Medieval Fun Day
Today was the rescheduled Medieval Fun Day! It was an adventure!
We had a picture booth based on the book of Kells, which is an ancient Irish manuscript of the four Gospels, with beautiful illustrations. People could get their photo in a Kells-style prop and put it into a Kells-style frame with excerpts from the book of Kells on it.
We had some trouble getting the power hooked up to our booth so we could print the pictures - finally about two hours after the event started, we got it. But it wasn't that big a deal, because there weren't many people around - it was raining too hard! The rain did let up a couple of times for a few minutes, though, so we did get to give out some frames and take some pictures. Let's just say it's a good thing the leftover frames can be used next year!
Driver Theory Test
We are allowed to drive in Ireland on our American driver's licenses for a year, but time is passing, so Seth went today to take his driver theory test. It's a basic multiple-choice test and you can even buy a book that has all the questions in it to study beforehand. We had the book, but the test was recently updated, so it turned out our book didn't have most of the questions in it. Still, Seth got 36 out of 40 questions right, and you only need 35 to pass, so he can now send in the application for his "provisional license", or learner's permit. After that, he can start working on getting a full Irish license... but that takes a driving test and more fees. And we thought we were through with all this when we were 16...
Postponed
It's not normal for rain to slow anyone down in Ireland (if it did, nothing would ever get done), but the weather forecast for today was so bad that they decided to postpone the Medieval Fun Day!
Here's a picture for you, though - it's a family portrait drawn by Daniel:
Busy Sunday
We are making a big push now to have everything ready for the weekend. We still have quite a few folks out of town, so a lot of us who are left are doing double-duty on church jobs. Thankfully we do have a special speaker coming, so that's taken care of. Sunday is also the Medieval Fun Day in Youghal, so that's another thing to get set up on an already busy morning. We appreciate your prayers!
Song and Dance
Our church meets in the building of a local traditional Irish music group called Ceolta Si. In the summer, they have shows twice a week that include traditional music, dance, stories, and an opportunity at the end for anyone in the crowd to participate. Seth went once, and was volunteered (by someone he had barely met) to sing at the end! He got out of it, but only by saying he would come back and do it another time. Last night was that time.
So what does an American sing at a traditional Irish music show?
Seth decided to sing "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" - not only is it written by an Irishman, but it has quite a story behind it. Good lyrics, too. Seth was introduced as a member of the Baptist church, got to share a bit of the story, and by the time he got to through the second verse of the song, some of the members of Ceolta Si were playing along! Jessica got to come along too - we took David (who slept the whole time!) and got a babysitter for Daniel.
Our House
Sure, it might be different than some American houses (see the last post), but it's a good to live in. This week we had neighbors in the living room (we call it the "front room") playing guitar and singing Irish songs. We also had a mid-week Bible study there. And today Jessica's friend Melissa and a friend of hers who are touring Ireland will be coming for a couple days. What a useful house!
Life in Ireland: Around the House
It's not that living in Ireland is completely different than living in America, but there are so many little differences that it sometimes feels like it is. From time to time I'd like to highlight a few of those little things. Today we'll focus on the house...
In the country, houses stand alone, but in the cities most of them share at least one wall with another house. Lots of them are in long stretches of row houses. We share one wall.
It's very rare to see a house built primarily out of wood in Ireland. Since lumber is limited and rock is everywhere, houses are made of concrete.
Summers aren't very hot, so no-one has air conditioning. If you want to cool down, just open the window. Oh - and the window won't have a screen. There aren't enough bugs to need that.
Heating is not central - it's usually done with a boiler and radiators (or the fireplace). Only brand new houses might have thermostats, ours is ten years old and just has a dial where you set the times when you'd like the boiler to come on.
We have two electric showers. They heat their own water because hot water is not a given - if we want it in the sinks/tub we have to flip a switch and wait half an hour (unless we're using the boiler for heat, then we have plenty).
The fridge that came with our house was dorm-room size. We got a bigger one.
To own a TV, you have to pay a tax of 150 Euro/year, which goes to support public broadcasting.
Almost every neighborhood (called "estate" here) has a green. The green is big grassy field that everyone can use. The individual yards are usually a bit smaller than their American counterparts, and are called "gardens". Daniel asks regularly if he can "go play back garden?"
The power outlets, besides having a different voltage, also have on/off switches next to them. It can be handy sometimes, but also attractive to little fingers... Daniel turned off the fridge from the outlet a couple of times.
