Fragment #45 - Kyna

Today, I have an appointement with one of the French teachers of the Alliance Française of Glasgow. I feel quite excited because I haven't spoken French in a long time and I'm not sure I can't follow a whole conversation. We meet up at the bar Brel in Ashton Lane.
As I sit down, I realise I haven't set a foot here since that day Steve came to live with me. Memories... I choose a table next to the bar, and order a pineapple juice. No need to get drunk when doing an interview.
A couple of minutes later, a young woman, about thirty years old, enter the bar. She looks around and I wave at her. She sits down with a smile.
"Hi!"
"Hi I'm Charlie Collomb."
"Yes, the journalist from Glasgow News."
I smile back at her. She is really pretty, red-haired, with green eyes, very "Scottish-looking". Or maybe Irish. I'm not sure. Her skin is quite pale, almost white.
"I'm Kyna O'Sullivan. Did you order anything yet?"
"Yes, but tell me what do you want, it's my round."
"Oh, thanks, I'll have a ... a tomatoe juice, please, then."
I wave at the waiter, and give him the order of Kyna.
"So, what do you want me to talk about?"
"Well, about anything, really. Excuse me for asking, but where do you come from?"
She laughs.
"My parents are Irish but I was born, and raised ..."
"Do you mind if I record our conversation?"
"Not at all. As I said, I'm Irish through my parents but I was born and I've lived almost all my life in France, in Brittany."
"So, why coming to Scotland? Why not going back to Ireland?"
"I thought I should go and see something else, first. I'll go back eventually, everything is calling me back home."
"What brought you to Glasgow in particuliar?"
"Well, first of all, I didn't want to go to England, which I already knew from school trips and to which I felt no special connection. I decided then to come to Scotland. The choice of Glasgow came naturally, after looking for some informations on the Internet and in books."
"What kind of informations were you looking for?"
"The cost of living, the events, the student life... Everything really. Edimburgh really attracted me as well, but I thought it would be harder to find a job there."
"And here, in Glasgow, you found a job as a French teacher in the Alliance Française?"
"Yes, it was luck really. I had a little job as a waitress in a coffee shop and I usd to come now and then to the Alliance, to borrow some books and some dvds from the library. I became quite friends with the librarian, an extremely nice woman, and when one of the teachers left, she told me about it and I went for it."
"So, what would you say your nationality is, and what is your native tongue?"
She thinks for a while.
"I'm not sure actually. For the administration, I'm French, with a French passport, but I'm also Irish, because my parents are Irish citizens. I think, for me, I'm just European. And, concerning my native tongue, I would say Irish, because that's what we used to speak at home, even in Brittany."
"You mean, Irish English, or actual Gaelic?"
"I mean Irish Gaelic, yes. But again I've been speaking French since I was a child, so, it's a bit complicated..."
She laughs and me with her.
"I bet!"
I just realised with those few questions, that there were actually other people who had a weird childhood... I think that's when I started really enjoy the chat, and I didn't even pay any more attention to the time.

When, at about five o'clock, she says she have to go, I'm the first surprised about the time. We promise to keep in touch, and both go home.
When Steve comes back from work, I'm working on the computer, doing my best to actually give the truest account of that meeting. I'm listening to the Dubliners, something like a tribute to this weird Irish young lady that made such an impression on me.