And now a few words about the Irish...

And now a few words about the Irish.  First of all they are incredibly friendly.  They are polite and interested in who you are and what you are doing.  That is unless you are passing  them while walking on the street.  In that case, do not make eye contact, do not smile, do not nod.  This is seen as a very forward move.   Ignore them and keep your head down.   Then when you happen upon these same people in a pub, or when you sit down, they are back to wanting to share with you their lives and tell you everywhere  you need to go to see the real Ireland.

The Brazen Head -  the oldest pub in Dublin.  Since  1156

They are extremely optimistic people.  A quick run through their department store lets you know that they firmly believe summer is coming.  There are sun dresses, tank tops and short shorts.  Even some sheer blouses.  But the fact that it has not been above 63 degrees for the past month lets you know that they have an unrealistic sense of the future.  We had 65 mph gale force winds on Friday last week.  To compensate, they wear those tank tops and short shorts but with black tights.  Yes, shorts with tights.   Black ones.  

School exams are happening right now.  This is a big deal.  At the end of each year you have to test out and based on your score, you are placed for next year.  This is especially important if you are changing from elementary to secondary and then secondary to college.   One person is in charge of the exams for the whole school.  One of the board members of the charity  I am interning with is the chief examiner for his school this year.  Even he is stressed.

All the school children wear uniforms through high school.   Grey and maroon, grey and navy, navy and royal blue, but all in uniforms.  Even the high school girls.   They look quite smart on their way to school.  Even the ones who try to get around the uniforms by wearing sweatpants.  They still all match and look very turned out.

He just drove up on the sidewalk and parked

But the sense of style is not extended beyond that. (See black tights above).   Unless there is a hen party happening.  This is the Irish version of a bachelorette party.  They get all dress up in short dresses and very (very) high heels, get on a bus and party all night.   It is quite humorous to see them navigate the stairs on the double deckers in those heels!  And not just any heels, but platform, 5" ones.  

Another interesting characteristic is the driving.  The road rules are more like guidelines.  In fact, the roadways are kind of guidelines too.  I can’t tell you how many times I have had to move over on the side walk because a driver thinks they need up there to pass.   They are also expecting you to move very quickly if you are crossing the street and they want to come your way.  They don’t slow down.  Red lights just seem to piss them off.

The Irish are huge sports fans except for NFL football.  In fact, they hate the f’ing NFL.  (They normally say "fecking" except when they talk about the NFL).   They are very proud that Ireland is in the world cup right now.  They lost their opening round, but are hoping to win.  The game on Sunday had all the resturants and shops closing at 7:00.  We were run out of the restaurant so that the servers and cooks could go watch the games .  They locked the door behind us when we left.  They watch Gaelic football which is like rugby, soccer and football put together.  And they have a game called hurling which while one would imagine is related to drinking Guinness and Whisky it is like rugby with bats.  Lots of action and a major national pastime.

I love Ireland.  I am already sad that I only have 3 weeks left and not enough time to do everything I want.   I get to attend the large Catholic international Eucharistic congress tomorrow for my work.   I am excited to go.  It is a big deal here. 

Dublin Bloom Festival

 Saturday Therese and I headed to Phoenix Park to the Dublin flower show.  This is Ireland's version of the Chelsea show in London.   The sight was huge with indoor and outdoor gardens set up.   Inside there were flower gardens and meadows as well as flower arrangements.   Outside were whole garden's set up, most with water features.   If I could have, I would have bought several specialty plants including this absolutely beautiful blue poppy.  

There were also specialty food vendors showcasing Irish heirloom plants, fruits and vegetables.   We even found the beer garden.  They had the tallest strawberry plants I have every seen.  These must have been at least 18 inches tall and the berries cascaded down rather than sprawling like they do at home.   There was a whisky vendor (it is spelled without the "e" in Ireland)  there who is setting up a new distillery in Dingle, on the southwest coast.   They will be in operation in a year or so and are planning to sell the first 500 barrels as personal casks.   You can buy one, they will store it for 5 years, then bottle 350 private label bottles of your own design.   If I only had enough friends to do this I would.   I've signed up for the info, so if your want a quarter of your own Irish whisky barrel, let me know.    Traffic was a bit bad leaving as the bus system wasn't running well.   We ended up taking a cab back to the train station and from there the light rail and bus back to the apartment.  

We made it back just in time as it started raining and the wind got real gusty.   Therese made a pot of chicken noodle soup and a few of the kids came by for a bowl.   I think it helped with some homesickness for all of us.   It was great getting to know some of the kids better.  They are really a good group.

Friday Night Fun

One of my favorite  pubs on O'Connell St. was hosting a traditional Irish band on Friday night.   There were 4 musicians, one on violin, one on guitar, one on drum and one playing the Irish pipes.  The pipes are different than bag pipes in that they sit on the lap and are not as shrill.   The music was really good.   I went to Therese and we met a really nice family from Davis Ca.  They were taking a family vacation of about a month, travelling in Scotland and Ireland with their 3 sons.   One had just graduated college, one starting his junior year and the oldest graduated 4 years ago and lived in China teaching English for 2 years.   They were great to chat with. 

Norwegian Choir

We had a whisky instead of beer and it was quite tasty.   The highlight of the night was a visiting choir from Norway.   They were on tour and had sung at St. Patricks earlier in the day and were singing at Mass on Sunday at St. Mary's Pro Cathedral .   They were really having a good time and wanted to sing.  They got the band to play a popular song, No Never No More, about a man who roams the country looking for a good time and decides to come home and settle down.    2 of the Norwegian men knew the song really well which is funny because they didn't speak much English at all.   The group of men then went on to sing a fold song of their own about a young man's wedding and well, they just kind of took over.   Next thing we knew, the band wasn't playing and a choir concert broke out.  After 4 songs the manger George got control back, but not before they had him in the mix too.   It was a lot of fun.  

Tara and Bru na Boinne

On Friday we had a field trip to see the Hills of Tara, the site of the High Kings of Ireland and Bru na Boinne, a 800bc Neolithic site with a stone passage tomb.   Both places were south of Dublin in the very green and beautiful Boyne Valley.   The Boyne Valley is important in Irish history as the sight of one of the battles between the British soldiers and Irish freedom fighters in the 1870's.   

The Stone of Destiny

 Tara was the home of the High King, selected by the Kings and chieftains.   142 Kings were crowned at Tara and the coronation stone is known as the stone of destiny.  It is said to sing out when a royal touches it.  Alas, it was silent for me.    From Tara on a clear day you can see over half of Ireland.  It is on a hill top.  There are earthen rings around the hill top that form ripples much like ripples on a pond.   At one time a group of Israelites were certain that the ark of the covenant was buried there and spent a great deal of time digging up the place in the 1800's.  They never found anything. 

No singing stone, guess I'm not royalty.

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The old Church at Tara

   There is also an old church on site and cemetery dating back to the 1700's.    A statue of St.  Patrick is near the church.  St. Patrick explained the Trinity to the Irish here at Tara using the clover.  Walking the path back down to the bus I thought about all the generations of people who had walked this hill before me.

Next we travelled a short way to Bru na Boinne (in Irish) or the Newgrange site.   This site is over 5000 years old.   It was a Neolithic site of spiritual importance to the people who lived here.   They created a passage tomb, which is a large stone building, faced in rock from 70 kilometers to the west and 50 kilometers to the south.   The exterior facade sites on huge foundation stones quarried from somewhere down the river.  These stones were brought in by boat and then log rolled up the mountain.   It is estimated that the site took 50 years to build which would have been over 3 generations.   The tomb has a center room, with a spiral roof of overlapping stones.  The roof has never leaked in over 5000 years.  (The same can not be said for the visitor center built 10 years ago.)  There are about 50 of these sites in Ireland.  A few more are under excavation.   On the winter solstice, the sun rises and fills the chamber at the farthest point, illuminating a basin used to hold cremains.   There are 3 basins inside. The tomb passage has been known and visited since 1622.   Exactly what the purpose was they don't know and they only found about the winter solstice is 1967 almost by accident during the exterior reconstruction.

Exterior View.  Large grey stones at foundation are also carved

Inside the tomb is very narrow and short.  Not a place to be if you are at all claustrophobic!.  They let 24 people in at a time and it is quite overwhelming.   Being inside was one of the more humbling experiences I have had.  To touch the stone walls where people walked so long ago was deeply moving.   I also had a whole new appreciation for light and air when I exited..