Tuesday, February 3, 2009

FAILTE!! (Your first Irish lesson: this means Welcome)

PRELUDE

O gosh have I bitten myself a big bite of the proverbial cookie! Today marks the start of the 3rd week of this hibernian adventure and I have not written a single word contributing to a blog I continually proposed. But - better late than never, eh?!
So, may i name this Supertramp Jen's Adventures in Eire , or Confessions of an Au Pair, which if you add some syllables to the latter, it very neatly rhymes!
So what of these adventures and confessions? For the past whole week when I wasn't playing jigsaw or watching Mamma Mia over again or pleasantly pushing a stroller - complete with toddler- down the street (don't laugh, yes i do) I was free-footing the footpaths of Dublin, occasionally consulting my map (with a 90% navigation success rate too!), trying to make lots of eye contact with any locals, and marinating myself in the city's vibe. The YMCA people are very nice to ask if you do happen to get lost, as are any 'mother figures'. For God's sake though, don't pretend you're not Australian, as they will then only assume you're English. NB: not good. (I can only imagine)
And the steet signs. Let me explain about the street signs. Signposts here do not exist. Well not the ones labelling streets.. No, you have to be coming from the right direction to see it and then it'll be plastered on a wall or a building. How quaint. We learnt this the hard way in our first week. Where we were in a car and most of the time, spotted the sign too late to actually make the turn.
Speaking of first week, let me go back to the start of it, where my grandparents and I road tripped our way around the perimeter of Rep of Ireland in our little rent-a-car with a strict rule of only irish cds. And the loyal jar of Vegemite.

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