Coming home from Carnaval

We heard this song as we were heading back to the Ferry to England after our weekend of cross dressing, drinking, singing and my first proper Carnaval. I'll post some pictures of the weekend here when I get to see them myself. 'Till then listen to this song and let me know what you think...

Merry Christmas

I hope this picture turns out alright. It's a composite of pictures I took yesterday in town. It's the Galway Cathedral and middle arch. As you can see things are lookin' exceptionally festive as this year in Ireland it was, indeed, a white Christmas! The cheeky cherub in the bottom right is Fiona after getting the last of her shopping done in town before heading up to Mayo for Christmas eve with her Dad on Inismacatreer.

Our trip to Ireland

We made it! Compared to some of our travel companions who'd be en route for days on end we had it pretty easy. Even so we had a hell of a journey but in the end arrived safe and sound in Moycullen, Co. Galway.

Hallowe'en 2010 - National Stereotypes Party

This hallowe'en we partied with the Couchsurfing community in Reading. Danielle was the good intentioned Canadian lass who hosted the fete and imagined the concept. Said concept simply put was two fold...

1) You must have a costume to attend the party.

2) You must dress like a stereotype of your nation of origin.

As you can see we leapt at the creative opportunities these rules afforded us! Fiona donned her finest Leprechaun outfit while I sported the rugged attire of a hearty Lumberjack!

Fiona did get a bit carried away with all the jigging, but it was much to the amusement of the other party guests and especially it's host. Some of the other national stereotypes we bore witness to were...

Spanish bulls

English farmers and teapots

Hungarian porn actresses

German tourists and Bavarian milk maid

Romanian vampires

American cowboys, hicks, gangsters, Nascar girls and the statue of liberty (there were a lot of Americans at this one)

Lebanese suicide bombers

Brazilian surfers

There was also our hostess who donned the noble attire of the Inuit. This is a picture of the two of us together, the Canadian contingent, making merry with a little maple syrup! You know how antsy in your pantsy you can get after gulping down a few swigs of the sweet sweet sap of a Canadian sugar maple!

Abandoned

You know, I often think about updating this blog. Or I'll think of something that'd make a great post, but then I don't follow through. I think that dial up has a lot to do with it, and my computer's mouse and keyboard working only intermittently is also the source of some frustration.

I'm in the Smithville library updating this time. It's not as exciting as you might imagine.

I'm looking forward to the holidays this year. I am every year but it's going to be nice to celebrate them in Canada again. I desperately want it to snow though! I'm very excited about Fiona's visit to Canada in 1 week as well. I want it to snow as much to show off how MUCH show we can get as I do just to have a lovely white Christmas.

It's going to be weird to be home but have Ayden away though. He'll be in Madagascar and celebrating his first Christmas away from home. I'm going to miss that guy.

Anyway, this is more of a ramble than a post, but it's kind of the mood I'm in today.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Galway, Ireland!

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Leading up to New Years I was a little nervous. I had been told that the last time June introduced someone to her friends who only spoke English, they really made no effort to talk to him and he was bored.

I shouldn´t have worried though. When we arrived June and her friends all talked with each other and I found out there was a Brazilian girl there too, so good! 2 non native speakers! I think I started talking to her in English and within a few minutes I was able to talk to everyone and they were all great!Our entrance to the bar cost us 20€ but that included 3 drinks and a shot. And they just gave you free shots when you ordered a drink anyway, I have no idea why! And if you asked them to mix you a really strong drink they would. It was pretty good! Anyway we stayed there ´till 4 or 5 I guess then we went to another bar and then to a house party in some room some guys rented. Across from their room there was a bar, I went in and bought a beer and ended up talking with strangers in there too. I had an argument with some Latin American guy about whether or not I was American and I just gave up because he was getting mad. After that though we were best of friends.

Just before the bar closed I asked the bartender if he´d just fill up my pint for me . . . and he did!!! Ha! Just filled ´er on up! Then I played hackey sack with some guy with a tennis ball, or more accurately just kind of kicked his tennis ball away from him.

Over the course of the night people disappeared, people reappeared, people threw up, I was given a roll of toilet paper in a grand ceremony in the bar, and then at about 8:30am we all stumbled back to our places and tried to get as much sleep as possible. I didn´t get up ´till 5pm.
Prior to all of this, June and I had watched the countdown to New Years on T.V. and then ate the traditional 12 grapes during the first 12 seconds of the year, then went out to the balcony to watch people shooting off fireworks from their balconies! Seriously! People were shooting crap right out their kitchen windows! I say one thing smack into the wall of the building on the other side of the road! I saw pedestrians on their way out have to run after someone dropped a firecracker out their window above them. It was awesome!!

Please note the Christmas tree in the background of the one picture. That´s because Christmas here isn´t over ´till January 5th when the 3 wise men come. The 25th is when Olentzaro brings gifts. That´s the dude who´s effigy I´m carrying in the impromptu parade in the old town.

Happy Holidays!

What a poser.