Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Galway!?!?
Today I woke up at a normal hour since I ignored Sahar's first two wake up calls. When I finally got up from my king size bed (I got to bless team hotel) I immediately asked myself what are we doing here in Galway? What were we thinking coming here? While I davened I was disturbed by the ridiculous plans my friends were thinking of doing for today's activity. These ideas included cliff diving, clay pigeon shooting and more life threatening activities. After I expressed my thoughts on not dying we decided collectively that we were going to go on a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher. For those interested- the cliff of moher is Ireland's most visited natural attraction with a magical vista that captures the hearts of up to one million visitors every year. The cliffs rise to 214m per 700 ft at the highest point and range for 8 km or 5 miles over the Atlantic Ocean on the western seaboard of Co. Clare. Now you might think I learned these facts from listening to the tour but actually I had to do my research from the brochure since I was sleeping for most of the tour. Tour guides MUST cater to those with attention deficit disorders! You got to grab your audience with the first minute otherwise its all downhill from there! Now who would interest you more? An Irish man talking about god knows what or Dee singing broadway tunes at the top of her lungs with complete disregard to the fact that she was in public! I believe you can all guess that I went with the latter. I have to tell you all that the cliffs were fabulous and breath taking. If you want to see them for yourself you can google them, watch a documentary or watch Harry Potter and other famous movies such as Leap Year. When we arrived at the cliffs we were granted one hour from our tour guide. We decided to stop at the cafe first to wake us up from the educational bus ride. 45 minutes later we realized that we had about 5 minutes to take in the cliffs that we just travelled on a deathly boring 3 hour bus ride for. The tour guide/bus driver warned us that if we were not back on time he would leave us stranded. Knowing me and Mimi and how we like to live on the edge... we almost missed that bus! He actually left 2 minutes early- we may have even left a few behind. Surprisingly we made it tho. The tour continued with lunch at a pub and some castles but I can't really tell you all that much about it since once again the tour guide had put me to sleep. Was this day a total bust? That's debatable among the group! All I know is that I had a blast making fun of today! - Designated Driver- RoCKo ( beer is gluten and I don't drink)
the not so fast fast day
Hello fellow readers. I apologize on behalf of myself and my trip-mates for slacking in our blogging duties. Yesterday wasn't such an eventful day because of the fast and by the time it was over we were too exhausted to relate whatever details were even worth sharing. Essentially we sat on a bus for the bulk of our day. We woke up at around 830 and were ushered into our cab to the bus stop about an hour later by Jimmy- the everso friendly owner of the charming bed and breakfast we slept at that night- who was wearing a chef's outfit for reasons unclear. We probably missed out on a very serious breakfast...If only it weren't a fast day. O well.
From 10:15 to 5:30 we watched the open fields of lush greenery within its mountainous frame as we made our way from Dingle to Galway- another county on the western coast, north of Dingle. We then checked into our lovely suite in the Carlton Hotel--a well deserved concession to team Hotel after Sundays hike. There, we passed the time with some chatting, reading and nap time. Before we knew it it was 11:30- time to break the fast! We broke it on gourmet peanut butter sandwiches, fruit, and way too much chocolate.
Whoever thinks we may be losing weight on this trip due to lack of food and sahar's boot-camp-itinerary are mistaken. We've been compensating for lack of food with Rocko' never-ending supply of Caramel Cadbery and then justifying it by pretending that we're still burning calories from our 8 hour hike on Sunday. And just in case we're not doing enough damage here, Deena has already declared that the team goal in Israel is to eat our way through the country. So we're in a negative situation.
So that was our day yesterday. It's unclear what the heck we're doing here in Galway and why we trekked for 7 hrs to get here. This place is super random but I'm glad we're here. I'm too tired and lazy to describe our wild day of fun from today. Someone else will have to take the reigns for that one. Stay tuned though!
Cheers
~Mimi
DEE- I've been getting some personal gchats/ bbms/ emails etc that people miss my posts. And I think that's also clear from the amount of votes I've been getting so I will put in some input on the fast day. After getting off the first bus and arriving at the station we were informed our next bus wud not be showing up for another hour. What we do for an hour? Mimi is in the process of converting to chait so she listened to his shiurim on the essence of man??, sahar said some tehilim, rocko stared out into space, and I read my ever so intense book "19 minutes" which ia giving me nightmeres! We all didn't do much talking to eachother yestrday in fear of being snappy due to our hunger/ exhaustion. It was more of a day to ourselevs w some major introspection (and random people who went to mmy that we forgot abt who kept popping up in our heads) I left my white nike headband that I work out w on every single bus and had to go bak on every single bus to retrieve it so that was eventful and finally we got to the magnificent carlton hotel! We intended to wake up before 9 to get some grocery shopping for after the fast done but since mimi and I can't wake up, and our fearless leader sahar overlsept we were left w nothing but peanutbutter. (And mimi dedicated abt 20 lines to chocolate which I don't even eat...or cheese...or tuna...but that's a whole different story. Do I plan to eat my way through israel like mimi said? No, that's so 4 years ago. Do I plan to be fleishichs once in a while especially before the 9 days? Heck freakin yes!! And what a better acitivry for after the fast than to watch white chicks on an ipad??---well we were pretty zonked and all drifted off pretty soon after breakfast. Ok I gotta go to sleep, we're hitting up guiness tmrw and I needa be on my a game!
"Cheers"
Dk
From 10:15 to 5:30 we watched the open fields of lush greenery within its mountainous frame as we made our way from Dingle to Galway- another county on the western coast, north of Dingle. We then checked into our lovely suite in the Carlton Hotel--a well deserved concession to team Hotel after Sundays hike. There, we passed the time with some chatting, reading and nap time. Before we knew it it was 11:30- time to break the fast! We broke it on gourmet peanut butter sandwiches, fruit, and way too much chocolate.
Whoever thinks we may be losing weight on this trip due to lack of food and sahar's boot-camp-itinerary are mistaken. We've been compensating for lack of food with Rocko' never-ending supply of Caramel Cadbery and then justifying it by pretending that we're still burning calories from our 8 hour hike on Sunday. And just in case we're not doing enough damage here, Deena has already declared that the team goal in Israel is to eat our way through the country. So we're in a negative situation.
So that was our day yesterday. It's unclear what the heck we're doing here in Galway and why we trekked for 7 hrs to get here. This place is super random but I'm glad we're here. I'm too tired and lazy to describe our wild day of fun from today. Someone else will have to take the reigns for that one. Stay tuned though!
Cheers
~Mimi
DEE- I've been getting some personal gchats/ bbms/ emails etc that people miss my posts. And I think that's also clear from the amount of votes I've been getting so I will put in some input on the fast day. After getting off the first bus and arriving at the station we were informed our next bus wud not be showing up for another hour. What we do for an hour? Mimi is in the process of converting to chait so she listened to his shiurim on the essence of man??, sahar said some tehilim, rocko stared out into space, and I read my ever so intense book "19 minutes" which ia giving me nightmeres! We all didn't do much talking to eachother yestrday in fear of being snappy due to our hunger/ exhaustion. It was more of a day to ourselevs w some major introspection (and random people who went to mmy that we forgot abt who kept popping up in our heads) I left my white nike headband that I work out w on every single bus and had to go bak on every single bus to retrieve it so that was eventful and finally we got to the magnificent carlton hotel! We intended to wake up before 9 to get some grocery shopping for after the fast done but since mimi and I can't wake up, and our fearless leader sahar overlsept we were left w nothing but peanutbutter. (And mimi dedicated abt 20 lines to chocolate which I don't even eat...or cheese...or tuna...but that's a whole different story. Do I plan to eat my way through israel like mimi said? No, that's so 4 years ago. Do I plan to be fleishichs once in a while especially before the 9 days? Heck freakin yes!! And what a better acitivry for after the fast than to watch white chicks on an ipad??---well we were pretty zonked and all drifted off pretty soon after breakfast. Ok I gotta go to sleep, we're hitting up guiness tmrw and I needa be on my a game!
"Cheers"
Dk
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
FINALLY! - the hike!
After waking up early and saying bye to Killarney we set off to Dingle with 6 days worth of clothing and food on our backs. 2 hrs later we got off the bus at Dingle and took in the unique smell which characterizes the Irish country: a mix of fresh mountain air, cow maneur and beer. We cabbed to Veentry to begin the hike since we were told that from dingle to veentry it was 5 km of road walking. We were all on the same page about not doing any extra walking than necessary. Our hike began with about 3 km on the beach. This part seemed to never end, and our hopes of what the hike would be dimmed a bit as we trudged along with our heavy bags, feet sinking in the sand and the sky grey. For 3 of us, the time passed quicker with a "let's see if we can name everyone in MMY" game, for the other one of us, tiime was never slower.
The guide book read that we would cross a few streams on the way and so when we spotted the yellow man who marked the Dingle Way turning slightly inland, we followed blindly. We crossed about 6 bridges before we realized we were right back on the beach only a little past where we begun. Clearly the yellow man was testing our faith. We followed him anyways since we're Jews and know how to follow blindly in wilderness situations (and b/c there really was no other option) and headed inland yet again. This time we were not let down as we headed towards Mt. Eagle. On the way we managed to bring back some eleven eggs and hairy hummus from our trip in Israel.
We decided it would be a good time to stop for lunch when we found a little pad of grass by some of the houses we were passing. Mimi made a stunning sandwich, but apparently it was too perfect for our rough hike and Mother Earth sent a little brown present from the bird passing over head- which landed PERFECTLY in the middle of her top slice of bread. Amazing. If that wasn't enough surprises for one meal, 45 seconds later, the couple whose house we were trespassing on, tried pulling in to their driveway, ie our picnic table. We gave eachother a scare, but they showed us true Irish hospitality and let us use place till we finished.
After lunch we began our ascent up the mountain. It was a tough climb and every step we take left us more and more breathless. Literally and figuratively. The backpacks made it hard, but the views we saw distracted us. I'll spare you with the details of this hike, since its hard to describe without waxing poetic and even then won't do it justice. In fact one of our greatest frustrations were that we'd spend 10 minutes with tthe camera trying to capture what was in front of us, but we were left in confusion at how the tiny screen resembled the scene in front of us, yet just wasn't conveying it. We were completely enveloped by the mountains around us, tucked away on the coast of Ireland, with the sea slapping on the vast cliffs 300 meters below us. The mountains were larger than life, and the sea stretched out till it meshed with sky. It was the feeling of being less than a dot on a map. Besides for the tie-dyed sheep, it was nature in its most raw and unadulterated form. It was being face to face with yad Hashem. We couldn't help but stand in silence, we were totally awestruck.
As we walked on, we saw plenty of "clochains", ancient ruins from the 5th and 6th century pagans. We also saw a ton of sheep and goats... We felt at one with the earth as we had stepped again and again in their droppings. We even had no choice but to contribute to the collection..Slightly exhilarating and more than slightly scary. You would think Rockos backpack was as light as air since she seemed to be having a blast chasing the goats through the mountains. Ha it even feels weird to say that. But that's really how we walked, and it was not a fenced petting zoo. Don't worry Chan, we bodyguarded Deena every time they came close.
Right before our descent we came to a point where we saw the Blasket Islands off the coast in the distance below is. This is the most westerly point of Europe. And for such a lofty title, the view did not disappoint. After all that hiking we felt like we had to just engrave it in our minds before we were done. Proved to be an inspiring point for mincha, and soon we were back on the road.
The cafe at Slea Head which had served as our motivation was closed. But we got a few great pics and documentaries (stay tuned to anything deena) and continued after the yellow man. We walked and walked. And walked. But again, the Irish and the American concept of distance seems to completely differ. Last time I checked a "slight 2 km" at the end of a hike, did not take 2.5 hours. We doubted the yellow man. We continued thru the rain, up a hill, asking every car hpw far more to go. You would think we saw mashiach had you seen our reaction upon finally arriving at the Dun Chaoin hostel. The yellow man did not let us down!
The rest of the story you can probably infer from Rockos blog.... Suffice it to say- it was interesting.
All in all, we experienced something reeally special that day. It was nice to relive it by writing this. All I can say is after seeing those sights, the only thing that keeps me convinced that its not the promised land is that I don't believe we were ever meant to b in a place where we have fast to 1130 pm. I'm. 100% positive we were much more meant to be in the land where even yom kippur ends at 6.
Ooolright. Take it easy lads.
Sahar
The guide book read that we would cross a few streams on the way and so when we spotted the yellow man who marked the Dingle Way turning slightly inland, we followed blindly. We crossed about 6 bridges before we realized we were right back on the beach only a little past where we begun. Clearly the yellow man was testing our faith. We followed him anyways since we're Jews and know how to follow blindly in wilderness situations (and b/c there really was no other option) and headed inland yet again. This time we were not let down as we headed towards Mt. Eagle. On the way we managed to bring back some eleven eggs and hairy hummus from our trip in Israel.
We decided it would be a good time to stop for lunch when we found a little pad of grass by some of the houses we were passing. Mimi made a stunning sandwich, but apparently it was too perfect for our rough hike and Mother Earth sent a little brown present from the bird passing over head- which landed PERFECTLY in the middle of her top slice of bread. Amazing. If that wasn't enough surprises for one meal, 45 seconds later, the couple whose house we were trespassing on, tried pulling in to their driveway, ie our picnic table. We gave eachother a scare, but they showed us true Irish hospitality and let us use place till we finished.
After lunch we began our ascent up the mountain. It was a tough climb and every step we take left us more and more breathless. Literally and figuratively. The backpacks made it hard, but the views we saw distracted us. I'll spare you with the details of this hike, since its hard to describe without waxing poetic and even then won't do it justice. In fact one of our greatest frustrations were that we'd spend 10 minutes with tthe camera trying to capture what was in front of us, but we were left in confusion at how the tiny screen resembled the scene in front of us, yet just wasn't conveying it. We were completely enveloped by the mountains around us, tucked away on the coast of Ireland, with the sea slapping on the vast cliffs 300 meters below us. The mountains were larger than life, and the sea stretched out till it meshed with sky. It was the feeling of being less than a dot on a map. Besides for the tie-dyed sheep, it was nature in its most raw and unadulterated form. It was being face to face with yad Hashem. We couldn't help but stand in silence, we were totally awestruck.
As we walked on, we saw plenty of "clochains", ancient ruins from the 5th and 6th century pagans. We also saw a ton of sheep and goats... We felt at one with the earth as we had stepped again and again in their droppings. We even had no choice but to contribute to the collection..Slightly exhilarating and more than slightly scary. You would think Rockos backpack was as light as air since she seemed to be having a blast chasing the goats through the mountains. Ha it even feels weird to say that. But that's really how we walked, and it was not a fenced petting zoo. Don't worry Chan, we bodyguarded Deena every time they came close.
Right before our descent we came to a point where we saw the Blasket Islands off the coast in the distance below is. This is the most westerly point of Europe. And for such a lofty title, the view did not disappoint. After all that hiking we felt like we had to just engrave it in our minds before we were done. Proved to be an inspiring point for mincha, and soon we were back on the road.
The cafe at Slea Head which had served as our motivation was closed. But we got a few great pics and documentaries (stay tuned to anything deena) and continued after the yellow man. We walked and walked. And walked. But again, the Irish and the American concept of distance seems to completely differ. Last time I checked a "slight 2 km" at the end of a hike, did not take 2.5 hours. We doubted the yellow man. We continued thru the rain, up a hill, asking every car hpw far more to go. You would think we saw mashiach had you seen our reaction upon finally arriving at the Dun Chaoin hostel. The yellow man did not let us down!
The rest of the story you can probably infer from Rockos blog.... Suffice it to say- it was interesting.
All in all, we experienced something reeally special that day. It was nice to relive it by writing this. All I can say is after seeing those sights, the only thing that keeps me convinced that its not the promised land is that I don't believe we were ever meant to b in a place where we have fast to 1130 pm. I'm. 100% positive we were much more meant to be in the land where even yom kippur ends at 6.
Ooolright. Take it easy lads.
Sahar
Its my trip and I'll cry if I want to
Waking up in Dunquin's girl dormatory in a freezing sweat was not ideal but at least we didn't have to share our cozy bunkbeds with foreign roomates. sharing our room with strangers would have been pretty hilarious yet potentially very awkward haha. After Dee packed up her "soaking" clothes we headed downstairs where we were greeted by the hostle's nice but ever so slighty creepy caretaker who had snuck into our room at night and who had an eye on us with every move we made. I was convinced that Mimi and I would have no shoes this morning since we had violated the hostle's cardnial rule of bringing our hiking shoes inside. Call me crazy but I'm not leaving my shoes outside where cows roam and people have not one store to buy food who shoes. Seriously who knows if someone would steal my sneaks for foot protection or perhaps sell my shoes for some bread. I wasn't taking any chances! We then head outside to stand in a cloud waiting for the bus to Dingle. After waiting for a few minutes in the rain and cold we flaged down the jolly bus driver who greeted us with "the top of the morning to you" which began our upbeat day of fun. Once getting to Dingle we headed straight to the local super market called Super Valu ( no "e") since we all know its all about the food. We then went to the tourist center to plan our next days since we decided to cancel the last days of our hike due to rain and other reasons. Sahar and Mimi sat and planned while I was busy taking a tourist survey with a women wearing a orange traffic vest. Was I trying to help a women with her job, did i admire her choice of style or was I trying to avoid planning the trip? That is a great question but ill save you from another Dee blog vote since I truthfully admired her orange vest and I would do anything to get a closer look. After the deathly long survey I caught my friends being kicked out from the tourist center for the second time since we had made ourselves way to comfortable ( read with my accent) with our backbacks sprawled out which was not good for business We then spent some time in a internet cafe where I checked my mail the old school way which included dail up .. I'm just kidding but seriously I love being the only one without a blackberry as well as being the slowest typer on this trip. These keys are so small that I can't even use my fathers one finger typing skills. Frustrati-on! The internet cafe was very useful since we booked our bus tickets and hotels for Galway which were all really looking forward to. We then took a seriously awesome boatride where we watched our dolphin friend, Fungi do some wild tricks. After having a blast with our water friend we decided to continue our fun with running through the Dingle aqurium. We never quite got to witness the fish feeding by the native river but hey we were yelled at once again and dee won a claw stuff animal. With Sahar needing another coffee we then sat by the pier drinking cappucinos and eating rice cakes. After eating like animals we headed to the gym and pool however we never got to that pool since Mr. Shorts never left that suana! Or did he? Who's turn is it to check? Haha! We then hit up another internet cafe where we were kick out to wait for our cab to take us to Jimmy's bed and breakfast. Basically Jimmy is the man! Jimmy served us tea showed us a documentry movie of the Dingle penninsula and told us how he lives in Riverdale part of the year. Tommorow is the fast so we will not have the experience of having the breakfast part of the bed and breakfast but thankfully we have the bed component! Wow look how much I typed... Only. Took me three hours! Nebach - RoCKo
Sunday, June 27, 2010
speechless
We hiked from 1245 to 845 today and each one of us are way too tired to write and describe todays experiences. Exauhstion and soarness has taken on a whole new meaning. Well blog from the busride tomorow and fill u in.
Gnite!
Dee
We hiked from 1245 to 845 today and each one of us are way too tired to write and describe todays experiences. Exauhstion and soarness has taken on a whole new meaning. Well blog from the busride tomorow and fill u in.
Gnite!
Dee
wev arrived
Bus to Dingle is well appreciated after backpacking through Killarney with our back breaking bags. As I look to my left there is the gorgeous coast and to my right there are farmlands with a variety of green plush mountains set as the back drop ... I love Hashem! The scenery is breathtaking as well as the the red and blue tie-dyed sheep. Hey who knew Irish sheep were hippies? Peace out! RoCKo
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The Shabbos Marathon
Hey followers! (Who suddenly decided to stop commenting which is much unappreciated, so feel free to comment! As much as u wanna hear from us, we wanna hear from u!)
We left off as we were getting ready for shabbos. The preperations came down to the wire as the oven was tiny and everything had to be double wrapped but we pulled it off! I peeled raw sweet potatoes, and mashed frozen vegetables all with plastic utensils, which is nott an easy feat. Highlights was when my plastic fork chopper broke in the cauliflower mix and kinda camolfouged in so it was impossible to find, but bh rocko found it in her kugel today before it made it into her mouth! Anyways everything was ready and our friday nite meal was very nice. I'd say we were pretty exhaustesd so after diNner and a few tabloids later we were off to bed.
Now for today- after a much needed late wake up we davened, prepared lunch, and let the fun day begin. Now u may ask, wat did this fun day entail? Well ill tell u- some good food, some chatting, and a lott of kent, president, and yaniv games! (Elissa schertz- I started a new book and I'm already on page 24 so I hope to be done by pesach 2011!) We witnessed a huge rainstorm from our room which I kinda hoped wud be tmrw so I can use my new raincoat, but it was ok because a beauitfullll rainbow emerged...it was crazy we saw the full arch (sorry I'm not being as detailed as my nature freak travel buddies wud like but all I can say was that it was beautiful, wudda liked for the chanbon to give me a heter to use my camera, but ok). I don't think wev ever been more excited to eat chicken in our entire lives. Props to mimi and sahar for pulling off great recipes w limited resources. Also thanks mom for ur awesome makeshift kugel recipe...it was such an awesome added bonus, even with plastic in it!)
So after 4 girls being couped up in a room for over 24 hours its pretty impressive that we all survived and still like eachother. (Questionable at points). We are going to get ready for this hike now. Tomorow is 21 kilometers, 7 hours, and 300 meters ascent, and according to my bberry measurement converter 21km is 13 miles....which I've done before in 3 hours!!!!! So it shudnt be too bad! Anyways well keep u posted, shavua tov! Gut vuch! (8 more days till eretz yisroel!)
-"cheers"
Dee
We left off as we were getting ready for shabbos. The preperations came down to the wire as the oven was tiny and everything had to be double wrapped but we pulled it off! I peeled raw sweet potatoes, and mashed frozen vegetables all with plastic utensils, which is nott an easy feat. Highlights was when my plastic fork chopper broke in the cauliflower mix and kinda camolfouged in so it was impossible to find, but bh rocko found it in her kugel today before it made it into her mouth! Anyways everything was ready and our friday nite meal was very nice. I'd say we were pretty exhaustesd so after diNner and a few tabloids later we were off to bed.
Now for today- after a much needed late wake up we davened, prepared lunch, and let the fun day begin. Now u may ask, wat did this fun day entail? Well ill tell u- some good food, some chatting, and a lott of kent, president, and yaniv games! (Elissa schertz- I started a new book and I'm already on page 24 so I hope to be done by pesach 2011!) We witnessed a huge rainstorm from our room which I kinda hoped wud be tmrw so I can use my new raincoat, but it was ok because a beauitfullll rainbow emerged...it was crazy we saw the full arch (sorry I'm not being as detailed as my nature freak travel buddies wud like but all I can say was that it was beautiful, wudda liked for the chanbon to give me a heter to use my camera, but ok). I don't think wev ever been more excited to eat chicken in our entire lives. Props to mimi and sahar for pulling off great recipes w limited resources. Also thanks mom for ur awesome makeshift kugel recipe...it was such an awesome added bonus, even with plastic in it!)
So after 4 girls being couped up in a room for over 24 hours its pretty impressive that we all survived and still like eachother. (Questionable at points). We are going to get ready for this hike now. Tomorow is 21 kilometers, 7 hours, and 300 meters ascent, and according to my bberry measurement converter 21km is 13 miles....which I've done before in 3 hours!!!!! So it shudnt be too bad! Anyways well keep u posted, shavua tov! Gut vuch! (8 more days till eretz yisroel!)
-"cheers"
Dee
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