On our last night in Ireland, we walked a few blocks to grab some dinner. As usual, we ended in a pub…a recurring theme. As we sat back with our pints awaiting our food, I asked everyone what their favorite thing about our trip to Ireland had been. Melissa really enjoyed learning more about the history of the country. Daniel and Benjamin both felt that our visit to the Cliffs of Moher was definitely a highlight, and I concurred. Benjamin and I also really enjoyed the sheep dog demonstration.
And then there’s my husband, Dave. His favorite thing was dinner.
Let me be more precise. His favorite part of the entire trip was the time we spent together as a family at our meals. He has missed his family tremendously while we’ve been on this overseas assignment. We all wished Christine and her family could have been with us. But, he SO loved spending time with the rest of his family.
Even though I joke that we spent a lot of time in pubs, it wasn’t like we were getting falling down drunk nightly. Going to the pub for a pint and dinner is really the norm, and besides…there’s no other place to eat! After a day of touring famous sites, buildings, and seeing some incredible landscape in Ireland, we regrouped at dinner. We talked about our day, what we had seen, what we had learned….but then strangely our conversations would take some strange twists and turns. This is not unusual to our dinnertime conversations, as our kids’ friends can probably attest. Dinner conversations in Elko could sometimes be heated, other times funny, and many times even educational. If nothing, they were animated!
Below are a few of the highlights of our topics:
Why do we have ears instead of just holes in the side of our heads? Really….why? Is it so that we look better? What does the structure of the outside of our ears have to do with hearing? Maybe there is a scientific explanation, or maybe they are just there to have a place to put our hair.
What does the umbilical cord actually transfer? One of the kids implied that whatever the mother eats is essentially transferred to the baby. The boys went with that one, and we had a fairly technical discussion about anatomy on this particular evening.
What possession does each of our kids want should we die? Dave and I are still slightly unnerved that we even discussed this! Ha ha! However, we really discovered that we either don’t own anything of value, or that the material things we do have just aren’t that important to our kids.
On the overseas flight from the U.S. to London, Melissa had a bad case of the flu. I can’t remember the exact number of times she puked, but it was in the 30-40 range. Melissa knows the exact number. I know, I know. Why on earth would anyone count their number of vomits? But, maybe it gave her the focus necessary to get through the flight! As a result, Melissa was the target of many, many barfing jokes and zingers. She was essentially named the Queen of Vomit, and labeled a professional barfer.
For those of you who are fans of the Fox show, “That 70s Show,” this reference will have some meaning. Last year Benjamin decided that Daniel reminds him of Eric Foreman, the main character of that show. There have been many times since that after Daniel has said or done something (usually at dinner), Benjamin just looks at me and says, “Foreman.” It’s gotten to the point where he and I will look at each other and say it at the same time! What makes it even funnier, is when Daniel starts protesting…because then he REALLY reminds us of Foreman!
When the kids arrived in London, they took the Tube from the airport to the Gloucester exit. Keep in mind that Melissa is as white as a ghost, probably a bit weak from no food or sleep, and they all have their luggage. They were trying to figure out how to get from the train to the exit, and boys being boys, didn’t ask. Melissa being Melissa…she asked….the BLIND guy! That provided much fodder for dinner time talks.
When we were on the London Millennium Bridge (the one that is blown up in the Harry Potter movie), we had a great photo opportunity but wanted all of us in the picture, so again….Melissa asked a young man to take our picture. As he raised the camera up to his eye, we all noticed (uncomfortably, I might add) that his right hand was deformed and he was having a difficult time clicking the button. But, he did….and we have a great picture. He was very nice to do it for us, but don’t think for a minute that we didn’t have a laugh over that one after she chose the blind man to lead them out of the subway! Benjamin and Daniel are convinced that at some point she’s going to need help, and she’ll head to the deaf guy, yelling at him…wondering why he’s not listening to her!
Being in two foreign countries, we tried to soak in as much of the local flavor as possible; at least in terms of pints of lagers and ales. From time to time we would find an American brand, but that was rare. I did have a couple of Budweisers and Coors Lites…as I can’t get those in Ghana. By the way, the drinking age in both England and Ireland is 18, so our “kids” were all perfectly legal, and quite responsible.
Magners Irish Cider
Peroni
Becks
Star Bock
Estrella
Guiness (of course)
Murphys
Heinekin
Budweiser
Coors Lite
Sagres (my personal favorite)
The Kernel
Honker’s Ale
Little Creatures
Sherlock Holmes Ale
Old Speckled Hen
Rolhaus
Vedetti
We discovered that there is a whole big world out there in terms of beer, and we greatly enjoyed exploring it!
At the end of the day, I think all five of us would have to agree that dinner time was one of the highlights of our trip, because no matter where you are in this big huge world…laughing is universal.
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