Oileán Ealtanach

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Northern Ireland Assembly

Yesterday marked an historic day in Irish history marking the start of a power sharing agreement in the Northern Ireland Assembly which devolves, or restores home rule, the government of the region. New First Minister Dr. Ian Paisley (left in picture), member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said, “I believe that Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule.” Sinn Féin member and new deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness (right in picture) and Paisley were not seen shaking hands during the swearing-in but according to the Irish Times, “their relationship appeared relaxed and cordial.”

Peace in the North long in the making

As one of my Irish friends once told me, the struggle between Ireland (the Republic) and “The North” is one of the longest wars in history, dating back to the 12th century during the rule of Henry II. A journalist I met while on a trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland this January suggested that there will never be peace in Ireland until the six counties in Ulster are restored to form a full 32 county Republic. Since the beginning of The Troubles from 1969, over 3,500 people have died through 2001. The Good Friday agreement, signed on that day in 1998, established the Northern Ireland Assembly and devolved government. There have been several suspensions of the Assembly since 1998, and yesterday’s restoration marked a new era with agreement in the Executive to share political power amongst both Unionists and Nationalists.

As I’ve said before, I’m not in a very good position to form an opinion one way or another about the Northern Ireland Assembly, but I do know that May 8 is an historic day that hopefully will restore peace to Ireland.

I’ve been up to my ears in alligators lately but I decided to take a bit of a break from my research to meet up with a fellow video blogger from Philadelphia last week and have some great craic . We had fun geeking out about Macs, blogs, and politics.

John Coffey, aka Jimmy CraicHead, and his girlfriend Samantha, aka Demanda Diamond, came to Ireland during Easter and visited Galway and the surrounding area for a few days to experience the real Ireland. John rang me when they got into town and we met at my favorite pub, The King’s Head. Jimmy and Samantha interviewed me about living in Galway and produced a wonderful segment titled Galway Craic and Guinness Beer.

This and Jimmy CraicHead’s other videos are professionally produced and edited and look great for a part time blogger. Galway Craic and Guinness Beer features some great shots of the River Corrib, Galway City, Clifden, and Connemara with Irish trad music in the background. Jimmy and Demanda Diamond (a play on Amanda Congdon) are a perfect video blogging duo, traveling the US and the rest of the world in search of interesting people.

JCHTV is not your average video travel blog and Jimmy and Demanda have put together some great segments. I’ve got loads of video footage from my travels here in Ireland as well, but as Jimmy and I discussed it’s difficult to produce a polished segment. JCHTV makes it look easy! Just don’t laugh at my terrible interview skills. Let me know what you think of the video and check out the others at JCHTV.

Here’s to John and Samantha…may your travels take you far. It was great to meet you and the hangover was worth it. Slainte!

In case you don’t know…that means I’m freakin’ busy.

I am coming down to the last few days of my gasoline tax research paper, which is due this Friday afternoon. I apologize to my regular readers for the decrease in posts lately but I hope you will understand. At least twitter has helped me stay in touch with the Twitter Tools plugin.

With all this writing lately, I think I need a study break tonight and someone has come to the rescue. Jimmy CraicHead, aka John Coffey, recently commented on a few of my posts including this one about craic. He was Googling around and found my blog when planning for his trip to Ireland this week. Jimmy contacted me when he arrived here and now we’re going for a pint tonight at The King’s Head!

I can’t say that I’ve ever met anybody online before but thanks to my blog and twitter, I will be meeting a popular video blogger from Philadelphia. He just rang me and we are grabbing a pint at the King’s Head at 6 pm tonight if anyone wants to enjoy some craic. Jimmy will be interviewing me for his next installment.

What a strange, exciting and connected world we live in these days!

Today is Good Friday and everything is closed! It’s weird to see pubs in Ireland closed on a Friday afternoon. I passed my favorite spot, The King’s Head, to find it’s doors shuttered. Further down at the end of Quay Street where a grassy area meets the Spanish Arch (see header image) loads of picnickers lined the River Corrib. I figured they were just out basking in the beautiful Irish Spring day. However, upon further inspection, they were all seeking refuge from the lock-out and enjoying some Good Friday cheer. McDonagh’s, the famous fish and chips spot, had a queue out the door and most places that were not public houses were packed as well. I guess Good Friday is bad for business. The strange thing about all this is that Monday is the actual national holiday. I respect that there is a holiday on Easter Monday, but why should pubs be closed on Friday as well? You can’t even go to the Off Licence to grab a few brews to enjoy at home. What else am I going to drink during the water boil alert in Galway? Oh well…

I have loads of catching up to do with comment replies and postings about my travels this past week, so stay tuned!

It is absolutely gorgeous in Galway today. It seems we have managed to leave Winter behind and charge ahead with Spring. The trees are blooming, the sun is warm on the back and face, there’s a light breeze and the air is Irish Spring fresh. I think today is the kind of day Colgate-Palmolive had in mind when coming up with a clever marketing name. I’m feeling nostalgic lately. I had a strawberry for the first time in a long while. It reminded me of picking them fresh with my grandma back in Indiana. I think Spring is one of the best seasons since it is a time to start fresh. The semester is coming to a close and project deadlines are looming, but we can all take a step forward and start something new.

I’m off for a marathon training run to blow off some stress and take advantage of this amazing day. Tomorrow, Erin’s parents arrive in Shannon and we’ll head off for a long weekend tour of the West of Ireland. Great places to see, memories to be made, and pictures to keep. I’ll take along my journal and keep you posted on my Irish travels.

UPDATE: I just found this article about Irish Spring in The Onion. Brilliant!

They finally managed to do it. The DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams have managed to reach an accord that restores self government to Northern Ireland and divides the power in the Northern Ireland Assembly Executive after an hour long meeting in Stormont’s Parliament Buildings dining room. Rev Paisley will take the First Minister position while Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin will hold the Executive office of Deputy First Minister.

Today marked the deadline of reaching an agreement between the loyalists and the Irish Republicans in the Executive, otherwise the newly elected Assembly would have been dissolved as it has been since October 2002.

Rev Ian Paisley

“Our goal has been to see devolution returned in a context where it can make a real, meaningful improvement in the lives of all the people of this part of the United Kingdom.”

Gerry Adams

“I believe the agreement reached between Sinn Féin and the DUP - including the unequivocal commitment made by their party executive and reiterated today - to the restoration of political institutions on 8 May marks the beginning of a new era of politics on this island.”

Devolution of Government

The two sides voted on a resolution to form the new administration on Saturday as Paisley and McGuinness pledged a six week test of Sinn Féin’s support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The parties certainly have much work ahead to mend wounds and settle differences, but this historic agreement is a big step forward. I write all of this as a bystander, so if you have grown up in Ireland I would love to hear what you think about this new found power sharing agreement.

*UPDATE*
Take part in the poll for this post at the right…

I walked outside this morning and was inspired by the crisp and cloudy Spring St. Paddy’s Day eve (click on the photo to open the photoset in a new window). I decided that I was going to take some photos of the things that I walk by and take for granted. Galway is truly a beautiful city with so much to offer. I felt like a tourist in my own town (it’s still a little weird to think that I live here) and there are certainly plenty of tourists around this weekend. Erin’s parents are coming in a few weeks so I decided to brush up on some scenes of Galway. This post is dedicated to those who have visited us, those who plan to visit us, and those who won’t be able to visit.

I started off by taking a few shots of our flower boxes and pots. We also have a patio garden but not much is happening there right now, though I did plant some wildflower seeds last weekend so my son and I are keeping an eye out for little sprouts. Meanwhile back in the Midwestern US where we’re from, they are still recovering from a boatload of snow. Sorry guys!

I grabbed my bike and headed for Eyre Square, originally a jousting area outside the city walls of Medieval Galway, now the center of town with Kennedy Park in the center, named for JFK’s visit to Galway in 1963, flags of the crests of the original Galway tribes, and a cool metal sculpture representing the famous Galway Hooker fishing boat. I also grabbed a shot of the Skeffington Arms Hotel and Pub because the two flags of Ireland surrounding the flag of Galway were begging to be photographed as they flapped in the breeze on this Paddy’s Day eve. I hopped back on my bike and flew through the narrow streets passing the congestion with ease, thankful that I wasn’t bogged down by an internal combustion engine.

I made it to NUI Galway campus and had never noticed the color scheme of the flowers at the main entrance. Had these always been white and maroon, the school colors? As I said, it’s easy to take everyday things for granted. I some nice shots of the long row of daffodils with the Quad in the background before heading over there to get some artistic shots of the inside of the Quad as viewed from one of the sets of arches. Next, I headed to the other side of campus and rode along a path the follows the River Corrib upstream, past some castle ruins and then to the pitches where some footballers were practicing. I turned around since it was almost time for class and got some great shots of a massive field of daffodils on the back side of the Cairnes Graduate School of Business.

After class, I headed back into town to find the streets buzzing with tourists. I decided to take a few snaps of St. Nicolas Collegiate Church, supposedly the oldest building still in use in Galway dating from the 14th century. I also took a few shots of the street where the weekly farmers’ market is held next to the famous Sheridan’s Cheesemongers. One of the the best scenes I captured today was at The King’s Head pub, one of the oldest in Galway and my favorite place to grab a pint and catch some music. The back of the King’s Head is also about 50 metres from my apartment, nice eh? They were so stocked full of beer kegs for the big day tomorrow that they had no room to store them so the kegs were strewn about outside the front and the back of the pub. It was brilliant!

I proceeded down Buttermilk Lane and caught a few shots of An Taibhdearc, the national Gaelic theatre of Ireland. It’s just behind The King’s Head Pub and shows plays, musicals, and each fall, Music at the Crossroads, a fusion of modern and traditional Irish music. We saw this last September and it was amazing. Read more about An Taibhdearc on Wikipedia. Finally, I just had to get a shot of the Galway Head Store before heading home, just around the corner.

I plan to continue this series of taking snaps of scenes from Galway. So stay tuned!

I saw this great leprechaun on a poster on NUIG campus today that caught my attention. So, I thought I would give you a taste of St. Paddy’s Day events coming up in and around Galway with some fun facts about the holiday in general.

The leprechaun was advertising the Voluntary Services Abroad Céilí which takes place tomorrow at Cuba on Eyre Square. What’s a céilí, you ask? Well, it’s a Gaelic social dance that is popular especially around St. Paddy’s Day. The céilí is usually accompanied by a fiddle, flute, tin whistle, accordion, and bodhrán. The VSA céilí is on at Cuba Thursday, 15 March in Cuba at 8 pm for €5 with free admission to the nightclub after. Proceeds to benefit VSA in their mission of medical students that bring supplies to developing countries around the world. I plan to go because it supports a wonderful cause and sounds like great craic!

St. Paddy’s Day is celebrated all over the the world with parades, céilís, festivals, and drink. Here’s a sampling of what’s going on this week. Dublin will host over 200,000 people for it’s parade on Saturday but that’s only the icing on the cake. The official St. Patrick’s Day Festival in Dublin actually starts Thursday and will continue until the bank holiday on Monday the 19th. So much for St. Paddy’s Day, now it’s basically a week! Meanwhile, New York City lays claim to the largest St. Paddy’s Day parade in the world, which boasts 2 million spectators. To put that into perspective, that’s about twice the population of Dublin! I guess it makes sense considering so many Irish emigrated to NYC in the 19th and 20th centuries.

As for St. Patrick’s Day in Galway, there’s plenty in store. Some of my German friends are planning a pre-drinking brunch Saturday morning that “should soak up some of the booze 2 come” as one of them said in a text to me earlier today. Then, we’ll head into town for the parade which starts on the west side of the River Corrib and makes its way up Dominic St to Bridge St, up Mainguard then Shop St before finishing around Eyre Square. This parade is pretty impressive for a small city such as Galway, as it will attract over 50,000 spectators. That’s about 3/4 of the population of the city. The route will pass within one block of my apartment so I won’t need to go very far to be part of the action. Finally, the Town Hall Theatre Galway Céilí is on at 9 pm which will feature Breton and Irish Dancing.

So while you other Americans are pretending to claim Irish heritage on Saturday and think celebrating St. Paddy’s means turning Budweiser piss water green, I’ll be having a proper pint (pints) of Guinness and listening to some authentic Irish tunes.

Well…the blog love is thick around here! I’ve gotten a great response since I posted Everyone’s a (blog) critic. I just received a nice shout-out from my fellow American blogger/postgraduate/actress Macoosh today. This is her response to my post about her a while back.

Macoosh is an ultra-prolific blogger living and studying in Dublin. I was scanning through some of her older posts and there’s some pretty deep stuff, some LOST spoilers, and some good laughs with her camera on eyebrows and writing. I can definitely relate to the latter with my gasoline tax research in full swing.

The header image is great with the failte (welcome) sign and the sheep. It really captures some good bits of Ireland. Macoosh’s blog is much like mine in that we both write about our studies abroad in Ireland as postgraduates and everyday things we encounter. Her specialty topic is LOST, as I mentioned. I think she’s addicted to the show. I must say, I’ve recently caught up to be current with the new season and I am really liking it as well. Her writing style is very free-spirited and off-the-cuff. Reflection of a Dream, or as most people refer to it, A chuisle mo chroí… is just that, “the pulse of her heart.” She writes what she feels.

Keep up the great work, Macoosh!

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