Southern Hospitality, Ghosts and Gouls, and an Irish Fesh

My trip home was exactly what I needed (Aside from sharing half of my seat with a very large man on the flight to Philadelphia)! I was able to eat my fill of country ham biscuits, sweet tea, and Taco Bell! I also made visits to most of eastern side of the state: Raleigh, Greenville, Charlotte and even went to Washington (NC) for the first time.  Did you know its the first city in the United States named after George Washington? Well you do now!

Washington has a lot of crab statues. Why? I have no idea but they looked cool!

Walking on the Pamlico River

When I got back to Ireland, everyone was in full blown preparation mode for Halloween!  Halloween has many Celtic influences so Ireland is a great place to celebrate.  Halloween here isn't really that different from how it is at home.  The girls went trick or treating while I handed out candy and then we all went to Fiona's (Dave's sister) house for a party.  The kids bobbed for apples, played games, and generally spent the night eating as much candy as they could get away with.

Ruby was a devil

Pippa was a ladybug, but abandoned her costume before I could get a picture!

She's got the best chubby cheeks for kissing!

Maisy was a ghost but she also took her costume off early and was too busy eating candy for any photo opportunities.

This past weekend, I went with the family to see Ruby and Maisy's Irish Dancing Fesh.  I still really don't know exactly what fesh means but basically its a recital/competition.  The girls competed in two dances: the reel and the light jig. This was Ruby's second fesh and Maisy's first.  Ruby came in 4th and 5th place in each dance out of twenty girls!  Maisy's age group had only eight girls and she came in 1st place for one of her dances and, most importantly to Maisy, got a trophy!

Maisy's trophy and medal!

The girls were very proud of themselves and they have another competition in a few weekends.  They've been practicing non-stop and have even taught me a few steps!  It was really interesting to see the older girls dance at the competition.  They all had on the traditional Irish dress and a lot of the dances are very complicated.  It was really cool to see a young generation so dedicated to keeping this Irish tradition alive.

Other than that, I've been keeping busy during the week by taking Zumba at the rec club in Stamullen with Ioana and Martina on Wednesday nights.  I've also decided to brush up on my high school spanish for when I visit Natàlia and Mercè in Spain! There are a ton of free language resources I've found online and I'm already starting to learn a little bit.  Other than that I've been dusting off my resume to start the job hunt for when I get home in May.  Its hard to believe I've already been in Ireland for 5 months on Tuesday!