Celebrating 100 years of Rotary in Ireland

This weekend I attended the Rotary District 1160 Annual Conference held in Ballyconnell County Cavan.  The conference was hosted by the Rotary Club of Coleraine, and it lasted from Thursday, September 23rd through Sunday, September 26th.

It was quite a memorable weekend, and I can't even begin to describe the extravagance.  The conference was held in the Slieve Russel Hotel, one of the most luxurious hotels in all of Ireland.  Not only was the hotel itself 4-star, it also had a championship golf course (which you can be sure the Rotarians enjoyed), and a huge, world-class spa.  http://www.slieverussell.ie/

During the day we attended conferences and listened to several incredible speakers, the highlight being the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese.  Other speakers included famous football (soccer) player, Gary Mabbutt; past Lord Mayer of Belfast, Dr. Ian Adamson; 5 time climber of Mount Everest and founder of "Moving Mountains," Gavin Bates; Chief Executive Co-operation Ireland (and a man very influential in sustaining peace during "The Troubles" between Ireland/Northern Ireland), Peter Sheridan; and the founder and CEO of "ShelterBox," Tom Henderson; (among other various Rotary presidents and district governors).  Perhaps the most inspiring was Tom Henderson, who is working with Rotary to distribute emergency shelter and relief to victims of natural disaster.  I was also thrilled to meet him, as my Rotary Club back home in Murray, Kentucky, District 6710 is helping to fund this incredible cause.  http://www.shelterbox.org/

And if the inspiring speakers weren't enough, the entertainment was an event in itself!  As one of 6 Ambassadorial Scholars in Ireland, Rotary International in Great Brittan and Ireland (or RIBI) was generous enough to provide not only our rooms for the entire weekend, but our meals as well.  The host Rotary Club of Colerain also provided entertainment in the form of a wine tasting on Thursday night, a banquet and ball on Friday night, and a concert on Saturday night, including well-known Irish musicians and comedians (Peter Corry, Gene Fitzpatrick, Fiddler Adam, Ivan Black, Loreto McAuley, and David Munro).

The social highlight of the weekend was the banquet and ball on Friday night.  When I first heard there was going to be a "ball" at the Rotary Conference, I assumed it would be a dance, but I was definitely wrong.  It was incredibly formal.  As "ball gown" was not a top priority for packing when moving from Kentucky, I was certainly unprepared.  Luckily, one of the outgoing scholars let me borrow a dress. 

The banquet consisted of a 5-course meal (two of which were desserts).  The food was incredible!  I doubt I will ever eat that well again in my life.

Course 1: King Prawn and fresh Crabmeat Salad served with a piquant lime and paprika mayonnaise, scented with tomato and fine Cognac


Course 2: Chicken Consomme Celestine


Course 3: Pan seared Fillet Steak served with buttered Champ Potato over a Madagascar peppercorn cream, served with a selection of vegetables and potatoes


Course 4: A Medley of House Desserts with Fresh Berried and créme anglaise (we were really excited about this course)


Course 5: Tea / Coffee and Petit fours


Afterward, there was a live band and everyone danced until about 3 in the morning.  When I finally pulled myself away to go to bed, two gentlemen who must have been in their 70s remarked that we young people just didn't know how to party.  It's true; I just don't think I can keep up with the Irish Rotarians.

To Arthur!

If you've been anywhere near Ireland in the past few months, you have heard of Arthur's Day.  Arthur Guinness was the founder of the much-loved Irish porter.  Last year on September 24th (also a Thursday) the Guinness company began to publicize "Arthur's Day" to celebrate 250 years of Guinness.  This year, Arthur's Day fell on the 23rd.  He is believed to have been born on September 28th, but since no one knows for sure, everyone celebrates on a Thursday around that time.  Arthur signed the 1,000 year lease to build the Guinness factory in 1759, so at 5:59 (17:59 military time) everyone holds up their Guinness, shouts "To Arthur!" and promptly knocks it back.  Larger cities like Dublin, Cork, and Galway have sold tickets to larger pubs where various bands/artists will be taking part in the celebration.  The line-up includes groups like Snow Patrol, Paolo Nutini, The Magic Numbers, José González, Westlife, Imelda May and The Maccabees.  Although tickets were sold out within the first 2 hours, buyers don't know which bands will be appearing in which venues, thus adding to the suspense and excitement surrounding Arthur's Day.



Despite my aversion to beer (especially dark beer) I plan on spending 5:59 in the Foggy Dew pub below our apartment.  I will probably just have time to drink a pint (though I will likely be enjoying Bulmers, an Irish cider) before I have to leave to make it up to the District 1160 Annual Rotary Conference in Ballyconnell, County Cavan.  Although I can't take Michael with me, I'm sure he will be happy to remain behind celebrating what may turn out to be one of the more important Irish celebrations of the year.  To Arthur!

We found an apartment!

This morning, Michael and I placed a bid on an apartment and just found out it was accepted.  Apartment hunting was a little difficult at first because of Ireland's Catch-22: you are unable to open a bank account without having an address, but you are unable to rent an apartment without having a bank account.  Luckily for us, Kelley Maxham, my friend and MSU alumna who is currently living in Dublin, let us put down her address so that we could get the bank account.  It took an additional 3 days before we could get money wired into the account from America, but after about a week everything is finally set up.

The apartment itself is really cute.  It's on the 3rd and 4th floor of a building 3 blocks from Trinity, so I can get to my classes in literally 2 minutes.  The ground level is a pizza shop, the 2nd floor is mostly business offices, so it will be very quiet in the evenings.  We're on the 3rd floor with one other renter.  It comes fully furnished and stocked with plates and flatware, though we will have to buy our own pots and pans and sheets for the bedroom.  The apartment is a loft, and walks into a fairly large (for Dublin) living room / dining room area with the tiny kitchen and microscopic bathroom off on one side.  There is a staircase in the opposite corner that takes us up to the 4th floor to our bedroom (complete with a real closet - the largest I've seen in any apartment).  The floor doesn't go all the way to the far wall.  Instead it has a railing and you can look over into the living room.  The ceiling at the top is slanted, as it follows the roof-line, and there are two skylights where we can look up and see the continuous rain.

The Realtor said that there were other bidders, but as soon as she learned I would be attending Trinity as a post graduate she decided we wouldn't have time to do anything but study and would be great renters.

Our new address:

Meg Black and Michael Belcher
Apt. 5, 2 Fownes Street Upper
Temple Bar
Dublin 2
Dublin
Ireland

Murray State connections in Ireland

We have arrived in Ireland!  We landed in Dublin at 7:15 am and met up with MSU alumna, Kelley Maxham.  Kelley and I took a "teaching history" class with Dr. Duane Bolin in the fall of '05.  She is now a doctoral student at University College Dublin.  When she learned via Facebook that my husband, Michael Belcher, and I were planning on spending our first week here in a hostel, she graciously offered us a room in her apartment for as long as it takes for us to find a place of our own.  Hopefully our apartment hunt won't take too long, but it's wonderful to know that regardless of what we find, we have a place to stay and a good friend to keep us company.