Have a Nice Day

Have a Nice Day... such a simple saying that I took for granted. In Ireland they don't say anything like this. There does not exist a "have a good one" or "have a good time". Stemmed from their history of superstition, people thought that a line like that would bring bad luck upon them, so such well wishing never worked its way into culture. In fact, for a very long time on the west of Ireland, there was an Irish saying that was expected to be spoken after the end of a compliment, or else you cursed whatever it is you complimented. So there is no self-congratulating or bragging over here and no one really talks about if they are doing well or not. In America we are generally supportive and complimentary of our peers but here it's much more hush hush. In short, I miss the easy, polite, and convienient way to end a conversation or store transaction with "Have a Nice Day", rather than the more usual awkard smile or just plain good bye here.

A couple more notes on shopping, first of all everything is much smaller. That is the simplist way to put it. You won't see a gallon of milk only a 2 Litre, bread doesn't come in "family size" and soda bottles are pretty much 3 sizes: A slightly smaller can (about 10 ounces), a plastic bottle (about 16 ounces), or a 2 litre bottle which is shaped the same as the 16 ounce one, just all huge like. Second note, almost every transaction is done afterwards. A lot of places in America, like cafe's, you pay right away for whatever you ordered. Since this culture isn't very on-the-go, almost every transaction you make will be after you are done. In some ways it is nicer, other times it can be bad business. I say that because often they don't know exactly what you consumed. You go ahead and just take whatever drink or crisps you want and pay when you are leaving. It really would be easy to lie about the amount you actually got. Lastly, to a similar point, the service is generally awful. There has been times that we have walked in to cafes, not directed if we should sit down or not, waited for nearly 30 minutes with no idea if we were ackknowledged or not, and a waiter finally showed up. They had seen us but were very slow, a simple "I'll be with you in a bit" goes a long way. Now, I'm not one to complain much, in fact I don't really mind service being that bad, but in some of these stores the people really don't offer much at all. You really start to realize how ridiculously friendly and helpful people who work in american clothing stores are compared to other countries. Oh, and this is mostly for mom, they charge extra for paper or plastic bags so in general you bring your own bags or find room on you, you won't see anyone buying a months supply of food here.

I'm going to write up another post shortly on what I've been up to for the past week, I started classes and wanted to get through them all before posting. Will do in a bit!