Day 7 in Ireland

Today I was introduced to new family dynamics.  I’ve never really seen anyone else’s family up close except my own and Brendan’s.  It’s not often that you stay with someone else and really get immersed in their family.  Grania’s dad celebrated his 86^th birthday today, and she and her four siblings wanted to do something nice for him.  However, two of the siblings took him and her mom out to lunch and the other three had a get together for cake and ice-cream after dinner.  In Ireland, birthdays are not very important.  Each year they celebrate her dad’s birthday on a different day, according to what’s convenient for her mom.  Last year it was the eighth, another year it was the ninth.  Grania also told me that they only discovered they were celebrating her brother’s birthday on the wrong day when he looked at his birth certificate for something.  Birthdays are just really downplayed.  That is difficult for me to imagine; I like to celebrate my birthday for at least a week and think that everyone should feel the same way.  I don’t care what age I am; birthdays are an excuse to have a party and spend time with the people you love.  Plus you get presents, and who doesn’t love getting presents?  Anyway, we spent the whole day baking and shopping for her dad’s birthday because we were in charge of brining the food, which we found out at 11 a.m. after spending the morning cleaning the house.  We made two fresh fruit flans, two heaping plates of tea sandwiches and purchased a cake along with chips and salsa.  By the time we got to her parent’s house at 7:15, we were tired.  (It took us four different grocery stores to find everything).  Anyway, I loved getting to meet her family.  They were all so sweet and wanted to know all about me and life in the United States.  Her nephews were in the process of taking their state exams, which sounded similar to the SAT, and we talked for a good while about education and politics.  I learned that many young Irish people travel to Australia in their 20s because there aren’t a lot of jobs in Ireland, and Australia is the new “it” place, as opposed to the United States.  I also learned that fish and chips came to England and Ireland when the Italians immigrated here after WWII.  The Italians are responsible for fish and chips but settled in cities like London and Limerick, which is why the UK is known for it and not the Italy.  If you want really good fish and chips, you’re supposed to look for a restaurant with an Italian name.  We also talked about sports for awhile, and her family was impressed with how good Butler is at basketball.  At around ten, we cleaned up and left.  I noticed that when her family departs from one another, they shake hands.  Because I’m American, and my family always hugs, I decided to hug her parents.  Her dad kissed me on the cheek and told me to come over again before I leave.  I really enjoyed hanging out with them.  I think I get along better with older people; I always have.  I must be an old soul.  Older people have lived more and are typically not bogged down by the worries of the world as young people are, and I think I must think that way.  I just don’t care about the same things that people my age usually care about.  I also made a few realizations about my family, like how lucky I was to grow up with all my grandparents and aunts and uncles living within two miles of me.  Plus, my parents and brother came to every event, performance, and concert I ever had.  My family is really involved in my life, and I think that’s something I’ve taken for granted, so family, thank you for that.