I found a leprechaun! 
I want this book. 
Various books that deal with the mythology of Ireland. 
The Russian students getting an introduction of the museum. 
Book about fairies by the famous Irish author Yeats. 
Leprechauns in modern times 
Traditional leprechaun clothing. 
Tunnel bringing us to the mythical world. 
Traveling to another world through a forest. 
Big furniture to make us feel small like leprechauns. 
Giant dresser 
Students climbing everywhere! 
Big, comfy chair. 
This is what I am taking about! My size of cup for coffee! 
Mythical Ireland 
Don't understand this. Umbrellas on the ceiling. Very bad luck. 
Otherworld map of Ireland. 
Travelling the rainbow! What is at the end? 
Gold of course! The students listening to tales of leprechauns.
Pot of gold.
Inside a fairy fort (home of fairies). Inside they are lined with copper. Hopefully the fairies let us leave....
List of mythical people. 
Reading a leprechaun story. 
Leprechauns are tricky. Don't trust them! 
Leprechauns will trick you! 
Bad picture of me, but I was at the museum! 
A well. Sometimes fairies would steal babies and replace them with an ugly fairy baby. If a person thought they had been robbed by a fairy, they would throw their baby down a well.... A student told the tour guide that he wanted to throw her down the well.... Oh, Russians.... 
Leaving the otherworld. 
Happy leprechaun :) One of the mythical images that is associated with Ireland is that of the leprechaun. Today, I lead some Russian students to the National Leprechaun Museum in Dublin.
This was a very important day for me because I lead the group by myself. I am usually with someone else who has done it before, but today I was solo. I will admit that I was very nervous about leading the group. The bus system is the worst in Dublin, so I am always stressed about knowing which stop to get off at. But this time I knew the stop because it was O'Connell, the main street in Dublin.
But after O'Connell, I was really stressed about which way to go. I had been to the Leprechaun Museum the weekend before, so I knew what it looked like, but I went a different way. The whole morning I spent studying the map on how to get there. I studied it until I knew the route by heart.
I was only going to have twelve students with me, so that wasn't going to be bad. But I show up to work and my boss tells me that I have to lead 33 Russians to the museum. Eff my life. She then tells me that the Russians don't really need me to guide them, I am just there to be there. Thanks boss for making me feel special.
I got my group together and headed to the bus stop. I kept reciting what buses to take to get to O'Connell.
Our bus came and the teachers of the students said that they wanted to handle the tickets for the bus. I could not care less, but I got this vibe that they wanted to be in control as much as possible. Whatever. Make my life easier.
We got to O'Connell easy enough. The next step was to get to the other side of the street. Where should we cross? I don't know why I stress about these little things. The next crosswalk we are going to cross at. I am the activity leader and whatever I say goes. So, wherever I want to cross, that is where we are going to cross. I kept telling myself this so I would not act nervous.
While we were crossing the street, one of the teachers asked me how we were getting there. We are going to take a right at Abby Street and then keep walking straight until we get to it. It is on the corner of Abby Street and Jervis.
Now, did I need to give her a detailed answer? Probably not. I wasn't doing it as much to make her have confidence in me, but more of me reassuring myself that I knew what I was doing.
We turned down Abby Street and continued straight. I had been down this street before and I was looking for indicators to tell me that I was going the right way. For a while I saw nothing and I started to panic. Don't tell me I screwed up!? But eventually I saw stores that looked familiar.
Before we knew it, we were at the museum. Praise God! The hard part was over and I had survived!
I told the group to wait outside and I was going inside to check in. I entered and the gentlemen working the front desk greeted me with "Hello Caroline". I paused and asked how did he know my name. He reminded me that I was wearing a name tag. Fail.
He told me what time each group would go into the museum at. Telling someone the time and understanding the time in the same language should be an easy thing. The Irish make understanding time very hard. In America, we say five thirty or six fifteen, for example. Not in Ireland. They would say half past five or a quarter after six. I constantly have to translate the time so I understand it. So, with this it took me a while to figure out what time each group was going in at.
We got everything sorted out and I went outside to move the group to the side of the museum and to break them into smaller groups to explore the museum.
The whole time I am trying to do this, the two teachers kept questioning me. "Are we in the right spot?". "Why do we need to split into two groups?". "Where are our tickets?".
How dare they keep questioning me. Why did they not trust me? Probably because I was American. Of course my boss has to put the American with the Russians. Why would I give them false information or just make stuff up? Yes, I just went into the museum and did absolutely nothing. Just shot the breeze with the worker. They totally did not tell me to move you to the side of the museum and to break up in two groups. I am just bored and I want to make life more difficult for you. Give me a break.
A few minutes later a worker came out to take the first group in. I brought the group to the wrong meeting place. Story of my life. The Russians didn't need to know this. Again, whatever I say goes....
We moved to the right location and the other teacher with the second group, continues to questions me. Did she not just see a worker come out and take the first group in? We are in the right place and I didn't lie to you! This is ridiculous!
Our tour guide, Katie, came out and brought the second group, which included me, into the museum. I ran to Katie to let her know that they were Russians and English was not there first language. She was thankful for this knowledge. I know what it is like to be a tour guide and I would appreciate someone telling me that.
I was so excited to go inside! Last weekend my friends and I found it but didn't go inside because it cost 10 Euro. The whole time I was thinking of my friends.
Before going to the museum, because I am a loser, I did a lot of research of leprechauns. Leprechaun comes from the Irish word Lú Chorpain, meaning small body. Leprechauns are usually around 2'6" tall.
The first recorded spotting of a leprechaun dates back to the 8th century. Originally, leprechauns come from under the sea, but decided to go to Ireland and make it their home. They live in secluded areas under the ground.
Many people think of leprechauns as dressing up in all green, but this is not true. Their clothing is that of 18th century style and it is mostly brown. They do have a red hat that they can use to disappear.
Leprechauns have jobs, even though the economy is very bad. They are shoemakers for fairies. Fairies love to dance and this keeps leprechauns well employed.
Everyone knows that leprechauns are very rich. They are rich because they are well paid by the fairies and they are very fickle with their money. They hide most of their money in a pot of gold under the ground. If you follow the rainbow to the end, you will find the location of a pot of gold.
Another way to find the gold is to catch a leprechaun. If you catch a leprechaun, he must tell you where his gold is hidden. But leprechauns are very sneaky, so most of the time they do get away. Stories about leprechauns center around how leprechauns trick humans. When is the best time to catch a leprechaun? The best times are in the early morning or at dusk.
Leprechauns are very smart and do not keep all their money in one place. Leprechauns do carry 3 purses to keep coins in their jacket. They have a purse for copper, silver and gold.
Though he spends his days working, leprechauns do love to have fun as well. They are great musicians, slick talkers and enjoy a smoke on their pipes. They also enjoy a good meal of potatoes.
I also learned about fairies. Fairies comes from the Irish word si. Fairies are a spirit community that live with humans. Many fairies are human height or a little smaller. They act like humans, meaning they work, have families and enjoy social events. But fairies live in their own world. They live under the ground in fairy hills, or forts. They have a king and queen that rule over different fairy clans. People use to view the fairy world as being peaceful and quiet.
Though most of the time this might be an accurate picture of fairy life, fairy clans do clash. In the morning, dew on the ground is believed to be fairy blood that was shed in battle.
Humans knows that fairies exist and it is dangerous to mention them or to be out late at night. If a fairy gets a hold of you, you will disappear forever. Or worse, you will be returned to the human world, but never be the same again....
I learned all this information on the website and was disappointed that more information was not given at the museum. The museum is great for students to interact with, but in terms of gaining more understanding of the mythology of Ireland, it was a fail. The only information given was by the tour guide, and it was mostly just simple stories she told. The rooms are better for just walking through and taking interesting pictures. I was glad that I didn't pay the 10 Euro last weekend!
But I am thankful that I did go because it forced me to go on the website to learn more. Now, I know more about fairies and leprechauns then before :)
No comments:
Post a Comment