Religion in Ireland

Sunday was a much more relaxed day for us. We got up a little early as we had decided to go to Mass Sunday morning at the Cathedral right near our hostel. Little did we know it was a Latin Mass with readings in English. The service itself was beautiful and uplifting, all about how God grants each person talents and how they should strive to use them for the good of the world. The boy's choir was amazing, they had apparently recorded a CD recently that was getting rave reviews all over the world. But before the service I had a very surreal experience. My grandmother died a few years ago, and due to summer classes I chose to not go see her at her death bed. It was a decition that I haven't really forgiven myself for ever since. A year later I went to Rome on a trip and started a ritual of my own. If I go into church and it has offertory candles I light one in memory of my grandmother. It's just what I do, and I hadn't explained this to anyone in my group, or anyone around me. I just noticed on my way into the cathedral that the candles where there. After my group set down I left my bag with them and went to the back. As I was kneeling to say my respects a woman comes up to me and puts her hand on my shoulder. "Today is her day" is all that she said to me before she lit a candle herself and kneeled down. At that I broke down in tears. For once though they were not tears of sadness, but relief and almost joy. I have no idea how she knew what to say, or even if she knew the weight of what she said. I was still in a strange state when we left so that is one place I forgot to take photos of.

Great nights and Terrible Mornings

Sorry that I haven't updated in a few days, it's been a bit hectic around here with all of our meetings and classes and more meetings. And the STUPID Tube strike making life around London hell. Monday was fairly uneventful until the evening, when we went to see Spamalot. AWESOME show, if you love Monty Python. Which I do. :) It was hilarious and campy in full form. While we were their a few of the kids in our group thought they saw Eric Idle. They did... and so did we!! We all waited around the stage door and waited for him to come out. I got his signature and a few pictures with him. I was the epitome of squee-ly fan girl. They are here in my flickr set of Spamalot (if I don't post for a few days, there will still probably be new photos in the flickr sets or my Picasa page. They have the same photos really.) I was giddy for hours. I swears.
Today though. It really could have been better. The tube strike made it almost impossible to ride the busses around town. EVERYONE was on the bus. I was able to find someone who was very nice and helped me find my way to the work visa office. That part wasn't too bad. Really it was just the coming back with two safety pins holding my skirt closed because 5 of the 8 buttons that are on the stupid thing decided to fall off. The three that remained? I had stitched them back on Monday afternoon when they fell off as I tried to wear it then. To make matters worse I got off on the wrong bus stop and got lost trying to walk home. I did find my way there after one phone call and 4 policemen (they travel in sets of 2). Work was alright, I met a whole bunch of fun people. I'll be working Monday through Friday, and maybe Saturdays when they need me. Mondays and Wednesdays though I'll be going in late because of my Theatre class. I'll actually be going to see 10 plays for that class, but I had no real inclination to see any of them on the list. I really want to see the big name plays that everyone else has probably seen. Roommate C has agreed to go with me to anything I'm going to though, which is awesome of her. She loves watching plays too.
I did book tickets to Ireland for a weekend the other day too. For the end of the month with most of my flatmates and a few kids from other flats. I'm really looking forward to that. but right now I need to sleep because I think I'm coming down with a cold. Gross. I'll try to post again tomorrow with any more London excitement.