Under construction...

Hey everyone,
The rumors are true, after 5 amazing months I'm back in Cedar Rapids. Thanks so much to everyone who emailed, left me comments here, and sent letters/packages/ all of that fun stuff.
URL for my blog may be changing shortly, and there are SO many more Ireland blogs to post, just haven't gotten there yet! So hang in there with me and I'll get them up as soon as possible.
But for now I'm stateside again, safe and sound and back to work on Tuesday. The adventure is no where near over though, you can bet I'm on my way back to Ireland as soon as possible :-)

Washington Street Primary

I’d like to congratulate Senator Barack Obama on his latest primary win. Last night Obama claimed victory in the Cork, Ireland Washington Street Primay. Obama defeated Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain 11 to 4 to 3. A new candidate named John McLain also received one vote.
Voters fell in the 18-25 age group and most are students at University College Cork. There is some dispute over the validity of the results. The primary was conducted rather informally and just after pub close. Due to the high number of non respondents and slightly or severely intoxicated respondents...and the fact that all of these voters hold Irish citizenship the 0 delegates at stake may not be seated by the Democratic Party later this summer. But the results of the primary are intriguing none the less.
The primary coordinator, Dennis (who may have just forgotten his own name), from County Kerry (if in fact he was capable of remembering what county he hails from) held the primary in front of the Washington Inn and voters were asked to make their selection by shouting the candidates name. Voters cited “a focus on economy” and a “need for change” as their reasons for selecting Senator Obama. Clinton supporters cited such reasons as “Bill rocked!”

Oh, and there aren’t actually people here, just leprechauns

“So how’s Ireland? The Irish, they’re like all- merry and singing and dancing and laughing all the time right?”
Uh. Right. They wear green all the time and dance through the streets with their red hair blowing in the wind wielding a pint of Guinness. And did I mention that everyone pins a fresh shamrock to their lapel daily just for good measure? Oh, and there aren’t actually people here, just leprechauns.
Sorry everyone, but the Irish are not THAT fond of Guinness, people just walk down the street (except after pub close but we won’t get into that). There is not an abundance of red haired people. There is no dress code requiring the wearing of green at all times, and most of the shamrocks are sold in tourist shops.
I am truly sorry if my dispelling of bad Irish stereotypes ruined anyone’s vision of the Emerald Isle forever. But I feel like the distinction between real Ireland and post card Ireland is an important one.
However, now that I’ve stuck up for Ireland, I’m sticking up for the states. No we are not all blonde and I don’t want to be Paris Hilton when I grow up. American girls are not required by law to be high school cheerleaders and not all American boys were on the football team. My high school experience was nothing like “Bring it on” or “10 Things I Hate About you”. I am not from New York City and I didn’t vote for George Bush. And no. I don’t spend my summers at the beach. I’m from Iowa people, that’s in the middle.
It’s been interesting to see what everyone expects when they find out I’m American. The shock and awe on their faces when they find out I don’t especially like New York City…and the confusion when I try to explain where Iowa is! I met a Geography major last week, and my jaw literally dropped when he said “Oh! Iowa! Capitol is Des Moines right?” He takes the prize for being the first person in Ireland to be able to locate Iowa on a map. He also gets bonus points for not asking if that’s where we grow all the potatoes. (Idaho people! Geez!)
Basically it’s been a 5 months study in how people the world over view other parts of the world. I’m sorry to have ruined so many Irish people’s view of America, really I am. But imagine how sad I am to be going home not having seen a leprechaun! The travel books and TV shows…they lie to you!

Theories of dating evolution

About the time the rest of my graduating class decided to settle down I decided to dive back into the dating pool. That’s right, 2 ½ years of tied down and I decided to plunge back into singleness. After a rather auspicious beginning it occurred to me that the last time I’d been single was…high school. No wonder it felt like all the rules had changed. Dating had apparently come a long way since “hey my friend thinks your cute and wants to know if you have a boyfriend”. Now all of the sudden there were all sorts of dating rules. And different kinds of dates! There were meeting for coffee dates and dinner out dates and you him and ten other friends in a bar dates. Apparently which kind of date you were asked on said all kinds of things about how much the boy liked you. Who knew! It was a strange confusing world and I realized that the mating habits of people my age had evolved rapidly in the two and a half years I’d been off the market.
Then I made the semi crazy decision to pack up and move halfway across the world. Well- if you wanted to throw a monkey wrench into the whole dating scene that was it. All of the sudden my boring flat Midwestern accent or rather lack of an accent is foreign and apparently kind of sexy. Cool. That helps.
So my first real “date” in Ireland. I’m supposed to meet the guy for drinks. He picked the pub across the street from my apartment- creepy, felt a bit like I’d been stalked, but decided to play along. After one pint and a serious lecture on his profession (which we’ll call accounting for the sake of confidentiality) I realized that this date was going nowhere but downhill quickly. I escaped to the bathroom, called a friend, and the second she answered said “you’re going to call me in about 45 minutes with a very serious personal problem”. I then hung up and walked back to the table as calmly as I could. After about one more drink my phone lit up with “Dermot slept with someone else! Why aren’t you answering?! Ring me!” Have to hand it to my friend- that was a pretty good story. Especially considering Dermot is the name of the stuffed monkey that lives on her desk. Unfortunately the idea of Dermot the happy smiling stuffed chimp cheating on poor Siobhan was so funny it took everything in my power not to burst out laughing. I must have put on a sort of concerned face, because my date bought the story. I apologized up and down, agreed to have one more drink, and then told him I simply had to go help my friend with her crisis. I can only picture the conversation with the lads back at his flat.
“You’re home early”
“Ah you know birds, always a crisis, had to go help her friend”
"Yea? And what was the crisis”
“Friend’s boyfriend- Dermot or something like that, is a cheating ass”
“Dermot eh? I’ll bet you a pint of beer Dermot is someone’s teddy bear.”
In fact it would cost me a pint of beer and several nights of wingman duty to alleviate myself of the debt I incurred forcing my friend to come up with an on the spot crisis. It’s been several weeks and we’re still laughing about Dermot’s “indiscretion”.
So anyway, went to London with a friend last weekend. I walk up to the bar and while I’m waiting a guy walks up to me. Sweet! What does he says? “My friend thinks you’re cute and wants to know if you have a boyfriend”. So much for dating evolution.