Traveling seeker in British Isles

4-8-06

I know that many of you are wondering what is happening in “real” time. I have decided to give you one big update so that we can get to real time.

I have recently gotten addicted to “Lost” and American TV show. My cousin Anthony doesn’t watch any TV except this show and since I am so desperate for American accents and shows I have been watching all the shows that he has downloaded from the Internet. Ireland is about 10 shows behind America so that’s why he downloads. Plus with his memory, he forgets the shows are on Mondays and he’s a bear to live with when he miss’s one!

So I have decided to use the way that “Lost” tells a story with current time and then they jump back in time to flesh out the story. It’s a bit annoying but after you get used to it- it’s fine. Plus I feel bad that I’m so behind on my blog, so I will use this.

So on with the update, and I will try and answer questions that people have asked me.

#1 Question is: What ever happened to Noeline?

To be honest, I don’t know. After our little blow up I came to live at my cousin (I call her Aunt) Teresa’s house. I didn’t call her the first week I was gone, I was trying to settle in at a new home and I was still a bit pissy about what had happened.
But I think by the next week I had called to tell her that I had gotten a part-time job and was working weekends, but would try and see when I could come over again. She was very surprised to hear from me again and said that she was thinking of me and wondering what was up. She was still trying to get the town hall for a sale of the donated items that could raise funds for the container cost for the stuff that is going to Ghana.

Well, I’m sorry to say that that was the last time that we talked. I did see that she did have the sale- but on April 1st a week or two earlier then she originally wanted it. I found this out, not by her but by a flyer that was hung up in the window at our shop. I didn’t attend or help to get it together- I do feel bad about that – but shit happens and I am just trying to get myself together before I go out to save the world.

Living at Teresa’s-

I have my own room with an ensuite (bathroom attached) it’s lovely and is in the front of the house and has huge windows that look over a pasture with lots of sheep and mountains. Anthony has a room across the hall and another small room next to mine holds his computer business. There is one other large bedroom with ensuite down the hall that has a double bed and a twin bed. And in the center of all the rooms is a very large bathroom with sunken tub. It is beautifully decorated in marble, which is on the floor and all the way up the walls and was the last years completed project.

This years project was the B&B sitting room. Teresa got a new wood floor (pergo in our country) installed by her son Sean. I did help in the way that I sanded and varnished the skirting boards (baseboards). It too is in the front of the house and has the same lovely view. She also just purchased a new heater (fake fireplace) and a new area rug. This is the room that the B&B people hang out and watch TV (only one bedroom has its own TV) and where they get their breakfast served. They also use the front door as their entrance. Because the house is made in 2 wings, it allows the B&B people at one end of the house and Teresa and the kitchen/sitting room is on the other one. Teresa has her own ensuite and a back entrance to her boiler room (room that houses the heating system and a washer and dryer. It also is the driveway entrance and of course the heart of the home the kitchen/sitting room.

Teresa says that she doesn’t let people come into her kitchen from the B&B- it’s her only sense of privacy. Plus it would be too hard to keep the place as tidy as she does the other B&B areas. She is very proper in keeping everything pressed and clean – her kitchen/sitting room is a very lived in room – it’s small and tidy also, but we all eat, watch TV, drink tea and visit, and I use it for my computer room. So it would torment her to share it with B&B people.

To describe the décor, I would have to say it’s a mixture of styles and era’s. The front B&B sitting room has a 70’s feeling with its boxy green velvet rustic couch and chairs. But there is elegant delicate corner cabinets that hold all the trophy’s of her children’s accomplishments. There is a wall hanging shelving unit that is rustic in style that compliments the couch in the square ness of it. It was made by Eamon (the eldest son) and it holds all the handmade pottery of Liam. Liam is quite a talented clay thrower in his youth. There are vases, cheese domes, cups, and jars. But the most unique and yet odd piece is a book rack that is 2 hands in the upright position that are on a sliding system that holds books. The hands are identical to Liam’s and are very white with black cuffs. The hands are amazingly accurate. I love the human hand and I would love to steal away this unique piece of art!

In the center of the room facing the built in fake fireplace that heats the room is a Queen Anne oval coffee table and it stands upon the new area carpet that was quite an ordeal to decide upon. Here in Ireland, the carpet company delivered the different carpets that Teresa and Mary picked out and then you live with them till you decide, they then come and collect the one you didn’t want. So the family all gave their opinion and finally Teresa decided on the winner. Which was a lovely dark maroon carpet with a boarder and decal in the center – very traditional style. But it all seems to work together and the room is clean, bright and cheery- just what you want in a B&B.

I have to note and observation here that Teresa and the rest of her family. They are nuts when it comes to ironing! EVERYTHING in ironed. They not only iron shirts and pants, but they iron all their towels, bed sheets, kitchen towels and their underwear! I’m from the permanent press generation and haven’t ironed but a blouse of two in the last decade! But not only do they iron everything that is in their vision – but also they do it all on the kitchen counter! None of them use an ironing board. They put a towel down on the counter island and press everything…I asked why they do it that way and the all say the ironing board is clumsy and all the sheets fall on the floor. I though it was odd at the Old Mill Hostel that I had to iron sheets…but I guess everyone does it. I don’t think they know what permanent press means!

Living with Teresa and Anthony is a wonderful experience for me (I’m not sure how THEY feel about it!). They are loving and caring and they always treat me with the highest respect – at least when they aren’t “taking the mic” on me or better yet “take the piss” on me. There is a BIG difference between the two. It’s mostly in the degree of the verbal comment. The little ones are the mic’s and the bigger (the low blows) burns are the piss! Anthony doesn’t take the mic as often, but every other comment is SOMETHING is to do with the human anatomy or sex- he is either sex deprived or over sexed, I can’t figure it out. But my dear sweet Aunt Teresa is a very sharp minded woman and she NEVERS let a time get past her without taking the mic on someone! Her mind is always thinking and she is funny and witty. I have LOVED being around her- she makes me laugh all the time. She’s great cric!

But being at the family home has not been all laughs. I have had a few very low moments while being here. And my new family has had a few concerned moments with me. I have had so many disappointments that I have hit my emotional bottom a few times. I try and focus on the beliefs that I have known to be true, such as “Things will work out”, “it will be if it’s meant to be”, “the perfect situation will make it’s self known”. I have really lived these beliefs over the last 10 years. But it has been the hardest test of these beliefs in this country. I KNOW what trial and tribulations is now…it’s been the 3 months that I have been in Ireland.

By being in this country I have had more physical illness then I can ever remember having in such a close proximity. I couldn’t eat for almost 14 days when I first arrived, I had insomnia for 9 days, I had the flu 2x and I am currently in my 3rd bout.

Emotionally I have hit rock bottom so many times. Guilt and worry have been my most constant companions on this journey. Guilt that my American family was supporting me for the first 2 months. And guilt that my new Irish family is supporting me for the last month. Worry about my American family who are having all kinds of problems back home and I am unable to help or be much of a support.

When I left America I had decreased my needs to 2 red monsters. I have so little in the “needs” area and yet I can’t find how to get those few needs met. All I need is money, it doesn’t have to be much, just enough to pay for a room and food and some to save for my trips out of the country. I don’t need an apartment – just a room would allow me to feel secure. I need a job – and I’m willing to have 2 or 3 little ones to get my needs met. But that is the very thing I can’t seem to get or in my case- keep.

When I lived in America I lived on 6 acres. I had a wonderful little house that had rooms for me to spread out in. I loved “stuff” and had a house and barn full of lots of cool things that I loved and collected. I had a DOG- that I adored and I had my own wheels and my own money. I went to school and loved every minute of it. I had A LIFE.

Then I decided to give it all up.

I now have a laptop, a few pieces of clothing, and a camera.

I miss my security, my independence of other people, my DOG, and a space that is mine. And last but not least, my own money.

What I found I don’t like:
Gossip-which is the favorite pass time here.

But what I found was:
A new wonderful family, and a town that I love.

What I’ve learned about myself:
I found that I can take a LOT of disappointment and loss and that I can get back up…. and each time I get up a little bit quicker.
I found what expectations could give you – heartbreak when they don’t come through. So don’t have them.
I found that I have a lot of tears in me. And being venerable is not the end of the world. It only feels that way!
I found that I’m still here…three months later- I’M STILL HERE

Later- Kym

Tags: Ireland, Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, April 10th, 2006 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.