The Embassy

Hi, Blogites,

FMM: 1.5 mi

I think I OD'd on social interaction yesterday. I am out of the practice of talking to anyone but myself. However, I hit my stride by mid-morning. We met all of the other Fulbrighters in Ireland yesterday...It is quite an interesting group of people and projects which include such things a creating traditional Irish music score for cellos (evidently they have never been used before in traditional Irish music), creating abstract art which incorporates the Irish landscape, studying the rise in obesity among Irish men over 80...well, you get the picture? It was fun to hear about the projects and meet the people... The American Embassy is a modernistic building - it looks like a flying saucer - set among Georgian buildings. When we stepped inside (now don't laugh at this) it looked just like an Embassy Suites Hotel:> Really. The reception room is round and surrounded by three floors of rooms which overlook it. The ambassador was not available, but his deputy greeted us. He had just gotten off the phone with Hillary Clinton's office and he let us in on a secret: she is coming here next weekend. Now you know the secret, too...We went to the Abbey Theatre and enjoyed the world premiere of a play called "Tales From Ballycumber" by a well-known Irish author named Sebastion Barry...You know I can't wait for today's main Fulbrighter activity: a WALKING tour of Dublin! You know I need one of those...not only that but I am PAYING to take this tour.....more later..

Your stand-in here in Ireland (pronounces "R Land" by most people I meet),

Tizzie/Tiz/Tizmom/Mom/Liz/Elizabeth

P.S. Nora, if you're reading this, they pronounce your name "LEE HEE" over here.