Paddy says what?!

Hey there!

I realize it has been a while again, but this time I have some kind of valid excuse I guess.  My friend Lance came to visit, then I went to Spain for a week, then my parents and Grandma Norma came to visit! Wahooo! It's been a very busy April.  I could write all about any of those things...but I'm not going to right now.

I have decided to devote this entry to IRELAND! "Lauren, you always talk about Ireland, jeez, pick a new topic".  Well no, you see I haven't talked about Ireland in the way I'm going to talk about Ireland today...you see? I have mainly talked about how I see life here, about ME in Ireland. Not this time folks...This time, I am going to teach you about this marvelous, weird, hilarious, stubborn, cold, windy, rainy, beautiful place that I call home...at least for the next 4 months.

I am in Galway, in the west of Ireland.

Irish Craic Vocabulary
"What's the Craic?" (pronounced crack...yeah, i know, scandalous) This can be translated into "What's up?" "What's going on?" This is said multiple times a day by lots of Irish.  I still have a hard time responding. I usually end up saying "oh, ya know, not a whole lot of craic at the moment." This always gets me a funny look or a laugh.
"Any Craic?" This can mean, "Any news to share?" or "Was whatever it was you were doing any fun?"
"Good Craic" or "No Craic" I have learned that craic can pretty much mean fun or news.

An example of a normal conversation with an Irish person:
Matt (shout out Mattie Cahill!) : "Hey Lauren, How ya keepin?"
Lauren: "Good now Matt. How was your weekend? Any Craic?"
Matt: "Of course! I'm Matt, King of the Craic!"


Ok, Matt would never say that, but you get the point.

  

Irish synonyms for "Great" or "Good"
There are so many awesome words they use to describe good things. I love them. This is my favorite part of their everyday vocab.
The simple question, "How are you?" or what they would say, "How ya keepin?" can be answered with:
"Good Now"...Ok, this is a little embarrassing. When I first got to Ireland, and I was waiting on tables in Coco cafe, customers would say this to me.  I was taken aback, and kept wondering why all of Ireland was hitting on me. Where I come from, if someone said this to you, it would be like "Good, Now that you're here" followed by a winky face. So you can imagine my confusion when women started saying it to me too. I suddenly realized it has nothing to do with being hit on.
"Mighty" This is my favorite response. I never expect it and it always makes me laugh.
"Grand" Very common response
"Fine and yourself?" Said very fast, almost like it's one word.

Tasty food, nice clothes, or a cool dance move can be described as "class"
Cool people that are "good craic" can be described as "sound"
If you want emphasize that you are mad, but you don't really want to cuss, "feck" is used, or "jaysus" or "arse" or "eejit" (idiot)
Something that is very expensive is described as "dear"
If a woman is a little crazy she is "for the birds"

When referring to a group of people, they do NOT say y'all. I get comments of my y'all using all the time. Even by people that have known me for months, they still think it's hilarious. Here, they say ye.
Yes, like "Hear Ye, Hear Ye!".  I'll get texts that say, "What are ye doing tonight?" And sometimes, they say "ye all". And when they say it fast, it sounds like ya'll  And I make sure they know it :)

Y'all will be happy to know that some of my Irish friends now say Y'all! Of course I think it is only when I'm around, and they are probably making fun of me a little bit, but I'll take it.  An Irish friend once told us, "If we make fun of you, you're in".  Well, Liz and I are DEFINITELY in. We have also been called "the two soundest Americans I've ever met". Probably the best compliment ever.

There is something about these Irish folk.  They are interesting.  Never have I met an entire country full of cool people.  I can count the number of Irish people that I don't like on one hand.  I think there is something in the genetic makeup of this island that makes them funny, musical (every Irish person can sing, or play an instrument and just plain cool.  But the part I love most about them is how generous they are.  They have welcomed me 100% percent into their lives, and offered up their friendship without any hesitation.  I will take some wind and rain if it means I get to live life with these wonderful people.

           And now for my blog song! Straight from my Dreamchasing playlist to you. This is one that my best friend Summer showed me.  I love it so much. When you come back down, by Nickel Creek.

"You got to leave me now, You got to go alone. You got to chase a dream, one that's all your own, before it slips away." That is exactly how I felt when moving here. That I had to chase this dream, or it really would slip away. There was a small window of time where I knew that if I didn't make this scary, ridiculous decision, I would never be able to do it again.  I'm so glad I did it.  

That's all for now,

More soon.

Love, Lauren