Dancing, hiking and eating.

Monday night was a completely new and cultural experience for me. I learned how to do Irish set dancing. Well, I am not sure if I really learned, rather I was dragged out on the dance floor and had to figure it out along the way. Basically it is like American square dancing, but a lot funner. Lots of spins, gallops, and hopping movements. I was privileged enough to partner with some excellent old Irish male dancers named Liam and Joel, who tried to teach me about the steps. Too bad I couldn't understand their thick Irish accents, so I just smiled, laughed, and tried to follow along. You wouldn't believe how much of a workout this dance is. We danced for 2 hours with no breaks. I was one of the younger people there and frickin pooped by the end of the night. I was also extremely dizzy, mainly because of two reasons...I am really light so people enjoyed twirling me so fast that I felt like I was going to lift off the ground and shoot out in to outer space, and because I drank a pint of Guinness beforehand at a local pub since we got to the dance hall too early. Must say that is was overall a darn good time and an amazing thing to have experienced.
So, today I took my first official day off and was invited by our neighbor to go hiking in Glengariff. It is on the North side of the Sheep's Head Peninsula and just as lovely. At first we were rained on, but then the sun came out to warm us up. We hiked past small rocky waterfalls, bright green carpets of moss, oddly shaped trees, and ascended upon views of the mountains and ocean. Discussed life, nature and spirituality, and just plain old enjoyed the afternoon. Later that day I ventured into the art studio and finally worked on some pastel drawings. Felt good to be creating art again. Took another walk after that down to the beach and back, and experienced three seasons in that 30 minutes... summer sun, spring rain, and winter hail. Kind of crazy.
Lastly the evening concluded with a crepe dinner prepared by the French couple. Savory crepes filled with a leek saute, butterbeans, roasted peppers, and pesto. And sweet crepes filled with melted Green & Blacks dark chocolate, sliced pear, and fresh whipped cream. Learned that the French just flip their plates over after eating the savory crepes to put the sweet crepes on. Interesting, and kind of funny. After licking the plates clean, I talked story with the young couple for awhile. One of the great things about traveling is meeting so many different people from different cultures and with different stories. What an amazing learning experience and one in which we discover that even though extrinsically we may be different, intrinsically we are all the same.