First of all, I would like to wish my mother a very happy Mother's Day! It's Mother's Day in Ireland today, though I realize that we've a couple months to go before the U.S. version... I love you, mumsy!
Anyway, this past weekend was our MA group's second trip to Carraroe, or An Ceathrú Rua, in the Connemara gaeltacht, or Irish-speaking region. It went over much better than the last trip. The classes this time around were helpful, and really pushed us to use our Irish. My speaking was not very good, but I was surprised by how much I could comprehend. I probably understood about half of what was being said, just from the words I did know. We also weren't given a lot of pointless activities-- we watched some Irish language short films, got a tour of Raidió na Gaeltachta (the Irish-language radio station), and went to a concert. The concert, put on by the school, had quite a variety of acts, including a couple of folk/rock musicians, button accordian trad, sean-nós singing, and sean-nós dancing. The sean-nós dancing in particular was cool, and I think several of us (myself included) left the concert determined to take a class before leaving Ireland.
Of course, as before, the best part of the weekend was the socializing and bonding with our group. Our Bean an Tí made delicious food for us and I think I ate my weight in biscuits and tea over about 36 hours. Each evening, of course, ended up in An Cistin, one of Carraroe's three pubs, with a lot of laughter and music-- ceol agus craic.
Unfortunately I'm back in the real world, which means I have plenty of reading I wasn't able to do over the weekend. Still, it was nice to get away for a little bit.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
not much to say...
... because all week, all I've been doing is working. I still haven't gotten any of these balls out of the air, but I'm working on it. Really, the most exciting thing I've done is get a haircut. The haircut, which I got Friday, isn't even that interesting-- I just got some layers around my face, but overall it looks more or less the same.
If you'd like to read about someone else's exciting life, though, my awesome boyfriend Jim just started a 'blog of his own to document his impending move to Chicago!
Well, in the absence of any real content, have a recipe! I made this last week, and it was delicious.
Garlic Tomato Red Pepper Soup
12 garlic cloves (approx. 1 bulb)
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 red pepper
1 cup (2 small cans) tomato puree
1 pint half-and-half (you could probably use milk if you'd rather, but I like my soups creamy)
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp salt
-Chop the garlic cloves roughly, discarding the woody ends. Mix in a small baking dish with the olive oil. Cover and roast for 30 minutes at 300° F.
-Concurrently, roast the red pepper! Cut it in half, discard the stem, seeds, and webbing (all the bits you don't want to eat) from the inside. Set it, cut-side down, on a baking pan, and (conveniently!) roast for 30 minutes at 300° F.
-When the garlic chunks are browned, remove from the oven and mash them well. Remove the (by now blackened and puckered) skin from the red pepper and chop it into smallish chunks.
-Combine tomato puree, garlic, and peppers in a medium saucepan and boil. Stir it more or less continuously for 30 minutes to keep it from sticking and scorching.
-Add the half-and-half and spices. Stir until smooth and combined, heat through, and serve!
If you'd like to read about someone else's exciting life, though, my awesome boyfriend Jim just started a 'blog of his own to document his impending move to Chicago!
Well, in the absence of any real content, have a recipe! I made this last week, and it was delicious.
Garlic Tomato Red Pepper Soup
12 garlic cloves (approx. 1 bulb)
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 red pepper
1 cup (2 small cans) tomato puree
1 pint half-and-half (you could probably use milk if you'd rather, but I like my soups creamy)
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp salt
-Chop the garlic cloves roughly, discarding the woody ends. Mix in a small baking dish with the olive oil. Cover and roast for 30 minutes at 300° F.
-Concurrently, roast the red pepper! Cut it in half, discard the stem, seeds, and webbing (all the bits you don't want to eat) from the inside. Set it, cut-side down, on a baking pan, and (conveniently!) roast for 30 minutes at 300° F.
-When the garlic chunks are browned, remove from the oven and mash them well. Remove the (by now blackened and puckered) skin from the red pepper and chop it into smallish chunks.
-Combine tomato puree, garlic, and peppers in a medium saucepan and boil. Stir it more or less continuously for 30 minutes to keep it from sticking and scorching.
-Add the half-and-half and spices. Stir until smooth and combined, heat through, and serve!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
bisy backson
Wow, Sunday already? This week flew by. On Thursday morning, I went to the Social Welfare Office in Galway and signed up for a Personal Public Service, or PPS, number. This allows me to work in Ireland! I'm really hoping to get a job for the summer... it's going to be necessary if I want to, y'know, eat and pay rent. It was also kind of comforting to go there, get a form, take a number, wait in a lobby, etc. It was exactly like going to the Secretary of State's office in the U.S., which is further proof that bureaucracy is the same wherever you go.
I've also been very busy, with schoolwork, meetings, writing... currently I'm juggling about four things.
-PhD application. This requires a writing sample, a CV (like a resume), a cover letter, and the names and contact information of two references. I have both my references, and I know what I'm going to use for my writing sample. It's due on 14 March, but it's also advantageous to get these things in early, so I'm hoping to turn it in this week.
-MA thesis. I don't really need to start really working on this until April, but I'm trying to get a topic nailed down. I have a thesis adviser, and I've read about five books in the last week to try and narrow down my question. Right now, it's gone from "something to do with Irish theater and colonialism" to "J.W. Whitbread, the Queen's Royal Theatre, and something to do with imperialism."
-mid-terms. Really, just my first mid-term, which is due on 29 February. I've started to do some research for it, but I haven't gotten as far as I'd like. That's a goal for the coming week.
-regular class reading. Jeez. On top of everything else.
As far as the PhD application goes, I'm trying to get that all wrapped up this weekend. I'm currently working on my CV, which has been an interesting process-- I've never had to write one of these for an academic reason! The main difference is you don't include your work experience, but instead go into detail about relevant courses you've taken. Writing CVs and resumes is always an interesting process... it makes you realize just how awesome and qualified you really are. I also need to write a nice concise cover letter, and do some final revisions on my writing samples, and then I can hand the whole darn thing in. In addition to getting it in early, it will be nice to have one less ball in the air.
So that's been my week! Not as exciting, culturally, as last week... though, on Thursday (Valentine's day) I did go to a sonnet contest at a local pub. My friend Quincy won first prize for an English sonnet, and my Irish teacher Colette won first prize for an Irish sonnet. There was an a cappella group singing medieval love songs, free chocolate, and free champagne. If I have to spend Valentine's day without my boyfriend, that's a good way to do it!
I've also been very busy, with schoolwork, meetings, writing... currently I'm juggling about four things.
-PhD application. This requires a writing sample, a CV (like a resume), a cover letter, and the names and contact information of two references. I have both my references, and I know what I'm going to use for my writing sample. It's due on 14 March, but it's also advantageous to get these things in early, so I'm hoping to turn it in this week.
-MA thesis. I don't really need to start really working on this until April, but I'm trying to get a topic nailed down. I have a thesis adviser, and I've read about five books in the last week to try and narrow down my question. Right now, it's gone from "something to do with Irish theater and colonialism" to "J.W. Whitbread, the Queen's Royal Theatre, and something to do with imperialism."
-mid-terms. Really, just my first mid-term, which is due on 29 February. I've started to do some research for it, but I haven't gotten as far as I'd like. That's a goal for the coming week.
-regular class reading. Jeez. On top of everything else.
As far as the PhD application goes, I'm trying to get that all wrapped up this weekend. I'm currently working on my CV, which has been an interesting process-- I've never had to write one of these for an academic reason! The main difference is you don't include your work experience, but instead go into detail about relevant courses you've taken. Writing CVs and resumes is always an interesting process... it makes you realize just how awesome and qualified you really are. I also need to write a nice concise cover letter, and do some final revisions on my writing samples, and then I can hand the whole darn thing in. In addition to getting it in early, it will be nice to have one less ball in the air.
So that's been my week! Not as exciting, culturally, as last week... though, on Thursday (Valentine's day) I did go to a sonnet contest at a local pub. My friend Quincy won first prize for an English sonnet, and my Irish teacher Colette won first prize for an Irish sonnet. There was an a cappella group singing medieval love songs, free chocolate, and free champagne. If I have to spend Valentine's day without my boyfriend, that's a good way to do it!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Culture
First, I have an academic update (I am in school, remember.) I have an adviser for my MA thesis! Dr. Lionel Pilkington will be supervising me for the next six months or so. I met with him on Friday, and he seemed very excited about being my adviser. I still don't have an actual thesis question, but our meeting helped me refine my nebulous "something to do with Irish theater and colonialism" to "something to do with late 19th century Irish melodrama and colonialism," so at least I have a bit of a focus now. He gave me a list of authors and books to look at, which I've been doing this weekend, and we'll meet again in a few weeks, at which time I will hopefully have a stronger sense of an actual topic. Exciting!
In non-scholarly news, this week was one full of culture for me. For starters, this week held the Múscailt arts festival at NUIG, so there were many events for that.
Tuesday night, I went to the Múscailt poetry slam. I got to see some terrible poetry and some great poetry. Notably, one of the best readers was a boy who looked to be about ten or eleven years old. By objective standards, his poetry was good, though not great; given his age, however, he was awesome. (One of his poems involved the words "shit" and "fuck," which didn't appear to shock anyone in the audience, including his mother; the Irish have what I feel to be a much more sensible attitude toward profanity than Americans, and no one really cares about swearing in front of children or if children swear.) The winner of the slam was actually this boy's mother, a woman named Mags Treanor, and she was excellent. I also got to see Stephen Murray, who I have seen on a couple occasions; he is still one of the best readers and slam poets I've ever seen, and it's always worth watching him read.
Thursday night, still a part of Múscailt, our class had tickets (that were graciously provided by the Centre for Irish Studies) to the Traditional Music concert. "Traditional Music" is really just the start of what we saw: a band with a fiddle, accordion, and classical guitarist; a sean-nos singer; an Uilleann piper; a storyteller; two sean-nos dancers, one a 14-year-old boy and one a pregnant woman (accompanied by the fiddler and accordion player from earlier); a contemporary singer (accompanied by the fiddler, accordion player, and guitarist); and a grand finale with the all the instrumental musicians and the dancers. Everything was absolutely excellent, and it was a lovely evening.
Friday night, I went to the "Over the Edge 2007 Poetry Showcase." This was a reading from the 10-or-so Galwegian poets who published books in 2007. It took place at Sheridan's wine bar, which is a wonderful classy little bar/store. There is a cheesemonger's below, and the wine bar upstairs is about the size of a kitchen, with three walls devoted to racks of wine. The "kitchen" atmosphere was highlighted by the long wooden tables and blue tiled walls. When the room was packed with well-dressed literati, all of whom were standing around holding glasses of wine, it made us1 feel like we were at someone's fancy dinner party. The mayor of Galway was there, as well, wearing his mayoral chain, and he gave an address. Each of the poets read three poems, so it was almost like a poetry sampler. Mags Treanor, from the slam on Tuesday, read, as well as my friend Neil McCarthy. After the reading, Brianne, Quincy, and I went with Neil and a couple of the other poets to Freeney's, one of Galway's top old-man pubs, and I managed to get a signed copy of Neil's book for the price of three kisses on the cheek.
In conclusion, I love Galway's art and poetry scene. It took me a while, but I finally feel like I have an established "social circle." The fact that it's comprised mainly of poets and academics makes me happy.
1: I went with my friends Brianne, Meredith, and Jen; we met our friends Quincy and Stephen there, as well as seeing our Irish teacher. It was quite a social event.
In non-scholarly news, this week was one full of culture for me. For starters, this week held the Múscailt arts festival at NUIG, so there were many events for that.
Tuesday night, I went to the Múscailt poetry slam. I got to see some terrible poetry and some great poetry. Notably, one of the best readers was a boy who looked to be about ten or eleven years old. By objective standards, his poetry was good, though not great; given his age, however, he was awesome. (One of his poems involved the words "shit" and "fuck," which didn't appear to shock anyone in the audience, including his mother; the Irish have what I feel to be a much more sensible attitude toward profanity than Americans, and no one really cares about swearing in front of children or if children swear.) The winner of the slam was actually this boy's mother, a woman named Mags Treanor, and she was excellent. I also got to see Stephen Murray, who I have seen on a couple occasions; he is still one of the best readers and slam poets I've ever seen, and it's always worth watching him read.
Thursday night, still a part of Múscailt, our class had tickets (that were graciously provided by the Centre for Irish Studies) to the Traditional Music concert. "Traditional Music" is really just the start of what we saw: a band with a fiddle, accordion, and classical guitarist; a sean-nos singer; an Uilleann piper; a storyteller; two sean-nos dancers, one a 14-year-old boy and one a pregnant woman (accompanied by the fiddler and accordion player from earlier); a contemporary singer (accompanied by the fiddler, accordion player, and guitarist); and a grand finale with the all the instrumental musicians and the dancers. Everything was absolutely excellent, and it was a lovely evening.
Friday night, I went to the "Over the Edge 2007 Poetry Showcase." This was a reading from the 10-or-so Galwegian poets who published books in 2007. It took place at Sheridan's wine bar, which is a wonderful classy little bar/store. There is a cheesemonger's below, and the wine bar upstairs is about the size of a kitchen, with three walls devoted to racks of wine. The "kitchen" atmosphere was highlighted by the long wooden tables and blue tiled walls. When the room was packed with well-dressed literati, all of whom were standing around holding glasses of wine, it made us1 feel like we were at someone's fancy dinner party. The mayor of Galway was there, as well, wearing his mayoral chain, and he gave an address. Each of the poets read three poems, so it was almost like a poetry sampler. Mags Treanor, from the slam on Tuesday, read, as well as my friend Neil McCarthy. After the reading, Brianne, Quincy, and I went with Neil and a couple of the other poets to Freeney's, one of Galway's top old-man pubs, and I managed to get a signed copy of Neil's book for the price of three kisses on the cheek.
In conclusion, I love Galway's art and poetry scene. It took me a while, but I finally feel like I have an established "social circle." The fact that it's comprised mainly of poets and academics makes me happy.
1: I went with my friends Brianne, Meredith, and Jen; we met our friends Quincy and Stephen there, as well as seeing our Irish teacher. It was quite a social event.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Bonus update!
I know it's not Sunday, but I had an experience that deserved to be recorded in ye olde 'blog today.
One of the interesting things about living in Ireland is the attitude toward religion. No one here seems to feel the need to proselytize or make a big fuss about saving your soul, and overall everyone seems very religiously tolerant. Of course, that's easy enough when 90% of the country is Catholic. No one cares, or makes a big deal, if you're not Catholic, but most people are. There is a tacit assumption in the culture that you will be familiar with Catholic culture. When talking about religious symbolism in poetry in one of my classes, the lecturer said "Now, if you remember your catechism..."
Anyway, today I was having coffee with a couple friends, and we were talking about how this week is Ash Wednesday. One turned to me and said "So what are you giving up for Lent?" I stared for a moment, then said "Oh, I'm not Catholic!" She laughed and said "Oh, right! Sorry!" No hostility, no judgment, but there was that moment of assumption. Being American doesn't spare me-- most of the Americans I know are Catholic anyway.
(This reminds me of another anecdote related by an American Lutheran friend of mine. He was trying to buy a packet of crisps in a vending machine in Limerick, and the bag got stuck. He spent a few minutes shaking and kicking the vending machine, all the while swearing loudly... then turned around to see a very shocked-looking nun staring at him. He thought to himself, well, in for a penny, in for a pound, and exclaimed "And I'm a Protestant, too!" before marching off.)
One of the interesting things about living in Ireland is the attitude toward religion. No one here seems to feel the need to proselytize or make a big fuss about saving your soul, and overall everyone seems very religiously tolerant. Of course, that's easy enough when 90% of the country is Catholic. No one cares, or makes a big deal, if you're not Catholic, but most people are. There is a tacit assumption in the culture that you will be familiar with Catholic culture. When talking about religious symbolism in poetry in one of my classes, the lecturer said "Now, if you remember your catechism..."
Anyway, today I was having coffee with a couple friends, and we were talking about how this week is Ash Wednesday. One turned to me and said "So what are you giving up for Lent?" I stared for a moment, then said "Oh, I'm not Catholic!" She laughed and said "Oh, right! Sorry!" No hostility, no judgment, but there was that moment of assumption. Being American doesn't spare me-- most of the Americans I know are Catholic anyway.
(This reminds me of another anecdote related by an American Lutheran friend of mine. He was trying to buy a packet of crisps in a vending machine in Limerick, and the bag got stuck. He spent a few minutes shaking and kicking the vending machine, all the while swearing loudly... then turned around to see a very shocked-looking nun staring at him. He thought to himself, well, in for a penny, in for a pound, and exclaimed "And I'm a Protestant, too!" before marching off.)
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