And so I am back. As soon as I returned from Rwanda, and more to the point, as soon as I started working in Rathdown again, it became obvious that maintaining a blog wasn't really going to be feasible, given the nature of my day-to-day work. Alfred did make occasional efforts but even he found it tough going.
But today I announced my impending retirement after 29 years in Rathdown School. I will probably finish on the 29th of February (though I may stay on for a few weeks if a handover is needed) and then ... well, I suppose the world is my oyster (Alfred: Within reason - and you are allergic to oysters).
Anyway, blogging will be resumed on a more regular basis with occasional interjections from Alfred whose comments, I gather, are occasionally even more highly regarded than my own (Alfred: 'occasionally'. If only you knew ........).
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Hello again!!
Alfred: Well, hello fans!! After a prolonged hibernation I have emerged again to annoy and entertain and confuse you. Ruairí is mostly occupied with work and his website (which, I reluctantly have to admit, does have some interesting and amusing stuff on it: the stuff on tardigrades is AWESOME! Imagine an organism even more amazing than me!!) so I have decided I need to get my sh*t together and get this blog back up and running. Look out for more very soon!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Harbourne Hall revisited!!
Alfred: And would you believe it, he brought ME!! OMG, so much to tell, life is SO exciting at the moment. Will try and find time but am flying to see Alphonsine in Edinburgh on Saturday and I am SO EXCITED!!!!! Hope she will forgive all the Alfred groupies I met in Harbourne but can it be my fault that I am so popular???
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Ursine greetings from wintry Ireland!!!
(Alfred: And greetings to you all from your ursine correspondent here in windy wintry Ireland. Just as well the Rathdown School girls designed me with a nice thick furry outer coat to keep out the chill, given that my lord and master will only turn on the central heating if he can see his breath in front of his face indoors. Maybe he thinks I am a polar bear?
And what have I been up to, I hear you cry, you legion of my followers who have been no doubt grief-stricken at my long silence? Well, it turns out that from my point of view, life in Ireland and life in Rwanda are remarkably similar. Sitting in Ruairí’s bedroom in Gisagara for weeks on end staring at the back of the closed bedroom door wasn’t the most thrill-a-minute experience in the world but there was always the distraction of occasional visitors – Gustav the mouse, Jeremy the bat, various anonymous flying and crawling things that never introduced themselves properly, Alexandré to make the bed and collect and return laundry and, at night, the festive sounds of all-night partying from the wildlife in the attic. I still find it hard to sleep at night without the soothing chittering of bats just above my head.
Whereas sitting on the kitchen table does offer a wider range of things to look at during the day and more activity in the evening, once his nibs eventually decides he has had enough of the office. During the day I can gaze at the cooker and wonder at Ruairí’s continuing belief that dragging a slightly damp cloth across an oily and greasy surface somehow constitutes an act of ‘cleaning’. Glancing to my right I behold the grandeur of the ‘garden’ whose unchecked growth has only been restrained by the wintry weather as opposed to any action on Ruairí’s part. Occasionally, the fat long-haired white tomcat will walk through, wandering slowly through the grass as if in an LSD-induced trance and leaving an erratic wake, rather like a warship frantically zigzagging to avoid a U-boat. If I am very lucky indeed, I may get to see him empty his bowels, producing a dropping so immense that for a long time they were blamed on some errant dog that had somehow managed to enter the garden and leave again.
The fun begins in the evening when he gets home. First, there is the ‘what are we going to eat tonight?’ flurry of activity as fridge, freezer and cupboards are thrown open and the choice made more often on the basis of what needs to be eaten soon as opposed to what one might actually FEEL like eating. Then (out of my eye line but easily deduced by the sound) is the watching of whatever Star Trek episodes that have been downloaded in the past few days. And then to bed (that’s a quote from someone, isn’t it?)
The newest wrinkle is doing housework in the morning. One thing that has definitely persisted since Rwanda is his habit of getting up at ridiculously early hours of the morning when there is no need to. I mean, what was the point of buying a house so near the school if you still get up at 0600? Well, the answer seems to be, to do housework!! Dishwashing, laundry, sweeping, tidying, recycling, everything except hoovering (too noisy). No cooking, at least not so far. I swear, if he starts getting up at five-thirty to peel carrots, make soup, chop onions or the likes, I am heading back to Gisagara.
But I think he is gradually settling back in to life here. He does find the national mood here difficult to take – not that things aren’t desperately bad (they are, even if it hard to convince all those Rwandans sending emails looking for scholarships/funding/donations etc of this fact). It’s that Rwanda was so POSITIVE, even unreasonably so. This is a country with little or no national resources, recovering from one of the most gigantic (if, admittedly, self-inflicted) disasters any country has ever experienced, with a demographic avalanche hovering over its head ... and everyone is upbeat, positive, working for the country’s future (on the surface anyway). Here, the country is also trying to recover from an (again, admittedly, self-inflicted) disaster but no-one seems to have any confidence or hope or esprit left in them. Contrast Rwanda’s determination – rightly or wrongly – not to allow itself to be dictated to by outside forces, countries or organisations with the situation in Ireland where (and I don’t think this is an exaggeration) most people seem to feel that the IMF or the EU or whoever would be preferable to letting the gang of incompetents and self-serving chancers in Dáíl Éireann do it. Listening to the radio the other night, I thought Ruairí was going to put his fist through the wall listening to either Lenihan or Cowen explaining why it was important not to get a bail-out at the moment because we had enough money for the next 6-12 months. And then what? Well, THEN we can go to the IMF because it’ll be the other shower who will be in power and we can maintain it is all their fault!!! Of course, by then the country will be even deeper in what our long-haired tomcat is so liberal with in the back garden but, hey, as long as FF are off the hook!
Hard to imagine that happening in Rwanda. Admittedly, there is no opposition and only one person who can make any kind of decisions but you did at least feel that some people, some politicians did care about the country as a whole and about its future. Very little sign of that here. If he does head back to Rwanda in the near future, that’ll probably be the main reason.
Hmmm, must be getting at least some of this right, he’s interrupting me with any sarcastic comments like he usually does.
As for me, I will of course go where my master goes. Though I must admit I would prefer a little while longer to get more settled back here (like, a few years) before heading off again. Though a little trip to Edinburgh to see the beautiful Alphonsine wouldn’t go amiss, must get working on that. Hope the cold, bleak Edinburgh weather hasn’t paled the golden lustre of her skin (What? You don’t know who Alphonsine is? Well, you are going to have to trawl back through the blog then, aren’t you!!!)
Thought I might get a word in here. Life has been good recently – work is much, much more under control, went to the UCD Symphony Orchestra the other night with three former pupils participating (good Shostakovitch apart from the first bit where the brass was a bit woeful, nice Elgar ‘Sea Changes’ with a wonderful singer, and a very very dodgy Brahms 2nd Symphony), off to Birmingham tomorrow morning for a Returned Volunteers’ Weekend, will catch the new Harry Potter en route, Lidl’s are stocking ostrich and springbok steaks, had a sort of day off today – brought six students into the Four Courts for the day – impeccably behaved, looked after by a parent while I made myself unpopular by taking the only table in the Four Courts canteen that has a socket by it, plugging in my laptop and working there for five hours flat!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
And so it goes......
It has been two months since my last substantial entry (Alfred: Obviously mine doesn't count as 'substantial'. Luckily my skin has toughened up over the last two years) and people have been wondering whether I was continuing or not. Well, to start with, settling back has been really hard, much much harder than I expected. I had - to a certain extent - allow for the change in climate, pace of life, missing friends and all the other things VSO warn you about when you are leaving (and their predictions were, for the most part, bang on the money). But all of them were more intense than I realised and are taking longer to resolve than I had hoped.
Add to that the fact that the job I am returning to has changed quite a lot as there have been so many things that have happened and changed here in Ireland since I left. The cutbacks mean that there are fewer resources in schools, fee-paying or otherwise, so many areas of school life that used to be covered by specific members of staff are now an extra area to be covered by ... somebody. Parents are struggling with fees, students can sense that the job market they are going to be heading out into is going to be a much more competitive and demanding one than previously, the pressure in general is a palpable thing you can sense every day.
So, as many people ask me, what is the most difficult thing about being back? I used to give rather glib, superficial answers (Alfred: Glib? Toi? Quelle surprise, mon cheri) - the shortness of skirts, the sight of people eating on the streets, the climate and the change in the length of daylight and so on. But now that I have been back for almost four months, there are more fundamental things that I realise are the real source of the difficulties I have fitting in.
One is the sheer frantic pace of life, so frantic that it often stops things getting done properly and efficiently because there are always so many other things waiting in the queue. And, to be frank, some of them seem so petty compared to what I was used to dealing with. I had hoped to get away from being in at 7.30 every morning, now I often find myself in at 7.00.
Having said that, my actual work day is probably much the same as it was in Rwanda but, second point, in Rwanda I had almost complete control over my work, within the very broad parameters laid down in my contract and by my superiors in the District (Alfred: Superiors? Can you remember ANY occasion on which they tried to lay down specifications on what you were supposed to do? Remember the first time you tried to convince either Francois or Alexis that they were actually your boss?). So I planned my days the way I wanted - inspections, visits, research, workshops, visits to the ministry in Kigali - whatever seemed most appropriate. If I felt it was suitable, I could spend an entire week or two on just one thing. Here, my life is completely spent responding to outside pressure, satisfying departmental regulations on statistics and returns and about 70% of each day is spent doing things I had no idea I was going to do when I came into school that morning!
And, to be honest, there is a status issue. In Gisagara, I was extremely well-known, the first ever muzungu to live in the district, friendly with the mayor, the executive secretary, the chief of police and army commander. For good or ill, I felt important. And, in another aspect to the same issue, the work I was doing felt important, it was work that, had I not been there, would not have happened. I could feel I was adding a definite extra something-or-other to the existing system. It is hard to convince myself that what I am back doing now carries anything like the same weight or importance.
And I miss my friends so, so much. I arrive home here in Glenageary from work and slump down on the sofa to watch reruns of Stargate and Star Trek (which is about all my brain can cope with at that stage of the day) (Alfred: You can tell it was a better day than most if he feels up to Law & Order). But in Gisagara I would be down in the new bar with Enock and Claude, maybe Joseph and Elie or some of the others, drinking chilled Mutzig (Alfred: He has switched to drinking cider here, of all things - claims that all the beers here are just inferior copies of the Rwandan beers) and discussing what is going on in the village. I miss Abraham in the craft shop in Kigali and his beautiful wife Alice and son Isaac (Alfred: Ruairí has never actually seen Isaac but we are assured he is beautiful), the crazy map-seller outside the UTC centre, the girls in the Sotra bus office in Kigali and Butare and their incessant questions as to when I am going to get married and which one of them I would choose, I miss being called 'Joe Cole' on the streets of Butare by people who have a vague idea of who I am but don't know my name and go by what was printed on the back of my Chelsea shirt (Alfred: If he does go back, they will be calling him 'Zola') .......... and so the list goes on.
But there are things I really really enjoy about being back. Above all the rest, by a mile, is actually being back in school and teaching teenagers again. In Rwanda I had no contact with students and, after all, that is what I became a teacher for. I only have a handful of actual class contact hours per week but those plus the general interaction with the girls is a wonderful experience which I hadn't realised I was missing so much.
And friends and family - this, actually, has been more difficult. Looking back over recent months, I realised that I made little or no effort to meet up again with friends or even, in some cases, family. Indeed, there are good, close friends, many of whom stayed in touch with me while I was in Rwanda whom I have not even contacted let alone met since I came back. At first, I think it was a kind of refusal to admit that I actually was back but I am not sure what it is now. But it is definitely still there. And, at the same time, I am someone who usually isn't the best at keeping in touch and I figure that whenever I run into people again will be time enough, so I was quite surprised at just how good it was to see my family again, especially my nieces and nephews in Dublin, Bristol and Munich. They say you don't realise how much you need something until you are missing it - in my case it was when I had it again I realised it!
The creature comforts are nice but, after the first few weeks, that wore off. I do still feel a childlike wonder every morning when I press a button and hot water pours down on me and I have to confess that I still spend considerably longer than is strictly necessary rinsing myself off! (Alfred: And, in case he doesn't mention it - because he won't - he is really loving immersing himself in old episodes of Star Trek and Stargate, to an extent an objective person might describe as obsessive!).
So today is Friday and we are beginning half term. Never in my entire professional life have I been so glad to see a holiday come. I spent three hours on a phone today to an IT support person trying to figure out why the statistical returns to the department kept generating error messages that meant they couldn't be sent. One reason turned out to be (Alfred: wait for it) because my keyboard was configured for US instead of UK it was inserting the 'wrong kind of apostrophes'. I mean. Really.
But my friends, especially my VSO/Rwanda friends, keep me going. Nidhi is visiting at the moment, Paula and Sonya will be home soon, Eric and Becky are around, I hope to get to Holland and visit Mans and Han and Berthe in the near future - it is amazing how the continued contact and communication with my former colleagues is so important, as well as hearing from Sarah and Emma and Brigid and Pauline and Steve and Pickles and Enock and everyone else back in Rwanda. So, onwards and upwards.
Don't expect too many posts, unless Alfred takes an executive decision to mount a coup d'état.
Add to that the fact that the job I am returning to has changed quite a lot as there have been so many things that have happened and changed here in Ireland since I left. The cutbacks mean that there are fewer resources in schools, fee-paying or otherwise, so many areas of school life that used to be covered by specific members of staff are now an extra area to be covered by ... somebody. Parents are struggling with fees, students can sense that the job market they are going to be heading out into is going to be a much more competitive and demanding one than previously, the pressure in general is a palpable thing you can sense every day.
So, as many people ask me, what is the most difficult thing about being back? I used to give rather glib, superficial answers (Alfred: Glib? Toi? Quelle surprise, mon cheri) - the shortness of skirts, the sight of people eating on the streets, the climate and the change in the length of daylight and so on. But now that I have been back for almost four months, there are more fundamental things that I realise are the real source of the difficulties I have fitting in.
One is the sheer frantic pace of life, so frantic that it often stops things getting done properly and efficiently because there are always so many other things waiting in the queue. And, to be frank, some of them seem so petty compared to what I was used to dealing with. I had hoped to get away from being in at 7.30 every morning, now I often find myself in at 7.00.
Having said that, my actual work day is probably much the same as it was in Rwanda but, second point, in Rwanda I had almost complete control over my work, within the very broad parameters laid down in my contract and by my superiors in the District (Alfred: Superiors? Can you remember ANY occasion on which they tried to lay down specifications on what you were supposed to do? Remember the first time you tried to convince either Francois or Alexis that they were actually your boss?). So I planned my days the way I wanted - inspections, visits, research, workshops, visits to the ministry in Kigali - whatever seemed most appropriate. If I felt it was suitable, I could spend an entire week or two on just one thing. Here, my life is completely spent responding to outside pressure, satisfying departmental regulations on statistics and returns and about 70% of each day is spent doing things I had no idea I was going to do when I came into school that morning!
And, to be honest, there is a status issue. In Gisagara, I was extremely well-known, the first ever muzungu to live in the district, friendly with the mayor, the executive secretary, the chief of police and army commander. For good or ill, I felt important. And, in another aspect to the same issue, the work I was doing felt important, it was work that, had I not been there, would not have happened. I could feel I was adding a definite extra something-or-other to the existing system. It is hard to convince myself that what I am back doing now carries anything like the same weight or importance.
And I miss my friends so, so much. I arrive home here in Glenageary from work and slump down on the sofa to watch reruns of Stargate and Star Trek (which is about all my brain can cope with at that stage of the day) (Alfred: You can tell it was a better day than most if he feels up to Law & Order). But in Gisagara I would be down in the new bar with Enock and Claude, maybe Joseph and Elie or some of the others, drinking chilled Mutzig (Alfred: He has switched to drinking cider here, of all things - claims that all the beers here are just inferior copies of the Rwandan beers) and discussing what is going on in the village. I miss Abraham in the craft shop in Kigali and his beautiful wife Alice and son Isaac (Alfred: Ruairí has never actually seen Isaac but we are assured he is beautiful), the crazy map-seller outside the UTC centre, the girls in the Sotra bus office in Kigali and Butare and their incessant questions as to when I am going to get married and which one of them I would choose, I miss being called 'Joe Cole' on the streets of Butare by people who have a vague idea of who I am but don't know my name and go by what was printed on the back of my Chelsea shirt (Alfred: If he does go back, they will be calling him 'Zola') .......... and so the list goes on.
But there are things I really really enjoy about being back. Above all the rest, by a mile, is actually being back in school and teaching teenagers again. In Rwanda I had no contact with students and, after all, that is what I became a teacher for. I only have a handful of actual class contact hours per week but those plus the general interaction with the girls is a wonderful experience which I hadn't realised I was missing so much.
And friends and family - this, actually, has been more difficult. Looking back over recent months, I realised that I made little or no effort to meet up again with friends or even, in some cases, family. Indeed, there are good, close friends, many of whom stayed in touch with me while I was in Rwanda whom I have not even contacted let alone met since I came back. At first, I think it was a kind of refusal to admit that I actually was back but I am not sure what it is now. But it is definitely still there. And, at the same time, I am someone who usually isn't the best at keeping in touch and I figure that whenever I run into people again will be time enough, so I was quite surprised at just how good it was to see my family again, especially my nieces and nephews in Dublin, Bristol and Munich. They say you don't realise how much you need something until you are missing it - in my case it was when I had it again I realised it!
The creature comforts are nice but, after the first few weeks, that wore off. I do still feel a childlike wonder every morning when I press a button and hot water pours down on me and I have to confess that I still spend considerably longer than is strictly necessary rinsing myself off! (Alfred: And, in case he doesn't mention it - because he won't - he is really loving immersing himself in old episodes of Star Trek and Stargate, to an extent an objective person might describe as obsessive!).
So today is Friday and we are beginning half term. Never in my entire professional life have I been so glad to see a holiday come. I spent three hours on a phone today to an IT support person trying to figure out why the statistical returns to the department kept generating error messages that meant they couldn't be sent. One reason turned out to be (Alfred: wait for it) because my keyboard was configured for US instead of UK it was inserting the 'wrong kind of apostrophes'. I mean. Really.
But my friends, especially my VSO/Rwanda friends, keep me going. Nidhi is visiting at the moment, Paula and Sonya will be home soon, Eric and Becky are around, I hope to get to Holland and visit Mans and Han and Berthe in the near future - it is amazing how the continued contact and communication with my former colleagues is so important, as well as hearing from Sarah and Emma and Brigid and Pauline and Steve and Pickles and Enock and everyone else back in Rwanda. So, onwards and upwards.
Don't expect too many posts, unless Alfred takes an executive decision to mount a coup d'état.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Oh dear
This is not easy. I figured (as I said before) the difficulty would come at the beginning and then I would gradually reacclimatize. NO. Life here is so hectic, so much more complicated than in Rwanda. And not just work, just ordinary life. So many choices to be made, so many things pulling at you from every side. So many friends and family to catch up with, a job where virtually nothing is under your own control, a house stuffed full of things that I can't remember ever needing or using ... but also getting used to the nice things about being back in Ireland (still amazed at the hot water in the shower, have had about sixty showers since I arrived back and each one is still a revelation!) - and most of all, being back in class with my students. Of all the things I missed in Rwanda (and, to be honest, there weren't many) it was the lack of contact with students that was the worst. Now I am teaching CSPE (Civic, Social and Political Education) and Computers and, for the moment, Careers and it is so so wonderful being back in the classroom with students instead of just working at admin or ministry level.
So what has been happening? Well, back at work, new boss, trying to catch up with friends and relations .... well, a whole litany of things. And also the question of what to do about the blog. Well, Alfred and I had a long chat (Alfred: Well, he did most of the talking - I was trying to watch the highlights of Everton - Man Utd). Alfred doesn't think he has the time so I am going to wrap the blog up with one long last entry and then that will be it. The question is, when will I have the time!! Off to County Clare this weekend to meet my cousins so maybe the following one. Weekdays are out of the question at the moment!!!!
So what has been happening? Well, back at work, new boss, trying to catch up with friends and relations .... well, a whole litany of things. And also the question of what to do about the blog. Well, Alfred and I had a long chat (Alfred: Well, he did most of the talking - I was trying to watch the highlights of Everton - Man Utd). Alfred doesn't think he has the time so I am going to wrap the blog up with one long last entry and then that will be it. The question is, when will I have the time!! Off to County Clare this weekend to meet my cousins so maybe the following one. Weekdays are out of the question at the moment!!!!
Just about ready ...
Alfred: OK, I think I have him just about prepped. The last few weeks have been tough for him (in his sphere of reference) so it has been difficult to persuade him his public needs him!! And, to be honest, I don't fancy running this blog fulltime on my own (which is the only thing that has prevented me from launching a pre-emptive strike). So tomorrow evening has been set aside for blog update time. There is a lot to cover so it just MAY be a little incoherent. And I hope he isn't still on a rant about the short skirts issue! Oy vey!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Ça fait longtemps
And thanks to Alfred's nagging, here I am again. Three weeks since the last update, so my apologies. And then again, why am I still doing this? I set up this blog just before I left for Rwanda so its purpose would seem to have expired. But then, the process of reintegrating and readjusting is, in a way, a part of the whole experience, so I will continue for as long as it seems relevant. And then ... well, I suppose Alfred could always take over. (Alfred: Ha! That's right, dump it on me just because you can't be bothered.)
Being back in Ireland was fine at first, surprisingly easy in fact. And (Alfred: Whoa! I say, whoa there! You already said all this stuff in your July 25th entry. Stick with the new stuff, OK?)
Ok - good point. I keep forgetting what I said before. At least Alfred is there to remind me. So, how about focussing on the really good stuff recently. Well, one thing is the overwhelming desire and, to be more precise, need to meet up with and keep in contact with my former VSO Rwanda colleagues. I have spent most of my time travelling to England and France to visit family and colleagues. I already mentioned France. England - England was great!! Flew to Edinburgh, met Martine, her son David and Laetitia, a former VSO Rwanda volunteer in Rwanda. Then Martine and I flew to Bristol, met my sister Maria, my nephew and niece Pat and Kate and Hayley, who had been in Rwanda with us (and has the nicest boyfriend, a Buddhist personal confidence coach who drives a Merc, how cool is that!!!). Also met Marion for breakfast, then off to Birmingham to meet up with Els who lives at the coolest address (Thimblehill Road) and brought me to the absolutely coolest, most wonderful cinema ever. The Electric in Birmingham, couches to sit on, waiter service during the film (you text your order to the waiter and she/he brings the drinks/food to your table: how cool is that. Check it out here - www.theelectric.co.uk - the oldest running cinema in the UK). And we watched 'Inception' - which I had seen five days previosuly in Dublin. It was even better the second time.
And then on to Chesterfield where I stayed with my former colleague Thom Lee and we were joined by Andy Crow. Saturday was England v. Pakistan in Nottingham, my first time at a Test match. And what a day it was. The planning involved - OMG. Preparation of food and drinks the night before - four kinds of sandwiches (crab, corned beef, ham and pickles, cheese and ham), cornish pasties, pork pies, water (the beer etc we left behind in the end on the grounds of weight), early start for the train, walk to the stadium, arrive at 1005, eventually left at 1830. It's a MAJOR operation. Does anyone actually attend all five days of a test match (Alfred: Ha! When was the last time a test match actually lasted five days, eh?). Well, at £45 per day, not that many people, I guess.
What was surprising was how, well ... yobbish it was. Maybe because it was Saturday but where we were sitting was dominated by drunken costume-dressed lads who seemed to have little or no interest in the cricket. Maybe they weren't as foul-mouthed as soccer supporters would be but that was about the only difference. Eventually we moved to a cheaper part of the ground. Otherwise a great day, marred only slightly by Eoin Morgan's early departure, run out by Prior's bad call (Alfred: yeah, blame the Englishman - it was just as much Morgan's fault). And I can honestly say I have never experienced hospitality like that at John Lee's house (Alfred: though Chesterfield itself is ... well, how to be diplomatic ... quiet. I figure Ruairí's arrival, let alone Andy's, lowered the average age of the community by a considerable amount).
Anyway, the really, really big thing that happened was the gathering of former and future VSO Rwanda in Dublin! First Marion, then Mans, then Martine, then Andy, then everyone else!! On Friday 13th August (my birthday as it so happened) Mans, Martine, Marion and I headed to Glendalough - a 5th century monastic settlement in Wicklow, just south of Dublin. A wonderful day, started cloudy but the sun came out as we arrived there. Then lunch in the Avoca Cafe (awesome, as usual) and then into town for dinner with Becky and Mammy in Wagamama - a great birthday.
And then the next day - the Rwanda reunion!! Fourteen former or prospective VSO rwanda volunteers in my house. A great night was had by all (Alfred: That's a bit of an assumption. I mean, people are hardly so rude as to say to your face they had a crap time, eh?) and it was really nice to meet the volunteers about to head out, though the sense of envy was hard to control.
So, pictures below, more updates to come (Alfred: Yeah, right - the only double positive that means a negative) and my love and best wishes to you all!
WONDERFUL DAY IN GLENDALOUGH
Martine and Mans in the car park; door of the cathedral
Marion and Martine; Mans and Marion
Well, it was the day after the election: I downloaded the picture, Cathryn got it printed, Andy did the info sheet and Martine framed it. That's Cathy and Marion posing in front of it.
Martine and Karen posing with the newly-elected President; Marion, Mammy and Andy
Marion, Mammy, Martine and Andy; Marion, me and Mammy watching the 'Bread & Butter' video
Food (ham terrine, chicken and lamb liver pate, hummus, potato salad, green salad, smoked mackerel pate, salmon and dill pate, and a variety of alcoholic beverages); Becky, Mans, Andy, Marion, Eric and Cathryn
Judy and Alfred and Pauline. Judy is off to Guyana in February and Pauline to Rwanda (Ngororero) in September. Judy has been a fan of Alfred for a long time, strangely enough (Alfred: excuse me? What do you mean 'strangely'? Why wouldn't a beautiful woman like that be interested in a handsome guy like me, eh?); Becky, Mans, Andy and Eric
Cathryn, Brigid and Martine. Brigid is heading to Nyamasheke to join up with my wonderful friend Libby; Mans, Mammy and Brigid.
Cathryn and Mans; and the whole group! Guy at the back is Mícheál Boland, who was working with MTN in Kigali while I was in Rwanda. If any VSO volunteer ever starts banging on about the frustrations of working in Rwanda, stand aside for Mícheál.
General group and a really sweet photo of Martine and Becky
Being back in Ireland was fine at first, surprisingly easy in fact. And (Alfred: Whoa! I say, whoa there! You already said all this stuff in your July 25th entry. Stick with the new stuff, OK?)
Ok - good point. I keep forgetting what I said before. At least Alfred is there to remind me. So, how about focussing on the really good stuff recently. Well, one thing is the overwhelming desire and, to be more precise, need to meet up with and keep in contact with my former VSO Rwanda colleagues. I have spent most of my time travelling to England and France to visit family and colleagues. I already mentioned France. England - England was great!! Flew to Edinburgh, met Martine, her son David and Laetitia, a former VSO Rwanda volunteer in Rwanda. Then Martine and I flew to Bristol, met my sister Maria, my nephew and niece Pat and Kate and Hayley, who had been in Rwanda with us (and has the nicest boyfriend, a Buddhist personal confidence coach who drives a Merc, how cool is that!!!). Also met Marion for breakfast, then off to Birmingham to meet up with Els who lives at the coolest address (Thimblehill Road) and brought me to the absolutely coolest, most wonderful cinema ever. The Electric in Birmingham, couches to sit on, waiter service during the film (you text your order to the waiter and she/he brings the drinks/food to your table: how cool is that. Check it out here - www.theelectric.co.uk - the oldest running cinema in the UK). And we watched 'Inception' - which I had seen five days previosuly in Dublin. It was even better the second time.
And then on to Chesterfield where I stayed with my former colleague Thom Lee and we were joined by Andy Crow. Saturday was England v. Pakistan in Nottingham, my first time at a Test match. And what a day it was. The planning involved - OMG. Preparation of food and drinks the night before - four kinds of sandwiches (crab, corned beef, ham and pickles, cheese and ham), cornish pasties, pork pies, water (the beer etc we left behind in the end on the grounds of weight), early start for the train, walk to the stadium, arrive at 1005, eventually left at 1830. It's a MAJOR operation. Does anyone actually attend all five days of a test match (Alfred: Ha! When was the last time a test match actually lasted five days, eh?). Well, at £45 per day, not that many people, I guess.
What was surprising was how, well ... yobbish it was. Maybe because it was Saturday but where we were sitting was dominated by drunken costume-dressed lads who seemed to have little or no interest in the cricket. Maybe they weren't as foul-mouthed as soccer supporters would be but that was about the only difference. Eventually we moved to a cheaper part of the ground. Otherwise a great day, marred only slightly by Eoin Morgan's early departure, run out by Prior's bad call (Alfred: yeah, blame the Englishman - it was just as much Morgan's fault). And I can honestly say I have never experienced hospitality like that at John Lee's house (Alfred: though Chesterfield itself is ... well, how to be diplomatic ... quiet. I figure Ruairí's arrival, let alone Andy's, lowered the average age of the community by a considerable amount).
Anyway, the really, really big thing that happened was the gathering of former and future VSO Rwanda in Dublin! First Marion, then Mans, then Martine, then Andy, then everyone else!! On Friday 13th August (my birthday as it so happened) Mans, Martine, Marion and I headed to Glendalough - a 5th century monastic settlement in Wicklow, just south of Dublin. A wonderful day, started cloudy but the sun came out as we arrived there. Then lunch in the Avoca Cafe (awesome, as usual) and then into town for dinner with Becky and Mammy in Wagamama - a great birthday.
And then the next day - the Rwanda reunion!! Fourteen former or prospective VSO rwanda volunteers in my house. A great night was had by all (Alfred: That's a bit of an assumption. I mean, people are hardly so rude as to say to your face they had a crap time, eh?) and it was really nice to meet the volunteers about to head out, though the sense of envy was hard to control.
So, pictures below, more updates to come (Alfred: Yeah, right - the only double positive that means a negative) and my love and best wishes to you all!
WONDERFUL DAY IN GLENDALOUGH
Martine and Mans in the car park; door of the cathedral
Round tower; Mans and me; round tower
Marion and Martine; Mans and Marion
PARTY TIME!!!
Well, it was the day after the election: I downloaded the picture, Cathryn got it printed, Andy did the info sheet and Martine framed it. That's Cathy and Marion posing in front of it.
Martine and Karen posing with the newly-elected President; Marion, Mammy and Andy
Marion, Mammy, Martine and Andy; Marion, me and Mammy watching the 'Bread & Butter' video
Food (ham terrine, chicken and lamb liver pate, hummus, potato salad, green salad, smoked mackerel pate, salmon and dill pate, and a variety of alcoholic beverages); Becky, Mans, Andy, Marion, Eric and Cathryn
Judy and Alfred and Pauline. Judy is off to Guyana in February and Pauline to Rwanda (Ngororero) in September. Judy has been a fan of Alfred for a long time, strangely enough (Alfred: excuse me? What do you mean 'strangely'? Why wouldn't a beautiful woman like that be interested in a handsome guy like me, eh?); Becky, Mans, Andy and Eric
Cathryn, Brigid and Martine. Brigid is heading to Nyamasheke to join up with my wonderful friend Libby; Mans, Mammy and Brigid.
Cathryn and Mans; and the whole group! Guy at the back is Mícheál Boland, who was working with MTN in Kigali while I was in Rwanda. If any VSO volunteer ever starts banging on about the frustrations of working in Rwanda, stand aside for Mícheál.
General group and a really sweet photo of Martine and Becky
Back row: Marion, Andy, Eric, Cathryn, Karen, Mans; Front row: Me or Becky (depending on the photo), Mammy, Martine.
Mans and Andy experience hurling for the first time. Mans had researched it on Wikipedia and was able to instruct me about various aspects of its history.
Martine learns the tin whistle under Marion's tutelage; a new use for a winnowing ... basket? What is it called?
Martine learns the tin whistle under Marion's tutelage; a new use for a winnowing ... basket? What is it called?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
