Bunratty Castle and Mountain Climbing

Friday there was no school because of St. Patrick's day so, we took a walk down to Lettergesh beach. It was about a three mile walk both ways but well worth it because of the beautiful views. After that we played soccer in the sunshine with the students! Spring is coming very quickly here and with it baby cows and hundreds of lambs. This week has been about 55 and for the most part sunny however, we don't expect this wonderful break to last for too long. Saturday we got up early to climb the Diamond, a mountain in the Connemara National park, it was about a three mile walk to Letterfrack. Once we were in Letterfrack we began the two and a half miles up the side of the mountain. On either side of the trail was bog and ribbons of water were rushing down to the ocean from the top of the mountain. Once we reached the top there were panoramic views of the twelve bends. The twelve bends are twelve mountains that encircle the area in which we live. On the left is a picture of the view on top of the Diamond.

Monday morning the bus picked us up to go on a trip to see Bunratty Castle and a few other important places. Our first stop was Clonmacnoise. Clonmacnoise was founded in 548 by St. Chiaran. He chose to build his monastery on the crossroads of the Shannon river and a gravel ridge. Both were used as a main form of transport during that time period. This is one of the main factors that helped Clonmacnoise become a huge center for learning and the arts. Although religion was the main focus the monastery looked more like a town because of the high population. Throughout its history Clonmacnoise was plundered by Vikings and Normans. In the 13th centenary it began to decline before it was attacked and finally destroyed by the English in 1552. After that we got back on the road and headed off to our B and B. Monday night we set off for a medieval feast at Bunratty Castle. Bunratty was built in 1425. It was used by the O'Brian family then the High Kings of Munster and later Earls of Thomond. The next morning we walked around the reconstructed Victorian era Irish village. Tuesday we took a walking tour of Galway. Galway is the largest city in our area. The original city walls are still standing and have been incorporated into the Galway mall. On the way home we visited Coole Park. Coole Park was owned by Lady Gregory and was a favorite place of W. B. Yeates. There he wrote some of his most famous poems including "The Wild Swans at Coole Park". The last stanza of the poem goes as follows.

But now they drift on the still water

Mysterious, beautiful;

Among what rushes will they build,

By what lake's edge or pool

Delight mens' eyes, when I awake some day

To find they have flown away?

Wednesday it was back to school for both Liam and I. This week a new kid came to our school so I am no longer referred to as the new kid which has been a refreshing change. I still don't have my own schedule but otherwise school is going very well. I would like to make note of a major cultural difference between Irish school and school in the U.S. In Ireland the teachers demand a higher level of respect and are much more strict than at home. We only address our teachers as Miss or Sir and never take a drink from our water bottles speak or stand up unless asked to by our teacher. However in turn the kids give the teachers much less respect than at home. In my French class our teacher spends more time yelling at kids for squeaking their shoes, leaning back in their chairs, talking, putting their head down etc. than teaching. The kids seem to think that the louder she yells the better so by the end of the hour three kids almost always end up in the hall. The kids don't seem to fear authority at all. Detention is no big deal and you often find kids sneaking out of their lunch detention just to be dragged back again for next break. Despite the difficulties of school here I am starting to dread my last day here.

Students Come Home/St. Paddy's Day in Ireland

From Friday to Sunday evening the students began to trickle back into Tully Cross from their spring breaks. During this time we took numerous trips from the bus stop in Letterfrack back home. The car was usually full of students almost crying with joy to be back. They had found out what we already knew from our last trip, traveling for over two weeks takes its tool. However, all the students had a good time and were thankfully able to return home unscathed. The real trouble began when our first group of students arrived back home. The went into their cottages and about five minutes later had realized that they were missing two i-pods, a Northface fleece, and running clothes. We were forced to conclude that they were stolen while they were on spring break. The next day two more cottages came home to find a laptop missing another i-pod and two cell phones. Now we were positive that the cottages had been broken into and immediately called the Garda. This meant that mom spent most of the weekend writing statements of losses and trying to figure out who broke in and how. Thankfully the next day our last cottage returned home and found some of the girls' clothes and a laptop hidden in his room. This brought down the value of stolen goods however did not solve our mystery and we were still missing three i-pods and two phones.

This year has been the first year in 39 years that the cottages have been broken into on our watch. Over the past month there has also been a few incidents with teenagers around the age of seventeen. To make a few long nights short on of the local bar tenders and two of our students ended up chasing down and catching one of the kids. We think that it is the same group of kids who caused us trouble are the ones who broke in while we were gone. That weekend we had another surprise come our way by the name of CSI Galway. He pulled up in a police car and proceeded to tell us he was here to dust for finger prints. He discovered a broken window latch in one of the cottages and was able to get a finger print. Then he took more statements and left. We have not heard anymore from the Garda but are still hopeful that we will be able to sort out the robbery.

Monday morning I went to school. I'm taking a home ec. class and it was there that I found out that in order to pass the class I needed to create a embroidery pillow. I'm not the most creative person there is so needless to say I have never tried to embroider anything in my life. It has proved quite a task because it takes me about a hour to stitch a strait line about forty centimeters long. Other than that school has been going well. Soon I will be switching into a metal working class, however it is looking doubtful if that will ever happen. On Tuesday our principal made a announcement that surprised everyone. Wednesday was going to be a half day. Thursday there was no school because of St. Paddy's day.

Thursday we went to church for St. Paddy's day. The service was half in English and half in Gaelic. They spent a lot of time talking and praying for all the people who immigrated because of the bad economy. Mass ended at eleven thirty and then we boarded the bus to go to Cliften for the parade. The parade was rather small but it was fun to see. I spent a few hours with friends while the students and my family went grocery shopping. After we got home I went on a run and then played soccer with some of the local kids. St. Paddy's day is a big holiday and almost everyone of age spends the night in the pub. For me it ended up being a quiet night but a very fun day!

Dublin and Spain

Friday I went to school, this marked the end of my second week of Irish school and the start of our spring break. Saturday we went to two of our favorite local beaches and bought postcards to send before we left Ireland . Sunday Allison and I led a walk for a hiking class some of the students are taking. WE walked east out of town and then turned north onto a small flooded two-track across a bog where the locals cut peat to burn in their homes. After about a mile, we came to a road again and then we walked west back into Tully Cross. Monday we had no school because it was midterm break, we spent the day packing for Dublin and I went over to a friends house. Tuesday we took a walk with the students to a beach about three miles past Tully, one of the closest towns to us. After our walk Allison and I walked into Tully to mail postcards and buy more stamps. When we left it was sunny but by the time we got home it was pouring rain. The weather in Ireland is almost as changeable if not more than in Michigan. The rain continued throughout the day so we canceled our soccer game with the students and instead finished packing.
Wednesday morning the bus picked us up for Dublin. Tully Cross is about four hours away from Dublin so we broke the trip up by taking the students to see Newgrange. Newgrange is thought to be a megalithic burial site built about five thousand years ago. It is unknown what peoples built the site as well as what it was used for. However, it is referred to in early Celtic mythology. Once a year on the winter solstice the single inner chamber is illuminated by the sun as it rises over the hill across from the building. The site was built so that the bottom is a ring of large oval kerb stones about as tall as my shoulder and as long as me. Above the kerb stones are piled quartz stone about the size of my fist. The top is constructed of huge stones stacked on top of each other gradually going inwards until there is a small enough space for a singe cap stone to cover the gap and complete the celling. This creates a domed celling much like some modern day churches. The exterior structure is huge but the inside chamber is only about seven feet across. After Newgrange we continued to Dublin and checked into the Globe Trotter hotel.

Thursday morning we took the students to see Trinity College and the Book of Kells. Seeing the College campus made me question how much fun it would be to live in Ann Arbor compared to Dublin (much to my moms dismay.) The Book of Kells is the four gospels of the New Testament. It was made in the eighth century. The book shows how Christian Monks adorned the scripture with Celtic design using ink form all over the world. The book was made by binding 186 cow hides into a book. The book is one of the most important examples of medieval scribal art in the world. the first letter of every page is decorated heavily and all around the border are animals and other designs. This makes the book not only a religious tool but a piece of art. After visiting the Book of Kells we walked upstairs to the Trinity College library. The library has books from the 17th and 18th centuries, it has a huge domed ceiling and huge ladders reaching up to rows and rows of books. That afternoon Allison, Liam and I took the hop on hop off bus tour with some of the Aquinas students to the Kilmainham Goal (jail). The jail was for the most part run by the British. It was built in 1792 and operated until 1924. During the mid 19th century Ireland experienced a famine because of the failed potato crop. During this time the jail had individual cells but during the time of the famine the number of prisoners increased dramatically resulting in cells meant to contain only one person holding up to eight people at a time. One reason the jail was so full during the famine time was because crime such as food theft sky rocketed. Also for some people living in the jail was better than being out on the streets. In the jail food and limited warmth was guarantied. Another reason the jail is important is because the leaders of the 1916 Easter Uprising were held here and later executed in the stone breakers yard. The Easter Uprising sparked the civil war which resulted in the formation of the Republic of Ireland and the decision to leave six counties part of the U.K. Before our tour of the jail we went through a museum that had letters written by people who were going to be executed to their loved ones. This was a very surreal experience for me. We stood where 14 men ranging from the ages of 17 to 30 were shot and killed. The cells were tiny and cold and we learned about all different innocent people who were killed in the jail. This was a very heavy but good morning. When we exited the jail it was a rare sunny Irish day so we decided to end it with the Dublin Zoo. We saw lots of animals that are not at the John Ball Zoo so it was a fun trip.
Later that night we went to the Abby theater and saw a one man show called Raoul. It was modeled after European circus acts however it kind of told a story. The show was full of acrobatic tricks. Another cool feature of the show was he made it look like there was two of him at some times and there was only one actor. I have no way to describe the show other than it was wonderful and exciting but too weird to explain.
Friday morning we visited three museums. First we went to the Natural History Museum, here we saw artifacts from all different parts of Irish history dug up in bogs. People find things thousands of years old in bogs because they slow down the decay process. Next we visited the Archeology museum which was pretty much the same but still interesting and worth while. Next we visited the Natural Science museum aka. dead and stuffed animals with dusty plaques. Although we didn't invest much time at this stop we learned a lot about the different shells we have been picking up at our favorite beaches. For lunch we stopped at Dawson's Pub because it has my middle and my mom's last name in it. Then we headed over to St. Stephen's Green. One difference between cities in Europe and cities in America is in Europe there are all kinds of little public squares and gardens. Then we went out for dinner and headed back to our hotel for a early bed because, the next day we were off to Spain!
We spent ten days in Spain so if I were to go day by day this blog would become even longer and even more boring so instead I'm just going to highlight some key activities and cultural differences. We stayed in a house out in the country between Seville and Granada. Ill start with cultural differences. First of all homes in Spain have bared windows and most homes look very boring and closed off from the streets. They have bared windows so that during the summer months it is possible to leave the house open without fear of screens being knocked in. Another reason Spanish homes look so unwelcoming is also to do with the heat. Most homes are painted all white and have no color to them at all this helps to deflect the summer heat. However plain and formidable the outside of homes, look inside there is ofter gorgeous tile and wonderful courtyards full of year round gardens. Another main cultural difference between Spain and Ireland or the U.S. is in Spain stores and restaurants are open from about 9am to 2pm and then close down during the middle of the day. Then around 8pm everything opens back up until 12 o'clock. This is due partly to the fact that during the summer it is so hot that people go home for siesta. This is a way to cope with the heat and also enables people to stay up and go out later during the evening when it is cooler. Food in Spain is also very different than it is at home. Spanish people often eat tapas and go out for drinks around four or five and then eat a later dinner around ten. This meant that we couldn't eat the big dinner we are accustomed to around six at home. Instead we decided to for the few days we went out to try and see how the Spanish ate. One night we went out for tapas and I decided to order seafood paella. While the rice and shrimp was delicious I soon learned that mussels were not for me. Another difference between home and Spain is that it seems like the Spanish are making a effort to reduce their use of oil. All over the country there were wind turbines and solar panels. During our stay in the Costa del Sol I also noticed that Spain seems to be the equivalent of Florida for British retirees. However for the most part they just stayed in their resort and the surrounding area and didn't seem to be getting a feel for what Spain is really like. The cites are full of orange and lemon trees growing on the side of the street. Liam, my little brother, soon convinced my dad to lift him up so he could pick a orange. However we soon learned that despite their looks the oranges are bitter. After a reading in our guide book we found out that the oranges were not for eating but making marmalade this however, still did not keep Liam from picking multiple oranges every day. Finally the population density in Spain is very unevenly distributed. Towns seem to just appear out of no where and then just end. There is hardly anything in between except fields and fields of olive trees and other crops.
Almost every city we visited in Spain had a small or in some cases very large palace and royal gardens that were inhabited by the rulers or rich of the town during different points in its history. During our stay we visited two such places one in Seville and one in Granada. These palaces are called Alcazars. The Alcazar in Seville was originally a Moorish fort it then passed into the hands of the Spanish royal family and is still sometimes lived in during the king and queens stay in Seville. The second palace we saw was the Alhambra in Granada. The Alhambra like the Alcazar in Seville was built by Moorish rulers in the 14th century. In 1572 Charles the fifth, a Roman ruler, added a palace inside the fortress. The palace including extensive gardens and a summer house has rooms with gold ceilings and intricate tile flooring.

Monday was a regional holiday (Dia de Andalucia) so nothing was open. Instead of wasting our time in a dead city we decided to go hiking in El Torcal. El Torcal is a nature reserve in the Andalucia region of Spain. We hiked up a mountain where there were stunning views of the surrounding valley and mountains.

We also visited the Mezquita in Cordoba. For a long time it was a Moorish mosque and was later converted into a Roman Catholic church. The church is huge and took us almost three hours to visit all the different shrines and see all the different designs.

Our last two days we spent in a more touristy area of spain the Coasta del Sol. It got its name because it avrages over 300 days of sun a year however it seems like we brought the Irish weather with us becasue both days we were there it was cloudy and rainy. Although we were looking forward to a bit of sun we still had fun swimming in hotel pool and playing mini golf in the rain. With the touristy part of our vacation over my dad left for EGR and we left to head back to Tully Cross which is begining to feel more and more like home. We flew into Dubin on Tuesday and then Wednesday morning we caught the train into Galway and from there we took the bus until its last stop Letterfrack where thankfully a friend was wainting to drive us the remaining five miles home. Again sorry for the lack of pictures the internet here does not work well at all the first few were uploaded before I returned to Tully Cross. Hope everyone is doing well!