Chica's Birthday Weekend

Up until a couple of months ago I hadn't babysat since I was 18. The last summer before college I spent babysitting a young boy in the neighborhood. But I stopped working that job before the summer was over because the stress of working, packing for college, seeing my mother move to Omaha, and saying good-bye to all my friends was a bit to much for my emotional health (this was also the summer that the vague "anxiety disorder" made itself known).

And although many of my friends in college took babysitting jobs to make a little extra money to fund late night hang outs (read: beer runs), I decided that I would rather work part-time for the school (in the Alumni office and in the school cafeteria, as well as notetaking with the Diabilities office for awhile).

To make a couple of extra bucks towards this trip over the summer, I worked as a nanny. For 4 weeks I worked 8:30 to 4:30 with two young boys, aged 18 months and 3 years. And for 2 and half weeks after that I worked part-time for 3 kids, ages 6, 11, and 15.

Let me tell you working with kids is no picnic (not that you parents out there aren't aware of this already) . It also makes me think about how far I've come from being a kid. Though I would hesitate to label myself "grown-up" (I still sneak cookies, refuse to clean my room, and wonder what I'm going to be when I "grow-up"), I would also like to think that I'm no longer a kid. And it is not just because I no longer have a bedtime (though it gets harder and harder to stay up pass midnight when I have to be up and outside working at 8).

And you might be saying to yourself, Interesting, but what does this have to do with Ireland or your trip, Elaine? (Well, maybe you aren't saying Interesting, but my train of thought started with the summer before college, so you'll just have to bear with me.)

For the past three days I have spent most of my time around Irish kids aged 3 to about 16. There were 17 of them over at Kate's house this weekend to celebrate Chica's brithday, because although Kate doesn't have children of her own, she is aunt or honorary aunt to countless kids. These kids ranged from the family of a young boy and twin girls who biked down the lane from the house across the fields for the afternoon yesterday to the 4 year old triplet boys who drove down from beyond Dublin (about 3 hours away) late Friday night and who are still here as I write this.

There are times when they drive me crazy, with their noise and crying and messes. And then there are other times when we build block towers as tall as they are, and I can't help but laugh as they knock them down. I alternate between thinking that kids are the best playmates in the world to wondering why anyone would ever have kids in the first place (though, Mom and Dad, I am eternally grateful that you decided to!).

The minor difference between the kids here and the kids at home are questions like "Are you from America? I've heard people talk like you on TV" and  "Do you live close to the White House? Have you met the President?"

I think the major difference between the kids here this weekend and the kid I was is not their lilting accents (which might actually make them cuter then any kids I've met before), but their view on the world. I don't remember when I realized that there was a world beyond my little universe, but I think it came later in life. The kids here are exposed to American and Australian TV. And they are taught the histories of other countries in school (not the history of the UK, but that is a whole other blog post). And they go to Europe for school breaks. And some of their parents aren't Irish. And it is sort of understood that when they finish school they will look for a job in Australia, or England, or the States, because there aren't very many jobs here.
They know from a very early age that the world is much bigger than Ireland.

I first went out of the United States when I was 11. And then my view of the world expanded that much more. But these kids are not even 10, and their worlds are only slightly smaller than mine. At one point this weekend, I was called on by a child named Sara (age 11) to show her where Ethiopia was on a map. and I noticed a nine year old girl was reading a book on Frida Kahlo de Rivera. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't even care where Ethiopia was until I was in 8th grade, and was required by Human Geography to memorize the countries in Africa on a map. And I don't remember recognizing Frida until a library trip that same year.

So, Elaine, what is your conclusion and what does it have to do with Ireland and your trip?

My conclusion is that people in Ireland, not just kids, are aware of the world in a way that I only recently started to develop. And part of this trip is figuring out just what my perspective of the world is and my place in it. So maybe, with its broad perspectives on the world, Ireland was a good place to start.