Well, Notre Dame won the game last Saturday.  As expected, I stayed at the tailgate party, put on by Democrats Abroad, just long enough to see the start and eat the burger.  We met several new people and I officially joined the American Women's Club of Dublin (AWCD) a cosponsor of the tailgate party.  I've heard the game was very good for business in Dublin, there were tons of Americans on the streets. I think both Navy and Notre Dame fans are rabid and rich so coming to Dublin for one game was appropriate for them I guess.  Anyway, the Dublin retailers were happy. 

I attended a drop-in dance class on Wednesday afternoon and, although it wasn't set dancing (which starts on September 17) it was fun to meet some new people and to learn a new dance, a minuet.  I will likely do that on Wednesday afternoons going forward as well as the Monday evening set dancing. 

Tonight we are going to hear the President's acceptance speech with a group from the Democrats club.  They have arranged for a big screen TV to be set up in a pub in the City Center.  Up to now I've been watching the speeches by YouTube the following morning.  Prime time in the States is the wee hours of the morning here.  I really enjoyed seeing Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton in particular but was also impressed with San Antonio's mayor. He's an up and comer I'd say.  As soon as Hispanics become the majority in Texas, I expect that state will move pretty shortly thereafter from red to blue. 

This morning, I did a walking tour or Merrion Square, which is a park in the City Center formerly owned by the Catholic Church.  Until 1972, the park was locked up and you needed special permission to enter, but in that year the Bishop of Dublin gave the property to the City.  It's just amazing the hold the church had on Ireland.  I was surprised to learn that it wasn't until the famine (1848) that the church emerged with such political and social power here.  Although it didn't do much to help the population and mostly sided with the land owners during the famine, it moved pretty aggressively to take control in the vacuum caused by the decimation of the population as the one entity with an organization.  Living here is so interesting.  A lot of my myths about Ireland are being burst.

The Dublin Theater Festival begins here on September 25th and we have booked to see 9 plays between September 25 and October 14.  Considering that we're going to be on a walking tour in Majorca between October 4th and October 12th, that's a lot of them. On two days we're going to see more than one.  For one play, The Dubliners, we will be accompanied by Alan's sister and brother-in-law.  It seems a fitting play to share with American visitors. The venue is also one I'm happy with, The Gaiety Theatre, site of the recent performance of Riverdance that we saw.  The stage was too small for Riverdance, but the theater is just beautiful and it's the perfect spot for a play. 

The upcoming week should be a quiet one.  The only thing on my calendar is the first monthly meeting of AWCD, but I expect that I'll keep myself busy nonetheless.