Monday, January 11, 2010

Ice

Yesterday we woke up to a snowstorm that was pretty substantial, even by U.S. standards. It made for an interesting day full of coffee shops, movies, chili cheese fries and frozen water pipes.  Ireland is having a record breaking winter in terms of ice, snow and sub-zero temperatures, and accordingly, they do not have the skills, knowledge or resources available to account for it all. There is virtually no conception of rock-salt or shoveling, which leaves the sidewalks permanently coated in an inch-thick layer of ice.

By yesterday evening, as things began to really ice over, we all were expecting the school to shut down. A lot of Irish students tend to pack up and go back to their home-towns for the weekend and were going to have to find a way back with the streets a mess, airports closed and buses called off. Nevertheless, school stayed open and I slipped and slid my way the mile or so walk to school to register with the English department this morning. While I may have felt like a bit of an idiot in my rainboots and jacket, I was happy to have them when the not-so-used-to ice natives were falling in their heeled boots and tennis shoes.

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