It is now 3:11 pm in Dublin. Our flight was scheduled to leave at noon. It has been an interesting "Brief delay".
I haven't really had difficulty understanding the Irish dialect, and most of the words are similar in meaning to the English version, however, there appears to be a huge discrepancy in the meaning of the word "brief". In English you may hear the word brief used to describe a short tenure, such as, "I served a brief term as co-president of the BPO" or "the flu, although hard on the immune system, only lasts a brief amount of time.". In Ireland, the word brief apparently means a much longer period of time, such as "Sir William, 105 years of age, lived a brief life and died today in his Dublin Georgian home.", or "we are experiencing a brief delay and we will take off shortly."
A few random thoughts with Candi-
-there are three school groups on this flight and ours is by far the best:)
-in the pre-flight instruction video the Mr. Bill-ish character seems frustrated when he learns that he isn't allowed to smoke in the lavatory. Is this frustration due to the fact that he isn't allowed to smoke in that location or the fact that he has no lips?
-Sam has really long toes. They are sticking out around Laurel's seat right now!
-Laurel is making me really jealous right now...She slept through this entire 3+ hour stint sitting on the plane waiting for them to "reset" the problematic air conditioning unit. I guess I should wake her up so that she can actually sleep this evening if and when we finally make it to our own beds!
Hang on, someone mentioned free cookies in the back. I must go check this out.
I'm back. That was interesting, they have the back door of the plane propped open and some of the workers appear to be sunning themselves in the 30 degree weather!
We have now increased our ground speed to 11 km/h. Hang on, folks, I think we are breaking the sound barrier! Hey, we've now driven 1 mile...only 3659 to go! Oh, no! Now we've traveled 0 miles. We must have a flat tire and are driving in a circle.
I am always amused when they ask passengers seated near the window to keep the window blinds open for departure. I picture the pilot with his arm draped across the seat back of the co-pilot, gazing out the back window as he carefully guides the plane in reverse. "Darn it, Joe, that passenger in 35J put the window blind down and I can't see a thing. Help me out here and tell me how I'm doing on that side."
This is our last official post of Ireland related topics. Students and chaperones, it would be really great to have some comments and reflections from you on the trip now that we have had a few days to reflect on the experience.
There is talk of the blog continuing throughout the year to keep everyone posted on the comings and goings of the amazing NCHS Band Program. However, I'm not sure if I'll be the one doing the writing. So, as I bid you farewell, here is one final video of a few extra clips that wouldn't work with our limited internet connection at the last hotel:
Thanks for an awesome trip to Ireland! By the way, if you are interested in keeping up with our progress on the Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship grants that Rick and I were awarded, we have a blog for that as well.
