Hello! I'm Irish Barbie. Let's visit Lereland, a beautiful land of luck, lakes and Blarney, everywhere you look!

If you could fly over Ireland, you'd most likely see green grassy knolls and endless rolling hills. Among the Irish greenery are sparkling blue loughs (the Gaelic world for lakes) sprinkled with small fishing boats called currachs. Fishing is very popular in Ireland!

And if you looked very very carefully, you might even see a fairy or two hiding behind a tree or frolicking in the woods! We Irish have always believed in the existence of fairies, or sidh (pronounced shee), and the best known Irish fairy of all is the leprechaun, the shoemaker to the fairies. It's been said that if you can catch him and hold him with a fixed gaze-don'tblink!-he'll quickly give up all his gold!

And what do ye supposed we do for fun in Ireland? Well, we Irish are famous for our traditional games like Gaelic football (a cross between rugby and American football), and our national sport called hurling (an ancient Irish game that looks like hockey).

We also have a rich history of music and dance. We enjoy going to a ceildhe or ceili, a music gathering where lively traditional Irish dances called jigs and reels are performed. And there is one more traditional Irish activity that I hope will live on forever: the art of storytelling. The seanachai, an Irish story teller, always has a huge supply of stories that entertains us for hours and hours!

We Irish eat wonderful tasting foods! Plenty of meat, beef, mutton, pork, and ham. And of course, we're famous for our Irish potatoes and cabbage, too!

I'm wearing a traditional Irish dress trimmed in lace to match my lacy cap. And look at my collar! I never go anywhere without my lucky shamrock!

I hope you get to come to Ireland one day. But until then, may the luck of the Irish always be with you! Good bye!

Sealed in Box Irish Barbie.