Getting Paid to Have Fun in the Sun

If I had been told a year ago that I would have an all expense paid trip to a European city, have the tour guides and buses taken care of, and be able to swim in the Mediterranean and get paid for it, I never would have believed it.

My office sends the whole office on study trips in groups of 15-30 to study the architecture of another city. This year is was Stockholm or Valencia. I went on the Valencia trip with 15 other people. I knew a few by name, but had never hung out with them before, so it was going to be a great way to get to know my co-workers. And what decided to show up that morning; the flu.

Saturday we landed late afternoon so we had some time to go explore before the group dinner. Kate and I headed for the city centre but after realizing we went the wrong direction we just stopped for pints, life you do. We thought we had several hours to drink, so we kept on drinking, but then realized that we had forgotten about the one hour time difference and showed up fashionably late for dinner. We had a wonderful 5-course meal with lots of wine. About this time, the flu had me coughing and sniffling, so they got me whisky. Since I cannot be the only party pooper on the first night, I headed to the clubs with the rest of them. I went back to beer since the bubbles felt good on my throat. After dancing on top of tables, watching the guys get hit on by other men, two guys going into the toilet stall together after I was done and witnessing an erotic dance with a blow up skeleton, whiskey became a good idea again. Oh I wish I had had thee foresight to stop at the wine with dinner, but I was having fun. About 4:00, the group was heading on to the next club on the beach, I opted for my bed. Thorsten (my 6’-8” co-worker that made us feel safe), Kate and I jumped into a cab and headed for the hotel. Little did we know this would be our earliest night in, so we set the alarm for 9:00 to make sure we had enough time for breakfast before the tour.

Who needed an alarm, I had had too much fun the night before. Kate made sure that I got some breakfast into me before we loaded up onto our little tour bus. Most of our group had only just coming in at 8:30, so I am glad that I choose to head home for sure. Our bus driver spoke no English, so I tried to translate since he was asking where our guide was, but between the flu and my hangover, I just managed to tell him I was sorry that I was sick and I cannot understand what he is saying. He just smiled and nodded, since I think I was a nice shade of green. We managed to find our tour guide after a few others pulled out their phrase books. We drove around the whole downtown area seeing most of Santiago Calatrava’s work, since he is from Valencia. We got out and walked around the city. It has been revitalized in the last 10 years since it went into decay after the river flooded terribly about 30 years ago. The city eventually rerouted the river so it goes along the outskirts of town, and turned the old riverbed into a beautiful pedestrian walkway that is uninterrupted for 30 km. It has been a work-in-progress for the last 30 years, and it is a sight to see. We tried to view some of the cathedrals, but mass was in session. We stopped for coffees, tapas and drinks at one of the many outdoor cafes. About this time I started feeling better, since my cold medicine kicked in. We headed back to the bus for our siesta before heading out for the night.

The Rugby World Cup Ireland versus Namibia was on, so we tracked down an Irish Pub, and settled for a few scoops. Of course we won since we had a brilliant season in the 6 Nations Finals. A group of the lads, along with Kate and I nibbled at some more tapas around the corner at the local Spanish chipper that was about as good as deepfried lard. To work off such a fattening meal, we decided to change directions and head toward the Pier where the American Cup yacht races are held. We settle for an open-air pub right on the water. Dancing a debauchery ensued. One of the women putting her off the shoulder crocheted shawl on one of the blokes. He decided to get the bright idea to unbutton a few buttons, but of course the women make him take it off. They then put jewelry on him, and then out came the cameras. I was his human meat shield protecting him from most of the camera flashes, but a few squeaked by. It was closing time, and since we were a crowd of drunken Irish, the police we called to have a presence to encourage us to move on. We walked along the beach for a bit until all our beers and wine bottles were drank we began the long walk back to the hotel. I was just glad that I was not wearing my tallest heals, just my medium sized ones. Many Irish songs were sung and as we headed for a nightcap in the blokes room. I instead went straight to bed since it was 5, in the full throws of the flu.

Kate crawled into bed around 7 and was up by 9 for breakfast. We declined to join the group heading to the museums, since we went straight for the beach. The perfect cure for her hangover and my flu is to float in the Mediterranean. Warm waters and sunny skies can make any day better. After several hours of relaxing, we made our way back to the hotel for a quick shower, lunch and some shopping. We wandered through the streets searching all the shops for a Valencia football jersey for Kate’s husband. Kate picked out a beautiful red dress that was a must have for our paella feast. It was great having a group size that could be accommodated all at one table, and that we were able to stick together for most of the time. We had a wonderful meal that took hours to eat with so many starters and lovely dessert. We went for a moonlit walk along the beach where there were naked people abound. We also nearly stumbled over a huge jellyfish. We went to a club right on the beach that had beds in the back harem style that 5 people could lounge on while sipping their drinks. One of the women pulled a stunt on one of the guys by rubbing “a soothing cream” on his sunburns which really was tinted moisturizer. (People did comment on how great of color he got while on holiday when back at work, HA!)

The next morning we stopped at the shop to pick up chocolates, wine for less than a Euro, Aqua de Valencia (that is a local drink), and champagne. We boarded our bus and toasted our great trip with our morning mimosas. The craic was 90’ and great memories were made! I am already looking forward to next year’s trip.

When You're On The Right, You're In The Wrong…Lane…

On the last day of August we had a visitor. Our very good friend Emily came to see what Dublin had to offer her (you may know her from her supporting role in our wedding) and boy did she find out! No…not really… But we did definitely enjoy the time with her. She came bearing great news! She had just accepted an offer for her dream job (congratulations again Em!) at the Oregon Ballet Theater in Portland, so she will be leaving New York for Oregon (something I have been telling her she needs to do for quite some time, but I guess my advising, begging, chiding, and sarcasm-laden-lovingly-irritating-tantrums aren’t as good as a dream job…) at the end of this month. Of course after all my attempts to get her to move, she does it when I’m not there… Hmm…I wonder if I should be reading more into this…

It was Friday morning when she arrived and after we had breakfast and she got settled, she spent the afternoon wandering between shops on Grafton Street. Mariah and I met her after work in City Center and we had dinner in Temple Bar, had some gelato, and just wandered around town a bit. She was tired from her trip and we had big plans for the following day, so we called it a night fairly early and headed home.

Saturday marked the beginning of a big adventure and a first for me in Ireland: DRIVING… Mariah and I got up early and went to pick up the car. All I had to do was drive it back to our apartment, where we conveniently have a parking space. Despite the fact that it was much too early to be thinking that hard, we made it from the rental shop to home without any problem.

That wasn’t so bad…

After everyone was ready we began the big part of the adventure. We were venturing into the Wicklow “Mountains” to see a place called Glendalough which essentially means “Glen of Two Lakes” in Irish. It is the site of an old monastery and graveyard with one lake just at the edge of the monastery and the other up the hill a bit. The lakes are nestled comfortably between two hills and above the upper lake there is a small but beautiful waterfall. Mariah and I had been to Glendalough the first time we came to Ireland, but we really enjoyed it, so we thought we would share it with Emily since it is only about forty minutes outside of Dublin.


Before we could see all of that wonderfulness, though, we had to get there. We had purchased some good maps for this occasion and plotted a course that took us on the motorway (freeway) for a short bit, and then off onto the back roads, through villages, on our way to see the Wizard of Glendalough. Motorways are fairly scarce in Ireland and you inevitably are going to end up on the winding roads with stonewalls or hedges pressed closely against the invisible line marking the edge of what would be your lane if it were actually described that way. This is good, for the most part, because the countryside of Ireland is decidedly one of my favorite parts and you can’t get much out of that if you are speeding along a freeway. And now for the scary part…

Actually…it wasn’t that bad…amazingly…

Of course you are driving on the wrong side of the road, so that’s different, and concentration is required for you to stay there. Turns tended to be the place where I felt I needed to pay the most attention, so that I didn’t accidentally turn into the wrong lane (which would be bad, as you might imagine). Fortunately this didn’t happen. I found that it wasn’t that hard to keep in mind which side of the road I should be on, primarily because I was on the opposite side of the car.

Take everything to the left of the radio and stick, pick it up, and drop it on the opposite side of the car, and that’s what sitting in a left side car is like. Everything is in the same place that it should be except…you…and the gearshift. That was really the hardest thing to work with: Shifting with my left hand. The gears are in the same order they would be in the US, so first ends up being farthest away from you, not to mention that my left hand is much less coordinated than my right and definitely lacking in the pre-programmed movements repetitively knocked into my brain from learning to drive in my old ’69 VW Bug. Shifting was really the only thing I struggled with. I was even able to carry on conversations and glance at the odd bit of scenery.

We made it, then, to Glendalough safe and sound. Despite having been there before, we never had done the whole walk up to the second lake and the waterfall, so this time we did – a good three or four hours worth I would say. The place there is just magnificent. It’s no wonder the monks chose it as a place of introspection and contemplation. I’m not the only one that thinks it’s a cool place, either, because you can see it and it’s surrounding areas in a number of movies. One that I recognized specifically was King Arthur (the new one with Clive Owen). When they are fleeing the Vikings and cross a big frozen lake, that’s the lake I am almost positive. The movie was definitely filmed in Ireland and in that area.

We spent a good part of the day there just walking the trails and then headed off to a little village that Mariah is fond of called Enniskerry where we had lunch. There is a big waterfall nearby Enniskerry, called the Powerscourt Waterfall, so we got to stop and show Emily that as well. We had seen it before, but the last time it was just pouring rain, so this time we got to see it without feeling we were under it.

We also tried to go up and see Johny Fox’s Pub, “The highest pub in Ireland”, but on our way up there ended up being a accident involving a tractor and a car which was completely blocking off the road. No one was injured, fortunately, but we had to skip the highest pub and headed home for a relaxing evening. We made it back without issue and I am now confident that I can drive on the wrong side of the road without too much difficulty. So…yay for that!

On Sunday we slept in. Well…I woke up, but everyone else slept in, so I just quietly waited until everyone else woke up. I’m nice like that. By the time we had finished getting ready and making a big breakfast and whatnot we only really had time for one attraction. We ended up deciding on Kilmainham Gail (pronounced and meaning jail). Yes, we had one opportunity to go see something that day and we went to a jail… It’s a really cool jail, as jails go… We had gotten a lot of recommendations to see this historical site, but had never gotten there, so having Em in town gave us a good reason to get out there and take a look.

The jail is where a lot of the revolutionaries from the uprisings against the British government were held and executed, and then was used after the Republic of Ireland was established to imprison and execute people during the Irish civil war. For any history buffs out there this was a great place to go because it gave a good deal of history in their museum about these events. And for those who aren’t that big into history, but still find it interesting, it presents the information in a fairly concise way… The building itself is also very interesting, as were the conditions for prisoners. You can see Kilmainham Gail in the movie Michael Collins (recommended), which is about the Irish uprising and the birth of the Republic – specific to the role of Michael Collins.

We then made another stop at the “oldest pub in Dublin”, The Brazen Head. We just had a drink there…and some craic… and then headed off for dinner and another easy evening. Emily never saw the real Dublin - the, drunken, stumbling, vomiting Dublin - but I think she was OK with that.

Monday we had to work, but Emily made a full day adventuring in the city and then we met her in town again where we had set up a dinner with friends graciously hosted by our friends Bruno and Joao. I try to do a dinner like this when friends are in town because my favorite part of Dublin is the people I have met here, so we try to share that with visitors as much as we can. Along with many of our regular multi-national friends and guests, Mariah was able to invite one of her work mates, so I got to meet someone new as well, since I have yet to see most of the folks she knows there… They are shy...

It was a great evening, though unfortunately completely lacking in photo-documentation, and I think Emily got to enjoy a bit of what we think Dublin is all about.

For her last day Emily had the morning in Dublin again, then had lunch with me and afterward I got her on a bus heading toward the airport and she made it back to New York only to begin packing for her big trip back to Oregon and the new job.

GOOD LUCK EM! WE LOVE YOU!

Middle Eastern Taco Bell

With no 24-hour drive-thrus at Taco Bell, I have found an ever better substitute. There are the walk-up Kabob places all over and open late. Maybe not 24-hours, but at least you can get something to eat at 4am on your way home. Zaytoons has become our favorite. Not exactly as cheap as Taco Bell, but the quality is much better!

African Modeling

I have befriended a lovely South African woman, Jacquie, who is just about as crazy as I am, and is even taller than I am! We are the “twins” at work since we both have short brown hair, are statuesque and tall. Quite a stretch for twin, but I will run with it.

She invited me to a free concert and I said yes. I had no idea where it was, what kind of music, or whether it was indoors or outdoors. She laughed when I did not hesitate in my answer, it was in that moment we both knew that this was a good start to a friendship. It was an all weekend event with multiple concerts on each night, with of course a reasonably priced beer garden. 5 Euro per pint which is only about a 25 cent mark up from the pubs. There were some great DJs and we danced and danced. On the last night of the venue, it was an African band. Her French friend, Clemantine who was also an architect, joined us and helped as a translator since the band was from the Congo and they were singing in French.

Since Jacquie works part time at a South African shop, she knew about the upcoming African Festival. Karen, Jacquie and I started the long bank holiday weekend with an Art Gallery Opening the first night. The Lord Mayor of Dublin kicked off the festival. During the speeches I noticed the commentator kept checking me out, but since I happened to be front and center, I did not think that much of it. We enjoyed some beers, African food, poetry readings as well as some wonderful artwork that if I had a few grand just lying around, I would have brought home a piece. We had just left when the commentator, Joshua, recognized us and stopped to chat. When he asked if we were going to the fashion show, which we all promptly replied no, since 65 Euro is quite spendy. He then asked if my name was Jo, which it is not, because I looked exactly like his ex-girlfriend. Hence the staring. He then whipped out 3 free fashion show tickets for us and made us promise to go.

And how could we pass up such a great free experience! The three of us again met up, but this tim with Karen’s friend Niamh it tow, who we scored yet another free ticket for. Helps to look like the long lost love….. There where 6 different designers to see, along with two musical acts. About a third of the way though watching some very innovative designs, Joshua got up and introduced the biggest designer of Uganda, Madoi Latif, and said that he needed two volunteers for the designer to make a dress for them, in just 4 minutes. Jacqui told me to stop making eye contact so I kept listening, but was somehow drawn to look at Joshua again who smiled a smile of desperation thinking that no one would volunteer, and next thing I knew, my hand shot up. Oops, well I am known to act without thinking! Joshua asked me to again if I was sure, and I said of course, I want a pretty dress! Good thing they had free drinks that were pretty stiff, that helped to get over any stage fright I could have had.

volunteers. We were whisked away to a back room. The designer sizedI got up on the stage, and then another hand shot up from the crowd and he had his two me up, and gave me first color selection which of course I choose black, so the other volunteer got white. We went back out and waited while he got started so we did not miss the musical acts. A few minutes later they were done. I had to quickly borrow Jacquie’s shoes since I had flip flops on (nice to finally have a friend that is about my same size!) and I seemed to have the perfect jewelry on for a floor length, scoop neck, back dress with a long train. The other dress was a little shorter than mine, and of course see through, which is why I was so happy I picked black. We then had to go out and do our thing on the catwalk. And I was ready! I even kept the straight face, did a few poses where I needed to and showed off the dress very well, until I turned to final turn and saw my friends when a smile just lit up my face from the excitement. I made my way up to the stage to be further photographed with the designer and then were escorted back to change. I had Niamh grab a few more pictures of me to let the other girl change in privacy. After I was done changing Latif let me select a hat for Ben and I got to keep my dress. What a keepsake to have after my successful modeling debut!