An Grianán

Right after I arrived, I took a look at the website of An Grianán Theatre to see if they have a drama club for amateurs. I found no such thing, but saw that they start a 6 week drama course this week. It seemed interesting, but the advertisement said that places would be "strictly limited", so I thought I wouldn't really have a chance with my level of English and my foreign accent, not to mention my lack of acting experience. But still, I thought that even if I'd be turned down, at least I might be able to make some friends. So I went to the induction class on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun; it wasn't really about acting, but we played many funny games and did some exercises, too. I met nice and friendly people :) It was worth it. At the end of the class, the leader said that we'd get an e-mail about the results.

I got mine today in the morning, saying that they offer me a place on the course!

So, wow! I'd never imagined I would get involved with acting in Letterkenny just two weeks after my arrival. It seems that I'm actually not that bad at acting. I can't wait going to today's lesson~

First Walk

Last week I was dropped in the town centre of Letterkenny, and had some time to look around and go wherever I wanted. So I walked all around the town and discovered most of the shops.

My first stop was St. Eunan's Cathedral.

It's huge and amazing! Unfortunately I couldn't go inside because I got there right after the Holy Mass started, but even the outside is wonderful, I really love that rose window. They have a Mass in Irish Gaelic every month, and I think I'll go to the next one even though I'm sure I won't understand a word :D

There's a small square in front of the cathedral with a big Celtic cross. 

This was actually the first Celtic cross I've ever seen in my life. A few days later I saw another one when we drove through Ramelton. So I think I'll see plenty of them later, when I'll travel around the country.

I've already found the most dangerous place of the whole town: the second-hand bookshop. It's pretty cheap and has a wide choice of books and DVDs. I even found interesting stuff in Irish Gaelic, so I won't get near that shop again until I can save some money. Anyway, they also buy books, so if I'll have something I don't need anymore, I know where to sell it.

Some days later, when I had another walk around the house, I accidentally found the lake of Grendel's mother :D

She even has her own private toilette (left side behind the lake; barely visible, but it's still there).

And the next photos were taken just about ten minutes' walk from home. Impressive. I wish I had a better digital camera...

Typical Irish landscape with lazy sheep. The purple, green and blue sheep of Minecraft are actually real - you probably can't see it in the last picture, but people do paint their sheep different colours so that they can recognise them when using a common pasture land.

A Report

So, now that I have a little time, I'll just try to make a more or less proper report on the things that happened on the first few days I spent in Ireland.

I arrived at Dublin on Tuesday, where I was picked up by Pauline, then we went forward to Letterkenny.

This was the very first Irish Gaelic sign I saw at the airport. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a better photo, those lights were always in the way :/

It was pitch dark when we arrived, so I barely saw anything when we got home, but next morning, when I woke up and looked out of the window, this is what I found:

And I can stare at this all day long when I'm taking the kids to school. Irish countryside is just lovely! I can't wait to discover more of it, and everybody keeps saying that it'll be much more beautiful when spring comes.

And the sheep; they're going to be my favourite ever :D

I also had my first driving lesson today (I already have my full driving license, but I'm not at all a confident driver, especially because here we drive on the left), which is a bit exhausting as the instructor has the local Donegal accent, a difficult one to understand (I really mean it - when he says my name, it sounds somewhat like "Kitty"). It's hard to concentrate on driving and understanding the guy at the same time. Luckily I already have some experience with Northern Irish Ulster English, which is quite similar to this one, but still, I think it'll take time to get used to it.

Oh, yeah, that's typical of me - starting to write about my driving lesson and ending up speculating about different accents.

Anyway, Letterkenny looks gorgeous. It's not as big as I expected, but we have everything, like theatre, lots of shops, library, cinema, leisure centre and all. I'll definitely love it once I discover the best places to go.

Oh, and the children. All of them are cute, I can't even tell which one I like the most. I'll spend the most time with Michael, the youngest one as he still doesn't go to school, but I really do love the other two as well. They're very neat and obedient, I haven't had any problem with them. Well, so far. I was told that they might test me in a few weeks when they get more used to me.

I also have my daily reading exercise every night - did you know that reading bedtime stories to chilren can help you a lot to improve your pronunciation even after a few days? And what's more, being forced by three noisy kids to listen to the same movie soundtrack CD every morning makes you learn all the lyrics by heart whether you want it or not. This will come in handy for sure when I'll go to the local drama club.

Irish Gaelic Texts Everywhere

That is the first thing I remember from Dublin. And the cars parking on the seaside.

I'll write more once I pull myself together, but I'd been on the way all day long, and I just urgently need a sleep.

But today, today is the day I first set my foot into Ireland. And into Northern Ireland. Okay, setting foot into Northern Ireland didn't literally happen, but still, I've seen the lights of Omagh, and Armagh, and many other beautiful towns.

Katie Goes to Letterkenny

Actually, Katie goes to Dublin first, because there's no direct flight to Letterkenny. Poor Katie. Hahaha.

(And I think I've already mentioned this earlier.)

Nevertheless, I leave this neat room of mine tomorrow early morning with two suitcases and one handbag containing my whole life. Oh, I just wish the last part was true. I spent weeks, literally, WEEKS trying to collect all my important things and put them into the suitcases, but it was a vain attempt, I just had to accept the fact that I can't take everything I wanted with me. I really feel sorry for my precious books, I even have to leave Tolkien's Beowulf behind, oh god, because it's too heavy... But one day I'll return and fill a huge suitcase with my books! And I'll travel by bus, because Eurolines doesn't have a weight limit.

Also, my make up equipment... I hadn't used make up in the first, like, 22 years of my life, but after that, I kind of became more girlish, and now I realise that I have lots of make up things, and I had to select only a few of them to take with me. Of course it's not such a big thing, they are pretty cheap things and I can always rebuy them later, but still, I got used to some brands I might not find in Ireland. The worst was my contact lens solution. I have yearly lens and they'll expire next November, and I use a Hungarian brand of solution that I surely can't buy in Ireland. So I have to take 3 bottles of it with me, and they're quite heavy.