Ramble On: Miss Muppet

Hello everybody. It's been so long since I last typed one of these I don't even remember what was said…mmm yes. I've just synced back to my previous interface (I've done a lot of updating since then) and I now know where to begin.

For those of you who have never lived above the latitude of Utah, it stays light here ALL FREAKIN NIGHT LONG! It doesn't get dark here until about 12am. It's pretty ridiculous when you're use to daylight going away completely at 10:30. Thank goodness to dark curtains is all I can say! With this extension of daylight has come a bit warmer weather. Instead of being in the 40's and 50's it's now in the 60's and sometimes 70's. It's not a huge change like what most of you have experienced this year, but I am grateful for the slightly warmer weather, even if it's not sunny as often as I'd like it to be. One day a few weeks ago it got to 76!! Everyone in Ireland was roasting alive but I was loving it :) It's funny because when it's that warm the papers almost always seem to find a warm place that they were warmer then for that day. That day Ireland was warmer that Portugal. It's almost like they are having a weather contest and are trying to prove that it's not always cloudy, cold, and rainy here. Silly Ireland, don't you know everyone still wants to visit you even if you are cloudy, cold, and rainy. My mom wanted to come to see you, and that's saying something.

The day of 76 degrees: Around Town

Surprised face that it actually was a completely blue sky, aka why I'm not an actress.

Ravensdale

About two or three weeks ago now Leo and I were heading out for an awesome day of hiking and making goofy films but we stopped to get gas. As we were leaving, Leo couldn't see oncoming traffic because of a sign the gas station had placed on the sidewalk and was blocking the view. So he pulled out a little and WHAM!! A car hit our car and ripped off the bumper and headlights. Luckily everyone was fine and their car only received cosmetic damage and a flat tire. The Garda came and took down details of what happened and then told us that they don't investigate stuff like that and really just came down to make sure we swapped insurance information then they radioed a tow truck and drove off. That's how useless the police are here. The people we hit were nice enough to drive us down the street to our place. Since then there's been high amounts of stress at our place. The Insurance company finally got back to us on Friday that the car is totaled and they are giving us £900 but are taking £500 of it for excess, which is essentially a stupid way of saying fees. Leo has been super stressed because without a car he can't get to work at the times he needs to in order to keep his job, but we aren't getting enough money to buy a new car. Thankfully I have been blessed with two amazingly wonderful people for parents, and double thankfully they still love me after putting up with me for 25 years (man that's so weird to say that I'm really THAT old…. :/ ). They lent us enough money in order to get a car. Leo went up north yesterday and put a down payment on a little Suzuki Swift. We are just waiting for the money to transfer to paypal so that we can purchase the car.

Yippie skippy!!! Three of my lovely sisters are on their way to the emerald isle as I frantically type!!! :D :D :D :D :D or as Deidre might put it （≧∇≦）Luckily for me I will be able to spend more than the hour I thought I would get with them on Saturday! I will go down to Dublin and pick them up and then bring them back to Dundalk where we will go to Ravensdale and whatever else they wish to do. Their trip sounds pretty groovy and I hope they have a fantastic time!

I don't remember ever telling you lot but if I have forgive my bad memory. This Irish water does stuff to you. Anywho, I got a calling awhile back as the young woman first counselor. There's only the President and myself and we have three girls. Two of them are sisters and the third very rarely shows up. It's going ok but I don't really feel like I am of much use. We all know how girlie I am (whacking your face with a clay pigeon does not count as girly, Shan. Only embarrassing and stupid) and all of them are pretty girly, and white. Super undead kind of white. I teach every other Sunday and I am not doing a good job. My lessons always end way short. Last time we had 30 mins before church ended to kill. Hopefully I will get better and teaching and filing up the time.

I also got a job about two weeks ago. I work as a cashier at a gas station. I work part time and it's just a temporary thing for now as I am on a trial period for three months. It's an ok job. I don't particularly like being responsible for so much money. It gives me funky messed up dreams. The kind of dreams I'd imagine a junky might have. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep a little bit before I see my sisters so that they recognize me. Otherwise I will be forever known as the bag eyes just as Shayli will be forever known as the poopsmith.

At my job I've come to realize some things:

I think everyone in Ireland smokes or lives with someone that smokes.
I don't know what it's like in the States, but most women here don't wear pants just leggings ALWAYS
There are a lot of people who are always drunk here.
There are a lot of people that never eat home cooked food.
There are a lot of people that don't shower(or maybe they do but just roll in poo every night).
Thank you is here is thankin you.
Cash is the preferred method of payment.
The radio only plays classical, traditional, or popular music and there are no genre stations

There are plenty more but I'll spare you some boredom, for now. There are some people I still have a hard time understanding. Especially when they speak to me quick. I guess it's a problem with some of the people who have lived here their whole lives. I was told that the day I started an older man came into the station and asked the cashier, who was an older Irish woman, where the boarding kennels were. She thought he was meaning boarding kennels for dogs and she said that she didn't know of any. He was confused and asked again and then she got confused. Luckily the manager was out and about and was able to help clear things up. He hadn't asked her where the boarding kennels were; he had asked her were the birthday candles were.

Just a quick thank you, again, to all of you who have helped us with our hard times. You're love, prayers, thought, money, fasts, and words of encouragement have been much appreciated and don't go unnoticed or unwelcome. We love and thank you all.

It's kind of funny because most of the time, not all the time, when I'm alone people know that I'm a girl but as soon as I get with Leo they look at us like we're gay lovers. I don't know what that says about Leo….

Ireland is a beautiful country and it's can be like living in a fairy tale here. In every aspect as well, not just the landscape. It is a hard country to live in. The price of goods keeps rising but from what I understand the pay does not. But many people don't have jobs. In fact jobs are pretty hard to come by here. I'm lucky that I found something as quick as I did. I saw about a week ago that the UN had, according to this paper, said Ireland was the best place to live in the world. This was based on several different standards such as way of life, technology, economy, leisure activity sites, and so forth. If it's the best place to live in the world I want to know that when over 2k visa's to Canada became available they were all gone within 5 mins of them opening for the taking, almost all being taken by the Irish. As much as Leo loves his country he tells me how it's a hard place to live and I agree. It's a beautiful country, but I'm glad that I don't have to live here my whole life.

One thing that makes it a little bit harder for me is that I really don't feel like I belong here. I feel like an outcast. When you ask people what they like to do here 90% of the time they will say going out for a night with friends. Most people don't really seem to have hobbies here besides drinking. Maybe I'm just not asking the right questions or phrasing them in a way that they can understand, which is possible. I essentially can't relate to many people here and the bummer thing is they don't get my humor. Ever need a humbling experience, move to a different country where the culture difference is so different that the awkwardness that follows a joke you cracked almost makes you feel like insulted their much loved dead grandmother. I'm not meaning to complain but merely explain how I don't feel like I fit in. I don't stop trying though, regardless of the number of dead grandmothers I've insulted, I still try to make some kind of connection so I can feel more at home here. I really hope that Leo doesn't feel like this when we move back to Utah. He probably will but I really don't want him to. I hope that it only lasts a little while and then he feels right at home and finds his spot in the puzzle. I hope he feels loved, happy, and like he belongs.

Life is going well, overall. We are learning, loving, and living through mistakes and good times. Keep moving forward and in the spirit of Kelcie, dress like a weirdo and keep on dancing.

The other day we had in house tattoo parlor.