A Leauki's Writings
What to expect....
Published on October 10, 2006 By Leauki In Misc
1. Don't buy anything Scottish until you are sure that you have understood the supermarkets.

2. How to cross a road: check for busses, cross the road. If you fail to check for busses first, you will probably die.

3. The Luas is a local tram system in Dublin and it has sporadic electrical problems (which the company deny) and an erratic schedule (which the company don't know about). Deal with it.

4. You are friends with everyone in a pub and back on the street the same people won't know you.

5. The algorithm that defines who pays for what in a pub is very difficult and no foreigner can possibly hope to understand it. One method is to collect money on the table with everyone occasionally adding to it while food and drinks are paid from it.

6. People rarely meet in a flat. People meet in pubs.

7. You will find that everybody in Ireland behaves exactly like the English. But please pretend that you have never seen two more different cultures.

8. Pizza in Ireland is terrible. But the menus are now available in Polish.

9. Everybody in Ireland is working. But the entire society functions as if everybody expected everybody else to be at home during the day. "Can you come back tomorrow at 11 AM?" is a typical question a bank clerk might ask a customer. ("No. I work during the day.")

10. The Irish post office is mainly a letter and package store. Everything will be held for a week before delivery. But it will be delivered eventually.


Comments
on Oct 10, 2006
Interersting and amusing guide to Ireland.
on Oct 10, 2006
7. You will find that everybody in Ireland behaves exactly like the English. But please pretend that you have never seen two more different cultures.




As I a bit more than half Irish I have always wanted to visit there. Hopefully I will eventually.
on Oct 10, 2006
, cool.

I also have always wanted to visit Ireland. The tip about checking for buses will undoubtably come in handy.
on Oct 10, 2006
, cool.

I also have always wanted to visit Ireland. The tip about checking for buses will undoubtably come in handy.
on Oct 10, 2006
Guy,

You have no idea! (It also turns out I had neither reason to be depressed nor was I unlucky, only stupid. But that's Ireland for you.)


Mason,

Mother very Irish, father only a little bit?


Cari, Mason,

Give me a shout when you come here.

on Oct 10, 2006
Mason,

Mother very Irish, father only a little bit?


Father half Irish half Apache. Mother Irish.
on Oct 10, 2006
4. You are friends with everyone in a pub and back on the street the same people won't know you.


This one really made me laugh. The pubs sound fun though. And putting money in the middle of the table sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe we should start that here? hahahah.

(Yeah right. When I go out to eat with other females, heh, we know exactly who ate what and how much it cost. Sometimes we'll pull out a calculator if the bill is too confusing!)

My husband says that must be a "woman" thing because he either takes a turn paying for everything, or just gets a separate check.

on Oct 10, 2006

My husband says that must be a "woman" thing because he either takes a turn paying for everything, or just gets a separate check.


Europeans do the calculator thing, or at the very least don't get the turns thing.

Either way, Europeans drove me nuts in Israel because they couldn't even share a cab without trying to figure how much they each owed me (even when I was in the cab and saw them on the street and picked them up!). It was plain embarrassing and it took me weeks until I was no longer completely shocked when it happened.

on Oct 10, 2006

Father half Irish half Apache. Mother Irish.


Yes... Apache... that was the pizza place with the Polish menu.

http://www.apache.ie/menu-polish.htm

on Oct 10, 2006
Europeans drove me nuts in Israel because they couldn't even share a cab without trying to figure how much they each owed me (even when I was in the cab and saw them on the street and picked them up!). It was plain embarrassing and it took me weeks until I was no longer completely shocked when it happened.


Omgoodness, that is so ME. I am generous with my friends usually, but when it comes to strangers I don't want anyone paying my way.

I'd let you pay my taxi though! buwhahahahha.
on Oct 11, 2006

but when it comes to strangers I don't want anyone paying my way.


They were not strangers, they were my fellow students.

I don't usually share my cab with complete strangers.

It was simply culture shock.