Seamus & Co.!

I love Dublin, I really do. But before I came, I had all these romanticized ideas of Ireland in my mind that weren't really satisfied by Dublin. I was a bit afraid they wouldn't be fulfilled at all, but our weekend homestay in County Galway did its job in making me feel like I was really in Ireland. It was the perfect weekend. Ireland really is a small country - the drive from the east coast to the west coast is about 3 and a half hours (though it took us 5 - even Ireland has rush hour traffic). We finally arrived in Tuam (pronounced 'Chume'), and were greeted by our host families in a parking lot. Caroline, Vanessa and I were staying with the Gannons from Kilclooney, right outside of Tuam (which is actually the smallest city in Europe, according to I don't know what statistics). And they were the perfect family to stay with.

Marian, our host mother, amazed me like no one else. She and her husband Seamus have three grown sons - two of which were home for the weekend. They also have three foster kids, all under the age of ten. During the week, she cares for a bunch more kids from the time they get out of school until 6:30. And nearly every weekend she takes in international students, in addition to the occasional full-year student. And never have I met a warmer, more welcoming and cheerful person. She had food for us at all times and, of course, tea ready every time we sat down. Our first night we had dinner and relaxed, took in some Irish TV and had a long chat with Johnny, Marian's 30 year old son. He told us things about Ireland and growing up Irish, places to go in Dublin (and he laughed in our faces when we told him some of the bars we had been to). He had dated a girl who went to Rutgers when he was younger, so we reminisced about New Jersey for a while (though his reminiscing was more like jokingly trash-talking our beautiful state). Every member of the family was just unbelievably welcoming.
On Saturday Caroline, Vanessa and I took a morning bus into Galway city, about a 30 minute ride. It's a suprsingly small, but really wonderful city. We spent most of the day window shopping (everything is way too expensive to actually buy), pub-sitting, and picture-taking. It's such a small city that we ran into a bunch of our other program-mates, and all took the long walk along the bay out to the coast. Though it was an overcast day (as always), it was still incredibly beautiful. It was wonderful to stand on the beach and smell the sea air, and see the colorful houses along the bay and what seemed to be an infestation of swans - seriously, there were at least fifty. It was wonderful. Because it was Saturday the market was in town, so we bought flowers for Marian and coffee and the best donuts I've ever tasted - sooo good. When it was finally time to go back we were exhausted, and Marian's food and tea she had ready for us were very welcome.

It wasn't until Saturday night that we really got to meet Seamus. He was exactly what you would imagine an older Irishman to be - jovial, warm, very Catholic. His laugh was exactly like Uncle Albert's in Mary Poppins, and I probably only understood 70% of what he said, for his accent was so thick and he spoke so animatedly. The first thing he asked us was "Obama or Hilary?" (that literally seems to be every Irish person's first question when they find out we're American). This began a nearly 4 hour conversation covering everything from American politics to religion to supernatural experiences to literature. He would recite Yeats poems, then give us long, literal accounts of Biblical stories. It was an especially interesting, and long, conversation when it came to religion because both Caroline and Vanessa are Jewish. Though he was so devoutly Catholic, he was so open-minded and open-hearted that it made for an interesting, and not uncomfortable, subject. Caroline later told me that talking with Seamus and experiencing the family and their values gave her a wonderful picture of Catholicism that she didn't have before.

Sunday morning we woke and went to Mass with the whole family (both Caroline and Vanessa's first time at a Catholic Mass). Marian and and Seamus were dressed to the nines, while we just did the best we could with the clothes we had. Mass was hardly different than it is at home - but the choir is made of children and it was beautiful! I wish St. Philomena's would take a hint from the Irish, considering how awful our cantor and choir are. Two of the foster children were in the choir - Chloe and the other kid whose name I can't remember - and they were adorable. While Ben, the 5 year old, ran amok among the pews (which the Irish seem ok with, as all the kids were doing it). Seamus took us on a long walk around Kilclooney after Mass - when I finally felt like I was in Ireland. There was everything - the sheep, the intense green, bogs, Celtic crosses, Irish farmers, shepherding dogs, stone walls. It was wonderful. We spent the rest of the day watching the football (soccer, of course) game and bonding with the kids - Ben was running around yelling 'I want a pint of Guinness!' while Chloe talked with us about our favorite Disney princesses. I was so happy to spend time with the kids (who were so cute I wanted to steal them) but I, of course, wished I had more time. Long story short, I had the perfect weekend (I do apologize for the length of this story, but you know I do tend to tell long stories, especially when it is concerning something as wonderful as this). In a few weekends, Arcadia will be taking us on a trip to Belfast and the Giant's Causeway (20 Euro all-inclusive!), and I can't wait. But before that, Mom visits (yay!) and I visit Hayley in Oxford (yay!). So much to look forward to, I hope it doesn't all go by too fast.