With the help of the Master's Seminary I was able to make contact with a missionary in central Ireland. I have been conversing back and forth with the missionary's wife who has been exceptionally friendly and helpful and has already invited us to come for a visit once we get there. It turns out her husband is a native and she is American. She was able to recommend two churches for me to check out in Dublin ( http://www.grosvenorbaptist.org/ and http://www.grace.ie/page/Home.aspx ) although she said there aren't many good churches there. She also gave me some tips for coming to Ireland as an American. Here is what she had to say....
"Yes, the Irish are generally friendly, and usually friendly to Americansas individuals--they're just not particularly keen on America as a country. Hereare some tips you might find helpful:
1. Don't hang an American flag up outside your house.
2. Don't keep comparing everything in Ireland to America. This is hard, becauseyou keep wanting to say, "Wow, I've never seen a fridge this small...in Americathey're always much larger" or "I can't believe they don't take credit cards inthis shop...in America, every shop takes credit cards!" Etc. I know in yourown mind you would just be making a comparison, but to the Irish it sounds likeyou think America is always better, and it kind of hurts.
3. Talk in a quiet voice in public places...restaurants, shops, and so forth.
4. Don't talk about American politics unless someone asks you, and even thendon't go on and on about it.
5. If someone drops in to your house for a chat, always offer them tea or coffeeand something to eat...biscuits (cookies) are the usual thing. And if someoneelse offers you tea, it's probably easier just to take one cup than to refuse itand be asked 5,000 more times if you're sure you won't have a cup."
I also asked her what was the most difficult thing to adjust to in Ireland. Any guesses as to her reply?
"Probably the weather! It rains a lot, and is damp and cold much of the time. Inthe last seven weeks, I think we've had maybe 3 days where it didn't rain.Admitedly, it's been a bad summer, but it's like that for much of the year.Bring warm clothes!"
What other questions do you think I should ask her???
8 comments:
Since you like to cook will you still be able to get the ingredients you want easily? I believe Ireland uses the metric system, do you have measurements to convert your recipes? I doubt their labeling would say somethink like "contains 2 cups" would probably be more on the line of contains "2L", etc.
So excited for you! Can't wait to hear about the cultural differences....
Fishing??? In that case Ice fishing??? How is fishing there? Matt u taking me?
What is there to do there for kids? You know, in case you have one accidentally over there.
What are recipes? Oh, I remember...They're the instructions you use before you become a pro, right?
So true mom. AGAIN, someone asked me for one of your recipes and I had to stutter and stumble and say, "you should just pick up a book on magic." I have no idea why my bread, soup, popovers, crepes, meatloaf, meatballs, chx salad, roasts, etc don't compare to hers. It has to be magic. That's my answer.
Some good ideas. Keep 'em coming- I'm running out of time to prepare myself...
What can I do that are "must sees" when my favorite sister and brother-in-law come to visit? At a reasonable cost please or free beautiful wonderful sights to behold. If it looks like Danbury there I'm gonna be real mad!
wow - you have to choose between a cell church and a baptist church?? is it too late to choose not-Dublin?? Almost sounds worse than Thailand! Lord willing, you'll find something....
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