Great craic on the Liffey.

Today's blog post promises to be much shorter than yesterday's posting. One reason, today had a lot less structure and much more free flow to it. And the second and most important, my long winded recollections of Friday bored even me...won't do that again.

Answering Chuck's challenge to go out and make friends with people in Ireland, the team divides into three groups. Greg and Shelby head off to meet with the immigrant population. David and Amy to Graften Street, guitar in hand for a little busking - or what we would call here in Nashville 'pickin and grinnin outside the honkey tonks". And Mikkie, Holly (aka Shannon Mc Attitude ) and I head out to find youth/college students/young adults to converse with in town. It takes us all of 30 seconds to stumble onto a college event right at the River Liffey. All we had to do was follow the music blaring from the van. We stop and asked the guy playing tunes what was going on and he said that Trinity University was competing against Univeristy of Central Dublin (UCD) in crew races on the river. This is the spot to start meeting folks we decided and spread out.

The girls meet a lass first and begin talking. They decide that I should go find a guy to talk to. This is a mission trip after all and not an excuse for Kevin to be hitting on some chica. So, I walk back up toward the van and music. I'm just looking across the river at a gorgeous blonde and thinking that I really should head over there when I bump into the lad from Trinity, Colm. He's there hangin out with some of his college buddies, all who once rowed at Trinity. Peter and Kevin are the two guys I take up talking to and they are a riot. Peter is nuts and reminds me of Paul Alberstadt at a Vandy Football tailgate...he's talking trash to UCD and screaming at the top of his lungs. Of course, I like him immediately. Kevin is a quieter fellow, still in school but who has just accepted a postion with Accenture in IT consulting when he finishes. Nice fellow, we chat a bit about jobs and watch the novice race.

The girls soon are upon us. Apparently they have moved on from the girl they were speaking with earlier. She apparenly was a little bored. But, the lads are excited to have such beautiful ladies in their pressence. Peter is chatting them up and when he sees them without sunglasses, he is enamored by their blue eyes. They soon part for coffee and I tell them I will wait for their return. Immediately, the lads start in on me - "are either of the girls your sister? Are you dating one of them? They are certainly lovely!" I tell them I just don't travel with ugly girls, its how I roll. We all share a laugh over this.

The guys are going to catch a double decker bus to head over to the finish and invite me along. I pass and wait for the girls. Little do I know that the bus will make several trips back and forth. The girls arrive at the same time the lads return, ready for the start of the main event. We all hop on and follow the action along the river. Trinity starts out with a burst, but alas, like in the 3 previous races, can't hold pace and they lose out to UCD by half a length over the 4 killometer course. Peter is bummed as are the rest of the lads. But in true Irish form, begin singing pub songs which are a bit on the raunchy side. Even the girls laugh at the lyrics as we head back to where we all began.

We say goodbye to Peter, take a few pics, get Facebook and MySpace addresses and agree to catch them at a pub later. Then we head over to Graften where we converse with a couple of lads raising money for local charity. These guys are both genuinely enthusiastic about helping out their fellow man. I will point this out as a perfect outreach later when I see Chuck that evening. Agan, we get information and Facebook addresses, grab a bite and then meet with the other members of the team and Chuck for a debreifing Needless to say, our group has had the most craic (Gaelic for fun) and success in friendship building. Chuck really is encouraged about what he hears and we talk a bit more about future possibilities for outreach.

From here, part of the group heads to the supermarket and then over to The Auld dubliner Pub in Temple Bar where we are meeting Amy's friends and Christy and Katherine for dinner/pints. The others (me included) slide back up to the B&B to change and then take a cab over and meet everyone else.

The pub is packed and we find, eventually a spot upstairs. While waiting to go inside, from the pub across the street, I hear the voice of Johnny Cash sining "Ring of Fire" and for a small moment, I feel like I'm standing on lower Broad outside of Tootsies. I expect to see Chris Goodman pouring out any minute. Then, I realize, I'm actually in Ireland...Cash though, is universal and I am glad.

We have a few pints (ok, I have a few pints, everyone else eats and has 1 or 2) and talk over the day's events. I say farewell to Chuck since this is our last night together. I tell him that I will write him soon. I can't wait to come back again and work with him and his family. And of course, share another pint with him at the pub! Shelby wings for me downstairs at the pub as I attempt - feabley - to find a lass to talk to. Unfortunately, there are only 3 at the bar and they are all in conversation over how some guy did something wrong. I guess other things besides Cash are universal as well. Needless to say, I work my way back downstairs a half hour later and meet a few lasses attending a hen party (bacheorette party) which gives me another story to write later. When I return, the girls are heading out, the guys hang back a bit then we hail a cab. All of us arrive at the same time back at Harveys and have a nightly round up meeting. The next day is Easter and we have another jammed packed day ahead.

Today has been a blast..as most days have been.. It's been great craic and I've seen a side of Ireland that I knew existed and have longed to experience since I arrived. Slante!