A quick poll for all you non-Irish readers out there: [polldaddy poll=2747138] Her majesty’s royal subjects?
Living Overseas
The Thai-point of a Rainy Dublin Day
It’s late February in Dublin. The days are sometimes sunny, sometimes grey and wet. On days of the grey/wet variety I get the most out of my Dublin Bus Rambler Pass. I stare out the slick windows, at the lights, the raindrops, the people, the damp borders of the Green. My body is here: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkaxDLeNW5g&hl=en_US&fs=1&] […]
Off the Wagon
So a few weeks ago, I wrote a love letter to farmers’ markets and butcher shops. Buy fresh, I raved. Kale and salmon and yams and curried quinoa. The next farmers’ market is just around the corner! Fresh artichokes and heirloom tomatoes will be mine! Etcetera. And then, sometimes, Sean has 3 classes of number-shy teenagers […]
Christmas Crackers
I read a story written by one of my lecturers recently. It was about a family Christmas and in it, the mother bought two kinds of Christmas crackers – ones for the adults and ones for the kids. I was confused. Why would the kids need a different kind of cracker – were the adult […]
What Good is Sitting All Alone in Your Room?
You know how it goes. Move abroad, start making glittering plans for all of the new international trips you’re going to take. After all, Thailand/Russia/Peru were never so close before! Then: Work. Life. School. Life. Work. School. Or in my case: School. School. School. You wouldn’t think that having class for only 6 hours a […]
Your 84-Word Mini Berlin Culture Lesson
There is an extensive railway system – underground U-bahns and rapid transit S-bahns. You buy a ticket to ride at a machine near the entrance of the station, and then you take the ticket to another machine on the train tracks to validate it. There are no barricades between the ticket machine and the validation […]
Un-Turkey Day
Thanksgiving in Japan, 2008: The equipment: Two gas burners, one toaster oven, one microwave, no kitchen counter. The menu: Pan-roasted chicken, Maggie’s World Famous stuffing, mashed potatoes, canned corn, green bean casserole, gravy, dried cranberries, Mon Frere red wine. The Veuve Cliquot Champagne was a congratulatory gift from Nakata-san after Obama was elected. Thanksgiving in […]
Osmosis, Like
Acclimating to a new country is so different this time around, thanks in enormous part to the fact that I speak the official language. As such, I’m able to pick up things about Irish culture simply by listening and looking. It’s learning at its lazy finest. Here, some tidbits I’ve picked up over the past […]
While on the Subject of Children’s Games ….
Sean is a karate MASTER which means that his biceps are big and fat. This makes them very nice to punch during a spontaneous game of Punch Buggy when a Volkswagen Beetle passes us outside of The National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology. Sean: Hey! Why did you hit me? Liv: Punch buggy black – […]
What Stinks?
The great thing about apartment hunting with Sean is that we can discuss our thoughts in the relative privacy of the Japanese language. For obvious reasons, this wouldn’t have worked in Japan. And, sure, it could drastically backfire against us. 例えば： Realtor: And here you have the kitchen. Mind you, it’s part of the living […]