We Have Arrived! June 10th

Well, we’re here. Where I am in the world right now, it’s 8:30pm Tuesday night; we’ve been working on getting here since 7:00am Monday morning. In fact, we haven’t really slept since then, either. We got on the plane in DC at about 8:00pm Monday night, and arrived in Ireland at about 7:00am – despite what seems like it may have been a great 11 hours to sleep, the flight was just about 6 hours. Factor in serving dinner, talking, and an in-flight movie, there is not much time left to snooze. All that to say, like 40 hours later, we’re pretty tired.

Thus, I may be lacking in eloquence, but there are a few things I want to share: First, I’m resolved to start using the phrases “brilliant” and “rubbish” more often. I’m quite excited about that. Second, people here really do wear kilts for no apparent reason – the jury is still out on the undergarment issue. However, I say a pretty risqué advertisement today (that would NEVER have been displayed in the US) suggesting that there is not, in fact, an undergarment to the traditional kilt attire. Third, it’s important to look both ways TWICE before crossing a street here – invariably you will look the wrong way anyway, so you’ll want to double up. (I was quite disoriented when our bus was driving on the wrong side of the street, I mean, the opposite side of the street.) Fourth, haggas really does exist, and it’s hideous. Suzi actually ordered it for dinner tonight, which of course was fine – though I strategically placed the dessert menu between it and me – but, in the menu description it seriously used the word “reekin’”. Surely the rest of my thought process here is obvious… but I also saw chicken-filled haggas, haggas pizza, and vegetarian haggas wraps (please don’t ask me how that works). I suspect the Scots don’t even like haggas and it’s a colossal joke they’re playing on the rest of the world. (For anyone who would like to know more about the culinary catastrophe known as haggas, and who hasn’t eaten lately, and doesn’t plan to do so anytime soon, click here: Haggas Horror )

And finally, fifth, in case anyone was in doubt of this up to now, smoking is apparently hazardous to your health. The UK’s version of the Surgeon General’s warning on the boxes are slightly more noticeable than they are in the US. And, all together more creative, I’d say…


More tomorrow… that will be our first real on-the-town day. Quite exciting. Brilliant, in fact.