Can I tell you a secret?

It's been a while since I posted and I will explain in a later post but today I want to tell the small humans a secret. A big huge massive secret. About me. 

Last weekend I was a scared penguin. 

There I said it. 

I don't think I've ever been scared of anything other than Mammy Penguin when she's super cross but that's a story for another day. 

I was terrified on Friday. I know I'm usually such a brave penguin, I left my home and moved to Ireland so I know I'm quite brave. 

But on Friday I saw this.....

A GIANT FOOTSTEP

And I was terrified, I've never seen a human with such a large foot, I thought it was a monster. I don't think I like monsters. They are scary and strange and feet that big must belong to the biggest monster ever! I was with my human Helen but she was no good and just laughed at me. Which by the way Helen is just mean, you shouldn't laugh at scared Penguins. 

Sorry Waddles....But it was really funny. 

I hate it when Helen pops into my blog and writes stuff, but at least she writes in blue so you know it's not me. 

Anyway I was terrified and it was about to get worse. The footstep belonged to a giant with a giant foot!!

It's a GIANT

HUGE isn't she?? I was almost screaming in terror and the meany pants human just kept laughing and going closer and closer to her. I wanted to hide. 

The giant was a granny, she was lovely but poor Waddles really was very afraid of her. 

GO AWAY HELEN!!!!!

The giant granny walked around Limerick all day, her giant feet stamping around and scaring me. I thought she was going to eat me. I don't want to be giant granny food!!! I tried to give her a penguin bar instead but did something very rude, she made a noise out of her bottom....Helen says I'm not allowed to do that so why can Granny? 

She was so scary. And even worse when she got into a weird giant chair. She took some humans onto her knee and kidnapped them. 

She didn't kidnap them, they were her helpers and she let them ride along on her chair Waddles....silly penguin!

Helen get off my website you bold human!! 

Granny's giant chair

I thought Granny was real but Helen told me she wasn't real, that she's a puppet and the humans dressed in red take care of her and help me move around with strings and stuff. 

I wasn't scared anymore. I'm not scared of a puppet. I'm only scared of real scary giant monsters. And Granny isn't a monster. 

But she is very bold. She made rude bum noises and made a mess on the floor, I don't think Limerick has a giant toilet big enough for her bottom...but I think she's very naughty to think the street is a bathroom!! Bad Granny! 

I did like it when she went to bed, she has a giant bed! She needed all her red helpers to help her into bed but she did look so cosy and comfy in there!

Go to bed Granny

Doesn't she look happy in bed? I love my bed and I think Granny loves her bed. It must have been exhausting walking around Limerick all day.

Sweet Dreams Granny 

I did learn something very important though, it's ok to be scared of stuff. I thought it was bad and that it meant I wasn't a brave penguin but Helen says being brave doesn't mean I'm not scared of anything it means doing something even though I'm scared. So even though Granny terrified me I stayed and watched her and once I learnt she wasn't real I wasn't afraid anymore. I think that's a really important lesson to learn and while I didn't like feeling scared I am glad I learnt it.

Spelling Bee Final week

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I got home and I haven't blogged, I feel very bold and I'm sure my human is annoyed with me for not blogging when she took me on a fantastic adventure around Ireland!!! I saw loads of places and we did loads of fun things but mostly we spelt words, big ones. 

Helen brought me to the Eason Spelling Bee final week so we went to Castlebar in Mayo for the Connacht final, a lovely small human from Galway won that one. I liked her. Then we drove to Belfast for the Ulster Final and a wee human called Amelia won there! Then we drove to Youghal in Cork for the Munster final and a boy human called Jack won there. Belfast to Youghal was a huge drive, I thought we'd never get there! Then we went to Carlow for the Leinster final and Keith from Louth won there. 

While in Mayo though I got to have a little play around with all the goodies when Helen wasn't looking! Have a look at my photos 

I won!!!!!

Here's me practicing my winners speech for the moment the Ryan Tubridy told the world I'd won. He must have forgotten though because he thinks that girl won. Silly Tubs

Camera Penguin

I think I'd like to work in TV when I grow up a little, I could be a camera penguin and run the TV cameras and make sure everyone sees me. Helen says though the cameramen and women aren't seen on TV but I think she's silly because I'd be in charge of the camera so everyone could see if I wanted! And I want!!

I'm a Tubridy

If the TV thing doesn't work out I could go into Radio, if my human can do it I can! Anything she can do I can better :) I like the bright orange Microphone thing too, it matches my nose! I'm well able to talk and I think I'd be fantastic at interviews, I interviewed Julia lately and I was great!

I may not be tall enough though

All Ireland Final??

Ok so I didn't really win the Connacht final but I think I was through to the All Ireland final, either way I have the winning Cup as you can see! It's just the right size for a little penguin like me! 

I really enjoyed my Adventure but I think I could do a much better job of calling out the big words than my human did! I can say them all too I was practicing! 

In the end, Amelia from Belfast won the All Ireland, so she got to keep the cup :( which made me really sad :( but Amelia was lovely. She spelt a very hard work V-E-R-M-I-C-E-L-L-I which is a thin strand of pasta or chocolate on a cake. It's tasty. But then again I do like chocolate :) The Tubridy yoke was all excited and my human wasn't much better. They were squealing and squeaking like a pair of noisy penguin babies! Sigh she's so embarrassing

Next time I'll blog some embarrassing stories about Helen!

My Day at Excited with the human

I was the only penguin in attendance at the Excited Learning Festival last weekend but that didn't stop me! I rocked the place! I sat with the Helen human and some of her friends, they all thought I was unreal and super cool and wanted photos with me! I'm famous! I like being famous, it means everyone knows who I am! I met my friend Minister Ciaran Cannon again and this time we really did take a photo!

Me and Ciaran Cannon, Junior Minister of Education and minder of schools

There were some really weird giant puppets around Excited too, they were super freaky! I was chatting to one called Sheila and she seemed really nice until we had a little fight about fish, surely everyone knows that eating fish fingers is just silly because fish don't have any fingers???

Sheila tried to EAT ME!!!

And the next thing I knew I was in her mouth and she was trying to eat me!! Doesn't she know that you can't eat Penguins?? I'm not dinner! I'm not tasty! I'm a penguin, I'm a visitor to Ireland and I don't need to be eaten by a giant puppet girl! I was screaming for help because I was really really scared and nobody could hear me because I was in this giant mouth and my screams were muffled! I tried to fight my way out of it and I struggled, I wriggled, I squirmed and I pushed my way out...

But in the end I won

I won in the end, I got free and jumped away! I landed on her nose though but I think it's ok because she wasn't hurt and I wasn't eaten! 

But hang on!! Who took the photos of me and Sheila??? I blame Helen......silly human didn't even try to help me! I must give out to her. 

Look at all the lovely people I met!

I loved meeting all the teachers there, they were really lovely and they all knew who I was so they all wanted to take photos with me! I'm famous! I really liked the Lego guys! They gave me a Lego duck to make and I made loads of them! It was really fun! All my ducks were in a row together! The Lego guys wanted a photo with me too! I am that cool! I think working with Lego all day would be a great job, maybe they need a Penguin to work with them? I bet they don't have a penguin employed in Lego already? And a Penguin as cool as I am? I am one of a kind :)

Me and the Lego guys

Me and all my ducks in a row

On Saturday we went to Dublin Castle again for more Excited stuff and this time I got to meet some small humans! Oh I also met some medium humans (Helen says they're teenagers) and they were all talking about education and technology stuff. They really liked me. I think they liked my blog and my tweets too! Some of them were tweeting me and telling me how cute I am! I also met Lord David Puttnam, he's a producer and makes movies but he's also a very important person in education and believes Education is the most important thing in the world, I agree with him. He has been in charge of loads of different stuff and even set up an award for brilliant teachers. I'm like a teacher, maybe some day I'll get an award! I'd like an award for best penguin teacher in the world! Would you vote for me?

David Puttnam, me and Helen the human

I really enjoyed the Excited Learning Festival, I even liked spending the day with my human Helen, she took care of me and helped me take loads of photos with all sorts of people! I think it's really important for teachers to learn from each other and from their students. I think Excited helped my human to see how much the small humans like and need technology in school, it's really easy to use and makes learning fun! I love using technology too, it helps me blog and tweet! 

Don't forget to tweet me @WaddlesPPenguin  I love making friends on twitter and chatting to classes and small humans!

My visit to the Spelling bee

I went to Fermanagh with my pet human this week. We went to the Eason Spelling Bee. A Spelling Bee is a competition to find the best speller, we went to find the best speller in Fermanagh. Fermanagh is up in Northern Ireland and it took ages to get there in Helen's car. I slept a lot in the car because it was really boring. When we got to the school where the Spelling Bee was on I registered as a speller. I signed up as Waddles P Penguin and Elizabeth asked what the P stands for...But I don't tell anyone that because it's a secret and a little embarrassing. But I did like Elizabeth and I gave her a little kiss.

I liked Elizabeth on Registration

When I had registered to spell I was told to go sit down, I sat on the dictionaries. Elizabeth and Helen laughed and said they meant I could sit on the chairs but I thought the dictionary was more comfortable. A dictionary is a funny book where all the words live, some words are really hard and some of them I knew already. A dictionary tells you what the words means and how to spell them. 

There were loads of dictionaries 

When all the other spellers arrived we went to sit on the benches so the Bee Master and Adjudicator could listen to us spell super hard words. The Bee Master calls out the words and the spellers spell them. I had to stand up on the bench so the audience could see me. Then the Bee Master gave me my word, I said the word, spelt the word and said the word again. Some of them were really hard and some of them I thought were a little easy. I spelt Queen and forget correctly and thought they were easy. Then the hard rounds started. I didn't spell cormorant correctly so I was out then. I was a little bit sad but it was still super fun to watch the rest of the spellers and see who won. 

I sat on the bench ready to start

A lovely small human called Andrew won the Fermanagh Spelling Bee. There was guy from the radio there too, he was asking all the small humans questions about the Spelling Bee. Then yesterday it was the Radio with Ryan Tubridy, if you missed it you can listen to a podcast here. It was a little scary talking on the radio but it was still fun and all the small humans seemed to enjoy it too. 

You can listen to the Spelling Bee podcast

There's no more county final Spelling Bees now but the finals are coming up too! At the end of June the finals will be on, I hope I get to go watch them! But even if I can't go I can listen to it on the radio on Ryan Tubridys show. I think all the spellers are amazing and can't wait to wish the finalists the best of luck in June. 

I'm off to play with the Spelling Bee app so I can practice my spelling :) but first I need some fish

I visited the ZOO

I went to the zoo in Berlin, Berlin is in Germany and we had to go on a plane to get there. We left from Shannon in County Clare and landed in Berlin. I really like flying. Penguins can't fly so a plane was super cool for me! I really liked looking out the window at all the clouds!

The zoo is a strange place, some animals live there. The animals there are wild animals but the zoo isn't wild, it's very open though and the animals are safe there. I liked the zoo even though I think animals should be allowed to live in the wild where they are meant to be. I got to meet loads of different animals there I even met some penguins! Helen brought me because she was afraid if the zoo keepers saw a penguin walking around the zoo alone they might think I escaped from the penguin house but I'm a different penguin I live in Ireland not in Berlin Zoo so Helen took care of me and I was very good I didn't wander off and get lost or anything. Helen was really proud of me for being so good.

Elephants are really big compared to me

I really like the Gorilla, he looks grumpy though

Did you know a leopard never changes his spots? 

I learnt to spell rhinoceros for this photo

LOOK AT MY COUSIN PENGUINS!!

The zoo is a really fun place to visit, I saw loads of other animals but I didn't take photos with them all. I really liked the petting zoo, I got to sit on a goat until he kicked me off! I really liked the lambs, they're baby sheep. But I didn't like the Goose there, he hissed at me and scared me. He even tried to bite me, I'm not goose food. I don't think the goose had ever met a Penguin before because he didn't know that he shouldn't eat me!

While I was in Berlin I went to see a bit of the Berlin wall. The Berlin Wall was a huge wall built in the middle of Berlin years and years ago to keep the West and East sides apart. Some people tried to escape over the wall to the other side to their family or friends but lots of people were hurt trying to get over the wall. Some people even died. It was really sad.  The Berlin Wall was taken down in 1989, that's 25 years ago and now people in Berlin can move from East to West freely. I think it's important to know History even the sad bits.

Berlin Wall

I really liked Berlin, I even learnt some German I can say 

Hello Gutten Tag  

Goodnight Gutten Abend 

Thank you Danke 

Please Bitte

It's very different to English but I like learning new languages! I think it's very important to learn different languages and learn about different places and countries. I think I'm a wise penguin because I try to learn new things every day!

I learnt about the library

I even learnt how to spell library. Did you know there's a sneaky R in there to confuse us? I know all about it now and I can spell it really well! I met a book minder there too, her name is Maria. Maria minds all the books in the children's sections of the libraries around Dublin. Dublin is a long way away, it took Helen over two hours to drive there from Limerick. I like being in the car but the other cars on the road scare me. But when we got to Tallaght library I was really excited!

I've been making friends with a lovely Bee on Twitter and he lives in Tallaght library with all the books! I think I'd like to live in the library too!

        Here's me and buzz in the library 

I had a look at all the books, I really liked reading about the penguins! There were lots of really cool books and Maria read me some but my favourite was the book about polar animals, they're the animals that live in snow like me! 

Tallaght library has some really cool art work too! Some schools came in and used recycled stuff to make a giant garden inside! It was so cool! I really liked the giant carrot but it tasted weird! Yuck! 

There was even a recycled Penguin there! I think he looks like my best penguin friend Freddie! Freddie has huge eyes and a really long orange beak, I think I'll send this photo to him. I hope he likes it! 

I really liked Maria the librarian. I love reading and I think Maria has a super cool job! I'd love to mind books too! Books are the best! I brought Maria some brownies I baked! Helen did the hot oven bit because it was too hot for a penguin like me! I ate a brownie with Maria

I love the library! I really hope I can visit again! I'd like to see Buzz again too! You can follow me on twitter too, did you know that? My twitter name is @WaddlesPPenguin and I love tweeting small humans in school :) 

I went to School

School in Ireland is super strange. The small humans learn about numbers but they call them Maths and learn English stuff like writing and reading. Penguin school is different we learn about fish and weather and snow. Small humans in Ireland also learn some Irish, I want to learn that too. Can anyone teach me something to say in Irish?

The small humans were lovely though, they let me join in their human games in PE and they let me teach them some penguin games like Penguin Penguin Polar Bear and BulPenguin. Then they wrote some stories about me and drew some pictures of me. I love seeing pictures of me, Helen says it's because I'm vain but I think it's because I'm really handsome and the small humans drew fantastic pictures of me. Here are some of the stories they wrote me

Living with Waddles

I was having a really strange day. First a penguin came to my house and I named him Waddles. Waddles tried to take my ice cream. He pushed me into the bath. The next day we made friends.

Waddles and The Polar Bear 

Waddles was a little Penguin who lived in Antarctica. Waddles was very curious and wanted to go find out about the world. He thought the only way he could do that was to swim to all the different parts of the world. So he packed his bags and set off. He didn't know where he was going but taking breaths at the surface he eventually got to the North Pole. But he didn't know that there was a polar bear there. When he saw the polar bear he ran to Santas Workshop. Santa gave him water guns. Waddles went out and shot water in the polar bears eyes. The polar bear couldn't see so Waddles dropped the guns and swam to Ireland. He went to Miss Bullocks house. What will he do there? 

The Story of Waddles

Once there was a cheeky penguin called Waddles. He lived in Antarctica then moved to Limerick with Miss Bullock. She came to school today and I saw Waddles. He is black and white and cute. We went out for PE and Waddles made up all the games. 

ME again

Me in my fancy clothes

I can't show you all the wonderful stories the humans wrote about me, Helen says I'd have to type all night to do that and I'm hungry. It's almost dinner time and I have raw fish waiting for me. Helen says I should try something new every day so today I tried Salad and honey. I might blog about that tomorrow and maybe share some more stories from the humans? Oh by the way Helen says I have to tell you that the humans are in first and second class in Limerick and would love to see who reads their stories about me. So say hi to them, I know they'll reading my new blog every week now! I hope I get to visit them again soon, they were nice humans.