Well hello out there!
Today was a usual weekday...worked from 9 to 5 and now I'm just hanging out at the apartment, trying to get better. I woke up this morning and I felt AWFUL, but luckily I'm feeling a little better. The girls and I are going to Limerick this weekend, so I am doing everything I can to get healthy before we leave.
I saw that human rights case in court today. It was pretty cool. Basically, there was a guy from Darfur who was denied refugee status because they didn't believe that he was from Sudan because he spoke Arabic. In court the barristers and the judge were concerned with the fact that he could speak Arabic which I guess made him not Sudanese? I don't know, that doesn't really make sense to me. The barristers defending him were talking about his accent and how that proved that he wasn't Sudanese or something. It didn't make a lot of sense to me. I thought the solicitors and barristers took this in the wrong direction. The whole time I was just thinking, "so WHAT if he speaks Arabic? Isn't that a good thing? Shouldn't they be arguing the fact that he is being discriminated against because he speaks Arabic? Why would it matter whether or not he speaks Arabic?" It seemed like they were arguing the wrong issue in the case. And the barrister who was defending this guy wasn't very confident when she spoke. She spoke for most of the court case, and she was just not convincing. She seemed really unsure of herself and what she was saying. I think that if you are a barrister and you are speaking in front of a judge for a case, you should always be talking in a demanding and confident voice because that portrays confidence in your argument. And she just wasn't doing it; I was kind of disappointed. The decision for the case will be on Tuesday, so maybe I'll be able to go to that to see the outcome. But nonetheless, it was a good experience. I'm glad I was able to see some human rights law in action!
I didn't know what to take pictures of today...so on the way home I was thinking about it and I decided to take pictures of the houses here! They are all so cute and so different from houses in America - I just love them.
I think this one with the matching blue door and blue garage door was just adorable! A lot of the houses here are separated down the middle, like a duplex I suppose. But even the yards in the front are separated, which is so cute because they will completely different from each other and look so adorable.
I thought this one was really cute as well. Both of these are a lot bigger than most of the houses. There are apartment buildings in the city that are all a part of this one, big, multi-level brick building, but each door is a different color as you progress down the street. It is literally the cutest thing ever. I'll have to get a picture of some of those, because they are just adorable. I could definitely live in one of those!
OH. And another thing. People here speak IRISH. And no, not Gaelic, legitimate Irish. The signs are even in Irish, see....!
Obviously the writing on the top of the sign is in Irish, the rest is in English. Isn't that cool? There are a bunch of buildings within the Four Courts that have completely Irish signs on the outside. I was looking for one the other day, and I couldn't pronounce the Irish word, but the name looked the same and luckily for me, it was the building I was looking for. I would have gotten a picture of that, but I can't bring my camera into the Four Courts! Poopy!! I haven't heard anyone here speak Irish yet, but I heard that if you go to the islands on the coasts, that's ALL they speak. Scary, but I would love to go!
Anyway, that is just a taste of Irish culture in Dublin. Cool, huh? I love it!
Tomorrow is Friday! Yay! I think the girls and I are going to head to a pub after we get off work, get some dinner and then head home relatively early because we have to wake up pretty early to catch our bus to Limerick on Saturday. I won't be able to update this weekend because we'll be staying in a hostel and I DON'T want to bring my computer, but I'll get some pictures up tomorrow before I leave.
Until then!
;)
