I took the name 'Lassie' for my blogging name before I left, and on my final morning in the UK, two older Scottish men walked by me at breakfast and I heard one declare to the other when they thought I was out of earshot, "Now, that is a lassie!' So there you have it. I am indeed a lassie and proud of it!
Cheers to everyone who followed my blog. I enjoyed sharing my adventure with family and friends.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Reflections
There have been some constant motifs on this trip, and it is my duty as an English teacher to point them out. First, every time I visit Ireland, I burn my tongue! The food and drinks are piping hot over here. It was a cup of coffee that got me the other day. I have been careful with the food, though.
Second, the acronym ABE has been drilled into my head. What does it stand for, you ask? ANYONE BUT THE ENGLISH. The Irish were rooting for anyone but France in the World Cup, but the Scots and the Irish are unified in their enmity for the history of arrogance of the English and this goes back to Imperialism, for sure. To be fair, though, I met several English people at my program, and they were wonderful company, and we all got along so well! But in my other travels being American has been rather easy on me, as my view of people has been without past associations.
Third, although I have noted that Johnny Cash is a popular guy over in Scotland and Ireland, the one musician who has represented the tone of my soundtrack on this adventure has been Bob Marley. It started up in The Scottish Highlands when we were listening to him one evening on the iPad, and then we got Ben to play him on the guitar. "Everything's gonna be alright, everything's gonna be alright. No woman, no cry." We listened to Cash's cover of Redemption Song and got chills. THEN, a few days later I heard Bob Marley in an organic shop in Laragh up in the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. As slurped up my meat and bean goulash (very tasty) and brown bread, I read from Laura's novel No Wonder I Drink. "No Woman No Cry" came over the little shop's speakers and I paused for a moment to think, "This is the theme of my trip. From the beginning when Mike wrote me a sweet card to say good luck and to let go of all the school year's stresses through to the writing workshop and up until the solitude of my goulash and Laura's story up in the scenic Glendalough region on a sunny afternoon, I have found some space to live and be without worry about daily routines or changing diapers (smile). Yes, I know . . . I have some diaper changes and middle of the night wakings coming my way when I return. It's only right. I've come away with new friends, a deeper understanding of how writers create stories, wonderful experiences in the beautiful landscapes, and the makings of a story, which I have started.
Fourth, I definitely feel like I arrived home during my time in Scotland. I looked and looked for family names that are connected to me, and I came across Pollock Hall at Edinburgh University, which is the original name of my ancestor on my dad's maternal side. He hurt or killed an English officer when he was in the army, and he fled to America but gave up his last name of Pollock ( a well known family) and took his mother's maiden name of Glass. Then I saw a lot of Walker shortbread, and I hear we are connected to Walkers in Scotland. Finally, I did see a soldier's name (Shields) at Edinburgh Castle museum that made me wondered if we were connected by way of my great grandmother. I did not come across any Bogle's in Dublin, though. Next time I should really go into some papers to see what I might find out about my dad's paternal Irish roots.
The best part is that I am flying back to summer on Cape Cod with Mike, Kole and Jessa, and we have two months to enjoy each other before schoolwork consumes all of us. Well, not Miss Jessa. This is close as I get to feeling like a carefree 15-mth-old!!! When I came through the custom gates and saw my wee family waiting eagerly for me, it was surreal. I kept looking at my watch on the flight, counting the hours and then minutes until I could see them. Kole jumped up on me, I gave Mike a big kiss and then Jessa's puzzled little face figured out who I was and she reached out her arms to me. She hugged me for a good 5 minutes before lifting her head off my shoulder. There I stood with a pile of kiddies on me and I could not be happier, and as I glanced up I saw that the gaggle of smiling people waiting to welcome the other fliers knew that we were the picture of happiness. Happy Anniversary, Mike!
Second, the acronym ABE has been drilled into my head. What does it stand for, you ask? ANYONE BUT THE ENGLISH. The Irish were rooting for anyone but France in the World Cup, but the Scots and the Irish are unified in their enmity for the history of arrogance of the English and this goes back to Imperialism, for sure. To be fair, though, I met several English people at my program, and they were wonderful company, and we all got along so well! But in my other travels being American has been rather easy on me, as my view of people has been without past associations.
Third, although I have noted that Johnny Cash is a popular guy over in Scotland and Ireland, the one musician who has represented the tone of my soundtrack on this adventure has been Bob Marley. It started up in The Scottish Highlands when we were listening to him one evening on the iPad, and then we got Ben to play him on the guitar. "Everything's gonna be alright, everything's gonna be alright. No woman, no cry." We listened to Cash's cover of Redemption Song and got chills. THEN, a few days later I heard Bob Marley in an organic shop in Laragh up in the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. As slurped up my meat and bean goulash (very tasty) and brown bread, I read from Laura's novel No Wonder I Drink. "No Woman No Cry" came over the little shop's speakers and I paused for a moment to think, "This is the theme of my trip. From the beginning when Mike wrote me a sweet card to say good luck and to let go of all the school year's stresses through to the writing workshop and up until the solitude of my goulash and Laura's story up in the scenic Glendalough region on a sunny afternoon, I have found some space to live and be without worry about daily routines or changing diapers (smile). Yes, I know . . . I have some diaper changes and middle of the night wakings coming my way when I return. It's only right. I've come away with new friends, a deeper understanding of how writers create stories, wonderful experiences in the beautiful landscapes, and the makings of a story, which I have started.
Fourth, I definitely feel like I arrived home during my time in Scotland. I looked and looked for family names that are connected to me, and I came across Pollock Hall at Edinburgh University, which is the original name of my ancestor on my dad's maternal side. He hurt or killed an English officer when he was in the army, and he fled to America but gave up his last name of Pollock ( a well known family) and took his mother's maiden name of Glass. Then I saw a lot of Walker shortbread, and I hear we are connected to Walkers in Scotland. Finally, I did see a soldier's name (Shields) at Edinburgh Castle museum that made me wondered if we were connected by way of my great grandmother. I did not come across any Bogle's in Dublin, though. Next time I should really go into some papers to see what I might find out about my dad's paternal Irish roots.
The best part is that I am flying back to summer on Cape Cod with Mike, Kole and Jessa, and we have two months to enjoy each other before schoolwork consumes all of us. Well, not Miss Jessa. This is close as I get to feeling like a carefree 15-mth-old!!! When I came through the custom gates and saw my wee family waiting eagerly for me, it was surreal. I kept looking at my watch on the flight, counting the hours and then minutes until I could see them. Kole jumped up on me, I gave Mike a big kiss and then Jessa's puzzled little face figured out who I was and she reached out her arms to me. She hugged me for a good 5 minutes before lifting her head off my shoulder. There I stood with a pile of kiddies on me and I could not be happier, and as I glanced up I saw that the gaggle of smiling people waiting to welcome the other fliers knew that we were the picture of happiness. Happy Anniversary, Mike!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
A day or two in and around Dublin
Dublin has proved to be a city with a little bit of everything and a lot of pubs, that's for sure. I spent about 5 hours walking around Sunday afternoon, trying to get to some of the big sights. O'Connell Street, Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Stephen's Green, and the Temple Bar Area. I made sure to walk by the home of Oscar Wilde, which is now a part of Irish American University. St. Patrick's Cathedral is quite a sight, too. There was a weekend festival being held in Merrion Square called the Street Performers World Championship, where performers from all over the world ( I saw some from Canada and California) strutted their stuff in hopes of winning. I think St. Stephen's Green is a peaceful walk in the middle of a bustling city. I did get to the Temple Bar area, which was rocking Sunday night because a futbol or rugby game had been played earlier in the stadium that holds 83,000 (my cabbie said). Like any city, there are lots of performers on the streets and two that caught my eye are a silver painted pirate and a band. The pirate stood dead still on a box with a sword until a person walked by and then he would suddenly lunge forward and scare the living daylights out of the passerby.
Mutfish is the name of the 5-man band and they are talented. I bought one of their cds for 10 Euro, and I hope they are successful. I guess U2 started playing these pubs and streets back in the day.
Before I left for my trip, I booked a day-long bus tour of Wicklow County and a traditional music pub crawl, so yesterday was a longgggg day for me. The bus picked us up at 9:30 and we were up in the mountains of Wicklow for much of the day. I never thought that I would end up in one of those huge busses on the tiny Irish roads, and of course I had the front seat behind the driver! We stopped by the ocean at Dun Laoghaire first and then headed to the hills to Sally Gap, which is the highest spot of the day. Wicklow is known as the Garden of Ireland, and I can see why. The most beautiful part of the trip was Lough Tay. We got out of the bus and peered over the side of a mountain to a tranquil lake nestled in the middle of the mountains. The Guinness family owned it or owns it and the driver said they brought in sand from Florida to make the shore look like the foam at the top of a pint of Guinness, and it did. The house and the grounds below us and at the above the sand looks so inviting and private. The weather was spectacular yesterday, and we even got sunburns (well, I did have sunscreen to put on, believe it or not).
The second sight that grabbed my attention was a 6th century monastic settlement in Glendalough, where we spent about 2 hours walking around the ruins and the two lakes. There is a tower that still stands in an ancient cemetery (that also has more modern gravestones). There is a smaller church and more ruins as well. I met some women from New York who went to college together at Cornell and we talked about that for a bit as we walked around the lakes, seeing as they graduated the year before Mike (who attended Ithaca College, which is in the same town). Before we boarded the bus to get back to Dublin, the driver offered everyone a wee shot of Jameson to cap off the journey.
Although I was very tired when we returned at 5:30, I did hustle to the hotel to get washed up and headed out for the trad. music pub crawl. Despite being alone, I chatted up a nice family from Virginia and a family from Massachusetts who were along for the same crawl. The musicians, a female fiddler and a male guitarist, were great--they told us about the structure and history of the music and warned us they would not be playing Danny Boy or the mainstream pieces. They did play Dirty Old Town, which reminded me of the trip Mike and I took to Western Ireland two years ago. We moved from pub to pub to go upstairs to certain rooms, but after awhile I slid out to grab dinner before I couldn't get any. It was fun, yet I think it would be better if we could just stay in one place. The moving around and getting settled in each pub made for not so much music being played. I will post some pictures soon and I have some final thoughts to share, which I will get down to writing on my flight back to Massachusetts. Today is June 22nd, and it is our 8th wedding anniversary, so I can't wait to give Mike a big hug and kiss when I see him and the kids later this afternoon.
Mutfish is the name of the 5-man band and they are talented. I bought one of their cds for 10 Euro, and I hope they are successful. I guess U2 started playing these pubs and streets back in the day.
Before I left for my trip, I booked a day-long bus tour of Wicklow County and a traditional music pub crawl, so yesterday was a longgggg day for me. The bus picked us up at 9:30 and we were up in the mountains of Wicklow for much of the day. I never thought that I would end up in one of those huge busses on the tiny Irish roads, and of course I had the front seat behind the driver! We stopped by the ocean at Dun Laoghaire first and then headed to the hills to Sally Gap, which is the highest spot of the day. Wicklow is known as the Garden of Ireland, and I can see why. The most beautiful part of the trip was Lough Tay. We got out of the bus and peered over the side of a mountain to a tranquil lake nestled in the middle of the mountains. The Guinness family owned it or owns it and the driver said they brought in sand from Florida to make the shore look like the foam at the top of a pint of Guinness, and it did. The house and the grounds below us and at the above the sand looks so inviting and private. The weather was spectacular yesterday, and we even got sunburns (well, I did have sunscreen to put on, believe it or not).
The second sight that grabbed my attention was a 6th century monastic settlement in Glendalough, where we spent about 2 hours walking around the ruins and the two lakes. There is a tower that still stands in an ancient cemetery (that also has more modern gravestones). There is a smaller church and more ruins as well. I met some women from New York who went to college together at Cornell and we talked about that for a bit as we walked around the lakes, seeing as they graduated the year before Mike (who attended Ithaca College, which is in the same town). Before we boarded the bus to get back to Dublin, the driver offered everyone a wee shot of Jameson to cap off the journey.
Although I was very tired when we returned at 5:30, I did hustle to the hotel to get washed up and headed out for the trad. music pub crawl. Despite being alone, I chatted up a nice family from Virginia and a family from Massachusetts who were along for the same crawl. The musicians, a female fiddler and a male guitarist, were great--they told us about the structure and history of the music and warned us they would not be playing Danny Boy or the mainstream pieces. They did play Dirty Old Town, which reminded me of the trip Mike and I took to Western Ireland two years ago. We moved from pub to pub to go upstairs to certain rooms, but after awhile I slid out to grab dinner before I couldn't get any. It was fun, yet I think it would be better if we could just stay in one place. The moving around and getting settled in each pub made for not so much music being played. I will post some pictures soon and I have some final thoughts to share, which I will get down to writing on my flight back to Massachusetts. Today is June 22nd, and it is our 8th wedding anniversary, so I can't wait to give Mike a big hug and kiss when I see him and the kids later this afternoon.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
World Cup and a New Game
Besides the great weather, it has been fun to be in the UK during the World Cup. Not only do I get more opportunities to watch the games on the telly (listen to me:-), but listening to the conversations has been eye-opening. The Scottish wanted the English to get obliterated and the team has not lived up to expectations. Many people blame the English media for hyping up the team and being so arrogant about them, so the English fans are angry at their team and the coach and the rest of the UK is happy as happy can be. I never would have had this viewpoint had I not been over here. A lot of the writers at the workshop have been pulling for teams like Spain and Ghana or African nations. Of course, the American team has been popular because of the ire over the English. It would be nice to see soccer really take off more in the States. The sense I get from most futbol fans over here is that they don't want that to happen as much, as we will dominate eventually due to the size of our nation and resources. I 'm not sure they have much to worry about for bit.
Laura introduced the game Mafia to us on our last night, and I don't think I've been that involved in a game like that in a long time. It could make people get angry at one another, though! Luckily, we were all friends at the end:-) One person is in charge and picks two or three mafia (hit men) and one detective and the point is for the mafia to try and keep knocking off players while the detective and the players try to figure out who the mafia is so they can save everyone. We played for hours and it was really great fun.
I landed in Dublin late this afternoon, as it was a quick 45 minute flight from Edinburgh. I spent about 5 hours walking around tonight and I posted a picture of Dublin at night on my way back to my hotel. I will write more tomorrow about my walk around the major sights here and I'll post pictures as well. There's a lot to keep one occupied here!
Laura introduced the game Mafia to us on our last night, and I don't think I've been that involved in a game like that in a long time. It could make people get angry at one another, though! Luckily, we were all friends at the end:-) One person is in charge and picks two or three mafia (hit men) and one detective and the point is for the mafia to try and keep knocking off players while the detective and the players try to figure out who the mafia is so they can save everyone. We played for hours and it was really great fun.
I landed in Dublin late this afternoon, as it was a quick 45 minute flight from Edinburgh. I spent about 5 hours walking around tonight and I posted a picture of Dublin at night on my way back to my hotel. I will write more tomorrow about my walk around the major sights here and I'll post pictures as well. There's a lot to keep one occupied here!
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