After eight weeks away from the constant rain, frustrating traffic congestion and over charging of every product and service that is Dublin, I felt a tinge of nostalgia. OK maybe nostalgia is too strong a word for it, but yesterday evening as I sat down to watch Ireland beat England at Croke Park, I heard an Irish accent for the first time since arriving here.
No longer did it sound like the background noise that once blurred into nothingness that I used to hear a million times a day, but now it was rather unique sound, if not exactly the voice of an angel. With tricolours flying around Croker and the BBC cameraman offering a birdseye view of Dublin it somehow seemed cleaner, fresher and better than I remember.
Perhaps it wasn't nostalgia afterall, but rather an awarenes of my Estonian assimilation. I found myself looking at these images of Dublin and saying to the Norwegians, Germans and Estonian who were about to watch this "strange version of football" beside me and saying “Yeah, yeah, Dublin looks like a nice place to visit“.
At the bar and to my immense pride, I not only ordered a round of drinks in Estonian, but was complemented by the staff for my efforts. Later on I even exchanged a few words with one or two of the locals.
I'm now finding my way around Tallinn, the transport system and currency exchange no longer present the problems they once did and although I still look the wrong way when crossing the streets I'm feeling more and more at home.
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