It's rainy and I'm sick...

Well, just a few things today. I finally succumbed to the rainy cold weather and now have a cold. It's one of those fun ones where I feel like my head is twice as big as normal and my breathing is severely inhibited. Yep, it's fun! Even with that, I took a 16 kilometer bike ride while I was in Killarney. Haha. No really, I did. I liked my time in Killarney, by the way. I stayed at the oldest hostel in town, the Sugan Hostel. The proprietor is quite a friendly guy who talks too much for my taste. Actually everyone talks too much for my taste.

It finally hit me that I don't want to talk to people here. Really I don't. I don't want people talking to me and asking me questions about who I am and where I'm from. I know they're just being friendly, but I'm more quiet by nature and especially after living in Korea for two years, I'm used to being able to be invisible and go about my business without prying questions into my personal life. Seriously. It's weird to have people want to talk to me and ask my opinion on lots of stuff. Staying at a hostel probably wasn't the best choice for me when I want to be left alone. But people in hostels are too friendly and talkative. I'm sure they thought I was a bit odd and when I was shocked into existence when I was addressed directly. It's weird having to talk to strangers.

I took a jaunting car ride while I was in Killarney. A jaunting car is basically a horse and buggy. I'm not sure why it's called a car, but it was cool. The driver was really funny and told me lots of stories about the area and we held a lively discussion about american politics and the military (this was before the election results). Speaking of the election...

I am SOOOOO happy with the results. And being outside the US, everyone else here is happy with the results as well. Since the election (and even before) whenever someone would find out I was american, they would inevitably ask me about the election and what my thoughts were, who I was voting for, etc. I think I was asked two or three dozen times since I've been here as to who I wanted to win and what I think about it. Even happened today twice. But I am happy about it, I think Obama can bring some real change to the US and I know the rest of the world is happy with his win as well. There is hope that change can happen and that it'll be for the better. As one irish bloke told me yesterday at a bike shop in Killarney, the world is affected by decisions made in the US, "When the US gets a cold, the rest of the world gets the flu." So let's hope the US can kick this proverbial cold's arse and start becoming a country Americans living abroad will be happy to claim as the nation of their birth (instead of vetting other countries to change nationalities to...the UK is really high on my list, France is a possibility too....ok, maybe any of the EU nations). Here's a few more photos from Skibbereen. I still have to edit all the photos from Killarney. It never ends. Keep looking on my picasa page to see the rest of the pictures because Lord knows there's alot of them.