Why Ireland?

I’ve been moving around quite a bit for the past two years and a question I’ve been getting is “why Ireland?”.

I get the sense that people are looking for something romantic, like “we always wanted to live in Ireland”.

Or maybe something definitive, like “my husband got a job offer in Ireland”.

The answer, though, was one of pure pragmatism…and is more than one thing alone.

First and foremost, it’s an English-speaking country in the EU. Having spent a year and a half in Spain, I can attest to how hard it is to really learn a new language as an adult. I took classes with a language instructor and played Duolingo, but only learned enough to squeak by—usually just for someone to start speaking English with me or for me to use an app to translate what I wanted to say.

I always understood the challenge of learning a new language, but have a newfound respect for people who immigrate and successfully learn a new language. It’s frustrating to not be able to communicate—and even more so for someone like me who is intentional about word choice.

I also felt both ashamed (because I couldn’t speak the language of my host country) and useless (because I couldn’t ask for simple things or answer basic questions) because of my limited familiarity with Spanish.

Aside from navigating day-to-day life, though, the prospect of either my husband or I working in Spain was infinitely more challenging than I expected because of the language barrier. While we don’t need to work financially, both of us have many more years of work in us to give. And we’re not very good at doing nothing anyway.

Aside from language, Ireland gives us some things that are beneficial to life in Spain.

The weather is the first, being more temperate than Madrid. Neither of us are heat seekers, so living in +42 during the summer will soon be just another story from our adventures.

We also never quite adjusted to the Spanish lifestyle…mainly having dinner at 10pm. I totally understand why (or, at least, I assume because it’s just too freaking hot to eat before then), but the whole daily routine was not one we could just switch to in a year. And especially not when we would get up at 5am so we could walk around Retiro Park at 6am when it was the coolest part of the day.

The Spanish people were very welcoming to us, and we saw a lot of it while we were there. The country is beautiful and full of history, culture and beauty. They are a proud people and I was proud to be resident there while Prime Minister Sánchez took on so many issues with passion and clarity of mind.

But I always knew it was a “foster home” for us…a transitional stop on our European journey.

We’ve only been in Ireland since early January and already it feels more like home. Our surroundings, the ease of adjusting to Irish life, and even something as mundane as a familiar cuisine have made it an easy adjustment.

It’s a strange thing, choosing a new country to call home. On the one hand, there is a reason we decided to leave our prior country (countries). And on the other, the new country needs to be one where we can adapt to their way of life.

That ability to adapt isn’t necessarily about how foreign or familiar the new country is. I think it’s more about knowing how you want to live your life—then finding a place that can offer you that.

I really don’t think we’ll ever have a “forever home”. There’s too much of the world to experience, we’re too pragmatic to stay put unless there is good reason, and we’ve shown that we’re more likely to go where it is more fitting for us.

But like the nearly decade we spent in Vancouver, I really hope Ireland can be our home for a good, long while.