Friday we went with Maynard into Newtownards (pronounced Newton, as in Sir Isaac, and arrrrds.) While there we saw a summer school. We came in time to see them playing some games, mostly football (soccer.) After that we went inside to see the school and get a demonstration from Mark Anderson and George Holmes on Lambeg drums and Fifes. We even got to play a Lambeg drum it was awesome and they definitely are the loudest drums in the world! To finish out the last day of summer school the kids watched a video of clips taken of them throughout the week. They got to do all kinds of cool things. There was a piper brought in, they learned some Scottish Country Dancing, did crafts, worked on a workbook and played different games. They also learned about traditional foods.
After the summer school we headed to Alfie G's, Maynard's wife's restaurant. It was excellent! From there we headed to the Northern Ireland vs. Belarus Women's Senior Football game. Now, I'm no fan of soccer but this game was AMAZING! It must lose something in translation to America...I don't know. Maynard arranged for us to meet the coach and we even got practice shirts like the girls would wear. That was late night number 1.
Late night number 2: Saturday. I got up Saturday morning and walked into the city center to do some shopping. (There is really no free time on this trip for me to get any souvenirs any other time.) I took the bus back and then we headed out to Ballymoney for the Dunloy Accordion Band Festival. After grabbing a bite to eat at the Peppercorn and meeting up with Gary we headed down to the festival area. There were highland dancers there that worked up a song just for us with an American theme and a bunch of other highland dances. It was excellent. Then the Dunloy Accordion Band came on and they called us up to present us with cds. I'm always amazed at accordion bands that aren't playing polka music...LOL. After Dunloy, Ian's band played with small comic interludes between groups. After Ian was the Imperial Fife Band from Liverpool. Then to end things they brought out some lambeg drums.
After the show was over we headed to Kelly's for dinner. The food was excellent. After our meal we went out to the clock tower to watch the parade. Now the parade wasn't like those you'd see at home. The people parading were only fife bands and accordion bands. I could not believe the number of people that came out just to hear bands play. (As a music teacher it was very reassuring.)
Then we left there early to go to a Ceili back in Belfast. When we got there they were still doing presentations. And then finally they got to the dancing. But they didn't explain anything before doing it and you just kind of muddled through. I danced one dance which was really fun. We then headed home and got back around 1AM.
Now I'm up and ready to go. Today we're headed to a Presbyterian Church service. And then to meet Maynard's family. After that we will probably be meeting up with the rest of the group for a BBQ and then hopefully home relatively early.
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