Pints and Peace

Snow is a funny thing.  At the right time and the right place, there is nothing better.  It brings us great things such as skiing and snowboarding, great views, wonderful Christmases, and best of all, snow days.  My last few experiences with snow have really been lacking though.  The relationship soured this winter during a snowboarding trip when I took enough snow to the face from snowblowers to cover a bunnyslope.  Alright, I figured I would forgive snow then because it was artificial pseudo snow acting without free will.  

This is unforgivable though.  Snow in Dublin?!  Really?  I guess I sort of sound like a scrooge, or at least I felt like one watching the children outside playing and having a great time.  Let me set the context.  I arrived at my host family’s house on the night of the 31.  The house is in a far flung suburb of Dublin, 40 min from downtown by bus.  Today we had the “day off” from the program I’m on, which really seems unpragmatic because we still haven’t been given our phones, which makes getting together with the 6 other people I know in this country very difficult since I don’t really know where they live.  Add to that the unreal complexity of Dublin suburbs.  It’s wild, crazy, unjustified.  The roads twist and turn like mountain roads lost in the city.  Furthermore, they end randomly, running into walls that predate the United States.  There are tons of small little neighborhoods which it seems like no one knows the names of.  I asked around 5 people where my neighborhood, Grange Wood, was, and no one knew.  I soon found out that it was one block away. 

Having gotten thoroughly lost the last time I went for a run, I was a bit nervous to strike out again.  With everyone out of the house here, though, I felt I had to break the confines of my monk’s cell.  To be completely honest, it was fa fa freezing!  Without nice snowshoes, my feet, hidden under three pairs of heavy duty socks, were soggy and my face was frozen worse than a botox junky’s.  With less than rewarding scenery, I returned to Grange Wood.  Total time of the trip: 20 minutes.

It really doesn’t snow here much.  This is the first time they’ve had real “proper” stuff in 7 years.  Given another week, I would welcome the snow with welcome arms.  To be fair this was an experience that I will remember for a while.  I hope that snow and I can salvage our relationship.