Taylor Beach Rugby

As I mentioned in my previous post, we played Rugby on the beach.  That was a blast!

Unfortunately, since I was playing I was unable to get any pictures, but thankfully Lilly took all these AMAZING pictures.

Explaining the rules...

Picking teams

 Brian, our bus driver, was also once played rugby on the Leinster team. He did a great job coaching us. This is my team, getting ready for the first play. Since I had to take off my glasses because Rugby gets super rough, I couldn't see much the entire game.

 LET THE GAME BEGIN!

 Can I just say that we had NO idea what we were doing...

 I decided that bulldozing was the best method.

GET OUT OF MY WAY!

Brian talking to the other team.

 If you are successfully tackled and hit the ground, you are supposed to let go of the ball, but that didn't always happen...

There I am, on the run again...

 Emily plowed Daniel over at one point when he had the ball.

Great shot!

I'm not sure what was happening here.

 Oh, look! We dropped the ball! It is time for a scrum. Our scrums aren't nearly as impressive, though because we didn't have as many players.

 Another scrum...

 Run, Carlee, RUN! (Oh wait... She wasn't on my team... ATTACK!)

Please don't ask what I was doing in any of these pictures...

 At half-time, we had to move the lines for the rugby field because the tide was coming in and creeping closer to our rugby field! But still, by the end of the game, our goal line was the water...

 For the last play, Brian stuck the ball in between us and made us race to get it.

 Game over! Our team lost, but we fought hard and had tons of fun.

 Apparently, it is a tradition to make a chain and run into the sea. Whoever breaks the chain has to do something ridiculous. Since I already "swam" earlier, I didn't join in. (That is a story for a different time.)

 Everyone ran into the icy ocean. Now, someone was supposed to trip and break the fall in the headlong rush, but they didn't so although they stayed out in the freezing sea for a while and ducked under the waves several times, they never broke the chain.

Lilly also took this lovely picture.

Rugby Game

 We got to attend our first Rugby game. Leinster was playing, of course! Now, when we watched this game, I knew NOTHING about rugby and basically had no idea what was happening. Then a few weeks later, we played rugby and in doing so learned more about it. I'm still no expert, but at least I can explain it a little better.

 Ireland's color is actually blue not green, therefore the Leinster boys and all their fans (which has to be 99% of all those there) were decked out in Blue. BLUE WAS EVERYWHERE!

Now, in rugby, basically, the main goal is to tackle anyone who has the ball. The ball gets passed backward to another team mate who then carries it. The game involved a lot of tackling and it often took awhile for the ball to get across the line. When someone carries the ball across the goal line, they must touch it to the ground, then the team gets five points.

 Every time Leinster scored, the crowd erupted, blue flags were waved, creating a wave of blue in the stands. Celebratory music filled the air and everyone was shouting for a few minutes. 

Do you see the amount of blue? SO MUCH BLUE!

 If the ball is dropped at any point during the game, a scrum has to be made. Everyone wraps arms around the players to either side, crouch and wait... The ball then gets thrown in the middle of the teams. The goal is to kick it back to your teammates.

 This results in a lot of pushing, which means that the scrum breaks... and results in a jumble of legs and arms...

 Not only was basically everyone cheering for Leinster (there were like two people cheering for the other team) but the Leinster mascot circled the stands, beating ob his drum and making everyone clap and chant for Leinster.

 After the game was over, (Leinster won, of course) we took the DART back to Bray, because (once again) the DART was down and didn't go all the way to Greystones. Then we rode one of the many double-decker Dublin buses back to Greystones.

Misty Bray head on the horizon.

 We decided that being college students was overrated and drew monsters on the misty bus window.

Museum of Modern Art

 Across from Kilmainham Gaol was the Museum of Modern Art. It had a pretty stunning entrance.

 A lovely walk to the actual Museum in the fall leaves...

 A beautiful building...

 A clock tower shining in the sun.

I even thought I was in Washington D. C. for a minute...

 But the art didn't strike me enough to take any pictures. Maybe its just me, but Modern art looks more like a jumbled mess than a piece of art worthy of visitors...

 The more interesting part was the walk away from Kilmainham. We walked along the Liffey and passed Wolf Tone Quay, which made me happy. Theobald Wolf Tone was a great leader of the Irish back in the late 1700's to early 1800's. He was inspired by the American and French revolutions and started organizing his own against the British in Ireland. He got the French involved, and they sailed toward Ireland in 1796 with 15,000 men. The English were not prepared, nor could they muster a counter attack in time to stop this force of troops. Unfortunately, the Irish weather was against them, and driving winds forced them to retreat without ever setting foot in Ireland.

Wolf Tone said they were close enough to throw a biscuit onto the Irish shore, but the French invasion was forced to turn back, and the British breathed a sigh of relief. That was a close miss.

But just a few years later, the spirit Wolf Tone had awakened in the Irishmen stirred, and the 1798 rebellion was sparked. To try to aid this, Wolf Tone once again sailed to Ireland with a small force of French troops, but the mission ended in disaster, and he was caught during a future rebellion and sentenced to death. But instead of being executed like a criminal, he attempted to take his own life with a letter opener, and slowly bled to death, just as his friends in the courts has successfully pleaded for his life.

Sorry for the tragic tale, I know I tell so many of them on here, but that truly is Ireland's history.

On Leaving and Saying Goodbyes

Goodbyes are never easy. Especially, when you are leaving a place, which in three months, has become your home.

It didn't feel real in the days up until we arrived here in Ireland and it doesn't feel real now in the days up until we leave.

But today is that day.

I must say goodbye to this beautiful place. Say goodbye to all the things I've fallen in love with. Leave the culture I've only just begun to understand.

But maybe a better way is to say, "Goodbye until we meet again."

Because we will. I'll come back to this land. Although I'm leaving today...

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One day, I will return.

I'll return to this beautiful, mystical land

Halloween

Halloween originated in Ireland and Scotland. It was a time for matchmaking -- one last celebration before the cold of winter. It was a time for pranks and games. It was a time that the Irish believed the spirit world was closer than any other time. It was a time for "fortune telling"

There are many games the Irish would play during this time of the year. Many they still play today. Some of the things they still do are build bonfires and set off fireworks once believed to chase away evil spirits.

In the weeks leading up to Haloween, the Businesses, restaurants, and towns went all out decorating for Halloween. One town we went through had all kinds of scarecrow decorations. They were some of the most amazing ones I've ever seen. There were hundreds of them. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any clear pictures as we were driving past. My favorite one, however, was a horse head sticking through a hedge with its rider sprawled on the ground.


At the "Y" us Taylor students held our own party.

Everyone had amazing costumes!

 I bet you'll never guess what my costume was... Especially with this hairstyle which Becca so brilliantly did for me...

 Thanks to Lauren for letting me use her cloak and elf ears.

 After we all admired everyone's costumes, we went into the classroom to play some games.

Like eating donuts without using your hands...

 And a cake eating contest...

 And a "Make a Mummy in 3 Minutes" I wish I could say that this amazing Mummy was our team's. (That is Meghann under all that toilet paper.) Obviously they were the winners, and rightly so ...

 especially when compared with our pathetic attempt ...

I think we failed ...

 After the games were over, we had an amazing dinner in the stunning room the OMs decorated.

It was a great night. I hope you had as happy a Halloween!