"Home" in Dublin

Things are starting to come together here, be it at a snails pace . . .
The job hunt started late last week and I've got my CV out to about 40 jobs with a dozen different companies. I've also gotten a few calls from recruitment agencies which seem more than eager to find me employment, for a nominal placement fee. Hopefully I'll hear back about a few of the positions early this week. If that fails I'll turn to the agencies - from what I hear they get you a job in a day or two at the latest.

After that comes the hastle of finding a place to live and dealing with immigration/tax/banking paperwork. Long story short, they are going to tax me at 45% for the first 2 months or so while I get all the paperwork approved. In order to get anything done you have to have a letter from your current Irish employer, a permanent address, plus 3-months worth of bills proving you're a resident of Ireland. This is all made the more difficult when you need a job reference to get a flat.

On the plus side, cell phone service/plans are great here. I only pay for outgoing calls, everything else is free (texting, incoming calls, caller ID, voice mail, etc.).

The weekend has almost passed and I managed to fill it quite easily. Pub Crawl on Friday with a crew of people I met at the hostel, sightseeing at 2 museums and an Art Gallery yesterday, then out to an Pub last night to meet up with another friend from Toronto that is in the SWAP program as well. I'm going to try to make it out to the Guinness Brew Tour this afternoon if the weather clears off a bit, but right now it's looking like it might be a good day to do some more leg work online in search of a job/flat.

I found a deal online and am staying in a 4-bed room for the next few days - it will be nice to have less than 10 roommates for awhile. However, this weekend is looking like it is pretty solidly booked for rooms again and I am without a place to stay. Hopefully I'll be able to find a flat and will be able to stop worrying about where I am sleeping at the end of every week.

Hopefully my next post will be letting you know about my new employment . . .