10 Facts about Ireland.

I have done 10 facts about China and Mexico….. Now it’s Ireland’s turn!

1. The Irish flag consists of vertical stripes of green, white and orange. Green represents the Nationalists of the Republic of Ireland, the orange represents the Unionists of Northern Ireland … and the white signifies the peace between the two.

 2. The worlds longest running talk show comes from Ireland; RTE’s ‘The Late Late Show’.

3. The White House in Washington was designed by an Irish man.

4. Ireland has it’s own sports; hurling and gaelic football.

Video Clip of Hurling

Video Clip of Gaelic Football

5. There are no wild snakes in Ireland.

6. The harp is the national symbol. 

7.  Halloween derived from an Irish festival called Samhain. It is a Gaelic Festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. 

8. The island is divided into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, while Southern Ireland is called the ‘Republic of Ireland’ and is an independent country.

9. Has two official languages; Irish and English.

10. Brú na Bóinne is a Megalithic site and it is even older than the Egyptian pyramids!

There you have it, some interesting facts about Ireland!

再见

爱玲

New Year Hot Pot

Last New Years, we celebrated just by ourselves… this time around, we were invited to our friends place for some Hot Pot!

 

We arrived at her place about 7 and we ate until our bellies were bursting; she really did her best with the food, preparing loads of vegetables and meat to cook. Two of her friends joined us later in the night… one has a little English, but the other….. well, let’s just say he needs a bit more practise.

So we spent a good chunk of the night actually practising Mandarin with them. Our new friend is a baker, and he brought us a lovely cake to eat. He kept saying to us “Me baker”… but he now knows the correct way of saying it! Although he had VERY little English, he did try his best to communicate in English so that was good to see.

A lot of the time when the Chinese people were talking, we would try and catch what they were saying…. good listening practice!

After we finished the hot pot, we cracked open the cake! At first I thought it was going to be one of those airy/full of cream Chinese cakes that are seen everywhere, but delightfully, it was made of mango and chocolate ice-cream! It was also shaped as a log with jelly flowers.

Our new friend told us that he wants to learn English so he can read English recipes, so that one day he can open his own shop and bake. The cake was delicious so he was very happy.

At 12am, we rang in the Chinese New Year with a Mandarin song. We ran to the window to see if we could see any sign of fireworks, but because Chengdu banned fireworks in the middle of the city, we could only faintly see them far away. I remember in Hangzhou, us look looking out of our hostel bedroom watching them… they were so loud!

After the food and snacks, we decided to head home as we were now so tired from all the food!

新年快乐！

爱玲

Chinese New Year in Chengdu

Chinese New Year is upon us, and surprisingly, this is my first in Chengdu! After my stint of interning, I headed home for a month which ended up me missing my first New Years here. Then last year, we went to Hangzhou, so that was my second missed. This time round, we’ve decided to stay put and enjoy the quietness of the city during this time.

Most people have travelled home to be with their family, so Chengdu has become eerily quiet. Having been in the city today, there were not many cars or people about. Well, I think there’s always going to be loads of people, wherever you go in China, but I did admit, I did enjoy the lack of people.

Walking around our area, many shops and restaurants were closed for the holiday. Where we went for lunch, EVERYONE ELSE was going there for lunch too, as it was the only place open for food.

We bought some food so we think we are sorted for a few days. Although I’m not actually sure when the shops will re-open, but I did see one restaurant where it’s closed until the 15th…. Let’s just hope it’s just that one!

Our Chinese friend invited us to go to her house tomorrow night to celebrate with which was nice of her. Her family don’t live in Chengdu so she will have no one to celebrate with. I think she is making hot pot which I can’t wait for!

再见！

新年快乐！Happy New Year.

爱玲