An Irish Barbecue and Breakfast

What a great night! Sheila, another Rotarian from the Dublin Central club, my host Rotary club in Ireland, invited the Rotary Group Study Exchange team from Australia over to her home for a barbecue of burgers, potatoes (obviously), coleslaw, and plenty of wine, beer, and G&Ts. The Aussies were still in their rugby gear from watching the game at the pub (Ireland won) but were good humored and we had great conversation and a blast playing charades. One guy, Ash, was lucky enough to be hosted by the Rotarian who just happens to be the father of The Edge (from U2). Since it’s still The Edge’s childhood home, we suspect Ash might actually be sleeping in the Edge’s bed! One of my goals for this year is to meet Bono – fingers crossed!

I also got to meet Annie, who is the coordinator of all 6 Ambassadorial Scholars in District 1160 (Ireland and Northern Ireland). I presented Annie, Sheila, and Grainne (the three Rotarians) with “American Pie” scented soy candles from the Heart of Iowa store in Valley Junction (West Des Moines, IA), as a thank you for their hospitality and work behind the scenes in preparing for our arrival, which they loved. You’ll note that so far, the three Rotarians I’ve met in the country are all women – and young too. Point being: Rotary is not all white-haired old men. I’m excited to meet the rest of the club too!

We ended up spending the night at Sheila’s (the driver had a few drinks), and in the morning, she made us an Irish breakfast of bacon, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, brown bread and butter – I could definitely get used to that! Through conversations over the breakfast or dinner table, I’m slowly picking up on cultural references to the celebrities here: rugby players, members of the royal family, Sinnead O’Connor.

Next up: the Gaelic Football Championship is today, Dublin vs. Kerry. Apparently the pair haven’t played in the finals in years and it’s a major rivalry. I don’t have a clue what the rules of the game are or how to follow it, but I’m meeting up with Christen (an American) to explore the neighborhoods south of Dublin to see if I’d like to live there and we plan to catch the game a pub near her and hopefully find a nice Irishman/woman to explain it to us!