Series of Unfortnate Events

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Before getting to my exciting trip to Ireland, I need to give a little O'Hara Christmas update. On Dec. 24th I picked my sister and her family (husband and two kids) up from the Syracuse airport. When they got off the airport, I could immediately tell that their flight wasn't ideal... to say the least. It turns out that their oldest daughter, Maisy, got sick on both flights coming to Syracuse. The story of her getting sick is pretty funny, but I said I was going to keep this blog kid-friendly, so I'll only tell you that this was the first ominous sign of things to come. Coincidentally, Maisy asked for the first book in the Series of Unfortunate Events as her Christmas from me this year. Oh how ironic this turned out to be as our travails began to unfold. As you can probably imagine, the fun was just starting. On Christmas night, my sister's youngest, Addy, decided it was her turn to take part in the fun new diet and got sick all night Christmas night and into the 26th. We left on the 27th wondering who was going to be next. We were sure that adults were immune to this dreadful sickness as it had only hit two kids at the time we left. We drove to New York City to catch our plane and we were getting very excited to arrive in Ireland the following morning. About five minutes into the airport, my sister had the dreadful feeling and immediately knew she was next in line. About an hour into the flight, my stomach started to go crazy and I knew that I wasn't being spared. Todd, my sister's husband made it all of the way to Ireland and half-way to our first stop in Ireland before things caught up to him. It's now Thursday night (the 29th) and we have all just had our first meal together and have been out of our Bed and Breakfast for over a half an hour. Last piece about this stomach bug before moving on to the actual trip... my sister was able to call home to check on our girls and my daughter had already gotten the bug since we left and it had already hit my poor mother who agreed to take care of all three girls while we went off and played. Nasty, nasty thing. Did I mention that there was also a small septic issue at my mother's house and my grandmother had a trip to the hospital on Christmas? Yeah, so far, so good.

Knowing there was nothing we could do, we carried on with our plans and heading to Ireland. As you can imagine, I haven't seen too much of the island yet. My entire time in the car has been laying down in the back seat. Oh, and the car I have to take a minute to describe. It's called the Ford Ka. Todd jokes that if it were a little bit bigger they could've fit the "r" at the end to make it a full "Kar." This thing is like a giant roller skate. When my sister was telling me we got an economy car, I was thinking a Prius. A Prius would look like a Suburban next to this death machine on four wheels. So, imagine a 6'1" dude curled up in the fetal position in the back seat of this luxury car as we scoot hourlessly around Ireland. Good thing I have a sense of humor.

The first part of the trip to Ireland was a stop in Kilkenny. Not to harp on how sick I was, but we picked up the rental car in the basement of the airport, I slept in the backseat for the two hour drive, immediately went into the house and didn't leave my bed until we were ready to move on the next day. To say the least, I didn't see a bit of Ireland prior to, nor in, Kilkenny. I hear it's really nice when you're not dying.

The big to do today (Thursday) was to visit the Rock of Cashel and besides the 50 mile per hour wind gusts, it was pretty unexciting... but then again, my main goal was just to simply not get sick. I'll post pics tonight or tomorrow when I have time, but leave it to Wikipedia to give you the full details of the rock.

(Added on Friday)- I was never able to post yesterday and we just returned from one of the MUST-DOs when traveling to Ireland- The Ring of Kerry. This is definitely one of the more picturesque 80 mile loops in the world... when you're not stuck in a driving sideways rain and fog has enveloped the island. Yup, things aren't exactly falling into place for us yet. Despite our bad luck, we are having a great time and sharing some invaluable family time together. Irish eyes are smiling down upon us.

The pieces of this blog that you guys (students) will probably like are my observations of life over here. Here are a few quick observations:


• Because I've been so intimate with the toilet, I did notice right away that there's no water in the toilets. Exciting, right? The water only comes in once you've finished. Ok, enough about the toilets.
• We've noticed that the Irish don't like to make the "th" sound. The number 30 is said as "Tirty" and so on. After have a fun conversation with a local, I asked what it is that we (Americans) do or say that is funny. The first thing she mentioned was how we never say please. Ouch. Here I thought I was overly nice. She said we always say thank you, but never please. I promised her that I'm going to start saying please from now on for everything. Make sure I keep my promise. The second thing she mentioned is how we use our fork as a knife. She said that she notices us cutting everything with our fork even though we have a knife sitting right next to our plate. In Ireland, everyone eats with a fork in one hand and a knife in the other.
• I've also now fully realized how tv centric our American culture has gotten to be. The bed and breakfast tvs have all been about ten inches and if I pub/restaurant has a tv, it's small and out of the way so that it's not a distraction. Conversation is a huge part of the Irish culture and I love this and wish it were more a part of the US culture.
• Tied to this last observation, I am without my phone for this entire week. For those that know me well, this is a HUGE challenge for me to overcome. There are so many times I want to reach for the phone, but can't. It forces me to actually think or talk with people to find an answer to whatever it is that I'm thinking about. Go figure. To add on to this frustration, I also don't have a computer. I'm now borrowing my sister's just so that I can write this blog. There's a big piece of me that so misses being connected to the world, but another equally big piece of me that sees the importance of leaving everything behind. I hope I survive another five days without!
• What else would you like to know? The roads are only wide enough to fit two very small cars (no shoulders). There's amazing water pressure everywhere you go (seems like this has been dwindling in the US). Seems like we've seen the same old Irish man walking around every town. Very distinct description for almost every older Irish man. Lambs are everywhere and they spray paint them for some reason. I'm sure I'll find out tonight after mingling with the locals. Hardly any cows here (at least where I've been so far). Gas is calculated in liters and not gallons (much like the rest of the world.
• If there are questions you have, please write back to this blog and I'll try fo find answers for you. It'll give me something to talk with the locals about. Everyone is so incredibly friendly. Are we this friendly in America, too?


Tomorrow we're staying in Dingle, but may take a side trip to see The South Pole. Check out Tom Crean if you're interested in reading about a tough guy.

Pictures tomorrow, I promise. Hope all is well. See you next Thursday... but I'll write two or three more times before then.

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