So how long have you been living in Ireland now?
4.5 years. I know. I can’t believe it either.
That’s aaaaaages! Are you planning to stay there forever?
Only diamonds are forever. The furthest I can look in the future is 5 years, and even that’s a bit daunting. The current 5 year plan expires in 2027 and has us living in Ireland for that time, but who knows what the future holds.
We have 50 places in Europe we want to see and we’ve done 19 of them, so nearly halfway!
Where have you been so far?
2019:
- London, England
- Northern Ireland
- (L) Paris, France
- Prague, Brno, Czechia
2020:
- [Ireland]
2021:
- (L) NZ/Australia
- Scotland
2022:
- Paris, Bordeaux, France
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Marseille, France
- Brussels, Belgium
- Italy – (L) Tuscany, Rome, Naples, Milan, Venice
- Vienna, Austria
- Berlin, Germany
2023:
- Scotland
- LLandudno, Wales
- (L) Brussels
- Munich, Passau, Germany
- Vienna, Durnstein, Austria
- Budapest, Hungary
- Bratislava, Slovakia
- Barcelona, Spain
- London, England
- Torshavn, Faroe Islands
- Reykjavik, Isafjordur, Akureyri, Seidesfjordur, Iceland
- Split, Dubrovnik, Croatia
- (L) Petrovac, Montenegro
If you could go back to somewhere you’ve been, where would you go?
Jared: Bordeaux for the wine/vibes, Rome for the history, Barcelona because I didn’t see it. Belgium to live.
Lauren: Florence – I feel like I missed something when I was there? I don’t get the big deal. Montenegro for the beaches. Vienna or the Netherlands to live.
…But when are you coming home?!
We set a ridiculous arbitrary goal of seeing every country in Europe and so that’s now our yardstick for when we can come home for good.
If we spend several thousand going back to NZ to visit, then it just defers that goal, meaning we’ve even less money to move home.
So you’ve lived in Ireland for ages – you must really like it!
I mean it’s fine – just so expensive to live here that we can’t afford to do much else.
Like with anywhere, there’s pros and cons. There are quite a few in both camps.
What makes it hard to be away from home?
Missing awesome people! Shitty weather. Lack of pineapple lumps and chips and dip. And things like finding out that one of Jared’s uncles passed away this week.
What makes it easy to be away from home?
Still being able to connect with awesome humans back home. Loads to explore in Dublin, and abroad. Brilliant concerts. A certain amount of inertia?
Jared has finished studying. What’s he doing with himself now?
Same as he has been for a while now – being an contractor QS for a groundworks company out in Rathcoole. He has a grueling commute, but is starting to get some job sites closer to home, so gets to have a few WFH days.
And Lauren, what are you doing for work? You’re back teaching right?
Ah yes, but not just any teaching – I taught for a year at a school that specialises in kids with dyslexia, and in the 2022/23 academic year, I began teaching in an autism support class.
I was in charge of setting up a classroom from scratch, and it was a really challenging year – steep learning curve, but I fell in love with it! These kids are tough, don’t get me wrong, but they’re so interesting, and make so very much sense to me.
So what about this academic year?
I’m moving schools to a school that specialises in Autism and medical needs, rather than being a special class within a mainstream school. I’m also starting a graduate diploma in special education, which will hopefully turn into a masters in special education.
Wow that sounds like a lot.
Yea. I have no clue how I’m gonna do it, but we’ll see. The course is designed for Irish teachers who are teaching full time (course requirement) so figure it can’t be that intensive otherwise there’d be outcry.
Jared has assured me he will switch to house-spouse mode, I won’t need to worry about general life admin so I can be wonderful, generally brilliant, kick ass and get all As.
Why go down the route of Special Education instead of just learning Irish?
A number of reasons:
- Special education is really interesting
- Not many others want to do it
- PGDip in Special Ed is funded by the Dept of Education here, so I don’t need to shell out for it
- Irish lessons are expensive – lessons are roughly €50/week, then books etc, then 3 weeks in the Gaeltacht (Irish speaking part of Ireland) practising is <€500 a week each, then €1400 for sitting the exams, assuming you pass the first time, which many don’t. You likely don’t get change on €5k. I choose the free/interesting one.
Lauren, how’s the writing going?
Funny you should ask – I have been working on a children’s book about Ukrainian refugees, and it’s juuuuust about ready to be published. All profits are going towards Ukrainian refugees support, so I’d absolutely LOVE it if you could buy a copy and support such a worthy cause, and also see the amazing illustrations, done by the wonderful and talented Basil.
Also been blogging away about our travels – read here.
Any progress on Irish Citizenship, Lauren?
Well I submitted it in June 2023, and have had one stray email about Garda vetting (police check) but no paperwork to match, so seems like Brexit is still working its magic and making the Irish government services even more useless than normal. For some reason, a lot of British people suddenly discovered they have an Irish grandparent and all applied for Irish passports recently, clogging up the system.
Not in a great hurry to get this sorted, as we don’t have a spare grand to pay for it post-holiday, so it can wait another couple of months.
Podcasts that we’re currently obsessed with are:
L:
- Hidden brains
- Outrage and Optimism
- Zoe Science and Nutrition
- Cautionary Tales
J:
- MSW Media (with Allison Gill)
- Mueller She Wrote (Podcast about the first Trump impeachment)
- The Daily Beans (Daily US political news by the same people)
- Clean up on Aisle 45 (Post Trump US political news)
- You don’t know Jack (Podcast about the current Special Counsel investigation)
- Crooked Media (Jon, John, Tommy, Dan, and Ben. All former Obama aides)
- Pod Save America
- Pod Save the World
- Cool Zone Media
- It Could Happen Here (How the world is falling apart & what we can do about it)
- Behind the Bas*/ds (Stories of evil historic figures told with black humour)
- Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff (Stories of nice historic figures who made the world better)
- Podmasters
- Remainiacs (British anti-brexit remainers weekly Political news). Now called; Oh God What Else
- The Bunker (Daily UK political news by the same people)
- Doomsday Watch with Arthur Snell (International politics)
In 2022 Jared listened to 2,991 podcast episodes. A total of 123 days and 23 hours of listening. Just over eight hours every day!
Loved watching recently:
- Barbie movie
- Oppenheimer
- Good omens
- The Indiana Jones films
- Catching up on Grey’s Anatomy
- The Diplomat
- And I’ve (Jared) started re-watching The Expanse with Lauren.
Currently reading:
L:
- The Hearts Invisible Furies – by John Boyne
- City of Lies – story about Tehran and how it’s a…city of lies
- The History of New Zealand – Michael King
- Before the Coffee Got Cold – Toshikazu Kawaguchi
- Dirty Laundry – Richard Pink and Roxanne Emery
J:
- There’s Nothing For You Here – Fiona Hill autobiography
- How Britain Broke the World – Arthur Snell
Anything else new with you guys?
Well, uh, we’ve both been diagnosed with ADHD? Completely different flavours of it tho – mine would be more the hyperactive type and Jared’s more the hypoactive.
What does that mean for you?
For me, it means I can stop wondering what the hell is wrong with me, because now there’s an answer.
It means that it makes a whole lot of things make sense – my goldfish brain, my fluid relationship with time, why some things that are really easy for others are really hard for me, and why some things that are really hard for others are really easy for me, the black and white thinking and my tendency to extremes, the absolutely excessive amounts of energy, the impulsivity, the constant need for input/stimulation and being allergic to boredom/stillness.
For Jared, it means an explanation as to why he struggles to get started, why energy levels fluctuate so much, why there are BIG FEELS, and why they are super-hard to control/regulate. There is actually a delay in feeling the feelings, which is why he struggles to deal with them sometimes. It’s like a flash flood, with no warning. Similar to me with impulsivity, constant need for input/stimulation and being allergic to boredom.
(More to come on this particular subject in coming posts 😉 )
Where’s next on the travel list?
Well, we’ve tickets to a few Olympic events in Paris 2024, but other than that, no immediate plans. Imagine life will be very quiet when Lauren is studying/Jared is in charge of travel plans.
We do currently have a spare room, as our Ukranian refugee housemate went back to visit family and now seems to be staying there, so… Come stay?