Happy New(ish) Year! And Ireland, part I

Much catching up to do.

Most fun I've had in 2010: learning the Misfits' One Last Caress on acoustic guitar, using full chords rather than power chords. Hilarity! It sounds so much brighter with full major chords, with is an even more fun contrast with the words (ex: "I raped your mother today, and it didn't matter much to me as long as she spread").

Least fun I've had in 2010: The rain and the cold, especially cold apartment and cold showers. And the constant fuse-blowing despite using very little electricity. Also, not having been paid since Dec. 2, and a bank account running on empty since getting to Ireland (many thanks to Becky, D & P, and mom for the help this past month!). Seriously, the cold is more of a presence than it ever was in New York, because even though it was colder, there was always a warm place to go back to. This apartment, with gas-heated water and puny spacer heaters that have recently been tripping fuses left and right, can be really uncomfortable.

In December, I visited Ireland for the first time, along with Becky, the other American teacher who lives in Martos (other, as in aside from my three roommates).
It had its ups and downs, (I missed my friends and family) but overall a blast.

First up was Belfast, were we took a black cab tour of the neighborhoods around the "Peace Wall" which was erected 40 years ago to separate the warring Catholic (and pro-Irish independence) and Protestant (and pro-British unity) factions. Lots of info and notes from there, but I'm not quite sure what to do with them, I think I may do more research on the Troubles before writing more. The people at our hostel were pretty cool, and we saw some good live Irish music at the pub recommended by the hostel manager.

(This mural, in the Protestant neighborhood of Shankill, had a neat visual trick, where the gunman seemed to be aiming for you wherever you walked).


From Belfast we took a bus tour to see a ruined castle and then the Giant's Causeway, one of the most famous places to visit in Ireland. The Causeway is a rocky beach formed by hexagonal stones and columns. There are supposedly 40,000 columns, formed ages ago when molten basalt cooled after coming into contact with the ocean.




It gets its name from a legend in which Irish giant Finn McCool built a bridge to Scotland in order to fight the Scottish giant Benandonner. Benandonner accepted McCool's challenge and began to walk across. But when Finn McCool saw how enormous his enemy was, he realized he couldn't beat him, and ran to his wife, Oonagh, for help. Oonagh disguised her husband as a baby and built a crib for him near the shore. When Benandonner reach the Irish shore, he asked Oonagh where he might find McCool. Oonagh told him that he was out hunting to get food for his wife and baby, but would return soon. Seeing the size of the infant, and fearing to face the father of such an enormous baby, Benandonner fled back to Scotland, tearing up the bridge behind him. All that remains are the parts on either end - a similar, though smaller rock formation occurs on the southwest Scottish coast. There are other variations of the story, but this one is simplest and has all the most commonly used elements.