Stuff you miss about Ireland when abroad

Spent the best part of a year in a couple of different places, ended up missing:

Friends.

Family.

The sense of humour and the craic.

The dog.

Supermacs.

Galway.

Buskers.

Bacon and cabbage, sheppherds' pie, stew, homemade brown bread and soup and basically anything the mammy makes.

Cadburys (even if it's not Irish). Tayto. Chicken rolls. Saisage rolls. Goodfellas' pizza.

The "stand clear, luggage doors operating" (someone mentioned it earlier).

Irish in train announcements.

Irish on signs.

Knowing people will get Father Ted references.

Being able to see the stars in the sky.

Toilet roll and hand dryers in public toilets.

The euro.

Those few days of class weather in April and during the summer every year when everyone tends to make the most of them because the weather's usually not as nice (though not awful compared to other climates).

Not being stared at or questioned for wearing shorts and a t-shirt in over 30 degree heat (or even 20+ degrees).

Not being stared at for being white, freckley, blue-eyed and tall.

Not being stared at.

Not being taller than almost everyone.

Not constantly having to keep an eye on my valuables.

People waving or greeting each other even if they don't know each other and the general friendliness.

Our accents.

Our phrases.

Lambs in spring.

Fresh air.

Fields.

The post man delivering something for your granny to your house if she's not home because everyone knows everyone and where everyone lives.

The GAA.

Pitch invasions.

The grand stretch in the evenings.

Chippers being open until early morning.

The smoking ban.

Seeing someone I don't know and them knowing who my parents or siblings are just by looking at me.

Manners.

People holding the door open for far longer than they really need to just to be polite.

The language not having a formal version of "you" for me to worry about.

The turf fires.

The meal times (as well as all of the meals).

The sense of community when everyone shouts because someone's broken a glass.

Being able to laugh at ourselves.

The general laid back attitude.

The slang.

Whatever Irish I can remember.

The colour green and the grass here not being all dried up and horrible to walk on like in some countries.

The sh¡te talk.

The Dublin architecture.
The weather, I never knew how much I loved rain until I hadn't seen it for a month straight. Cool, damp, cloudy weather beats obscene heat any day.

Our cows.

They taste the best.

Egginacup wrote: »

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

Charity work. I help several of the local charities, mostly working with street children or the mentally impaired.

On the plus side, I'm actually average height here (5' 7"), food is cheap (2 double burgers + large coke for €2), and the people are friendly.

Oh and the language is a blast!
For example, they don't say 'Good evening', they say 'Magandang gabi' which is 'Beautiful evening' instead. So much more positive.
The language also has some amazing tongue-twisters like 'Ikinagagalak kong makilala kayo ginang Cruz' which means 'It is a pleasure to be acquainted with you Mrs Cruz'...ie. Again, so much nicer than the English It's nice to meet you.