Hi there, this is Niamh in Dublin – this morning we welcomed the
North American contingent – Bridey arrived safely at about 5.30am,
followed by The Irish Way Group at 7am – that’s Kevin, Liam D, Colin,
Lucy, Grace, Caroline, Elizabeth, Moira, Julia, Liam G, Conor, Matt,
Katie, Emma, Sophie,Mary-Willis, Claire, and leaders Karen & Brian, Kate
arrived later all the way from Calgary, and we met up with Julia Roth,
who came with her Dad yesterday. Everyone’s bags arrived and the bus was
there, so happy days! Those with a tough consitution went for a stroll
around St. Stephen’s Green, but most people checked into the room and
had a snooze! This evening, we went into the city centre, stopping off
at Temple Bar, then we went on up by Christ Church Cathedral, old Viking
Dublin and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where Jonathan Swift is buried. And
where was the shopping done? The Hard Rock Cafe and Urban Outfitters!!!
Well, we’ll soon be out of the city and safe from temptations like that!
We’re all back in our hotel now, some of the gang are still pretty
tired, so our plan is to be up early for breakfast and then we have a
class on Irish History and a visit to The National Museum, Yeats
exhibition and Trinity College.
Please feel free to say hi here to your beloveds, I’ll show them all
in the morning. Until then, good night from us all in Dublin Niamh
Day 2
The Adventure Ireland & Irish Way gang at St.
Stephen's Green
Good morning everyone! All turned up for breakfast, well rested and
eager to go. We spent about two hours in the classroom first, running
through the highlights of Irish History from 6000 BC to about the 5th
century, – this was in preparation for our first visit, which was the
National Museum of History. We paid particular attention to three
collections, the stone & bronze age civilisation, the amazing gold
collection (or ‘bling’ as we called it) of the Celts, and the priceless
‘Treasury’ of Christian/Celtic art. I explained to the gang how to
conquer a small country (some of them said that they might…) but more
specifically how the peaceful merge of pagan & christian lead to the
high point of Irish civilisation – the ‘golden ages’. Then, I leapt
forward to the 20th century, to discuss the Irish Cultural Revival-
mainly we focused on the Literary Revival and the contribution of
W.B.Yeats. This is because our second stop-off today was to the
wonderful Yeats exhibition at the National Library. We walked down
harcourt street in beautiful sunshine, taking a fragrant detour through
St Stephen’s
it's pronounced 'thee -shock' !Wandering though
Temple BarOutside the National Museum of History, Kildare Street.
Green (See pic above). We took in the Government Buildings,
and I explained what ‘Taoiseach’ means: -( Liam Goodfellow was elected
out group Taoiseach today – it means leader!) More on the tribal jobs
later – We had a lovely time at both the Museum and the Yeats
exhibition, and we’re just back to our hotel now for lunch. More later,
lovely to see families leave comments, please do! Chat later Niamh & the
gang x
Day 4
Spelling out 'Ireland' on the Hill of
Tara.
Greetings all! It’s Niamh here, arrived safely in Donegal with
all the USA/Canada group plus welcome arrival Stephen (now named
‘Stevo’) who came from France today. We had a great big breakfast in
the Camden Court – these kids all like the big Irish Fry or versions
of…- and then we hopped on our Bus, stopping off at the Airport to
pick up the aforementioned Stevo. We went on to the Royal County,
Meath, and took some time to talk about The Hill of Tara and its
importance in Irish History. By the way, the kids all agreed to call
me ‘Niamho’ (it’s a Dublin custom of adding an ‘o’ to the name,) but
I did give them the alternative of ‘O Captain, my captain’ – and
here I am, being captainly…
Oh Captain, my captain.....The Hill
of Tara, known as 'Royal Tara' is, in the words of my students,
awesome! It dates back to the Neolithic period, and was the seat
of the High Kings, the site of Celtic Power, and also challenged
by St. PAtrick when he burned his paschal fire. It was also
(much later) a famous gathering point for Daniel O' Connell's
monster meetings. Here's a link with more info on Tara if you'd
like to read up -
http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/tara/The entry to
the passage grave at Tara
It’s a deeply spiritual place – I told the students that so much
history had happened there, and they really seemed to enjoy
being at such an ancient and special site…. although Mary Willis
did take the opportunity to practice a few ballet moves
and it really was such a gorgeous day, we all enjoyed to
fabulous views of Ireland (all four provinces…) and the
Mary Willis dancing at Lunaghsa
(almost!)
fresh air.
Sunshine at Tara! You betcha!
Our next stop was right between Counties Cavan and Fermanagh, –
this is the divide between The Republic of Ireland (Southern
Ireland) and Northern Ireland. Once upon a time, there was an
Army checkpoint here, now there is this peautiful peace
sculpture. I took this opportunity to deliver an al-fresco talk
about The Peace Process in Northern Ireland – I love this
sculpture, and I love that these visitors can come safely to all
parts of Ireland, and that peace has triumphed over the terrible
troubles of this Island!
Right between County Cavan and County
Fermanagh, The Peace Monument.
We also stopped at McDonalds for burgers…not exactly Irish, but
a: comfort food for the gang, and b: well at least it has a ‘Mc’
in it! So – eventually, after a most pleasant trip through
Eniskillen and up by the lake shore road, we got to Bundoran,
just in time
for dinner. The boys are checked in to our DAC
centre, and the girls in our Homefield Centre – and after
dinner, we finally merged our groups and everyone went for a fun
ice-breaking session at our Adventure Ireland team building
area… it was great craic (as we say here) and everyone had a
chance to meet fellow teens from Spain, Germany, France, Russia,
Italy and Ireland (as well as USA & Canada,,) – we did as usual
have one or two people a little homesick – this almost ALWAYS
happens on the first few nights, and ALWAYS goes away after a
day or two here, please, Moms & Dads, don’t be alarmed and do
tell us if you have any concerns, but we now are pretty sure
that we have this bunch well introduced and integrated –
I will be setting up a link to flicker (a page of photographs
tomorrow) as we are taking loads and there is not enough space
for them all up here. It’s suppertime now at Adventure Ireland,
and as I write to you all, the global gang here are chatting and
making friends, and it’s a happy little corner of the world. We
will leave the last word tonight to Kate & her family back in
BC, and wish HAPPY CANADA DAY to you all. Goodnight, please post
comments here and we will be back with more tomorrow xxx Niamh
Day 5
Dia Dhiabh a chairde (hello friends) from Niamho and her
crew – I hope at this stage you are addicted to our blog,
and also sending the link to all the friends and neighbors!
Ok, today, we began with Gaelic lessons, we started with
hello (Dia duit) and hello back (Dia s’Muire dhuit.) Then we
went to ‘How are you’? (Conas atá tu?) and ‘I’m good, thanks
– ‘go maith, go raibh maith agat. ‘What’s your name? and the
proper (gaelic reply) and bye. See the video below for some
of the fruitful results of our trials-
Each of the students got their name translated into
Gaelic – well, our two Liams and Conor needed no
translation, but here’s the rest….
Elizabeth -Eilish
Mary Willis - Máire Liam
Grace- Gráinne
Kathryn -Cáit
Moira - Máire
Liam - Liam
Conor - Conor
Liam - Liam
Carolyn- Searlait
Bridget - Brid
Emma - Eimear
Sophia- Sadhbh
Claire- Cláirin
Kevin -Caoimhin
Colin- Colm
Madeline -Madailéin
Julia - Sile
Kevin- Caoimhin
Stephen- Stiofán
Bridey- Brid
Kate - Cáitlin
Also discussed in Gaelic class were place-names,
surnames, and the meaning of the ‘Mc’ and the ‘O’
After our Gaelic Class, we studied the development of the
Irish Monasteries, from the arrival of St. Patrick up tp the
10th century, the campus-style workings of the monasteries
and the story of St. Patrick himself. Then we moved on to
talk about Penal Times and the prevention of Catholics
attending School or Mass – this was to tie in with our field
trips this afternoon.
Having stuffed the brain cells of my lovely class again,
we took some time out to do some more Irish songs – this
time it was ‘the Ballad of Sean O’ Malley’ and ‘Dublin for
the weekend’…oh, you’ll be hearing (and seeing) so much more
about these! Kevin is now my 2nd musician, with Stevo and
Matt preparing… Grace and Liam G won the auditions for the
video, but more on this later in the week!
After lu
St. Paddy himself!
nch, our first stop was to St. Patrick’s Well, in the
town of Ballyshannon. This is a beautiful, hidden spot down
by the river Estuary. Legend has it that St. Patrick bathed
his feet in the water here, and that the well is Blessed.
The elderly folk of this area come every August 15th to
bathe their feet in the water, and pray for good health.
There is a statue of St. Patrick, and five standing stones
where a decade of the rosary is said. There is also a tree,
where people tie on small bits and pieces of their own
things (ribbons, jewellry) and this is for a ‘cure’ for
themselves or their friends – I invited the gang to leave
tokens if they wished….
Bridey leaves a 'cure' on the
tree at St. Patrick's well
As we were watching, a family of swans and cygnets came
by, and presented me with the wonderful opportunity to tell
the story of The Children Of Lir, and the symbolism of swans
from celtic mythology through to our favorite poet, W.B.
Yeats, and Matt also gave a brilliant rendition of the story
of Niamh, Oisin and Tir Na nOg (the land of eternal youth.
'I have looked upon those
brilliant creatures'
So then we went down to the remains of the Assaroe Abbey,
and to the mass rock at the gatsby cave, where Mass was
celebrated in secret. This is a really beautiful and
little-known place, we had it all to ourselves, and it’s
almost beyond description – here’s some pics….
In the Gatsby Cave Mass Rock
Striking a pose!
We also collected some
shamrock here! View of the Estuary at Assaroe
So our final stop was in the Heritage town of Ballyshannon
itself, birthplace of William Allingham, poet, Tony Blair’s
Mom, and also town hero, musician and guitar player Rory
Gallagher. Rory was one of the most amazing guitar players,
and maybe those of you as old or older than I will know of
him- there is a huge Rory Gallagher festival in the town
each year, and we’re very proud of him here. He and I also
share the same birthday! (March 2nd) So we had a walk up and
down the quaint, narrow streets and paid appropriate homage
to the statue of Rory -
Rockin’ out with Rory!
We’re back for dinner now, and tonight it’s high-ropes
climbing, with a soccer option for those who want to watch
world cup- we have a lot of Spanish students here, and it’s
very exciting!! Tomorrow is July 4th – not something we
celebrate, but with 20 USA folk here, we will have a little
corner of Ireland in the stars and stripes for tomorrow. Our
U.S. group are going to present a historical performance for
us, and I think it’s baseball after that! So can we wish all
our readers in the USA a very happy JUly 4th, I know you’ll
be missing your babies, but they’re as happy as Larry over
here with us, and we’ll be thinkin’ of ya. Night for now,
Niamho
Day 6
Good evening all – it’s a blustery but sunny evening
here, and time to update you on the last 24 hours of our
gang – my apologies for those who missed me yesterday,
Collie did the honours- I was busy preparing our upcoming
trip to County Clare. Anyway, yesterday, we took a trip to
Donegal Town, which is dominated by The O’ Donnell Castle,
and we went to take a look. Apart from the fact that it is a
beautiful old 15th Century castle, there is also really
interesting information about The Annals of the Four
Masters, and St. Colm Cille’s ‘Cathach’ for which he was
sued by St. Finian for plagiarism – I think, the first
incidence of infringement of copyright in European History.
The judgement was ‘To every cow, his calf’ and poor St.
Colmcille spent his life trying to apologise.
Donegal Castle, Stronghold of
the O' Donnells.
So we browsed around there for a while, then we visited
McGee’s (home of the famous Irish Donegal Tweed) and other
interesting crafty places, and made it back in time for
lunch.
Inside Donegal Castle
We put the girls behind bars!
OOur very own Surf Dude, Liamo
Could easily be a super hero!
No chance of this lot getting
lost in the Ocean!
In the afternoon, as Collie told you, there was Gaelic
Football, and in the evening some very tired bodies flopped
in front of a movie. This morning, we considered Irish
Nationalism, the Irish Cultural Movement, Sinn Fein, Home
Rule, The 1916 Rising and Civil War! We also did a few new
songs, ‘The Fields of Athenry’ and ‘The City of Chicago’,
you’ll be hearing these at every St. paddy’s day for the
next twenty years
Then this afternoon, due to popular demand, everyone went
surf ing again
Tonight, there is a world cup match (Germany v Spain)
which means there is huge excitement, there’s Art going on
somewhere, and a bit of skateboarding – there’s a lovely
atmosphere here this year with all of the students really
getting along, Collie and I are really enjoying our work
this year, and we are reminded that all the hard work we put
into getting students here in the first place is worth it!
Parents- I want you to tell your friends and neighbours
about us, anyone with a teen should send them to us!
Ok, tomorrow’s another busy day – they are all safe, well,
and happy, and we hope the same for all of you. Oiche Mhaith
(Good Night) from us all
Day 8
The Cliffs of Moher, County
Clare.
Howdy folks, t’is Niamho, your faithful blogger from the
USA/Canada group. I found a place that has wifi and felt it
only right to make you jealous of the wonderful time we’re
having on our little road trip. We left Donegal at 11
yesterday morning, with a happy bunch on the bus – Liz,
Lucy, Katie, Moira, Sophia, Caroline , Claireand Emma are
the resident bus-singers, with Matt, Liam & Liam & Conor the
resident comedians! For sensible conversation, see Colin,
Kevin, Kate, Grace, Julia or Julia, for glee and good
humour, Stevo, Mary Willis & Bridey, but as they will tell
you, the craic was great as we made our way down through
counties Leitrim, Sligo & Mayo and into Galway City. We had
a picnic in Eyre Square, blessed by warm sunshine and the
usual jolly atmosphere of Galway. After lunch, we had a
browse down Shop Street and a wander around the hippy
markets, there was quite a bit of shopping done, -Galway
jerseys a big favourite, but Bridey was on the search for a
very special Aran sweater, and did not find what she was
looking for…. we then left Galway, and travelled on south
through Ballyvaughan, the famous match-making town of
Lisdoonvarna, into Liscannor and arriving at our Lahinch
destination, West Coast Lodge. We travelled down through The
Burren, Ireland’s amazing geographical enigma of limestone
and strange flora and fauna, but unfortunately, the
ubiquitious drizzle did not make for good views, so we
decided to return today. When we arrived, everyone was
hungry, and eager to watch the Spain-Holland world cup,
(having made many friends from Spain, the support was pretty
one-sided, I was the lone dutch supporter, and as it worked
out, the only one to be disappointed.) Appeals were for
chinese food, and so we put in a gigantic order and all
gobbled up plates of rice, noodles, fries, sweet & sour
chicken, shredded beef, ribs, – it was a popular choice and
left everyone full and happy.
This morning, we began with a walk along the beach at
Lahinch – the tide was out, and this popular sea-side town
was busy with families and ramblers. We strolled along the
shoreline, up by the edge of the golf course and back in
time to prepare lunch and then head off for The Cliffs of
Moher. You probably have all heard of the cliffs- it is a
very popular tourist site, and definitely quite impressive,
although you’ll know by now that I prefer to take our
visitors to less commercial places of more historical
interest…but demand was great, so I capitulated. It was a
beautiful day, and although the cliffs were busy, I think
everyone did enjoy the views. We did check the stores again
for Bridey’s elusive sweater, but we still didn’t find
exactly what ticked the boxes, and it was too expensive
there anyway, I banned all shopping!
Beautiful Sunny Galway on a
Sunday Afternoon.
We discussed a trip to the Aran Islands, but I offered an
alternative suggestion, that we go down into the tiny
village of Doolin. If you walk down to the pier, and up a
bit behind it, you reach a stunning and not-a-tourist-trap
landscape where the rocky Burren sweeps down to the
Atlantic, there’s amazing views of both the Cliffs of Moher
and The Aran Islands, and it gave space and timw for those
hyper-bunnies (Matt, Liams, Stevo) to use up their energy
exploring the cliffs and caves. So this was agreed, and we
really did have a good time…we had it all to ourselves,
apart from a few fisherman and a little old man Katie wanted
to adopt as her grandad!
On our way back through Doolin, we saw a sweater shop,
and decided to let Bridey check it out, just in case the
elusive sweater lurcked within…and guess what! She found
exactly what she wanted- right style, right colour, right
size, and on sale! We were all delighted, and she is now at
peace with the world! We got caught in a crazy shower of
soft rain as we went to buy some ice cream cones, and I’d
say we all looked ridiculous eating them as the rain dripped
off our noses, but it was very funny!
We returned to Lahinch for a big Irish dinner of Roast
Beef, Potatoes & Turnip at 7.30, and everyone is gone for a
sunset stroll along the seafront, in fact they are due home
right this minute, and I’m off to check that Brian (our
glorious leader) has everyone back. I’ll say this again –
every single teenager here is a credit to you folk back
home, they are so enthusiastic, interested & pleasant,
making my job a pleasure.
The Burren sweeps down to the
Atlantic, with Cliffs of Moher in background, and our
students in foreground!
Tomorrow we are travelling right
into the West, via Clifden, Leenane, and Louisburg, but I’ll
tell you all about that in the evening. Until then, keep
safe- please do post a comment if you’re reading this, these
diaries make wonderful records, and also are a real support
to parents who will be online next year trying to decide if
they should send their kids. So it’s great to see feedback.
Rightio, Chat to you all tomorrow, xxx Niamho & les enfants.
Day 10
Hello all! Niamh here, safely returned from our road-trip
through the South & West of Ireland. The craic was mighty!
When I left you last, we had returned from Cliffs of Moher &
The Burren, and were preparing for a trip into the heart of
Ireland- Connemara. I’d be hard pushed to name my favourite
place in Ireland- I adore Donegal for culture, history,
scenery- but Connemara, between counties Galway and Mayo is
something very special- Gaelic speaking,
Niamho in Connemara National
Park, telling stories!
weather-beaten, Atlantic sprayed beauty, that inspired
poets, playwrights, artists with its staggering unkempt
glory. There are no tour buses and hastily built hotels,
no-one selling souvenirs or charging admission fees-
Connemara is as real as it gets, and we were off to explore
it for the day.
We left Lahinch for Ennis, stopping for ’5 minutes’ so
some of the gang could go to the bank, but Mary Willis
forgot the 5 minutes bit and was off exploring all sorts of
bric-a-brac…meanwhile Liam found a Clare Jersey he wanted,
and Colin failed to find the Cork jersey he wants. We had
some outrageously expensive coffees ( I get so annoyed by
the priceyness of some tourist spots and do our best to
avoid them- Costa Coffee in Ennis, TOO DEAR!) and we finally
got going towards Connemara via Gort and Galway. The weather
was predictably misty and ‘soft’ as we say here, but as we
turned towards the Clifden Road, the Twelve Ben Mountains
loomed up and the views became breath-taking. By lunchtime,
we reached Oughterard, and stopped for lunch – a very
pleasant sandwich stop at Breathnach’s pub, and thanks to
the lovely Rose who looked after us. Then we went onwards
towardsRenvyle, and arrived first at the magnificent
Kylemore Abbey – the oldest Benedictine Abbey in Ireland,
and still open as a school. This is the photo above, and it
is as beautiful as it looks. About 4km up the road, we
reached the Connemara National Park, so we stopped for time
to walk up to the viewpoints all around Connaught- some took
the bog road and some took the hill path, but everyone
agreed it was immensly beautiful and inspirational.
Claire & Moira at Connemara
National Park.
From there, we travelled further west into the village of
Leenane. This is on the edge of Killary Harbour, and was
also the location for the filming of John B. Keane’s play
‘The Field’ – which I showed the students this morning.
Killary Harbour is the stunning drowned valley dividing
Galway/Mayo, and the village at Leenane is immortalised in
‘The Field’ – more on this later. We then went up to the
local beauty spot at Ashleigh Falls (Scene of the musrder of
the American in the same Movie) and then we went onwards to
Delphi Lodge.
On Friday 30 March 1849 two officials of the Poor Law
Union arrived in at Delphi Lodge – a hunting lodge -
during the height of the Irish Potato Famine. They
ordered that those in need of help should present
themselves. For much of the night and day that followed
therefore seemingly hundreds of destitute and starving
people had to undertake what for them, given their
existing state of debilitation, was an extremely
fatiguing journey, in very bad weather. A letter-writer
to “The
Mayo Constitution” reported shortly afterwards that
the bodies of seven people, including women and
children, were subsequently discovered on the roadside
between
Delphi and Louisburgh overlooking the shores of
Doolough lake and that nine more never reached their
homes. Local folklore maintains the total numbers that
perished because of the ordeals they had to endure was
far higher.
Each year, those who perished in the Famine are
commemorated by a March through Doolough Valley from
Delphi Lodge to the memorial cross. So having told that
story, we travelled through the same valley, in wind and
rain too, I might say, and stopped up at the famine
memorial, to remember all those who died or had to
emigrate during those harsh times
At the Famine Memorial in
Doolough, Delphi.
After this, we hit the road for Westport, stopping for
that most traditional of Irish meals- Pizza!!! Load of
it! Conor was able to fit most pizza in mouth at one
time, (what a skill
and then we continued on to Bundoran, and finally made
it home about ten-thirty pm.
The beach at Lahinch, Co.
Clare
So this morning, it was a class on the themes of
Irish Literature, in particular, themes of displacement,
land-ownership, labour, gender roles and communication.
The afore-mentioned movie ‘The Field’ is a great text to
use as a basis for these themes, and I knew everyone
would enjoy watching it, as we had explored the movie
location yesterday. We watched the movie, and then spoke
about De Valera’s 1937 constitution and the Ireland that
emerged thereafter – the movie is very very good at
dramatizing the devotion to the land, the poverty of the
times, the fear of ‘outsiders’, the inevitability of
modernisation and the awful toll that history took upon
the Irish. After some discussion of other texts, like
‘Philadelphia, Here I come’ (by Brian Friel) and
‘Angela’s Ashes’ (Frank Mc Court) one of the students
asked me if there was such a thing as a happy ending in
Irish History! It was a great question, and I’ll give
you the same answer I gave them. These students with us-
that’s the happy ending: grandchildren and great
grandchildren of emigrants who left with nothing,
returning ‘home’ as happy, well-balanced, well educated,
motivated, interested young people. And this is why it’s
important and fantastic that everyone’s here, thanks for
sending them! More tomorrow, love Niamh & crew xx
and it really was such a gorgeous day, we all enjoyed to
fabulous views of Ireland (all four provinces…) and the
