4 Months in Eire

Well, it's been awhile since my last blog. I've been in Ireland for 4 months now, and I'm learning to quite like it. The lack of any sort of sense of time (as in On Time) in the natives is still annoying - will someone pleeeease tell these people that 8 o'clock means 8 o'clock and not 8:45??? - but all in all, a cool little Island.

I went back to the Vaterland for Christmas to stay with my best friend, her family and my German pseudo-mommy, Helga. It was nice to be in familiar territory, and to practise my German, and to experience the lovely efficiency of the German transport system. I know I'm going to moan about this until kingdom come, but the lack of efficiency in other countries (Dublin Bus, please note!) is dismaying in comparison. Anyway, I found that my Permanent Resident status still got me into the country without a fuss, which was nice. I had assumed the Big Brother in Berlin would have noted my absence from the country and had me in the computer system as currently a non-resident. But nope, the computer told the guard to look for my resident visa in my passport, and I blythely sailed through. Weeee!

In Berlin, I got to play the aristocrat with my British friend Pearl, as we met in the nicely snobby Wintergarten Cafe, filled with people who spent more on their winter coat than most people spend on their laptop computers. We discussed work, travel and men, not in that order. She's such fun! Then, back to economic reality as I growled about paying 6€ for a stupid keychain in the tacky tourist shops. I also got to wander up and down Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse, my favorite area of Berlin. I especially love the big Russian embassy that sort of glares down at you as you pass. Discovered that there is a new Guggenheim in the area, but had no time to go in - next time.

Now, back to Ireland. I'm still trying to figure out these people, but have had a hard time finding anyone who writes or thinks deeply about the Irish character. However, I have discovered that it's because the Irish are not a particularly introspective race - they don't bother with their own character or anyone else's for that matter... When faced with the deep and thoughtful, they get grumpy and turn to jokes, sarcasm and Guinness instead. Makes them much more fun, but a bit hard to understand. It's always a bit of a challange to figure out what's really going on underneath the "O, life's grand!" attitude because from the crime rate, depression and alcohol here, it's obvious that life is not always, er, grand. It is, however, a nice change from the German tendency to discuss in details their national character, current mental state, and unfortunate physical ailments in stultifying detail.

Next stop is Vegas for a week to clear some details on mom's estate. I'm thrilled to note that I am flying Maxjet, the all business class airline that has direct routes from London to Las Vegas. I got a roundtrip ticket for $1000! I have to fly Ryanair to London the day before to catch the flight, but believe me, it's worth it to avoid the usual 11 hour sardine can trip that is my usual method of trans-Atlantic travel. I'm very excited to see my friends and visit the church that I was a member of while there. And I will go play bingo in my mother's honor! I fyou haven't played bingo in a room full of aggressive senior citizens bent on winning, well, you haven't lived...