We would love to come to the center. We are from Central Texas from outside of a small town called Navasota. He is a retired doctor and I am a lawyer. We are both part time ranchers in a tiny community. Our family came to America from Cornamuck Townland, Dromore Parish, County Tyrone in 1764 (we think). Father is now 80 and has studied many languages: Hebrew, Cherokee, Spanish, etc. I have never seen him this excited about any language.
He is very excited about learning Irish. He told me he wants to be able to read the literature, understand the poetry, listen to the songs before he dies. He is a little shy about speaking languages, but he is quite the scholar. We meet each Thursday evening on the farm and review our next lesson in Tus Maith. We have just started studying the Focal An Lae from the Talk Irish site as it really helps us put together many few basic sentences. It give us building blocks.
I am sorry to say that we can't understand much of anything we hear on Raidio Failte, but we listen in order to accustom our ears to the language. As we sit and study, we usually speak for long periods just saying basic things like:
Ta an ___________ ar an table. (we fill in a million different things)
Ta an ___________ ag an doras. (fill in every word we know)
Is maith liom _____________.
An maith leat _______________?
I'm sure it would seem silly to most, but this is what helps us to cement the language in our minds.
We have loads of fun and often end our session with a wee dram of Bushmills and listen to Enye or Altan or the High Kings on You tube. Dad has never heard of Enya or any of the stars. He still thinks Tommy Makem and the Clancy Bros are the hottest thing going. I laughed the other night when he commented on Enya, "Now that girl got the looks". It is creating precious memories that I will never forget.
I will be taking mom, dad, my wife, and my three children (college aged) to Oideas Gael for the last week of July. This will be a trip of a lifetime. Our study of Irish helps us to better understand who we are, why we think what we think, and why certain things are important to us. We have always appreciated our Gael/Celtic roots.
Just thought you might like some details on our cultural journey,
le meas,
Faber