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).
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.
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>>>>>>>>
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