Weekday Happenings

I went to Christ’s Church Cathedral during the week because I got the ticket when I went to see Dublina and it only lasted fro 7 days afterwards. It was a beautiful cathedral. It always amazes me how churches, especially Catholic ones, can have a standard shape and yet be so unique in the ornamentation. Here are some photos:

the Baptistry

main hall

Casket of a Soldier and child

Church of Ireland Coat of Arms

After I saw the church, I went and met Anne for dinner because I didn’t get to celebrate her birthday with her. That was nice because I hadn’t been able to really talk with her. Since our suites are separate and everyone’s rooms are singles, it’s kind of hard to just hang out with people, especially those not in your suite. So you almost have to schedule a hangout time or you just won’t see people, so I’m glad that I got to chat with Anne.

            Wednesday was the 4^th of July (Happy Birthday America!). Tragically, I actually forgot until I got to work and my co-workers all wished me a happy fourth. I’d heard ads on the radio advertising sales for the 4^th of July and I just think this is weird that another country would celebrate the Independence day of different country. It’s nice that they want to celebrate with us, but I just find it weird. Well, I guess we have independence from Britain in common to celebrate haha. Helena, one of my co-workers, and Brian went to the US embassy for networking purposes (they’re our public affairs team) and got free food. I tried to warn Brian that there would be lots of cook-out food (which is uncommon in Ireland apparently) but the number of grills still impressed him. Apparently there was a large game of flag football, hamburgers and hotdogs, a bouncy castle and Starbucks – hmm what else sums up America better? just kidding. They also gave out free Hagen Das ice cream which Brian and Helena brought one back for me (I think it’s funny it wasn’t Eddy’s or Ben and Jerry’s which are more obviously American). They also got me a really cool heart pin that has the Irish and American flag in it! Later on, I went out with my other Wahoos (some of whom were ridiculously dressed i.e. Raleigh had an American flag bandana on) to go find some other Americans and party. We went to a Captain America’s pub (an Irish chain – why don’t we have one??) but it was full. Then we went to a few others and somehow managed to not find other Americans, but we sang the songs they played in the pubs – Born to be an American, Sweet Home Alabama (really popular here), etc. It was fun and definitely different to celebrate the Fourth in a foreign country.

Thursday, I got to go help Alie in the clinic. The clinics are for asylum seekers and refugees to come in and have individual meetings with Alie or whomever else is working there, to answer their questions and get advice as to what course they should take. The kinds of topics are the steps for getting refugee status or Irish citizenship, family reunification, and things like that. I essentially sat next to her and took notes on the meeting. I’m glad I got to go because it gave me a better idea of exactly what counseling (even in the psychological field) feels like and showed me another facet of the organization. That evening, I went with Helena to a book premier. It’s called In a Holding House and is about how a social worker realizes that some of the girls her colleagues are supposed to be helping have vanished and it’s her pursuit of truth and justice in that situation. I haven’t read it, but it sounds interesting. Helena and I were the only ones from the office to go, but I’m glad I went because it was one of those fancy things and Helena had to speak and it wouldn’t have been fun if she had to do that completely alone. It was a nice reception, but I didn’t really know anyone there and was just grateful I’d decided to dress up for the clinic so I wouldn’t look so out of place.