Dubs from the Planet Meaghers

Hi all,

Well, it is a well appreciated "bank holiday," Monday here which means no work for me and for now, it is sunny out there (although I've learned that that can change at the drop of a hat). Tom unfortunately is working for the slave-driving corporate whores who employ him, so I have hit the streets of Dublin with a to-do list the size of Montana and am trying to appreciate my free time on my own and the sun while it lasts.

Overall, it was not a bad weekend. Have to say, I was more than overjoyed to have three days which did not involve a commute to Drogheda to sit in front of a computer for 8 hours in someone's living room...that in and of itself was enough to make me a very happy girl. Friday night, we had our first guests to our new abode. Tom's friend Leon and his girlfriend Esther came over and we just kicked it in our living and had a few drinks and, "a bit of a chat," as they say in these parts. Ended up going out for one to one of our locals called, Meaghers. Before I saw the sign, I thought we were going to a pub called, Mars, as that is pretty close to the way it's actually pronounced. On our way home, we hit up the chippie next door which Leon claims has the best smoked cod and chips in the city...the place looks like nothing but a hole in the wall, but I have to say, it was pretty good. Whenever I pass by, the same Chinese man and woman are in there working away, no matter the time of day, which is just another example to fly in the face of some of these xenophobic Dubs that the foreigners are not all here to suck off the social welfare system. I definitely had that on my mind when we hit up the chippie as Leon went on a little tangent in the bar about just that. I think many of the Dubs are having a really hard time adjusting to the influx of foreigners who have arrived en masse in the past 5 years or so and I can understand that it must be a bit of a shock for them but nonetheless it's hard to listen to people say the most assinine (sp?) things about the lazy foreigners taking all the benefits from the hard working people of Ireland. Another favorite is that all the foreigners are taking the jobs at Spar and Abrakebabra... (convenient store and crappy fast food joint.) Much like the states, alot of the foreign laborers seem to take the jobs that the Irish don't really want anyway and sometimes get exploited doing it... so all I can say is...cry me a river. Also notable is that whenever I witness someone going on an anti-foreigner rant, they are always like, Oh, but you know I don't mean you, it's those Nigerians or Asians or insert some such other non-white population... I'm sure Ireland and it's infrastructure will adjust and public policy will be created so that the locals don't feel as if the asylum seekers are taking all their money, but it may be a bit of a rocky road for now. From my point of view, all the diversity makes Dublin a more interesting place with much better food...haha.

Saturday, Tom and I hit the town to buy a bunch of exciting things including a toaster, a phone and sheets...wahooo. Am trying to make our house really feel like ours, progress is slow as I don't have time to do much during the week but we're definitely getting there. Saturday night, Tom and I walked through the Docklands to a neighborhood called Ringsend which is a very old skool kind of place with a real neighborhoody feel. Jane lives there and was having a dinner party. Her cottage looks out on the river which is full of giant barges and cranes. Cool view. The dinner party was very good fun. Delicious food and drink and good company. Met a couple who I really like. The woman kind of reminded me of the singer from the band, The Gossip if she was Irish and not from the South...haha. Very spunky and fun. The crowd was extremely fan-boy so at times the indie music conversation was way beyond me but they were very down to earth about it and not wanky pretentious as some indie types can be. And politically progressive so I didn't have to listen to any bullshit about the lazy Nigerians...haha. We had black bean (yes black bean!) nachos and grilled trout with these lovely side salads and Marks and Spencer's desserts which are amazingly good. Got a taxi home around 3am...one of those nights that just gets away from you. Good times.

Sunday, I went to my first G.A.A game at Croke Park (known as Croker to the locals.) G.A.A also known as Gailic Football or "Gaa," is kind of a mix of soccer, American Football and Rugby all played with no pads of any kind. It's super fast paced and actually pretty fun to watch as the players use both hands and feet to get either soccer type goals or football type kicks through those high-up poles that they have in American football. (No clue what those are actually called.) The game was Co. Dublin vs. Co. Meath which is just to the north-west of Dublin which is a a very Redsox/Yankees type rivalry and there were 65,000 people there to watch it. The Dubs all sit in this one section and look like a sea of blue with Dub shirts and flags and the like. The game was super close but the Dubs prevailed and you would have thought they just won the World Cup for all the celebrations. Super dramatic music was played at the end-something like the Irish version of, "We are the Champions," or something. It is a seriously rough game. 4 or 5 times, they had to stop play because someone was on the ground and not getting up. They just jump and grab and tackle...gives a whole new meaning to that football fouling term, "unnecessary roughness." Absolutely no such thing in G.A.A...haha. Afterwards, every pub in my neighborhood was packed with revelers (including Meaghers) as the park is close to our neighborhood but we ended up going into Town with Tom's coworkers Bryce and Michelle for some Asian-Fusion type dinner at this place called Mao (which is good but not as good as Brown Sugar...sniff) and had an early night of it.

So, alas, tomorrow starts another work week. Seems somewhat sad that I already dread working...Was I that person who said I could never not have a job?! Would absolutely love to just freelance and make my own hours...who knows, it could happen at some point, but for now I am Drogheda bound tomorrow. Going to make the most of today.

Hope you are all enjoying your extremely warm temperatures while I am comfortably wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt today. I'm jealous!

Be well.