Never Seen Nothing Like A Galway Girl

Dont ask me why, but i knew that I couldnt come to Ireland and not see Galway (Id say blame an obscure song on the PS I Love You soundtrack). Believe me the place did not disappoint, especially considering the complete change of pace from our life in Strokestown. Galway is everything I hoped that it could be - there's people, shops, restaurants, and pubs crammed together leading down to the ocean. Street performers line the cobbled roads, and every building looks like its been here for at least 300 years (or more). If its nice out, as it was the entire time we were there, you could easily spend hours just on Shop Street (guess why they call it that) and see anything from a man dressed as the devil to a guy building a dog out of sand. Unlike Strokestown, there is a mix of all types and ages. Also there's a large university in the city which gives Galway a lot more diversity than the majority of Ireland.

The place is absolutely packed on the weekends, but if you happen to be stuck there during the week, have no fear! Its Ireland after all, and the Irish don't care if its a Monday night - the pub will still be open just as late as on the weekends, although with a slightly older crowd. Believe me, you have a lot of options and it might just be a bit overwhelming at first. If youre going to visit Ireland you simply HAVE to come to Galway, so here are just a few suggestions from me to you:

Great Irish breakfast: Griffins, it's been around since 1876 and if you don't get their full Irish breakfast you must be either mad or severely hungover.

Trad music: Tis Coili or Taaffes, both conveniently located across from each other with equally cozy atmospheres.

Dinner: If you're sick of pub food then relax by the river or sit next to a working mill at the Bridge Mills Riverside Restaurant.

Great bars: Just go outside! If you want to try a variety, then I can definitely recommend the Viking pub crawl - you might even get the experience of a drunk guide with a ridiculous name like Dom Dom taking you to a few.

Club: If clubbing is your  kind of thing, the pub crawl ended at Club Karma  which was a lot of fun but good luck finding the bathroom.

Accommodation:  Kinlay Hostel. Award winning, it feels more like a hotel than a hostel. Everything is cleaned each day, the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful, new macs for public use, free breakfast, fantastic location and youre bound to meet the coolest people (I mean come on, we stayed there).

The big tourist attraction in the area are of course the Cliffs of Moher, and trust me they are definitely worth seeing. We went with Galway Tours, who had a discount for Kinlay guests. For only 20 euros you get to spend all day in the

Burren looking at sweet castles and Druid relics, culminating in the Cliffs. Though I didn't do it, everyone who did said they really enjoyed the Connemara and Aran Island tours as well.

In short, Galway is great craic. However, it was full of temptations so I'm glad my wallet will get a break in our next destination - Banbridge, Northern Ireland!

Farewell Finlough

While everybody back home is busy celebrating the Fourth of July, we are beginning to prepare for our departure from Finlough. It's hard to believe that we've already been here for about a month, but at the same time I think that we are all ready to move on and leave the simple life for the big city (aka Galway). Life here has certainly given us all a glimpse into a rural Irish lifestyle. It's been so nice to live with no distractions, to live slowly and simply. There isn't all that much around us on a daily basis to really detract from the beauty of the meadows or the lake, or distract one from just being present in a moment. Life hasn't been without some minor inconveniences. The tap water is undrinkable, and the filter slow; a fair host of bugs share the house with us; no washer or dryer; and no nearby mode of transportation. However, don't think I'm complaining! - for the good far outweighs the bad. We've gotten to cozy up to warm fires in the fireplace pretty much every night, have a beautiful old house all to ourselves, befriend the local taxi driver, enjoy the pleasure of cooking and eating the plants that we ourselves harvested, and sleep soundly after a hard days' work. And while I know this next bit is going to sound corny to anyone who has lived in the country before (but come on! I'm from the suburbs), I'm proud to say that I now know my way around tools: spades, pitchforks, rakes, strimmers, mowers, shearers and even scythes! A lot of the work has been pretty labor intensive, involving a lot of digging and weeding and trimming and even cutting turf! If I don't have some serious guns by now, then I'm a hopeless case. I've learned so much about vegetable care, knowledge that I know I will use the day I am able to start my own garden. Living on a farm has overall been such a good experience, and really given me a new appreciation for all of the work that goes into producing some of the food that we eat everyday (conclusion: carrots are needy little jerks).

When I think of our time here as a whole though, both on the farm and the days off of it, the thing that stands out the most is just the wonderful kindness of the people around us. As we've been digging in the tunnels we've ended up listening to a lot of Irish radio, and just like when you're watching a tv station for so long you essentially have the commercials memorized, well the same goes for radio. And there is an "advert" that really stands out in my mind when I reflect on the time here: it's for some initiative called "give one percent" that encourages people to give to some charity despite the country's economic troubles. There's a line in it that claims "we're one of the most generous countries in history," and after spending three weeks in small town rural Ireland, I can definitely believe that. Everyone we have met here has dumbfounded us with their openhearted kindness and generosity. Complete strangers want to go out of their way to help us, three out of place Americans, feel welcomed. Whether it's someone offering to show us the town, a neighbor taking us to their kids' (gaelic) football game, a delivery man refusing to tip us after going out of his way to find our place in the middle of nowhere, or the taxi driver acting as our tour guide by taking us out of his way to show us a nearby town's attraction (and of course pausing so that we might take pictures of such a historic windmill), everyone we come across just seems to be one of the nicest we've ever met.

Getting ready to dig!

Granted, there has been a fairly small sample size, as the cow to people ratio around here appears to be at least 50:1. It might just be a County Roscommon thing, since people are so happy to see another human around here that they do whatever they can to be friends. But I don't think so. We're leaving for Galway on Saturday, and I expect that as we travel around to different parts of the country, we're bound to encounter some more of that wonderful Irish generosity.

Farewell Finlough, Hello Galway!

Finlough Farm

Our lovely home for the next month!

We arrived safe and sound at Finlough Farm! It's taken me a little while to write this post, for even though life here hasn't consisted of much beyond work and downtime, usually I'm too tired after work to manage for longer than an hour after dinner before I need to pass out. Farming life is hard! Or at least, it is when your body is a super soft lump of dough and unused to moving much. 

PJ, the incredibly nice "next door neighbor" was lovely enough to pick us up from the bus station. When he dropped us off on the farm, there was one other girl, Savannah from California, here. She was on her way out for a three day trip to Galway, but was able to show us around the house a little bit. The first two days we were pretty much on our own, finding stuff to do around the house and doing basic watering and weeding down at the tunnels, until Danny - the groundskeeper who rents a house on the property - arrived. He's the one mainly in charge since Finn is away 98% of the time. So far, our tasks have mostly involved building a carrot bed (which turns out to be super annoying because carrots are jerks and need fine, clump free soil) and scything/cutting down weeds around the property. Work begins at 9:30 am, we go until lunchtime at 1, and then return after an hour to work until around 5:30. Like I've said, usually we come back and have just enough energy and time to make food, eat and clean up before collapsing before the sun even goes down. In our defense, the sun doesn't go down until 11 pm here, so we aren't quite as pathetic as you might think!

Our neighbors.

It's been really nice, but odd being alone in this house and for the most part on our own. We don't mind, and are all capable of working independently, but it is still a different kind of lifestyle that takes a little getting used to. The town is a good bit away, probably around 4 miles or whatever translates into a 30 minute bike ride. The first attempt to go into Strokestown was a failure with only 1.5 of the 3 bikes actually working. We gave up and were able to beg a ride from the kindly PJ to get into town for some food, since the house was stocked with really only enough provisions for one person to eat comfortably. Don't worry, Finn has since arrived with more groceries, and promised us that we could always send Danny for more (which we definitely will: working people = hungry people). Savannah has since returned and we were able to go into the town on Saturday night for my first pint of Irish Guinness. We took a taxi though, not the bikes. It was only 10 euro, which I don't think is too bad of a price. Upon PJ's recommendation, we headed to Hanly's, and while it was staffed by a very nice man who gave us a free round on the house, it did not turn out to be the young people hotspot that he had promised. Unless by "young" he meant 50-60 year olds. However, we've since learned that what few young people there are in Strokestown usually take the short ride over to Carrick-on-Shannon for some nightlife. We'll probably explore that this coming weekend.

Shannon modeling it after we fixed the yard.

For now though, I must say that the land around here is beautiful, and it is enough to just spend the days off/free time exploring the area. So far we've been blessed with great weather - only one day of heavy showers, and the rest of the time it has been pretty sunny and warm. The house is coming together and beginning to feel more like people actually live here (which didn't quite seem to be the case at first). Meal time is very nice; we've been cooking together and there have been no problems between us. Today, Savannah and I rode into Strokestown and literally had a pleasant, long conversation with every shopkeeper whose place we happened to wander in to. People here are so nice, but generally a little confused to see someone "on holiday" in these parts. Probably won't be long before we've met everyone in town. I can't say that I mind though that my first experience of Ireland is the small town, rural life, and I can't wait to settle in even more here.

Turning the Page

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." - St. Augustine

Today is my last full day at home, and really my last full day in America for about the next year. While that fact began to settle in last night, I was alternately gripped with feelings of choking apprehension and joyful excitement. For the next few months of my life, I will be in new places with new people without a real clue of what I am getting myself into, and I cannot wait! It will be hard to be away from family for so long. Holidays will probably be real bummers, and if only we had all the money and time in the world for multiple visits it would be perfect! However hard it may be at times, I absolutely refuse to become a person who always wishes they had traveled, but had let the various minute details of life get in the way. By the grace of God and with the support of family and friends, it seems that I won't be. I cannot thank the people in my life who have helped me along and encouraged me as I planned for this journey enough. You'll all be in my heart during the time in Ireland and China. This blog, as requested, is for you guys so that you can keep up to date on my travels, as well as, I admit, for myself to help me remember moments along the way.

Next time I post will most likely come once I'm set up in the farming life with my friends Shannon and MaryBeth in Ireland. Until then, take care!