time because of those memories. We would take small trips to Howth, we would just walk around the city. It was just those little times that even though not one specific one comes to mind all of these memories are times that you thought were really insignificant, but made the time special.

What the Students Have to Say...

mug-abstract.jpg

How long have you lived in the residence?

4 months, A semester and then January

What are you doing in Dublin?

I’m studying Performing arts at American College Dublin.

How did you find out about us (The Residence)?

The Guy from my school, he’s the Financial Director I think.

What is your favourite aspect of living in the residence?

It’s really cool, because you can meet a lot of new people from all around the world. They are all going through the same situation. It’s a brand new place for everyone and everyone is here to make friends, so it’s pretty easy to have a friendly environment.

The room is good, it’s very clean.

Everyone that works here is really friendly. They all help you with whatever you need.

It’s very well located in the centre of Dublin, so it’s close to everything. There is a bus stop here (right outside the door) and I just used the bus for the first time the other day. I went to RTÉ and I was the audience. It was of children playing instruments and they were speaking in Irish so I didn’t understand, but it was really cool.

What do you like about living in Dublin?

Definitely not the weather.

I like Irish people; very very friendly, very funny with a great sense of humour. And it’s funny how, Irish people can still be happy, even with, this weather, there is something really amazing. My city is very similar, the weather is very similar and everybody is very closed nobody talks to each other, they are not friendly. So Irish people are really, really nice.

I like Guinness.

I like that we can walk everywhere, we don’t need a car, we can walk around the centre. It feels like a small town, but it’s a big town. It’s a big town with the feeling of small town.

What are experiences that have made your time in Ireland Special?

One day I went with my friends from school, to learn how to play hurling and Gaelic Football. One of my Teacher took us and taught us, and that is a day I will never forget. It’s really fun, I was good at it.

Residence Christmas Dinner

Every year we hold a Christmas dinner for our residence in the weeks coming up to our closing and the residents returning home for Christmas. This is always a night to remember with everyone gathering together to have a celebration, with laughter filled chat over a traditional Christmas Dinner. We try to make this special for the students so we serve them and clear the tables and they just get to sit together and chat.

tree-1.jpg

I’ve chatted to a number of students to find out how they found the evening and what their favourite bits are, let’s see what they said;

acd-students.jpg

‘The vegetables were good’ Monique

table-pic-1.jpg

‘I loved the turkey and the dessert was amazing’ Adrianna

table-pic-2.jpg

‘The food was amazing, décor was festive and it felt Christmassy’

tree-2.jpg

‘It was nice to be pampered but the food was the highlight’ Sara

smiles.jpg

‘The crackers were a lot of fun, and I won all of them.’