Ireland Day 42 - Cheeseburger

I'm cooking a burger right now. This is the first thing I've really cooked since I've been here. Kind of shocking, really. Not sure how I've been getting by! Oh, that's right: peanut butter. I require more sustenance than that. The grocery store has finally been not daunting enough that I found "real" food.

While at the store I bought some hamburger patties. Seemed simple enough, and filling, and better than nuggets. I should have checked the cooking instructions before I bought them though. "Grill - medium heat for 14-16 minutes flipping occasionally". I glared at the box, then at the oven. 100-200 degrees celsius. What is medium? 150? May as well give it a shot. That burger has been in there for half an hour and I'm pretty sure it's not finished yet. I imagine I'll end up over cooking it a bit as a precaution to not eat undercooked meat. I don't think there's a meat thermometer here, even if there were I don't know what the correct temperature is. I could look it up I guess. After another five minutes I'll probably chop that patty in half and take a peek at the color. Food is such an adventure here. I would be a mess in so many other countries.

I'm excited for it to be finished, I will put cheese and ketchup and mustard on it. Then I will eat some chips. Crisps. Not french fries. I wish I had bought french fries. Maybe next time.

The window in my new room has a blind that was all tangled up so I couldn't open it to look outside. It's really sunny today (and windy), so when I got home I decided I was going to attempt to untangle the pully system. I managed to get it straightened out, but that thing has bigger issues. I don't know the technical names for all of the parts, but the plastic cover that keeps the pully in place doesn't stay put, so the pully with the notches slips out of the cog and the blind doesn't go anywhere. Does that make sense? It'll be an event every time I want to pull the blinds up or down. Not big deal though, just makes it all the more satisfying to let the light in or shut it out! :D

Good news! My burger is cooked all the way through! *celebrate*

I took a brief blogging break to devour the burger, plus some broccoli and a few more chips. Tasty and satisfying!

I'm back in my room now and enjoying the fruits of my labor via the open blinds. There's quite a different view from this bedroom. The clouds are being particularly entertaining this evening as well. There are some serious winds that are picking up and the sun is still blaring. It's warm in here. I'm enjoying myself.

Today a couple came in to have some engagement photos taken. I was a little nervous at first, wanting to do a good job and all. I sent a text to Brad asking if he had any particular poses that he used for this situation and he told me to just go for it, treat it as though someone came to me and asked for engagement photos. That was definitely a useful seed! My mind went onto the fast track of "time to photograph Jacki and Blake". It wasn't quite that easy at first though, the bride didn't speak English at all and as a result it was difficult to direct them as a couple! We managed to work it out with hand signals and overall there were a lot of really great photos. I never know how comfortable people are with PDA in photos, so I was a little shy about asking them to get cuddly or kissy. The grooms sister dropped in and had some very cozy ideas. Those are my favorite photos from the shoot. They're coming in on Friday to look at them, I'm excited to see their reactions!

I think I'm going to take some photos now. Maybe do some black and whites. I'll post them later!

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8:49 am: bus stop: still coughing my lungs out, but it's a nice morning so I figure that evens things out!

2:01 pm: walking: lunch is going to be so amazing.

2:29 pm: lynch's: I watched the rain come.

5:45 pm: 33 bus: I am hungry and my tattoo itches. I will fix both of those situations once I get home!

6:16 pm: walking: There's a dog trying to follow me home again.

P.S. I have yet to receive my e-mail confirmation from Delta for changing my flight to September 29th. It shows up as my itinerary on the website though, so I guess I shouldn't be worried?

-MJ