So the weekend after the Chicago trip was pretty fun too. There was a big rugby game Sunday on TV, so I had about 7 people over for the game, some stew and some beers.
To give a little background, rugby is considered Ireland's national past time. The game was the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup and pitted two Irish teams against each other. The Heineken Cup is like NFL playoffs and includes teams from all over NorthWestern Europe - Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France, etc.
The teams that were playing were Munster (which is the Southern province of Ireland - Cork, Limerick, Kerry, etc) and Leinster (the middle-Eastern province of Ireland - Dublin, etc). The game was being touted as the "game of the century," and from what I could tell would be like the Cubs and the pre-championship Red Sox playing for the World Series.
So anyways, these guys were all geeked up for the game. A couple of them -Brendan FitzGerald and Robert White - came over early on Sunday and helped me cook up some tasty food. We had homemade beef stew and this potato and cheese casserole that Brendan's mom often makes. There was also plenty of beer and other snacks.
The game was really fun to watch and Munster (where these guys, except for one Dubliner, were all from) won 30 to 6. It was a beautiful day, so after the game, we decided to head to the fields behind my apartment and play some two-hand touch rugby.
We got about 10 minutes in, and then all of a sudden, this guy on a tractor comes bombin' through the fence and just about runs us over! I couldn't believe it. This thing must have been the Mazeratti of tractors, too, because he was flying. He stopped the tractor right next to me and starts yelling something in Luxembourgoise. Obviously he was expressing his displeasure at us being on his land and was telling us to get the hell off. But, just in case he was coming out to take drink orders, I asked him if he spoke English.
"Yes I do! This is not a place for play! Get out!"
'Nuff said. We moved on and eventually found a nice area of land - apparently not owned by anyone - to play on. We played for about an hour or two, then headed back in to the apartment for round two of the stew, a few more beers, and a little Wedding Crashers.
All in all it was a really fun day and after everyone left I cleaned up and then crashed.
Random things :
These guys all have mad Irish names - Ciaran (pron: KEER-an) Madigan, Brendan FitzGerald, Robert White, Linda O'Connor, Caitriona (pron: Katrina) Ennis, and Mairead (pron: More-AID), whose last name I don't know but I think is O'Brien or something.
Marathon training is going well. The Saturday before the little party described above, I ran 19 miles in a pretty good time and felt really well.
Agnes and I have booked a trip for Barcelona from June 2 to June 5. We are pretty excited, as we found a good hotel and some decent flights, and there is plenty of room in the budget for us to live it up a little.
We're also in the process of booking a trip to Ireland for the second week in July with Robert White and his girlfriend. It should be a really fun time, as we are going to see a lot of South and West Ireland with people who are from there and know where to go.
Only about a week and a half until "the Ag" gets here. The countdown is on....
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