One Year in Éire

Here it is, as promised a re-cap of my year!

Wow. I don't know how a year a went by so fast! It feels like just the other day I was wandering around Dublin wide-eyed and often lost. Now some people actually mistake me for a native. It is hard for me to some up a whole year in one little post. I moved here on a whim, hoping that it would work out but not really sure what would happen and if I could make it for a whole year far from home. But I did it and it was great!

Since arriving in Ireland I have:
-survived a cold winter with snow
-survived the rain in general (hey I'm from the desert)
-survived floods
-survived a nearby shooting/horse stampede
-visited Kildare, Kilkenny, Wicklow, Galway, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Mayo, Sligo, Meath, Leitrim and Antrim.
-visited Wales, Spain and the Canary Islands
-walked the footsteps of James Joyce
-worked in the Dublin Fringe Festival and the Dublin Theatre Festival
-was in an all female production of Hamlet
-learned that I love tulips and eggs benedict (not together)
-learned a tiny bit of Irish
-learned to love and how to make a full Irish breakfast
-call fries chips and potato chips crisps-and eat my chips with vinegar
-developed a tiny bit of a weird quasi Irish accent
-had more than my fair share of whiskey and guinness
-celebrated St. Patrick's Day and Arthur's Day (and Thanksgiving)
-worked with 2 community drama groups
-climbed the Sugar Loaf and did the Bray Cliff Walk
-saw the all Ireland rugby team play England
-saw an equestrian show at the Royal Dublin Society

While I was in Ireland:

-Queen Elizabeth II came to town

-So did President Obama-Prince William married Kate Middleton
-Osama and Gadaffi were killed
-Egypt had a revolution
-Libya is in civil war
-a massive tsunami and earthquake hit Japan
-major floods in Thailand
-tragic terrorist attacks in Norway
-massive government bailouts in the U.S. and Europe bring us to the Occupy Wall Street movement -which is still currently going on and has had many similar movements here and in Europe.

So as you can see it has bee an amazing year full of new experiences and so I have decided to stay here for another year to see what other exciting things might happen!

Thank you all for reading for a whole year, I have really enjoyed writing this and as I look back on all my posts I am glad that I have some of my ramblings written down and that I was able to share them with others.

The big question is should I continue writing this blog? What do you think?

Slainte!

Lanzarote

Ok. So I know I am cheating again because this is supposed to be about my time in Ireland. I have learned, however, that people in Ireland take holidays (a thing that is difficult for some of us Americans to understand) and that they often go to places such as Lanzarote to enjoy warm weather and help cope with the rain and cold that they must endure. Therefore, I see this as merely a way as further experiencing Ireland on a more local/native level.

Anyways, Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, has an incredible landscape created from volcanic activity most of which occurred during the 19th century. The black volcanic rock is barren and foreboding, but unlike most desert landscapes the ocean can almost always be seen.

It is mostly a tourist destination filled with resorts and all the obnoxious things that tend to come with that sort of place. I was glad that we rented a car for three days and were able to get a better sense of the whole island, rather than sit in a hotel for a week which some people seemed to do. The car we rented was a green jeep wrangler and it was stick shift and yes I drove. I have learned that the roads in Lanzarote are very poorly marked, that a sat nav really is not alway correct, and if a rental car seems like a really good deal it probably isn't. The jeep often started from third gear and fell out of gear a few times. Fortunately we had a jeep when the sat nav decided that a dirt road that I recognized to be one for off roading was the way to go. Still the car got us where we needed to go and it was a lot of fun.

There were tons of Irish pubs on the island which I am still having trouble deciding how I feel about. On the one hand it is nice to be able to go far away and find a place where there will be a piece of home and people from your country. We met a very kind, eccentric woman from Cork and I could see that everyone was enjoying themselves in their Irish way watching Ireland win an important football match. But I couldn't help but feel that it was strange and sort of cheating yourself out of experiencing traveling abroad. There are not really any places in Ireland that I can go to that would be like home. I would not even consider going to a Starbucks or a McDonalds and there really isn't the equivalent of an Irish pub in American culture.

Alright I will stop waxing philosophical and let my photos speak for me.

View of La Graciosa from Mira del Rio

Papagayo

Volcano!

Ides of November (not quite I know)

I survived the weekend in Mayo. I actually really wasn't that worried about it, I just pretended I was because I can sometimes be a bit dramatic. It was lovely and I always find the landscapes of the West to be beautiful.  Of course some cute kids running around always makes things more fun.

My Halloween was quite uneventful. This is truly a sign that I am getting old. I didn't even wear a costume. Granted, as an actor I have the opportunity to wear costumes on many other occasions so it really isn't the end of the world. Also, I think that I simply don't really like Halloween. I don't horror very well. Ever since I was four and had a traumatic experience in a haunted house I don't really like it. I did, however, experience my first-what are called "lock ins" in which one gets locked in a pub. Sounds pretty good, right? A traditional lock in is usually when a pub wants to continue serving after hours so they lock the doors to make it look like it's closed and tell everyone to keep it down and they can stay. This lock in was to keep drunk, rowdy Halloween people out, which was great for me and my newly realized awareness that I don't like Halloween. Or at least the scary part of Halloween. I do like pumpkins and pumpkin pie and apple cider-all the wonderful foods and smells that I associate with autumn.

I also saw the film Ides of March, which only made me more anxious about the 2012 presidential election. Ireland just held their presidential election, and although their president is a different position politically, their election process was much calmer and the campaigns only lasted a few months at the most. In Ireland you have three votes, your first choice candidate, second choice, and third choice. I imagine this is a nightmare when it come to counting the ballots-Ireland still has yet to update to electronic voting systems-but it certainly is very democratic.  I think the American campaigning process is cut-throat (to say the least) and depends heavily upon marketing, propaganda and capitalism. It seems we have lost the point of what an election  and what democracy is. And stepping off my soap box now.

As of Sunday I will have been in Ireland one whole year. It went by too fast! I think I will wait and dedicate a completely new post to reflecting on my year in Ireland once it has officially been a year. Gotta keep you guys reading.  Tomorrow I am off to Lanzarote for some sunshine before the winter comes. Don't be too jealous, I had to struggle through a chilly, rainy summer. And we did just have some serious flooding.

Back soon!