Ballyargon-Kilfinnane-Kilmallock

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12 January 2009

Hello all!

I spent the past weekend in Ballyargon, Ireland, a very small village that’s near the small towns of Kilmallock and Kilfinnane (about 60-90 minutes north of Cork). I stayed with another girl from my program, Jessica (an introvert, as if it’s her job), and our host family was an older couple, Frances and Seamus O’Donnel. The O’Donnels have 5 children, ranging in age from 26-36 years; they’re a beautiful family and Frances is proud to have 2 gorgeous grandchildren (girls) who live just a few miles away from her. Seamus is a beef cattle farmer (his 3 boys followed in his footsteps and also are cattle farmers nearby) and Frances runs a bed&breakfast in addition to cooking for all of her hungry boys that live nearby (and therefore mooch off of her fabulous cooking). Oh! And they have a lovely dog named Bruce (see facebook for his picture).

On Friday evening, Frances made us a welcoming meal…consisting of the equivalent of two ham&cheese sandwiches with tomatoes and French fries, or crisps as she called them. It was delicious and we chatted over our late dinner and tea. Following dinner, Jessica and I gave Frances gifts from our home-states. She really liked the Minnesota hand towel (which, she said, will be just lovely for covering her tables when she lays down breads), the Minnesota picture book (she especially enjoyed the pictures of animals…to see which ones she was familiar with-too cute!), and of course, what my Margie picked out, the glass Minnesota Loon Christmas ornament. Following our little gift exchange and chatting, Jessica and I went across the street to the village’s only pub. How convenient is it that the pub was only 30 feet away—ahh it was grand.lol. Anyways, Fridays aren’t particularly crazy in Ballyargon as you may predict. We walked into the pub and there were only two gentlement in there 60s-70s sitting at the stools, the bartender, and a 10 year old girl (who I later learned is Cuehve (Qui-EE-Vah)- she lives in the pub with her mother, and basically grew up there). It was a little bit awkward, but we started chatting with the older gentlemen, and then Cuehve successfully talked our ears off for a solid 90 minutes. We learned all about Irish sports, her choir concert and her friends at school, and she showed us many Britney Spears dances that she and her friend choreographed themselves. It was lovely. Throughout this time, we also mingled a little bit with some local guys who were home from the weekend from college at CIT (the technical school in Cork), and we watched the Late Late Show which showed a special on the GA (some kind of Irish sport…possibly Gaelic football?).

Saturday morning Frances set out loads of fresh fruit, homemade brown bread and jam, cereal, and on and on (she’s very much into ensuring that we were fed well ). Afterwards, Jessica, Bruce, and I went on a two hour walk around the village. The scenery was beautiful! There was a castle nearby and an adorable chapel (which we went to on Sunday). Of course, the weather turned to rain (as usual), and our walk was cut a bit short. We stayed in the rest of the day- drinking tea and watching/helping Frances in the kitchen as she made Irish stew, reading, watching reruns of Ugly Betty on tv, and taking a little siesta. It was a very relaxing afternoon, and it was cut a bit short with our traditional Irish stew dinner at 3 p.m. Apparently, she and Seamus like to have dinner VERY early. It was delicious so there were no complaints here, it reminded me of the stew my mom/grandma have made…or during St. Patrick’s day, Sacred Heart makes a mean pot as well.lol. After dinner, Frances took us to Charleville (about a 10 minute drive), because she needed to fix her phone and she wanted us to have a walk around on the main street. It was a darling little town full of boutiques, and more importantly, pubs. Jessica and I went into a few of the boutiques and coincidentally saw two girls who are in the Arcadia program with us here at UCC at one of them. They were staying with a family with a little 10 year old girl—oh she was darling and loved having “older sisters” for the weekend.

After returning back to Frances’s home, we had a few biscuits and more tea (I’m drinking like 10 cups a day…it’s lovely), and we watched Daddy Day Care on t.v. together. Afterwards, two girls who were staying at a house about two miles down came over with their homestay-mom, and we all went out to the pub across the street. Saturday night was a little more hoppin’ and I enjoyed a Budweiser and Bulmer’s Irish cider with some great Craic (fun and conversation….I’m learning some Irish words…wootwoot!).
We went to 10 a.m. mass at the chapel up the road. Frances is in charge of opening the chapel, so we met her there just before it began. It was a lovely service—only about 25 people in the entire place (it’s very small), and the priest spoke SO FAST that it only lasted 30 minutes. Now that’s efficiency…some priests in the U.S. should take some notes . We came back and drank tea literally the rest of the day until 1 p.m., when we ate Frances’s traditional Irish breakfast that she made for us (eggs over-easy, ham, sausage, tomatoes, and homemade brown bread…mmmmm). Her eldest (and single…although I have NO idea why…he’s very handsome and smart….hmm), Nile (36 yrs), stopped by and drank tea talked with us until we had to leave the house around 2 p.m. to go back to Kilmallock where the bus was to pick us up and bring us to Cork. Frances dropped us off a little early into town so we’d get a chance to see the castle, abbey, and beautiful church in town (many pictures on fb). It was well worth it, although again, it began to rain on us. At the church I also met a man who gave us a little tour and told me about the history behind the glass-stained windows and the city.

We arrived back in Cork at about 6:00 p.m. last night (Sunday), and I just spent the rest of the evening relaxing, reading, and organizing for the full school week ahead. Hope all is well back at home! I’ll be better at keeping up with this blogging thing, and will see you back on here soon 😉 LOVE!

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Comments

[Margaret]

Love the Blog!
Top of the Morn-in to ya! Ye hope your having a grand ol time in the Green Earth of paradise!

[Nancy]

Your Mom thinks she can speak Irish....
Top 'o the morn'ng to ya.....sounds like a combination of Minnesotan with a Jamican accent.....Neat!!!