Calm down in Kinsale and begin of my first workaway job

Unfortunately, the first days in Kinsale were very rainy, hence I couldn't do any activities and the hostel was pretty quiet which means not many to do for me. That means I had time to relax.

But I underestimated that after 14 days of traveling and seeing a lot of new things everyday - and I was also pretty busy before I left Germany - I actually have to learn to calm down...

Actually it isn't my strength... Therefore I felt homesick on my second day in Kinsale because I felt under pressure doing something. I thought: "What should I do here in the next 4 weeks?". I knew from my really nice host Joy that my days off are Wednesday and Thursday, hence I check out all classes which took place on this days in Kinsale. I also wrote to my friends and told them I felt homesick. I received very nice messages from them which made me feel better.

So I decided to learn how to enjoy calming down... Which started by reading a book! I also find a nice place where I could relax and write my posts which is relaxing for me: at the Poet's Corner. Since my arrival I was there almost everyday.

Great to relax, eat and having a chai tea (yap! It's incredible but I like cinnamon since a few month). I like to sit in the armchair and write my posts or just read a book. The books are free for reading. By the way the cafe owner is a German girl.

Soccer days

My homesickness lasted fortunately just one day. On the next day I talked to Declan and he invited me to come with him and his friends to a pub to watch the football game Arsenal vs. Manchester United. That was quite funny. 

On the day next he invited me to play soccer with them. Yes, unbelievable but I played and I wasn't that bad :-).


I have to admit that I had no clue at all that a lot of German players playing for Arsenal... 

I could hide my lack of soccer knowledge by teaching the Irish guys how to pronounce 'Mertesacker'. Well, it sounded a bit like a French pronunciation but it was not that bad for the first time. 

I also claimed that Per Mertesacker would come from my hometown but that turned out to be wrong but I think that's not worth to mention it anymore :-)... I still can't remember which famous German football player grew up close to Muenster... If everyone knows please let me know. A friend of mine met him one day in the former Grand Cafe.

On the whole it was a funny evening and I had gales of laughter. 

Well, I confess I was a bit nervous and felt a bit under pressure to represent Germany when I went with Declan to play soccer. It was maybe 15 years or longer ago that I played it. But it's funny that a lot of people think I could play it very well. I don't no why... Maybe I still behave a bit like a tomboy...

There weren't many players but it was a mixture of girls and boys and they integrated me very kind. Nothing about looking strange at me because I'm the new person. That's what I had expected due to my German experiences. But not at all!

Before the game started it was said that all have to behave and play fair. Aha. No problem :-).

During and after the game all were very friendly and interested. The water bottles were shared and after the game everybody thanked each other. Well, I felt very comfortable and actually I played not too bad I suppose. Actually, someone called me 'Schweinsteiger' :-). Hopefully the guy meant my play and not that I looked like Schweinsteiger... Sorry Anika ;-).

Stormy days and unexpected help

The weather can be very mean in Ireland which means it pretends to be sunny and waits until you're fare enough in the outdoors and than it'll change so fast you won't be aware what's happened and have no chance at all to find a safety place...

That was what exactly happened to me.

One morning it was quite warm and sunny outside, hence I thought "Great day for a walk to the James Fort!". So far so good.

I walked through the city and the long walk beside the sea which is nice to look at as you can see in the following pictures.

So lovely!  An English friend of mine just commented: "It looks like a rainbow vomited all over the house...".

Here I bought my book for exercise to calm down.

Looks a little bit like California :-)

Again some palms!

Seaside - what a lovely sunny day...

The seagulls ate something what I supposed to be a dead moraine... It really looked like one.

So I walked some kilometers out from the city and reached the long bridge which should lead me to James Fort. "Yieppieh!" I thought. "Only over the bridge and I'll be there..."

Well, I reached exactly the middle of the bridge when a storm started with such a force I had never seen in my life. I'm not overstating.

On the other side of the bridge was a guy who started to run back. So did I, running my way back. I imagined myself blowing into the sea from that storm and was really scared.

Finally, when I reached the way I came from it was raining like a cow is pissing on a flat stone (I love this idiom). In seconds I was soaked from the rain and I was quite far away from the city centre...

Suddenly, a car stopped beside me and a woman called: "Do you need a ride?" Wow! So kind! I didn't hesitate and jumped into her car and couldn't stop to say 'thank you'. She told me that one day before the same happened to her. She drove me into the city centre and I walked straight to Poet's Corner to get a hot tea...

Never give up - second try to get to James Fort

Well, for my second try to go to James Fort I went with a guardian which means Dominic the outdoor activity student from South Africa leads me to it.

It's really interesting to watch him how he is dealing with people. I suppose he knows everyone in Kinsale. I thought he would live there for a long time but he lives there since last September... With his help we got a discount from the laundry service.

Before we reached the James Fort we had to stop at every corner because he had to greet a lot of people and had a small talk with them. He is also very supportive and always in action. I like his mindset and talk in an adult way.

But I want to talk about my second try to James Fort... On the way to James Fort we met a great football player as you can see in the following video:

After admiring his soccer performance we went to James Fort which reminded me about a set of some middle age movies.

The James Fort - Dominic climbed up on the walls and I tried it as well. But not really successful... I got some cuts on my hand and spoiled his croissant with my blood so it was mine.

New favorite place?

It was really a nice first week and I saw a lot from Kinsale. Maybe it could become one of my favorite places in Ireland...? I'll see. I have 4 weeks to find it out.