When Matt's parents came to visit us in our old place, they were amazed by many of our Irish conventions. His dad spent an afternoon documenting our bathrooms and cupboards and kitchen layout. Having lived here over a year at the time, it was a bit funny to see our Irish house through new American eyes. We tend to forget how foreign it all seemed at first glance, when today most everything feels familiar, if not normal.

There are a few things, though, that take a bit longer getting used to...