Christmas is only 2 days away now, and I am well into the spirit of the season now. I finished all my shopping today, and will enjoy being in a different setting this year for Christmas. I miss my family back in America, but to be honest I don't miss being in America. Christmas time used to be really fun when I was younger, but for the last 5 or 6 years, christmas was really boring. So, I'm looking forward to observing how other people spend there holiday. Maybe next year I will be ready to go back to the tradition I was used to at home.
The nightlife here Cork is pretty amazing, I have been here for 3 months and i haven't even gone to half the pubs this place has to offer. I find myself going back to the same pub alot, and surprisingly enough it is the only place I have run into any other Americans, which is always a good time. Two nights ago I met a 28 year old engineer, who has been living in Cork for 4 years, but missed his town in Ohio alot. The name of the pub is An Brog, which just means "Old Shoe" in Irish.
I am anticipating New Years eve here alot actually, I spent my last 2 years in Boston on New Years eve, and the stories from those nights are classic. I rang in 2005 with Diana, and Peter on his crazy cross country trip and then going up to Montreal. Last year I went to a pretty good party in Brighton with Jeff and Brad, and drank until it was early enough to get McDonalds breakfast on the way home.
In the last three weeks I met 2 of the most interesting people I have ever known. Jennifer is a 22 year old girl from France who moved to Ireland because she hates France, and the French way of life. She is alot like me, especially in the way she thinks about life, love, and happiness.
Kristofer is from Poland and he moved to Ireland because he hated Poland, and he hated the Polish way of life. He was earning about 300 Euro a month in Poland working as a delivery boy, which is barely enough to live on in any society, but is the reality for a large majority of Polish people. He is now earning 5 times that much in a month in Ireland, so for him it was not only a chance to do something he wanted to do, but it is something better. At only 20 years old, he speaks about topics as though he was a man of 45 years or more.
Then there is myself, who loves living here in Ireland, and disliked America very much, but never hated it. I wanted to live anywhere in Europe, but my reasons are neither as strong or as convincing as theres are. I mean my reasons are quality of life, work, and politics. Which don't seem so strong when I compare myself to all of the things they have told me in the past two weeks. I think in a way it even makes me selfish, because I am never happy with what I have, but I always want something better.
Well to catch everyone up on everything, I have been extremely busy working and trying to make my stay in Ireland a bit more permenant. I haven't been too successful in the latter department, but work is going great.
I haven't started doing any traveling yet, except for my trip to Kinsale about a month ago and my trip back over to England to see my relatives. I plan on going to Belfast in the next couple weeks, as well as the trip to Holland, and whatever else in between.
2006 has been an excellent year so far, but by saying this I have probably just jinxed myself even though there are only 23 days left in the year. I have done more traveling than I could have asked for and I am finally starting to appreciate things as they come and not waiting till they are gone to look back and say how good things were.
