A Weekend in the Country

This past weekend, Hannah and I were lucky enough to visit my grandpa’s sister, Annie Broderick, and her family in the country. On Friday afternoon, Martin Broderick, Annie’s son’s fiancé, Anne Maloney picked us up. Coincidentally, Anne’s brother is a good friend of Hannah’s dad back in Chicago. It is such a small world. Martin and Anne are getting married New Year’s Eve this year. I was tempted to switch my flight to come home after the wedding but couldn’t imagine not spending Christmas with my family (and of course defending my title as "Jack Lebert's New Year’s Day Cribbage" co-champion along with Ms. Annie Lebert). There really are a lot of Annes and Annies in this blog. I hope I don’t confuse anyone.

Anyways, Anne picked us up Friday afternoon and drove us 35 minutes into the country where the Broderick’s live. She was so so nice, and I am so happy that I will be able to call her family soon. When we arrived, we dropped our bags off at Joe Broderick, Annie’s eldest son's house.He lives right next to Aunt Annie and Marty Joe, and down the road Martin and Anne are building their own house. I love how close everyone lives to each other. It reminds me of living so close to my Nana and Papa.

The minute we walked in the door we were greeted with hugs and asked, “Would you like a cup of tea?” (We would hear this question about 100 more times over the next two days) Bridget, I would like to pause here and thank you for making me tea about a month ago when I was sick. See, that was the first time I ever drank tea, and when I was asked if I would like tea here, I accepted. How awkward would it be to say, "No, no thank you" every time I was asked if I would like some tea. So after chatting and drinking our tea, we headed to Annie and Marty Joe’s house for our first home-cooked Irish dinner in Ireland. Aunt Annie, Teresa (Annie’s eldest daughter) and Catheriona (Annie’s youngest daughter) cooked us dinner, and let me just say, it was delicious! While we were eating, Aunt Annie, Teresa or Catheriona would walk around piling more and more food onto our plates without even asking if we wanted anymore.It was just like having dinner at my Nana and Papa’s house. We were joined for dinner by Martin, Anne, Noel (Annie’s third son), Declan (Catheriona’s son), Clodagh (Joe’s girlfriend) and Marty Joe. Just like my Nana, Aunt Annie didn’t eat until everyone else had finished their dinner. Later that night, Joe and Teresa took Hannah and me to the local pub in Kilconnell.There we met Gerry and Joanne, Annie’s second son and his fiancé. If you hadn’t noticed already, there are a lot of upcoming marriages in this family: Gerry and Joanne (this October in Spain), Martin and Anne (New Year’s Eve), and Noel and Emma (next summer).

I should tell you now that five out of the six Broderick’s have lived in Orland Park at some point. Teresa lived there (as well as Oak Lawn) for 17 years. She just came home this past February. Joe and Gerry (along with Joanne) lived out there for a few years, Catheriona lived there for three years, and Martin lived there for about three months. It was wonderful to see them all again!

But back to the pub. There, we met all the locals. It is such a small town, everyone knew everyone. I loved it! While we were there we also met Teresa’s boyfriend, Brendan. He was very nice!

After we left, we went straight to bed. I slept so well that night because I was so exhausted. I forgot to mention that Friday morning Hannah and I woke up at 4 AM to register for our English seminar classes. Registration didn’t actually open until 11 AM, but English seminars are so difficult to get into (only 20% are held for visiting students) that in order to get the one that you want you had to get there early. We were the 5^th and 6^th persons in line. Four Italian girls were ahead of us. They went out the night before and then got straight in line at 3 AM. I felt a little silly because I went to bed at around 8 PM the night before knowing I had to get up early the next morning. We didn’t really need to get there until maybe 6:30 AM because that’s when the line really started to form, but we did get the classes we wanted. To quote Shakespeare’s famous play, “All’s Well That Ends Well.”

The next morning when Hannah and I woke up, Joe had cooked us the most wonderful full-Irish breakfast. It was so good! After breakfast, Hannah and I just chilled out and watched some television. I was so happy to see that Friends (my absolutely, most favorite television show) was on. It made me feel at home again.

Next, we were off the see the farm. It was a beautiful, sunny day, perfect to walk around and see the country. I don’t know if all of you have a facebook, but I put up some pictures. For those that don’t have facebook, there are pictures below from our weekend. Teresa and Joe showed us all the cattle, sheep, hens, etc. They live on 75 acres of beautiful green hills. I never wanted to leave! Joe kept trying to take our picture with the cows, but they didn’t like us very much and kept running away. So all the pictures of us are with the cattle a little distance away. I would like to sincerely thank my Papa for telling me to pack my Wellingtons when I went to visit the farm. We definitely needed them! After the tour of the farm, they took us to an old Abbey in town that has been turned into a cemetery. It was so cool to see and really get a feel for the history of Kilconnell. When we got back, we had some lunch, and Hannah took a nap. I didn’t want to waste anytime sleeping because I knew I only had a couple days to spend with the Broderick’s. We watched the All Ireland Minor Hurling Final, Galway vs. Dublin. Galway won 3-14, 1-10. (For those that don’t follow hurling that is 3 goals and 14 points to 1 goal and 10 points. Also, you get three points for every goal.) After the match, Martin took me on a tour of his house and the house Marty Joe grew up in. Martin’s house is absolutely beautiful. Noel did all the carpentry for both Martin and Joe’s houses. He is extremely talented! Marty Joe’s old house is a small little house that no one lives in anymore. It is so old; Marty Joe’s father (and maybe even grandfather) was born in it. Martin said a lot of these houses have been torn down, so it was nice to see one that was still around.

After another one of Aunt Annie’s fabulous dinners, Martin, Anne, and Teresa took us to a pub down in Mountbellew (where Anne’s family is from). We had the best best time. I didn’t want the night to end! There was live music there, and since Hannah’s birthday is the 20^th, Martin told the singers to make a special announcement for her. Attached to the pub is a nightclub, which played music you would hear on 103.5 FM. We danced the rest of the night and actually convinced one guy we were all sisters. It was so funny! When we got back to Joe’s house, Hannah went to bed (her bed must have been so comfortable for all the time she was spending in it). The rest of us just chatted until about 4:30 in the morning.

The next morning the USA rugby team was playing Ireland in the World Championship Rugby tournament. The first-round game was set to play at 6:30 AM Ireland time. Martin and I both got up to watch it. However, I ended up falling asleep for the end of it. Ireland won (big surprise!). After the game I went back to bed for a little while before getting up again for mass.Aunt Annie and Marty Joe took us to mass along with Declan, who was an altar boy. In the car he told us, “I really hope I am the one to ring the bell.” Opportunely, he was the one to ring the bell while Hannah and I gave him big smiles from the pews. He is so cute!

After mass, Teresa had another full-Irish breakfast ready for us. I kept thinking to myself, “I could really get use to this.” It was a rainy day, the kind of day I expected to see a lot of in Ireland. We just hung out and watched the women’s hurling championships. In Ireland, women’s hurling is called camogie. The first match was the All Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship Final, Antrim vs. Wexford. Wexford won 2-12, 0-15. The second match was the All Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Final, Galway (hooray!) vs. Wexford. Wexford was the defending champion, who beat Galway in the championship last year. Unfortunately, Galway lost 1-2, 2-7.

After the matches and our last dinner with the Broderick’s, we went to Brendan’s house to skype with my Nana and Papa, as well as, my mom, dad and Bridget. It was the first time Aunt Annie used Skype, and it was so cool to watch her chat with my Nana and Papa. Both my Aunt Annie and my Papa have trouble hearing so my grandma had to repeat everything we said to my grandpa, and Teresa had to repeat everything they said to my Aunt Annie. It was quite comical!

However, then it was time to leave. Anne, who works and lives in Galway City, drove us back to school. I cried saying goodbye to everyone. I am proud to say that I am a bit like my Nana in that sense. Well, I’m not proud that I cried, but I am very proud to resemble her even just a little.

I can’t wait until the next time I can go back and visit them. This weekend I am going to visit my Aunt Kitty, my Nana’s older sister. I am so excited because they sound so much alike it will be as if I am talking to my Nana, conversations I am missing very much right now.

Love, Molly