Schedule - 2/1-2/7

Monday, February 1 - School (Exams), Department Meeting

Tuesday, February 2 - School (Exams)

Wednesday, February 3 - AM Commons Duty, School

Thursday, February 4 - School, Extra Help, Basketball Band

Friday, Febraury 5 - AM Commons Duty, School, Birthday Drinks (8:00)

Saturday, February 6 -

Sunday, February 7 - Super Bowl party at Steve & Steph's (6-12)

Schedule - 1/25-1/31

Monday, January 25 - AM Commons Duty, School (Full day professional development with US II teachers), Department Meeting

Tuesday, January 26 - AM Commons Duty, School, Extra Help, Basketball Band

Wednesday, January 27 - AM Commons Duty, School, Meeting with AXA representative

Thursday, January 28 - School (Midterms), Extra Help

Friday, January 29 - School (Midterms)

Saturday, January 30 - Party in Maryland?

Sunday, January 31 - Return from party in Maryland?

Schedule - 1/18-1/24

Monday, January 18 - No School

Tuesday, January 19 - AM Commons Duty, School, Conference with parent/student, Extra Help,
Basketball Band

Wednesday, January 20 - AM Commons Duty, School

Thursday, January 21 - AM Commons Duty, School, Basketball Band

Friday, January 22 - AM Commons Duty, School, P2P Meeting (6:30-9:30)

Saturday, January 23 -

Sunday, January 24 - Dinner with Allie and Matt

Schedule - 1/11-1/17

Monday, January 11 - AM Commons Duty, School, MTEA Meeting (3:45-5)

Tuesday, January 12 - AM Commons Duty, School, Extra Help, Basketball Band x 2 games

Wednesday, January 13 - AM Commons Duty, School

Thursday, January 14 - AM Commons Duty, School, Extra Help

Friday, January 15 - AM Commons Duty, School, Basketball Band

Saturday, January 16 - Dentist (10:00), Basketball Band (12:15-2:30)

Sunday, January 17

Pack Track Attack 2010 (TM)

We decided to forego a rental car and instead booked business class train tickets from Vancouver to Seattle and then from Seattle to Portland for less than it would have cost us for 1 day of a car. Awesome!

Now we just have to make sure our hotels have free airport shuttle and are within walking distance of the train stations. We are embracing the Pacific Northwest's healthy, green lifestyle! (Note: We did decline the option of paying to offset our carbon footprint though.)

Some Travel Updates

Ali and I booked the flights our next domestic trip - the Pacific Northwest. We'll be flying Newark to Vancouver, BC, Canada on June 28 and returning from Portland, Oregon on July 6.

We also picked our next foreign trip out of the hat now that we are back from Ireland. Our next international destination will be Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Weekly Schedule - 1/4-1/10

Monday, January 4 - Fly home from Ireland

Tuesday, January 5 - AM Commons Duty, School, Basketball Band

Wednesday, January 6 - AM Commons Duty, School, Extra Help, Swine Flu Vaccine (4:45)

Thursday, January 7 - AM Commons Duty, School, Extra Help, Basketball Band

Friday, January 8 - AM Commons Duty, School

Saturday, January 9 - Basketball Band Double Header (10:45-3:00)

Sunday, January 10

Dublin, Ireland-Newark, New Jersey - January 4

Itin: After breakfast and checking out of your hotel, transfer to Dublin Airport for your departure flight.

Matt: We got up and had a small breakfast at 4:30am. I did a quick check of e-mail and things before packing up the laptop and discovered that our plane from Newark was delayed by 3 hours, 45 minutes. A little digging told me this would be a big problem. Due to a security breach, Newark Airport was locked down.

By the time we got to the airport, the delay was up to 5 hours. At this point it is 5 hours, 45 minutes and seems consistent there now that our flight is on its way from Newark. Instead of being the first part of the group back to the States, we will be the last.

Continental did provide us with a $5.00 voucher towards breakfast and a $6.00 voucher towards lunch. We also have the option to rebook at no charge on any flight over the next week, but that won’t actually help us at all so we’ll stick with our flight. They also handed out free calling cards so people can get in touch with those at home and things. We already purchased Internet access though so that works fine for us. Besides our car is waiting for us in Newark so no one is really watching the flight status except out of interest.

We tried to convince them to give us access to the Elite lounge to no avail. Ali is working on a first class upgrade, but that seems unlikely without us paying a massive fee, which we are not about to do. We’d pay a couple hundred dollars for the luxury and service of first class, but not the full first class fare for sure. It would have cost us $3750 for the upgrade so we passed on that.

Ali: Some random observations…
I never take lemon with tea because my family never did…just milk. Friends growing up thought that was gross that I took milk and odd that I refused lemon. But here, I’m never offered lemon with tea and always offered milk.

Speaking of tea, I’ll miss tea biscuits. I’ll also miss the butter and the clean city streets (even the government-funded housing and surrounding areas looked pretty nice…but touring companies don’t make it a point to show you places that make you feel unsafe).

We learned that the Irish accent features a ch or t sound in place of a th and a d sound in place of a t. The bartenders always ask “all you alright?” before you order. You usually need to ask for the bill and then you shouldn’t be in a rush for it to be settled. You need not tip bartenders but should tip servers- but even then between 10-15% instead of 15-20%. Another good thing we learned was that it’s pretty easily to reclaim the included 21% sales tax just by asking for a form at the register.

I tried porridge and liked it. I also tried the Irish version of bacon, which is mostly ham, and the Irish version of ketchup, which is tangier than at home. I loved soda bread and even beef stew, and had lots of great varieties of beer. The American-invented “baby Guiness” shots- Kahlua and Bailey’s- were great, too.

I’ve noticed that grafitti is generally rather polite. For example, instead of the typical obscenity battles on bathroom stall walls, the toilet walls here have been more of anonymous discussion boards about people’s personal lives. The graffiti on buildings has stars replacing letters so that the curses are somewhat censored. Interesting…

Ireland was beautiful and I’d love to come back.

Dublin, Ireland - January 3

Ali: We aren’t going to include the original itinerary because we were told yesterday that we weren’t going to follow it. Instead, we took a coastal bus tour and then had free time on the town followed by dinner at the hotel.

The coastal tour took us through Dublin along the Liffy river and then up to Howthe Hill, which overlooks the islands near Dublin and the distant mountains. This was a nice view on a sunny day, but the roads were very icy and the bus couldn’t make it to the top of the hill. In fact, it hit a pole trying to park near it. Most of us made the treacherous hike up to the top and luckily no one fell (but we had a few close calls). Some other points of interest on the tour included a stop by the school at which the members of U2 first met, the post building at which the Irish revolution began, and lots of statues like the one of the fellow who fought for temperance in Ireland…ha.

We walked to a restaurant called “Gruel” for lunch, expecting a selection of soups and stews. When we were seated, we found a brunch menu without any soup at all, and the décor wasn’t what we’d read either. Maybe it was bought or changed. Our food was good but we’d been looking forward to the stew.

We kept walking around the trendy Temple Bar area, enjoying the storefronts while window-shopping and people-watching. We went into Bewley’s Mezzanine Café to have coffee and pastries with a great view of the fashionable Grafton Street. It was nice, but we ran into the same confusion as before with how to get our check. I think we’re silly, impatient Americans and the idea is to sit around and enjoy each other’s company long after the meal is done. This is a nice way of life, but we had only a few precious hours of time left to explore Dublin! Now we know for…next time?

We walked around and saw a puppeteer and heard some street performers, then made our way to the National Museum of Ireland next door to the National Library. I’d wanted to take a look at the “Bog Bodies” exhibit our bus driver told us about, which showcased remarkably preserved, murdered bodies from several hundred years B.C. It was crazy to see faces, clothing, entrails, fingernails, and hairstyles preserved!

After the museum, we looked in a shop specializing in family histories to look at my maternal grandfather’s family crest. We didn’t buy anything, but it was fun. We did buy some dark Guinness chocolate to enjoy with our last few pints later tonight.

Matt: Dinner was back at the hotel tonight so we spent a couple hours packing and updating photos and the blog before the meal. Like the other dinner meals in this hotel, food was plentiful and decent. We sat with two current students and had a nice conversation on a variety of topics. One of the girls is a history major so we talked a little about her experiences with that and her post-UD plans.

Later in the evening we headed down for our final pints of Guinness paired with the chocolate we purchased earlier today. We need to get at least a few hours of sleep. We have an early wake-up call with 4:30 breakfast and a 5am transfer to the airport.

Dublin, Ireland - January 2

8:00AM Enjoy breakfast in your hotel followed by a 9:15AM tour of Dublin City.

Itin: The capital city of Ireland is a large, cosmopolitan city brimming with things to do, people to meet, places to see, and adventures to embark on. Don’t miss seeing Trinity College, the oldest university in Ireland, located in an enviable position in the very heart of Ireland’s capital. Trinity College, on its 40-acre site, retains some of its ancient seclusion of cobbled squares, gardens and parks. The College is famed for its great treasures including the Book of Kells, a 9th century illuminated manuscript written around the year 800 AD, one of the most beautifully illuminated manuscripts in the world. During your tour you will also visit Phoenix Park, which at 707 hectares is one of the largest enclosed recreational spaces within any European capital city.

Ali: Trinity College had a lovely open green when we first entered, and it looked even more magical covered in snow. However, we noticed the buildings didn’t look much older than those in the Ivy League and quickly found out that we were correct- none of the original buildings still stand and most are in fact no older than those at UD! That’s ok- it was still a nice place to walk around. The Book of Kells exhibit had a long, out-door wait in the cold and not quite enough room to see everything inside. However, I was dazzled by the knotwork in the art on the pages and the calligraphy. I’ve always loved this sort of thing (and may have a related tattoo) and haven’t bought any souveniers yet because there’s so many designs to see and pick from that I’d rather just enjoy. The college library was great and Matt and I enjoyed imagining we’d have one in our palace one day. The impressive collection of books is organized on the two floors of shelves from tallest to shortest, and Matt was tempted to climb the ladders to get a closer look. It is a little sad that this vast collection isn’t for touching or reading anymore, but I suppose preservation is most important.

Phoenix Park was impressive because it’s twice the size of Central Park and suddenly transports you out of the city. There were unexpected flocks of deer, grazing horses, and the presidential residence. We saw a cricket field that the Nazi’s rebuilt after the Luftwaffe mistook Dublin for Liverpool in WWII (in which Ireland was neutral) and destroyed it. The locals were driving erratically because, as we’ve mentioned, there’s no infrastructure for snow and ice removal and people aren’t used to being out on “slippy” roads. Our driver was alert and we felt safe but sorry for those we saw having trouble.

Itin: You will also see St. Patrick’s Cathedral, founded in 1191 where Handel’s Messiah received its first performance in 1742, sung by the combined choir of Saint Patrick’s and Christ Church. Music has played an integral part in the life of Saint Patrick’s since its foundation and is the only cathedral in these islands to sing two services every day. Christ Church Cathedral is one of Dublin’s oldest and most recognized landmarks, founded in the year c. 1030 by Sitriuc King of the Dublin Norsemen. The Cathedral and the exhibition “Treasures of Christ Church” reflect 1000 years of history, architecture and worship in Ireland.

Ali: St. Patrick’s is one of two Dublin Cathedrals, both of which are protestant in the capital city of a 90% Catholic nation. They weren’t always Protestant (specifically Anglican). Johnathan Swift was a dean there and there was an exhibit for him. The first leader of Ireland after its independence was also a member there. The guide explained the beautiful stained glass windows telling the story of St. Patrick’s conversion of the Pagans, the colors of the wars Ireland participated in before becoming neutral, and the gothic architecture of the magnificent building, which needed the help of the Guiness Family to be maintained over the many years of its operation.

I was most excited about the organ and site upon which the first performance of Handel’s Messiah was performed. There was a manuscript copied by the fellow in charge of music in the church at the time, so it dated back from that first performance and was cool to see.

We went to the Guinness Factory and wished we could have spent more time. The silly people on our bus kept returning late after stops and, since we went here last today, that shaved time off what we would have enjoyed here. As it is, this is already the most popular tourist site in Ireland, so we were going to need built-in time for lines. Oh well- we were still happy to be there. Each floor featured different parts of the brewing, storing, testing, tasting, pouring, advertising, and enjoying processes, as well as the many influences of the Guinness beer and Guinness family on Ireland and the world. I don’t know why, but we’d never made the connected between the book of world records and the beer- they’re from the same family. The tasting room was fun because we were taught exactly how to get the best experience out of our pint. There is also the tallest pub in the city at the end of the exhibit, at which we received a free pint and panoramic view of Dublin and beyond. The advertising section was fun because we got to see memorabilia, commercials, posters, and packaging over the years. Our favorite slogan was “Guinness is Good For You.” Apparently it is offered to blood donors and used to be given to expectant mothers. As an anemic person, I was pleased to hear about the high iron-content.

Itin: Enjoy the rest of your afternoon free in Dublin for some shopping and exploration.

Ali: We didn’t have the aforementioned free time, but went back to the hotel to get ready for a night out. After returning to Dublin, we enjoyed dinner at Fallon & Byrne and then some beers at the Porterhouse Central. We were a little nervous that Fallon & Byrne would be too fancy for our attire, but they welcomed us in and we got a table for two right away (although they warned us that it was only available for two hours). We declined the 40-euro, 4-course meal options but still enjoyed a decadent and delicious meal. After tomato bread and what continues to be the world’s best butter, we shared melt-in-your-mouth oysters (my first) and each had a glass of wine. I had roasted halibut with leeks and fennel gnocchi and Matt had Irish filet of beef with potatoes and crawfish. We felt full and fancy. Our credit card wasn’t scanning, but I’d snuck out while Matt was working on getting the bill and run around finding an ATM, so we averted disaster in what appeared to be a seamless change of mind.

We walked next door to the Library Bar, which is a small, intimate atmosphere that looks to be a mansion’s living room and fireplace. We’d planned on finding our own armchairs and enjoying a whiskey by the fire, but there wasn’t a seat to be found so we moved on. We walked back toward where the shuttle would pick us up later and happened upon a brewery (Porterhouse Brewery) we’d seen in a guidebook that we thought was way too far away. Apparently, they built another one conveniently located a block away from our bus rendezvous point. It was great to try still more local varieties of beer. The bar was still nicely decorated for Christmas (which we hear is bigger here than in the states because they don’t have Thanksgiving and need to go all out), with illuminated rows of bottles in alternating red and green uplighting, greens and lights all around, and Santa on a giant poster recommending his favorite stout.

After getting the shuttle, we tried to play pool in one of the hotel bars but they kicked us out because they were watching rugby (I can’t explain this one but at least we got our money back). Instead, we watched “Walk the Line” and went to sleep since we had early breakfast the next day.

Dublin Ireland - January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!

Itin: 9:00AM Enjoy breakfast in your hotel and continue to the assembly area for the Dublin New Years Parade. The Parade is a band only event and takes place through the historic centre of Dublin, and you will join with marching bands from Ireland, Britain, Continental Europe and USA.

Matt: The snow from New Year’s Eve left ice and snow on the streets this morning. Since they don’t get snow in Ireland, there is no plan to remove or even sand/salt to help with such a situation. As a result, we prepared to march a parade in somewhat icy conditions. At least it wasn’t rainy and windy like it was for the parade in Galway.

Today’s parade, sponsored by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, consisted of three bands – The Garda (Police) Band, the Crumlin Community Band (young kids from Dublin) and the combined bands of the University of Delaware and University of Massachusetts. I believe we were probably the main attraction once things got moving.

There was nothing else in the parade, just those three bands with us at the end. The parade was not all that long and it was in an odd shape (perhaps a shamrock) where we kept making u-turns in the middle of the street. There seemed to be a good crowd and many of the observers heeded the director of UMass’s plea to follow the bands to a concert in front of the Lord Mayor’s mansion at the end of the parade.

There the Garda played a song, the community band played two, and then we did a 20-minute concert. The crowd and the students in the community band really seemed to enjoy the whole thing. There were proclamations and certificates presented; it was a good time for sure.

Itin: After the parade, enjoy the rest of your afternoon free.

Ali: We walked around the beautifully decorated downtown centre. First we had some tea and sandwiches at “Insomnia,” a local coffee chain. Then we walked along St. Steven's Green, watched a mime, and browsed in a bookstore. Apparently, we walked by some of the filming sites of the movie “Once,” so our bus driver is going to take us back tomorrow to get a better look.

Matt: We had a good time exploring, but we didn’t really have time to see anything in depth and most of the shops and museums were closed for the holiday.

Itin: Dinner this evening will be in your hotel.

Matt: We enjoyed dinner in the hotel and then immediately moved into the bar area where a group of six local university students were performing traditional Irish music for the evening. We sat there and enjoyed the music and a few pints of Guinness for 2.5-3 hours before calling it a night. It was nice to relax without going too far and since the buses and taxis were not running due to the holiday, it was far easier to stay in the hotel then venture to town.