-17 and the sun is at it's highest point!

Sunday morning in Krakow, well afternoon! I have just woken up and I feel more than a bit guilty as I hate sleeping in too late any day of the week but I guess on Sunday it is a little bit more acceptable! I was babysitting last night until 1am and therefore I wasn't tucked up in bed and ready for the land of nod until 2.30am! Still 10 hours sleep is excessive.

I have been lucky enough to get a few hours babysitting for a couple of ex-pat families here in Krakow who either want an English speaking babysitter because they don't speak Polish themselves or in the case of the Hungarian family their daughter is attending the British school but has only been learning English since September and they hope my contact with their daughter will help to speed up the process. Its a great way to earn some cash and at the same time have social contact with families. Family is the thing I miss the most when living abroad and I find that my social skills become blunted when I only have contact with people my own age... its just not natural!

I received an email from a friend of mine today, who is back home in Ireland. He is one of the people that I rely on to give me an intelligent if a bit pessimistic report of what is going on at home. His main point is the lack of of civil unrest in the country, people are still sitting glued to X-Factor of whatever crap is on the tv accepting the current situation as status quo. Of course the unions are beginning to make some noise as their wages are cut and their jobs are lost but the right-wing controlled media are slating their efforts on the airwaves and tv shows. Don't people realise that it is the big business men who benefit most for the average Joe Soap being downtrodden and unrepresented. The media are determined to turn the public against the strikers and unions, the public sector against the private sector, the people with jobs against the people without. It's pure spin and a great way to deflect attention from those fat cats and politicians who put everyone in the situation in the first place. If this happened in France Sarkozy's head would already be on a plate. Rise Up Ireland! Does it take 800 years for us to do something about a bad situation? When will the next generation of Michael Collinses, Eamonn De Valeras and Aurthur Griffinses be born? Could I be the next Countess Markiewicz?

First Ever Blog!

Greetings from Krakow.

This is my first attempt at a blog and although I am not a follower of phenomena such as twitter, facebook etc.. while in the shower today some thoughts came to my mind about some things that I really wanted to put down in black and white and it being the 21st Century a quill doesn't exactly give the same satisfaction as seeing your thought stream typed out on a nice clean screen with spell check at your disposal! So here it is .... my first blog! Any tips?? Let me know.

A little bit about me: My name is Eimear, that is an Irish/Gaelic pagan name, some say it means peacemaker some people who know me would say my parents must have been thinking "pacemaker" at the time but anyway it's Irish, I am Irish, I am from Dublin but I live right now in Krakow, Poland. I am a Master student studying at the Jagiellonian University. I am currently writing my final thesis which is proving a lot harder than first expected however I ordered a book from Amazon last week aptly titled "How to Survive Your Dissertation" so worry not everything is in hand!! But any tips regarding this matter are also greatly appreciated

Since I am not living in Ireland at the moment I am very much removed from the humdrum of day to day life there while at the same time I feel from keeping up to date with current events through newspapers, journals and books I am strongly affected by the situation there. Perhaps living in Poland is in one way such a HUGE contrast but in another way is like finding an old photograph belonging to your parents, that shows a way of life your family once lived. It is something like an inherited memory. When I am here in Poland I can belong without believing in the Catholic tradition, which for me means that I can take part in tradition that is connected to a religion that I don't believe in but I can still belong to the community that does. Its a strange feeling because I often feel familiar with the rituals and practices even though they are not my own, I feel like I am being reminded of something I used to do a long time ago, like riding a bike after 50 years! Keep in mind I am only 26 but I hope the message is clear. Anyway what I am trying to say is that I think that Ireland and the Irish have lost a lot since the 1990's. Many things have contributed to what I think is a great loss of culture, tradition and faith amongst the Irish people but primarily increase of wealth, sex scandals in the church, globalization (and the inability to resist it) and the mismanagement of the country by the government of the past 12 years are to blame.

Ok so here is a poem of sorts that I wrote after my shower epiphany today!

Lament for Cathleen Ni Houlihan

Cathleen Ni Houlihan your ways were once thorny,

Walk the streets of Dublin; your memory barely pricks,

The minds, of the legions, of reality tv micks,

Where are the traditions once so fiercely protected?

Sold like the fish or brashly peddled in carrolls shop. So corny!

A pitiful remembrance of mighty events, the past is now rejected.

What if the mouth had never taken the flower?

Would the other side of the same coin have come to power?

Would the long line of chancers have come to bloom?

Would Bertie have rode the crest of that boom?

The traditions, songs and poems were replaced by bricks

Cry! Cathleen Ni Houlihan your memory barely pricks.

Eight hundred years we had what we hold,

Now all that’s been lost, on credit or sold,

When did we forget the lessons once learned?

A small price they say where development is concerned!

Bring back the old enemy at least we were fierce,

No Collins, no Boland, no Barry no Pearse,

Could stand to see what a hot mess we have made

Oh Cathleen Ni Houlihan with your head have we paid?

Saturday, 23 January 2010 – Kraków, Poland