London Adventures!: Ireland

We spent the weekend with Jon’s family (Uncle John, Aunt Anna Marie, and cousins Ellen, Laurie, and Conor) in Kenmare, Ireland. They were top-notch hosts and amazing tour guides! The Irish countryside is insanely gorgeous. We very much enjoyed spending time with family who we rarely get to see. There was also great cultural exchange happening; they taught us a lot about life in Ireland, and we explained various American concepts such as Republicans and vegans.

We got in Saturday evening in time to watch a Gaelic football match on TV. I did not realize that this was a thing until we were watching it. It’s essentially soccer, except you can use your hands and when you have the ball you have to bounce it (off your foot and into your arms) every four steps or so. If you score a goal, it’s 3 points; if you get the ball over the net and through the goal posts, it’s 1 point. Score is kept in terms of goals followed by points, and you have to do a bit of math to actually figure out the total score. For example, the game we watched—Kerry vs. Cork—ended with a score of 1-11 to 1-06, or 14 to 9 (Kerry won). It gets pretty rough; the game we watched had punches thrown within the first few minutes.

After the match was over we went to an Italian restaurant, where Jon had a lasagna and I had ON FIRE!!!! pizza (that was actually the name of it). Whenever I encounter food that warns you of how spicy it is, I expect eating it to be mildly uncomfortable. However, so far on our trip, every “outrageously spicy” piece of food I’ve eaten has been quite palatable. This is a bit surprising, considering how popular authentic Indian food is in the UK.

At dinner we discussed differences between Irish and American school systems and politics. (After providing an admittedly simplified explanation of conservative ideology in the US, Ellen responded with “Oh…I think I’d be a Democrat.”) We learned that in Ireland, essentially the only factor that determines your choices for university are test scores on the Leaving Certificate Examinations—a week of final exams that students spend two years preparing for. Talk about high pressure! And of course, universities are much cheaper here.

After dinner Jon, John, and I went to a pub in town called Crowley’s, where we had real Irish Guinness. Guinness is much better here! I wish there was some way I could bring Irish Guinness on tap home with me. We really enjoyed the pub environment in Kenmare. It’s a small town, with a population of less than 3000, and it has a very friendly, everyone-knows-everyone sort of vibe.

The next morning, John took us on a tour of the farmhouse next to their house—the house that Jon’s grandmother grew up in. It sits on about 22 acres of land. It was great to learn some family history!

On the road to the farmhouse--the doggy is Tipper!

He is half sheepdog and half black lab, and he is a sweetie pie.

We are best friends now.

Back to the farmhouse!
The house has four rooms, and it housed two parents, seven children, and one grandmother.

Shed

View from the farmhouse

This is one of the groups of cows on the farm.

This is the other group of cows, in a separate enclosure. They are rivals. They kept aggressively mooing at each other.

Jon and John at the family farm!

After visiting the farmhouse, we went to watch Laurie compete in a regatta. It was a beautiful sunny day, rare for Irish weather.

Site of the regatta--we enjoy the "please do not drive into the river" sign.

There weren’t enough boats for her team to compete in the Under 12 Girls’ race, and so instead they went in the Under 12 Boys’ race (which worked out well, as there was only one other team competing and now they had an opponent). Everyone was saying how funny it would be if the girls beat the boys; I was pointing out that there’s not much of a difference between boys and girls when they’re 10 and 11, and in fact girls are often bigger, and I bet they were going to win.

Lo and behold…the girls kicked ass!

I have subtly highlighted the finish line and each team. The girls are the ones in front!

After Laurie competed, John took Ellen, Jon, and me on a tour of the Ring of Beara and Healy Pass.

The Ring of Beara:

Healy Pass:

We also visited the village of Eyeries, where they were having a Family Fun Festival. It featured a Digger Contest, in which contestants prove their digger dexterity by performing various tricks, such as placing a ball in a bucket or balancing pieces of lumber.

We do not have such contests in Brooklyn.

The village is very cute, with all of the buildings painted a different bright color.

Of course, we were also able to find more impressive scenery:

That night we ate barbecue and then played games after dinner. We learned a new card game called Scat (similar to gin), and Jon played Lord of the Rings Stratego against Conor. Conor won. :)

John showed us a family tree that he’s been working on, and it was very impressive—it included almost 1,000 names. We took a copy so that we can explore the many branches of the Adams family—I especially would be happy to learn the names of all (19) of Jon’s first cousins!

The next day, John served as our tour guide for various sites in Killarney—all spectacular, of course.