The Irish Intellect (one point of view)

Carol and Sierra arrived on Saturday. I went to the airport on Saturday, but their flight was delayed 3 hours, so I ended up finishing Marcel Pagnol’s Manon des Sources at the airport waiting for them.

The trouble with Ireland is that it's a country full of genius, with absolutely no talent. -Hugh Leonard

" Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not: Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

Genius will not: Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not: The world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. What we do in life echoes in eternity " - Calvin Coolidge

Kids I’ve seen here have an almost voracious curiosity, their eyes flash almost despite inquisitiveness (mixed with embarrassment for their bad haircuts). That curiosity seems to leave after a certain point, if only to revive in later life. The practice of continuing education (either professional or personal) is uncommon. There are far more bookmakers (betting parlors) than bookstores. There are more bars than cafes, and I swear the fact that I can’t get a decent cup of coffee here is a direct reflection of the level of intellectualism here. In terms of technology, few of us at work have yet to see a “computer store”, although there is a €900.00 Compaq at Tesco (on the shelf next to hair dryers). Cell phone stores are everywhere; CD and DVD stores are almost as common. “Software” consists almost entirely of video games. To get internet access at home, I had to complete an application and have it witnessed by a notary or a member of the police or clergy, who also has to be a customer of the same phone company.

Perhaps the best way to describe the educational system is from a booklet “Hint For Living In Ireland”:

School may pose the single most difficult adjustment for American families in Ireland. The standard of education is generally high, but it is not always parallel or transferable to the American system. One long-time American resident describes the Irish school system as a marriage of convenience between church and state; the distinction between private and public schools often seems fuzzy to outsiders. Both primary and secondary education are organized primarily on a denominational basis. Catholic or Church of Ireland authorities often own the grounds on which Catholic or Protestant schools are built. The church involved owns a percentage of the buildings but teachers’ salaries are paid from a government contribution made on a per student basis. In most primary schools the local clergyman or priest is the chairman of the Board of Management. Religion is taught as a subject in all schools. All Irish schools follow a national curriculum.
Children are rarely ability grouped; rather, the class tends to work together as a unit on most subjects. There is a very strong emphasis on English, Irish and arithmetic with very little time allocated to other subjects.
Results obtained on the Leaving Certificate Exam determine what Irish university a student can enter and what program of study he/she can pursue. University applicants are evaluated solely on the basis of points obtained on the exam; Irish universities do not see any transcript of their term-to-term performance in secondary school. In an Irish school, a C grade and numerical exam grades of 50-6-% are considered good grades. A grade of B is hard to earn and an A is rare indeed.

Personally, I think it is this co-mingling of religion and education that has the biggest effect on the intellectual life here. People mentally reject the religion because it was mandatory study, but accept the anti-intellectual bias of religion. In an effort to reclaim their Irish “roots”, Gallic was made mandatory in public schools. Adults will say they spent 8-10 years studying the language but can’t remember more than a few phrases. They didn’t choose to learn it, the study of it was forced on them, and so they mentally reject it.


But none if this explains why I can’t get a good coffee here. This was at Bewley's Cafe on Grafton street. Nice presentation, but the same disappointment.

The Irish in Ireland (one point of view)

I had thought to spend some time describing the Irish people. I will have to split this up into several sections, and I've decided to do so along the lines of my own philosophy - body, mind, and soul, and will talk about each section in turn.

Physically, people are are a lot less homogeneous than you might think. Of course there are red-heads with freckles, but they are striking because of their rarity. Most folks are pale complected with dark hair. Tanning salons and especially the spray on tans are fairly common here; the color looks pretty good, but the uniforrmity and perfection of the effect reveals its artificiality.

Old folks here look about the same as anywhere, if somewhat more cheerful. I wouldn't say there is a reverence for elders here, but I do think they're more able to age gracefully and with great dignity. And the social system is set up so that almost no one is left destitute.

This being Europe, I expected the populace to be in better shape than they are. While outright obesity is rare, the majority are actually a bit overweight. It's easy to tell that if they didn't have to walk as much as they do that many of them would be outright obese. Even so, the fitness center is not planning any expansion in the near future; I've never seen more than 10 people on the field of aerobic machines that occupies the ground floor.

The fashion for girls right now seems to be those oddly faded, ill-fitting, hip constricting, low-riding jeans that look time consuming to put on and painful to wear. Very few of the bodies should be so encased, as the tight, low waistline simply causes the flab to reveal itself more in the overflow. They do some interesting things with layers of clothing - colors, fabrics, sleeve and hem length. Hair styles tends to be natural - those with curly hair leave it curly and usually long, those with straight hair leave it straight and hack it up for the most part. I saw some manequins in a store window whose hair looked like a Barbie doll after a couple of weeks of rough play. I think the weather prevents anyone from making too much of a fuss about their hair.

The fashion for guys, such as it ever is, consists of the shirt collar half pulled up - not James Dean rebellion, but rather rumpled nonchalance. They wear a lot of fashionable sweats (which they call track suits) or soccer shirts with jeans. Most guys have short hair that shows they don't pay much for haircuts. Most of the yound kids have painfully bad haircuts - the kind you get as punishment or that look like your dad was drunk when he cut your hair, and their eyes show their embarassment. Luckily, most of the other kids have really bad haircuts, too, so it works out. Very little facial hair; men of all ages shave regularly. There is a guy at the internet cafe who looks just like Ben Affleck's little brother, but with a bad hair cut.

The faces of the people are hard to describe without sounding like a budding writer. The good-looking women I would have to call handsome. There is a hardness of the brow and jawline, and a darkness in their eyes that defies cuteness, and some of them have a sly look, like they're trying to keep from laughing at some joke you didn't hear. I found this excerpt from an Irish folk tale: “He could not say the face was beautiful; it was too strong, too austere for beauty,… gold-brown eyes stared back at him from under thick straight brows. The lips were full but firmly held, the chin strong under cheeks that were slightly hollowed by high cheekbones. “
The not so good looking ones, well, do you remember when you were a kid and the grown-ups would tell you not to make those faces because your face would get stuck that way? Guess what, they may have been right. Some have a look of bewilderment or confusion or slight disgust. Others have faces that are pulled down, not in sadness, but in that contortion you get right before a good hard sneeze. (think Vincent Schiavelli in Ghost) When I'm out on the street, they always remind me to smile. Not everyone takes great care of their skin, and many have aged beyond their years. Note to self: always use lotion or suncreen in the morning, even if it's not going to be hot; it's the kind of thing you can't go back and do later. Also, I've basically quit drinking since I got here. Ironic, isn't it? It's not some sort of morality play - I've just seen what it does physically to the people who drink a lot (and there are a lot of people who drink a lot). In their faces, their bodies, their skin tone, their musculature. Besides, I'm experimenting with meditation techniques and lucid dreaming, both of which alcohol interferes with.

So, there it is. Remember to smile. Go easy on the drink. But whatever you take away from this, take my advice about the sunscreen.

So, what’s the weather like in Ireland?

Today was cool in the morning, then rainy, then sunny, then sunny and windy, then rainy and windy, then partly sunny with light showers. From what I’ve seen, the clouds tend to stay pretty low, so the rain comes and goes fairly quickly. We’re on an island and on the coast of the Irish Sea west of England, so the temperature is going to remain fairly constant throughout the year – not too hot in the summer, cold but not terribly so in the winter. I’ve learned to have with me at all times a jacket, an umbrella, and sun screen.

http://www.ireland.com/weather/cam.htm
http://www.visitdublin.com/weather/

I remember the year I spent in Monterey, CA where we called it “perpetual autumn”. One day I biked 30 miles to Salinas for a rodeo. Coming back it was so hot and even the top of my head got sunburned. But over the last three miles to the Presidio at the top of Monterey Peninsula, the temperature dropped 30 degrees and by the time I got there I was cold.

The temperature here has been consistently around 17-20° C (65-70°F). They say it seldom gets above 25, but also that it hardly ever freezes in the winter. I had to turn the heater on in the apartment the other day – not because it was cold, but because I had just done a load of laundry and it wouldn’t dry otherwise.

I finished Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man yesterday. My second shipment of personal goods arrived today, which included the copy of Finegan’s Wake I bought with the Barnes & Nobles gift certificate Tania and Matt gave me. I also visited the local library just down the street from Sierra’s school. They have a good selection and even have a surprisingly good collection of foreign language literature. When I came out, the sun was shining from the west, but gray clouds were coming from the north and a light rain chased me home.

Moved to Dun Laoghaire

I moved out of the apartment in south Dublin and into the one in Dun Laoghaire. Everything is very convenient from this location. The Crunch Fitness Center is around the corner, right across from the Dart station. Two streets over is the Dominican Convent Primary School where Sierra will go to school. And right down the road from that is the public library build by Dale Carnegie in 1912.

Dun Laoghaire is really a suburb of Dublin, and is still in Dublin country. You can see from this map the geographic location in relation to Dublin.

I took a taxi to work on Friday and my driver, who turned out to be a neighbour, told me the basic history of this once small fishing village.
Dún Laoghaire gets its name from the Irish Translation, Fort (Dún) of Laoghaire. King Laoghaire was the ancient High King of Ireland before the Vikings arrived. When the English came they renamed the town Dunlary (Dunleary) to suit the English tongue. In 1821 it was renamed Kingstown by King George IV of England to honour his visit to the town that year. It remained Kingstown through Victorian times until in 1921, one year before independence, the town council voted to change the name back to the ancient Irish name Dún Laoghaire.

The apartment is the garden level section of a 3 story townhouse built in the 1850’s for the British admiralty. My landlord is none other than the “Dun Laoghaire Borough Old Folks Association”. They split the townshouse in two and rent out the top floor of both sides as well as our side of the ground level. The middle level was left intact and serves as the Old Folks Association’s meeting area. It’s a 2/1 with a porch leading out to the garden. The rooms were larger than I was mentally bracing for and the location is absolutely perfect.


The first thing I did upon moving to Dun Laoghaire was to join the Crunch Fitness Center – easily the nicest “gym” I’ve been in. I bought a copy of James (Seamus) Joyce’s A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, having finished A Brief History of Ireland in French.