Happy Birthday, America

July 5, 2008

Okay, okay, you can quite your badgering. To those of you impatiently requesting more posts, we apologize. Unfortunately, we still don’t have internet in the flat, so it’s difficult to upload. There’s loads of internet cafes in which you can use their computers, but only one café with wireless in which we can use our own laptop. Our frequent visits to Café Notto are becoming a bit conspicuous…

Things are finally warming up around here. We’ve had a week of lovely weather, with only one rainy day. We took advantage of the sun on Friday to explore Dublin Zoo in the middle of Phoenix Park. The price was a bit steep, but it was great to see some animals and eavesdrop on the funny things Irish people say to their children, such as, “That rhino could topple a car,” and “Mind your head, Colum, and be sure to step out properly.” Silly foreigners. We found it especially ironic to eat our lunches at the African Safari exhibit – Dublin isn’t exactly ideal weather for giraffes, zebras and ostriches.

We’ve had a couple fun nights out with friends. Al made some real Irish friends! Her coworkers at Dobbins are college-age Dubliners and they took us around to some less-touristy spots. It was great to get out of Temple Bar and travel with locals. In addition to fun dancing and conversation, our new friend Keith became determined to teach us how to speak like Irish girls. In these parts, French fries are “chips” and chips are “crisps,” which we find to be an unnecessarily tongue-tying word. But Keith wouldn’t hear our protests. He made Al declare to the River Liffey that “I love myself and I love my crisps” in her best Irish accent, until he was convinced she meant it. It took several tries before he was satisfied with her Irish drawl.

Last night was Independence Day and it was slightly disturbing to see how celebrated it was over here. Foreigners know the tune to our national anthem, the words to our Pledge of Allegiance and even the candidates for our upcoming election. The DJs announced the holiday in between songs like “Born in the USA” and “American Boy.” What other country in the world spreads its culture so far and so wide? We can’t recite the Spanish National Athem, nor could we tell you France’s Independence Day. It was interesting to see the US’s influence, and it was embarrassing to see the gross tourists from LA clad in “I (heart) the USA” t-shirts and red white and blue face-paint. No wonder Europeans find us obnoxious.

Al has the next few days off, so we’re traveling west to Galway for a couple of nights. We just purchased our bus tickets and hostel stays, and the rest will fall into place when we get there. Galway is the biggest city on the west coast and unlike Dublin, it takes advantage of its coast, earning its notoriety for the beaches and the boats. It should be a lovely little trip! We’ll write again when we return.

Slainte, luck and love,

Al and Mer