Trip out here and the BEAUTIFUL Inis Oírr

Hey all!

So sorry for the disconnection, but I pretty much was secluded out on that amazing Island. Inis Oírr (pronounced Inisheer) holds the Bodhrán (Irish Drum) festival every year. It is absolutely the most amazing, energetic, real and true time I have ever had in Ireland. The festival was unbelievable, the music ... well... could not even begin to describe, the people were the best I could have ever hoped for, the tudors were fantastic and so enthusicastic and man... it was the time of my life.

I have some amazing video, but the computers aren't equipped so maybe i'll put it up later!

This blog contains pictures from myself as well as from Nick (friend from home) and Andreas Schneider (German, new friend from the Island). There are almost 200 pictures here (yes, believe it or not I left a ton out) so please make sure to click on the pages below to see them all.

Just a breakdown...

Sunday... FINALLY arrived to Shannon, traveled to Galway to meet Nick & Elaine. We drove to Rossaveal and caught the ferry to Inis Oírr. We got there and were, once again, so taken aback by the beautiful island that we needed to explore so Nick and I went to my favorite spot, the graveyard and to the castle. Amazing. You might recognize some of the gravestones from my favorite picture. It was really nice for someone from home to experience that. The evening was filled with tunes at both Tig Ned's and Tig Ruiari's... both wonderful places. It was nice to see old faces again... some, it's been one year. Everyone was so excited to be there.

Monday... classes started. Last year I didn't take them so this was quite the experience. You go through an assessment. Classes are broken up into A-F... A is the top level F is the bottom... I was placed in D, to my surprise since I am virtually a beginner, but was very happy to be in the classes period! Every day we had class from 10:30-11:30 and then a workshop for an hour, followed by another class. We got a break and then had another class at 5pm. Each class we had a different tudor and the evening class we were able to choose which tudor we wanted to go to. It was a brilliant way to organize a workshop. Especially since there are so many various techniques on the Bodhrán... everyone plays completely different! Monday night was amazing. Roísín and Circa (sp?... friend's of Elaine's) came out to the island for a night and we all had quite the time! Oh and yeah, we convinced Nick to stay another night... hee hee...

Tuesday... more classes... unfortunately, on the way back from class (no, I was not wearing my brace) I slipped on some gravel. My knee, LUCKILY, went straight back... it KILLED and it was the worst pain I have felt in a while, but there was no real possible damage i think I caused it. I happen to fall right behind a doctor and so he examined me and was very nice. I was really dizzy and so i laid there for a while and made it back into Ruiari's where Elaine and a new friend Daire (pronounced Darrah... male) were. I iced my knee the whole night and just kept it elevated. Everyone was really nice, but I was trying not to make a big deal out of everything. Oh and Dave, Ma... remember those nice blue pants I got? Yeah, covered in tar from the fall... bummer, but oh well. So anywho... the night was nice and the tunes were amazing. Nick left today :(

Wednesday... I moved from the hostel to the tent... now that the weather was better. We saw Elaine & Circa off on the ferry. Daire brought out his unicycle. The funniest moment of them all. Elaine & Circa left their jackets in the hostel so Daire rode off to get them. The ferry was ready to leave, the people were pulling up the walkway, the boat was pulling away and around the corner on his unicycle comes Daire with the jackets. We were cheering and yelling as he neared the corner and couldn't quite take it so he jumped off and ran to the boat tossing the girls their jackets. HYSTERICAL. It's a bit hard to discribe, but it was the funniest moment. That night was amazing. The tunes were just amazing and, seeing as it was such a nice night, we all went to the beach to have a fire. Gary did a great job lighting it while I sat galking... um... most of you know I like it when men mind fires... very cool! Then, someone shouted "look!" and we all turned to see a bit of orange peering over the water. Then, the next 3 minutes, everyone was stunned into watching the most unbelieveable spectical you will ever witness. That 3 minute sunrise too away the breath from all 20 people on that beach. We couldn't stop talking of it the next day... it was truly amazing. No picture could even begin to capture it.

Thursday... well, going and going and going... still going... I thought I would crash by then, but apparently I had more in me than I thought! Some people left the island that day, but most of us were still there. We had another beach fire late at night and this time, Daire, myself and Pauline decided to stay up through class... so, we did... having fun on the beach, sharing photos (by the way, Pauline and I got on so well with out photography! The pictures we took and shared left us in awe... we had fun sharing)...

Friday... We went to breakfast around 8 am then made our way... I was in rough shape... to class. That was a funny class, for sure and since this was our last day of classes, it couldn't be missed! I started to not feel well and began to think i might have accidently ingested some of the meat during breakfast (didn't think to ask about eggs cooking on the grill and i'm sure at the hotel they don't mind it much so... ) in any case... the tudor assembly was wonderful and it was followed by the tradition of Michole (sp?) playing Inis Oírr on his whistle. Not a dry eye in the place. I couldn't take a picture of him playing, but i snapped on, through wet eyes, of the moment he took to himself afterwards. We had our big jam... everyone sat on the steps at the school and Alan led us in playing together. Yes, 109 Bodhráns at once. AMAZING. We had our last class... then I made my way back to the tent. I was, unfortunately sick all evening and just tried to recover. I ended up heading to Ruiari's later that night, but surely took it easy. Around 5am, no one wanted to leave the pub. It was sad to say goodbye...

Saturday... Packed my tent up (before the rain... whew) and hung out in the afternoon at the pub and around the hostel. Andreas and I exchanged pictures and recordings... by the way, I have some of the most unbelievable recordings ever from the week... uh... unreal. So, in any case, myself, Roísín (a different one, from London), her boyfriend and the 3 Austrians (Mona, Chris and Ryna) all sat outside and enjoyed ourselves while waiting for the Ferry. We took the ferry back, uh, so sad, and returned on the bus to Galway... Denise (remember her from last summer on Inis Oírr?) invited me to stay with her while in Galway. Oh, and Galway City is having this water crisis. Their water is polluted. So, while you are supposed to be able to shower in it, you cannot drink or brush your teeth with it. It's really kinda scary. So, I took a shower and was freaked out the whole time. Ok... so I cleaned up and we went to the session... oh yeah, Elaine picked up Nick in Cong and Celine also came out! I played in this session so that was kinda nice, but it's easier for me to play when Nick is around because he plays tunes I know. Anyway, we moved to my favorite, the Crane bar and I landed myself a whistle teacher! He was absolutely amazing. I will contact him soon.

My original plan was to leave Sunday for Scotland for a few days. Now, does anyone remember that the day I was to fly to London two summers ago, it was attacked? I don't know what is going on here with the UK, but I think I had best stop purchasing tickets to go there. In any case, for obvious reasons, I did not go.

Sunday... Nick and I wandered aimlessly the streets of Galway. Unfortunately, this was the day I received the news of my students and the accident at home. In case any of you did not see it, 5 of our students were tragically killed in a car accident last week. The community was completely shut down as everyone was in shock. They were beautiful, energetic, smart, amazing students and I was just devistated to hear of this loss. I know everyone was. So, I spent Sunday not so happy and my stomach was really not good. By 7 or so I was in bed and didn't get up until Sunday afternoon. I wouldn't even know where to begin, but all I can say is I'm sending good thoughts to all of you at home.

Monday... was a completely lazy day. I needed it. Still recovering and just resting. I washed my clothes (all of them finally) but they will probably take 2-3 days to dry so... still waiting on that.

So, that brings me to today... still resting, thanks to the amazing, wonderful, brilliant Denise and her hospitality... but looks like Liam might arrive to town. YEAH!!! And so I will spend some time with him, get some necessary things done, pack up and head, I think, to Westport tomorrow for the Gráda show. I'll stay with Elaine who is renting Matt Malloy's House!!!! Then I think I'll head west for a bit of exploring for 2 days before Willy Clancy... we will see how I feel. I think I can start eating again today as I feel a bit better.

Hope all is well at home.
Don't forget, you can leave comments on the blogs... keep in touch, k?

smiles, Jess

There are about 10 pages of pictures! Make sure

wine and candied nuts

to click through them! :)

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