Pubs and Slang in Dublin Town

Hello again, everyone. I’ve been in Dublin for over a month now (the only way I’ve kept track is that I’ve used up my 30-day bus pass), and I figured I’d give you lot in the States an update on my adventures in Ireland.

First off, “How’s the crack?”

No, I’m not asking about your rear, or the quality of the cocaine. It’s craic, meaning “fun” or “good times”. So when they ask, “How’s the craic?” they just mean “What’s up?”/ “How’s it goin’?”. Little differences in slang like that can be a bit confusing for Americans when they first come to Ireland. You pick them up pretty quickly, but initially the new slang combined with a different accent (and the propensity towards mumbling that some Irish folk exhibit) can make your head spin. (more…)

Nobels for Nothing, Sharia Gaffes, and Lisbon Updates

Apparently our Dear Leader is being considered for a Nobel Peace Prize.  The rational questions of course are “Why?” and “For what?”   The answer to the former is “Because he’s the first Black president, and because he’s a European-style socialist.”  As cynical as that may seem, it’s actually pretty much the situation.  Here in Ireland, most of the people I’ve met seem to very much like Obama but are unable to articulate why they like him so much.  They always mention how he’s the historic first African-American president in a country with a long history of racial discrimination, but beyond that, they can’t name a single accomplishment of his aside from his being elected, and are usually shocked when told that his administration has even further polarized the electorate. (more…)

The Fate of Europe: Lisbon and Ireland

There were many things that I noticed as different and new my first day here in Dublin.  The weather, for one, was so different from that of the hot, dry, stifling Central Valley, or that of sunny, sea breeze-swept Santa Barbara. Cars are driven here on the left side of the road, ice tea is nowhere to be found, and I, aged twenty, was able to drink legally. But what struck me the most were the political posters. I soon learned that on October 2nd of this year, Ireland will vote on the Lisbon Treaty for the second time, with massive implications for the future of Ireland, the European Union, and Europe itself. (more…)

Pleasant Greetings From the Emerald Isle

Hey everyone!  This is my first installment in my travel-log-blog about my year-long stay in Ireland.  In the last week, I’ve traveled from Dublin to Dundalk to Carlingford to Knowth and New Grange and back to Dublin, and it has been one amazing journey.

First off, Ireland’s nickname “the Emerald Isle” is not without merit—everything is green!  Coming from dry, drought-stricken central California, where the landscape is not but the gold of dry (and flammable) grasses and the brown of bare soils, the view from the plane was incredibly striking-nothing but the different shades of green in the fields and forests, and the occasional dark brown of moist, peaty soil.  Here, where there is both adequate rain and adequate sun, any seed that lands in even the slightest bit of soil can grow and bloom, be it in the ground, the cracks in the pavement, in gutters, or even up on chimneys!  Plant life abounds in Ireland, whereas in California, save for the irrigated gardens and lawns and groves, everything is brown and dead until the first rains of winter. (more…)

Ted Kennedy Passes; Hopefully, Obamacare Will Not

Newsweek, and the rest of the mainstream media, have lost their last lingering vestiges of credibility. After weeks of claiming that the recession is over, that we’re out of the woods and that Obama’s stimulus has “worked”, the latest jobless numbers show a worsening economy.

California, the nation’s most populous state and (formerly) the world’s tenth-largest economy all by itself, has a jobless rate of 11 percent. My stomping grounds, the Central Valley, have been particularly hard hit, with the water shortage-largely the work of our ineffectual state government and smothering regulations-killing of our agricultural jobs.  Las Vegas, Nevada has a jobless rate of over 13 percent. The dailynews.com reports that NYC has a jobless rate of 9.6 percent; not only is it the first time since November 2007 that the Big Apple’s unemployment rate has been higher than the national average , but it’s also the city’s highest unemployment rate in the last 12 years. As for the nation as a whole, unemployment stands at 9. percent, which leads me to ask, “Gee, Mr. President, didn’t you say a few months ago that, unless we act immediately, unless we pass the stimulus right now, that unemployment could reach 8 percent?” Well, here we are, stimulus passed, and unemployment is well over 8 percent. (more…)

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