Hungry Bird

At the Acropolis we fed birds. We watched them come closer and then this happened...

A day out.

Today we had Carole to ourselves for the whole day. =). So we asked her where she would like to go and she wanted to see the Acropolis. ... so we did. We took the tram and the metro and our feet and went to see the museum. After the museum we took a small train tour which brought us right up to the Acropolis. Carole was very impressed with the museum but the Acropolis was very difficult to view in the heat. Photo courtesy of Carole..

We were tired so we left there and got the metro to Neos Cosmos where we tried to get some food, unsuccessfully. The cafe told us they sell chips so we sat down. We were given water and had lovely fans blowing a mist of water on us. The waitress asked us for our order we asked for Chips and she said " I cannot serve you just chips" so we asked for the club sandwich with out the filling, and chips,,,,, "sorry I cannot serve you this....We do not have bread!!!!!"

We left there and went to Caroles hotel on the tram that was going in the opposite direction but only a short distance from the hotel we stopped the tram and got off. Carole was able to direct us to her hotel. She has 9 floors in her hotel and on the roof is her swimming pool! She said the views are amazing! The night sky is a beautiful red. She is served 4 course meals daily.

Before going back to the hotel Carole sampled some bbq'd Corn on the cob... Yum yum. and was back in time for dinner.!!

Some Pic's

Carole and Rosarie.=D Carole, Rosarie and Marie.


Carole :D Victoria, Carole and Gemma;] Carole and Allen =)

Mary, Nicky, Carole, Andrew, Tim and Jessie =]

Dot, Barbara, Una, Laura, Roy, Alan, Carole, Hazel, Pauline and Anita. (=

It is time to relax.

Today Carole competed in 4 disciplines. As most of you have heard she was terrific. The Asymmetric bars was Caroles first apparatus. then she had beam followed by her floor routine and finally the Vault.

She did a beautiful job on the A bars but the beam started shakily and the floor routine was not her best. Then came the vault and Wow what a job.!!!

We had a couple of hours to wait, then came the award ceremony. Carole came away with three ribbons and two gold medals and an incredibly proud support team. Unfortunately her coach Sinead from Wexford could not be there for today but Marie, Rosarie and Phylis celebrated with Carole and to our delight Kathryn was assigned to the awards for Gymnastics and Gemma made it over with a wonderful entourage of Irish supporters. Hazel ( head coach), Dot and Roy cheered with her Irish team mates, Alan, John Michael, Laura, Pauline, Una and Barbara. Una and Barbara have yet to compete.

Carole was a delight to be around.... and loads of people here just love her.... and why not.

TO POST A COMMENT, CLICK COMMENT AND TYPE YOUR NAME IN THE BOX WHERE IT SAYS "COMMENT AS" PUT YOUR FIRST NAME AND ENTER!!! thank you

The Boys competed today

          Today Ireland got its first Gold medal.. John Michael from the Irish Gymnastic team won gold. What a day. The competition was held this morning, and the award ceremony took 3 hours, with our Alan and John going up and down the podium!!!! Alan took three silver medals and some ribbons and John took a gold and silver and more ribbons. Their results should be on their pages on the website for Special Olympics Ireland.

          Carole was busy showing RTE where to find the people to interview,  i.e. John Michael and Alan... CEO Matt English was there to congratulate the boys, and watch the girls compete. All adding to the excitement.
          Miss universe 2007 gave out some medals.
          Gemma Carroll called in to say Hi, much to Caroles delight. Gemma is looking great, she has been seen singing in the corridors with other volunteers. She hopes to be there tomorrow with Kathryn to watch Carole do her stuff. Caroles competition should be at 7am Irish time. That is as much as we know for now.
          There is a 48 hr strike in operation until Thursday so our tram service has let us down. The taxi from our hotel took less than 5 mins and cost €3. The tram was free to us and took about 15mins. We were early for a change, fingers crossed we will be early tomorrow.....
          We will not get the results from Caroles competition till later tomorrow.
It would have been great to have Lisa and Ruby here, as they were a great team in Limerick.
                  We miss you Girls

Sinead says hi to

A big hello to Tony, Eileen, Mary, Sile and Andrew. Miss you! Hi second class glynn national, Ms Sinnott will be back soon!!

A lovely afternoon

This morning Carole had the start of her competition. She is being divisioned and we will get the time table for her competition hopefully tomorrow. I have to say she was brilliant, she concentrated on the job and did it so well. I hope Wednesday is as good.

We got to take Carole to our hotel for the afternoon. She swam in the pool and was so relaxed. It was great. Then she asked if we could have dinner by the pool... so we did. Greek omelette and chips, the first greek dinner I enjoyed.

Carole has swapped pins with more people than I can remember. She is delighted to say she knows people from all round the world.

The Ambassadors Do...

Yesterday we moved from the centre of Athens to the coast nearer to where Carole is training and competitions are held. The views are amazing. Last night the Irish ambassador and his wife, Mr and Mrs Charles Sheehan held a reception for the Irish Families and volunteers.There was plenty of food and of course some Murphy's... There we met Tim and Sam Schriver who willingly posed for a photo. They were lovely.
John Tracey was there as a representative from the Sports Council of Ireland. Not shy of the Camera either ....we got a photo!!! Thank you John.

Shook hands with lots of people and got the results of the Wexford match!!!
Oh we saw the Irish Garda standing on the runway at the opening ceremony .. We weren't expecting that...
At the opening ceremony mam saw Tim Schriver walking past and Yelled TIM he turned round and waved. He looked puzzled.
David ; The closing ceremony is on 4th July. Carole will be home on 5th. Her final competition is on wednesday. She is delighted with all the interest Thank you.

Message from Carole

           Hi everyone in Our Lady of Fatima School =) Hi Sheila, Michael, David, Gavin and Mighty. =) Hi Granny!! =) Hi Jimmy. Hi to Donal, Bridie, Daniel, Rachel and Louise. Hi Karen. =) Hi to Louise! Hi to Jane! Hi to Rebecca, Kiarán, Eoin and Daniel. Hi Gael and Ruby!! Hi Thomas, Claire, Celine, Jack and Kevin! Thanks for all of your comments!! Hi to all the family. Hi to everyone in Special Olympics Wexford. =) Hi Auntie Pauline I am having a great time.
Thanks for all the good wishes. I am with Mam and all at the hotel. Going for a swim now.
          

The Opening Ceremony

          I'm told the live streaming wasn't working well at all =S There should be a slideshow of pictures on this post hopefully. Most of the pictures are blurry but my logic is it's better than nothing??? Through all the jumping around the camera was nearly forgotten, but we managed to get one (out of focus) photo of Carole on the runway with the team. The excitement was incredible!! And through the massive crowd, Carole managed to see us and wave to us!!! Amazing!! She also pointed us out to team member Alan and to Coach Dorothy, and they also waved to us. =D

          It was great to see the whole team together! The ceremony was very good. It started with breaking
down the walls of discrimination, then out came all 7500 athletes from 170 countries in their teams. -Ireland were about half way through. Team Greece were the final team to join the parade. As they entered, doves were released. =) There were 13 sections in the 4 hour long opening ceremony, which we'll get a better chance to blog about at another stage. Carole didn't get back to their hotel until 5am last night and they were up again at 6.45am to be ready for divisioning today at 9.30am.

          Today Carole and the gymnastics section of the Irish team were at divisioning for the boys, Alan and John. Tomorrow the girls will have divisioning. -Another early day so I hope they get some sleep tonight!! We got to see Carole for a few minutes today while they were at divisioning, and she seems to be in good form. She's delighted to hear about everyone following the blog, and all the comments!! And she said to say hi to everyone =)

          Best of luck to all the athletes and I know they're having a great time.

Clever Pigeon

Clever pigeon!!
          The heat here is crazy so it's important to drink loads of water, and even the pigeons know where the cold water is!!

          

They've arrived in Athens!!!

The team have arrived in Athens and are settled into their hotel. The boat was quite rocky but they got over ok. Carole was saying there were people sleeping everywhere, in the few available beds, on the floor, in any chairs they could find and even in the shelves for the baggage!!!! Carole found a nice chair to sleep on =) They had a beautiful view on the boat too =) And as Carole said, it's hard to believe but there was a Vodafone boat out at sea!!

The hotel is beautiful and they have a gorgeous view of the sea and sand. Temperatures went up to 40° today!! They are staying with athletes from Pakistan and South Africa now so they are all having a great time making new friends and meeting a wide variety of people. I was surprised to hear that even the athletes from South Africa found the heat hard to handle... Tonight the temperature is about 35° where they are staying.
Traffic in Greece is mad, traffic lights seem to be ornaments, so if you're planning on visiting, -be careful!!

Snippet from the Special Olympics facebook page: Tomorrow nights Opening Ceremony will be streamed live by ERT World Europe from 8.30pm Greek time (6.30pm Irish time). As soon as we have the exact link to the stream it will be posted here and on the homepage of our website. Special thanks to our very helpful hotel Concierge who helped us navigate the Greek http://www.ert.gr/ website to get us as far as the above page :)

we arrived last night

We arrived safely last night, having met the green sea at the airport...Wow to see all the Irish volunteers heading over to our team that was great.

Carole suggested we drink lots of water and the food is lovely.

I have to agree on the water ....

Food?! not found it to be good yet.

link to media coverage

The following is a link to the media coverage of the games :

http://www.specialolympics.ie/2011WORLDGAMESATHENS/TEAMIRELANDMEDIACOVERAGE.aspx

Tonight Carole will travel from Rhodes to Athens. It is a 15hr trip by boat. As it is overnight we hope the team will arrive refreshed and ready for the days ahead. Teams from Usa, Jamica and Japan ...... are also sailing to Athens.

Carole is going to the Grand Palace today. She has been swimming already, up since 6am. Later she is going to see the Torch..

Second full day in Rhodes

Today in the Wexford People, in the district news section, there was a congratulatory piece for Carole. Thanks for the well wishes.

Also, on page 2 there is an article congratulating the Wexford Special Olympics club on a successful year. Well done guys!!!

Today Carole met teams from Canada, Jamaica, U.S.A and Japan. .It is quite difficult to pronounce some of the peoples names so I won't try to spell them here! She went swimming in the pool.

The medieval town got another visit from the team. There, Carole bought herself a pair of sandals!! Very nice... She is staying in the Capis Hotel in Rhodes.

The Beach party was great, but that is all the info on that.....I wonder why??? =P

Tomorrow night Carole will travel to Athens to stay in the Olympic Village where she hopes to meet Kathryn and Gemma... It will be Friday before she arrives.

Thankfully her ears have settled. Temperatures reached 29° today again. Carole has no complaints about the food, and says that they are growing lovely watermelons there too =) She is taking loads of photos that she'll surely be sharing when she gets them developed back home.

Medieval town visit

Well having trained in the morning and swam in the afternoon, Carole went to a medieval town.

It is the oldest inhabited medieval town in Europe. 6000 people live and work in the same buildings in which the Knights of St John lived 6 centuries ago. There are 200 streets or lanes that have no name!!. If you go.. Don't get lost...

Guess who went to a Beach Party.

Yep Carole went to a beach party last night and it was midnight before she text goodnight! Having a great time..No word yet today, I wonder why...

First Morning in Rhodes

This morning Carole had breakfast. Note:    Bread is much nicer in Wexford!!!

Food is very different to Irish food. Mam is obviously best cook ever...

Caroles ears still have not settled, so she was not in form for giving much info.

It is a beautiful area and very warm. No sign of rain.

This morning Carole and her team head to the Gym to train. In the afternoon, swimming is on the agenda. It is a very busy place now, -with the team from America joining them.

Carole has arrived in Rhodes!! =)

See me behind the banner!!!!!! Photo from Special Olympics Ireland facebook page.

http://www.tv3.ie/videos.php?video=37031&locID=1.2

10 minutes 19 seconds in -the TV 3 news broadcast of the teams departure to Rhodes...

http://www.rte.ie/playerxl/#v=1101631

32 minutes 51 seconds in -the RTÉ news broadcast of the teams departure to Rhodes...

A shot of Carole in the Team Ireland Uniform =)

Carole arrived in Rhodes close to 3pm Irish time. Temperature was 29°. They headed by bus to the hotel. Early night tonight I hope.

Special Olympics Ireland volunteers will be updating http://www.flickr.com/groups/specialolympicsireland with as many photos as they can while over in Greece.

And her profile is http://www.specialolympics.ie/CONNECTSHARE/BLOGS/ATHLETESTORIES/tabid/331/EntryId/264/Carole-Ryan.aspx which will also be updated regularly by the volunteers.

Keep those comments coming. We loves them !!!!

Rhodes, Here She Comes!!!

Well an early start today. Carole rang last night and told us she has to be up showered and dressed for breakfast at 5am.!!!

They were to be at the airport very early. 7am I got a call from the airport. The team had arrived and were greeted by camera crews from RTE and BBC. We might catch a glimpse of her on the news.

Todays trip takes Carole to Rhodes 18 km southwest of Turkey. You can stll send messages of support on the Eircom app through the Special olympics Ireland web site.

Rhodes is the first island in Greece that embraced the program “Polis – Amphitrion” and declared to host 2.000 athletes and their escorts-coaches between June, 20 – 24, 2011.

The Local Organizing Committee of Rhodes has already been established with representatives from Regional Government, Hospital, Business community and Voluntary associations, while 21 hotels have deposit a written offer to provide free accommodations and meals.

Final Goodbyes

We stopped in Rebecca's before heading on to the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel where Carole met up with the rest of the team.












Thank you Eoin and Rebecca for your kind wishes.

This has been a long day. Carole will be tired as she has an early start tomorrow.

Safe journey Team Ireland !!

Departure for Dublin

Well today Carole arrived in The Louis Fitzgerald hotel where she met up with all the team.It seems like yesterday she got the letter to say she had been picked to represent Ireland.. The Day started with checking the bags twice. Then checking them again just to be sure. Then a visit from Uncle Donal and Cousins Daniel Rachael and Louise who wished Carole luck and loads of fun, followed by a visit to Granny where we met Ms

Margaret Roche what a lovely surprise.A stop off in Rebecca's was a must to get our final good wishes. Thanks Rebecca and Eoin. Finally with a bag on her shoulder and a case following we said good bye to Carole as she heads to bed. The morning brings an early start 4am !!!!!! breakfast at 5 and in aerport for 6 to fly out at 10am.Some one will be very tired tomorrow!!!!

Last full day in Wexford before the trip of a lifetime

          Today was a day for visitors. The morning saw the arrival of some relatives not seen in a while, two of Paulines first cousins, Lily and Nancy. They came with beautiful cards and well wishes. Carole was thrilled to meet her relatives. 

          While the afternoon saw Thomas, Celine, Jack and Kevin with a fabulous card. =) Unfortunately, the camera was forgotten. Karen arrived over as well to wish fun and luck  =)

           A visit from cousins Hazel and Colin brought plenty of joy this evening =) It was lovely to see them and it really meant a lot to Carole.





 

          Siobhán brought her well wishes this evening telling Carole to be sure and have plenty of fun over there. It was lovely to catch up with her and have a laugh =)

       Thanks to all the hard work with Sinead and Hazel we are ready for the big day.  Looking forward to tomorrows departure to Dublin for an overnight stay in a hotel, then flying out on Monday morning to Rhodes.... Excitement is definitely in the air!!

An eventful day

          What a special day!!!! Today Carole got to go back to Our Lady of Fatima Special School where Carole was a pupil last year. Seems like yesterday.

          Ms Waters invited Carole and two photographers to visit the school where Carole was presented with a cheque by the pupils and teacher from Middle 4.

          They had fund raised especially for Caroles trip.

          The atmosphere in the school was buzzing with excitement and good wishes were flying.

          It was an emotional experience for Carole seeing all her friends and one she will never forget.  Thank you to Amanda, Claire, Dylan, Aoife, Genna and Ms Sinnott, and all who helped.

          Later we met Auntie Pauline who introduced us to Fr Aidan. Fr Aidan was pleased for Carole and gave her a special blessing for the games. Thank you Pauline.

          Happy Birthday Grandad

training away today

The sun was out today and a good thing too =) Plenty of time spent outside training away with the bar. (I like the pink gloves.) As far as I know, there will be a springboard there at the competition in place of the milk crate =P Although the sun was out and the shades were needed, Carole was busy training away.

Carole also had her last day in college before the games today, so there were plenty of good luck messages to keep the excitement going. An old friend unexpectedly called round today which was really nice. It was a pity Carole was still in college, but hopefully tomorrow timing will be better =)

Happy Birthday Nicola =)

15th of June... leaving for Dublin in 4 days....

          So the nerves are getting a bit frayed as it gets closer to the date of departure. Another copy of the interview was seen in the Wexford People, which gave a boost. (http://www.wexfordpeople.ie/sport/gaelic-football/special-olympics-2670574.html) Training continued at home both on a trampoline and an asymmetric bar... 

          Another (much needed) boost came in the form of a new roadside sign. This one from the Wexford Special Olympics, and I have to say it's looking good. Hopefully tomorrow it will be more excitement than nerves...

Less than a week to go...

          So it's less than a week till she sets off and the first interview is in the paper... Half a page devoted to Carole. http://www.newrossstandard.ie/sport/gaelic-football/special-olympics-2668297.html but you'll have to have bought the paper to read it =P The article will be in the Wexford People tomorrow too (possibly in a few others as well).

          The nerves have started but excitement is definitely there too. Plenty of people there to wish her luck and the arrival of some good luck signs on the road definitely adding to the atmosphere.


          More posts to come =)