Update from the week

Day 17: Japanese storytelling
Well it was a great day for class...in the fact that it didn't happen. I already only have one class on Tuesdays, and today there was a (imaginary) fire so they closed down the building where my class was...yay! (?) Later on that night though there was traditional Japanese storytelling in the Honan Chapel on campus, which was really neat. There was a world famous Japanese storyteller (I can't remember what it's called if anyone else can) who performed excerpts from 2 pieces: Ran'cho and Sekitori Senyo Nobori. This was the first time that this type of Japanese music had ever been performed in Ireland- I saw history happen! He performed and played the shamisen, with him singing in Japanese. It was a great experience but not necessarily one I'd repeat, not because I didn't enjoy it, it's just that I feel like I didn't grasp the full meaning of the songs/stories since they're about a culture I have limited knowledge about and in a language I don't understand at all. The culture and history behind the music went over my head, so I feel like I couldn't truly appreciate the nuances of the story :( Still fun though :)

Day 18: MedRen
Last week my friend Bethany mentioned a club called the Medieval and Renaissance club (hence MedRen) where they teach people how to fight with SPEARS!!!! As a result, I found myself hauling myself back to the campus that night to give this spear thing a try. IT WAS SO FUN!!!! Most of us were really uses staffs since they didn't have a spear tip at all, and those who did had the end without the spear tip facing their opponent. We learned basic attacks, the "kill" spots (places where, during combat, you aim for to beat your opponent) and the blocks for those spots. Then they threw us into sparring. It was tough, especially since the guys are a lot stronger and sometimes hit your spear hard enough to knock off your grip, but really rewarding. At the very end (the thing was 3 hours long...) we got into a circle and had 2 people face off in the middle. The loser went back into the circle and the victor stayed in to face the next opponent. During this I got whacked upside the head (quite painfully I might add, but he felt absolutely terrible about it) but kept going and beat him (which was also really awesome since he was one of the student teachers who had experience). I faced and beat the next 4 people in line before I got taken out :D

Battle wounds from this little endeavor: bruised left pinky (someone's staff slid up mine during a match and whacked my pinky), ridiculously sore shoulders and arms, slight stiffness in my left hand (the one that leads when you're fighting), and a painful bump on my head.

Day 19: The Bodhran
Technically there's a fada (accent) on the "a" but I don't know how to do that...*shrugs*

Well, I had my first Bodhran lesson! The teacher seems really nice and good, and I think it's going to be fun. The Bodhran, for those of you who don't know, is a traditional Irish drum. It's just a circle drum that rests on your knee and you adjust the pitch of the tones by moving your hand along the back of the drum skin. You play it with a "tipper," which is just a type of drum stick. It's going to be hard in a different way than the Uilleann pipes, though I have to say it doesn't appear nearly as hard as the pipes. It'll be a neat instrument to be able to play, but I don't feel as much of a connection as I do with the Uilleann pipes...eh, can't absolutely love everything. The trick with the Bodhran is the strength required to make really resounding tones on it, since it actually is a bit hard to get the force right.

Day 20: Schedule of doom, chocolate and dancing
I was FINALLY able to get my class schedule for my Intro to Irish Gaelic! Yay! However, the overwhelming happiness was dampered a bit when I realized that they scheduled my class on Mondays right in between 2 classes I already have...gah. So with this addition my Mondays officially became my hell day: class from 1-6 straight. The only "break" is when I get to practically run down from the Music Department after Uilleann pipes (ending around 3:30) to main campus (bout 20min away at a good clip) for Gaelic at 4. After that I get to learn how to teleport myself to Intro to Traditional Irish Music since that starts at 5pm but Gaelic ends at, you guessed it, 5pm. Mondays are going to be simply joyous occasions >.<

After this fun realization I went back to the apartments and talked, via facebook chat, to Catherine, Marissa and Patty- which was really nice. Bethany and I had decided to meet up and watch movies and eat chocolate...it was just that kind of day. And boy did we eat chocolate. Holy cow. Probably far to much of it, but oh well *looks really content and happy* We finished watching The Court Jester and started Hercules before Jack came over as well.

For some reason which escapes me, they wound up playing Irish dance music and "making" me dance (ya cause I would never want to do that). They got a real kick out of watching me, and it was fun to see what I could remember. It was incredible how strongly memories from dance class came back to me. I could picture every detail of the studio and even see people dancing if I closed my eyes...the strength of the audio-visual connection shocked me and spun me for a loop.

But ok, that's it for this update. My hiking adventure in the Comeraghs deserves its own post!