It's Saturday and this morning we awoke to sparkling blue skies and sunshine like you wouldn't believe! It's really amazing what that can do for your attitude. We have learned from our two months here that when the weather is like that you really have to take advantage of it because it's not likely to last long. So we decided to take the bikes out and enjoy the day. We rode down to Salthill, which is this lovely little community right on the water and there is a boardwalk. Lots of people had the same idea and were enjoying the beach. We ended up exploring an area that we hadn't seen yet and found this small, secluded beach about 15 minutes ride from town. It was absolutely gorgeous and I'm really sad that we didn't take the camera. We stopped for a bit to sit on some rocks in the sunshine and take it all in. Marco actually went down to the water, put his hand in and decided it wasn't too cold. So, he took off his shoes and proceeded to wade in. He got about up to his knees when he turned back. Apparently, the deeper it gets, the colder it gets. :) So, we headed back towards home and about 30 minutes after we arrived, the clouds rolled in. Whew!
One funny thing about living here is that the summer days are really long. Right now it stays light until about 10pm. Even after that the sky doesn't really get totally black. Interesting. The flip side of that is that during winter the days are extremely short. We hear that it will get dark around 4pm. Ugggh! Not looking forward to winter. We'll try to enjoy this season as long as we can.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Woo Hoooo!!!! We Got Bikes! :o)
So, we are truly assimilating to living in Ireland because we got bikes today! It's something so simple, but I can't tell you how excited I am. We found a couple of used bikes at a local bike rental shop and they are in pretty good condition. You can see mine in this picture. Ok, so it's purple, but it works. :) Marco got a much cooler red bike, but he rode it to work so it's not pictured here. Maybe you can see in the picture that I also got a nifty little basket that's attached to the front so now I can do a little shopping and carry things home. (Up until now I have been walking everywhere and taking a taxi home when I have a lot of things to carry.) I went to the store this afternoon and quickly discovered that it's not good to have too much weight in the basket as it throws your balance off. Haha. I didn't fall, but I'm sure I looked like I was riding drunk. So now we get to practice safe riding and learn the rules of the road. It's quite different from being a pedestrian! Lots of people ride here, but some of the streets are narrow and people drive on the left side of the road so it can be confusing. I'm sure we'll get used to it.
Ok, so enough about bikes. Last weekend we had a good bit of social activity. Friday night we went out with some of Marco's friends from work. One of the guys is moving to Switzerland, so it was sort of a going away party. It started as a BBQ at his house and then we ended up going out to a bar at midnight! When that one closed at 1:30am, we migrated to another place that had decent dance music and we stayed there until 3am!!!! I know, we are getting way too old for this. :o) Needless to say, we were a bit tired the rest of the weekend. The fun thing was that we met some new people so our network of friends is growing. I lost count of how many different countries were represented by the people there, but I was the only American and Marco was the only Peruvian. Saturday night, we went to Damon & Lisa's house for Mexican food and margaritas. They are Americans from the Bay Area that are here for a year for Damon's job. We had yummy nachos, quesadillas and margaritas that reminded us a bit of home. I really miss El Cholo (my favorite Mexican restaurant). By the way, Lisa has introduced me to a group of American women who are here because of their husband's jobs as well, and we had coffee the other day. They were all really nice and it was fun to share stories about our experiences here.
Marco leaves Sunday for a trip to Germany. He has to attend a meeting there with another Post-Doc from his research group. That means I'll be on my own until Wednesday night. Watch out, mama's going shopping!!!! hehehe. By the way, I interviewed for two different part-time jobs this week. I'm hoping to know something in the next week or two, so keep your fingers crossed.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Weekend in Dublin
So, I know it's been a while since I've updated the blog, but there wasn't much going on last week until we went to Dublin on Saturday. Marco has to travel to Germany in a couple of weeks for a meeting, so we had to go to Dublin to visit the embassy for a travel visa. We decided just to make a weekend out of it and see the city. So we hopped on the bus from Galway, which is about 3 1/2 hours to Dublin city center. We did a lot of exploring and walking around the city just to see what was there. I have to say that we are getting really good at reading maps and navigating new places. :o) We went almost everywhere on foot, so by the end of the weekend we were pretty tired. The Liffey River runs right through the middle of the city (you can see me standing in front of it in one of the pictures.) We took a walk through Trinity College, which is a beautiful campus, and saw a cricket match in progress. I still don't really understand that sport! On the way to our hotel we passed Montague Street, so I had to take a picture!
We had great intentions of going out for dancing on Saturday night so we set out to explore the Dublin nightlife. We walked and walked and found lots of places to go, but didn't really like the music we were hearing. Electronic/techno music is quite popular here, and neither one of us really enjoys dancing to that kind of music. I'm sure if we had more time we could have found a place to our liking, but we were pretty tired. (Are we getting old or what?) The one thing that really became clear is how much partying and drinking is part of the culture here. The unfortunate part is that for many people drinking is not just to have fun, it's to get completely trashed! There were drunk people everywhere and there was vomit on the streets. Pretty disgusting. We even saw a girl vomit as she walked out the door of a disco. One funny part of Irish nightlife that we have witnessed is Stag and Hen parties. This is the equivalent of bachelor/bachellorette parties in the US. But these guys take it very seriously here. Women go out all dressed the same, or have t-shirts printed for the event. We saw one party of women dressed as bees.....yes, bees. They were in full costumes with wings, like you would see at a good Halloween party. We ended up going to a disco that was on the first floor of our hotel. Yes, the music went until about 3am both Saturday and Sunday night and we could hear it in our room. :( Anyway, we saw a Stag party there that was just hilarious. All of the guys were dressed in full costumes like superheros or movie/cartoon characters. There was Indiana Jones, Rocky, Papa Smurf (with his whole torso and head painted blue) Teen Wolf (with his full body in a hairy suit and a basketball uniform!). But the funniest one for me was definitely Wonder Woman....a real manly man in a wig and full costume, including fishnet stockings! What a night. I wish I would have taken some pictures of that experience. Oh well.
The next day we did some more exploring. We visited a place called Phoenix Park, which is a massive park in the city. We rented bikes for an hour and didn't even make it all the way around the park. It was absolutely beautiful. We saw huge numbers of deer in the park and lots of green areas. An interesting note, the US Ambassador's residence is right in the middle of the park.....I wonder how that happened? We then went to take a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. Now, I'm not a big beer fan, but everyone said we had to go there if we were going to Dublin. Well, during the visit, Marco and I both decided it was our favorite place so far! Seriously. They did an amazing job of setting up an experience that you walk through that tells the history of Guinness and how it is made and how it has become a part of the culture here. I can't even describe how cool it was. At the end of the tour, you go up to the top of this tower and visit the "Gravity Bar". It's way above the city and has walls of glass so you can see all of Dublin! (You can see in one of the pictures where we are holding our pints.)
And, with your entrance ticket you also get a pint of Guinness to enjoy (or a soda). So, even if you don't like beer it's still a place that should be visited in Dublin.
The next day we got up and headed for the German embassy. It was fairly easy to get there by train and everything went smoothly. We then hopped back on the bus and headed back to Galway. After being in the big city for a couple of days, we really felt the difference and were glad to be going back "home" to a smaller, quieter place. We realized that we really like Galway and the way of life here.
This week I started volunteering in a community garden at a local school. I pulled weeds for 2 1/2 hours!!!!! But it was really fun and it's a great learning experience for the kids. There were some people there the day I went who have decided to do a documentary on the project and they may show it next year at the Galway Film Festival! I'm making my Irish film debut. :o)
Last night we went out to a bar where they have Salsa on Wednesdays. One of Marco's colleagues plays the keyboard in the band so we thought we would check it out. We met up with some of his friends from work and listened to some good music. We didn't hit the dance floor, but will definitely go back one of these days. There were many more girls than guys, so we were thinking that all of our single male friends who know how to salsa would be very popular here!
I forgot to mention that I also met an American lady who is living here with her husband. His company brought him here for a year, so they've been doing a lot of traveling to make the most of their time. She just got a care package from the US with margarita mix, so we are going to meet them this weekend for "Mexican" night. We're going to attempt to make the closest thing to Mexican food as possible with the things we can get here. Should be fun!
We had great intentions of going out for dancing on Saturday night so we set out to explore the Dublin nightlife. We walked and walked and found lots of places to go, but didn't really like the music we were hearing. Electronic/techno music is quite popular here, and neither one of us really enjoys dancing to that kind of music. I'm sure if we had more time we could have found a place to our liking, but we were pretty tired. (Are we getting old or what?) The one thing that really became clear is how much partying and drinking is part of the culture here. The unfortunate part is that for many people drinking is not just to have fun, it's to get completely trashed! There were drunk people everywhere and there was vomit on the streets. Pretty disgusting. We even saw a girl vomit as she walked out the door of a disco. One funny part of Irish nightlife that we have witnessed is Stag and Hen parties. This is the equivalent of bachelor/bachellorette parties in the US. But these guys take it very seriously here. Women go out all dressed the same, or have t-shirts printed for the event. We saw one party of women dressed as bees.....yes, bees. They were in full costumes with wings, like you would see at a good Halloween party. We ended up going to a disco that was on the first floor of our hotel. Yes, the music went until about 3am both Saturday and Sunday night and we could hear it in our room. :( Anyway, we saw a Stag party there that was just hilarious. All of the guys were dressed in full costumes like superheros or movie/cartoon characters. There was Indiana Jones, Rocky, Papa Smurf (with his whole torso and head painted blue) Teen Wolf (with his full body in a hairy suit and a basketball uniform!). But the funniest one for me was definitely Wonder Woman....a real manly man in a wig and full costume, including fishnet stockings! What a night. I wish I would have taken some pictures of that experience. Oh well.
The next day we did some more exploring. We visited a place called Phoenix Park, which is a massive park in the city. We rented bikes for an hour and didn't even make it all the way around the park. It was absolutely beautiful. We saw huge numbers of deer in the park and lots of green areas. An interesting note, the US Ambassador's residence is right in the middle of the park.....I wonder how that happened? We then went to take a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. Now, I'm not a big beer fan, but everyone said we had to go there if we were going to Dublin. Well, during the visit, Marco and I both decided it was our favorite place so far! Seriously. They did an amazing job of setting up an experience that you walk through that tells the history of Guinness and how it is made and how it has become a part of the culture here. I can't even describe how cool it was. At the end of the tour, you go up to the top of this tower and visit the "Gravity Bar". It's way above the city and has walls of glass so you can see all of Dublin! (You can see in one of the pictures where we are holding our pints.)
And, with your entrance ticket you also get a pint of Guinness to enjoy (or a soda). So, even if you don't like beer it's still a place that should be visited in Dublin.
The next day we got up and headed for the German embassy. It was fairly easy to get there by train and everything went smoothly. We then hopped back on the bus and headed back to Galway. After being in the big city for a couple of days, we really felt the difference and were glad to be going back "home" to a smaller, quieter place. We realized that we really like Galway and the way of life here.
This week I started volunteering in a community garden at a local school. I pulled weeds for 2 1/2 hours!!!!! But it was really fun and it's a great learning experience for the kids. There were some people there the day I went who have decided to do a documentary on the project and they may show it next year at the Galway Film Festival! I'm making my Irish film debut. :o)
Last night we went out to a bar where they have Salsa on Wednesdays. One of Marco's colleagues plays the keyboard in the band so we thought we would check it out. We met up with some of his friends from work and listened to some good music. We didn't hit the dance floor, but will definitely go back one of these days. There were many more girls than guys, so we were thinking that all of our single male friends who know how to salsa would be very popular here!
I forgot to mention that I also met an American lady who is living here with her husband. His company brought him here for a year, so they've been doing a lot of traveling to make the most of their time. She just got a care package from the US with margarita mix, so we are going to meet them this weekend for "Mexican" night. We're going to attempt to make the closest thing to Mexican food as possible with the things we can get here. Should be fun!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Reality Check
Yesterday was a really interesting day and a bit of a reality check for me. I went for my first volunteer day at a group called the "Friendship Club." All I knew about it going in was that it was a place for women and children to go once a week who are new to Galway and trying to assimilate. Well, it was much more than that. I have learned that there is a pretty large refugee population here and most of them are from different parts of Africa. I met two women - both named Margaret- who were from Uganda and Sudan. The Margaret from Sudan actually lived in Kenya for about 6 or 7 years before she came here. They, along with thousands of others, come from war-torn countries and are hoping to get what they call "status", which is the right to stay in Ireland and work. The Irish government brings them and they are placed in a refugee hostel here in Galway. (I'm sure they go lots of other places as well.) They get assigned a public lawyer who meets with them once. Then they sit and wait until they get an appointment for their interview with immigration. The interview process is pretty intense and they even described it as fairly degrading. Then they go back to the hostel and continue to wait and see if they get approved. If not, they can file an appeal and wait some more. Both Margarets told me they have been waiting about 7 or 8 months, but there are others that have been waiting 7 or 8 years to go through the process. They came to Ireland alone, so they didn't know anyone when they arrived. They are assigned to a room that is shared with 4 other women and they are provided with the basic necessities of food and clothing. I think the biggest issue they are facing right now is boredom and depression. It is a horrible position to be in, even though it has to be better than being in their own countries. Anyway, these type of meetings offer some social interaction for the women and a place to play for the kids. I feel like I'm not doing a good job of describing the situation, but I can't imagine what these people are going through. It made me realize how fortunate we are to have choices and freedom in this life. I began to realize that any inconveniences we are experiencing by moving to Ireland just pale in comparison to what so many others are going through.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Our First "Bank Holiday" Weekend
So, today is a "bank holiday" in Ireland and nobody works. Now I am feeling a bit silly because I didn't realize that Labor Day is celebrated around the world! Oh well, I guess I still have a lot to learn in this life! We have had amazingly beautiful weather this weekend and a glimpse of what 
summer will be like in Galway. Such good weather makes our running experiences so much more pleasant. I wanted to post some pictures of the path where we have been running because it is just so beautiful. It goes through some grassy areas and then along the Corrib River. At one point we pass this 
beautiful old castle across the river, which you can see in the pictures here. It's just across the river from me in the last picture and then there's a closeup of the castle above. There are often people kayaking and rowing along the river, too.
summer will be like in Galway. Such good weather makes our running experiences so much more pleasant. I wanted to post some pictures of the path where we have been running because it is just so beautiful. It goes through some grassy areas and then along the Corrib River. At one point we pass this 
beautiful old castle across the river, which you can see in the pictures here. It's just across the river from me in the last picture and then there's a closeup of the castle above. There are often people kayaking and rowing along the river, too.Yesterday we did a tour of an area called Connemara, which was absolutely beautiful. Lots of stunning scenery, lakes, mountains, etc. We stopped at a few old churches and then a beautiful place called Kylemore Abbey. It was originally built by a rich Englishman as a home (it's a massive mansion even though it's hard to tell from this picture!) for his family in the 1800's. Now it is a functioning Abbey for benedictine nuns and also hosts an international boarding school for girls. You can see Marco standing in front of the lake where the old mansion sits in the background. 
There is a national park in Connemara that we plan to go back and explore on a hiking tour. As the bus wound through town on the way back, there was tons of traffic and people just everywhere on the streets and in the pubs. There is so much drinking here! Before coming to Ireland someone told Marco that there are two types of people in Ireland, there are alcoholics and those that used to be alcoholics. It really is surprising how much social activity centers around drinking. You can pass a pub at 10am and see people sitting outside having a pint. And we haven't even had our first pint of Guinness yet!!! Anyway, we hear that the crowds get much worse during the summer as this is one of the most popular vacation spots in Ireland. I'm sure it will get a bit crazy, but that's all part of the adventure!
There is a national park in Connemara that we plan to go back and explore on a hiking tour. As the bus wound through town on the way back, there was tons of traffic and people just everywhere on the streets and in the pubs. There is so much drinking here! Before coming to Ireland someone told Marco that there are two types of people in Ireland, there are alcoholics and those that used to be alcoholics. It really is surprising how much social activity centers around drinking. You can pass a pub at 10am and see people sitting outside having a pint. And we haven't even had our first pint of Guinness yet!!! Anyway, we hear that the crowds get much worse during the summer as this is one of the most popular vacation spots in Ireland. I'm sure it will get a bit crazy, but that's all part of the adventure!Thursday, May 1, 2008
Reasons to Celebrate
Well, it's official......Marco and I have officially passed our 1 month-iversary!!!! :) I have to say, with everything that has happened, it actually feels more like a year, but in a good way. Things are still going well here and we are learning new things every day. This week I also finally got my PPS number, which is like the Social Security Number in the US. I needed that to be able to start applying for work. So, needless to say, this week I have really started sending out my resume. Let's see what happens. I also started a Spanish class on Monday night. There is a neat little language institute in the city center, sort of like the one I went to in Pasadena. They mostly teach English to foreigners, but also offer other languages. There are 4 other people in the class.....3 Irish and 1 Polish guy. Everyone is extremely nice and it is really great to be back in the learning environment. It has really inspired me and my "professor" at home has even started helping me practice a bit more. This week seems to be passing very quickly for some reason. We had an electrician come Monday to discover that our heater was broken.....I was actually glad to know that it wasn't our lack of ability to use the darn thing! Anyway, we have heat now and that makes life at home a bit more comfortable. This weekend we are planning to do a day trip again...this time to Connemara, which is supposed to be a really beautiful part of western Ireland. Monday is a "bank holiday" here, so we'll have a nice, long weekend together. When I asked a local Irish guy what a bank holiday was, he said it's just that everyone gets a day off work when the banks close. Not sure I really understand that or if he knew what he was talking about, but we'll take it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)