Crisis!

It has just come to my attention that I have, in fact, consumed white pudding. It seems that it was one of the aforementioned 'meaty bits' that tried to flee my breakfast roll on Sunday. I am really not sure how I feel about this. In one way, I am glad to be one step closer to that final goal... the full Irish breakfast. In another, I gag a little to think of it. Perhaps the woman with the leaflets had a point... ;)

I've Got Mail!

This is just a quick thanks to Angie, Jason and Dad for the emails. They brought big grins to my face. And they helped break in the Gmail account I set up specifically for the blog (for those of you who haven't found it yet, the link to email that account is in the sidebar on the right). If anybody out there wants a gmail invite, let me know... I am swimming in invites. :)

Carnivorous

Col and I just got home from Sunday mass. Usually we go to a Franciscan church across the Liffey. Today though, we went to the Pro-Cathedral. It is even bigger than the usual Adam and Eve. It's amazing how some of these churches are constructed... definitely not what we have back home. Even the height of the ceilings was staggering.

It was only a few blocks away. On the stroll back, I finally got to try a breakfast roll. I have been seeing these advertised everywhere, but I still had to have somebody explain to me exactly what a 'breakfast roll' is. It seems that in an effort to make breakfast easy to have 'on-the-go' (possibly after a night of heavy drinking), the breakfast roll was developed. Think of it as a trip to Denny's slapped inside a small baguette. Basically, they stuff in some sausage, rashers, hash browns, etc into sandwich form. That way the bread soaks up most of the grease and you can enjoy your meal while running to catch the LUAS.

This, to me, sounded more appetizing than other another choice I have seen advertised everywhere: the Irish Breakfast. I just haven't worked my way up to it yet. My only concern is the white and (especially) black pudding. I just don't know if I could stomach those. Black pudding has been a food I fear ever since a traumatizing Social Studies unit in grade six on Ancient Greece. I thought the text book was kidding when it defined blood pudding. Once I realized people actually willingly ate the stuff, trauma!

Anyways, as we walked back from mass, finishing off the last remaining bits of breakfast roll (it was good, but needed some ketchup or salsa), Col and I passed a woman distributing leaflets. So as not to mark up the paper she was handing us, Col quickly licked a little of the sausage grease from the tips of her fingers (mine were in worse shape... meaty bits kept popping out of the bread!). The woman looked at us both a little strangely, but Col just took her handout and we kept walking. After a few steps, we looked down at the leaflet to see what it was she cared so much about that she would be standing in the street trying to 'spread the word'.

It read:
"What has eyes, people conscious
of their responsibility do not eat..."

This text was surrounded by 7 cute pictures of animals who often end up on the dinner plate... 2 of whom looked familiar from my breakfast roll...

In honour of her, I present the following poem.

Nick Bantock's
Carnivorous
(as best I can remember it)...

Eating beasts is not a sin.
Open wide and pop 'em in.
Baked or boiled or even roasted.
Why not try them lightly toasted?

Eating beasts is such a treat;
Gnawing legs and nibbling feet.
Don't fret about its mortal soul,
Just open wide and pop 'em whole.

Eating beasts is not a sin.
Just open wide and pop 'em in.
But be prepared for the other view,
And don't complain when they eat you.

"How did some slip of a girly boy from communist East Berlin become the internationally ignored song stylist barely standing before you?"

Woo-hoo! Last night I got to go to a local production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch! 'Hedwig...' is a rock-musical that had gained popularity as on off-Broadway show and was made into a film version that I have enjoyed repeatedly. Despite the fact that I absolutely adore the film version, I never thought I would ever get a chance to see the story of Hedwig in the form of a live show (like the show that the movie was based on). Last night though, thanks to a local production, I got to see Hedwig live! It was amazing! So good...

Getting to the theatre did prove to be a bit of a problem though. Colette had found out where it was on a map ahead of time and since we are in a relatively central location, we decided to walk there. After about 30 minutes (with frequent pauses for me to pull out my camera and take cheesy photos, betraying my hidden identity as a tourist), we got to the appropriate street and address. However, the theatre didn't seem to be where the address indicated. Hmm... We walked around, trying to figure out where it might be, when a cab drove by with two familiar faces peering out. Knowing these girls, we know they must also be in search of Hedwiggy goodness. Their cab pulled over a few metres beyond us. The cabbie was confused. This was the address, but he had no idea about were the theatre might be either.

At that point there were four of us wandering about. If lost, it's nice to be lost with other people. You feel less silly... :) The other girls had with them some vague directions involving an archway and a brick wall. However, in Dublin, I'm afraid these really aren't distinguishing landmarks. We did find a number of lovely brick wall-arch combinations though... Our little party was soon joined by another would-be theatre goer on bicycle. We all just walked about asking people if they knew where the Focus Theatre was. Eventually we found someone who could point us in the right direction and the five of us raced to where his finger was pointing. Just as we made it back to the main road, the cabbie that had delivered the other two girls pulled up and excitedly announced that he had found the theatre. The four of us on foot piled into the cab and the lass on the bike followed behind. As we pulled up, we all agreed that we would never have found it on our own. In my eagerness to race inside to se the show I swung open the cab's door, nearly knocking over our bicycling theatre-goer in the process.

The theatre was rather small and had very few actual seats. Many of the patrons were on benches. The two girls from the cab hadn't had a chance to purchase tickets in advance and were told that the show was sold out. However, some sweet talking by the door bought them two couch cushions on the floor: front row-centre. The show was amazing though. It was just so wonderful to finally see a movie so dear to my heart live as it was originally intended. *sniff*

Anyways, off I run. Shakespeare tonight... (Yey for preview tickets being cheaper!)

2-2!? What the heck...

Currently I am at home after a day of 'out-and-aboutedness' (okay, looking at tacky souvenirs in tourist traps) and I am watching football (the European one... you know, soccer). It's a match that's being played here in Dublin tonight, Ireland versus Israel. Actually, there were a bunch of Israeli flags and supporters around Downtown today. Conveniently, there were a number of posters put up just today for an anti-Israel rally in support of the Palestinian cause. These were mostly torn down within the span of the afternoon.

Anyways, this is just a quick note about the game. What the heck?! Ireland burst out of the gate with two great goals very early on. Now we are almost at half-time and Israel has managed to tie it up. I am stunned. Not that I know anything about sports, but stunned just the same. Anyways, this is just a bit of a nod to Michael. I wonder if he will be watching this match at some point. I've just finished my supper and dessert and he may be still sleeping. Time zones are interesting... :) Anyways, cheers!

It Could Only Happen To Me...

I set up this blog as an easy way to keep in touch with y'all, and give you a little peek inside of my time here in Ireland (for those of you who don't know, I am here until the end of August). I set it up before I left, but was committed not to post anything until I arrived in Dublin... something about authenticity.

A few weeks later I found myself all settled into an apartment just a few blocks away from the River Liffey. I went to make my first shiny entry into this space, feeling very proud of myself for having thought of such a great idea. I typed in my username and password... no access. I tried a different password... no access. After about 20 minutes of fruitlessly typing in every password I could think of that I have ever used, I was forced to concede defeat and walked away with my tail between my legs. I clicked on the password retrieval button and waited for my password to be emailed to me.

It never came. Well, maybe it did... but not to any of the email accounts I am currently using. Since it had been so long since I'd last logged in here, I'd forgotten all the important little details... like my password and which email address I'd associated with my Blogger account. So my routine for the past few days has been to sit and type for at least 15 minutes a day, trying to log into my account. Today I finally got in. Hooray!

With that confession now out of the way, I can now move on to the task at hand. Ireland has been very interesting so far. Mostly I have just been getting oriented (learning the nearby streets, working out which keys open what doors... that sort of thing).

If you pop by here more than once, you are sure to see such things as my poor photography and my fondness for Wikipedia, and my desperate affection for embedded hyperlinks (please don't think you have to follow all of them -- they just make me feel technologically smug. Try to overlook the fact that they are pretty much the extent of my abilities).

I will update you later on some of the things I've been up too, such as watching the wildly popular Spongebob Squarepants dubbed over for broadcast on the Irish language station ("Eachtraí le Spongebob agus a chairde").