Irish Salmon... is it any better?

For dinner tonight, Hilda made salmon. Yes, salmon. Now, for those of you who know me very well. you know what happens to me when I eat salmon. So, I bet your wondering what exactly happened; did I eat it, did I gag, did I have to almost run to the bathroom to throw-up, or did I like it? 

Well, wonder away, cause I am going to tell you about something else thats on my mind, quite literally.

I have a massive headache right now, and do you know why? It's because of this Terribly Tiny TV (say that 5 times fast). I don't think I could possibly tell you how much I hate this TV, but I will sure try. 

It is horrible and I hate it because it has given me the worst headache that I have had in a long time. It is in the worst spot for the room and is at the worst height. I know what your thinking right now, you probably looked back at the picture to see where it is located and saw that it is in the corner, right? Well, lets get a better look, shall we? 

It is above the only window that opens and you have to go under the stupid TV to open the window because you can't reach the window otherwise. Therefore, BONK! You hit your head. 

I have hit my head at least four, count them 4, times today between opening the window or just getting into my bags. And, mind you, I didn't just lightly tap my head and have it hurt for just a second. No, I whacked the bottom of that idiotic TV so hard that I had to go into the bathroom and make sure I wasn't bleeding. Luckily, I wasn't but I do have some massive goose-eggs on my noggin. And, naturally, I forgot my headache medicine, so I had to borrow some from Hilda and Joe. It hasn't kicked in and I don't think it will. 

Now, that I got that off my chest (not out of my head), I will answer those suspenseful questions regarding the fishy dinner. 

Yes, I ate it. No, I didn't gag. No, I didn't throw-up. And, I didn't really taste it, so I don't know if I liked it or not. It got thrown into my mouth so fast that I didn't even taste it. I could smell Hilda cooking it, so I prepared myself. I scarfed that thing down, (they thought that I was just hungry) because I knew that if I was given a chance to actually have it hit my taste buds that I would gag. I'm gagging just thinking about it. So, I ate it first, and I ate it all. Then I ate everything else; some yummy brown bread and some cooked broccoli. So, you can sleep well tonight, because Liz Cornwall ate salmon and nothing bad happened. 

 

New Place, new people.

I have arrived to a new place. Like I mentioned, it is just up the road from the B&B about a 10 minute walk. Not to bad. Mary and Branny were sad to see me go, but told me that I could stop on by anytime I would like for a cup’a (cup of tea).

I am staying with a family for short term accommodation. Meaning, I can stay here for 2, 3, 6 weeks at a time and it won’t be a hassle. Hilda, an older lady, offered to do all the cleaning and cooking while I am staying here, and I thought that was very nice. They seem friendly enough. There is Hilda and her husband Joe, and then their son and daughter (both older- and never really home). 

Hilda is a sweet lady. Very reserved. Doesn’t make much eye contact. Quiet and only talks every now again. I think this will change, since I have noticed that the more I am around her, the more she is willing to talk. Much different from Mary, as in she listens very well and wants to hear what you are saying. 

Now, Joe. Ha ha, he makes me laugh. He just goes off and talks to himself all the time. Mumbling so much you really can’t hear him. Even their daughter agrees that sometimes it is hard to understand him, because he is either mumbling or talking way too fast. But then all of a sudden, he BURSTS into song! Yup, you heard me full fledge songs! Singing just for a short while and then starts working on something. I don’t know if he recognizes that he is singing aloud but he fills up the entire house. It’s something to smile about. 

They are both retired teachers. Hilda taught, what we would call elementary aged  students (5-12), and Joe, taught middle/high school students (13-17). By looking around my room that I am staying in, I am pretty sure he taught math, since there are tons of math books everywhere, and random papers with his notes on them. There are also a number of tests scattered throughout the closet and bookshelf. I only know that they are tests because he pointed them out, telling me that I should read them if I get lonely.. Quite a character that one is. 

One thing I have noticed about the speech patterns of the Irish, is that it is difficult to tell when a question is being asked because they always ask questions at the end of every statement. They say things like ‘Oh you know you brought the good days with ya, now haven’t ya?’ , this requires no response, as it is just a statement. Or, ‘Jolly good, good girl good girl, it’ll be grand, now won’t it?’ Again no response… whereas, ‘Safe journeys, now won’t chya?’ does require a response. What I have been doing is, I have been waiting for the break. If there is a break where they may be waiting for a response, then I will respond. 

Tonight, I was shown how to cook some Irish meals. Okay, not really Irish style, but by Irish women. Hilda was so funny, she saw that I was watching her cook and so she was all ‘Alright, girl, come over here had see what how I am doin.’ She made creamy vegetable soup, brown bread, quiche, pastries, and apple and berry tarts. It was all pretty much what you would expect, the ingredients aren’t much different, however, the style of how they cook everything is so relaxed. I don’t know how to explain it. She mainly had me pealing and cutting apples and washing the dishes (much of what a mother would make her children do). But it was fascinating to watch. 

Oh, no, no no....

'OH, no, no, no, Elizabeth, you said it wrong again.' 'Now, you answered that all wrong as well.' 'ARE YOU NOT GOING TO STEEP THE POT FIRST?!' 'Now, why would you go and do something like that, that's daft now isn't it?

These are all things I have been hearing for the past week. And the more I get to know the people I am living with, the more I realize that I do not understand them.

Example: Today there were some guests over and I was introduced to them. Naturally, they asked where I was from and I said the Mid-west in America. I have noticed not many people know where Utah is, plus I don't really like saying I am from Utah because then I get the confusion with the Mormons. Understandable. So, I said the that I was from the mid-western United States. Apparently, that was not what I was supposed to say. Branny (the B&B owner) immediately chimed up and said 'Oh, now Elizabeth. Now, you answered that all wrong.' Okay... my reaction is that of slow confusion as I am trying to process what he is about to tell me of how I was supposed to answer the question of where I am from. Immediately, however, my slow confusion leads into a large about of confusion, as the topic was (and always is) changed to something not even the least bit related. Then, out of the blue, I get the question, 'Elizabeth, how long you be here for?' I answer, 'Well, my program is a year minimum, so at least a year.' OPP, here comes Branny again! 'Oh, no, no, no Elizabeth. Now, see here you said that wrong as well.' Apparently, I was being asked how long have I been here, not how long will I be here. Branny did clarify that one just to not make any confusion. But, boy, I am going to have to get used to the Irish humor and sentence structures.

Example: hangers in Ireland are both Male and Female. Because once you put a couple in the closet, when you open it back up a little later, there are always more hangers.

And, to what am I referring to: A man pushes a car all the way around but ends up bankrupt.

They say these things all the time just to throw you off. And, when I say they, I mean pretty much everyone I have talked to, clerks at the bank, the people at the B&B, the people I have met on campus, even some people down at the shopping centre (not a mall- they don't have those things here). I feel kind of pathetic when I look at them like 'Oh, crap they just asked me a question. Quick I have to answer. Wait what did they say?' With time, with time. It'll all work out in the night.

So, to change the subject just a little. Yesterday, I took a stroll around the neighborhood, beens as how it was such a beautiful day, and walked into the Spar, like I told you about and got some food. Well, what I didn't tell you was the reaction that Mary gave me when I got home. First, thing I hear is, 'Well, now why would you go and do a thing like that? That's daft, now isn't it?' I didn't think it was daft. I needed some food for dinner and didn't want to have to spend a whole bunch on eating out. Well, apparently, since Jeremy left, she has taken it upon herself to make sure that I eat properly. And yells at me, in her cute little old (well not too old) Irish accent, half-way mumbling to herself, half-way talking to me, telling me that I need to eat good meals. It was funny. One night, I hadn't eaten dinner yet and she pops into my room and precedes to tell me to get down stairs and at least have some tea and toast. What she didn't know was that my Dad and Grandma were on Skype with me and could hear every word. They loved it! I was embarrassed. :) Mary has been so nice to me. She truly has. So, she opened her kitchen to me, and told me that as long as it is not past 7:30, I am more than welcome to make food. Knowing this, I went down stairs and she was in there and I asked if I could have a cup of tea. She directed me to the pot and everything and as I was putting the tea bags in the kettle, I hear 'ARE YOU NOT GOING TO STEEP THE POT FIRST?!' All the way across the kitchen she comes. 'Oh no, no, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, you need to steep the pot first. Steep it right. Good and right, make sure it's steeped.' Now, I haven't made much tea and what I have made has been the cheap kind not worth a penny. I didn't know you had to put a little hot water in the kettle to get it nice and hot, then dump it out to put you tea bags in (and not just one but it has to be two, two tea bags). How was I supposed to know that? I do now, that's for sure. My mom would be proud. After living here I will be able to make a mean cup of tea.

To change the subject, yet again. I went down to Dundrum again today to see if the phone people absolutely had to have an Irish account or if they would use one from America. They won't. It was worth a shot though. So, I was mosy'n around, talking to a few people in the stores, and it really hit me. They aren't the ones with the accents. I am the one with the accent. They don't understand me. Now, of course, I knew that I had an accent to them, I just didn't think it was crazy foreign. But, no one could hear me and everyone pretty much asked me to rephrase my question. Just like how you do in the states to someone that speaks a different language. It was mind-opening. So, that being said. As I was walking around trying to find the bus stop, I was asking these two lovely ladies if they could direct me. (I was willing to risk the fact that I might get more confused with their directions.) They only spoke a little english and mainly spoke Irish, which I thought was rare, but apparently some people do. Oh, but were they willing to give me directions. They led me to the opposite direction, past the Luas (pronounced Lewis), to the other side and then to the #17 or #44. Oh, boy... Mind you, on the timetables they have only put down when the bus leaves the terminal, not when it arrives at each stop. So, no one knows the times when the busses actually come. You just pray that you get their in time and that the bus is still coming. I found the bus stop and I waited and after walking around a little making sure I was in the right spot, and asking some people that worked around if they knew when it would come (they didn't), here comes a bright yellow double-decker bus around the corner. I flag him down and ask him if he was going up to Clonskeagh area around Bird Avenue and he said yes. He was so helpful. Telling me that if I need to go into the college that his bus goes that way and that I need to get a certain type of pass when I get my ID card and just all these little tidbits that are helpful. Therefore, now, I can officially say I have been on the Dublin Bus! I feel once I get grips on it all, that will be a very good method of transportation! If not, I may get a bike. Not that I am having problems walking around, it just takes a while to get from place to place.

I am kind of sad that I don't get to stay at Mary and Branny's B&B. Tomorrow, I will be going into short term accommodation, living with a very nice family. I met them today and I believe that it will be good. It is a cheaper accommodation and I can stay there for a few weeks at a time. It is just up the road a bit and so it's still right near by campus. Still within walking distance everywhere. The lady's name is Hilda, and she is just as scattered as Mary, if not more... if that's even possible. :)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Light switches, of all things.

There are a few things in Ireland that are different than in the States. Okay, fine, there are a lot of things here that are different. But a few stick out in my mind.

Obviously, they drive on the other side of the road. I know I have mentioned that before, due to Jeremy's driving record. So, not only is it all backwards, but they are also very quick. I personally believe that the speed limit is just a suggestion. I don't believe I have seen one Garda (police) pull someone over for speeding.  Naturally, you would assume that with such quick and close-knit driving, the Garda would have a tight handle on pedestrian cross walks to make sure people didn't get hurt. But, as the Irish would say (at least the ones I have talked to), they're there for the tourists- no worries.
I can understand why they would want them, but it is a lot easier to cross in the middle because the cars will slow down for you there. They won't, however, slow down at a pedestrian cross-walk, (because they know that those people have to be tourists). Nevertheless, the jay-walking and having no Garda enforcing those laws is interesting. I guess the Garda has bigger fish to fry.

So, what else could you think would be different? Money, obviously. That's a big one. They use the euros here. It has been fun trying to get all my money converted into euros. Having about 1.3 conversion rate (better than normal), but it still sucks. Things are more expensive here, and really more expensive when you try to convert it into US dollars. An example, today, I went to the Spar (market) and picked up a few items, food and what not just to tie me over. Now, I got a half a loaf of Brown Bread (soda wheat bread- but not, it's different). It was about €1.50, okay. Not, bad right? Well, let's do the conversion; mind you this is for a half a loaf bread. So, multiply and you get 1.5*1.3=1.95. Almost €2 for a half a loaf of bread. Don't get me wrong, that is still a good price. However, once you do that with everything... it adds up. I am learning to just not do the conversions. I don't look at the fact that if I need to pull €100 out of my account, that it actually is pulling out $120. :-/  Oh, and the money looks like monopoly money. It's so colorful, and all different sizes, a bigger bill=a bigger note. In the coins there are 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, €1, €2. (yes, there $1 and $2 equivalent are actually coins). It is interesting to note that even though they have a 1c and a 2c, no one has really used them. Much like our pennies, you get them as change and thats it.  Going on from the coins comes the very colorful banknotes. Again no €1, or €2 (those are coins). You start out with the €5, then €10, €20, €50, €100 (I am sure it goes further but I haven't have an opportunity to see that large of bill; looking at the picture I found I see that there is a €200).

 It was interesting, today, again at the Spar, I was getting my change and it was €4.75. You think I got any bills back? Nope. All coins. I had to do a double take because it was so shocking. There are no bills that would cover that much change. And I just got used to confusing the clerks by giving them an amount that would get even bills back in American dollars. I have to learn how to do that here.

Have you ever just got online to your favorite sites and had no problem? Ya, can't do that here. Trying to listen to Pandora in Ireland is, literally, impossible. I did not know that some sites have area priority. Or nation priority.. Or whatever. The fact that they determine where you are getting your internet and that depicts what you can see and can't, amazing to me. Sites like hulu and pandora (just to name a couple) simply don't work in Ireland. Apparently, the internet is not global. At least,  some websites are not worldwide.

Now, lets talk about the electricity. I had to get converters- that was expected. I didn't know that the outlets looked so weird though. I guess it's not weird. It would be normal if I was around it all the time but still, it makes me nervous just the same. I watched Leap Year- I am afraid that that may happen to me... That I am going to plug something in and it is going to short-circuit the whole village. I know it won't be that extreme, but it makes me very cautious about what I plug in. For example, I have not blow dried my hair at all because I am afraid of what might happen. My blow dryer made my lights dim at my old apartment, and even blew the breaker at my parents house, a number of times! Thus, I pull up my hair and let it dry throughout the day.

Going throughout the day, I have noticed that I don't recognize any brand names. Maybe a few here and there (like the really popular stuff), but nothing else. When you're shopping, you know how there are some brands you just don't get and there are some you do? Ya, well, I am not sure which brands are good and which are bad. Obviously, I will learn this in time.

Finally, and mind you, this isn't the last thing, I am just done typing for tonight, it's hard to believe but the light switches are something that I noticed. Of all the things, light switches. How could a light switch be different, you may ask.  Well, you know how in the states if you want to switch the light on you flick it up and to turn it off you flick it down? Here you do the opposite-its a little toggle switch (looks like a teeter-totter), and if you want to turn it on you have to push it down on the bottom and if you want to turn it off you have to push it down on the top. It feels backwards just like everything else.

First trip to the Country Side

Jeremy and I went to the 'Cliffs of Insanity' (Princess Bride) today, which are actually the Cliffs of Moher (Mo-her). Can I just say wow!!??!! Those are so amazing! You can walk right up to the edge with no railing- so one bad slip and you'd be gone. But, oh man, the exhilaration, and the overwhelming sensation of it all was brilliant. This is the first time I have actually seen the Atlantic Ocean and it was big- and I mean BIG! But then you add on standing on top of these crazy cliffs that are literally straight down, the site was breath-taking.

We left this morning and headed out on M4 (the tollway). After a while we didn't want to be on the highway anymore but we figured just to go out to the cliffs and then mossy-on back a different route through the country side later. Let me tell you something. After our little venture today, the little tiny roads that they have in town (about the size of two parking stalls next to each other with no shoulders and cars parked on the sides) those were large compared to these roads. There was barely enough room for both cars to fit on the road- but thats not even the part thats interesting. Yes, they were tiny roads where if you are not careful you will, and I mean it, you will run into another car. So, naturally you assume you will have slower speeds right. Ya, wrong... The speed limit was crazy. For those tiny roads you were able to go up to 100 km/h (kilometers/hour- for you Americans not used to the metric system that's 62mph on those tiny roads.) Crazy wicked fast to go over curvy, bumpy, with walls on either side right on the line and no shoulder roads. I am not going to lie- I was kind of nervous for the entire country side drive. I can only imagine what Jeremy was feeling since he was driving. 

This put aside, the trip was totally worth it! It was a part of Ireland I probably wouldn't get to see and its the part that is always in the movies that makes you fall in love with Ireland. The scenery was so beautiful that I don't know if I can explain it. Not fairly anyways. I will try to upload some pictures so you can see what I am talking about, but even then, the pictures don't do any justice.

The beautiful country side as we were on the motorway. 

                                                    

This was the visitors center. It was all built inside the hill.
It reminded me of the Hobbit.

The cliffs in a row. Of course, its not all of them.

O'Brian's tower was built back in the 17th century for tourists.
Even back then they had a problem with tourists.

If you turn around this is what you see. A beautiful little village. 

An Branan Mor, Sea Stack 

Hags Head View

Jeremy taking some pictures. 

I really don't know what this was, just that it was under lock and key.

The Country side on the way back.

You zoom in you can see the Ocean.

Another old church.

This is what I would expect the houses to look like, but they don't.
At least not all of them.

                                      

 

Dunguaire Castle 

                                       

                                       

                                       

                                                 

                                       

                                                    

                                      

The castle was over looking a beautiful waterfront.
(I am not sure if it is the ocean or just a lake.) 

The next few days in Ireland

It's the third day I have been here and we went to the City Centre. (Yes, I intended to spell it that way- some words are different) The City Centre is pretty much downtown Dublin. It was so cool. But before I can tell you about that, I have to tell you how we got there.

The River Liffey

The Liffey- separates Dublin North from Dublin South.

Beautiful bridges everywhere. 

To get to all the places we had rented a car yesterday, and boy was that an adventure. I have no clue why they would rent a car to an American without giving them a thorough driving test. Nevertheless, they did. So, with Jeremy driving on the wrong side and me sitting in the what-would-have-been-drivers-seat, off we went. The roads are tiny, the people are not afraid of getting too close, and I am pretty sure every part of every street is pedestrian crossing.

This was a genuinely confused look.
This is after he walked to the wrong side of the car.  

Once we got in... so weird to be sitting on the left side of the car and not have a steering wheel in front of me.
Can't lie- it felt awkward.

I am pretty sure Jeremy got very frustrated with me, (even though he said he wasn't) because I didn't know how to read the map. I still don't know what direction was North, South, East, or West, because its not like there are a whole bunch of landmarks to look for. Everything is pretty much sea level. I have heard rumor that there are mountains, but I don't believe it. Not until I see them. So, with no landmarks (only the buildings), no street signs (or if there are street signs, you definitely can't see them from the crossing streets), oh and not to mention the fact that every street turns into another for no rhyme or reason, and each street has at least two names, some streets connect randomly, roundabouts in pretty random intersections, some roads are one-way for half of the road then suddenly turn into two-way (still don't know where those other cars pop out of), no shoulders, everyone parking on the actual road so you have to swerve around them, some streets that look like they connect on the map in fact don't, and then having the street names that I am lucky enough to see not match the names on the map... Jeremy next to me telling me to navigate (more like saying, 'come on Liz why can't you tell me where we are', 'I need you to tell me what streets are coming up' (when again the street names on the map don't really match those on the road), and 'honestly, can't you read a map, just tell me where we are'), I was getting a little irritated, thus he was frustrated. So, once I threw up my hands done with it all, thats when the baby talking started. Actually, it was more like he was using small words and small sentences like I was stupid. Tell me you wouldn't be irritated as well.

It does sound worse that what it really was. It wasn't bad it is just different. We did make it up to Dundrum yesterday to go to the very large Shopping Centre (i.e. mall). This building was crazy cool with a lot of shops I have never heard of. It has like 4 or 5 levels, but some are in the middle of two levels. For example, I believe it went Level 1, Level 1M, Level 2, Level 2M, Level 3. Where the M levels were just offshoots with maybe a restaurant or just one shop. All sorts of people were there, from every nationality. It was very neat to see! We also made it home (granted we did get lost and couldn't figure out the GPS- that doesn't matter though).

Once we were tired of driving we went down to O'Sheas again for another Guinness (we didn't want to do anything extreme last night.) That leads us into today.

So, we decided to go back into the City Centre (I was better at the directions- I studied the night before because I was so frustrated). We parked the car and took a little walk. Saw some pretty awesome churches. While walking around one of the churches we ran into this lady who told us the archway we were walking under was actually the oldest part of Dublin, but that they don't really tell people about it. It was the only part of the original rock work from the first settlers. I thought that was an awesome story and was very glad she told us about it.

The oldest part of Dublin.

Dublin City Wall and Gates 1240 AD Dublin City  Parks Council Division

This is not the church with the oldest archway but it was right next to it. I thought it was pretty.

It was very large. This archway went over the road to the other side.

What we really wanted to see what the Dublin Castle. And after getting turned around a bit (at least on my part- I can't speak for Jeremy), we found it. Not quite what I was expecting. The parish on the outside of the castle was very pretty! I like seeing the history of the old building. The Castle itself looked more modern than what I was expecting. I was thinking it was going to look like the old churches we had been seeing all day, but it was more like the Dublin surrounding. We tried to take a tour but everything was sold out.

The parish with the castle attached behind.

This was in the middle of the square inside the castle grounds and was made out of sand.
Pretty cool to see. The men were standing in 3-d boxes but were 2-dimensional.

If you look close, it says 1798 Cornwallis.  All the way around the parish there were different family names with different years. 

For lunch I had my first Bulmers- it's an Irish Cider. And it is delicious!

Look at those bubbles. It tastes like Apple Cider. :)

The Pub we went to was really awesome. It had so many different levels all scattered with like 1 or 2 tables on each landing going up and down having stairs connect everything. I liked the atmosphere a lot and thought that if someone were to get a pub style bar in Salt Lake, that this would be a good one.

I came home cause I had a meeting on campus with Carl Lusby. She is the International Student Adviser and the first thing she said was: "Oh, you Americans are always so stressed with so many schedules- we have a saying here in Dublin it's 'It'll be grand so just go with the flow.'" Meaning stop stressing. If it doesn't happen today then it will probably happen tomorrow, and if not then, then next week. It doesn't matter when cause it will get done. She told me that if I didn't slow down a bit that I would just get annoyed with everyone, and if I get annoyed then I will become the annoying student- and don't be that annoying student. I thought this was funny because I could see why she would say that. I am the type of person that has every minute of every day scheduled when I am stressed. We got everything worked out and now I feel so much better. Like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Now, I just have to find a place to live and life is good! (not saying it's bad).

We did get it worked out that I can now get a bank account here so that I can pay for a place to live and get a phone that works. That is so nice. See I was in a pickle- I had to have an address to open a bank account, but I needed my bank account to get get the money to pay for the living arrangements. catch22 if I do say so.

That night we went back into the City Centre. I didn't really want to drink to much just cause I am not used to drinking every night. Plus, it was cold and wet and we had been walking around a lot. So, I  told Jeremy that I wasn't feeling up for a pint but that I would still go with him and he was all bummed, At one point in time he called me lame... So, I caved and had a pint- I figure he's not here for long and he just wants to experience life and have fun. ( I am just not used to his type of fun).

Once we got into the pub that night, an awesome Irish band was playing on stage, so that made things pretty cool! They were really good and, of course being Irish and all, kind of cute. :)

We came home after that and now I am here documenting at midnight. :) Hope you are enjoying it!