The magical land of Mayfield

I'll start at the very start. St. Patricks Day. My amiga for the placement is Patricia from Colombia. I am paired with her for the whole summer to prepare for Globalfest. I wanted to meet her before I started work so I asked her would she like to bellydance with me in the Cork San Patricio day parade. Turned out to be a great way to get to know someone -  dancing, laughing, drinking Sangria, Port as well as partial nudity. Great start. 
My first day of work in Mayfield Arts Newbury House was the following Tuesday 20th March. First thing I did was make myself a cup of tea. Some of the staff (who are nearly all if not all ladies) are from Bandon, Clonakilty and Skibbereen so we chatted about topics of mutual West Cork interest. Patricia arrived then and told me our first task is to DEVELOP a hip-hop routine! I am so not hip-hop. Me. But like its all just popping, locking, crunching and all that so twill be grand. Still haven't sorted the routine. Got a bit distracted by shiny Hungarians and Spaniards (more on that in the next post). That first day I helped out with a workshop with two groups of transition years. One group was from Mayfield Community School. We did a graffiti (just spray painting stencils) workshop with them and it was great because they really respected this art form and that they had been trusted with expensive, destructive spray cans. 
Im still living at my dad's house in Dunmanway. He works in Ballincollig so I get the No. 8 bus where it starts in Curraheen and stay on it for an hour until the very end in Mayfield. Tea is a big thing too. From the first days' tea consumption I estimated that I could at a push drink 300 cups of tea during my time in Mayfield Arts. Nearly a month in and im on 16. Fail!? - perhaps... I learned loads of Spanish from Patricia in the first week. But not so much anymore because its more fun helping her with English. 
I'm leaving it there for now. Doing doves for a wedding in Enniskeane tomorrow!! so must get some sleep. Lots more interesting stuff to come including hummus, Hungarians and Kinsale. Stay tuned.