Why I love the Irish

1) Their belief in the fact that everything, and everyone, has some Irish heritage. When Barack Obama was elected president, the newspapers were full of new about his great great great grand uncle, who is from county Mayo (or something). The Irish press recently ran a story on how surfing was invented in Ireland. Surfing? There are surfers here but I very much doubt whether they could compete with the 'big wave' riders of say, Hawaii. At first I thought they were joking, but these articles appear in major newspapers, not tabloid junk, so I can only assume they are being serious!

2)They all know each other. This is a bizarre thing, and unsettled me at first. They will also deny this fact vehemently but it is true. The fact remains that Ireland and its cities remains a collection of 'big small towns' - even Dublin, the capital, has a population of only one and a half million people. The other thing is that families are big here, and close: cousins and nieces and nephews are much closer than at home. So these facts set us up for a situation where everyone seems to know everyone, and if they dont know each other yet, they will find someone that they have in common to break the ice in about 5 minutes.

3) They talk about the weather. A lot. Its because the weather is so crap here, and thus occupies a lot of thought and talk time. And its not small talk either, people will introduce the weather as a legitimate topic of conversation all the time.

4) They are a proud nation. This sort of ties in to no 1), and is a bit hard to explain. But I think I notice it because South Africans are quite similar: despite having a lot of problems in both countries, we are both proud people and very patriotic. (Although.... this has changed a bit with the big recession.) When they won the Six nations this year, you should have seen the amount of green clothing and rugby memorabilia floating around.

5) They are obsessed with death. There seem to be a lot of complicated and prolonged dates and rituals associated with dying (for example, a funeral takes three days!!!). There is the funeral itself, the remembrance mass one year, 5 years and I dont know how much longer afterwards. The newspapers are bursting of death and in memoriam announcements... and here is the thing: its not just old ladies in nursing homes who read them. Young people my age read the death notices every day! Down in Tralee, the local radio station announced death notices every day at lunch time.

6) The way they talk and little grammar expressions they use. My favourite ones: the random use of the word 'so', and in "See you later,so." (Encountered this one down in county Kerry). Also, the expression 'I'm just after': it literally took me weeks to figure this one out but basically it means, 'I've just come from', eg "I'm just after getting some bad news". The word 'like' is also liberally added to the end of sentences left right and centre.

It hasnt been easy adjusting to a foreign culture and lifestyle (and the weather certainly didnt make it easier!) but somewhere along the line I decided to stop complaining and start seeing the funny, or at least endearing side of things. No, its not the same as SA, and the people are VERY different, but thats not always a bad thing!