Aspects of Irishness
Having unexpectedly become another statistic in the great recession of our time and jumping head first into the international community, I have seen some things that I would not have seen had I stayed in Ireland. I understand how it all works but I have also noticed some particularly Irish mannerisms that exist the world over and some things that cannot be left behind on our tiny, lonely, broken island. Here are my observations.
Aspects of Irishness:
From Ballinastack With Love
Making the big move to America and realizing that everything doesn't just fall into your lap like it tends to do in Ireland.
Aspects of Irishness:
(Not) Driving Home For Christmas
A list of reasons why someone abroad probably shouldn't feel as homesick as they do at Christmas time.
Aspects of Irishness:
Patty's Day
The Americans are turning our national day into an abomination of pub crawls, alcohol consumption that could be classed as excessive, and painting the town green.
Aspects of Irishness:
Infinite Welcomes
Meeting a less than semi-famous Irish person abroad and deciding that you have to visit each other back in Ireland. Never going to happen.
Aspects of Irishness:
Waffles 2012
The harrowing story of one mans search for the golden brown, crispy, tennis racket of deliciousness that is a potato waffle in a country that has never realized what it is clearly missing out on. This story mirrors that of thousands before him.
Aspects of Irishness:
Everyone Has A Story
The first six months I spent in America made me a bit of a recluse. I lived out in the countryside on a farm in the West of Ireland for the first 23 odd years of my life. I had to come to a beautiful, leafy suburb of one of the better known cities in the (supposed) greatest country in the world to become a hermit. It was only after working in retail for a while that I realized that every American has a story about Ireland.
Aspects of Irishness:
I Love America, Maybe
I think back to this time two years ago. It was a regular occurrence for me to stay up until midnight to walk down in the blackness of night, lit dimly by the moon as it glistened on the frost crystallizing on the road that I was trudging down. There would inevitably be a cow that was in the process of,
or thinking about, calving and needed someones attention. That attention often belonged to me. Maybe I don't miss that?
Aspects of Irishness:
Emigration
It's a blight on our poor country, one worse than the potatoes suffered during The Great Famine of 1845-47. It is a curse worse than "c%#t", and it is as miserable as pulling a calf on Christmas morning, up to your knees in shit and up to your shoulders in placenta. It's terrible, it's shocking and it's awful for the young people and their poor mothers. Or is it?
It's a blight on our poor country, one worse than the potatoes suffered during The Great Famine of 1845-47. It is a curse worse than "c%#t", and it is as miserable as pulling a calf on Christmas morning, up to your knees in shit and up to your shoulders in placenta. It's terrible, it's shocking and it's awful for the young people and their poor mothers. Or is it?
Aspects of Irishness:
Pride & Populace
The phrase "Only in Ireland" is thrown around with reckless abandon these days (people thank their bus drivers in other countries too!) but this pride of place that seems to exist whenever a group of people get together does appear to have been perfected by the Irish and made all their own.
The phrase "Only in Ireland" is thrown around with reckless abandon these days (people thank their bus drivers in other countries too!) but this pride of place that seems to exist whenever a group of people get together does appear to have been perfected by the Irish and made all their own.
