QueriestoAislingFB:“GaeilgeimBilbao”www.laguncara.com

a.galvin70@gmail.comcaravasco@gmail.com

EventhostedbyAislingNíGhealbháin&LagunCARA

Gaeilge-Euskara Language

Get-Together

Friday

12th April

20:30h

Join us for The

Cúpla Focal,

Edariak, And

Craic

Residence Cafe

BarraincúaKalea1Abando

In love with Irish … and Bilbao! My name is Aisling. I’m 22 years old and come from the little green island of Ireland, Cork city to be exact. I’ve been living in Spain for about 8 months, but have only been living in Bilbao since January 2019. So far so good though, probably one of best decisions I have made to date.

Like many English speakers living in Spain, I am an English teacher. It isn’t something I ever imagined myself doing, but here we are! It’s a decent job for now and I have learned most of my Spanish from my younger students, which is an unexpected bonus. English was never first choice for me though. Despite being a complete language nerd*, it was never a preference of mine. My passion has always been, is now and ever shall be Irish. The grá* I have for my native language is something that has baffled both my parents, as we don’t speak it at home, as well as past teachers of mine. I attended primary school through English but couldn’t get enough Irish, which lead to me attending an “all-Irish” secondary school and absolutely loved it. Despite that being a big risk, I took the transition in my stride and even continued my studies of the Irish language in university which made me even more in love with it. It isn’t just the language that has me enthralled; I have always been obsessed with Irish culture. Constantly reading books about béaloideas (Irish folklore), playing traditional Irish music, doing Irish dancing most of my life, … the list goes on.

So, since moving to Spain I feel as though there is an Irish culture-shaped void in my life. Which is why I decided to set up a group on Facebook called Gaeilge i mBilbao (Irish in Bilbao) for those who felt like me and wanted a little reminder of home. The idea behind the group was to give Irish speakers a platform to get in contact and meet up maybe once or twice a month to use their cúpla focal*. The group is open to anyone who has any level of Irish, not just those who are fluent, and gives them the opportunity to practise and maybe pick up a little bit more. Of course these meetups would be held in a pub so the bit of Dutch courage* will help everyone to muster up the courage to use any bit of Irish they have!

Living in Bilbao has given me the confidence to take on this task. As a matter of fact, I have been influenced a lot by the Basque people. The passion they have for their native language, which like Irish is considered to be a minority language, has really spurred me on to set up the group and try to keep Irish as alive as possible, maybe via a dialogue with Euskera! They have reminded me of the importance of preserving your native identity, language and culture, while at the same time integrating fully into where one lives. Which is one of the main reasons I have decided to team up with LagunCARA. We have decided to start doing Irish-Basque Get-Together events, giving people the opportunity to speak either/both languages, hopefully meet some like-minded people and, above all, to have fun.

It is all just baby steps but I am hopeful that it all turns into something wonderful and enjoyable for everyone involved! Be sure to join my Facebook group Gaeilge i mBilbao and keep an eye out for future events there or on the LagunCARA events page (www.laguncara.com)

Queries to Aisling at: a.galvin70@gmail.com or caravasco@gmail.com and www.laguncara.com

* nerd: a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive and introverted.* grá: love* cúpla focal: couple of words* Dutch courage: strength or confidence gained from drinking alcohol.

CC-BY 2019/04/02 Aisling Ní Ghealbháin and LagunCARA