The craic was mighty!!

That means that I had a good time in Ireland. Craic= good times, fun. So you could ask "where's the good craic?" and they would tell you. And yes it's pronounced like "crack". I was only there for 7 days but I saw most of the country. There's alot to tell so I'm going to try to go in sequential order.

Arrived in Dublin. Took the bus to Cork. Hid my camera and tried to act like I wasn't a tourist. Sorry no pictures to display at this point. However, I did encounter a little culture shock. At the airport I was walking through baggage claim and there was an Irish lady pushing a cart and shouting "RUDE!" and pointed at each person she was passing. I tried desperately to get out of her way, but of course I jumped right in her path of craziness and she pointed and shouted "RUDE!" at me. I'm thinking, wow, are all the Irish like this? Luckily, I got out of Crazy Town and several nice people helped me find my way to the bus station and even one lady let me use her phone when I couldn't figure out how to use my phone card to call my sister.

So I get on the bus and it's pretty nice. We stopped along the way for a restroom/food break at a place that would be equivalent to a gas station but no gas. As I am leaving the restroom, I run into another Irish lady. She stops me and says, "teeelets." ummm, okay. So I smile and say hi. And she looks very confused and says, "do you know where?" Umm. "Excuse me?" "Teeelets?" "I'm not sure." She looks very angry at this point. "Teelets??!!" "I'm sorry, I really don't know what you are asking. Are you asking for the restroom? Toilets?" "NO! TEELETS!!" Oh, my gosh. I'm obviously not from here. Doesn't my obnoxious American accent tell you anything? However, this doesn't seem to deter her from getting louder. "Well, if you are looking for the toilets, it's right there." I point to the massive sign that says "Toilets". She says, "are you sure?" "YES. Very sure." So toilets is what you say instead of restroom. But it's pronounced Teelets. We definitely speak the same language. This is going to be harder than I thought.


Imagine all the stereotypes you have about the Irish and what Ireland is like and that is what it is. The men look like rugby players, they curse ALOT, they say inappropriate things ALOT, there are A LOT of pubs, everyone looks the same, Feck is their favorite word (yes, that is how they pronounce it), there are lots of red heads, old men walk with canes and little Jack Russell dogs, all beer comes in a pint, it's rainy and/or cloudy most of the time, there are random old castles on the side of the road everywhere, potatoes are served with every meal.

This is Katie. She is the youngest of the kids and she is obsessed with pink. She also came into my room and told me that it was messy and proceeded to pack my suitcase for me. Her favorite game is "what's this". She asked her mom what color I was, hoping that I would be pink. As you can see from the picture, she's a little diva.

Here are some pics of Cork.

To be continued......