NEWS FLASH! ….yet again

I ended up accepting the job at OMP and I am super excited! I get 4 weeks vacation and a fully paid company retreat this fall for the entire company for a weekend to go to Stockholm! How cool is that!!!! A merica has been a bad influence here since they no longer have 2-hour lunches thus extending their work week to 37.5 hours. We get an office wide teatime at 11:00 and 4:00 for tea/coffee and biscuits. So really I still only work 7 hours. I am just so giddy with excitement! I am also so stir crazy that it is only the lunch hour, and already I have everything done on my to-do list, just waiting on the final paperwork from them to be filled out so I can apply for my own Green Card. Hurry up and wait! Luckily I am able to apply for a spousal dependent Green Card so mine is free. I just have to wait the 6-8 weeks like Ben did, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. We will be able to afford our travel plans, YAY!

Strange Anomaly #5

You can take whatever you want into a movie theater for snacks, and you don’t have to hide it! You can just walk right up with your 45 cent popcorn and 99 cent Coke that you got around the corner at Spar instead of the 5 Euro for a large popcorn and another 5 Euro for a large Coke. I love it! Cheap night considering we have our unlimited passes and we only spend 1.44 on our snacks.

Movie Theaters

Ben loves to watch movies, especially in the theaters, but in the last several years we could not afford to go as much since we retired our student IDs for the cheap student discounts. Bruno let Ben in on one of the greatest movie theater inventions of all time. UNLIMITED PASS! So for 17 Euro each a month for one year, we can go to the movies as much as we want, whenever we want! Great bargain, since if you plan on going twice a month, it has already paid for itself. With rainy falls, winters and springs, we figured we could get out of the house, walk around, but still go do something with friends. They also have a bar in the movie theaters, so if we watch to chat over a pint before or after the movie with friends, we can. And you can get assigned seats, so when you Fandango, you really do not have to wait in lines for hours, you just go get your awesome seat that you bought way before hand.

Rain, Rain go away, come again some other day.....

Sunday the rain started, and it has not seemed to let up. Just goes from pouring to drizzling. I was just so happy that I could have almost 3 full weeks of no rain and all sunshine in order to learn the city in! At least it is not that cold.

NEWS FLASH!

After a few weeks off, I was starting to look forward to going back to work, but I had no prospects on the horizon. I sent my CV out to 17 different companies, which I was being picky about only applying to the best. Irish just move slow and they did not want a gregarious American pushing them for an interview, I just had to sit back and wait. Some were not interested since I did not have Irish experience, but I am not a very patient person, so I was starting to go a little stir crazy. As I was walking to meet Ben after work, I expected it to be him calling me, but instead it was a prospective firm! They loved my CV and after a good word was put in from Ben’s boss to one of his buddies at another firm, I had an interview set up for Friday April 21st with O’Mahony Pike Architects! This was my number one firm on my list! For those of you who know Will, this is the final firm that he ended up at and we visited him at. They are located in a renovated church, it is pretty cool!

www.omp.ie

It was a great interview and he really liked me, as I did him. He reminded me in a way of my old boss Dave. So that helped in feeling comfortable, just having a discussion about what I have done, what my skills are, what I am interested in, and what I hope to achieve and get from them. I really was not nervous which was a nice surprise. Just excited to get a chance to talk to someone since I know I can win them over. I will mostly be working on large scale residences with some conservation work, but with the urban planning to go along with it! I will just take anything that they throw at me though! I hope to hear by Monday with an offer. I know they are giving me one, but hopefully it meets my expectations. My hopes are not too high, as I don’t want to be let down, but my fingers and toes are crossed, hopefully there will be more to say soon! Off to go track down the paper work to get my green card started when I get a job!

Strange Anomaly #4

They do not have résumés, they are called your CV. Curriculum Vite. They have no idea what you are talking about when you say résumé (since that is French, I think), but say it in Latin and they know exactly what you are talking about……

Thank you global warming

I stopped by my local farmers market this weekend located at one of the most interesting designed schools I have ever seen. Simple, clean, and unlike any other in that it is true to the materials. It uses brick as real brick not veneer. It is quite small, but they make the most of their space. I will not digress on the theory of architecture, at this time. In addition to looking so cool, this just happens to be one of the most sought after elementary schools.

Today is yet another beautiful day, like is has been since I arrived. I am beginning to think that it really is not as bad as people say it can be, but then again I did just miss winter. I am in my flip flops, tank top and jeans with a mission to find Okra this time (still have not found any, even canned – see above reference to canned pea goods). I settled for some bread that looks good, but I have no idea what the little frenchy name means from the Bread Guy, a slice of banana cake for Ben from the Baker Gal, some of the second best dates I have ever eaten (the best being the ones from Israel of course) from the Fruity Gals, fresh goat cheese from the Cheese Guys, and finally some spices. The Spice Guy is located right next to the Wine Guy. But I cannot buy any wine quite yet, since I have not found a wine opener yet. Does me no good to buy the wine, if I cannot drink it.

As the Spice Guy helps me to pick out the beginnings of my Irish spice collection (pepper, salt, mixed herbs and paprika), we get to talking about where I am from. Now most Irish have no idea where Oregon is, but most know where Hollywood is, and I just say I am north from there. But this guy actually knew where Oregon was! That was when the Wine Guy chimed in as well. We talked about all the great wines coming out of the Willamette Valley and how well Oregon has gotten at growing grapes and how California is slowly declining in their vineyard productions. That is where the thanks to global warming comes into play. Since Ireland is becoming more and more sunny, with less and less drizzle (which Oregonians know so well), they are just starting for the first time even in history to grow grapes in Cork vineyards. I look forward to drinking some Irish wine in the near future, which by that time I will have my wine opener!

Strange Anomaly #3

There are switches to turn off the power to your hob (stove) so that the power goes off to that entire plug in. I don’t know how many times I have put something on a burner to cook and I wonder why nothing happens when I have the correct burner on. Because the switch is not flipped! Same with the bathroom instant hot water heater. No switch on, no shower.

Cheesy Artichoke Dip

Small yogurt container size of Sour Cream
Small Cream Cheese container
Bag of shredded Parmesan Cheese
Half a bag of shredded Mozzarella Cheese, about 1½ cups (300 grams)
Garlic (as much or as little as you would like)
(2) cans of Artichoke hearts (In water, if in oil I wash them off)
If I have some white wine on hand, I put a splash in there if it is really hard to stir.

Mix it all together in a brownie pan to bake, but you could really put it in anything
25 minutes or so at 350 degrees F (200 degrees C) – top should be browned just a wee little bit
Stir well and serve hot with bread or crackers
The portions for me are never the same. Mayo can also be substituted for either the sour cream or cream cheese. Use your judgment on how much mozzarella to add, if you put in too much, when it cools it all congeals together.

Traveling to Italy for the afternoon

I have always wanted to design a zoo, I will settle for even just designing a single animal enclosure, but since I have yet to do either of these things, I settle for going to every zoo in every major city I have ever visited. I LOVE THE ZOO! We originally planned to go to the zoo over Easter weekend, and we never made it there since we just were enjoying each others company way too much. When Ben got back to work this past week and talked about us going this weekend, what was going to be just the two of us, turned out to be a large group of about 10 of us. I know, what does the zoo have to do with Italy, but I am getting there…..

The plan was to go there on Saturday, which was forecasted to be a beautiful day. Then the zoo excursion was going to be followed up by a BBQ. Which is really cute when you hear an Australian say “Lets go throw something on the Bar-Bee” (think Outback Steakhouse commercial). They do not have shrimp worthy of being BBQed in Australia, so when Americans advertise, “throw another shrimp on the Bar-bee”, they actually would never say that, but they do get a kick out of us saying that. I am still digressing from Italy.

Saturday turned out to be the best day we have had here since I arrived. Maybe it was about 70 degrees, no wind, and clear sky. We had to bring a dish to the BBQ, and since we own the barest essentials in a kitchen, I did not bring any cookbooks with me and I have yet to learn how to use the metric system, I was very limited to what I could make. I fell back on my tried and true Cheesy Artichoke Dip, that has been a crowd pleaser for years. Now most of the ingredients I can find very easily, and have the recipe memorized for years. There was one ingredient that was eluding me. Artichoke hearts. I stopped by my local Tesco Shopping Centre and there were none there. Lots of weird random canned stuff like mushed peas, chick peas, salted peas, sugar peas, pealed peas, peas, peas with carrots (do you see a pattern) and lots of tomatoes. But no artichokes. I then stopped by the Spar, Londis, and Centra, again no canned artichokes, or fresh for that matter. Then I stopped by the little Italian café at the corner. When I walked in there where my artichokes. I asked for a few scoops, but alas, they do not sell them. They just use them for the salads and paninis. I asked them where I could find them, and through her very poor English (yes she was Italian working at an Italian café, go figure) and my no Italian, I got some very bad directions. But I was on a mission. I had never been over to the Beechwood village. I did not have a map on me, so I just sent out on the directions she gave with no street names of course, just vague references to stuff I might see and her indecisiveness on which directions I really should turn. It was a nice day, I had nothing else better to do, I had my mobile, so I set off.

Now for some of those that I have talked about the food before, there is not much of a selection of food. It has gotten better since Ben and I were last here to visit, but it is Irish food sold in an Irish grocery store. When I finally found the Doritos salsa with the crisps, I thought I was in heaven. All of this build up to my adventure, but it really was not that far, and ended up being easy to find, but you could see where it could have been a big adventure given if I had made a different turn…. As I approached the cutest little village street, I slowed my pace and just enjoyed it. It was a very crowed little centre with mums and their kids, the homeless guy asking for change, little old ladies that can walk further and faster then I can, and a group of old guys hanging out in front of the pub. There are probably about 20 shops along the double block, but everything you could ever need (not necessarily want) would be right there. As I neared the end of the street, I thought that I missed my store and was in the wrong place, but the very last shop, there it was, “A Taste of Italy”. As I walked in, there was everything you could ever want from Italy food wise. Great wines, sauces, noodles (more than just spaghetti, which is all I can find at other stores), spices, and my elusive artichoke hearts of all different kinds. They also sold all sorts of organic veggies and meats, which is good for future reference. I took my artichokes home and reveled in my new find. It was a small accomplishment and I guess to others it is not that big of deal, but I was happy with my new find and could not wait to take Ben there! Now if I could just find Okra for my gumbo…..but I am sure that will be a story unto itself for the future.

To finish up the beginning story very quickly: Zoo was overrated (they need to reopen the newly remodeled Asia exhibits), I got very sunburned, every animal was asleep except for the fighting rhinos. They had a lot of monkeys and big cats which are my favorites, with the Gorilla picking his bum and eating whatever he got out of there (had to post that, it was just too funny). BBQ was grand, but we ate way too much, made way too much food, stayed up way to late, and stumbled home with our blisters already forming. A good end, to a great day!

Strange Anomaly #2

There are very few doorknobs on doors that actually turn and open the door, they put them in the middle just for decoration to pull the door shut behind you.

Let the job hunt begin!

I have mailed out my resume (CV) and portfolio all over the city and I am now just starting to get responses back. I applied to 17 different firms of all different sizes and work types. I just figure, throw anything out there and see what I get! Apparently here with 5+ years work experience I am considered a Senior Architect, wow, that sounds so grown up and important! I hope to have a job prospect finalized in the next couple weeks. Not in any real hurry, except that once I do get hired, I will have to wait the 6-8 weeks just like Ben. I know that if nothing works out, Ben's firm will hopefully hire me. I do like the place where Ben works, but we want to spread out our contacts. I went to the Pub with his whole work the Thursday before Good Friday, and was able to meet his team, and he works with some really nice people at a large firm, but I would just rather not work with him at the same place. Our conversations would just be too boring if all we did was talk about work, work at the same firms, and work with the same group of friends.

The weather here has been unseasonably beautiful and has not rained a drop since I arrived. Now for those that don’t know, Dublin weather is a lot like Portland so it is a nice surprise. High 60s with no rain and no clouds. Perfect weather to explore in. Especially when I had to drop off a resume on the other side of town, which was about a 45 minute walk at my pace. I am a woman on a mission, so you could only imagine, dawdling on a rainy day when I am tired could take about 75 minutes or more, ICK!

Well, I should get back to making phone calls and following up on my resume, enough procrastinating for today!

Strange Anomaly #1

They drive on the left side! Alright most of you already knew that, but it still takes some getting used to. I am just glad that at major intersections, they have painted on the ground Look Left or Look Right. The driver is on the right side, but the stick shift is still in the middle with the brake and gas pedals in the same location to the driver as well, go figure.

There's no place like home.....

Ben found the cutest little flat right where we wanted to be the Friday before I flew out and signed the final papers that Saturday (red door and single ground floor window). So when I touched down, it was nice to come straight to our new home! Our neighborhood is the equivalent to NW 23rd in Portland. Lots of little shops, boutiques, pubs, restaurants and little specialty stores just right around the corner. I can walk to the mass transit line (LUAS) in about 5 minutes, or if I just keep walking I can get to the city centre in about 25 minutes.

Our flat is a one bedroom, little kitchen, tiny bathroom, washer/dryer combo unit in the living room (which someday our Telly will sit on) and a shared back patio for the units. We actually get a parking space, which will come in handy if we ever rent a car to travel out west, but for now it is just an empty gravel area off the patio. Our place in is a converted row house that has been split up into 4 units, so just like back home, we are on the bottom right hand side. It came fully furnished so all we had to do was pick up sheets, towels, eating utensils and cleaning supplies. There is a little love seat and matching chair, small dining table and chairs, coffee table, double bed, dresser and two nightstands. There is not really a closet per se, but a small built in wardrobe that we can hand a few clothes and another wardrobe on the other side of the bed that has built in shelves to put folded clothes on. With a more relaxed work environment I left the suits at home, so really there is not much that I have to hang up thankfully. Since I have stepped off the plane, I have been spending Ben’s money faster than he can make it to get the more essential things you need when setting up a home. Ooops… hopefully I can get that job soon; more on that later.

While Ben is at work, I have been keeping an immaculate home, which really is not that hard to do when it is only 250 square feet, if that. We have no dishwasher, and have to do the dishes as soon as we dirty them, because if we wait, there is not enough hot water to wash more than a couple plates, cups and some silverware. I also go exploring and find some great shops in the neighboring village centers. We can easily walk to about 5 different village centers from our house to grab something to eat or run an errand. Food does not keep as well here and with only a bar fridge, we can only keep so much in the house at a time. I pick up the fresh bread and meat almost daily and pick out all organic food and eggs. There is a great little farmers market just around the corner from us that our friends Will & Gillian showed us while they were living here just last year.

There is a lovely duck pond that used to be a part of a nun convent so it is really well taken care off. We take our leftover scones, or bread there to feed the ducks and swans. The babies hatched recently so it is cute feeding the little babies while I have my morning tea and croissant. I just could not have asked for a better place or better neighborhood. Ben did a wonderful job picking out our new home abroad!

NEWS FLASH! ...again…finally…

So…I’m sorry that it has been so long since I have posted, but a lot has been going on. I’ll try to be better about posting more regularly. In any case, for this post you only get the short version with a more elaborate, more interesting version to follow…soon…hopefully…

Mariah is here! More on this later…

To start with, I got all of my final paperwork sorted out, so I am officially living, working, banking, and so forth here in Ireland. (For those of you who missed my added comment: my "Green Card" is not green, nor is it a card... It's a sheet of letterhead, partially a letter, with the bottom third laminated over all of the important information.) It was all pretty smooth, I must say, though some things take longer than they should. Things at work are also getting fully settled and I am really enjoying the work environment there. The work at the moment is a bit tedious, but the people are just wonderful.

Mariah arrived in real life on a plane at the airport in…Ireland! If you didn’t know, now you know. If you did know…you are bored right now…

I missed something though… A few weeks back I started looking for apartments for us – nothing terribly aggressive – mostly I just wanted to get the feel of what was available (significantly lower my expectations – more on this later) and learn about the areas where we might want to live and, more importantly, not live. The Friday before Mariah arrived I went to look at a flat in a very popular neighborhood called Ranelagh. Flats tend to be apartments refitted into old row-houses. I expected something much too small, but it was in a good location, so I wanted to take a look. I planned on just looking… Instead, I really liked it. It was very small, but comfortable for two people, clean, and the remodel was fairly new. I worked out the details with the landlord on Saturday and then moved in on Sunday. Done and done! More on the place later (I have the camera now, so pictures as well), but by some miracle I had managed to get a place for us to live sorted before Mariah even arrived (fairly surprising considering at one point I wasn’t expecting to seem my Green Card until that very same Friday).

Again, she here with me! Yay! The short version is: life is better. We got her paperwork taken care of right away (very smooth), so she is a legal resident as well, and then we commenced spending all of my hard earned money fitting out the new place. We had some big plans for doing exciting things over the weekend and then just ended up relaxing and soaking up each other’s company, which was inevitably the better alternative.

Now I am back to work and Mariah is in the process of looking for the perfect firm. No big rush on that, but it shouldn’t take too long for her to find something. The trick will be finding something she is excited about, which shouldn’t be a stretch either.

That pretty much sums it up. Again, I apologize and hope to make posting a much more frequent event. In the mean time, hopefully this will satiate reading desires for a bit.

Until next time…blah blah…blah…

Yippie!