Is It That Obvious I'm American?

Seriously!
Ireland gets better every day. I'm telling you. I really do live out in the country tho. Like today they were fertilizing the neighbor's field so we thought that one of the kids had missed the toilet or something hahaha.

I bet you're all wondering how I'm getting on here right? Let me tell you, I've never truly been happier in my post-college life. (Don't freak out mom and dad, I will come home, EVENTUALLY). Most of my weekdays are spent home with the kids helping Sinead out when I can or just chillin out maxing, relaxing all cool. My favorite thing to do tho is run around outside with the kids because the weather has been class all month! (Class means great or awesome, just some lingo I'm picking up hehe). 

On the weekends tho, thats when I really let go, haha not really but I do try to get out when I can.
Ana, who is another Au Pair up the road from me, has really become an awesome amiga. Oh and Eugenia who lives just about 20 minutes away from us. These are the girls that I get together with on the weekend and they are both from Spain! So thank you Sra. Binney, you would be so proud of me! They help me better my spanish while I help them learn better English. they are just two really awesome gals. Last weekend we went shopping in Newry which is part of Northern Ireland so its part of the UK and I was technically in another country. It was awesome. Then we went to Carlingford for the evening on Saturday and went into one of the pubs and met this awesome group of guys who invited us to their table and the whole not we all were just having laughs and it was just really cool to have all these people interested in who I am and where I come from. It was also great getting to hear that they had all been friends since childhood haha. They also said they want us to come back but we'll see if they'll hold up on that offer when the time comes.

This weekend, my host family went away for the weekend so I had the house to myself. On Friday it wasn't too bad because I went out again with Ana and Eugenia in Dundalk and we went to a couple pubs. We were sitting there sitting on some drinks and all of a sudden "Yeah" by Usher comes on and since I know all the words by heart, I was having a field day just dancing how Brittany does and I could tell there were eyes on me. That's because I was literally the only one out of 100 people maybe dancing. haha. But that's just how I do. So I went up and talked to a couple people and they told me they could tell I was American because Irish girls wouldn't be brave enough, no crazy enough to show off her awesome dance moves. haha. They assured me it was a good crazy tho. 

Guys here are way shy and definitely not bold like Americans. But its a good thing because its forcing me to go up to people and make the first move which I guess shows how confident and independent I am. I guess it also gives me a boost of confidence knowing that for some of these people, I'm the first and maybe only American girl they will ever meet so I know that there will always be something to talk about. I haven't found my husband yet but hey, I've only been here for a month so I still have plenty of time hehe. 

I'm literally so excited for what my future in Ireland holds and I'm loving every minute of it.
Stay tuned ya'll.
Love,
Brittany 

Ps It's 5:45 pm here and 9:45am in California

Best hott chocolate of my life

Yay new friends

Hair twinsies

Have fun in Canada Tony!

The backyard from my room

Mi nueva amigas

Dundalk is already ready for Halloween!

Eugenia and Ana and our Warrenpoint homies

2 and a half weeks in!

Wow!
So much has happened since I've been here!
On August 23rd at about 10am I left America to start my Au Pair adventures!
I landed in Dublin at about 3 am the next day which was really 11 am Ireland time and it was full speed ahead since then.
I was off to Claremorris in Co Mayo Ireland. 
(we are 8 hours ahead of Cali but I no longer experience jetlag!)

The first family I was with picked me up from the airport and we were off to see a Gaelic football game. This sport uses a volleyball on a soccer field and the goal is to kick the ball into a soccer goal or a football goal post. Its a pretty intense game but the only thing I could think was "I didn't know they made men this big in Ireland," but boy did this get me excited. Its an amateur sport so no one gets paid but it is bigger than the superbowl in America and people are very territorial because you can only play for the county you live in so it was a pretty cool thing to experience on my first day here.

There was also a Spanish Au Pair next door named Maria who was finishing up her run here as an Au Pair, but before she left, she was able to show me around Claremorris a little. She took me to a local pub where a bunch of old men bought us drinks and made me sing! Then she took me out on a Sunday night and I kid you not, it was more busy than downtown Santa Barbara on a Thursday night!

The kids in that family were 10 and 13 so it was pretty rocky from the start.

The family wanted me to cook every night and clean the whole house and I was just not feeling comfortable. The 10 year old had her tonsils taken out so I was basically home alone with here for a week and it was just getting to be too much for me, so I decided to look for other options. On Friday the 5th, I called the agency and they gave me the contact information for another family who I immediately called and talked to the mom for about an hour and we decided that I would be a good fit for their household. By Sunday the 7th, I was on my way to this new home and its been amazing ever since!

The kids are Aodhan (Ay-den) who will be 6 in December, Realtin (Ree-ull-tine) who will be 3 in December and baby Cillian (Kill-eeee-un) who will be a year next month! Their dad, Joe, works in London so he's gone for weeks at a time and their mom, Sinead, is a nurse who works 2 days a week. So basically I have it pretty easy. I help Sinead with the kids when she's not working and on days she does work, its pretty hard but the kids are starting to take to me so its getting easier to get them to listen to me. 

Now I'm living about an hour outside of Dublin in Co Louth and am finally unpacked and settled in. There is a Spanish au pair down the road, named Ana, who I plan on making trips with so I will be getting time to travel soon! This new family made me feel more comfortable since the moment I stepped in the house and I feel like this is a perfect fit for me. I no longer feel like a stranger and I'm sleeping in a full bed again!

I am overwhelmed by the amount of redheads in this country and I love it! I am so excited for what this year has in store for me and I know God is watching over me! It is so green here and the countryside is beautiful. Oh and the weather has been GORGEOUS. I must have brought the Cali weather with me!

Here's to the next 12 months!

Stay tuned ya'll!

Double Decker bus in Dublin!

My New Room!

Ireland Countryside!

They eat Crepes in Ireland too!

Croke Park. This is where the Semi-Final football game was played between Mayo and Kerry and they ended up in a tie.

The streets of Dublin are as busy as San Francisco or New York!

Such a beautiful sunset.

My first friend, Maria, who went back to Spain last week.