Sleepless in Ireland

    Jetlegg...it's a great thing isn't it?! Moving over here I went 7hrs ahead which originially i thought would be no big deal..wrong! The first few days were pretty rocky. I would be exhausted during the day and by night when I was really tired and headed for bed, as soon as I would lay down I would be wide awake, often not falling asleep until about 5am, and waking up @ 8am! Great stuff!
   I am definitely not in Canada anymore! For one thing, we wear our shoes in the house. This is something I aim to change. So far, were off to a good start! Another thing is we drive on the opposite side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. Streets here are extremely narrow and the round-a-bouts are scary!!! All the vehicles here are "gear shift" and run on diesel. Now, I have never driven standard so this is a whole new level of scary for me!! I am studying to take my Irish drivers licence in a gear-shift, since many of the road rules and street signs are different than from Canada! eeek!!!
   The vocabulary is another adjustment. We both speak English but it may as well be a whole new language. Words like "the boot" is the trunk of a car. "Hoover" is a vacumn. "Fringe" is like bangs". "Passenger car" is a van. I brought this certain word up trying to figure it out. If you think about it, all vehicles carry passengers so why is a van called a passenger car?? Here they say "thats gas!" meaning thats hilarious, and a gas station is called a petro station! When it comes down to it 7/10 words here are different so its been very interesting learning all the new vocabulary!

   My 1st week here has been a busy one! On my 2nd night here I walked into downtown Midleton which is about a 10-15min walk and met Elena, a spanish au pair @ the main pub called McDaids. Its the only pub here open until 2am. All others close @ 12am, as it is illegal to serve alcohol after that! I have gone on many walks thru the country side, thur Midleton, just exploring and getting my bearings in check! Here is a picture of McDaids!

On Saturday, I walked into town and hopped the bus to Cork City. Its about a 30min ride by bus. I walked all along St. Patrick Street going into the different shops, and exploring on my own. They have many different stores here which is really neat to shop in, but also have the familiar Tommy Hilfier and Gap. All of the locals are very nice as well! I met Marcel, who works as a DJ and is a bodyguard for a local radio station..I think. I also saw a man who does memorial paintings of the King of Pop on the sidewalks every Saturday!!

I also visited the English Marketplace here in Cork, which is a major tourist attraction. It reminded me of the farmers market on Grande Ville Island in Vancouver with all the seafood, meats, cheeses, you name it they had it!!

    My family here is amazing!! We had a big family lunch on Sunday and Jennifers parents bought me some sweets and her sister Deb got my Champagne as a welcome to Ireland gift! They have really gone our of their way to make me feel @ home which has really helped!! My new neighborhood is so cute and quiet! My room is upstairs in the elcove, overlooking the backard with my own bathroom. It's nice to be able to escape once and awhile if I want, and they have also created a tv "tellie" room upstairs where I can have personal space.

Its off the bed for me!

I love you, missing you in Ireland

XOXO

Kayla