An Rinn

Wednesday March 10th.

Today we went on a bus ride through An Rinn, a city where they speak Irish/Gaelic as their primary language. It was really interesting to hear the people speak to each other in this language because for most of Ireland, this is a lost language. Since we've been in Ireland we have heard some of the Gaelic language, mostly phrases or short expressions. Slainte is the Gaelic word for cheer or to good health. They told us every time we cheers with a Guinness this is the phrase to say.

Also, when we visited this area we were invited to an Irish television station,Nemeton TV, where they showed us a documentary they created called Kennedy's Cadets. When Kennedy visited Ireland he saw some of the Irish honor guard perform and he absolutely loved it. Then when he tragically passed, these same 18 or so soldier performed at his funeral. This would have been very unusual to have a foreign honor guard perform at a presidents funeral, but lucky for them everyone thought they were very professional and clean. We've been learning a lot about Ireland's history since we've been here but this in particularly was interesting because it related both Ireland and the United States.