Adventure Time: 4-10 Feb

Before first bite

When we got back from Kerry on Sunday, we decided we were too tired to do anything much for my birthday. So while grocery shopping on Monday, Jocelyn nonchalantly tries to sneak sprinkles into the cart. I decided not to question because whatever they were for would be more fun if I didn't know. Of course I deduced they were for my birthday in some way, but wasn't sure how. When I returned from choir they were just pulling a cake out of the oven and there was a bowl of frosting waiting. The cake didn't cook as well as it should and we didn't wait quite long enough to frost the cake so we had this awesome Viking ship shaped cake (because the middle caved) filled with really runny frosting (because it melted) and sprinkles. Definitely one of the most delicious cakes I've ever eaten. So although we didn't have a giant hurrah for my birthday, it was certainly memorable.

After first bite

Tuesday was my turn to cook since I'm the only one without a late class that night. We've fallen into a schedule of cooking since we tend to only eat together four nights of the week. That way everyone is responsible for a single day of the week. Anywho, I was really craving buttermilk biscuits on Sunday and was determined to make them for my dinner. I wasn't sure what to serve with them since I didn't have a gravy recipe. So I decided on a random food that we would have sometimes at home: creamed eggs. Now, I'm not really a big fan of eggs so I didn't want to try them, meaning they were a bit too salty. However, they weren't bad. I actually ate quite a bit of the eggs. In the process of making the biscuits, I managed to use almost all the dishes and cover everything in flour. That was great craic. After dinner we went to Blarney for the Irish music session. However, being the first Tuesday of the month, it was a huge party! There were so many people, and there was a guy playing the keyboard. Lots of dancing and singing. We did the Hokey Pokey and She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain, learned an Irish line dance, and danced to Galway Girl. Oh, that was class.

Dancing to Galway Girl

So after such a great night out, the next day had to be a bit boring. On Wednesday there was just nothing going on. Thursday wasn't much more interesting. I got a package from home, which was exciting despite the fact that I knew what was in it before opening it. I got a good laugh at the stamps plastered all over the entire package. I think there was like 42 stamps or something like that, and everyone of them had to be stamped over by the post office so they can be used again. I loved it.

Ok, two boring days in a row, something interesting was bound to happen. Friday was a great, very much unplanned, adventure. I had some things to post back home so decided I would find the post office after dance class. Actually, I planned to go to dance early because there's a nice piano in the classroom and I was going to play. What happened was I got to class a bit late, danced my heart out, played for less than a half hour after class, then took off for the city centre. Now, in my head, I knew where to find the post office. And I had a backup plan in case the first fell through, which wasn't going to happen. See, I knew this little sandwich shop we had stopped at one time looked towards the post office. So, I was just going to find the sandwich shop and go from there. That was the plan. Here's what really happened. I took a shortcut that landed me in a different spot than I expected. Still the right street, just not the exact spot. I discovered I was on the wrong side of the street when I went past the intersection I was looking for and inadvertently changed streets. Made it back, found the intersection and was right where I thought I needed to be. However, after going around the city block about three times, I realized that the shop was not where I thought it was supposed to be. ... At this point I am tired and feeling a bit stressed and silly because I kept passing the same people. So, time for plan B. I called Jemma and asked from where she had sent her package the day before. There wasn't anything where she had thought but I was lucky enough to stumble onto something sort of like a UPS. ... However, they were wicked expensive and I didn't realize how expensive until I got home and talked to Jemma. Pretty sure I overpaid by about 50 euro. Just a bit upset by that, as you can imagine. So I was like, ok, whatever, it's done now and I can't do anything about it. That night I saw the Wind Ensemble had a performance so I got the link all cued up, stayed awake until about 1:30 when the concert was supposed to start, refreshed my link...and got nothing...I was once again frustrated. I should have been able to live stream the concert and been there in spirit if not in actuality, but I couldn't even do that! Ugh, what a day.

I decided it was time for a weekend break. I had been gone every weekend since the start of the term and needed a couple days to just chillax and get some things done. And since I had just gotten the last of my textbooks, I managed to catch up on all the readings I had gotten behind on. ... Two solid days of textbooks is not the most interesting weekend I've ever had. But it needed to be done. Plus it felt good to think that I had been productive. So my ridiculous week ended in a somewhat anticlimactic weekend.