Ireland (well south Tipp anyway) is covered in foggggggy fog at the moment.  For those of you who are familiar with Dora the Explorer, you can imagine how that is said.  Yasmin loves it because she feels she can touch the weather.  We have her a little pink puffy coat and hat, so that she looks like a mini Michelin man.  Ireland is so beautiful and one thing I have noticed is how soft the grass is.  Back home in Oz, because it’s so dry and hot the grass is hardy, prickly stuff.  Here it is soft and cushiony and if it weren’t for the wet, you could enjoy a nice snooze on it.

I’ve noticed a lot more commercials on the telly for “debt relief” using something similar to what in Australia we used to call a Part 10.  It’s when you get all your creditors together, tell them how it’s unlikely you’ll be able to pay them back and then come to some arrangement where you pay them something measly like 10 cents in the dollar rather than go bankrupt completely.  My mum used to work for a specialist bankruptcy and liquidation firm (crappiest job in the universe).  I used to do odd jobs for them as a teenager, like minding the phones while they were off on their Christmas lunch.  The worst phone-call ever was some poor bloke who had no money ringing and literally begging for relief so that he could buy presents for his kids for Christmas.  My job was to say “I’m sorry, the Firm has closed for the Christmas break, please ring back in the New Year.”  You can imagine how awful that felt.

I also feel very disconnected from Australia.  I don’t know any of the news - apparently, there are raging bushfires, a Muslim youth leader arrested on a cocaine bust, and Austrolabe has a link to the unreleased Muslim Reference Group report (”Building on Social Cohesion, Harmony and Security”) that John HoWARd doesn’t seem to like because it’s not very good for his plans to win the next election on the basis of ratcheting up the Islamophobia.

We woke up to frost today and the garbage bin lid had frozen stuck, which Abu Yasmin found very amusing. It’s been a busy few days with Gran’s funeral and wake, the Irish sure know how to bury a person.

Itinerary of an Irish funeral:

Gran passed away on the Tuesday morning, and my MIL phoned round the rellies and friends. All that day she had visitors of close family and friends bringing cakes and chatting with her, which was good because it meant she was distracted.

Wednesday she was organising the funeral and that evening her children and grandchildren (assorted in-laws for me) based in England flew over. That night the close family went and viewed the body in the funeral home.

Thursday night all the family got dressed up for a ceremony in which the casket was taken from the funeral home to the church and rosaries were read.  Afterwards, close family and friends came back to home for sandwiches and cake.
Friday morning was the funeral in the church, then the casket was taken to the graveyard for burial.  There was a bit of a debate over which family members should do readings in the church (sections of the Bible and gospel acclamations) as most of the kids are not regular church goers and weren’t keen to be up the front on show.

After the funeral and burial, about 60-odd gathered for soup, sandwiches, tea and plonk at a local golf-course restaurant.

Most of it for me was minding the children.  I’m not sure what the fiqh of attending non-Muslim family funerals is, and I thought I’d better err on the side of caution.  Luckily for me, the family needed a babysitter and I was a natural choice.

It’s been really good seeing the extended family though, if only it were under better circumstances.

More news when I can insha’Allah .

Sadly, my husband’s grandmother passed away yesterday - inna lillahi wa inna illahi rajiun. She was elderly and ill, so it was not a great shock, but still it is a sad time for the family.  It was good, alhamdulillah, that Abu Yasmin got to see her one last time, and that she had a chance to meet little Yasmin, her great-granddaughter.

Abu Yasmin’s family, of course, are Catholic so there are various ceremonies and procedures happening that are unfamiliar to me.  Things like taking the body to the church and saying rosaries in the evening and having a funeral mass.  My job, however, is to stay at home and mind the young children (two pre-schoolers) :o)

Just a quick post to say “céad míle fáilte” from Tipperary in Ireland.  Abu Yasmin, Yasmin and I are having a long overdue holiday in the beautiful country of Eire, where Abu Yasmin grew up. 

The big ’story’ is that I was religiously profiled at the airport in Cork.  Sort of tragic and funny at the same time.  Abu Yasmin has a British passport (being born in the land of Blighty to Irish parents) so he can toodle wherever he likes in Europe.  But Yasmin and I both have Australian passports.  Yasmin just has a Cork entry stamp on her passport but me with the hijab and the Yemeni visa (from my stay in 2002) has a different stamp that says I am only allowed here until the 5th of February (which is only a few days after our return flights are booked.)

Now, normally Australians don’t need visas to visit Ireland, but even nationals of countries that DO require a visa get three months.  Not lil’ ole me - wonder why?????

Anywan, everything is very wet and very green here, and the internet access is appalling in rural Ireland, so I don’t know how much I’ll be able to post.  Abu Yasmin and I are treating ourselves to an 8th year wedding anniversary present of a digital camcorder so I’ll try and upload something when I’ve figured out how to.

Cheers!

I personally think the scrapping of compulsory union fees by the Liberal government was stupid.  They claim it’s because it promotes unionism and not everyone wants to be a member of the student union.  In reality it is about killing any form of student power with the unfortunate side effect of preventing students who don’t have financial resources from accessing badly-needed services.

Through my years of University life at two tertiary institutions I have variously voted and not-voted in student elections; been committee-member and non-committee member of clubs; written for and read the student newspaper; used the restaurants, sporting; parenting; library; counselling and medical facilities; and felt connected to other students on campus through the student union. Read the rest of this entry »