Day 2 in Ireland

The weather today was absolutely gorgeous.  I woke up at noon Ireland time feeling much better than I did when my head hit the pillow the night before.  I got ready and ate breakfast with Grania and Theresa outside.  Theresa is a neighbor who lives in another apartment in the square.  We had healthy cereal with milk and hazelnut yogurt.  I had forgotten how popular of a flavor hazelnut is in Europe; it is quite tasty.  After breakfast we went out to the garden, and I transposed a few tomato plants.  Grania taught me a little more about gardening, and I watered some of the plants and flowers.  Living in the country is so peaceful.  After awhile, we used the leftover chicken from dinner the night before to make chicken sandwiches for lunch and sat out in the backyard enjoying them.  I really love talking to Grania.  We then took Harry and Lady Gaga (the dogs) into town with us so I could get some allergy medicine and we could pick up a few groceries.  I love going to grocery stores in other countries; it’s so interesting to see how they’re structured and to see the different foods they sell.  I noticed that there are not many isles in Irish grocery stores; it’s more of a circle so you’re forced to walk through the whole store.  Portions also appear to be smaller.  After the grocery store we came back to the house to start dinner.  It was so nice out that we decided to take white wine to the backyard to read our books with Theresa.  With all three of us sitting together, no reading ended up getting done, but the conversation was just as nice.  For dinner we had lamb and lots of vegetables.  It was so delicious.  I also met Grania’s third neighbor Sarah.  All three neighbors are very sweet, and the setup is awesome because you get to live in the country, but still have neighbors who come and go as they please.  I also learned two interesting facts today.  One, if you put all your vegetable peelings, spoiled food, and such in a pile in the backyard, after a few months it will decompose and become soil that is good for plants.  I had no idea; how resourceful.  Two, I also learned that there are no zip codes in Ireland except in Dublin.  For example, the house I’m staying at is the Barnalicka House, and that’s its zip code.  It’s part of Adare, which is a village of roughly 800 people, and more specifically, their home is the Barnalicka House.  Barnalicka is the wealthy family who owned it originally, and all the houses that are very close or along the same dirt path use that “zip code.”  However, other houses were owned by less wealthy people, so their house names may be Poppy cottage, Barnalicka Home, Adare, Ireland.