Here are a couple of things I found hard to get used to or am still struggling with…

  • Measures: most commonly I come across the measures in relation to distance and weight. Let’s take distance for example. When I ask an Irish how far point A is from point B I tend to get the answer in feet. And let me tell you- I don’t do feet! I don’t do feet or yards or inches either, because what I do do (do do???) are cm’s, metres, Km’s and knowing that maths was an absolute nightmare for me in school I am not a live converter. Same goes for weights. Happens every time I go to the butchers. (Well, the local ones know me well enough by now and know what to expect) but every new butcher always asks me “A pound of stewing beef?” And I’m like… “Yeeeaaah… I don’t do pounds, give me like half a KG!”
  • Time: this was something I have now gotten used to. But believe me, I missed a few buses/trains in my early days in Ireland. You see, 12:30 in Ireland is Half Twelve. In Estonia when someone says Half Twelve, they mean 11:30…. So you can see where one can go wrong! 🙂
  • Communications: you just don’t know where you stand with these people. Maybe it’s just me and my fault altogether, but Irish are very generous and kind and friendly so it is bloody difficult to actually know who the “enemy” is.. you know.. ?

And even when battling constant wind and rain here in the lovely West of Ireland I still love that it is now my home.. with the quirks and all 🙂