I work at Haapsalu Vocational Education and Training Centre as a Coordinator of External Relations. I am managing international projects and writing blogs about them. I like my work with young people because they make me learn new things all the time. Meanwhile, I like travelling and spend a lot of time in Ireland because of my personal life :)
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There’s a land that I’ve heard of once in a lullaby.
These were the lyrics that came to my mind when I had to say “good bye” to you today my dear old friend. I don’t know if there is a place over the rainbow, but if there is, then it’s good to know that you are there, just the way you used to be, looking at me with a big smile on your face and making some joke, or asking me if we could get a guitar and sing together again like in the old days when we were very young.
I am pretty sure that you would have picked that song because that was one of our best pieces 🙂 at least we thought so and we never missed that one.
I tried to remember my first touch with Irish music and the only thing I can remind is an old song about Ireland from my childhood. I have tried to find it, but as I don’t know the author or the heading in English, it’s not possible to find it anywhere and unfortunately I cannot find it even in Estonian. The song was a sad one, someone was leaving Ireland to find a job in New York and all the song was about how he missed the land and his loved ones. I don’t know why this song was sung in Estonian, maybe it was a bit connected with all these people who had to leave Estonia during the war and were living all over the world and missing their loved ones. That was what I thought when I heard it. The song has a very beautiful melody and such kind of longing words. I even remember the words quite well if I’m going to think about that.
When I started to watch Eurovision Song Contest and it was exactly in 1976, Ireland has always been among my favourites, because they sang in English and they had really capturing melodies. Very often the songs became quite famous and were even translated and sung by Estonian singers. Eurovision was a great thing for a teenager who was missing the real pop music from the wide world and through the Finnish TV, it was possible to get it right at home. To get it for a longer time than only that Great Night we recorded the songs and played them again and again. From these teenage years, one of my favourites was that one, it’s so 70s 🙂 and cannot be taken very seriously today, but it was very nice to meet it again. Anyway, they don’t lie, it is nice to be in love again, try if you don’t believe it. Is there anybody else who remembers that? I mean the song of course 🙂 I doubt a lot. But anyway, it got the third place in 1977.
YouTube helped me to find all kinds of oldies and so once I found Dana and “All Kinds of Everything”. That song didn’t reach Estonia, although a lot of others from this time period did. Actually one of the most beautiful pure and simple songs of the 60/70-s Eurovision style of music. It’s the winner of Eurovision 1970.
Yes, of course, I remember Johnny Logan and his two heartbreaking songs that became well known and spread even to my country. Wow, this is so beautiful even today.
And now comes my favourite. This song has a story and somehow it talks to me. It’s one of the most beuatiful Eurovision songs all through the years. And of course it was also the winner – Rock’n roll Kids Paul Harrington and Charlie McG, 1994.
And I cannot leave out the angel song “Voice” which was so Irish for me when they came out with that. It’s like from a Fairy Land and I think it was a reason that I liked Enya so much. When I was reading “The Mists of Avalon”, that song seemed to be the perfect one to be from that land. The winner again, in 1996.
Books make an important part of my life, not to say that in some life periods they have been the most important. Yes, there are better things, I know, but if talking about something that you can do alone, then books have been my cup of tea without any doubt.
The only thing that I haven’t learned yet is how to stay with the same book when you have loads of them around waiting to be read. That’s the reason why I have my bedroom books and my lunch table books, my English books and my safety books which I have read 25+ times, but still need to overread, my travelling books and books that I haven’t read yet but am going to read very soon, therefore I need them to be held somewhere near me just in case that I would like to peep into them now and then. That sounds still good like I could read more books, but it’s not always like that . It means also that sometimes some very good ones have been left and forgotten. Maybe it just has not been their time yet and they have much more to tell me some other time. That’s my explanation why I still haven’t got through two of Edward Rutherfurd’s, one of my favourite author’s, books which I bought just because I wanted to walk through the history of Ireland with him before I go there in my real life. We had matched so well when we were walking through London, had a journey through Russian history in “Russka” and not to mention wandering around in The Forest. And I so much wanted to get these books about Ireland and now I have spent my days with the Game of the Thrones, Merchant Princes, the Chronicles of Amber and lots of others.
I know why it happened, I have always considered reading to be something that you are enjoying alone, but actually, I found the joy of sharing and enjoying the same books with someone who really loves the same books. So maybe these two books are waiting for me to come back to them with my own Ireland experiences – just a little chewing time that I need to swallow them healthily 🙂
Ireland is called the Emerald Island because of its green countryside. For the very first time that name was used by the Irish poet William Drennan, in his poem “When Erin first rose”. Erin is a name that is derived from the Irish word Éirinn that means Ireland. A little bit of googling showed me that the name was originally given to the island by the Milesians after the goddess Ériu, who was one of the three goddess sisters, who all wanted the island to be called after her name. Although there are not real emeralds found in Ireland I got mine from there. They are nice and green and symbolize the greenness of the island and as they are shiny and glittering they look like the real emeralds. It seems that they have been inspired from the Claddagh Ring because there are the same symbols – the heart, the crown, and the hands. It was the best Birthday Present I could ever imagine.
They say that the Diamonds are the Girls’ Best Friends. Ok, there’s of course, some truth in it, who doesn’t like jewellery or other glittering things, but diamonds are maybe a bit overestimated. Girls, I’m pretty sure that all over the world and in all possible ages, love to be paid attention to and especially to be given something that proves it. Girls love things that have the meaning and have their story to tell and help to remind some beautiful moments from the past. Somewhere in Dublin is an amazing shop that is called Newbridge Silverware and from where several sweet, but elegant glittering things have found a way to me. Of course, they have had never found that way without you. I have had some very happy moments, which I remember perfectly well when I have been opening the box with a big smile on my face and found a piece of silver wear from there. Thank you for these moments 🙂
Half of a year ago I didn’t know anything about the Claddagh Ring and now I have one in my finger. It’s really beautiful, especially because of its meaning and of course mostly because of the very special person who gave it to me. That’s the main meaning of the Claddagh Ring, it has to come from the one who is really special for you and who thinks you to be as special to give you the ring. And that happened to me. Here it is, placed in a little green box, just as it came to me.
Inside the box, there was a short guide how to wear it. I am wearing it every day on my right hand with the heart pointing inward, towards my heart.
If you don’t know what the Claddagh Ring symbolizes, I will give a little overview – the heart in the Claddagh symbolizes the love that you want to share with your true love, the crown symbolizes loyalty and the hands symbolize friendship, which is, after all, the very foundation of love, with loyalty holding the two hands together. This is so true and all this simple truth is put into a small ring that has more than 500 years of history.
There is also a long legend connected with Claddagh village, Fisherman, Pirates and True Love which of course gives the story the Happy Ending and a special meaning to the Claddagh Ring . For those who love Fairy Tales, I put a link to this story on the right.
The Claddagh rings became popular as an engagement or a wedding rings. They took on even more significance when they began to be worn widely by women throughout Ireland. Everyone in Ireland knows how to wear the Claddagh ring – If the ring is worn on the right hand with the heart pointing out, it means that the wearer’s heart is uncommitted. On dance parties, it was the first thing that the boys glanced at. Worn on the same hand with the heart pointing inward, the Claddagh ring means that the wearer’s heart is taken. This is the way I wear mine. Worn on the left hand with the heart pointing inward, it means “Let Love and Friendship reign forever, never to be separated.”
Father Peter Clifford’s journey from England ends in his new parish, the small Irish town of Ballykissangel. It’s a change from his previous job in the centre of Manchester, but this rural Irish community is hardly the sleepy village he expected…
The village of Avoca in County Wicklow was the film set for Ballykissangel. Stephen Tompkinson as Father Peter Clifford captured my heart at once and I will pretty sure try to watch all these 6 seasons. Maybe I will find them in Dublin 🙂
That’s what the QUIZ “15 Things You Didn’t Know about Ireland” told me when I got 12 points out of 15. So I got to know 3 new things and it’s not bad at all.
Now I know that:
– the famous Irish musical group that was celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2012 was The Chieftains, I must say that I don’t know the group, but I found it on YouTube and here is:
– the last port of call for the Titanic before its fateful voyage was Cobh, County Cork – I have to say that I had heard that before but wasn’t sure about the right town. The RMS Titanic launched from Belfast harbor on April 8, 1912, for her first—and only—voyage, stopping at Southampton, England, and then at Cherbourg, France, to pick up more passengers. The last port of call before the steamship set out into the Atlantic Ocean was at Cobh (then known as Queenstown) in County Cork, where another 123 travelers came aboard.
– a steam-powered carousel is not a part of the famous Powerscourt Gardens in County Wicklow,but as I have never been to Wicklow County I couldn’t know it, but when I went through the Daily Trips from Dublin the Powerscourt Estate somehow caught my eye and I remembered that Wicklow was called the Garden of Ireland. How could I not expect Japanese Gardens there? With the same Wicklow County trip, the village of Avoca was also mentioned, the place where Ballykissangel was filmed. Why didn’t they ask a question about that?
This one is hanging on my living room wall. We haven’t met yet, but now when we have shared the living room for about a year I am quite sure that when we really meet, and this will take place the next week already, we will recognize each other pretty well.
The Ha’penny Bridge, known later for a time as the Penny Ha’penny Bridge, and officially the Liffey Bridge, is a pedestrian bridge built in 1816 over the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. That’s what Wikipedia tells about that. It also tells that it’s 43 m long.
I also chose my airport book, a month ago when I was travelling to Malta again just because of the annotation on the back cover – Christine Rose is crossing the Ha’penny Bridge in Dublin late one night when she sees a stranger 🙂 ok, I know exactly that I am not going to look for any stranger on Ha’penny Bridge but the name of the book “How to Fall in Love” somehow spoke to me, not to mention the Bridge that has hung on my wall for a year. The questions that begin with “How to ..” have been my topic for the past years and although I haven’t written them down anywhere, what of course could have been a great idea, I have struggled with them in my mind quite a lot and not always figured out the right answers. But nobody is perfect, but I am pretty close as my fridge magnet tells me every day and what’s a part of my personal positive thinking, even if it sounds too self-centered. So the significant words “Ha’penny Bridge” and “How to …” made me choose it and the proverb that suggests never to judge the book by it’s cover was a bit useless this time, because it was a fun reading for my Malta week and helped me to mix my responsibilities with my desire for relaxing. And it helped me to pass the time and to get nearer to my real Ha’penny Bridge experience.
Dublin Accent came to my life two years ago when I was quite ready to let something new entering. Actually, it started to show up even earlier, dropping some pieces here and there, then fading away, to come back again, soon making me think about sweet little things that make life worth living but tend to be left just into the back of your mind. Continue reading “Insight”→