gerry and i went to killarney this weekend. we were going to wait until v-day weekend, but i really needed the break away so i think that's why he pushed a bit for this weekend.
it's nice, there are irish mountains there, and lots of green fields, and rolling hills. it's the ireland you hear about, and the ireland of movies.
i'd say we had a great weekend. we went to ladies lookout up the mountain and enjoy the facilities of the hotel.
we were getting ready to use the pool at the hotel when gerry asked me if i had my swimming hat. i basically laughed my ass off at him. first of all, no. secondly, as if i would. turns out you need one to use public pool here. he had one with him. i paid 2.50 for one. and it kept falling off my head when doing tumbleturns in the pool.
i also had two baths at the hotel. one with lush bubble bath, one with a lush bath bomb. gorgeous.
my new team leader at work is driving me mental. i'm trying to decide if i'm going to quit or try to move departments and stick it out... cause i'm going to look into going back to school this fall.
it's a changin' time.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
topless baitings
a while ago, while laying comfortably in bed, having our normal evening before sleep talk, i broke into hysterics.
there have been misunderstandings stemming from the irish to english barrier. this was another one. i'm not sure what we were talking about, but it could have easily been that danielle got beat up by a five year old while at school. now, gerry was talking about betting, and betting up. i was fully confused. and then clued in that he meant BEAT up. and getting BEAT up, not bait up. basically, i just thought he wasn't paying attention again, and thought that he was trying to pretend that he had been by bringing fishing into the conversation. after my revelation that he was just speaking in irish, and that he had been paying attention, i cracked right up because it reminded me of the topless bar incident.
abicus (well, aivaras, but someone once called his abicus and now it's sort of stuck) told me that a great place to have hot chocolate is this place called baquiras or something like that. and he wrote the name down for me, so i could show gerry and see if he was familiar with it. i gave gerry the slip of paper and was like, can we go there some time? and he was like: oh sure, it's a topless bar. and i was like... no it's not. abicus told me it has good hot chocolate. and i really do mean, i was like: uh, no. it's not. gerry, seeing that i was a little ummm... maybe defensive, maybe just annoyed, who knows, in any case, not impressed by his answer, was like, uh...yeah... wait. what do you think i said? so i told him the truth. turns out, he said tapas bar.
the best part is, i told my class about it and when other irish people say tapas, it really does sound like topless. my tip? don't get too excited if someone says they're going to a topless bar, it could just be a tapas bar.
there have been misunderstandings stemming from the irish to english barrier. this was another one. i'm not sure what we were talking about, but it could have easily been that danielle got beat up by a five year old while at school. now, gerry was talking about betting, and betting up. i was fully confused. and then clued in that he meant BEAT up. and getting BEAT up, not bait up. basically, i just thought he wasn't paying attention again, and thought that he was trying to pretend that he had been by bringing fishing into the conversation. after my revelation that he was just speaking in irish, and that he had been paying attention, i cracked right up because it reminded me of the topless bar incident.
abicus (well, aivaras, but someone once called his abicus and now it's sort of stuck) told me that a great place to have hot chocolate is this place called baquiras or something like that. and he wrote the name down for me, so i could show gerry and see if he was familiar with it. i gave gerry the slip of paper and was like, can we go there some time? and he was like: oh sure, it's a topless bar. and i was like... no it's not. abicus told me it has good hot chocolate. and i really do mean, i was like: uh, no. it's not. gerry, seeing that i was a little ummm... maybe defensive, maybe just annoyed, who knows, in any case, not impressed by his answer, was like, uh...yeah... wait. what do you think i said? so i told him the truth. turns out, he said tapas bar.
the best part is, i told my class about it and when other irish people say tapas, it really does sound like topless. my tip? don't get too excited if someone says they're going to a topless bar, it could just be a tapas bar.
Monday, January 23, 2006
kalim
my housemate is really really weird. well, the one that i have SOME conversation with. with the other one i am limited to hi. seriously. i don't speak polish, he doesn't speak english. hi is about as far as we can get.
anyway. i spent like a full week in a row at my house, and then two nights at gerry's. last night we slept at my house, and my housemate was all like: whoa! who are you? what are you doing here? etc. he's really starting to annoy me. like big time.
also his jokes suck, but at least he's no kev. that story to come later. back to work.
anyway. i spent like a full week in a row at my house, and then two nights at gerry's. last night we slept at my house, and my housemate was all like: whoa! who are you? what are you doing here? etc. he's really starting to annoy me. like big time.
also his jokes suck, but at least he's no kev. that story to come later. back to work.
Friday, January 20, 2006
the other irish epidemic
i forgot to mention my epiphany about stinky feet here in ireland.
yesterday i was helping deliver some of the auctioned baked goods that people made and then bid on. and i could TOTALLY smell stinky feet from one of the people helping. i was seriously wanting to barf. at first i was puzzled by why sooooo many people in ireland have such stinky feet that i can smell them through their shoes... but now i've got it.
here's my theory:
it rains in ireland a lot
unlike canada (which has its fair share of stinky feet, sometimes my own included) in ireland people are outside all of the time and it rains A LOT here
people wear their shoes ALL OF THE TIME here
this leads me to the conclusion that because in canada it is expected that you would take your shoes off at someone's house, or your own, and your shoes would therefore have time to dry AND you would not be sitting in the wet shoes as long as someone here, it is possible that less exposure equals less stinkiness.
in conclusion: take off your shoes ireland, let them dry, let your feet air out, and work towards a less stinky environment. p.s. there is a lovely foot powder at lush that's available for about 9 euros. enjoy.
yesterday i was helping deliver some of the auctioned baked goods that people made and then bid on. and i could TOTALLY smell stinky feet from one of the people helping. i was seriously wanting to barf. at first i was puzzled by why sooooo many people in ireland have such stinky feet that i can smell them through their shoes... but now i've got it.
here's my theory:
it rains in ireland a lot
unlike canada (which has its fair share of stinky feet, sometimes my own included) in ireland people are outside all of the time and it rains A LOT here
people wear their shoes ALL OF THE TIME here
this leads me to the conclusion that because in canada it is expected that you would take your shoes off at someone's house, or your own, and your shoes would therefore have time to dry AND you would not be sitting in the wet shoes as long as someone here, it is possible that less exposure equals less stinkiness.
in conclusion: take off your shoes ireland, let them dry, let your feet air out, and work towards a less stinky environment. p.s. there is a lovely foot powder at lush that's available for about 9 euros. enjoy.
call de police
on sunday night, the garda came to my house. i was already in my jammers and gerry had left, so basically i was in bed, and my housemate was clearly not answering the door.
i went downstairs, cause this as a serious knock, and through the window i saw a reflective jacket... the kind the garda (however it's spelled) were.
i opened the door, and the dude's like: is fineggan (well, i don't actually remember the name, but recognised it as one of my housemate's... that being said, i thought it was the housemate that moved out) and i said that he doesn't live here anymore, so then the garda was like, where did he go? of course i'm thinking, feck, i barely live here, how would i know, but instead i got the other housemate who then said he's not here. which is about when i realised we were talking about two different people. so, my housemate, who is from poland, and apparently thinks it's in his best interest to not be very helpful to the police, was like, i don't know, yes we're sorta friends, etc. the garda then left, and i started to freak.
the point of this? my housemate (the one i've never met) is wanted by the police. who knows why.
AS AN ASIDE
when i told gerry about never seeing coal before, he was like, oh, we also burn sod. so ang, it's funny that you mentioned that.
i went downstairs, cause this as a serious knock, and through the window i saw a reflective jacket... the kind the garda (however it's spelled) were.
i opened the door, and the dude's like: is fineggan (well, i don't actually remember the name, but recognised it as one of my housemate's... that being said, i thought it was the housemate that moved out) and i said that he doesn't live here anymore, so then the garda was like, where did he go? of course i'm thinking, feck, i barely live here, how would i know, but instead i got the other housemate who then said he's not here. which is about when i realised we were talking about two different people. so, my housemate, who is from poland, and apparently thinks it's in his best interest to not be very helpful to the police, was like, i don't know, yes we're sorta friends, etc. the garda then left, and i started to freak.
the point of this? my housemate (the one i've never met) is wanted by the police. who knows why.
AS AN ASIDE
when i told gerry about never seeing coal before, he was like, oh, we also burn sod. so ang, it's funny that you mentioned that.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
eat drink
last saturday was my first group activity at my house. i've articulated that i want to spend more time at my house, not because it's a warm and inviting place, but because i'm annoying at least one of gerry's housemates with my presence. i haven't been to his house since friday.
i had a dinner party at my house and i think it turned out well. some work friends, gerry, sharon, ismal and isabel also brought their presence and presents of food and wine.
rose read our auras, and since my colour is jade green (i must look that up) i have decided that wearing jade (even if it's new jade, not the real-real jade) it will be nice for my aura. she also said it was the best colour. score. :o) *laugh*
this saturday, some of the same crew are coming over to finish up some of the wine (5 bottles) that we didn't get to last weekend. i think we're going to make sure there are some savories too. yum. next weekend's either more poker, or a trip to killarney.
i had a dinner party at my house and i think it turned out well. some work friends, gerry, sharon, ismal and isabel also brought their presence and presents of food and wine.
rose read our auras, and since my colour is jade green (i must look that up) i have decided that wearing jade (even if it's new jade, not the real-real jade) it will be nice for my aura. she also said it was the best colour. score. :o) *laugh*
this saturday, some of the same crew are coming over to finish up some of the wine (5 bottles) that we didn't get to last weekend. i think we're going to make sure there are some savories too. yum. next weekend's either more poker, or a trip to killarney.
but i don't even know her
last weekend we had a poker game at gerry's house. i won the first game, and left the game first for the second. in my defence, by the second game i was ready to stop. so was beverley, but she stuck it out. trooper. gerry won the second round. good times.
OH! and on sunday i cashed in on one of my presents from gerry (christmas) before he left for england. GORGEOUS!!! i had a hydrotherm massage at the aveda spa and it was WONDERFUL. the relaxation room has perfect beds, the fruit kebabs were perfectly ripe and delicious. YUMMY. i can't wait to go back. it was wonderful, and i was warm!!! the heated water pillows were lovely lovely lovely warm.
OH! and on sunday i cashed in on one of my presents from gerry (christmas) before he left for england. GORGEOUS!!! i had a hydrotherm massage at the aveda spa and it was WONDERFUL. the relaxation room has perfect beds, the fruit kebabs were perfectly ripe and delicious. YUMMY. i can't wait to go back. it was wonderful, and i was warm!!! the heated water pillows were lovely lovely lovely warm.
cleaning up
gerry's house got a cleaning roster. yay. also, the shower got declogged. extra yay.
in ireland you don't just turn on the taps and you have a shower. no. no no no. there is a machine in the shower that gives you water pressure and i think heats the water too. this means the pressure sucks. it also means the temperature is weird...and sometimes is warmer than others. the only time, essentially, that you get good water pressure is when you're at a hotel.
now, here's the best part. you have to turn the device on in order to shower, and there's practically a national argument about whether or not you need to turn the thing off after showering. some people leave it on all of time, insisting that it's just the light using the power, so it's quite small. others say that it wastes a lot of electricity leaving the thing on. there's always a string that you can pull if you're getting electrocuted. or if someone you know is getting electrocuted. in the gym at work, there is one machine powered shower and one push button shower. i choose to use the push button shower. hide the machinery and let me dream! BUT the 'don't get electrocuted cord' hangs over into the non-machine operated section, so i am constantly reminded of the 'power shower'.
if i had a properly pressured shower now, it might hurt. but i would love it.
in ireland you don't just turn on the taps and you have a shower. no. no no no. there is a machine in the shower that gives you water pressure and i think heats the water too. this means the pressure sucks. it also means the temperature is weird...and sometimes is warmer than others. the only time, essentially, that you get good water pressure is when you're at a hotel.
now, here's the best part. you have to turn the device on in order to shower, and there's practically a national argument about whether or not you need to turn the thing off after showering. some people leave it on all of time, insisting that it's just the light using the power, so it's quite small. others say that it wastes a lot of electricity leaving the thing on. there's always a string that you can pull if you're getting electrocuted. or if someone you know is getting electrocuted. in the gym at work, there is one machine powered shower and one push button shower. i choose to use the push button shower. hide the machinery and let me dream! BUT the 'don't get electrocuted cord' hangs over into the non-machine operated section, so i am constantly reminded of the 'power shower'.
if i had a properly pressured shower now, it might hurt. but i would love it.
coal miner's grandaughter
okay. here's another one of those weirdish irsh kinda things, that fully cracks me up.
i'd hazzard to say that the only time i've ever seen coal in canada is in the summer when people use those brickette thingys for their barbeques. even so, i'd say that those aren't really that common. most people have gas/propane barbeques. in fact, i didn't really know that coal was still being mined.
seriously.
when i hear coal, i think industrial revolution to the early 1900's. i certainly do NOT think western industrialised country where there is access to running water. well, that just sort of brings up a whole other issue... which i will blog about shortly. anyway, yeah. so i also think about mining towns and kids and all those things. and i think about how my grandpa (which i have previously mentioned as being older than... um, lots of things) was a miner and one caved in and crushed his jaw and all of his teeth. that's why he had dentures.
in ireland it is very common to have a coal fire. they actually get it delivered, and then scoop it up and burn it. there's even clean burning coal... i'm guessing that's good, or else i would have black lung (which is something else i remember about coal from social studies class). we don't burn it at my house (clearly that would cause a heating issue-in that there would be some heat going on, and my housemate sweats when the temperature reaches 10). jim and tara burn it at their house. and it's weird. it's warm, but yeah... weird. coal. who knew it still existed?
i'd hazzard to say that the only time i've ever seen coal in canada is in the summer when people use those brickette thingys for their barbeques. even so, i'd say that those aren't really that common. most people have gas/propane barbeques. in fact, i didn't really know that coal was still being mined.
seriously.
when i hear coal, i think industrial revolution to the early 1900's. i certainly do NOT think western industrialised country where there is access to running water. well, that just sort of brings up a whole other issue... which i will blog about shortly. anyway, yeah. so i also think about mining towns and kids and all those things. and i think about how my grandpa (which i have previously mentioned as being older than... um, lots of things) was a miner and one caved in and crushed his jaw and all of his teeth. that's why he had dentures.
in ireland it is very common to have a coal fire. they actually get it delivered, and then scoop it up and burn it. there's even clean burning coal... i'm guessing that's good, or else i would have black lung (which is something else i remember about coal from social studies class). we don't burn it at my house (clearly that would cause a heating issue-in that there would be some heat going on, and my housemate sweats when the temperature reaches 10). jim and tara burn it at their house. and it's weird. it's warm, but yeah... weird. coal. who knew it still existed?
Thursday, January 05, 2006
it snowed that winter day
my grandpa passed away on tuesday. he was 93, almost 94. so i'm really torn about the whole thing, which i guess is true for anyone when someone they love dies. i have no reason to feel like "it was too early", "why did this happen to him", "couldn't the doctors do something else for him". there was no injustice, only nature.
i got to talk to him on monday... well, my aunt held the phone up to his ear and he opened his eyes when i told him i love him.
i'm really happy ian and i stopped in elko to visit when we were on the way home from lake tahoe. he was very tired then, and it seemed like he was just waiting.
i know this is really weird, but i don't have the guilt normally associated with me and death. i don't know if this circumstance is different, or if i'm learning; i feel like i visited him as much as i could and that i got to see him quite a bit, the last ten years, considering the distance. well, maybe there's a little bit of guilt about not being in canada, cause then i could have whipped down to see him. normally it's way worse though. i'm upset and sad, for sure, but i also feel like he had been so active and independant for 90 years, he would have hated to think of himself without all his facilities, which is what happened for the last few years.
he was ready. bye grandpa.
i got to talk to him on monday... well, my aunt held the phone up to his ear and he opened his eyes when i told him i love him.
i'm really happy ian and i stopped in elko to visit when we were on the way home from lake tahoe. he was very tired then, and it seemed like he was just waiting.
i know this is really weird, but i don't have the guilt normally associated with me and death. i don't know if this circumstance is different, or if i'm learning; i feel like i visited him as much as i could and that i got to see him quite a bit, the last ten years, considering the distance. well, maybe there's a little bit of guilt about not being in canada, cause then i could have whipped down to see him. normally it's way worse though. i'm upset and sad, for sure, but i also feel like he had been so active and independant for 90 years, he would have hated to think of himself without all his facilities, which is what happened for the last few years.
he was ready. bye grandpa.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
oink oink
last night we went to wagamama. it was consistently good. somehow we stuffed in dessert. i wish i didn't eat when i'm upset. but i do, preferably chocolate, which was also eaten last night. after i found out that my grandpa will probably pass away today. i did talk to him last night. my aunt said he opened his eyes when he heard my voice.
i'm on evenings at work right now, so i'm here until 8.30. i want to come in early to go to the gym, but i'm too sick right now. anyway, for my dinner break, i had vegetable soup. it was probably the best soup i've had at work, and it's only 70 cents, so that makes me happy. i was almost done my soup when i chomped down on... meat! i think it was pork. i didn't like that. i liked the tastiness of the soup, so i'm torn. but in the end, i would prefer a no meat, slightly less tasty soup. burn.
okay, back to work.
i'm on evenings at work right now, so i'm here until 8.30. i want to come in early to go to the gym, but i'm too sick right now. anyway, for my dinner break, i had vegetable soup. it was probably the best soup i've had at work, and it's only 70 cents, so that makes me happy. i was almost done my soup when i chomped down on... meat! i think it was pork. i didn't like that. i liked the tastiness of the soup, so i'm torn. but in the end, i would prefer a no meat, slightly less tasty soup. burn.
okay, back to work.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
ouch
due to my recurring injury (sprained finger, see two blogs ago) i'm finding it difficult to eat chocolate... well, i'm finding it difficult to open the little packages to safetly eat chocolate. it's a tragedy.
new record!
despite the title, no i haven't been playing mario party. boo urns indeed.
i've been away since the friday before christmas, and haven't blogged in a long long time... i think this may be a new record for me, but that's what happens when you celebrate holidays not at home, and you're in ireland without the broadband access that is so common in other countries... for example, canada.
let me try to fairly quickly summarise my holidays...
gerry and i exchanged presents on the friday before christmas... there were some fun things exchanged but also lovely gifts, including a gift package from lush, cute knickers, and a hydratherapy massage from aveda (yummy indeed). then we headed up to his parents' in monaghan. we got there at 12.30am, but MAN i was wrecked. probably because the night before i had gone out drinking with some people from work and got shitfaced because people kept buying me drinks. anyway, i was DYING in the car, but gerry was tired too. probably because when i was drunk the night before, i decided it would be more fun to go to his house than to mine... and warmer. and since i was supposed to call him but couldn't because my phone was dead and i have no idea what his phone number is, felt that he might be worried. so yeah, gerry was tired too, so there was no way i was closing my eyes.
once we arrived at his parents' house, we went to our separate bedrooms with our separate single beds (his mom had turned my heated blanket on for me, bless her) and crashed right out. the time there involved lots of games, secret snogging, and meeting up with gerry's friends in pubs.
then we spent a night at conor and sinead's where there was more game playing, and sinead and i went to the furla store where i bought another bag... merry christmas to me... well, we were in there looking at shoes and i was going to get this cute pair of black shoes but they didn't have my size, and sinead bought the matching bag to the shoes (they didn't fit her either) and a pair of lovely gloves. this woman was looking at this gorgeous alligator printed dark red bag and i was like, wow, i love it. if she puts it down, i'm getting it. and she did. she was like, oh i'm going to see what else i can find. you know what i say to that? you snooze you lose. suckah. it's mine. sinead also found a mini skirt and other fun things. my other purchases? tampons. whoot. oh, but we did start the day with starbucks, and that was very nice... steamed soy with butterscotch good foam. yummy.
then gerry and i headed down to jim and tara's in mallow. more games and merriment ensued. we came back here for showers and then jim and tara came up for girls shopping, and boys hanging out. tara and i met up with rose, from work, at a pub after going to one shop, had linner and some drinks and didn't leave until the shops were closed!
last night gerry and i went back to mallow, made jim, tara and arran dinner, played games, celebrated the new year, made breakkie, and came back here.
it's been busy, which is good, and i really appreciate gerry's efforts at making it special and nice.
i can't believe i have to work tomorrow. it'll be good to see everyone, actually. and we already have plans to go out on wednesday, cause we get every thursday off.
i've been away since the friday before christmas, and haven't blogged in a long long time... i think this may be a new record for me, but that's what happens when you celebrate holidays not at home, and you're in ireland without the broadband access that is so common in other countries... for example, canada.
let me try to fairly quickly summarise my holidays...
gerry and i exchanged presents on the friday before christmas... there were some fun things exchanged but also lovely gifts, including a gift package from lush, cute knickers, and a hydratherapy massage from aveda (yummy indeed). then we headed up to his parents' in monaghan. we got there at 12.30am, but MAN i was wrecked. probably because the night before i had gone out drinking with some people from work and got shitfaced because people kept buying me drinks. anyway, i was DYING in the car, but gerry was tired too. probably because when i was drunk the night before, i decided it would be more fun to go to his house than to mine... and warmer. and since i was supposed to call him but couldn't because my phone was dead and i have no idea what his phone number is, felt that he might be worried. so yeah, gerry was tired too, so there was no way i was closing my eyes.
once we arrived at his parents' house, we went to our separate bedrooms with our separate single beds (his mom had turned my heated blanket on for me, bless her) and crashed right out. the time there involved lots of games, secret snogging, and meeting up with gerry's friends in pubs.
then we spent a night at conor and sinead's where there was more game playing, and sinead and i went to the furla store where i bought another bag... merry christmas to me... well, we were in there looking at shoes and i was going to get this cute pair of black shoes but they didn't have my size, and sinead bought the matching bag to the shoes (they didn't fit her either) and a pair of lovely gloves. this woman was looking at this gorgeous alligator printed dark red bag and i was like, wow, i love it. if she puts it down, i'm getting it. and she did. she was like, oh i'm going to see what else i can find. you know what i say to that? you snooze you lose. suckah. it's mine. sinead also found a mini skirt and other fun things. my other purchases? tampons. whoot. oh, but we did start the day with starbucks, and that was very nice... steamed soy with butterscotch good foam. yummy.
then gerry and i headed down to jim and tara's in mallow. more games and merriment ensued. we came back here for showers and then jim and tara came up for girls shopping, and boys hanging out. tara and i met up with rose, from work, at a pub after going to one shop, had linner and some drinks and didn't leave until the shops were closed!
last night gerry and i went back to mallow, made jim, tara and arran dinner, played games, celebrated the new year, made breakkie, and came back here.
it's been busy, which is good, and i really appreciate gerry's efforts at making it special and nice.
i can't believe i have to work tomorrow. it'll be good to see everyone, actually. and we already have plans to go out on wednesday, cause we get every thursday off.
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