Lovelovelove

DUBLIN IS AMAZING

After breakfast I called up my host for tonight, Thiago, and key for directions how to get to his house. Long story short, I got lost, took the wrong bus, and went over a mile too far on the bus I wasn't supposed to take. At that point, I gave up and went for the GPS on my phone and just walked the 1.6 miles back to his house. 

Walking back from the bus stop that was too far.

Cute houses.

He met me on the street and we went to a supermarket to get beer and food. Produce is super cheap here. I got tomatoes for 27 cents each, but the an eight pack of Guinness was €12 ($18! Wtf!). Yeah, not buying alcohol here. I'll wait til I'm somewhere where it's cheap. Anyway, we walked around a bit and then came home to eat lunch. We were planning on making pasta, but Thiago's roommates, who are also Brazilian (and just now learning English) had already made food and offered for us to have some. IT WAS SO GOOD. I had Guaraná to drink (a Brazilian drink, fizzy and sweet), and they had made pasta with some kind of delicious enchilada sauce with cheese and some kind of meat. Then, we proceeded to converse in a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish, and English-- basically whatever we could all get by in. I helped them with some English, and I learned a hell of a lot of Portuguese in about an hour. It was wonderful- connecting with people you'd never be able to before by learning their languages and sharing food- that's what life should be about. Or, you know, something along those lines. 

After lunch I went to my room where there's a mattress all set up for me. My first official couch surfing experience! So excited! Here's the view from my window: 

I fell asleep at two this afternoon when Thiago went to school and I didn't wake up until he got back at 6:30. Afterwards, we had some food, drank a bunch of Guinness, and then headed out othe tow again. He took me to this really awesome non-tourist pub called the Celt Pub on Talbot Street. There was some local music playing, with an accordion player and a guitarist. The accordionist had fingers that moved like lightning bolts.  I'll upload some video at some point, but without actual computer it's gonna be too much work for now. Sorry guys! But believe me when I tell you it s amazing and very much worth going. 

Every time I talk with a local I'm starting to take on a more decidedly Irish accent. I think it helps people not see me as a tourist, and also makes me feel like I'm trying to be part of the culture, especially with the whole pubs and Guinness thing. I am LOVING it here.

Andy met up with us at the bar to hang out a bit, and after the bar closed around 12:45 we headed back to Thiago's house. Andy just left, and now I'm done writing for the night. Good night, ladies and gents. 

The post office, where some kind of battle took place. I don't remember... Andy was talking about it