Monday: We met Maynard in their new offices. The building is really coming together and I could see myself working there. That would really be great! Anyway, after scooping up some books in Ulster-Scotch we headed to Rathfriland to talk on Fuse FM 106.2. We were interviewed by "Wee Young Lass", in fact, we were her very first interview! Again, we sang on the radio, as well. After hanging out at the radio we headed to Silent Valley. There is a reservoir there and it is absolutely gorgeous. They also have a wonderful little museum about water and the Silent Valley area.
When we got back from that we got changed and laid down for a little bit. Then we headed to see "Magic of the Dance" at the Belfast Opera House. The Opera House was lovely! The show was nice, but it paled in comparison to a Bill Whelan or Michael Flatley production.
Tuesday: This morning we took the bus to Newry and we checked out a summer school there. We were there when the kids came in from playing (most of the boys were out playing football, while the girls were inside chatting and dancing.) Mark Anderson and George Holmes were there to do their presentation on the lambeg and fife. After the presentation we went down the street to the Masonic Hall that Michael "Bud" belongs to. We received a tour of the hall (of course they really couldn't tell us anything and in fact they told us more than I thought they were allowed.) It was an interesting thing to see because it isn't every day you're invited into one. After a pint we headed back to the summer school.
When we got back the kids were finishing lunch. We got sandwiches and then Gary did a presentation about Ulster-Scots words. The kids went over the body parts and then played "Gary Says" and some of the little ones were excellent. All of us Americans were out pretty quickly...LOL
New Ulster-Scotch Words for the Day:
blither-talk too much
wilass-small girl
weefla-small boy
weechal-child
heid-head
neb-nose
lugs-ears
ee-eye
een-eyes
muth-mouth
thrapple-throat
shillers-shoulders
aerm-arm
cheist-chest
shanks-legs
fet-foot
After our short history and vocabulary lesson we got a ride home from Gary and Mark and then worked up our song
for Thursday's performance. We then stopped at a chip shop on the way to City Hall to meet up with the group and go to an African drumming session.
Now, I'm not really a huge fan of African drumming, at least the way I've been exposed to it so far. There were good points and bad points to the night. Running the session were two gentlemen from Zimbabwe and one from South Africa. The guys from Zimbabwe were amazing. They really knew what they were talking about and worked well together. But the gentleman from South Africa kept improvising and throwing everyone off. As a music teacher, it was absolutely killing me. Then another gentleman came out and danced some hip hop and got some of our group involved. That was neat too. Unfortunately, the experience was rather stressful for me because of the group not working together as one. It was a neat experience but I didn't feel it had much of a tie-in to what we're doing here.
Wednesday!....
Tomorrow is our fun day. We're getting picked up by Maynard and I think we're going to Ballymena. Mark mentioned something about meeting the Mayor there. Bushmills Distillery is in here somewhere. Then we're heading up the Antrim Coast to the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge.
This is a bridge spanning 20 metres
and 30 metres above the rocks/ocean! Yeah....see how I do with this one tomorrow! Some of you know how I feel about heights, check out this pic of it online...
Yep....over 80 feet down. And once you're over the bridge, there's only one way to get back!!! Guess what that is. Yep, you've got it--going back over the same little rope bridge!
I feel like we're at the cliffhanger at the end of a Rocky and Bullwinkle episode. Tune in tomorrow folks to see if she makes it!
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