well, tomorrow is 30 days

tomorrow is exactly one month from when we landed home after our trip to ireland. when i go away, i like to go to the shops that people go to to get things they need- we went to eurosaver and to Dunnes Stores and we also went to Spar, and of course we went to marks and spenser. we also went to Boots. i got things a person needs in boots. Shampoo and conditioner, hand cream and things like that.

when i was in portugal last summer i went to Pingo Doce to get groceries and things like that. it was very funny on the check out, the cash girl offered me a laundry soap trial size. now you must understand that i went to portugal i selfishly went haardly knowing the language at all. i could say Olá! and Obrigada, and Boa Noite, Boa tarde, Bon Dia. oh and Bem Vinda, Mas o menos and Nao. so clearly you can tell that my two weeks in portugal would be an adventure indeed. so back to the girl with the free sample. she tells me al about the great things, the words wash over me like a tidal wave, and my friend sofia translates for me. i was so embarrassed. then to make matters worse, cash girl told sofia, i was trying to decide if i sould speak french or english to her. AH! how doubly embarrassing! imagine she could choose from three languages! i'm so inadequate!

but the greatest thing about going to portugal, and to scotland in '99 is that i got to stay with families of friends. i got to really be a regular person. In scotland i watched TV with Brian and his mom and dad. their dog would chew on the crushed stone from outside, then bring them in and leave them all over the kitchen floor. by the end of the trip even i knew the standard scolding: jezzie! stop bringing those in, you're making a mess!

When i visit Ireland with my mom, we try our best to look like natives. though i'm sure we don't we just think we do. but our skin tone and our hair and eye color and also our physical build makes us look like we might could be natives, clearly our silly oohs and Ahs give us away, but not like in portugal, where no matter how hard i tried it was like i had a sign on "tourist"

I like being a tourist. i just like to do it not so conspicuously. i love being american. i love the fact that i can actually belive that my government is inept. i love that we have baseball. i love that i have what i have here, my family, my friends, my health, my resources. i don't live on easy street, I'll be paying CardmemberServices until 2008 for those four days in dublin, But i am a lucky american girl, it's just that i would like to give it a go being an irish girl, or a portuguese girl, or even a canadian girl. just to try it on. you know, for adventure's sake. Today i used the shampoo from ireland. the smell brought me right back. Perhaps the idea of the adventure is better than the actual adventure is. maybe just daydreaming about it is a better plan.