Why Karl's Irish eyes are smiling

By Jules Quartly (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-16 10:46

Guinness beer is flowing at Beijng's popular Irish pub Paddy O'Shea's and everybody is enjoying the craic when a guy walks by on crutches.

"That's our barman for St. Patrick's Day," points out owner Karl Long. "We're gonna dress him up and sit him down on a keg to pull pints."

"It's all true," confirms crippled barman Niallo McDonagh, who was once an Irish TV celebrity and is now a part-time English language teacher in the Chinese capital.

McDonagh was unlucky to have ruptured his cruciate ligament on a recent skiing trip but always feels lucky about his origin of birth.

As one of the framed O' Shea's mottos says: "If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough."

Long is another lucky Irishman and appears to have fallen on his feet after graduating with a marketing degree from his hometown of Dublin. While his fellow graduates plumped for 9-to-5 jobs, Long decided to travel and had the choice of joining a radio station in Ghana, or coming to China.

Long picked an English language teaching position in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, and in return was taught Mandarin by "Chinese" Sam.

"He only had one hand but was pretty handy when it came to learning the language," he says.

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