Things you notice about Ireland when you return from abroad?

BraziliaNZ

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Perhaps if you grew up with Bolivian sense of humour you would think its the best.

No they're dour bastards, look at the pusses on them

http://www.earthphotos.com/Themes/People/i-fkxFKrK/0/L/newlpbwomen-L.jpg

fishy fishy

leonidas83 wrote: »

The negativity in the media, the last time I came back home from abroad, within minutes you could hear continous negative reporting about the economy on the radio, T.V. etc.

Manipulating the facts aswell so as to make it seem were in a worse position than we actually are, e.g. 1/4 businesses were turned down for credit last year instead of 3/4 of businesses acquired credit.

Never hear as much negativity from the media when I'm abroad.

I had to turn of the morning radio because of this - every single morning the same drivel from the same monotone reports and presenters - designed to get you down. Fact is, the majority of people have no idea what they are on about - the story changes ever day - the only constant is that it would drive somebody to smash their head against a wall.

swimming in a sea

so many obsessed here about tea\milk and fryups,

I must have been adopted as i don't like tea\coffee or fryups:)
I'm off to Australia in a few weeks for at least a few years and Irish (English supermarkets) food will not be missed.

BraziliaNZ

swimming in a sea wrote: »

so many obsessed here about tea\milk and fryups,

I must have been adopted as i don't like tea\coffee or fryups:)
I'm off to Australia in a few weeks for at least a few years and Irish (English supermarkets) food will not be missed.

The food in Australia is excellent, especially if you like fish and seafood. I can't understand the obsession with tea either, all tastes the same to me.

Micky Dolenz

At least you can get fresh milk in Oz.

Fuinseog

leonidas83 wrote: »

The negativity in the media, the last time I came back home from abroad, within minutes you could hear continous negative reporting about the economy on the radio, T.V. etc.

Manipulating the facts aswell so as to make it seem were in a worse position than we actually are, e.g. 1/4 businesses were turned down for credit last year instead of 3/4 of businesses acquired credit.

Never hear as much negativity from the media when I'm abroad.

that is because you do not have Joe Duffy or his equally negative predecessor Greybo. A lot of the countrys problems would be solved by reallocating them.

rannerap

I'm really missing milk from back home! along with rashers, and a decent loaf of bread. I also miss the Irish sense of humour and just general chattyness. You wouldnt go into a store here and have a random conversation with someone behind the till that you've never met! People tend to keep to themselves a lot more.

syklops

Fuinseog wrote: »

that is because you do not have Joe Duffy or his equally negative predecessor Greybo.

Hang on a second now. Say what you like about Gaybo, but his level of negativity does not even approach Joe Duffys. Gay was positively manic compared to the dulcet misery porn Joe subjects his listeners to.

syklops

Sarannewrap wrote: »

I'm really missing milk from back home! along with rashers, and a decent loaf of bread. I also miss the Irish sense of humour and just general chattyness. You wouldnt go into a store here and have a random conversation with someone behind the till that you've never met! People tend to keep to themselves a lot more.

The only random conversation I have had with a stranger over here, was a guy who lived in Ireland for 6 years. Random chats with people you don't know were practically a daily occurrence at home.

BraziliaNZ

What is it with Irish people and milk? Blokes more so. I've never been anywhere else where people buy a pint of milk with their lunch. Yuck!!!

Micky Dolenz

syklops wrote: »

The only random conversation I have had with a stranger over here, was a guy who lived in Ireland for 6 years. Random chats with people you don't know were practically a daily occurrence at home.

Is that in part to do with a language barrier?

I heard Brussels was unfriendly but I have found it to be the complete opposite. Nearly every person I have approached are happy to chat away to me. I am trying to improve my French and some people get great amusement out of me making a tit of myself

With in minutes we are normally taking English as to save my embarrassment :pac:

syklops

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Is that in part to do with a language barrier?

I heard Brussels was unfriendly but I have found it to be the complete opposite. Nearly every person I have approached are happy to chat away to me. I am trying to improve my French and some people get great amusement out of me making a tit of myself

With in minutes we are normally taking English as to save my embarrassment :pac:

No, I dont think its just language barrier, because they generally don't talk to each other either. I remember one day i met another Irishman on the tram and we started talking enthusiastically with each other and we got a few looks from people who weren't used to people having conversations on their commute.

My experience of Czechs are that they are very friendly if they know you, or you are some how connected or related to them. But if they don't know you, its like a wall comes down.

speedboatchase

That you can't get a job?

swimming in a sea

one thing great i thought about when I was living in an east coast city usa is peoples hygiene i never met one person who does not take at least one shower everyday. If their plumbing\water heater goes on the blink they go crazy heading across town to a friends to use the shower.

Back in Ireland my eyes were opened to our hygiene, working in Mayo I'd often be washing my hands in the staff toilet and be passed by and unashamedly saluted by colleagues who just had a sh*t in the cubicle that smelt like WMD but not a bother they would head back to their desk never thinking to washing their hands.

millie35

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

So you are a bad driver, oh wait let me guess you are the best driver in Ireland every other driver doesn't have a clue :rolleyes:

Don't take it to heart.

I was just responding to the thread things you've noticed about Ireland when you return from abroad, if that's ok with you.

fasttalkerchat

syklops wrote: »

No, I dont think its just language barrier, because they generally don't talk to each other either. I remember one day i met another Irishman on the tram and we started talking enthusiastically with each other and we got a few looks from people who weren't used to people having conversations on their commute.

My experience of Czechs are that they are very friendly if they know you, or you are some how connected or related to them. But if they don't know you, its like a wall comes down.

In Czech rep. Slovakia and Poland its a cultural thing. Its rude to talk to someone you don't know.

BraziliaNZ

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

In Czech rep. Slovakia and Poland its a cultural thing. Its rude to talk to someone you don't know.

That explains the filthy looks and rejections I used to get when approaching Eastern Euro birds in Dublin...

Madam_X

maninasia wrote: »

-Overly defensive

My intention was the opposite - what I meant by that comment was: nothing wrong with Irish people not liking this country, but offering something more than simply "It's a sh1t-hole!" would come across as less arrogant.

CJC999

CJC999 wrote: »

What a complete ****hole the place is. Even when I was in other **** holes like turkey I came home and thought Ireland was a bigger one. It ranks No.1 in the table of **** holes I have been in.

davet82 wrote: »

I notice its still a kip

Real Life wrote: »

How bleak the whole place is.

:rolleyes: God it didnt take long to turn into a self hatred thread did it

fasttalkerchat

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

That explains the filthy looks and rejections I used to get when approaching Eastern Euro birds in Dublin...

I'm sick hearing Irish lads in pubs saying that all Polish girls are stuck up!
Also people think polish people are rude for not saying "Please, could you give me?" In Polish its just "Give me" followed by a thank you.

fishy fishy

milk - it's an irish thing.


Milk with your cereal
Milk with your dinner ( at 1 p.m)
and glass of milk before bedtime (after your milky tea at p.m. )

Irish milk is beautiful compared to other countries milk. it was even more lovely when it came in glass bottle with half of it pure cream.

Never question an Irish man and his milk.

fishy fishy

Madam_X wrote: »

My intention was the opposite - what I meant by that comment was: nothing wrong with Irish people not liking this country, but offering something more than simply "It's a sh1t-hole!" would come across as less arrogant.

to be honest, I don't think it's the country they hate, - it's the cowboys running it and getting away with whatever they like while they turn the screws on the little people.

The country is actually fabulous - rain included.

BraziliaNZ

fishy fishy wrote: »

milk - it's an irish thing.


Milk with your cereal
Milk with your dinner ( at 1 p.m)
and glass of milk before bedtime (after your milky tea at p.m. )

Irish milk is beautiful compared to other countries milk. it was even more lovely when it came in glass bottle with half of it pure cream.

Never question an Irish man and his milk.

Drinking milk on its own is disgusting. Must be some kind of teething, Irish mammy, living at home till we're 40, Freudian thing.

mardybumbum

I noticed what a great country Ireland is.

RobbieTheRobber

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

What is it with Irish people and milk? Blokes more so. I've never been anywhere else where people buy a pint of milk with their lunch. Yuck!!!

Probably because Irish Milk is the tastiest.
Its also healthy for teeth bones oh and it improves memory
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/324504/Why-we-should-drink-a-pint-of-milk-a-day

fishy fishy

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Drinking milk on its own is disgusting. Must be some kind of teething, Irish mammy, living at home till we're 40, Freudian thing.

not really - I suppose it is because milk was considered healthy, it was delivered to your door every morning and it was full of calcium. Soda's and other drinks like mi-wadi were considered a treat - and you only drank water if you were really really thirsty from playing all day.

You can't beat a pint of ice cold milk. mmmmmmmm

My name is URL

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

At least you can get fresh milk in Oz.

You mean like straight from the cow/ 'raw' milk? You can get that in Ireland. More and more shops are beginning to stock it in spite of a ban which is likely to come into effect soon. Tastes so much better than pasteurized stuff too.

BraziliaNZ

fishy fishy wrote: »

not really - I suppose it is because milk was considered healthy, it was delivered to your door every morning and it was full of calcium. Soda's and other drinks like mi-wadi were considered a treat - and you only drank water if you were really really thirsty from playing all day.

You can't beat a pint of ice cold milk. mmmmmmmm

Eugh it's horrible, it leaves a film in your mouth, and you need to rinse your mouth afterwards. Disgusting.

fasttalkerchat

One more. People drinking tap water. I'm afraid to do it anywhere else and people buy bottled water with groceries elsewhere. Never happened here before LIDL made it cheap.

BraziliaNZ

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

One more. People drinking tap water. I'm afraid to do it anywhere else and people buy bottled water with groceries elsewhere. Never happened here before LIDL made it cheap.

I drink it in the UK and France the only countries I'm in very often.
Most of our public services are poorly managed, why do people trust irish water so much?

retalivity

chicken and chips. Like a proper breast & wing (roasted or deep fried) from a chipper with plenty of salt and vinegar, brown paper bag.
I havent had one in about 2 and a half years, cannot get it anywhere.

Any chicken i get over here is all breaded and southern fired muck, either drumstick or thigh. horrible

Fuinseog

syklops wrote: »

Hang on a second now. Say what you like about Gaybo, but his level of negativity does not even approach Joe Duffys. Gay was positively manic compared to the dulcet misery porn Joe subjects his listeners to.

in the eighties he constantly harped on about banjaxed the country was. where do you think JD learnt his trade?

a significant difference was that greybo would not let any howyas on his show or anyone who did speak as eloquently as he. but then again not everyone had access to a phone back then.

fishy fishy

Fuinseog wrote: »

in the eighties he constantly harped on about banjaxed the country was. where do you think JD learnt his trade?

a significant difference was that greybo would not let any howyas on his show or anyone who did speak as eloquently as he. but then again not everyone had access to a phone back then.

yes, joe duffy was his lapdog and got wheeled out for a look into the camera every christmas.

gaybe was a sneery condescent priest/td'/ff ar*e licker. Oh, but if you said that in the 80's you were nearly lynched - all the oul' wans loved him and if he said jump you'd see them jumping all over the place next day. poor fools.

Fuinseog

swimming in a sea wrote: »

one thing great i thought about when I was living in an east coast city usa is peoples hygiene i never met one person who does not take at least one shower everyday. If their plumbing\water heater goes on the blink they go crazy heading across town to a friends to use the shower.

Back in Ireland my eyes were opened to our hygiene, working in Mayo I'd often be washing my hands in the staff toilet and be passed by and unashamedly saluted by colleagues who just had a sh*t in the cubicle that smelt like WMD but not a bother they would head back to their desk never thinking to washing their hands.

Living on the continent I used to have around three showers a day if it was 35 degrees and humid. otherwise you smell like a......

I knew of a butchers in 'rural' Ireland that was forced to close down in the nineties. they wanted him to install a sink and wash his hands. he argued his family had been in business in the village for 200 years and no one had ever complained.

I despise people who cough into their right hand and shake your hand.

Fuinseog

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

In Czech rep. Slovakia and Poland its a cultural thing. Its rude to talk to someone you don't know.

true. hard for us to accept. you talk to strangers to warn them or to ask for direction. thats it. you definitely do not talk about the weather for ten minutes or talk general ****e with complete strangers at a bustop, but that could be that the bus arrives shortly and not an hour later than when it should.

In Ireland everyone is your mate but you never know where you stand with a lot of people.

Micky Dolenz

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

I'm sick hearing Irish lads in pubs saying that all Polish girls are stuck up!
Also people think polish people are rude for not saying "Please, could you give me?" In Polish its just "Give me" followed by a thank you.

When in Rome and all that.

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Drinking milk on its own is disgusting. Must be some kind of teething, Irish mammy, living at home till we're 40, Freudian thing.

I'm sorry, you have to leave.

fasttalkerchat

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

When in Rome and all that.

That's true but its hard to get your head around. Imagine going to a country where you shouldn't make eye contact.

munchkin_utd

the one thing that is noticeable is that now there are deals in the shop.

Till a few years back there was the price - and that was the price.
Biscuits/ bacon/ sweeties etc that you might want to bring back with you abroad were just STUPID prices and shopping around/ switching brand made no difference as there was either dear regular price or very very dear regular priced products!
And that was Dunnes/ Tesco where you'd expect some sort of competition on price. In boom Ireland there was so much cash that nobody gave a SHÍTE what anything costed, not the shops nor customers.
Pre boom there was the odd deal to be had, but there was no deals comparible to what say sainsburys would have in the UK.

Now though its gone the other way and half the stuff in every shop is either 50%/ 100% extra free or buy a few get one free or such likes.
Ireland has never seen so many deals and food so cheap.

Anyhow, the other thing I notice is how folks make false blinkered cynical statements of fact that cannot be argued or corrected, i.e. stuff like:
- nowhere else pays property tax (when actually ONLY Ireland doesnt have it)
- the cost if living in Ireland is so high in comparison to other places (when rent is plummeting and food and other costs have never been cheaper if you shop wisely! NOTE: petrol is just as dear abroad in say UK/ Germany etc)
- we pay high taxes (which on so many levels is wrong)
- water in ireland is "free" (even though 1 billion Euro is spent on water treatment/ diaposal in Ireland every year!)
- only Ireland has "rip off" hotel prices during big events like Galway Races etc (even though major events abroad have similar prices when demand exceeds supply)
- the germans want to take over Ireland (no they dont, they just want to minimise their losses on the cash that their muppet bankers stupidly lent to Irish muppet bankers in the first place)
- its the bankers fault that taxes are rising and services cut (when actually Ireland is just plain spending chronicaly more than it is taking in - and Berties legacy of time unlimited generous dole+rent allowances/ high tax free allowances and almost 2 million having a medical card are NOTHING to do with any inept/greedy financiers )

bb1234567

CJC999 wrote: »

What a complete ****hole the place is. Even when I was in other **** holes like turkey I came home and thought Ireland was a bigger one. It ranks No.1 in the table of **** holes I have been in.

Ugghh:rolleyes: I hate when people say this...Go try living in Somalia or Ethiopia or someplace like that why dont ya and then report back to us and tell us all about how much of a kip ireland is.....

Dont be so ungrateful.....you live in a modern, highly developed country, with great education systems,social order,healthcare,food and shelter and a high quality of life, which regularly scores in the top 15 highest scores in the global quality of life index...human life is cheap in many 3rd world countries, be happy you dont have to sleep at night with the fear of your children being kidnapped and trafficked, or starving,or thirsty, or overworked,or being beaten,robbed,raped or even murdered....

Jellicoe

fishy fishy wrote: »

Also I think begrudgers is bantered around these boards wrongly in a lot of cases.

People who go away, or come back - its the first word out of their mouth - "oh the begrudgers of the Irish".

Lots of times it's not begrudgers at all - its just setting the record straight.

For instance, about ten years ago I had a friend coming home from N. America for "vacation" - he had been there a couple of years. Met up with him and asked him how he was doing . He said he was top Salesman in the "Retail Industry". Cue a few people going "wow" "o my god, thats wonderful" etc. Until I asked him what did it entail - he was actually a shop assistant in a department store who had recently gotten employee of the month for being "good". Now anyone that HAS worked overseas knows that employee of the month is only there to keep your loyalty up.

Of course he would call people "begrudgers" because they had a laugh and what he had said, when in fact if he had just said he worked in a dept store nobody would have batted an eyelid.

So......is it begrudgers or are we just good at seeing through the sh*te"

Remember, N. Americans have bigger words and phrases for the most minute job. Nobody will ever admit to being a bin man, a fast food worker, an cleaner - they will always put a spin on it to big it up.

No that's not begrudgery, and Ireland is rampant with begrudgery, in fact Ireland invented the concept and the word. Look it up its origins.

Archeron

Freckles!!!

rannerap

fishy fishy wrote: »

milk - it's an irish thing.


Milk with your cereal
Milk with your dinner ( at 1 p.m)
and glass of milk before bedtime (after your milky tea at p.m. )

Irish milk is beautiful compared to other countries milk. it was even more lovely when it came in glass bottle with half of it pure cream.

Never question an Irish man and his milk.

Its all uht milk here pretty much, bar one type of milk I've found that is actual milk, its still no the same though! I usually have milk with everything so I miss it pretty badly.

ThinkAboutIt

How bad how public transport system is compared to other countries. That's about it

I notice the litter.

Jellicoe

Fuinseog wrote: »

not our Inda, who climbs mountains and cycles the ring of kerry. no pint swilling for him.

does nothing to hide the fact he's a bluffer and a halfwit i'm afraid

I believe the landscape of this country is amazing. My biggest worry is i may not get enough time in this life to see every inch of this country. Yes there is places in need of money and infrastructure. Yes there is people that have fallen by the wayside. But don't blame the land but the people we've put in charge of it - the politicians.

The same way a farm can only flourish when great care is taken of the land and its animals by the farmer, a nation can only flourish when it's politicians can get up off their arse and do some work

Daveysil15

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

In Czech rep. Slovakia and Poland its a cultural thing. Its rude to talk to someone you don't know.

I wouldn't agree with that. Certainly in Poland I spoke to plenty of girls I didn't know and they were very friendly and reciprocated the chat. Although I do speak a bit of their lingo so maybe that helped.

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Drinking milk on its own is disgusting. Must be some kind of teething, Irish mammy, living at home till we're 40, Freudian thing.

I've noticed a lot of people here have issues with men still living at home. That's less common abroad.

Fuinseog

Jake1 wrote: »

I notice the litter.

its improved a lot since people have had to pay 22 cents for a plastic bag.

Lorgach

neonman wrote: »

All the junkie zombies walking around Dublin City Center.

These are known as 'Zuzzers', because when the talk it sounds like "Zuzzz zuzzz zuzzz zuzzzz"

Fuinseog

Jellicoe wrote: »

does nothing to hide the fact he's a bluffer and a halfwit i'm afraid

would you rather have sleeveen like Bertie? as corrupt as bejaysus and he got away with it. the odd thing is nobody really cares. drinking tea in cupboard was the last straw.