Okay, in Ireland when you buy gas, you fill up first, then go inside the shop to pay. We filled up one day and Steve had forgotten his bank card. He goes in and the guy says it's grand, just go home and get it and come back to pay! We did do just that, but I was floored!
Well today I was downtown and had to have some keys made. Most cobblers (yes, shoe repair is big business here!) also do keys. I ask for 4 keys and when he hands them to me it is 12 euro and I only have 10! He takes my ten and tells me to bring the 2 by when I can! Again, I certainly will do so. People are so nice here, and no one wants you to feel humiliated!
I LOVE IT HERE!!!!
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
NEW ROUTINE
Now that Haley has started school, our morning routine has shifted. Steve still walks to work but must go solo, as Haley and I leave in the car to take her to school. This week we started taking the dogs in the car and after we drop Haley at Moyne, we go straight to the mall (park) and walk the path a few times. It works well and keeps the dogs happy, though we do miss walking with Steve to work.
In doing so much driving, I have decided that the speed limits and road markings seem to just be guidelines! Still, I try to follow them so I don't get a ticket or get stopped, but I rarely see anyone about enforcing rules of the road. What also strikes me is the markings on the road. There is a line painted down the middle separating the two sides of traffic, and that is always painted in white. If it is dotted, it is okay to pass, and if solid, then no passing. On the two sides of the road where the shoulder would be, there are painted yellow dotted lines. If there is no shoulder, the yellow lines mark the edge of the road. If there is a hard shoulder, then traffic can slide over onto the shoulder to let faster cars go by. Sometimes, the hard shoulder isn't wide enough for the vehicle to get completely off to the side, and in those instances, the passing car expects that oncoming traffic will slide over onto THEIR shoulder and give room to pass!
What I found most confusing was that two-way traffic is divided by white lines, and one-way traffic is ALSO divided by white lines! Now, there are not that many roads with two lanes going in the same direction, but it still seems like a different paint color for each kind of roadway couldn't hurt! Fortunately, I have not run into any trouble knowing what kind of roadway I am on in general...
Today is a lovely day and the weather forecast calls for NO RAIN! Zero percent chance! The sky is bright blue and temps should reach 19 degrees Celsius, so about 66 degrees F. There are big, puffy clouds, but the forecast also shows bright yellow suns with NO CLOUDS on them for the afternoon! Pretty gutsy forecast! I hope it bears out!
In doing so much driving, I have decided that the speed limits and road markings seem to just be guidelines! Still, I try to follow them so I don't get a ticket or get stopped, but I rarely see anyone about enforcing rules of the road. What also strikes me is the markings on the road. There is a line painted down the middle separating the two sides of traffic, and that is always painted in white. If it is dotted, it is okay to pass, and if solid, then no passing. On the two sides of the road where the shoulder would be, there are painted yellow dotted lines. If there is no shoulder, the yellow lines mark the edge of the road. If there is a hard shoulder, then traffic can slide over onto the shoulder to let faster cars go by. Sometimes, the hard shoulder isn't wide enough for the vehicle to get completely off to the side, and in those instances, the passing car expects that oncoming traffic will slide over onto THEIR shoulder and give room to pass!
What I found most confusing was that two-way traffic is divided by white lines, and one-way traffic is ALSO divided by white lines! Now, there are not that many roads with two lanes going in the same direction, but it still seems like a different paint color for each kind of roadway couldn't hurt! Fortunately, I have not run into any trouble knowing what kind of roadway I am on in general...
Today is a lovely day and the weather forecast calls for NO RAIN! Zero percent chance! The sky is bright blue and temps should reach 19 degrees Celsius, so about 66 degrees F. There are big, puffy clouds, but the forecast also shows bright yellow suns with NO CLOUDS on them for the afternoon! Pretty gutsy forecast! I hope it bears out!
Friday, 30 August 2013
The Saw Doctors
The Saw Doctors are one of my favorite Irish bands and have been ever since I heard one of their songs on a Harp Beer commercial several years ago!
They sing a song which says "I wish I was on that N17 stone walls and the grass is green" and I love the song but didn't know what the N17 was all about. Now I know! It is the road that goes from the town of Sligo to the town of Galway, and I pass under it every time I take Haley to Castlebar!
They also sing a song that goes "Oh the green and red of mayo, I can see it still, it's soft and craggy boglands, it's tall majestic hills" and NOW I know that the mayo colors are green and red - and the green and red flags are EVERYWHERE right now for the GAA football championship game which will be Mayo and either Dublin or Kerry, depending who wins the semi-final on Sunday! We see a lot of the Mayo fan base around here, as I said before, Castlebar is in County Mayo.
They sing a song which says "I wish I was on that N17 stone walls and the grass is green" and I love the song but didn't know what the N17 was all about. Now I know! It is the road that goes from the town of Sligo to the town of Galway, and I pass under it every time I take Haley to Castlebar!
They also sing a song that goes "Oh the green and red of mayo, I can see it still, it's soft and craggy boglands, it's tall majestic hills" and NOW I know that the mayo colors are green and red - and the green and red flags are EVERYWHERE right now for the GAA football championship game which will be Mayo and either Dublin or Kerry, depending who wins the semi-final on Sunday! We see a lot of the Mayo fan base around here, as I said before, Castlebar is in County Mayo.
SCHOOL REPORT
Haley managed fairly well with her first day. She found her classes (it is a small school) and made some friends and may need to adjust her schedule if she can. She has an Irish class - which for her is just a study hall, but we thought she could see about adding another class instead. She believes she is understanding the teacher's accents, but the terminology is another matter entirely! One teacher told them to pull out their copies - Haley didn't know what they meant. She then learned that copies are small, soft-covered notebooks that are available for purchase at any school supply store. They look like blue-book exam booklets. She needs these for every class, and also a hard-cover notebook, which we think is your basic spiral notebook, however, there are notebooks sold that have actual book bindings - we are hoping she doesn't have to get those!
For lunch they just get a free hour. For the schools in the Cities, this means the students can go oout in the town for lunch, to sit outside at a park, or even shopping, buut Haley's school is in the country so there is no going off campus for lunch!
She has not yet gotten a locker, but that should happen soon I'm sure. She had some people contact her on facebook last night so things are looking up for her socially!
Got her off to her second day of school and hopefully it will also go well.
For lunch they just get a free hour. For the schools in the Cities, this means the students can go oout in the town for lunch, to sit outside at a park, or even shopping, buut Haley's school is in the country so there is no going off campus for lunch!
She has not yet gotten a locker, but that should happen soon I'm sure. She had some people contact her on facebook last night so things are looking up for her socially!
Got her off to her second day of school and hopefully it will also go well.
Thursday, 29 August 2013
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR HALEY
Drove Haley to school this morning. She is going to Moyne Community School which is about a 25 minute drive on some curvy Irish roads. Haley would not let me take a picture of her, so you will have to imagine her in the soft, gray pants, light blue button down shirt with collar, navy blue sweater with a coat of arms logo on the upper left, and black shoes with white soles. (Yes, black shoes are part of the uniform!) I drove to the parking lot and Haley got her bag and marched into the school to meet with the principal and get started at a new school.
Hope she is able to understand the teachers - it may be English but the accent can be hard for an American to follow!
We have all been stopped walking along the road for a driver asking directions. The guy who stopped me was amazed that I couldn't understand him. Connor had to tell him we just moved here and didn't have directions for him, but neither of us could really make out what place he was trying to find!
Have to go pick her up and hope she had a grand experience!
Hope she is able to understand the teachers - it may be English but the accent can be hard for an American to follow!
We have all been stopped walking along the road for a driver asking directions. The guy who stopped me was amazed that I couldn't understand him. Connor had to tell him we just moved here and didn't have directions for him, but neither of us could really make out what place he was trying to find!
Have to go pick her up and hope she had a grand experience!
Last Day of Summer Break for Haley
Wednesday, August 28th was Haley's last day of summer freedom, so we took a break for unpacking the furniture, discarding the crates, and putting bed frames together and drove back up to Rosses Point in County Sligo. First we went to the town of Sligo and walked around. We found a TJ Maxx store and several others that looked promising for a day of shopping! We had lunch at a tiny pub with an even tinier menu, and the food was grand! We then found chicken strips for Zach and we were on our way to the beach. At Rosses Point we rested on the beach and walked into the surf. The weather was mild, about 60 degrees, but cooler when there was cloud cover. Always plenty of cloud cover here. In the pictures, you can see a patch of blue - here that is a sunny day! Haley and I wore tank tops, but needed our jackets as the sun got covered by clouds. We laughed about zipped up hoodies on the beach, as there is a commercial that says something about that being a sure part of an Irish summer! The tide was out and the water wasn't too cold - nothing like Lake Michigan anyway! Apparently the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Current push warm, tropical waters up into the Nordic Seas and thus along the Irish coast so it doesn't get the bone-chilling cold of Lake Michigan.
You will also note that we get darn good cell phone coverage out here!
Eventually we decided to head home so we could have a good dinner and relax in the evening. At night we watched a soccer match on tv - Celtics of Scotland against Shakhter Karagandy of Kazakhstan. Then off to bed as Haley had school the next day!
Eventually we decided to head home so we could have a good dinner and relax in the evening. At night we watched a soccer match on tv - Celtics of Scotland against Shakhter Karagandy of Kazakhstan. Then off to bed as Haley had school the next day!
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
SETTLING IN
Zach has decided to take up hiking around Ireland, which is a good plan as there are lots of great hiking routes and hostels and backpackers and there is so much history here that he will find lots of things to expand his mind! With the hiking plan in mind, the kids took a day in Connor's last week to hike the canal walk which goes right through County Longford. The full trail is a 3 day hike ending in Dublin. They just did a part of it, I dropped them off at a trail head and they hiked for about 3 hours. I picked them up at a pub in Cloondara and everyone seemed to enjoy the walk.
Steve and Connor flew out of Dublin on the 17th of August. Steve drove us to the airport, and I had to drive back home. Haley was the best co-pilot ever and we got home safely. That night we went to a soccer match which was Longford v. Galway Salthill Devon. Longford won 4 to 0! The game was great - though the players use colorful language and they are loud! One player was doing a throw-in, his teammate called for the pass and he responds "F-no! You're not on!" It was just such a surprise to us! They have the chanting fan section and people yell things like "C'mon lads!" and "C'mon ref you're fond of those yellow cards!" I had such a good time and I showed Haley the big bar they have at the City Calling Stadium - which is the clubhouse and apparently every team that has a field has a club house. They do not serve beer during the games.
On Sunday, August 18, Haley turned 17! As I noted in an earlier post, I managed to bake the traditional Hogan/Schlueter birthday cake and Haley had a scrimmage in Castlebar. I think she had a good birthday but I still have to pony up with a gift! When have I had time to shop?!
Then, while Steve was in Chicago and Iowa City getting Connor settled for school, our sea shipment arrived. We have way too much CRAP! And we had already sold beds, couches, table and chairs, games, books, toys, appliances, etc. We will have to pare it down even more, obviously...
Steve and Connor flew out of Dublin on the 17th of August. Steve drove us to the airport, and I had to drive back home. Haley was the best co-pilot ever and we got home safely. That night we went to a soccer match which was Longford v. Galway Salthill Devon. Longford won 4 to 0! The game was great - though the players use colorful language and they are loud! One player was doing a throw-in, his teammate called for the pass and he responds "F-no! You're not on!" It was just such a surprise to us! They have the chanting fan section and people yell things like "C'mon lads!" and "C'mon ref you're fond of those yellow cards!" I had such a good time and I showed Haley the big bar they have at the City Calling Stadium - which is the clubhouse and apparently every team that has a field has a club house. They do not serve beer during the games.
On Sunday, August 18, Haley turned 17! As I noted in an earlier post, I managed to bake the traditional Hogan/Schlueter birthday cake and Haley had a scrimmage in Castlebar. I think she had a good birthday but I still have to pony up with a gift! When have I had time to shop?!
During the week we went to Durkins in Longford to buy Haley's uniform. (I can't see that sign without humming, "Good-bye Mrs. Durkin, I'm sick and tired of workin, no more I'll dig your praties, no longer I'll be poor.." Irish Rovers yeah!) Anyway, the uniform must be purchased there. She had to buy grey pants, light blue shirts, and a navy jumper. At first she was like, "I am NOT wearing a jumper!" Then we learned that a jumper is a sweater! Oh... So she is wearing the jumper - and apparently they are required to have them on at all times at school. It has a logo for the school on it - very Gryffindor! - and though she disagrees, Haley looks great in it!
Then, while Steve was in Chicago and Iowa City getting Connor settled for school, our sea shipment arrived. We have way too much CRAP! And we had already sold beds, couches, table and chairs, games, books, toys, appliances, etc. We will have to pare it down even more, obviously...
When they arrived, I went outside to move the car, and the dogs insisted on getting in with me, so I let them in the car. After I parked it, I opened the door and they wouldn't budge. I left the door open and the dogs just slept in the car the whole time the movers were there!
The poor moving guys - thought the furniture looked nice but found it pretty darn heavy! We finally had our own beds, though and that was great. We are still unpacking and finding places for things and getting the house in order. It may be a while!
The moving guys did laugh at all our outdoor furniture and asked if we were expecting good weather?! But the day of the shipment WAS sunny and in the upper 60's so when we could take a break, we sat out on the patio and I had a Cider!
I drove to the airport on Sunday morning (August 25th) by myself (successfully!) as Haley needed to sleep for her game that day. His flight came in at 4:45 in the morning - aarrrggghhh!!! but we got home, had a couple hours of sleep, then drove to Castlebar for Haley's first conference game. Upon arrival, learned that she can't play until FAI gets international clearance - what?! Still, it was a great game, fun to watch and Haley's team beat Cork 2 to 1. After the game, they served sandwiches and juice in the clubhouse - for everyone - both teams and all the fans! It was pretty cool and a nice way to keep the games civil - right? You socialize with the opponents! It was really neat - one of the many things I love about Ireland!
Now I'm not sure if they always do this or if it was just because the GAA football semi-final game between Tyrone and Mayo was going on that day in Dublin. It was being televised and they had it playing at the clubhouse and they were, in fact, serving beer! We were pretty tired so we drove home and watched the end of the game at home. Mayo won! (Castlebar is in County Mayo and Tyrone is in Northern Ireland).
It was a long week, and I found myself missing Connor CONSTANTLY, but keeping busy helps...
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