Guest Blogger: Jim Markus

Visiting Ayla has been as much a delight as I had hoped. My second vacation to Ireland this year has included a trip to Dublin, the book of Kells, Grafton street, the Galway market (twice!), and an American Irish British Turkey Thanksgiving Dinner Extravaganza (AIBTTDE).

Even though it is only my second visit to the emerald isle, I already feel like I understand the ways and means of travel here. Buses run late because of flooding. Trains offer to book specific seats, but nobody cares where they sit. The tram in Dublin overflows with humans before and after Rugby games.

Everyone has been remarkably gregarious. The Galway accent make words like "slab" sound like "schlahb" and at least one Irish boy says "tree" instead of "three". Ayla assures me this is more of an "East-Midlands" pronunciation, but I think it should be universal. Also, I will be ordering Schlahbs of Tahrt with Teh whenever I can.

Until next time, I bid you good health and comfortable prosperity.


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Jim Markus is a traveling writer, student, and business consultant from Chicago, Illinois. He can normally be found behind a chess set, though he insists that he has never actually played before.

The Craic in the 'Frack

Hey! Did you know I live in Ireland? I totally do! Sometimes I forget that.

Ok, not really forget, but my normal everyday life is so mundane that it's hard to imagine that I'm having a Foreign Experience Abroad. I might be making my morning toast with a different brand of bread than I would back home, but the big picture of my life is no different from any grant-funded humanities grad student anywhere.

But, when I went away to Letterfrack for the weekend with the orchestra, I got a big old reminder that I actually do live in a different country.

So, pictures! (Click to embiggen.)

First, the town of Letterfrack and surrounding Connemara environs.



(A different mountain than the picture above! Connemara is full of mountains.)


Road signs, in Letterfrack's only crossroads.









And pictures of the Coolest Hostel Ever.

Entrance to the hostel driveway.


I didn't get nearly as many pictures of the place as I wanted, but this will give you an idea. Yes, it's in an old monastery. Yes, that's a broken piano outside the front door.


Outside wall, hung with sheep skulls. There were sheep skulls and bones all over the place, sitting on shelves and cabinets and in corners. At least, we hoped they were from sheep.


Stairway in the hostel. The flash kind of washed it out, but note the broken mandolin, bugle, artist's model, stuffed weasel (marten? mink? something like that), antlers, and antique ceremonial-looking robe of some sort. This is pretty representative of the decor all over.


Breakfast nook, next door to our room.

I took these next two on the car ride home: Connemara, aka the Misty Mountains.



A bog and mountains whose tops are obscured by mist. Yep, must be Ireland.


Finally: this poster was hanging in the hostel kitchen. I think it says everything you need to know about the place.

BOG WEEK '09.

for when your life is just not epic enough

I am really busy these days, trying to finish a chapter in the next two-ish weeks. An important part of keeping focused while writing, I've found, is the proper music. I need music that will cover up any distracting sounds in the room while at the same time not being too distracting itself. For this purpose, I have found movie and tv soundtracks to really work. They are typically instrumental, so no distracting lyrics, but engaging enough to not get boring. The Doctor Who soundtracks, the Lord of the Rings soundtracks, or anything by Danny Elfman all are good choices.

My favorite for writing, though, is the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack! I find it to be incredibly inspirational. It makes even the most mundane activities feel absolutely epic.

That music always reminds me that, no matter what you're doing, do it with confidence and style. Even if what you're doing is sailing into port on a sinking dinghy.

This is apparently a pretty timely post, actually... I guess Johnny Depp just got voted Sexiest Man Alive for the second time. I definitely agree, and have thought this for years. I've really thought this since I was eight years old, though I might not have used the word "sexy" back then.

no rest for the wicked, eh?

Busy, busy, busy! Rush rush rush!

The visit from my beautiful and talented mother and sister was fantastic. We saw the sights in Galway, did some shopping, spent a couple days in Dublin, and ate at lots of delicious restaurants. I didn't take a single picture, because they had their cameras out constantly, but believe me when I say we had lots of fun.

This weekend, I am off to Letterfrack, a little town in Connemara about an hourish west of Galway. I'm going with the NUI Galway Orchestra-- we're going off for a weekend of practicing and drinking bonding, since we have a couple concerts coming up. I will bring my camera to that, though I'm not sure if I'll get many photo ops. We're leaving tonight after dark (7pm) and spending all day tomorrow practicing, so I doubt I'll have much chance to take pictures of the rugged Connemara landscape. Still, should be a good time! It's always fun to hang out with the orchestra.

fambly!

My mother and sister are visiting me... tomorrow! Wow, that came up fast! I am meeting them at the airport in twelve hours!

I'm super-excited, of course. Today has been a flurry of finishing up all the loose ends I needed to take care of before I could take a week off. Tentative itinerary includes visiting the Market on Saturday and going to Dublin for Sunday and Monday, as well as a possible day tour somewhere. I'm also taking Hanna out on Friday night, though she doesn't know it yet. This visit is going to be great... Mom has been over here three times, this will be her fourth visit, but Hanna never has! And, hanging out with your 22-year-old sister is slightly different from hanging out with your 61-year-old mother, though honestly not as different as you might think.


Anyway, I better get to bed, it's late and I have a full day of HANGING OUT WITH MY MOM AND SISTER to do tomorrow!

Contrary to popular belief, I am not in fact a Ghostbuster.

I had high hopes for today, high hopes indeed. I was going to do laundry, work on a paper, clean-- in short, actually be productive on a Sunday for once. Instead, I talked to my mom on the phone, talked to Jim online, and watched Ghostbusters. Oops. (Well, theoretically, I could still work on the paper. But it's too late now for the laundry at least.)


Last night, there was a small Hallowe'en parade down Shop Street, the pedestrianized shopping area in the city centre. The parade wasn't very long, or very good-- a stiltwalker, some weird giant puppet things, and a band in costumes-- but after the parade there was a very cool fire show! The show was put on in the churchyard at the medieval church, which was incredibly cool in itself... the place has a spooky atmosphere even in bright sunlight. To watch the show, spectators had to stand around on the other side of a tall spiky wrought iron fence, which just added to the effect. Also the fact that it was hosted by a church made me happy-- there are lots of church groups in the U.S. that condemn Hallowe'en for being evil, instead of embracing it for being cool!

So what do I mean by "fire show"? First, there were pyrotechnics-- lots of flares and roman candles going off in choreographed sequences. There was a large metal tree, with curling branches, that stood mysteriously off to the side. There were fire belly dancers-- three ladies with metal fans that had flames along the edge. There were a couple guys who juggled flaming torches. There were four people spinning poi with flames. They each put on an individual show, then all came out at the same time. At one point, roman candles went off from the church roof. As the finale started, the metal tree suddenly erupted into flames, looking like a huge burning tree in the churchyard, as the performers danced and juggled and tossed fire around. At the very end, there were fireworks. It was cool.

Afterward, I went back to Jenn's apartment, where we were joined by our friend Jason, to watch The Exorcist, drink wine, and eat chocolate. Overall, a good way to spend Hallowe'en!