Hitting the Road for the Holidays

It's hard to believe that it's already December and Christmas is right around the corner. I haven't written since our trip to the US in October. Marco's brother, Carlo, got married in Minnesota and we also spent some time with my family in Chicago. It was a great trip and Mia was just smothered with love and kisses the entire time. We got to do some shopping at Target and Trader Joe's, which just made my day! We also got to eat some good Mexican food that we had been missing so much.

Today we are getting ready to start our trip to Peru for the holidays. We will spend the night in Dublin and take a morning flight tomorrow. We have to stop in Atlanta for a night, so my parents are driving from Orlando just to spend the day with Mia! They are so excited to see her and it's just a little bonus that we get to be together. Then it's on to Lima on Thursday, where we will spend a month with Marco's family. I'm excited because we will get to do a bit of traveling to Arequipa (where Marco was born) and the beaches in the north of Peru. It should be a fantastic trip and lots of attention for the wee one! I'll try to write and post pictures when we get back in January.

September in Spain

So, we officially survived our first international trip with Mia! Marco had a conference for work in Murcia, Spain so Mia and I tagged along for fun. We spent 4 days there and then spent one night in Alicante on the coast. I have to say, Mia was born to travel. She was amazing on planes, buses and taxis all the way.



Traveling with a wee one is completely different than without one. There is so much gear you have to take and lots of different considerations! It's definitely not about fitting in as much sight-seeing as possible any more. And it's not about slinging the backpacks on and seeing where the wind takes us! But everything is better with Mia. :) We really enjoyed the warm, sunny weather and being able to walk outside every day without taking a jacket and umbrella.

Marco had to attend his conference during the days in Murcia, so Mia and I just set out walking the city to explore. In the evenings we would have dinner outside on the plaza....tapas, pizza, sangria.....mmmm, yummy! It was very relaxing. We also got to celebrate my birthday while we were there. Marco was so sweet and came home one day with a card and a pastry with candles. He is very thoughtful!

After the conference ended we headed back to Alicante for one night. It was HOT there. Unfortunately, our little girl was not ready for the heat or the air conditioning and she picked up a little cold. It lasted about 9 days and it was so sad to see her suffering.

Anyway, I don't have much time or energy to write more at the moment as we are headed to the US in the morning. Marco's brother is getting married next week and we get to spend some quality with both of our families. It's been a full year since we were there so we are really looking forward to it. Of course I have my shopping list ready to go! Trader Joe's, Target, Whole Foods!!!!! And we can't wait to eat as much Mexican food as possible. We'll be gone for two weeks so let's see how Mia handles a longer trip!

Long Time, No Write

Well, it's been a couple of months since I posted anything and I'm sure you can guess why. This whole having a baby thing is a lot of work!!! :o) Mia is officially 3 months old today and she is the most precious thing I could possibly imagine. Although we are suffering from a lack of sleep, things are getting better. She is growing so fast and is becoming very interactive in the last couple of weeks. Every day it is a joy to wake up and see her smiling face. I don't have much time to write, but just wanted to check in. We are actually about to embark on some more travel....our first trips with Mia! We leave on Tuesday for a week in Spain, where Marco has a conference. In October we head to the US for and exciting event....Marco's brother is getting married! Finally, in December we will head to Peru for the holidays. We are trying to give Mia the travel bug at an early age so let's see how things go.

Mia Francesca Has Arrived!

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our beautiful baby girl, Mia Francesca. She was born by c-section on June 26 at 1:40pm. She weighed 8lbs 7oz and measured 22 inches. Mia and I spent 3 nights in the hospital for recovery, but were very happy to come home after that. She's very healthy and happy so far, and growing like crazy before our eyes! We are very lucky to have my parents here (one set of very proud grandparents!)....I'm not sure what we would have done without them.



This Friday Mia will be 4 weeks old and we are enjoying getting to know each other. We have had some sleepless nights, but feel so lucky to have her here. Next week we head off on our first adventure to Dublin with her. We have an appointment at the US embassy to register her birth and to get her first passport! How exciting. :)

Baby Update

It seems that our little bundle of joy is trying to assert itself already! The baby has been in a breech position for months now. Despite all of my efforts to get it to turn (acupuncture, chiropractic, and trying all sorts of inverted stretching positions!) it seems to be quite comfortable the way it is. So, I have been scheduled for a c-section this Friday, June 26th. We will go to the hospital in the morning and they tell me I will likely have to stay 4 or 5 days depending on how things go. At this point we just want to have a healthy baby and we are getting anxious and excited now that we have a date!



The picture above is me at 38 weeks. My parents are here, so we will have plenty of help during the first couple of months. For that we are feeling very lucky! So, hopefully the next blog update will have good news and pictures of our little one.

My Growing Bump

I've had some requests to post belly pictures, so here you go! I'm 35 weeks today, which means there are only 5 weeks left until the wee one arrives. We are getting really excited and anxious to meet the baby. We moved to a new place last weekend, which we are loving so far. We are 2 minutes walking from the ocean and a beautiful walking promenade. We have more space now and the place definitely feels more like a home. I have started doing all of the baby laundry to try and get ready. It is a bit strange seeing tiny socks and "onesies" hanging to dry, but I guess we had better get used to that!



Up until about 2 weeks ago I was having an amazing pregnancy. But the little one has decided it's comfortable in the transverse position, meaning it's sort of sideways in the belly. Now I have a pinched nerve in my back and am waddling like a duck, but we are almost to the finish line!!!! I really can't complain because I have been very lucky so far with no major problems. My parents will arrive on June 12th and are staying for 2 1/2 months! It will be so nice to have them here and we will definitely bet putting them to work. ;)

Last Big Trip for a While

A couple of weeks ago I went on my last big trip before the baby comes. Marco and I had planned to spend about 10 days traveling in Germany and then visiting his sister and family in Switzerland. Unfortunately, due to visa complications, Marco wasn't able to go. Since we already had the tickets, I decided to go anyway and visit his sister Carol, her husband Christian, and the 2 kids Sedrik & Naira in Zurich for a few days.

It was such a treat to see the family, especially the kids! It gave me a chance to practice my basic Spanish skills because the kids don't speak English. Whew, my brain was tired! The kid's reaction to my bulging belly was so adorable. They were rubbing and touching it a lot and even put stuffed animals under their shirts to pretend they had babies inside! Too cute.



The weather was phenomenal....in the 70's and sunny. We went to the park almost every day, but otherwise just had a relaxing time. Carol was kind enough to get out all of her baby gear and I got to go "shopping". I picked out all of the gender neutral clothes (since we don't know the sex of the baby!) and got all sorts of gear and goodies. Our little bundle of joy has more than it can use at this point and we feel really good that we are "recycling" instead of buying everything new. Also, Marco's mom had sent a package of goodies for us from Peru. She had sewn special baby duvet covers for us and sent lots of clothes and goodies. But the sweetest thing was a blanket that she crocheted for Marco before he was born and he used it as a baby. She held onto it for more than 30 years so that Marco's first child could use it! So special. All in all, it was a great trip, but it would have been so much better if Uncle Marco had been able to go. The kids really missed him and so did I!!

So, no more international trips for the next few months. My parents are coming to Ireland on June 12th and will stay for about 2 1/2 months to help with the baby. We are all getting really excited. We got some other great news this week that Marco's brother, Carlo, just got engaged to his girlfriend, Katie!!!! They are planning to get married in Minnesota in October, so looks like baby will be making its first international trip at about 3 months old! Get 'em started young, right?? :o)

One Year of Wedded Bliss!

It's hard to believe that a year has passed since we got married, but on March 29th we celebrated our first anniversary. I guess so much has happened in that one year that it feels much longer than that. That's a good thing, by the way! As we reflected on all of the events we both realized what an incredible adventure it has been so far and we are so happy to be sharing this life together. Sorry to get mushy on you! Here's a brief summary of our year:

-both quit our jobs
-sold nearly everything we owned and packed the rest
-planned a wedding and got married
-moved to Ireland
-made 7 international trips
-made a baby :)

Ok, so to end this post on a less sentimental note, here's a funny story about our big anniversary celebration. So, we didn't do too much planning, but I was in the mood for a nice juicy steak. I went online and found an American style steakhouse here in Galway called Scotty's. I was envisioning Houston's or Ruth's Chris, you know, something romantic, dark and steak that just melts in your mouth. Both Marco and I tried not to fill up during the day in anticipation for the big meal. We were really looking forward to it. Then we walked in the front door to discover that it was more like a cross between Applebee's and a 50's diner! Anyway, we thought we would give it a chance since there were decent reviews online. I ordered the fillet mignon dinner and Marco got some other steak. The plates arrived and it looked like something you would get at a truck stop. We both took a few bites and decided it was about the caliber of hospital cafeteria food....not impressive at all, especially for 70 euros,!!! The good news is that we laughed and laughed about the whole experience and how much we had built up the anticipation. The best part is that despite the food disappointment we still had a great time. We had quite a good amount of leftovers, so the next day we made Philly cheese steaks for lunch and they were considerably better than the original meal. So much for our big first anniversary celebration! At least we could appreciate that being together was worth more than the meal. :)

Crossing the Border to Northern Ireland

Ever since we moved to Ireland I have wanted to do a road trip to visit Northern Ireland. We finally did it! St. Patrick's Day is a government holiday here so Marco had a long weekend and we decided to take advantage of it. It was totally a last minute decision, but well worth it. Luckily, we both love to travel without too many plans, just a rough idea of where we want to go. So we packed our maps and guide books, rented a car and headed off for a little adventure. This was only the 2nd time Marco had driven here on the left side, but after a few hours he was like an old pro! And I sat in the passenger seat as the official navigator of Irish roadsigns and confusing roundabouts.

We decided to head to the north-west side of the island and just see how far we could get the first afternoon. We passed through Sligo, but felt like we wanted to keep going. I had heard people talk about Donegal before, so we found it on the map and decided that was our destination for the night. Donegal Town was a few kilometers off the main road, but turned out to be a quaint little town. We arrived after dark, so couldn't see too much, but did a quick spin around the town to see what was there. We followed a sign to a B&B and checked in for the night. One of the guidebooks gave advice on good places to eat and had mentioned a little Italian place in town. So we walked the few blocks back to town and stumbled across that very place. The guide book was right, it was a delicious and reasonably priced Italian meal. We took a quick walk around the city and then headed back to the B&B for the night. The next morning we had our "Full Irish Breakfast" (eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, grilled tomatoes, etc) and hit the road.

We weren't sure how long it would take us to get places on this trip. In Ireland, the distance between places is not that far, but many of the roads are tiny, winding roads with lots of potholes so you can't actually go that fast. However, we were surprised at how quickly the trip went! Anyway, this day we were headed for the northern coastline. Now, one thing that many people don't know is that Northern Ireland is a separate country from The Republic of Ireland. We live in the Republic. Northern Ireland is part of the UK under the British. Technically, Marco needs a visa to travel anywhere in Europe outside of The Republic of Ireland. Several people had told us that there really aren't borders between the two, so we decided to take a chance and go. Funny enough, we were driving along a highway somewhere around Derry, not paying attention, and suddenly realized we had crossed the "border". We noticed that road signs had changed and all of a sudden things looked a little bit nicer and that was it....we were in Northern Ireland. Easiest international border crossing in history!

We wound our way around some of the most beautiful coastline we had ever seen. We had fairly good weather the whole trip, although it was quite windy and cold. Good weather here means no rain. We stopped for a few minutes in a cute coastal town called Portrush. We got out and took a few pictures, but the wind was so strong that we got back in the car. We decided that we needed to get some local currency for the trip (they use pounds, we use euros) so we went in search of an ATM. We walked through some more gale force winds (literally!), got our money and hit the road again.

Our next stop was the medieval Dunluce Castle. It was originally built around 1200 and is set right on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It's mostly just stone walls now, but you can really imagine what life must have been like back then. It had the most spectacular views, but again we had to deal with gale force winds! There was one spot where you could barely stand up because the wind was so strong. We got a few good laughs at that point, especially about what the wind did to my hair. One of the interesting stories about the castle is that at some point in history, the kitchen literally fell off the cliffs, taking a few of the house servants along with it. After walking around the grounds, we stopped into the little tea house and had a nice hot cup of tea to warm up.

We then hit the road for our next destination. The Giant's Causeway is a World Heritage Site and was one of the places I wanted to visit most on this trip. It is a natural wonder that was formed by a volcanic eruption that created stones/pillars mostly in hexagonal shapes. We parked at the top of the hill and walked about 10 minutes down to the main site. It really is hard to believe that this place was naturally formed because some of the rocks look so perfect. There were large formations that you could walk across, and others that sort of jutted out the side of the cliffs. It was truly amazing! We spent about an hour walking along the trails to see all of the formations and then headed back. The hike back was a bit more challenging than the walk down! If I remember correctly, it was all uphill and included something like 162 stair-steps. Normally this wouldn't be so difficult, but everything is harder when you are pregnant! Needless to say, we got some good exercise that day. We stopped in a nearby town for lunch and then headed off for our next destination....Belfast.



We decided to take the scenic route for some more beautiful coastal views. Of course we saw plenty of farms, sheep and cows along the way. :) We arrived in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland sometime late afternoon. We had no idea where we were going to stay, so we drove around the downtown area a bit to explore. We stopped in a couple of places that were either full or way too expensive. We turned down a little residential street and stumbled across the cutest little B&B just a few blocks from the main road. They had nice rooms for a great price, so we checked in for the night. We rested up a bit and browsed through the guidebooks to plan our activities. We got all cleaned up and headed out to explore the downtown area after dark. It was dinner time, so we set out to find a good place to eat. We both love ethnic food, so trips to the big city usually mean we look for a good ethnic restaurant, as the options are usually better. We walked and walked and couldn't find anything interesting. Finally, as we were about to give up, we stumbled across a Lebanese place....one of our favorite types of food! Although the meal wasn't everything we had dreamed of, it certainly wasn't bad and we were grateful for that. We walked around a bit more and then headed back to the B&B for the night.

After another Full Irish Breakfast, our host recommended we take a Black Taxi Tour to explore the political history of Belfast. For many years this was a place of violent political unrest. Essentially, there was a group claiming to represent Nationalists (predominantly Catholic) and a group claiming to represent Unionists (predominantly Protestant). The Nationalists consider themselves Irish and wanted Northern Ireland to be politically united with the rest of Ireland, while the Unionists consider themselves British and wanted to remain part of the UK. Paramilitary groups formed to fight against the British and there were many decades of brutal violence. The city was separated into Catholic and Protestant sides to try and control some of the violence. Although most of the violence has ceased since an agreement was signed in 1998, there still remains a separatist approach to life in Belfast. There is still a huge wall between the Catholic side and Protestant side of the city. You drive down the Catholic side and the curbs are painted orange, white and green for the colors of the Irish flag. On the protestant side the curbs are red, white and blue. Houses that are near the wall have wire cages built around the patios and windows in case people from the other side throw bricks over. There are large murals painted on the sides of buildings that depict what some people view as heroes of the struggle, while the other side would view them as murderers. Our taxi driver, Pat, gave us some very interesting insight into the history of the struggle and where things stand today. It was a fascinating experience and I would highly recommend it if you are ever in Belfast.

There are lots of other things you can do in Belfast, but not many of them appealed to us. The only museum we wanted to visit was closed for remodeling, so we decided to hit the road and get out of the big city. While flipping through the guidebooks, we stumbled across a place called Newgrange that looked quite interesting, so we headed that direction. Newgrange is a prehistoric tomb that was built around 3000 BC, which makes it about 500 years older than the great Pyramids in Egypt!!! From the outside it looks like a big mound built into the ground, but inside it contains a chamber with intricately carved stones that was likely used for ceremonial burials. The entrance passage was built with precise solar alignment so that only once a year, at dawn on the day of winter solstice, the sun shines through and lights the chamber for a few minutes. Although the site itself is in the middle of nowhere and rather small, it is well worth seeing.

After leaving Newgrange we thought we would find some cute farmhouse B&B and spend a relaxing evening there. We drove and drove and couldn't find anything that looked good. We decided to just keep driving in the direction of Galway and thought we would find something along the way. Marco had fun driving those little back country roads all the way! There was one stretch of road where we would see a speed limit sign that said 100 km/hr, and then 20 yards later there would be a "Dangerous Curves" sign. This went on for hours and we just laughed about how ridiculous that seemed. We did see some people going nearly that fast on those tiny little roads, but luckily we made it safely. We stopped in a town called Mullingar for dinner and decided to see if there were any cute places to stay. We were not inspired by anything, so we had dinner and decided just to push through and drive home. We arrived about 10:30pm and went straight to bed! All in all, it was a great weekend trip and we can now check some more places off of our "list".

Laptop Thief is a "Menace to Society"

I was reading the local paper over the weekend to stumble across an article about our friend, the laptop thief! Looks like he finally got his day in court and was sentenced to 20 months in prison and a 100 euro fine. It seems that he is a 28 year old local guy with a serious drinking and drug problem. The real shocker is that he had over 40 previous convictions!!! The judge was quoted as saying, "he is a menace to this whole society." Looks like he was due for a nice stay in a government sponsored facility. We also feel very lucky because we got our laptop back. Some of the other victims were not so lucky and a group of students were reported to have lost all of their thesis work....so sad.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

So, the headline in the local paper today said that we are experiencing the coldest winter in Ireland in the last 18 years. It's been in the 30's this week, but feels like it's in the 20's. I heard in Dublin they had enough snow to cancel flights today, which is very unusual. We haven't had any snow that stuck, so I guess we're lucky! The crazy part is that this past summer everyone said that it was the worst/wettest summer in recent memory. So, I have to ask the question.....why is this all happening the year that we move to Galway?? For a Southern California girl, it is really testing me. :o)

Next week Marco has to attend some big conference for work in Cork, which is a couple of hours south of Galway. We have another friend that is going down to see her boyfriend, so I decided to ride along and see a different part of the country next weekend. To be honest, I'm not really sure what there is to do in Cork, but it should be fun to do a little road trip!

I'm now 19 weeks pregnant and am really starting to feel the baby move around! Maybe it's swimming or doing salsa dancing or has the hiccups. It's fun to imagine what is happening in there. This morning was the first time that Marco could actually feel the baby move, and that was pretty exciting. I'm still feeling good and can't believe we are almost halfway there....yikes.

Snowflakes and Justice

So, apparently, it does snow in Galway!!! It's been on the cold side here the last couple of weeks, but we still mostly just get lots of rain. We had a good hail the other day that covered the ground and made everything white....for about 20 minutes. This morning as we were getting ready for work we both looked out and noticed that it was snowing. My goodness, they were the biggest snowflakes I have every seen! Like the size of cotton balls! It didn't last very long, but it sure was nice to look at for a bit. One funny note....February 1st is officially the first day of Spring in Ireland. Still feels like winter to me, but I have noticed that the days are getting slightly longer. We are really looking forward to Spring and Summer!

Now, about the justice thing. I got a call last week from the Garda (local police) to let me know that the laptop thief had been caught and was in custody! I don't know all of the details, but it turns out that he admitted to entering our place and trying to take the laptop! They were going to charge him on that count, but were also trying to get him to confess to some other crimes they suspected him of. I am truly amazed at how quickly this all happened and it makes me even happier to live in Ireland. :)

On a side note, it looks like Marco's contract is going to be renewed for at least another year, so we have decided to stay here a while longer and continue our adventure.

We Are Having a Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marco and I are pleased to share the good news that we are expecting a baby. I am a little more than 16 weeks pregnant, with a due date of July 2nd. We are beyond excited and can't wait to be parents! I'm feeling great...haven't had any morning sickness at all. I know that I am lucky for that and am very thankful.

We are going to have the baby here in Ireland, so I'm sure it will come out speaking Gaelic. My parents are planning to come for about 3 months just to be here for the birth and help out a bit. Of course I'm sure they will do a bit of sightseeing while they're here. :)

Anyway, we are just thrilled!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holidays in Africa

Marco and I were fortunate enough to spend the holidays with my parents in South Africa this year and the trip was great for a number of reasons. Of course, it was special to be able to spend several weeks with my folks since we don't see them that often. But this was also Marco's first trip to Africa, and we had both been looking forward to that for a long time. And as if that weren't enough, it was summer in South Africa and we got to spend a month soaking up the sunshine and enjoying warm weather! We had tons of fresh, sweet papaya, mangoes, passion fruit and avocados every day. This may not sound special to many of you, but the fruit we get in Ireland is pretty lousy and extremely expensive, so it was quite a treat for us. We got to wear tank tops and flip flops every day. (These have been in storage ever since we moved to Ireland!) It's amazing how such simple things in life can bring so much happiness.

My parents live in the suburbs of Johannesburg in a gated community. Crime in Joburg is pretty high, so there are a lot of security measures in place to protect life and property. There are security guards everywhere, electric wires around most of the properties and bars on windows and doors. It may sound horrible, but it really doesn't feel that strange when you are there. My parents have a beautiful house with a little swimming pool and they are on the edge of a bird sanctuary, so there is even wildlife around the backyard. We spent many hours sitting on the back porch, sipping iced tea and watching a weaver bird build his nests in their tree. It's really fascinating to watch!

We did spend quite a bit of time just relaxing around the house and doing things around town. We got together with old friends for bbq's and catching up. We had some wild domino games on the patio. We took lots of naps. We got to do some good reading. It really was a life of leisure! We also did some special things, which I will try to highlight below.



Lion & Rhino Safari Park and The Wonder Cave - There is a small park about 20 minutes from my parent's house where you can drive your own vehicle through and see some animals. They do some wildlife conservation projects there and have lions, cheetahs, wild dogs and a few other animals. It's not a "real" safari because they actually feed the animals, but it was sort of an appetizer for our real bush experiences. However, my mom's Volvo has lion scratches on the trunk from a previous trip to this park! And, Marco learned his first lesson in bush etiquette....you should not whistle at the lions to try and get their attention. There is also a place called The Wonder Cave, which is thought to be about 1.5 million years old. They take you down an elevator about 60 meters under ground and there are spectacular views of stalagmites and stalactites.

Maropeng & The Cradle of Humankind - This area is thought to be the birthplace of humanity and has been designated a World Heritage Site. There have been many archaeological excavations that have revealed fossils of some of the earliest known life forms on Earth. The exhibits walk you through the origins of our universe and teach us about human ancestors. You can see Stone Age tools and fossils of our earliest ancestors. It's really wild to stand in the place where it seems we all came from!

Mabula Private Game Reserve - We decided to spend Christmas on safari and booked a couple of nights at Mabula. It's a couple of hours outside of Joburg. Our friends Nick, Sally and little Nadia joined us for the trip. We woke up at 5am for early morning game drives, spent the middle of the day just relaxing and swimming and then went out in the afternoon for more game drives. It was really fun doing this with friends and family. And Nadia, who is 3, entertained us with her game drive commentaries...."Are we going to see teddy bears?" and "The giraffes and bears are going to wave at us with their hands."

A Day in Soweto - Soweto stands for South West Township and is one of the communities where blacks were forced to live during apartheid. Today it is still home to some of the poorest communities of Joburg. It has always been a center of political and activist events, and today has a number of fascinating museums that document the history of apartheid. Nelson Mandela lived there for some time and Desmond Tutu still has a house there today. We visited the Regina Mundi Catholic Church, the Hector Pieterson Museum and then had a traditional lunch at Wandie's, a restaurant owned by a local Sowetan and visited by locals and tourists from around the world.

Madikwe Game Reserve & Jaci's Tree Lodge - We decided to do another couple of nights on safari and this turned out to be an amazing experience. Madikwe is a game reserve about 3 1/2 hours outside of Joburg. We booked ourselves into a place called Jaci's Tree Lodge, which was an exclusive, small lodge where all of the "cottages" are built on stilts. They are all connected by these elevated wooden walkways and there is tons of privacy. The maximum number of guests was 16 for the whole lodge, so there was a lot of personal attention! The rooms were absolutely stunning, with windows across one whole wall and there was even and outdoor shower! We dined under the stars, had some great game viewing (thanks to our guide, George!) and some true relaxation.

All in all, this was a great trip for both of us. And now we're already trying to plan our next trip to Africa! Considering we now have a little one on the way, it may be some years before we can do a camping safari, but that's our goal.

Criminal Behavior

We got back from our wonderful trip to South Africa about a week ago and are trying to readjust to life in Galway. I'm going to blog about the trip and post lots of pictures, but thought I would write quickly about something that happened while we were gone. A couple of days before Christmas we got an e-mail from our property manager asking us to call regarding an urgent matter. It turns out that someone had broken into our apartment in our absence, tried to steal my laptop (God forbid!), but was not totally successful. We didn't get too many details at that point, but just tried not to worry too much since we couldn't really do anything about it until we got home.

We arrived home late last Thursday night to find that one of the glass panes in our front door was shattered. The locks had been changed, but we still didn't really know what happened. We were given the name and contact info for one of the local police officers and it took us a few days to make contact. Once we did, we found that the laptop was unharmed and waiting for us. Apparently, the thief simply removed the glass from our front door window and crawled in. It was surprising to find out how easy that was to do. Luckily the shattered glass has been replaced, but it makes us wonder how many people know how to remove them? Anyway, this guy came in and scoped the place out. He was bright enough to put the laptop, with cord and adaptor, into the laptop case. Right about that time, one of our neighbors noticed that something seemed wrong at our apartment. He went around to the back of the apartments while his girlfriend waited in the front. They called the police, who said they were on their way. At that moment, the thief came through our side gate to the front where the girl was standing. She confronted him (you go girl!!), he dropped the laptop and ran!!!! The police arrived a minute or two later and they drove around the neighborhood to see if they could find him. The interesting thing is that from her description, the police think they know who it is! He's suspected in a number of other cases and they even know where he lives. It seems he's gone into hiding since this incident, but we're hopeful that they will eventually track him down.

Needless to say, we feel very lucky that nothing was really taken and he didn't get away with our laptop. And we are very thankful for our neighbors, who prevented what could have been a big loss.

Portugal and Pastries

It was a very early morning wake-up call, but we were able to drag ourselves out of bed and made it to the Dublin airport with plenty of time. The flight to Lisbon was less than 2 hours. It still amazes me that you can be in a different country in less time than it takes to drive from LA to San Diego! I guess I never explained why we went to Portugal. Marco had to attend some meetings there, so I decided to tag along since I always wanted to visit Portugal.

The Lisbon airport was quite modern and gave us a good first impression of Portugal. We needed to take a train to the north to Porto, so we stopped at the visitor information office to find out the best way to get to the main train station. The guy there very confidently said to just go outside and take the #44 bus and we would be at the Oriente Station in about 10 minutes. So, we waited about 10 minutes and hopped on the #44 bus. After about 10 minutes, Marco decided to ask the bus driver just to be sure. He shook his head and said we should have been on the #44 that goes the other direction! Our first tiny misadventure. :) We got off at the next stop and crossed the street to wait for the other bus. As soon as it rolled up, Marco saw a sign that said they didn't allow luggage on that particular bus! Well, what in the world?? By this time we were so frustrated that we decided just to take a taxi. So, we crossed the road again and found a taxi. It amazed me that Marco, with his Spanish, was able to communicate fairly well with the Portuguese speakers. Although they were clearly speaking different languages there are enough similarities to understand each other. Luckily, taxis are MUCH cheaper in Portugal than in Ireland. We would later find out that everything was much cheaper than in Ireland. Anyway, our taxi driver was very nice, as were most of the people we met during our visit. Coincidentally, he was born in Mozambique, which is where my dad has been working for about the last 9 months! We made it the the station and bought tickets for the train. We found a little shop, where we bought fresh baked baguettes and some cheese for lunch.



The train ride was about 3 hours through the countryside, so it was nice to see something outside of the big cities. We arrived at the Campanha station in Porto and decided to take a taxi right from the start since we were a bit tired. Our hotel was right next to the university, where Marco's meetings would be. Luckily, there was a metro station just outside, so that was extremely convenient. The public transport system in Portugal was great and made us wish we had a metro in Galway! I can't believe I haven't mentioned the weather yet.....it was amazing!!!! Blue skies and about 70 degrees every day. It was such a treat for residents of Ireland, where that would equal the best day of summer. So, while Marco checked in with the team at the university, I headed down to the grocery store just to see what things cost. I know, I'm so silly, but that kind of thing is actually fun for me. I quickly discovered that everything is about half the price compared to Ireland. The biggest surprise was that wine costs almost nothing! Seriously, I saw a bottle of wine for about 1 euro, which is just a little more than $1. Even the good brands that I recognized were about 4 or 5 euros!!! Now that's my kind of country. :)

The next day, Marco headed out for a whole day of meetings and I set out to explore the city. Porto is situated right on the Douro River, which creates a beautiful setting. You can see in some of the pictures that the old part of the city sort of crawls up the hill above the river. It was really fun exploring that part of town and getting a bit lost on some tiny little streets that weren't on the map! The place is full of steep hills, so my legs were just burning after about an hour. It was fantastic exercise, but very tiring. I walked past most of the big sights and then decided to take one of the "hop on-hop off" tour buses. It's a great way to see a wider range of sights and parts you might not reach on foot. It was quite beautiful, especially this long stretch along the coast that was pretty spectacular. I stopped for a light lunch at a cafe on the river and then found my way to one of the may wonderful pastry shops!!! Then it was back to the hotel for the night. When Marco came home he told me a funny experience he had during the day. He went to the bathroom and noticed that there were 2 stalls. He entered one of the empty stalls to pee, but didn't lock the door behind him.....I guess it's a guy thing. After he came out, he quickly realized that it was a unisex bathroom.....one stall was for women and one for men!!!!! The funny part is that when he came out he realized that he had used the wrong one. :)

Our second day in Porto Marco had more meetings. I ventured out on my own again to try and find some of the places I didn't see the first day. Luckily, Marco's meetings didn't last all day, so we met up later so that he could see a bit of the city. Later that night he took me out to a really romantic dinner at a place right on the river. We ordered a steak dinner that was supposed to be for 2, but I swear it could have fed 4!!! We were just stuffed, but it was absolutely delicious. We walked quite a while after dinner to try and digest the feast before heading back to the hotel.

Friday morning we packed up and took the metro back to the Campanha train station. We made the trip back to Lisbon and navigated the metro to our hotel. We quickly discovered that Lisbon had some hills just like Porto and our hotel was at the top of one! So we pulled our suitcases (on wheels!) up the hill and checked in. It was a decent hotel and within 10 minutes walking to the main part of town. One funny thing was how small the elevator was. It's really only big enough for 2 or 3 people to stand close to each other. It was also quite loud, which unfortunately we discovered after we went to bed. :( But we were so tired that once we fell asleep we didn't notice a thing. But since we arrived early afternoon, we had plenty of time to get out and explore Lisbon. We found our way to the main square and chose a cute sidewalk cafe for lunch. The food was not great, but the setting was perfect, complete with street musicians to entertain us. After lunch we decided to do the bus tour thing just to see the main sights and help us decide what we wanted to visit the next day. Near the end of the tour, we decided to get off to get a closer look at the Tower of Belem. It was built in the early 16th century and is one of the more famous sights in Lisbon. We got there to discover that the tower was closed to the public as the employees were on strike! Luckily it was just before sunset, so the views were pretty spectacular. We had a drink at a small cafe and watch the sun go down over the ocean. We then waited for the next bus and made our way back to the hotel. Since we didn't have much time to recover from our trip to the US, we were pretty tired every day. We settled in for a nap to recover some energy. Once we woke up, we wandered around our neighborhood to find something for dinner. We found a little local restaurant where we grabbed a sandwich and decided we were more than ready for sleep!

Our last full day in Lisbon we decided to do more exploring on foot. On a side note.....during the trip I can't remember how many pastries we had, but it was a lot and they were all delicious!! Back to the plan.....we discovered lots of neat neighborhoods and, of course, plenty of hills! We visited the Castle of Sao Jorge, which was built on the highest hill of the historic city center. This meant lots of spectacular views of the city of Lisbon. After that we found our way to the Se Cathedral, which is the oldest church in the city. It had beautiful architecture, but the most interesting thing was an archaeological dig they have undertaken in the rear of the church. They have discovered remains from as early as the 4th century B.C.!! After we left the cathedral we were pretty hungry. We wandered around and found a little restaurant that was full of locals except for us. We both enjoy that much more than the tourist type restaurants. The owner was really nice and the food was much better than what we had the previous day. One thing we learned is that in Portugal you get charged for bread, butter and anything else they put on the table to eat. They bring the bread and butter and sometimes other appetizers and if you eat it you pay. If you don't eat it, you don't pay! Interesting. We went back to the hotel for a little rest as we were planning to go out for a nice evening. We learned about this area called "The Docks", which used to be sort of industrial, but has been revamped into a row of restaurants and clubs. It was a really cool place with lots of restaurants to choose from. We ended up in a little Italian place and had another romantic dinner overlooking the water. We didn't have enough energy to stay up for a wild night of dancing (we are getting old!) so it was back to the hotel to turn in.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed back to the Lisbon airport. We had a fairly uneventful trip back to Dublin and eventually home to Galway. It was really nice to be home!!! We could finally begin to unpack all of our suitcases from the US and settle back into life. But before long we'll be packing to leave again. We are heading to South Africa to visit my parents for the holidays for about a month. We are really excited to see them and to have some warm, sunny weather for Christmas! It will be summer there, and we could certainly use an escape from the cold, damp weather that is Galway!!

Back to the Emerald Isle

Our trip to the US was great, but after 4 weeks away we were ready to go "home". So we headed to O'Hare airport with our 4 overweight suitcases and all of our carry-ons. The flight was scheduled to depart on a Saturday at 6:30 pm. Like good little travelers, we arrived 2 hours ahead of time. As we were waiting in the Aer Lingus line, we heard someone say that the flight had been delayed. When we finally got to the desk we were informed that the flight was delayed 7 hours due to technical issues and we would be leaving at 1:30am! Ugggh! We accepted the inevitable. Then Marco realized we had booked the tickets using American Express and he had enrolled in a travel delay protection program. You pay $10 each time you book a ticket and that turned out to be worth every penny! We called Am Ex and they told us that we could go to a hotel, eat, buy any incidental things we needed during the delay and it would all be covered. Luckily there was a hotel at the airport so we checked in, ordered room service and watched a movie. We also snuck in a little nap and a shower before heading back to the airport at midnight. This was a million times better than sitting in the airport for 7 hours! The flight to Dublin was uneventful, and we were scheduled to fly on to Shannon after a 45 minute stop. Shannon is less than half the distance to Galway than Dublin, so it's much more convenient. Well, when we arrived in Dublin they announced that the flight to Shannon had been canceled. Unbelievable. They wanted to put us all on a bus to Shannon, which would have taken several hours. Then we would have to take another bus to Galway for about an hour and a half. This did not sound fun. So we decided to take a train directly from Dublin to Galway, which was a whole adventure by itself. We took a bus for 45 minutes to the train station, lugging our bags all the way! Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted by the time we arrived home. We got home around 7pm, dumped our bags, ate some cereal and went to bed. We both had to work the next day, so we pushed through the jetlag. The crazy part is that we went straight from work back to the train station and headed back to Dublin. The next morning we had a 7am flight to Portugal!

A Month in the US

It's been a long time since I have written anything because we have been on the road in the US. We've been here almost a month and it's hard to believe how fast time flies! We have had some great times visiting friends and family, eating all of our favorite foods and shopping up a storm. But all good things must come to an end. We leave for Ireland in 2 days and I'm starting to get nervous about overweight luggage. :(

It was super fun for us to be here during the most historic election in memorable history! We were glued to all of the news coverage and were celebrating the fact that the nation spoke loudly about wanting change. It is such a great country and now we have hope that rebuilding is possible.

We will arrive back in Galway on Sunday morning. The funny thing is that we will leave early Tuesday morning for a trip to Portugal! I know, crazy, huh? That means that we'll go to work on Monday, then take the train to Dublin in the evening so we can fly at 7am Tuesday! We won't even be back on Irish time, so I'm sure we'll both be a bit tired. Marco has some meetings to attend in Porto, which is in the North, and I couldn't resist tagging along. Portugal is one of the places on my "list", so I'm really excited. We're flying into Lisbon and taking the train to Porto. After the meetings, we'll head back to Lisbon and spend the weekend exploring. We've heard lots of great things about the city, so it should be fun.

Then we will come back to Galway and 3 weeks later I head to South Africa for the holidays. Marco will come a week after I go and we'll stay through the first week of January. We're both looking forward to the trip and I'm really excited to introduce Marco to Africa!

Going "Home"

It's been 6 months since we moved to Ireland and we are still so happy that we made the decision to come here. We love the city we live in and have made some good friends. Being able to travel has been amazing! Aside from the rain, we have a great life here.

As we were getting ready to leave the US earlier this year, honestly, I couldn't wait to go. But, I have to admit (and Marco said this would happen to me!).....I miss the US more than I thought I would! It's not that I want to move back any time soon (heaven forbid), but it's some of the little things that I really miss. Target, Trader Joe's, Mexican food, good/cheap restaurants in general, and the list goes on and on.

Friday we are headed to Chicago!!!!! We both have family in the area, so we are lucky enough to have a place to stay. Marco will be working with a professor at Northwestern most of the time. I am really excited to visit with family and do some shopping! It may sound silly, but we are each taking an extra empty suitcase just to be able to bring stuff back. Our shopping list includes lots of simple things like Colgate toothpaste, Dove soap, Ziploc bags and other "grooming" products that cost about twice as much over here. And I think we will probably gain about 5 pounds because we have so many plans to eat our favorite foods.

So, it's back to doing laundry and making my packing list because Friday is coming!

Viva USA and the Irish Postal Service!!

In October Marco and I are going back to the US for a few weeks to take care of some things. While we are there, Marco is going to be working with a professor at Northwestern University in Chicago. This professor was visiting the university in Galway over the summer and it worked out perfectly since they do work in the same area! Even though we are married, Marco still requires a visa to enter the US at this point. So, we made an appointment at the US embassy in Dublin and headed off on another "visa adventure". When we arrived at the embassy, we were both very impressed with the efficiency and order. Everyone from the security guards to the visa officer were extremely courteous and professional. Just watching how the staff interacted with people of all nationalities made us both realize that the US is a very open-minded and tolerant culture in general. Although we have been treated very well here in Ireland and by most of the embassies we have visited, we have seen that not everyone is treated the same way.

After we checked in, we joined the dozens of other people waiting to be called to the window for service. We heard lots of names being called, mostly of Irish people planning to visit the US. Then, all of a sudden, we heard "Marco Antonio Zuniga Zamalloa......numero uno, por favor." We certainly weren't expecting to hear Spanish at this point! We approached the window and the visa officer (who happened to be Irish) greeted us in Spanish and proceeded to ask Marco questions in Spanish! I told the guy that Marco speaks English, but he laughed and said he wanted to practice. :) He then asked why Marco had a Peruvian passport instead of one from Arequipa. Any Peruvians will understand this. Marco was born in a city named Arequipa and apparently people there feel like people from Texas.....they are their own country! Anyway, it was super funny that this guy knew anything about that. It turns out his wife had lived in Peru for several years and speaks fluent Spanish, so he had been there a few times himself. The best part about the experience was that they granted a 10 year visa to Marco!!!! Now, that was so nice to hear after all of the drama we have had with European embassies only granting short-term visas after requiring a ton of documentation. Anyway, viva USA!!!!

So, each time you apply for a visa you have to leave your passport with them, along with all of the documentation, and then you wait for them to process it and mail you the passport. Well, we were at the embassy on a Monday morning...yesterday. We must have left there around 10:30am to catch the bus back to Dublin. They still had to do whatever it is they do to process the visa paperwork. This morning (Tuesday) at about 8:30am our doorbell rang. It was the postman with the passport in hand! Unbelievable.... viva Irish mail!!!!!

This simple experience reminded Marco why he loves the USA and it also made me proud to be an American. :o)