House Rule #1: No counting down how many days we have left in Ireland.  I’ve managed to convince myself that I’ve only been in Europe for about a week.  The thought of returning to school, work, and three straight weeks of job training starting literally the day after I return to the United States is depressing. (BUT I’m really excited to see all of my friends and family again)

To avoid breaking the house rule, let’s just say I planned to be abroad for ten weeks, and last week was week nine.

Fear not!  I have plenty to look forward to!  In January I will be venturing to Turkey for my “Perceiving Islam in Turkey” class.

I’ll be travelling to Istabul, Mardin, Urfa, Gaziantep, Adana, Cappadocia, Konya, Pamukkale, Izmir, and Bursa.

According to the course description, this is what I’ll be doing:

“While traveling across Turkey, visiting sites essential to the development of Islam, sharing meals and conversations with Turkish Muslims, and reading about Islam from both insiders’ and outsiders’ perspectives, we become familiar with the basic beliefs and practices of Islam and its influence in Turkey including worship, family life, politics, modernity, gender relations, relations with other faiths, and intellectual and artistic traditions.”

Cool, no?

Some of you are probably wondering why I’m taking this course.  My university requires three theological courses, and I needed to finish up my 300-level this year.  I knew I wanted to take a course on something I have little to no knowledge about, and I wanted to take something that would immerse me in a completely new culture (I’m sure this is shocking).  So, I picked this, and I couldn’t be happier :]

Comments   Life, Travel   TAGS: summer 2010, turkey

While in Ireland, I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot about ancient Candadian traditions, such as their moose hunting practices.  The most common of these is called the “Canada Slam” as demonstrated below by my beloved Canadian housemate Cassidy:

This particular hunting technique is both dangerous and effective.

Please do not try this at home.

Comments   Life   TAGS: canada, canada slam, moose, summer 2010

This is what my housemates and I do at home while everyone else is at the pub:

It’s called a Milling Frolic.

After dinner last night, my housemates and I sat around trying to recall any American or Canadian folk songs (we’re all American or Canadian).  This resulted in some renditions of “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain” and a strange Canadian song about beavers.  Those in turn resulted in a makeshift Milling Frolic.

At a glance, this seems like some strange Canadian ritual.  Once you get to know the practice though, you quickly realize that it’s a nice break from all the moose hunting, syrup collecting, and Canada Slamming.

Comments   Life   TAGS: canada, ireland, milling frolic

I also often study.

Comments   Life, Travel   TAGS: ireland, pubs, summer 2010

No, that is not an insult.  While people sing Sean-Nós songs in the Conamara area, listeners often shout things at the singers to give them the motivation to continue.  These words of encouragement include:

Dia leat – God be with you
Up sleamhcán – Up sladdy (sea vegetable)
Up scrathachaí – Up sods of turf
Croch suas é – Lift it up
Up an baile s’againne – Up out village

And my personal favorite:
Muisteais frog ort! – Moustache frog on you!

I asked a couple locals why people shout about frogs and moustaches, and apparently there isn’t really a reason.  It’s just what they do.  Haha  I think the Irish may just have a thing for animals with moustaches, because when I was on the Aran Islands, I found this moustashed horse:

Comments   Life, Travel   TAGS: aran islands, conamara, ireland, irish language, moustaches, summer 2010