Farewell to Dublin

I just landed in Denver about 8 hours ago. I am back in the states! The only problem is that it is 2am in Denver as I sit in my living room surrounded by boxes and suitcases and type this message. It’s 9am in Dublin, so my body thinks that it is day time. It will take a bit of re-adjustment.

My last week in Dublin was crazy. The bible study girls gave me a wonderful send off dinner on Monday. I am so thankful for the incredible friends I met in Dublin. I am planning to visit one of girls when she and her kids are home in Florida for Christmas.

The girls that I worked with gave me a beautiful Ireland picture book. They said they want me to look at it and miss Ireland and come back. I’m not so sure about the coming back to live, but I definitely wouldn’t rule out coming back to visit! J

Packing up and moving out of my apartment took a lot of logistical planning. In the end it went pretty smoothly, but it’s never easy or fun to pack up and move! I ended up shipping 5 Fedex boxes and they were all in Denver when I arrived. Now I just have to figure out where to find room for all the stuff in my house.

I want to thank all of you for reading my Ireland blog and I hope that you have enjoyed joining
me on this journey. It was an incredible opportunity to live in another country and travel. I thoroughly enjoyed my time, and I think that living in a different country and experiencing different people and cultures has influenced my world view.

Tara

Germany & Austria

I just returned from a wonderful trip to Berlin, Germany and Vienna, Austria. Before I start writing I have to warn you that my spelling may not be accurate..the German words have way more letters than I am used to and also dots and such above letters that I can’t do on my US computer.

I met my parents in Berlin and traveled with them for a week. Berlin is a fascinating city and the wall that came down in my lifetime. It has so many museums that they call it “museum island”. We went to sites that my parents remember seeing on tv including Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg gate, we saw the Jewish memorial and new Jewish museum as well as the Pergamon museum, Egyptian museum and the Gemaldegalerie art museum and walked the Unter den Linden. The Kaiser Wilhelm church was left in ruins and a modern memorial was built around the ruins that are still standing. It is a visual reminder of the bombs that devastated so much of the city. We also visited Reichstag and toured the new glass dome on the top. One evening we listed to the Berlin symphony orchestra. We also enjoyed wonderful food including a Prussian soup with beets. It sounded weird, but it was actually very good. And we made a last minute stop at the KaDeWe – a famous shopping mall. It is the largest shopping mall on the European continent. My dad gave my Mom and I 20 min. to wander around..it was not enough time to do any serious damage J

We flew from Berlin to Vienna mid week and our time in Vienna was a mix of sightseeing and time with relatives. Josef and Sisi Herfert warmly welcomed us into their home and served my Dad a wonderful Austrian cake for his birthday! The cake is called and here is the description from Wikipedia..it was incredible!

“ The cake consists of two layers of dense, not overly sweet chocolate cake (traditionally a sponge cake) with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle and dark chocolate icing with shreds of chocolate on the top and sides. It is traditionally served with whipped cream without any sugar in it, as most Viennese consider the Sachertorte too "dry" to be eaten on its own. “

I’m not the genealogy buff that my dad is, but here is the family connection as I understand it… Josef’s Grandfather and my Dad’s Great-Grandfather were brothers. My Dad’s great-greatfather immigrated to America and all of his siblings remained in Austria and many of their descendents are there today. Josef and Sisi took us sightseeing around Vienna to many churches and also the Hoffburg treasury which was incredible. My parents and I took the train out to Schonbrunn, which was the summer home of the Hapsburg family and is similar in grandeur to Versailles. We also took a tour of the Vienna opera house and listened to the Vienna Imperial Orchestra.

I only have 5 day s left in Dublin, so I am working on packing and cleaning my apartment and I will return to Colorado on Nov. 16. I can’t wait to see everyone at home!

Black Tie

Last week I received an email from the managing director of the Ireland office inviting me to a Black Tie Charity Ball sponsored by the Irish Canadian Business Association. My first reaction was OH NO I have nothing in Ireland to wear to something like that!!! I sat in my desk chair at work and realized the event was only 10 days away and one weekend is NOT enough time for me to find something suitable to wear and even if I did find something, it would be so ridiculously expensive. So, I called my mom in a panic and she went to my house gathered a dress, shoes, a handbag and a wrap and shipped it all to Ireland. Mom you are amazing!

The event was last night and it was fun! My company sponsored a table and some of us on assignment were invited...everyone else on assignment is from Canada, so they were pretty excited to hear the Canadian Ambassador speak. It is one of those nights that makes you feel like a little kid playing dress up. Apparently a tux in Ireland does not include the different versions like the vest. They consider that just a suit, so all the guys were in black tuxes with bow ties. There were beautiful ball gowns and of course the simple black dress. It was a night of wonderful food and they raised money for Crohn's disease research.

I head back to the states soon, so I need to start packing and preparing. I am flying to Germany to meet my parents tomorrow and spend the week traveling with them in Germany, Austria and Slovakia. Then one more week of work and I head home. I am getting excited to see family and friends and just to be in my own house and bed and to drive a car!!

Hill of Tara

I visited my hill yesterday! I went exploring with two people from work. Fred is from our Canada office and was in town for 2 days in the Dublin office doing some classes for the local employees. He rented a car for the 3 day weekend and invited Trish and I along. We started with tours of Knowth and Newgrange which are ancient burial sites about an hours drive North of Dublin. Here is an excerpt from a website about the sites I saw...

"The Megalithic Passage Tombs of Newgrange, Knowth, Dowth, Fourknocks, Loughcrew and Tara are located in the present day County of Meath on the east coast of Ireland. The Boyne Valley Mounds at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth were built around 3200BC making them older than Stonehenge in England and the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Built by Neolithic farming communities about 5000 years ago, the passage tombs have clear astronomical alignments such as the Winter Solstice Sunrise at Newgrange and the Equinox Sunrise at Loughcrew. "

Then we will to Hill of Tara and I took quite a few pictures :) We also did some exploring of Trim Castle and other castle and church ruins. It was a great day trip and concluded with dinner in a wonderful Italian bistro in Sandymount (just south of where I live).

Tomorrow is the Dublin Marathon and bank holiday. As far as I know, there is no significance of why we have the day off. However, the trains are completely shut down where I live this weekend due to a stadium renovations about a mile south. So, I am on foot anywhere I go! Lauren and Jon, my American friends in Dublin, are running the marathon tomorrow. I am planning to cheer them on! GO LAUREN & JON!!

Galway & Aran Islands

I went away for the weekend all by myself. I have never traveled on personal time alone and it was actually good. I met lots of interesting people that probably never would have talked to me if I was traveling with someone. I took the train from Dublin to Galway on Saturday morning, arrived in Galway located my hotel and toured Galway on foot. It is a really charming town. I don't know if I would call it a city, but it does have great shopping! It has a pedestrian only street with restaurants, pubs, clothing and jewelry stores and of course the cheesy tourist shops. Now that tourist season is over (I think it officially ends in late September), the stores had some sales. I enjoyed the shops and then found a quaint little restaurant for dinner. I was the first person in the restaurant and about 20 min. later an American couple from Texas came in. The man was joking with the waiter, and I could tell they were American, so I asked where they were from and the three of us ended up talking all the way through dinner and then going to a local pub. The pub had the most fantastic music I had heard in Ireland. There were 8 musicians and the place was packed!

On Sunday, I took the bus and the ferry to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands, off the western side of Ireland. The American couple from the night before were on the ferry too. Our ferry ride was quite rocky and we had a bit of excitement when a coast guard helicopter landed on the back of our boat. We later found out it was just a drill, but they attached a basket to the helicopter before it took off. I spent the day touring with a group of 8 and we hiked up to Dun Aengus in the pouring rain! The island of Inishmore is actually the largest of the Aran Islands and it is only 9 miles by 2 miles. The islands are very desolate! I think one day on Inishmore was enough for me! On Monday, I walked around Galway and caught a train back to Dublin. All in all it was a great trip!

Yesterday was Oct.16 and I fly home on Nov. 16. Only one month left! I have come down with a cold and I am missing Panera soup, medicine that I know what it is and my comfy bed! I went to the pharmacy yesterday and I asked what you take for a cold and they recommended lemsips, strepsips and Day nurse...I didn't have any idea what they were! I'll be home soon!

Starbucks & Howth

About a week ago on my walk to work after I got off the train, I looked up and was surprised to see that Starbucks was moving into a newly renovated old building in Blackrock, Ireland. I was excited for them to open so I could get a latte! I told the girls at work and was actually a bit surprised by their reaction. One of the Irish girls thinks that American companies are trying to take over the world, such as McDonalds and Starbucks. She was upset that it was opening and hoped that the Irish coffee shop, Insomnia, which is on the same street about a block away, would not lose business. I had no idea that Starbucks could be so controversial.

I went with a friend from work yesterday on the cliff walk in Howth. It is absolutely beautiful and has amazing views of the Irish sea and the rock formations on Howth peninsula. We hiked for several hours and then had very upscale fish and chips in a restaurant at the end of the Pier. I am recovering today from all of that hiking..I have some sore muscles! I am realising that my time is quickly coming to an end in Ireland, so I am trying to see a couple more things before I leave. I'm planning to head to Galway next weekend which is on the western side of the Ireland.

Quiet Weekend - 8 weeks til return date

It's Sunday evening and I have had a blissfully quiet weekend. I read, slept, ate, and just bummed around. After nearly 6 weeks of company, I needed some R&R. I loved having everyone here, but I was worn out! It feels like fall here (well actually winter the other day), so I'm going to make a pot of chili.

Now it is back to work to try and get lots done before I head back to the states in 8 weeks. See ya all soon!

Return Date, Visitors & Misc.

I have officially set my return date. I will fly back to Denver in mid-November, celebrate Thanksgiving with my family and return to work in the Denver office on November 26. I will be home to celebrate the Christmas season with family and friends!

I have a very full apartment right now! My cousin, Cherie and her friend (Susannah) and Susannah's sister (Corie) are all staying with me. The beds are full and someone will have to sleep on my very modern no-fluff sofa tonight. We just returned from church and some sightseeing in Dublin. We had a picnic on the steps of the church in Trinity college and tried to get some shelter from the rain. They have 3 more nights in Dublin before they head to Paris for a few days.

In other news, it appears that my apartment complex is very popular for other people on assignment with my company. There is one guy who is in the building next door and we can wave to each other from our balconies. (Kinda like the building on Friends). Well, a new Canadian guy come to Dublin a couple weeks ago and he moved into my building yesterday. Not just my building, but MY FLOOR! For someone who usually keeps work and personal life a bit more separated, it is weird! Cherie, Susannah and I were leaving for some touring yesterday and we ran into Jeff with all of his boxes moving in to the building. I guess I'll have to think twice before I run to the grocery store in my sweats for coffee! :)

Also, I forgot to mention in my last blog about my manual driving skills. So, as many of you know, I have not learned to drive a manual and over 90% of the cars in Ireland are manual. It is very difficult and much more expensive to rent an automatic car. So, when Bill was here, he drove. One evening in Edinburgh, Scotland we found a great parking lot and he let me drive. I have to say that just a couple weeks before I had done the same thing with my dad and managed to move the car about 5 feet as I jerked it 5 times and killed it each time. So, when I was driving the second time I was sceptical that I would even get the car to move, but I am happy to report that I drove it in figure 8's in a parking lot and didn't kill it once. I still haven't gotten out of first gear, but it was a vast improvement. At the rate I'm going, I may be able to drive a manual car around my 80th birthday! Maybe I'll have a late life crisis and get a sports car for 80....hmmm. Hopefully that brings a smile to anyone reading this!

Bill's Visit

Bill just left for the airport a couple hours ago and I'm washing the sheets and getting ready for my next round of visitors who arrive in 4 days. Bill and I had a wonderful time traveling in Ireland and Scotland. We visited some of the Dublin landmarks - Dublin Castle, Christ Church, Grafton Street and Temple Bar before leaving town. We rented a car and headed to the south of Ireland. We made lots of wrong turns getting to Powerscourt Gardens (in the Wicklow Mountains about 1/2 an hour south of Dublin), but we saw the most incredible scenery and Bill loved driving the manual car fast on the narrow winding roads. We stayed in Waterford and Lismore, and saw the Waterford Crystal factory, Lismore Castle and Cahir Castle. We also just meandered around some of the small towns in the Ireland countryside (Passage East and Dungarvan). We had a slow pace and just enjoyed our time. We happened across an arcade and played air hockey and later that night our B&B had a pool table. I'm sad to say that Bill won both. Seeing as my pool skills are severely lacking, I need to brush up on my air hockey skills!

I managed to work a little bit in the middle of the week while Bill was exploring Ireland and then we flew to Edinburgh, Scotland for a few days. We were not planning to rent a car, but after our earlier driving experiences, Bill decided to rent a car so that we could get to St. Andrews famous golf course. I did some exploring in Edinburgh and walked the royal mile our first night and then the spent most of next day at St. Andrews. I have to admit I don't fully comprehend the significance of St. Andrews to the game of golf, but Bill explained that it is the home of golf where it has been played forever. We looked at the prices to play the Old Course and found out that you have to apply over a year in advance in writing to apply for a tee time, which may not even be granted. Once you do get a tee time, the cost for 18 holes is about $275. I'd rather go shopping than play golf anyday :)

We also saw the Britannia Royal Yacht, which was the British Royal Family Yacht until it was decommissioned in 1997. Prince Charles and Princess Diana also honeymooned on the Britannia Royal Yacht. It is now docked a couple miles from Edinburgh city centre. Our last stop was the Edinburgh Castle which includes the stone of scone and the crown jewels. Jewels are always nice to look at, but the ones in London are much more impressive. Then we headed back to Dublin. Now its time to prepare for my cousin and two friends who are arriving on Thursday. I also need to spend some time focusing on work!

Parents Visit

My parents just spent 9 days travelling in Ireland. It was wonderful to have them here and also to join them on some of their adventures. They did some sightseeing in Dublin as well as Belfast in Northern Ireland while I was working. Then I took a few days off and went with them on a road trip around Southern and Western Ireland. My dad very accurately called it a blitz tour of Ireland. They saw as much of Ireland as possible in their limited time. They were able to visit my church in Dublin, see the Book of Kells, Grafton Street, Dublin Castle and Christ Church as well as my office and ride the train South to Dun Laoghaire and North to Howth.


I had a couple of surprises planned for my mom to celebrate her birthday, which was the middle of their time here. I had a few of my friends over for an appetizer party and had a birthday cake already baked and put candles on it and we sang. My mom was out on the deck and she came into the apartment singing happy birthday thinking that it was one of the friends birthdays. She was certainly surprised. As a birthday present, I got seats to Riverdance. It is incredible how fast their feet move. We sat right up front and got into the energy of the performance!

On our road trip allowed us time to see some of the Irish countryside and also some of the sites along the way. We went to several castles, Ashford castle, Ross Castle, and Kilkenny castle. I have to tell you that I can’t remember all the centuries and historical info, but Ashford castle is now a very fancy hotel. Ross Castle is very old and is a historic sight and Kilkenny castle has been refurbished to where it would have been in the Victorian Period. One of my favourite parts of our trip was a day touring around the Dingle Peninsula. It is the most western part of Ireland and it is very picturesque. It could explain why I took over 400 pictures while my parents were here!


We also made stops at the Cliffs of Moher, Muckross House, Charles Fort, Rock of Cashel, and Glendalough. My father was quite frightened to take my Mom and I to the Waterford crystal factory. We made it out of there with 1 crystal piece each and we didn’t completely break the bank. ☺ Our last stop was Powerscourt Gardens just south of Dublin. I had never seen flowers and gardens like these. My mom compared the gardens to Versailles in France. The gardens were not as large, but every bit as beautiful and amazing. I took over 140 pictures of just flowers. You have to love the digital camera!

It was an amazing blessing to spend time with my parents and to travel with them. They completely wore me out! They departed at 3:30am yesterday and they are now safely home in Colorado. I have only 4 nights to get ready for my next visitor. Bill arrives on Saturday and we also have a full travel schedule. Now I need to get the sheets and towels all washed and ready!

Upcoming Dublin Visitors

I am very excited for my visitors to start arriving! My parents will be here on Saturday...only 4 days away. My apartment is scrubbed, I have bought extra groceries and I have packed a suitcase for them to take home. Now I'm just waiting til they get here. We will be spending a few days in Dublin along with taking a road trip around SouthWest and Southern Ireland. I just found out that we will be in Tralee during a festival time. There is a pagent called the Rose of Tralee early in the week and then a festival.

Only 5 days after my parents leave, my next visitor arrives. Bill is coming from Dallas, TX and we will spend some time in Ireland, visit Waterford and a few towns in the South of Ireland and then fly over to Edinburgh, Scotland for a couple days. I am hoping to see the castle of Edinburgh...I have heard that it is amazing!

Then 4 days after Bill leaves, my cousin Cheri and her friend arrive. They have not ironed out their travel plans yet, but the are flying into Dublin and out of Paris.

I know that I probably won't have much time to Blog in the upcoming weeks, so I wanted to let you know what I am up to. I'll be busy just washing the sheets and towels around here! :)

I also formally extended my time in Ireland for 1 month. I am scheduled to go back to the states on November 16. My office in Ireland has requested a longer extension, and I am going to wait and see how it goes. Regardless, I am planning to go back to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

I have also put together pictures from when Ami visited. Send me an email if you are interested in the link to the slideshow. Just to warn you it is 100 pictures, but you can scroll thru them fast.

SiSi's and Marks & Spencers

I went to lunch with a girl that I work with at this tiny little Italian place in the town where we work called SiSi's. When I say tiny, it is tiny for even Ireland. it has 4 tables and maybe 10 chairs. I ordered the lasagna and it was excellent. I only ate about half of it and was full. I was really wishing that I had a refrigerator back at the office so that I could take it and enjoy the rest for dinner. Not sure if I wrote this before, but there is no refrigerator and no microwaves in the office. NONE! It sure makes taking your lunch challenging. The girl that I was eating with jokingly said that I could ask the restaurant if they would keep it for me until after work. Even though I knew she was joking, I decided to ask. Crazy enough they said sure. I don't think I have ever asked a restaurant to hang onto my leftovers and refrigerate them for me! :) I picked it on my way to the train after work and happily enjoyed the rest of my lasagna later.

Marks & Spencers is a UK based company that has stores in Ireland that sell high end foods. Similar in produce and meat quality to Whole Foods. M&S specializes in prepared but uncooked food. For example, they have this wonderful chicken breast with wild mushroom sauce that comes in a little tin container and you just place it in the oven. It sounds like microwave meals, but they aren't frozen, they only last a few days and actually taste good. So, I went in there yesterday only to discover the shelves were nearly empty. I had been in a different M&S on Monday and it was nearly cleaned out too. I thought it was just because it was a holiday weekend and nearly everyone was off work Sat-Mon. I got back to the office and asked a bit and found out that Ireland has severely restricted food imports from the UK due to the recent confirmed cases of mad cow in England. I have not encountered a nearly empty grocery store before. They have about 3 sections of shelves about 6 feet wide and 6 feet high that are normally filled with all of the breads, croissants and pastries. Just to put something on the shelf, they have filled all 3 sections with hardened meringue cups. I think anything that they had in storage they are putting on the shelves just to not have a completely empty store. It was very odd. I know that there are recalls of certain food from time to time in the US, but they have never impacted my ability to buy a variety of grocery items from produce to meat to baked goods. I went in search of yogurt and strawberries and whole wheat bread. I walked out with empty hands...very strange.

Fire Alarm

About 6 pm the most horrendous sounding fire alarm started going off in my apartment. It was so loud that I could barely stand it...I wanted to sit on the floor and put my hands over my ears like small kids do when they hear a loud noise. So, in my sweats, I grabbed a jacket and my handbag and turned off the stove where I was cooking dinner and went down the stairs. An hour later the alarm was still going off and there had been no fire department and no management personnel. One of the girls that I was talking with mentioned going to the pub and so 4 of us went to the pub around the corner for drinks. An Irish girl, a Canadian girl, an Irish guy and me. None of us knew each other before tonight. It was a blast! We talked about Dublin life, places that I have to see in Ireland, jobs, European travel, etc. It was one of those rare occasions where you have your evening planned out and it goes completely different than expected and yet it was so much fun. Now I actually know a few of the people in my building.

Ranier Cherries & Other Updates

3 ½ months

I was wondering around the grocery store trying to decide what to have for lunch when I came across Ranier Cherries and they made my day! My mom introduced me to them at home and they have a specific season when they are available in the states as they come from Ranier, Washington so, I never expected to see them here. And on top of that I could barely contain my excitement when they were ½ off!!!! So I got my cherries and a salad and was smiling all through lunch :)

In other updates, our bible study group has grown to 3. Sherri is the President of the American Womens Club in Dublin and she joined us last week. Her husband is with KPMG and they are here on an extended assignment. When I met her and said I was from Denver we realized that we lived less than 10 min away from each other in the states. Crazy!

I have a 3 day weekend coming up because there is an Irish bank holiday on Monday August 6. I worked the last bank holiday, but this time I found out that the train system would be completely shut down between me and the office due to some major construction, so I can’t even get to the office. I guess I’ll just have to take the day off.

It’s the calm before my waves of visitors. My parents are coming and then a friend from Texas and then my cousin from Omaha and a friend. I just glanced at a calendar and realized that for 6 weekends in a row I will have guests. WHOA! That’s a lot of activity for my fairly quiet Dublin social life.

There are also 2 more Canadians coming over to work for my company in the next month and I have been emailing with them. It’s nice to have them ask questions about shipping stuff and cell phones and Dublin apartments and me actually be able to give them helpful information! I am meeting one of them for dinner next week, just like Roisin did with me when I arrived. Now that Roisin has deserted me and moved back to Canada, I have to carry on the welcoming routine.

Visit Home

At the three month mark, I was able to come home for a visit. I did not write about it earlier because I was trying to surprise some of my friends in Denver. It didn't work out quite as planned, but I am able to attend a friends wedding on Saturday and I found out that there is a baby shower for another friend while I am home. I am trying to spend as much time with family and friends as possible during my one week home. It is great to see everyone and also a bit strange to be driving back on the Right side of the road! I am also enjoying my very plush bed at home :) I have to say that everything feels huge here...the cars, the roads, the stores, the houses, etc. I went to Walmart and I had to drag myself out of there an hour later. There is just nothing like it in Ireland where it is such a huge store, with so much inventory and you can buy all your groceries, toiletries, and household goods all in one place! Ireland has many boutique stores, where you buy individual items. You can buy most things, you just have to know where to look. I am definitely taking advantage of the less expensive shopping in the states and I am headed back to Ireland on Sunday with my bags full!

Almost 3 month mark

I can’t believe that I came here almost 3 months ago. I am just 2 days shy of hitting 3 months. I do apologize for anyone out there reading this that I have been delinquent in my posting and this will undoubtedly be a rather long post.

I have been rather busy in my posting absence. Ami, my friend, came to visit and we did quite a bit of traveling. We started off touring Dublin her first weekend here including the hop on hop off bus all over town, visiting Grafton street (the rodeo drive of Dublin), evening hitting a pub on her first evening in town. On Sunday she visited my church and then we had lunch at the market in Dun Laoghaire and walked along the coast of the Irish Sea. I worked Mon-Wed and Ami continued touring Dublin and the surrounding area.

I recently began a bible study here in Dublin. Our first week there were 3 of us. It may stay a small group, but Lauren sent out an invitation to the American Woman’s club in Dublin and she has had a couple ladies interested. We’ll just see what happens :)

As I wrote in my previous blog, I picked up a car in Dublin city centre on a Wed. evening after work and drove all of 3 blocks to my apartment and parked. Definitely some of my most stressful driving! I made Ami get up super early and leave Dublin before the morning rush on Wed. We had a GPS system that we called Suzi and she had a bit of confusion our first morning trying to get out of Dublin, but eventually she got back on track and was invaluable at navigating us on the small winding and rarely marked roads of the Irish countryside. On our way out of Dublin we found our way to where Bono and Enya have homes on a beautiful cliffside South of Dublin. We then had a morning hike around Glendalough and had breakfast outside near an ancient cathedral. Then we headed South to our lodging just outside of Wexford. It was a castle/farmhouse…interesting combination. There was castle ruins and then attached to it was a 4 story farmhouse. And it came complete with animals…. Once we checked in and left our luggage Ami and I were leaving to go out and find some dinner when I noticed something black and fairly good sized crawling in the hallway outside our room. It was too big for me to handle, so I notified the owner and he wanted me to show him the problem. It turns out it was a bat. Hmmmm I was not so excited at this point! The owner wanted me to pet it and I went running down the steps and out the door. It is a minor miracle that I was able to get any sleep that night. We had dinner at a local pub and even toasted to our Irish adventures with Baileys Irish Cream! The next four days were a whirlwind that included visits to the Kennedy Family homestead, Hook Head lighthouse, a ferry ride for our little rental car, a tour of the Waterford Crystal factory, several pub visits including some traditional Irish music, a tour and tasting of Jamison Irish Whiskey, kissing the Blarney stone, trekking up the hills to see Charles Fort (old military barracks) in Kinsale, and walking around the Rock of Cashel. I would say that was a fairly full 4 days.

I worked on and off the next week and we took at day trip to Northern Ireland. We booked our tour through a local company and arrived at the bus station around 5:30 am to embark on our adventures. We went to Belfast, Giant’s Causeway and an old rope bridge (it’s cool, but I can’t remember the name of it right now) and Derry. I made one big error…all I brought with me is Euros. I knew that Northern Ireland was considered a separate country from the Republic of Ireland but I forgot about the currency! Northern Ireland uses British Pounds and not Euros! After our touring, we had some time to wander around Derry and we found a bank that would exchange some euros to pounds so that we could buy something to eat. You live and learn! It turned out beautifully and we really enjoyed our day. We got back to my apartment late that evening.

Our next adventure was a weekend in London. I know that I complain frequently about how expensive Dublin is, but it is nothing compared to London!!! The dollar to pound conversion is so bad that you have to multiply the pound amount by 2 and then add some. For example, Ami ordered a chicken ceaser salad for dinner that evening and it was 12.50 pounds. So coverted to dollars it was over $25 and then you have to add the Value Added Tax (VAT) and their “service fees” and the salad ends up being well over $30 and it was similar in size to the ones you get at Panera for $6-7.

With the crazy cost aside, we had a wonderful time. Ami rode the London Eye and took lots of pictures. We went to an Evensong service at Westminster Abby, took lots of pictures of the Big Bend, saw Wicked (theater production related to Wizard of Oz), and we even say the time trials for the 2007 Tour de France! Those bikers fly by and then come the camera crews including a motorcyclist taking corners really fast with a guy on the back of the bike standing up with a massive tv camera. It was quite a site to see. We went to the tower of London and ogled the crown jewels. What is a girl to do when she sees a 530 carat diamond! :) Ami and I were in such awe of the crowns, scepters and rings that we rode the moving walkway 4 times just to stare at the jewels! We got back to Dublin on Sunday evening and Ami took the bus back to the airport this morning. It’s hard to believe that she was here for 2 ½ weeks. Now I have to get some real work done this week!

I almost forgot about our stop at Harrods department store! I tried on some beautiful shoes made by Prada, Jimmy Choo and some others. One pair of shoes I looked at was ½ off and the discounted price came to about $600. It was fun to dream. We even tried on some funny feathers. We saw a wedding reception in one of our hotels and the women really do wear hats with feathers or these hair clips that have feathers attached that are around 18 inches in width. I had seen the likes of these before in fashion magazines, but I never really believed that people wore them!!! I think I’ll keep the feathers off my head for now! Now it is time to unpack and do some laundry after all our travels.

Prayers for driving PLEASE!

Ami and I are embarking on a 5 day roadtrip around Southern Ireland. I will be driving on the left side of the road....AAAAGGGHHH! We picked up the car and safely got the car 3 blocks to my apartment and parked it last night. So, anyone reading this, please pray for safe travels as Ami and I are driving around. We return to Dublin and turn in the car on Monday July 2.

1st Visitor!

My first visitor, my friend Ami, arrives in less than 12 hours!!! I am excited to have someone to share some of my crazy experiences with. I went out and bought groceries which is always an adventure, but especially so this evening. I went after work and the sky was grey, but it's been 7 days of gloomy weather and no sun, so nothing out of the ordinary. I roamed the grocery store and I'm happy to admit that I am starting to recognize items here and know what to cook with :) YEAH! So, I interviewed a few Irish co-workers and asked what food items they would miss if they moved away and their votes included SuperQuinn sausages (grocery store with the most reputed sausages), Tato Crisps (potato chips) and Cadbury chocolate. One girl even said she has smuggled SuperQuinn sausages to other countries when she was studying abroad. I picked up a sampling of these items to share with Ami to eat true Irish food. After I picked up all this food, I had my hands full with 3 very full bags and I walked out the shopping center to find that it was pouring rain. I waited a few minutes and then decided to brave it. I walked across the town of Blackrock to catch the train into the City. By the time I arrived at the train stop, I was SOAKED! The train pulled away just as I arrived. I waited for the next one and got into Dublin. It has pouring so hard when I got off the train that I could barely see. I couldn't figure out why my shopping bags kept getting heavier. I finally figured out that my umbrella was pouring down into the bags. That tells you how hard it was raining. By the time I made it to my apartment I had soaked through a water-proof jacket, through my jeans all the way down to my undergarments. I think I could have rung the water out of my jeans. Now that I am warm and dry I can admit that it was quite funny. I truly hope that we get a bit of sunshine while Ami is enjoy sightseeing.

Working Lots

June 15 – Day 65

It’s hard to believe that I have passed the 2 month mark in Ireland! My first visitor is scheduled to arrive next Saturday and we are planning a road trip around Ireland and a weekend in London as well as meandering around Dublin. My friend is bringing a suitcase that my mom packed with lots of stuff from home that I can’t get in Ireland and I’m looking forward to receiving it. Right now I’m just working lots. The girl that I work most closely with on my work project is on Holiday for 3 weeks, so I have to take over her role on top of my own. I have now completed 2 weeks and 1 more to go. She and her husband are relaxing, hanging out on the beach in Florida and enjoying Disneyworld. She even packed 2 empty suitcases for shopping because compared to stuff here, even Banana Republic and Ann Taylor seem like discount stores. When they go on holiday here in Ireland, there is no contact numbers left, no checking in, no voicemail, they do it right and just escape totally and completely! However, I am very excited to have her back to share the work load. She returns June 25 and I’m counting down the days.

American Credit Cards

June 10 – day 60

I have just had my American credit card declined for the 5th time in 2 months. I have two credit cards that I am using and I must say that I am fortunate because they take turns in not working. I have contacted the fraud departments of both cards numerous times and each time I finally get them working again, but it is rather embarrassing to be paying for groceries and have your card declined! I have now been told by one credit card company that I must phone them every 30 days because they can only put the international waiver on for 30 days. Absolutely crazy! The alternative is to get a European credit card, but they charge annual fees of about $75 and have no points or cash back or anything.

On the positive side, it is an absolutely beautiful weekend in Dublin! It is 20 degrees (68 degrees farenheit) as I am typing this. I know this does not sound too warm, but it is cosidered sun bathing weather for Ireland. I’m headed out shortly to return some library books and to go for a walk along the River Liffey. It is wonderful to walk for 5 minutes and see the water! Colorado is a wonderful place to live, but it does not have much water. I have to enjoy it while I am here!

Istanbul, Turkey

June 6 – Day 56

I had a wonderful time in Istanbul! We visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Bazaar. We took a cruise on the Bosphorus River, shopped til we dropped, visited a Turkish bath and ate wonderful food! Istanbul is so different from any city I have ever been to. It is the only city in the world located on two continents (Europe and Asia). Walking down the street you would see people dressed in clothing similar to any city in the US and then the next person you would see would be a woman with everything covered in black cloth except her eyes and nose. The prayer calls come over load speakers in the city at set times each day (I think it is 5 times a day). To enter the mosque you had to have everything covered but your face and you had to remove your shoes.

Heather, one of the girls I was travelling with, was ecstatic to see all of the glass lanterns. She has always wanted a chandelier of lanterns and she was able to build one herself with exactly what she wanted. 7 lanterns later, she had an amazing chandelier, but it was quite a challenge to get it back to Ireland! The grand bazaar has over 4,000 shops and is like a city in and of itself. The shops sell a lot of ceramics, scarves, leather goods, Turkish rugs and lots of jewellery. I of course did some shopping and I think my most exciting purchase was a beautiful tablecloth in red and cream/gold that I think will look really cool in my house in Denver.

We stayed in a hostel in Istanbul and I made a rookie mistake. I didn’t bring a towel. It never even crossed my mind. On our first morning there, I asked my friends where to get a towel and they looked at me funny and said they brought them. I thought they were joking and so I asked again, then I realized they were serious. Heather and James, the married couple, were incredible generous and shared a towel so that I could use one of theirs. Needless to say, the first thing I bought in Turkey was a towel. I guess you live and learn. Hostel travel is very different from hotels! The room that we had was probably 6 feet by 8 feet and included 2 sets of bunk beds. There was barely room for all 4 of us to stand up at the same time. We shared a bathroom (single toilet, sink and shower) with about 20 other people. The beds had a sheet on the bottom and that was it. No covering sheet. We also had quite a fright our first night when Heather and I opened the bathroom door. The bathroom was occupied by the largest roach I had ever seen. Apparently they grow them even bigger in Turkey than Mexico. We screamed and made James, the only guy travelling with us, make it disappear. It was wonderful to have a guy travelling with us! Not only did he deal with the bugs, but in Turkey the shop keepers are very aggressive and when there is a guy with you, they back off quite a bit, which is very helpful.

It was a wonderful trip and I would highly recommend adding Istanbul to the list of places you want to visit!

Library & Gym

May 27 – Day 46
There are signs of me officially settling into life in Dublin. I joined a library and a gym this weekend. The library is one room probably the size of my parents family room. It is a satellite library and I’m told that the library in Dublin city centre is quite large. However, I was able to find travel books on Turkey and London in the small library down the street from me, so that was exciting! I haven’t done much planning and I leave in 4 days for Istanbul. I just checked the weather and they are forecasting sunshine in Istanbul. YEAH! It has been cool with intermittent rain for the last week in Ireland. I think the high today was only 52. It’s crazy to think when I go home in July that I am planning to bring a fleece back with me. I definitely haven’t worn any shorts around here!

The gym is quite nice. Just like everything else here it is very expensive. You can’t get a gym membership here for less than $150 per month. I checked about 4 gyms around me and gave up trying to find anything cheaper. That makes those $20-30 membership fees at home so much easier to swallow!

I also went to the outdoor market today in Dun Laoghaire with Lauren. We walked around, had falafel for lunch and went grocery shopping. She has a car and she took me to the big grocery store near her. I was like a kid in the candy store! It was the largest grocery store I have seen since I have been in Ireland. She gave me about 45 minutes to shop and I had a blast! I even found some silverware. There is still the lack of peanut butter, ranch dressing, mac and cheese, chocolate chips and other normal foods from home. But I did buy a steak :) and some gouda cheese and good looking fruits and veggies. They even had individually wrapped chicken breasts that were less than $5 a piece. Who knew grocery shopping could be so exciting!

A road trip!

May 21 & 22 – Day 40-41
I headed out of Dublin early in the morning with a girl from work and a friend of hers that had flown in from Canada. She was really nervous about driving, but she did excellent! We left Dublin and headed to County Kerry. We made a few wrong turns, but recovered quickly. Our first stop was the Gap of Dunlow. It is an amazing scenic area located on the East side of the Ring of Kerry. We went on a 2 ½ hour hike and enjoyed the amazing views along the way. About 3pm we started to drive the Ring of Kerry (word to the wise START EARLIER!). The Ring of Kerry is a 100 kilometer (66 mile) scenic drive in western Ireland. A 66 mile drive sounds like a piece of cake until you factor in very narrow, rough roads. It took us about 5 hours to get around the ring and at the end my friend said that she deserved a shirt that said “I survived driving the Ring of Kerry”. It was a lovely drive, but my favorite parts of the drive were definitely the Gap of Dunlow and Lady’s view (both on the east side of the circle). I was a passenger in the back seat and sometimes the roads were so rough that I felt like I was on an old fashioned wooden roller coaster being jolted around. We drove for 11 hours before we arrived at our B&B in Killarney and parked the car for the night.

Next we headed to a few pubs. The first pub felt like the halls of a highschool...truly the patrons looked 14! The next pub had an average age somewhere around 80. It had live music but they were doing a sing along and it reminded us of a nursing home. We laughed so hard our sides hurt and then headed out in search of pub somewhere in the middle. We found a hopping pub with a good band (not traditional Irish music), but it was nice. I can’t remember going to a bar in the states on a Monday night, but I was surprised to find an absolutely packed pub with an attached dance club on a Monday night! We stayed and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was a bit of a late night, but we walked back to the B&B. On Tuesday we walked and shopped in Killarney and then started our long drive back. We stopped at the Rock of Cashel. The guide book describes it as “a spectacular group of medieval buildings set on an outcrop of limestone in the Golden Vale including the 12th century round tower, High Cross and Romanesque Chapel, 13th century Gothic cathedral, 15th century castle and the restored Hall of the Vicars Choral.” After our tour, we headed back to Dublin. It was a good get-away, but I would not recommend going so far for just a 2 day visit because we spent nearly all of our time in the car.

Dundrum Shopping

May 19 – Day 38
I decided to try to find the big shopping center in Dublin called Dundrum. After a 30 min walk, a tram ride and a stroll through a town (a total of 1hour 20min) later, I arrived at Dundrum. It is quite a large shopping center with a cinema and a performance theater. I looked at a mall map and there were only a couple store names that I recognized. After walking through the shopping center for a while, I realized how much I rely on stores and my existing knowledge. In almost any mall in the US I will find stores that I recognize that I know I like their clothing like Eddie Bauer and Ann Taylor. In the shopping center in Dublin, I had no idea where to start on my mission to find jeans. I wondered aimlessly for awhile. The fashions here are quite different and I also found out that the sizes are different. I was very sad to find out that their sizes are cut 1-2 sizes smaller than the US. If you wear a 10 in the states you will wear a 12-14 here. That is very hard for the ego!!! I did find out that my shoe size is also different. I wear a 10 in the US which translates to either a 42 or an 8 here depending on the manufacturer. I never really thought that the sizes would be different. I eventually found a pair of jeans and decided it was time to retrace my steps back through town, the tram and then my walk to my apartment. I guess it’s a good thing for the wallet that it is such a challenge to get to the mall!

Black Pudding

May 16 – Day 35
I had a work lunch, well kinda lunch. It started at 3pm and we ate until 5:30. Not quite sure what you call a meal in the middle of the afternoon. The most noteworthy item was that I tried traditional Irish black pudding. (here is an online definition - Black pudding or blood pudding is a sausage made by cooking animal blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. ) I had seen it and not been brave enough before to try it. The guy across the table from me ordered it and the Canadian girl and I and I both tried it. She actually liked it and all I could say was that it was not something that I would ever order. Well at least I tried it!

May 17 – Day 36
Lauren, from church, invited me over for dinner. Lauren also invited a friend of a friend, who was born in Iran, lived in Argentina, studied at Cambridge in England and has spent the last 4 years in Israel. She speaks 5 languages and just moved to Dublin for a job. It is amazing to meet so many people from all over the world. I had no idea that I would meet so many international people in Ireland!

Mothers Day

May 13 - Day 32
Happy Mothers Day! I have to admit that I had quite a difficult time finding a card for my mom. I went to several stores looking for mothers day cards and I finally asked in a card shop where I could find the mothers day cards. They looked at me kinda funny and told me that mothers day was in March and since it had passed, they did not stock the cards until next year. Hmmm. I never thought about Mother’s day being celebrated on different days in different countries. So, I found a random funny card and mailed it to my mom.

I went to an outdoor market in Dun Laoghaire and it was really fun. I picked up some local produce and snacked on hummus. There was lots of different food to eat from crepes to falafel and everything in between! I’ll have to go there for lunch some Sunday after church.

May 14- Day 33
My landlord called to say that additional furniture had been delivered to my apartment. I’m not sure exactly what it is or where it will go, but evidently he thought I needed additional furniture. When I arrived home there were 3 big boxes. I think I’ll leave them for a bit. I’m not sure that I am ready to start assembling.

May 15 - Day 34
I’m booking travel arrangements to go to the Ring of Kerry next week with a girl from work. She is planning to drive and we’ll be spending one night in Killarney. I’ve been in Dublin for just over a month and I am looking forward to getting out into the country to see a different side of Ireland!

1 month in Ireland

May 10 – Day 29
Boxes arrived from home!!! Yeah! It’s crazy, but it is so nice to have familiar items. I was trying to figure out how I would get 2 boxes weighing a total of 33 pounds home. They only deliver boxes if you are home, so I had them delivered to my office. I had something delivered to my apartment and I had to take a train during business hours to get to the post office and it was quite crazy. Much easier to have stuff come to the office. But then comes the dilemma of getting the stuff ½ mile to the train station, on the train and then from the train to my apartment. I was very fortunate that a guy I work with offered to drive me home. He lives north of the city and has to drive fairly close to my place on his way home. He had to leave early on Thur. so, I left work a bit early and got the boxes home. I am very thankful! He helped bring one of the boxes to door and then I literally kicked them on the carpet through the entry and into an elevator. It had to be quite a funny site. I was home so early that I decided to go for a walk and try to find a grocery store. I walked for about 40 min and found a grocery store and decided to buy ranch dressing for a salad, only to learn that they do not have ranch dressing here. :( I walked a bit more a bought a couple things for the apartment and then decided to have dinner before I hiked back. I found a TGI Fridays and had an appetizer. My bill came and it was converted to dollars and it was $23 for an appetizer! It’s hard to explain how expensive it is here. I was talking to my mom and explained that a pint of ice cream at the grocery store is equivalent to $7.50…she was surprised. It took another 45 min to hike home. I was wiped out by the time I got back to my apartment.

May 11 – Day 30
I went out after work for drinks with a couple girls from work. One girl is from Canada and the other from Malaysia. It was very interesting to talk with people from different countries about their cultures, family relationships, jobs, etc. The girl from Malaysia is Muslim and has lived in London for a few years. All three of us are single girls between the ages of 28 and 31. It was an interesting evening.

May 12 – Day 31
I can’t believe I have been here for a month! I arrived on April 12 so, it’s been a whole month. I am finally getting settled into an apartment and I’m working on getting pictures uploaded to yahoo for my first month in Ireland and including pictures of my apartment. Please send me an email if you would like for me to send the link to my pictures. I don’t want to put my email address here and I think anyone reading this will know it. If not, post a comment on the blog and I’ll get you my address. I want to warn whoever looks at my pictures, that the apartment is fairly standard compared to American apartments, but it is quite a luxury in Dublin to live in a 2 bedroom apartment by myself. It is also quite rare to have a building that is only a couple years old very close to the city center. I even took pictures of the 2nd bedroom and bathroom to hopefully entice visitors!

Project Team & PPS

May 8 - Day 27
Our project team of 4 is now fully staffed. We are very excited to welcome our newest person, a girl from Malaysia. She is a "part-qualified" accountant. I'm not quite sure how to translate this into US terms. I know that the accounting exams over here are 3 years long and a part-qualified means that they have passed some but not all exams, or that they have passed all of the exams and have not fulfilled the experience requirements to get qualified accountant status. We are excited to have one more person to share the workload!

May 9 - Day 28
I set out to find the PPS office first thing in the morning. The PPS is the equivalent of a social security number in the states. It is used to track your taxes and such. And you have to have a utility bill to prove your address. However, my landlord has been requesting my PPS number so that he can "register my tenancy". It's like the chicken and egg thing. You can't register where you live without a PPS number and you can't get a PPS number until you have a place to live and a valid utility bill. My understanding is that when he registers me, I will have to pay a tax on my rent. Kinda crazy to me, but according to the people at work the landlord can be held liable for the tax on my rent if he does not appropriately register me. Once I am registered, then I have to pay the tax. I successfully applied for a PPS number based on an opening statement from the electric company. Now, I just have to wait approximately 2 weeks for them to mail me a PPS number. That was the last of the 3 major items to get in Ireland. YEAH! I'm still working on the Irish bank account to get the ATM and online functions to work, but I am making progress. A girl that I work closely with, is an Irish native, but she spent time working in the states. She says that some of the same challenges that I face here, non-US natives face in the US. She talked about spending 4 hours in a social security office in San Jose, CA trying to get a SSN. I guess my 1 1/2 hours in Ireland sure beats that!

Trains

May 7 – Day 26
You know when your car breaks down and you have a realization of how dependent you are on it to get around. Well, I had one of those realizations today with the train system. Today is a holiday here in Ireland. I haven’t quite figured out if there is a significance to the holiday. I know that the German operations took a holiday on May 1 for “May day”. I’m not sure why my office in Ireland took off May 7. Anyway, back to the train story. I decided to work on the holiday and trade it for a US holiday when I will have friends in town. I got up this morning and about 7:45 am I noticed that I hadn’t heard any trains. My apartment is very very close to the train line and I hear them going by. So, I got online and looked up the schedule only to discover the train operates on an extremely limited schedule on holidays. There was a train at 7:30am which I had just missed and the next one was not until 9:30. There went my plan to get into the office at a good time. Instead, I took my time getting ready, cooked breakfast, packed my lunch and still had time, so I was going to stop to get coffee only to realize that absolutely nothing was open. On the plus side, there are only 3 of us in the entire office where there are normally 500-600 people and I am getting lots done! And when I take the holiday on Memorial day everyone in Ireland will be working and the trains will be running and I can enjoy everything when it is less crowded!

BBQ and Shopping

May 4 Continued

After work, I walked with the girl that invited me to a BBQ and we picked up some food for the BBQ on our way to the house. The owner of the house is an Irish guy who works at the same Company as me and he often rents out the extra 2 bedrooms in his house to employees on assignment to our Company. They say the house is a 30 min walk. I’m not sure how fast they walk, but it took us about 45 min minus the grocery stops. When we arrived, there already a few people there. We sat out in the back patio and had snacks and finally they started the grill around 8:30pm. I was starving! Eating times and work times tend to be shifted later here. One of the Canadians made these hamburgers that were phenomenal! He said the secret ingredients included oats, brown sugar and egg….I would have never thought to put any of those in hamburgers. It was a multi cultural picnic. There were 2 Irish, 4 Germans, 3 Canadians and me the lone American! It was a lot of fun and I stayed out way too late. I missed the last train around midnight, so one of the people who had a car drove me home. I am so thankful! I called Ami at about 1:30 am Dublin time because it was 6:30pm and I never get to call in the evening. She was really surprised to get a call from me!

May 5 – Day 24

I slept in a little bit after my late night out and then went to the store to get some necessities. I got an alarm clock, some dishes, a baking sheet, a spatula, a couple bath towels, and water and wine glasses, etc. Needless to say I had 4 big bags when I was done and I could barely carry them. I had to walk through the entire shopping center to get to the taxi line. I took a taxi home and arrived just in time for my landlord and the carpet cleaning guy. We had to move all of the furniture out the bedrooms into the hallway and my front door wouldn’t even close. My landlord started working on my list of apartment problems…the list had like 12 items. Needless to say he was here for about 8 hours. I helped move the fridge about a dozen times while he tried to get the door to line up. The refrigerators here are hidden in cabinets, but the doors have to be parallel, because they hook together and when you close the cabinet the fridge door closes and mine was out of alignment and I couldn’t get the fridge door to close to keep the food cold. While the landlord was working on his list, I scrubbed every surface I could find. I started in the kitchen emptied all the cabinets and washed absolutely everything. I scrubbed all the floors and man am I sore! I started washing my sheets at about 4pm. I didn’t think it would be any problem to have them ready to sleep on in the evening. WRONG!! Only one sheet at a time would fit in the washer and the cycle time is around 3 hours for the wash itself and then you have to hang them to dry. I finally had clean dry sheets at 2am. I was exhausted after all that cleaning. I will have to remember to start my sheets early in the morning to get them washed and dried by night time. I also had the NTL guy come and I now have cable tv and broadband internet! Yeah! A very productive and exhausting day.

May 6 – Day 25

I finally got all my clothes hung. 25 days of living out a suitcase has come to a close. With just 2 suitcases of clothes I have a very full wardrobe. I don’t know how they fit all their clothes in these little cabinets without a real closet! I went to church and headed to the grocery store. I was on a mission to find ingredients that I recognize to cook with. Grocery shopping is a big challenge. I started to realize how much I rely on packaging to find the products that I use. There are several items that I couldn’t find and had to ask for assistance. A few of them they had, but there were several that they just don’t have over here. They don’t have jello, anytype of frozen bread( no rolls, dough, pie crust etc.), no frozen chicken breasts, no chex or crispix cereal. It took a long time for me to find stuff that I could cook with. I actually found taco shells and seasoning...I was kinda surprised. Grocery shopping was probably my biggest challenge so far. I again had too many bags and not enough hands. I was able to find a bath mat and some Tupperware in another store near the grocery store, so I took a cab home again. Shopping is hard work here!

Social Life & Istanbul

May 3 – Day 22

I had my first dinner guest in my new apartment. Lauren, who I met at church over the weekend, came over for dinner. We talked about the transition into life in Ireland as she came over 1 week before I did. She has a job offer with a financial company in Ireland, but she is waiting for Irish work authorization paperwork and she just found out it could be a total of 10-12 weeks and I think she is only 2 weeks into the waiting period. That’s a long time to wait to start a job! She brought me hangers and a couple hand towels. Much needed items! My clothes are stacked in piles on my empty bed and I only have one bath towel, so no hand towels in the kitchen or bathroom. I am so thankful! It was a wonderful evening.

May 4 – Day 23
I booked my first European flight today. Three of the people on assignment from Canada had planned to go to Istanbul for a 3 day weekend the end of May and they invited me to go along. I am very excited to go! They have already booked our lodging and we have a crazy red-eye flight from Dublin to Istanbul on May 31.

I also got invited to a BBQ tonight with the Canadian crew. It’s about a 2 mile hike from the office out to the house. I’m going to walk out there with a girl from work and then I’ll have to find a way back to the train or just get a taxi later this evening. This is 2 nights in a row with social engagements…My social life in Ireland is improving dramatically!

My first care package :)

May 2 - Day 21

Thank you Mom and Ami for my first care package! I was so excited to get the peanut butter, room scenting oil and the sudoku book was a great addition! I have worked very diligently to clean up the apartment and unpack and organize as much as possible. It is getting better, but I need some hangers and curtains and someplace to store laundry items before I can truly organize and be able to find things! Part of the reason that I was working so hard on cleaning is because I invited the girl that I met at church on Sunday over for dinner Thur. evening. Yes, that is only my 3rd night in the apartment. But I really want to hang out with her and I think I have a bit of my Mom's hospitality in my blood. Home isn't really a home until you entertain and share your space with others. I even picked up a potted hyacinth at the grocery store tonight. I may have trouble finding lots of items here, but they do love their fresh flowers.

Tonight on the train ride home, I was quite a sight. I had a backpack overloaded with groceries, I was carrying a big bag that has 2 pillows in it (yeah I have pillows for my bed!!!) that I bought over lunch, then I had a bag that I was trying to keep upright with the potted flower and round that off with a purse and a tote filled with cleaning supplies. I had a bit of trouble going through the train turnstile with my wide load! I need to buy quite a few items including towels, water and wine glasses and something to hold laundry, an alarm clock etc. Basically I will need to buy one or two items each day for transportation purposes. It is very strange to shop in terms of what I can carry! Today was definitely the maximum carrying amount.

May 1 - Day 20

Heavy duty cleaning night. I learned how to run an Irish vacuum...it just kept turning on and off at first and I couldn't figure out how to keep a steady air flow. Finally got it figured out. I suctioned every particle of dust and yucky stuff I could find. Watch out for me and the Irish vacuum :) I don't know if they have swiffers over here, but I'm going to search. That would be really helpful in keeping the hardwood floors clean! Oh, the landlord showed me how to add a bag of salt to my dishwasher. I'm glad he showed me because I would have no idea why he left me a bag of specialty salt under the kitchen sink! Apparently they don't have garbage disposals at all over here, not in the sinks and not in the dishwashers like mine at home. So, instead they have dishwashers that take salt and it helps to break up food particles during the wash cycle so that it can go down the water drain. It even has it's own little funnel and slot in the dishwasher. I've never heard of salt in the dishwasher before!

I hate moving!

Day 19 – April 30

After work I rushed to my temporary apartment and retrieved my carry on size rolling suitcase and a backpack and headed to my new apartment on the train. I arrived a bit early, so I checked for a wireless connection in the lobby of my building and did not find any wireless networks that I could connect to. :(

I met with my apartment locator agent and my landlord and got into the apartment. We went thru the paperwork and he gave me some instructions. When I arrived I have to tell you the apartment was a mess. He had been painting, there were tools all over the place and it was not clean. Very disappointing! He said that a cleaning crew had come through the kitchen and the bathrooms, but I think there was enough use after they went through that it didn’t look anywhere near clean. The carpets look like they haven’t been vacuumed in quite some time and the worst part was that it smelled really bad of stale smoke. Everyone that I talked to at work said that their apartment included sheets, towels, pillows and blankets in their “furnished” apartments. Mine does not have any of the above. I had packed one pillow, one blanket and purchased the set of sheets. However, the sheets I bought fit in the larger bedroom and there are no curtains in that room because they are at the cleaners and it will be nearly a week before I actually get curtains in my bedroom. I should note that one entire wall is windows, so it’s not exactly a liveable bedroom until I get curtains. So, my first night was spent in the smaller bedroom using the sheets that didn’t fit the bed properly and I had no blanket, so I used my one towel for warmth. I ended up with a migraine and did not sleep much in the end. I really hope to get some cleaning products and start scouring the place! I was so hopeful to have hangers once I got into the apartment and there are none, so I’ll have to go find some after I clean out the drawers and wardrobe. In all fairness to the landlord, the previous tenants were bad. They left a bunch of stuff and he had to clear out the apartment. They said they didn’t smoke and that there were 2 of them signing the lease. There were actually 3 of them living in the apartment and they all smoked and it was not a positive situation. I think he essentially evicted them. I did find out that there were over 40 people interested in this apartment and the primary reason that I got it was because I had a company backing me and that I used a relocation agent. I guess it makes me more credible than just someone off the street. Hopefully I’ll work on getting settled over the next few days.

Day 20 – May 1
This morning started out with complete craziness. On my train ride to work this morning, I got a call from the landlord of my temporary apartment telling me that I was essentially getting kicked out and someone else was moving in immediately. I had the temporary apartment reserved through May 2 and I told her that I wanted to check out on the evening of May 1 and that I had arranged for transportation for my move at 6pm and I would give her the keys then. Not quite sure how she missed the boat so bad on that one, but she said it was an emergency and that they had someone else moving in and she offered to drive me and my luggage to my new apartment. I had a meeting at work this morning so, I left at lunch and someone else had already moved into my temporary apartment on top of my stuff. AAGGGHH. Not cool. Then, the landlady drives a small BMW. Her truck was full of junk, so we had to unload it and to make matters worse, my big suitcase had to be squashed to even get just one suitcase into the trunk. A girl from work went with me because I said there was no way I could lift my massive suitcase on my own. We tag teamed it and got both suitcases in the car (one in the backseat). Then the landlady said oh, we have to take the cleaning girl back downtown too. HMMM. With the suitcase in the back there was barely room for one and now we had to squeeze 2 people in there!!!! The girl from work is tiny, so she and the cleaning girl mashed themselves in there. I felt sooo bad! Then we drove 30 min in lunchtime traffic to get to the new place and unloaded. I must say that I am really helpful that the girl from work came with me because the landlady didn’t even lift a finger. She just watched. This is definitely not the way that I planned this move! We caught the train and headed back to work. I still have to move the boxes from my office to my apartment after work tonight. My stuff is scattered, I can’t find any thing. Please friends and family remind me if I ever say that I want to move that I really really shouldn’t move!!!

Fellow Americans in Dublin

Day 17 – April 28
Happy 29th Birthday Ami!! I spent the day doing laundry, reading a book from a local author and I got a massage. The massage was nothing to write home about…the masseuse was a very petite lady and I kept asking for more pressure because it felt like she was just rubbing lotion on my back. I definitely won’t go back to her!

Day 18 – April 29
My third week at church and this time, there was an American couple from North Carolina visiting and I went to say hi to them after service. They were really nice and invited me to lunch. They arrived in Ireland about 1 week before I did and they are here because he took a 2 year assignment with his job. They have been married for 5 weeks and have had a lot of transition. The girl’s name is Lauren. She moved all of her stuff into storage, quit her job, got married, went on a honeymoon and then straight to Ireland where she is living and can’t work yet because of paperwork and her husband is working 75-80 hours a week. Quite a transition! I had a nice lunch with them and really enjoyed talking to fellow American’s about their transition to Ireland! I hope to hang out with Lauren while her husband is working in the evening or on the weekend.

After lunch I basically spent the afternoon trying to fit all of my stuff into suitcases AGAIN! I really want to unpack the suitcases and not see them for at least a month. I went on a great walk on the pier in Dun Laoghaire. It is quite a long pier. I would guess at mile to mile and a ½. After that I actually watched Nascar on tv….not exactly my normal tv watching, but it was the first programming that I have seen from the states. Tomorrow I get the keys to my new apartment!!!

Bank Account

Day 16 – April 27

I actually got a bank account set up. YEAH! I even made a deposit. The deposit slip is like the size of a credit card. I hope I don’t loose it. Now I have to wait for them to print my ATM card, then I will have to go to the bank and show id to pick up the card and they will mail the pin number to my address. I totally forgot to ask if they print checks…Hmm. I was so intrigued by the idea that I had to return to the bank and show id to get an ATM card! Once I get the ATM card and the pin, then I can request access to online banking. It may be awhile before I can even check the balance in my account. I also found out that they charge €.28 per transaction about $.4 for every transaction, even online banking transactions and cheques. That makes our free accounts in the states look really good! By the way, if my words look a little weird, it’s because my word spell check on this computer is in Irish English not American English. Words like checks correct themselves to cheques.

I also found out today that I get to meet my new landlord on Monday night to get the keys to my new apartment! I am so excited! I wish I could move in today! I have 3 boxes from home that I shipped that I have been dying to get into them to get things that I need and I couldn’t unpack them because I need to move them first. Also it will be exciting to have a bit of leg room under my desk. Our desks are MUCH smaller here and my boxes are down where my feet should go, so it has been a bit crowded. I’m ready for the weekend!

Irish Banking

Day 15 – April 26

My big goal for the day was to set up an Irish Bank account and I was NOT successful. Basically I need a bank account over here to be able to do transactions in Euros for items like rent, utilities, etc. So I called the bank about a week ago and set up an appointment. You can’t just walk into a bank here and speak to a representative and set up an account…you must have an appointment. So I arrived at 1pm with all of my paperwork and I was ready to go. I even withdrew money at the ATM outside from my US account and I was ready to deposit it. I was told that I needed to bring my passport and a letter from my company with my Irish address. We started filling out the form and she copied my passport and the letter from my company and then came back and told me that my account could not be processed because the letter from my company did not have my old US address on it. I tried to give her about 3 other documents including an Irish government document that had my US address and she would not take it. I don’t understand how a letter from my company, which I provide all of the information for in the form of an email is better than government documents?!? So crazy! I have now requested a new letter from my HR department and will wait til they get around to typing it and make another appointment at the bank. So frustrating! On the positive note, I just made an appointment for a massage on Saturday. Something to look forward to!

Grocery Shopping

Day 14 – April 25

Nothing particularly exciting happened today, so I’m going to write about grocery shopping. I can’t remember a time if my life of ever going to the grocery store without a car. Even in college when I didn’t have a car, I ate mostly in the dorm and didn’t have to worry about carrying all of my groceries. Well, now is a very different story. So, I am told that the most convenient grocery stores are actually in the town were I work and that the guy who lives in the area where my new apartment is, actually buys his groceries here, hikes to the DART station, rides on the train for 20 min. and then walks to his apartment. This may not sound too bad, but have you every tried carrying your groceries around town for 40 min? It takes very careful planning to determine what you need for the next 2-3 days, making sure that it will all fit in your backpack or whatever bag you are using and then dealing with pedestrian traffic and a crowded train. And somehow trying not to crush your eggs and bread. I also am a bit curious about the lack of refrigeration. Eggs in the grocery stores are not refrigerated….Hmm…is that ok? They also have brown shells vs. white. I’m not quite sure why they are not refrigerated. Also, at work each morning there is a small jug of milk set out and people use it throughout the day in their coffee. It is not refrigerated either…how can the milk not spoil? I haven’t tried the milk because I have been too afraid of a tummy ache!

I’m looking forward to reading a book tonight! I didn’t really have space in my suitcases for reading material, so I have been reading all of the Ireland travel books that I brought. I am really ready for a story! A girl at work talked about a work book club and some of the books they have read in the past. She brought in a couple books for me to read. Yeah! I haven’t adjusted to the tv over here. Last night 3 out of the 4 tv channels that I get were soccer. I knew the sport was popular over here, but I had no idea that it occupied so much prime time tv!

Ouch & Peanut Butter

Day 12 – April 23

All I can say is ouch to the pride today! I must explain that most doors have a small button about the size of my thumbnail located around the doorframe that you must push to release the door. The first time I tried to exit my floor at work I stood at the door, pushed and couldn’t get it to open and finally had to ask someone how to get out! By now I should know better, but for some reason, I had a particularly difficult time remembering those little buttons today. As a result, I body slammed several doors and of course there were witnesses to these events. When you are accustomed to pushing doors and sailing through them these little buttons are quite a nuisance! You know how some industrial doors in the states have those silver bars around the middle of the door and you push on the bar to make it open. Same concept, but they tend to hide these little buttons!

Day 13 – April 24

My mom is sending a care package with peanut butter!!! Yeah! I guess it is the little things that are exciting. Apparently peanut butter is not a common item here. I am told that it is very difficult to find and if you can locate it, it doesn’t taste the same and it has a strange consistency. So, if they don’t have peanut butter, they obviously don’t have receese peanut butter cups or peanut butter m&ms (my favourite candies)! Whoever visits must bring payment for my B&B in the form of peanut butter :)

I am getting a bit closer to having an apartment and I must say that I am so ready to hang clothes and unpack and hopefully be able to find items! Dad, I don’t know how you live out of a suitcase week in and week out. I have now made it 2 weeks and I’m so ready to empty my suitcases and get settled and organized! I’m not sure if I wrote this before, but my temporary apt. has a good size wardrobe (a cross between a closet and an armoire) and not a single hanger to put your clothes on. So I just rummage through my big suitcases every morning to try to locate the proper clothing items. Count down has begun and I have 7 more nights in temporary housing.

Dishwasher started without major hassle!

April 21 - Continued
In order to post those last couple days and get internet access, I packed up my computer, took a train to another town and got comfy at a coffee shop. Only to realize about 5 min. later the coffee shop wireless internet was not working. I chugged my coffee and went walking around town to find anywhere that said they had wireless internet. The only place I found was a bar...Hmmm. In order to use their internet you need to buy something and I wasn't hungry, so I sat in a bar with a glass of red wine in the middle of the afternoon so that I could use the internet. Funny what lengths I will go to in order to communicate!

I invited the girl from work over for dinner and actually had a fairly successful cooking experience. I made this chicken dish from Marks and Spencers that was chicken in a white wine and mushroom sauce and added some asparagus and pasta and it was yummy! It was really nice to make a meal and sit down and have someone to talk to!

April 22 - Day 11
I returned to the church that I visited last week and the service was unique. The church service at 11am in English speaking and then the church is used again at 6pm and the service is in Romanian. This Sunday, they combined the congregation and everything was translated. The music we would do one course in English and the second in Romanian. There was an amazing vocalist that sang in Romanian. I have no idea what he sang, but it was absolutely beautiful! The sermon was done in Romanian and then translated into English. After the service was over, the Romanian congregation brought food to feed everyone...I would guess about 100 people. I nibbled on the food, and everyone said it was wonderful, but I have to admit my stomach was not quite ready for that. There were several types of stuffed cabbage leaves and a few soups. My true American colors came out, because after church, I grabbed some McDonalds chicken nuggets to hold me over til the next meal.

My next event was to find sheets. My understanding is that my apartment is funished with basics like a bed and a sofa, but doesn't come with bedding/towels/rugs/pillows, etc. I went to the main shopping area in Dublin called Grafton street and it was mobbed! I guess since the stores do not stay open in the evenings, everyone must go on Sat and Sun. I went into Brown Thomas (or something like that) which is a main department store and MY OH MY did I have complete sticker shock!!! The first fitted sheet that I picked up in basic white was 275 Euros (over $350 US dollars) and it was one single sheet. Not even like a set. I talked to the clerk and explained that I was only here for 6 months and asked if there were more economical sheets. The ones she showed me were still 100 Euros per sheet.(about $140). I stood there bewildered! I wandered around a couple more stores and had trouble even finding stores that sold sheets. I ended up at TK Maxx (their equivalent to TJ Maxx). There was a very small selection of sheets, but I found some and then I set out in look for somekind of blanket or cover. I have to tell you that even though it is TK Maxx, their prices are equivalent to a very high end department store at home like Nordstroms or Macys. I guess they are still 1/2 price of their competitors, but man it is going to take some time to get over the cost of living over here! These basic sheets are still more expensive than my very lovely, ridiculously high thread count sheets at home! I have been told by people at work that at some time I will stop converting everything to $ and just think in Euros and it is a bit less shocking that way. I don't know when this change will happen?!

One more note. I was expecting really rainy weather and I am happy to report that I have not yet used my umbrella. We have had 11 days of dry weather. Definitely more cloudy days than Denver, but there have been some sunny dry days. I am really enjoying it and I have been told that it does not last and even though I am tempted to stop carrying an umbrella everywhere, that I must continue to carry it because it could rain at anytime and I need to be prepared.

Oh, I almost forgot. I titled this entry Dishwasher, because I ran out of silverware and plates last night. I am drinking water from tea glasses and eating everything with spoons. So, even though the dishwasher was only 1/2 full, I had to run it because I had no more utensils. I am happy to report that I put soap in it and closed the door and hit a couple buttons and it started. Hip Hip Horray! There is one appliance here that I know how to run!!!

Irish Appliances - AAGGHHH :(

April 20th – Day 9

My day started before the sun came up! I woke up before 5:30am to get to the Garda station. Garda=Police in Irish. When I arrived in Dublin I received a 30 day stamp in my passport and instead of a visa, Ireland gives people on a work permit a “Garda” card. It is issued by the Garda National Immigration Board and the office is in city centre Dublin and it opens at 8 am. It is a very busy office and I was instructed to get there by 7:15am in order to get in line. Factor in a 30min train ride and the walk to the train, it was a very early morning! The information I received was very accurate and at 7:20am when I arrived there were at least 30 people in line and the line snaked around the building. I was told that they often cut off the line at 10am in order to finish the processing by 4pm when the office closes. It took a little less than 2 hours and a little concern before I successfully received my card. The guy in front of me was there on a work permit also and the Garda employee wanted to proof of his health insurance and he would not accept a health card as we are accustomed to in the states. He wanted a letter guaranteeing health coverage. I did not have a letter of this sorts, but when another Garda employee was open, and it was my turn, he did not request any health information from me. It did take about 3 sets of lines and different checks before I got my Garda card which is about the size of an American drivers license. Once I got the card I set of to the office. There are 3 major hurdles to getting set up in Ireland, one is the Garda card, another is setting up a bank account and the third is getting a person number (similar to social security number). I have one down and 2 to go.

Near the end of the work day, a gentleman entered my cube and introduced himself. As he said his name, I was very thankful someone had given me an organization chart, because he was head of the entire office and I recognized his name. I think being the first American to come to work at the Ireland office is an interesting distinction. It was very nice of him to come and visit and introduce himself! There are about 500 people at the office I am working at, so it is not a small operation even by US standards.

Another kitchen adventure… I attempted to cook some pasta this evening and turning on the stove was quite a challenge. I played with every knob on the stove and nothing was working. I was about to give up when I noticed a light switch on the wall to the right of the stove. Sure enough, you must actually turn on the light switch before the stove gets any power. I think I can only handle one appliance adventure per day! Tomorrow will be the washer/dryer (all one unit) and maybe I’ll tackle the dishwasher the day after!

April 21, Day 10
Time to attempt some laundry. I went to the store to buy detergent and couldn’t even differentiate between the detergent and fabric softener! I finally selected some and I think it is detergent with “touch of fabric softener”. I asked the clerk if it also had soap in it..what’s the point of washing clothes with fabric softener only! The clerk said no, but I didn’t think he really knew, so I asked a couple ladies in the store and they said that it was both detergent and fabric softener…here’s hoping!

Appliances are proving to test my patience! So I looked at the 3 slots in a pull out part of the washer and was clueless as to which one was actually for soap. I even texted a girl from work and asked which of the 3 slots was appropriate, I found out she uses the center slot. Ok. Then I read the back of the soap in it’s actually in these miniature plastic bags with liquid inside and it says to put it in the washing bin itself. Ok. Inserted it, then I put in few items of clothing. I am being really cautious because a girl at work said that the washing machines over here are kinda sketchy and have been known to “shred” clothing. I proceeded to spend nearly 40 minutes trying to get the machine to start. It had a yellow light on, so it obviously had power, I had selected a program and it had soap and clothes. Why was there no water coming?!? I opened and closed the door about 5 times and I hit every button in the vicinity and no water came. I was really frustrated, so I texted the girl at work again and told her the situation. She called back and said to try I few things. I did them and nothing worked. I was about to call the landlord when I got really frustrated and SLAMMED the door. Low and behold it started. Apparently you need to get violent and slam the door before it decides to work. I hope whoever is reading this is laughing out there at what an incredible process it is to do a load of laundry and keep in mind that I put in 2 t-shirts, one pair of sweatpants and a few pairs of socks and the washbin was full. It is probably ¼ of the size of a standard American washbin. Next comes the drying process. I have been told by the landlord and the girl at work that the drying part of this integrated machine does not really work. So, don’t even bother trying to dry your clothes, rather you must hang them to dry. I also read that you cannot hang your clothes outside in my apartment complex, so once the washer actually finished I must hang all of clothes to dry somewhere inside the apartment! It makes doing laundry in the states seem like a walk in the park!

I totally forgot to tell you about the water pump itself. It is some kind of contraption that is in every apartment and each time you use water in the home it makes a very loud pumping noise. I completely jumped when the landlord was testing the hot water and this load strange noise started. It’s not like it happens once. I just flushed the toilet to test it and it pumps about 10 times before it stops and of course the location of the pump is next to the bedroom…what a bad floor plan design!

There is currently a rectangular drywall cut out in the wall near the entrance door of the apartment, so I looked in and there is actually a wooden kitchen spoon holding things together inside it even has a cut out in the top of the spoon to attach it to a pipe. I guess you can look at this 2 ways, either someone was very resourceful, or they have no building codes or standards of safety for construction in Ireland. I think my friend in construction in the states will get a laugh out of this!