Don’t Get in a Car With Strangers - Unless You’re in Ireland
A few summers ago, I spent a week in the Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area) in Gleann Fhinne, Donegal. I was attending an Irish language immersion course with Oideas Gael at the time. Gleann Fhinne is a very quiet town with a population of less than 500. For two weeks every summer, a group of adult Irish learners add to that population.
Every morning and evening I walked from the home of the local family I was staying with to the school and back. It was a reasonably far walk, but the views made it worth it.
One day I was walking to the school with two other students. They had both just started to learn Irish that summer and therefore couldn’t say or understand very much. We had only taken a few steps when a car pulled up and stopped beside us.
The deriver lowered their window and asked “Ar mhaith libh síob?”
“Cinnte! Go raibh maith agat.” I replied and started walking towards the car.
I had completely forgotten that the other two people with me had no idea what was happening. I looked over my shoulder to them and I said “We’re getting in this car.”
In retrospect, I probably should have elaborated a little and explained that we were being offered a lift to the school and I had accepted… But they followed me without question and the three of us piled into the car.
Growing up, I heard loads of stories about how you should ‘never get in a car with a stranger.’ But there was never a Gaeilgeoir (Irish speaker) behind the wheel in those stories!
I’m mostly joking, but on some level, I’m serious. I always knew that the culture in a small Irish town would be completely different than the culture in my own small town, New York City. Even so, I’m not sure I would have accepted a lift had they been speaking English. I would have at least been a little nervous if I had. So did I really just hop in a car with a stranger, no questions asked, simply because they spoke Irish? Basically, yeah.
I was there to practice my Irish and embrace a different way of life and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to do both of those things. Besides, it would be a lot of work to murder and dispose of three adult Irish learners in broad daylight…
More than that, it didn’t feel like we were strangers. We were Gaeilgeoirí (Irish speakers.) We were members of the same community, even if we were from different countries.
It hadn’t been easy or comfortable for me to stay with a family I didn’t know at all and a spend a week speaking a language that was still relatively new to me surrounded by people I didn’t know. But that was exactly why I was there. I knew that I would grow as a result of that discomfort and I was right. I made a decision to be open to every experience that I could have there, even trusting strangers.
Anyway, the driver gave us a lift and she told me that she had seen us walking every day and knew that we were attending the course. We had a nice conversation, I didn’t have to walk uphill, and no one was murdered. It was another reminder of the good things that lie just beyond our comfort zone.
Have you ever had an experience like this because of languages? Subscribe if you’d get in a car with strangers to practice your target language. 😉
More from Foghlaimeoir:
Irish translation of this article
Embrace the Unfamiliar
I'm rather cautious here with strangers here in America, but I totally hitchhiked in Westport when hiking Croagh Patrick on March 17th, 2014. What a day!
Once in Corsica (a place I love wholeheartedly) we pulled into a small town for something to make lunch. The town was quiet, but there was a butcher shop. The shop owner had no English so I used my rusty French, and laughingly he told me all the words in Corsican. I’ll never forget the joy and laughter sharing these old words together.