Surfing in Ireland

When our friends Jordan & Sarah first told us about it, we thought it was a crazy idea. Allow total random persons into our home? For multiple days? AND give them a key? Are you nuts? Our friends told us there was nothing to worry about when participating in Couch Surfing, and that the people you meet are always really awesome. To be truthful, in my mind the best case scenario was a weird smelly traveler who would be hard to communicate with, and who would eat all our food and be loud and make our neighbors hate us. Worst case scenario was that they would kill us in our sleep.

But we have such a great location for tourists, and an entire room and bed to spare, so we couldn't not share. We also both truly enjoy having friends and family in our home. So we went for it. As I was filling out our profile on the Couch Surfing website, I tried to think what people would think of us by reading it. Theres a lot to answer! They ask you about everything from weekend hobbies to favorite things. Because who doesnt like to read about a total stranger's addiction to Colgate toothpaste? BROMG I use Colgate too! ilubesties4eva!!1

Anyway. My profile was updated (aka - novel completed), and my couch icon was set to 'Available'. We were ready to set out on an untried trail. Five minutes later, my 'Couch Request' inbox had 5 requests. An hour later, I had 3 more. The next day I woke up to 4 more bolded mails. I was suddenly drowning. I was trying to figure out everyone's requested dates and arrival times to see if they worked with our upcoming schedules, and having to read EVERY surfer's complete (or not so complete) profile, looking out for signs of crazy. I turned my couch icon to 'Coffee & a Drink' which is a polite way of saying, 'dont ask to stay with me and I will also ignore your emails'. Not really, it just seemed nicer to have an image of a coffee cup, rather than a big X, on my profile. So after sifting through every request, we had to deny some, but accepted a few others. We replied back and made plans. It was happening.

A week later, our very first Surfers were taxiing on the runway! I straightened the duvet one last time, and before I knew it they were texting us from right outside. They were a very nice young couple from Germany, over here for a 10-day trip starting in Dublin with us. It was both their first time Couch Surfing, and our first time hosting. They even showed up bearing gifts: two (freshly imported) German beers, and their favorite German salami are cooling in my fridge as I write! We took them to Porterhouse for dinner one night, which is one of the only two pubs me and Jon have actually been to. We ended up having a lot in common, and they were so polite and courteous the whole time, it was great talking with them and sharing stories. It was not a thing like my previous scenarios at all. It went so well, we are now actually very excited to host again! Because our friends Jordan & Sarah were right about this whole Couch Surfing thing. The people are awesome!

Domestic-er and Domestic-er

Its a common conversational question: "And what do YOU do?" Ive been asked this question when meeting people in our apartment building, while at lunch with new friends from church, and while at a work event with Jon's associates. What people really mean by that question varies with every asker. They mean: What do you do? What fills your days? What gets you up in the morning? What kind of person are you? Will we get along? How do you fit in to our social social-economical surroundings? But most commonly, they just want to know what my job is. You should see their faces when I smile and tell them Im a housewife.

They sometimes laugh and make a "kept-woman" joke. Both men and women, who are otherwise unsure of how to respond, say this. I laugh along tell them its the good life, but inside Im usually pretty unsure how to take it, as the dictionary defines a "kept-woman" as "someone who does not work and who is given money and a place to live by the person who they are having an intimate relationship with". While this is technically true, I resent the implied uselessness in reference to me and my position in the household. I know they only mean to break the ice, but to me it is a reminder of how little society in general thinks of the housewife anymore. If you are a woman who would like to stay at home to cook dinner and raise children, rather than put on a suit and work in a traditional business company, you are somehow less of a person.

But forget Mars, EARTH needs Moms. I want my kids to grow up with homemade bread (my new obsession). I want to be the one who welcomes them into the house after school. I want Jon to walk in the house after work, and be comfortable relaxing in a well-kept roost. I want to be that crazy mom on the block who has the time to bake (and fully decorate!) 100 cupcakes for the party. I dont want to be too tired in the evening to spend time making a healthy meal. At night I want to have enough energy to read and cuddle with them. I want to spend my day making sure the house my family lives in is clean, safe, and beautiful. If this all makes me less than useful to society, society can suck it. Now you'll have to excuse me, I have some fresh peaches that need to be made into jam for our breakfast tomorrow.

Story Time

Once there lived an Irish giant. He was the biggest giant that ever lived, and he loved nothing more than to have a good fight now and again to prove his skill and prowess in combat. One day, word comes to him of a Scottish Giant who lives across the water. The Irish Giant thinks that no man could possibly be bigger or stronger than he is, and decides he must fight this other giant to prove it. So he shouts across the water to this other giant, challenging him to a fight. But the Scottish Giant thinks HE is the biggest and strongest man in the world, and this other giant in Ireland isnt worth his time. So every day the Irish Giant bellows challenges across the sea to the Scottish Giant, who every day refuses.

Day by day, the Irish Giant gets angrier and angrier, and finally he thinks up a plan to fight this Scottish Giant once and for all. He decides to build a bridge from Ireland to Scotlad, and hunt down this other giant and beat him in a fight. Every day, his bridge gets closer and closer, and he gets more and more ready for the coming fight. The Scottish Giant sees this bridge being built, and finally agrees to meet and have it out, and starts to make his way across the bridge. The Irish Giant, having never before seen this enemy with his own eyes, sees the other man coming out of the mist over the bridge. His eyes grow wide with fear, for the Scottish Giant is far greater in size that himself. He sees his rival's great arms and huge legs, and knows he will never be able to best him in a duel.

The Irish Giant runs back to his house as quickly as he can. "Wife, Wife!" he shouts. "Help me, Wife!" She sees how scared her poor husband is, and how huge the Scottish Giant is coming over the bridge. She tells him not to worry. She has a plan. She dresses her giant husband up like a giant baby, and puts him in a giant crib in the house by the fire. She tells him to just sit, and not make a sound.

The Scottish Giant storms over the bridge and comes to Ireland, ready for a fight. He is met by the Irish wife. Towering over her he bellows, "Where is this giant fellow Im supposed to fight?" The wife keeps her cool, and says, "Hes out with the sheep, but Im sure he will be back any minute now. Wont you have some tea and wait?" He agrees, and comes into the house with her. While she gets the tea ready, he sits and looks about the room. In the corner by the hearth he sees there a giant crib, and in this crib he sees a giant baby. He gets to thinking that if this Irish Giant's BABY is this huge and ugly, he doesnt want to stick around and meet the FATHER in a fight! Before the wife can bring out the tea, he makes up an excuse and high-tails it out of that house. He ran back across the bridge to Scotland, tearing out the bridge behind him so the Irish giant could never follow.

And now you know the REAL history of how the Giant's Causeway came to be. Some people will tell you something about lava heating and cooling over a period of time, and geological formations, but thats obviously utter nonsense.