Out to lunch and stuff

Spent the day with my mama, my Aunt Jan, and my cousin Sara. We had a really nice Mexican lunch! Our favorite!

Closer to Heaven

An early flight home this morning to Michigan.

Ups and Downs

I went to BECA today, but spent most of the day doing testing organization. The state test for ESL, the NYSESLAT is coming up. I need to start now. But I can't.

I mom called me while I was still at school working after kids went home and said that my grandma wasn't well. She was in the hospital. I came home tonight to look for flights for tomorrow. She passed away tonight. There isn't much else to say, except that I know how lucky I am for the friends I have. Rachel sat with me the whole way on the bus ride home, being more supportive than she might have known. Dan made me dinner:

I got several texts from friends tonight letting me know they were there for me. It's nice to know that the people I care about are really there for me when I need it.

I just want to get home.

R & R

I just sat around today, feeling tired, even though I woke up at 6:30 in the morning! I guess that will help tomorrow when I get up for school! I spend most of the day looking at this:

I needed the day of rest! I don't think I even left my apartment today!

Goodbye Ireland...for now

I got up this morning in Ireland, and by the end of the day I was back in the USA. That's so weird how that happens, but the marvels of modern travel have transcended amazement in their flying machines, so that you can easily move from one world to the other in a matter of hours.

I made sure to get a shot of Erin's quaint little cottage in Clady before I took off for the 7 hours home.

It was an uneventful flight, other than the baby carrier behind me that kept me from reclining, but I ended up not minding. As we took off and flew over the fields and white homes that are so distinctly Ireland I couldn't help but be sad. I had such a great time, over 800 pictures! A few videos, and WAY more memories to take home.

Clady Drizzle and Cross Keys

Friday, the last day here in Ireland...I'm SAD to go home!!! I've gotten to know many more great people, I've seen some fantastic things, and above all, there's just the feeling of traveling. I am alive when I travel. It's not that I'm not alive during regular times, job life, social life, all that. I'm saying there is something distinctly different about seeing something new and exciting everyday. A day completely full of suprises that goes along with travel that I am addicted to. I simply cannot get enough, and it's rather epidemic now. I keep thinking that if I go here or there, that I'll be satiated to the point where I can just settle down. That has never, in the history of Jane, ever happened. I don't know if I'll ever feel cured, and in all actuality, do I want to be? I'm meant to wander, and I have fully embraced that on this trip. I have wandered to new corners, and I have drank it in. Don't know if I'll return drunk, (well I did drink just about EVERY day I've been here...stinkin' Irish influences!), but I'll return happy.

Liam took another day off work (how great are these people to just take off days of work to spend time with Erin and her stranger friend...though we are certainly no longer strangers) to drive us around the area, just to get a feel of where Erin's childhood travels took her. She is living in her grandfather's old house, and since he passed away last year, and she was looking for a change, she moved here. It was only convenient that she started dating a boy who lives just down the road before she moved!

We visited her family church, where her grandfather, several aunt's and uncles and many of Liam's family is burried as well. Saddly, the church has fell into disrepair in the last several years, and isn't being used anymore. They both expressed hope that it would find a nice pastor to come and revive the church where Erin was baptised.

We found an ancient sweat house, where people would be put into a burried mound to sweat out their diseases long long ago. We got RAINED on on the way down and out of there, but it was an adventure none the less.

We visited sheep!!

Tonight we went to a VERY cool bar called the Cross Keys in the next town over. Technically an old thatched cottage, with antique lanterns and signs and pictures hanging all over. I left smelling like a fireplace because...well, that's how it was heated. Fantastic, old, hidden gem! I will go back there some day! In fact, I'll be back to Ireland again someday!

Countryside, Cottages and Catastrophes

Today Erin, Liam's sister Mary, and I went back down to Belfast to visit the Folk Park and Transport Museum.

The rain held off for most of the day, which was a blessing because we had much walking to do! The Folk Park was awesome, it was 10s of acres of land devoted to preserving the history of Northern Ireland, so they'd just taken buildings from all over the country and reconstructed them in the little town area and countryside walk. We saw several school groups, tourists and the like, but it wasn't overcrowded. It was a good day to get out and walk around and take a step back into Ireland's past. The thing about it is that it all just seems so RECENT! I enjoyed the park and the old-time cottages, but the funny this is that the "replicas" are pretty much what lots of the countryside and houses STILL look like (except most with running water and indoor bathrooms now)! It was interesting to wander around and get a grasp of the history of the countryside, and living, but really...not sure it has changed THAT much. So different from what I know. Think about how much America has changed in the last 100 years, and then comparing that to what I was walking around in in Ireland, the Folk Park was not that different than the drive I'd taken up the coast two days ago, or visiting Derry yesterday. Crazy. I LOVE it!

Me in the mill

One of the bedroom's in a country cottage.
A thatched roof farm house.
The Basket Weaver shed had really great masks, and the weaver spent quite a while talking to us about his craft at the Folk Park. These masks took 15 days to complete.
The Transport Museum was having a Gala for Doctors (I asked...I'm so nosy!) Very cool setting.
I loved the bicycle exhibit!Remember how I said the rain held off? Well while we were in the Transport museum it started to HAIL! That's hail bouncing off the grass!It stopped though, so we headed down to the most wonderful exhibit about the Titanic that I've ever seen. The girls wanted to stop by Ikea on the way home (it's new in Belfast) but my feet were hurting me from all the walking so I went to the cafeteria and had some Lingenberry juice (LOVE that stuff) and noticed that you could see the H & W (Harland and Wolff) gantry from the window. This is where the Titanic was constructed. Eerie. When we got back to Clady (Erin's town, about 45 minutes North West of Belfast), we went to The Abbey for karaoke...oh what a night! Here's Mary and I singing Daniel by Elton John.

Something about Ireland fits me. I had a dream last night that I met my birth mother (for some reason...I've never ever thought about it before), but in the dream I met her there in Ireland and then I just knew that I had Irish ancestry. In actuality, I have no idea if I have Irish ancestry. The kids at my school in the Bronx asked me on St. Patrick's day if I was Irish because I was wearing green, and before spring break the kids in East Harlem asked me the same thing because I told them where I was going, and I just started answering yes, because, since I studied and lived there for a few months during my years at MSU, I just feel like it's a part of me. Don't know if any of it's true, don't know what the dream meant, but I guess it must mean something, because it's just right to be there. This won't be the only time I return to Ireland in my lifetime.

Derry-LondonDerry

The very recent historical unrest of this city was striking. Erin and I took the train to Derry (called LondonDerry after loyalists to the British). This is the only fully in tact walled city still around I believe. It was such a contrast to other parts of Ireland that I've seen, and even spending the day there left me with many questions about the so recent peace and sense of unity that has seemingly taken over the town. Erin and I walked the walls, learning a lot from the city, and enjoying the scenery. I truly enjoyed opening my eyes to the issues that I've so often heard of between the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, and Ireland as a whole. This is the city of Bloody Sunday (know the U2 song?), this is the city of the most recent bombings by the IRA, this is the city that has just begun to heal. If ever I was to find myself in a warzone, this must have been the most recent. Not so much a war, but the emotions that fuel that kind of thing. Just made me want to read and learn so much more!

Train to Derry. Hi Erin! One of the very real murals dotting the city, just outside the city walls.
One of the origional 4 gates of the city.
One of the buildings with the peace murals. This girl was accidentally shot on this corner during one of the uprisings. Directly next to that building with the mural depicting the unrest, we see the grafitti of the IRA. Still alive.
A row of houses in DerryView to the city center from the wall, called the Diamond.Later that night, we decided to just have a night in so Mary (Liam's sister), Erin and I played Yahtzee. I got all 4's!!!

Around the Coast Part 2

Giant's Causeway
Old Bushmill's Distillery...mmmmm...Irish Coffee!
Dunluce Castle...truly amazing! Picture me living here in the 1600's!
I thought a Senior Picture moment was appropriate.
Then on to Port Stewart for some Fish n' Chips!
The very popular Port Stewart Strand. We were exhausted by this time!

Around the Coast Part 1

Had one of the greatest travel days EVER! Liam, Erin and I took a drive around the North Eastern coast of Northern Ireland, and it was MAGICAL! Take a look!

Started with a great little Irish style breakfast of scones, soda bread and tea! Now I'm addicted!

Started off the driving fun into the Glens of Antrim- This is Glendun
A view from the top- Carrick-a-Rede bridge
Fellin' a little tipsy on the bridge! It didn't used to have all the criss-crossing sides!

The tiny little sandy harbour town of Ballintoy...one of my FAVORITES because it was so out of the way and beautiful!

Dublin to Belfast

Took the train this morning from Dublin to Belfast to meet up with my friend Erin. We met as study abroad friends from MSU in Ireland in 2001, and stayed friends, roomates and travel buddies since then! She's living outside Belfast in the countryside, in a tiny town called Clady for this year in her grandfather's old house. She conveneintly has a boyfriend (Liam) who lives just down the street.

I took the train into town, then a bus to the city center to the amazing City Hall (more pictures to follow). I dropped my bags off with Liam, who works dowtown, and then went out to explore the city a little, which included mostly shopping, and a few pictures of City Hall.

Liam and I later met Erin at the bus station after she finished work, and spent the evening in Belfast. This is a really amazing, famous bar there called The Crown, known for being the oldest (and I'd have to say most elaborate) pub in town. We even had a little booth (complete with door) almost to ourselves, except for an older couple who joked that before we came in they were just about to have sex in there. Quite the introduction. Irish people are funny!

We had a fun night walking around the city, riding on the Wheel (the big ferris wheel next to city hall) and grabbed take out chinese on the way home. Nice to set up a little basecamp in Erin's cute little country cottage for the next few days! I even got my own dresser drawers! There were Kinder Eggs on the bed, and Scrumpy Jack in the fridge (Both things I loved when we lived in Dublin during study abroad!) Love her!

Hiking Howth

Got up later today than expected because of a fun night out last night in Temple Bar. Good times with Mindillae and her Irish boyfriend Anthony and his friends.

We managed to get up and around, had an Irish breakfast and then took the DART

train to the Howth penninsula. An excellent hike, and viewing place. The best of the Irish countryside, but only a few miles from Dublin. I had taken this walk several years ago when I studied abroad with MSU here and had fond memories of it. Amazing last time and amazing this time! Here are only a few of the hundreds of photos I took today! Mindillae was a trooper and did the whole walk with me, several hours around the top! Breathtaking. I love Ireland!

All Around Town

Spent the day adjusting to jet lag and wandering around Dublin. Here's Parnell Square, and Trinity College!

Here Comes the Pope, There Goes Jane

On my way out of town, there were groups of cops on every street corner for 50 blocks because the Pope was coming into town. I never thought I'd get to the airport! I did! Off to Ireland! Yippee!!

Dancin' & the street

My Bronx school is hosting a dance for the little'uns tomorrow night. Oh boy. Upon meeting my friend Erica for dinner, she stated "ohhhh, I don't do dances. Too scary. I don't do dances, and I don't do overnight trips!" I laughed.

Despite all that, I helped the kids set up, and they had a good time rolling streamers, blowing up balloons, popping balloons, breaking the streamers, putting up colorful paper flowers, and posing for the camera. They love me! I'm always documenting them! I was ready to take off though, had a lot to do tonight.

I didn't think I'd be able to meet up with Erica and Kate (Dan came along too) tonight for dinner, but it was such a nice night that dining on the street just sounded appealing at the time, so I managed to fit everything it! Guacamole made fresh. Mmmmm! Loved it! Should take my mom there when she comes into town in June.

I'm up to a whole lotta packing tonight. Pack, pack, packing away. Lots to do. My friend Erin (who I'll be staying with in Northern Ireland) wants Peanut Butter, so I must go on a mission now for Jif!

Meet at the Met

I tried to meet up today with Julie and Megali after work today to go to a fun bar overlooking Central Park in the Metropolitain Museum of Art. What a fancy place, never been and I MUST go back!

It was closed when we arrived! Sad Face.

We took a walk down through the park though, enjoying the beautiful weather (I LOVE this weather!) and settled on a bar on Central Park South, overlooking from the street. Julie was dying to try a Cosmo. Apparently Sex and the City is just that international that eveyrone wants the cosmo (same thing with the last French guys!) Weird.

Only a few more days till Ireland! Julie calls it "Spring Break wooowhooo!" I like that. I think I'll steal it!

French Connection

Oh what fun we have with the French! Dan and I are hosting a couple girls from Franch this week as couchsurfers. Julie (in the orange shirt) e mailed me a long time ago asking to stay over after she read my profile and saw my pictures of Central Park. I was intrigued by her because she is doing her Thesis on the park, and, since moving to New York, I've become somewhat fixated on facts about that place. It's borderline obsession, but we'll call it good.

Anyway, we made a splendid dinner with these two (shrimp pomodoro pasta...mmm) and then introduced them to the fun and thrills of watching American Idol with Dan and Jane!

Just another manic Monday...

Of course! I shouldn't be so sad though, it's ALMOST spring break and I will be taking off to the land of Ire! It's also poetry in your pocket week (on Thursday). Lots of fun things to look forward too.

I took a walk through the park this afternoon after school. I was reading this excellent book of poems called Paint Me Like I Am, and I decided to chill with the cherry blossoms until I finished. What a lovely, lovely day! I guess I never knew how much I loved Spring!

Where did the Sun go toDay?

After yesterday's gorgeos spring day, today was sorta a let down, as any day after a crazy Saturday would be. I tried to meet up with friends for brunch at the Chelsea Market (pictured), however, the cards were against me. I took several trains, got off at the wrong stop, waited for several buses that never came, was late to brunch (beyond late) and then had to rush away to meet Dan for grocery shopping at Trader Joes, which had a line around the corner, so we didn't even go. Uhg! Not my day! I tried though!

Happy-go-lucky

It was one of the days that will probably forever mark the spring in my memeory for this year. What a lovely day of weather, friends, parties, rooftops, sitting on the boardwalk, watching the sunset over Brooklyn, good food, dancing till the sun came up and soar feet!

This is me, Melody, Ericka, and Nina, after chillin' out at the South Street Sea Port after Bertina's birthday party. Nina and I kept commenting to each other about how odd it was that we'd never been here, or even really planned on coming to this little oasis of water-filled fun and entertainment.

Can't wait to go back! What a day!