Gaelic Mass and Gaelic Football!

Well, today started off with a surprise.  Jordan and I had researched for a local catholic church nearby last night, so we were all ready to go to mass at St. Peter and Paul's parish about 10 minutes walk away.  Mass was at 10:00, so we showed up at about 9:50 or so.  However, when we reached the entrance I looked at the mass times and noticed something surprising: 

10:00 - Irish

12:00 - Latin

7:00 - English

Hhahahaa..so I turned to Jordan and said, "Well, I guess we are going to have an experience!"

It turned out to be just that.  We entered the back of the church (BEAUTIFUL CHURCH - pictures to come in the next few weeks sometime for sure)  and right away an older man approached us and started speaking Gaelic.  I think he quickly realized by my nodding and pretending like I understood that we had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, so he asked "You only speak a little Gaelic?" And, I responded with a "Umm not at all...haha"  He laughed and showed us where the worship aids were with all the prayers and readings written on it.  It was a huge church but the congregation was very small.  It was quite an experience though!  I caught a few parts of the mass through looking at the aid and watching everyone else, but it was interesting.  I really got to admire the beauty of the church!  Short mass though - only about 40 minutes.  An experience to last a lifetime.

Jordan and Amy (Elementary Ed teacher)

Later on in the day, we decided to head to a pub to watch the Gaelic Football Semifinal between Cork and Dublin.  And man was this awesome!  Jordan, Catherine, Kendall, and I actually ran into a few more girls on the street on the way.  One of them was a girl we had met Friday night, Amy, who is also an elementary education major  She and the other two were all from Iowa so I felt at home (Kind of...midwest at least).  They came with us, and this was great because I learned that one of them, Elena, is in my class for the next four weeks! And, she is completely new to the whole pub/bar scene like me!  It was great learning about Gaelic football which is a really fun sport to watch actually!  The pub was packed, and everyone was wearing their red jerseys and shirts so I felt a little out of place with my green shirt (I thought Ireland was green).  Cork was losing the entire game, but came back and scored the winning point in the 69th minute (70 minutes total)!  It was EPIC!  All in all, another pretty great day after getting a huge feeling of homesick initially in the morning.  Again, it's that keeping busy and meeting new people!  One day at a time, and taking whatever comes at me in stride!  

Class starts at 9:30 am tomorrow morning, so I am sure I will have more to say tomorrow night!  Thanks for reading.