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!!