Sunday, 1st of May

It got pretty late last night. We went home from the pub at a reasonable time, but Margot and I were hungry, so we stayed in the common-room for a long time after we were back from the pub. Margot had to work this morning and we decided to get up at 7.30 so we could have a quite breakfast and start our day slowly. I wanted to go to the church anyway this morning. The first service on Sunday starts at eleven, which is a perfect time:)

The service was great, although I missed the choir that they had last Sunday. Last Sunday there were loads of people attending because it was Easter. Today it was only half full. The services are totally different from what I'm used to. In Dublin there are no 'real' protestant services, but they have Roman-Catholic services or Anglican services. I always go to the Anglican service in the Christ Church Cathedral. But Anglican is a lot like Roman-Catholic, they don't have the pope as church leader and they don't have confessions. Other than that the services look a lot like Roman-Catholic services. They have bishops and they wear those fancy Roman-Catholic dresses. They even have women who are bishops! Amazing...

During the service they always perform the sacrament of the Eucharist, which is 'Avondmaal' in Dutch. It is different than we are used to in the PKN in Barneveld. Everybody can attend, old and young. The priests encourage everybody to come forward and attend the feast of bread and wine. Almost everybody hurries forward to join the feast. A few people, including me, stay put.

I had made plans go to Croke Park and watch a game of Hurling (look it up on youtube!) in the afternoon. I thought Croke Park would be a nice park and that a couple of amateurs would play a game of Hurling. Turned out that that I was a little misinformed. Croke Park is not a park but a very big stadium with a capacity for 82,300 people. Besides that it wouldn't be a game played by amateurs, but the FINAL between Dublin and Kilkenny. Hmmm, just a 'little' misinformed, I blame it on my blond hair...

The game was LEGENDARY! Dublin won spectacularly from Kilkenny with a score of 22-10. According to the Irish Independent it is the first time in 72 years that a national hurling crown is in Dublin's possession. I've never seen such a crazy sport. Hurling is a combination of Hockey, Rugby and Football. The men behave like cave-people with clubs. Only the toughest boys make it through and even they endure serious injuries. I LOOOOOOVE IT:) If you ever get the chance of attending a match of Hurling, don't hesitate!

If you want to read an article about the match CLICK HERE:)