speaking of hostels and why i'm DONE: yesterday i returned to the hostel in kilkenny when the manager asked me if i'd paid for that night's room yet. i said, yes, i paid the day before. well, apparently the sum i'd paid (40 euros) was for only one night and i still owed 40 euros for the second night. cash! i was staying in a private room that happened to have two beds and the manager explained to me that it was not 20 euros per person per night but rather 20 euros per bed per night, and since there were two beds in my room, i owed 80 euros (cash!) total. good gravy. i was stunned and had obviously heard wrong on the phone when i called to make a reservation. we worked out a deal and i paid 20 more euros instead of 40, but she was all annoyed and i felt like crying for about a minute. lordy. the hostel was waaaay funky for even 20 euros a night, no breakfast, scummy bathrooms, etc. anyway.
i did meet some french people staying at the hostel too, so we all went out for a beer and listened to some traditional irish music. it was rad and good to speak french again. it took me about 15 mintues to make my mouth work again, i was stuttering and sputtering all the words in french but then it was all good. i'm still fighting this cold so i called it a night at 11 but slept like shit nonetheless. some of the frenchies and i got breakfast together this morning and one of them, G, and i rode the same bus out of town-- he was heading to cork, me to cashel, where i am now. i got off at clonmel, waited three minutes, hopped another bus to cahir (pronounced like "care"), had an hour layover, got some lunch and then waited for the bus to cashel to show up.
at the bus stop i met a lovely lady who was full of bus riding factoids; where to buy my tickets, where to catch my bus, where to get off in cashel. she was going to cashel too, and the more we talked, the more i realized how sweet she was. she lived in vancouver and victoria, bc, and modesto, california, for a bunch of years. her name was sister jo and she personally walked me to my hostel here in cashel and told me where to get a quick lunch and tea. so nice!
i checked into the hostel and found out they had single rooms for a little bit more so i took it and took a two hour nap. luxury. so quiet! there's a kitchen so i scoped it to see if there was any community food like butter, salt, tea, whatever, so i wouldn't have to buy any of that tonight for making dinner. the kitchen was complete with two older men who abruptly stopped talking when i walked in. this sucks about hostels. weirdo men and school groups. i don't know which is worse. anyway, no community food so looks like it's spaghetti for me. i walked to the TI and saw sister jo again and she gave me a big hug. she comes to cashel every tuesday to visit her brother in a nursing home because he has parkinson's disease. he used to be a priest in stockton, california. i had some tea and realized that i'd checked into the wrong hostel. they have similar names-- one's in my guidebook and the other is on a flyer i picked up in dublin. luckily i have my own room here at this one and they take credit cards, but maybe the other one wouldn't have so many strange men walking around? and more people my own age? oh well. only two nights. won't kill me. heading to b&bs until galway. thank god. give me a tv and a nice bed and a huge irish breakfast and i'm a happy girl!