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Trinity's Reading Room
(attached to the WWI memorial).
Used to film parliament in
the Michael Collins movie. |
While I aim to find pleasure in learning new things (and laugh at the inevitable mistakes which come with that process), it's not always easy -- especially when I already know how to do those things in the U.S. Sometimes, I want to walk around with a sign around my neck that says, "I swear! I'm a real adult in America!" In Ireland, however, I can't drive (never mind own a car), I live with my mom and dad(-in-law), I'm still really unclear how things like dental/medical insurance work (so, I'm praying I don't need a root canal until I figure that one out), and oh, yea, I'm technically a student again. I've also been looking into buying a used bike so I have more 'freedom.'
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Maynooth's campus, where I attended
the Letters 1916 Project Workshop
for teachers and educators. |
Naturally, I've been questioning the concept of adulthood and the markers Americans, maybe mid-upper-class westerners, use to distinguish adulthood, as well as the idea of shame. While reflecting upon these subjects as a swam laps in the pool at Trinity, I began violently choking on some water and shamefully had to cling onto the rope as I coughed and caught my breath (and this was after only shortly before entering the gym by stumbling into a locked turn-style gate, rather than the wide open passageway I was directed through, to the amusement of the people working the front desk). Thus, with God/fate/karma's sign, I took this exposing moment to remind myself to laugh and to give myself a break. So what if it took me a half-an-hour to deposit cash in an ATM machine at the bank the other day? I ended up meeting and having a lovely conversation with a Irish guy moving to Washington, D.C. And even though I'm not well-versed in Irish history, Gaelic football, or the questions and point system of the Leaving Cert, I am slowly learning.
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The Royal Antiquaries Society of Ireland,
outside and in. Field trip was a part of
History Week at Bridge21 |
I then channeled 21-year-old-Sharon, recalling one key Thai phrase I learned while living and working abroad: "C̄hạn mị̀ farang ting tong" - "I am not a stupid foreigner." My personal and professional experiences led me here and are not wiped clean by a relocation; moreover, there's something valuable in having an outsider's perspective. And in the past two weeks, I've had the opportunity to attend workshops and conferences with teachers, academics, and other professionals working in education, which have been reinvigorating, exciting, and reassuring that I'm in the right professional field, and I do have a lot to offer to it, as well as gain by being here. That whole, inside looking out, outside looking in thing...
While I'd love to end this reflection with a prophetic insight onto the meaning of adulthood, does anyone really have one? Yet, I think it must not mean being settled or having it all figured out, for if it does, then that means I've stopped trying new things, and I'll miss so many good things in life that I've yet to discover. And lucky for me, I have my buddy to help me through it all and enjoy the process of discovery with:
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| View on the walk from Bray to Greystones. |
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| St. Stephen's Green |
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Delicious food and drinks at Ely's.
Hanover Quay, Dublin. |
