Well, I went to finally crashed at 3pm Ireland time and its now 5am. Can’t sleep any longer, so I’m rummaging through the pantry and watching NZ vs. Pak in cricket. Cricket is pretty all right.
Ireland is awesome. We came down through the cloud deck, and I literally said to Paul, “Holy shit, it IS green! And for quite some time, I didn’t see a different color. Dublin is surrounded by mountains, or at least large smooth hills, which surprised me. The airport terminal I went through is new, but it looks super futuristic with glass tube walkways and strange lights. Tullamore as a town is colorful and old. I’m exploring it tomorrow in depth, so I’ll write on that tomorrow and post pics.
The weather is surprisingly warm, I’m adapting well to centigrade system. Supposedly it was 32ºF when I was waiting outside at the airport, but between the sun and no wind, I would have been good in short sleeves and others were. The day turned out beautiful and faded into classic Irish overcast, which then turned into the most pleasant drizzle at night, perfect for sleeping.
Maureen took me straight to Nan’s (Grandmum) little granny flat in Tullamore. Very nice space. Walking up, she surprised me and stuck her head around the corner just bugg-eyed and all smiles. She had a big breakfast all ready for us which was great, and Mary was there and we just ate and had tea for 4 hours. The radio is on the whole time to Nan’s favorite station which is a fun station that plays lots of today’s pop along with a little classic rock in between. She likes to dance to Katy Perry songs! First thing about the Irish. They are hilarious and in a refreshing way, but tricksters I swear. You can measure the tricks in winks. (For the fraternity brothers reading, mix Fox, Aayush, and Micah -trouble.) Conversation is comfortable too, and cursing is frequent, but classy, which I think will help to moderate me. I have a little bit trouble understanding. Most of the vocab I pick up by context, but sometimes I have to ask for clarification. A little gossip, politics, and planning.
Advice received- Mind the guards(police), watch out for short tempers, because you will get hit, if you’re shy then go to hell.
They talked loving shit on the exiting PM Brian Cowen who is from Offaly (the county Tullamore is in). He’s a drinker and a BIFFO (figure that one out-you can add an extra F if you like), but it’s all in good fun because they like him and voted for him (even though his head is enormous. Irish politicians and politics seem strange. It’s like they only take things seriously to a point. It’s not as dramatic as here. For instance, we saw statues on a new highway, and Maureen said the government just took some land from the farmer to do it, so the farmer would come out and spray paint “Pay for the fucking land” and everyone got a good laugh, and they paid. Everyone agrees that Irelands problems are of their own making (like ours) in that they spend too much on stuff from safety nets to extravagances, but they seem all right with it, like they’ll just ignore it all until they really have to bite the bullet. I guess that’s what happens to a country used to simpler times and having to survive sometimes. They seem unafraid, like it’s no big deal if their future generations will have to sleep in the cupboard drawers again. Nan told me when things were bad, they’d just go to England and do whatever they could to get by-they’re only just “white lies.”
Ireland is more like the US than I thought, but it’s definitely still Europe, it’s different in admirable and queer ways. I think Europeans have a brain divided in to two sections, spy and teletubby, and the only thing that lets them function in any coherent fashion is alcohol.
I went shopping with Maureen at Tesco. First, they make you pay for bags, or bring your own. Reasonable. But the prices of food and drink are ridiculous. I think I‘d rather starve. But overall the selection is just a bit smaller (and different) than a similar sized American store. After noticing the prices, I soon realized there would be no way of shoplifting either. There is a camera every five feet, no way to hide, and staff is well positioned. And you can’t trick the electronic checkouts either. (Chill Mom, of all the things I am at home, a shoplifter is not one of them).
Maureen’s house is lovely. It’s a great mix of homely and modern with perfect size spaces. But, housing prices here are probably double that of the US.
Between Maureen’s pantry and the store I think I can say that the Irish love candy. The aisles devoted to sweets was a disproportionately large space, and my God, the house is full of it. You’d think it was Halloween. Maybe its post Christmas leftovers or something. But I think it’s regular because of tea. You really drink sugar and milk with a little bit of tea. And you really have a little bit of bread with your butter (you don't have enough if your top teeth can go through-OMG. And then you shove your face with biscuits (cookies). I could get used to this if I could afford it.
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