Lisa's Life

One loyal reader asked me via email how life was for me. She perceived that I was always talking about the kids.

It is kind of a soft-ball for Sheila and I here. We are both working a fraction of the amount that we normally work. We get to spend loads of time together being almost constantly inspired by the newness of the culture and the stimulation of a relatively large metropolitan area.

When Sheila and I met, she already had Maggie (Maggie was 18 months old) so we never had any time together without kids. So this has been so special for us -- the Mondays and the Fridays without kids altogether and coming home early Wednesdays for lunch. Even on a long day I'm home by 3:30 and we spend time together as a family. It has simply just been lovely.

I know I've gone off about this in prior posts, but really, the slow, deliberateness of the life here is just incredible. It just feels like we stepped off of the treadmill for a little while.

Today Maggie got invited to a friend's house and she and a couple of other girls were going to go shopping at the Dundrum shopping mall. She lived a bit away. Not as far as UCD but farther than the hurling pitch and we were debating about how to get there. Should we both bike? But then there would be a bike at the girl's house and perhaps they would give Maggie a ride home. Could Maggie call and ask if they could give her a ride home? No. This is awkward. We ended up walking, much to Maggie's chagrin. She complained that we don't have a car. Why don't we buy a car? We can buy one and sell it before we go!

Ugh.

While it would be infinitely convenient to have a car, it is so nice NOT having a car. At least for a little while. It took us about 35 minutes to walk there (I took my bike and it was a 10 minute bike home). If its raining, not having a car is even more horrible, but it is not impossible to live without one (as it is in Minneapolis -- things are just too far apart and it is simply too cold). Every day I think about how much money I save and how it forces me to slow down and really appreciate everything.

The other consequence of all the walking is that my plantar faciitis, which I've been dealing with now for over a year, has nearly gone away. I wonder now if it is in my right foot from too much driving. Alas.

The lectures are going great at school. Again, it is just so different than normal life as to have a comparison be apples v. oranges. I don't have to get involved in the politics of the department and I don't have to worry about promotion. I'm teaching a subject that kids love and I am not expected to engage in any "active learning" or "assessment." I'ts a cinch.

My only goals now are to start up research projects and that is simply enjoyable.

Lastly, I get to explore to my heart's desire. We are definitely of the attitude that this whole experience is once-in-a-lifetime. And in general, after accounting for start-up costs and having to pay rent here plus our mortgage at home, life is probably quite a bit cheaper. We're not paying our huge cell phone bills, and not paying for school, plus we turned off or got rid of all of the ancillaries at home, so we may possibly be coming out ahead -- well at least ahead enough to justify doing stuff we would never consider doing at home.

This weekend is a huge rugby game -- Ireland v. England. I had it in my head that we could just go to the game -- only four DART stops away. As it turns out, it would be almost like getting tickets to the Superbowl! Wow. Here's the email I got:

Dear Lisa,  

Thank you for your e-mail in relation to tickets for Ireland v England in 2013.   

Tickets for Ireland’s home RBS 6 Nations matches are distributed through the rugby clubs and branches of Ireland - you must be a member of an Irish rugby club in order to purchase tickets from them. The English Rugby Union will also receive an allocation of tickets for the game – fans travelling from England should contact the RFU for details on how they will distribute their ticket allocation. On occasions when tickets are returned, those tickets are then made available through our website initially to our Supporters Club members. Following a recent Supporters Club sale everything is now sold out.

Kind regards,

Carmel O’Dwyer
IRFU Ticket Office
All of this is to say that Sheila and I are having the time of our lives. But we miss home and our friends and family.