Our Irish Story

This blog (which I just literally found out was short for web-log) will be the story off our experience.

Many of our friends and family have made comments lately on my dearest wife's Facebook posts that she should start writing some sort of book or blog, I agree so I have decided to take control of this and get something started so that we can tell our story and share this adventure with you. I will leave most of the writing up to her because well lets face it she's probably far more gifted at writing than I am but someone needs to start this thing off.



So here goes.......  fáilte roimh ár scéal (welcome to our story )

I think I must start where Candice left off. Her last post on Facebook as she self described was going to be neither witty nor clever. .....Well it wasn't , In fact she made this all sound rather terrible.  Its not. Its just very different, different like the sun and the moon are different from each other but at the same time its so much of the same.


South Africans have a very unique love hate relationship with each other and their country. They  literally spend their days complaining about how bad things are ( admittedly they are ... a lot of the time) but let a non-saffa say a single derogatory word and the whole nation stands as one to defend themselves. Its all a bit weird!! Looking in from the outside,  as all of us that have left tend to do,  maybe more critically than we either should or have the right to,  you can see that things clearly aren't great, but at its worst it still shows signs of what we all wish so deeply it would and could be...  a land of plenty. Enough for each and every national to live to their full potential.


The Irish are fiercely proud of their heritage and their culture and promote it at all costs, and it is for that reason that they remind me of me .They are on Level 99 when it comes to self-promotion. Mostly all the products you buy at the grocer are Irish grown or Irish made.


My wife has moments of unhappiness where she wonders what the hell she has done, but then she comes back to the light. Her emotions are mixed. Apparent settling in syndrome.  A good friend once told me that it takes 1000 days to become fully assimilated into your host country. My wife is at beginning stage assimilation. I do however differ from wife in my feelings of our host country. The island of Ireland is so much like a small Africa its scary. Its a wonderful place interspersed with a natural beauty that only Africa can claim to rival and the horrible scars of a global financial crisis that wreaked havoc on its people. There are thousands of commercial buildings and private homes that stand empty as a stark reminder of what my boss says Ireland is like " Either all or Nothing , Boom Or Bust"( Sounds like Africa no?)


Now I've heard some people say and I include myself here that its not cold , we are all terrible liars. it is Very Cold but, we have Jumpers ( I'm still not entirely sure what that is) and central heating, so we manage. The summers apparently are long and warm, not hot but warm so we have something to look forward to (apparently we will know its summer when the rain gets warmer) . So we might venture out for a cycle or a run or even go to the beach when those days arrive and I've prepared by getting a barbecue grill ( To you plebs that means a braai) so I'm organised and you are all invited!!!!


You can never replace your friends and family but the world is small nowadays you have Skype and Whatsapp and passports. Other than that you get a big house and hope like all hell they love you enough to visit  Don't forget your jumpers!!


Hard I'm not so sure. different yes. The accent can be an enormous challenge I've been working for four weeks and still don't understand a word. I might have been fired already and don't even know it.

At the end of the day its never going to be Africa and I think that's the point  but its a great adventure and in time it will be home... our home... and a safe place for our little ones to grow and not be scarred by dangers that they could never hope to understand. It will be different and we will have bad days, many I am sure, but they with time will get less and less and the decision to embark on this Great adventure will seem small and insignificant.

.............................Now excuse me while I go wet the tea !!!