Donegal
Donegal is both beautiful and barren. The lonely hills are dotted with the odd sheep. Isolation has preserved the Irish language and that is what brought me up to the North of Erie. I attended a week of Irish classes in Gleann Cholm Cille, Dhun na nGall. The school is run by Oideas Gael, which also has cultural courses, hill walking, music, dance and archealogy. http://www.oideas-gael.com/Leathanacha/oideas_gael.html
I met up with a variety of people during this week. Several Americans, including a group of university students and a security officer from one of the secret nuclear missle facilities. I met one of the official translators for Northern Ireland’s parliament. He kept the records of debates in Scots Gaelic. I also meet a school teacher who was originally from Derry but had moved to the Republic. He still owned a house in Derrry so I took him up on his offer to let me stay there for a few days to visit the city.
Gaeltach
The area is known as a Gaeltach, a region in which Irish is still spoken and the first language of most of the locals. The town closed for a few days when one of the townsfolk, the post office manager, passed away. The publican house was exactly that, a house that kept Guiness on tap. We enjoyed several charming nights in the pubs, with good craic (fun in Irish) and great music.