I went back to France last week. Worked a couple of days in Montpellier and then Saturday in Marseille. We're planning to go back again in April, the week after Easter, because I enrolled Carol and Sierra in a week-long French language course in Montpellier.
In Dublin, on the way to the bus that takes you to the airport, something occurred to me that I should mention. I don't want to generalise, but I noticed something about the Irish that was exemplified by this one innocuous event. I was crossing the bridge near Connelly street and there was a panhandler sitting against the rail in the middle of the bridge with his cup out. An older man was coming towards me and we did that little dance people do when they are trying to avoid running into each other. The man was probably in his late 50's, long white hair, and he wore a cheap maroon windbreaker from a university he obviously didn't attend. His sneakers were beat up, but he walked with his back straight and his head up. He was cutting across the pedestrian traffic (hence our near collision), heading towards the beggar on the bridge.
Me, I tend instinctively to go out of my way to avoid panhandlers, but here this old man was going out of his way to give some other poor bloke a bit of change. This is not untypical. Again, I don't mean to generalize, but the Irish are some of the most caring, giving, cheerful, helpful, and generous people I've ever seen. If you ask for help or directions, they will try to help - even if, for example, they have no clue about the directions. I often feel stingy and morose next to the Irish generosity.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
March Madness
It has been over a month since I've posted anything here. On Wednesday, I'm heading back to France for a few days. I had intended to post an entry last month when I came back from France on the 26th. Life has a way of getting away. I'm getting old.
Yes, I spent a week in southern France last month. And there I was at the airport in Marseille on Sunday the 26th, looking for the Aer Lingus counter for my return flight to Dublin. I was there in plenty of time, the crowds weren't long, it was going to be a quick trip back. Sunday the 26th.... of March! I bought my return ticket for the wrong MONTH. After running between terminals, I found the cheapest ticket I could - on Lufthansa airlines - with a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt. So, this week, I'm going back to Marseille to use up the back end of two round trip tickets. Lufthansa to Marseille and then Aer Lingus back to Dublin on the 26th... of March.
It did me a lot of good to be in France for that week. Working half in English and half in French gets taxing after a while. I had never been to Montpellier before. When I was at la Faculté d'Avignon in 1987, I was a poor college student who could only visit those parts of Provence I could reach by bicycle on weekends. Montpellier has a very interesting history. Marseille is just weird. But as soon as I arrived in Dublin, it felt like home. The bus ride from the airport sealed it. At one stop, two old men got on and had the funniest conversations with complete strangers for a few stops and then got off, wishing everyone around the the best. When we stopped in Dun Laoghaire, the driver leaned out of his booth and cheerfully yelled, "Last Stop! Twice as fast as a taxi and a fraction of the price!" The Irish are so cool.
Sierra made the cover of the March 9 edition of The Irish Catholic. There was a ceremony at the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin for candidates for baptism. Sierra was the youngest one there by a long shot. We asked our neighbors to serve as godparents. Little did we know that Otto was once the managing director of that very newpaper.
When I was 9, I made the front page of the Abilene Reporter News for breaking my arm when I fell out of a tree.
Yes, I spent a week in southern France last month. And there I was at the airport in Marseille on Sunday the 26th, looking for the Aer Lingus counter for my return flight to Dublin. I was there in plenty of time, the crowds weren't long, it was going to be a quick trip back. Sunday the 26th.... of March! I bought my return ticket for the wrong MONTH. After running between terminals, I found the cheapest ticket I could - on Lufthansa airlines - with a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt. So, this week, I'm going back to Marseille to use up the back end of two round trip tickets. Lufthansa to Marseille and then Aer Lingus back to Dublin on the 26th... of March.
It did me a lot of good to be in France for that week. Working half in English and half in French gets taxing after a while. I had never been to Montpellier before. When I was at la Faculté d'Avignon in 1987, I was a poor college student who could only visit those parts of Provence I could reach by bicycle on weekends. Montpellier has a very interesting history. Marseille is just weird. But as soon as I arrived in Dublin, it felt like home. The bus ride from the airport sealed it. At one stop, two old men got on and had the funniest conversations with complete strangers for a few stops and then got off, wishing everyone around the the best. When we stopped in Dun Laoghaire, the driver leaned out of his booth and cheerfully yelled, "Last Stop! Twice as fast as a taxi and a fraction of the price!" The Irish are so cool.
Sierra made the cover of the March 9 edition of The Irish Catholic. There was a ceremony at the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin for candidates for baptism. Sierra was the youngest one there by a long shot. We asked our neighbors to serve as godparents. Little did we know that Otto was once the managing director of that very newpaper.
In the Pro-Cathedral Dublin a ceremoney called the Rite of Election took place last Sunday when 17 Catechumens were presented by sever parishes to go forward to receive the Sacraments of Initiaon at this year's Easter vigil. On the night in their respective parishes, they will be Baptised, Confirmed and will receive the Eucharist for the first time. The ceremony which was presided over by Bishop Ray Field took palce on the firs Sunday o fLent. Pic shows Otto and Marie Herschan with Sierra Mangum (9) enrolling herself as a candidate for christian initation.
When I was 9, I made the front page of the Abilene Reporter News for breaking my arm when I fell out of a tree.
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