In honour of my one-month anniversary of coming home, I am listing the million—well let’s see how far I get—things I either loved about Ireland, I got in trouble or nearly in trouble for saying in Ireland or in the States, or I things I thought were hilarious
1. Flying 5 thousand miles (8 thousand Km) to live and work with people I have never met—thrilling
2. Meeting the best Erasmus group that ever existed—words aren’t proficient
3. Having Moville surprise (not so surprise after the first one or two) birthday parties—brilliant and inventive
4. Creating new themes for Moville birthday parties that were original and mirrored the personalities of the birthday person—Moville Erasmus 2011 should start their own party planning company
5. Working with the best Múinteoiri (teachers) that ever existed—again words are not proficient
6. Using the metric system—hallelujah: finally I could use the system that makes sense. What do we call ours except confusing (inches divided into 16ths, 12 inches to the foot, 3 feet to the yard, 5280 ft to the mile…need I have more proof?)
7. Taking turns cooking and experiencing the foods from other countries—yummy
8. Irish spellings; colour, honour, centre, travelling, realising, programme etc.—we are such lazy spellers in the States
9. Saying “haych” for “h” and “zed” for “z”—Love it even though “….x, y, zed, next time won’t you sing with me” doesn’t really flow, but hey at least it’s not my voice messing up the rhythm and rhyme.
10. Saying half one for half past one and Wednesday week for a week from Wednesday—love confusing people in the states.
11. “Hiya”—took me almost the whole four months to realize that it was like saying “Hi. How are you?”
12. Saying BalleyferMUHH-sound like a real Balleyfermot-ian
13. Going on holiday with 10 teachers you work with—never imagined I would socialize with people I worked with since that rarely happens in the States—work is usually separated from play. Why is it almost an unwritten rule in the Sates that coworkers can’t also be friends?
14. Making fun of the “mythical” Fungie—“meow” (that’s what Damien thought the mechanical Fungie would say instead of the dolphin’s typical “ee” or whatever sound a dolphin makes)
15. Finding out that Fungie was real—priceless—actually the fare…and well deserving tip...for the boat tour since seeing Fungie meant our boat trip was not free
16. Being called Múinteoir Caitlin—still showing respect, yet so informal…love it
17. Writing the date with the days of the week in Gaeilge: An Luan, An Máirt, An Céadaoin, An Déardaoin, An Aoine—In the States I get weird looks when I ask what plans someone has for Aoine.
18. Morning prayer, special intentions, and end of the day prayer—who would of thought I’d become “religious?”
19. Accidently saying “ride” for lift—perhaps something the guys loved to hear, but not so much what you intended to ask for or wanted to thank someone for.
20. Having a girl come up to you in class concerned about a character’s name of Fanny in her book and you reassuring her that it’s fine—so glad I didn’t ask my CT (cooperating teacher) what the big deal was; also glad I didn’t ask the kids to sit down on their fannies—I could probably have seen how fast the Irish equivalent for CPS would arrive.
21. Speaking—well writing—of CPS, saying “Boy did I give out to little Johnny in class today” in the States would definitely bring on an investigation—giving out in Ireland merely means scolding
22. Now that I’m on the “OH…is that what that means?,” I will never watch Glee with out laughing hysterically when the title comes up before the finger making the “L” finishes the spelling of Glee
23. Glee brings me to the gleeful—literally “Glee”-ful mornings of the Múinteoiri singing and harmonizing scores from musicals or just random songs in the staff room—wish I was somewhat musically talented so I could have joined in, but (a) I cannot remember lyrics for the life of me and (b) I did not want to clear the room in two seconds flat.
24. The staff room—more like a spa—what schools in the states have tea and biscuits during their break?
25. Also what schools in the States have a tea lady making them tea during their break?
26. And what schools in the States relieve teachers from class for ten minutes for small break and thirty minutes for big break when they have yard duty?—no wonder our teachers are so stressed in the states
27. Experiencing the pub life—do I need to explain?
28. Guinness—true Guinness not that garbage they sale in the states
29. Becoming a fan of Henrietta Game—when they are world famous, I can say that I both worked with them and listened to them in pubs in Ireland when they were just putting out their CD
30. Using the double-decker buses for transportation—so cool, until people decided to smoke cigarettes or joints in them
31. Occasionally walking the 7.99 miles from school to home—great exercise and not too scary—although I was told not to linger in certain neighbourhoods for too long
32. Walking home after listening to Henrietta Game late at night after promising that we would take the bus or a taxi—not scary, but most likely stupid
33. Staying up until 2am most nights to work on my PACT assignment, college work, and lesson plans and then getting up at 6am to get ready for teaching…also spending about 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday to work—how I did not fall asleep while teaching is a miracle
34. Playing football with the Erasmus group and having the guys play easy for the girls without appearing to—sweet
35. Learning slán for goodbye and then slan go foíll for goodbye for now—now I don’t ever just say slán.
36. Going back to my “home” country—wonderful—okay so it is my ancestor’s home country but erin go bragh says it all. Even after generations of American-born family, I still feel connected to Ireland
37. Having the best four months of my life—unforgettable, amazing, full of craic…
38. Thinking about returning—every second of the day for the past 30 days.
Le gach dea-ghuí,
Caitlin
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