Nearly in Ireland a week and I haven’t said very much. I just can’t believe I made it here. . . . parts of it doesn’t feel any different – just parts of home I haven’t seen before. Rocks, hills, flat stucco buildings – kinda the same kind of arctecture that I had seen in Montreal, only everywhere - cobblestone streets. . . Irish stew, I have discovered, is always worth ordering and I still don’t like Guniess. The people are generally like at home – easy to talk to and laugh with if the girls aren’t a little bit high maintenance looking – I’m not yet able to 100% understand the accent but 100% of the men who speak with the Irish twang are sexy.
The best feeling is definitely that of comfort. I’m a tourist – in every single sense – but I almost feel like an educated tourist. Having Whitney helps with that of course, as I don’t know where things are or places, but I find myself easily able to identify with the culture. Stuff like bilingual signs (while I don’t know Gaelic, I recognize it), drinking, rugby . . . I love knowing all the words to the songs sung at the traditional pubs and merrily dancing to the reels.
If there’s anything to really love about Ireland, it’s the scenery – it’s breathtaking. I’ve said it once or twice now, but it has the greenery of PEI and the rockiness of NFLD – very similar to Cape Breton. I’ve been to the far North in N. Ireland, the East (Dublin, Belfast) and the west (Galway) . . . though I didn’t quite see NFLD.
The Giants Causeway in the North was unexplicable. . . . the weather didn’t even mar it’s magnificence. Each pillar rose out of the ground like unkept blades of grass growing uncontrollably, the outer rocks more flattened and trampled on – only a few bothered to scale the high up pillars. Waves violently attacked the formations, but unlike the grass and clay of PEI that would wash away, the pillars stood tall and proud looking back to Scotland.
There is an election taking place on Thursday, actually, and while I haven’t really done any reading on it, I have enjoyed the realization that they have a successful multi-party system with active independents. There are several more parties than in Canada but I don’t know who is typically in power. Signs are everywhere, and the most interesting election ploy I observed was when this marching band complete with signs and rallyers, marched down one of the pedestrian streets on Suinday.
The weather has been miserable, but apparently it always is. Whitney calls it moody. Apperently it is always overcast with the potential of rain, somewhere between 5 and 15 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately I only had the clothing for far warmer temperatures, being off to someplace far warmer, so thank God for whitney’s winter jacket.
Some of the policies here are not at all inherent. There is some brilliant public transit – inexpensive, frequent, utilized and best of all it reaches many many places, with city buses traveling between villiages and towns into rural Ireland. However they recycle only cans and cardboard – no glass, despite EVERYTHING coming in glass bottles. At the same time, there is an interesting garbage tage system which is not perfect as is, but has potential.
The boys – way more forward than those from home. It could have something to do with being drunker. I don’t know. However, many of them are a charming kinda confident forward which I find to be somewhat attractive . . .
Today was actually spent in Galway at the Cliffs of Moure. Whitney didn’t love the rockiness of the landscape but I found it to be quite romantic – looking over it, you would see a green pasture, lucsh with grass and shrubs for the livesstocks palates, surrounded by intricately set up stonehedges. Outside of the stone was either another pasture, or land littered with rocks and stones. You just knew that the pastures only blossomed with growth because of the hard work of many generations of farmers and labourers. They mastered the art of stacking stones to fit perfectly, withstanding angry bulls, winds and rains over the years without the aid of cement or mortar. Soil was then brought in, being carefully laid for the benefit of the animals. . . . Communities likely worked together so as to ensure one another’s prosperity, adding to the bueaty of the landscape.
Ruins of castles, lookouts, abbey’s and churches litter the landscape. I was awestruck, trying to figure out how these, 12th, 13th and 14th century structures lasted, much less were initially built, to be so magnificent without todays technology. The determination of people to show their reverence to God or to demonstrate pride in their family is something I almost envy.
The cliffs themselves rate amongst the most spectacular things I have ever seen in all of my life. Nothing in any city can compare. It is hard, once seeing such new-to-me beauty, to understand how anyone can be hindered by negativity in the world. Ireland is unmarred and unexploited in such a way that I am constantly reminded of other wonderful places I have been – not just home on PEI, but out west and in Montreal. It just inspires an appreciation for all of the homes I have been lucky to know, and the world in general. It is hard to be jaded about – and I emphasize – ‘stuff’ when seeing, remembering and reflecting on such beauty, natural or constructed. I guess, while on the bus back to Dublin from Galway, all I can do is really thank everyone who has supported this opportunity. Cheers. . . .
Today was actually spent in 
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