I can't believe it's only just after 9 in the morning in California. I've already braved the sea of green and gone to the Dublin City St. Patrick's Day Parade, and lived to tell the tale!
First of all, did I write yesterday? I don't forget. (HAHA, I meant to say "I don't remember." Wow. I'm tired.) I DID write. I wrote about the tour. Well, I went to the church event in the evening - which was the International Student's Cafe that people from the church put on. The idea is that so many students from other countries come to Ireland (Dublin especially) to learn English, and often they're lonely and looking for people to hang out with and practice English with and whatnot. So people from the church put on a "Cafe" every Friday night, and basically we just all eat a meal together and hang out and try to get to know the students. It's a brilliant idea, I think, and it was a ton of fun! There are theme nights sometimes, and last night's was Irish Night (due to the festivities of today). So we had Irish stew and live music, and (surprise surprise) "The Wild Rover" was the last song they played, so it's in my head again. I can't escape that song...
Anyway. I wasn't sure at all what to expect, but as I said, it was a ton of fun. I sat down at a table and soon had been introduced to a Japanese girl, a French girl, a German girl, and an Irish girl. Nearby tables had students from Korea, China, Panama, France, Japan, and more from Ireland. There was one other American, but he's one of the leaders. It was quite the diverse group, and it was nice to meet more people like myself who are away from home and wandering around Ireland for a few months. Also, funny story - at the end of the night as we were all saying goodbye, the Japanese girl came up to me and said, "I'm not sure how to say it in English... I want to give compliment. You have very straight back. While we were eating, we were all - like this -" (slouching) "- and you were so... straight! It's... it's nice." hahahaha. I told her that's a good compliment to give someone.
Oh, okay, also. I'm not being racist or anything, but this was just hilarious - you know in "The Wild Rover" how you clap four times during the chorus? Well, this same Japanese girl couldn't really get a handle on it so I was showing her when to clap, and from then on she kept referring to it as the "crap". I mean she was SAYING "clap", it just... didn't turn out to sound that way. hahahahaa.
Well! Hello. Just after I wrote that last paragraph, Aaron ran up and told me that the family was watching "The Adventures of Tintin" so I went and watched it with them. Then we had dinner... cleaned dinner up... and watched "Family Fortune" (the British equivalent of "Family Feud", although much more endearing and not as hideously annoying as the latter. Also, the host reminds me of Dick van Dyke). So now Ray and Carole are chasing the boys around, trying to get them into the bath so that they can go to bed. That's been going on for about twenty minutes... it's a bit quieter now, though, so perhaps there was some success.
ANYhow. A lot of students last night were talking about going to the parade today, and telling me that I should go and all that... even the IRISH people (who said they wouldn't dream of going, themselves) told me that I ought to go, as long as I was here. Until last night I really had no inclination to go - I hate crowds, especially drunken ones. But a few other people wanted to go, and the fellow who is in charge of the cafe asked for someone to volunteer to meet them at the church in the morning and lead them to O'Connell Street... and I was kind of coerced into raising my hand. So, suddenly, I had Saturday plans. Arrangements were made, and although I had no idea who or how many would show up, I was committed to be at the church at 11:00 sharp. On the way home, I realized how silly that was of me - I had no way of getting to the church, and no idea where to go once I got there. But it all worked out - I researched transportation systems and memorized maps, and this morning I took the tram (the Luas, as it's called here) and made my way through the crowd to the church, and waited there for a half hour (during which time I drew pictures in my sketchbook and whistled Mr. Rogers songs). Eventually a French girl and three Japanese fellows showed up, and we waked to O'Connell Street together.
We really should have met an hour earlier so that we could actually get a place near the front; the whole street was at least 5 people deep against the gates. But I had it better than my companions - at least I'm tall. :) So I could see most things as they passed by, and I got a few really good pictures. I don't know if I'm patient enough to post those to Facebook tonight... but maybe. Even Grafton Street, the pedestrian shopping area where Molly Malone lives, was packed full of interesting people - there was a guy dressed as a bronze statue (I actually thought it WAS a statue... FREAKED me out.), a few street musicians, some sculptors sculpting things out of sand, face-paint artists, and one fellow who was standing as if frozen in time. He'd starched his tie and jacket so that they were flying up and back, and he was completely frozen - really, truly impressive. As a mime, I have immense respect for that kind of control! The parade itself was lots of fun - the costumes and makeup were amazing. And actually the crowds weren't so bad, so long as you did't act pushy or impatient with anyone. When it was all over, I left my friends to enjoy the city and headed back to Dalkey on the rather crowded DART train. I think I just beat the real crowds, too - it was mid afternoon by then, and I was surprised to see how many people were heading INto the city as I was heading out. I bet tonight's quite loud down in the city center.
Long story short, I'm glad I got sort of trapped into going today - I'd definitely have kicked myself if I hadn't gone to the Dublin Parade the one time that I'm here for it. I do miss having corned beef and Guinness with the family, though... we'll have to save that for when I come home in May. :)
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