A Weekend with Snakehips and Celtic Ligers (9/27-10/3)

Caheersiveen

I might be the worst blogger on the face of planet, but just as they say, you can either live your life or you can blog about it, right?

The past few weeks have gone by as the first weeks of school usually do--way too fast! I am finally figuring out my daily routine, how many times I can hit snooze before getting up, when the water in the shower will be hot, and when I can go to BLT (no, not the delicious sandwich but rather  stands for Buns Legs Tums!) or step it out!

Outside of class I've been exploring the music has to offer on Monday (9/27) I went to a 21+ club called Crane Lane (I must just emit an air of maturity) and watched a jazz/swing band perform. Wednesday (9/29) I drank a Guinness at a trad session at Spailpín Fánach, a VERY Irish name. This group was especially interesting. The accordion player looked like a thug soccer wanker person, the drummer was a blind man who was texting on his phone, and the rest were a haggard looking group of Oregonian-esque men complete with gortex jackets and beards. For my Irish Traditional Music class one of our assignments is to write a 1000 word essay comparing a trad music session and concert, basically a session takes place in a pub and is super casual with players coming and going as they please and playing whatever they want. So essentially, two of my professors have required me to go to pubs.

View of Skellig Islands from the telegraph plaque!

The most spectacular of my musical endeavors this week took place on an international student trip to the Ring of Kerry where I somehow found myself learning some traditional Irish dancing! But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. My roommate and I, Ruby, boarded the coach (one of probably 100 bus rides I've been on since being here in Ireland) and headed off towards Killarney to pick up students from Limerick and Dublin. On the way over we learned some common Irish phrases as we drove past thousands of red flags celebrating Cork bringing home Sam McGuire. Irish is by far the most confusing language to learn. It sounds like jibberish when you hear it spoken and it looks nothing like what it sounds like. For example, dia dhuit is how you say hello (er technically God is with you). But if someone says dia dhuit to you it is rude to say it back, you have to do one better and say "dia's Muire dhuit" meaning God and Mary are with you. Overall, the Irish language and me are not the most compatible pair, which stinks because speaking Irish is becoming more fashionable again. Friends of mine drop Irish phrases all the time and they are even opening more Irish-only schools. Most people don't speak Irish fluently, except for a few communities in the West.

On our walk over to the forts!

We knew we had officially crossed over into county Kerry when the festive red flags suddenly disappeared and were replaced by the occasional, sad green flags. Cork and Kerry have a notorious rivalry that's all in good fun except when talking about Gaelic football. But if the championship were to come down to Kerry and Dublin, the Rebels would swallow their pride and root for Kerry because as an Irish friend says, "Everybody hates Dublin." Marian, our group leader, caught us up on all the pranks the county fans had carried out as we pulled into the Killarney bus station/outlet mall.

View from top of Geokaun Mountain

With our bus filled to the brim with a variety of foreign exchange students we made the rest of the bus trip to our hotel in Cahersiveen. I'll probably end up saying this over and over, but the Ring of Kerry is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, the pictures from the window of the bus are even spectacular! After a few photo op stops we made it to the hotel and stuffed our faces with a delicious salmon dinner complete with the typical Irish spuds and steamed veg (I am not making this up, they call them spuds and veg). Full of warm food I was ready for a little food coma but instead Marian, a native Kerrywoman, had a friend of hers come and talk to us about life in Kerry.

West Kerry apparently is notorious for its lack of people and modern amenities, a lecturer of mine actually made a reference (while looking at the international students) that there's no way any of us had even heard of West Kerry, followed by a cackle. See, Corkers really don't think highly of Kerry! Our guest speaker was a Kerry native who had lived his whole life in West Kerry. Born in 1948, he looked about 75 and spoke with the best Kerry accent, which might even be harder to understand than the Cork accent. The way he described growing up in Kerry sounded like stories from Little House on the Prairie walking to school without shoes, getting smacked across the knuckles for spilling ink, and coming home and NOT having a TV (they didn't get a TV until 1976!)  Kerry is rural and I think during the entirety of my trip I saw more sheep than people!

Walking up to the top of the Mountain!

If you thought my immersion into Irish culture would stop with the guest speaker, forgetaboutit. From the speaker we went straight into our céilí dancing call with a live trad band! The trad band was a motley crew of three local boys that clearly owed Marian a favor and grudgingly put on their finest Hawaiian shirts to come teach the international students how to dance. You might think that Irish dancing is a little, um, silly looking but let me tell you it is a blast and a HALF. And what a workout! Marian taught us 5 dances full of hand holding, bouncing, and spinning around. Although I am not the most coordinated person in the world, I definitely was in the top of the curve in our group, which really isn't a very impressive feat. During our rests between dances we were entertained by either the really good dancers taking the stage or the trad band doing covers of bad American music ("Take it Easy" by the Eagles for example). I don't think I stopped smiling during the whole 1.5 hour dance session!

On the beach!

On Saturday we woke up, ate a traditional Irish breakfast of rashers, bacon, eggs, and wheatabix, and took a power nap before heading out to take in the beauty of the Ring of Kerry. We began the Skellig part of the tour by crossing over onto Valentia Island and stopping at the Foilhomerrum Cliff the site of the first permanent communication cable connecting Europe to the United States! The first message, according to the plaque, was "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will to all men." From the monument we headed to Valentia Island's highest point to take in all the stunning views.


Geokaun Mountain originally was just a sheep farm owned by a local Kerry family, but after the end of the Celtic Tiger and the decline in a demand for sheep's wool, the owner decided to take advantage of the stunning views and made a beautiful hill walk for tourists! Smart thinking. Because Marian is a Kerrywoman she knew the farmer and when we rolled in he was there, smoking a cigarette with his sheep dog, ready to tell us the story of his farm. Also, another example of great Kerry accent.

From the path you can see the the Miner's view, the Shepherd's view, and Carraig na Circe. I wish I had taken pictures of the plaques so I could say which view was which, but it was just too pretty to waste pictures on plaques! From different points on the path you can see the Skellig Rocks (where Skellig Michael, the World Heritage monastery is!), the Blasket Islands, Cromwell's lighthouse, Portmagee (yes, the name of a town), Fogher Cliffs, and lots of wildlife (chough, puffin, whales, etc). The trek to the top of the hill was definitely worth it.


From Geokaun Mountain we almost got killed driving in a coach on a tiny road on our way to the Grotto, apparently a famous slate quarry. It was pretty unimpressive, basically a cave full of machines with a statue of Mary perched above. The ride over did provide nice views and Marian encouraged us to "buy" a souvenir while visiting the quarry. With stolen slate in our pockets we completed the drive around Knightstown on Valentia Island, where most of the residents were employed by the telegraph company. More importantly, the road we were driving on is located next to the site of fossilized Acanthostega footprints aka tetrapods aka the first creature to crawl out of water and walk on land 365 million years ago!

Another O'Brien towerhouse!

Because we didn't come in the peak tourist season, the Island was virtually empty even at the Skellig Michael Experience Center. Boat tours out to the Islands are restricted by weather, so we didn't actually go to the Islands, but we did learn all about them! They tend to always be partially hidden by a layer of fog, making these islands extremely mysterious. One island is home to a group of hermit monks who built beehive huts without mortar 218 meters (670 steps) above the sea, while the other to a plethora of birds species. The Experience Center was a little sad without the hoards of tourists, but it was nice to have the place to ourselves. After watching a video and going through the exhibit we were treated to an Irish dance performance by the owner's two daughters. Now they could really dance!

After being put to shame by the 6 year old dancers, we headed off for a quick walk on Ballinskelligs Beach! On our way over to the beach Marian pointed out her house, her mother's house, her brother-in-laws house, the house of her aunt and uncle, the house of the boy she first dated, her cousin's house, and the house that used to be abandoned where they would play as kids. She told us stories of how in a village that consisted of 8 houses, when she was growing up there was a child population of 60! It was really a treat to have her guide us around her home and getting to hear the stories about every house we drove past.

Am I in the Shire right now?

We passed Saint Finian's Bay, apparently a big surf spot, and I really started getting excited; I was going to walk on a beach! Ballinskelligs Beach looks a lot like the Oregon coast and I almost exploded with joy! Ruby and I got really into the beach experience and took off our shoes and went for a little dip. Let me tell you, once you go wading on the Oregon Coast no other water will ever be considered cold. It's only cold if after 20 seconds your feet ache and are bright red. Right next to beach is another O'Brien tower house (archeology flashback!) and I got to impress all of my friends with my knowledge of the O'Brien legacy. Who knew archeology would come in handy some day?


After putting our socks back on our wet feet we boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel for lunch (yeah, that's right. We had done all of this BEFORE lunch.) We ate a traditional Irish lunch of tiny sandwiches, hot soup, and rolls followed by tea and coffee. Full of food we took 30 minutes to relax then headed out to Cahersiveen to do some exploring during our afternoon free time. Cahersiveen is a tiny little street of a town that was the birthplace of Daniel O'Connell, otherwise known as the Catholic Emancipator who fought for the Catholic right to vote during  British Rule. We wandered around the town ducking into little shops, visiting the giant cathedral (the only Irish cathedral named after a layperson, O'Connell), and spending the rest of the day in a little pub called the Anchor where there was a fireplace burning turf! What a cozy way to spend the afternoon.

Still full from lunch we headed back to the hotel followed by a new canine friend we had made and named Sheila. After dinner there was another guest speaker, this one a famous Kerry Gaelic football player. He came with his son and his talk almost made me cry. Call me a baby, but it was actually beautiful the way he described a Gaelic Football as a brotherhood representing every single person in their county, and how each person in the county supports the team. Basically, he talked about support, community, expressing yourself, and being part of a family in terms of this horribly gruesome sport. Having his son their really took it took the next level because it's rare to hear an Irishman talk about feelings let alone in front of his son! Maybe I read too much into it, but it was just beautiful! My fellow front rowers were then invited up to join his Gaelic football team so that we could visualize the many different positions and rules. He even cracked a joke about how big the celebration of Cork's 7th win was, and how he's sure the Kerry team celebrated during after their 7th championship win in 1926. They have since won 29 more times making their grand total 36.

After the speaker was the table quiz, which we knew from the get-go we would win because Ruby and I happen to be game show connoisseurs and we had picked our fellow teammates wisely (the Swedes taught us the Swedish equivalent of crossing your fingers). Team number 7 did in fact win in a sudden death showdown, although it was not without help from Marian's mother, aunt, uncle, and brother who were sitting next to us. The prize was Skellig chocolate (yum) and slate coasters from a church. Overall it was quite a successful day.


Sunday morning after eating breakfast we walked over to the Stone Forts outside of Cahersiveen. I don't know what it is about me, but for some reason I cannot go anywhere without visiting a fort of some sort! The walk over was more impressive than the forts, but that might just be my cynical archeology perspective coming out. While we were tromping on the ancient structures a downpour came out of nowhere (typical Ireland) and we all sought shelter in the souterrain, which Professor O taught us were added to ring forts during the era of Viking attacks. I don't know how effective it would be against Vikings, but it kept all 40 of us tourists dry!

Ladies' View, Killarney National Park

Our bus driver picked us up at the forts and we began our journey home. We drove through Waterville, Sneem, and stopped for a tour of Daniel O'Connell's house. Basically, Mr. O'Connell had one hell of an interior decorator and every picture I took was to document his fine home design. After Mr. O'Connell's house we stopped at various viewpoints to stretch our legs and document the amazing scenery. One of the more spectacular views was Ladies View, named after Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting made their visit in 1861. It is in the middle of the Killarney National Park a place I definitely hope to hike around sometime in the immediate future.


We returned home around 7:00, made dinner, and vegged out in front of the TV to prepare for the upcoming week of school that we were by no means prepared for!