There is a general misconception amongst Americans that everyone outside of the states think we are all fat, dumb, and lazy. US Citizens often think that foreigners hate us and that when you find yourself in a European bar you should say you're Canadian and they'll be more receptive (they can't really tell the difference in the accents anyway). All of that is rubbish and if you find yourself visiting Ireland forget all of that nonsense... well except that they do really love Canadians.
Since being in Ireland I have noticed that far from being looked down upon as an American, that more frequently they love you for being one. Here is some evidence to that point. I first felt the love in Galway. The first night I was talking to a group of international students that came to Ireland to learn english. When they heard I was from Philly their eyes lit up and one of them put his hands in the air and said, "FLYERS!!!" while another did a Rocky impersonation. The band subsequently played all American tunes as all the Irish screamed along to the songs. The following evening in Galway, as a group of us were walking to the pub, a group of young Irish people over heard us speaking to each other with an American "twang" and subsequently turned around and yelled, "Americans!!! WE LOVE YOU!" to which of course being the only one who heard them yelling turned around and returned in kind that we loved them also. It was nice that even though they are fed MTV and all of our crap sitcoms that make us look bad, that they still love us... maybe Dr. Phil swayed their opinion with some soothing conflict management approaches.
The next evidence came at the Callaghan wedding. Now I know it's family so they are innately more receptive, but I had some very interesting conversations. Politically, the world looks to the US, and generally aren't as critical of it as people seem to think. Even when the US government does something that is viewed upon as the world as bad, the general disdain will be directed at the government and not at the US citizens. The one conversation that adds to the love came late in evening when I was speaking with some of the young men. One had traveled to America for a time of short study and business. He told me that he found the most intelligent people in the world were in America. He said he was floored by the amount of, what he perceived as, the brightest minds in all the world that America has. We spoke for a long while of politics and the global economic situation. The Irish are highly supportive of Barack Obama and follow our elections very closely. My teacher even stopped class to show the inauguration and we had a short discussion of it.
The last bit of evidence for you comes from last night. I was out on my own because my two roommates left for an 11 day trip to Italy while I have a trip to Northern Ireland on Tuesday. I went to Fitsimons in the Temple Bar area and went all the way up top to the open air part of it (5th floor, big place). I had a great time talking to Terry the barman. He was ragging on some American girls just to wind them up a bit and when he was done I mentioned that us Americans aren't all that bad. He responded, "Of course, I was only messin with them. I LOVE America. I've been there 18 times to all different parts NY, Boston, Philly, Miami, Texas, California... Absolutely love it, truly the greatest place on the face of the earth." We spoke all night, he was quite the showman up there and was very funny. He loves 2pac and has multiple tattoos showing so... like Outlaw on this back. He also told me he was one of the only ones in Ireland that could tell the difference between an American and Canadian accent... that the Canadians say, "eh" a lot.
It is hard to realize the influence of the US until you get outside of it. Half of the programing on my TV is American, the majority of the movies they see are produced in America and the music follows the same trend as well. Also, the Irish credit America with greatly helping the Northern Ireland peace process and they also give credit to the Irish-American community for helping keep their culture alive (e.g. Irish music was first recorded in America and helped to preserve it). In many ways, the strength of the Irish-American community has made them more Irish than the Irish themselves. To wrap it all up here is another piece of evidence that I had forgotten. My roommates met an old man traveling around Dublin who was American born and since has moved all around the world, staying for years in Italy, Africa, and now Ireland. He said, "Never lose your accent." The accent shows you're American and being American is something you should be proud of. I am proud of where I was born and raised as well as my heritage in Ireland. One thing I am very happy to have learned since being here is that it truly is a misconception that the world hates Americans... well except the French, they really DO hate everyone.
P.S.
Oh and I have to add to the sayings I hear all the time. The younger generation often says, "That's so class" when speaking of something cool. How was it? "It was sooo class"
I like it!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Two More Weeks in Middle Earth
I haven't updated in over a week an 1/2 and I apologize for it! I haven't done anything to dramatically exciting in a small period of time so I had to stretch it out in order to make it a little bit more interesting.
As far as notable scholarly events, as I am one to partake in, we visited Newgrange last friday. It is one of the most decorated and architecturally impressive stone tombs of eastern Europe. It's also over 5000 years old. The chambers were my-size (very small) and narrow to get into, but once in it was remarkable how they made a roof out of stones. During the time of the year the sun is at it's lowest, it is designed for it to shine in to the structure. Of all though, I most enjoyed the initials "TGC 1800" on a nearby stone.
We also took a trip this Friday to the Museum of Natural History in Dublin on Kildare street. I couldn't take any pictures so you won't see them, but some of the objects are so ornate for their time period it's incredible to see. There was lots of gold jewelry and tribal horns but the best part of all were the bog bodies. There are four bodies that archaeologists have taken out of bogs in ireland that were well preserved from the nature of a bog. The most impressive one to me was a 6-6 man who's hands are perfectly preserved (and they are massive). Unfortunately for him he was sacrificed by being cut in half, beheaded, and thrown into the bog. This was the case for most of them so you don't really get to see whole bodies!
Other than that the classes have become very interesting. I'm learning more and more Irish even though I'm not great at it and for my group project two others and I are going to perform some Irish trad music. The Peace and Conflict studies courses have been fantastic. In the Conflict resolution one we have got into debates over current and past conflicts, to which I tend to sit back and observe because the class is mostly female, so the arguments tend to have different approaches than what I'm used to. In the history class we argued, putting it basically, security vs. freedom. More specifically it was, "When is it right for a government to repress a section of the population?" This was very intriguing to me because I've debated in my security classes a dozen times over the question of security vs. freedom and this was a class made up of majors that had never heard this question. For this reason I sat back again and listened to what the photography, theater, television broadcasting, and business majors had to say about it. Lastly, my class titled Northern Irish Perspectives has been phenomenal. It is a class instructed by highly recognized journalist Brendan O'Brien who speaks for about 40 minutes and then brings in a guest. The guests that he is able to bring in, once you have studied a little bit about the conflict, are incredible. For example, and this is mostly for Uncle Larry as I don't think most would know these people, these are the people we have heard from already: Dr. Brian Feeney (Author of "Sinn Fein", co-author "Lost Lives", political columnist, historian, former Belfast City Councillor with SDLP) Susan McKay (Journalist, author of "Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People" and "Bear in Mind These Dead") Martin Ferris TD (member of the Irish Parliament, senior Sinn Fein negotiator, former senior IRA activist). After that we hear from Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (HUGE figure in the conflict, former president of Sinn Fein, led during the 70's, the height of the conflict) Liz O'Donnell (Former minister of the state foreign affairs, Irish government negotiator at good friday agreement, former deputy leader progressive democrat party) Roy Garland (Unionist, former loyalist/Protestant militant, biographer of Gutsy Spence loyalist military leader) Col Mike Dewar (Military intelligence expert, former British Army officer in NI) Gareth Porter/Mary Metcalfe (H.U.R.T. Victims Group) and then a final speaker to be decided. As you can see, even if you do not know any of them, the list is quite impressive. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is this up coming weeks lecturer and he was a surprise one. He is probably the biggest fish of all. If you want me to ask any specific questions let me know!
In other news, I've made my own pizza... thrilling. I've actually been experimenting with food since I've got to Ireland because it would be ridiculously expensive to ever eat out. This weekend I've had the kitchen to myself so I decided to try my hand at a home made pizza. I didn't make the pizza sauce this time but plan to in the future (I just have to find a store with all the spices I need) but I did make the most important part, the dough. Using a little help from Mr. Internet I found simple recipes to use. The first couple turned out fine, which I was very proud of, but I knew what I had to improve. Luckily, again, I was able to find out what my mistakes were online. I think by the end of the semester, even with extremely limited resources, I'll be able to make a half decent pie! That and I'm getting good at making killer breakfasts.
I've also had the chance to hang out with Aine Callaghan a couple times since I last wrote. I took my roommates with me last weekend to meet her at Bondi night club and last night Aine, Lorraine, Aisling and I all went out to various places. I don't have pictures but I know Aine does and once we figure out how to find each other online I'll be able to steal them (if you got the whole bebo email disaster that's why, she uses that). Also, I've planned one trip while I'm here. My roommates have already taken two (to Paris and currently in London) but I wasn't all about how expensive they would be so I held off. The one trip that we have planned now is Amsterdam, which happens to be over my birthday weekend. It should be a blast!
Sorry for not posting for awhile and a shout out to Mrs. Cain as my newest subscriber! I've also noticed Meg and Sarah are on board, hope it's worth it.
Phrases I've heard often:
Any good Craic?
He's a legend.
Stunning.
Oh that's deadly!
Half 9 (9:30).
Thanks a million.
Phrases they don't hear very often:
Awesome....
Dude.
Any surfer lingo every spoken.
Have a nice day, have a good one.
Peace homes... well I don't really say that but you know what I mean.
And for you Helen & Laura, no one over here says, "Aight. Yeeeah I seen dat. Choo know. Pssh guurl you better back up 'awf' me"
P.S. Remind me to walk around with 3 beautiful cousins all the time, it saves on cover charges!
As far as notable scholarly events, as I am one to partake in, we visited Newgrange last friday. It is one of the most decorated and architecturally impressive stone tombs of eastern Europe. It's also over 5000 years old. The chambers were my-size (very small) and narrow to get into, but once in it was remarkable how they made a roof out of stones. During the time of the year the sun is at it's lowest, it is designed for it to shine in to the structure. Of all though, I most enjoyed the initials "TGC 1800" on a nearby stone.
We also took a trip this Friday to the Museum of Natural History in Dublin on Kildare street. I couldn't take any pictures so you won't see them, but some of the objects are so ornate for their time period it's incredible to see. There was lots of gold jewelry and tribal horns but the best part of all were the bog bodies. There are four bodies that archaeologists have taken out of bogs in ireland that were well preserved from the nature of a bog. The most impressive one to me was a 6-6 man who's hands are perfectly preserved (and they are massive). Unfortunately for him he was sacrificed by being cut in half, beheaded, and thrown into the bog. This was the case for most of them so you don't really get to see whole bodies!
Other than that the classes have become very interesting. I'm learning more and more Irish even though I'm not great at it and for my group project two others and I are going to perform some Irish trad music. The Peace and Conflict studies courses have been fantastic. In the Conflict resolution one we have got into debates over current and past conflicts, to which I tend to sit back and observe because the class is mostly female, so the arguments tend to have different approaches than what I'm used to. In the history class we argued, putting it basically, security vs. freedom. More specifically it was, "When is it right for a government to repress a section of the population?" This was very intriguing to me because I've debated in my security classes a dozen times over the question of security vs. freedom and this was a class made up of majors that had never heard this question. For this reason I sat back again and listened to what the photography, theater, television broadcasting, and business majors had to say about it. Lastly, my class titled Northern Irish Perspectives has been phenomenal. It is a class instructed by highly recognized journalist Brendan O'Brien who speaks for about 40 minutes and then brings in a guest. The guests that he is able to bring in, once you have studied a little bit about the conflict, are incredible. For example, and this is mostly for Uncle Larry as I don't think most would know these people, these are the people we have heard from already: Dr. Brian Feeney (Author of "Sinn Fein", co-author "Lost Lives", political columnist, historian, former Belfast City Councillor with SDLP) Susan McKay (Journalist, author of "Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People" and "Bear in Mind These Dead") Martin Ferris TD (member of the Irish Parliament, senior Sinn Fein negotiator, former senior IRA activist). After that we hear from Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (HUGE figure in the conflict, former president of Sinn Fein, led during the 70's, the height of the conflict) Liz O'Donnell (Former minister of the state foreign affairs, Irish government negotiator at good friday agreement, former deputy leader progressive democrat party) Roy Garland (Unionist, former loyalist/Protestant militant, biographer of Gutsy Spence loyalist military leader) Col Mike Dewar (Military intelligence expert, former British Army officer in NI) Gareth Porter/Mary Metcalfe (H.U.R.T. Victims Group) and then a final speaker to be decided. As you can see, even if you do not know any of them, the list is quite impressive. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is this up coming weeks lecturer and he was a surprise one. He is probably the biggest fish of all. If you want me to ask any specific questions let me know!
In other news, I've made my own pizza... thrilling. I've actually been experimenting with food since I've got to Ireland because it would be ridiculously expensive to ever eat out. This weekend I've had the kitchen to myself so I decided to try my hand at a home made pizza. I didn't make the pizza sauce this time but plan to in the future (I just have to find a store with all the spices I need) but I did make the most important part, the dough. Using a little help from Mr. Internet I found simple recipes to use. The first couple turned out fine, which I was very proud of, but I knew what I had to improve. Luckily, again, I was able to find out what my mistakes were online. I think by the end of the semester, even with extremely limited resources, I'll be able to make a half decent pie! That and I'm getting good at making killer breakfasts.
I've also had the chance to hang out with Aine Callaghan a couple times since I last wrote. I took my roommates with me last weekend to meet her at Bondi night club and last night Aine, Lorraine, Aisling and I all went out to various places. I don't have pictures but I know Aine does and once we figure out how to find each other online I'll be able to steal them (if you got the whole bebo email disaster that's why, she uses that). Also, I've planned one trip while I'm here. My roommates have already taken two (to Paris and currently in London) but I wasn't all about how expensive they would be so I held off. The one trip that we have planned now is Amsterdam, which happens to be over my birthday weekend. It should be a blast!
Sorry for not posting for awhile and a shout out to Mrs. Cain as my newest subscriber! I've also noticed Meg and Sarah are on board, hope it's worth it.
Phrases I've heard often:
Any good Craic?
He's a legend.
Stunning.
Oh that's deadly!
Half 9 (9:30).
Thanks a million.
Phrases they don't hear very often:
Awesome....
Dude.
Any surfer lingo every spoken.
Have a nice day, have a good one.
Peace homes... well I don't really say that but you know what I mean.
And for you Helen & Laura, no one over here says, "Aight. Yeeeah I seen dat. Choo know. Pssh guurl you better back up 'awf' me"
P.S. Remind me to walk around with 3 beautiful cousins all the time, it saves on cover charges!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Wild Family Weekend
Talk about a wild and amazing weekend I had. I was lucky enough to be blessed with good timing. I finally felt I had enough time to contact Veronica, my Mom Mom's first cousin, who lives in county Dublin. She told me that their was a wedding reception for her son Stephen on Saturday night and that all but one or two of the Callaghan family would be there. A truly rare occurance. She invited me to come and of course I obliged (you really had to drag me kicking and screaming ;)
It was held at the St. Helen's Radisson Hotel, a five star hotel on the south side which is about 4km south east of Rathgar where I live. I believe the marriage ceremony was held privately in county wicklow.
It was pretty easy for Veronica to tell who I was when I walked in because I didn't have a suit with me in Ireland. Instead I just had nice pants and a button down. The first hour they called a "drink hour" rather than a cocktail hour. They made short work of introducing me to everyone. I don't think I had to move at all, people just came or were dragged to me. Some of them I had recognized in photos and by name since they either visited the US before or my parents had visited them in mayo. My first impression of the family was that I could have picked them out as mine in a line up. Many looked similar to other cousins I have, but more the older generation for obvious reasons. It was sort of an older affair there also, as the youngest was 16 and then probably me next. I tell you what though, the Callaghans are gorgeous just like all of my first cousins!
The first hour was pretty tame. I met a bunch of people so I was just trying to remember names and faces. I had a drink with long lost uncles and we had a 2 minute speech by the groom. Dinner was then served buffet style. I found my seat with the younger crowd under "Andrew Clayton". The food and chat were very good as me and the 16 year old Fergal talked about sports, he plays gaelic football. I was also able to pick up on where people were from based on their accents. The one boyfriend was from northern ireland and I was able to guess it, which I am pretty proud of. For food they served soup or salad and rolls to start and for the entre a pasta/kiesh sorta thing, salmon, chicken (I think) and some steak. Desert they had chocolate pie, cheesecake, and all sorts of things. In fact it was a little too much for desert. The meal lasted along while and they didn't have any music on during it. After the meal the bar turned into a cash-bar and that's when things started to get a bit nuts. They moved some tables out of the way and started the music. The DJ was god awful and couldn't keep people on the dance floor until the very end of the night, so people mainly stuck to the bar like glue.
The guys involved in the wedding met me around the bar and said they wanted to see if I was really related, not just in blood. So they forced me to chug a Guinness to see if I could and if so how fast. Well I couldn't refuse and didn't try to, so I downed it faster than almost any of them could which was in about 4-5 seconds (not too bad). They claimed respect for me and confirmed that I was related. After that I was in for the rest of the night. I was getting bought drinks left and right. When someone would order a drink, they would say, "And a Guinness for him too!" without me asking. The only drinks I bought the whole way was one round for me, the bride, and groom. The entire night was filled with good stories and meeting interesting people. Stephen now lives in Dubai and works as a pilot for the royal family which is apparently a dream job. He said that one weekend they got stuck at their hunting mansion in Pakistan, and for the "inconvience" of it they gave him an envelope filled with cash! At one point I was picked up on the dance floor and carried around. The one out-of-family boyfriend stated to me afterward, "You've gone from the token american to the trophyamerican."
Here's what the big difference was between our weddings and theirs though or at least this one. At ours it is more out of control from 6 until about 11 or so, for theirs the DJ was awful so it wasn't that nuts during the allotted time and just kept going until about 12. After 12 the majority of the people that weren't too old went upstairs to the residents bar. We sang, talked politics, and had drinks late into the morning. I was proud that when they started the Irish songs I actually knew them and could sing along. I felt it about time to leavearound 5:30 but I knew a couple of them weren't going to stop. Breakfast is normally served at an Irish wedding.
The best way to sum up the night is with what a few of them said after I was singing along with them, "Get me a family tree, we need to pencil Andrew in!" I did my best to be a good ambassador to our Irish family and I think that last night was a huge success. A couple of the young ones live in Dublin and we already have plans to go out wednesday night. A few of them play the fiddle too so they are going to help teach me some songs. I kept my composure the whole way through and made sure to keep the amount of drinks they wanted to buy me under control (which I did a good job of). I think Mom was in the back of my head pointing her finger going, "hey boom, don't let them force you too much!" haha
I could go on and on about the conversations I had, this is really just a start of what was really an awe inspiring night and the connecting of two families that I was lucky enough to help make happen. They were all very proud of what our family has become in America and how close we all are. More than one of the pictures I have taken were specifically stated, "For your granny! She'll love it."
So to all in the Hayes camp, the night was a HUGE success.
It was held at the St. Helen's Radisson Hotel, a five star hotel on the south side which is about 4km south east of Rathgar where I live. I believe the marriage ceremony was held privately in county wicklow.
It was pretty easy for Veronica to tell who I was when I walked in because I didn't have a suit with me in Ireland. Instead I just had nice pants and a button down. The first hour they called a "drink hour" rather than a cocktail hour. They made short work of introducing me to everyone. I don't think I had to move at all, people just came or were dragged to me. Some of them I had recognized in photos and by name since they either visited the US before or my parents had visited them in mayo. My first impression of the family was that I could have picked them out as mine in a line up. Many looked similar to other cousins I have, but more the older generation for obvious reasons. It was sort of an older affair there also, as the youngest was 16 and then probably me next. I tell you what though, the Callaghans are gorgeous just like all of my first cousins!
The first hour was pretty tame. I met a bunch of people so I was just trying to remember names and faces. I had a drink with long lost uncles and we had a 2 minute speech by the groom. Dinner was then served buffet style. I found my seat with the younger crowd under "Andrew Clayton". The food and chat were very good as me and the 16 year old Fergal talked about sports, he plays gaelic football. I was also able to pick up on where people were from based on their accents. The one boyfriend was from northern ireland and I was able to guess it, which I am pretty proud of. For food they served soup or salad and rolls to start and for the entre a pasta/kiesh sorta thing, salmon, chicken (I think) and some steak. Desert they had chocolate pie, cheesecake, and all sorts of things. In fact it was a little too much for desert. The meal lasted along while and they didn't have any music on during it. After the meal the bar turned into a cash-bar and that's when things started to get a bit nuts. They moved some tables out of the way and started the music. The DJ was god awful and couldn't keep people on the dance floor until the very end of the night, so people mainly stuck to the bar like glue.
The guys involved in the wedding met me around the bar and said they wanted to see if I was really related, not just in blood. So they forced me to chug a Guinness to see if I could and if so how fast. Well I couldn't refuse and didn't try to, so I downed it faster than almost any of them could which was in about 4-5 seconds (not too bad). They claimed respect for me and confirmed that I was related. After that I was in for the rest of the night. I was getting bought drinks left and right. When someone would order a drink, they would say, "And a Guinness for him too!" without me asking. The only drinks I bought the whole way was one round for me, the bride, and groom. The entire night was filled with good stories and meeting interesting people. Stephen now lives in Dubai and works as a pilot for the royal family which is apparently a dream job. He said that one weekend they got stuck at their hunting mansion in Pakistan, and for the "inconvience" of it they gave him an envelope filled with cash! At one point I was picked up on the dance floor and carried around. The one out-of-family boyfriend stated to me afterward, "You've gone from the token american to the trophyamerican."
Here's what the big difference was between our weddings and theirs though or at least this one. At ours it is more out of control from 6 until about 11 or so, for theirs the DJ was awful so it wasn't that nuts during the allotted time and just kept going until about 12. After 12 the majority of the people that weren't too old went upstairs to the residents bar. We sang, talked politics, and had drinks late into the morning. I was proud that when they started the Irish songs I actually knew them and could sing along. I felt it about time to leavearound 5:30 but I knew a couple of them weren't going to stop. Breakfast is normally served at an Irish wedding.
The best way to sum up the night is with what a few of them said after I was singing along with them, "Get me a family tree, we need to pencil Andrew in!" I did my best to be a good ambassador to our Irish family and I think that last night was a huge success. A couple of the young ones live in Dublin and we already have plans to go out wednesday night. A few of them play the fiddle too so they are going to help teach me some songs. I kept my composure the whole way through and made sure to keep the amount of drinks they wanted to buy me under control (which I did a good job of). I think Mom was in the back of my head pointing her finger going, "hey boom, don't let them force you too much!" haha
I could go on and on about the conversations I had, this is really just a start of what was really an awe inspiring night and the connecting of two families that I was lucky enough to help make happen. They were all very proud of what our family has become in America and how close we all are. More than one of the pictures I have taken were specifically stated, "For your granny! She'll love it."
So to all in the Hayes camp, the night was a HUGE success.
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