Hello again from Inishowen Donegal, I am having a great time meeting alot of people, seeing sights here like the Northern point of Ireland and castles dolmens and mass rocks. Today I went to my first Roman Catholic mass at St Patricks Church. Yesterday, I went to a Famine Village that a man had made into an educational center. It was thought provoking to me seeing exhibits depicting the lives of the Irish living in poverty. There was also an exhibit about the travelers. Travelers were a group of people like the gypses (from the word egyption) who lived together in caravans because they had nowhere perminit to live. My friend Mary says there are stories that some of them are decended from the old Kings of Ireland. There were also exhibits at the museum about republican safe houses and the orange men. The Orange men were a group of Protestant Scottish settlers planted in Ulster around the time of James 1 on land taken from the catholics because the law that catholics were not allowed to own land. They took there name from a William of Orange who won a battle against the Catholics in, I think the 17th century. The Irish Republicans wanted an Independant Ireland and the Orangemen and republicans did not get along. To this day much as it was hundreds of years ago only 6 counties in the north of Ireland have a significant number of protestants while the rest of Ireland's 26 counties are catholic, and there is still some hostility. It was a good educational experience and did not seem biased one way or the other despite the fact that the propriter was Irish Catholic himself. The fighting between the Orange men and the Republicans has got me thinking about how war and poverty are always seem to go hand in hand. How many wars could be prevented if people aren't so caught up in greed and power? All over the world it seems like all wars are the same, pointless. Waste of time money. There is the issue of justice. Steeling the land from the catholics was wrong and justice is needed, but the majority of people killed in the fighting were civilians, and negotiations with the intent of settling the issue without hurting anyone could have gotten the same results maybe better, and without the loss of lives, provided the parties were invested above all else in fairness and the lives of the others. Thats why I think the wars are a waste, and thats how the exhibit made me feel. It also made me feel like if we think were so smart we should be learning from these things to prevent them from happening again in the future in other countries like Africa and Iraq. So why are we not?
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30.3.08
24.3.08
Hello from Inishowen on the Northern tip of Ireland. I had a great easter. Did you? I have been eating alot of chocolat as I work on a farm in its second year of transitioning to organic. This farm is in the same county as the farm I was on last week, Donegal. Im not exactly sure when it happened or who was responsable, but it was way over a thoulsand years ago that Ireland was divided into 4 provinces of: Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connaught with the Hill of Tara at the center where the kings were ceremonely seated. Donegal is one of the 9 counties in Ulster, but is not one of the six counties which are part of Brittan. I am living with a very nice family a man named John and a woman named Mary and they have 2 children the girl is 11 her name is Shannon, and Shaun is 16. I am living in a trailer with all the amenities of a 5 start hotel. I hope you are all well. I willl send pictures later. Bye, Micah
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22.3.08
Hi from Derry.
The last few weeks have been very special for me and it was great to work with a very kind family who made me feel very welcome and invited me back to help again any time. This morning I took the bus into Derry where I will wait to be picked up by another family who will host me while I work on there farm in Malin. Malin is still in the republic of Ireland, but in order to get there by bus, I had to travel to Derry (also called Londonderry) which is part of Northern Ireland. So, now Im using a different monitery system agian, the pound. Ireland uses the Euro while the North of Ireland, who is still part of the Brittish empire, uses the pound. The pound is worth more then the euro or the dollar right now. The pound is twice a dollar and 1.5 a euro.
There is a historic part of Derry which is inside of a wall built in the 17th century as a defence and there is an outer part of the city as well. It is a city with alot of history. Tonight I am thinking of going to the Irish Pink Floyd at the Performing Arts center and tomorow easter I may go to one of the many decadent cathedrals such as the St Collumbs cathedral built in the 6th century by Saint Columb Cille at the top of a hill in an oak forest which is now part of the city of Derry. Hope you are all having a nice easter. Micah
Watch "Cause Effect," a show about real people making a real difference. Learn more.
The last few weeks have been very special for me and it was great to work with a very kind family who made me feel very welcome and invited me back to help again any time. This morning I took the bus into Derry where I will wait to be picked up by another family who will host me while I work on there farm in Malin. Malin is still in the republic of Ireland, but in order to get there by bus, I had to travel to Derry (also called Londonderry) which is part of Northern Ireland. So, now Im using a different monitery system agian, the pound. Ireland uses the Euro while the North of Ireland, who is still part of the Brittish empire, uses the pound. The pound is worth more then the euro or the dollar right now. The pound is twice a dollar and 1.5 a euro.
There is a historic part of Derry which is inside of a wall built in the 17th century as a defence and there is an outer part of the city as well. It is a city with alot of history. Tonight I am thinking of going to the Irish Pink Floyd at the Performing Arts center and tomorow easter I may go to one of the many decadent cathedrals such as the St Collumbs cathedral built in the 6th century by Saint Columb Cille at the top of a hill in an oak forest which is now part of the city of Derry. Hope you are all having a nice easter. Micah
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21.3.08
20.3.08
17.3.08
Hi From Milford Moyle Donegall, and happy saint Patrick's day. Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland who was taken from Wales by pirates and escaped but decided to come back to Ireland and convert the pagans. It is of course a national holiday here in Ireland. It is also a national holiday in America and Im told the reason for that is because in the war of Independance the Irish fought so well that Washington decided to make it a national holiday. What did I do for saint patricks day? There are usually alot of parades in cities around Ireland, but this year there was not a parade around this part of Ireland because Saint Patricks Day is so close to holly week of easter when no one is supposed to be drinking. Usually the two holidays dont fall in the same week. Anyway, Nick and I went around bird watching and I saw some Geese, Loons, Divers, (deciphering birds in Ireland can be tricky because the same name is used for a different bird) then we went to the farm and I dug some potatoe trows the old fassion way by hand which is alot of work. Well by for now. PS the 2 pictures I sent today are of a castle I visited yesterday in the Glenvauge national park and the other is a picture I took of Nick the man I am living with while here in Milford. Take Care. Micah
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16.3.08
13.3.08
Hi from Milford Moyle Donegal. I have been helping out on an organic farm here for about 4 days and will continue for another week and a half. I am staying with a nice family in a beautiful house desighned and built by the two parents Nick and Trudy. They have three sweet daughters. The youngest is four years old, and her name is Ruby. The middle aged girl is named Betsy. I think she's 9. The oldest girl is 13, and her name is Heather. In the evening, after a good hard days work, Trudy and the girls come home from school, do their homework and then we play games. I sleep in the attik on a comfertable bed and Nick cooks great meals every night. Last night we had Quesch. The closest city is Letter Kenny which is about 15 miles away. Nick is an ecologist. I am learning alot as I plant seeds and till the soil. I have planted: onions, lettuce, cauliflower, celery, rocket, tomatoe and leek since these are the March season plants. The planting I have done so far has been in the back yard garden, which is about half an acre, but today we are going to go to the main farm which is much bigger to pick potatoes. The house looks out over a beautiful Loch Fern, and there are many nice trees and much natural beauty. It is quiet and relaxing here. WWOOFing is a great way to travel, and things are going very well. I hope that all is well over in the states. Micah
P.S. If any of you are John O'Danahue readers (Mom) I have some news. He passed away in France a few weeks ago. I went through the village he lived in while he wrote his books. The village is a small farming village along the coast where the Burrens (rocky cliffs) meet the sea. He was a great writter.
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P.S. If any of you are John O'Danahue readers (Mom) I have some news. He passed away in France a few weeks ago. I went through the village he lived in while he wrote his books. The village is a small farming village along the coast where the Burrens (rocky cliffs) meet the sea. He was a great writter.
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10.3.08
7.3.08
6.3.08
4.3.08
Hi from Gallway. I spent the weekend on the Aran Island of Innis Mor and made some friends. There was a festival going on and the Island's population which has held at 800 for the last 100 years was almost doubled for the Festival of Ted. Father Ted is a character from an Irish comedy show called Father Ted. The actor died 10 years ago and the festival has been held anually on the Island at the begining of March. The tour I went on took me to 3000 year old hill forts and miles of old rock walls seperating what were the fields of Irish peasents of old who were forced to move west when the English bought their land. The ruins of an old church of St Ceiren dated to the 6th century (the smallest in Brittish Isles) sits atop a hill. The saint then went to the mainland and founded the famous Clonmacnoise Irelnads first monastery. Irish Galeic is the first language of all ilanders on Innis Mor. Bye take care.
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