Nollaig Shona Daoibh

“Opening your eyes is all that is needing. The heart lies and the head plays tricks with us, but the eyes see true. Look with your eyes. Hear with your ears. Taste with your mouth. Smell with your nose. Feel with your skin. Then comes the thinking, afterward, and in that way knowing the truth.”

In the perfect world The Shire would be in Westeros and The Wall in Middle Earth just before you enter Mordor. I’d live in Winterfell in a hobbit hole with Aslan as my pet. I’d go down to the The Green Dragon on weekends and drink brown ale. I’d speak Elvish, Dothraki and Valyrian and I’d ride my dragon home. Narnia would be a place to go on vacation and you’d go there via The Doors of Durin. Merlin would be my best friend and King Caspian would of course rule the world.

My heart breaks hundred times a day just because I come to the realisation that all of those things are not real even Mr. Darcy ain’t real. These are the worlds that I love so much and it truly hurts to know that they are non-existent.  Now you know a bit about me and why I need to find someone in my own league. Not everyone can keep up with my choice of topic.

As they say in Game of Thrones, “Winter is coming”.  When winter is coming Christmas is close. I am very excited about Christmas and it seems like I get more excited each day. To me it has nothing to do with religion it’s just a tradition and a nice tradition. It’s ‘hyggeligt’, as we would say in Denmark. It’s cold and it’s dark and it’s the only time of the year where you don’t feel bad about eating chocolate every day and staying inside. (Not that I feel bad eating it all the other days).

I’ve been very excited about my advent calendar this year. I know that we don’t celebrate Christmas like the Irish do. In Denmark we eat, dance around the Christmas tree and open our present on the 24^th of December. I know they open their presents on the 25^th of December in Ireland which fooled me to think that the advent calendars over here would have 25 doors. Imagine my disappointment when I realised there are only 24 doors.

The other day I went to Gallery 29 Café for a cup of hot chocolate and scramble eggs while John at Kenny Bi-cycles fixed my bike. What I don't understand is that it seems no matter what you buy to drink you get a jug with milk even if you've said that you want black coffee. How is that? 

Today it’s lashing down which means that I have put on a fire and lit candles while I’m trying to finish my assignment for school. So basically it’s the perfect weather to sit inside and just do school work. I went out shopping yesterday because I had come to the realisation that I cannot live without chocolate, biscuits and popcorn. Sweets are really cheap over here. I bought Magic Stars and M&M’s for around €1.50 and I feel like a fool when I’ve paid around €4 in Denmark for a pack of M&M’s. So maybe I can be the new candy pusher! Also you can buy biscuits for under €1. That is just crazy if you ask me but I am definitely not complaining and I am quite happy that I live outside of town and I thank my laziness for (maybe) keeping me in shape!

I am a milk person and I love milk. I am a person who thinks the milk man must be happy, because he drives around with so much milk. I however have always had a problem with drinking milk outside of Denmark, just like I have a problem eating sausages from outside of Denmark. But this year I have learnt that not all milk is bad. I began drinking milk in Sweden and in England and now I also drink Irish milk. There’s just one problem. It doesn’t taste like Danish milk. I’ve tried three different kinds of milk to see if they were any different and my conclusion is:

1. Creamfields whole milk

2. Champions fresh milk

3. Tesco full fat milk

I also like bacon (I think everyone likes bacon) and the bacon in Ireland is not the same as in Denmark. However both taste lovely. I think I even like the Irish bacon better. But I don’t really think you can compare it cause it’s not really the same. But eggs, bacon and beans and a glass of milk win any day!

I’m a picky person when it comes to food and I’d rather just settle with the things that I have already tasted. I’m not too fond of sliced cold meat and in Denmark we eat it all the time on rye bread, which I don’t like that much either. I think it’s dry and it doesn’t beat white bread! Danish people tend to miss rye bread when they are away but not me or at least I don’t think so. But anyway the other day I dared myself to buy Irish ham so I could make a sandwich and it taste lovely. I like it much better than the ham in Denmark. So I guess it’s good to just try something new once in a while.

Here are some of the things I bought last time I went to Tesco.

€0.89 – Iceberg

€0.99 – Chocolate biscuits

€1.49 – 2L milk

€1.42 – M&M’s peanut

€1.35 – White sandwich bread

€1.39 – Magic Stars

€2.00 – Cadbury Advent calendar

€2.70 – 10 large free range eggs

€3.41 – Ham (sliced)

The most expensive thing on my shopping list was the ham, which I actually find quite expensive to be honest. But my point is that I think most of the things are quite cheap and now I’ve also proved it. Also a bag of Maltesers were only €1.39.

Don’t be afraid of going to Ireland. The food prices won’t kill you!