Been to California a handful of times and barely touched the water. Live on an Island surrounded by water and known for surf and have never touched a board. Came to Ireland in the freezing rain and cold and jumped right in to go surfing. A little backwards, but whatryagonna do. Ireland is actually known for great surfing. There was reports of 65ft waves in Donegal just a few days ago. Aunt gave me a magazine with the best spots including Donegal (C) way up North, Sligo (B) in the middle there and then Lahinch (A)
We decided on Lahinch Surf School on the West coast only about two hours away where for 30 Euro we got a two hour lesson with a lovely blonde surfer dude.
I had only called Friday night to see if they had anything available and they fit the three of us in for noon no problem. Aow. I suppose this time of year is not popular for surf so it wasn’t a tight squeeze. There was the three of us and then another couple in the class and only about 4 other surfers in the water at all.
We loaded up on breakfast and hit the road for Lahinch. It was 39 degrees and raining out. If I didn’t have so many Christmas presents to bring back from my Aunt I would fill an entire suitcase with Wheetabix.
The lesson included winter wet suits, gloves, hats and boots. The hardest part was getting these off at the end of the lesson standing in the wind soaking wet, the suit suctioned onto you.
And because I can’t do anything without physically injuring myself…Aloe and arnica on the burn from the suit has changed it from looking like I was strangled with a rope to just a little burn, but this sucker goes all the way around.
We were in the water for an hour and a half, but it flew by. The rain was actually pleasant. It wasn’t cold even with the water splashing on your face. We all wiped out a good amount, but were up riding a good amount too. It was tiring so after we peeled the wetsuits off of us and changed into semi wet clothes we went into town for lunch and then headed back home. I then headed to the B's house to sit in their fire room watching Xfactor and put up the Christmas tree.
D and I decided we'd go out for "one quiet pint" at the local, the other cousin B’s came out with us, played some pool and then they dropped us in T’more for many more. It may start quiet, but it never ends quiet. Neither do Sunday nights when you agree to pop into a pub for a couple hours and then wind up not popping out until you’re corralled into a taxi taking you to another pub and then the night club. Gosh, I dislike nightclubs. Nothing good comes after you close down a nightclub that’s just becoming fact.
Monday I had the privilege of talking to a classroom of students about nutrition. I didn’t have anything prepared, but figured a large group of 15 year olds would be lively enough that I wouldn’t want to do a long lecture anyway. I wound up speaking for 20 minutes. They each asked a question and I talked a little about what a nutritionist is and an overview on the rising rates of type II diabetes and obesity in Ireland. The questions were thoughtful and the kids were sweet. I really thought a room of 30, 15 year olds were going to tear me apart, but they were great. While they were only 15 I was still shaking as I’d never done anything like this before nor did I have much prepared. It went swimmingly though and is definitely something I’d like to do in the future. Maybe counseling isn’t totally out of the picture.
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