Irish: A Manner of Speaking
Once again I am finding myself in WordPress-Blog-space. It’s a happy space if you ask me. Slowly I am learning about blogging and about writing and I am finding my own voice. When I received the WordPress Weekly Writing Challenge email about slang and phrases that are unique to where bloggers live, I need not have looked or thought too hard about what I was going to write about: “For this week’s writing challenge, showcase your slang. It can be a display of regional pride, a contemplation on new words you’ve heard, but still don’t quiet understand, or a practice in dialogue that mimics our regular speaking patterns. Need a few ideas to get you going? Pick a word or phrase that is unique to where you live or your…
Back with a bang!
I am. In Dublin once again after a short stay with my mum. She moved houses last week but instead of having me pack boxes with her with lots of… well… you know yourself when you move houses and how much you gather in the space of about 60 years or so. I stayed in her new apartment by the marina, 5 minutes from the beach and 3 minutes from the main shopping street – my mum knows how to pick her favourite spots – so she chose wisely. And while I stayed by the marina for a week before her moving in, my mum was slaving over packing boxes in her old place, doing admin related to the move and so on. For a week I had no internet…
Ten Irish quirks
Ah, the idiosyncrasies of Ireland… they are everywhere if you open your eyes. After living in Ireland for 10 years and almost 6 months, I still find new ones! Pedestrians waiting to cross the road and staring at the little red man to go green… only tourists do so. You can spot who is a tourist by the look on their faces when they see Irish people dodge the traffic and jump in front of oncoming traffic. We’re a risk-taking kind of society! The sad and confusing look on the faces of said tourists when, upon arrival in Dublin city, they spot a tall building bearing the name ‘Heineken’ instead of ‘Guinness’ on O’Connell Bridge. Despite the huge economy Guinness brings to Ireland, you are confronted by ‘Heineken’ first and…
Haunting Joyce
Words. Letters strung together to form sentences filled with thoughts, ideas and emotions. I thrive on them, books and communication in general included. I am a true bibliophile. After library studies, I ended up working in libraries for years before moving to Ireland. Books were my life as a kid, a teen, a young adult and they are still my life right now. I cannot begin to guess how many books I have read or how many I handled while working in a library and each one was special. According to Wikipedia, a bibliophile is someone who “loves to read, admire and collect books, often amassing a large and specialized collection. Bibliophiles do not necessarily want to possess the books they love; an alternative would be to admire them in old libraries.”…
Changing Ireland
I’m well into my 10th year of living in Ireland, and I often wonder about what changed during those years. A long list builds itself in my mind on people, mentality, culture, politics, nature, life… Writing about everything would result into one very long blog post that will eventually bore everyone, so I will try to keep it rather short. After all, I’m here to be entertained myself. During my first weeks in Dublin I was house hunting and it’s fair to say that I saw serious differences in what was up for grabs. Apartments with bright blue carpets, surely there to blind its tenants and with hallways like a maze. Now how should I find my way out here? I can’t even find my way out of a cereal…
I am of Ireland (14th century)
Is D’Eirinn Mé “Icham of Irlaunde Ant of the holy londe Of Irlaunde. Gode sire, pray ich the, For of saynte charite, Come ant daunce wyt me In Irlaunde.” (Anonymous in honour of St. Patrick’s Day) (translated from Old English to Modern English): “I am of Ireland And of the holy land Of Ireland. Good sir, I pray thee, for the sake of charity, Come and dance with me In Ireland.” © Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me, 2011-2013. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me with appropriate and specific direction to the original…
Christmas in Dublin
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. (Charles Dickens)
