“Let the Shenanigans Begin!”
Eric and I arrived in Ireland on October 6th to a heat wave and got a nice warm welcome hug from Ireland! While the temperature has dropped from 70 to 50 degrees in the last week, it’s remained relatively dry. But the rain is coming. When we tell the locals we are moving to Ireland from California, one of the reactions we’ve gotten is, “You serious?” When we look at the 79-degree weather forecast for Del Mar, we think it’s a fair question. Nevertheless, we are grateful for the opportunity to be here.
First Impressions: We’re glad we decided to wait until we arrived in Ireland to look for a place to live. It’s very hard to get a sense of what towns are like until you see them. Most of the country, outside of the few major cities, is quite rural, and most of the roads are country roads (really bike paths that cars drive on in both directions). While driving on the other side of the road takes some getting used to, the more terrifying thing is how narrow the roads are and how close you drive to oncoming traffic. The fact that our car has a button to tuck in the side mirrors while driving is kind of alarmingly useful.
A Place to Live: Our first order of business has been finding a place to live, but our dream of finding a charming cottage within walking distance of a small town hasn’t been quite as easy as we’d hoped. Every real estate agent has been telling us the same thing — there are no rentals. But it’ll be grand! We know we’ll find something.
We are currently staying with friends Bette and Fintan from the US, who own a B&B in an incredibly picturesque location on the Ring of Kerry in the southwest corner of Ireland. Bette is a longtime family friend. Her husband Fintan, who we’ve also known for years, grew up in Ireland and still has family here. They are closing their B&B for the winter and are heading back to the US. They have generously offered to let us extend our stay after they leave, which buys us time to find a place long term. We are grateful to have a such fabulous place to live for the time being!
Bette & Fintan, Friends from the US
While you might not be able to get everything here that you can get in the States, there are some things in this little town that you can’t find in San Diego.
The People & Culture: The Irish are very friendly, warm, and welcoming. We are trying to learn a bit about the culture and figure out how to pronounce the Irish/Gaelic. The prime minister of the country is called the Taoiseach, pronounced “tee-shuhk”. What the heck? The Irish accent is lovely, though, and has so much charm. However, I read that it’s very annoying if Americans try to speak with an Irish accent. When I told this to Eric, he of course put on his thickest Lucky Charms accent, so I’m going to need to keep him in check!
We’re not really in tourist mode, but we have been able to enjoy the beautiful county and see a couple interesting historic sites along the way: Askeaton Castle & Friary, Foynes Flying Boat Museum, and Glendalough Monastery.
A Bit O' Blarney 
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