True Makings

A home in Ireland

whatyoumakenotuptofate — Tue, 3 Jun 2014 00:03:00 GMT

I have never seen so much green all in one place! We flew into Cork and Shane was there to meet us. I missed him, and I know Patrick really did as well. We drove around the grey and old streets of Cork. The elections had just ended so signs with unfamiliar faces were plastered all over the city. We arrived at our home for the weekend, Shane's place. Shane had three other roommates, but we very quickly realized it was more like eight rommates with friends and girlfriends all packed into the same duplex. Every bed seemed to be up for grabs. We immediately went out for a pint at a place called Crane Lane. I kept calling it Crane Row because I have a need to fill in the gaps of my memory with different words and then convince myself that I am right. It was exactly like a lane, or a row. We have some Irish beer, I stuck with Bulmer's pretty much the whole trip as it very quickly became my new favorite cider. The boys tried their luck at some stouts. Shane still insists that Beamish is better than Guinness. I'll leave that assessment to the professionals, since I have never been a fan of Stout. I realized I would always feel very tall in this country. Being a little over 5'9" I was a beast amongst the girls. I was used to that from growing up in Portugal, but Holland has spoiled me and convinced me I was on the shorter side of average.
I had been putting all the things I thought I knew about Ireland to a test since we arrived. Drink a lot, check. Super friendly, big check! Gingers? Not so many. Everything I thought I knew had been a lie! Damn brunnettes and blondes! It was the first time I had ever satyed in a place with so many people. I was used to livig alone by now, or maybe with one roommate, but never a house full of people. I thought it would be overwhelming, but it was impossible to not be constantly surrounded by these people, they were contagiously kind and so full of energy. I felt extremely welcomed and like my people had been waiting for me here, this whole time. For once, I wasn't the one dominating a conversation. I was humbled into silence and enjoyed listening. One night after going out (which we did every night), we came back to the house and we had an entourage of at least 9 people. Patrick convinced me to stay awake as a guitar made it's way into our circle and one by one a couple of our nw friends closed their eyes and sang us some songs. I could tell that this wasn't the first time they had done this, it wasn't FOR us, we were just welcomed to be a part of it. I listened as I fell in love with every part of Ireland and of how it made me feel.
After a couple days of giant Irish breakfasts and incredible hospitality, we headed to Dublin with Shane, where we would be for another 3 days. I knew cities in Europe could be quite big, impressive, and overwhelming, I had been to Paris after all, but Dublin was something else. It had so many colossal limestone buildings that made me jealous of the people who got to work in them, or even live, if that was possible. I had really wanted to see Trinity College, as a scholar and potential student of there, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I would like to think of myself as a confident strong person, but this place made me feel small, intimidated and a little unworthy. It also made me determined to become someone worthy of attending such a place. I looked around at the people just walking around, casually, like they had no idea how lucky they were to be able to steo foot into such grateness and gigantic wonder. The amount of incredible minds that had attended there and been a part of something so amazing was seeping through the walls of the enormous buildings. I knew that more than anything I wanted to be a part of it, a part of all of it. Ireland changed me, and pushed me forward. I anted to feel that way all the time and never forget what got me there in the first place. I wanted to be different. This was going to be a great move for me, with so much of what I have always wanted. Ireland is a place of art and freedom. The amount of talent and skill that have walked around in these very same streets were daunting, but exciting.

Photos: The luck of the Irish

whatyoumakenotuptofate — Mon, 2 Jun 2014 23:47:00 GMT

When I found my new home

Sao Miguel, Azores, Where?

whatyoumakenotuptofate — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 20:59:02 GMT

The year was 1996, I was about to turn seven. I will never forget the smell getting off the plane. Canada was dry, here it was wet and salty. I had never heard of Portugal, but my parents said we were on an island. The ocean looked like a lake, but it tasted differently. It was also salty, everything was so salty. I remember the two men who came to get us at the airport, they were my dad's friends, Peter and Tony. They drove us around to the beach house we would be staying at. We were hungry so they got us a local soda called Kima, it was made out of passionfruit and bubbles. It was sweet and a soft orange color. We got a ham and cheese sandwich on something called a bolo levedo. It tasted sweet like cake, but it was supposed to be bread. Peter explained that they made it in an old wooden oven and that's why it looked slightly burned on the outside. I liked the cake with cheese and ham. The language was loud and it sounded like everyone was angry, but they smiled at me and my sisters. Tony explained that they had never really seen blonde hair before. All of the adults touched our hair when they spoke to us, "loirinha", they called us. It meant little blondie, That word would forever describe us, and "estrangeira", which meant foreigner. They used that less because there weren't many "loirinhas" who weren't "estrangeiras". At the time not many people spoke English, they only spoke Portugueeny, as my sisters and I called it. Our beach house was white and they had geckos running around every where. Their tails come off when you touch them and the tails keep moving! I had never been to the beach before, not the ocean beach kind, but I knew the sand in Sao Miguel was different, it was black! The island was created from a volcano and was still surrounded by volcanic rocks, so the sand that washed onto the beach was black, and warm from the sun.
I'd never been to a place so small. I could see the ocean from the car window wherever I went. There were outlooks everywhere, most with picnic tables around for people who liked to eat with a view. Everyone seemed to know each other. But we didn't. We were just the "loirinhas". The sun was always bright, even when it rained, which was half the time. It was "tropical weather" they said. I had never seen a paradise look so normal, but foreign at the same time. The wind was always saltier and the people were always more tanned than anywhere I had ever been. I don't know how I ended up there, but I didn't want to leave.