Well after 2 years it has been quite an adventure
People have been asking 'are you excited to go home?' My answer is that it is very mixed, bittersweet. We have had some great experiences here in Ireland and met some wonderful people. I have experienced as much in 2 years as we did in 5 years in England when I was a kid (thanks Ryan Air for that).
Some different choices at the start (house and school) and we may have decided to stay for a longer time. Would I recommend this to other people? I would say absolutely (especially if you get an expat deal), but obviously don't make the 2 avoidable mistakes on housing and schooling that we made.
Here is a list of some of the things that went well and that we will miss:
- School trips (bog jumping for Audrey, Tayto park this year for Jack)
- GAA (Gaelic football, hurling, camogie) all great craic
- Soccer (disorganized but the games were competitive and fun to watch)
- Holidays (so many places, once in a lifetime opportunities: Venice, Paris, Lisbon,...)
- Donegal's catch brand breaded haddock and Bachelor's beans with tomato sauce (our regular Friday evening meal)
- Adult friends- Sarah in particular has made some great friends (old and young), perhaps would have made more if Jack were in the correct class. I have enjoyed being a sideline 'soccer' dad (ditto for gaelic sports also...) and interacting with the sideline parents.
- House with carpet throughout downstairs, no wood floor or tile in entry area - odd choice for a country with lots of rain and sports on wet, muddy pitches.
- Jack assigned to wrong grade- he was placed in Senior Infants when he should have been in first class. This has been a two year irritant that ultimately is one of the top reasons for our departure. Advice to anyone moving abroad with kids - make sure your kid is in the right grade according to age.
- Long days - you would think this would be a good thing, but when kids are knocking on the door to see if your kids can play at 9:30p, it is a bit extreme. Convincing your kids to go to bed when the sun is a long way from setting is not easy. For those in Portland take your midsummer sunset and add an hour plus (and of course mornings start equally early).
- Sweets- They say that the US is a fat country, but sweets on Friday and even more sweets on holidays (Easter, Halloween, Christmas) start to make the US not look quite as bad. Here it is balanced by an overall more active lifestyle among kids.
- Food selection- don't get me wrong, we have had some great food here (see above), but we have been challenged to keep our meals varied.
- Friends ...
- for Audrey it took 1 1/2 years to start getting invited to birthday parties, Audrey had some local friends in the neighborhood who ended up drifting on after the first year, so no real local friends she hangs with.
- For Jack, being in the wrong class meant lots of friends younger and less mature (and that is saying alot for an 8 year old boy). The friends he did make were by and large indoor kids. Which frustrated him because he would almost always choose to be outdoors. He also missed out on possible friendships in sports because all of those kids were a grade or sometimes two higher.
- Communion- Jack missed out on communion in 2 countries because of the grade SNAFU. It is hard enough getting him to church. To get him to go extra for communion will be a challenge.
- Distance from friends and family- While I am used to long distance family, Sarah and the kids are not. The kids would have loved to have their friends and cousins visit them (versus grown ups like Florida Thompsons, Chilcotts, and Lynns visiting us...Not that we didn't love seeing you all, just they wanted the kids to come too.
- Expat- we did live in envy of Intel friends living the expat deal. Free lodging, utilities, cars, plus allowance means much more disposable income, less financial worry. Would have been a much sweeter deal if we could have enjoyed all of these experiences and made money at the same time.
That is a heavy post, big sigh, some Irish scenery for a zen-like finish
One month left then back to the states.
Rob
Always plusses and minuses. We wish we had traveled as much as you have done. You took better advantage of that opportunity than we did. More importantly, your children will always cherish the opportunity you provided for them. They will be much more broad because of it, you and Sarah, too.
ReplyDeleteIt will be good to have you back in the US, though
Enjoyed your blog, we loved visiting you, and we're looking forward to your return to home country. Your comments brought back lots of memories, the negatives we were able to overcome because of the length of our stay. I really found all the carpeting a problem too, so after 2 years we started looking for a new house with the requisite wood and tile floors where appropriate, and brought our furniture over from the US. You and your sister also had the schooling issues and when those arose, you got transferred to TASIS England which was a good choice. We found living abroad very expensive, even though Bob had a company car, and he wasn't able to take as much time for family travel. I well remember the daily trek to the grocery store, although mostly used the car to take you to school from first home. All in all, it was a great experience for all of us, friends, growth, new experiences, etc. and we all experienced some culture shock when we moved back to Boston. I have super fond memories of you riding Scooby Doo and Kay with all her riding classes and events. It was a time that will live forever in the plus column of my life.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your recap! We are leaving to spend a year in Ireland at the end of this month. Things noted!
ReplyDelete1. Make sure my kids will be in the correct grade.
2. Learn to live without the diversity in food. Bummer coming from PDX!
3. Ryan Air is our friend.
All the best,
Kim Rolfs aka Kim Kelley (Sarah's friend from Laguna)