Monday, February 25, 2008
What the f*ck? The F-word in Ireland
One of the things that caught us by surprise here was how often we hear people say "f*ck." The Irish throw F-bombs around in their conversations the way Americans would use "hell," "damn" or maybe even "shit." One of Damon's co-workers said his four-year-old said "f*ck," and he and his wife began laughing. It's just one of those cultural differences I find amusing because when you think it about, it's just a word. We are the ones who made it taboo by saying it was bad and telling our children to never say it. Here's an interesting list of urban legends about the origin of the F-word. I also read online that it could have started back in Ireland as a form of the word "feck," another expletive.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Adventure #14: Ross Errilly Friary
Damon found this killer page at Wikipedia that lists all the monastic sites in Ireland, so we decided to check out Ross Errilly, which is only 30 minutes from Galway.
The Ross Errilly Friary, a medieval Franciscan abbey, is among the best-preserved medieval monastic sites in the country. And we had no idea it was nearby. The detail on the walls and windows were amazing for such old ruins. We walked through short doorways into mazes of corridors past the chapels, a kitchen, courtyard, tombs and rooms galore. It's definitely somewhere we'll take any visitors and suggest to our American friends living in Galway.
The Ross Errilly Friary, a medieval Franciscan abbey, is among the best-preserved medieval monastic sites in the country. And we had no idea it was nearby. The detail on the walls and windows were amazing for such old ruins. We walked through short doorways into mazes of corridors past the chapels, a kitchen, courtyard, tombs and rooms galore. It's definitely somewhere we'll take any visitors and suggest to our American friends living in Galway.
Ireland weather in February
We braced ourselves for the wettest year of our lives before leaving Northern California for Galway, Ireland, six months ago.
It hasn't been that bad. Seriously.
Maybe this is a mild year, but this Galway winter reminds us a lot of a Northern California winter - and one of my friends here who used to live in California agrees. Sure, there's been a little snow (which comes around every five years or so but disappears within a couple hours), and some mornings it hovers around freezing. There have been a few sideways rain storms and lots of wind. We haven't seen much rain in February though.
Here are a couple pictures taken on February 4 and 12. Today is just as sunny as either of these. Not too bad!
It hasn't been that bad. Seriously.
Maybe this is a mild year, but this Galway winter reminds us a lot of a Northern California winter - and one of my friends here who used to live in California agrees. Sure, there's been a little snow (which comes around every five years or so but disappears within a couple hours), and some mornings it hovers around freezing. There have been a few sideways rain storms and lots of wind. We haven't seen much rain in February though.
Here are a couple pictures taken on February 4 and 12. Today is just as sunny as either of these. Not too bad!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Irish Pottery
Brenda and Steve gave us a gift certificate for Christmas to Louis Mulcahy Pottery. He's a talented Irish pottery maker (all handmade pieces) who relocated from Dublin to the Dingle Peninsula, where his workshop and studio are now located. He still has a shop in Dublin, which Lisa visited last month and purchased a beautiful fruit bowl to match the wine chiller and goblets they gave us a few years ago. I also found out there is an annual studio sale in Dublin on March 1, and I hope to return and buy some great pieces at up to 70% off.
Deterrents in Ireland
From my perspective, the Irish go to great lengths to deter certain activities. Massive ad campaigns featuring teenagers with mutilated faces to scare kids into not drinking and driving. Millions spent on supermarket shopping cart locks so that shoppers cannot get their one euro deposit back from the cart without returning it to one of the designated bays in the parking lot. Charging customers for plastic bags so they won't request them, thus decreasing waste.
But the most puzzling of them all is the recycling situation. The only way to get glass recycled is to drive it to a recycling center (see below), just like Americans used to do back in the 1960s and 1970s with old-fashioned soda pop bottles. For an island nation that is concerned enough about waste to charge a 22-cent levy on each plastic bag, you would think they would be focused on developing a more sophisticated recycling program. When we moved in, we were given no instructions from the building management company here about do handle our trash and recycling. It took me a good month to figure out that food waste is separated from all paper and plastic, but that's about the extent of it. We organize all our empty glass into a plastic trash can, which we had to purchase, and tote it to the recycling center once every two weeks. I am probably hurting the environment more by driving the car to the recycling center and buying a 12-gallon plastic trash bin that will reside on this planet in a landfill for the next 300 years than it would for the trash collection company to add glass recycling to its services and charge for it.
But I care about the planet, so I gladly drive my empty wine bottles to the gigantic plastic recycling receptacles, which will also be living in a landfill some day too. I hope all the young students at NUI, our local university, have the foresight to do the same.
I'm not saying any of these initiatives are bad. It's just frustrating that some countries don't realize that if you give consumers incentives to do something, they will do it. And if you provide them a service that adds convenience to their lives, they will pay for it - especially something that helps the environment.
But the most puzzling of them all is the recycling situation. The only way to get glass recycled is to drive it to a recycling center (see below), just like Americans used to do back in the 1960s and 1970s with old-fashioned soda pop bottles. For an island nation that is concerned enough about waste to charge a 22-cent levy on each plastic bag, you would think they would be focused on developing a more sophisticated recycling program. When we moved in, we were given no instructions from the building management company here about do handle our trash and recycling. It took me a good month to figure out that food waste is separated from all paper and plastic, but that's about the extent of it. We organize all our empty glass into a plastic trash can, which we had to purchase, and tote it to the recycling center once every two weeks. I am probably hurting the environment more by driving the car to the recycling center and buying a 12-gallon plastic trash bin that will reside on this planet in a landfill for the next 300 years than it would for the trash collection company to add glass recycling to its services and charge for it.
But I care about the planet, so I gladly drive my empty wine bottles to the gigantic plastic recycling receptacles, which will also be living in a landfill some day too. I hope all the young students at NUI, our local university, have the foresight to do the same.
I'm not saying any of these initiatives are bad. It's just frustrating that some countries don't realize that if you give consumers incentives to do something, they will do it. And if you provide them a service that adds convenience to their lives, they will pay for it - especially something that helps the environment.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Ireland: the island nation of premature expiration
Every morsel of food in Ireland has an expiration date it seems, and it's always two days from the date you are standing in the store, but 3-4 days from when you expect to get around to eating it. Expiration dates are starting to control my life. I roam the Tesco aisles for an hour, calculating dates and planning out meals precisely because anything perishable I buy is going to die within 48-72 hours. I feel like Jack Bauer in the kitchen, racing against the clock every day, trying to cook that chicken and boil that broccoli before times runs out.
I have no idea how the Irish do it. I watch women in the store, buying six jugs of milk, five cartons of eggs, four sticks of butter. How many men does it take to woof that down in less than two days? Our tiny refrigerator here barely holds a week's worth of groceries for two people. One of my U.S. comrades who's living here shops for a family of four. She goes to the store at least twice a week because her fridge only holds enough food for three days of meals, and of course, everything would expire if she did all her week's shopping in one day. Every thing is smaller here: the fridge, the milk jugs, the cartons of juice. People buy less on each visit and just shop more frequently each week.
Damon says the food doesn't last as long because they don't use as many preservatives here, which frankly is probably healthier for us. But that still doesn't explain why the fresh tomatoes are moldy and splitting two days after purchase.
Every now and then we see a side-by-side refrigerator in the newspaper or on TV, which is referred to as an "American Refrigerator." This society would hiss at the concept of Costco, don't you think? Maybe Americans should go back to the old days where everything was smaller, food perished sooner and daily life just wasn't so convenient.
I have no idea how the Irish do it. I watch women in the store, buying six jugs of milk, five cartons of eggs, four sticks of butter. How many men does it take to woof that down in less than two days? Our tiny refrigerator here barely holds a week's worth of groceries for two people. One of my U.S. comrades who's living here shops for a family of four. She goes to the store at least twice a week because her fridge only holds enough food for three days of meals, and of course, everything would expire if she did all her week's shopping in one day. Every thing is smaller here: the fridge, the milk jugs, the cartons of juice. People buy less on each visit and just shop more frequently each week.
Damon says the food doesn't last as long because they don't use as many preservatives here, which frankly is probably healthier for us. But that still doesn't explain why the fresh tomatoes are moldy and splitting two days after purchase.
Every now and then we see a side-by-side refrigerator in the newspaper or on TV, which is referred to as an "American Refrigerator." This society would hiss at the concept of Costco, don't you think? Maybe Americans should go back to the old days where everything was smaller, food perished sooner and daily life just wasn't so convenient.
Baby Rave? You've got to be shitting me
The title of this blog says it all.
I was researching the event calendar for the 2008 St. Patrick's Day Celebration in Dublin, which Damon and I plan to attend March 15-17 to celebrate my 34th birthday. I found an event calendar listing I thought said "Babe Rave @ Temple Bar." I was expecting a dance party with lots of beautiful girls. I googled it, and found nothing. Then Damon said, "Are you sure it's not a Baby Rave? They just had one of those at Leisureland last week."
He was right. As part of this year's St. Patrick's Day festivities, there will be Baby Raves held on two nights.
Have you ever heard of a Baby Rave? If you google "baby rave" only Irish and U.K. web sites come up on the first page. They are all the rage here in Ireland, because half the population is between 20-35 and popping out kids left and right. Throw an adult bash with lots of loud music and dancing, but bring your kids. Just because you're parents doesn't mean you can't party anymore, right? Americans are too uptight to think this is cool and host such events. It wasn't too long ago in the U.S. that Happy Hour Playdates were profiled in many top media outlets, questioning mommies' morals for enjoying a glass of wine and good conversation while their tots played Lego.
The EuroMattsons raise a pint of Guinness to you and say, "Craic on, Baby Ravers." We salute you, but we childless couples may never join you in your follies.
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