Spanish students and parents soak up local culture on visit
Dromintee woman Toni McArdle now lives in Spain, and works for The South Downs English School, near Madrid. Each year, for the last 10 years, Toni has hosted a group of students and their parents on a trip to Dromintee and the surrounding areas. This year, she shared her blog from the trip with readers of the Newry Reporter:
Students, parents, children, friends, neighbours, long lost cousins and new connections… those are just a few of the things we discovered among the 14 people who travelled together for this year's trip to Carlingford.
Our annual trip to our local area, staying in picturesque Carlingford, has once again been a success.
With five repeaters (this will always be the biggest compliment!) and the rest new to the trip, our little group threw themselves in from the get go, embracing the activities we had planned for them, asking questions, wanting to get to know the people, the culture, the history, and of course the local beers and treats!
From Carlingford to Newry, Belfast to Dromintee, Faughart and Dundalk, our group explored what we could of our little part of Ireland, learning about the legend of The Long Woman from Cádiz, visiting her grave and leaving a part of Spain with her, Cú Chulainn and The Brown Bull of Cooley, St. Bridget and of course our own leprechauns on Mount Foye.
To recent history we spoke about the locals' experiences of the Troubles, and again finding the connection between the Irish and Spanish, reliving the findings of our very first trip to Carlingford 10 years ago of the young Irish men from Carlingford, Dundalk and Newry who travelled to Spain to fight against the fascists.
The locals celebrated with us in PJs as we witnessed Spain get one step closer to the World Cup final, just as we celebrated along with them in Louth getting to the semi-final of the All-Ireland.
Family time, watching a World Champion Irish dancer, getting to know my family on The Hip, the food (the cocktail sausages and pavlova went down a treat!), learning about Dromintee Gaelic Football Club, doing a bit of training and playing a match.
Our final day before travelling back to Azuqueca de Henares in Spain, was an all-round highlight for the group, and of course all the credit goes to my family, friends and neighbours.
This is what the trip is about, making a connection to the Ireland I know, the people and local culture, and having a lasting memory of what was experienced.
I really hope that we have achieved that again this year. And I think we must have because, like every year, we said an emotional goodbye-for-now to our new friends, and immediately started making plans for our next meet-up (which by the way, was the day after we landed to watch Louth in the All Ireland Semi-Final!).
Many thanks go to everyone at home for making this year's trip an amazing success. Martin and Kevin, who not only look after the guests in their accommodation but also their neighbours. Thank you for making us feel completely at home. To our lovely drivers who waited when we were late or lost a few stragglers!
To Tracy, Katie and Dromintee Gaelic Football Club, thank you taking us in and teaching us all about the club and its history, and of course, the highlight, teaching us how to play a game!
To Newry Museum and Tourist Office, thank you for the wonderful tour. To Marian, Anthony, girls, aunties, uncles and cousins, a million thank yous for helping us out all week.
To all the lovely people who stopped to talk to the group out of curiosity or help us with the activities we did on the streets, thank you for again showing how wonderful our lovely little area is.