Thursday 17 July 2014

I LIVE IN IRELAND!

Another in our series of readers who live all around the world… this time, meet Caoimhe, who lives in Ireland!


Caoimhe says:
I live in Co Cork in the south west of Ireland, in the countryside. I live on a farm with my mum, dad, brother, two sisters and what seems like a gazillion cows! A lot of Irish people live in the countryside though there are big towns and cities too! We get a lot of rain in Ireland but last summer was a heatwave and so far this summer has been good! I help out on the farm, but I prefer fashion, music and art - I'd love to be a fashion designer some day!

We are big into sports here in Ireland - especially Gaelic Football, Hurling and Rugby. Many schools do a sports competition called Sciath Na Scoil for 5th, 6th and sometimes 4th year… that's the equivalent of the firts two years of secondary and the last of primary. The gilrs team from my school won the Sciath Na Scoil finals this year! The biggest festival in Ireland is definitely St Patrick's Day, which is now celebrated all over the world. We have a 'wear green' day at school, and decorate with St Patrick's Day decorations. Then, on the day, everyone goes to the local parade dressed in green, white and orange. The biggest parade is in Dublin, which is filmed live on national TV!

Ireland has some amazing landscapes and great wildlife, including swans, dolphins and whales. There is a famous wild bottle-nose dolphin, Funghi, who lives near Dingle, Kerry, and is a big tourist attraction - people come back to see him over and over! Ireland is mostly Roman Catholic, but we also have Church of Ireland, Orthodox and Islam. My dad is very religious and goes to church every Sunday. I go to mass on a Sunday night because it's shorter! Irish food is very traditional though we do have take-aways and pizza of course! Bacon, cabbage and spuds are popular, as are barm brack, cottage pie and black pudding. When my mum was younger she used to make it with her granny - it's made of pig's blood!
Boxty, potato pancake, is another staple. The most famous Irish food is the potato… during the Irish Famine of the 1840s the potatoes rotted and millions of people starved or emigrated. Some Irish history is very sad, but it's rich too… from legends of the Fionna to Viking raids, we've had it all!

The irish language is very old and people fly from all over the world to Ireland just to learn it. We have to learn it in school which isn't much fun as everything is said backwards (an example - hot = te, chocolate = seaclaid, hot chocolate = seaclaid te. Does that make sense to anyone?) Tá súil agam gur féidir leat teacht ar fad someday a fheiceáil ar an Oileán Emerald. Slán!


Cathy says:
Ireland is one of my very favourite places to visit, so I loved Caiomhe's feature - and now I can say 'hot chocolate' in Irish, too! COMMENT BELOW to share your views on Ireland or to let me know if you'd like to write about YOUR country for DREAMCATCHER!

12 comments:

  1. Ireland is pretty awesome, right? Emma :)

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  2. I love Ireland! Everything and everyone there seems super friendly! :o)

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  3. I'd love to go to Ireland! Especially the West coast and Connemara! From images I've seen and from what I've heard it seems really pretty.

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  4. Haha I live in Ireland and I go to an all Irish speaking school! :)

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    1. Wow, that would be great to hear more about - email me via cathycassidy.com if you'd like to write something for DREAMCATCHER! xxx

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  5. I live in Ireland too and I really like it!

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  6. I live in Ireland and I love it as well!!!! I love being unique as the Irish were the peope who thought of river dance and it has gone global!!!! And the Gaelic games which adore, I play Gaelic and Camogie also our gaelic language is really old!!!!!:) Deirbhile:)xx (that is a Irish name!!!!) PROUD TO BE IRISH!!!!!!!

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  7. i am irish i live in co. galway near co.roscommon and i go to a normal school with boys and girls. i dont like irish! it's sooo boring and confusing. i play camogie but i am not going next year because if i go then i will need to train twice a week! i think i will start gaelic football instead!

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  8. Lol i love Ireland im totally Irish i live in co Cavan (the mean county) lol that is pretty offending but blaa i play comogie and i was born on the 17th of march ST PATRICKS DAY i also am planing to go to the gaeltach next summer and I'm a full breed culchy and omg i have a really Cavan accent well so im told my fav colour is yellow not green opps lol

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  9. You should do something about urban Ireland... It's almost a different country! I live in the same county as Caoimhe, but in a town, and life here is very different! For example, food: I've never eaten black pudding, barm brack is strictly for halloween (and only if you're VERY traditional), and I've never even heard of boxty... I've always wanted to live on a farm though, so this was really interesting!!! Méabh

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    1. Would love to run your contrasting feature Meabh! Email me via link on cathycassidy.com or message via my FB fanpage if you have FB! xxx

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  10. I live in Ireland and trust me it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. In fact theres rarely any sunshine at all! The language of Irish seems great unil you have to learn stuff like irregular verbs. There is a plus side I suppose.... where I live one winter we literary got snowed in! So... I would come at Winter not Summer. (Unless of corse you happen to love rain!)

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