Well after a month in Ireland we have settled into a routine and figured our way around some of the differences here. Nothing is drastic but added together it does make for a different 
experience. The largest difference is of course space or rather the lack of it. As with most places around the world property is at a premium in Ireland and you don’t get as much living space as you are used to in the states. Our first apartment in stepdaside was two bedrooms and less than 1000 sq ft. We have since moved into a town house of sorts and it has three bedrooms (as well as an extra room from the converted attic) and about 1600 square feet. The living space is fine, we each have our own room there is space to home school and the kids are not always underfoot – well maybe I should ask Yvette about that.
As you size up the living space you start to see the tradeoffs made to make the best use of what’s available. The main difference is the lack of storage and considerably smaller appliances. Let’s start with appliances. In the apartment we had an all in one washer and dryer, not stacked truly all in one. Put the clothes in they get washed then dried and come out done, of course its 3 hours later and
they looked like they’ve been balled up under your bed they’re so wrinkled – but that’s ok because you can fit two pair of pants and two shirts in each and every load. Well in the new place we don’t have the wrinkling issues because we have no dryer, and from the looks of it neither do any of our neighbors. Yes in a country where it’s overcast and rainy a great deal of the time to preferred method of clothes drying is the line outside. This is particularly fun with your unmentionables ;)
Next there is the heating / hot water system. All heating here is via hot water so there is a boiler you need to manage in the kitchen. It heats the water, which is feed through a radiator system to heat the house. It works well but there is not really a thermostat so the house cycles between really hot and chilly, furthermore it’s an expensive system to run so it’s not always on. Glad we are not here during the winter. The boiler also creates the hot water for the washer, dishwasher and shower so we run out often in spite of having a 15 gallon storage tank upstairs (remember it’s not always on). Lastly, we have a frig that’s about ½ the size of ours at home, it works fine and we are happy to this larger “American style” unit since
the more standard equipment is a little larger than the your kids dorm room refrigerator. By the way, have I mentioned there are no outlets in any of the bathrooms? Well Yvette has mastered drying her hair with her compact mirror in the bedroom.
As I mentioned before once you live here for awhile you start to notice the lack of storage as well. Our few suitcases of clothes fit fine but frankly we would need to make a few trips to the goodwill to shed many of our current belongings before we could get all our stuff to fit – no walk in closets here. Then you start to think about all the other crap we have and where would we put that, things like our bikes, sporting gear or even holiday decorations. I would hate to be tripping over Matt’s hockey bag all the time. No need to worry about the lawn mower though our garden (i.e. yard) is only 20x20 I could mow it with a weedeater.
experience. The largest difference is of course space or rather the lack of it. As with most places around the world property is at a premium in Ireland and you don’t get as much living space as you are used to in the states. Our first apartment in stepdaside was two bedrooms and less than 1000 sq ft. We have since moved into a town house of sorts and it has three bedrooms (as well as an extra room from the converted attic) and about 1600 square feet. The living space is fine, we each have our own room there is space to home school and the kids are not always underfoot – well maybe I should ask Yvette about that.As you size up the living space you start to see the tradeoffs made to make the best use of what’s available. The main difference is the lack of storage and considerably smaller appliances. Let’s start with appliances. In the apartment we had an all in one washer and dryer, not stacked truly all in one. Put the clothes in they get washed then dried and come out done, of course its 3 hours later and
they looked like they’ve been balled up under your bed they’re so wrinkled – but that’s ok because you can fit two pair of pants and two shirts in each and every load. Well in the new place we don’t have the wrinkling issues because we have no dryer, and from the looks of it neither do any of our neighbors. Yes in a country where it’s overcast and rainy a great deal of the time to preferred method of clothes drying is the line outside. This is particularly fun with your unmentionables ;)Next there is the heating / hot water system. All heating here is via hot water so there is a boiler you need to manage in the kitchen. It heats the water, which is feed through a radiator system to heat the house. It works well but there is not really a thermostat so the house cycles between really hot and chilly, furthermore it’s an expensive system to run so it’s not always on. Glad we are not here during the winter. The boiler also creates the hot water for the washer, dishwasher and shower so we run out often in spite of having a 15 gallon storage tank upstairs (remember it’s not always on). Lastly, we have a frig that’s about ½ the size of ours at home, it works fine and we are happy to this larger “American style” unit since
the more standard equipment is a little larger than the your kids dorm room refrigerator. By the way, have I mentioned there are no outlets in any of the bathrooms? Well Yvette has mastered drying her hair with her compact mirror in the bedroom.As I mentioned before once you live here for awhile you start to notice the lack of storage as well. Our few suitcases of clothes fit fine but frankly we would need to make a few trips to the goodwill to shed many of our current belongings before we could get all our stuff to fit – no walk in closets here. Then you start to think about all the other crap we have and where would we put that, things like our bikes, sporting gear or even holiday decorations. I would hate to be tripping over Matt’s hockey bag all the time. No need to worry about the lawn mower though our garden (i.e. yard) is only 20x20 I could mow it with a weedeater.
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