Robert (Ireland) - It's Cold

The house is quiet again.  Liz and Kuni left late last week and Joseph headed back to Carleton early this morning.  Everyone who's still here has come down with cold so we're all a bit of a sorry bunch.

The days after Christmas were pretty mellow.  On Boxing Day we made sushi and went into Letterkenny for a few pints at a pub called The Cottage.  Thursday morning I woke up and walked downstairs just in time to see the last two pieces of the puzzle get put in. The Browns are looking into framing it.

I'm wishing that I could have gotten out of the house more on this trip, but the holidays are busy and it's a bit too cold for hiking.  Still, it's very pretty just around the Browns house.  Walking into Raphoe one afternoon the sun was setting and you could look south over all the golden rolling hills with long shadows and dark clouds overhead.  It was one of those surreal dream like moments.

Sunday night we went to a birthday party at the Robinson's, a wealthy family who's estate is a mile or two outside of Raphoe.  It was a Hawaiian themed party so we all got dressed up with lays and such.  There was a live traditional/rock/cover band, good food and much drink (you could pour your own pint of Guinness).  The sociologist in me was fascinated by the mixing of all sorts of people in such a wealthy house.  The rest of me just drank lots of good wine, chatted, and danced.  I even met a girl who was a camper at Farm and Wilderness the last two summers (small world).  All in all a very fun evening.

The next morning we went back for a ride around the estate on the steam train circuit that they've built.  All the Brown boys have tales to tell about when they worked on grounds keeping as their summer job.  That night we went to the Morrows house for their New Year party.  It was considerably less raucous than the previous night, but quite pleasant.  We decided that 2008 is going to be amazing and pretty much everything is going to go right.  I'm excited.

I start my multi-day trip to New Zealand the day after tomorrow.  The way the bus schedule is looking I'll have to leave the house at around 1:30 a.m.  I always get departure insomnia before trips anyway, so I guess it's not too big a problem.  For now, Jon and I might go down to the Diamond Bar for a last pint of Guinness, colds be damned.

Things I have been enjoying:
-Small world meetings
-Live home-made Irish music (mostly courtesy of Joseph)
-Standing in the rain waiting for a taxi to come after a night in the pub
-The hum of the electric shower
-Vitamin C
-Lazy days
-How windy days are the warm ones