Short story - The Gaeltacht

1. The Gaeltacht
Ballyvourney, Co. Cork
A. L. Mc Inerney
PROFILE
Where: THE GAELTACHT
Location: Ballyvourney, Co. Cork
Age: 14 Years Old
Year: 2002
Period: Teenage Years
Stories: The Gaeltacht, The Bean an Ti, First Kiss
Friends: Shane, Garry, Katy, Leslie, Jenny, Ciara, Sean Og

2. I had my first kiss down in the Gaeltacht.
Ballyvourney, Co. Cork. I was 14.
I had no experience.
None, whatsoever.
In kissing, not Irish.
I just knew it was something I had to do. On the Bucket List.
It wasn't even 'romantic'.
Just something that needed to be done. Like a job.
It was disgusting! I'll get to that later.
When I was 14, my mam won a scholarship in work to send one of her children to a Gaeltacht,
anywhere in Ireland. I got to go. I choose Cork because my Irish teacher in school recommended
it. It wasn't too far from home and it was the Munster Irish region, so it was the best option.

3. I had no idea what I was in for. A few girls from school went to Gaeltacht's before, during
summer holidays, and everyone said their Irish improved from going there.
That ended up being true. My Irish did improve too, a lot. The speaking and the understanding.
But to be honest, I didn't really have the aptitude for languages overall. But it was an experience,
nonetheless.
On the day, we drove down, my family and I stopped off in a small town with a long, yellow
hotel in the centre. I think it was Charleville. I hadn't been to that town before so I remembered it
well. The differences standing out to me between a country town versus my big city. It was
interesting to me.
We were meeting one of my mam's friends and her daughter too. She was coming to the
Gaeltacht with me. They were from that town. And I liked her straight away. Her name was
Katy. She was a real tom
boy with brown eyes, and brown, wild curly hair. She climbed out of the car with a hurley in her
hand. She was obsessed with sport, especially GAA. It was written all over her. I was a girly
tom-boy. I liked being a girl, but I liked sports too and some 'boys’ activities. Where she would
be head to toe dressed up in boyish clothes, I would be in girly clothes but taking part in the
same activities. Nowadays, where everything is more uniform like, I grew up in a time when
uniform was just for school. Sports clothes were whatever your parents dressed you in. Jerseys
and stuff like that, were expensive. Still are, but the quality and cause is worth it.
I liked her and I liked tom-boys because they weren't looking for trouble. They were more driven
by competitive stuff like sports, trophies, achievements, goals and winning. They wouldn't target
you or see you as an object to them. They would want to play with you and that was positively
more different, even if you weren't as good as them. She had this air about her and I loved it. She
was lovely.
I also remember we spent ages, and I mean ages, hanging out in that spot of Limerick. Her
hometown.

4. When mam's got together they spoke and chatted AGES. You were expected to wait it out and
wait it out we did. They spoke for hours, they got coffee and it never ended. The funny thing was
I knew my mam, and sometimes she would get lost in chatting to people and forget about the
care's of the world. Forget about the fact that she was going to be driving home later, in the dark,
not light and whoever was in the car with her was going to hear all about it. All mam's were the
same though and I was just happy not to be driving home with her.
Anyways, we eventually got down to Ballyvourney. It was 6.30pm summertime. Mam drove
past the activity centre where we were going to do activities and then dropped me off at the Bean
an Ti's house, that was 15 minutes away from it.
It was a country house. A house different to my house and the houses I knew. It was a long,
yellow bungalow type of house, and it was surrounded by black tarmac and colorful and
beautiful potted plants. The house was situated on a hill, away from the main road and the
backdrop was the biggest, greenest mountains I'd ever seen up to that point. It was cool and
different to me and what I had known and seen before. The Bean an Ti spoke English to us only
to introduce herself and her family, and when mam went away she changed into her Irish self and
we spoke Irish only. Anything. Any Irish she welcomed and helped us. You could see she took
pride in it and it felt right to try any few words with her, for us to learn and for us to make her
happy. She had 1 daughter, and 2 sons. The daughter was younger than us and she loved to play
'house' too with us, and sometimes she'd pretend to be a hairdresser and comb and plait our hair.
We were allowed play together and use her house, respectfully, like it was our own.
The kitchen was where we could go for water and to ring home anytime on the landline
telephone.
We had breakfast and other meals in the activity centre, where we would do Irish classes in the
morning, and fun activities in the afternoon. All day. Everyday for 3 whole weeks. It was a really
cool, interesting experience, and my Irish did improve. I was also the first time I stayed away
from home for that length of time. I did get homesick but, it was an experience, nonetheless, and
it had its merits.

5. I also had my 1st kiss there. At 14. A late bloomer, believe it or not, from some of my other
friends.
When we got the bus to the activity centre, I met 2 boys on it, aged 16, from Dublin. Shane and
Gary.
They were nerdy, grungy cool. From a bigger city than mine and I liked them very much. Gary
was tall and lanky and Shane was blocky and sturdy in appearance. Shane asked me to meet him
on the 2nd week, in the back part of the activity centre and he kissed me there. It was disgusting.
I was so grossed out by it but Shane had gotten the job done for me. I had achieved a social
milestone. A tongue kiss. It was disgusting to my 14 year old self. Not Shane or the kiss exactly..
it just was very full on. I didn’t know what I was expecting to get out of it to be honest, but it
was a very full on experience.
He asked me to be his girlfriend and the idea of that freaked me out big time, so I said we could
hold hands and see where it went. He tried to keep in touch with me afterwards too, but I wasn't
ready for a boyfriend and he lived so far away from me, when I went back to Limerick. He tried
visit me many times but I shut the ideas down. I just wasn't ready to that next milestone yet,
then.The Gaeltacht though. An Interesting place, interesting experiences, situations and a first
social milestone. Food for thought: Do you remember your own 1st social milestones?
The End.