Irish Families Part 2!

After my amazing weekend with Meg and her family I was itching for another weekend at "home". I was mostly itching for another weekend with home cooked meals, but the comfy beds and the inexpensive travel were fun factors, as well. Lucky for me, Meg's cousin Aileen invited me to spend a weekend with her in Bantry.  It was very last minute, but I gladly accepted and packed my bags. I had already been to Bantry (Charlie's Beach house) and had a great time so I was excited for another chance to see more of the little town. I should admit I was also really excited to see the ocean again. It was a fairly mellow weekend, but fun none the less.

Friday Aileen's father picked us up in Cork and we headed down the windy back roads to Bantry. I have started to notice that every time I get in to a car or bus here my eyes start to get heavy quite quickly. This could be a result of my lack of sleep, but I am starting think it is because my eyes are constantly stimulated my all the new sites I see along the way to new places. I am like a little kid at disneyland, my eyes are trying to look at everything at once. After 30 minutes or soin the car my eyes give up and I become exhausted. haha The ride was really pretty though and we made it to Bantry just in time for dinner. We had pizza and home made fries for dinner and then we bought a few cans of cider and went out with Aileen's friends. Aileen is on the official Ireland rowing team and I got to meet a lot of her rowing buddies. Bantry is very very small and I quickly learned everyone knows everyone!

Once we met up with Aileen's friends, they decided to introduce me to a game the locals like to play: Car Hide-and-Seek. The game begins by getting 4 or 5 car loads of people to all start at one point: the fire station. One car is "it" and the other cars have two and half minutes to drive to a hiding spot. Once your car has found it's hiding spot you send a clue to the "it" car to help them figure out where your team is. Following the initial text you send another clue every five minutes. During this time frame the "it" car drives around frantically searching and every car they find joins in in finding the remaining cars. The hints are always something quite ambiguous like "I smell something fishy", which we sent when we were by a pond in town that Aileen filled with gold fish. Here is a picture of myself and Mehall(which is actually spelt incorrectly, but that is closer to how it is pronounced).

This was our round two hiding spot and as you can tell we were blending in so well. =)

 The view of the city from one of our clever hiding spots.

 Aileen and I freezing outside during round three.

The crew once we were found and minutes before my car load lost a mirror to the game. 

Now I will tell you all another blonde moment Aileen story (please recall the round about comment from the last post). During the car hide-and-seek game the whole group was about to start the game and they asked Aileen to check the time. I should tell you that te time here is commonly in the 24 hour clock mode.  So, Aileen looked down at the nearest phone and exclaimed, "It's 23:23! It is like 11:11. It's magical!" Aileen's friend then said, "Nooo Aileen it isn't 11:11." She checked her phone while the rest of us laughed and then someone said, "Aileen even if it is 23:23 it's still 11:23." =) I hope you all find humor in this, because I sure did. Turns out I have found someone blonder than myself in Ireland. As you can tell car hide-and-seek turned out to be very entertaining. I wish I could bring the game back home, but sadly SB is a little too big for this small town game. 

Saturday Aileen and I slept in and then went on a little tour of Bantry. Aileen showed me around the streets of Bantry, which I knew quite well after car hide-and-seek, and then we went to the Bantry House. The Bantry house was really beautiful and I climbed all the way to the top of the stairs to get the best viewing point in Bantry and it was beautiful. 

 This is me almost to the top of the steps with the Bantry House and bay behind me!

 And this is Aileen and I at the harbor.

Saturday night we went out with Aileen's friends again. It was about 8 guys and then 3 of us girls. We did some drinking down at the beach, until it got too cold, and then we went bar hopping. There are only about 3 bumping pubs in Bantry and I am proud to say I got to see them all in one night. =)

We ended the night with a little serenade from Aileen's friend Spud. We all gathered at Spud's until we couldn't drink anymore and then Aileen and I hopped a few fences, crossed a few yards, and a climbed a hill to get home. I had a fun time getting to know all of Aileen's friends and experiencing a typical weekend at home. Sunday we woke up and just hung out by the fire watching criminal minds. Aileen is in love with Reid on the show just like me, so we had a grand time. We caught a ride back to Cork with Aileen's aunt and returned home to a very rainy Cork. This was another great weekend at an Irish home and I now have lots of connections in Bantry, in case I go for a third time in my life. =) That is it for my weekends with Irish families, but I will leave you with one last picture...

The beautiful view from Aileen's porch!

Thank you Bantry for another great weekend!

Cheers All!

Weekends at "Home"

Hello All.

I know it has been some time since I have added my adventures to this here blog, so I figured I should get on it. It is a bit of a balancing act drinking nearly every night, traveling every weekend, and attending 3 days of classes a week (rough life I know). The blog posts have been compromised a time or two, but don't you worry I am back! =)

I thought it was time that I share my adventures with Irish families with all of you. I have now spent two weekends with two two different Irish families and both were, as the Irish say, "great craic", or good fun. I spent one weekend with an Irish girl, Meg, who I met in my Developmental Psych class (the class that makes me think we all are doomed based on childhood developmental needs). Meg lives in Tipperary County, in a town named Templetuohy (yup it's a mouth full).

On Friday afternoon, of this Trip to Tipp weekend, Meg's Aunt and cousin Aileen picked us up and drove us to Templetuohy. While sitting in the backseat of the car Meg and I enjoyed a little mother daughter bickering coming from the front seat. You see, Aileen had just got a tattoo and had planned to not tell her mother, but her mother found the Post-Tattoo care packet when picking her daughter up. Mother: "I can't believe you wasted your money on a tattoo!" Aileen: "I can't believe you waste your money on cigarettes!" At this point you may be wondering why I am exploiting this mother-daughter disagreement in my blog, but the best part of all of this is that listening to this bickering was the first of many times during my trip to Tipp weekend that I missed my mother (don't worry mom I didn't get a tattoo and we won't be bickering when I get home).  The second fun fact about our journey from Cork to Templetuohy is that I finally learned how to read the  Irish road signs. The following picture is pretty basic, but I promise they are really quite confusing and it was a tough task to master.

During our two hour drive/ drivers' ed lesson, I informed Meg and her cousin Aileen that in the US, especially Cali, roundabouts are quite rare. Aileen followed this remark with a gasp and said in a very frantic voice, "What?! What do you guys do when you need to go around in a circle?" I hope that all of you find this as hysterical as Meg and I did. Aileen quickly realized that roundabouts have a greater purpose than leading people around in circles, and then I spent quite a bit of time explaining that every intersection has a stop sign or street light.

After our eventful car ride we finally arrived to Meg's beautiful home in the middle of the countryside. I met Meg's mom, dad, and sister Amy and we enjoyed a non-Irish lasagna dinner that was very yummy. Meg's mom explained to me that she made lasagna because she didn't want to scare me away the first night with Irish stew(which we had Saturday night and it is exactly like pot roast with carrots and potatoes).

Meg's cozy home =)

After dinner Meg had work, but she works at a local pub so her mom took her cousin Aileen and I in for a drink. The pub was filled with mostly older farmers, but we enjoyed a drink  and I got to know and love Meg's mom. 

Aileen, myself, and Meg's mom at the bar

Meg serving me a Guinness on the house =)

Eventually we left Meg to work and us gals went home and I watched a movie with Meg's little sister, Amy, and Aileen. The next morning we had a Fry for breakfast, which means an assortment of sausages ( Remember black pudding?), eggs, and yummy soda bread. Once we finished breakfast Meg convinced her mom and dad to let her drive us to Kilkenny, a town an hour away, to see Meg's roommate Karen. Meg doesn't have a license (oh Ireland), but she did quite well, minus her little petrol (gas) stop debacle.

 Oops Meg that's the wrong side... Haha

We worked out the petrol stop and eventually made it to the Kilkenny castle. 

Kilkenny was a cool little town and Karen was super excited to see us. We were only there for a few hours, but I was really impressed with the tourist town.  We explored a bit and then headed back home for our Irish stew. After dinner we packed our bags and headed to Meg's mom's home town of Upper Church to meet the fam and take part in a charity event. Meg's mom has 6 siblings and I had the pleasure of meeting 4 of the 6. The Charity event was for a local guy, Peter, who went blind at the age of 20. The small town community all came together to host a weekend-long charity event in his name. I must say he was the sweetest lad and I felt honored to be a part of the weekend's activities.

This is Peter and Meg out at the pub.

Part of the event was a pub crawl type thing in the 3 pubs of Upper Church, so as soon as we arrived in Upper Church Meg's parents, Meg's Grandpa (85 years old), Meg's Aunts, Meg, and I all went pub crawling. Meg's parents were so much fun. I am quite sure they would adopt me, if need be ( again don't worry mom I will come home... eventually).  Meg's Granddad spent the evening searching for eligible Upper Church bachelors for me and I got a good laugh meeting my future husbands. He was a real Irish man I'd say. He stayed at the pubs with us until after 1am! I want to be in bars until after 1am when I am 85 years old. =)

Meg and her granddad.

Meg's father bought us drinks as soon as we walked in the door. Earlier in the evening I had explained that I enjoy drinking vodka sodas(thanks to my dear sister and a few Rock Boats ;) ), and Meg's dad remembered. He brought me my first vodka soda, in Ireland. I had only been drinking beer and cider here (aren't you all proud? no fruity drinks) and when I saw the vodka soda I was so entertained I had to take a picture. 

The little bottle is the baby soda water and the cup is a little less than half full of vodka. So cute! =)

Meg, Meg's Mom, and I at about 3:30am..Yes, we had had a few of those cute little vodka drinks.

As the evening got further and further in to the morning we decided we should get a cab home, but first Meg's dad bought us all cheeseburgers and fries. This may seem like a silly detail, but do any of us have fathers who A. Stay out with their wife, daughter, and daughter's friend until 4:30am? and B. Buy them drunk munchies before heading home? I know I don't! Meg's father is an amazing man and he and his wife made me feel so very welcome with their family. Here is my very very favorite picture of Meg's dad from my weekend with the fam.

This is Meg's dad giving us a thumbs up as Meg's mom pulls him out of the taxi.

 Here we all our piled in the cab..

And this was my drunken attempt to prove that our cab driver was in fact a woman! This was not obvious before finding the name. 

The next morning was the first day that I have had a hang over in Ireland. I blame the cute little vodka soda drinks. Needless to say, Meg and I rolled out of bed, still a little drunk, at about 10am ( a remarkable time considering we got in at 4:30am) and we got our hiking clothes on. The second part of the charity event was a 2 hour hike, in the pouring rain. =) Meg's grandma kindly lent us some ponchos and we headed to meet the group for the hike. The hike was AMAZING and my new cure for a hangover is a walk in the rain. The hike was refreshing and Meg and I joked and laughed nearly the entire time. We were a muddy, wet mess when we finished the walk, but sadly we didn't get any pictures because we couldn't take my camera out in the rain. After tea, bangers and mash, and a warm shower we said our farewells to Meg's family in Upper Church and headed back to Meg's house. We had Indian for dinner (still cool to me that I know the dishes so well), and then I attempted to make the family oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for dinner. I say attempted only because they don't have measuring cups in Ireland. I repeat they do NOT have measuring cups in Ireland. So you can imagine me trying to get 2/3 of a cup of oats, 2 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of butter, and so on. Surprisingly the cookies turned out great and everyone loved them! =)

After our dinner and dessert Meg, Aileen, and I had to pack up our bags and catch our lift back up to Cork. My weekend with the Ryan family was incredible and I couldn't have found a more perfect family to open their home to me (Thanks Meg if you are reading this)! This was my least expensive weekend of travel and by far my very very favorite! =) 

TO BE CONTINUED>>>>>>>>

And we think the DMV is bad!!

I have FINALLY finished immigration! It was a process and a half trying to get in and out of the Garda(police station) and through the line. On day 1 I entered the Garda station at approximately 2:00pm. I sported a cute hair style and outfit to ensure a nice immigration card photo.

Little did I know I wouldn't be taking this super cute photo any time soon. Now, at the DMV in the US you can tell by the outside when it is going to be bad, but here at the Garda station the calmness on the outside is quite deceiving. I entered with all my proper documents:
Passport,
Letter of Acceptance,
Proof of US Address,
Proof of Irish Address,
Bank Of Ireland Card,
Bank Of Ireland Statement,
my finger ready for fingerprints,
and my best smile.
Having all my ducks in a row didn't help me one bit at the Garda station. We sat in line from 2:00pm to 4:30pm, at which point I was two people away from the little window. The worst part of this story is that the ladies working the little windows didn't even have the decency to announce we are closing in ten minutes, or to stop letting people in. At 4:26pm, 4 minutes early I might add, they simply closed their windows and that was that. As one can imagine I was not a happy camper and I was NOT looking forward to round 2.
Round 2: The following day I woke up bright and early and headed to the Garda station once again. I should also add two important factors. 1: The Garda station is a good 25 minute walk away from my house. 2. The Garda hours are as follows: 9:30-12 and 2:00-4:30 Mon-Thurs. Yup, these folks only work 5 hours a day, 4 days a week. So I woke up and headed to the Garda station, but this time I wasn't cute and perky, but rather sleepy and annoyed. I arrived at 9:30am and I officially made it to the window at 11:45! I didn't have any issues once I got to the window, I still had all my ducks in a row the next day, and immigration was successful. Ireland officially has my fingerprints, so I guess I better be on my best behavior. ;)   After spending 4.5 hours in that line, my friends and I were all out of smiles. During our hours and hours of line time we collaborated and decided on our best faces for the our immigration card photos...

Mugshots it was... =P

In conclusion, if any of you are headed to the DMV anytime soon you should be very thankful to the staff for working more than 5 hours a day and for at least helping the people who are in the building before closing time. There really is a place worse than the DMV, and I found it. =)

CHEERS!!