I never leave my flat without my umbrella. Ever since it has turned too cold to wear my raincoat, my umbrella is my constant companion and new best friend. It is made of clear plastic and has black and white trim around the bottom. It looks like I am wearing a jellyfish on my head when I have it open. I have never been an umbrella carrier before; even in Portland, where it rains all the time, I usually just brave the wetness, but here, I don't. Instead, I take my umbrella out with me and swing it jauntily as I walk.
Before now, I avoided malls like the plague. But I make an exception here. In fact, I probably go to the mall once a week. Or maybe twice a week. Perhaps even three times. Because they are Irish malls, not American malls. So they are obviously much better and more entertaining.
Actually, this is true. Everyone goes to the mall in Derry. It's the hip-happening place to be, especially on a Sunday afternoon. Everyone and their grandmother (and their small, screaming children) are at the mall. Not just the teenagers. Everyone. And I think that that is why I go there. It's great for people watching. It's also the absolute best place to go when I want to be around people, but not with people. At those times, I go to Starbucks in Foyleside shopping center, and I sit at the table in the middle (with the chessboard on it), and I write in my journal/ read a book/ spy on the people around me. Because it's an Irish Starbucks, not an American Starbucks. So it's obviously much better. And they serve fairtrade coffee. So there you go. I also have a teeny crush on one of the baristas (I have dubbed him 'Damian'). He is adorable. Actually, way too good-looking for me (but I don't actually know him, so it's fine).
I have gone to at least one movie a week for the past eight weeks. I even saw 'Couples Retreat' (shameful, I know). I never go to movies at home unless they cost $6 or less, or if they are cool, semi-indie films that are playing at Fox Tower. But here, they only cost four-and-a-half pounds! Which sounds cheap (I never convert back to dollars. I prefer to live in ignorance). And the candy is fantastic. And there aren't that many other things to do, except go bowling. Sidenote: Derry is home to the nicest bowling alley on the planet. It is awesome. There is an actual, real, Spaghetti-Factoryesque restaurant! Inside the bowling alley! What!?!.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
And Now...Christmas
Santa has come to Foyleside shopping center. He brought with him a two-story, white plywood castle, a "Christmas Grotto," and at least three very short, men (women?) dressed in reindeer costumes. And a lot of twinkly icicle lights and Christmas cheer.
Derry is holiday-crazy city. It has at least, at least, five Halloween costume stores just on the main road, and there was an entire, full-size haunted house inside of the mall. It was Halloween in the beginning of September, and now that Halloween is over, it is instantly Christmas.
At first, this worried me a little bit. What was going to happen to all the Halloween stores? Where there owners going to starve? Or maybe they were going to migrate south for the winter? But then I realized that all the costume shops had converted (overnight!) to “Christmas Shops.” Phew.
Just a little piece of Christmas magic, I guess.
Every time that I walk down Strand Road, I notice that they have put up more decorations. It started small; just some subtle lights here and there, but now that we have passed the Halloween hurdle, there is no restraint. In the middle of the day, grown men are standing on ladders in the street, wrapping tinsel around lamp posts. Don't they have jobs that they need to be doing? How do they have all of this free time?
I like it.
I have never been one of those people who could listen to Christmas music at the beginning of November; it seems so wrong. What about Thanksgiving (just because you don't get any presents, and it celebrates that fact that Americans basically wiped out the Native American population, is that any reason to shortchange it? Come on, what's better than the Horn of Plenty and a rousing chorus of "We Gather Together?")? Doesn't Thanksgiving get it time to shine? It has always been a hurdle that prevents me from having early-November Christmas joy.
But they don't have Thanksgiving here. So that's not a problem anymore. I can celebrate Christmas from November 1st onward, and no other holiday is going to get its feelings hurt! I can download "All I Want For Christmas Is You," and listen to it continuously on my iPod for a whole day! And I can watch "Love Actually!" Twice!
I am liberated!
And soon, I shall buy a Christmas cake. What a great day that will be.
Derry is holiday-crazy city. It has at least, at least, five Halloween costume stores just on the main road, and there was an entire, full-size haunted house inside of the mall. It was Halloween in the beginning of September, and now that Halloween is over, it is instantly Christmas.
At first, this worried me a little bit. What was going to happen to all the Halloween stores? Where there owners going to starve? Or maybe they were going to migrate south for the winter? But then I realized that all the costume shops had converted (overnight!) to “Christmas Shops.” Phew.
Just a little piece of Christmas magic, I guess.
Every time that I walk down Strand Road, I notice that they have put up more decorations. It started small; just some subtle lights here and there, but now that we have passed the Halloween hurdle, there is no restraint. In the middle of the day, grown men are standing on ladders in the street, wrapping tinsel around lamp posts. Don't they have jobs that they need to be doing? How do they have all of this free time?
I like it.
I have never been one of those people who could listen to Christmas music at the beginning of November; it seems so wrong. What about Thanksgiving (just because you don't get any presents, and it celebrates that fact that Americans basically wiped out the Native American population, is that any reason to shortchange it? Come on, what's better than the Horn of Plenty and a rousing chorus of "We Gather Together?")? Doesn't Thanksgiving get it time to shine? It has always been a hurdle that prevents me from having early-November Christmas joy.
But they don't have Thanksgiving here. So that's not a problem anymore. I can celebrate Christmas from November 1st onward, and no other holiday is going to get its feelings hurt! I can download "All I Want For Christmas Is You," and listen to it continuously on my iPod for a whole day! And I can watch "Love Actually!" Twice!
I am liberated!
And soon, I shall buy a Christmas cake. What a great day that will be.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Reminders For Me
Sometimes I forget that I am in a different country. Everything feels so naturally normal now that I occasionally need to remind myself that I am in a new place, and it's great. Whenever I forget where I am or stop appreciating the fact that I am somewhere else, I sit and listen to the people around me talk. Even though I've been here awhile now, I still can't get over the accent. Every single Irish man gets automatic attractiveness points, just for the accent. And there are so many different ones (Derry is the hardest to understand; Belfast is musical). Yes! And I love the distinctly Irish phrasing of things. And that people say "cheers" instead of "thank you" and "what's the craic" instead of "what's up." And "youse!" I certainly do love "youse." I wish that I was cool enough to start using Irish phrases, but I don't think I am. Besides, I have to keep sounding American so that people will think that I'm exotic and interesting (Hahaha. Not).
If I was going to start smoking, swearing, or drinking a lot, this is the place where I would do it. I bet that a good third of the people here smoke, and they make it look cool. Smokers in America have sort of "social pariah" stigma about them; that is not the case here. I know a ton of people that smoke. I bet that half of my friends here do. And even though every single pack of cigarettes has a warning on it that says "SMOKING KILLS" it doesn't seem to faze anyone. Hmmm... it's an interesting phenomenon.
They also swear. A lot. But it's friendly swearing! I really enjoy, actually. If someone calls you a f***ing b****, it means that they like you. In fact, if people aren't swearing a lot, it makes me feel uncomfortable. It probably means that something is wrong, or that people are trying to be super-polite because I am an American. And that's no fun.
If I was going to start smoking, swearing, or drinking a lot, this is the place where I would do it. I bet that a good third of the people here smoke, and they make it look cool. Smokers in America have sort of "social pariah" stigma about them; that is not the case here. I know a ton of people that smoke. I bet that half of my friends here do. And even though every single pack of cigarettes has a warning on it that says "SMOKING KILLS" it doesn't seem to faze anyone. Hmmm... it's an interesting phenomenon.
They also swear. A lot. But it's friendly swearing! I really enjoy, actually. If someone calls you a f***ing b****, it means that they like you. In fact, if people aren't swearing a lot, it makes me feel uncomfortable. It probably means that something is wrong, or that people are trying to be super-polite because I am an American. And that's no fun.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Just Things
Halloween is tomorrow. I am going to be a peacock; a crazy, vogue-esque peacock with fun hair. It thought of it one night when I couldn't sleep because there were people outside of my window, singing (this actually happens a lot. Quite a lot. It irritates me and amuses me at the same time), so I was laying in bed, awake, for a long time. Apparently, Derry is the place to be on Halloween, which is pretty cool, I guess. Oh golly.
I love it here; It's pretty much great all of the time. But I do miss going out to brunch. You can't find French toast in a restaurant to save your life. Or waffles. I could do with a good waffle.
I hear that it is snowing already in Spokane. All I can say is, "Hahahaha! I'm soooo glad that I'm not there!" Not nice, but true. It's actually been super-warm of late; it's almost November and there's been Christmas things out for a month, but it's about sixty degrees outside. Maybe a tiny bit colder. But not much.
I wrote a paper this week. It's awful, but written.
One thing that I especially love about Derry is the doors (and doorknobs). The doors are made of wood and usually painted a fun color, and well over half of them have a doorknob right in the middle of the door. Not on the side. In the middle. I feel like I'm in Wonderland (you know, like Alice. That Wonderland).
I love it here; It's pretty much great all of the time. But I do miss going out to brunch. You can't find French toast in a restaurant to save your life. Or waffles. I could do with a good waffle.
I hear that it is snowing already in Spokane. All I can say is, "Hahahaha! I'm soooo glad that I'm not there!" Not nice, but true. It's actually been super-warm of late; it's almost November and there's been Christmas things out for a month, but it's about sixty degrees outside. Maybe a tiny bit colder. But not much.
I wrote a paper this week. It's awful, but written.
One thing that I especially love about Derry is the doors (and doorknobs). The doors are made of wood and usually painted a fun color, and well over half of them have a doorknob right in the middle of the door. Not on the side. In the middle. I feel like I'm in Wonderland (you know, like Alice. That Wonderland).
Sunday, October 25, 2009
An Adventure
Last night I learned that there is a movie called, "Plant a Watermelon on My Grave and Let the Juice Flow Through," and that it is possible to mime to words "Encyclopedia Britannica." It was an epic evening.
I spent the weekend in Portstewart, because I figured that I needed to go out and do something by myself to gain some confidence. So I booked a hostel for two nights and planned to see the Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle, and the Old Bushmills Distillery and then go back to Derry as a savvy and experienced traveller. Well, I saw that Giant's Causeway on Saturday morning. It was raining like the dickens and the wind was so strong that my umbrella turned inside-out four times; I ended up being more of black-and-white flowered windshield than an umbrella. The Causeway was nice and magnicifent. I stayed for ten minutes and then wandered around the gift shop for forty-five. Because it was honestly too wet to do anything else with myself. Oh, and I went to a pub (voted best pub in Northern Ireland 2009-2010! Neat!) and got Irish coffee because it was cheaper than anything. And quite delicious. Not as good as Baileys coffee, my new favorite thing, but still good, and I sat by the pub fire and wrote in my journal until the bus came to take me back to my hostel.
Rick's Causeway Coast Hostel is a wonderful place. It has this great front room with a coal-burning (what bliss!) fireplace, and it is full of comfy, squashy chairs covered in white slip-covers. It is also the abode of a large and placid orange-colored cat called (appropriately) Ginger. This is where I sat for most of the day, reading British Cosmo (I was on vacation, okay?) and eating fruit pastilles. Then some lovely and hilarious Irish and Australian people came in, and we played Charades until 1;30 in the morning. And Neesha (A boy. His name isn't actually spelled like that. It has some crazy-cool Irish spelling) and I were Team Awesome. And Sean, Eric and Kathy were Team Redmond, because that was all of their last names, because they were all related. And that's were I learned about the Watermelon movie, because I had to mime it. And I tried out my Irish phrases on Neesha-not-spelled-like-that and Sean, and they laughed (Apparently I can say "Where are your children?" in Irish. It could be useful, right?).
At 2 a.m. a group of slightly-drunk Swiss and German au pairs came in, and we all sat and laughed at each other for a while, and then we went to bed, where I discovered that it almost impossible to sleep, because the au pairs kept whispering in German and then laughing, and I kept wanting to know what they were talking about (I asked them this morning. They said that they were talking about using nose spray. Really), and because there were several Portugese guys in my room, and one of them was snoring really loudly, but it was fine, because I was having such a good time.
Now I am ready for anything.
I spent the weekend in Portstewart, because I figured that I needed to go out and do something by myself to gain some confidence. So I booked a hostel for two nights and planned to see the Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle, and the Old Bushmills Distillery and then go back to Derry as a savvy and experienced traveller. Well, I saw that Giant's Causeway on Saturday morning. It was raining like the dickens and the wind was so strong that my umbrella turned inside-out four times; I ended up being more of black-and-white flowered windshield than an umbrella. The Causeway was nice and magnicifent. I stayed for ten minutes and then wandered around the gift shop for forty-five. Because it was honestly too wet to do anything else with myself. Oh, and I went to a pub (voted best pub in Northern Ireland 2009-2010! Neat!) and got Irish coffee because it was cheaper than anything. And quite delicious. Not as good as Baileys coffee, my new favorite thing, but still good, and I sat by the pub fire and wrote in my journal until the bus came to take me back to my hostel.
Rick's Causeway Coast Hostel is a wonderful place. It has this great front room with a coal-burning (what bliss!) fireplace, and it is full of comfy, squashy chairs covered in white slip-covers. It is also the abode of a large and placid orange-colored cat called (appropriately) Ginger. This is where I sat for most of the day, reading British Cosmo (I was on vacation, okay?) and eating fruit pastilles. Then some lovely and hilarious Irish and Australian people came in, and we played Charades until 1;30 in the morning. And Neesha (A boy. His name isn't actually spelled like that. It has some crazy-cool Irish spelling) and I were Team Awesome. And Sean, Eric and Kathy were Team Redmond, because that was all of their last names, because they were all related. And that's were I learned about the Watermelon movie, because I had to mime it. And I tried out my Irish phrases on Neesha-not-spelled-like-that and Sean, and they laughed (Apparently I can say "Where are your children?" in Irish. It could be useful, right?).
At 2 a.m. a group of slightly-drunk Swiss and German au pairs came in, and we all sat and laughed at each other for a while, and then we went to bed, where I discovered that it almost impossible to sleep, because the au pairs kept whispering in German and then laughing, and I kept wanting to know what they were talking about (I asked them this morning. They said that they were talking about using nose spray. Really), and because there were several Portugese guys in my room, and one of them was snoring really loudly, but it was fine, because I was having such a good time.
Now I am ready for anything.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Christmas Thoughts
Confession: I want to buy a Christmas cake. There is one in Marks and Spencer that I am dying for. I go in just to look at it. It is October, and the stores have been selling Christmas-y foods for the past three weeks. Normally, I would scoff and say, "I can't believe that they are already selling Christmas things! That makes me sick!," but since I've been here, it has felt like Christmas. I don't know. I can't explain it.
A nice red-headed man named Gavin opened a bank account for me today. I almost didn't think that it was going to happen. Ever. And it gets better! I now have ... a library card! Ta Da! There was a warm glow in my soul when the librarian handed it to me. Today was a good day for sure. And on Monday, I can withdraw money, which I will then recklessly spend on all of the things that I have been looking at and wanting to buy for the past five weeks. And also groceries.
I am taking a weekend trip all by myself. I am excited, but I am also afraid that I am going to be terribly lonely and feel really lame, because it will just be me. And people seem to think that people by themselves are lonely and pitiful, and I don't want to make this thought true. I am going to Portstewart for two nights, so that I can finally see the Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle and the Old Bushmills Distillery (where they make whiskey. With an "e"). But, I am a strong, independent woman! I am not sad and pathetic! I am great! Yes, that is what I will tell myself.
This solo weekend trip is a test run for me, to make sure that I can travel by myself. My flight back home leaves on the 21st of December, which gives me a week or so after my classes are done in which to go around and do whatever I want. I had big plans for this week; I was going to fly to Paris and eat in a super-fancy restaurant and wander along the Seine and drink exceptionally good hot-chocolate. I really was. But now that I'm here, that sounds a lot harder than it did when I was at home in Portland, surrounded by people that actually know me and enjoy my presence. People that I have history with. So, if anyone feels like flying to Ireland mid-December and travelling around Scotland/England/Wherever-the-heck-we-want, just give me a call.
But if no one wants to (or doesn't have an extra thousand-or-so dollars laying around), it's okay. I understand. Just putting it out there.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Derry>Spokane>North Dakota
I miss very few things about Spokane. It is not my favorite place (understatement), but one thing that I actually, legitimately miss about it is the North Spokane Library. I love that library more than anything. I will always, without fail, find good books there 100% of the time. It's like magic! I was determined to get a Derry library card when I got here, but you need proof of address (phone bill, bank statement. You know. Things I don't have) to get one. Believe me, I tried. They wouldn't even take my passport (who doesn't accept a passport? It's a passport! Come on!) So for the time being, I am making do with various books from the super-cheap bookstore(= great), and the non-interesting/depressing books that I checked out on Stephen-My-Flatmates card. I always get some books that don't look like fun but that will make me look smart when I read them in public. Because I always look at what other people are reading, and I don't want someone to look at me and think that I'm a loser because my book has a dumb cover/could possibly be classified as "chick-lit." I should stop doing this, because once I am done with the funny, interesting books (the ones that I don't read in public), I am left with all of the depressing ones, and frankly, that's not what I need right now.
I love libraries. Today I went to the campus library and did research for two hours. Wow. That is quite impressive, considering that I haven't done any sort of homework at all since May. True story. I don't even feel like I'm in school anymore. Unfortunately, that leaves me with all this free time in the evenings, which is when I get lonely and depressed and look at other people's facebook pictures for hours on end, because I don't have any books to read, because all of mine are literary and depressing.
But, hey. If I'm going to sit in my room and be lonely, at least I'm sitting in my room in Northern Ireland. Infinitely better than sitting in my room and being lonely in Spokane. Because almost anything is better than Spokane! Except maybe Wyoming. Or Nebraska. Or North Dakota. Yeah, Spokane is way better than North Dakota. I've never been there, but I can imagine.
I love libraries. Today I went to the campus library and did research for two hours. Wow. That is quite impressive, considering that I haven't done any sort of homework at all since May. True story. I don't even feel like I'm in school anymore. Unfortunately, that leaves me with all this free time in the evenings, which is when I get lonely and depressed and look at other people's facebook pictures for hours on end, because I don't have any books to read, because all of mine are literary and depressing.
But, hey. If I'm going to sit in my room and be lonely, at least I'm sitting in my room in Northern Ireland. Infinitely better than sitting in my room and being lonely in Spokane. Because almost anything is better than Spokane! Except maybe Wyoming. Or Nebraska. Or North Dakota. Yeah, Spokane is way better than North Dakota. I've never been there, but I can imagine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)