Strange Anomaly #52

Firefighters not the studmuffins they are in America, or should I say the Fire Brigade. I know as for myself I desperately wanted to be a FireMAN when I grew up after watching my neighbours house burn down, and when I realized that I was 1) not going to become a man, much to Ben’s delight and 2) that although women can do the job, I just would not be bodybuilder enough material to do the job physically well. As I was told by a Northener, the firefighters as not as well respected due to that fact that when the ‘Troubles’ we going on up North, they did not want the firemen to put out their fires so bottles and rocks were thrown at them.

As with the imagery provided below one can also see the hotness factor. Maybe if the Irish ones spoke, it would give them a few additional hot points for the accents, but for the most part, I have never met an ugly American firefighter. And for the record, the Irish man was in a calendar as Mr. May of 2007. If this is the type that makes it into a calendar, Case. And. Point.

St Patrick's Jewelry

Meg, Paul's wife, has been a great contributor to my creation of jewelry. The night before St. Patrick's Day she invited all of her co-workers over to her place for a little boozy fun before the jewelry shopping. I had all of it laid out, and after a few bottles of wine, some nibbles and chats later, they were ready to shop. Out of the 8 there, they all bought at least one thing, and one even bought stuff for her wedding. That is awesome! The extra cash definitely helps and it funds me doing even more pieces. So in true Irish fashion, my eyes were hanging out of my head the next day after drinking too much wine, so it is great that we get that as a national holiday! Just have to remember why I usually limit myself to one or two glasses of wine, not one or two bottles..... I always have learned the hard way!

Strange Anomaly #51

Sirens have all different sounds. Some sound like US police and others sound like mainland Europe. When I asked about this, I was told people were less able to igonore them if they change around since people do not move out of the way in emergencies as quickly as they do in the States.

10,000 Miles in 5 Days

I was super exited when Misti announced she was getting married and even happier when she asked me to be in it! But I live thousands of miles away and had no holiday time left to take. So luckily she just happened to plan it during one of our bank holidays and with how much overtime I work I was able to work the hours in the same week and did not have to take anytime off.

So Thursday morning I caught a plane and few all day to reach Portland just before midnight. Friday mom and I drove the 5+ hours to Shady Cove just in time to do hugs, wedding rehearsal, quick dinner and then into bed. Saturday was the wedding all day long which was amazing. No bridezilla moments. Karaoke to some country songs. Aiden got involved with the vows since he could not understand why everyone was staring at his parents and he was not the centre of attention. I was such a wonderful day to not only to see two people that belong together get married, but all of our friends that I have missed so much.

Sunday after a quick breakfast where nearly the entire wedding took over the restaurant, it was back up to Portland but with Mark and Whitney with us! They were heading back to Arizona but leaving out of Portland as well to see Mark's family. It was great being able to catch up over such a long drive. I had enough time in Portland to see my brother and his wife. Then Monday back on the plane and straight into work after landing. It was hard for me to believe how quick that trip was and that I was even in America!

Strange Anomaly #50

Teachers go by first names. Started when most of the teachers were nun, Sister Mary, Sister Aofie but now the just call the teached who are not nuns by only their first name. No Ms. Arstad or Mrs. Gould, but plain Meg.

Warning: Do not stab freezer with knives

Our freezer has never worked properly since the door never closed all the way so within a few weeks it would completely freeze over. One day when I was trying to fit my pie crusts into the freezer to make room I started chipping away at the ice. Well, it sort of slipped and punctured the side and freon started coming out. Needless to say, that fridge died. Our landlord was nice enough to buy us a new one and since it was so cold, I climbed inside the empty box. I loved playing in boxes as a child, and of course I still like to. I kept it in the house for about a week, but then since we live in a small place I could not stand it being in our space anymore so it was recycled. But I still love playing in oversized boxes!!

Strange Anomaly #49

No Juvenile detention halls. Even though kids act up they just get a fine and the parents pay it, then they are right back out on the street selling the drugs to pay back their parents. After the rock hidden in the snow ball hit me, and watching many other teenage boys act up around the city, I can understand why they do whatever they want. There are not consequences.

Courts Tour

Ben worked nearly three years on the new Criminal Courts building and it had its grand opening! A few weeks before final completion they had a friends and family tour. Since we do not have any family here, we picked the next best thing, friends that are family. Colin joined us as our family and we also figured since he was Irish he would have a bit of interest in the countries newest criminal court, purely as a curious bystander of course.

Pete, Ben's boss, was the head of our group. We got to go to all the places that the public would never be allowed to: The awesome views from the judges chambers, their private ensuites in their offices, walking within the double skin service area and even down into the holding cells. That was cool! The place that I was looking forward to seeing was the child witness room that Ben did most of the design for. Now since I can never be a child again, I will most likely never be an Irish child witness so this was my one chance to see it. Even though I think the room was awesome, there are so many other cooler things to photograph so I may never have another chance to see it.

For the grand public opening, Ben went but was not allowed to bring guests since the President was there to speak. He may not have met her, but I still think it is pretty cool that he got to see her in person!

When Misti and Johnny were here after being open for a month or so, we gave ourselves a self guided tour and got to snicker at the judged who still wear those silly looking white wigs that seem so outdated. It was great to see at least on of the projects that we have worked on get built!

Strange Anomaly #48

Our washer eats our clothes. It turns our whites grey, our blacks grey and well our greys other colours. This happens why? Because the hot water tapped right into the washer and apparently this happens quite often construction cuts corners. Just another glorious little quirk of our place!

Portuguese New Year in Germany

We had originally planned on spending Christmas in Lisbon with Bruno, but since he picked up a bit of work in Ulm, Germany; we went there instead! Our second year of a cold winter with Bruno and Marta. The only difference was this year, there were about 10 other unexpected people showing up including his family to the event. Not what we expected, but in true Bruno fashion everyone was included and we had a great time!

The Medieval Christmas Market in Neu Ulm with a great atmosphere which was very "medieval", very good mulled wine and amazing typical types of food (a sort of a Medieval fast food). It was great also seeing all the patrons dressed up in true Visagoth fashion! The city of Ulm is quite small and the real highlight is a building designed by a woman who worked for Richard Meier that was built right next to the old cathedral, it so does not fit in there. So needless to say, if that was the architectural highlight, there really was not that much to see in Ulm.

Just Ben and myself went into Augsburg to visit with his friend Oliver who lives there. He toured us around the town and we were able to get a traditional lunch made by his partner and meet his family. It was a nice quiet day.

We also made use of the Bavarian Ticket to head into Munich with the girls for the day while the boys worked. I got to play tour guide as I have been before and with my impecible timing, we were at the glockenspiel just as it struck noon so they could see the little dancers. Last time I was here it was sweltering hot so it was a vast difference.

We drove up to a small ski resort near the Austrian boarder and watched some Olympic Ski Jumping. No tricks, just flying really far off the jump. After about the third one we saw we were done being enthused and went to get some coffee. It was funny watching Duarte, Bruno's little brother, sled down ice on a garbage bag. None of us wanted to get involved, that just did not look that comfortable! Nothing like seeing grown men see snow for the first time and get all giddy! They were all excited about the snow ball fights.

We also headed over to Austria to see Lake Constance. It was beautiful but I could only imagine how great it would look during the height of summer. Pretty little towns along the lake, but sort of depressing to see in the winter. We all strolled down the lake side. And when I mean stroll, walk as slow as you can and then walk half as slow as that and you get the Portuguese saunter.

Our last day was spent going over to Neuschwanstein the castle that Walt Disney based his castle on. I had been there during the summer but I have to say the views are amazing in the snow! Since we were so late getting out of Ulm, we did not get a tour inside, but it was a nice day in the sun and snow for the hike up to the castle!

At the end of the trip we were so ready to leave the snow and when we got home to Ireland, there was even more snow here! But that is altogether another story....