saint patrick's day in dublin, ireland. how awesome is that?!
we started the day with breakfast at our b&b (harvey guest house). i really enjoy there breakfast. they have hard boiled eggs, a variety of healthy cereals, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and fruit salad. there is also something called 'brown bread' which you can only get in ireland. it is thick and grainy and very good. ruth gave mikkee the recipe before we left (woohoo!). my favorite, however, is the hot tea. it's called barry's tea, and it's grand! just add a little raw sugar and a splash of milk. d-lish.
we had a few minutes of quiet time each day. and each day mikkee surprised us with an encouraging letter from a friend or family member. for those of you that sent cards, they made my day! i can't tell you how many times i broke out the tissue (you know me!). love you all very much!
we head out to abbey church all bundled up. when we get there, we are lead to the downstairs room where the céilí will be held to start the clean up and decoration process. however, there is a crew of youth and parents getting ready for the saint patrick's day parade. they were actually IN the parade. a "bee" theme. there were worker bees, a queen bee, flowers, spiders, bumble bees, yellow jackets, you name it. absolutely adorable and incredibly creative. we found out after the parade that their float won the top spot (spirit award) in the parade. and they deserved it!
a flower / creator of all costumes & me
when it's time for the parade, we line up outside to watch. it was an amazing blur of color and creativity. not to mention an abundant amount of american marching bands...that was sort of odd. ha!
american marching band / colorful parade group
once the parade is over it's back to work. we have practice time (square dancing / line dancing routines that we have to teach at the céilí). then we clean the downstairs room and decorate for the party. the church has invited several other churches and people.
quick sandwich, then time for the festivities to start. the dj sets up, the irish band tunes their instruments, and the dance instructor promises me a dance. very sweet gentleman. the room was so cold when we started, but by the end of the night, we were all in our t-shirts because we were so hot from dancing. we learned traditional irish dances as well as teaching a few american line dances of our own. it was neat to see several kids that were just passing by on the street join in the festivities. we even learned a few salsa and swing moves from our new friends! :)
traditional irish dance / céilí (kay-lee) band
after the céilí we cleaned up and moved everything back into the room. it's late, we're super tired and we head back to harvey's for our team meeting and sleep.
click here for pictures from day 2
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