Day Off - Saturday (Week III)

Happy again! I woke up to bright sunshine and a mild day. My love for this country is sadly dependent on the weather it shows me. Not really, I do love Ireland regardless, but my mood changes drastically as the weather changes.

I headed off to the public library early this morning hoping to get a good start on my homework. Since I had plenty time before getting into the library, which opened at 10:00am, I took a long refresing, relaxing walk into town.

I found a quiet street next to the canal that reminded me of Bruges in Belgium (charming and peaceful.) I found some ducks frolicking in the water and two swans gracefully making their way along. I fortunately had some crackers in my bag so I was popular with the foul for about 2 minutes until the crackers ran out and I was no longer of any use to them. We all parted ways, me down the street to the Cathedral and them to find another early riser who might have treats for them.

I made my way past the cathedral where Jean Marie got married and then down Nun's Island road past the theater there (more to come on that place in a moment) and found myself a short block from the Bridge Mills and my school. It's always fun when you take a path to who knows where and come out to place you know well.

I headed across the center of town to the library to find it didn't open until 11:00am. What to do, I thought, and you all know me so well so you can guess exactly what I thought to do. Eat, yes, you are correct. I mean what's a Saturday morning in Ireland without a nice fresh scone with butter and jam. I found a wonderful cafe to sit and have my pre-studying, morning snack.

Now the library was not as helpful as I thought because they wouldn't let me use the internet there. I had dragged my own laptop and all my course books but I still needed a code and the women behind the counter refused to give it to me. She said it politely but a refusal is still a refusal. I was able to get other work done but I was sure that had it been a nice older Irish man he would have been kind enough to help me out. Oh well, luck of the draw.

Now the fun part of the day was I got to go to a free lecture on theater and the integration of performance art into mainstream productions. Yes, you may have guessed, this is where the Nun's Island Theater comes in. The theater looks like it is housed in an old church that was repurposed nicely for theatrical use. I walked back across town and enjoyed an incredible discussion between the Dramaturge at the Druid Theater and two lovely performance artists who do a lot of their work in art galleries and random spaces around Ireland and the UK. There were about 20 people present in the audience for the two hour talk but only about 10 of us for the practical use portion where one of the performance artists used us in a demonstration. Lots of fun and I learned a few good exercises to use with my class and when I'm directing. I felt like a theater student all over again which was so nice and a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon in Ireland.

I took another long walk weaving and winding around the town until I made it up the hill to my gym where I rewarded myself for the exercise I'd just done and spend a good bit of time in the Jacuzzi relaxing.

Jean Marie met me at the gym with friends, Noreen and her dad, Pat (Frank's brother-in-law.) We were all heading to Ellen and Frank's restaurant (the Co-Op) for their 30th wedding anniversary costume party. It's amazing that 30 years ago Ellen came to live in Ireland in an apartment with no running water or heat. I mean that's truly being in love since she's stayed here ever since. I suppose when your in your early 20's you'll put up with a lot for love. When you’re in your forties running water and heat are really the bare minimum, rock bottom kind of thing that you require no matter how fabulous he is.

It was a surprise party for Ellen who looked beautiful dressed as a good witch and Frank, who had planned the whole party, came as a hippie something or other. Hard to tell with Frank since he looked pretty much the same as he normally does. Okay the hair was a tiny bit more out of control but not so far off. It was a lot of fun and Jean Marie got some great pictures of Ellen with me and then with Noreen and Pat. I also had such a great time talking with Hannah who works at the Budding Cafe a few days a week and her husband who is a computer programmer here in Ireland. They are both originally from the Czech Republic so we had lots to talk about since I am in love with their home country and have been since my first visit three years ago.

As enjoyable as the evening was by 11:30pm I told Jean Marie I really had to go home. I need to be in bed at a decent time or I'm totally grouchy and difficult the next day. Okay maybe not that extreme but I am certainly not a cheerful bunny if I haven't gotten lots of sleep.