So back to two weeks ago, we woke up at Emma's parents house around 9:30 a.m. to begin day two of our adventure. We were going to go see some old churches and graveyards that day, as well as the west coast of the northern part of the Republic of Ireland.
We drove a lot that day and got to see a quite a different part of the Irish countryside than what we're used to. It was brown. We were surprised. I'd long since decided that the entire country was very green. But I was wrong. Emma commented on how beautiful this part of Ireland was. I liked it in a certain way, but Liesl and I agreed that it wasn't as nice as the green parts for us because it looked sort of similar to San Diego nature.
Sometime during our trip I had a surprising realization about this country. I was formerly under the impression that we were living way out in the countryside--"rural Ireland," I would say to people that asked about where we were living. And while, yes, we are living in the middle of nowhere and my statement was more redundant than I had known. You see, Ireland is rural. That's just what the majority of this country is like. It's a small, (mostly) green island that consists primarily of nature, dotted here and there with small towns, and every once in a while with a large city. So my point is that "rural Ireland" is somewhat of a repetitious statement since if you're living in Ireland, chances are that if you don't live in one of the few big cities like Dublin or Belfast, you live in a rural area.
What was most interesting about this part of the country was that most of what we were driving past was peat bogs. Peat is a natural fuel made from decomposing vegetation that gets packed together over thousands of years. Emma stopped the car and we got out and stood on some of the peat, which was the ground there. It was so squishy, my foot kind of sunk when I stepped on it, like it was a giant sponge.
Peat needs to be harvesting and dried to in order to be burned. There was an issue in the past of too many large corporations harvesting it on a big scale, so now it can only be harvested manually so that it doesn't run out. It takes years and years for nature to manufacture it, and if the rate of harvest exceeds the rate of production...well, it would be comparable to the oil situation, though gasoline is used more frequently, by more people and for more purposes than peat I can imagine.
I'd like to make a quick note to American readers, which is probably most of you: gas is not very expensive in the US. It's really not. Not compared to Europe. They measure it differently here, but when you convert it, it's probably about three times as expensive as gas in California. So, next time you think about complaining, think again. (They also call in petrol, just a fun fact). Another thing is the economy. Now I'm no expert on economics, but I understand that US economy is not in good shape, nor is the global economy really, everyone is struggling. However, living in California I got the impression that the US was really just doing horribly, even in comparison with other countries. This is incorrect. While there are countries with better economies than the US, there are many countries--developed countries--that are worse off than the US. Like Ireland for example. We've learned that the economy here is in very bad shape at the moment. Just ask Liesl.
When we got to the airport in Dublin where we first arrived in this country, we got in the immigration line and Liesl went up to the window first. The guy that questioned her seemed of a rather ill disposition, and was quick to note that she did not have very much money for someone that was going to live here for two and a half months. He then proceeded to lecture her about how bad the state of the economy here was. (Unfortunately I couldn't hear most of this, she just told me about it). I joined her at the counter shortly after that, and eventually the guy seemed satisfied that out intentions were not suspicious. He then did a complete 180 of personality and was friendly and even laughed about how he accidentally stamped Liesl's passport giving her more than a year to stay in the country. I guess an immigration officer's job description includes putting on a false and ascetic personality until you're clear.
But back to our travels.
We saw this graveyard/ruin of a monastery or church...
This really cool old church that's made of marble and quartz...
...And this sweet graveyard/church ruin that was on the coast:
During the course of these three days we talked about many things, Liesl, Emma and I, and much of our discourse was on culture, and differences between cultures. Emma had lived in the US and was brought up in Ireland, so she had a big picture view of the two cultures. We talked about the differences in the demeanor of our cultures. Something that Liesl and I had noticed about the people in this country is that, while they are incredibly kind, they are very reserved. There's a sort of seriousness about people here that is not present in Southern Californians. Irish culture, Emma said, is very focused on death and sadness. Conversation here generally consists of talk of woes and the struggles of life. When a person dies here it's a very big deal, and the post-death procedures are important.
We got onto the topic of politics, and Emma noted how different politics is between the two countries. I asked if she thought that the government here was good. She said no, no one thinks that their own government is good. American politics though, she said, was so much more emotional than those of Ireland. Keeping with the reservation of the culture I suppose, politicians are diplomatic and the people are not over-enthusiastic about politics. In the US, Emma observed, people get so emotional about politics, people shout and cry...there's none of that here.
I only fully understood what she meant when Liesl and I watched the first part of the Presidential Debate. I am ashamed to say that I don't think I had ever seen a presidential debate--or really any political debate--until this. I was astounded at the severe lack of restraint that the candidates exhibited, bluntly attacking the other with little to no pretense of diplomacy. I hadn't realized that our politicians were so forthcoming. And when Obama won the election, and Liesl and I watched his acceptance speech while eating apple pancakes I fully realized the intensity of emotion about American politics. The shouts of joy were no doubt deafening in person, and were enthusiastic enough to warrant lengthy pauses in the speech.
On the other hand, there is a certain facet of this culture that demonstrates far less reservation that that of our own: radio. Radio is not censored here, and it can get pretty intense, Emma said. She said that most profanities here are not uncommon in everyday speech; they just don't make as big of a deal about cussing as we do. Pretty much any swear word can be said on the radio, and particularly with politics it can get fairly obscene. It's even more laughable to me now that our radio stations frequently bleep out words like "sex" and "ass."
That night we went to Emma's aunt's house for dinner. Her aunt was super nice, just a totally wonderful person. She didn't know that we were coming or that we were vegan and vegetarian until the day before, but she cooked us this huge, delicious meal and let us hang out at her house for a few hours.
We spent a lot of time at her house sitting in the living room by a peat-fueled fire and talking to Emma about a number of things including the large and interesting topics of visas and jobs. It was a really nice evening. We returned to Emma's house afterwards.
The next day we were going to go see this ancient island monastery, but boats weren't going there anymore because it was the off season. Our backup plan was to go see these caves, but they were only open on certain days that did not include Thursdays. So we ended up going to a ceramic factory, and it was actually really cool.
If you live in Ireland, the UK or the US you've probably, at some point in your life, encountered some pottery from Belleek. We went on a tour of their factory. It was really cool. The ceramics are done mostly by hand (they do use molds), and they're quite intricate and beautiful. A lot of them are woven which is cool.
Before the tour we were looking around in the gift shop. I was fantasizing about one day owning some of these pricey, delicate pieces when I came upon a collection of them with fragile clovers painted on them. Clovers?! I was shocked into disbelief. I hadn't seen a single clover the whole time we'd been here! (At this point, that was about three weeks). I'd had a dream as a child to find a four leaf clover in Ireland. I spent much of my youth searching for one whenever I was in a patch of shamrocks, but I never found one. I was certain that they'd be everywhere in Ireland, but I hadn't thought about it in a long time, and I was sure that I hadn't seen one since arriving. I hastened over to Emma and asked her if there were shamrocks here. Not really, she said, and they call them clovers. I thought that shamrock was the proper term. She said that there are some here, but there are probably more of them in the US. I've no idea how they became such an iconic symbol of Ireland, but it's definitely a scam. I'm still pretty disappointed about this actually.
We were to get our bus home out of a small island called Enniskillen. It doesn't seem like an island because the channel of water around it is very small, but it is an island nonetheless. Enniskillin has an old castle on the water, and we went on a self-guided tour through the museum. It was pretty interesting, there were a lot of battles there.
We had some food and then went to the bus station where we said goodbye and thank you to Emma, who not only showed us some amazing sights but paid for almost all of the expenses of our trip. We got on the bus, then two and a half hours and one transfer later we were picked up in Kells by John. We went home and that concluded our mini trip to the north.
I know that I've missed some no doubt very interesting and important things about our small trip, but it's been weeks since then so I've forgotten some things. Plus, I am not able to, nor is it my goal to relay every single little detail of our trip, the small one or the larger one that is still in process. But I'm sure that right after I finish this I'll think of some important things that I should have added. Ah well, such is life.
Stay tuned for: Halloween, and our lives since then.
Cheers,
Stephanie
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