Nothing like falling asleep at 8pm to make your Tuesday morning bright!
I FEEL GREAT TODAY! I'm almost positive that will be put to rest soon, but---
you will never believe this. I just got invited to a 12pm meeting. In whose world is that not lunchtime?!
So yeah, wow, I guess that did get put to rest rather quickly. Damn!
The past few weeks have been a little hectic in my office. As evidence of this, my desk is littered with other people's notes, heartburn chewables, coke cans, coffee mugs and m&m wrappers. The kindly custodians do their best to keep my desk free of the most pest-attracting desk accessories, but inevitably at the end of each day there is a fresh harvest for them to gather.
Disgusting.
At any rate, I have some cultural facts to share with you today:
Did you know that in Europe they date things day/month/year? So you'd never say that today is July 24. Instead, you'd say today is 24th of July. Also, you would write that 24/07/07. When I came home in 2005 with my last paycheck, you can imagine what a pain it was talking the US bank teller through the process of cashing a check dated 19/12/2005. She didn't believe me!
In Ireland and the UK, you can say "cheers" in place of:
-Thank You "Cheers for that!"
-Goodbye "Okay, Cheers, See ya!"
-Sorry "Whoops, Cheers!"
It's the generic politeness word. Once when someone knocked my suitcase off a moving bus they said "cheers!" to follow that up. It was my first 5 minutes in the country, and I thought "I don't see a drink. What's he cheers-ing about?...jerk."
You can't just say goodbye to an Irish person. In fact, in Ireland it's kind of rude to be the first one to go--this counts for leaving a party, getting off the phone, you name it. So when you're getting ready to close a phone conversation with an Irish person, you'll generally do what I call the "cheers dance". You start by implying you're going to wrap things up:
"Okay, so thanks for that"
(then both of you, at the same time, as fast as possible) "Cheers, thanks, cheers, thanks for that, okay that's grand thanks, cheers, thanks..."
Then it closes with a long, sing-songy "byyyyeeeeeeeee!"
This doesn't just go for friends--even colleagues or a taxi service will do this with you. I spent roughly the first 3 months hanging up on people while they ran through that, because I didn't know the culture and I didn't even really hear them going on as I dropped the receiver. It wasn't until I was here a loooong time that I heard someone going on and on and so I picked back up the phone and said bye again and they hung up on me very offended.
Okay, those are your hints and tips for the day. It's noon now...meetin' time. See you soon!
PS: FIFTEEN DAYS TIL I'M HOME!!!!
I FEEL GREAT TODAY! I'm almost positive that will be put to rest soon, but---
you will never believe this. I just got invited to a 12pm meeting. In whose world is that not lunchtime?!
So yeah, wow, I guess that did get put to rest rather quickly. Damn!
The past few weeks have been a little hectic in my office. As evidence of this, my desk is littered with other people's notes, heartburn chewables, coke cans, coffee mugs and m&m wrappers. The kindly custodians do their best to keep my desk free of the most pest-attracting desk accessories, but inevitably at the end of each day there is a fresh harvest for them to gather.
Disgusting.
At any rate, I have some cultural facts to share with you today:
Did you know that in Europe they date things day/month/year? So you'd never say that today is July 24. Instead, you'd say today is 24th of July. Also, you would write that 24/07/07. When I came home in 2005 with my last paycheck, you can imagine what a pain it was talking the US bank teller through the process of cashing a check dated 19/12/2005. She didn't believe me!
In Ireland and the UK, you can say "cheers" in place of:
-Thank You "Cheers for that!"
-Goodbye "Okay, Cheers, See ya!"
-Sorry "Whoops, Cheers!"
It's the generic politeness word. Once when someone knocked my suitcase off a moving bus they said "cheers!" to follow that up. It was my first 5 minutes in the country, and I thought "I don't see a drink. What's he cheers-ing about?...jerk."
You can't just say goodbye to an Irish person. In fact, in Ireland it's kind of rude to be the first one to go--this counts for leaving a party, getting off the phone, you name it. So when you're getting ready to close a phone conversation with an Irish person, you'll generally do what I call the "cheers dance". You start by implying you're going to wrap things up:
"Okay, so thanks for that"
(then both of you, at the same time, as fast as possible) "Cheers, thanks, cheers, thanks for that, okay that's grand thanks, cheers, thanks..."
Then it closes with a long, sing-songy "byyyyeeeeeeeee!"
This doesn't just go for friends--even colleagues or a taxi service will do this with you. I spent roughly the first 3 months hanging up on people while they ran through that, because I didn't know the culture and I didn't even really hear them going on as I dropped the receiver. It wasn't until I was here a loooong time that I heard someone going on and on and so I picked back up the phone and said bye again and they hung up on me very offended.
Okay, those are your hints and tips for the day. It's noon now...meetin' time. See you soon!
PS: FIFTEEN DAYS TIL I'M HOME!!!!
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