Adventures in the Emerald Isle

Castles, cathedrals, cliffs, holding a lamb, and the sound of sick elephants were among the highlights of my recent trip to Ireland. During Semana Santa (a week of Easter-like celebrations in Spain) I met up with my mom and Mimi (my grandma) in the Emerald Isle.After a 7-hour busride to the airport, 7 hours of waiting at the airport due to a delayed flight, and 3 hours in the plane (funny how that was the shortest part of it all), I finally arrived, exhausted but blissful to Dublin. The endless hours of traveling would soon prove to be worth it.

I love lambs!

 

Mimi and I were roommates 20 years ago on a trip to Florida, and it was lovely to re-establish our roommate connection once again. We weren't the most competent of roommates, and we experienced various travails such as inability to turn off a light in our room and confusion with a hairdryer. But despite the obstacles, we had fun.

We spent a few days exploring the bustling and pub-filled city of Dublin, seeing most of the typical tourist attractions. Our first stop, which we didn't exactly plan to see first, happened to be a former prison (now museum), the Kilmainham Gaol. Many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed at this prison by the British and in 1923 by the Irish Free State. It was very interesting, but at one point I felt quite rude because I burst out laughing hysterically right when the guide was discussing the executions. What happened was I noticed my mom taking a lot of pictures, so I looked down at her camera's screen, expecting to see pictures of the architecture. However, what I saw on the screen were the faces of people in our tour group. She explained that she was taking pictures of interesting faces for potential use in future paintings. The unexpectedness of the situation resulted poorly-stifled bursts laughter, which hopefully didn't come across as apathy for the executed prisoners. 

 

 

We made our way to the Irish Museum of Modern Art, where we viewed cow poo on display and heard uncomfortable, throbbing noises coming from some interactive piece, which Mimi described as the sounds of a 'sick elephant.' Dublin sights also included the stately St. Patrick's Cathedral, a display of the lavishly-decorated Book of Kells which contains the four gospels in Latin, an in-depth exhibit about religions at Trinity College, a tour of the palace with a 'frustrated actor' guide (Mimi's words), an impressive Irish step-dancing show, and a visit to see my dear Beckett and Joyce at the Irish Writers' Museum. 

 

Dublin was blossoming!

 

After taking in Dublin, we proceeded southwards to quite a few charming towns, homes to castles, brightly-painted houses, sheep-filled meadows, and neon yellow rapeseed fields. We stopped at Charles Fort, a star-shaped fort on rolling, green hills along Kinsale Harbor, where I lept around and felt like a character from the 'Sound of Music.' We spent a night in Kinsay, where we ate fish at the renouned Fishy Fishy restaurant. In Killarney, where we spent two nights, we saw some live music at a pub (mostly American covers but there were a few nice, Irish tunes), and then headed onwards to Adare, where all the houses have thatched roofs.

 

 

At one point along the way, we came across a farmer who was surrounded by a bunch of lambs, a baby deer, and a puppy. He let me hold a lamb, and it immediately fell asleep in my arms, and in that moment, all my worries disappeared. That night I tried not to notice the lamb on the menu. The grand finale of our trip was the phenomenal Cliffs of Moher, for which we were fortunate enough to have a clear, sunny day, allowing us to see far and wide. In fact, although Ireland is famous for its rain, never once did it rain during our stay. Not only was the weather delightful, but so were the people. Everyone we met was more than ready to chat and help us with whatever we needed. We were quite lucky indeed. We're not Irish but maybe a little of their luck rubbed off on us nonetheless. 

 

Cliffs of Moher

 

Boiling Blood, Chocolate Beards, and Blisters!

Greetings from super sunny Spain. Yesterday it was so hot I had to get an ice cream, and I stupidly only took one napkin, forgetting that the napkins here in Spain aren't even napkins but rather tiny, shiny slips of paper that weren't designed to clean up messes but rather to mock poor, desperate humans such as myself. By the time I reached my apartment, I had a full-on chocolate beard. It was so hot I packed shorts in my bag to wear on my long walk home from school. I'm not sure what got more looks, my chocolate beard or my bare legs. In Spain, people don't wear shorts...or if they do, they don't until it's well into July. They apparently, for whatever reason, prefer to have sweaty legs than show a bit of skin. Wearing shorts was like having "crazy foreigner" written in red across my forehead. But honestly, I was willing to accept the judgmental looks so as to avoid an hour-long walk in jeans.

Today it was equally hot. I enjoyed a half-hour walk to the doctor and another half hour back beneath the full force of the sun. (I went to the doctor to get a blister checked. I got a blister checked because today was "hiking day" at my school, and I told them I couldn't make it due to a painful blister. They said they needed medical justification. So I got to walk an hour in the heat, bringing further pain to my foot, all in the name of justification for missing a day I wouldn't even be teaching anyway. Love bureaucracy!)

In general, I haven't had much of a chance to teach at that school lately. Last week was healthy breakfast week, meaning the kids ate "healthy breakfasts" (of toast and hot chocolate!!) instead of having class. My role involved standing and watching them eat this "healthy breakfast." The other day, a teacher spend a good twenty minutes reading off grades so that everyone knew what everyone else had received. (Yes, grades were announced for all to hear...as if being 12 years old isn't stressful enough as it is.) And then there was a full hour dedicated to having the kids "weave" on makeshift looms. Because the "looms" weren't real and therefore the yarn kept slipping all over them and getting tangled, and because eight kids were assigned to one loom, there was a lot more arguing than there was learning. Not sure what the point was. The other school I teach at, meanwhile, completely relies on the English lessons I prepare. At one school, the sixth graders don't understand "how are you?" At the other school, the first graders are already speaking in full English sentences. I'll leave you to guess which school is which. That said, there are absolutely adorable and interesting kids at both schools, and I do enjoy my experiences at both, for the most part. I just wish I could teach more at the breakfast-hiking-loom school, especially because in crisis-stricken Spain, knowing English can be the difference between having a career and living on the streets.

Onto lighter matters, I had two enjoyable outings recently. One was to see a production of "Yerma" by Lorca. My senior project was on Lorca, so now that I've had a little break from him, it was fun to return to Lorcaland for a night, especially in his home country. Another pleasant viewing was the movie "Ocho apellidos vascos" (Eight Basque Last Names). It was a nice change to see a Spanish movie rather than an American movie dubbed in Spanish, which make up the majority of what's in theaters here. The lips actually matched the words! Phenomenal. Plus, although I didn't get all the cultural references, it gave me many a good chuckle.

Time to go eat an early dinner and get to bed. Gotta try and get some sleep in, as I've set my alarm for 3:53am for my early bus and then plane to Dublin, where I'm meeting my mom and Mimi (my grandma). So excited! Until next time, chaps.