BlogPostSun27Sept09
Well, I’m on my way home. In a beautiful Cork International Airport Hotel to catch an early flight in the morning for Dublin and thence Atlanta. I am amazed at the luxury with which I’ve been surrounded in the hotels. Tourism is truly big business here – as it is in SC, of course.
Kathy left yesterday to go home about noon, taking the bus to downtown Cork and on to Shannon airport. It was a quiet, overcast day – no rain but a bit chilly comparatively speaking. Of course, I’ve been wearing long sleeves and sweaters and/or jackets much of the time I’ve been here. Still, the air is so clean, the sun so bright, the rain so soft, life has been beautiful every day. They tell me the rain can be horrific during the winter. The town has had major flooding at least 19 times and they are now in the process of improving the drainage system piece by piece as the work can be completed. The major portion of the town is now sitting on what was once harbor water – silted in over the years – deforestation using trees for barrels, ships, etc. – in part responsible.
This morning Margie and I went to a little Bohemian restaurant in Ballinspittle, a little village near Kinsale, for beautiful waffles with whip cream and strawberries. As usual, scrumptious food! These people truly know how to serve food! Every chef should come here for lessons. Anyway, then she drove us through the clean, clear, beautiful countryside to the airport. So, we said our goodbyes. Goodbye to Kathy yesterday but I’ll see her again soon! Not so with Margie, Alana and Joan. Of course, it wouldn’t have were it not for Luke’s Rotary connection. Thanks, Luke!
Somehow I feel obligated to assess this experience of two months in Ireland but I think I’m not far enough beyond it yet. I will say that I certainly cannot promise I won’t come back again – even though that seems very selfish and perhaps narrow. Maybe I should try a similar experience in another place? I do know that I have made at least three very good friends in Alana, Margie and Joan. It has been amazing how friendly they have been and how comfortable I am with each one of them now. It’s like having three new sisters! Not in my wildest dreams did I expect that to happen!
Despite the difficulties, perhaps because of them, I feel much more ready to take off again somewhere else on my own. The risk-taking involved was so fulfilling and educational and FUN even if a little scary. And, I think two months is just about the right time length for me to begin to feel at home in the environment. Primarily it means that places and faces begin to be familiar. It’s fun to see friend Joan in the SuperValu or to run into my yoga teacher in the farmer’s market – or to recognize some of the same faces walking back and forth past my flat to and from work. To attend the same church several Sundays in a row – and to begin to recognize faces there. All of that makes the trip so special. Watching the lines of people waiting at the Social Services Office or the medical clinic – hearing the noise level escalate beginning with the music in the pubs at 9:30 in the evening. Buying scones from the same baker several times – once they were still in the oven and I went home, drank a bit of green tea, and then back to buy them while just out of the oven. Learning to use a pay phone again. Doing without a telephone. Watching Irish VHS and DVD’s, listening to Irish CD’s, - not what I picked, but what someone else picked. I could go on. But perhaps this begins to describe my trip.
Enough for now. Tomorrow is travel day – so no blog. Perhaps when I get back to the Pond and get my Broadband access off “vacation” I’ll do another review. Thanks to each of you who shared this adventure with me. The blog writing has been fun. I hope you have enjoyed reading it and have gained at least a little of one woman’s escapades!
What a joy to be able to send this NOW. Wireless available in my hotel room!
Well, I’m on my way home. In a beautiful Cork International Airport Hotel to catch an early flight in the morning for Dublin and thence Atlanta. I am amazed at the luxury with which I’ve been surrounded in the hotels. Tourism is truly big business here – as it is in SC, of course.
Kathy left yesterday to go home about noon, taking the bus to downtown Cork and on to Shannon airport. It was a quiet, overcast day – no rain but a bit chilly comparatively speaking. Of course, I’ve been wearing long sleeves and sweaters and/or jackets much of the time I’ve been here. Still, the air is so clean, the sun so bright, the rain so soft, life has been beautiful every day. They tell me the rain can be horrific during the winter. The town has had major flooding at least 19 times and they are now in the process of improving the drainage system piece by piece as the work can be completed. The major portion of the town is now sitting on what was once harbor water – silted in over the years – deforestation using trees for barrels, ships, etc. – in part responsible.
This morning Margie and I went to a little Bohemian restaurant in Ballinspittle, a little village near Kinsale, for beautiful waffles with whip cream and strawberries. As usual, scrumptious food! These people truly know how to serve food! Every chef should come here for lessons. Anyway, then she drove us through the clean, clear, beautiful countryside to the airport. So, we said our goodbyes. Goodbye to Kathy yesterday but I’ll see her again soon! Not so with Margie, Alana and Joan. Of course, it wouldn’t have were it not for Luke’s Rotary connection. Thanks, Luke!
Somehow I feel obligated to assess this experience of two months in Ireland but I think I’m not far enough beyond it yet. I will say that I certainly cannot promise I won’t come back again – even though that seems very selfish and perhaps narrow. Maybe I should try a similar experience in another place? I do know that I have made at least three very good friends in Alana, Margie and Joan. It has been amazing how friendly they have been and how comfortable I am with each one of them now. It’s like having three new sisters! Not in my wildest dreams did I expect that to happen!
Despite the difficulties, perhaps because of them, I feel much more ready to take off again somewhere else on my own. The risk-taking involved was so fulfilling and educational and FUN even if a little scary. And, I think two months is just about the right time length for me to begin to feel at home in the environment. Primarily it means that places and faces begin to be familiar. It’s fun to see friend Joan in the SuperValu or to run into my yoga teacher in the farmer’s market – or to recognize some of the same faces walking back and forth past my flat to and from work. To attend the same church several Sundays in a row – and to begin to recognize faces there. All of that makes the trip so special. Watching the lines of people waiting at the Social Services Office or the medical clinic – hearing the noise level escalate beginning with the music in the pubs at 9:30 in the evening. Buying scones from the same baker several times – once they were still in the oven and I went home, drank a bit of green tea, and then back to buy them while just out of the oven. Learning to use a pay phone again. Doing without a telephone. Watching Irish VHS and DVD’s, listening to Irish CD’s, - not what I picked, but what someone else picked. I could go on. But perhaps this begins to describe my trip.
Enough for now. Tomorrow is travel day – so no blog. Perhaps when I get back to the Pond and get my Broadband access off “vacation” I’ll do another review. Thanks to each of you who shared this adventure with me. The blog writing has been fun. I hope you have enjoyed reading it and have gained at least a little of one woman’s escapades!
What a joy to be able to send this NOW. Wireless available in my hotel room!
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