My life on the Train

Hi all,

Well, it's been a busy week, good, bad and all the rest as things usually are around here. Am settling into my new place...it's amazingly spacious compared to my two room apartment in Central Sq. Someone went a little crazy with the paintbrush (yellow kitchen, blue bathroom, something approaching what Tom calls, "terracotta" walls in the bedroom...) but the living room is huge and has a beautiful victorian era fireplace and there's a sliding door out to a pretty little patio/yard type thing and there are nice wood floors upstairs and a skylight so I can't really complain. The strange thing about apartments coming furnished here in Dublin is the problem of where to put things that you don't want...I was able to find a hiding place for the ceramic ducks (in the closet under the stairs) but am going to have to tie up a couple of big, flowery rugs and hoist them into the attic space to get rid of them...haha. I found a good discount store and am starting to make the place my own...with some accessories in nice, neutral colors to offset whatever lunatic with a paintbrush lived here before...haha.

Have been attempting to become a real, legit, resident of this country. Got my green card last week after several hours in the National Immigration Bureau which was very exciting and surprisingly easy. Have not had such an easy time getting the Irish equivalent of a SSN (a PPS number). First off, the offices are only open during shortened business hours (10-4 with an hour break at lunch!) and you can only get the number in the neighborhood where you live or where you work. Anyway, made it down to the Drogheda Social Welfare Office this morning and showed them ID and a job offer letter only to find out that I need to present them with a utility bill in my name to prove my address. The chicken and egginess of this requirement is that I don't have any utility bills in my name because I don't have an Irish Bank account and the utilities here require either direct debiting or huge deposits...and I don't have an Irish bank account because I can't get a bank account without a PPS number...Oh the joy of ass-backward beaurocracy. At least in the states, I know exactly what type of assbackwardness to expect. Anyway, managed to find a work around if I get a letter from my landlord and present a utility bill in someone else's name at my address but this will push things back yet again and meanwhile, I can't get paid...Thank god for my Tommy, aka, sugar-daddy or I would be on the streets.

Also working on getting broadband and a land line in the house so I can stay in better contact with all y'all but this is also proving convoluded and time-consuming. Called up Eircom (the big-daddy telecommunications co.) to inquire about broadband and was told that I needed to have a phone number/landline to get broadband as the cust. service rep. told me that broadband goes through the phoneline...hello?! Not DSL mind you, but broadband...since when? Anyway, to get a phone-line one has to "rent," a line from who else but, Eircom for 27 euros a month. This is not phone service per se, just a charge for having a line and does not include any calls...Both local and international calls are charged per minute and at rates that would make any spoiled American cry. Anyway, to get broadband and or phone service, one needs to get this line rental from Eircom and until they mail us an account number, we can't sign up with any of the phone/cable companies...Ah, the strange, strange, world of telecommunications where you need a phone number so that they can tell you if you can get broadband which apparently goes through the phone line is an endless mystery to me...How would they explain my broadband connection and NO phoneline that was the setup in Cambridge?!!!

Alas, I don't mean to be a complainer but this stuff is all kind of funny (as is my ineptitude at navigating all of this infrastructure.) Everything I attempt to do really does take twice as long as I expect it will. I just have to laugh about so as not to rip my hair out.

Started my new job in Drogheda and so far the work has been fairly interesting. Went to a Dublin Institute of Technology Design Degree show tonight with my new boss which was pretty cool. The guy I'm working with seems fairly decent although working in someone's house with one other person who owns the company is definitely giving me bad Katie flashbacks....(shudder). The commute (while a scenically beautiful, coastal train ride) is extremely long and includes a 20 minute walk through the ghettos of north Dublin to the train station, nearly an hour on the train and then a 15 minute walk through a housing development in Drogheda. Work is definitely better than no work though so I will suck it up for now and either find another job or get a car and attempt to drive on the lefthand side of the road, the 28 miles to Drogheda. I really have a hard time thinking about shifting with my left hand but it will probably be better than walking through junkieville in the winter when it gets dark out early.

On a more positive note, It stays light here until almost 11pm every night which rocks and we've had some amount of bright sunshine everyday for the past week. Gotta love those long days...Have also found a most lovely restaurant on the north side which Tom and I and his parents went to last week and was absolute deliciousness. Got an invite to a dinner party this Saturday night which should be good fun and had a good night out last weekend with Tom and his coworkers which ended in 2am pizza in Dublin city centre. (Just like hifi...sigh...gotta love late night greasy eats mixed with copious amounts of scotch and soda...haha.) Figured out the hot water system in our new house - you have to flip a switch and heat the water before you shower - which ended my three day stretch of cold showers and did much for my overall mood.

So that's all the biz for now...Hope all is well out there with all of you. Am happily anticipating the American invasion in July...gotta use that spanky, new, spare room.

Back in Black

Hi All,

I apologize for my long silence but things have been incredibly crazy this month. To summarize, that job that I was offered at the Architecture firm fell through when they realized that they wouldn't be able to get me a visa. Serious let down...and Tom and I started discussing other options. I had another interview the day after I got the bad news about the architecture firm. This job was a small design studio out in the 'burbs (Drogheda). Bad commute but I really liked the studio's work so I decided to apply. Two days after the interview, I was back in Drogheda and was offered the job...yahooo. I looked into the visa situation and found out that for a company here to get me a work permit, they would have to prove that there was no one else in the EU that could do my job as well as I could...a pretty impossible task for a graphic designer when we are a dime a dozen...and So...I made the leap that I have been too scared to make for the last 5 years...and decided to get hitched. Changed my flight, finished up my freelance work at Snap Printing, took on another freelance job that I completed from Boston, went to a couple of networking meetings, packed, drank some scotch at the Barge and jumped on a plane for home...lovely, lovely, home.

When I arrived at Logan, Lolo, Marina and Brian were waiting to pick me up. Went home and saw my parents and ate yummy mom-food (manicotti and salad from the garden and other tasty Perry Street type foods.) It was so good to be home. Really, so good. Spent two weeks simultaneously catching up with all my peeps and trying to plan a barbecue wedding in my backyard. Needless to say, my feet hardly hit the ground. Tom flew in the following week and the craziness of planning this thing continued.

I have to say, the "wedding," went so much better than I could have even imagined. It didn't rain, the justice of the peace turned out to be amazing, found a hot but not too weddingy dress, Tom's parents were able to come and Tom's mom made me an incredible bouquet at the very last minute, the wine flowed freely and best of all, you all came, my lovelies. Who knew that such a flawless event could be planned in two weeks? Fabulous. Of course, everything couldn't be done in such a short time and we ended up using cheapy rings that we bought at the last minute. (Tom bought his about two hours before the ceremony...haha.)

Anyway, that's the last three weeks in a nutshell. For all of you who weren't at said backyard wedding, I'm going to be planning a bigger, more formal event for next year...but I can't even think about that just yet. Am back in Dublin now in my new place, starting my new job tomorrow with my newly acquired green card, navigating the strange and exhorbitant world of telecommunications and hot water (of which there is not much at the moment.) I have to say that it was hard to leave Boston after two weeks of such a lovefest, much harder than I expected it would be to come back. At least, it's sunny and warm today and I'm beginning to recover from my jetlag. I think it will take a while to adjust to all of these changes in my life...but here goes.

Vegan Anarchist Feminists and the World According to Women with Pointy Shoes

Hi All,
Well it's been a crazy eventful couple of days. First things first, insert clouds lifting and well placed sunbeams illuminating the sky and a little choral Aaaaaaahhhhhh in the background. Yes, it's true. I have a job offer. Just as I was starting to lose faith. Anyway, will start at the beginning. A friend of Tom's cousin's husband has been helping me to meet people and network and all that fun stuff so he invited me to this Chamber of Commerce business schmoozing event which of course, I was absolutely dreading. It was much as expected, lots of peeps in suits and woman in clip-clop pointy shoes (which are an epidemic in these parts) and lots of free wine which I attempted not to drink so as not to stumble around in front of potential employers. Luckily, Gerard (Tom's cousin's husband's friend) didn't abandon me and I wasn't that American girl without a suit on eating bruschetta by the bucketful. Met a couple of "useful" people and breathed a huge sigh of relief when I escaped out onto the Dublin streets and back towards my apartment. So I went from being a corporate whore (good god girl, Where are your pointy shoes?!) to a world where they eat pointy-shoe girls for breakfast a few hours later. Tom and I went up to North Dublin to this bar down an alleyway (called a laneway here) where Jane's friends were having a party celebrating Ladyfest, this big cultural event that they recently put on. It was like walking into Mod 100 at Ye Olde Hampshire college circa 1995. It's amazing how crusties look absolutely the same no matter what continent they live on...dyed hair, raggedy band t-shirts, jeans that could walk by themselves, and patches, patches and more patches. The bars are the same too: cheap beers in slightly dirty glasses and a pool table that's seen better days...haha There's something comforting about that. Just like home if everyone still looked like Megh in college. Anyway, plunked myself in front of the vegan friendly spread....mmmmm guacomole and chatted with a few cute girls who were actually, fairly friendly. (That's the thing about hipsters...they don't always tend to be the most friendly, inclusive bunch.)

Earlier on Thurs. got an email from the guy I thought was messing me about asking me if I could come in for a trial day the next day, on Friday. By the time I made it home from the crustie convention, it was past midnight so I just crashed out and got up at the crack of dawn to go make my trial run. They certainly just tossed me into the fray...I got there at 9am and was working on a project by 9:05am. In fact, they had me running jobs, talking to clients, emailing out jobs and the whole lot pretty much as soon as I walked in. Some client called me and asked me if I had received the email she sent....I was thinking "Uhhhhh, do I have email?!!!" Luckily, they use the same email system as Chedd so I was able to rise to the occasion and play like I was competent and knew all about their protocol...when in fact, no one even told me where the bathroom was...The design work itself was actually quite easy if a little bit depressing. It reminded me of the design I used to do for Katie - fairly low-end and with the added fun of making things purposefully ugly as hell to account for people's bad taste...(yes, I'm a design snob...haha) Anyway, after a day of being the new girl and trying to figure out how everything works and smile at the people around me and not want to slit my wrists after making the world's most hideous stationery, I was exhausted and a little bit bummed thinking that I would have to take this job that seemed a little like torture.

Got out of work and had three messages from Lafferty Design, the Architecture Firm where I interviewed on Wednesday (http://www.laffertydesign.com). Called them back and (will miracles never cease...) they offered me a job! Yessssssss. Talk about getting thrown a life preserver after a day of designing citicorp invitations to an Elton John concert. Was quite relieved - but seriously jittery after 2 days of schmoozing with strangers of all kinds for business and pleasure and all the rest of it. I kept just wanting to pace around the room while obsessively tapping my feet and chewing on my fingernails...and Tom was working until almost 11pm so I had no one to go out with for a few hours. Let me tell you how I missed you all at that moment. I just wanted to be able to go to the B-side and drink Mojitos and party like it was 1999 and celebrate...

Well, after trying to watch Sense and Sensibility unsuccessfully, I finally met Tom at work and ate cold pizza from his office and jetted off to a local with some of Tom's coworkers. Tom's friend Helen came out which was nice and we ended up out in this old-skool Irish pub till after 3am. I am just not built for these late nights but it was a good time nonetheless. This whole round buying thing is like alcoholism waiting to happen as everyone feels obliged to buy everyone else a drink and will absolutely not take no for an answer. I left 2 untouched whiskey and sodas on the table when we left as people just kept buying them...and this was after drinking 5 of them... Had a fairly relaxing rest of the weekend. Went to a lovely farmers market in Temple Bar and bought lots of nice veggies and cheese and bread and the like. Went shopping for work-type clothes in the big shopping center. Went to Tom's friend Steven's party and sat around with a bunch of stoned dudes watching snooker and playing this game where everyone holds onto a metal handle and the last person to hit their button gets an electrick shock...don't ask. Went out with Bryce and Michelle (Tom's coworkers from Boston) on Sunday afternoon for a few glasses of wine in this gigantic french aristocracy themed bar and then tried too late to find a place to eat dinner. Ended up eating friench fries and onion rings in TGIFridays which, as you can imagine, was not exactly my first choice for grub (not even my last choice especially when a narsty TGIFridays burger rings in at a hefty 15 euros...) but I learned not to try to go out to eat at 10pm on the Sunday night before a bank holiday....

Well, that's all the news for now. Am meeting with the head of the architecture firm tomorrow and doing another half (trial) day at Snap Printing tomorrow afternoon. Wednesday have a 7-8:30am (yes, am) business networking thing that Gerard invited me too out in the 'burbs and then a job interview in the afternoon in Drogheda, a city north of Dublin. (Figured I would still go on the interview in Drogheda just in case anything falls through with the architecture firm or visa or anything like that.) Going to be a strangely busy week. Talk about contrast, Last week, I was ready to start counting the hairs on my own head for lack of anything more pressing to do.

Hope you're all well. See you in less than two weeks. Save the date: Sat. May 21 am going to have a graduation/early birthday BBQ...Cannot wait to see you all. Take Care.

Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them in Dublin...

I never thought I would be nostalgic for the curmudgeonly, reserved, so-called unfriendly Boston ethos...and I'm not...haha, jus' kidding...I really, really, am. I have to say that for all the shit-talking that goes on about our stand-offish ways, with a Bostonian, you always know where you stand. I'm finding that Irish culture, at least in the world of Business is more akin to California than Massachusetts. People are just far too nice, in a sometimes duplicitous sort of way.

I've had a bunch of interviews now and they have all gone well and people have been all smiles and promises but I have yet to see any job offers. This one woman interviewed me and at the end of the interview said, "Great, so we need to have you in for a second interview to meet the big boss, I'll call you on Mon. or Tues. to arrange it...blah-de-blah," and then I never heard from her again. A few weeks later, I got a pdf attachment from her which was a form letter with all the usual, "we didn't pick you, we'll keep your CV on file..." Another guy, I interviewed with last week told me he wanted me to come in and do a trial day someday this week, that they just had to fix some problems they were having with their spare workstation...and again, it's now Wednesday and nothing. This time I decided to email him and see what the deal was and he said that they were still having problems with the workstation but that he would get in touch when they sorted it and get me in there....hhhhmmmm, maybe, just, maybe, he wasn't completely bullshitting me but I'm not convinced that I would have heard from him if I didn't make the extra effort. A family friend of Tom's who is a native Dub told me that many Americans are frustrated by the way that business is done here...People are all sweetness and light but where's the beef?

I really, really, really, don't need people to blow sunshine up my ass. I really, really, really, would rather have it straight. I know that's probably a bit rich coming from me who leans in the direction of telling people what they want to hear but good god, a whole country of me's is not a good thing. I'm finding that being away from home in some way, makes me more aware of who I am and all the external things, work, city, culture, friends, family etc... that have in some part defined me. It's kind of interesting really...that is when it's not really annoying. Well, I guess this is what I signed up for when I decided to move country. Everyday is a rollercoaster ride of all kinds of emotions...I love discovering new things and finding my way through all the things that are just a little bit (or a lot) different but I have my moments where I really am a stranger in a strange land and I just don't get it.

Christopher (one of Tom's good friends from Belfast) said something to me a few weeks ago that I've been carrying with me since. He just moved to London and rides the tube to work, and for those of you who don't know him, he is Mr. Casanova with the ladies. I seriously can't keep up. Anyway, he's got this thing where he sits next to a cute girl on the tube and starts chatting her up and if she's receptive, he asks her where she's getting off and if she'd like to have a drink. I am amazed by his ability to just put himself out there and said so and he responded that, "You have to be willing to take rejection to get what you want." Now, knowing Christopher, he was in no way trying to be deep...he was just thinking with...well, you get it...but it is a good point. One that I have been trying to keep in mind while being strung along by various potential employers.

So now I've written a novel of complaints and haven't told you all about the lovely grocery I found, spiceworld, with all sorts of gorgeous middle-eastern and medditerreanean foods and I haven't told you about my relaxing weekend in Belfast and my day trip to Killough and Ardglass, two fishing villages in Northern Ireland that are lovely...Oh well. Sometimes you just have to bitch a little. I hope you all don't mind. Well, I'll see you all soon and be sure to tell you exactly what I think of you...haha. I hope you're all not smiling and being aloof and reserved like good Bostonians should...Miss it madly.

Be well. See you all soon.

Fishing Boats in Howth

fishingboats3
Originally uploaded by di_juice.

Howth (Rhymes with Both)

howth_seal2
Originally uploaded by di_juice.

Hi All,

Took a trip up to Howth which is about a half hour north of Dublin city on an outcropping of land which separates Dublin Bay from the open ocean. It's a strange mix of affluent township, summer resort and fishing village all rolled into one.

I took a long cliffside hike along Howth head, very picturesque, high cliffs, rocky coast and beautiful deep blue water. The hike takes you to Howth Summit where you can see Dublin Bay and the mountains of Wicklow to the south. Unfortunately it wasn't a very clear day - kind of blustery with sun coming and going as it does here - so my view was mountainless but still not bad. There's also a big island to the north of Howth called Ireland's Eye which you can motorboat over to in the summer and from there I'm told, you can see Wales. Good stuff. After my hike, I met back up with the main road and walked through the kinds of neighborhoods where people give names to their houses the way we give names to our pets - the old lodge, green ivies, pine hill etc... Serious old skool money. I saw a couple of beautiful horses, no doubt the playthings of some wellbred family.

There are two long piers in Howth harbor - East Pier is all yachts and pleasure boats and west pier is all varieties of cool, old fishing boats in all sizes and colors. There are also a ton of shack-type places along west pier where you can buy fresh fish from the fishermen bringing in their catch. Apparently this is the center of the fishing industry in Dublin. In among the fishing boats were three seals. They seemed curious about the people watching them and came in for a closer look - which is when I snapped the above photo. If you click on the photo, you can see a bunch more pics of the fishing boats and things otherwise Howth related.

I also took a quick walk to Howth Castle which was strangely enough surrounded by a golf course...haha. There are almost as many castles as sheep in Ireland - I'm telling you they are everywhere. Must have been a lot of kings back in the day.

Now am back in town, getting ready to head to Belfast for the weekend. Went out last night with Tom and couple of the peeps he works with to The Market Bar. Huge place which is a renovated sausage (or shoes, I can't remember) factory with high ceilings and a pitched glass roof. We plunked ourselves on the upper level which looks down over the main bar and had a few not too exhorbitantly priced scotch and sodas. Actually it was whiskey and soda which I'm told is an entirely different thing and not to be confused...haha. Dominick, Tom's coworker was semi-horrified by my choice of drink so I made him taste it. I don't know if he's a convert but he didn't seem to hate it too much. The bar serves Tapas untill late which looked pretty tasty and might be fun to try out at some point. See all the exciting things you can do when you all come for a visit ;)

Well, I'm off to pack up a few things and sort out dinner. Found some absolutely kick-ass Italian specialty stores yesterday and made mass amounts of eye-tye lentil soup and other tasty Italian like treats last night. Gotta love leftovers like that. On the bean front, I found out that there's a mexican specialty grocer in a neighborhood on the northside so I may find my black beans yet...will keep you all posted as I know you're waiting with baited breath for black bean resolution.

Hope you're all well.

Where's the Bean?

It's amazing how some small task that takes me no time at all to do at home can somehow stretch to fill an entire Dublin day. Yesterday morning I set out walking as I usually do - on a mission of some combination of errands and tourist attractions and the occasional cup of coffee - and 8 hours later, my legs walked off me, I was only semi-successful in my errand running and soaking wet from an afternoon rain storm. I was looking for things that I thought would be simple to find, black beans and nice paper for my CV (along with a few other things that I did actually find easily.) I have seen all the great and small grocery stores in this city, from the highfalutin' Marks and Spencer to Tesco to Dunnes to the smattering of Asian grocery stores and even the Afro-Carribean grocers on Moore street who sell plantains and green lentils but no black beans. I went to the hippie health food, vitamin, store and the Indian market which had a huge array of spices and nan bread and other good things but no beans. The moral of the story is, Don't try to make any form of Mexican food if you happen to live in Ireland. Not only are there no black beans but there are no red beans and no pinto beans and no one, absolutely no one goes Goya in this place. I'm thinking of charging you all one bag o' beans as entry fee to my apartment when you come visit...haha.

Also difficult to find is the Irish equivalent of Paper Source or Pearl. I hit up every stationary store this side of Belfast and turned up Shite, absolute crap paper. I did find out that there's a fancy pants paper store in Dublin 8 but this was only after hours of walking and it's on towards a somewhat sketchy neighborhood that you wouldn't want to hit up after dark. I ended up buying some sort of okay, sort of resembling "cement" colored, Paper Source paper from the stationary store next to my apartment. It will have to do. Of course, I did come prepared with some lovely Paper Source paper from home but I did not account for this whole European A4 sized paper thing. I have lots of fabulous letter sized paper which is about as useful as an American dollar is in these parts. Everything really is just a little bit different.

Other than being black-bean deprived, all is well in these parts. It's actually sunny outside after a very icky, rainy, Sunday and mediocre Monday. Had lunch with Tommy Boy in the park and now am going to brave the world of European laundry for 8 euros a load. Wahoooo. Domestic bliss it is not. Someone give me a job please!

Hope you are all well.

Fun with Phonetics and a lot of Wine

Irish is the language of unpronouncable vowels and mysterious consonants. For example, the letters mh (as in Niamh) are pronounced as a v sound making the name niamh pronounced as "Neeve." This makes for some potentially sticky situations when trying to pronounce people's names and neighborhoods. Tom keeps making fun of me for my inability to get right the name of the neighborhood Ranalagh. First things first, those gh's at the ends of words are always silent, unless of course there's a u in there (like augh) in which case there's a k sound to the word (as in McLaughlin.) So, I got the gh thing down right away but I keep saying Ron-a-lah which seems intuitively right to my Americanized brain, but no, it's Ran-a-luh which I somehow can't make stick. I have a job interview next week in Ranalagh Village though so I'm practising...haha. Ran-a-luh, Ran-a-luh, Ran-u-luh...Ha, ha.... Here are some other tricky Irish words which defy the roman language pronunciations we're all used to: Failte, Caiomhe, Aoife, Baile Atha Cliath....(Fall-Cha, Kee-va, Eef-uh, and last but not least, Bally Atta Clia which is the Irish word for Dublin for any of you who might be interested.) Craziness. Everything is written in both English and Irish around here and I find myself attempting Irish words that I pronounce so very wrongly, it's amazing. Well, I've got garbage can, bus lane and Belfast down which seems like a good start (Bruscar, lana, and Biel Feirste.) I'm on my way to fluency.

Anyway, aside from pondering the mysteries of Irish grammar, I have been exploring new parts of the city. Went to this brand new, fancy-pants, shopping center in Dundrum yesterday (pronounced the way it sounds...phew) and wandered around looking at stuff I shouldn't buy with money I don't have. It's the largest mall in Europe apparently and it was kind of fun to check out all the european chain stores and get my fix of H&M (That's Haich and Em to you.) I did buy a sweater for job interview purposes. I have to go to this networking event next week which I am dreading beyond belief. I have visions of myself, sweating through my H&M sweater, obsessively hitting up the cheese table and hoping no one notices that I don't know a soul...oh the joys of self-promotion are many.

Went to a wine tasting last night which, aside from being free which is a beautiful thing in Rip-off Dublin, was quite fabulous and the bar was fast and free with the bottles. Went with Tom and we ran into some of his coworkers who were actually pretty cool. Got to try 6 different wines (three whites and three reds) and learn a thing or two about grapes and tasting from a sweet and slightly nerdy presenter guy who was just so Sideways. The bar was called Odeon and is in a renovated building that used to be the main train station in south city centre. It's huge and absolutely beautiful and I'm told they have great brunch and cult movies on Sundays. (Strange combination but I'm all for it.) Said wine tasting also included a small, but delicious cheese plate. Strangely enough, Monterey Jack is an unusual (and imported) cheese around here but there it was, some vaguely, highfalutin' form of Monterey jack on my cheese plate. Who knew? I think I'm going to have to find all the free wine tastings in the city. Gotta love the freebies in a place where they charge 7 bucks for two Cokes. Yup. Tom and I went for lunch yesterday and got 2 fountain sodas from the bar for 5 euros to go along with our smallish and mediocrish paninis for 11 euros. I am doing some serious restaurant research. If I'm gonna pay these prices, my food damn well better be amazing. You'll be happy to know that I've started a restaurant (and other activities) book so by the time you all visit, I will have the hookups. Am going to a Noodle Bar in Ran-a-luh tonight that's supposed to be really good so we'll see. You know it's really all about the food for me. Yum.

Love to you all. Be well.

Kilmainham and a Coffee

IMMA garden detail
Originally uploaded by di_juice.

Hi All,

Went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art today which is on the grounds of the old Royal Hospital built in the 17th century. (This pic shows part of a flower pot in the formal gardens on the hospital grounds.) If you click on the pic, you can see other images of the IMMA and of the Kilmainham Gaol (jail) - one of Ireland's oldest jails which housed many of the politcal prisoners who fought for Irish independence back in the day. There were all sorts of cool primary sources - letters, newspaper clippings, medals, etc... in the Gaol and a guided tour which gave a more in depth history of it's famous prisoners and dubious history.

I read a letter written by an 18 year old boy a few hours before he was executed. It was written to his mother and he keeps saying how much he wishes he could see her face one more time. He was killed for possession of a firearm without a permit. Crazy. It was really interesting to see the human imprint on all of these pieces of history - handwriting, clothing, tattered photographs, shoes, ration cards, etc...It makes all these historical figures real. There was graffiti on the wall taken from a poem written by one of the men executed after the Easter Uprising. "Beware the Risen People, Ye that have harried and held, Ye that have bullied and bribed."

After my adventures in Kilmainham, I met up with Jane, (a friend of a friend who lives here in Dublin) and ended up back in town and had a (good!) coffee in this little cafe and discovered an asian grocery (almost as good as the super 88) and a fabulous used bookstore down an alleyway. I am going through novels like water these days. Got so much time on my hands.

After touring the damp, dark jail, I was so very much appreciating my modern comforts and free reign to wander the city. I've been discovering new things everyday and am compiling a mental list of things to do when I get some visitors. Can't wait for company. Miss you all lots.

Be well.

The Evil Empire Abroad

They are everywhere...Yankees baseball hats in all sizes, shapes and colors...bastards. Now I know why they can afford to go over the salary caps every year. They are marketing geniuses! I swear to you that half the people wearing the Yankees gear don't even know the difference between a ball and a strike. It is purely a fashion statement...poo. Even the bouncer at the club I went to last night was wearing one. I asked him if he was a Yankees fan and he answered me in this terrible fake American accent that he sure was. Bitch, please. Man probably couldn't even name a single one of the players. And while I'm at it. Another guy that Tom and I were out with last night kept responding to everything I said with a fake American accent, like, Dude, totally. He was a complete complainer who proudly showed me the 27 million text messages he had from different girls on his mobile. Wanker. He bore a striking resemblance in looks and personality to that guy I used to date, Brad, and to those of you in the know, that is no compliment. haha. Alas, Whaddya gonna do? (And that's a rhetorical question btw.) Happy Saturday. I'm off to Topshop to buy some snazzy gear for my second interview next week...wa-hooo.

Detail of Shakespeare's House

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Originally uploaded by di_juice.

Here are some pics from my travels to England. Click on the pic above to see the rest of the images.

Adventures in Kiddie

Hi All,

I have spent the last couple days staying in Kidderminster, England with Averi and Tim. I flew into Manchester (due to my flight booking idiocy) and caught the train to Birmingham. It only took two hours and was moderately scenic so it wasn't that bad... When I arrived in Birmingham, I was in a gigantic and quite modern shopping center built recently with EU money. The building undulates on the outside and looks like it's been built with giant silver thumbtacks...sounds wierd but it kind of works. There's an open plan food area with noodle bars and homemade bread vendors and the like where we ate sushi off of a long conveyer belt. Afterwards, we hit up a local old-man bar for my first taste of scotch and soda on English soil.

It's been a very relaxing holiday. Slow mornings drinking giant mugs of coffee in bed and lots of pub crawling. We went to Stratford-upon-Avon on Saturday and I got to check out the birthplace of ye olde William Shakespeare and the home of Anne Hathaway, his wife. It was a beautiful, sunny, day and we walked around town before having high tea at the Crabtree and Evelyn (who knew they did tea) tea house. Clotted cream is my new favorite food...who would have thought of spreading whipped cream on a scone in addition to butter and jam...mmmmm...I can feel my arteries clogging. They gave us our tea in blue and white china pots with extra large teacups and saucers. Good stuff.

Have been eating my face off. Averi is an amazing cook and we have been feasting. She has a coveted jar of real (non-palm oil based) peanut butter which has been much appreciated by me. She also turned me on to a kind of wholewheat sliced bread to buy here that can't be rolled into a big squishy ball. (Thank god-I've been trying every brand I can find without finding anything halfway decent.) We have barbecued, eaten an Italian Feast and multiple big breakfasts involving bacon. Yum. I have missed home cooked meals.

Today, we took the steam train to a picturesque town called Bewdley. It was hilly and had lots of old school Georgian architecture. It is on the banks of a fast-moving river that people surf on in some parts...hard to picture but true. The steam train is a full on chugga-chugga train with upholstered compartments and porters and restored stations and is completely run by volunteers. Very cool. We got fish and chips from the local chippy and visited Tim's sister who lives there.

Tomorrow, it's back to Dublin and a job interview on Tuesday. Wish me luck!

Fat Frogs and Black Rocks

Greetings from Belfast,

I was hoping to have some picturesque photographs to post here but unfortunately, my digital camera has no juice and my two pronged American-plugged charger is no use with these mammouth three pronged Jobbies they have here. They say everything is bigger in America but clearly they are not taking into account the Irish/UK electrical system. The outlets have twice the voltage and the plugs are half the size of my head...

Anyway, took an absolutely gorgeous hike with Tom and Brandy (Tom's family's 84 year old dog...that's 12 in human years.) We walked from Tom's house through a couple of neighborhoods and into a nature preserve area called Cave Hill. We took a three hour hike through very green Lord-of-the-Ring type forests and up onto this rocky mountain which sets just west of Belfast. Near the top, there are no trees, only rocks and shrubs and this grass that looks windblown in every direction. It was a surprisingly warm and sunny day and we climbed all the way to the very top, which is called Napoleon's Nose. From the top, you can see all of Belfast and the surrounding towns as well as the lough (That would be something like a harbor to us Yanks...) We took a very steep path up and then meandered down through pasturelands until we came down just outside of Belfast Castle. There were these very cool looking yellow-flowered shrubs growing everywhere. Very brightly colored flowers offset by huge thorns...I have never seen plants like them before.

After such a healthy jaunt into nature, we met up with Tom's friends at the pub around mid-afternoon and then ended up at an all-night party before arriving home at 5am to the sounds of morning birds chirping like mad. It's been a long time since I've heard the sounds of morning from anywhere besides my bed. People in this town definitely know how to party...I'm just going to put my grandma pants on now and say that I cannot keep up with even the 90 pound girls when it comes to the drink...which brings me to the Fat Frog part of the evening, a drink that people are obessessed with here. I just have to say that it is absolutely awful...no offense to Tom who loves them, but whoever came up with this drink should never, ever, be allowed behind a bar again. It's a drink which is a mixture of, get this, one bottle: Orange Bacardi Breezer, one bottle: Smirnoff Ice, and one bottle: WKD blue. When mixed together, they become a vivid green the color of mouthwash...and the taste is not so different from Scope...if it was a very sweet, cottoncandy flavored scope. Vile. Other differences in recreational substances, since we're on the subject is our mari-joo-uana vs. their hash. People carry around these tiny black balls of hash in the pockets of their jeans or Kylie Minogue purses. They heat them up with a lighter, flake bits off, and roll it with tobacco. Interesting and a very different, less foggy sort of high, although being the grandma that I am, I'm not prone to smoke very much of it.

The younger sister of the person throwing the party last night was obsessed with my accent. It's quite funny to be the one with the accent (probably nice for Tom for the shoe to be on the other foot...) Everytime, I would walk into a room, she would ask me to say different things and think it was completely hilarious. I had to say Wanker about 27 times...and "you loser," was popular too...They love the O.C. over here and were horrified that I've never seen it...I think they thought I sounded like a teenager from an American TV show or something....Er, Ya big Loser... I didn't mind but I did feel a bit like a party trick..."like, Heather, that is soooo very..." Haha. Ah, well, at least I'm exotic...or something. It was better talking to her than the guy, wearing the scarface t-shirt who introduced himself by saying how much he hates Americans...in a very jovial, non-threatening way, mind you, but it does feel like quite the burden to constantly explain that we're not all right-wing, gun-toting, rednecks...

Despite the American Hater who was actually very friendly for someone telling me he hates me and my kind...haha...everyone at the party was very sweet and inclusive which was nice. Met a couple who live down in Dublin so maybe Tom and I will have some occasion to speak to people besides eachother down in the land of the black pool. Could happen.

Well, I've got a couple of giant Easter eggs waiting for me so I'm off. They have Easter eggs here the size of footballs (hollow) which are absolutely tasty. Gotta love my new chocolate, beer and bacon diet...haha. I am the picture of health.

Sideways and Rolos

Went to my first movie here. Ironically, the film (Fillum, as Tom would say) was Sideways which is an American movie which takes place in Cal-i-forn-i-a. So, we buy our tickets (8 euros a person which has started to seem like a deal in comparison with the cost of everything else) and find some seats. A group of four older people come and sit next to us and the lady sitting next to me opens up some Rolos, turns to us and says, "Sweet?" as if it's a perfectly normal thing to do to offer strangers candy in a movie theater. I thought it was quite civilized...haha. Gotta love small kindnesses. On a less lovely note, the movie was prefaced by about 15 minutes of Adverts...Whassup with that?!

Anyway, thought Sideways was great and it was nice to get absorbed in someone elses (American) life. Afterwards, Tom and I were Jonesing for a bottle of wine (of course) and fortunately we had a bottle in the fridge...unfortunately when we tried to open it, we realized that we didn't have a bottle opener. We made some unsuccesful attempts with a butter knife, a carving knife and a fork before giving up and pouring ourselves ample glasses of cranberry juice...(well, it looks sort of like red wine.) Gotta buy an opener. I'm scared to find out how much Dunnes stores is going to stroke me for that one...haha...better be plated in gold for the prices they charge.

Well, I'm off to Belfast tonight where I will more than likely find myself in front of a coveted glass of red wine (or three...) Belfast: Land of many bottle openers and Tom's alcoholic friends. Should be fabulous. A hangover just waiting to happen.

Untill next time...

Taping up my first Euro (and why Ryanair sucks)

Hello All,
Been hitting the proverbial pavement this week looking for work and I actually got some, albeit temporary and freelance...I had my first job interview this week for a design/publishing services company. They do all the typical, design studio stuff and also do a lot of production that's outsourced from big publishing companies. They had an ad (or should I say advert like they do here) for a production artist position. Not the most exciting job but I'm not being too picky-being on the verge of illegal alien status... So I went for the interview which was in a town called Blackrock (which is this sort of posh seaside town with a nice park.) I showed them my book and some Chedd stuff (Thanks Marko for the quicktime movies) and they really liked my work which was fabulous cuz I just never know what to expect. Unfortunately, they said it wouldn't be worth going through all the hassle of applying for a VISA for a production artist position which is only a 3 month contracted job and not super skilled...but they said they could offer me some freelance work with the design studio part of the company and that if a full-time designer position or design-related publishing position becomes available, they would think of me. The funny thing is they asked me to start working on the spot on an ad campaign that they wanted to finish up so my hour long interview turned into two days of freelance work. I think it went well and they seemed happy with the results so hopefully some more freelance will be thrown my way...we'll see.

Anyway, it seemed like a positive start to my job search...it's always nice to have your work appreciated, especially by strangers who have no vested interest in stroking your ego. I have a pending meeting with a dub designer later this week who offered to let me pick his brain about the design industry here and a soon to be scheduled meeting with a creative director who, fingers crossed, will be overcome with a desire to hire me...haha.

So that's the story so far. It's always stressful to try and market yourself and cold call and do all those tasks that go with trying to find work (with or without the looming lack of VISA conversation.) I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Am going up to Belfast for the weekend. Ireland celebrates both Good Friday and this strange thing called Easter Monday which means Tom gets an extra long weekend and I get a playmate besides my powerbook and the cashiers at Tesco. On Wednesday I'm flying to see Averi in Kidderminster which will hopefully involve lots of eating, watching movies, drinking cider at the pub and otherwise good craic as they say in these parts. (Good Craic = Good Fun. Not to be confused with good crack which is, of course, something else entirely.) My trip to England will include a scenic tour of the industrial midlands because I am a complete idiot and don't know the difference between one industrial wasteland of a city and another...haha. I booked my flight to Manchester instead of to Birmingham and when I tried to contact the nice people at Ryanair, they basically told me that the fees associated with changing the ticket would at the very least double the price. I wanted to reach into the phone and rip the head off of the English bitch on the other end of the phone (Is that too harsh?) but that not being an option that would solve my problem, I am going to have to take a 2 hour train journey from Manchester to get anywhere near Kidderminster...Alas. I guess I can add the Manchester airport to the list of exciting places that I have been fortunate enough to visit.

Will write again soon. Hope all is well in Beantown.

-D.

Bagpipers in the Crowd

Dub_Grafton
Originally uploaded by di_juice.

The bottom of Grafton Street just after the Parade let out....and the craziness began

The Liffey on St. Patricks Day

Dub_Liffey
Originally uploaded by di_juice.

A View from the South Side on St. Patricks Day.

Back from the Boondocks

Today, We move into our (temporary) digs for the next 2 months and words cannot express my excitement about this. I've slept in 3 different houses in 2 different cities in the last 6 days and I can't wait to have a place to hang my toothbrush. I'm finally getting over my jetlag and getting used to some of the Irishisms. Everything's the same here, but different...Lights turn on by flicking the switch down, the hot and cold taps on the sinks are separate...no such thing as warm water, I guess ;) and of course, the steering wheel of the car is on the right side. Gas is petrol and is expensive as f*ck and a sandwich is a toasty and always involves a good bit of butter. The chocolate is amazing and plentiful and the guy at the coffeeshop where I've been getting my tea is never in a rush and always friendly...I've been eating scones for breakfast and enough bread and cheese to feed a small country...I'm dying for some veggies. Well, my paid internet time is about up so that will have to be all for now. Tomorrow, the river liffey will be green and there will be more stories or paddy's day craziness I'm sure...Untill then.

D.

Two Days of Travelling Later

Well, I'm finally here; Here being Belfast. Tried to leave on Tuesday night but the weather was not cooperating. Sat on a plane for 4 hours before the airport was closed entirely. Then waited for another hour for a bus to bring me to a hotel and eventually 'round 2 am got myself a room for the night...next day my mom saved me by bringing clothes and food and the like (as my luggage was still on the plane.) Spent another 5 hours at the airport before finally becoming airborne and across the ocean. Yesterday i was absolutely, obscenely tired. Those red-eye flights just kill me...but this morning I'm feeling a bit more like myself. Will miracles never cease, the sun actually just came out...well, I'm off to go to Tom's favorite sandwich shop. Talk soon.

D.

Seven Hours and Counting

Just a few more hours and I'll be on the plane...excited but nervous...still got no place to live. Good thing we have Tom's family abode to crash at for a few days. The goodbye phase is the hardest part-trading in the familiar for the jobless, homeless unknown...

Big transitions always make me think about the passing of time and all those bigger, life questions that come along with that. I found this poem kind of comforting and thought I would pass it on...


Morning Poem

Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches ---
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead ---
if it's all you can do
to keep on trudging ---

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted ---

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

from Dream Work (1986) by Mary Oliver


See you all on the flip side.

-D.