Celebrating the 4th!!!

Wednesday, July 4th

Today is another day I'm not really leading. I was able to come in a little later (thank goodness). It started out with more music stuff. They review the music theory we had learned the first day then a volunteer came in and helped them make instruments. They made drums with tape and tubes then they made shakers with coffee and balloons. It was really hard to get them organized and it was almost painful to listen to. In elementary school and middle school I was a percussionist (I played drums). Listening to them butcher a beat and not work together was, well, painful. After that was all over we still had time and broke up into groups to work on lyrics again. We spent the last 40 minutes trying to get them to write lyrics. It was really hard to get them to write their own lyrics.

Today we went out to the food gallery again and I just got a chai. It was....ok, BUT it was pretty much milk with a little syrup and lists of foam. I had brought my lunch so I ate it when we got back. It was so deliciously sunny that I sat outside with Natalie. She read on her nook as I ate. It never gets that sunny around here. Especially around lunch time.

We get back and it is time to work on brands stuff. Some of the kids are off at hip hop so we kind of start over. We have them come up with a name, name it all pretty, and create a logo. It was pretty lax and chill. One girl who was there was 11. She is very tall for her age, but definitely an 11 year old. She kept having us say things because we say it a lot differently than she does. It was kind of cute, but annoying at the same time. After that was another same but different day.

We made a list of what we were going to do, and how we were going to do it. Boxy was there and so was Jade. They weren't very helpful though. We basically just hung out until clock out time at 7. The three of us interns decided that in celebration of the 4th we would go get burgers. We went to a place called the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. It was fabulous. I got a salad and a hamburger made with Irish aged cheddar cheese. It was sooooo good. I also got a milkshake and it created chaos. To explain; in California they have In-N-Out. At In-N-Out they have milkshakes that have chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice-cream. This sounded really good to me so I asked if they could possibly make it. The waiter seem confused and at first but said they could make it. Later in the meal one of the other waiters came over and asked if I wanted to syrups in it as well. I didn't now these shakes were made with syrups. He said if I wanted the syrups in it it would taste like "muck", his word not mine. He seemed a little distraught and I told him to just use the ice creams and not the syrups. He bring it out and said it doesn't actually smell too bad. Smell? I wasn't expecting that. Later on I am going downstair to the bathroom, a lot of the places have bathrooms downstairs in Dublin. I bumped into him and he apologized, then he looked and me said "milkshake" and chuckled. I come back to the table laughing because the whole situation was so odd.

That was not the only funny thing that happened there. Before the whole milkshake incident my friend Ann had ordered a coke. The same milkshake guy came out looking distraught and told her the machine for the coke wasn't working, could he get her anything else. She said no, that it was ok. He asked again and she said the same thing. As he hurried off he said under his breath (but it was really loud) "Oh, Shit!" Like he was going to get in trouble for it. He ended up bringing her one further into the meal.

On last short funny thing happened while we were there. If you order two burgers you can get two beers for only 5 euro when it is normal 4.50 each. So, she decided to get them. I can't drink them and Ann didn't want them so both were Natalie's. At one point one of the waitresses comes by to talk to us (I don't remember why) and Natalie mentions that both drinks are hers. The girl goes "Oh Are you going to be ok?" After reassuring her about three times she tells us that she doesn't know anything about alcohol because she didn't drink. We all laughed.

It was around 9 when we got done eating, and I didn't think I could find my friends who were doing a pub crawl so the three of us decided to try a new pub that may actually have some Irish people in it. We went to Kehoes. There weren't that many people there, but we decided to go to the upper lounge to check it out. We ended up spending the whole evening talking to the bartender. He was 21 and had been bar tending since he was 15 (sooooo not legal, but it was about 6 years too late). He was fun to talk to and I think we were entertaining him pretty well. He let us pick some of the music, because he DJed for the entire bar on an iPod. Well, he let us pick because we were adorable and wanted to listen to something a little more focused on America. Needless to say I was acting pretty comical that night because I had a high level of endorphins running through me due to the amazingly sunny day. I was silly and maybe a little ridiculous, but Ann and Natalie got to see my dorky side that night, I get it from my dad.

At about 11:18 I run out and try to find my bus. It doesn't take long to find out that I missed it. Seriously? There was no way I was going to pay 20 euro for a taxi so I called Natalie, their bus leaves later. Apparently, the bartender laugh when I said I missed my bus. So, I caught up with them and end up sleeping on Natalie's floor. Fortunately, her friend was leaving at about 3 am for Paris and let me use her duvet and pill. I actually slept pretty well. I was able to borrow a shirt and a few little things for the next day.

Overall, it may not have been a 4th of July focused on AMURICA, but it was one to remember :)