Culture shock setting in

Time is flying by here in Ireland. Part of that is due to the fact that getting from any given point to any other given point takes a very long time around here. Roads are narrow, but cars are tiny, so that kinda makes up for it. A lot of road work has taken place since I was here three years ago, so a lot of the roads are wider and straighter and much less terrifying than they were back then. Still, the experience of getting from a small side street in Fermoy onto a busy major thoroughfare in the middle of rush hour when cars and trucks are whizzing by, all of them on the wrong side of the road, while I’m sitting on the left side of the car and there’s no steering wheel in front of me is frightening and disorienting, to say the least.

There’s been a lot of development of all sorts since the last time I was here. Construction projects are everywhere. New gleaming car dealerships and housing developments and supermarkets are popping up all over the landscape. There are more medium-sized cars on the road, although the typical car is smaller than my Toyota Tercel. There aren’t many large cars yet, but there are still more than last time.

Almost as disturbing is the apparent climate change. When I was here in 2002 it snowed, just a dusting, but it was such a rare and wonderful event that when I returned a year later I was able to tell people that I was here “last year when it snowed” and they knew exactly when I was talking about. Schools were closed all over Ireland for much of last week due to the snow, as much as five inches in some parts, and temperatures have been below freezing at night for my entire stay. And it isn’t raining. It hasn’t been raining, in Ireland or in England, either. The Emerald Isle is in danger of turning brown around the edges.

I seem to have brought America with me. Last time I came just days after the “Shock and Awe” bombing of Baghdad signalled the start of the invasion of Iraq, and a major concern where the secret unmarked airplanes at Shannon Airport that, rumor had it, were being used by the CIA to ferry prisoners to unknown locations for unknown purposes. Now it turns out the President Bush (the Younger) made a surprise visit to Shannon Airport the day before I arrived, as a refueling stop on his way to India and Pakistan and Afghanistan. I have seen TV programs discussing China’s economic influence (not a major concern in Ireland, the panelists said, but not taken as seriously as it should be in America, where China is delivering a one-two punch of appropriating American manufacturing jobs while at the same time lending America cash at very reasonable interest rate), the problem of Irish immigration in the U.S. (there are something like 40,000 illegal Irish immigrants in the U.S.; no legal immigration has apparently been allowed since 1965; and Ted Kennedy and John McCain are apparently working to change this situation), and several other U.S.-specific topics.

A note on Irish talk shows – including the very popular and long-running “Late, Late Show”, which starts at 9:30 PM: they don’t seem to have the format quite down. Interviewers and interviewees will frequently bicker on the air. Hosts to try to embarrass their guests. And the shows seem to grind to a halt without any real conclusion.

I’m working on my second set of camera batteries – I hope the three spare sets I brought last me the next two weeks.

Gotta go – “Home And Away” is on!