Dublin take 3

There are places in the world where you just fit in, places that feel right like a pair of nice fitting jeans, a place where your stride just has a special swagger to it, a place where you feel at ease. I think a lot of this is due to the fact of good friends, good food and good drink. For me Dublin has all of the above. This was my 3rd (irish says “turd”) visit to the land of lucky charms and not my last.

Having just spend the last 6 months living in India it was a bit of culture shock when i touched down here on thursday evening to freezing cold (8 degree) fresh clean irish skies.

I stepped off the place not only looking like an indian slum dog, but smelling like one too. It’s true you smell like what you eat. Spending the last 6 months eating curry, i now stink like rotten leftover indian take out.

First thing i did when i made it to Conor’s place was take a long long HOT shower to wash off the last 6 months. It’s sometimes strange how you can take the little things in life for granted. The feeling of hot water running down my back was purely magical, the feeling of laying in a soft bed with clean soft white sheets was something legends dream of.

Going out into town was a bit overwhelming. People all dressed up moving about in a busy city pace made me feel like i have been living in a cave wearing rags. I sort of felt like Tom Hanks from the movie cast away. Instead of being stranded on a remote island talking to a volleyball, i have been living on a beach talking to crows, monkeys and any other animal that would listen to my random thoughts/ideas.

It’s now been 3 days and i am starting to get used to being back into the western world, but before i can get too comfortable it’s now time to push on. I leave for Poland in a few hours. I will be spending the summer in Krakow Poland….. more on that later…. time to catch my flight!

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India

6 months living in India and I’m not sure how I feel, its hard to understand or describe this place. India is not a country, it’s not a place…. It’s a state mind. I think as an outsider “foreigner” you can never really truly get under the skin of India. There is just soo many crazy, strange, different, stupid, beautiful things here its hard to even scratch the surface.

This was my 5^th trip to India and the longest and I have to admit that India beat me this time. But I am not leaving a loser, I have learned a lot over the last 6 months. I now truly appreciate the western world for all of those rules and systems that I used to think I hated. Life without logic, reason and functionality is 100% pure chaos!

I’m looking forward to going to a print shop and having the order come out right and on time, I’m looking forward to having someone tell me they are going to do something and they actually do it! I’m looking forward to ordering food and getting what I ordered.  But most importantly I’m looking forward to something new, something challenging and something that’s rewarding.

But India wasn’t all bad and negative, during the last 6 months I have spent a lot of time really enjoying the outdoors with friends. I think the problem was trying to mix business and pleasure.

Anytime you leave a place there is always things you will miss and not miss. Here is my list:

What i won’t miss

- power cuts

- water cuts

- internet cuts (i pay $70 for “high-speed internet which works 40% of the time, and if its high-speed then i can walk on water and have 3 dicks!)

- indian drivers

- indian drivers that love to flash their high beams at you to almost make you crash

- indian drivers that drive with no lights at night because they think its better on gas

- driving on the wrong side of the road

- road hazards including: cows, water buffalos, sleeping dogs, dogs humping, people, people sleeping in the road, monkeys, chickens, pigs, the one legged guy down the street and the guy with no legs on the skateboard

- ants in my bed, ants in my food and ants in my pants

- coconuts falling

- crows

- mosquitoes

- the humidity

- fire crackers

- indian food (for a bit)

- hindi music that my neighbors blast at all hours

- the fact that the maximum you can withdraw from the atm is $200

- indian tv

- indian cell networks

- headphone parties

What i will miss

- indian food including: chicken tikka masala, cheese naan, seafood biryani, seafood fried rice

- fresh calamari at turtle beach

- anything cooked at dropadi

- my black enfield

- random motorbike rides into the jungle

- the beach

- the sun

- frisbee (getting pretty good after 6 months)

- old monk

- karan & Jess

- Coffee (not the drink, the dog)

- Loveheart (although loveheart is dead, so i guess i would miss him anyways)

- Rocky

- coconut & pineapple boys

- my monkeys

- my roof

- my hammock

- the ocean breeze

- coconut man

- gosh the beach guru that lives in a cave

- watching the trains go over the bridge near my house

- my maid

- the fat cow down the street that i call big girl (which looks like the actor Michael Clarke Duncan if he was a female cow)

- and probably the most important…. the pure beauty of this place!

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