A Day Away in Galway

Today. Was. Perfect. And also, unlike any other perfect day I've ever experienced!

It all had to do with great people and the wonderful relationships we created today. 

It started off with a bright morning at 7am to catch our rather confusing tram that was supposed to be a bus. Once at the Houston train station, we indulged (i indulged) in a slice of fresh baked, Irish carrot cake. The train left at 9:25 am and I decided to be a rebel and take chances on getting caught not sitting I'm the assigned seat. Luckily, (yes, it must have been luck) I was able to sit with Yvonne for the three hour train ride from Dublin to Galway! Cows, sheep, trees of every green, grey clouds and blue skies: all took my breath away. We finished the cake fairly quickly, as I think the lady facing us took note. 

We worked on our laptops for a bit; Yvonne researching and I blogging. Reaching a large body of water, we arrived to Galway and also, more Atlantic Ocean.

After a short walk to our hostel, we were informed of free (yay free!) activities to participate in. We walked around the bay (and I mislead us to the wrong sights, poo). Finally, we found our way to the port, grassy fields and beaches of Galway.

The bay at Galway!
 

We couldn't help but to buy wool from a Sweater Shop so that we could knit scarves as our souvenir from Ireland! It's so homey and cultural: the best souvenir I could ever imagine.

After seeing gorgeous sights for a few hours, we then joined a free walking tour, and we had the best tour guide I could ever imagine! Thank you, Keeva! I usually wipe my mind clean of all history, but I was able to pass her quiz at the end with an A+++! I told myself, anyways.

Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St. Nicholas from our walking tour. They began building it in 1958!

Then, we were starved (as always) and bought what would look like too many vegetables for two, but I believe there is really no such thing. We cooked up a storm in the brand new kitchen replica of Ikea. I asked a few questions about where the cutting boards were and how to work the stove to another girl cooking in the kitchen and as she was traveling alone, I invited her to sit with us for dinner. Two other girls joined our conversation at some point and I just had a marvelous time talking about our travels. We all did!

Our topic turned to our culture differences; these two girls, Sandra and Jaquelin, were from Canada and Maiko, was from Japan. We didn't even realize there were such differences between Canada and the United States--even the way milk is sold! They have milk jugs. Milk in Canada is sold in plastic bags (whhaaaat?) and then cut a slit and the whole bag is placed inside a sort of cylinder jug, and that's it! No cartons. They all have basements and were astonished to hear that in California, we don't! Since that's where they place all of their winter wear and gear, we figured California houses are built differently because we don't have snowy winters. Also, for the first time, I realized that the houses in the Bay Area are only one floor, unless ridiculously rich and in the mountains. In Canada, toddlers begin ice skating on frozen lakes and everybody has their own pair of skates (where they store it in the basement).

In Addition, they have maple trees that they hammer a pipe and bucket into and they'll have twenty trees with twenty full buckets of maple! Ahhhhh, so jealous! So maple is a big thing in Canada. Apparently, maple is served with practically anything. Jaquelin was telling us how disturbing it is that Sandra puts maple syrup on her eggs and pasta. Though in the coffee or tea is normal. I asked if she's tired of maple and she said, "God, no, I love it!" I feel the same and want to travel to Canada now!

Showing us their Canadian dollars, I realized we are a bit behind with dollar bill technology! Their "new bills" are waterproof and TEAR proof! They tried to tear it and it wouldn't rip! We could use those. I told them about the time my puppy ripped up three $20 bills. (Don't worry, I was able to tape the many pieces together.) It's interesting hearing someone's opinion of how they see things from another culture--they were saying how our American dollars look ancient because they're all the same color, which they found very inconvenient to sort the bills because it takes longer to figure out which bill is which. I understand that, now that they've pointed it out! I never would have thought about that before. We have kept the same style/color of bill since the beginning.

We also talked about the distance between places; in Canada, it's a $400 flight to another city, half way across Canada. So Sandra raved about what a deal she found for $125 bus ride...three days long. It's like the MegaBus, but $124 dollars cheaper and it takes five times longer to arrive to the destination. And that's just a comparison of the country and it's distance between cities. Phenomenal.

After talking about the cultural differences between the U.S. and Canada, I was beyond intrigued in the Japanese culture. I am half Japanese and have been dying to live in Japan! That is my next big trip after this. :) I plan to teach English in Japan for a year, after graduating college. So focusing now on Maiko, we conversed awhile about our countries. Then I remembered: I have a twelve page research paper on two cultures. The two of us at the table represented each of them. I grabbed my laptop from up stairs and asked her questions about the topics I am to cover. A few of the topics were gestures, voice and touching.

One of the astonishing cultural differences we found out was the difference between touching. There's the stereotype that Japanese people are refined, but we had no idea how little they hug. Maiko told us that her family members have definitely not hugged in the last ten years. Even when her friends met up with her in Europe after five months of not seeing them, they didn't hug, she just waved her arms in the air, she showed us. It was hard for her especially because of all the different cultures she been visiting, it seemed difficult to suppress her urge to hug them--probably an urge none of her friends from Japan had.

I've always thought my family was less "loving" than others and I finally realized why. I think my mother's Japanese culture of little physical contact was what we grew up with and are used to. I think I can count how many times I've hugged my family members...haha, that sounds so strange! I think it's not far off ten? The only times my sisters and I hug are when someone leaves for a long trip. It  feels uncomfortable, though, because I'm not used to hugging them. I love hugs, don't get me wrong! This conversation with Maiko illuminated the contrast between my father and mother; a characteristic I hadn't pin pointed before. My dad and I hug pretty often. Learning of the Japanese culture has made me understand more of my family's own culture. I am half Japanese and European American and so is my culture.

Yvonne and I decided to ditch the plans of going out and talk more to our fellow travelers, and I felt so satisfied with that decision.It was wonderful meeting three new friends from different parts of the world, who were all so excited to talk about our cultures. I learned so much about the three cultures.

We shared some Irish golden coins and then headed to bed.

A typical sunset in the land of the Irish.

  Unbeknown to me, I must have run across some shamrocks on this Friday in Ireland.