3/31/10—Blog — 12:05 PM Ireland Time (6:05 AM your time)

Hello Everyone Interested in the DHS travels to Ireland:

Do you believe no rain again? As with the last few days, it looked like it would rain this morning, but the storm blew through overnight. Some students woke up at 5:00 AM Ireland time and heard howling winds and driving rain. This morning when we boarded the bus, no rain, just the best part of passing storms as my son Patrick exclaimed, “Look everyone, a rainbow.” Moments later, a DHS student said, “Look everyone, refracted light!” We chuckled at our students turning this moment into a scientific phenomenon.

We drove to Rathbaun Farm in Galway. It was a little place but the “mom” and “pop” who ran it were so nice. They were obviously local experts who took pride in their farm and work. We saw horses, cattle, many different kinds of sheep, several young lambs, some just 5 days old. The students bottle fed a couple of the lambs and they watched a border collie herd up the sheep. The “pop” explained the business side of the farm, noting that they sold the animals for meat. Sheep sheering and raising them for wool was not cost effective, he said, with most people ultimately losing money. After viewing the farm and learning about their work, we had the most delicious scones and tea. Francis, the “mom” of the clan noted that Samantha Brown from the Travel Network had toured their farm a year ago. And another famous tourist and writer, Peter Greenberg, (also does features on the Today Show) did a story about their farm. She shared that the website:   www.RathbaunFarm.com would provide information to you and RECIPES for the scones we had. It is definitely worth checking out. Feel free to make scones for our class anytime. J Many on the trip said they would never buy a Starbucks’ scone again having had these. She also allowed us to tour an old home that would be typical for an Irish family—it had a thatched roof and a traditional fireplace utilizing peat as the energy to burn.

Much of the day was spent driving from Galway to Dublin where we would perform in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Before the performance, we all ate at a famous restaurant on Grafton St. called Bewley’s. You might know them for their tea which is sold in stores worldwide. With a few minutes to spare before bus deadline, some jammed in a little more shopping while others made it to the Book of Kells at Trinity College because they missed it the first time. It was weird feeling like we were in a familiar place since we had only spent a day there a short time ago. St. Patrick’s Cathedral was huge and hugely famous. It has a tremendous history, not only for the design, architecture and building process, but also from a religious perspective. Students performed admirably to an audience that kept growing in size and appreciation for their talent. For some, it was an emotional experience both being in the Cathedral and wrapping up their overseas performances. After the performance, a woman provided brief background information about the Cathedral and kids walked around a bit reading the walls, messages in the stained glass windows, etc.  Afterward we drove a short way through Dublin, again seeing familiar sights this time, and arrived at our hotel which is unique. It is a castle hotel called Clontarf. It was refurbished with 10 million euro in 2006 and it shows as they are an award winning hotel in terms of creative design.

In the evening for dinner, we went to the Abbey Tavern for a traditional Irish Night of entertainment. Kids looked forward to hearing the song with this refrain:  NO, NAY, NEVER, NO NAY NEVER NO MORE…they’ve been hearing it on the bus this week. The entertainers did not disappoint. Our group heard that song and many more. There was lots of toe tappin’, lots of hand clappin’ and of course, sing along. PLUS, now that we are such the Irish dancers, students enjoyed that too—a few even danced on stage! The show talent asked our students to sing a few songs; so we sang Fiddler of Dooney, Dancing Queen and U2. A surprise note requested that Ron and I sing a song. Our fans were relentless chanting for us to sing, so we finally did a duet and sang Amazing Grace. A bit later, Ron became our Fiddler of Dublin and played a tune on the violin. Another highlight was the birthday celebration. We had four birthdays during our trip:  Xinyu, Maia, Grant, and our travel guide Mr. Cho. We acknowledged them with a song and a “line jig” around the room. Oh what a night...

I want to thank the parent chaperones who came on the tour and were terrific:  Barby, Kerry, Lisa, Margie, and Suzie…your efforts are so appreciated by our students and staff. THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Thanks to our students too. You continue to represent yourselves, DHS, and your country well. I am proud to be with you. It is nice to hear from so many Irish natives how impressed they are with your talent. They also always mention how impressed they are with your respectfulness and they applaud your joy for music.