Dirty

I just got back from my first weekend caving. Finally (I’d been expecting it) we had some nasty weather this weekend. In fact, it snowed. Well, that didn’t stop us from rolling around in mud, and traversing underground waterways. I mean, it was Saturday night, sun down, when we put on our wetsuits to go for a swim in the freshly melted snow currents of a local cave. But you had to traverse it to get to the good stuff, so why not. My God, I’ve never been so cold in my life, and rarely have I felt like such a man. Caving is really cool. I remember cave trips as a kid, especially a muddyfield trip from the Nature Center when Mom has to find a bunch of plastic bags to cover the car so she could take me home. I loved it, and I loved the claustrophobic parts of my job last summer. It’s pretty cool to be 100 feet below the ground, pitch black, lean on a rock, and listen to the water flow. I know I will have to be one of like ten Americans who have gone caving in Ireland. I feel special and lucky I got into all this, however humble I should be.

I mean, this weekend was truly unique not just in activities but people too. Hanging out with 20 crazy Irish people in a scout post in the middle of nowhere was a real learning experience. This is a group of individuals the likes of which I suspect I’ve walked amongst and never gotten to know. Weird games, heavy drinking, all smiles, everyone happy to just have each other. Really adds weight to my Teletubby/James Bond observation from a prior post. This group of cavers was truly fun, if not incredibly awkward at some points, and definitely left me surprised and in some cases concerned that they might not be well in the head. I pretty much didn’t sleep all weekend because someone was up partying. But they’re all very methodical and adventurous types, so that lends well to caving

Ended up getting almost all the extra food the club bought. Good €20 worth, so props to me for the cheap weekend. Tried new kinds of beer, some Thai, Indian, Polish, and Dutch varieties, as well as some potent and awful Irish home distilled liquor. Apple Schnapps and peppermint tea is good too.

Sorry this is short, I feel like I’m forgetting stuff, but the weekend was exhausting, the week ahead is exhausting between guests and events, and I need to get some school work done. I feel like I’m forgetting stuff, oh well.