Friday, August 24, 2007

Six years, six things

Six years ago today two incredibly good-looking (if somewhat clueless) South Africans stepped off a 'plane at Dublin airport for the first time. They had been married a mere 6 months and since the wedding their lives had taken on a whole new and rather unexpected direction. Their cars, motorcycle, house and all it's contents had been sold, debts settled and farewells bidden. They had with them a grand total of IR£3500, which was all they had in the world apart from their clothes and a few boxes which were neatly (sort-of) packed in corners and garages of various relatives' homes.
It was the beginning of a new life; their aim was to settle in Ireland and move forward. Their cash was enough to maintain them for 3 months, at the most. It was make-or-break time.

The short version is that at the end of 3 months, they thought it was "break". 9/11 happened, the job market froze and they were down to their last week's worth of grocery money... and then one of them found work. And from there things started moving forwards.

Six years on and I'm pleased to say it turned out to be "make". To the point where they often turn to each other and smile, giving thanks for how lucky they are.
They have all the trappings they left behind in their homeland, and more.

In honour of the day, I thought I'd share with you six random things:

1. There is, in fact, good reason for all those Irish jokes you hear.

2. The reason Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle is because the fields and grass are greener here than you would ever believe possible.

3. The reason the fields and grass are so green is because it's pretty much always raining!

4. The Irish are the friendliest and most fun-loving nation I have encountered.

5. Guinness really is good for you!

6. Places like those you see in TV programmes like "Ballykissangel" and "Father Ted" really do exist in this day and age.

Thanks, Ireland. You've been good to us.

10 comments:

laurie said...

Sláinte, terri! i'm glad you're sharing your adventures with us!

laurie said...

ps--i have an award for you. have another guinness (it's good for you, after all) and then stop by the dogblog to pick it up.

anne said...

Happy anniversary! I'd have a guinness to celebrate with you, but seriously, does the stuff taste good? *shudder*

Rozi from Jozi said...

Oh so true Terri, I can so relate to this the tears frustration until the silver lining appears in the cloud. I walked the streets for 3 months before finding a job no-one wanted to sponsor me for a work visa, and now there is no going back! We were here 6 years in June and it has been a hard tough slog especially having a baby here and not having any family around, but we got through it and now she is 4 already, so here's to the future.

DelBoy said...

Not only is the Black Gold good for you, but you forgot to mention that it tastes sooooo much better in Ireland!

Anonymous said...

Guinness really is good for you!

I've been exploring that lately.

Happy anniversary, Terri!!

Jeff said...

Happy Anniversary, Terri!
I'll have to give Guinness a try sometime.

Terri said...

Laurie - Thanks so much!!! I'm honoured and it will grace my sidebar just as soon as I can figure out how to put it there :-)

Anne - Guinness tastes a LOT better than it looks. Yummy. Of course if you came to visit Dublin you'd be able to figure that out for yourself (hint hint!)

Rowe - clink Here's to the future :-)

Del - Too true. It's a well-known fact that Guiness doesn't travel well.

Jason - How's that going for you? LOL!

Jeff - See above; you'll just have to come over to Ireland to sample it properly. 'They' say it tastes best in the West of Ireland ;-)

AngelConradie said...

i'm glad for you things turned out "make"... hang on, does that make any sense?
bygones.
just think- if you'd stayed down south you might never have started blogging and we might never have connected!

yup- i work very hard to make everything about moi...

Terri said...

Angel - perfect sense... and so do I LOL!