The Parents Are Coming, The Parents Are Coming!

Actually, they already left! I was lucky enough to have my parents, the ultimate American tourists, Kev and Suz visit me in Ireland last week. They had a lovely time for Kev's 2nd visit to the Emerald Isle and Suz's 4th. My parents have seen the surrounding Dublin and Wicklow areas pretty extensively, so this time we decided to travel west to Galway for the International Oyster Festival.

Shouts out to our dear friend Maggie Rutledge, who is from Gort in Co. Galway!

Turns out we got there fairly late on Saturday during the day, and missed the main tent event. So we pretty much wandered around the village and ate at local restaurants and ordered plates of oysters and lobster. Galway is Pad's favorite city in Ireland. He says it has it all: good people, good pints, great craic! The whole main part of the village has pedestrian-only streets and a big square which gives it a unique feel.

You never know what you will see on the streets of Galway, case in point, a one man band... well one man if you don't count Marilyn or Obama. 

 

Galway is a bit of a college town, and on weekend nights pubs like The King's Head can get a little rowdy. After dinner with the parents one night Pad wanted to go into the aforementioned establishment, and I suggested that it might be a bit "too much" for my parents. Well, at least, my mom. Peadar insisted that my parents weren't that old, and in we went. Funny story, within 5 minutes of sitting down, this guy starts screaming "Peadar! Peaaaadaaar!!" We look at each other like, is this guy talking to you? Pad says he doesn't recognize him. Turns out this guy did know Peadar, comes over, and starts screaming in his ear about how they use to go to school together. Every other word is feckin' this and that, and you can just see my poor mother sitting there uncomfortably, all while Kev is too distracted by the Ryder cup to notice what is going on....  We thought we were rid of him when he goes and sits back down at another table, finds some other Americans, and starts arguing with them about the merits of Michael Jordan (his opinion- hero) vs. Kobe (child molester) with this couple from San Diego. 

It was classic.

Anyway, the guy comes back over to us and keeps slobbering and hollering, so eventually we moved the party back to the hotel bar. We stayed at the Radisson Blu, which was lovely. 

Mom and Dad also did excursions to the Cliffs of Moher, and Kylemore Abbey, check out the pics below. 

The best part is the below pic:

Yeah, sheepys in the road, pretty standard for the West of Ireland. Gotta love the juxtaposition between the modern GPS and sheep cruising down the lane. Oh and by the way, in Ireland they call GPS "Satellite Navigation", or "Sat Nav". Kev kept accidentally calling it Nav Sat which Pad found pretty funny. 

Pics my parents took. Pretty & Pinterest worthy:

http://pinterest.com/pin/1759287325686211/

Kev looks comfy with his pint of Guinness. 

We also bought the new puppy, Max, a four leaf clover bandanna, so he can represent!!

That's all for now folks... I leave you with the follow gems:

1. A LoveSpud

2. Tee shirt I bought nephew Joey. Yeah, I want him to be a player.

XOXOX,

Amanda

And I thought Chicago was the the Windy City...

Thursday, September 15th at 1:11, I just had one of those moments... I got a new office chair at work, and the seat is much shorter than my old one. I went to sit down and completely missed it and fell on the floor! It would have been totally embarrassing, but everyone was at lunch so no one saw! Well, it's embarrassing now that I have shared it with you. My rib cage, and head, actually hurt from the impact, haha. Regardless of injury, it's still funny. 

On Monday here it was the windiest day of my life in Ireland, gale force winds left over from Hurricane Kathy which never made landfall on the other side of the pond. Check out her path below:




Apparently hurricanes begin off the coast of Africa, travel up North America, then come full circle around to harass Ireland with their winds. People were like literally being blown around on the streets. Chicago is meant to be the Windy City, but Ireland as a country is entirely more windy than even the most intense wind tunnels in-between Chicago skyscrapers. But a little Chi-City trivia for you, the "Windy City" is not actually referring to the weather but to the "hot air" (i.e. exaggerations) the politicians exuded in the bid to have the World's Fair in Chicago in the late 1800's. It's also said to have began with a rivalry between Cincinnati and Chicago journalists taunting each other in the headlines of newspapers. But the true origin is often contested, as with most nicknames, it's hard to remember how or who started them. And since the weather is actually pretty windy in Chicago, the nickname stuck.

World's Fair Colombian Expedition in Chicago 1893

One nickname I wouldn't want is "Angel Faced Killer". Many of you have probably heard of Amanda Knox, the American exchange student (wrongly) being held in Italian prison along with 2 others for the murder of her UK roommate that occurred when they were both studying abroad in Perguia. After being in prison for 4 years, her appeal has finally been heard, and a decision about her acquittal could be made any day now. A naive, aloof, and with a flaky personality, Amanda did herself no favors in convincing the fantastical Italian authorities that she is innocent. But the DNA evidence does not lie. I am in the middle of a great new book, "The Fatal Gift of Beauty: Trials of Amanda Knox" by Nina Burleigh, an investigative journalist. After I ordered it and opened to the cover, I was thrilled to find that the author (another investigative journalist) of the book "The Monster of Florence" Douglas Preston had fully endorsed Nina's book. Monster of Florence is an amazing labor of effort that covers the Italian investigation and subsequent trials of various people in the case of a serial killer that stalked the hills of Tuscany in the 70's and 80s. The book reveals the numerous and frustrating flaws in the Italian justice system and the paranoid delusion of it's chief prosecutor, Giuliano Migini. I highly recommend these books as great reads, and interesting true stories, and a stark reminder to American and Irish citizens that you do not take your rights with you (as my mother, the lawyer, always use to tell me) when you leave the country. So be mindful of local policies, customs, and law when you go abroad, have adventures but be smart. Even in countries that are romanticized like Italy that appear 1st world, but actually have 2nd world justice and legal systems. I've seen too many episodes of Locked Up Abroad to be blase. Ever see Brokedown Palace?

On a lighter note, last weekend we went to a benefit at the GAA (remember, Gaelic football) club for a fellow that played football in the 90's who now has Motor Neuron Syndrome. I never mind knocking a few back for a good cause, and had never been inside the club house at Clan Muire (Peadar's local club) before. Surprise...the bar is made of potato boxes. Whyte Brothers potato boxes you better believe.

This was taken the night before Ireland played the USA in Rugby. I decided to support Ireland and wear my green dress, green nail polish, and then drink orange cocktails in order to support my new allegiance to Ireland with their national colors. It was Rugby so I didn't care. I still support the USA in matters more important.

See the WB etched into the box on the left hand side of the bar? That's a potato box from the farm.

Peadar heard today that he got tickets for the GAA final which is basically the Superbowl of GAA, and its Country Dublin vs. County Kerry, guess which team we'll be rooting for? "Com'on you boys in blue!" is the saying (Blue is Dublin's county color.) The whole town is buzzing in anticipation on Sunday's game. I'm taking Monday off. Guess why.

Amanda Lynch, Peadar, and I at a Dublin GAA game in '09

Catch ya on the flip side.

XOXO

Amanda

Wedding Bells, Irish Songs, Country Living

 Hey everyone! Pad and I had a great weekend in Killarney, Co. Kerry for a wedding of Peadar's cousin!

But the Friday before we left, we shot a promotional video at the office. See the lighting and cameras below. In the end they decided they needed and girl and a non-Irish accent, so I made the cut and will be in the video! I'll send you a link when the editing is finished.

The lights were really bright so Gavin (my boss and co-founder of boxPAY) wore sunnies during the breaks.

After work on Friday, Peadar and I drove 4 hours down from Dublin to Killarney. Check out the map below. Ireland is smaller than Illinois, so 4 hours is definitely the most it takes to get anywhere, and usually anywhere you go is about half that time!

It's really funny how many animals you see in the countryside. We stopped at this hotel for dinner on the way down and there were just these horses hanging out by the parking lot. You could go right up to them!

But we finally made it down and there was a lovely wedding! See Joe and Juliet below...

And Peadar and I...

Okay this is seriously not a joke, late the night of the wedding, usually at around 5AM (yes Irish weddings last that long) there is a "singsong," where everyone sits around and listens to different people taking turns to sing, or all sing together. I didn't make it to the 5AM singsong thanks to all the wine I had, but lucky for me there was a repeat performance the next night at dinner. Check out the video to see what I mean!

I am going to post the words to another song that someone else sang that I thought was really lovely and you would enjoy:

This version is by the Dubliners, but the song is called simply "A Song For Ireland"

Walking all the day
near tall towers where falcons build their nests
Silver wings they fly,
They know the call for freedom in their breasts,
Saw Black Head against the sky
Where twisted rocks they run down to the sea
Living on your western shore,
Saw summer sun sets, I asked for more,
I stood by your Atlantic Sea,
And I sang a song for Ireland

Drinking all the day,
In old pubs where fiddlers love to play,
Saw one touch the bow,
He played a reel that seamed so grand and gay,
I stood on Dingle beach and cast,
In wild foam for Atlantic bass,
Living on your western shore,
Saw summer sunsets, I asked for more,
I stood by your Atlantic Sea,
And sang a song for Ireland

Talking all the day,
With true friends who try to make you stay,
Telling jokes and news,
Singing songs to while the time away,
Watched the galway salmon run,
Like silver dancing, darting in the sun,
living on your western shore,
Saw summer sunsets, I asked for more,
I stood by your Atlantic Sea,
And i sang a song for Ireland

Dreaming in the night,
I saw a land where no-one had to fight,
Waking in your dawn,
I saw you crying in the morning light,
sleeping where the falcons fly,
They twist and turn all in your air-blue sky,
Living on your western shore,
Saw summer sunsets, I asked for more,
I stood by your Atlantic sea,
And I sang a song for Ireland 

A really popular thing to do is drive the 'Ring of Kerry' to enjoy the scenery. Pad was keen to do this, but seeing as how I get really carsick on Irish roads (think one lane winding roads and small stick shift cars) and it was really rainy and overcast anyway. I have a sneaking suspicion the 'Ring of Kerry' may be like the 'Road to Hana' for all of you that have ever been to Maui or have heard of that! So I did all my sightseeing from the view of the spa we went to on Monday, Aghadoe Heights.

Lastly, on our way home, we stopped to see Peadar's good pal Gerry Delaney. Ger has visited Chicago 2x with Pad, this is us on NYE below:

Anyway Ger is building a house, which is going great for him, and he bought a new heard of heffers (cows). He so kindly showed them to Pad and I, and I was freaking out laughing, running around in them. I'm a real country girl now! Cows are big and look funny (and are smelly!) in real life.

Would you even know me if you met me now?

XOXO Amanda