Early in October of 2017 my husband and I packed up our 3 children and our dog and boarded a plane for Ireland. We didn’t have much time to research and plan for this move as it ended up being somewhat sudden. We’ve learned that sometimes flexibility is needed as previous plans don’t work out for whatever reason. We had already done this moving out of the country business before but to a much different landscape. In 2014 my husband took a job with the Department of State and we moved out to El Salvador for his first assignment. We spent 2 years in a tropical climate where I had the best fresh coconut I’ve ever tasted and visited beautiful warm sandy beaches. Ireland’s weather is quite a contrast. We came back to the U.S. after El Salvador for a short time before heading out to Ireland. I was excited about this new adventure but I am always a little nervous wondering what to expect. There are always new and unexpected things to learn. Plus, I had never been across the Atlantic before.

This may sound silly but one of the first things I had to do was to remember to look both ways before crossing the street. Of course all us are taught this from a young age but decades of experience told me to look in the direction I knew the cars would be coming from before I stepped off the curb. Now all the sudden the rules had changed. The steering wheel is on the right side of the car now too and instead of driving on the right side of the road it is now the left. I became very thankful for the writing painted on the streets in some of the busy areas. It also let me know that I am not alone in this struggle.

Shortly after moving into our temporary home here it became apparent that we would not be able to use one of the bathrooms. Three of our family members tried to flush the toilet but with no luck. We called a handyman in to repair the problem. A nice man came in with his tool box worried that he may need to order a new part before he could fix the problem. I let him in the house and started walking to another room when immediately the toilet flushed. I couldn’t understand how he could have possibly repaired it that quickly and walked back toward the bathroom. He asked if I was American. He could tell I was because this wasn’t his first call out to a home to “fix” a toilet when an American had recently taken up residence. He didn’t seem to mind. I think he was probably happy it was an easy problem to solve. I then received a short crash course in the difference between American and Irish toilets. I won’t go into those differences but apparently I did not give the toilet a proper Irish flush.  He asked if I was afraid I would break the handle. It’s a common problem for Americans with our smaller toilet handles that flush ever so easily. He then showed me a proper Irish flush. He assured me the handle wouldn’t break and that sometimes it needed to be pumped quickly and firmly 2 to 3 times in a row. He did not leave until he was sure I had mastered the Irish flush. We waited several times for the tank to refill and when he was satisfactorily convinced that I could flush a toilet he was on his way. Sometimes there are just things you don’t expect when you travel someplace new. I certainly didn’t anticipate I would need lessons in flushing.