Representing the United States

14-9-2025

My week started with a bang—or rather, an alarm. I went to bed shortly after publishing last week’s blog post and fell straight to sleep. At about 12:30 AM, a loud alarm jolted me awake. After gathering my wits, I stumbled out of bed to investigate the source of the noise. I was surprisingly alert, not foggy as one might be from high CO2 levels. I didn’t see or smell any smoke, and peering outside my apartment, I noticed no residents outside or any signs of fire in the building, yet the alarm continued to blare.

In a moment of concern, I decided to call emergency services for advice. Then it struck me that you don’t dial 911 in Ireland, but rather another number. I scrambled to find the correct emergency number online, discovering it could be either 999 or 112. I tried calling 999, but I struggled to understand the first responder on the other end. Eventually, I heard them say "Waterford," and I responded affirmatively.

Fortunately, I was connected to someone who spoke very good English. She skillfully asked all the right questions about my feelings and observations. She offered to send the Garda (police) to check on the situation. Just as I was about to agree, the alarm suddenly stopped. We decided not to involve the Garda unless the alarm sounded again. After I calmed down, I returned to bed, and thankfully, the alarm remained silent for the rest of the night and since.

The next morning, I contacted my landlord about the alarm. He said it was the fire alarm, and it should sound in every apartment. It must have been a false alarm. I do think it was a false alarm, but I don’t think other residents’ alarms went off. No one else responded to the alarm and it was not an alarm you could sleep through.

The is beginning to get chilly here. (I know this is a shocking statement to those of you living in the southern US, especially Texas.) One item I have not figured out how to operate is the heaters in the apartment. II have four radiators with four different controllers and I don’t understand any of them.  I will be contacting my landlord tomorrow to have some come out and demonstrate how to set them up.  I can already tell I will miss central heating and programmable thermostats.

On Thursday, I headed to Dublin for a trial run of the class I'll be taking at Trinity College. My

Irish Landscape from the Bus Window

goal was to locate the lecture hall for my U.S. History class and find the bus stop for my return journey to Waterford. Fortunately, I had reached out to Trinity College for directions to my lecture hall, and they provided me with excellent guidance, making it easy to find.

However, locating the bus stop was a different story. After disembarking from the bus, I asked the driver where I could catch the bus back to Waterford. He pointed across the river and down a bit, indicating "Ulster Bank." I thought, great, I’m sure I can find the Ulster Bank.

After locating my lecture hall, I searched for Ulster Bank online, only to discover that the bank had relinquished its license to operate in the Republic of Ireland about two months earlier. I set out to find where Ulster Bank might have been but had no success.

By this time, it had started pouring rain, so I ducked into a restaurant for lunch and to call the bus company, but I couldn’t get through. Finally, I found a link to Google Maps, which showed me that my bus stop was about ten minutes away, on the street right in front of the restaurant where I was sitting.

I caught my bus, but was quite tired by the time I returned to my apartment. I hope this is not an indication of things to come. If so, taking a course at Trinity College may be too much for me.

Today (Sunday) was International Sunday at my church, and it was quite an event. Eighteen countries were represented, and as the only American in the church, I had the honor of representing the United States. Each country was asked to do three things: dress in their national attire, bring a national dish for the potluck, and prepare a presentation about their country lasting less than five minutes.

Worship Team with Members from Brazil, Egypt, Ireland and Nigeria

Dressing in my "national dress" was both confusing and straightforward. The U.S. doesn't have a specific national outfit like some countries do, but there are certain clothes that are commonly recognized as American. Unfortunately, these same clothes can be found in just about every closet around the world. I opted for blue jeans, a white knit shirt, a denim jacket, and a red baseball cap, effectively creating an outfit in red, white, and blue. I received several compliments on how American I looked, along with a few comments expressing concern that I might be wearing a MAGA hat. Rest assured, I'm not that foolish; Trump isn't very popular in Ireland.

Those of you who know me well know that I don’t enjoy cooking. Combine that with a very

Nigeria Representatives at International Day, Marantha Community Church

small kitchen and the absence of fancy cooking gadgets like a crockpot, plus no easy way to transport cooked food (hot or cold), deciding what to bring to the potluck became a challenge. I finally settled on pimento cheese sandwiches. Sounds easy enough, except pimentos are nearly impossible to find here in Ireland. I even searched in Dublin.

To solve the dilemma, I bought a big jar of green olives stuffed with pimentos. I carefully sliced the olives open and removed the pimentos to use for my cheese spread. While I managed to create the pimento cheese, my sandwiches didn’t quite attract the same attention as the Irish stews, various curries, and other international dishes. In the end, these sandwiches will be given to the homeless in Waterford. It was pretty much a fail in terms of the national food offering.

Irish Representatives: Several of the Ladies are My New Friends

I never quite understood what to include in my presentation about the US. Some groups were singing songs or reading scripture in their native languages, but singing isn’t my forte—especially not solo—and my native language is English. I assumed they wanted to learn about Christianity in the US, so I focused my presentation on that topic. I explained how Christianity has had a significant influence throughout US history and how several states were founded by religious groups.

I wrote four different drafts, trying to keep it engaging rather than sounding like a lecture. However, after I greeted everyone with a “Howdy,” the presentation took a turn for the worse—I’m afraid it ended up being rather boring. I didn’t represent the USA well on International Day at my church. For my native dress, I received an "Okay," for my national dish, a thumbs down, and for my presentation, a ho-hum. I apologize to my fellow citizens for not doing a better job; our country is truly unique and special.

International Day was truly amazing, and I learned so much about Christianity around the world. Among the mix of 18 countries, we had 6 from Africa, 5 from Asia, 1 from North America, 1 from South America and 5 from Europe. I feel very blessed to be worshipping in a church with such diversity.

Waterford Weather:

High 63 F  (17 C), Low  50 F (10 C)  Rainy, chilly and today very windy

Sunrise 7:03 am,  Sunset 7:42 pm (19:42 EU time)

Hours of sunlight: 12:40