News from Ireland III ... written in Belgium ;)

Hi everybody !


Well... already two month and time continues to fly away. It’s now the Eastern Holidays and we have two weeks off. (yipie !!!)
On Friday the teachers surprised me with a big pink cake for my 21st birthday. My birthday is normally on the 12th of April. But in Ireland 21 is an important birthday, so they wanted to celebrate it.
I also came back to Belgium to work and to collect information for my end-study-paper. So I took my cake in the plane. (lol) I arrived on Friday in the evening and I was waiting for chips !!!

But that’s enough now. What about the culture there?

So as you read, people are really kind and helpful, I was really surprised to have a present from the whole staff.

People talk about the Irish people as a really welcome and warm people and they are.
They are always there to give you advice or help, they enjoy it.
So when I need something I don’t have to hesitate to ask because they are waiting for you to ask them. And they will do it with a big smile.
What we think about Irish people, they think the same about Belgian people. I hope we’ll never disappoint them.

I also observed that Irish people follow near the Bible and the religion. The Lent is really important and eating chocolate or sweet at school is not welcome. All the religious days are respected and the pupils learn everything about these.
The communion and the confirmation are really serious, not like in some countries where children are doing it for the presents.

When you hear ‘Ireland’, you think: music, Irish, Saint-Patrick’s Day, green, food, Guinness, etc.
Well, that’s all true and I could meet every topic or nearly all of them.
I learned to play some traditional music on the tin whistle. I’m following the Irish lessons in the second classes and I try to learn by myself at home. I participated at the Saint-Patrick’s Day and I was dressed like a Leprechaun and we tried to break a world record for the Guinness Book. I tasted the Irish stew and some other typical food. And of course the Guinness is delicious!

And to be sure that I discover the most of the culture, I will go to the Connemara in the West of Ireland. It’s the part of the country where you can discover the centre of the Irish culture. And there I will learn to play the Bódhrán, a kind of drum made of goat skin.

In my future English classes, I will speak about the U.K., but also about Ireland which has a complete different culture. It would be interesting to discover all the culture of the languages.

So I think that I experienced a ‘culture clash’ and I try to dive in that culture and to live and learn everything about an Irish live.

Now… one month’s left and I wish you to enjoy it as much as possible and, like me, to dive in the culture.
We will meet again soon with a lot of souvenirs and pictures.


Slán,

Catherine