December was full of lots of celebrating! We celebrated Brian's birthday by having some friends over and then going out for a pub crawl (which involved crawling to only two pubs). I also took Brian out to dinner at an Irish restaurant where we had boxtys, which is a famous Irish dish- basically potato pancakes with different yummy fillings inside.
Brian and I also had our school/company Christmas parties this month. Apparently Christmas parties are huge over here because my party was like a wedding- we had a full dinner with a night of live bands, DJs, drinking and dancing. We also stayed overnight at a hotel in Gormanstown, which was a lot of fun. Brian had his Christmas party at a bar in Dublin- good food and drinks there as well.
We also had our friends Mike and Michelle here for the holidays. We did lots of touring and had some good nights out with traditional Irish music. Michelle was also able to come to my school for our Christmas play of Oliver Twist. It was unbelievable- the last two weeks before Christmas we hardly taught- just lots of practice for the play. It was all worthwhile because we did three very professional performances of the show and the boys were great. The costumes, lighting, singing and dancing were so good- I even played violin for a bunch of songs. I'll post some pictures of that soon (the best are the ones of the boys who are dressed as girls for the play - complete with wigs, make-up and dresses.) We also went on a day tour to the Wicklow Mountains with Michelle. Wicklow is about an hour south of Dublin- really pretty area.
For Christmas Eve we went to our Polish friend, Joanna's place. She had such great food and taught us the Polish traditions for Christmas Eve. Christmas Day we cooked a ham dinner and ate...and ate some more. Oh yeah, we also relaxed with some movies. New Year's Eve we are probably going to a party at my friend Rachel's apartment. We definitely have a ton of pictures to post, but we will probably get them up at some point next week. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!!!!!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Happy Birthday to Me!!
We haven't put up a post in a while, so here's a quickie.
Dublin is great and it's really nice around Christmas time with all the lights and people on Grafton Street. We have our friend (it's much easier that way) Michelle visiting soon for about 2 weeks and our friend Mike will be coming for a couple of days right before Christmas. We're also looking at making a weekend trip to Scotland in January.
We should have some new pics up soon. Promise.
Dublin is great and it's really nice around Christmas time with all the lights and people on Grafton Street. We have our friend (it's much easier that way) Michelle visiting soon for about 2 weeks and our friend Mike will be coming for a couple of days right before Christmas. We're also looking at making a weekend trip to Scotland in January.
We should have some new pics up soon. Promise.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Pics as Promised!
Hey everyone, we just uploaded some pics from our trip to Budapest plus some that we took at the Halloween party we talked about recently.
http://picasaweb.google.com/skynyrd13/HalloweenAndBudapest
The trip was great. We left Thursday afternoon from Dublin and arrived at our friend Mike's apartment on the Pest side of the city that night. First thing we loved was how cheap everything is because they're still using their own currency, the Forint. They'll be switching over to the Euro in a couple of years, so in the meantime you can live like kings. A beer costs about a euro (about $1.45) and you can get a decent meal for a few euros.
Mike's been living there since August, and he really knows his way around the city, which is tough because it's pretty big. He was our designated tour guide and translator for the weekend. Good thing for us because Hungarian rivals Gaelic as a deer in headlights language when you're trying to order food or really do much of anything.
We saw lots of sights, went to the Szechenyi Bath and jumped in 100 degree water outside when the air temperature was barely 35 degrees and also got a massage, sang some "Sweet Child O' Mine" at a bar with Karaoke, and had a great time!
Happy Thanksgiving!
http://picasaweb.google.com/skynyrd13/HalloweenAndBudapest
The trip was great. We left Thursday afternoon from Dublin and arrived at our friend Mike's apartment on the Pest side of the city that night. First thing we loved was how cheap everything is because they're still using their own currency, the Forint. They'll be switching over to the Euro in a couple of years, so in the meantime you can live like kings. A beer costs about a euro (about $1.45) and you can get a decent meal for a few euros.
Mike's been living there since August, and he really knows his way around the city, which is tough because it's pretty big. He was our designated tour guide and translator for the weekend. Good thing for us because Hungarian rivals Gaelic as a deer in headlights language when you're trying to order food or really do much of anything.
We saw lots of sights, went to the Szechenyi Bath and jumped in 100 degree water outside when the air temperature was barely 35 degrees and also got a massage, sang some "Sweet Child O' Mine" at a bar with Karaoke, and had a great time!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Guess who's no longer a burden on the state?
Last Thursday the application for my Green Card work permit came through and I was able to register with the Garda (police) and take care of some other things. The timing was a bit close, as Melissa and I are going to Budapest from Thursday-Sunday to visit my friend Mike, who is in a teaching program there until December. Nevertheless, I'm equipped with enough paperwork to totally confuse the Dublin Airport immigration officials when reentering the country. Mike told me it snowed a little the other day, so maybe we'll get a chance to see some snow, since we're not holding our breaths for any in Dublin this winter. We're looking forward to baths and caves and general post-Communism fun, so keep an eye out for some pics when we get back.
Life in Dublin is grand. Melissa has been taking fiddle lessons -she can play violin already- so maybe soon she can go and play on Grafton Street for some money? We went to a Halloween party last weekend (Melissa dressed as a flapper and I dressed as a gangster), and it was by far the most international party either of us had ever been to. I'm probably missing some countries here, but we counted people from Spain, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Australia, France, and the Netherlands. There were maybe 3 Irish people there, tops. Ahh Dublin.
The weather's getting colder here and Dublin is starting to go into full swing Christmas mode since there's no Thanksgiving here to break up the month of November. We've been lucky still that there hasn't been much rain this fall. I guess Dublin had enough of it this past summer. Imagine that.
We'll check back in after our long weekend getaway. Cheers!
Life in Dublin is grand. Melissa has been taking fiddle lessons -she can play violin already- so maybe soon she can go and play on Grafton Street for some money? We went to a Halloween party last weekend (Melissa dressed as a flapper and I dressed as a gangster), and it was by far the most international party either of us had ever been to. I'm probably missing some countries here, but we counted people from Spain, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Australia, France, and the Netherlands. There were maybe 3 Irish people there, tops. Ahh Dublin.
The weather's getting colder here and Dublin is starting to go into full swing Christmas mode since there's no Thanksgiving here to break up the month of November. We've been lucky still that there hasn't been much rain this fall. I guess Dublin had enough of it this past summer. Imagine that.
We'll check back in after our long weekend getaway. Cheers!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
October Pics Are Up!
http://picasaweb.google.com/skynyrd13/October2007
We've finally posted all our October pictures(click on the link above)- there's quite a lot of them and they don't even include pictures from Halloween (we'll be going to a Halloween party this weekend, so those pics will come soon!). There were quite a few weekends with nice weather in October, so Brian and I took full advantage by doing things outdoors. In the beginning of the month we went to an International Food Festival where we basically ate all day and enjoyed sitting outside in a huge park a bit ouside of the city center. We even watched a Caribbean cooking demonstration where I volunteered to help make a dish which involved me deep frying balls of dough (I only slightly burned myself in the process). We also went on a hike around Lake Ennell with our friend Gosia's hiking group. It was a gorgeous day and we did a lot of walking - about ten miles-through fields where we got covered in cow poop and forests where we got covered in mud, but overall it was beautiful scenery and well worth a few pairs of muddy shoes!
I ended up going with my friend Eimear to an exhibition opening at the National Museum for a famous Irish fashion designer from the 1960s. I had no idea who this woman, Neilli Mulcahy was prior to going, but I felt pretty important when we got to the museum and there was a big reception with wine, hors d'oeuvres, and some famous Irish journalists and actors in attendance (of course I didn't know who they were, but I was told they were famous!).
This past weekend Brian and I had a wonderful (and very rainy) weekend in Killarney. It was so beautiful there (see pics!) and we made the most of our time there even though it pretty much rained the whole time. On Saturday we rented bikes and rode to Killarney National Park where we bike rode around the lakes, to the Torc Waterfall, and saw the Muckross House. The scenery was unbelievable and we felt pretty good doing the bike ride despite getting drenched! Sunday we took a great bus tour of the Ring of Kerry- again more beautiful scenery. We even saw some of those famous Irish rainbows- unfortunately no pots of gold. We also made our way to many great pubs full of terrific traditional Irish music. We saw why everyone says bank holiday weekends are weekends for partying!
Brian and I are still enjoying our jobs and really like the people we work with. Both of us had some fun nights out with our coworkers this month. The only difference is that Brian, working in the business field, gets all his drinks and food paid for by his company when he goes out, while I, the poor teacher, have to pay for my drinks myself! Overall, October treated us well!! Cheers!
We've finally posted all our October pictures(click on the link above)- there's quite a lot of them and they don't even include pictures from Halloween (we'll be going to a Halloween party this weekend, so those pics will come soon!). There were quite a few weekends with nice weather in October, so Brian and I took full advantage by doing things outdoors. In the beginning of the month we went to an International Food Festival where we basically ate all day and enjoyed sitting outside in a huge park a bit ouside of the city center. We even watched a Caribbean cooking demonstration where I volunteered to help make a dish which involved me deep frying balls of dough (I only slightly burned myself in the process). We also went on a hike around Lake Ennell with our friend Gosia's hiking group. It was a gorgeous day and we did a lot of walking - about ten miles-through fields where we got covered in cow poop and forests where we got covered in mud, but overall it was beautiful scenery and well worth a few pairs of muddy shoes!
I ended up going with my friend Eimear to an exhibition opening at the National Museum for a famous Irish fashion designer from the 1960s. I had no idea who this woman, Neilli Mulcahy was prior to going, but I felt pretty important when we got to the museum and there was a big reception with wine, hors d'oeuvres, and some famous Irish journalists and actors in attendance (of course I didn't know who they were, but I was told they were famous!).
This past weekend Brian and I had a wonderful (and very rainy) weekend in Killarney. It was so beautiful there (see pics!) and we made the most of our time there even though it pretty much rained the whole time. On Saturday we rented bikes and rode to Killarney National Park where we bike rode around the lakes, to the Torc Waterfall, and saw the Muckross House. The scenery was unbelievable and we felt pretty good doing the bike ride despite getting drenched! Sunday we took a great bus tour of the Ring of Kerry- again more beautiful scenery. We even saw some of those famous Irish rainbows- unfortunately no pots of gold. We also made our way to many great pubs full of terrific traditional Irish music. We saw why everyone says bank holiday weekends are weekends for partying!
Brian and I are still enjoying our jobs and really like the people we work with. Both of us had some fun nights out with our coworkers this month. The only difference is that Brian, working in the business field, gets all his drinks and food paid for by his company when he goes out, while I, the poor teacher, have to pay for my drinks myself! Overall, October treated us well!! Cheers!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Bank Holidays
One of the great things about living in Ireland is the countless number of bank holidays they have. Sometimes these days fall on real days of celebration, such as Christmas or New Years Day or the greatest holiday of them all, St. Patrick's Day. But other times they fall on a random Monday, which gives the Irish more than a decent excuse to drown themselves in pints on Sunday morning, afternoon, and the entire evening. For us, it gives a great chance to do some travelling, so we're going to make our second trip to the west of Ireland next weekend, to Killarney, down in the southwest. We're going to return to hostel life (hostile life?) for 3 days and do a tour of the Ring of Kerry, ride bikes around Killarney National Park, and just maybe see what's so great about those Sundays before a bank holiday. :-)
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Drinks With The Prime Minister
Since Brian has been the primary "blogger" for a while, I figured it was my turn to post a blog (actually he just hogs the computer the whole time so I can't blog-haha).
Everything has been going really well here the past couple of weeks. I am still enjoying teaching, even though it is quite different from teaching in the United States. Just a few examples of differences here-there's no nurse in the school so if a child is sick, bleeding, etc. it is up to the teacher to take care of it(the other day I went to go tend to a bleeding child and I found that since there were no bandaids, I was left to use the other first aid supplies which consisted of scissors, rubber gloves and tissues), there is no cafeteria, so basically the kids have about eight minutes to eat their lunch in their classroom (guess the Irish aren't paranoid about peanut allergies like we are in the U.S.), and the boys all address the teachers very formally, such as "yes, miss" or "sorry, sir", etc. There are lots of other differences, but I won't bore you with all of those now. The staff I work with is so great- they are helpful, very sociable and have a wonderful laid back attitude. The boys are good too, and I am really enjoying doing counseling sessions- I do groups with two autistic boys, a social skills/self esteem group, and an anger management group (so far no broken chairs!).
Quick funny story. The other night I went out to dinner with a few of the girls that I work with to a restaurant/pub in Dublin. Apparently it is known that the prime minister of Ireland, Bertie Ahern, frequents this pub on occasion. Well, as we were eating the prime minister came in and sat down at the bar right next to us and had a few pints with a few of his political friends. No one really paid too much mind to him except for a drunk girl who started chatting to him. No real big security guards, just him enjoying some pints with friends. Now can you imagine George Bush having a pint at your local bar? Crazy!
Everything has been going really well here the past couple of weeks. I am still enjoying teaching, even though it is quite different from teaching in the United States. Just a few examples of differences here-there's no nurse in the school so if a child is sick, bleeding, etc. it is up to the teacher to take care of it(the other day I went to go tend to a bleeding child and I found that since there were no bandaids, I was left to use the other first aid supplies which consisted of scissors, rubber gloves and tissues), there is no cafeteria, so basically the kids have about eight minutes to eat their lunch in their classroom (guess the Irish aren't paranoid about peanut allergies like we are in the U.S.), and the boys all address the teachers very formally, such as "yes, miss" or "sorry, sir", etc. There are lots of other differences, but I won't bore you with all of those now. The staff I work with is so great- they are helpful, very sociable and have a wonderful laid back attitude. The boys are good too, and I am really enjoying doing counseling sessions- I do groups with two autistic boys, a social skills/self esteem group, and an anger management group (so far no broken chairs!).
Quick funny story. The other night I went out to dinner with a few of the girls that I work with to a restaurant/pub in Dublin. Apparently it is known that the prime minister of Ireland, Bertie Ahern, frequents this pub on occasion. Well, as we were eating the prime minister came in and sat down at the bar right next to us and had a few pints with a few of his political friends. No one really paid too much mind to him except for a drunk girl who started chatting to him. No real big security guards, just him enjoying some pints with friends. Now can you imagine George Bush having a pint at your local bar? Crazy!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
New Pics Posted
We've posted pictures taken throughout the month of September. It was a pretty busy month: we had visits from Melissa's friend Emi and her sister Marie, a quick visit from my friend Erin who was out in Ireland for a wedding, our friend Justin where we made a weekend trip to Galway and toured the Burren and Cliffs of Moher, and our friend Jen from California that we met in Prague. Thanks for the visits!
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/skynyrd13/SeptemberVisitorsAndDublinCultureNight
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/skynyrd13/SeptemberVisitorsAndDublinCultureNight
Monday, October 1, 2007
I Got a Job!
I am now gainfully employed at KBC Asset Management right here in Dublin city centre on Dawson Street. I got the job offer on Thursday and had my first day today. My position is a Portfolio Assistant so I handle cash and trade processing for the portfolios they manage, as well as other things you probably have no interest in hearing about :-) . My head is spinning a little from all the information thrown at me today, but I should get the hang of it soon, and everybody there seems real nice.
It's also such a pleasure to be able to walk to work and avoid the road rage of New Jersey. My commute includes (if I choose) a leisurely stroll through St. Stephen's Green with lots of trees, grass, and water, and I can still get to work in about 20 minutes. Much better than hopping on a bus and a train. Sorry Melissa!!!
It's also such a pleasure to be able to walk to work and avoid the road rage of New Jersey. My commute includes (if I choose) a leisurely stroll through St. Stephen's Green with lots of trees, grass, and water, and I can still get to work in about 20 minutes. Much better than hopping on a bus and a train. Sorry Melissa!!!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Tour of Our Apartment!
Hey everybody, it looks like we're officially settling into Irish life, as it's been a few weeks since we updated the blog. Sorry about the Irish time!
Here's a little video of our apartment. It cuts off near the end, not sure why, but here it is!
Quick updates here: I went on 3 interviews in the past 2 days so the odds should be good, right? Melissa is doing well at school and adjusting to the Irish educational system. Our friend Justin is coming tomorrow to visit, and we'll be making a weekend trip to Galway, where I plan on saying "I miss this place!" about 72 times.
Luckily, I can't watch any baseball over here because the Mets are killing me just by reading the game recaps. I'm still looking forward to watching playoff games at 4am here so they better not let me down and lose the division (to the Phillies no less)!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Backpacking Pics Are Up!
We took over 600 or so pictures, but we narrowed it down to around 130. Take a look and enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/skynyrd13/BackpackingTrip
We also have a phone (thanks Julie and Renessa!) through Vonage, so give us a call anytime. It uses a New Jersey area code so it shouldn't cost much at all to call us, and we get free outgoing calls to the U.S. so call us and we'll call you right back! The number is 973-337-2315.
Melissa starts school on Monday and hopefully I should hear if I have any interviews set up by the end of the week. Stay tuned!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Almost Done with Backpacking!
Sorry the blog hasn't been updated in, well, forever, but we arrived in rainy Interlaken a few hours ago. Since the last post we went from Begium to Frankfurt for a night, while en route to Prague. We stayed in Prague for 4 days and met some great people (mostly drunk, Irish guys) and saw most of what there is to see in Prague.
Our next stop was Vienna for 3 days where we met up with my friend Mike who had just arrived in Europe to start a teaching program in Budapest. To sum up the beginning of his travels, he didn't have his luggage because he didn't have the required luggage tags on his connecting flight so he had to buy boy's underwear from a Japanese lady's stand. Vienna was really clean and modern and we even got dressed up (partially) and saw a classical musical show.
Munich was next. We did a bike tour and saw the English Garden, apparently the biggest park in Europe. We also went to the Hofbrau Haus, a famous beer hall, and had some liter beers with two Italian men who spoke not a word of English. There was definitely a lot of charades going on, and a lot of cheersing ("prosting" in German).
Afterwards, we went to Zurich in Switzerland and stayed with Melissa's aunt for 4 days. It was a nice change of pace from staying in hostels and we were completely spoiled with meals and a planned itinerary of things to see and do. We went to a family reunion of Melissa's Swiss relatives one day, which was very interesting since everyone spoke Swiss German and only a few spoke English. We did a boat tour of Lake Zurich, went on a ghost tour of the city, and ate a lot.
Now we're in Interlaken for 3 days before heading to our last stop in Geneva to visit Melissa's friend Donna and her husband and baby. Hopefully the weather clears up so we can do some type of fun outdoor adventure trip. I think it's safe to say that this will be the last blog post before we get back to Dublin next Sunday evening. According to Eircom, there should be a package waiting for us when we get back so we can hook up the internet, so as soon as we can we will post hundreds of pictures to bore you with, and rehash little stories of our travels.
We're having a great time and can't believe we've been living out of a backpack for 3 weeks already. Please email us and let us know how you're all doing! Cheers!
Our next stop was Vienna for 3 days where we met up with my friend Mike who had just arrived in Europe to start a teaching program in Budapest. To sum up the beginning of his travels, he didn't have his luggage because he didn't have the required luggage tags on his connecting flight so he had to buy boy's underwear from a Japanese lady's stand. Vienna was really clean and modern and we even got dressed up (partially) and saw a classical musical show.
Munich was next. We did a bike tour and saw the English Garden, apparently the biggest park in Europe. We also went to the Hofbrau Haus, a famous beer hall, and had some liter beers with two Italian men who spoke not a word of English. There was definitely a lot of charades going on, and a lot of cheersing ("prosting" in German).
Afterwards, we went to Zurich in Switzerland and stayed with Melissa's aunt for 4 days. It was a nice change of pace from staying in hostels and we were completely spoiled with meals and a planned itinerary of things to see and do. We went to a family reunion of Melissa's Swiss relatives one day, which was very interesting since everyone spoke Swiss German and only a few spoke English. We did a boat tour of Lake Zurich, went on a ghost tour of the city, and ate a lot.
Now we're in Interlaken for 3 days before heading to our last stop in Geneva to visit Melissa's friend Donna and her husband and baby. Hopefully the weather clears up so we can do some type of fun outdoor adventure trip. I think it's safe to say that this will be the last blog post before we get back to Dublin next Sunday evening. According to Eircom, there should be a package waiting for us when we get back so we can hook up the internet, so as soon as we can we will post hundreds of pictures to bore you with, and rehash little stories of our travels.
We're having a great time and can't believe we've been living out of a backpack for 3 weeks already. Please email us and let us know how you're all doing! Cheers!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Melissa and I are in Bruges, Belgium right now. We can't say enough about how great it is here and we'll be sorry to leave. We arrived on Friday and over the last two days we've seen most of the major sights - climbed a belfry of 366 steps, went to the Markt and Burg squares, went to a chocolate museum and ate a lot of it, had great Belgian ice cream and waffles, and commented about 20 times how cheap everything is compared to Dublin! We leave in a few hours for Frankfurt, where we'll spend about a day before we hop on another train for Prague.
Our first stop before Bruges was Amsterdam. We had both been there before, but we were still able to see so many things. We went to the Van Gogh museum, Anne Frank House, walked by or over about 50 canals, ate at some nice (and cheap!) ethnic cafes and also some late-night McDonald's (sorry!).
We've met some nice people so far from all over, and our hostels have been good. It's been a great start to our trip and we still have exactly 3 weeks left to go!
Cheers!
Our first stop before Bruges was Amsterdam. We had both been there before, but we were still able to see so many things. We went to the Van Gogh museum, Anne Frank House, walked by or over about 50 canals, ate at some nice (and cheap!) ethnic cafes and also some late-night McDonald's (sorry!).
We've met some nice people so far from all over, and our hostels have been good. It's been a great start to our trip and we still have exactly 3 weeks left to go!
Cheers!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Apartment Hunting and The Tale of Two Stephens
Before we leave for our trip, I figure I should tell the story of how we came about getting our apartment.
It was Saturday, only a few days into our trip, and Melissa and I found ourselves with 3 apartment viewings on the same day, quite a tall order for two people who barely knew their way around the city. Our first viewing was in Ballsbridge, a little east of the city centre, but within walking distance and apparently a very nice area from what we had heard. We arrived early and sat across the street from the building and ate scones and pretended like we already lived there. We watched as a couple walked towards the building, and we cursed them under our breath, knowing they were there for the viewing as well. We got up pretty quickly and walked across to make sure no one else could get in line in front of us. It turned out the apartment was on the ground floor, had a musty smell (which a French guy behind us said was probably from it being on the ground floor) and the front door was built by circus midgets, with just enough room for a child to walk through. Fine, we thought. It's the first viewing and we just want to get as much experience doing this as we can. We gave the person showing the apartment, Stephen, our info and references and he said he would contact us later in the day.
We moved onto the second viewing, in an area known as Ringsend, just a little walk north of our first viewing. This must have been a sign that we did not want to do business with the landlord, but he put down the wrong address on the apartment listing. We went to the wrong address at first, and after speaking with a nice Irish lady who let us know we were not the first ones to come by that day for a viewing, we called the landlord and he mumbled something to Melissa for a minute or so, and then mentioned 100 Gordon Street. His listing said 100 South Lotts Road. Eh, it's Ireland we said. So, then we met up with the landlord and were floored at how nice the apartment was. The neighborhood was desolate, to say the least, but the apartment was totally renovated and everything was new and spotless. We still weren't sure how we felt about the landlord, a 20-something guy who looked like he just came from a pub, but we once again gave our info and references and hoped for the best. After leaving I received a text from Stephen, the person showing the first apartment, and he said they selected another couple for the apartment. Oh well, it's only our first day we said, and the place smelled and we didn't want to have bars on our ground floor windows anyway.
Our third viewing was in a neighborhood called Portobello, a little southwest of St. Stephen's Green. As we arrived at the apartment, we saw a line stretching out the front door, about 20 people deep. Figuring we had no shot being at the back of the line, and wet from a downpour that happened as we were walking there (my umbrella broke during this, but luckily Melissa had one), we waited our turn. We climbed up the steps to the top floor and looked around the apartment as the landlord was sitting and talking with a couple. When they left we sat down with the landlord, Stephen (lots of Stephen's, no? Remember this.) Now being pros at the viewing game, we handed over our info and references and talked ourselves up, making sure I mentioned my Irish heritage. Stephen was very nice and said to contact him on Monday, and he would let us know if we were selected. We left and hunted for a place to eat.
About 5 minutes later I received a call from Stephen and he said, "I don't normally do this, but after contacting the couple I selected for the apartment, their references did not turn out well. You were my second choice and I was wondering if you would like to take it." Thinking quickly, I said that Melissa was not with me (she was right next to me) and that I would need to talk it over with her. Now, it's important to note that at this point I think I'm talking to Stephen #1 from Ballsbridge, since he texted me earlier and said they were renting to someone else (and I'm thinking that their references were bad), and also because Stephen #2 from Portobello said to contact him on Monday. After talking it over, Melissa and I decide not to take the apartment and we call back Stephen (once again, I'm thinking it's Stephen #1) and tell him thanks, but no thanks.
Fast forward to Monday morning. We didn't hear from the landlord in Ringsend, so we figure that place went to someone else. No worries, we still have the Portobello apartment as a possibility! I call Stephen #2 and ask him if the apartment is still available. He seems really confused and tells me that I already turned it down. "Huh?", I say. So, after a minute of going through the details of Saturday, I come to the realization that I confused the two Stephen's and that we turned down the apartment that we actually wanted. So, at this point I'm killing myself on the inside, but luckily Stephen #2 said that even though he was going to show the apartment the following night to someone, if we came by that night with our deposit we might get it. And we did. But not after some hassle getting money from the ATM's because of the daily withdrawal limit. Nothing comes easy I suppose, but our good luck continued and we got an apartment after being in Ireland for 6 days. Not bad.
It was Saturday, only a few days into our trip, and Melissa and I found ourselves with 3 apartment viewings on the same day, quite a tall order for two people who barely knew their way around the city. Our first viewing was in Ballsbridge, a little east of the city centre, but within walking distance and apparently a very nice area from what we had heard. We arrived early and sat across the street from the building and ate scones and pretended like we already lived there. We watched as a couple walked towards the building, and we cursed them under our breath, knowing they were there for the viewing as well. We got up pretty quickly and walked across to make sure no one else could get in line in front of us. It turned out the apartment was on the ground floor, had a musty smell (which a French guy behind us said was probably from it being on the ground floor) and the front door was built by circus midgets, with just enough room for a child to walk through. Fine, we thought. It's the first viewing and we just want to get as much experience doing this as we can. We gave the person showing the apartment, Stephen, our info and references and he said he would contact us later in the day.
We moved onto the second viewing, in an area known as Ringsend, just a little walk north of our first viewing. This must have been a sign that we did not want to do business with the landlord, but he put down the wrong address on the apartment listing. We went to the wrong address at first, and after speaking with a nice Irish lady who let us know we were not the first ones to come by that day for a viewing, we called the landlord and he mumbled something to Melissa for a minute or so, and then mentioned 100 Gordon Street. His listing said 100 South Lotts Road. Eh, it's Ireland we said. So, then we met up with the landlord and were floored at how nice the apartment was. The neighborhood was desolate, to say the least, but the apartment was totally renovated and everything was new and spotless. We still weren't sure how we felt about the landlord, a 20-something guy who looked like he just came from a pub, but we once again gave our info and references and hoped for the best. After leaving I received a text from Stephen, the person showing the first apartment, and he said they selected another couple for the apartment. Oh well, it's only our first day we said, and the place smelled and we didn't want to have bars on our ground floor windows anyway.
Our third viewing was in a neighborhood called Portobello, a little southwest of St. Stephen's Green. As we arrived at the apartment, we saw a line stretching out the front door, about 20 people deep. Figuring we had no shot being at the back of the line, and wet from a downpour that happened as we were walking there (my umbrella broke during this, but luckily Melissa had one), we waited our turn. We climbed up the steps to the top floor and looked around the apartment as the landlord was sitting and talking with a couple. When they left we sat down with the landlord, Stephen (lots of Stephen's, no? Remember this.) Now being pros at the viewing game, we handed over our info and references and talked ourselves up, making sure I mentioned my Irish heritage. Stephen was very nice and said to contact him on Monday, and he would let us know if we were selected. We left and hunted for a place to eat.
About 5 minutes later I received a call from Stephen and he said, "I don't normally do this, but after contacting the couple I selected for the apartment, their references did not turn out well. You were my second choice and I was wondering if you would like to take it." Thinking quickly, I said that Melissa was not with me (she was right next to me) and that I would need to talk it over with her. Now, it's important to note that at this point I think I'm talking to Stephen #1 from Ballsbridge, since he texted me earlier and said they were renting to someone else (and I'm thinking that their references were bad), and also because Stephen #2 from Portobello said to contact him on Monday. After talking it over, Melissa and I decide not to take the apartment and we call back Stephen (once again, I'm thinking it's Stephen #1) and tell him thanks, but no thanks.
Fast forward to Monday morning. We didn't hear from the landlord in Ringsend, so we figure that place went to someone else. No worries, we still have the Portobello apartment as a possibility! I call Stephen #2 and ask him if the apartment is still available. He seems really confused and tells me that I already turned it down. "Huh?", I say. So, after a minute of going through the details of Saturday, I come to the realization that I confused the two Stephen's and that we turned down the apartment that we actually wanted. So, at this point I'm killing myself on the inside, but luckily Stephen #2 said that even though he was going to show the apartment the following night to someone, if we came by that night with our deposit we might get it. And we did. But not after some hassle getting money from the ATM's because of the daily withdrawal limit. Nothing comes easy I suppose, but our good luck continued and we got an apartment after being in Ireland for 6 days. Not bad.
Sick of Ireland, So We're Leaving
Well, we're not really sick of Ireland (how could we be?), but it's almost time for us to leave for our backpacking trip. We leave Wednesday morning really early, like 4am early, in order to catch our 6am flight to Amsterdam. Here's where our travels will take us over the next 26 days: Amsterdam, Bruges (Belgium), Frankfurt, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Zurich, Interlaken, and Geneva. Melissa has family in Zurich and a friend living in Geneva, so that will make for a nice change near the end of our trip when we will undoubtedly be sick of hostels and their breakfasts consisting of bread and juice. All our hostels are booked and our eurail passes (for the trains) are ready to go, so we can't wait to leave and get our backpacking on! We'll do our best to keep the blog updated, and if we're lucky (and figure out how) we may even upload some pics to view. Cheers!
PS- It hasn't rained yet in Dublin today. You don't know how exciting this is to us.
PS- It hasn't rained yet in Dublin today. You don't know how exciting this is to us.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Pics!
I'm beating the clock at the internet cafe here. 2 minutes to go!
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/skynyrd13/GoingAwayPartyAndFirst2WeeksOfIreland
This is what we could upload so far, so enjoy!
E-mail if you have any problems viewing them. Thanks!
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/skynyrd13/GoingAwayPartyAndFirst2WeeksOfIreland
This is what we could upload so far, so enjoy!
E-mail if you have any problems viewing them. Thanks!
Eircom Is On Irish Time
Quick post here. We're still waiting for our internet to be hooked up by Eircom, Ireland's biggest (and slowest apparently) provider of telephone, internet, and headache services. It's not so much Eircom's fault really as it is the previous tenant of our apartment, one Derek Burke. Besides leaving a dirty apartment that Melissa and I spent three days cleaning, including wall stains in almost every room that we think were coffee (based on the color, texture, and coffee packages that remained in the fridge), Derek also left behind past due bills with the electric company and Eircom - Eircom's was over 250 Euros. Because of this they shut down the phone line so we're now left to prove we're not Derek Burke so they can reactivate the phone line and get our account started up. To my surprise, Eircom told me yesterday that their sales team would contact me today after the credit department approved our residence's reactivation so they could start our account (huh? customer service contacting US - crazy, right?) but don't worry, it's now 6pm and I haven't heard anything. Ireland is back to normal.
Things are actually going quite well, so don't feel like we're frustrated or anything here. Melissa has secured her job at Scoil Assaim, so she starts in the beginning of September (she's very excited) once we return from our backpacking trip. More on that later. Just wanted to give a little update since we're relying still on internet cafes! And pictures will be up soon, once we get internet! Patience!
Things are actually going quite well, so don't feel like we're frustrated or anything here. Melissa has secured her job at Scoil Assaim, so she starts in the beginning of September (she's very excited) once we return from our backpacking trip. More on that later. Just wanted to give a little update since we're relying still on internet cafes! And pictures will be up soon, once we get internet! Patience!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
No Homeless Shelter For Us!
Sorry it's been a few days since our last post, but we found an apartment and we're pretty much all moved in and we're just taking care of the cleaning and unpacking and buying of everything we need. We don't have the cushy free internet access that we did at the hostel, so I'm at an internet cafe right now, and this will be our only internet access until we get it set up in our apartment (not sure how long that will take). Basic details: it's a top floor apartment which is actually set on two floors, with one floor having the bathroom (which is actually split into 2 bathrooms - one with a toilet and sink and the other with a shower and sink), and the top floor having the living room and kitchen area, and the bedroom. We have a balcony which is pretty sweet, and it looks out over possibly the only street in Dublin with trees. It reminds me a little of the Huxtable residence from the Cosby Show. Funny thing about Dublin is that it seems like noone here is actually Irish. We knew this before coming but you don't really grasp it until you live here for a little while. Nevertheless, it's great.
Hopefully we'll get internet at the apartment sometime soon so we can stay current with the blog, so hang tight and we'll get some pictures up soon! E-mail us!
Hopefully we'll get internet at the apartment sometime soon so we can stay current with the blog, so hang tight and we'll get some pictures up soon! E-mail us!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Trying to go from homeless to a home
Make sure you read Brian's post below before mine!
Hey everyone! As Brian said, our first few days in Dublin were pretty busy, but still a lot of fun! Since Brian already discussed the "homeless" story, I figured I would start by telling you about our adventures so far looking for an apartment. Looking for an apartment in Dublin is pretty different than looking for one in the United States. Basically, if you're interested in an apartment you have to call and schedule a "viewing" or show up at a viewing that is scheduled for a bunch of people at once. So on Saturday Brian and I went to our first viewings of three apartments in the area. We put our name on a list at all three apartments and then talked to the contact person at each apartment for a few minutes trying to impress them with our good looks and American charm-hehe. It's crazy- you literally get a few minutes to try and convince someone that they should rent to you rather than the other people who are at the viewing. Apparently there are too many people in Dublin and too few apartments. Anyways, we did get a call back from one apartment, but decided that as much as we don't want to be living with the homeless at the Housing Advice Centre, we also didn't want to live in a shabby, smelly basement apartment- so we turned the apartment down. Hopefully we won't be kicking ourselves later. We're still waiting to hear back from the other apartments and we'll continue to look at apartments this week.
On a good note, I went on some interviews and got a job at an all boys school ages 7-12. The school is in a suburb outside of the city centre, but is an easy train ride away. I'll be a resource teacher for kids with learning disabilities. The principal (she's a funny character) is also going to let me do some counseling sessions with some of the boys. Should be fun! There's a weird system with hiring and I won't know for sure if I have the job until Friday, but hopefully everything will go through okay.
As for Brian, he went on an interview this past week and it looks like he has a good shot to get a finance job when we get back from backpacking. (If not, Brian can do the cooking and cleaning and hang out at the pubs all day while I am the sole breadwinner).
More to come soon!
Hey everyone! As Brian said, our first few days in Dublin were pretty busy, but still a lot of fun! Since Brian already discussed the "homeless" story, I figured I would start by telling you about our adventures so far looking for an apartment. Looking for an apartment in Dublin is pretty different than looking for one in the United States. Basically, if you're interested in an apartment you have to call and schedule a "viewing" or show up at a viewing that is scheduled for a bunch of people at once. So on Saturday Brian and I went to our first viewings of three apartments in the area. We put our name on a list at all three apartments and then talked to the contact person at each apartment for a few minutes trying to impress them with our good looks and American charm-hehe. It's crazy- you literally get a few minutes to try and convince someone that they should rent to you rather than the other people who are at the viewing. Apparently there are too many people in Dublin and too few apartments. Anyways, we did get a call back from one apartment, but decided that as much as we don't want to be living with the homeless at the Housing Advice Centre, we also didn't want to live in a shabby, smelly basement apartment- so we turned the apartment down. Hopefully we won't be kicking ourselves later. We're still waiting to hear back from the other apartments and we'll continue to look at apartments this week.
On a good note, I went on some interviews and got a job at an all boys school ages 7-12. The school is in a suburb outside of the city centre, but is an easy train ride away. I'll be a resource teacher for kids with learning disabilities. The principal (she's a funny character) is also going to let me do some counseling sessions with some of the boys. Should be fun! There's a weird system with hiring and I won't know for sure if I have the job until Friday, but hopefully everything will go through okay.
As for Brian, he went on an interview this past week and it looks like he has a good shot to get a finance job when we get back from backpacking. (If not, Brian can do the cooking and cleaning and hang out at the pubs all day while I am the sole breadwinner).
More to come soon!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Are ya okay?
Hey everybody! Well, it rained the first day we arrived in Dublin and really, it seems to either be raining or there is a threat of rain all the time. Everyone is saying this is the worst summer they've had in years and our friend Jim at the homeless shelter (more on that later) said they had 3 straight nice days in April and that has been it. They overbooked the hostel for our first night here so we got upgraded to a hotel room next door which sounds great, but it also involved lugging around our hundreds of pounds of luggage and keeping it locked up while we were in between rooms - we're ripped now because of that and also walking at least 5 miles a day.
Our first few days involved taking care of a lot of necessary stuff - buying cell phones, looking for apartments, interviewing for jobs, etc. - so we didn't get the opportunity to go out and do what the Irish do best - drink! Luckily, we got that monkey off our back last night and went to a pub in Temple Bar and listened to some great live traditional Irish music. Melissa danced with and made friends with an Irish girl, and we tried figuring out the mystery of how to answer the question "Are ya okay?", which is our equivalent of "Can I help you?" and a bunch of other phrases.
One day I was walking around Temple Bar by myself while Melissa was on an interview, and I saw a place called the Housing Advice Centre. Great I thought! This would be a perfect place to go to and sit down and talk with someone about finding an apartment, and hopefully get some tips. So Melissa and I went there the next day and when we entered the place we were met by two men who gave us some pretty strange looks as they sized us up and asked if they could help us. After I said we were looking for information on finding an apartment in Dublin, the one guy, who later introduced himself as Jim, asked us "Do you know what this place is?". I said I thought it was a place to get advice on housing, and he said it sort of was, but they operate as a place where the homeless can come and get meals and stay and talk with other people. They were nice and still allowed us to come in and sit down and get food and Jim talked to us for a little while, and we got to watch an older man (probably homeless) lick his soup bowl and go back for seconds (how can you not for 80 cents!) . Throughout it all we stayed humble, because as I reminded Melissa, that could be us in a couple of weeks.
More to come soon! Feel free to leave comments.
Our first few days involved taking care of a lot of necessary stuff - buying cell phones, looking for apartments, interviewing for jobs, etc. - so we didn't get the opportunity to go out and do what the Irish do best - drink! Luckily, we got that monkey off our back last night and went to a pub in Temple Bar and listened to some great live traditional Irish music. Melissa danced with and made friends with an Irish girl, and we tried figuring out the mystery of how to answer the question "Are ya okay?", which is our equivalent of "Can I help you?" and a bunch of other phrases.
One day I was walking around Temple Bar by myself while Melissa was on an interview, and I saw a place called the Housing Advice Centre. Great I thought! This would be a perfect place to go to and sit down and talk with someone about finding an apartment, and hopefully get some tips. So Melissa and I went there the next day and when we entered the place we were met by two men who gave us some pretty strange looks as they sized us up and asked if they could help us. After I said we were looking for information on finding an apartment in Dublin, the one guy, who later introduced himself as Jim, asked us "Do you know what this place is?". I said I thought it was a place to get advice on housing, and he said it sort of was, but they operate as a place where the homeless can come and get meals and stay and talk with other people. They were nice and still allowed us to come in and sit down and get food and Jim talked to us for a little while, and we got to watch an older man (probably homeless) lick his soup bowl and go back for seconds (how can you not for 80 cents!) . Throughout it all we stayed humble, because as I reminded Melissa, that could be us in a couple of weeks.
More to come soon! Feel free to leave comments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
