Crossing the Road
There are some things in life that my parents have engrained in me since my toddler days:
“Wash your hands before you eat.”
“Always say please and thank you.”
“Never talk to strangers.”
And lastly “Before crossing the street always look left then right then left again.”
I have been trained to do these things to a point that I do them instinctually. The Irish drive a tad bit differently than Americans; they usually always drive a stick, they drive on the LEFT side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the vehicle. I have been here for over eight weeks and I continue to struggle with crossing the road. They say it takes six weeks to break a habit so this small detail should be soooo simple to adjust to in Ireland, right? Then again, breaking a habit of over fifteen years to look left then right isn’t as easy as it seems.
Katie and I were dropping the Dublin Victory Scholars,
Megan and
Emily, off to their bus stop after the birthday bash night. Everything was good until I crossed the road. Katie and Meg had already crossed so it was mine and Emily’s turn. We were on the median and I looked to the left and thought “Oh, I’m good”. I decided to mosey across and Emily shouts “BOONIE WATCH OUT!”. At that point, my heart jumped and I sprinted to the sidewalk where Katie and Meg were standing. I look back and a car was jetting down the road, the same one that was one millimeter away from hitting me, and they didn’t even attempt to tap on the brake! After some moments of laughter with the girls, well I was actually laughing with fear and worry, we continued to the bus stop.
My tip for the rest of my Ireland journey is to remember to look RIGHT then LEFT.
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