the first few days in Dublin

I can't believe that I have been here for four days, and I haven't written a single thing. I knew that would happen though. I got caught up in running around the city that I didn't stop to think let alone write. (But somehow The Girl Who Played With Fire is still getting read...)

Obviously I haven't been here long enough yet to actually understand anything about the country, so really you should take everything I say with a grain of salt, but here is what I notice at least.

1. There are so many relationships in this country. Or maybe its this continent in general, lots of the couples are speaking Spanish, French, and German as well. But the fact of the matter is-- they are everywhere. And they all look so in love with each other. They are kissy kissy in the streets and gazing seductively into each other's eyes over coffee at a cafe, and they are talking to and laughing with each other. Kristin and I were sitting in the park the other day when we saw an American couple walk in together-- five feet apart. She took a few photos while he looked around and then they left. And then you see the European couples walking slowly, holding hands, and laughing together. American couples need to learn how to love like a European. They'd be much happier, I'm sure. But right now, I'm not looking to see love everywhere I go. And its frustrating that it is inescapable. But still, its awfully sweet. In fact, yesterday we toured the Guinness Storehouse. On the top floor there is a "Zero Gravity Bar" (I think that is what it was called.) -- Anyway, that is where you get a free pint of Guinness and all the walls are glass and you can look out over all of Dublin (Its up on a super high floor.) And there was an old Irish couple there; they must have been 80 at least. He was sitting and leaning on his cane and she was hunched over with her scarf wrapped around her head. And they were sitting snugly right next to each other, Guinness in hand, looking at each other and talking. Now how often do you see that in America?-- an old couple honestly enjoying each other's company? Sometimes. But it is not very frequently. Instead, I feel like I am perpetually seeing couples out to dinner that sit in silence eating their food, not even looking at each other.-- I don't know. It just seems to me like love works differently here. Maybe people's values are different. Maybe enjoying life is more important than constantly having to be the best at everything you do.

2. There are bike rental systems in Dublin. From what I understand it works a bit like a Zip-Car system. You take a bike from one rack, and I assume you pay there, and then you drop it off at another rack. Brilliant, right? And loads of people bike around. In fact, that is one of the first lessons I had to learn: when crossing the street, pay attention to bikes as much as you do to cars. Also, there are special bike lanes on the sides of every road. Its not like most parts I've seen of Boston when I feel like the bikers are going to get run over by a car any minute.

3. There are lots of very cute restaurants, but they are rarely full and busy. (I'm not talking about the pubs; they seem to be packed full. But like normal restaurants with yummy menus and great wine and dessert lists-- the kind of restaurant that would take a reservation in Rockland to get a table-- are all but empty. In fact, I'm not sure how they are making any money at all. We went out for pizza last night, and we ended up finding this little place in the basement of a coffee shop with divine looking pizzas and chocolate cake that looked like magic, but we were one of two customers in the place. A girl Kelsey who has been living in Cork for 8 months or so now says that with the recession a lot of people simply can't go out to eat as much anymore, and everyone is opting to stay at home instead. I wonder why there is such a discrepancy between number of people eating out in the states and eating out here though. We aren't rebounding from the recession any faster than Europe are we? Are people just more careless with their money? She also said that we have been eating earlier than most people go out to eat here, so maybe I'm way off. To be fair, we did go for dinner last night around 6:30, not necessarily the busiest dinnertime. But people rush into Primo at five on the dot to make sure they have a table and start eating. . .

4. The weather. Ireland is known for its weather. And I expected perpetual rainstorms. But I guess that was a bit of an aggressive estimate. It has rained quite a bit, but the weather is a bit like a yo-yo: bright sun for an hour and then sprinkling for a half hour and then a pouring rainstorm for a half hour and then bright sunshine again. I've learned to pack both my sunglasses and my umbrella in my bag wherever I go.

5. The jelly that I had out to breakfast on Sunday afternoon was the best jelly I have ever had in my life. Oh, sorry: they called it a jam. It was like a juice liquid with huge, full chunks of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries in it. So, so yum. They do have a more jello-like jelly, like we have at home though. Thats the stuff they have out at our buffet breakfast in the morning at the hotel.

6. Trying to run down these streets is next to impossible. You have to cross an intersection every hundred meters and at every intersection the cars are coming from crazy (read: the OPPOSITE) direction, and you have to hit a button and wait for the pedestrian light to signal that it is okay to cross. (The signal is a laser sound followed by incessant beeping-- just in case you don't happen to notice that the light has turned green.)

Speaking of which, time for a run now.