Lessons in Translation

I thought I was prepared for the Irish accent before I moved to Dublin. I'd travelled here before for vacation, seen enough movies and thought the accent was very sexy. I quickly learned that there are substantial layers to the Irish accent, one of which is extremely rough and somewhat incoherent. I actually work with a girl who, 75% of the time, I have no idea what she's saying. It's as if she's too lazy to form a complete word, dropping letters and sounds. She actually told me yesterday that she's, "Afta getin' me 'air coorled". I'm pretty sure she's getting her hair curled, but I've learned to just nod and smile when I don't understand someone. It's just easier that way. Of course that means a lot of the time I'm mistaken for being a little 'slow' but I just make excuses, saying I'm just Canadian and a girl and manage to get away with it.

There's this great website my friend Sarah told me about, www.overheardindublin.com It's a site where people randomly write in with amusing things they've overheard people say on the bus, at pubs, shopping, etc. Some days my stomach actually hurts from laughing at the things people say over here. Don't get me wrong, I love living here and the people are great, but sometimes, some people can be complete charactures of what some think are your stereotypical Irish.

I finished work yesterday at 5:00pm and hopped on the Luas train at Heuston Station, heading to my stop at Abbey Street. I was pretty tired and just kind of let my mind wander until I heard a kid screaming. There was a woman, in her 40s, with a little girl with blond pigtails. The kid had to be about 5 and she wouldn't get in her stroller or hold onto the hand rail. She seemed pretty upset about not being able to see out the windows so she started screaming. Her mother managed to calm her down, however as the train pulled up to the Jervis Street stop, primarily a shopping area, everyone in the car overheard the little one screaming at the top of her lungs, "Give me ma munnnnie! Give me ma munnnnnie! Maaaa munnnnnie!" and so on. God, it was funny! Just when I had started to despair that my days of telling amusing anecdotes about Ireland were over, this little girl kicks off and gives me the perfect excuse to start writing again!

Tonight I'm off to the Guiness Brewery for a work party at the Gravity Bar. I'm looking forward to it, there's a three course meal and dancing. Should be a good time, hopefully I'll have some amusing footnotes from the evening.