Living abroad is definitely a really interesting experience in constantly defining and revisiting your identity. I didn’t necessarily think being in Ireland would feel that different or give me much culture shock since it’s an English speaking country, but I do find myself feeling my American-ness quite a lot, mostly in the sense that others immediately know I’m American. They’ll say “oh I love your accent!” (really? I’ve never known American accents to be charming and it’s strange of course to even think I have an accent :)) or they’ll say to Isaac “your accent is so cute.” At school, the teachers’ nickname for Isaac (or I-zock as they pronounce it) is Yankee Doodle. We joke that that would be like if an Irish child came to America and his teachers called him Little Leprechaun or something. 🙂

But it is fun in a way (most of the time) to feel a little different and there’s always a starting point for people to talk to us because they want to know our story, where in the states we are from, what brought us here, etc. And luckily, the Irish in general really like America, which isn’t always the case in other countries. It seems everyone has a sister or aunt or cousin living in the states, or people, themselves, have spent time living or traveling there. It’s interesting seeing your own country through the eyes of others and the positive aspects and parts they really like about it (San Francisco is absolutely adored here!) So I feel my nationality even more living here than when I lived in Israel or Prague, probably because I was a student during those times and living and hanging out mostly with other Americans and probably not having the same daily interactions as I do here with Irish folks.

I have been attending a few events lately with the American Women’s Club, and it’s a nice outlet for meeting people, socializing, and getting to go to some fun events. You immediately have a connection point and it’s nice to feel like you can vent a bit or have people understand about aspects of living here that can be frustrating. It’s a very eclectic group of women — younger women, moms of young kids, women married to Irish men who are planning to settle here, women who’ve just moved here, some who’ve been living here 20 years, older women. As I meet people, it’s a whirlwind of trying to keep everyone’s stories straight — where they are from in the states, where in Dublin they live, what brought them here, etc. There is a weekly moms group that meets, so I go to that sometimes. This past week I went to a girls night out with the group which was a lot of fun. It was my first night actually going out in Dublin, so it was fun to get a bit dressed up and have a few drinks. The venue we went to was a cool wine bar with delicious tapas too. I had thought it would be mostly the younger crowd, but some of the older women came out too which was great! One woman who was there is 80 and it’s rumored she was a former nun who married a former priest! Here are a few pictures from the night out

Then yesterday I attended a fundraiser tea, which was also a lot of fun! It was to raise money for an organization called Ruhama which works on ending sex trafficking of women here in Ireland. So it was a really good cause to learn about, delicious tea and food, socializing, and the coolest part was wearing awesome hats (“fascinators”) they provided for everyone. I guess these kind of hats are quite big here for weddings or going to horse races. I hope I have the chance to go to something like that while I’m here and wear one again! Think Kate Middleton or the guests at the royal wedding. There was something so amusing about a room full of American women wearing these crazy hats!

In addition to meeting some new American friends, we’re also trying to immerse ourselves in the Irish experience too and make Irish friends as well! Isaac has been making some friends at school and starting to have play dates, so that’s been nice. His best friend at school is a little boy named Harry O’Loughlin — doesn’t get much more Irish than that! 🙂 I do wonder how much the boys will come away with any sense of Irish identity and/or any bit of an Irish brogue. We shall see! I was trying to think of some of the little ways we are doing things more like the Irish (not to worry though, we will never not think of ourselves as American ;)) and I came up with a few:

–keeping our eggs on the counter instead of in the fridge (eggs here don’t need to be refrigerated for some reason but it’s taken me months to actually be brave enough to leave them out)

–having Irish beer and cider on hand. Here are a few of our favorites

–being obsessed with the electric kettle. Every house here has one and you can always be guaranteed to be offered a cuppa tea. We use ours constantly for tea and coffee and it’s so handy!

–bundling Rafi up in the stroller with this big foot muffler/sleeping bag thing. We definitely have these in the states but I feel like they’re on all strollers here and everyone bundles their baby up even more than we do at home. Before I got one, I felt that everyone thought Rafi was so cold in his stroller

–getting to know how to pronounce Irish names! Lots of people Jeff works with or Isaac goes to school with have names like Aoife (ee-fuh), Siobhan (Sha-Von), Sinead (Sha-nayd), Aisling (ashling), Cliodhna (Cleena), etc. These were totally indecipherable to us but are now becoming second nature!

–Isaac doesn’t have an Irish accent, but he is definitely starting to use more phrases that the kids do here. Like “We have to tidy up the rubbish straightway” is something he would say instead of “we have to clean up the garbage right away.” That’s just a little example.

–finally being more automatic with which way to look when crossing the street (since the cars are coming from the other direction). When we were in Spain last month (where the driving is like America), I actually got confused and found myself looking the Irish way when crossing the street.

My next big task in adapting to life here will be learning to drive on the other side! We are going to be leasing a car and it’s supposed to arrive any day now! Stay tuned for our Irish driving adventures!

p.s. One addendum to how we are becoming a bit more Irish: binge watching the show Love/Hate, which everyone here watched! It’s kind of like an Irish version of The Wire or Sopranos. If you like those shows, you should check it out.