Ross Castle, Killarney
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Aaron Turns 30!
The day after Christmas we headed south on Boxing Day/St. Stephens Day. We still haven't completely figured these holidays out, but we did quickly discover everything in two countries was closed, many shops (and the postal service?) were also closed for a week to 10 days after Christmas. That combined with the fog and rain, did not necessarily make for the most ideal of travelling conditions, but we made the best of it, heading to Killarney in the southwest corner of the Republic of Ireland (we came from the northeast of the island; it took about 6 hours). We spent our 7th anniversary running around Killarney (two days after Christmas in Killarney, a lesser known Bing Crosby tune) then went to our friends' wedding in Tralee. For perhaps the only time in our lives we were early to the wedding, which was in a large, beautiful cathedral. We waited and waited for the bride and were beginning to get nervous as the wedding was supposed to start at 1:30. We found out at the reception that it is tradition for the bride to be at least 10 minutes late, some are up to an hour late. People were amazed that we had come from so far, and then it got awkward when we all realized they meant we were a long way from Belfast. It's like a world away, and I don't think it's just geography that separates the two parts of the island, even though there is no visible border.
One of my favorite moments at the reception was the playing of "Achy Breaky Heart." It is indeed an international anthem. The next morning we set out to drive the Ring of Kerry and explore castle ruins, churches and cathedrals, an ancient stone fort, tiny towns, and a waterfall. We kept seeing small statues and shrines cut out of stone all over the place, even in remote places. We asked the hostess at our B&B and she answered "Do you mean 'Our Lady?' " Derrrrrrr.
Aaron thought it might be a fun adventure to drive through a sheep pasture on a remote island; thankfully I managed to talk him out of it. We did however take a "detour" off the main tourist road to drive over a mountain, down to the coast, and back over the mountain through a cloud. It was a bit dodgy and we knew we were in trouble when we saw a shrine to "Our Lady of kiss your butt goodbye if you try to drive over this mountain, especially in the fog" as we crept up the hill. On our way back we saw several sheep in the road and one on top of the stone barrier as if he were contemplating hurling himself over the cliff the road ran along. Aaron wouldn't let me get out and take a picture, but we hope the sheep changed his mind and chose life in the end.
We got back in time for New Year's Eve, but sadly did nothing especially exciting, not even go bowling, even though the stereotype is that all Americans are good bowlers. Our friends, the Blakes, had taken Haley for us, and when we got back her coat was dark and stiff, and she slept for two days. Turns out she'd been to the beach, the mountains, and a cow pasture all in a few days. She'd had as much of a vacation as we did! I told Maureen Blake I was planning on sending my sweaters back home in March and she laughed out loud at me. I think we're in for a long winter this year.
Aaron turned 30 on January 6th. The only consolation to all the white hairs he's grown is that he was recently asked if he was our friend Chris Blake's son, which didn't make Chris feel so great as he's only in his mid forties. When we first arrived here a woman in a restaurant asked Aaron if he was a hockey player, which really flattered him. He told her he was an American and she laughed and said, "I know, all our hockey players are either Americans or Canadians." I think I've still got him beat as I've been told I look 18 and offered a child's ticket to get into the park. Whenever we tell people we're from the South and we've been married for 7 years I can tell by the looks on their faces they think I was a teenager (and that we're probably first cousins). I guess that's the downside of looking young. Anyway, Aaron was told by my brother that Gordon was bringing Aaron a very special birthday present-his mother in law! My mom and brother will be here the end of January/beg. of February. Watch out Belfast, you've never seen anyone like Granny Lou! Perhaps we can convince them to try a local delicacy- a Snickers bar fried in batter. Or go in search of modern businesses in old churches. So far we've found a shopping mall, dance club, and Chinese restaurant.
Of course the proof that we are now officially old is that we got concert tickets to go see Neal Diamond in Dublin in June-yeehaw! But not too old to delight in Ashlee Simpson's embarrasing SNL performance and laugh from a continent away. Her fifteen minutes of fame are almost up, and hopefully will be long over by the time we get back. In other pop news, we are starting to like Robbie Williams, which scares us a little.
The words "aran" and "su" in Irish mean bread and juice, so we've got breakfast covered between us. Other slang we're learning includes daft (crazy), honking (smelly), legless (drunk), and knackered (tired). What we call Scotch tape, here is called Cello tape- why do we call it Scotch and would Scots be offended if we called it that here?
We're offering a prize to the first person to find Suellen hidden in seven of the pictures posted with this blog. The winner will get an all expense paid trip to Belfast (airfare and some meals excluded) to visit us and share our de-luxe apartment in the sky.
I got through my Politics exam, and I'm pretty sure I've never studied so hard only to recall so little under pressure. Next semester, I'm in "Anthropology of Ireland" and "Religion, Gender and Power in Northern Ireland," which is taught by Sociology and Women's Studies. It should be interesting to get plopped into the middle of what I suspect will be a predominantly feminist group. Check back to see how quickly I'm able to mention female submission and ordination and draw the wrath of my whole class. At least it won't be boring! I'm also taking Pilates, aqua aerobics, finishing Irish language class, attending an Alexander Technique seminar, planning to go to plays and travelling more. Hopefully we will have info on trips to Austria, Scotland, and Paris in the future. The next blog should include pics and stories from the Silvers' visit, including attending a performance of the Moscow circus.
Slan Abhaile!
(literally, "safe home," as in "May your journey be safe").
Aaron, Suellen and Haley Beavis
One of my favorite moments at the reception was the playing of "Achy Breaky Heart." It is indeed an international anthem. The next morning we set out to drive the Ring of Kerry and explore castle ruins, churches and cathedrals, an ancient stone fort, tiny towns, and a waterfall. We kept seeing small statues and shrines cut out of stone all over the place, even in remote places. We asked the hostess at our B&B and she answered "Do you mean 'Our Lady?' " Derrrrrrr.
Aaron thought it might be a fun adventure to drive through a sheep pasture on a remote island; thankfully I managed to talk him out of it. We did however take a "detour" off the main tourist road to drive over a mountain, down to the coast, and back over the mountain through a cloud. It was a bit dodgy and we knew we were in trouble when we saw a shrine to "Our Lady of kiss your butt goodbye if you try to drive over this mountain, especially in the fog" as we crept up the hill. On our way back we saw several sheep in the road and one on top of the stone barrier as if he were contemplating hurling himself over the cliff the road ran along. Aaron wouldn't let me get out and take a picture, but we hope the sheep changed his mind and chose life in the end.
We got back in time for New Year's Eve, but sadly did nothing especially exciting, not even go bowling, even though the stereotype is that all Americans are good bowlers. Our friends, the Blakes, had taken Haley for us, and when we got back her coat was dark and stiff, and she slept for two days. Turns out she'd been to the beach, the mountains, and a cow pasture all in a few days. She'd had as much of a vacation as we did! I told Maureen Blake I was planning on sending my sweaters back home in March and she laughed out loud at me. I think we're in for a long winter this year.
Aaron turned 30 on January 6th. The only consolation to all the white hairs he's grown is that he was recently asked if he was our friend Chris Blake's son, which didn't make Chris feel so great as he's only in his mid forties. When we first arrived here a woman in a restaurant asked Aaron if he was a hockey player, which really flattered him. He told her he was an American and she laughed and said, "I know, all our hockey players are either Americans or Canadians." I think I've still got him beat as I've been told I look 18 and offered a child's ticket to get into the park. Whenever we tell people we're from the South and we've been married for 7 years I can tell by the looks on their faces they think I was a teenager (and that we're probably first cousins). I guess that's the downside of looking young. Anyway, Aaron was told by my brother that Gordon was bringing Aaron a very special birthday present-his mother in law! My mom and brother will be here the end of January/beg. of February. Watch out Belfast, you've never seen anyone like Granny Lou! Perhaps we can convince them to try a local delicacy- a Snickers bar fried in batter. Or go in search of modern businesses in old churches. So far we've found a shopping mall, dance club, and Chinese restaurant.
Of course the proof that we are now officially old is that we got concert tickets to go see Neal Diamond in Dublin in June-yeehaw! But not too old to delight in Ashlee Simpson's embarrasing SNL performance and laugh from a continent away. Her fifteen minutes of fame are almost up, and hopefully will be long over by the time we get back. In other pop news, we are starting to like Robbie Williams, which scares us a little.
The words "aran" and "su" in Irish mean bread and juice, so we've got breakfast covered between us. Other slang we're learning includes daft (crazy), honking (smelly), legless (drunk), and knackered (tired). What we call Scotch tape, here is called Cello tape- why do we call it Scotch and would Scots be offended if we called it that here?
We're offering a prize to the first person to find Suellen hidden in seven of the pictures posted with this blog. The winner will get an all expense paid trip to Belfast (airfare and some meals excluded) to visit us and share our de-luxe apartment in the sky.
I got through my Politics exam, and I'm pretty sure I've never studied so hard only to recall so little under pressure. Next semester, I'm in "Anthropology of Ireland" and "Religion, Gender and Power in Northern Ireland," which is taught by Sociology and Women's Studies. It should be interesting to get plopped into the middle of what I suspect will be a predominantly feminist group. Check back to see how quickly I'm able to mention female submission and ordination and draw the wrath of my whole class. At least it won't be boring! I'm also taking Pilates, aqua aerobics, finishing Irish language class, attending an Alexander Technique seminar, planning to go to plays and travelling more. Hopefully we will have info on trips to Austria, Scotland, and Paris in the future. The next blog should include pics and stories from the Silvers' visit, including attending a performance of the Moscow circus.
Slan Abhaile!
(literally, "safe home," as in "May your journey be safe").
Aaron, Suellen and Haley Beavis
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Happy New Year!
Also, Happy Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas since it's taken us so long to update this.
At Halloween, Aaron road-tripped south to Dublin, caught a ferry to Wales then drove across England to pick up a slightly shell shocked Haley. It only took a UN like negotiation with the London police and the airlines to pull it all off. He visited Bill and Linda Reynolds, who graciously took him to the airforce base where he stocked up on taco mix, Betty Crocker potatos, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Orville Redenbacher popcorn, Dr. Pepper and (drumroll) ten 24 packs of Mt. Dew! If I ration a mere 21 per month I should have enough to last the duration. What a great husband, crossing 4 regions in two countries to get my dog and 20 gallons of my favorite caffeinated beverage. Interestingly, back in the day the phrase "mountain dew" referred to moonshine in Ireland. I like to think of it as "nectar of the gods" and "breakfast of champions."
While Aaron was "across the water" I got a call from the University notifying me I had been awarded a full scholarship (tuition and living stipend) as the initial recipient had been unable to attend this year. Second place never felt so good. So we bought an inexpensive 12 year old BMW with 190,000 miles on it . Turns out mainly drug dealers drive these and they are popularly referred to as "BM's," which makes us laugh as we tell people what BM's are in our part of the world.
Patrick Larochelle was here in November from Charlottesville to bring us our Christmas decorations and haul some junk back for us. Oh, and also to see his girlfriend, Ana, from Spain. Patrick wanted to treat Ana to a homestyle Thanksgiving dinner, so he and Aaron whipped up a delectable feast and we were all able to enjoy a little turkey, stuffing, and fellowship after all.
A few weeks later we had some grad students over and Aaron made crunchy tacos. Our friend from N. Ireland had never had them. Glad we could be Ortega ambassadors. We sure miss authentic Mexican food, but there's lots of Indian curry and French food is finally affordable. Milkshakes here are heavy on the milk and light on the shake (no ice?)- my bum has more shake in it. Our most recent potato chip flavors include Thai Sweet Chili, Chargrilled Steak and Peppercorn, and Worcestshire Sauce. You can get potatoes as a topping on pizza and as a side dish instead of rice with Chinese food-I love it! You can get french fries with gravy on them, curry, nearly anything can be heaped atop them.
We'll have to exercise a little more in the Spring when the sun is up until 10:00 pm: now it is setting by 4 pm (which doesn't leave me much daylight when I sleep until noon). The wind has really picked up lately and HOWLS like it might blow the windows in. The Irish blessing "May the wind be always at your back..." has new meaning. At least their version of "Annie" has the hit song, "the Sun'll Come Out in Ten Minutes..." (of course this is usually after the unexpected downpour has nearly drowned us and the dog in the park, covered her in mud and made for a sloppy walk home!) I had a new experience this Fall that may be true in other cities. Wet, fallen leaves on pavement and sidewalks can be deadly. They're worse than black ice. Another aspect of city life we discovered was a rat infestation in a nearby student neighborhood with a bad reputation for being too rowdy. The students organized a protest to defend their reputations, a loud, rowdy protest to prove how civil they were. So at least undergrads around the world are pretty similar.
Aaron's been working all kinds of temporary jobs, traffic surveys, waiting tables, data entry, taking calls for the ambulance service. I can't wait to see what he'll get himself into in the New Year. He's also been playing basketball where he is usually the tallest and all the other players are shorter and run really fast. He's lately fallen in with a bunch of thirty somethings who used to play on the national team, so he's enjoying that as well as continuing to attempt to master Aikido.
We've been enjoying learning new phrases, sometimes in the most awkward ways. One night at dinner with the family that has taken us in, I turned to their 13 year old daughter and asked her if she was allowed to wear pants to school. She turned beet red and stammered, "W-w-w-hat?" So I rephrased and asked if if she was required to wear a skirt as her uniform. She giggled and explained that "pants" here refer only to "underpants;" the word I needed was "trousers."
As her parents left for the movies we told them not to sit in the back and make out, a phrase the teenagers were relieved not to recognize. Here that's called "snogging." Pronunciation is also fun, shower is "shar," Power is "par," and fire is "far," which is not too unlike White Oak come to think about it. Tuesday is "Chooseday," and tutor is "Chitter."
A friend recently "passed out" meaning "graduated" and when he was taking his exams told us to "touch wood" (like knock on wood), which we took a little differently. Zero is "naught," Z is "zed." Like "apples and oranges" is like "chalk and cheese" here. The police officer in London told us Haley would have a better chance getting in the country if she were "lumpy," i.e not lean but especially well fed so it would be obvious she wasn't a fighting dog. If Aaron and I keep eating fried starchy foods and potatos we're going to end up "lumpy." I went looking on the internet for therapeutic massage for my back but most of the websites were not for the kind of legal massage I was looking for.
A friend took us to Dublin in early December to go Christmas shopping and we asked him if people would be able to tell we were Americans just by how we were dressed. He jokingly said they would so we replied "well, at least we're not wearing fannie packs" as he was getting out of the car. He got back in the car and closed the door shaking his head, unsure whether or not to turn us loose on the unsupecting public. Turns out "fannie" here is quite vulgar (for a female body part) and does not mean bottom or a woman's name (like Fannies Lane on the way to Bel Plains). They call those bags "bum bags." Of course we've been exploiting it ever since as much as possible. It was all we could do not yell out his name across the crowded street in our most garrish American accents "Francis, get your fannie over here!"
My name often causes a bit of a stir as Dallas was quite popular here. One young man exclaimed, "Wow, I never thought I would ever meet someone who was actually named 'Suellen'." (thanks mom) I did enjoy a 1 am showing of "Gone with the Wind" on Christmas Eve which made me miss Southern ways. We had two female students over for Christmas lunch, one from New York and one from Chicago. The New Yorker said a female student had recently come into her dorm crying and she responded with 'What in the hell is wrong with you?" I told her in the South we would say, "There now, sit down and tell me all about it over a piece of pie."
For Christmas dinner the Blakes were gracious enough to have us over with two young ladies from Texas and Germany. We had flaming pudding for dessert (I'm not sure if it was "figgy pudding" however). It's not Bill Cosby's pudding, but more like fruitcake. That morning we awoke to the first white Christmas they've had here in 25 years. It was fantastic. Our Indian neighbors came out with their child in flip flops to see it. They didn't know to make the snow into balls, so they just scooped it up and threw it in handfulls. The N. Irish young folks in the apartment below us had people over and a few were out having cigarettes. From out of nowhere 10 other twenty somethings appeared and instigated a massive snowball fight. I have never seen a snowball fight where the participants were able to make and throw snowballs with one hand because they still had a drink in the other hand without dropping the cigarettes out of their mouths. It was quite a treat to watch all of this from our balcony. Then we went back to chasing Haley around with the remote controlled mini cooper I got for Christmas.
There was a 22 million GBP bank robbery (approx. $40 million dollars) here a few weeks ago-Merry Christmas Belfast! We attended several lesson and carol services, including one put on by the University where students read from the Bible, if you can believe it. We also participated in a lovely carol service at a local monastery. The church was one of the most beautiful we've ever seen and there must have been over a thousand people. When we left we were snapped back into reality as we realized the back of the church ended in concrete and barbed wire at the Peace Line, the barrier that divides Protestant and Catholic communities in the city.
One last note, I met a young neighbor and when I extended my hand to shake he grabbed it and pulled me over to kiss both of my cheeks. Aaron and I were both so caught off guard, the best I could muster was to stammer in a sheepish Southern accent, "Where are you from?" (thinking of course he must be French or Italian to be so affectionate with a newly met married woman). He's from N. Ireland of course. I've gone to hug women and they instead grab my hand and kiss my cheek. I'm not sure I'll ever get it figured out. Am I supposed to kiss them back?
After Haley arrived I was mired in class projects, papers, getting ready for Christmas and travelling immediately after Christmas. Now I'm studying for a politics exam on January 13th, then I have a semester break until Feb 1, so I have no good excuse for not updating this more regularly. Next installment in the coming few weeks will include pics from our trip to the South West, an Irish bride and groom, beautiful landscapes and tomfoolery and hijinks. There may even be a game with prizes if you're lucky. And of course the invitation to come visit us is still open to all of you (how else are we going to get all this stuff back home?)
Slainte agus Beannachtan!
(Health and Blessings!)
Aaron, Suellen, and Haley
At Halloween, Aaron road-tripped south to Dublin, caught a ferry to Wales then drove across England to pick up a slightly shell shocked Haley. It only took a UN like negotiation with the London police and the airlines to pull it all off. He visited Bill and Linda Reynolds, who graciously took him to the airforce base where he stocked up on taco mix, Betty Crocker potatos, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Orville Redenbacher popcorn, Dr. Pepper and (drumroll) ten 24 packs of Mt. Dew! If I ration a mere 21 per month I should have enough to last the duration. What a great husband, crossing 4 regions in two countries to get my dog and 20 gallons of my favorite caffeinated beverage. Interestingly, back in the day the phrase "mountain dew" referred to moonshine in Ireland. I like to think of it as "nectar of the gods" and "breakfast of champions."
While Aaron was "across the water" I got a call from the University notifying me I had been awarded a full scholarship (tuition and living stipend) as the initial recipient had been unable to attend this year. Second place never felt so good. So we bought an inexpensive 12 year old BMW with 190,000 miles on it . Turns out mainly drug dealers drive these and they are popularly referred to as "BM's," which makes us laugh as we tell people what BM's are in our part of the world.
Patrick Larochelle was here in November from Charlottesville to bring us our Christmas decorations and haul some junk back for us. Oh, and also to see his girlfriend, Ana, from Spain. Patrick wanted to treat Ana to a homestyle Thanksgiving dinner, so he and Aaron whipped up a delectable feast and we were all able to enjoy a little turkey, stuffing, and fellowship after all.
A few weeks later we had some grad students over and Aaron made crunchy tacos. Our friend from N. Ireland had never had them. Glad we could be Ortega ambassadors. We sure miss authentic Mexican food, but there's lots of Indian curry and French food is finally affordable. Milkshakes here are heavy on the milk and light on the shake (no ice?)- my bum has more shake in it. Our most recent potato chip flavors include Thai Sweet Chili, Chargrilled Steak and Peppercorn, and Worcestshire Sauce. You can get potatoes as a topping on pizza and as a side dish instead of rice with Chinese food-I love it! You can get french fries with gravy on them, curry, nearly anything can be heaped atop them.
We'll have to exercise a little more in the Spring when the sun is up until 10:00 pm: now it is setting by 4 pm (which doesn't leave me much daylight when I sleep until noon). The wind has really picked up lately and HOWLS like it might blow the windows in. The Irish blessing "May the wind be always at your back..." has new meaning. At least their version of "Annie" has the hit song, "the Sun'll Come Out in Ten Minutes..." (of course this is usually after the unexpected downpour has nearly drowned us and the dog in the park, covered her in mud and made for a sloppy walk home!) I had a new experience this Fall that may be true in other cities. Wet, fallen leaves on pavement and sidewalks can be deadly. They're worse than black ice. Another aspect of city life we discovered was a rat infestation in a nearby student neighborhood with a bad reputation for being too rowdy. The students organized a protest to defend their reputations, a loud, rowdy protest to prove how civil they were. So at least undergrads around the world are pretty similar.
Aaron's been working all kinds of temporary jobs, traffic surveys, waiting tables, data entry, taking calls for the ambulance service. I can't wait to see what he'll get himself into in the New Year. He's also been playing basketball where he is usually the tallest and all the other players are shorter and run really fast. He's lately fallen in with a bunch of thirty somethings who used to play on the national team, so he's enjoying that as well as continuing to attempt to master Aikido.
We've been enjoying learning new phrases, sometimes in the most awkward ways. One night at dinner with the family that has taken us in, I turned to their 13 year old daughter and asked her if she was allowed to wear pants to school. She turned beet red and stammered, "W-w-w-hat?" So I rephrased and asked if if she was required to wear a skirt as her uniform. She giggled and explained that "pants" here refer only to "underpants;" the word I needed was "trousers."
As her parents left for the movies we told them not to sit in the back and make out, a phrase the teenagers were relieved not to recognize. Here that's called "snogging." Pronunciation is also fun, shower is "shar," Power is "par," and fire is "far," which is not too unlike White Oak come to think about it. Tuesday is "Chooseday," and tutor is "Chitter."
A friend recently "passed out" meaning "graduated" and when he was taking his exams told us to "touch wood" (like knock on wood), which we took a little differently. Zero is "naught," Z is "zed." Like "apples and oranges" is like "chalk and cheese" here. The police officer in London told us Haley would have a better chance getting in the country if she were "lumpy," i.e not lean but especially well fed so it would be obvious she wasn't a fighting dog. If Aaron and I keep eating fried starchy foods and potatos we're going to end up "lumpy." I went looking on the internet for therapeutic massage for my back but most of the websites were not for the kind of legal massage I was looking for.
A friend took us to Dublin in early December to go Christmas shopping and we asked him if people would be able to tell we were Americans just by how we were dressed. He jokingly said they would so we replied "well, at least we're not wearing fannie packs" as he was getting out of the car. He got back in the car and closed the door shaking his head, unsure whether or not to turn us loose on the unsupecting public. Turns out "fannie" here is quite vulgar (for a female body part) and does not mean bottom or a woman's name (like Fannies Lane on the way to Bel Plains). They call those bags "bum bags." Of course we've been exploiting it ever since as much as possible. It was all we could do not yell out his name across the crowded street in our most garrish American accents "Francis, get your fannie over here!"
My name often causes a bit of a stir as Dallas was quite popular here. One young man exclaimed, "Wow, I never thought I would ever meet someone who was actually named 'Suellen'." (thanks mom) I did enjoy a 1 am showing of "Gone with the Wind" on Christmas Eve which made me miss Southern ways. We had two female students over for Christmas lunch, one from New York and one from Chicago. The New Yorker said a female student had recently come into her dorm crying and she responded with 'What in the hell is wrong with you?" I told her in the South we would say, "There now, sit down and tell me all about it over a piece of pie."
For Christmas dinner the Blakes were gracious enough to have us over with two young ladies from Texas and Germany. We had flaming pudding for dessert (I'm not sure if it was "figgy pudding" however). It's not Bill Cosby's pudding, but more like fruitcake. That morning we awoke to the first white Christmas they've had here in 25 years. It was fantastic. Our Indian neighbors came out with their child in flip flops to see it. They didn't know to make the snow into balls, so they just scooped it up and threw it in handfulls. The N. Irish young folks in the apartment below us had people over and a few were out having cigarettes. From out of nowhere 10 other twenty somethings appeared and instigated a massive snowball fight. I have never seen a snowball fight where the participants were able to make and throw snowballs with one hand because they still had a drink in the other hand without dropping the cigarettes out of their mouths. It was quite a treat to watch all of this from our balcony. Then we went back to chasing Haley around with the remote controlled mini cooper I got for Christmas.
There was a 22 million GBP bank robbery (approx. $40 million dollars) here a few weeks ago-Merry Christmas Belfast! We attended several lesson and carol services, including one put on by the University where students read from the Bible, if you can believe it. We also participated in a lovely carol service at a local monastery. The church was one of the most beautiful we've ever seen and there must have been over a thousand people. When we left we were snapped back into reality as we realized the back of the church ended in concrete and barbed wire at the Peace Line, the barrier that divides Protestant and Catholic communities in the city.
One last note, I met a young neighbor and when I extended my hand to shake he grabbed it and pulled me over to kiss both of my cheeks. Aaron and I were both so caught off guard, the best I could muster was to stammer in a sheepish Southern accent, "Where are you from?" (thinking of course he must be French or Italian to be so affectionate with a newly met married woman). He's from N. Ireland of course. I've gone to hug women and they instead grab my hand and kiss my cheek. I'm not sure I'll ever get it figured out. Am I supposed to kiss them back?
After Haley arrived I was mired in class projects, papers, getting ready for Christmas and travelling immediately after Christmas. Now I'm studying for a politics exam on January 13th, then I have a semester break until Feb 1, so I have no good excuse for not updating this more regularly. Next installment in the coming few weeks will include pics from our trip to the South West, an Irish bride and groom, beautiful landscapes and tomfoolery and hijinks. There may even be a game with prizes if you're lucky. And of course the invitation to come visit us is still open to all of you (how else are we going to get all this stuff back home?)
Slainte agus Beannachtan!
(Health and Blessings!)
Aaron, Suellen, and Haley
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