Stuff you miss about Ireland when abroad

Foxhound38

I miss Ireland while I'm away

whatismyname

Whether it's that you live away from Ireland... or just away on your holliers.... what is it that you miss about Ireland when away?

Started thinking about my list, and realised it's largely food / drink related... oops...

Was never a massive tayto fan, but now that I live away from Ireland and can't get them, I'd kill for the auld tayto.

Ballygowan - this probably sounds stupid, but one time on landing in Dublin Airport after being away for months, I bought and drank a bottle of ballygowan and there was something really homely about the fact that it was ballygowan - yet it's only fecking water. Nope... I don't get it either...

Snack boxes from the chipper - it's rare to see a chippie here selling southern fried chicken, and as much as I love my KFC it's just not the same... I did think I'd sourced it one night and ordered my chicken and chips... opened the wrapping and there was a piece of chicken in BATTER... I don't know why they insist on putting batter on every piece of food here, but I wasn't too impressed, let me tell you! I'd near travel home for a yummy snack box... even better, covered in salt, vinegar and ketchup...

I'm sure there's bits of Irish banter / slang / craic that I miss - many of the Irishisms that they mention in the other thread... but it's been so long I've not got a clue... but pretty sure there's nothing quite like the auld fecking banter and the craic we have in Ireland, and sure we're all grand

People understanding my accent - Being able to talk as fast as I want and not have people wondering what the feck I'm saying. Then again, it's only out of Ireland I get to have a different action that people enjoy... and of course to bring joy to the masses of people by saying 'dirty-tree-and-a-turd'. Could never do that in Ireland

Dublin - I don't miss my home town all that much at the moment - well at all really - but it's way too long since I've been in Dublin and I miss you. Hopefully one day we will meet again.

Am sure I'll think of more, but sure isn't that enough to get us started

whatismyname

Oh and I miss people actually getting my sense of humour. Which can be quite dry and sarcastic at times, like only Irish people can perhaps. Here, I make a joke, and almost always have to follow it up with 'em, yeah, that was a joke' after everyone just looks at me strangely.

Although, there was that type in uni when my classmates told me that they had finally 'got' my humour, that they'd just thought I was a bitch only that point... so me... yeah... maybe not :P

Duke O Smiley

The water protesters

tippspur

I was never away

whatismyname

tippspur wrote: »

I was never away

awww

I dunno..... ever left your home town... when we could make a 'what do you miss when you leave your home town' thread?

The Backwards Man

My doggy.

Kevin McCloud

My 7610.

Cookie_Monster

the air of depression

DivingDuck

Newsagents, especially in the US. In every city and town in Ireland, you are never more than three minutes from somewhere you can buy a bottle of water and probably some kind of snack if you're in dire straights for something to eat-- a sandwich, a packet of crisps, a bar of chocolate, something. In the US it sometimes feels like you could walk for miles without finding anywhere to grab something quickly.

FanadMan

DivingDuck wrote: »

Newsagents, especially in the US. In every city and town in Ireland, you are never more than three minutes from somewhere you can buy a bottle of water and probably some kind of snack if you're in dire straights for something to eat-- a sandwich, a packet of crisps, a bar of chocolate, something. In the US it sometimes feels like you could walk for miles without finding anywhere to grab something quickly.

You walk into a pub anywhere here and normally you can get all three

I remember a few local pubs where you could get a pair of shoes, barbed wire and enough food to last a week

magentis

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

the air of depression

The beauty of your average Irish woman.

Adamantium

magentis wrote: »

The beauty of your average Irish woman.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

the air of depression

Of course there is no link here.






Of course not.

Kevin McCloud

A good mass.

Threads merged

Shenshen

Depends on where I would be when abroad - in Germany, I'd miss a good cup of tea, white bread, the weather and the sea.

Andrewf20

Novella wrote: »

Aside from food and drinks, I miss the Irish attitude. Living in the US, I get sick of all the chirpy, "How is your day going?", "Have a great day!". I miss a casual Howaya that doesn't require a response or being able to say I'm grand and that being enough.

+ 1. I was in a Wallmart here in Phoenix the other day and they have a person just inside the door whos sole job seems to be to greet and say bye ("have a great day" etc) to the customers. All the chirpy stuff grinds my goat a little as well, even though it means well. It just feels like they are on auto pilot and theres no real sincerity to it.

Im not a major eco head but I like the fact that in Ireland we seem to give a bit of a monkeys about the environment. For example, here in Phoenix, they have a gas fire in some of the hotel rooms (ones with a separate living room) that - I kid you not, you cannot turn off. You can turn it "off" but a low "pilot light", according to reception, always stay on, trickling gas away 24 x 7.The technology to have a gas system that fully turns off DOES ACTUALLY EXIST AND HAS DONE FOR DECADES. Its 34C outside!

The hotel cleaners here will leave a bedroom light & the kitchen light on blazing all day until I get home at 7pm, the AC is turned on, then they turn on the dishwasher for, in 1 example - 2 cups, 1 bowl, 2 spoons, a fork and a knife.

Then in wallmart, they pack about 3 items in each bag. I came home with 6 plastic bags for a basket full of shopping. I could have done with 3 bags. I bring these back and reuse them now.

There more rants like these but ill leave it here.

fussyonion

THEZAPPA wrote: »

My family,
My dogs,
Good pack of king crisps,
Fry up,
Friends,
Proper gaffs where people don't just leave after one drink,
The fresh air,
Real bread,
Better but still terrible drivers xD
The sense of humour,
Being able to have a good conversation when meeting someone for the first time,
The big green parks and trips to Glenda lough on a sunny day,


But mostly my family and dogs seriously miss them

Yeah she's a cracker alright.

Depraved

Milk. Here in The Phillipines they only sell UHT milk which has a burnt taste to it. Granted, it last 6-8 months, even outside the fridge, but still...it's horrible.

Prepackaged meats for sandwiches. Seriously...not available here either.

Proper crisps. Only American 'chips' available here and crisps with odd flavours like "Sweet and Spicy Octopus" flavour.

Pringles. You can buy Pringles here, but they are smaller and taste bland.

Supermarkets with laser scanner checkouts. Here they are still manually entering prices by hand, and often have to send someone to check on the price. 3-5 mins at a checkout per person is normal here.

Not being 30-35 celcius with 100% humidity 24/7.

Irish drivers. Laugh it you will, but you don't have to stare death in the face every day dodging motorbikes, jeepneys, motor tricycles and street kids playing on the roads. I'm pretty sure that simply being alive qualifies you for a drivers license here.

The lack of mosquitos. Somedays I wake up looking like I have the measles. Sprays don't even work anymore.

Food you can eat without spending half the day vomiting.

Paths you can walk on. Seriously. Some bright spark here thought it would be a good idea to plant large trees in the centre of every path at 10 meter intervals. Think I'm joking? Have a look:
http://www.streetchildadvocate.com/2015/03/02/thou-shall-not-pass/

SpaceTime

The air quality.

Only Scotland and Western Iceland seem similar to me.

(Iceland smells like eggs and struck matches tho a lot of the time and they don't notice it!!!)

davepatr07

As the aul fella says you can take the man out of the bog but not the bog out of the man. True, grass isn't always greener and I think you appreciate your homeland more when you are away.

Miss Aldi, Lidl, quality good food that is good value. Food is expensive here along with clothes and electronics and quality ain't great.(NZ)
Irish humour
Friends
Relations
Irish Rugby games at Aviva (Irish do better atmosphere in sports, concerts etc)
Decent pint of the black stuff
Tea
Tayto crisps

Even my Asian partner loves Irish food, soda bread, breakfasts etc

SpaceTime

This doesn't apply to Europe but when I'm in North America I miss electrical outlets that can provide a decent amount of power! A 1.5kW kettle is just painfully slow! Coffee machines lack umphh etc ...

Also North American plugs seem to be designed to deliver shocks. I've had loads of minor shocks from exposed pins!

Cheap system that was obviously designed with the manufacturing costs, not safety, in mind. They spark and buzz when you plug in or unplug things!!!

Egginacup

Novella wrote: »

Chipper chips.
Chicken balls from the Chinese.
Lucozade.
Cadbury's chocolate.
Milk.
Superquinn sausages.
Proper baked beans.
My mam's Sunday roast.

Aside from food and drinks, I miss the Irish attitude. Living in the US, I get sick of all the chirpy, "How is your day going?", "Have a great day!". I miss a casual Howaya that doesn't require a response or being able to say I'm grand and that being enough.

I miss sarcasm. Americans think they get it but they don't really. I've tried to make my husband (who is American) understand "I will yeah!" and he tries to say it sometimes but when he says it, it sounds like he means it and not at all like he's saying no.

I'd like to be able to refer to someone as yer man or yer one and not have to go into great detail about who I mean. Irish people just get it.

I miss everything about Ireland.

FFS you can't even get an American to say "bollocks" correctly or with the right intonation. You can say it 1000 times and they'll still fcuk it up

SpaceTime

Being stopped at a Garda check point in the car and knowing it's a friendly experience.

I don't like guns being pointed in my general direction as happened to me twice in the US at ransom stops where they were looking for someone.

Egginacup

Asarlai wrote: »

And you could certainly sink a pint of Harp.
If you had a pint of Harp sink.

FYP

TheBeardedLady

I dunno. I think the belief that Americans don't get sarcasm is a bit of a myth. I find it depends on what part of the country they come from. I found Californians take everything really literally but New Yorkers were so sarcastic and funny I couldn't keep up at all.

Egginacup

Depraved wrote: »

Milk. Here in The Phillipines they only sell UHT milk which has a burnt taste to it. Granted, it last 6-8 months, even outside the fridge, but still...it's horrible.

Prepackaged meats for sandwiches. Seriously...not available here either.

Proper crisps. Only American 'chips' available here and crisps with odd flavours like "Sweet and Spicy Octopus" flavour.

Pringles. You can buy Pringles here, but they are smaller and taste bland.

Supermarkets with laser scanner checkouts. Here they are still manually entering prices by hand, and often have to send someone to check on the price. 3-5 mins at a checkout per person is normal here.

Not being 30-35 celcius with 100% humidity 24/7.

Irish drivers. Laugh it you will, but you don't have to stare death in the face every day dodging motorbikes, jeepneys, motor tricycles and street kids playing on the roads. I'm pretty sure that simply being alive qualifies you for a drivers license here.

The lack of mosquitos. Somedays I wake up looking like I have the measles. Sprays don't even work anymore.

Food you can eat without spending half the day vomiting.

Paths you can walk on. Seriously. Some bright spark here thought it would be a good idea to plant large trees in the centre of every path at 10 meter intervals. Think I'm joking? Have a look:
http://www.streetchildadvocate.com/2015/03/02/thou-shall-not-pass/

Jesus, what the hell is keeping you there if you have to endure all that?

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

In general I find Americans are less inclined towards sarcasm then we are but obviously many of them do get it.

suicide_circus

Shenshen wrote: »

Depends on where I would be when abroad - in Germany, I'd miss a good cup of tea, white bread, the weather and the sea.

Huh?

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Tea,
RTE,
Guinness,
Tayto,
The feel of Irish towns. English ones just aren't the same.

I'd say you are a barrel of laughs.