Too Much Food and a Bit of Sean-Nós

Good afternoon, everyone! We had a half-day today, and so I finally have a moment to write an update.

Things have been going very well over here in Ireland. I am getting along nicely with the course. I am in the highest level offered, and I am finding it challenging but not undoable. My biggest problem right now—both in class and at home—is that I am usually able to understand the Irish spoken to me, but I have trouble speaking back. When it comes to languages, I have always been more of a grammar rather than a vocabulary person. So, while I understand what people are saying to me, I just don’t have enough confidence in my vocabulary to respond with conversation. Nevertheless, I do think that I am getting better with conversing in Irish. As times goes on, I am lightening up quite a bit: I am allowing myself to take chances and to not necessarily say everything correctly but at least to say something. It’s a bit uncomfortable at times, but that is why I am here.

As I said in my last post, I have never been fed so well as in Ireland. Honestly, our bean an tí prepares us three meals a day, each complete with three, four, or five courses. No, really. I’m not kidding. Apparently more than just the cows in Ireland have four stomachs! While I am completely grateful for the abundance of food and the absolutely generous nature of my bean an tí, I have had to refuse most of her food the last two days. I have honestly eaten so much that my stomach is now in a constant state of dull pain. I mean, it’s hard to go from eating no more than a grilled cheese sandwich and toast in a day to having everyday be more abundant in food than Thanksgiving! I feel bad about having to say “no” at the dinner table, especially because it seemed to dishearten the bean an tí at first. However, I think that she is finally starting to get the idea.

On Monday we had a sean-nós dance class. (For those of you who don’t know, sean-nós [i.e. “old style”] dance is a type of traditional Irish dance. It is percussive like modern Irish dance, but it differs greatly in that it is loose, low to the ground, and requires no wigs, poodle socks, or Oompa-Loompa toned spray tans.) The dance class was completely in Irish—I have always wanted an Irish dance class in Irish! We spent an hour and a half learning a four step reel. Now and then I fell off the rhythm, but I think I got it in the end. We will have a sean-nós dance lesson every Monday from here on out. How exciting!

Yesterday there was an extra evening lesson in sean-nós singing. Now, I am not big into singing or even songs. However, I wanted to go because of the awesome culture value that sean-nós singing carries. Unfortunately, I was too sick to go last night and instead decided that it would be better for me to rest and to talk a bit of a walk. It was a pity that I didn’t go, but I will have other chances. I believe that there are three more sean-nós singing classes before the end of the program.

There’s a céilí scheduled for tomorrow night, although I am not sure what that exactly entails (céilí dancing? set dance céilí? b’fhéidir seisiún? measc?) I am excited nonetheless. I’m guessing it’s a good old céilí dance session, though, as my bean an tí keeps talking about what a great dancer our teacher is.

Speaking of dance, I am hardcore missing me some Highland dance right now. I keep finding myself breaking out into steps. There isn’t really a lot of time here to practice; we are at the University from 9:00am until 9:00pm almost everyday. However, I have been waking up a bit early to do some ankle strengthening exercises. At least it’s something. After dinner tonight, I’m hoping to squeeze in some practice. After all it takes a lot to look pretty for the judges, and I need to keep up with it! But seriously, I think I have a slight—okay, more than slight—addiction to dance. Also, there’s the fact that, when I take too much time off from dance, my muscles feel like they begin to settle and the start tensing up and aching. So, it’s always better to be dancing!

Saturday we will be going to Inis Oírr, one of the Aran Islands. It is the smallest of the three islands and, if I understand correctly, the least touristy. I’m excited to go; I relish the thought of traveling more around Ireland. It’s such a beautiful place.

Well, the bean an tí is almost done cooking dinner, and I suppose that I should wash up a bit considering that I just woke up from a much needed nap. I hope that you are all doing well in the States. I am truly having the time of my life, but I will still be very glad when I get to come home and see you all.

Slán go fóill, a chairde!