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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

With the arrival of St. Patrick's Day, our thoughts, of course, return to the nations and people we came to know and love while living on the island of Ireland. It's been two years since we returned to the states but much of our heart remains there. Ireland, I don't know if I will ever get over you!

When we were preparing to return to the states, I wrote on article on a previous blog called "A Tongue in Cheek Look at Coming Back to America". I am re-posting it here as a way of looking back and appreciating the cultures we came to love.

"While we haven't lived in primitive conditions, mastered the skill of the machete, or haggled over the price of a live chicket at the market, we have had to adjust to life in a culture that is vastly different than the one we grew up in. Not only have we adjusted, but we have adopted many of the things that we have come to appreciate about Irish life, culture and language. In short, we have acclaimated as best to 'yanks' can, and there are many things about Ireland that we love and want to take back with us.

So we ask for your patience when we return. We will probably not make a lot of sense to you and may seem even a bit strange. But we can't help it! While we may be Americans, we have morphed into this other 'thing' -- changed by a combination of Irish and European culture. If we appear peculiar, it's because we are.

We've been driving on the left side of the road, confined to an island the size of Maine or Indiana, living with two season (wet and less wet), and heating our house with turf. We've been eating black pudding (made with cow's blood), colcannon (mashed potatoes with green onions and cabbage), fry's (Irish breakfast, not French fries), and shepherd's pie. We drink minerals (soft drinks) and snack on crisps (chips) and biscuits (cookies). We order chips (fries) with our meals and buy crisps (chips) in single serving bags. We measure temperature in Celsius, liquids in liters, distance in meters, and speed in kilometers. We put a 'u' in any of your words that end in 'or', so favor becomes favour and color becomes colour. And, by the way, we call the letter 'z' zed and not zee.

If we ask to use your toilet (restroom), don't think we're being rude; that's what we call it -- along with the bog, the jacks, and the loo. We get our prescriptions at the chemist (pharmacist), and going there doesn't make us cross (angry) because drug prices are so much cheaper than in America. We don't ask for a ride (that's petitioning someone for sex) but ask for a lift instead. We use a lift (elevator) to go to the third floor, which is the fourth floor in America (ground level is the first floor in Ireland). We use products like Fairy, Cif, and Cilit Bang and shop at places like Tesco, Dunnes, and Lidl.

We use rubbers (erasers) to correct our mistakes and runners or trainers (tennis shoes or sneakers) for walking. We go for walks on footpaths (sidewalks) or on strands (beaches). People smoke fags (cigarettes) although not in public places. We love 'the crack' (spelled 'craic', which simply means fun).

If I call you mucker (friend), just 'wind yer neck in' (don't get upset)...it's a good thing. If I say words that sound familiar to your swear words, don't 'lose the head' (lose your temper) or 'eat my face' (yell at me)...the probably mean something entirely different in Ireland.

I might have a bit of a problem giving you a yes or no answer at first. You see, there is no direct Irish word for 'yes' or 'no'. The Irish rarely give straight yes or no answers, because it goes against their instincts. There are no direct translations of either word in Irish. My use of the word 'right' might seem a bit excessive to you until I 'catch myself on' (get the hang of it), but it's not much different than your excessive use of 'ya' or 'uh huh' in conversation. When you come to my house, I might say 'you're very welcome'. The word 'welcome', you see, is actually used as a greeting and not a response to 'thank you'. When you leave, I might say 'all the best' or 'safe home' or 'slan', which isn't much different than saying 'best wishes', 'take care', or 'good health'. I might thank you by saying 'cheers'.

I say all of this to let you know that this transition back to America will be an interesting one for us. If we come off sounding a bit peculiar, remember, 'it's not from a stone we licked it' (we didn't just pull this stuff out of the air'). It came to us naturally by living in our adopted home -- Ireland."

Brenda and I reluctantly returned to the United States in the winter of 2008. Our years in Ireland were good, and we are tremendously thankful for them. We miss our home, our friends, and our community of faith. While we always yearn to return, we are grateful for the life God has given us here in Denver, and we aim to build our future and establish our lives wherever we may find ourselves. While I long to be content wherever the Spirit of God blows, I wouldn't complain if He blew us back to Ireland someday!