Conversation with Dubai/NYC Expat Fiona Cooney

In this episode, Ireland-native Fiona talks about how her shift in career paths provided an opportunity for her to experience generosity and gratitude in another country, to embrace compassion from the unlikeliest people while checking her privilege and strengthening her mindset.  Fiona shares her hilarious encounters during her early days of interning in New York City as a bonus.

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Transcript

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[00:00:00] [00:00:00] Nyra: [00:00:00] Let's start from the beginning. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about Fiona, who Fiona is, where she comes from. And how she and then somewhere in there move into what prompted you to want to go to another country. 

[00:00:14]Fiona: [00:00:14] So we're just going to come from, so how far back do I go?

[00:00:19]Nyra: [00:00:19] Well, just say, you know, I know that you are from Dublin, Ireland, but you know, 

[00:00:27] Fiona: [00:00:27] I grew up besides. Like Kildare to Dublin. So it'd be like Connecticut, New York kind of state. So, like people work in work in Dublin, but live in Kildare kind of thing. And my original degree is my undergraduate degree is in communications through Irish, the Irish language. And so it's completely, I'm bilingual in the sense I can speak Irish and English and, and I was doing TV on journalism.

[00:00:56] And remember I told you I lived in New York. That's why I lived in New York for the year, the going to get to that story. So I, then when I came, when I finished that course, I was, it was one of those kind of Coachella courses, or I was applying for a load of jobs, what didn't seem qualified for any of them.

[00:01:11] And so I was just like, I don't know what to do. So my friend's dad was a principal and he said, why don't you come and work in a school? We need somebody to work like a teaching assistant for a couple of weeks. So I did that and I absolutely loved it. So that's where my love of working with kids with special needs came from, I worked one-on-one with a little boy who just moved over from Africa and actually, and, and he had autism and he was undiagnosed because you can't be diagnosed by public services here.

[00:01:39]Like to public health services until you're five. So he was four. So with the school paid, the board of management paid me instead of the department. So I was his teaching assistant for the year. I oh my God. I know if that child was, he was just fabulous and I there's like, he was, he was actually at the start just repeating what I would say, but the funniest thing was he would just [00:02:00] repeat it in my accent.

[00:02:01] So whatever I would say he would learn the sentence. So like he just moved from Africa maybe the year before his parents, but obviously has strong African accents, but then every new word he was learning. Within my thick irish accent. So what's that? What's this? Where are you going? It was so funny. I mean, it was just us and it would be gorgeous. And then like just learning from, I learned more from him than I think he did from me. Like there wasn't a got to start. We were like, Oh my God. As I said, like, what do we do here? Like he won't sit down and he won't do his writing blah, blah. It's like, well, he's just, he doesn't want to sit down in your way.

[00:02:40] So he loved lights. So we've got a torch, he loved torches and whatever you held the torch over, he would do his coloring. He would do his writing. And then it was one of these torches that broke. So when he finished it, his reward thought it would break up. It would have like a big flashy light, you know, like an SOS light.

[00:02:57] Once he finished his work, he would get to do that. And then we realized that he loved like circuits. So then we upgraded that to the circuit board. Like he's only four, but we gave him the circuit wires so that he could make the light bulb light. Like, and we were like, this child's a genius. Like suddenly we were seeing all these different sides and you're just like this and amazing. And it's like the first thing of like, it's, it's not the child's fault that he's not learning. You're not going in the right way. There it is go in a different way. And that was just myself and the teacher. We were like this, this is amazing. And then end of the year, the child was, as you'd say, caught up with everyone else on par with everyone else, who's was just learning completely different way, like it worked for him perfectly.

[00:03:46] And that's when I was like, great, I want to do this. This is where I want a big do. So then I went and went back to college for two years and became a teacher. And at the time, so I kind of fell into leaving the country at the time when I [00:04:00] became a teacher, there was an embargo on hiring permanent teachers in Ireland. So when you graduate as a teacher in Ireland, you have to do a what's it called a year where you're not fully qualified. So I can't remember the name of that. So you have your degree, right? Well, you have to teach you to get a certain number of hours that you have to be inspected. Sorry, 

[00:04:22] Nyra: [00:04:22] like student teaching.

[00:04:24] Fiona: [00:04:24] Yeah, like student teaching, but you have five years to get the right number of irish inspector to conceive to say, yes, you can be a teacher and you have to get a hundred hours in a row for that to happen. But there was an embargo on hiring teachers in Ireland at the time. And it meant that it was taking three or four years for you to get your full teaching qualification.

[00:04:45] Right. Because of the inspector holdup. So I was like, no, I'm not hanging around for that long. So you could go to the UK and do it and do it in a year and then you'd be fully qualified and you could do, I'll do what you want. So I went to the UK and did it in a place just outside London St. Alban's beautiful. Like most, like it was like living in Shakespeare. It was up gorgeous. Teaching in London was. Or teaching in England was just, I don't know if you've ever heard stories of teaching in England. 

[00:05:15] Nyra: [00:05:15] No, I know they have issues. They pretend like their system is so pristine and it has no problems. And I was like, I don't think so.

[00:05:27] Fiona: [00:05:27] I taught three curriculums and the British one was. Horrible. Like I was on easy working 13 hours a day, like on six days a week. And that was that wasn't like, I'm way ahead. So that was like, just keeping your head above water, there level of markings. No, it's crazy safe. Like the filler [word not clear] that I lived in with the second year, I moved into, remember that in JVC, I moved into the live with a few of my friends. I'm, I am not lying to you 90 days. I didn't own the key for that house. In two years, I didn't own a [00:06:00] key. We never locked it. 

[00:06:02] Nyra: [00:06:02] Like I believe it. 

[00:06:05] Fiona: [00:06:05] I think there was two keys for that highest and five people lived in it. It was absolutely ridiculous. And it is it's to think that that that's like one of the richest countries in the world, or like one of the most modern countries in the world and people still don't bother or need to lock it.

[00:06:23] Nyra: [00:06:23] What would you say? Because the penalties are so stiff. 

[00:06:27] Fiona: [00:06:27] I think penalities are so stiff yeah. And you know, some people say like, yeah, because they lose the hand, but like, yeah. So no one does it. So their penalties work. Oh, there's also, I suppose, your divorces. You know, no, you're there for a reason. I suppose that yeah, there, there are, this was, there was a lot of crops [word not clear] there isn't, we're not widely like fighting days, a huge crop side [word not clear] as well. There is modern day slavery and we've saw that for many of the workers, like the cleaning staff in our school, even the, the teaching, the teacher's assistant, the TA's like what they were being paid, like nine people living in a room.

[00:07:10] There's a huge corrupt side as well. That isn't, that's the kind of Eastern philosophy like the girls from the Philippines that were working in our school would still tell me multiple times that their life was way better in Dubai than it would be if they lived in the Philippines. And that's how the system works. So, and like one person told me and it was really good advice. It's like, when you go there, you can't go there with the Western mindset and tell them that the way they're living is wrong, because it's not the way we live in the West and therefore you're wrong. And you're coming in and telling people, their whole mindset is messed up.

[00:07:51] You know, that's, that's unfair in itself as well. If that makes sense. You can't say you're wrong because that's not how we live. [00:08:00] There's so many layers to everything that you kind of have to step back and with kindness and judge it from a bigger picture. 

[00:08:10] Nyra: [00:08:10] I want to segue into this is a very good way to show the different experiences you've had between being in Dubai in the middle East. And then now. Your experience in New York, because you have a very different experience in New York, if you did, when you were living in Dubai. Right? So first tell me how you got to New York. 

[00:08:33] Fiona: [00:08:33] And so my sister lives in New York. She just moved to New Jersey last summer. Okay. I live in, in OSHA suburb of New Jersey.

[00:08:41] So I won't be visiting as much. 

[00:08:45] Nyra: [00:08:45] Why not? 

[00:08:47] Fiona: [00:08:47] She's in like, she's like white and Woodside and lovely, like the city center. And I go into the into times square and show. And now she's in. Like suburb, suburb, like right in the middle New Jersey. There's no village. There's nothing. I'm just like, there's just houses. But I was there for last Christmas. Actually. It was my first, like, Even she she's there 12 years and both was like, this is the first proper American Christmas, because previously we were like in quite an Irish area in Woodside, like in New York, very Irish. And like everyone was calling around with plates of cookies and stuff.

[00:09:26] And we were like, Oh my God, this is like, what? They do movies. This is real homemade cookies. You're like, Oh God, this is back to this diet. So, and. When I was in third year of college, I had a full work experience here and I could go anywhere I wanted. And because my sister lives in New York, obviously I was like, yeah, I'm going to go to New York. And I find a job. So I to get an internship where my visa, so it was a J visa. So you have to have an internship in your degree. So I worked for the Irish immigrants, which was an Irish newspaper. [00:10:00] It's one of those free newspapers you get in an Irish where you probably never seen, just because it's like.

[00:10:05] If you've been in an Irish bar, they're usually like in the corner of the Irish bar and they're real like community Irish kind of papers. Like John, Joe, who's lived in Woodlawn with them here is died. That kind of stuff. Right? Like, I'm on a wee little article about John Joe. And, but it was great. Like, it was a great segue to there. And I had my own article themes findings. So once a week I wrote down, like it was like a sex and the city type. like whatever I wanted to write about kind of stuff was pretty fun. And then in January of that year, I wanted to get more experience. So I got a job with How cast. Have you ever seen how cost videos?

[00:10:48] They're kind of like YouTube videos, how to videos. So you could type in like, I don't know how to make a pot roast and then have a video on it. Like step-by-step 

[00:10:58] Nyra: [00:10:58] I don't think so. But. Yeah, 

[00:11:01] Fiona: [00:11:01] they're kind of like, they were baked for a while, but they're kind of, but the way the concept was 50% of the videos were made by people at home, like YouTube, they have to follow a template and then we made the other 50%. So that was the fun part. So I was the production assistant and I got to go all over the city, collecting products for the production. Like I got to go to the sex and the city prop pies. I went to places in like Williamsburg. Where it was like extremely, and it wasn’t, like, I couldn't show my wrist and I couldn't look at them on the, eye I was in this like specific shop to pick up a specific thing.

[00:11:38] And I had to like to follow all of the, like I had to like be completely covered. I like, it was crazy. Like it was, I got to do all these really mad things and. Like I, the man in the sex and city shop or prop pies, he's like, I'll give it to you for 50% off. If you got it back to me within 40 minutes that you can't Irish and I'd have to like do these things dash across time and bring them back.

[00:12:00] [00:11:59] And I used to bring things like book, a mind to things back to like best buy and. Bed bath and beyond. And I'd like cry and say that it was my boyfriend, but then my boyfriend's broke up with me. Like, Oh, it flooded, I cry. And then I know the time in Ricky's, you know? Yes I do. I got a wig and I brought it up and the director said no that wig is not the wig I wanted.

[00:12:29] So I went straight back to Ricky. That was still closed. It was like five minutes after I bought it and they wouldn't bring it back. So first day crying in the shop was like, they're going to send me back to Ireland. I'm supporting the family. Like, I mean, they absolutely like, my bosses just love me for that. Cause I was just like, whatever I was paying up on the fact that a lot of people really believed that Ireland free or [word not clear]that I was genuinely there supporting. My family in case like,  

[00:13:00] I've been, my internship was free. I was working as a waitress and i used every night with my friends, I was sending nothing back home. If anything, they were supporting me when I text and be like, Oh mom, like tips for short this month. Could you help me? So I had a brilliant time. And even, I remember one time I was in Staples. And I walked out of staples with stuff in my hand, I just completely forgot. And then I came back like 10 minutes later and was like, Oh, I'm so sorry. I've just stolen. This. I didn't need to take it on your one was like, sorry. And I was like, I just walked out of the shelf, like forgot to pay for this. She goes, and nobody has ever brought something back.

[00:13:41] Nyra: [00:13:41] That's cute. 

[00:13:41] Fiona: [00:13:41] Right. You stole something, you go with it. She was like, you're way too. You're way too honest for your crime. Need to buck up. So it was amazing. There's no creativity. It was [00:14:00] like I had 34 students in class and twice a week for three. So there's three, make three core subjects. And they needed. Your marking basically was what you needed to do like a paragraph of what you've done? Well, your next steps in all of their books, in the three target areas twice a week, I actually be spending, I was writing you use full staff, full stops, really well, next time please use bigger finger spaces, things like this, .

[00:14:33] And then half the time I had seven and eight-year old’s halftime, the argument was they can't read what i am writing.

[00:14:43]Nyra: [00:14:43] They are seven right?

[00:14:44] Fiona: [00:14:44] Right feedback, time to sit and feedback to what I'd written. And I was like, I'm spending time now going around reading all of my writing to the thirsty for [word not clear] children. Like this is pointless. So I'm spending more time correcting and more time reading my corrections to them than teaching them. Right. So. It was a no for me. I was like, I am. And, and so my best friend was living in Dubai. So I was like to Dubai, I go, 

[00:15:15] Nyra: [00:15:15] he found a position and you went. 

[00:15:17] Fiona: [00:15:17] Yeah, just went. Yeah. The first school was British school. Yeah. And I taught in foundation stage. So they were like three and four years old.  they were so cute. I loved them. I couldn't even teach them. I love them. I just want it to be their mom. I was like, you just play. I don't care. Right? 

[00:15:40] Nyra: [00:15:40] They do play.

[00:15:46] Fiona: [00:15:46] No, they're fine. They're just so cute. 

[00:15:50] Nyra: [00:15:50] Oh my God. Yeah. So, so you came to Dubai with them. Well, first your best friends there. Yeah. If you came with a community that was [00:16:00] already established, I'm going to figuring your best friend had already a set of friends. So you just kind of fit right into that. 

[00:16:05] Fiona: [00:16:05] Well, no, because she, so my best, my best friend was already there. She was in Emirates, air hostess, but my other best friend came with the two of us moved at the same time. So we moved together and we didn't live together. And we both went to, went to separate school. She was in Sharjah and i live in Dubai. And soon after we moved her original best friend, she left in December.

[00:16:28] She, she quit Emirates. So we didn't actually get that much time with her and but we quickly established a crew through Anya school, my friends school They they'd be friends that I still have today. So she had a big group that all joined at the same time. Whereas the school I joined, a lot of people had already been there for a while there wasn't really that many new teachers that came together.

[00:16:51] So, yeah. So, so we did make a group there didn't have a strong base arriving. No. Okay. 

[00:16:59] Nyra: [00:16:59] Hmm. Well, you know, I think community is so challenging sometimes for a lot of people. Cause it's like, you know, I want to go, I'm going somewhere. Where, I don't know anybody, you know where am I supposed to stay? I mean, the logistics of where you're going to be working and where you're staying, that's all worked out.

[00:17:17] Right. But the community part or being connected into a tribe is really, you know, very important for, an expat you know, now you locked up cause you knew, kind of traveled with a friend. And you'll just establish a group pretty early on. Sometimes that happens. Hmm, really, you know, and usually when I first moved to Sharjah, I was working at a Sharjah school.

[00:17:42] So, and that was like one of the last people to get hired. And so when I arrived, you know the other Western, teachers were there three weeks prior, so they had time to kind of get to know each other and this, that, and the other. And then, you [00:18:00] know, I, I had, when I landed, I literally started the school next day.

[00:18:04] Now, I didn't know that I could, they would have given me a few days to adjust, just show up. So I was sleeping between classes. I was like, and they will come wake me up. Like, Oh my God did I. It was like, no, no, no, relax, relax. It's okay. It just wants to let you know that it’s, lunchtime. I was freaking out just wanting to, you know, get, just engage with people.

[00:18:31]What would you say is talk about like some of your, your biggest moments in Dubai, would you say you had like three years you were, they, were they a good time or, you know, what was the most, what did you find was the most challenging? 

[00:18:46] Fiona: [00:18:46] And the first year is definitely the most challenging, I would say towards the end of the first year I was looking up jobs, jobs at home. I was like, I'm sick of this. And it's because like, As you say, like when you first got there, I feel like you have, you feel like you have to say yes to every invitation. So this person asks me now, if I say no, they won't never asked me again. And then I'll never have a friend. So you ended up kind of going out for dinner or doing all these things that you don't really want to do.

[00:19:11] And with loads [word not clear], and then sometimes you find yourself sitting in a conversation you're like, Oh my God, maybe this is ridiculous, but you're kind of too afraid to say something. Yes. In case you went with not having any friends, it was nearly like joining high school again, like it's like starting clean.

[00:19:28] What group do I want to be in? Walk ruthless hate me kind of thing. And I didn't enjoy that. So I wasn't very, like if I didn't have my friend Anya who came at the same time, I definitely would have gone home. So the fact that she had a nice group of friends, I kind of slotted in with her, but my own school that I went to didn't have any group that I could have slotted in. So if I had come by myself, it would been way harder. Again, 

[00:19:54] Nyra: [00:19:54] you think you wouldn't have found somebody that you would have dealt with because here's one of the things that I realized that [00:20:00] at first it will seem like I have to be friends with somebody at the place that I work at. Right. Because that's your first contact with anybody who's understanding you're the newness of it all right. And I realize that may be if I had hung in there and say, you know, the first person was not the person I was supposed to date. Cause I met somebody a month later, you know, like not him

[00:20:28] not hanging out with her, you know? Figure out who you want, you know, just be okay. Cause there's a lot of people, you can have a lot of acquaintances, but be mindful of who you want to connect with. And that there are lots of opportunities and it may not look like, you know I found probably my most endearing friends were from the Gulf region.

[00:20:52] Yeah. You know, they were not really from. America really, you know, like we can have a related conversation and experience possibly, but it was, I had like some, I had really like some of my best relationships, like, you know, we had some commonality and we had like some really in depth discussions, you know, they weren't surface-y and stuff were really from people who were from the Gulf area or from someplace that wasn't.

[00:21:20] You know and I'm really appreciative of that because I don't know if I would've had an opportunity to meet someone like them in America, because you, you get, it's almost like you don't even know sometimes that you just get shifted to a certain tribe in a certain area. You know what I'm saying? And you don't, you, you're not allowing yourself to be open to a whole new brand of newness that still be here. So I think one of the things I've taken away since coming back is I get to, I'm open to that. Now 

[00:21:53] Fiona: [00:21:53] we're open to people. Yeah. Completely, completely agree with that. I think that the [00:22:00] greatest thing in terms of like, things I've taken away from Dubai is the diversity of people. And like, doesn't matter where someone's from. You can have commonality with them. In anything like one of my closest friends and her school, like once he thought I got on the best with was the Arabic teacher. She very little English and I had very little Arabic. He used to always say, if you want it to speak to me with her eyes and we would know you as like, fuck, if you mess up in a beer and I'd be like a beer and she'd be like, I know, and she's like nothing, nothing.

[00:22:39] And he would I would be sitting in the staff. I mean, she probed, and she'd give me a cup of tea, just knew and I needed a cup of tea too. We'd be like, Oh, Like I know. And it was just, she was just such an amazing woman. I wish she was there in this conversation. I used to make Basel [word not clear] translate for his loads and like, she was just amazing.

[00:23:01] And Like she's from Syria. I'd never met someone from Syria before, you know, and even Basel [word not clear], like I learned so much from talking to these amazing people and even you talk my passports earlier, like, I didn't realize how important our passports were there. I was like, what? Like, it didn't even clock with me how ignorant I was being.

[00:23:21] I think we was like getting ready for one of the breaks. Like even, maybe just a weekend break or something. And we were going to Egypt or Jordan or something, and they asked for, you know, how'd you get to visa or what did you do for visa? And I was like, visa, I think what, I didn't get a visa. I didn't think of the visa.

[00:23:39] And I was just like, where do you buy it? And then they just Googled it for me. And they're like, Oh no, you can just turn up. I'm just like, Oh, I always just turn over. I never think of visas. Like it would never cross my mind. Yeah. Two or three months before a holiday. Let's say. Like I barely remember to do my, aster forum when I'm going to [00:24:00] America. Like, I'm just like, Ugh. So it was that I was like, Oh my God, how ignorant? I didn't feel like I just felt ignorant that I was like, what do you mean visa? And then to find it, like, I remember Basel coming into this staff room one day and was like Fiona we are number two in the best passports in the world's list. I was like, Serious? yeah, if you read it the Arabic way, I felt it was so funny.

[00:24:28] Like we were all in the Arabic way. You're winning. He was like, he sat down beside me and he's like, let's look, he was just so pretty. It's like, let's look up where I can go on my holidays. I think it was Libya and Libya and Sudan, maybe like, Ooh, let's look at the results. It was so funny, I was like, Oh my God. And I was literally in the process of looking for something in Bali. I think today it's like, Oh my God, And it's like, God amazing relationships to have that you would never have, particularly in the Western countries when we were there, it was nearly, it was like the height of Islamophobia at the time.

[00:25:16] And still is like what? It was really, really bad at that moment. It's like, I remember one of my students in our college asking me, or why just Trump hate us. And I was like, how would you tell a 10-year-old that jumped his nose, ours from his elbow. But like, I just remembered that hit me really hard. I was like, oh my God, like this, isn't just random media saying stuff. This is sinking into a ten-year-old who thinks millions of people hate him and they've never met it. Right. And so, to be the, the height, I think some of my family have learned so much about it. For me, I went to like going home and, on my breaks, and telling them all the beautiful stories about, [00:26:00] and all the people and hygienists [word not clear] there.

[00:26:02] And I'd still have an Avaya in my closet that I said to one of my parents once, oh my God, your Abaya is beautiful. And the next day she came in and measured me and got one costume made for me. 

[00:26:13] Nyra: [00:26:13] I know, I know, I bet gold. I remember that time I had that big box and I thought it was dessert in your, something like that. I said, Oh no, not another dessert. Cause I was trying to stop the kids eat so much sugar. And then I said, well, then we'll see what kind of dessert. And it was like this big bag in here. I was like, Oh my God. It was like, Oh my goodness. Like, you know, the, the generosity, like the. I think the idea of that, how they view teachers, particularly female teachers, you know, when you have been told we are the second mothers, you know, and you know, that our position is very much a powerful position and, and a respected position.

[00:26:59]And they, you, and if you show up for their child, you know, in any meaningful way, They let you know, out the outpour, the gratitude to you, you know, in the, in the, in the form of things, because that's just the way they do things, you know? I mean, they say, thank you, but they say thank you with things. And I have felt very appreciated. Cause you don't get that. You don't get that in your home country. You may get a day and say, Oh, teacher's day. Here is your card.

[00:27:30] Fiona: [00:27:30] Even in non-materialistically, like I know a lot of people would think, Oh, they throw money at the problem and stuff. But do you remember the first, it was the first month that we were in athlete. My auntie, my aunt died, and I had to go back to, so I remember I was standing in my classroom and it was, you know, Later.

[00:27:48] It was midnight at home in Ireland. And we had just started school and I got a text to say that had happened and I, we don't even in the school in a month. And obviously I just started crying. Actually, the kids were being dropped off to school. The [00:28:00] parents were there. My parents who barely knew me all just dropped everything and were like, what's happening?

[00:28:07] What can we do? How do we fix it? And I told them, they were like, that's fine. And they told, I remember they turned to their children. They, and I do nothing today. Just do whatever Ms. Fiona says does if it's like, they just, whatever, Fiona says you just do . And then I went home for a week. And when I came back, The outpouring of love. Like I got cards, they were all saying that they'd been praying for me all week. And I said, loads of the Islamic teachers who I've never even met because I was in the secondary school building that year, the secondary school Islam teachers all came down to tell me that they had been praying for me they were so happy to see me and they have been thinking about my family.

[00:28:39] And I was like, I don't even know these people. It was just gorgeous. It was really like brand new place. It was, it was comforting to walk back into that. So it's not just people often think when they think people from the Gulf, they think, Oh, they're really materialistic and they spend their money frivolously and there's just bling bling bling.

[00:29:00] But actually there's a lot of heart behind the bling. It might, there might be a lot of bling, but there's a lot of heart. 

[00:29:07] Nyra: [00:29:07] There's a lot of people just don't know that there's so many ways to live and there's so many ways you can live comfortably. You know it was nice, even though we work those long hours in UAE, it was nice that I could afford, you know, somebody to clean the house. You know what I'm saying? And certain things were just inexpensive. You didn't have to try to keep up with the said Joneses, you know, or, you know, you can, you can, you can save your money. And you can live and still have a great time. 

[00:29:40] Fiona: [00:29:40] It gives a great base as well. Like I only did three years, but I, my, my main aim was to travel, and I got to go to, I think, 15 different countries while I was in Dubai. And there's not a hope in hell. I could've done that while teaching in Ireland. Yeah. Now, maybe I came back, and I was able to pay for college. [00:30:00] Like I've gone back to D psychology. That's I have to pay, you know, pay for that each year on I'm able to do that because I have the foundation of why builds up into my, behind me.

[00:30:09] And that was within only three years. So even as you say, you want to go, if you, when people ask me, would you recommend it? I'm like what? It depends on what you want. If you want to go and save for house, go. Don't go traveling. Don't go to every brunch that you're offered. Go watch Netflix save for your house, right. You're going to go, and travel go because it's brilliant face for so many countries. So, read like religious. Yeah. I'm like, I'll say like brilliant. 

[00:30:39] Nyra: [00:30:39] Great. Exactly. Would you, would you go back abroad? 

[00:30:42] Fiona: [00:30:42] Oh yeah. Yeah. When I came back and I bought, I got a car loan. To make me stay in the country. It was like, I was like, I need to settle a little bit, even just for two years, just see what it looks like, because I've never really lived in Ireland as an adult with a job. So I wanted to like but I needed, I genuinely needed like. I was already before I even got home from New Zealand, I was looking up jobs in Aruba like  I mean, it's a, it's an American curriculum area. It's a Dutch colony, I think. And English is one of its first language just, I was like, this is amazing.

[00:31:25] That's English first language, American curriculum, which I have experience in, I definitely go into Aruba, but then I was like, no, I need to like solidify myself for a little bit, but I'd still 100% go to Aruba. I came up like, hello, and live on the Island. I know how amazing without being so chill shit.

[00:31:47] Nyra: [00:31:47] Very chilled. So what did you, where did you stay, like we're 

[00:31:51] Fiona: [00:31:51] I stay in Woodside. Queens in Queens. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:31:55] Nyra: [00:31:55] You have to tell the story. [00:32:00] Tell the story 

[00:32:01] Fiona: [00:32:01] of me picking up my social security number. That was so funny. So take you on my social security number. Anyone who lives in Queens is Irish in Jamaica.

[00:32:14] So I got the train. I teach Jamaica. I was being all alike. My sister is like, are you going to be okay? I was like, yeah, I'm in your, my range pension [word not clear] in the city. So went on, figured the trains, and landed in Jamaica. I was the only white person like this, like, so pale like shining beacon, walking through the street.

[00:32:38] And I went into the social security office on, queue. And the next minute he's like, yo, yo. And I was like, she goes Yo milk bottle. You're next? And I was like,

[00:32:51] I know looking around, she goes, yeah, you Milky, nobody else. white upon here.

[00:32:58] I went up and I was just. Shaking head to toe. And then, then I came out of the like, got it all done and came out. And I just remember thinking like, oh my God, I need to get back on this road. And then it was afterwards, I looked it up and I was like, I was like Jamaica, Queens. Like I hadn't looked it up for that. And I was like, Oh, we're 67, got stuck seven times. Maybe I should have brought somebody with me.

[00:33:28] But it's like, that's not even theirs. Did I never say anybody at the time I got stranded in Compton bus station? No in Compton LA, no, it was way like I was up in Santa Barbara for the summer and I was supposed to get the train, the bus back. I'd been touring right in Los Angeles the day, miss the bus, it was now 9:00 PM.

[00:33:49] And I said, excuse me man. Like, when's the next bus to Santa Barbara? And he goes, Oh darling, that's not till 6:00 AM. And he goes. Hm. Do you need, do you [00:34:00] smoke as like, no, he's like, you're hungry and i said i am good. Cause you're going to be raped and robbed tonight. Yes. Again, I was only 20. I was like, Oh my God. So I sat down and this gorgeous Southern woman sat beside me. Oh my gosh. She was just like this old granny, like, and she was really scary slash she's like, Oh, miss marbles, like real. We sat

[00:34:28] beside each other. And then this man came and said like the security man is so lovely. He was like, don't worry. I'll keep circling, I will keep circling. He kept circling. He even like, from across the hall, he would be like Irish. You okay. I was like, yeah. I am good and this man came and sat beside myself and this lovely lady and he kept chatting to us and kept chatting to us. And then. He's like, I'm going to just, he's like, I'm just going to run toilet. I'll be right back. And we'll be like grand [word not clear]. And he went to because I think he's homeless. I was like, Oh no, he's definitely homeless. Honestly, if you were to see that, like, it just tells you, like, don't judge a book by its cover.

[00:35:06] If you were to drive often, you'd be like, Oh my God. So scary. He sat with myself and the lady all night through our buses and wages off. Like he was. Save your life. It's such a gentleman and such a sweetheart. That was another complete, unbelievable experience, but like again, diversify, like, you know, someone.

[00:35:29] I got stranded in Compton and sat beside a homeless man all night and had been told I was going to be raped and robbed. And that was the byline of the story. You'd be like, oh shit, this is going to be a badass.

[00:35:46] Nyra: [00:35:46] I'm going to be talking about the one you were in queen standing on the corner. And it was just. Person on the phone. 

[00:35:56] Fiona: [00:35:56] You screaming? [00:36:00] Yeah, she started hollering at me because my bag scraped her leg and I was like, I am so sorry hold up, hold up my neck [word not clear]. And then yeah, you just got me worried about this. Like I'm so sorry. She's like it's okay.  She's a nice white girl. Oh my God

[00:36:26] the queen shopping mall. Yes. Yes. In a forest Hills. Isn't it? 

[00:36:32] Nyra: [00:36:32] Well, there's a lot of them, but there's definitely wanted for ourselves.