Scaffy Raps! 

w/Hassan and Gurmeet

Hello my friends! how is it going? did you know that I finally got a chance to make a new album! it's called ‘’Scaffy in da house’’ and it will be released in 2014! are you excited? well i am! thanks to these two fellas i am here in the studio !

Here is another view of me singing for the new album! you, my friends, are going to love it!

Here i am editing my voice and making it better with autotune hehe ;) just kidding, everybody loves my original **bleats**!

Hello everybody, long time no see... 

You see, I've been taking it easy *offline* on the Finnish SKIING holidays:

  
I found it slightly awkward to find the right size gear, though...

   

Keep reading and you will know more!

  

I met Sipoon Lukio’s mascot, Rysky(?). He was pretty big and a bit scary first. But afterwards he turned out to be a good fellow.


Then I visited the arts class and I saw a table what was made from books! I think that was interesting and cool. And of course I wanted to take a picture with that.

And last thing what I did was that I helped Lassi to get his books out from his locker. The book was quite heavy so Lassi helped me a bit.

Happy Valentine's Day!... or something

 

You may be wondering about the company I keep in Sipoo, but be patient and you'll find out!

It's all getting a bit technical...

Today the students took me to the language lab and showed me some online activities. Teemu had to adjust the headphones somewhat to match my sheepish measures ;)

In no time at all, I was drilling my Finnish with Tiia like a pro... 

Did you know that 'lammas' is 'sheep' in Finnish?

I practiced pronunciation with these typical phrases (whatever they may mean):

Vesihiisi sihisi hississä

Ärrän kierrän orren ympäri

Ääliö älä lyö, ööliä läikkyy...

After school I ate some rye bread with cheese and drank some good Valio milk at William's house. Slurps!

After eating we went riding with this snowmobile, it was really fun!

HERE I AM IN FINLAND, 
GETTING FED AND BATHED!

After a long and rather bumpy ride in the cardboard box,  l finally "landed" on Eero's desk...

Eero's English group welcomed me (and my gifts) with open arms. One of them carried me on his head, and another boy promised to take me tobogganing this weekend, so I am looking forward to it (I think...). There's plenty of snow for that, but I hope I won't freeze to death!

Then I got an invitation to visit Satu's (the Swedish teacher) family, who wanted to introduce to me 1) Runeberg's Day with its traditional gateau and 2) the sauna!

Johan Ludvig Runeberg was our national 19th-century poet (more info here), and the story goes that his wife Fredrika had to quickly develop a recipe from what she found in her cupboard... You can see the result in the picture above... Yummy!

Satu's children were quite excited about having me as a guest, and could hardly let go of me the next day... They took lots of photos and played with me till it was time... to have a sauna.

I was slightly frightened of the heat at first, but the presence (and the smell) of the sauna sheep (!) helped me relax and sweat away my travel tiredness. The other sheep (called Pökö) is meant to give off a scent and remind the family of the Midsummer smell of a summer forest - we got along just fine!

Here's what Satu wrote - in Swedish, our second official language. Feel free to use Google translator to see what it means!

Tack, Scaffy, för besöket. Vi hade jättetrevligt med dig och barnen hade svårt att låta dig fara vidare. De ville till och med ha dig till natidjur men jag lät inte dig sova med barnen. Jag var rädd att barnen aldrig skulle ge dig bort mera... 

Satu

Off to Finland!!

Today Zuzanna took me shopping and we bought some typical Christmas sweets for the students in Finland.  Most of them are made with almonds, because there are so many almond trees here in Spain.  I hope they like them.  I also hope I don't get too hungry on my way to Finland and eat some of them!  

We decided that the box that Ms. Payreder had found for me for my trip over to Spain was the perfect size for me.  So, we changed the addresses on the box, put some extra tape on the ends and..... 

in I went!

Bye Spain!!!  Thank you so much for the wonderful memories!

Yours forever,

Scaffy

Time for a wash!

Sheep in Ireland are the cleanest sheep in the world.  They spend their days outside in the fields and, since it's always raining in Ireland, they have showers almost daily!

In Madrid it doesn't rain often at all.  And I had been noticing that my wool wasn't as shiny and white as it was when I was back in Limerick.  I was also worried that the students in Finland wouldn't like me because I was a little bit dirty.  Then, Zuzanna had a great idea!  

She took me home and gave me a good wash in her washing machine!  It was so much fun! 

 Like a roller coaster! 

 Unfortunately, getting dry wasn't so exciting.

Last Day at School :(

What an incredible day this has been.  

The class of 3º ESO threw a little bon voyage party for me this afternoon.  

They wrote lots of sweet messages for me on the blackboard... 

...and we took lots of photos.  Here I am with the 17 students who invited me to their homes these last 2 months.

And here is a group photo of us in front of the giant map of Ireland they all made as part of their SCAFenger Hunt project.   It shows all the places that I visited on my trip through Ireland with Ms. Payreder.  (It brought back so many nice memories of that fabulous trip!) 

We also had a chance to talk a lot.  I told them that I really loved Spain and that, thanks to them and their families, I had learned so much about Spanish customs.  I also told them that they were a fantastic class and  I thanked them for treating me so well!

They all said that they would miss me and I almost cried when they said that they couldn't imagine what the class would be like without me.  And they told me that if I ever wanted to come back to Madrid, I would always have friends here waiting for me.

They were also a bit worried about my future.  They wanted to know what I would do over the summer and in September, but I just couldn't give them an answer.  They said it would be awesome if the four schools could get together and they could all meet each other and I could see everybody again!  That would be awesome!!!

And after all the photos and the laughing and the talking.....we all realized how hard it is to say good-bye to good friends.  

Spanish culture at Marta's house

Hi!  I am very happy because I stayed at Marta's house last night and I learned a lot about Spanish culture.  

Here I am playing with a bull...

...and here I am reading Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes.

The Famous Three Kings Parade

Hi!  Last night (January 5th), I was in the 2013 Three Kings Parade with Patricia and Claudia!    

                   


                   

We were waiting for two hours and finally the parade started.  It had a lot of carriages and all of them threw candies to the people who were watching. 

                   

                    There were even Spanish sheep in the parade!  I was so happy to see them!

                     

After six or more carriages arrived the moment I was nervously waiting for.... the three kings : Melchor , Gaspar and Baltasar appeared in three big carriages pulled by horses.

I liked this parade with Patricia and Claudia a lot!  They gave me lots of  candies!

                     

The morning of the 6th of January, I ate the typical ring-shaped cake called "roscón" and I drank hot chocolate with it. It was very delicious!

Happy New Year!!

After the amazing trip to Barcelona I arrived at Carmen’s house to spend New Year's Eve with her family.

The 31^st of December I woke up late in the morning so I could enjoy myself until late in the night. In the evening we went to a party where Carmen´s cousins, aunts and uncles where waiting for us, dressed all of them in a very fancy way. 

It was a long dinner where I had the chance to try many different dishes but I refused to eat lamb (I’m not a cannibal).

We finished eating just in time to have the 12 grapes and listen to the 12 chimes which welcome the new year (Spanish tradition). 

  

I drank a little bit of champagne, danced and sang with everyone until very late in the night.  It was a memorable night!

Having slept just a little bit, I woke up the 1^st day of 2013 and when I entered the sitting room I found, to my surprise, a long table full of plates for all the people who were coming to celebrate a family meal, organized by Carmen’s parents .

                     

             We finished the meal by eating different flavors of cakes and “turrón”.

ME IN BARCELONA!!

Hello! I´d like to tell you where I was from December 26 to 30. After passing some great days with Olivia, she took me to Raquel´s house on the 26. I could have a day to rest, because the next day Raquel´s family and I went to Barcelona!

It was a long trip, but when we got there we were very excited. We arrived at Raquel´s grandparents’ house in the evening, so after resting a bit we went for a walk around the neighborhood that is called Gran de Gràcia.

                                     

             The next day we woke up early to visit the whole city, so we took the touristic bus. 

I could see lots of things like “la Sagrada Familia”, “la Casa Mila” and “la Casa Batllo”, that were built by the famous architect Antonio Gaudi, some important squares and the Port. 

                              

                         We stopped there for lunch and we ate a delicious fideuá. It was really nice!

                        

In the afternoon we visited “el Parque Güel”. It was also built by Gaudi. It´s very unusual, but I liked it so much because it´s very curious and colorful.

The next day we went for a long walk from our house to the Port. We could see some monuments again, and we passed through the most important streets, to see the beautiful houses and the “Gothic Neighborhood”. We also crossed the “Rambla”, a very long street full of stalls. I liked it, but it was full of people.

  We stopped in the Colon Square, right next to the sea.

                             

                           Then we took a little ship that gave us a tour of the Port. It was a nice trip.

                           In the afternoon we rest and we went for a walk around the neighborhood.

On the 30 we prepared everything to come back to Madrid. We arrived home at half past three after a five hours trip, more or less. I have really enjoyed these three days, and I liked Barcelona so much. It has been a beautiful experience! 

Olivia and Scaffy's Christmas

Hi everyone and merry Christmas!

I’ve had a lot of fun these past days!

On December 21^st, after school of course, I went to Olivia’s house (again!) because I was staying with her until the 26^th. 

                            

That day she showed me the beautiful “Belén” (nativity scene) she has in her living room and she took a picture of me next to it.

The first two days we just rested. We were both really tired and just wanted to relax. We read, we watched movies, we listened to music… and we slept a lot!

On Christmas Eve we were busier. Olivia’s family had most of the things prepared for that night’s dinner but, as always, there were some little things to buy. Everyone was really excited and I wasn’t an exception. This was the first time I celebrated Christmas abroad!

                             

The dinner was delicious! There were prawns, iberic sausages, “foie gras”, consommé, turkey... I tried “turrón” (nougat) and “polvorones” for the first time.  Both of them are Christmas sweets typical from Spain. I was so full and tired that I fell asleep immediately that night.

                              

The next day was Christmas! Olivia woke me up really early and we had a lot of fun opening presents! We played with them until lunch time and then had a wonderful meal.

The next day Olivia took me to Raquel’s house. They chatted and then Olivia said goodbye. I think she was a little bit sad so I gave her a big hug. Now I am with Raquel and I am going to have the best holidays ever! 

"El Gordo"

Yesterday afternoon, I went with Richard to buy a Christmas lottery ticket.  It's really famous in all of Spain

and there are a lot of prizes.  That's why it's called "El Gordo", which means "The Big One".  I hope I win!  I'll keep my legs crossed!

Scaffy

I'm one of the Three Kings!

Hello! Here I am with my friends Guillermo and Oscar.

I went to their house because they had already decorated the Christmas tree.  They have been very good, as you can see in the picture.

Scaffy