Flat Sara

Last month my cousin emailed me and asked if we would like to have a visitor. Her daughter's class at school was reading Flat Stanley, a story of a boy who gets flattened. The bonus of being flat is his parents could stick him in an envelope and mail him to various places around the world. Much cheaper than plane tickets! Sara's class was making flattened versions of themselves to send out to friends and family. Our job was to show her the sites, taking pictures of her while she was here, and buy her souvenirs to send home with her. They were going to display their 'Flat' projects at the school's open house in late April.

I thought Flat Sara would be this little flat person on a stick that I could pull discretely out of my handbag when necessary. So, you can imagine my surprise (and Wes' horror) when I pulled her out of the envelope and she was a life-sized version of Sara. No discretion here!

Wes had a business trip to Cyprus, so he took Flat Sara along! Unfortunately she didn't get to leave the room, but she had some nice views from the balcony! Lucky girl!

 Flat Sara with a post box.

 Me and Flat Sara on a walk to the Phoenix Park, with the Wellington Monument in the background. 

 Flat Sara stayed in the Smithfield area of Dublin. Margadh na Feirme is how you refer to the Smithfield area in Irish. 

 Flat Sara and me in front of a local primary school.

Out on a walk to show Flat Sara the sights and we got caught in a shower. There was another woman standing under the doorway with us and when I pulled out Flat Sara and Wes started taking pictures, she decided to take her chances out in the rain rather than with the crazy people in the doorway! Ha!

 Flat Sara at the pub watching the Munster vs Leinster rugby match. Munster won! Woot!

Flat Sara on a picnic in the Phoenix Park. She got to try Club Orange and Tayto Potato Crisps. Two Irish favorites!

The thing about Dublin is there aren't really distinct landmarks here, like the Eiffel Tower or the Coliseum. Instead, I decided to go with everyday things that I thought 10 year olds might be interested in learning about. When I sent Flat Sara back, I sent her with a power point presentation giving more information about the various places she visited, an Irish flag, a potato cookbook, a shamrock, a Guinness postcard, a book about Ireland, and a t-shirt.

I hope she had fun while she was here!