November in a Nutshell

Hi Everyone!

Its been so long since I’ve written but you haven’t missed out on too much! November came and went without too much excitement.  I had a wonderful birthday weekend!  I went out with Ioana and Martina the night before my birthday in Balbriggan, which is another town about 5 minutes from Stamullen.  Balbriggan has more than one bar (unlike Stamullen) so it was a great place to go out without traveling all the way into Dublin.  We drank a lot of Bulmer’s and enjoyed the live band!  

 

On my actual birthday Ciara invited up Ioana’s host family (Ciara’s sister-in-law) and we had a Mexican fiesta!  Well, we had nachos, fajitas, and lots of beer so it was as close as it gets to a fiesta in Ireland.  She even made not one, but two desserts for the occasion! I was very thankful to be surrounded by my surrogate family since I couldn’t be with my own.

Other than that, I went into Dublin and met up with Hailey quite often.  We’ve been busy planning out our Christmas extravaganza.  Since we can’t go home, we’re going to London the weekend before Christmas and going to PARIS on Christmas Eve!  I can’t wait to have three stamps in my passport instead of just my one, lonely Irish stamp.  We’re even spending Christmas Day night at the Eiffel Tower! It’s kind of the only thing open on Christmas Day, but hey, we’ll be in Paris so it doesn’t really matter!

Today, I got up at the crack of dawn (8 am) and walked to the bus stop in the cold (I could see my breath) to go back into Dublin to explore some Christmas markets!  It’s a big thing in Ireland and around most of Europe to have huge Christmas markets where vendors sell, gifts, foods, and other crafts in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  The one I went to today happened to be here:

Look familiar?  That’s Christ Church Cathedral.  I posted a picture of the outside after one of my very first trips to Dublin.  I haven’t been back since until today when I found about a Christmas Market that takes place here.  And it just so happens the market is IN the CRYPT!  Pretty cool, especially since the market was free to get into so I got into the Crypt without paying the usual 6 euros and almost everything was on display like usual.

The Crypt

Book of Common Prayer from 1622

Missing a mummy?

The Tudors did filming here and these were some of the costumes used in the show!

Gilded Communion Plates. That's a lot of gold.

 

Christ Church Christmas tree

Ruins on the church grounds. Of what? I'm not sure.

After leaving Christ Church, I decided to go find St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  In my six months I’ve spent taking day trips into Dublin, I still hadn’t seen it yet.  I was so surprised to find a beautiful park right next to it.  I didn’t go into the cathedral yet since I plan on doing that with MaryClaire, Erika, and Hillary when they come for New Year’s but the outside of the cathedral and the park itself was a beautiful place to spend some time!  Unfortunately, Google has decided I exceeded the number of pictures I can post to a blog unless I buy more space so you'll have to look on facebook for pictures!

I only have two weeks until I leave for London and then its on to Paris!  Between planning for those two cities and planning what we'll be doing when Erika, MaryClaire, and Hillary arrive in Dublin I've got my hands full the next two weeks.  When I get back you can all look forward to multiple posts about my Christmas abroad!

Southern Hospitality, Ghosts and Gouls, and an Irish Fesh

My trip home was exactly what I needed (Aside from sharing half of my seat with a very large man on the flight to Philadelphia)! I was able to eat my fill of country ham biscuits, sweet tea, and Taco Bell! I also made visits to most of eastern side of the state: Raleigh, Greenville, Charlotte and even went to Washington (NC) for the first time.  Did you know its the first city in the United States named after George Washington? Well you do now!

Washington has a lot of crab statues. Why? I have no idea but they looked cool!

Walking on the Pamlico River

When I got back to Ireland, everyone was in full blown preparation mode for Halloween!  Halloween has many Celtic influences so Ireland is a great place to celebrate.  Halloween here isn't really that different from how it is at home.  The girls went trick or treating while I handed out candy and then we all went to Fiona's (Dave's sister) house for a party.  The kids bobbed for apples, played games, and generally spent the night eating as much candy as they could get away with.

Ruby was a devil

Pippa was a ladybug, but abandoned her costume before I could get a picture!

She's got the best chubby cheeks for kissing!

Maisy was a ghost but she also took her costume off early and was too busy eating candy for any photo opportunities.

This past weekend, I went with the family to see Ruby and Maisy's Irish Dancing Fesh.  I still really don't know exactly what fesh means but basically its a recital/competition.  The girls competed in two dances: the reel and the light jig. This was Ruby's second fesh and Maisy's first.  Ruby came in 4th and 5th place in each dance out of twenty girls!  Maisy's age group had only eight girls and she came in 1st place for one of her dances and, most importantly to Maisy, got a trophy!

Maisy's trophy and medal!

The girls were very proud of themselves and they have another competition in a few weekends.  They've been practicing non-stop and have even taught me a few steps!  It was really interesting to see the older girls dance at the competition.  They all had on the traditional Irish dress and a lot of the dances are very complicated.  It was really cool to see a young generation so dedicated to keeping this Irish tradition alive.

Other than that, I've been keeping busy during the week by taking Zumba at the rec club in Stamullen with Ioana and Martina on Wednesday nights.  I've also decided to brush up on my high school spanish for when I visit Natàlia and Mercè in Spain! There are a ton of free language resources I've found online and I'm already starting to learn a little bit.  Other than that I've been dusting off my resume to start the job hunt for when I get home in May.  Its hard to believe I've already been in Ireland for 5 months on Tuesday!

Back in Dublin

Hi everyone!  Once again I apologize for another blogging absence.  My goal has been to make a post once a week but some weeks there just isn't too much to share!  The past two weeks have been pretty uneventful.  My days have been filled with cleaning, playing with Pippa, helping the girls with homework and running.  Yep that's right I said running!  I try to go at least four times a week once I'm off work but that's been getting harder he past few weeks.  The Irish weather has taken a turn for winter here!  Its usually in the high 40s during the day and the rain is becoming more and more common.  Another change is what time the sun sets.  When I got here, the sun would start to set at maybe nine meaning it would be at least 11 before it became completely dark.  Now its dark by 7:30 and I've been told that this is just the beginning!  In the middle of winter its pitch black by 4:30 pm.  Now THAT is going to take some getting used to.

This weekend I spent time in Dublin for the first time in what felt like years!  I've been in Dublin the past month or two but only long enough to get on a train or bus to travel somewhere else.  It was nice to be back in the city centre.  Saturday I went in to do some shopping!  I haven't bought a single item of clothing (other than an Ireland sweatshirt) in the four months I've been here. I don't think I've gone that long without buying clothes since I had my first job when I was 16!  I went to Pennys which is a super cheap department store in Ireland.  If you're ever over here you've got to go!  Of course, the clothes aren't the best quality but at their prices you could buy two of everything! 

New Favorite Store!

I also went to H & M and TK Maxx.  Yep, its TJ Maxx but they thought the K made it sound more European than the J.  Who knew?  I also bought a few things to bring home when I visit which is happening in eight days! I can't wait to be back in America, and more importantly the South, for a little while!  I also met up with Hailey and we had lunch at Eddie Rockets.  It was so nice to have a cheeseburger, fries, and a milkshake with an American friend.  It was almost like home!

Yesterday I went back in to Dublin to see an Irish film with a few other au pair friends.  It's called What Richard Did and it was really good!  I don't have much experience with small, independent films but I really enjoyed this one.  The film is based on a fictional book which strongly resembles events that occurred in Dublin about 12 years ago so that made it even more interesting. The director and actors are all Irish and the filming took place in Ireland as well.  Its nice to learn more about Dublin's history and culture while I'm here.

If you ever stumble across an Irish film festival in America, go see this!

Other than that, I can't think of too many things to update y'all on.  I'll be spending the week doing laundry and packing for my trip home!  And yes it takes almost a week to do laundry here, well more like 3 to 4 days.  Dryers in Ireland are super small and expensive to use.  Most families only use them for socks and underwear (if at all).  The most common way to dry clothes is still outside on a clothesline!  Lucky for me, Ciara has clothes driers we set up in the house so I don't have to constantly worry about if its going to rain when I'm trying to dry my clothes.

Next time I write it will be update you on my trip home!