A lot can happen in two days

On Thursday I had the whole office to myself, as all the full-time employees were at a "team building conference". Needless to say, I spent the day watching 24 and Top Gear with short stints of work mixed in. After work we all met up at the Shelbourne Hotel for a few drinks to start my farewell party. Turns out they were hosting the VIP Fashion Awards that night. Security was crazy and I got the evilest eye when I walked in. Looking around I figured I was definitely the youngest one in the bar - it was a packed group of "older" social elite, dressed to the nines. Later I found out that there was at least one other 22 year old in the place - Miss World 2003, Rossanna Davidson. Unfortunately she wasn't hanging around in the crowded bar, so we didn't even get to catch a glimpse. There were also a bunch of famous Irish personalities around that my co-workers all recognized, but I had no idea who they were.

After a few pints we moved on to an Italian restaurant just off Grafton Street for dinner and a few more drinks, before heading to the pub. We went to a couple of really small places that were quite traditional - just a simple rectangular room with a bar down the right side and stools on the left next to a ledge, and tons of plaques/pictures/random junk all over the walls. Everyone stands around, talks and pounds back the pints of plain. By this time we had all had "about" half a dozen pints, and our boss figured it was a god idea to head to a late bar. We wandered around Temple Bar a bit until we got to the Czech Inn - it appeared to be an old converted hotel, but had a definite Eastern European feel to it. There was a lounge upstairs with some dirty hippie playing a stainless steel didgeridoo and bongos. Downstairs was a dance floor 2 bars and a bunch of booths. About 5 minutes of bongos was all we could handle, so we pretty much stuck to the lower level. Another couple of rounds we bought (all Czech lager this time), and before long my boss was tearing it up on the dance floor on his own. I had heard lots of stories at work about "Fitzy" (his name is Neil FitzGerald) going absolutely mad after a few jars - turns out they were no stretch of the imagination. We hung out listening (and dancing) to techno remixes of 90s pop music until just after 3am - we lost a few people along the way, but 5 of us managed to tough it out till the end. Unfortunately, Fitzy had a presentation at 10am and we were scheduled for a teleconference at 11am to get a final sign-off of my project. Nobody was looking all that sharp in the morning, but we survived and got everything done that needed to be wrapped up. I spent most of the day sorting though requests from people asking to view the flat and made up a short list of potential new roommates. At the end of the day I got a last farewell from everyone (although it is looking like I will be back there in a few weeks, but in a different department), and was given a Guinness backpack, loaded to the top with bottles booze (Bells, Baileys, Bushmills, Smirnoff, Morgan's Spiced, Captain Morgans, Guinness, Carlsberg, red/white wine, and some new test project stuff - premixed rum/vodka and cola). I think that selection should tide me over for the few weeks that I am off-site . . .

Got home, cleaned the flat and waited to interview people that evening.
After sorting through a few dozen applications/requests I settled on a mix of Canadians/Aussies/and a Swede - The majority of people applying are all French or Italian with poor English. At the end of the day the last thing I want to do is come home and have to struggle over having a conversation with my roommate, so we have all agreed that good English is a must.
In the end only 2 people showed: a guy from Northern Ontario and a girl from Edmonton. We hung out for a few hours and they were both really interested in the place. In the end I would have said it was a toss-up between the two of them, but the guy is apparently a heavy snorer . . . so our new flatmate is Vanessa. We're still not quite sure when Tyler is moving out (I haven't seen him in a few days), but we figure it's this week some time. Now that he knows he's going home he's been on a bit of a bender - he said when he's back on the farm they are there to work (12 hour days for 2 months straight), so they don't get out much.

Tricia gets in tomorrow and we are going to meet up with Susan and her boyfriend for a few drinks then, but today I'm just going to grab a movie and bask in the freedom of being unemployed again :-)

Countdown to Unemployment

It's (almost) my last day of work - tonight is my going away party, although I think it is fairly probable that I will be coming back in the near future on a new contract. Hopefully I'll find out for sure in the next week or so. There are a few positions coming up, but all are awaiting final budget approval. Ideally I'll have something that starts near the end of April and lasts for about 4 months so that I can take off and travel for all of Fall.

As for tonight's events, I think we're going for drinks at the Shelbourne (Marriott) Hotel over by St. Stevens Green, then eating at an Itallian restaurant before grabbing a few pints.

Tomorrow I have a final teleconference to confirm the end of the project I've been working on for the past 3 months, then I should be free!

I still find it hard to believe that I came here and ended up working at the Guinness Brewery . . . it's been an amazing experience - so much more than I had expected (and it sure beats working on the front-end as a bar-back or bartender). Fingers crossed, I'll be back next month and will be able to keep my foot in the door, possibly moving on to a branch of the company in the UK when my Irish work visa expires.

Yet again I'm interviewing for a new roommate. Tyler (our newest flatmate) just got word that his Dad needs help on their farm just outside of Perth. Apparently they are seeding the fields and haven't been able to find any hired help. Originally Tyler was going to stick around until the summer before moving to Canada, but will be taking off for home on Tuesday instead. I posted an ad about 3 hours ago and have received a few dozen replies already. We shouldn't have any trouble filling the spot, but it's always a hassle to go through the process. I'm hoping to get it all worked out in the next day or two because Tricia gets here on Sunday and I'd much rather play tour guide than real estate agent.

Back to pretending to work . . .

Republic of Ireland 1-0 Wales

As luck would have it, yesterday turned out to be one of the nicest days (weather-wise) since I came to Ireland. It was still a bit cool in the shade, but about 15 degrees in the sun, without a cloud in the sky - perfect for sitting in an open air stadium for the afternoon.

I broke down and bought my first souvenir of the trip so far - I got an Ireland-Wales scarf on the way over to the game (mostly so that I didn't stick out in the crowd too much). I was searched going into the stadium, but I was on my own so I just breezed through. There were rows of Gardi that the Welsh fans had to stream through to get to their seats (they were all kept in the same area, seperated from the rest of the fans by a complete section of seats which was guarded throughout the whole game). As for the game itself, it wasn't quite what I was expecting, but great nonetheless.

The stadium (Croke Park) is really impressive; all the more so when it is filled with 72,500 fans. I got there early and took a bit of a walk around, but there didn't seem to be much going on. I grabbed my seat and just people-watched for about an hour while music was played over the sound system. Before the game there was a tribute to all the Irishmen that have played soccer at the National level, then the players came out to warm up, national anthems were sung, the President came out to shake hands and the game began.

Especially compared to the hurling match I went to a few weeks back, the game was fairly slow paced (and play was a bit sloppy on both sides). Ireland scored late in the first half on their first scoring opportunity. There was a military band that played at half-time, but they were facing the other side of the field and weren't playing over the loudspeaker, so I didn't hear them at all. The Irish had a few more chances in the second, but the Welsh never got a single shot off. With about 5 minutes of play left the announcer called for the Gardai to take there "end of match positions" and dozens of police came out of nowhere to surround the field and man the exits. As soon as the last whistle blew everyone filed out immediately and made their way to the nearest pub. I was really surprised that beer wasn't really available in the stadium. Maybe alcohol was allowed in the upper tiers, but I didn't see a single person with a drink. Even food was a bit scarce with a hot dog/burger/popcorn stand for every couple of gates - I was expecting a larger scale version of the set-up at GM Place, but with endless lines of people queuing for plastic pint cups of Guinness . . . The one thing they did have in line with the stadium back home is the prices - €5.50 for a hotdog and €8 for a plain burger.

The chanting throughout the match was really entertaining, but apparently not as big at this match because it was an International (the really good cheers/chants come out with the smaller teams with huge rivalries). Anyways, here's a bit of a sample:

Come on you boys in green, come on you boys in green,
Come on you booooooooys, come on you boys in green.

Clap, Clap, Clap-Clap-Clap, Clap-Clap-Clap-Clap, Ire-land! (dog show!)
I laughed every time this chant started - I don't think many of them would have seen the SNL skit . . .

Finally, the song that was played at the start/end of the match, as well as after scoring was "Go West" by the Village People/Pet Shop Boys. Everyone was really into it, singing along. I looked it up when I got home and it turns out that it is the biggest hit in the UK and Germany of the 1990s and 2000s so far (at least according to Wikipedia).


I'm still working on getting the latest pics up, but I'll get it done eventually.

Alright, that was just supposed to be a quick little post, but I guess I had more to say than I though.

Days of work left = 5

I love perks at work.

I stayed to work late yesterday and am SO glad I did - After talking up Croke Park the last couple of months I'm finally going. The boss came in and said he couldn't use his ticket to go to the Euro 2008 Qualifier soccer match between Ireland and Wales. As luck would have it, I was the only one in the office that is free tomorrow, so it was all mine! Apparently I have a prime seat in the lower-bowl at mid-field. It was a corporate ticket, so there is no price on it, but word around here is that it is worth about €500. I could only find tix online in the upper bowl and they are going for €300, so it seems about right - I just can't believe my luck.

In other news.

Snow. The fireworks on Sunday were canceled because we got a mini-storm out of nowhere. It was bright and sunny the previous week, all the flowers were in bloom, then wind/hail/rain/snow blew in and put a damper on the Paddy's weekend events. Jess and I ended up checking out some Trad music at a pub just outside of Temple Bar instead, which turned out to be way more fun then a night out in the cold watching fireworks would have been.
I had a random 24-bug on Monday and slept for most of the day (and no, I wasn't hung over - it was legitimate sickness). I had to head back to work after the long weekend, but Jessica made it out one day and we did the Guinness Storehouse tour (my 5th time). After checking out a few more authentic Irish pubs (eg. The Stag's Head), she took off to Spain to continue with her 5/6 week long Easter Break.

I'm now down to my last 5 days of work and am still waiting to hear if I have a job to come back to at the end of April when I finish my next little bout of traveling. I think it is pretty much a sure thing, but I'm trying not to count on it too heavily.
I just found out today that my contact at the recruitment agency (Kelly Scientific Services) left last week without any notice. I'm not really sure what the deal is there. I just hope they are still willing to job search on my behalf if I end up unemployed at the end of next month. . .

I plan on getting a bunch of Paddy's weekend and soccer pics up on Sunday.

Countdown to my next visitor (Tricia Wone) and backpacking around Ireland = 7 days

Happy St. Paddy's Day

As a bit of an update, I signed up for an online betting site (Paddypower.com) - where you can bet on just about anything. . . I placed a few bets on the latest rugby matches, a few Canucks games, NCAA basketball, and most recently a horse race.

Last week at work each person was handed a random envelope containing a €2 betting slip for the Gold Cup race at the Cheltenham Races and the plan was for everyone to meet up on Friday afternoon to watch the race on the big screen in the office. Wouldn't luck have it, my horse was favored to win - Kauto Star (6-4), and had won his previous 7 races at the Festival that week. Friday morning when I got into work I had an e-mail saying that Paddypower's site had crashed the day before and was giving out free €10 bets on the horse race that day to make up for the inconvenience. I really had no idea who else to bet on so I placed it all on Kauto, figuring it was a fairly safe bet. Race time came and, as predicted by the odds, I was the big winner - not much, but an extra €30 was a nice way to start Paddy's weekend!

After a bit of dinner and pre-game at Susan's that night we (myself, Susan, Joan-her flatmate, Joe-Joan's brother, and Steve-sat beside Susan and I in Virology class and is visiting for the week before moving off to travel more of Europe) went down to the Brazen Head (Dublin's oldest pub - est. 1198) for a few pint and some Trad music, before heading into Temple Bar to join all the rest of the tourists here for Paddy's day. We ended up at Oliver St. John Gogerty's which, as always, was packed to the absolute maximum. Luckily I found a nice seat in the corner in front of the tele, and they just happened to be playing a live hockey game from home. Aside from Joe, who was repeatedly hit on by an older gentleman and a young Spanish/French guy, everyone had a great time.

Saturday I met Jessica (friend from Victoria, but is studying in Exeter, UK) at the bus station and checked out the massive, but extremely random, parade. I would have expected a few pipe bands, floats with St. Patrick and leprechauns, etc. Instead, there were marching bands from a few American Universities, a pirate ship float with a band (named Sticky Digit), quite a few community groups (just a bunch of people in regular dress walking behind a banner stating who they are), and lots of Gargoyle/Monster floats and displays. I would have assumed there was some sort of theme that tied everything together, but it's really lost on me at the moment.

At we went back down to the Brazen Head to try and catch some more traditional music, but they had a cover band on instead. The place was still as full as humanly possible, and even had a line at the door (first time I've seen people have to queue to get into a pub, but definitely not the last time that night). The second stop was Temple Bar, but by this time time everything was full - we were turned away from a half dozen places and decided to call it a night.

I think the plan for today is to check out Dublin Castle and a few of the historic buildings around the city, get some authentic Fish & Chips, then head to the riverfront for music and fireworks tonight. Fingers crossed, the rain will hold off, or at least the wind will die down so that you can actually use an umbrella.

Not that I have never celebrated Paddy's day back home, but I don't ever recall it . . . this is definitely one to remember.

Travel Info

If you are considering doing a bit of travling in the near future, check out one of these presentations (especially if you are somewhat undecided - this will tip the scale in favour of travel).

Modern Gonzo (www.moderngonzo.com) Canadian Speaking Tour: FREE ADMISSION!
Thursday March 8, Vancouver, BCIT, Council Chambers, Bldg SE2, room 279, 6-8pm, Gong Show
Saturday March 10, Halifax, Lord Nelson Hotel, 11:15am & 3:15pm, Travel Talk
Tuesday March 13, Victoria, Michelle Pujol Room, UVIC Campus, 6pm, Gong Show
Saturday March 17, Montreal, Days Hotel, TBA, (Travel Talk)
Wednesday March 21, Toronto, Oakham Lounge, Oakham House, Ryerson University, 55 Gould Street,6pm, Gong Show
Saturday March 24, Ottawa, Travelodge Ottawa Hotel & Conference Centre, Imperial Room, 10:15am, (Travel Talk)
Monday March 26, Winnipeg , Winnipeg Millenium Library, Carol Shields Auditorium 6pm, Gong Show
Tuesday March 27, Edmonton, Alumni Lounge, Students Union Building, 7pm, Gong Show
Wednesday March 28, Calgary, SB 142 - Science Building, U of C 5pm, Gong Show

Gong Show = 90 Minutes, Over 20 Countries, Images, Stories, Advice, Q&A
Travel Show = 45 Minute Talk on Which is Better: Travelling Alone, or with a Tour Group?
More info at www.travelcuts.com/oneworld

Life in Ireland

It turns out our random observations at the pub weren't all that uncommon . . . ~60% of pregnant women in Ireland continue to drink (and smoke) through the term of their pregnancy. What brought up this whole topic of conversation was that Whitney met a girl in the washroom in the pub one weekend and they struck up a conversation. The girl could barely stand, but was able to communicate the fact that she was out celebrating with her friends (what the event was, I'm not sure), but she also said that she was 5 and a half months pregnant!

Just by chance, when I picked up the paper on Monday, this was the leading story. I'm not really sure what the rates are like back home, but I never would have thought it was close to this - I can't really ever recall seeing a visibly pregnany girl lined up at the bar doing shots back home. This quote summed up most of the article:

"The highest percentage category, reporting drinking over 10 units per week, was the 18-24 year-olds, while more than two-thirds of all pregnant under-18 year olds reported drinking alcohol during pregnancy."

In other news, If you have been following along with my site, you know that the Rugby 6 Nations Tournament is in full swing over here. In trying to fit in with the "Irish Life" as much as possible I started looking into placing a small wager on a couple of the matches. There are bookies on just about every street, but the most popular is Paddy Power Sportsbooks. I looked them up online so that I would have a general idea of what/who to bet on, but was taken completely by surprize to find that you can bet on ANYTHING in this country. Who will be the next Pope? What's going to happen next on [insert TV show here]? Who will win the next election? and my personal favorite, What will the weather be like tomorrow?

These are all in addition to the typical sports bets that you can place. Speaking of which, they don't simply bet on a win-loss-tie, like at home. For a game of hockey you can place up to 60 different side bets (first/last to score, first/last to get a penalty, score totals at the end of each period, final score, etc.). This goes for every single sport around the world - they have betting lines for everything.

The thing I don't understand is that casinos are illegal in the country (but "private clubs" are alright).

As for other Irish vices, they have just passed a law banning the sale of 10-packs of smokes. Not exactly sure why this was done, but people are up in arms about in nonetheless. I've never seen such young kids smoke - I swear the kid I passed on the street on the way home from work was only about 7. Maybe they think that little kids can't afford to buy a 20-pack and getting rid of the 10-packs will stop them from lighting up . . .?

Tricia (Wone) has booked her flight and is definitely coming to Ireland in April (from the 1st-17th). My contract will be over by then, so I figure we'll do the tour of Dublin the first couple of days, then take off and backpack around the Republic and Northern Ireland - there is a whole lot more of the country that I want to see and this should be the perfect opportunity to get out and do it.