Fill her up!

Filling up for the first time! Its actually kinda cool!

Lost in translation

Well, I can truly say that there are times when I have no idea what people are saying around these parts. This blog was born out of a phrase at the dinner table on Saturday evening. One of the cousins announced that he had a pain in his puddix (sp). I cried with laughter, never heard of the phrase or the word before. It basically means that you have eaten so much that you are in pain. I was feeling a bit sick on Sunday, and my mother-in-law asked me is I was feeling better or if I was still bokey, hich means nauseous. Their standard greeting to any and everyone is: Hows you? They also seem to change the grammar of sentences when they say something like: ‘go you to the car or go you on.’ If you ask to use something to  borrow something, the standard response is: ‘tear away.’ Another endearing quality is that they tend to answer their own question in the same question: ‘here, mate, ya wounldn’t have change of a fiver would ye, no?’ Here are a few extra words and phrases that I had to learn:

ascared: combination of the words afraid and scared. “I'm ascared of heights.”
craic: fun, to have a good time. “The craic is mighty lads, get the beers in”
dander: walk. (eg. lets go for a dander)
eejit : an idiot. “you are an eejit”
grand: good. “that's grand, I'll see you at half-eleven” (they literally use this word after every sentences!)
oul: old. “That man is really oul”
ragein': angry, fuming.
smidgen: a very small piece (eg. A smidgen of cake)
wee: small. (eg. would you like a wee bun?)

weean: child

And how can I forget, shite, which is not a swear word, but means rubbish (eg. Don’t talk shite).

No borders.

No matter how far away from home you are, you always think of the ones you left behind. Whenever there is a lull in the conversation, or even when you find yourself alone for a small period of time. You think about that person who is suffering with an indescribable pain, and your heart aches for them. No matter the distance, know that you are always in my heart and always in my prayers.

My wheels!

My not-so-new-but-awesome car!

After looking almost everywhere for a cheap and cheerful car, just to get me mobile, we finally found one. Its a vauxhall vectra, which is quite heavy on petrol, but it'll until we can find something a little more economical. I love the colour though.Very excited to take her out for a test drive tomorrow! Now I need to think of a name for her :)

Settling in (finally!)

This is a bit overdue. Can’t even remember what I’ve been doing! The Americans left last Wednesday, so pretty much had the house to myself. My father-in-law works from home, he’s a mechanic and his garage is across the road from the house, so I don’ t feel completely alone during the day. On Friday I decided to go on my own adventure, just to get out of the house a bit. Got a lift with a friend to the nearest town, Ballymena, and went to poundland. I love that place! Bought a few baskets to hide all my hairdryer, ghd, brushes and jewellery in, just so that our room doesn’t look like a bomb hit it (hey, we are in NI afterall!). Got bored of the town and decided to catch the train to Belfast. Got directions to my brother-in-law’s office and dropped all my shopping off with him and then headed into the city. I must say I’ve been walking around a lot more over here, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Anyway, after stuffing my face with the most amazing double choc cupcake ever, I made my way to PRIMARK! Bought 11 items of clothing for £50 (R550). It might not last till next year, but the clothes are pretty J I found a PERFECT pair of jeans for £8, perfect length, perfect colour and perfect around the waist. After walking around for a few more hours, I went back to get my baskets and got onto the train to Antrim, where Karl works and he picked me up from there. He works till 14:30 on Fridays so we usually plan something just for the 2 of us. 

On Saturday we went back up to Belfast to stay over at Barry (brother-in-law) and Harpinder’s (his gf) place. Christina (other brother’s gf) booked dinner for us at an Argentinean restaurant and the 6 of us hopped into a taxi. I had an awesome chicken fillet stuffed with prawns, it was delicious. Forgot to take pictures tho! We also ordered 2 bottles of dark chocolate wine! I think between the 3 girls and Mark (other brother-in-law) we finished 5 bottles of wine. We came to the conclusion that we can’t continue to drink like this. I guess its because previously every time the 6 of us were together it was a special occasion, and since we’re here for good, it needs to stop. We eventually went to bed at around 1am. The next morning Harpinder and I went to watch Smurfs in 3D, which was really cute and Karl and Barry went to watch Rise of The Planet of the Apes. After that we had an another 2 course meal and then Karl and I headed back to Glenariff. 

The girls in the cab on the way back from dinner

Yesterday I was on a mission to finish my final draft submission, and I did. So I’m awaiting the final comments and then thats that. Its really such a relief. I usually work in the lounge, and rest my computer on the window sill with the most fantastic view.

View from my "office"

After sending that off I moved us downstairs. We’ve been in the room upstairs because some of the Americans were in the room downstairs. So spent a lot of time running up and down and trying to make sense of all the mess. Finished late last night, but feeling more settled now that everything is unpacked and I’m surrounded by my own things. We ordered a king size mattress on a groupon special, and thats only being delivered some time next week, but we had to buy a king size base too. So at the moment we are sharing a double bed, which isn’t much fun at all! Loving having a TV. DVD player and the Wii in the bedroom :)

Our room

Our entertainment centre :)

I made 2 litres of soup yesterday! Went around looking for a soup mix, but I guess since its summer they don’t have them. Had to cut up all the veggies myself! My arm is still aching! Also made chicken korma for supper last, which doesn’t have too many calories, apart from the cream.

Homemade soup mix a la Tarrin

Decided to treat myself and sleep last and watched Million Dollar Baby, really enjoyed it, and then did a bit of laundry, the life of a house wife! Because the sun only sets here just before 10pm, I decided to go to bootcamp up the road. It was a 3 hr session! But I didn’t stay that long. Only stayed for the first hour. They were gonna play games and have oranges and then start all over again. It wasn’t too bad to be honest, but it has been a month since I’ve done any weight training, so I might feel it tomorrow. What did irritate me though, was the smell of manure! Because we are in the countryside, there are sheep and cattle farms all over the place, and the sports complex is right next to one, and the smell was killing me. There were people that were sweating even more than I was (which is crazy since I sweat bucketloads while exercising!) because its was 18.5 degrees and everyone was complaining about exercising in the heat – WHATEVER! Didn’t sleep too well last night, but I know I’m gonna pass out tonight for sure! 

Bootcamping

Worst exercise in the world!

Still not feeling terribly homesick yet. Guess we’ve been too busy for me to sit around and feel sorry for myself. We just need to get a second car sorted and then I’ll have gained my independence back again. We’re probably gonna buy another astra just to get me going. Not too nervous about driving here in the countryside, but not looking forward to driving around in Belfast, time will tell. Karl’s friend is around trying to fix his rally car for a rally next weekend, so I’m going to see what I can learn about cars outside. Counting down the days till I come home. Here’s hoping that the weather will be good and I can catch an awesome African tan.

Weekend update

Can’t believe Monday is finished again. My brother-in-laws and their girlfriends headed out to us on Friday for the weekend again. So the house was manic over the weekend. Friday night we celebrated Karl’s American great-aunt’s 82^nd birthday at the house.

On Saturday, before the wedding we decided to go for a short walk. This waterfall is literally about one km from Karl’s parents’ house. So we went for a bit of an adventure walk. Luckily no one got hurt, but Karl went for a pretty rough slide on his bum!

So glad we eventually reached the waterfall

Karl after his slide down the mountain



The back of Karl's parents' house on our way to the waterfall



We headed out to the wedding later on, and left when the hotel kicked everybody out. Irish weddings are so much different to ours! I spent the latter part of the night as the rogue photographer. Apparently I was sitting on the dance floor taking photos of everyone! Lol!

Sunday morning, we all had a bit of a lie in and then sat around in our pjs and played cranium, boys vs girls! The boys won L But I maintain that its because they’ve known each other all their lives so they obviously have far more inside jokes etc than the girls do. Here's a really funny clip of the brothers doing a star performer card!

The sun was shining yesterday afternoon, so we all headed to the beach for lunch with the American cousins, and even had ice-cream at the harbour-it was probably about 15 degrees in the sun, but everybody was out in their shorts and flip-flops! What crazy place had I moved to?!  

The harbour

Last night was the last night of the 2 week summer festival in the Glens. And we all went down for whats known as the Waves of Tory. Its an Irish dance that they do in the middle of the town and hundreds of people line up and dance in the streets. Karl really didn’t have a choice and was my partner for it, it was good fun!

Waiting to dance

Today was my turn to cook. I decided to walk the 3.2km to the shop to buy ingredients and my father-in-law came to get fetch me with my green-friendly Woolworths shopping bags. The walk is really amazing, very peaceful. But I won’t be doing that everyday! 

The 3.2km walk to the next village

You can see Scotland in the distance on a clear day like today

The view on the walk to the next village

Had to walk to the next village to buy chicken breasts. I’m a long way from home when I pay Nearly R45 for 450g of chicken breasts! Thats pretty ridiculous! And none of the shops in the village have feta cheese. I’m going to have to drive the 30mins to the bigger town and do a big shop and freeze things. Well, it won’t be for too long. We’ll probably try to get our own place at the beginning of November in Belfast, where things are a bit more civilised (ahem!). I must say, I haven’t really begun to feel homesick yet, probably because its so busy here at the moment, and probably because I know I’ll be back for about 3 weeks next month. Time will tell!

So after a bit of chicken pie, salad and a glass of wine, we’ll probably take a drive to one of Karl’s friends who have recently had a baby girl. Other than trying to wrap up my thesis and send it off to my supervisor for the last time on Friday, nothing much going on until the weekend. We’re going to Belfast on Saturday to stay over with my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. We (the girls) are gonna go watch the smurfs in 3D J

Thats all folks! Enjoy the pics

Wedding Bells in the Glens

Jimmy and Fionnuala's wedding was absolutely amazing! We had such a good time!

Fionnuala & Jimmy

Karl was the wedding car driver, and bought a chauffeur's cap just for the part. He also decided to get kitted out with black leather gloves and his sunglasses, in the words of his brother, he looked like a stripper! See for yourself.

The wedding car driver/stripper

Without knowing it, the girls all decided to wear black for the big day, and as a result we were called the Graham Divas for the rest of the day, and most of yesterday.

Graham Divas in Black

After the ceremony, I was instructed to jump into the wedding car with Karl, Jimmy & Finn, and we went up to the school where Jimmy & Finn met, for their professional wedding shoot, its was so romantic! After about 2 hrs we headed up to the reception venue.

At your service ma'am

Happy couple

We all stayed over at the hotel, which turned out to be a pretty good idea. Not many people were able to walk, let alone drive home! The music was awesome! They had an Irish band, and the music that was played all had a bit of an Irish spin to it. The dance floor was hardly empty at all. We called it a night at around 1:30am, while some of the other cousin's didn't go to bed at all!

The Grahams

Yesterday after we all got back, there was a Graham soccer match: the under 27yr olds vs the over 27 yrs olds.

Awesome view of the glen

Where's the ball?!

Team GRAHAM

It was so much fun to sit in the sun and watch the guys chasing after a ball. Afterwards, we ordered pizza for supper, and people started making their way back to Belfast for work this week. We have another cousin's wedding this Saturday, so I'm gonna make sure I have enough sleep this week.

Went back to sleep for 2 hours after Karl left for his first day at work, and then went for a 10.7km walk! I did not intend for it to be so long, but I think I missed the first road and went all the way to the coast. Had my ipod with me though, and comfortable shoes, so it was just me, the music, the cows and the sheep :) Was really beautiful though, going to try do it 2/3 times a week and will take more photos.

Working away on my corrections for my thesis, and hope to have it all sorted by the end of next week. Thought that today might be difficult with Larl being at work etc, but its actually turned out to be a great day, and I can't believe its already after 3pm! Well, I need to finish my discussion chapter, before we hit the local pub for a, wait-for-it, PUB QUIZ tonight :)

R.I.P Sharon 5 August 2011

Sharon Hockey, cousin, friend and sister, passed away after a painful struggle with cancer late Friday night. You have challenged and inspired me.

Sharon-Nov 2010

Blackberry Virgin

So yesterday we started the day with a visit to the Spa. We had the hydrotheray session. Outdoor jacuzzi, various hydro treatments and a 2 course lunch in our gowns to end the afternoon with.

The Graham gals

After that we celebrated the bride -to-be's birthday with a special kitchen tea at a friends place.

Fionnula (Bride's) birthday cake

We rushed home, via the bottle store, to the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. Had a pretty late night/morning.Can't find sulphide-free wine in this place, so bought a bottle of vodka, lime and soda instead :) No more red wine hangovers for me. After a bit of a lie-in this morning, we headed off to the nearest town and I finally got a BLACKBERRY! No idea how the thing works, but I'll figure it out eventually.

Karl's parents house is packed! There are 10 of us in a 3 bedroom house and we're sharing a room with Karl's brother and his girlfriend for the weekend so you can imagine how much fun it is. Its like we're kids again, giggling til the early hours! We're gonna sit around and play cranium tonight and try get an early night to be fresh for the wedding in the morning-we'll see how that goes!

Gonna need a holiday to recover from the wedding weekend.

The little bird Karl & Barry rescued today. It now lives in my father-in-laws garage

Day One

The sun welcomed us back into the Glens. But the weather is supposed to turn again tomorrow. No surprises there! I managed to sleep this afternoon, so feeling a lot better. Gonna take a boyfriend (sleeping tablet) tonight though to make sure I'm well rested for the next few days. The Americans all arrive tomorrow and its going to be a crazy weekend. The girls have a spa day planned, followed by lunch, a bridal birthday surpise party, a rehearsal and then the rehearsal dinner, so I'm going to be shattered tomorrow night. Then its all the prep for the big day on Saturday. Really looking forward to it, its going to get a bit messy tho, for sure. Its 8:20pm here, and the sun still hasn't set, so my clock is a bit off, feels like its only 6pm. Will include some pics over the next few days, just haven't the energy at the moment.Can't help but wish I packed a few friends into my suitcase.