True Life: Ireland—Keep it Simple

It’s evening. Around 8 pm. The sun still hasn’t set. Aleah and I are sitting in the living room of our next Couchsurfing host, Ciaran (pronounced “Kee—rahn), with his roommates Ronan and Conor and his friends Kieran and O’Shane. There’s a huge music festival—Live at the Marquee—going on outside Ciaran’s house not more than a half-mile (or however many meters that is to them) from his doorstep.

“‘Ey shall we have a listen to the music, then?” asks Ronan, setting down his Heineken and looking around the room.
“Ay,” “Ay,” we hear. Apparently, the big act that night was Z-Z-Top—but clearly, the boys (or “the lads,” as they call themselves) were not going to pay for the full-price ticket. These guys are working class and constantly talk about how much they hate their jobs. But after eavesdropping on several Irish conversations unintentionally (they sometimes talk…