Right now I'm sitting in my host ma's kitchen, listening to one of the boys play guitar in the other room, and watching light pour in from outside. The family's cat, Socks, is asleep in the sunny on the trampoline. Their back garden is deep, with a vegetable garden (which they mulch themselves!) at the very end, and a birch tree closer to the door. The aesthetic is different here, but somehow it's also familiar - in a funny way, it feels like Singapore or Indonesia, but I think that's only because some of our friends there were European and still held onto parts of that aesthetic, even there.
My host sisters are darling - their names are Meabh and Fionnuala. They love to read and do sports, and are chirpy and full of questions. It's good that they're so social, because I have a lot of questions for them, too. Meabh has been especially patient telling me things about her school - she's in fifth grade - and explaining words or activities that I'm not familiar with. They're in public school, but it seems much more comprehensive than school in the US. M showed off what she learned in yoga (which they're learning in PE!!! jealousy!) for me after dinner, and Fionnuala and I talked about how much we love Harry Potter (M says "I don't really think I'm old enough to read those yet. Maybe next year.") and The Little House on the Prairie.
The boys are all gangly and tall and pierced, and very into sport, video games and music. They mumble and speak so fast that I can't keep up. Their names are Ronan, Conor, and Michael. They tease their mother incessantly, as all teenaged boys should.
Backing up, though, I'll speak a little bit about the first few days, pre-homestay (I've only just been at the house since yesterday afternoon). After meeting up with the group - which is a fantastic group of people - we drove into the mountains to a place called Glencree. It was isolated but lovely. Though the center was founded in the 1970s, the buildings have been there since the 19th century, and have historically been places of conflict and pain. It's fitting that it should be turned into a place of healing. There, we received lectures about celtic spirituality (followed by a visit to a beautiful and ancient monastic city at Glendalough), reconciliation work and peace work, and got to know each other a little better. I'm looking forward to going back.
Today I took a walk down to the sea. There's a small park by the water with a sort of boardwalk that's inviting to dog walkers, families, joggers and Claras.
I'm so thankful to be here.
