While my first day in Ireland consisted mostly of sleeping and talking to people on AIM from my hostel dorm, I was finally forced out of hiding by hunger. While making some pasta in the kitchen I met some German travelers who could not stop talking about beer. As much as I hate stereotypes, they do like their beer. The next day my bus back to the airport wasn't until 3pm which gave me plenty of time for an adventure. While walking around town (the perimeter of which took up about 10 minutes) I asked a nice Irish lady if Bunratty Castle was within walking distance. She told me that it was about a 3km walk (or did she say 3 mile?) so I took off. I ended up making a 14km roundtrip journey to Bunratty, down a very narrow country road with no sidewalks. Despite my blistered hurting feet, it was definitely worth it. The castle was beautiful and the surrounding folk park looked like an emptied out Renaissance Faire grounds, except the buildings were real. I miraculously resisted the urge to buy any more overpriced Celtic jewelry and I got back just in time for my bus.
The plane to Murcia (a town about 50km from Alicante, where my Aunt lives) was pretty uneventful and I was met by a VERY tall, young, blond Russian woman named Oksana (a friend of my Aunt), her husband Pavel and their 19 year old friend, Maxim. Apparently there is a growing Russian population on the Costa Blanca, where anyone who can afford it buys property and then moves to find illegal work. As much as I want to be appreciative of everything they did for me (pick me up from a distant airport), they were pretty much the epitome of the obnoxious, vulgar, rude Russians that I do my best to avoid. Maybe I sound prissy and prudish, but honestly, how many times can you make references to your cock in one car ride??? And on top of that Maxim threw an empty Coke can out the window while complaining about how Spaniards are so dumb and dirty and absolute nothings compared to them Russians. When we got to my Aunt's house everyone sat around and ate and drank and made me feel young and naive for not wanting to drink very much... And my Aunt (whom I haven't seen since I was 6 years old) chimed right in to their obnoxious conversation. Gah... Again, I really do appreciate that I'm staying here for a couple of days, and they are all very kind people, but definitely not someone I would want to associate with... I don't know... maybe people that I would associate with wouldn't pick me up from the airport and put me up for 2 nights, but I think you can be kind and intelligent all at the same time. After Oksana, Pavel and Maxim left, my Aunt had a talk with me about how ALL Spanish men are shit and I shouldn't talk to them EVER... She also read my fortune on cards and told me that everything is gonna go wrong with my host family and that I'm gonna have to switch. Yay. I'm glad I don't really believe in that sort of thing, though it may very well come true. After all, not getting along with my host family was pretty much my biggest fear about this trip. Last night I didn't sleep at all. I'm pretty sure the jet lag is gone, I just couldn't stop thinking about the events of the evening, and human nature, and feminism, and my own prejudices... bah. Needless to say, I'm pretty anxious to get out of here.
No comments:
Post a Comment