From the Emerald Isle to the Sapphire Mountains

When we arrived at Heather’s on Wednesday we allowed ourselves time to catch up and relax. Anne was off on a teaching adventure in Italy, so we were sharing the house with a new roommate as well. Heather, amazing lady that she is, gave us her bed and took the couch. It was phenomenal to have a bed again. We spent the night watching "Wolverine" before retiring. After sleeping in a bit, we walked into town—we were used to it, after all—and stopped in at Krust to say hi to Brant, even if we had no money to buy anything. He was actually a lifesaver though, because he had 50 euros to give Dale for his bike. Hopefully he gets more use out of it now than it sounded like he was! Then we walked to USIT under the dry grey sky and did some printing, followed by a visit to the tax office on O’Connell Street with our papers. We didn’t have to wait long before seeing someone. The guy told us we could have our tax returns mailed to us in Canada, so we decided to shut down our bank account rather than doing it from abroad.

First, however, we stopped at USIT again because we had had trouble printing our tickets off—which turned out to be e-tickets. We didn’t regret it though, because it gave us a chance to say goodbye to Lisa, who was such a  great help this year. When our hugs were done, we realized we were an hour ahead, so we could still stop at the bank and shut down our account. We were able to do it from a different AIB than our usual bank with no problems, but did hand over 50 cents because we didn’t have quite enough money in the account to shut it down ($24.50). The lady behind the counter gave us no trouble and wished us a safe trip home.

For the evening we arranged a final Dublin night out. Heather, Dale, and I headed for one last night at O’Neill’s, where Sammy, Brant, and Dale’s work buddy Greg met up with us. I signed Sammy’s goodbye book there, once again wondering why I didn’t think to get one for myself. The temperature in the pub was uncomfortably high, so Heather, Brant, and I went to meet more friends at Harry’s on the Green. The pub-goers spilled all the way outside, but we ran into Simon and Camille who told us where we could find everyone else. Croatia and Brazil’s World Cup game was going on, so it took a little effort to hear Katie squealing, “You’re back!” and hear the greetings of Alison and the rest of the group. Dale, Greg, and Sammy met up with us as the match was ending, which wasn’t great timing because everyone was ready to move on to the next place, which was a club called Dandelion.

Simon somehow got us in free of charge, but it would be difficult to get Dale and his work gathering in since they were separate from us. They ended up at Sinnott’s. Heather had to work in the morning, so she gave me a hug after some time there, and warned me that she was going to wake me up to say goodbye at about six in the morning. Then I had to say goodbye to Katie, with promises to see her in Hawaii within the year, and an open invitation to anyone who wanted to come to Canada. Sammy and I left to find Dale’s group while Brant headed home. It turned out the pub was closed, so we were stuck sitting outside when we could have had more time with friends. I had a heartfelt chat with good ol’ Sammy, and cartooned a picture of the bouncers not letting us in for his book. Eventually Dale and everyone came out and we all said our final goodbyes.

Naturally, Dale had to stop at Zaytoons before we made it home, so in the interest of money, we shared a kebab. In Ireland, this means a pita stuffed with chicken, veggies, and a large quantity of mayo. As promised, Heather popped her head into the bedroom in the morning to say ’bye. I’m going to miss that girl! Then a jackhammer started pounding away outside the window, so Dale and I ended up awake earlier than planned. We had a full day ahead of us, however, so we got to it. I quickly wrote last week’s blog post, then we packed our bags and dragged them to the bus stop near Harold’s Cross Road. Neither of us were too pleased to be lugging bags around so soon. We had to make space on the bus for a buggy, which wasn’t easy, then hopped off and got the DART to Dalkey.

We waited a little while on the steps of Vincent and Rosaleen’s house until Rosaleen arrived with a shy Sennan. We didn’t have much time to catch up though. Dale and I had booked ourselves the kayaking trip to Dalkey Island I had wanted to do since last summer. Vincent drove us to Bullock Harbour, where we asked a lady sitting at a boat rental stand outside houses right on the pier if she knew where to meet the people from kayak.ie. She slyly replied, “On the internet?” Then smilingly told us the lady, Jenna, hadn’t arrived yet. It took a little time to extract ourselves from her repetitive but friendly advice. Before long we got to meet Jenna, who told us two other were coming along for the ride. When they didn’t show up we had a little lesson on kayaking, not including flipping the kayak back over, then headed into the ocean. There was a little sprinkling of rain as we made our way past the boats floating in the harbour and met the open ocean. Luckily for us, the sun soon broke through the clouds.

Our first stop was alongside the rocky Maiden’s Island, where supposedly some young girls had once gone picking flowers and were never seen again when the tide came in. The island was just poking out of the water, and was covered by Cormorants and Arctic Terns. The Cormorants were like big, dark-winged storks. Apparently they are one of the only birds in the world that don’t have oil on their wings. The Arctic Terns migrate every year from North to South pole, with their breeding ground on this island. The next, similarly rocky island we stopped at was Lamb Island. There were seals everywhere. Just as I remembered from going to Dalkey Island when I was nine, the seals were incredibly curious. A baby seal popped up right behind Dale’s kayak, sniffing it with its nose, then performing flips around us as its worried mother called it back with a loud groan. We backed off, heading at last to the biggest island. As we reached the crystal-clear shallow water, a spotted seal followed us. When we paused, it sniffed curiously at my paddle, then pushed it out of the water. When I had my chance I cautiously stoked the seal’s face. The wet fur felt quite a bit like the wetsuit I was wearing. I was able to pet it three times, with only the caution, “Just remember, it’s a wild animal.” It was funniest when the seal swam underneath me on its back, the big, round eyes staring up at me from underwater.

Dale on Dalkey Island

Me, the tower, and Dalkey mainland in the background

Goats

When we pulled out kayaks onto the shore Jenna handed each of us a chocolate bar, then said she’d meet us back at the kayaks in twenty to thirty minutes. I had to take off my sandals, which were far too slippery to walk in. This meant I was occasionally walking on bunny poop, because they were everywhere, just like the seals. We had to be careful not to step in the countless holes. The temperature on the island was weirdly humid, the long grass very warm under my feet. We also had the whole island to ourselves. The first building we came upon was the ancient church. It was far smaller than I thought it was as a nine-year-old. I didn’t know back then that the English, defending against Napoleon, had replaced the altar with a fireplace. Next up was the tower they had also built. Unfortunately we couldn’t go inside this time, but I definitely heard something creepy moving around in there. Dale had made his way to the hundreds of screaming birds on the ocean-facing side of the island, so I headed that way, where we found the five horned goats that are usually too shy to come near people. They slowly assembled on the hilltop to watch us, which was a little unnerving given their horns. Lastly, Dale and I made our way to the barracks at the far end. This was actually much bigger than I had expected, with crumbling walls marking many different rooms, but the rusty rails for the guns still exactly as I had left them.

Me on the barracks' wall

Dalkey Island: worth every penny

Our time was starting to run out, so we walked back to the kayaks with a sunny and pretty view of Dalkey from across the jewel-bright grass and grey ocean. I smiled to think that this is where I fell in love with Ireland in the first place. The return journey was only slightly more difficult with the current against us. Reaching the harbour was strange because the water was much lower than before, making the stone pier tower over us. We had to carry the kayaks through mucky ground. After telling Jenna how much we had enjoyed our three hours together, we returned to Vincent and Rosaleen’s.

The family was busy setting up a concert in the pink church where we’d enjoyed our Christmas mass. With relief, Dale and I enjoyed an hour or so of garbage TV, then joined everyone for the string orchestra from Utah. The students played incredibly well, and both Dale and I thought their charismatic teacher looked very familiar. We got to see and say goodbye to Roisin and Sennan after the performance, squashing him with kisses and imaging what he will be like when he comes to Canada one day. Niall wished us well with hugs at his car. Fionnuala accompanied us to a chipper for dinner, then bought us drinks at Finnigan’s, the pub where every so often she had served Bono and The Edge. After walking through the dark streets of Dalkey back home, we weighed our luggage for our flight home the next day. Fionnuala tried to help me accept that I was going to have to leave items behind, which wasn’t an easy task and she deserves a thank you for her patience. Then we said goodbye to her and Vincent.

Early in the morning Rosaleen drove us to the bus that would take us to the airport. She unfortunately had to give us a little cash to pay for the trips. We thanked her for everything, and hopped onboard. When we reached the airport we found out my luggage was just under the weight requirement. Whew. We both slept on the flight to London, which then circled Heathrow for an hour. Luckily for us, most of the other passengers were headed to Vancouver, so the airport delayed that flight. After two shuttles, and Dale getting his bag slowly searched at security, we got onto the plane in time for departure.

To our surprise and disappointment we were seated in the middle of the middle aisle. This meant we were back to no sleep. The lady beside me liked to talk, but she was also pretty respectful about keeping it to meal pauses and bathroom breaks. But as the flight attendants kept feeding us, this was still fairly often. Not that I’m complaining about all the goodies. I did manage to get an hour of sleep in between watching “Thor: The Dark World” and “Ender’s Game.” Dale didn’t sleep at all. The sun followed us all the way to Vancouver, but below the clouds turned out to be a little bland.

Dom and Mum were waiting for us at the front of the line when we had collected our luggage and dragged it to the exits. We hugged over the railings, then headed for the car together. Dale couldn’t make it out of the airport without Tim Horton’s, so Mum picked some up for us as we went to pack the car. Naturally, we chatted enthusiastically the whole ride home. I was a little disappointed that the glorious mountains were hiding behind a thick layer of boring cloud. I’d been looking forward to that sight. Making up for this tremendously was Danielle waiting for us at home with sunomono and a red dragon roll from Gon Sushi. My mouth watered; it was just as amazing as I remembered. We stayed up until Canadian bedtime, which was a bit of a struggle, but we figured it would help us out in the end.

Our to-do list was very large for the next few days between seeing all the faces we had missed and getting ourselves settled. Danielle helped us to unpack most of our belongings in our new studio apartment. I remember that being small, but compared to Ireland I was wowed. I can spin around with my arms out and not hit anything! We surprised my little cousins at their house one night, bringing magical Blarney Stone souvenirs. Both stared when they opened the door, mouths open, as if they couldn’t even speak. We picked up Dale’s car from my uncle’s care. My uncle was disappointed we hadn’t called first because he had planned on having the boys wash it for us, which was really thoughtful. He had taken great care of it regardless, and a wash was more than we could ask for. Dale’s old friend Josh drove us around all that day to get forms from the bank, the insurance, and the car. The day before Dale got himself a cell phone, so he was able to apply for his first job today; a job where a friend of mine could even recommend him. We got to see some of our good friends for an evening of both tea and wine. It was a little sad to fill them in on the details of our move to the next town over, despite just getting back.

While the to-do list is still unbelievably long, all the changes in my own life, and the lives of my friends and family has been fascinating and exciting to hear. I really can’t believe how much everyone has grown up. And I haven’t even seen half of them yet. I think I’m more excited for all their stories than for telling my own. The jet-lag hasn’t been bad, though I haven’t had much of an appetite and I generally crash by 10 or 11. Otherwise being home is the most natural thing in the world— except that both Dale and I have had moments in the car where we pause for a second to wonder which direction the traffic should be coming from. I’m not looking forward to learning stick—I will have to sell my car since there is no where to park it at our new place—but Dale was happy to be behind the wheel again. Today we were finally treated to a view of our mountains. They really are monstrous and beautiful. The layers make it look like we are tiny insects at the centre of a blooming blue tulip. It’s bizarre to see how spaced out the entire town is as well. The buildings in Ireland are much more interesting, even if they are packed together. But the space here is relaxing, the mountains home, and the familiar faces heartwarming. I may have had a more difficult year abroad than most people have, but that just means I won’t be taking any of it, especially home, for granted.