The Craic: Home-stay

So, as you may have noticed, I've been MIA for a bit now. I lost my internet connection in my apartment last tuesday and haven't gotten it back since. As a result, my free time has been passed by making trips to university to use the wireless here. Apparently the Irish do not feel the same sense of urgency towards having internet access that Americans (or at least I) do. Either that or they are not good at fixing internet-y things. Some may say that the latter is hard to believe because of the large quantity of Dell computers that are manufactured here, but I would venture to say that that fact only reinforces my point...I digress. I'll pick up where I left off:

Two weekends ago was my home-stay in a town called Tuam (pronounces Tomb, I believe) in County Galway. My host family was a family of 6, two parents, named Liz and David, and 4 children aged 3,6,11 and 16. Their house was significantly larger and more modern than I expected. I was there with another girl from my program, named Meghan, and she and I stayed in a guest bedroom each with a bed to ourselves and our own bathroom. The house ahd about 7 or 8 bedrooms and 3 or 4 bathrooms. They had a beautiful kitchen with a fire that we spent a lot of time standing in front of.

We arrived friday evening and settled in before sitting down to dinner. We had chicken, potatoes and some vegetables followed by tea and lots of cookies...and then more tea...and then chocolates. Needless to say we were well fed. The first night was a little chilly because, as we later found out, the skylight in our room had been vented so cold air was coming in the whole time. The next morning we woke up to very stormy weather. The wind was howling so loudly you felt like it was in the house and it was pouring. Liz drove Meghan and I to a bookstore in town but came to pick us up after less than an hour because the weather was getting so bad. She and her sun had actually gotten stuck in the grocery store for a short time because it had been struck by lightening. We went home and dried off by the fire and had more tea and cookies, before David offered to take us to a rally.

We certainly had no idea what a rally was and later found out that it was car racing that took place on the backroads which were closed off for a short period of time for the races. From what Dad tells me it's huge here in Europe but not so much in the States. Apparently they tried to bring it over for a little while but it didn't catch on. I guess I can see why, because it involves a certain amount of patience in finding spots to watch from and changing position to follow the race, but it certainly seems more exciting than watching cars go in circles on tracks. They have marchalls standing on the sides making sure you don't get to close, but in essence you always have to be ready to run. By the time we got to a spot to watch from it had cleared up, but ti wasn't long before it started hailing, and then raining. David kept asking Meghan and I how cold we were on a scale of 1 to 10, and by the time we got to 7 we decided it was time to go. We made some friends while we were there though! Some of the marshalls huddled with us under our umbrella. They had been standing out there since 7 AM and were starting to feel the effects of the elements. After the rally we headed over to Liz's sisters house to warm up with tea and biscuits.

For dinner we went authentic...burritos! With french fries! The irish don't really care how they eat there potatoes, they just have to be there...with every meal. Saturday evening we went to mass with Liz. One of the children was in the choir, which was lovely. The Irish like their mass short, and the older woman sitting with us kept getting frustrated that the priest was taking too long. Not much congregating post-mass either. Everyone pretty much just gets in and out as quickly as they can.

Overall the weekend really was lovely. It was nice to be able to sit down and chat with Irish people and really get a sense of how they live. It was also nice to get tips from Liz on the best places to go shopping and what's good at the different grocery stores. It was also really cool how integrated their family was. Over the weekend we met all three of Liz's sisters, visited David's family's farm, and heard their cousin talking on the radio. That type of close-knit family makes me want to move to Ireland. But then I realize that my family isn't in Ireland...oh well.

By far the most entertaining part of the weekend was their 3 year old daughter, whose name escapes me at the moment. She was quite a piece of work or in their words "a monster". It was funny because she would climb all over Meghan and I and eat off our plates, and drink from our glasses, and spill puzzles all over us. It kept things light, to say the least.

My mom wanted me to write here about the lack of daylight in Ireland this time of year. The sun pretty much rises at 8:30 and sets around 4:30, although it has been getting better. What's more, the sun pretty much stays at that awkwardly-in-your-eyes angle all day long. That being said, I will not complain about the sun in any dimensions any more. Something about being in the land of cloudy-ness names you appreciate it a bit more. Let just say that whenever the sun does find its way out from behind those clouds I am positively giddy.

I'll try and get as many of these in this week as a I can, for real this time.