Just got back from a weekend in Derry where I visited with Elicia, met her daughter Ania, went shopping, met Oliver’s family and was the godmother at Ania’s christening. I had a great time, although I am definitely running at half (or one-third) speed today. These Irish really know how to throw a good party…

My first impression was made by Ania, who is the Cutest Baby in the World. I know everyone says that about their babies, but Ania really is SuperCute. I tried to take her photo but she’s hard to catch, so you all might have to wait until I get a chance to scan some photos Elicia took before you can really appreciate her cuteness. She’s just learning to talk as well, and is constantly coming up with really intelligent sounding social gibberish.

I also had a great time hanging out with Oliver’s sisters. Half their family lives on the same street, and they are incredibly close-knit. And the stories they can tell! It was quite an eye-opening experience to stay in Northern Ireland for a few days. While I was there one of the family’s cars was broken into and torched. And everyone else had their own break-in/vandalism story – one of the sisters actually had a pipe bomb thrown in her downstairs window while the family was asleep. This was a couple of years ago, but still. As far as I could tell the only motivation for this crime was the fact that they are catholics living on the protestant side of the river.

And the accent! once I got the hang of listening to it I found it very cool, especially the way they pronounce “baby” like be-be. And the priest standing at the front of the incredibly ornate church talking about God entering all these love-ly be-bes. Ania actually learned the word be-be while she’s been visiting her family! Such lovely amazing self-referential be-bes. It’s incredible.

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