This is a copy of a letter I am sending out. A lot of this information is familiar to you, if you've been keeping up with my blog. Thanks for taking the time to read it!
Dear Family and Friends,
As you know, I am living in Dublin, Ireland for a year, volunteering for an organization called CASA (Caring and Sharing Association.) I have been here for almost four months now, and I have enjoyed every moment! This work is truly rewarding and has challenged me mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I feel that I am constantly pushed to grow and improve, and it is something that I have really needed in my life.
Even though this program has been greatly positive for me, it is even more important and beneficial to the members with disabilities that come to the break house. Each week, this house is a home, not only for us volunteers who are permanent inhabitants, but also for the members who come for a weekend. Most of the members come to what they consider their second home, and several who have lived in hospitals their entire lives think of as their only home. They come to get one-on-one attention and care and to participate in activities and games that they would normally not be able to do. At the end of the weekend, as they leave back to their normal lives, they thank us for the wonderful time and ask when they can come back. Several members have expressed that when they come here they are able to forget about their disability and just focus on spending time with friends, which is essential for them. (For more information on the organization, and stories from members, please visit the website: http://www.casa.ie which is for the entire organization or http://www.casabreakhouses.ie which is about the break house only.)
CASA is funded purely by donations and proceeds from several second hand shops around Dublin. I was recently informed in a house meeting that the recession has hit Ireland and has consequently caused a constant decline in donations. Because of this, we have increased our fundraising, including a new idea called “Dine In for CASA” in which people are asked to have a dinner at their homes, and instead of the guests bringing a bottle of wine or a dessert, they could bring a donation for CASA.
I have been inspired by a fellow volunteer Tom O‘Brien, who lives in Cork, Ireland. He recently had his 40th birthday, and hosted a party in which people were asked to bring donations instead of gifts. Even though I live far away from home and am not able to have a fundraiser myself, I decided that I could still do my part and ask my family and friends if you would be able to help. If any of you would be interested in participating in the “Dine In“, or even simply donating directly to CASA, please contact me.
Thank you so much for your consideration!
God bless,
Claire Vandecoevering
15 Ard Na Mara
Malahide, Co. Dublin, Ireland
cmvandecoevering@yahoo.com
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Goodbye Katie...
Well I'm home in Malahide now. I have been hanging out for a few hours and after a LONG shower and putting all of my clothes in the washing machine I decided to play with my new computer! Yay! He is working well, so far. I can't upload my pictures on Facebook right now, but I think it's a problem with Facebook or the internet connection and not the computer. Anyways, I suppose I'll tell you all about last night.
Joe showed up around half six and we were so excited to see him! It really made the night special. We went out and decided to get dessert because we had all eaten dinner and it was too early for beer. We went to a new favorite place of mine called Elephant and Castle. I've been there once before with Erin and Kate and we had delicious meals and we shared an amazing ice cream dessert. We walked in and it was pretty busy. (It was dinner time in Temple Bar, the most touristy place in Dublin.) But the host squeezed us into a table meant for two. When the waiter came, we asked for dessert menus and gave him the dinner menus back. He gave us a dirty look, but did as we asked. After we ordered dessert and coffee, he went to the back, and then came up to us a minute later. He told us that they weren't allowed to serve us only dessert and if we wanted to stay we would have to buy full dinners. Can you believe that?? So we had to walk out completely humiliated. He never should have let us order dessert at all if that was the "policy." It was completely rude and greedy of them. They aren't hurting for business, and the twenty minutes that we would have stayed there wouldn't have made any kind of dent in their sales. I love the food there, but I won't ever go back again! And if any of you happen to make it over here, you better not go either! It was unbelievable...
Anyways, we left angry and bitter, but laughing just the same. Joe has a way of making light of everything in a fun and non-annoying way. We went and had lattes instead, which were very satisfying. After that I took them to The Porterhouse for a beer. We sat and joked around and talked about how crazy our time in Westport was. One beer later, we were off again and went to a bar called Fitzsimon's. We found a few couches tucked away in the corner and enjoyed another beer. (Side note: I am SO done with beer for a while!) We told him the story of our French maid, and he asked us if we were sorry we didn't stay in Westport longer. Boy were we sorry... haha Gabriele and his friend Federico joined us towards the end of our time at Fitzsimon's. We were off again and ready to join the crowd at Oliver St. John Gogarty's. It was busy, but obviously not as much as it would be on a weekend night. We all enjoyed our time there, but soon it was midnight and we all decided to call it a night. Katie and I still had to finish packing up and the boys were getting up early the next day.
This morning we got up and got ready, feeling tired, slightly dehydrated, and sad. Joe met up downstairs for breakfast at the hostel. After a good bowl of cereal, and Joe there to help us with the denial of Katie's departure, we checked out and hopped on the bus. An hour later, we arrived, reluctantly, at the airport and said our goodbyes. I never cry in front of people (because of my "heart of stone") but Katie pushed back a few tears. It was hard to say goodbye to her again. We had a great trip and spent a lot of time together in such a concentrated way. It's weird to go back to barely talking. But this is the sacrifice I made to be here. It's just part of my journey. I am very grateful to see her and I look forward to my return home next May. But in the meantime I am going to soak this adventure in because time will pass quickly and I don't want to miss it!
Email me or skype me! I'm here in the quiet house with just Gabriele until Sunday when everyone else returns. My homesickness has gone up a bit after saying goodbye to Katie.
Hope all is well in Oregon! Love,
Claire
Joe showed up around half six and we were so excited to see him! It really made the night special. We went out and decided to get dessert because we had all eaten dinner and it was too early for beer. We went to a new favorite place of mine called Elephant and Castle. I've been there once before with Erin and Kate and we had delicious meals and we shared an amazing ice cream dessert. We walked in and it was pretty busy. (It was dinner time in Temple Bar, the most touristy place in Dublin.) But the host squeezed us into a table meant for two. When the waiter came, we asked for dessert menus and gave him the dinner menus back. He gave us a dirty look, but did as we asked. After we ordered dessert and coffee, he went to the back, and then came up to us a minute later. He told us that they weren't allowed to serve us only dessert and if we wanted to stay we would have to buy full dinners. Can you believe that?? So we had to walk out completely humiliated. He never should have let us order dessert at all if that was the "policy." It was completely rude and greedy of them. They aren't hurting for business, and the twenty minutes that we would have stayed there wouldn't have made any kind of dent in their sales. I love the food there, but I won't ever go back again! And if any of you happen to make it over here, you better not go either! It was unbelievable...
Anyways, we left angry and bitter, but laughing just the same. Joe has a way of making light of everything in a fun and non-annoying way. We went and had lattes instead, which were very satisfying. After that I took them to The Porterhouse for a beer. We sat and joked around and talked about how crazy our time in Westport was. One beer later, we were off again and went to a bar called Fitzsimon's. We found a few couches tucked away in the corner and enjoyed another beer. (Side note: I am SO done with beer for a while!) We told him the story of our French maid, and he asked us if we were sorry we didn't stay in Westport longer. Boy were we sorry... haha Gabriele and his friend Federico joined us towards the end of our time at Fitzsimon's. We were off again and ready to join the crowd at Oliver St. John Gogarty's. It was busy, but obviously not as much as it would be on a weekend night. We all enjoyed our time there, but soon it was midnight and we all decided to call it a night. Katie and I still had to finish packing up and the boys were getting up early the next day.
This morning we got up and got ready, feeling tired, slightly dehydrated, and sad. Joe met up downstairs for breakfast at the hostel. After a good bowl of cereal, and Joe there to help us with the denial of Katie's departure, we checked out and hopped on the bus. An hour later, we arrived, reluctantly, at the airport and said our goodbyes. I never cry in front of people (because of my "heart of stone") but Katie pushed back a few tears. It was hard to say goodbye to her again. We had a great trip and spent a lot of time together in such a concentrated way. It's weird to go back to barely talking. But this is the sacrifice I made to be here. It's just part of my journey. I am very grateful to see her and I look forward to my return home next May. But in the meantime I am going to soak this adventure in because time will pass quickly and I don't want to miss it!
Email me or skype me! I'm here in the quiet house with just Gabriele until Sunday when everyone else returns. My homesickness has gone up a bit after saying goodbye to Katie.
Hope all is well in Oregon! Love,
Claire
Thursday, August 27, 2009
My Piece of Home: Part Four
Katie and I just made it back to Dublin a few hours ago. Alive! The car is gone and we are now on foot. We only had one missing mirror and a flat tire...not too bad for 8 days around Ireland with a rental! And because of the extra insurance we had the tire payment given back to us. Only a little stress as a payment, I suppose. Anyways, I'll back up to where I left off on my last post.
After we left the internet cafe that night, we went back to our hostel. That place was dirty! It was the only hostel that made me feel dirtier after taking a shower... We stayed in a room with four boys! Two were French, one was German, and one was Canadian. We didn't talk to any one except for the one from Canada. He was really cool. He is a biology teacher and he took three weeks before school started again to come over here and bike all over Ireland. He was the silver lining of the black cloud that was the Kenmare Lodge Hostel. (Ugh...) Anyways, we left Kenmare the next day and headed to Kinsale. It is a cute little coastal down that is south of Cork. (I'd been to Cork before and I knew it was industrial and boring. No offense to anyone!) So we stopped into our hostel and met the front desk guy, Rory. Buckle your seat belts for the train wreck that is about to happen... Rory is in early thirties and was very nice. He joked around with us, and we found his awkwardness endearing. He showed us our room and even upgraded us to a private room for free. (It wasn't just because we're cute. He had a friend who needed the room! lol) They had a pool table in the house and he told us that we should play a game later, if we were up for it. We decided to get a bite to eat first and see what Kinsale had to offer. We walked around the quiet streets and settled into The Milk Market Cafe. Because we weren't too hungry, we shared a small pizza. (Chicken, pesto and sun-dried tomatoes....mmmm...) It started to rain, and the streets turned from quiet to dead. So we decided to go back and chat with our friendly hostel worker. He was just heading out to dinner himself, so we asked if we could use the internet at the hostel. He offered his own laptop, which was very kind of him. When he came back we played a game of pool with him. His friends were there....an interesting group. When we walked in, there was a girl giving a "yoga massage" to a guy and another girl in the corner hanging out. The one that did the massage stopped to play some kind of instrument... It looked like a rain stick but you blow through the top and it makes a dull horn noise. It was quite the show. Then we met Yoshi from Japan. He was so awesome! He is just traveling around Ireland alone before heading back to Japan for school. Anyways, Rory told us we should have a friendly bet. If we won he would have to do something, but if he won, we wouldn't lose anything. Sounds like a good deal huh? Well, the game went on, and Katie and I did surprisingly well. It was all down to the final 8 ball to see who would win. He finally sunk it in and we were disappointed to lose. But he told us he would still do what he was planning if we were to win. He told us to wait a few minutes and meet up with him. When we found him he was wearing a French maid costume! I almost flipped out and tried so hard not to die laughing. It was sort of hilarious and freaky at the same time! Luckily he had a fondness for Katie and not me...There are pictures, so don't worry! It was then that we knew that his awkwardness was no longer endearing and borderline "Norman Bates -ish". But anyways, it made for a good story and something that we will remember for years to come! Later that night I was talking to him and he mentioned his love for Barry Manilow. Because of my aunt Kris, I too am a Fanilow. So we bonded over this and it was really dorky and funny. The next morning before we checked out, he came up to me and told me that he's going to see him in Vegas next winter and that he'd email me with details if I wanted to go with him. He also handed me his very own copy of the Ultimate Manilow DVD. I tried to politely refuse the kind gesture but it was not successful. So now I have a token to remember our crazy "friend" Rory from Kinsale... Oh man...
After we left Kinsale, and tried to wipe out the image of our French maid, we continued our journey and our first stop to Cobh. (Pronounced "cove".) Cobh is a VERY cool place with a LOT of history. Go look it up. Do it, I say!! The highlights are as follows: It was the place where several famous ships took their last stop at before heading to America, including the Lusitania and the TITANIC, and it was the port where more than half of the Irish who fled to America during the Famine took off, including the famous Annie Moore who was the first Irish person to be processed through immigration at Ellis Island. This place was very cool to see. I'm not even the least bit Irish, and I still found it fascinating! There wasn't too much of a tribute to Titanic there, surprisingly. How strange it was to be standing where the passengers stood, having no idea what was ahead. After a few hours there, we moved on our way to Kilkenny. We got to our hostel and walked around the little town for a bit. We wanted to go in the castle but it was closed. So we had some dinner and then walked to The Black Abbey, a monastery established in the 1200s by Dominicans. It was taken over by the government, but restored later when there was peace for the religious in Ireland. We wanted to go inside desperately because there was a statue of the Trinity that was found hidden in the walls! They must have found it during the restoration process. I'll have to look that up.... We stopped into a pub for a pint of Bulmers (a famous hard cider here, that Katie has fallen in love with and won't find in the states...) before heading back to our hostel. We made an early night of it because we knew we would have to wake up early.
We got up at around seven this morning and got ready to head back to Dublin. We wanted plenty of time to stop in Kildare before getting to the rental place at noon. We made it all the way to St. Brigid's Cathedral and found that it was closed! It was very sad because we went there just to see it. We left with a few pictures of the outside. St. Brigid is Katie's confirmation saint. We got to see her well over in County Clare, so at least we were able to see something special left by the patroness of Ireland. We got our car back to the rental (Remember...don't go to Murray's car rental. They are all mean!) and returned the car without any problems! It was amazing! Even though they were a little rude, we got everything taken care of.
Now we are at our hostel in Dublin and taking advantage of the free internet. Our buddy Joe O'Toole from Westport decided to meet up with us for Katie's last night. We are so excited to see him again! He was so much fun and he really helped us out. I want to show Katie a good time on her last night, so wish me luck! It's Friday night in Dublin...that shouldn't be too hard!
So there you all have it...the wonderful tales of Katie and Claire's Trip Around Ireland. I'm sure I'll have a little more to say about tonight and tomorrow morning, but all in due time. I hope all is well in Oregon. To be honest, I'm a little jealous that Katie is going home to see you all! But I am happy to be here and excited for what the rest of this year will bring.
Love,
Claire
PS I just got a baby laptop (Little Jerry Seinfeld is his name) and now I will have Skype and a webcam to chat with people. So if you are interested in talking to me and seeing me (and I hope you are!) Then get a free Skype account and search for my name. I'm pretty sure my name on there is "clairevandecoevering" but I'll have to double check. But serching for my full name should do the trick. :)
After we left the internet cafe that night, we went back to our hostel. That place was dirty! It was the only hostel that made me feel dirtier after taking a shower... We stayed in a room with four boys! Two were French, one was German, and one was Canadian. We didn't talk to any one except for the one from Canada. He was really cool. He is a biology teacher and he took three weeks before school started again to come over here and bike all over Ireland. He was the silver lining of the black cloud that was the Kenmare Lodge Hostel. (Ugh...) Anyways, we left Kenmare the next day and headed to Kinsale. It is a cute little coastal down that is south of Cork. (I'd been to Cork before and I knew it was industrial and boring. No offense to anyone!) So we stopped into our hostel and met the front desk guy, Rory. Buckle your seat belts for the train wreck that is about to happen... Rory is in early thirties and was very nice. He joked around with us, and we found his awkwardness endearing. He showed us our room and even upgraded us to a private room for free. (It wasn't just because we're cute. He had a friend who needed the room! lol) They had a pool table in the house and he told us that we should play a game later, if we were up for it. We decided to get a bite to eat first and see what Kinsale had to offer. We walked around the quiet streets and settled into The Milk Market Cafe. Because we weren't too hungry, we shared a small pizza. (Chicken, pesto and sun-dried tomatoes....mmmm...) It started to rain, and the streets turned from quiet to dead. So we decided to go back and chat with our friendly hostel worker. He was just heading out to dinner himself, so we asked if we could use the internet at the hostel. He offered his own laptop, which was very kind of him. When he came back we played a game of pool with him. His friends were there....an interesting group. When we walked in, there was a girl giving a "yoga massage" to a guy and another girl in the corner hanging out. The one that did the massage stopped to play some kind of instrument... It looked like a rain stick but you blow through the top and it makes a dull horn noise. It was quite the show. Then we met Yoshi from Japan. He was so awesome! He is just traveling around Ireland alone before heading back to Japan for school. Anyways, Rory told us we should have a friendly bet. If we won he would have to do something, but if he won, we wouldn't lose anything. Sounds like a good deal huh? Well, the game went on, and Katie and I did surprisingly well. It was all down to the final 8 ball to see who would win. He finally sunk it in and we were disappointed to lose. But he told us he would still do what he was planning if we were to win. He told us to wait a few minutes and meet up with him. When we found him he was wearing a French maid costume! I almost flipped out and tried so hard not to die laughing. It was sort of hilarious and freaky at the same time! Luckily he had a fondness for Katie and not me...There are pictures, so don't worry! It was then that we knew that his awkwardness was no longer endearing and borderline "Norman Bates -ish". But anyways, it made for a good story and something that we will remember for years to come! Later that night I was talking to him and he mentioned his love for Barry Manilow. Because of my aunt Kris, I too am a Fanilow. So we bonded over this and it was really dorky and funny. The next morning before we checked out, he came up to me and told me that he's going to see him in Vegas next winter and that he'd email me with details if I wanted to go with him. He also handed me his very own copy of the Ultimate Manilow DVD. I tried to politely refuse the kind gesture but it was not successful. So now I have a token to remember our crazy "friend" Rory from Kinsale... Oh man...
After we left Kinsale, and tried to wipe out the image of our French maid, we continued our journey and our first stop to Cobh. (Pronounced "cove".) Cobh is a VERY cool place with a LOT of history. Go look it up. Do it, I say!! The highlights are as follows: It was the place where several famous ships took their last stop at before heading to America, including the Lusitania and the TITANIC, and it was the port where more than half of the Irish who fled to America during the Famine took off, including the famous Annie Moore who was the first Irish person to be processed through immigration at Ellis Island. This place was very cool to see. I'm not even the least bit Irish, and I still found it fascinating! There wasn't too much of a tribute to Titanic there, surprisingly. How strange it was to be standing where the passengers stood, having no idea what was ahead. After a few hours there, we moved on our way to Kilkenny. We got to our hostel and walked around the little town for a bit. We wanted to go in the castle but it was closed. So we had some dinner and then walked to The Black Abbey, a monastery established in the 1200s by Dominicans. It was taken over by the government, but restored later when there was peace for the religious in Ireland. We wanted to go inside desperately because there was a statue of the Trinity that was found hidden in the walls! They must have found it during the restoration process. I'll have to look that up.... We stopped into a pub for a pint of Bulmers (a famous hard cider here, that Katie has fallen in love with and won't find in the states...) before heading back to our hostel. We made an early night of it because we knew we would have to wake up early.
We got up at around seven this morning and got ready to head back to Dublin. We wanted plenty of time to stop in Kildare before getting to the rental place at noon. We made it all the way to St. Brigid's Cathedral and found that it was closed! It was very sad because we went there just to see it. We left with a few pictures of the outside. St. Brigid is Katie's confirmation saint. We got to see her well over in County Clare, so at least we were able to see something special left by the patroness of Ireland. We got our car back to the rental (Remember...don't go to Murray's car rental. They are all mean!) and returned the car without any problems! It was amazing! Even though they were a little rude, we got everything taken care of.
Now we are at our hostel in Dublin and taking advantage of the free internet. Our buddy Joe O'Toole from Westport decided to meet up with us for Katie's last night. We are so excited to see him again! He was so much fun and he really helped us out. I want to show Katie a good time on her last night, so wish me luck! It's Friday night in Dublin...that shouldn't be too hard!
So there you all have it...the wonderful tales of Katie and Claire's Trip Around Ireland. I'm sure I'll have a little more to say about tonight and tomorrow morning, but all in due time. I hope all is well in Oregon. To be honest, I'm a little jealous that Katie is going home to see you all! But I am happy to be here and excited for what the rest of this year will bring.
Love,
Claire
PS I just got a baby laptop (Little Jerry Seinfeld is his name) and now I will have Skype and a webcam to chat with people. So if you are interested in talking to me and seeing me (and I hope you are!) Then get a free Skype account and search for my name. I'm pretty sure my name on there is "clairevandecoevering" but I'll have to double check. But serching for my full name should do the trick. :)
Monday, August 24, 2009
My Piece of Home: Part Three
That night in Galway was so hectic! Katie and I walked all over the little town and tried to find the perfect pub for us. But they were either full of old people or full of party girls and we weren't interested in either. As we walked back and forth that little strip of shops and pubs, we kept running into our Russian musicians! When they were done with a set, we went up to them and Katie started a conversation with one of them. We think the other one was either painfully shy or just not comfortable with English. We didn't get either of their names, but we talked to the chatty one for a while. It turns out that that they had a marimba and a vibraphone. So cool! I wish I got a video of them playing... Anyways, it was a fun little piece of our night. We went home at a reasonable time and went to bed.
We left Galway the next morning and made our way to Doolin. We stopped at the Cliffs of Moher for a few hours before going on. I had been there before, but it is such an amazing place that I didn't mind going again at all! Katie really loved it, and it was fun watching her react to it while we walked up the path, because I knew what was ahead. After spending some time there, we entered into the little town of Doolin. It is very famous for it's traditional music, and people even travel from Europe directly there to experience it. We stayed at a place called The Half Door B&B, which was so lovely! And the lady there saw my Rick Steves' Ireland 2009 book and told me that he had just been there recently and decided to put it in his next edition! How cool is that?? So if you are planning to come over here to Doolin, be sure to go there! We went to all three of the pubs there, and we tried to meet some local people. We talked to a group of guys for a little while at McDermott's Pub, but they weren't that interested in us Americans. We moved on to the other two pubs and settled in one for a while to listen to the music. It was very good music, but not my favorite so far. We were tired, so we decided to go back to the B&B. As we were walking out the door, that same group of boys had just come in and greeted us with big smiles and instant drink offers! It was so strange! But I'm not gonna turn down a free beer from a cute local. So we stayed for a bit, and honestly, it was slightly overwhelming! There was about six of them (If I can remember: Patrick, Barry, Michael, Paul...they all had Irish names and I thought it was funny) and only two of us. And they were talking SO fast that even I couldn't understand them. (I've been here for a few months, and I'd like to think I've grown accustomed to the accent...) Patrick was bullied into showing us how he can drink a pint Guinness in 1.8 seconds. I tried to tell him no. Not because it might make him sick, or even for the fear that he might spill it on me, but simply for the fact that it's an insult to Guinness. :P I got a good picture of it though. They wanted to move on to a nearby town to go to a late bar, but we were getting tired, so we went our own ways. It was a fun and unexpected ending to the night.
The breakfast at Half Door was delicious and so welcome after having cereal or nothing at all for the past week. I had a spinach and goat cheese omelette and sausage and homemade brown bread. Mmmm... And I also had real coffee, which was not taken for granted! Unfortunately, we didn't plan enough time to enjoy it properly because we had to rush out of there to make the 10am Mass. The service was really nice. I enjoy the small town churches here. We continued our journey after Mass, and headed to the Bay of Dingle. This drive was so beautiful! I got a few pictures, but I forgot my special battery charger for my camera (it's not normal AA batteries) so I'm almost out of power. I'll have to borrow some of Katie's. Anyways, it was a gorgeous coastal drive, and it included a stop at an oratory that was built over 1200 years ago! It is called Gallarus Oratory and it's definitely worth looking up. The story of it's architecture is very interesting. We also stopped to see the ruins of homes from the times of the Potato Famine. They are all over here in Dingle and Kerry. We got to Dingle Town in the early evening and checked in to our hostel, called The Hideout. It was a cute little place in the middle of the special little town. The girl who checked us in was extremely sweet. Her name is Rebecca and she is from Colorado. She is living and working there for four months this summer. Not a bad summer job, huh? We had some cheap but good take-away pizza and then went to a pub for some music. It was pretty dead there, but we passed the time by talking to the cute bartender. We didn't make it home too late, which was perfect because we made an early start the next morning.
This morning, we got up and had a quick breakfast at the hostel. We took a few pictures of Dingle, because it was so dang cute! Then we made our way through the Ring of Kerry. I have to say that Rick Steves' is my hero. He pointed out an extra little drive off the main road that took us to a chocolate shop with free samples and amazing truffles!! Oh, and the drive was nice too. :P I've never seen anything quite like this area. There was amazing rocky/grassy hills and then beautiful cliffs on the other side of us leading to the ocean. The weather was clear and bright, which truly added to the effect...if it were cloudy it would have been stunning, but the water wouldn't have been as clear and blue. We got a few pictures, but it is so damn hard to capture it all.
After the Ring, we settled into Kenmare, and had some dinner. This town is dead.... That is why we're here in an internet cafe instead of out at a pub! But it's nice to relax and catch up on emails.
I guess that's all I have for you. Sorry for the boring post! Hopefully we'll have some more adventures along the way on this last part of our trip. We are headed to Kinsale tomorrow, which is just south of Cork. It will be another driving day, and probably not too much excitement. But maybe we'll meet some more locals! You never know.... ;)
We left Galway the next morning and made our way to Doolin. We stopped at the Cliffs of Moher for a few hours before going on. I had been there before, but it is such an amazing place that I didn't mind going again at all! Katie really loved it, and it was fun watching her react to it while we walked up the path, because I knew what was ahead. After spending some time there, we entered into the little town of Doolin. It is very famous for it's traditional music, and people even travel from Europe directly there to experience it. We stayed at a place called The Half Door B&B, which was so lovely! And the lady there saw my Rick Steves' Ireland 2009 book and told me that he had just been there recently and decided to put it in his next edition! How cool is that?? So if you are planning to come over here to Doolin, be sure to go there! We went to all three of the pubs there, and we tried to meet some local people. We talked to a group of guys for a little while at McDermott's Pub, but they weren't that interested in us Americans. We moved on to the other two pubs and settled in one for a while to listen to the music. It was very good music, but not my favorite so far. We were tired, so we decided to go back to the B&B. As we were walking out the door, that same group of boys had just come in and greeted us with big smiles and instant drink offers! It was so strange! But I'm not gonna turn down a free beer from a cute local. So we stayed for a bit, and honestly, it was slightly overwhelming! There was about six of them (If I can remember: Patrick, Barry, Michael, Paul...they all had Irish names and I thought it was funny) and only two of us. And they were talking SO fast that even I couldn't understand them. (I've been here for a few months, and I'd like to think I've grown accustomed to the accent...) Patrick was bullied into showing us how he can drink a pint Guinness in 1.8 seconds. I tried to tell him no. Not because it might make him sick, or even for the fear that he might spill it on me, but simply for the fact that it's an insult to Guinness. :P I got a good picture of it though. They wanted to move on to a nearby town to go to a late bar, but we were getting tired, so we went our own ways. It was a fun and unexpected ending to the night.
The breakfast at Half Door was delicious and so welcome after having cereal or nothing at all for the past week. I had a spinach and goat cheese omelette and sausage and homemade brown bread. Mmmm... And I also had real coffee, which was not taken for granted! Unfortunately, we didn't plan enough time to enjoy it properly because we had to rush out of there to make the 10am Mass. The service was really nice. I enjoy the small town churches here. We continued our journey after Mass, and headed to the Bay of Dingle. This drive was so beautiful! I got a few pictures, but I forgot my special battery charger for my camera (it's not normal AA batteries) so I'm almost out of power. I'll have to borrow some of Katie's. Anyways, it was a gorgeous coastal drive, and it included a stop at an oratory that was built over 1200 years ago! It is called Gallarus Oratory and it's definitely worth looking up. The story of it's architecture is very interesting. We also stopped to see the ruins of homes from the times of the Potato Famine. They are all over here in Dingle and Kerry. We got to Dingle Town in the early evening and checked in to our hostel, called The Hideout. It was a cute little place in the middle of the special little town. The girl who checked us in was extremely sweet. Her name is Rebecca and she is from Colorado. She is living and working there for four months this summer. Not a bad summer job, huh? We had some cheap but good take-away pizza and then went to a pub for some music. It was pretty dead there, but we passed the time by talking to the cute bartender. We didn't make it home too late, which was perfect because we made an early start the next morning.
This morning, we got up and had a quick breakfast at the hostel. We took a few pictures of Dingle, because it was so dang cute! Then we made our way through the Ring of Kerry. I have to say that Rick Steves' is my hero. He pointed out an extra little drive off the main road that took us to a chocolate shop with free samples and amazing truffles!! Oh, and the drive was nice too. :P I've never seen anything quite like this area. There was amazing rocky/grassy hills and then beautiful cliffs on the other side of us leading to the ocean. The weather was clear and bright, which truly added to the effect...if it were cloudy it would have been stunning, but the water wouldn't have been as clear and blue. We got a few pictures, but it is so damn hard to capture it all.
After the Ring, we settled into Kenmare, and had some dinner. This town is dead.... That is why we're here in an internet cafe instead of out at a pub! But it's nice to relax and catch up on emails.
I guess that's all I have for you. Sorry for the boring post! Hopefully we'll have some more adventures along the way on this last part of our trip. We are headed to Kinsale tomorrow, which is just south of Cork. It will be another driving day, and probably not too much excitement. But maybe we'll meet some more locals! You never know.... ;)
Friday, August 21, 2009
My Piece of Home: Part Two
Katie and I are taking a rest in an internet cafe in Galway Town. The past two days have been so amazing! I'll start from the beginning. :)
That night after I was done writing that post, I met up with Katie in our room. We walked to the bathroom down the hall and we had an awkward encounter! As we walked down a small flight of stairs, a man was walking up, coming from the shower room, in just a shirt and his underwear!! Once he saw us he awkwardly tried to pull his shirt down to cover up a little!! It was strange though, because we didn't have any shower stuff, and he wasn't wet... But I must ask you to be proud of us because we were straight faced all the way to the bathroom where we had to let go and laugh!! It was so funny!! Anyways, there's a little story for you. :) After that we prepared for the next day and went to sleep.
Wednesday morning we woke up and had a quick complimentary breakfast at our hostel in Dublin. We checked out right on time at 10am, and made our way to the car hire shop called, Murray's. (Never go there, by the way....the people are rude and not helpful!) The walk took about 45 minutes, which probably would have been shorter if we weren't lugging around our bags. We hopped in the car and Katie took off. She has been doing an excellent job driving! I'm so proud of her! We work well as a team...she drives and I navigate. We got lost in Dublin and missed our highway, which was slightly stressful for the both of us. But once we made it on the road, we were so excited and ready to get out of the city and explore the country!
About four hours later we arrived in Knock. The grounds were simply beautiful. I won't write out the story of Knock, but for those who don't know, it is the place where Mary, St. Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist appeared to about 15 locals outside of their church (now called The Church of the Apparition) exactly 130 years ago today! It is definitely worth looking up and reading about if you are interested. They built a shrine outside of the church in a beautiful and creative way. There is also a basilica there, which was in the shape of a pentagon. And a building just filled with over 20 rooms for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Past that building was a garden and a museum, and on the other side of that is a graveyard where the graves stand of several of the witnesses of the apparition! We explored the grounds for about an hour, and then made our way to Westport. Once there, we checked into our hostel, freshened up, and went out to the pubs several blocks away. I read a good review for Molloy's Pub, which is owned by Matt Molloy, a musician in the famous band, The Chieftains. Two local boys found us right away! Joe O'Toole and Peter Duffey, friends and born and raised locals of Westport. As we were talking to them, Matt Molloy himself came up to us and playfully told us to "watch out for these boys." How cool is that?? Anyways, they were loads of fun and we really enjoyed talking to them. They bought us drinks, and as Katie pointed out, her first free beer in Ireland! After the pub closed, we walked back to our hostel with Joe, who insisted on making sure we got home safely; it was very late, after all. When we walked up to our car in the parking lot to get something out, we noticed that we had a flat tire and the left side mirror was gone! After freaking out for a minute, we calmed down and Joe promised us he would be back in the morning to help us fix it. The outside of the mirror was completely in tact so we have no idea what happened to it, but we assume that the flat was due to driving over something on the way. After going to bed and trying not to be too upset, we got about 6 hours of sleep. We woke up early to eat our breakfast and meet Joe outside...that is, if he showed up at all. Katie and I started the process of putting on a flat, feeling flustered and looking around for a boy to help us. Like a knight in shining armor, Joe O'Toole came around the corner with a cup of coffee and a smile on his face. His good temper and amazing sense of humor made us feel at ease as he helped us change the flat. He even had to call a few relatives to get someone to help us, because the ratchet was the wrong size!! (A special thank you to Albert O'Toole for the help!) After it was all taken care of, he went with us to a tire place to get a new one. (By the way, we had the full insurance, and after I called to make sure, we won't have to pay for the repairs!! Thanks Mom for the advice!) We all felt better after having the whole thing done and over with. We took Joe out for lunch to thank him for all of his help. We really could not have handled the situation as easily, quickly, and freak-out- free if it were not for him. It was sad to say goodbye to our new friend, but we eventually made our way out of Westport at around half one.
The lady at the hostel gave us a good route to take us to Crough Patrick, Kylemore Abbey and then on to Galway. Crough Patrick was only a few minutes outside of Westport. It is the mountain where it is said that St. Patrick climbed and lived on for 40 days of Lent, in time of prayer and fasting. This is also something that I won't write too much about, but there is a lot of good information on it if you want to read about it. The hike up to the top is loose rocks, and it takes the average traveler three and a half hours! Katie and I just went up a few minutes to the statue of St. Patrick and enjoyed a beautiful view of the valley and coastal range. The entire day from then on was driving, but I can't explain how amazing the drive was! That long drive is called Doo Lough and it is a little road through heaven itself. We took pictures, but it won't be even a 1/16 of the beauty that we experienced. Everywhere we looked were large grassy and rocky hills and a valley and lake that run through it. At the end of that stretch, we came up to Kylemore Abbey. Katie has a poster of this castle in her apartment. I've looked at it a million times, but actually being there was breathtaking. We stayed there for a while, but eventually made our way to Galway from there.
We got to our hostel at about seven last night. Tired from the long day, we decided to take some time to relax. (I recommend the hostel. It's called Corrib Village and it actually university campus housing during the school year. We have lots of space, and a complimentary breakfast. The people are helpful and friendly. It's only 20 euro a night.) We planned on going out to Galway, but we decided to stay in and wait for today. I'm glad we did! After the crazy day and night before, we really needed a rest. This morning we had our breakfast and did laundry. We came into town around half one and stopped first at St. Nicholas' Cathedral. What an amazing church! It is one of the last great stone cathedrals in Europe, built in 1965. Inside is a huge organ and a large ceiling made of Canadian cedar, which is supposed to help the effect of the music played by the organ. The church also has many gigantic and ornate mosaics, including one of Jesus on the cross. There is also a complete larger than life set of the Stations of the Cross carved from stone by a woman native to Dublin. The stained glass windows are modern, and include one that depicts The Irish Holy Family, with Mary knitting and Jesus offering Joseph a cup of tea! After our time there, we walked all over this cute little town and had lunch at Mc Donagh's Fish-and-Chips, a famous place that goes back four generations. There are lots of street performers on the main street, and they are all very talented! We came across a funny slight-of-hand artist from Texas, who was very entertaining and very good at what he does! We also fell in love with two boys playing the xylophone (we think that's what it was). One was from Russia and one was from Ireland. They were so cute and they were having so much fun playing! And they were amazing! They both played with two sticks (technical term??) in each hand!!!
Now we are here in a little internet cafe and we will soon head out to see a few of the famous pubs. To tell you the truth, we hope to run into the cute boy that works at the hostel who recommended a pub to us! Wish us luck!
Love,
Claire
That night after I was done writing that post, I met up with Katie in our room. We walked to the bathroom down the hall and we had an awkward encounter! As we walked down a small flight of stairs, a man was walking up, coming from the shower room, in just a shirt and his underwear!! Once he saw us he awkwardly tried to pull his shirt down to cover up a little!! It was strange though, because we didn't have any shower stuff, and he wasn't wet... But I must ask you to be proud of us because we were straight faced all the way to the bathroom where we had to let go and laugh!! It was so funny!! Anyways, there's a little story for you. :) After that we prepared for the next day and went to sleep.
Wednesday morning we woke up and had a quick complimentary breakfast at our hostel in Dublin. We checked out right on time at 10am, and made our way to the car hire shop called, Murray's. (Never go there, by the way....the people are rude and not helpful!) The walk took about 45 minutes, which probably would have been shorter if we weren't lugging around our bags. We hopped in the car and Katie took off. She has been doing an excellent job driving! I'm so proud of her! We work well as a team...she drives and I navigate. We got lost in Dublin and missed our highway, which was slightly stressful for the both of us. But once we made it on the road, we were so excited and ready to get out of the city and explore the country!
About four hours later we arrived in Knock. The grounds were simply beautiful. I won't write out the story of Knock, but for those who don't know, it is the place where Mary, St. Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist appeared to about 15 locals outside of their church (now called The Church of the Apparition) exactly 130 years ago today! It is definitely worth looking up and reading about if you are interested. They built a shrine outside of the church in a beautiful and creative way. There is also a basilica there, which was in the shape of a pentagon. And a building just filled with over 20 rooms for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Past that building was a garden and a museum, and on the other side of that is a graveyard where the graves stand of several of the witnesses of the apparition! We explored the grounds for about an hour, and then made our way to Westport. Once there, we checked into our hostel, freshened up, and went out to the pubs several blocks away. I read a good review for Molloy's Pub, which is owned by Matt Molloy, a musician in the famous band, The Chieftains. Two local boys found us right away! Joe O'Toole and Peter Duffey, friends and born and raised locals of Westport. As we were talking to them, Matt Molloy himself came up to us and playfully told us to "watch out for these boys." How cool is that?? Anyways, they were loads of fun and we really enjoyed talking to them. They bought us drinks, and as Katie pointed out, her first free beer in Ireland! After the pub closed, we walked back to our hostel with Joe, who insisted on making sure we got home safely; it was very late, after all. When we walked up to our car in the parking lot to get something out, we noticed that we had a flat tire and the left side mirror was gone! After freaking out for a minute, we calmed down and Joe promised us he would be back in the morning to help us fix it. The outside of the mirror was completely in tact so we have no idea what happened to it, but we assume that the flat was due to driving over something on the way. After going to bed and trying not to be too upset, we got about 6 hours of sleep. We woke up early to eat our breakfast and meet Joe outside...that is, if he showed up at all. Katie and I started the process of putting on a flat, feeling flustered and looking around for a boy to help us. Like a knight in shining armor, Joe O'Toole came around the corner with a cup of coffee and a smile on his face. His good temper and amazing sense of humor made us feel at ease as he helped us change the flat. He even had to call a few relatives to get someone to help us, because the ratchet was the wrong size!! (A special thank you to Albert O'Toole for the help!) After it was all taken care of, he went with us to a tire place to get a new one. (By the way, we had the full insurance, and after I called to make sure, we won't have to pay for the repairs!! Thanks Mom for the advice!) We all felt better after having the whole thing done and over with. We took Joe out for lunch to thank him for all of his help. We really could not have handled the situation as easily, quickly, and freak-out- free if it were not for him. It was sad to say goodbye to our new friend, but we eventually made our way out of Westport at around half one.
The lady at the hostel gave us a good route to take us to Crough Patrick, Kylemore Abbey and then on to Galway. Crough Patrick was only a few minutes outside of Westport. It is the mountain where it is said that St. Patrick climbed and lived on for 40 days of Lent, in time of prayer and fasting. This is also something that I won't write too much about, but there is a lot of good information on it if you want to read about it. The hike up to the top is loose rocks, and it takes the average traveler three and a half hours! Katie and I just went up a few minutes to the statue of St. Patrick and enjoyed a beautiful view of the valley and coastal range. The entire day from then on was driving, but I can't explain how amazing the drive was! That long drive is called Doo Lough and it is a little road through heaven itself. We took pictures, but it won't be even a 1/16 of the beauty that we experienced. Everywhere we looked were large grassy and rocky hills and a valley and lake that run through it. At the end of that stretch, we came up to Kylemore Abbey. Katie has a poster of this castle in her apartment. I've looked at it a million times, but actually being there was breathtaking. We stayed there for a while, but eventually made our way to Galway from there.
We got to our hostel at about seven last night. Tired from the long day, we decided to take some time to relax. (I recommend the hostel. It's called Corrib Village and it actually university campus housing during the school year. We have lots of space, and a complimentary breakfast. The people are helpful and friendly. It's only 20 euro a night.) We planned on going out to Galway, but we decided to stay in and wait for today. I'm glad we did! After the crazy day and night before, we really needed a rest. This morning we had our breakfast and did laundry. We came into town around half one and stopped first at St. Nicholas' Cathedral. What an amazing church! It is one of the last great stone cathedrals in Europe, built in 1965. Inside is a huge organ and a large ceiling made of Canadian cedar, which is supposed to help the effect of the music played by the organ. The church also has many gigantic and ornate mosaics, including one of Jesus on the cross. There is also a complete larger than life set of the Stations of the Cross carved from stone by a woman native to Dublin. The stained glass windows are modern, and include one that depicts The Irish Holy Family, with Mary knitting and Jesus offering Joseph a cup of tea! After our time there, we walked all over this cute little town and had lunch at Mc Donagh's Fish-and-Chips, a famous place that goes back four generations. There are lots of street performers on the main street, and they are all very talented! We came across a funny slight-of-hand artist from Texas, who was very entertaining and very good at what he does! We also fell in love with two boys playing the xylophone (we think that's what it was). One was from Russia and one was from Ireland. They were so cute and they were having so much fun playing! And they were amazing! They both played with two sticks (technical term??) in each hand!!!
Now we are here in a little internet cafe and we will soon head out to see a few of the famous pubs. To tell you the truth, we hope to run into the cute boy that works at the hostel who recommended a pub to us! Wish us luck!
Love,
Claire
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
My Piece of Home
Hello all! I'm sitting in the lobby of the Avalon Hostel right now at one of their free computers. I wasn't planning on being online during my holiday with Katie, but she wanted to take advantage of the free computer use. So I figured that it might be a good idea for me to get a head start on the blogging about the trip.
I went to pick up Katie at the airport at 10am Monday morning. It was so good to see her! It honestly took about two minutes for the shock to disappear and then it felt like no time had passed since we last saw each other. It's so strange... Anyways, we made our way out of the crowded airport and got to our bus to take us back to Malahide. No one was home, so I didn't get to introduce her to any of my volunteer housemates. Sr. Mary was home though, so she was able to meet her. We had some cereal and coffee and chatted for a bit to let her relax after the long journey. When she was ready we hopped on another bus and went into city center. It made sense to stop by the hostel first to check in and drop off our bags. But as soon as we settled in here, we were starving and ready to get something to eat! Katie was in charge of picking this hostel and she was great! It is really close to my favorite area of Dublin, Temple Bar! We made our way over there and slipped into a quiet pub named Farrington's. After a much needed meal, we came back to the hostel so that Katie could rest. I knew that she would need a nap, and I was right! She slept for an hour or so (after a series of giggling fits that came from no where!) :) I was happy to read my book and chill. We spent some time freshening up after she woke up. When we were ready, we ventured out to the Dublin Castle. Unfortunately, there were no tours all day, but we walked around and took a few pictures. We kept moving along and made out way to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The view from outside was gorgeous and it was very interesting to go inside. It is an Anglican church, and I was disappointed that there weren't any relics of St. Patrick. But there were some interesting statues and the church itself was beautiful.
We came back to the hostel for a third time to change to go out. I took her to Temple Bar to see some of my favorite pubs. The Porterhouse was fairly crowded, but we managed to find a cozy table in the corner. We had a few beers and a snack. The band was setting up the entire time we were there and began playing just as we were ready to leave! But we got to listen to a few songs, which was plenty. I was very excited to leave there because we were headed to my favorite, Oliver St. John Gogarty's!! I was anticipating a crazy good time like always, as we got closer to the pub. When we walked in and saw a quarter of the usual amount of people, I was instantly disappointed! Granted it was a Monday night unlike the normal weekend nights that I go there. But it is tourist season and the most touristy area of Dublin! It should have been packed! Anyways, I was determined to show Katie a good time so we left and headed to The Temple Bar. I don't usually go there because it is very overpriced, but it was packed so we pushed our way in. After a walk around the place to scope out the people, we found a good spot to settle. We ended up meeting a guy named Terry. And by met, I mean that he pushed into me in a way that only a really drunk person could think was "accidental." Even though he was obviously intoxicated, we had a lot of fun chatting with him. He ended up having a friend there who was off talking to someone else and then eventually joined in. His name is Joe and he's from London. Terry is from "three hours that way." After the entire night I still have no idea where he is actually from! I liked talking to them, but the real entertainment was watching them talk and interact with each other. We were getting pretty tired so we walked back through Temple Bar to head home. On the way we passed Oliver St. John Gogarty's and I was sad because it was alive and crazy as ever! We just went there too early I guess...Anyways, I have a whole year to go there, I just wanted Katie to see how much fun it was. I think she got almost as good of an experience in The Temple Bar. We got home and went straight to bed. It was 1am and we were so tired!
We woke up around 10 this morning and began our day at Trinity College. We were anticipating a long line for the Book of Kells, and we were right. However, the line went by very quickly. The museum for the Book of Kells wasn't anything special, but the information it gave helped me to truly appreciate what I was about to see. The Book itself was in the last room, so the museum was just enlarged picture copies of pages. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Book of Kells, it is a manuscript dated back over 1000 years that was made by monks here in Ireland. It is the four Gospels of the Bible and it is all written intricately onto calf skins (it took 160 calves!) in Latin. When we were taken into the room where the books were held, it was only open to a few pages, one from John and one from Matthew. There were also two other old manuscripts but I can't remember the names at the moment. After we left that room I expected to go to the exit, but was surprised by an entrance into the Long Room of the Trinity College Library. I had wanted to go for a while now, but I didn't think the price was worth it. But since it was part of the cost of the entry into the Book of Kells, I was thrilled! The Long Room is so beautiful! It holds over 200,000 of the library's oldest books and manuscripts. When it was built it had a flat plaster ceiling which they removed to raise it to make another level of shelving for more books. It is also home to the Brian Boru Harp which is the oldest harp in Ireland dating back to the 15th century.
After the trip to Trinity College we ventured out for some food. We found a little cafe and had a light lunch of sandwiches. As we walked out, the waitress came back and told us that we forgot to pay! We were so embarrassed! We walked back in with our heads down and sheepishly paid for our meals and got out of their quick! We walked off our embarrassment as we headed to the Guinness Brewery. This was by far my favorite thing so far! The building itself has been turned into a very cool museum that still has a lot of the original steel rafters and brick walls, but there was just the right amount of new things added in. The exhibits were very interesting as well. At the end of the tour we enjoyed a complimentary pint of Guinness at the top of the building in the Gravity Bar. It has a 360 degree view of the city that you can enjoy while sipping the incredibly satisfying pint. Katie even loved the Guinness! We stopped for a quick meal on our way back to the hostel. Now Katie is upstairs and I think I'm going to go join her. We have an early start tomorrow because we need to pick up our rental car and then we are headed to the west side, and stopping at Knock on the way. Knock is the place that Katie and I are the most excited about! I'm sure it won't disappoint.
Love,
Claire
I went to pick up Katie at the airport at 10am Monday morning. It was so good to see her! It honestly took about two minutes for the shock to disappear and then it felt like no time had passed since we last saw each other. It's so strange... Anyways, we made our way out of the crowded airport and got to our bus to take us back to Malahide. No one was home, so I didn't get to introduce her to any of my volunteer housemates. Sr. Mary was home though, so she was able to meet her. We had some cereal and coffee and chatted for a bit to let her relax after the long journey. When she was ready we hopped on another bus and went into city center. It made sense to stop by the hostel first to check in and drop off our bags. But as soon as we settled in here, we were starving and ready to get something to eat! Katie was in charge of picking this hostel and she was great! It is really close to my favorite area of Dublin, Temple Bar! We made our way over there and slipped into a quiet pub named Farrington's. After a much needed meal, we came back to the hostel so that Katie could rest. I knew that she would need a nap, and I was right! She slept for an hour or so (after a series of giggling fits that came from no where!) :) I was happy to read my book and chill. We spent some time freshening up after she woke up. When we were ready, we ventured out to the Dublin Castle. Unfortunately, there were no tours all day, but we walked around and took a few pictures. We kept moving along and made out way to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The view from outside was gorgeous and it was very interesting to go inside. It is an Anglican church, and I was disappointed that there weren't any relics of St. Patrick. But there were some interesting statues and the church itself was beautiful.
We came back to the hostel for a third time to change to go out. I took her to Temple Bar to see some of my favorite pubs. The Porterhouse was fairly crowded, but we managed to find a cozy table in the corner. We had a few beers and a snack. The band was setting up the entire time we were there and began playing just as we were ready to leave! But we got to listen to a few songs, which was plenty. I was very excited to leave there because we were headed to my favorite, Oliver St. John Gogarty's!! I was anticipating a crazy good time like always, as we got closer to the pub. When we walked in and saw a quarter of the usual amount of people, I was instantly disappointed! Granted it was a Monday night unlike the normal weekend nights that I go there. But it is tourist season and the most touristy area of Dublin! It should have been packed! Anyways, I was determined to show Katie a good time so we left and headed to The Temple Bar. I don't usually go there because it is very overpriced, but it was packed so we pushed our way in. After a walk around the place to scope out the people, we found a good spot to settle. We ended up meeting a guy named Terry. And by met, I mean that he pushed into me in a way that only a really drunk person could think was "accidental." Even though he was obviously intoxicated, we had a lot of fun chatting with him. He ended up having a friend there who was off talking to someone else and then eventually joined in. His name is Joe and he's from London. Terry is from "three hours that way." After the entire night I still have no idea where he is actually from! I liked talking to them, but the real entertainment was watching them talk and interact with each other. We were getting pretty tired so we walked back through Temple Bar to head home. On the way we passed Oliver St. John Gogarty's and I was sad because it was alive and crazy as ever! We just went there too early I guess...Anyways, I have a whole year to go there, I just wanted Katie to see how much fun it was. I think she got almost as good of an experience in The Temple Bar. We got home and went straight to bed. It was 1am and we were so tired!
We woke up around 10 this morning and began our day at Trinity College. We were anticipating a long line for the Book of Kells, and we were right. However, the line went by very quickly. The museum for the Book of Kells wasn't anything special, but the information it gave helped me to truly appreciate what I was about to see. The Book itself was in the last room, so the museum was just enlarged picture copies of pages. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Book of Kells, it is a manuscript dated back over 1000 years that was made by monks here in Ireland. It is the four Gospels of the Bible and it is all written intricately onto calf skins (it took 160 calves!) in Latin. When we were taken into the room where the books were held, it was only open to a few pages, one from John and one from Matthew. There were also two other old manuscripts but I can't remember the names at the moment. After we left that room I expected to go to the exit, but was surprised by an entrance into the Long Room of the Trinity College Library. I had wanted to go for a while now, but I didn't think the price was worth it. But since it was part of the cost of the entry into the Book of Kells, I was thrilled! The Long Room is so beautiful! It holds over 200,000 of the library's oldest books and manuscripts. When it was built it had a flat plaster ceiling which they removed to raise it to make another level of shelving for more books. It is also home to the Brian Boru Harp which is the oldest harp in Ireland dating back to the 15th century.
After the trip to Trinity College we ventured out for some food. We found a little cafe and had a light lunch of sandwiches. As we walked out, the waitress came back and told us that we forgot to pay! We were so embarrassed! We walked back in with our heads down and sheepishly paid for our meals and got out of their quick! We walked off our embarrassment as we headed to the Guinness Brewery. This was by far my favorite thing so far! The building itself has been turned into a very cool museum that still has a lot of the original steel rafters and brick walls, but there was just the right amount of new things added in. The exhibits were very interesting as well. At the end of the tour we enjoyed a complimentary pint of Guinness at the top of the building in the Gravity Bar. It has a 360 degree view of the city that you can enjoy while sipping the incredibly satisfying pint. Katie even loved the Guinness! We stopped for a quick meal on our way back to the hostel. Now Katie is upstairs and I think I'm going to go join her. We have an early start tomorrow because we need to pick up our rental car and then we are headed to the west side, and stopping at Knock on the way. Knock is the place that Katie and I are the most excited about! I'm sure it won't disappoint.
Love,
Claire
Friday, August 14, 2009
Spider Anne!
I'm alone in the sitting room with a pint of beer....This is the moment I've been looking forward to for three days! Everyone has scattered since we finished the group this afternoon. I feel especially tired because of a little added stress. If anyone reading this doesn't know me very well, I tend to stress out about things that are not under my control until I go crazy! I've spoken about this already, but in September we will have four new volunteers in this house. And the management has no concept of how we are going to manage that many people in this house. At the same time, we don't have enough money to go out and do as many activities for the groups. During this past group, we only went out for one meal (which was a quick lunch) and went shopping for an hour. That is nothing compared to the usual routine of bowling, shopping, cinema, lunch and dinner out. I found myself counting the minutes until the group was over, which is terrible! The group we had was an older group...mostly people over 60. They were okay just being in the house and having fun here. But I can't imagine what it will be like when we have another kids group. I feel like bringing in so many new people to this house is going to make our budget problems even worse, and I just don't know how we can plan successful groups. So right now I'm going to try and forget about that and let the management worry about it. I only feel that the things that we did this week are things that the members can get at home, besides the constant company. These groups are few and far between for the members and they should be filled with special activities that they don't normally get to do. After all, that is part of the whole point isn't it?
Anyways, I suppose I can talk a little about the group. I was paired up with Anne. She is so amazing! Anne is such a sweetheart, and she never complains. She giggles all the time, and is always in good form. She also has a huge crush on Paddy Murray, the man who lives here and runs the CASA charity shops. (All of the members are obsessed with him!) Every time he stopped in to say hello she would shake with excitement and shout his name! When she woke this morning she told Kate she had dreams of him all night long and Kate followed with, "Don't tell me any more than that, Anne." :) The only tiring thing was that Anne likes to know what everyone is doing at what time, but she doesn't retain the information. So I found myself answering the same questions over and over again. That is a small price to pay for being with such a kind and sweet person. She also had a running inside joke where she would call people "Spider" (but pronounced "Spy-dah"). In a quite moment she would curl up her hand and shake it at me and say "Spider!" And then she would laugh and laugh. It was so funny! We starting singing the theme from "Spiderman" but use "Spider Anne" instead. Endless entertainment, let me tell you.
Gabriele was with a man named James. He is a 79 year old man with a big personality! He plays the harmonica, and has been playing for 50 years. This of course makes him about 52 years old. ;) He bought a CD when we went shopping and when Khadija guessed that it was an Irish music CD, he pulled out the latest from Beyonce! My absolute favorite moment from the weekend was dancing and singing along to "Single Ladies" with James.
Everyone left at two this afternoon with the exception of Michaelina (one of my favs!) and Mary. Their driver was 45 minutes late, which seemed like an eternity to all of us who were so exhausted and waiting to go clean our rooms and rest! It was Gabriele and Bohye's last group, so we are going to Gibney's tonight. Most of us are leaving tomorrow to begin our holidays. Gabriele is going to America to visit Johnny. Kate is going to the west coast of Ireland before starting her trip to Switzerland in a few days. Erin is going home to Connecticut. Jose is leaving tonight to go to his home in Spain. That leaves Bohye, May, and me. Bohye is leaving Monday morning for South Korea for good. :( May will be meeting up with Kate in Dingle before going a few other places during these two weeks. I will be picking up Katie from the airport on Monday morning! So excited! I am also happy to have a few days to unwind and enjoy the quiet. I need to pack and to do a little more planning for my trip.
Katie will be leaving on the 28th, and I will have a few days to rearrange my room to make room for Lisa. She will be my roommate until the after Christmas. I'm not too thrilled to share my room the size of a closet with another person, but everyone is making adjustments, and I will too. I hope to get along well with Lisa and maybe to learn a bit of German before I go there for my Christmas holidays! :)
Ok, well I guess I better say goodbye for a few weeks. When I come back I'll have lots of stories from my trip with Katie. I am going to take her to my favorite bar in Dublin, Oliver St. John Gogarty's!! I can't wait! There is bound to be a story or two from there alone!
Love,
Claire
Anyways, I suppose I can talk a little about the group. I was paired up with Anne. She is so amazing! Anne is such a sweetheart, and she never complains. She giggles all the time, and is always in good form. She also has a huge crush on Paddy Murray, the man who lives here and runs the CASA charity shops. (All of the members are obsessed with him!) Every time he stopped in to say hello she would shake with excitement and shout his name! When she woke this morning she told Kate she had dreams of him all night long and Kate followed with, "Don't tell me any more than that, Anne." :) The only tiring thing was that Anne likes to know what everyone is doing at what time, but she doesn't retain the information. So I found myself answering the same questions over and over again. That is a small price to pay for being with such a kind and sweet person. She also had a running inside joke where she would call people "Spider" (but pronounced "Spy-dah"). In a quite moment she would curl up her hand and shake it at me and say "Spider!" And then she would laugh and laugh. It was so funny! We starting singing the theme from "Spiderman" but use "Spider Anne" instead. Endless entertainment, let me tell you.
Gabriele was with a man named James. He is a 79 year old man with a big personality! He plays the harmonica, and has been playing for 50 years. This of course makes him about 52 years old. ;) He bought a CD when we went shopping and when Khadija guessed that it was an Irish music CD, he pulled out the latest from Beyonce! My absolute favorite moment from the weekend was dancing and singing along to "Single Ladies" with James.
Everyone left at two this afternoon with the exception of Michaelina (one of my favs!) and Mary. Their driver was 45 minutes late, which seemed like an eternity to all of us who were so exhausted and waiting to go clean our rooms and rest! It was Gabriele and Bohye's last group, so we are going to Gibney's tonight. Most of us are leaving tomorrow to begin our holidays. Gabriele is going to America to visit Johnny. Kate is going to the west coast of Ireland before starting her trip to Switzerland in a few days. Erin is going home to Connecticut. Jose is leaving tonight to go to his home in Spain. That leaves Bohye, May, and me. Bohye is leaving Monday morning for South Korea for good. :( May will be meeting up with Kate in Dingle before going a few other places during these two weeks. I will be picking up Katie from the airport on Monday morning! So excited! I am also happy to have a few days to unwind and enjoy the quiet. I need to pack and to do a little more planning for my trip.
Katie will be leaving on the 28th, and I will have a few days to rearrange my room to make room for Lisa. She will be my roommate until the after Christmas. I'm not too thrilled to share my room the size of a closet with another person, but everyone is making adjustments, and I will too. I hope to get along well with Lisa and maybe to learn a bit of German before I go there for my Christmas holidays! :)
Ok, well I guess I better say goodbye for a few weeks. When I come back I'll have lots of stories from my trip with Katie. I am going to take her to my favorite bar in Dublin, Oliver St. John Gogarty's!! I can't wait! There is bound to be a story or two from there alone!
Love,
Claire
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Calm Before the Storm
This seems to be the theme of the past few weeks and it will continue until September. Every moment of quiet is priceless as we are constantly anticipating the next busy or stressful moment. We just got done with a group Sunday evening and we have another one that begins tomorrow afternoon. But I can get to that later.
Paula arrived at three on Friday afternoon. I was silently flustered because she had arrived an hour early! We were not fully ready, and I was deeply enjoying my "calm" while reading the last Harry Potter book. (I just finished it by the way! So good!) Anyways, it ended up being just fine, and everyone was able to come in the sitting room and greet Paula, although I think she would have rather had just a few. This group was larger because we had two extra volunteers and two extra members. This house is made to fit six volunteers and six members comfortably and we had nine each! But we managed to make it through the weekend, using tricks like eating outside when it wasn't raining, and having breakfast in shifts. The events of the weekend were very simple. We are trying to cut down on spending because of how expensive things are. We did go to the Pavillions for shopping and the cinema, which I could have done without. We went to see Night at the Museum 2 for a third time! Anyways, I will just tell you a little about Paula instead of going into the monotonous details of the weekend itself. Paula is in her mid twenties and she has a mild intellectual disability. She also has trouble speaking clearly and that causes her to be frustrated. I was nervous before the group because I feared that I would have trouble communicating with her. But I was happily surprised to find that we were able to communicate almost perfectly, with an exception of a few times when I couldn't understand something and she wasn't able to write it down. She really loves jewelry and nice clothing, so shopping was really fun. We picked out a new dress for her to wear that night for dinner. That same night we had Mass in the house and it was a very good experience. Everyone seemed to join in to become one unified group by faith. And those who are not of the Catholic faith were there as an important part of our family here. It's hard to explain, but when you are far away from home, you begin to notice the things that bring you as close to it as possible.
Paula is shy and she rarely wanted to join in on group activities. This was fine with me. As volunteers we are asked to encourage the members to participate in the group at all times. But for some members this isn't the best way to serve them. Paula wanted the one-on-one attention and care. We often would sit aside and play sudoku on her phone or sing along to one of her favorite songs. That was what she wanted from the weekend, and we had a lot of fun doing it! I felt bad for her when it was time to go to bed the first night. She is used to sleeping alone and she is nervous in a room with anyone else in it. Because it was a big group, the room we were in had six people total. She had a mini panic attack before we went to bed, and I frantically tried to assure her that everything would be fine. After a few minutes, she calmed down and was able to sleep in the room. The next night did not bring the same problem, which I was thankful for. I really think that she should be given her own room, but it is difficult because she is able to walk, and walkers are usually put upstairs so that the people in wheelchairs have the downstairs rooms. It makes sense, but it still bothers me that it has to be that way.
The end of the group came quickly on Sunday afternoon. Most people were picked up on time, which almost never happens! We were able to be done cleaning around five that night. We all did our own thing that night because we were all so tired from the group. I decided to stay home and read, while some people went out to join up with non-CASA related people. Sometimes I wish I had a friend here who was completely unrelated to CASA. But I am happy with the friends I have here. Kate and I still manage to make it outside the CASA bubble and enjoy Dublin.
We had a BBQ for Gabriele and Bohye last night. It was very bittersweet. They are leaving next week to go back to their homes. Well, Gabriele is going to America for our two weeks off and then he'll be here for two days before returning home. But there won't be any time for a party when he gets back from our holiday. I will miss both of them very much. We spent the night eating, drinking, and laughing. I had something on my mind, which I regret took me away from the fun at times, but I usually bounced back and overall had a great night.
We had meetings all day today with Sharon, the breakhouse manager. She informed us of the amount of new volunteers expected to arrive in September and gave us some options on how we are going to deal with space. We could either split up the house and put some people in the other breakhouse in Swords, or we could squeeze nine volunteers into this house that is comfortable for six. We chose the latter, although truthfully I don't like either option. Going to Swords would allow for more privacy, but it would mean even more isolation. We would not be able to walk as easily to the village there, and we wouldn't be able to see each other besides the groups. Staying here means a level of discomfort for everyone. But it also means unity which I believe is important for this house and this program. I'll be sharing my tiny room when Lisa from Germany arrives September 1st. I know it is impossible to hope for my own room, but I would much rather have one of the bigger rooms that is equip for more than one person. I have also gotten used to my privacy, which I won't have until after Christmas, if at all.
But now that the whining is out of the way, I'll look at the positive points. I don't want to let myself be pulled into unhappiness before the new house is even established. Having more people in the house will bring more life to it. Even with seven of us, sometimes it can seem too quiet with people all doing their own thing. I often walk into the kitchen and there are four of us on their laptops with their headphones on ignoring each other. haha With more people, that will be less likely. Change always brings more growth. I will use this as an opportunity for me to learn more about myself and condition myself better to change, which has always been a challenge for me.
Ok that's enough of that. :) We have our last group before our holiday tomorrow, so I am going to go relax and enjoy my little bit of "calm" before tomorrow's "storm."
Paula arrived at three on Friday afternoon. I was silently flustered because she had arrived an hour early! We were not fully ready, and I was deeply enjoying my "calm" while reading the last Harry Potter book. (I just finished it by the way! So good!) Anyways, it ended up being just fine, and everyone was able to come in the sitting room and greet Paula, although I think she would have rather had just a few. This group was larger because we had two extra volunteers and two extra members. This house is made to fit six volunteers and six members comfortably and we had nine each! But we managed to make it through the weekend, using tricks like eating outside when it wasn't raining, and having breakfast in shifts. The events of the weekend were very simple. We are trying to cut down on spending because of how expensive things are. We did go to the Pavillions for shopping and the cinema, which I could have done without. We went to see Night at the Museum 2 for a third time! Anyways, I will just tell you a little about Paula instead of going into the monotonous details of the weekend itself. Paula is in her mid twenties and she has a mild intellectual disability. She also has trouble speaking clearly and that causes her to be frustrated. I was nervous before the group because I feared that I would have trouble communicating with her. But I was happily surprised to find that we were able to communicate almost perfectly, with an exception of a few times when I couldn't understand something and she wasn't able to write it down. She really loves jewelry and nice clothing, so shopping was really fun. We picked out a new dress for her to wear that night for dinner. That same night we had Mass in the house and it was a very good experience. Everyone seemed to join in to become one unified group by faith. And those who are not of the Catholic faith were there as an important part of our family here. It's hard to explain, but when you are far away from home, you begin to notice the things that bring you as close to it as possible.
Paula is shy and she rarely wanted to join in on group activities. This was fine with me. As volunteers we are asked to encourage the members to participate in the group at all times. But for some members this isn't the best way to serve them. Paula wanted the one-on-one attention and care. We often would sit aside and play sudoku on her phone or sing along to one of her favorite songs. That was what she wanted from the weekend, and we had a lot of fun doing it! I felt bad for her when it was time to go to bed the first night. She is used to sleeping alone and she is nervous in a room with anyone else in it. Because it was a big group, the room we were in had six people total. She had a mini panic attack before we went to bed, and I frantically tried to assure her that everything would be fine. After a few minutes, she calmed down and was able to sleep in the room. The next night did not bring the same problem, which I was thankful for. I really think that she should be given her own room, but it is difficult because she is able to walk, and walkers are usually put upstairs so that the people in wheelchairs have the downstairs rooms. It makes sense, but it still bothers me that it has to be that way.
The end of the group came quickly on Sunday afternoon. Most people were picked up on time, which almost never happens! We were able to be done cleaning around five that night. We all did our own thing that night because we were all so tired from the group. I decided to stay home and read, while some people went out to join up with non-CASA related people. Sometimes I wish I had a friend here who was completely unrelated to CASA. But I am happy with the friends I have here. Kate and I still manage to make it outside the CASA bubble and enjoy Dublin.
We had a BBQ for Gabriele and Bohye last night. It was very bittersweet. They are leaving next week to go back to their homes. Well, Gabriele is going to America for our two weeks off and then he'll be here for two days before returning home. But there won't be any time for a party when he gets back from our holiday. I will miss both of them very much. We spent the night eating, drinking, and laughing. I had something on my mind, which I regret took me away from the fun at times, but I usually bounced back and overall had a great night.
We had meetings all day today with Sharon, the breakhouse manager. She informed us of the amount of new volunteers expected to arrive in September and gave us some options on how we are going to deal with space. We could either split up the house and put some people in the other breakhouse in Swords, or we could squeeze nine volunteers into this house that is comfortable for six. We chose the latter, although truthfully I don't like either option. Going to Swords would allow for more privacy, but it would mean even more isolation. We would not be able to walk as easily to the village there, and we wouldn't be able to see each other besides the groups. Staying here means a level of discomfort for everyone. But it also means unity which I believe is important for this house and this program. I'll be sharing my tiny room when Lisa from Germany arrives September 1st. I know it is impossible to hope for my own room, but I would much rather have one of the bigger rooms that is equip for more than one person. I have also gotten used to my privacy, which I won't have until after Christmas, if at all.
But now that the whining is out of the way, I'll look at the positive points. I don't want to let myself be pulled into unhappiness before the new house is even established. Having more people in the house will bring more life to it. Even with seven of us, sometimes it can seem too quiet with people all doing their own thing. I often walk into the kitchen and there are four of us on their laptops with their headphones on ignoring each other. haha With more people, that will be less likely. Change always brings more growth. I will use this as an opportunity for me to learn more about myself and condition myself better to change, which has always been a challenge for me.
Ok that's enough of that. :) We have our last group before our holiday tomorrow, so I am going to go relax and enjoy my little bit of "calm" before tomorrow's "storm."
Monday, August 3, 2009
Kids Group and Gay Bingo...but not together!
Well the kids group went just as I expected. It was fun and so exhausting that by the time I got home I wanted to hide under the covers and sleep for ten days. The kids starting arriving around two on Tuesday afternoon. I was paired with Megan, a very sweet and sensitive little girl who only has a physical disability. I met her on my last kids group when I was with Lauren. This time, Lauren was with May. I was amazed at how well behaved Lauren was this time. She definitely showed improvement, although she still had some of the previous behavioral problems. I think it helped that it was Khadija who was the supervisor and not Rebecca. Rebecca is so sweet and great with the kids, but she lets them get away with murder and it makes it hard on us volunteers.
Anyways, here's more about Megan. She is eleven, but she'll be twelve soon. She is a very mature girl, so I was often thinking that she was older. This became a problem only when she acted her age and I was inwardly annoyed. :P Truth be told, while I have fun with kids, taking care of them for four full days is too much for me. Megan had just been bowling and to the zoo the week before so she was really whiny about going again. I tried lots of different ways to get her excited about certain things but she refused to bend at all. But when we did things that she really wanted to do, she was wonderful and we had a lot of fun. She liked being with me because I'm American and she could ask me all about the American culture. Tuesday was a quick day with dinner and a trip to the bowling alley. Like I said before, Megan wasn't into it, and so we walked around the lobby for a while. (If I were her, bowling for a second time in two weeks would be much more fun than sulking in the lobby!) By the time we got home it was almost time for bed. Wednesday morning, everyone was up and ready by eight. We all had breakfast and then had a few hours before Jimmy picked us up for the zoo. The few hours between activities during this group were tiring. Megan has a hard time walking, so she couldn't run around with the boys. There were much more boys than girls this time, because in the kids groups, female volunteers can be paired with male members. Lauren wanted to play with the boys most of the time, so Megan was kind of left out of the group. I definitely made an effort to integrate her into the group, but a lot of time she didn't even want to hang out with the other kids. So I just tried to think of fun things to do. She loved doing nails and make-up so we did that a lot. It was fun doing girly things, although you can't really do make-up and nails all day. Luckily, the days were packed with activities. The zoo was fun, even for Megan. We were able to split up into small groups, so there wasn't any need for fighting over which animal we saw first. I was able to think of fun things to keep Megan occupied and forget that she had just been there. After the zoo we went home to play for a while before dinner. That night, a priest came over for Mass. It was an extremely successful service, and the kids sat down the entire time! When Mass was over, it was time for bed.
We all had to get up by seven on Thursday. It was Khadija's bright idea, because the previous morning had been messy with kids waking up before their volunteer. Jimmy picked us up around half ten for swimming. I wasn't thrilled about the idea of all of our kids at a pool, but it turned out to be really fun! Megan hadn't been in a long time and she had a blast. Because of her condition she isn't able to swim very well, so I held her most of the time. She is not very big, so I was able to swim with her all around the aquatic center with little trouble. We even went down the water slide, which I was really scared to do! But I had to pretend I wasn't scared to keep her from being scared! We were only there for an hour, which I think we could have stayed much longer. We had to go because we needed lunch before our movie. We were going to see Ice Age 3 (again...) but we were late for that so we saw Harry Potter. I was so excited! I wanted to see it but I was told it was too long for the groups. Megan was also very excited to see it, because Ice Age 3 is for little kids, duh. It was three hours of quiet children, which was enough for us! We went home and had dinner and more playing before bed.
Friday morning was a little sluggish. We were all so tired, including the kids. Jimmy came again at half ten to take us to the park. We were only there for about a half hour before it started pouring down rain. Jimmy came back to rescue us and we ordered lunch instead. Before lunch arrived, I convinced Megan to come upstairs and see what the boys were doing. They were having a little rowdy party in one of the rooms upstairs, and we sat on the bed and watched them all wrestle. It was really fun, and so good for Megan to be a part of the group. Parents started arriving at around two. Megan was really sad to leave, so she was a little mopey during the last hour. She didn't want to do anything and even her favorite music wouldn't cheer her up. So we just cuddled on the couch. I felt bad that she didn't want to go home, but I was happy that in spite of her complaining, she had a really good time.
We all gathered back at the Malahide house and had a quick meeting to conclude the group. We were all so tired and ready to relax. I honestly think that four days is just too much for everyone involved. The kids were so ready to go home, and us volunteers were running out of energy. I think the week was an overall success.
That night Kate encouraged me to go to Gibney's with her. I was pretty tired, but I wanted to go out and socialize with people I didn't have to see all the time. We ended up talking to a few people and we had a good time. The next day, we hung out around the house. I spent some time alone reading and doing crosswords. It was very relaxing! Later, Kate and I headed out to Dublin to see what kind of trouble we could get into. :P We stopped in a few pubs, but settled in our favorite place in Temple Bar called Oliver St. John Gogarty's. It is always crazy packed full of people, mostly tourists. There is also a lot of people wearing crazy costumes. The music they play is fun dance and sing along music. We met a group of guys who were here on holiday from England. They were all wearing plaid shirts and swore up and down that it was an accident! It was so funny! It turned out to be a bachelor party, and the groom-to-be told us that he was the best man and his friend was getting married. It was unfortunate to find out the truth because Kate and I agreed that he was the cute one! haha Most of them left around midnight, but two of them stayed and hung out with us. They were really fun guys, and we were bummed that they were from England and not Ireland!
I went to Mass at half twelve yesterday in the village. Afterward, I went to rent Gone With the Wind. I just finished the book and it was so amazing! (Thanks Sarah!) So I treated myself to watching the entire movie in one sitting, all four hours of it! That really sucked up my entire afternoon! But it was really good, of course. Clark Gable is so amazing as Rhett! And there could never have been a better actress to play Scarlett than Vivian Leigh. Anyways, after it was over, Kate, Erin, and I headed out to Dublin again. Kate heard about this bar called The George that has gay bingo on Sunday nights. It turned out to be 15 minutes of bingo and a few hours of drag queens dancing to music, which was equally entertaining! I was looking forward to seeing the announcer named Shirley Temple Bar (Temple Bar is a famous little area in city center, which this bar was very near to.) But she was out sick, so we had a substitute. But she was very entertaining so I didn't mind. I actually got bingo at the very end, but I was way in the back and it was SO crowded! I had to push through a giant crowd of people and by the time I got up to the stage, it was over. But it's probably for the best because the announcer was so mean to the people who had won! We had to leave at eleven because the last bus on the weekdays is at half eleven. But we could have stayed and watched the performances all night! We're definitely going back there again. They have it every Sunday, and since groups usually end on Sundays, we decided it would be a good way to de-stress.
We're hanging out here today, but we have plans to go out to Dublin for some shopping tomorrow. I also need a trip to the library. I've been reading a lot since I've come here. It's a good habit to get into now before winter when it gets dark by half three!
Ok, well this is long enough. Goodbye, my friends. I hope all is well all the way over there in Oregon!
Anyways, here's more about Megan. She is eleven, but she'll be twelve soon. She is a very mature girl, so I was often thinking that she was older. This became a problem only when she acted her age and I was inwardly annoyed. :P Truth be told, while I have fun with kids, taking care of them for four full days is too much for me. Megan had just been bowling and to the zoo the week before so she was really whiny about going again. I tried lots of different ways to get her excited about certain things but she refused to bend at all. But when we did things that she really wanted to do, she was wonderful and we had a lot of fun. She liked being with me because I'm American and she could ask me all about the American culture. Tuesday was a quick day with dinner and a trip to the bowling alley. Like I said before, Megan wasn't into it, and so we walked around the lobby for a while. (If I were her, bowling for a second time in two weeks would be much more fun than sulking in the lobby!) By the time we got home it was almost time for bed. Wednesday morning, everyone was up and ready by eight. We all had breakfast and then had a few hours before Jimmy picked us up for the zoo. The few hours between activities during this group were tiring. Megan has a hard time walking, so she couldn't run around with the boys. There were much more boys than girls this time, because in the kids groups, female volunteers can be paired with male members. Lauren wanted to play with the boys most of the time, so Megan was kind of left out of the group. I definitely made an effort to integrate her into the group, but a lot of time she didn't even want to hang out with the other kids. So I just tried to think of fun things to do. She loved doing nails and make-up so we did that a lot. It was fun doing girly things, although you can't really do make-up and nails all day. Luckily, the days were packed with activities. The zoo was fun, even for Megan. We were able to split up into small groups, so there wasn't any need for fighting over which animal we saw first. I was able to think of fun things to keep Megan occupied and forget that she had just been there. After the zoo we went home to play for a while before dinner. That night, a priest came over for Mass. It was an extremely successful service, and the kids sat down the entire time! When Mass was over, it was time for bed.
We all had to get up by seven on Thursday. It was Khadija's bright idea, because the previous morning had been messy with kids waking up before their volunteer. Jimmy picked us up around half ten for swimming. I wasn't thrilled about the idea of all of our kids at a pool, but it turned out to be really fun! Megan hadn't been in a long time and she had a blast. Because of her condition she isn't able to swim very well, so I held her most of the time. She is not very big, so I was able to swim with her all around the aquatic center with little trouble. We even went down the water slide, which I was really scared to do! But I had to pretend I wasn't scared to keep her from being scared! We were only there for an hour, which I think we could have stayed much longer. We had to go because we needed lunch before our movie. We were going to see Ice Age 3 (again...) but we were late for that so we saw Harry Potter. I was so excited! I wanted to see it but I was told it was too long for the groups. Megan was also very excited to see it, because Ice Age 3 is for little kids, duh. It was three hours of quiet children, which was enough for us! We went home and had dinner and more playing before bed.
Friday morning was a little sluggish. We were all so tired, including the kids. Jimmy came again at half ten to take us to the park. We were only there for about a half hour before it started pouring down rain. Jimmy came back to rescue us and we ordered lunch instead. Before lunch arrived, I convinced Megan to come upstairs and see what the boys were doing. They were having a little rowdy party in one of the rooms upstairs, and we sat on the bed and watched them all wrestle. It was really fun, and so good for Megan to be a part of the group. Parents started arriving at around two. Megan was really sad to leave, so she was a little mopey during the last hour. She didn't want to do anything and even her favorite music wouldn't cheer her up. So we just cuddled on the couch. I felt bad that she didn't want to go home, but I was happy that in spite of her complaining, she had a really good time.
We all gathered back at the Malahide house and had a quick meeting to conclude the group. We were all so tired and ready to relax. I honestly think that four days is just too much for everyone involved. The kids were so ready to go home, and us volunteers were running out of energy. I think the week was an overall success.
That night Kate encouraged me to go to Gibney's with her. I was pretty tired, but I wanted to go out and socialize with people I didn't have to see all the time. We ended up talking to a few people and we had a good time. The next day, we hung out around the house. I spent some time alone reading and doing crosswords. It was very relaxing! Later, Kate and I headed out to Dublin to see what kind of trouble we could get into. :P We stopped in a few pubs, but settled in our favorite place in Temple Bar called Oliver St. John Gogarty's. It is always crazy packed full of people, mostly tourists. There is also a lot of people wearing crazy costumes. The music they play is fun dance and sing along music. We met a group of guys who were here on holiday from England. They were all wearing plaid shirts and swore up and down that it was an accident! It was so funny! It turned out to be a bachelor party, and the groom-to-be told us that he was the best man and his friend was getting married. It was unfortunate to find out the truth because Kate and I agreed that he was the cute one! haha Most of them left around midnight, but two of them stayed and hung out with us. They were really fun guys, and we were bummed that they were from England and not Ireland!
I went to Mass at half twelve yesterday in the village. Afterward, I went to rent Gone With the Wind. I just finished the book and it was so amazing! (Thanks Sarah!) So I treated myself to watching the entire movie in one sitting, all four hours of it! That really sucked up my entire afternoon! But it was really good, of course. Clark Gable is so amazing as Rhett! And there could never have been a better actress to play Scarlett than Vivian Leigh. Anyways, after it was over, Kate, Erin, and I headed out to Dublin again. Kate heard about this bar called The George that has gay bingo on Sunday nights. It turned out to be 15 minutes of bingo and a few hours of drag queens dancing to music, which was equally entertaining! I was looking forward to seeing the announcer named Shirley Temple Bar (Temple Bar is a famous little area in city center, which this bar was very near to.) But she was out sick, so we had a substitute. But she was very entertaining so I didn't mind. I actually got bingo at the very end, but I was way in the back and it was SO crowded! I had to push through a giant crowd of people and by the time I got up to the stage, it was over. But it's probably for the best because the announcer was so mean to the people who had won! We had to leave at eleven because the last bus on the weekdays is at half eleven. But we could have stayed and watched the performances all night! We're definitely going back there again. They have it every Sunday, and since groups usually end on Sundays, we decided it would be a good way to de-stress.
We're hanging out here today, but we have plans to go out to Dublin for some shopping tomorrow. I also need a trip to the library. I've been reading a lot since I've come here. It's a good habit to get into now before winter when it gets dark by half three!
Ok, well this is long enough. Goodbye, my friends. I hope all is well all the way over there in Oregon!
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