This is so wierd. We’ve been here long enough now that I sometimes hear a Northern Irish or British accent and think it’s an American accent because it’s sounds so normal. We were watching a British movie on TV the other day and I totally could not tell what the accents were. I wasn’t convinced they weren’t American accents until we noticed they were driving on the left side of the road.
It just happened again today. We’re at a big craft fair and this girl came up to Ange’s booth. I thought she had an American accent, but I couldn’t tell for sure at all. It’s like I couldn’t remember the difference momentarily, and we had to ask our Irish friend Kerry what kind of accent it was (it actually was American, by the way).
I’m sure it’s just a transitional thing as my brain gets more and more used to living here, but it’s sure wierd.
I’ve never really enjoyed getting my car fixed. Even in America, there’s that awful feeling that the mechanic could so easily take advantage of my lack of knowledge – “That’s right, sir, your second carburetor needs a new truss rod and parts alone will cost $300…” So this week I got to have the super-fun experience of trying that in another culture.
Fortunately, things are not too different here, but it does add to the insecurity quite a bit when you have no grid at all for what things should cost, things are called by different names, and laws are different. It seems like there’s more of a propensity for people to use a mechanic they know, who often just works out of his house, rather than a big business like Midas or something. There are tire (spelled tyre, of course) shops and body shops, etc., but they’re mostly specialized shops. As with most things here, it’s who you know that counts.
That’s what friends are for, though. I think I found a pretty good mechanic on the recommendation of one of the Night Light guys. Fortunately, once you find someone you trust you can just stick with him. So there’s one more problem sorted.
Could I be any more creative with this post’s title? Maybe. But that’s just what this week has been. Again. And I’m not complaining. It’s been full of hard work – Mark with computer work (of the required and voluntary sort) and me with sewing. We made a loaf of banana bread for Sarah the other night. Mark weeded the garden and trimmed up the bushes. We cleaned up the house and then made it messy again. We talked to our parents. (I’m excitedly counting down the *9* days until mine come to visit!) We made dinner. Went to our favorite coffee shop for scones and hot drinks. We had another worship time last night with the Downpatrick group and other friends of theirs. We generally had a great, quiet week. {sigh}
Love,
the Guinns
This look captures about how I felt watching the video of my acting...
It’s been a quiet week for us. Campbell and Kristi left for a month-long trip to visit her family in Thailand on Monday, which always leaves a bit of a vacuum socially. The upside is that you know you have good friends when you miss them. We’ve needed a quiet week though, since the ones before were pretty manic.
Tuesday night the local theatre group I was part of had a barbecue and a showing of the DVD of our performance. It was really fun to see everyone again. It’s always really weird to see yourself on video though. At this point, I’m pretty used to hearing myself speak and sing so that’s not awkward anymore, but seeing is a whole ‘nother deal…
Anyway, since there’s not a lot of news, here are some fun photos.
An authentic Irish BBQ - rain and all (this is from a gettogether at Campbell's a few months ago)
The Irish version of a coffee house church...
