A St. Patty's Day Not to Hate

The last few St. Patrick's Days have not been very exciting for me. I actually hated a couple of them because of the stupid parades that ruined my plans. The first time was Spring Break 2005 when I went to New York with Mom and my sisters. We were walking along Fifth Avenue because we really just wanted to look at the stores and step into Saks Fifth Avenue, just once. But alas, it was not to be for it was St. Patrick's Day (or what I lovingly refer to as Snake Chasers Day) and little did I know that New York City throws a MONDO parade and it's absolutely impossible to get through. That was horrible experience number one.

Horrible experience number two wasn't quite so bad. It was a couple of years later and I was spending Spring Break in Spokane with Ashley. We wanted to head downtown and see the giant red wagon and walk along the river, but whaddaya know: it's Snake Chaser's Day yet again and Spokane is having a parade blocking all roads leading to the giant red wagon. We shook our fists and went to the mall instead.

It turns out that St. Patty's Day just isn't a big deal in New Zealand. I guess they don't have enough Irish immigrants. People definitely use it as an excuse to get sloshed but there are no parties, the students don't worry about wearing green, and there are NO PARADES!

This year McKenzie, myself, and Alicia...

...decided to head downtown to spend our evening with the crowds in a local Irish pub.

We had a marvelous time (smoking isn't allowed in pubs so it really was quite marvelous). Alicia and I ordered Diet Coke while McKenzie drank pineapple juice. We took a few pictures and enjoyed watching the green mobs drink their alcohol (which wasn't died green).

Since we wanted to do more than drink, we each ordered cheeseburgers. When the burgers arrived we were all amazed at their size. McKenzie and Alicia strove for manners as they cut their burgers in half. I figured I was dining with a few drunks anyway who wouldn't know the difference so I threw my manners out the window.

The menu said these burger came with salad and fries. Little did we know that the salad came ON the burger, not next to it.

This salad was complete with lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and beets! I found it very strange. I've never had a burger with beets before. Normally I like beets, but the flavor of them was too strong and it was taking away from the rest of the meal so I had to remove them. Something interesting: these burgers weren't big slabs of juicy ground meet, it looked like a slice of roast beef. I enjoyed my burger, but it just wasn't meaty enough for me.

After finishing our meals we decided we wanted to people watch for a while so I headed over to the counter to order myself another Diet Coke. I never though I would see the day when I stood at a bar waiting to order a drink.

After a sufficient amount of people watching, we sober ones meandered down the street. We discovered a used book store (that sells cheap piano music so I bought myself some so that I have something else to entertain myself with when I am at home with my host family) and a MEXICAN RESTAURANT! We went inside and checked it out. The man told us that he doesn't sell alcohol so we'll have to bring our own. I guess he couldn't tell that his lack of vending alcohol would have zero effect on our desire to eat at his place. Mexican food just isn't available here in New Zealand and I am pretty sad about it. We're going to go try this place on Friday.

So it shaped up to be a great St. Patrick's Day. Good thing it's not a big deal down here because if my plans got foiled for another parade I think I'd turn to drinking. Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!