Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Last Week in Dublin
I wish I had some exciting news to report, but in this last week in Dublin, I have mostly been hanging out with my roommates (and Anne, the girl I'm subletting from, who is back in town and staying with her boyfriend until I move out), running errands, working, and getting packed up. I leave for London Saturday evening, where I will visit with Kyla and John for about a week before I fly out to meet James in Budapest. I am really looking forward to all of my future travels, but I am a little bit sad to leave Dublin behind! I have enjoyed both of my jobs so much, and the people have been great. I feel like I've just settled in at the NCLC: I really enjoy all the people I work with, the girls in the canteen know my name, and I've actually gotten some good, substantial work done. The Sampson Fellowship has been such a great experience, I have a hard time believing that practicing law can really be this good!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Sunny Days
The last couple of days have actually been hot and sunny! Which makes me wonder why I am staying late at work on Friday...it's nice to have the free Internet, anyway.
On Wednesday, Moya (the solicitor I work for) took me out to lunch in another part of North Dublin, and we actually got to sit outside at a cafe, which was such a treat. She told me about some nice beaches just outside of the city, and said that I should ask Pauline, the legal secretary, for directions, as she lives out near there. When I asked Pauline, she offered to give me a ride, and she drove me up to Malahide and showed me around, and then dropped me in Portmarnock to walk along the beach. It was an absolutely beautiful day (unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera!), and I rolled up my jeans and walked in the water for awhile. I could see the next village down, so I thought I'd go ahead and walk all the way there, but after about an hour and a half of walking, when the village was plainly in view, I came to an estuary! The only way to get across would have been to swim. So I turned and walked all the way back, which wasn't too bad because it was a beautiful night.
I mentioned to Colin, the director of NCLC, that I was interested in immigration law, so he arranged for me to meet one of the barristers at the Immigrant Council of Ireland, a local NGO that provides migrants with advice and advocacy. So, yesterday morning I went downtown and met with her. They are really busy down there - the waiting room was packed - but she took a lot of time with me, and told me all about the kind of work that they do, and how she came to work there, and it was really nice. They do a lot of policy work as well as representing clients, so it was great to get a glimpse of that.
Today during lunch, I booked the hostels for my Eastern Europe trip with James. I am so excited, and can't believe it's only 2 weeks away!
I think that brings us up to date! It is Friday night, and I'm not sure what I'm doing yet. I have to go home and help my roommate Katie get ready - she's meeting her new boyfriend's family tonight. Very exciting.
I'll try to get on and post some pictures later.
On Wednesday, Moya (the solicitor I work for) took me out to lunch in another part of North Dublin, and we actually got to sit outside at a cafe, which was such a treat. She told me about some nice beaches just outside of the city, and said that I should ask Pauline, the legal secretary, for directions, as she lives out near there. When I asked Pauline, she offered to give me a ride, and she drove me up to Malahide and showed me around, and then dropped me in Portmarnock to walk along the beach. It was an absolutely beautiful day (unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera!), and I rolled up my jeans and walked in the water for awhile. I could see the next village down, so I thought I'd go ahead and walk all the way there, but after about an hour and a half of walking, when the village was plainly in view, I came to an estuary! The only way to get across would have been to swim. So I turned and walked all the way back, which wasn't too bad because it was a beautiful night.
I mentioned to Colin, the director of NCLC, that I was interested in immigration law, so he arranged for me to meet one of the barristers at the Immigrant Council of Ireland, a local NGO that provides migrants with advice and advocacy. So, yesterday morning I went downtown and met with her. They are really busy down there - the waiting room was packed - but she took a lot of time with me, and told me all about the kind of work that they do, and how she came to work there, and it was really nice. They do a lot of policy work as well as representing clients, so it was great to get a glimpse of that.
Today during lunch, I booked the hostels for my Eastern Europe trip with James. I am so excited, and can't believe it's only 2 weeks away!
I think that brings us up to date! It is Friday night, and I'm not sure what I'm doing yet. I have to go home and help my roommate Katie get ready - she's meeting her new boyfriend's family tonight. Very exciting.
I'll try to get on and post some pictures later.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Belfast
Ok, finally, here's a summary of my trip to Belfast:
Emily Jarvis met me at the train station around 1 and we walked from there down to the area around Queen's University to see about some lunch. Queen's is a beautiful tudor building, and there's a Botanic Garden next door, and in the middle of the garden is the Ulster Museum, which we were hoping to visit after lunch. We found this great little dusty bookstore/cafe - just my kind of place - and had big cups of tea and sandwiches for under £5 - again, just my kind of place. Everyone in Belfast is so friendly: forget what they tell you about being British, because everywhere we went, people were as chatty and welcoming as any Irish person outside of Dublin. Actually, Dublin is so full of foreigners, both workers and tourists, that sometimes it seems like you never run into any Irish people in the city center. Every single waiter, shopkeeper, etc speaks with a foreign accent, and many of them struggle with the English language, and you have to dodge big groups of Italians and Spaniards just to walk down the street. (This is not true of the neighborhood where I work, which has hardly any immigrants and no tourists.) But in Belfast, there were hardly any tourists or foreign workers at all, which gave it this really nice small-town, local feel. (On the flip side, a headline in the Irish newspaper a couple of weeks ago announced: "Belfast NOT the most racist city in Europe." When that statement needs to be made, you know there's a problem.)
After lunch, we walked around in the gardens and headed up toward the museum, which turned out to be closed for renovations until 2009 (a lot of the city seems to be in the process of construction or renovation). We hopped on a bus that took us south of the city, to the Lagan (that's the name of the major river) National Park. It being a relatively nice day, our plan was to walk around the Japanese gardens in the Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park and then to hike out to the Giant's Circle, which is an ancient burial site. We never found the circle, but got utterly and completely lost, and had a wonderful riverside hike out to Shaw's Bridge instead. We must have walked for 4 or 5 miles, which was unexpected and pleasant. When we finally found civilization again, we were starving and went out for fish and chips. We were meeting Emily Alvarado at 9 at her local pub, as she had some work-related trip all day. We headed out that day and met up with her, and all caught up over some bottles of very cheap wine (despite using the pound, Belfast is much cheaper than Dublin).
On Saturday, we went to St. George's Market for a few hours of people-watching and lots of eating. Belfast is such a small community that we ran into a handful of people that Emily knows from work or from hanging around, and at every single stall, our accents were noted and we were asked where we were from, what we were doing in Belfast, etc, and everyone apologized for the weather (apparently this is the worst summer in living memory). We bought souvenirs, and ate breakfast, lunch, and dessert. There were a couple of guys with guitars, and the whole atmosphere was really nice.
That afternoon, we called and arranged a Black Taxi tour of the city. Our guide was a Catholic who grew up near the Divis Flats off the Falls Road, and the Troubles started when he was 9. He told us that his childhood best friend was the first child to be killed. He drove us up into North Belfast, and we stopped to look at all the murals, and he told us the history of the conflict and explained the symbolism of the images. We saw the old Courthouse, which is now in ruins, and the prison, which is also disused. Then he took us down through the Shankill, where we were not allowed to get out of the car, and it was pretty horrible. While the Catholic neighborhoods were relatively clean and the murals depicted historical events and allegorical images, the paintings and graffiti in that neighborhood were all slogans of the different paramilitary groups and pictures of warriors. There were Union Jack flags strung up across the streets and hanging from windows, and there was a lot of garbage everywhere, and big lots where houses had been bulldozed that just looked like garbage dumps. To be fair, there are probably some Catholic neighborhoods that look like that, too, but we didn't see them.
The Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods in West Belfast are right next to each other, but we had to drive all the way around because of the big wall in between. You can see it above and between the houses, and while there are gates, they are still locked after 6pm on weeknights and all weekend. When we drove to the end of the wall to go around, I realized we were right behind the big shopping mall in the center of town. The "war-zones" are literally right next to the downtown. Middle-class Belfast residents going shopping on the high street and going to work are just a few blocks away from these ghettos. I couldn't believe the proximity. We went just a little way up the Falls Road and saw the Divis Tower, which is the only building that remains of the Divis Flats, and saw the wall from the other side. It was pretty wild.
Saturday night, we were all pretty pooped, so we decided to go to dinner and then to the movies. We had Indian food in celebration of their Independence Day (that was our excuse, anyway), and then went to the movie theatre. The only thing that looked remotely good was Waitress, so we went to see that, and it was perfect for a girls' night out.
On Sunday, we made brunch at Emily Alvarado's house, and then Emily Jarvis had to go catch her flight. Alvarado and I went to a big sports bar near the university to watch the Liverpool-Chelsea game (she was a really good sport about it). This was the perfect bar to watch it in: there were three different big rooms, one playing our game, one playing the Arsenal-Blackburn game, and one playing the Cork-Meath Gaelic Football game. All of the rooms were totally packed, and ours was packed mostly with Liverpool fans, who were incredibly raucous. It was great. We cheered, and sang songs, and drank some beers, and chatted with people, and it was a lot of fun (although they ended up tying because of a penalty that should never have happened - but we won't dwell on it).
So, all in all it was a great weekend, and I promise to post some pictures soon!
Emily Jarvis met me at the train station around 1 and we walked from there down to the area around Queen's University to see about some lunch. Queen's is a beautiful tudor building, and there's a Botanic Garden next door, and in the middle of the garden is the Ulster Museum, which we were hoping to visit after lunch. We found this great little dusty bookstore/cafe - just my kind of place - and had big cups of tea and sandwiches for under £5 - again, just my kind of place. Everyone in Belfast is so friendly: forget what they tell you about being British, because everywhere we went, people were as chatty and welcoming as any Irish person outside of Dublin. Actually, Dublin is so full of foreigners, both workers and tourists, that sometimes it seems like you never run into any Irish people in the city center. Every single waiter, shopkeeper, etc speaks with a foreign accent, and many of them struggle with the English language, and you have to dodge big groups of Italians and Spaniards just to walk down the street. (This is not true of the neighborhood where I work, which has hardly any immigrants and no tourists.) But in Belfast, there were hardly any tourists or foreign workers at all, which gave it this really nice small-town, local feel. (On the flip side, a headline in the Irish newspaper a couple of weeks ago announced: "Belfast NOT the most racist city in Europe." When that statement needs to be made, you know there's a problem.)
After lunch, we walked around in the gardens and headed up toward the museum, which turned out to be closed for renovations until 2009 (a lot of the city seems to be in the process of construction or renovation). We hopped on a bus that took us south of the city, to the Lagan (that's the name of the major river) National Park. It being a relatively nice day, our plan was to walk around the Japanese gardens in the Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park and then to hike out to the Giant's Circle, which is an ancient burial site. We never found the circle, but got utterly and completely lost, and had a wonderful riverside hike out to Shaw's Bridge instead. We must have walked for 4 or 5 miles, which was unexpected and pleasant. When we finally found civilization again, we were starving and went out for fish and chips. We were meeting Emily Alvarado at 9 at her local pub, as she had some work-related trip all day. We headed out that day and met up with her, and all caught up over some bottles of very cheap wine (despite using the pound, Belfast is much cheaper than Dublin).
On Saturday, we went to St. George's Market for a few hours of people-watching and lots of eating. Belfast is such a small community that we ran into a handful of people that Emily knows from work or from hanging around, and at every single stall, our accents were noted and we were asked where we were from, what we were doing in Belfast, etc, and everyone apologized for the weather (apparently this is the worst summer in living memory). We bought souvenirs, and ate breakfast, lunch, and dessert. There were a couple of guys with guitars, and the whole atmosphere was really nice.
That afternoon, we called and arranged a Black Taxi tour of the city. Our guide was a Catholic who grew up near the Divis Flats off the Falls Road, and the Troubles started when he was 9. He told us that his childhood best friend was the first child to be killed. He drove us up into North Belfast, and we stopped to look at all the murals, and he told us the history of the conflict and explained the symbolism of the images. We saw the old Courthouse, which is now in ruins, and the prison, which is also disused. Then he took us down through the Shankill, where we were not allowed to get out of the car, and it was pretty horrible. While the Catholic neighborhoods were relatively clean and the murals depicted historical events and allegorical images, the paintings and graffiti in that neighborhood were all slogans of the different paramilitary groups and pictures of warriors. There were Union Jack flags strung up across the streets and hanging from windows, and there was a lot of garbage everywhere, and big lots where houses had been bulldozed that just looked like garbage dumps. To be fair, there are probably some Catholic neighborhoods that look like that, too, but we didn't see them.
The Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods in West Belfast are right next to each other, but we had to drive all the way around because of the big wall in between. You can see it above and between the houses, and while there are gates, they are still locked after 6pm on weeknights and all weekend. When we drove to the end of the wall to go around, I realized we were right behind the big shopping mall in the center of town. The "war-zones" are literally right next to the downtown. Middle-class Belfast residents going shopping on the high street and going to work are just a few blocks away from these ghettos. I couldn't believe the proximity. We went just a little way up the Falls Road and saw the Divis Tower, which is the only building that remains of the Divis Flats, and saw the wall from the other side. It was pretty wild.
Saturday night, we were all pretty pooped, so we decided to go to dinner and then to the movies. We had Indian food in celebration of their Independence Day (that was our excuse, anyway), and then went to the movie theatre. The only thing that looked remotely good was Waitress, so we went to see that, and it was perfect for a girls' night out.
On Sunday, we made brunch at Emily Alvarado's house, and then Emily Jarvis had to go catch her flight. Alvarado and I went to a big sports bar near the university to watch the Liverpool-Chelsea game (she was a really good sport about it). This was the perfect bar to watch it in: there were three different big rooms, one playing our game, one playing the Arsenal-Blackburn game, and one playing the Cork-Meath Gaelic Football game. All of the rooms were totally packed, and ours was packed mostly with Liverpool fans, who were incredibly raucous. It was great. We cheered, and sang songs, and drank some beers, and chatted with people, and it was a lot of fun (although they ended up tying because of a penalty that should never have happened - but we won't dwell on it).
So, all in all it was a great weekend, and I promise to post some pictures soon!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Howth
The pictures above are from my visit to Howth last Sunday. Howth (rhymes with Both) is a seaside village just north of Dublin. I had hoped to take a long walk up to the summit, but it was raining on and off, so I wandered up into the village instead. That was a stroke of luck, because I stumbled on the beautiful ruins of an old abbey! The top picture is of some islands right off the coast, and the rest were taken in Howth Village.
This weekend, Emily Jarvis and I are going to Belfast to visit Emily Alvarado. I have never been to Northern Ireland before, and I am really looking forward to it. I am reading a wonderful book about the Troubles that was recommended to me by a friend, called Belfast Diary: War as a Way of Life. It's by an American journalist, John Conroy, who lived in West Belfast in the early 1980's and really got to know the whole situation. I am looking forward to seeing where all the events took place. It's an exciting time in Northern Ireland right now, with all the progress they've been making, and it'll be great to have Emily to show us around.
Tonight my roommates and I are going to see The Bourne Ultimatum. Very exciting. It seems women all over the world love Matt Damon.
Kilmainham Gaol
Last Saturday, I went out to Kilmainham Jail (or Gaol, as they spell it here), which is in the south part of Dublin. It hasn't been used as a prison since 1924, when Eamon de Valera was released from it after the Civil War, and it has been converted into an excellent museum. The guided tour was led by - I hate to say this - the first truly attractive Irishman I have seen since I got here. That's not entirely fair, because there are a lot of non-Irish people in Dublin and I haven't really met many Irishmen, but, well, it's the truth. James, however, was very cute. Maybe I just liked his extensive knowledge of Irish revolutionary history and the paperback book sticking out of his corduroy jacket pocket.
Back on point, though: the tour was great, and we saw the cells where important figures in the Irish revolution were held, and the yard where 14 of the participants in the Easter Rising were executed (pictured above). We heard about Joseph Connolly, who was wounded and so ill with gangrene that the British soldiers had to tie him to a chair for him to face the firing squad, and Joseph Mary Plunkett, who married his pregnant fiancee in the prison chapel the night before his execution; the soldiers allowed them to say no more than their vows to each other. We also heard about the history of criminal justice in Ireland, and heard about how the prisons became overcrowded during the famine, when prostitution and vagrancy were common and cracked down on. So, that was fascinating.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Kenneth Foster
I am sure you are all aware of how very strongly I oppose the death penalty, but no matter what you think about the policy, I'm sure you'd agree that Kenneth Foster should not be put to death. According to Texas law, it is possible to receive the death penalty if you are involved in a crime during which a murder was committed. No one seems to dispute the facts that Kenneth Foster (a black man) was 80 feet away in his car when Michael LaHood (a white man) was shot, and that Foster was not aware that a murder was going to take place. Yet he is scheduled to be executed for LaHood's murder on August 15. This can't be right.
If you have a minute, click on this link and send a message to Gov. Rick Perry to stay Foster's execution: http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=12296.
For more information, check out: http://www.ncadp.org.
In related news, The Nation has an excellent story about the American criminal justice system: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070827/lazare. Just in case anybody's interested.
Ok, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Back to work.
If you have a minute, click on this link and send a message to Gov. Rick Perry to stay Foster's execution: http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=12296.
For more information, check out: http://www.ncadp.org.
In related news, The Nation has an excellent story about the American criminal justice system: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070827/lazare. Just in case anybody's interested.
Ok, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Back to work.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
The rest of my weekend
On Sunday, it rained really hard, so Emily and I had a pretty lazy day. We walked along the beach and had a long lunch and went to the movies; it was great. On Monday morning, I took the bus back to Dublin and met up with my Uncle Bill and Aunt Ellen, who were visiting from Virginia. I hadn't seen them in probably five years; I hardly ever get back to Appomattox any more. It was wonderful to visit with them, and I spent almost all day with them. We walked around Temple Bar and went to the General Post Office to inspect the bullet holes from the Easter Rising, and had an early dinner. Then we went to see a play at the Gate Theatre; it was Noel Coward's Private Lives, and I had seen it before, but it's so funny I really enjoyed watching it again.
And now I'm back to work! I just booked my ticket to London at the end of the month, and my tickets to and from Budapest, so I am all set. It is a beautiful sunny day, and I wish I were not sitting in my office! I think I'll go take a walk for the rest of my lunch break.
And now I'm back to work! I just booked my ticket to London at the end of the month, and my tickets to and from Budapest, so I am all set. It is a beautiful sunny day, and I wish I were not sitting in my office! I think I'll go take a walk for the rest of my lunch break.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Galway
I left work early on Friday and took the bus from Busaras Station to Galway. On the bus ride I saw: old ruined houses with trees growing inside them and green branches poking out through the windows and where the roofs used to be; two horses playing in a field overgrown by wildflowers and surrounded by a short stone fence; a lake whose rough waters lapped against the edge of the highway. The road split at one point around a diamond of grass where a flock of sheep were grazing and I wondered how they got there. I imagined their shepherd guiding them across while cars zoomed by (the Irish are terrible jaywalkers). Our route bisected the island, even making a pit stop in Athlone, which is practically at the center of the country.
Emily met me at the station, and we went out for fish and chips at a place Yvonne (from FLAC) recommended. The day had been beautiful, but we got caught in a storm on the way back to her house and were completely drenched (I took a picture of the two of us soaking wet, which is at the top).
Emily already had plans for Saturday (and who could blame her? I did invite myself on very short notice), and I wanted to explore the Burren, so when I read that it is difficult to get around out there without a car, I booked myself a place on a tour bus departing from in front of one of the youth hostels. I was ambivalent about joining a tour, and even as I was pedaling into town on Emily's bike this morning, I still wasn't sure whether I wanted to go. I got into town and locked up the bike a half hour early, and decided to pop into Charlie Byrne's Bookstore, which has to be the best used bookstore in Ireland, evidenced by the fact that I immediately stumbled upon Fabled Shore, Rose Macaulay's only travel book, which I have been searching for for at least two years (I know I said I wouldn't buy any more books, but out-of-print volumes by my favorite authors are always fair game). I had just enough time to make it to my tour if I headed straight there, but I walked slowly, the long way around, telling myself that if they left without me I would get a copy of the Guardian and plant myself in a cafe and read the book review over a cup of coffee, which is what I really had a hankering to do. I got there ten minutes late, but the bus still sitting there (of course it was! this is Ireland - nothing happens on time!), so I paid for my ticket and boarded.
The Burren is a sparsely populated region of Co. Clare known for its limestone-covered fields and spectacular cliffs, and I am glad I took the tour as I never would have gotten to see as much as I did if I had tried to get around by myself using public transport. But you have to admit, there's something depressing about going on a bus tour, lethargically disembarking from the bus to swarm among the hoards of tourists and dutifully snap a few pictures before being herded back aboard. I longed to wander off and get lost on a rocky hilltop and listen to the bleats of the sheep and the roaring of the ocean.
We stopped in Doolin for lunch, which is a charming little town (barely a town, really, more like a street), and I finally got my cup of coffee at a cafe devoted to traditional Irish music (apparently the westernmost cafe of its kind in Europe, it bills itself as "The Last Music Cafe Until America"). We departed from there to Cliffs of Moher (the second picture from the bottom), which can only be (and are almost always) described as "spectacular." We were lucky that it was such a clear day, for we could see all the way out to the Aran Islands and had a clear view of all 5 km of cliffs on either side of where we were standing. We had an hour to explore, and I walked out to the furthest point and stood watching the water crash against the rock formations.
From the Cliffs we drove through Kilfenora (setting of Paul Durcan's famous poem "The Kilfenora Teaboy" and a charming village I'd like to go back and explore) and Lisdoonvarna, site of Ireland's biggest annual singles' event. Every year in the olden days, apparently the farmers would come down from their hills to look for a wife, and if they were unsuccessful after a month, they would return to their farms and wait until the next year (how very Seven Brides for Seven Brothers!). So, the tradition has continued and every September singletons flock there from all over the world to consult the local matchmaker and look for love. Maybe I should make another trip out there next month. :)
Our next stop was an ancient burial site. You almost wouldn't notice it because the hills are so rocky, but it's a table-top "dolmen" (the last picture above.) They recently excavated it, and found 16 adults and 6 children, carbon-dated at 5000 years old (if I remember correctly - I should have taken notes). From there, we went on to the Ailwee Caves, and got to see what was beneath the limestone hills. It was a pretty amazing site.
Emily met me at the station, and we went out for fish and chips at a place Yvonne (from FLAC) recommended. The day had been beautiful, but we got caught in a storm on the way back to her house and were completely drenched (I took a picture of the two of us soaking wet, which is at the top).
Emily already had plans for Saturday (and who could blame her? I did invite myself on very short notice), and I wanted to explore the Burren, so when I read that it is difficult to get around out there without a car, I booked myself a place on a tour bus departing from in front of one of the youth hostels. I was ambivalent about joining a tour, and even as I was pedaling into town on Emily's bike this morning, I still wasn't sure whether I wanted to go. I got into town and locked up the bike a half hour early, and decided to pop into Charlie Byrne's Bookstore, which has to be the best used bookstore in Ireland, evidenced by the fact that I immediately stumbled upon Fabled Shore, Rose Macaulay's only travel book, which I have been searching for for at least two years (I know I said I wouldn't buy any more books, but out-of-print volumes by my favorite authors are always fair game). I had just enough time to make it to my tour if I headed straight there, but I walked slowly, the long way around, telling myself that if they left without me I would get a copy of the Guardian and plant myself in a cafe and read the book review over a cup of coffee, which is what I really had a hankering to do. I got there ten minutes late, but the bus still sitting there (of course it was! this is Ireland - nothing happens on time!), so I paid for my ticket and boarded.
The Burren is a sparsely populated region of Co. Clare known for its limestone-covered fields and spectacular cliffs, and I am glad I took the tour as I never would have gotten to see as much as I did if I had tried to get around by myself using public transport. But you have to admit, there's something depressing about going on a bus tour, lethargically disembarking from the bus to swarm among the hoards of tourists and dutifully snap a few pictures before being herded back aboard. I longed to wander off and get lost on a rocky hilltop and listen to the bleats of the sheep and the roaring of the ocean.
We stopped in Doolin for lunch, which is a charming little town (barely a town, really, more like a street), and I finally got my cup of coffee at a cafe devoted to traditional Irish music (apparently the westernmost cafe of its kind in Europe, it bills itself as "The Last Music Cafe Until America"). We departed from there to Cliffs of Moher (the second picture from the bottom), which can only be (and are almost always) described as "spectacular." We were lucky that it was such a clear day, for we could see all the way out to the Aran Islands and had a clear view of all 5 km of cliffs on either side of where we were standing. We had an hour to explore, and I walked out to the furthest point and stood watching the water crash against the rock formations.
From the Cliffs we drove through Kilfenora (setting of Paul Durcan's famous poem "The Kilfenora Teaboy" and a charming village I'd like to go back and explore) and Lisdoonvarna, site of Ireland's biggest annual singles' event. Every year in the olden days, apparently the farmers would come down from their hills to look for a wife, and if they were unsuccessful after a month, they would return to their farms and wait until the next year (how very Seven Brides for Seven Brothers!). So, the tradition has continued and every September singletons flock there from all over the world to consult the local matchmaker and look for love. Maybe I should make another trip out there next month. :)
Our next stop was an ancient burial site. You almost wouldn't notice it because the hills are so rocky, but it's a table-top "dolmen" (the last picture above.) They recently excavated it, and found 16 adults and 6 children, carbon-dated at 5000 years old (if I remember correctly - I should have taken notes). From there, we went on to the Ailwee Caves, and got to see what was beneath the limestone hills. It was a pretty amazing site.
Friday, August 3, 2007
New job
Well, I started my new job on Wednesday, at the Northside Community Law Centre. I am really excited about it: I am going to be updating their social welfare case database and actually drafting legal arguments on some current cases! They are keeping me busy, so if I haven't been as good about answering my emails, etc, that's why. My co-workers at FLAC organized a meeting to talk about my research, took me out to lunch, and all signed a card for me on my last day, which was very sweet. I am going to miss them.
Last night, Aoife, Olivia, and I went out on the town. (The picture above is of Aoife and me.) We went back to the Market Bar, which is where I went with my co-workers on Grainne's last day, and ate a lot of tapas and drank a lot of wine, and had a wonderful time.
This weekend is a three-day, so I am going to Galway to visit Emily Jarvis. I hope to go out exploring the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher tomorrow, and then we're going to Connemara on Sunday if all goes according to plan. I am leaving behind the book on Yugoslavia that I haven't been able to put down this week, and taking Rebecca Solnit's "Book of Migrations" on the bus with me, which is about her journey through western Ireland, so that should get me in the mood. I am looking forward to seeing Emily and being out of the city. I promise to take lots of pictures!
Last night, Aoife, Olivia, and I went out on the town. (The picture above is of Aoife and me.) We went back to the Market Bar, which is where I went with my co-workers on Grainne's last day, and ate a lot of tapas and drank a lot of wine, and had a wonderful time.
This weekend is a three-day, so I am going to Galway to visit Emily Jarvis. I hope to go out exploring the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher tomorrow, and then we're going to Connemara on Sunday if all goes according to plan. I am leaving behind the book on Yugoslavia that I haven't been able to put down this week, and taking Rebecca Solnit's "Book of Migrations" on the bus with me, which is about her journey through western Ireland, so that should get me in the mood. I am looking forward to seeing Emily and being out of the city. I promise to take lots of pictures!
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