The Barbecue, the Street Fair, and the Pizza Bus (Weekend 2)

This Friday the NCLC hosted a fundraising barbecue and it was a great opportunity for me realize that people here think that America is still the Wild West. In order to dress like "Americans," people were encouraged to wear checkered shirts ("checked shirts," as they say - nothing can be the same here), jeans, neckerchiefs, and cowboy hats if they had them. It seemed rather ironic that I had to go to a store in Dublin to buy a checked shirt so that I could dress up as an American.

The barbecue was fantastic for a lot of reasons. One was that pretty much everyone I had met in Dublin so far was there. All the people from my work were hosting, Kendra and Megan were there with the people they worked with, Megan from NYC was there with the barristers she had been working for, and my friend James had just got back from Scotland and volunteered to come and help out. It was great to see everyone from my trip so far in one place, and to meet lots of other cool people involved in public interest work in Dublin.

Also, I was put to work helping get drinks and serving people and selling raffle tickets. As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I would much rather help a party run smoothly than sit and talk with people. It just makes me feel awesome to be able to pitch in and help everyone have a good time. And I'm pretty awkward at talking to new people (or people in general), so everybody wins!

People in Dublin know how to throw a great party. And it's even better when everyone there knows each other. All of the lawyers in the Dublin area were invited to come for food and drinks, and all the proceeds went to help fund the NCLC. It was better than just going to a bar because people weren't there just to get drunk with their few couple friends. Everyone was there for a really good cause, and most people knew (or at least knew of) each other. It made it much more friendly and casual and fun.

This past week Dublin has apparently been having the nicest weather its had since the 12th century. The people here can't stop telling me about how weird all this sun is and how they didn't even know the sun was ALLOWED to shine for two days in a row here. Some people seem legitimately perturbed by how audacious the sun is being, but I love it. It makes it finally feel like summer, and every good barbecue needs a good dose of UV rays.

Saturday James, Kendra, Megan and I went to a street fair in Dublin. It was very well put-together and there were some pretty impressive street performers there. We saw one guy named Pancho Libre who did some amazing acrobatics. I was very impressed, but apparently people from Dublin are a REALLY tough crowd. Or maybe they just didn't get all his Mexican jokes.

A very piercing commentary on the immigration policy in the US.

He was really talented but the crowd just watched him with expressions that said "I don't see why I should be impressed by someone doing a handstand on top of 15-foot pole while making jokes about not having any insurance." And I don't know if you've ever tried to be really enthusiastic while everyone else around you is stone-faced, but it is not easy. I feel for you, Pancho Libre.

When does the actual show start?

After his act was done James, Kendra, and Megan entered into a "Rainbow Disco," which was essentially a paint-fight set to music. There are a LOT of pictures of that, so I'll post them in a separate entry.

James left Sunday morning so Saturday night was his farewell. We went to a place recommended by one of my coworkers called "The Bernard Shaw," which apparently had great drinks and pizza. We showed up at the unassuming door but as soon as we stepped in we were greeted by a mass of people. We kept pushing our way back through tiny doorways until we got to the back lot, which was packed with even more people. Way at the back was an old retired bus called the Big Blue Bus which had been converted into a pizzeria. We ordered our pizza on the first level and ate in the old bus seats on the second level. The whole thing basically felt like one huge house party, and James couldn't have been happier. We gave him a great send-off and ended our second week on a really strong note.