Lung cancer, anyone?

Well, I've somehow been in Ireland for over a month already.  I often find myself wondering what's crazier: the fact that we've been here for a month, or the fact that we have 3 to go.  Either way, I feel like I've become very accustomed to the Irish culture and I'm loving every second.

A few weekends ago we got the opportunity to go on a homestay visit.  Basically everyone in our program got divided up into pairs and got to live with an Irish family for the weekend.  Unfortunately, my partner never showed up for school, so it was just me and a lovely 70-year-old couple.  Joan and Jackie have been married for 48 years and they still live in the same house that Joan (the mom) grew up in as a kid.  Needless to say, I got a true Irish experience.

Their home is a little cottage on a big piece of land about 10 minutes away from the small city of Charleville.  The square footage is probably the equivalent of one or two American classrooms and included two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a small living room.  They have no heat besides a small fireplace that barely warms up the living room, so you can literally see your breath in every other room.  Joan seemed to enjoy a few cigarettes (about a pack or two a day), so those probably keep her warm.  In order to sleep, I wore a long sleeve shirt and a hoodie, with 2 quilts and that seemed to do the job.

As is true in most places in Ireland, there wasn't a lot to do on the weekend so we were either enjoying a homecooked meal, or watching sports at a nearby pub.  While it was nice for a few days, I definitely would be bored out of my mind if that was the way I lived every day.  I also got laughed at for not eating 5 potatoes in one meal.  One night we had an Irish stew and on the side each of us had 5, regular sized potatoes.  When I only finished four, and could barely move, Joan laughed at me and said "Not a big potato lover are ye?"  Sorry Joan, no I don't normally eat a month's worth of potatoes in one meal, but thanks for asking.

Overall, I appreciated the weekend.  Some people didn't enjoy it, but I enjoyed getting away for a while.  It happened to be the same weekend as Dave Hallman's tragedy, so it gave me a lot of time to reflect on how blessed am I to live the life that I do.  When I headed back to school on Sunday, I felt for the first time truly a part of the Irish society.  There's no need to be stressed, fast-paced, or worried about too much.  Easy livin' is the name of the game here.