A little about me

Here are a few of my favourite things*:

1) Mama Mia! I bought it the day it came out on DVD after seeing it twice (once in the theatre & once on a plane) -- I have seen it twice already this week. I love knowing that I own something that is pretty much guaranteed to make me smile - and sing!

2) Research. yep, I'm a nerd. But I love it! However, I don't mean the kind of research that requires in-depth detailed origins of words or historical evidence... I mean the kind of research that let me know the ideas of others. I am an idea person. I like looking at how other people see the world.

3) Photos. In particular, those taken by Ky** and Stuart Kasdorf. And I enjoy taking them myself, as well -- but I haven't done much of that lately.

4) Narrative. The act of storytelling makes me happy - I like being able to create scenes in which others can imagine themselves. I also like reading narrative in which I can imagine myself. I pretty much love imagining, dreaming, planning, idealising... anything that involves living in my head.

5) Saskatchewan. I love the flat. And the dry-cold. I love that many of the roads are like graph paper. I love that people from SK don't let long distances deter them from making memories -- that driving 1.5 hours each way to pick up a friend so that she can celebrate Christmas with them -- or driving 20+hrs in a weekend in a car with 5 ladies for a one-day ski trip -- is embraced. I love that SK prides itself on being 'hard to spell, easy to draw' & that I get to teach others around the world how to pronounce it properly.


*My original post title was "Raindrops on Roses" until I realised I already had a post with that title! Obviously, my creative side is in a lull.
** Although the link posted here does not expose the world to the abundant talent of Ky H, it does reflect her (and Lyn's) wonderful sense of humour and her ability to capture this humour on 'film'. :)

Just some things I was thinking about today.

Love you all!

PS
Before I forget, although this should really be its own post:
I got my marks back! All the posts you guys had to suffer through while I was writing/researching for my thesis, I figured you earned the right to know... I ACED IT!!!! Literally! I made and A2 (equivalent to about a 3.6 GPA and a 95%) on my thesis and have been awarded a First-Class Honours degree overall!!! (That's about a 3.3GPA or a 90%) WOOT!!!! So I have decided to return to Eire for graduation next month... this was not part of my plan, but neither was a First-Class Honours. I will be there from 16-23 January & I graduate on 20 January. WHEW!

Thank you so much for your support. Seriously.

Love,
SS
xoxo

Three Weeks Later

Hello again (finally)!

So! Now that my life has begun to resemble some sort of normalcy and my state of limbo is minimal, I figure it's safe to post a mini-blog:

It is official: I can legally work in Canada as of 3pm today, whew!

I spent the past week with my family in Charlotte, enjoyed probably my most favourite Thanksgiving ever, and received my work permit at the Calgary airport on my way in to Canada. Today I got a SIN (sort of like a SSN in the States or a PPN in Ireland) and Bema can put me back on the payroll, woot!

Tomorrow, I have a meeting with a tentative new roommate, so we'll see how that goes... but Ev said she won't mind if I stay here a bit longer. :) I would like to have a place of my own, though, and this place is nearby (for Calgary) and affordable (for aywhere!) -- and if I were to take this place, I would be living with 3 other Christian girls in their 20s.

While I was down in Charlotte, my grandparents - RON and Pat Brown* - and I took a day trip to Columbia, SC, where I plan to take my PhD starting next fall. We found an apartment** for me about which I am thrilled!!! I also had the priviledge of taking a tour of my grandparents' childhood haunts - they grew up about a mile from my Columbia apartment - and really enjoyed my visit. I think I'm going to like being closer to home :)

And finally: I am obviously going to have to change the theme of this blog, since I no longer live in Ireland and can no longer publish my Irish memories as I live them. I may start to relive my Irish memories that I did not put on here before... I just thought I would warn anyone who is actually interested! If I take tips from MayB, I may be able to come up with some pretty good material for a post every once in a while - I am one of those people who need a prompt, and life in Calgary is not quite as exotic as life in Eire... sorry to any Calgarians reading this!

If you have any ideas, let me know, but I may start up a x365 of my own... who knows?

Love to everyone!

* You have to be a family member to get this... but now all of internetland knows who my grandparents are :)


** Here are some highlights of the place:

• Free 24 hr. Gym

• Free Internet Cafe

• Free Shuttle to Campus

• 42' TV in all living rooms

• Hardwood style floors in select units

• High speed Internet and Basic Cable in all units

• Resort Style Pool and Spa/Tanning Bed
  

• Walk- in closets and Private bathrooms in every bedroom

very little

Hi all,

It's amazing how little I feel the need to post on here when my life is in a constant state of slip-and-slide. I have no definitive plans for my near-future and I am therefore avoiding putting anything down in writing, you know??

But I can tell you little things:

• I was have been able to visit Lynmara (and inadvertently Kelly/Keith & Jordan) twice - YAY!

• I love that I can just randomly phone my friends (*VinceP*) and ask if I can come over & watch tv when I'm bored... and fyi: those guys have a fanTAStic basement!!!!!
  

• I went to the "boys'"* house here in Calgary to celebrate the birthday of a guy I didn't know on Halloween. I watched people play Rock Star, ate pizza & watched The Hulk - Ed Norton version - for the 2nd time in a week.

• the next night, I went to a YP costume party where I 'dressed up' as Jacob by wrapping a fake beard around my arm & carrying around a parchment** that said "Official Birthright - from Isaac - to Esau - unless he sells it for a bowl of soup" -- or something like that. Turns out John L had decided to come as Esau (unintentional planning on our parts) -- and fyi: hairy John = unfun. :)

• then on Tuesday, I went to a high school football game with Shelley B where it SNOWED! It was my first post-Ireland snow and it was perfect! I missed that. I'm sure I'll change my mind by spring... after the game, Shelley & I had a great visit over coffee and nanaimo bars.

• I volunteered to be the 'leader' for this week's YP study of The Screwtape Letters, Letter 10. I think it went well... but only because everyone was so willing to participate and it made me happy!

• I have a flight to go home for Thanksgiving, so YAY! I really miss my family. A Lot. This also means that...

• I may be in Canada for Christmas - preferably SK, please? We'll see how that works out - like I said: life = slip-n-slide lately!

I think that's all for right now.

love to you all!

*if I could tell you who all lived there, it would be helpful, eh? let's see... greg h, nathan d, eric s, tim l... and I would not be surprised if I left someone out. I only saw Greg & Nathan that night

**okay, okay... it was a certificate I printed on Ev's computer, so sue me!

nudged

Hello all!

I am sorry about my lack of communication since my surprise announcement - but even with everything that has been going on, nothing has really been blogworthy... per the request of Ky, I will at least give a mini-update. Ky, you will have already read this first part seeing as how I am copying what I emailed to you - lol!

Part One:
Everything was working out wonderfully to keep me in Eire until my thesis was complete. The idea was that the 2 jobs I had would keep me here until graduation at the end of January and then I would see if the contracts could be extended until July, which seemed possible. But the hotel job I had in the mornings did not like the fact that I needed to keep a schedule and leave work in time for my 2pm job at the writing centre and when my one-month probation was up, they procrastinated firing me until I forced them to.

It was so irritating.

But I had a feeling I would get fired after a conversation I'd had with Wayne (the hotel general manager) on my BIRTHDAY, when he brought up my probation meeting, so I was emotionally prepared. Wayne said that my meeting would be on Friday - and it didn't happen. I asked Ruth (my other supervisor) to just tell me if I am getting fired and she wouldn't. I got an email from Dan L on Friday saying that he was losing Victoria on the following (this past) Wednesday and that he would be interviewing the next day (a week ago today, Saturday), so I gave him a ring first thing saturday morning to warn him that I might be getting fired on Monday. He offered to wait until Wed to hire anyone.

So when my shift ended on Monday without a probation meeting, I called Wayne on his mobile and offered to wait until he returned to the hotel. He showed up 20mins later and I said, "I don't mind postponing the probation meeting if you're planning to keep me on, but if you're firing me, I need to know today." and he said "okay. consider this your one-week's notice". And then he gave me the scheduling excuse saying that i hadn't told him I needed to be off at 1pm, even though we had a very direct conversation the day he hired me when I said that I had a job at the university from 2-530 M-F... hmmm...

anyway: I took it as a sign that God doesn't want me here and stopped trying so hard to be in Eire. I called Dan, we agreed on a week's notice. I did not return to the hotel, but I kept my writing centre job until Friday, 3 October.

Between deciding to move and actually flying back to North America, I gave myself 7 days. It was insane and I don't remember much except packing and a wonderful going away party. My classmate/friend, Nicole, had been planning to move for a month and we were flying out on the same day, so I sort of crashed her party - but she says she didn't mind!


Part Two: and this is the boring part...

I flew in to Calgary late Monday night & stayed 2 nights at Dan & Saryn's place. Taliah & I bonded :) I slept most of the time...

Wed, I moved over to Dan & Ev's and was at the downtown office by lunchtime for a meeting. lol. *sigh*

Most of last week was sleep, with the occasional 5-7hrs day in the middle. I have really been enjoying my conversation time with Ev :)

This weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving, so Sunday I went over to John's new house (this place is way cool & perfect for him... except it could host a family of, like, 12) & had Thanksgiving dinner with 14 Levsons, plus 4. (me, Michelle B, Anna & Anna's daughter, Angela) - I count Mike S as a Levson now that they're engaged - that's probably cheating (I hope I don't get into trouble for that. I assume it's common knowledge!). I got to have nice one-on-one conversations with Jess, Steph, Dave & Phil and built barstools for a bit while I bonded with Angela... the kids are taking a liking to me lately! That remark is in reference to Angela & Taliah -- not Dave & Phil. ;)

And I spent my Thanksgiving day sitting on my bum catching up on this season's american tv shows, woot! Actually, I only got caught up on NCIS, Bones & Criminal Minds... but that's progress.

And that is honestly what I have been up to since the last update.

Now back to my tv show catch-up...

LOVE YOU ALL!

so much for that idea

See? this is why I avoid updates!

So. I'm moving back to Canada. WOOT! Calgary, Alberta to be exact. So looking forward to a Canadian winter... I missed it... seriously.

Will be there Monday. (yes, this Monday)

:)

If you want more info, facebook or email me. I don't feel like putting it all on here right now. Maybe when I've settled in SOMEWHERE. haha.

God is pretty cool, by the way. In case I haven't mentioned that before...

Love you all!

update - way overdue!

Hi all,

I don't know how much of my last 2.5weeks I can fit into a post, but I will try and let you know what is going on in my world:

I have moved to a new apartment - some of you have heard this, but for anyone out there who hasn't: I live on top of the "fountain of knowledge". haha! how cool/funny/sad is that??? My apartment is on the second floor of a semi-strip-mall building. It is curved and about 3 stories high. On the bottom floor of the entire building is a variety of businesses like: domino's pizza, an indian resaturant, a vet and a tutoring centre. They all face the street. When you go behind the building and climb up a couple flights of stairs, you're on the level with rented accommodations.

My apartment is a four-bedroom owned my my boss (which I will talk about soon). Only 3 of us live there now, and I really get along with my roommates, Michelle and Mary. The kitchen and living room, and Mary & Michelle's rooms are on the walk-in floor. Then you go up this tiny winding staircase and find my bedroom, bathroom and the empty room. My room is HUGE and I have a window that, when I open it, I am able to stand up and look out from the rooftop.

okay!

On to work:

After applying to 70+ jobs, I finally got calls back on TWO. and now I work at both.

I was called in for an interview at a hotel near the university called "kilmurry lodge" and interviewed to be a receptionist. I got a call about 1.5 weeks later saying that they had hired for the two receptionist positions, but that based on my CV/Resume, they wanted to create a position for me -- CREATE. In the midst of a recession. can we say "praise the Lord"??? So now I work on rate/yield management, websites and do research for the hotel local events. This is apart time job, I work from either 8 or 9am to 1pm.

Then I got a call from the Unviersity Writing Centre and they asked me to be a tutor. I work the drop-in hours, M-R from 2-5:30 and F from 2-4. WOOT!

Other than that, I am finishing my thesis and it goes off for printing in ONE WEEK. Please excuse me while I go throw up.

Miss you all and hope all is well :)

if you really want to know...

what Ireland is like... please don't think that I am just being lazy when I say "WET."

Below is a link to a breaking news report about summer weather (because fall in Ireland started today...sigh). There are phrases like:

"218% of the normal rainfall" and

"wettest August on record - in 171 years" and

"70-110 total hours of sunshine in august" [out of a possible 744hrs... okay - that's including nighttime, but you get it. To be fair, let's half that: out of a possible 372hrs of sunshine, we actually received 70-110 - what??? that's 230-300hrs of rain or clouds. *sigh*

... and my personal favourite: "all weather stations recording their sunniest day on June 5-7" -- TWO DAYS OF SUNSHINE?????

just so you know I'm not exaggerating: here's the link.

and yet I still like the place. hmm...

love you all!

Last Chapters are Dumb

This is one of the most difficult things I've done so far in this MA. It's really frustrating to have SO much information and know what it all means, but not be able to put it into a coherent format. UGH.

I have been trying (and procrastinating) on writing this chapter for 2.5days. I cannot put it off any longer. It must be done before I go to sleep tonight. I need 6000wds. I have 650. And 600 of those are quotes. *SIGH*

But I look at the screen and get writer's block. I am tired of writer's block. I never had it in undergrad. Now my supervisors intimidate me with their genius and I want to sound smart - and then I lose myself - and then it doesn't make sense. It's a cycle I've found myself in for the entire summer and I do not enjoy it!

And I especially don't enjoy it when I can actually SEE the end and just can't get there!

ugh. such a whiner. sorry.

okay - back to work!

The People's Republic of Cork

So when Ky and I were traveling a year ago, almost to the day, we pretty much circled the Republic of Ireland. Cork was our third city and one of the things that entertained both Ky and myself the most about Cork was the fact that they had t-shirts for sale promoting the "peoples republic of Cork". I don't know what Ky thought, but I thought that they were way cool - trendy almost. What I did not realise was how important this motto was to the actual people of Cork... I began to learn a little about it as I read my book, Rebels of Ireland; I started to understand the drive for home rule* (they didn't have home rule from the 12th-20th centuries) and the passion Cork people had for Ireland (and somehow Cork) as its own republic.

Since moving here I have learned much more about Cork - not nearly enough, though. I have learned that Cork has one of the most distinct accents - probably the first one that outsiders (like meself) are able to distinguish: they say things like, "Cark" and "tis a grand soft day, to be sure, to be sure" and are VERY proud to be Cork people! And (I don't mean this to be disrespectful at all) it seems like "Cork People" are a step removed from the rest of the Republic of Ireland - not nearly as much as Dubliners are, though. They are their own special (in a good way) brand of people!

At the moment, I am reading a book partially set in West Cork and I am learning about some of this Republican/IRA mentality - some of its motivations and some of its reactions to political scenarios and some of its paranoias and some of its proactivity. I am by no means an expert, BUT... I am attempting to grasp the concept of Cork People. It helps that one of my best friends here in Eire is from Cork, so I get some insight from her... but it wasn't until tonight when she brought a friend from home over to visit that I got a glimpse of what Cork - the REAL Cork - must be like, for some people at least.

This friend is a really great guy: passionate, political, real. and boy, is he passionate about Ireland! He's grown up with stories about his grandfather in the early 20th century, fighting for Ireland, for home rule and against the Union with England, and it is real to him - more real than I personally can ever imagine. He is the first Irishman I have met since being here who absolutely ADORES his nation and the struggles of his grandfather are palpable when he speaks of them. In the Celtic Tiger generation, where, because of its recent (and first) economic boom, the young people are pretty far removed from the trauma and suffering the Irish people have faced, this young man stands with pride in his nation and does not forget a past that wasn't so long ago.

I was impressed with him, with his fire and conviction. It was nice to meet an Irishman in real life like the ones I see in books... thought I'd share. :)

* mini-history lesson, the basics:
800 yrs ago, Ireland was invaded by the Normans;
400 yrs ago, they were invaded by the British via Cromwell;
1798, Wolf Tone and the United Irishmen united with France in an attempt to fight for home rule and lost (long story);
1800, Ireland became part of the United Kingdom and lost the Irish parliament;
1916, Easter Rebellion, where a few Irish Republicans attempted to gain control of Dublin and lost;
1916, the British reaction to the Easter Rising was overzealous and ultimately resulted in a nationwide anti-British rebellion involving guerilla warfare;
1921, Michael Collins signed the Anglo-Irish treaty which gave Ireland home rule over 26 counties and keeping 6 counties in the North of Ireland under British rule;
1922-23, Irish Civil War against the treaty, fighting for a United Ireland
Most of the rest of the 20th century involved guerilla warfare and animosity over the lost counties.

dream

okay, so a couple nights ago I had a strange dream... and if you know me at all, you know that when I say I've had a strange dream, it must be s-t-r-a-n-g-e! It was very fragmented, so I will just give you clips. And I warn you that, although I am crazy, this was ONLY a dream. All parties in the dream are not responsible for their behaviours in said dream. Here goes (don't click on the first link if you have a weak stomach):

1) outside at night in a backyard that kind of reminded me of the Sparrows' place. tonnes of people (say, about 30-50?), all YP coming from the cars at the front of the house & already a decent-sized group in the back yard with me. I decide to climb up the balcony. don't ask. while I am still on the outside of the balcony, I see spider webs, but I ignore them. Keep climbing, see 2 spiders*, one of them is giant - like 2inches in diameter and solid white. It starts attacking me. FLASH

2) I am in the yard with the YP all milling around me. a group of us are sitting on the ground in a circle, waiting for something to begin. I look down at my hands and realise that the spider had bitten me on every knuckle and that it was spreading. fast. I panicked and told people that I had to get to the ER or I was going to DIE. and they all stood up and went to play games in the woods because everyone had arrived. so I am standing in the yard all by myself, watching my skin swell and rot, and I cry. a lot. FLASH

3) I'm in a restaurant with a group of people from church. It's mexican, I think. we are all sitting at a giant round table - sits about 12. and there is a debate. Dan L is involved. and it escalates into fisticuffs. Dan is beating this guy up and everyone is watching, some are cheering, and I am stunned. and I cry. FLASH

4) going to line up for a meal at a church camp - similar to NC camp with the multiple groups all eating at the same time - the group assigned to come after us was a camp for anger-management with young troubled teens. I got distracted watching some of the kids interacting and all my friends left me alone and didn't tell me they were in line. I make it to the line just in time to be the last person before the troubled-teens, but the lady at the counter assumes I am with the troubled group and starts lecturing me on how to get into the lunch line properly. I try to explain that I am with the church group, but she ignores me. I don't have the right code to be able to get into line.

and then I wake up.

WHAT?

feel free to interpret.

*this was posted because Mary's blog reminded me of the dream. I'm not entirely random...

re The New Pic:

This was a view from my kitchen window in June... rainbows are not as common here as you'd think, but when you see one... WOW.

thought I'd share... :)

the world's most boring post.

dont' say I didn't warn you:

Chapter 2, Draft 1 was completed and emailed at 5am on the morning of Saturday, 2 August. Had a meeting scheduled with Tom at 11am the following Tuesday (Monday was a bank holiday), so I slept all day Saturday and went to see Mamma Mia with one of my roomies and another friend of ours that night. Sunday was a wash - literally - I did laundry all day. And Monday was sleeping and cleaning the bathrooms day - and I finished reading the Other Boleyn Girl.

Meeting with Tom ended with an agreement for me to revise chapter 2 and add a-whole-nother section (like, 2000+ wds) to the chapter before continuing on to chapter 3. That morning, I got an email from Griffin to schedule a meeting for the following day, Wednesday, at 3pm. Tuesday afternoon, Nicole and I went to Ennis to drop off CVs in person to all of the shops in town - just to take a chance that we might get hired.

Wednesday, I spent the morning traveling around Castletroy dropping off resumes to the 2 major shopping centres in the area in the rain - it has rained every day for over a week now - before heading to campus for my meeting with Griffin.

Meeting with MG went well - new perspective, same expectations. I am truly grateful to have two supervisors who are actively involved in my writing process - and I think this thesis might just turn out alright! Having two different points of view helps me to balance out my writing and minimise my emoting, which is definitely one of my biggest weaknesses.

Thursday was a job search day all day until I realised that I need to stop for a minute and pray. So I prayed all Thursday night and most of Friday morning... and every time I panicked and went to apply for more jobs, I would stop and pray again. I spent the whole day in the library revising chapter 2 based on my supervisors' questions and concerns and by the time the library closed, the only thing I had left to do was that measely 2000+wd addition, haha!

And then Friday evening, as we were all cooking supper, I got my first phone call for an interview!!! Praise the Lord! After 50+ applications... it took me trying not to do it al by myself. I need to make sure that God is in control -- well, He is always in control, but I had to remind myself not to fight Him.

The weekend was spent reading and taking notes. All weekend. Well, except for the Saturday afternoon I spent window shopping with Serena and Diane. We went to the only mall in Limerick, which is across the city from the University, and they bought clothes and jackets and I just enjoyed the break. Sunday night, I was nervous about this morning's interview and ended up not falling asleep until 4am...

then this morning, I had my first Irish interview at 11am. It went well, yay! But I won't know anything at all until Friday. So I am still in prayer-mode. Learning life lessons has always been slow-going with me! The guy said that he was looking at me for 2 positions (one of which was not advertised, but is better suited for me) and that my CV was impressive (thanks to Dan L's resume workshop) and that I had a great personality and he complimented me on my interview skills (thanks again to Dan's lessons)... but there were 41 ppl who applied for this job and just under half of them are being called for interviews - and I was the first person. Maybe that is a good sign?

So there you go. My life is boring. Read, write, eat, sleep, apply for jobs, one interview and a film (FILL-um, as the Irish say). and rain...always with the rain... haha! I am starting to enjoy it. I went for a walk in the rain yesterday, just for the craic. :)

LOVE YOU ALL!

now this is worth watching...

My classmate/roommate/friend forwarded this link to me - its apparently a Cannes Film Festival Winner for short film. It's only four minutes long, but it carries a message that should last a lifetime. If you like the inspirational... click here!

hope all is well :)

excitement? terror? it's a coin toss, really.

So it turns out that I have, in fact, chosen a research topic for my MA that other people find interesting :) It honestly was a baby concern of mine - I even brought it up to the external supervisor when she was here and my proposal was approved, I asked her if she was sure this topic was good enough, if it wasn't "overdone"...

anyway!

At camp, Bro Matthew sat down beside me one lunch and we talked just the two of us for about 45mins -- it was really neat! I have really enjoyed the time I get to spend with his wife, Shusheela (spell?) and she's been wanting me to visit them in NY for years and years - and his son, Sarge, is one of my longest friends - but until very recently, when I saw Bro Matthew, he's like, "HI! what's your name?" or "nice to meet you!" So it was nice to have a face-to-face visit with him and talk. Most of the conversation was him quizzing me on my thesis. Which evolved into an Irish History lesson, which paralleled the history of India, since Ireland & India were both colonized by England... and he's Indian. As a result, he has asked me to mail him a copy of my thesis when it's complete! I told him it would be around 100pp and he responded with, "and I would love to read every page". How cool is that???

and then today:

okay, back story, I guess:
I worked at that Utopian Studies thing, right? It was soooooooooo much fun and I am so excited I got to be part! It was on University campus and Serena and I were the only 2 classmates involved with the organization of the conference (did I tell you I get to put it onto my resume, fyi?), but the other classmates were attending some of the sessions and/or on campus doing research. And since nearly everyone in Ireland goes to lunch at the same time (1pm), we invited our classmates to eat with us. BUT - the conference was in a section of the dining hall that was blocked off from the rest of the public tables. So Serena and I sat down outside of the conference tables so that our friends could join - and the only thing was, it was the first lunch and Serena and I were some of the only faces people knew at the conference, so people started joining us outside the conference borders, too! and they kept coming... & coming... and we filled up a table of about 30-40ppl, which made me feel badly, but what could I do? so the banquet servers had to bring water pitchers and salt/pepper over to our table. oops! at least the lady knew me and I explained what happened and she just laughed.

regardless -- off topic! -- one of the ladies who sat down with us was a Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University in England. She's an American and her name is Nicole Pohl. I had never seen her before, but I guess she recognised me or Serena, so she sat down across from me and we talked for a bit. I did not realise at the time that she was one of the keynote presenters - so I didn't really ask her about her research. I just asked her about her... and she did the same.

So then I get to her keynote 2 days later, and halfway through (b/c I had registration stuff to do), and turns out that her paper was on the Irish portion of MY thesis! lol! Well, not the whole presentation, but the part i heard for sure - and it was all about my chapter three, woot!

So I emailed her last week and asked her for a copy of her presentation so that I might use it in my thesis and told her what I am researching, and she asked me for a copy of my thesis to read when it's complete!

So yay! My stuff is not so overdone that people are disinterested!!! :)

Now I have to really write this thing. And pretty well, too, if world-renowned scholars are asking for copies... no pressure :)

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Hi all!

Last night, I got out of my sleeping, eating, reading slump and agreed to go to a class BBQ. I know, I know... I'm hear for SCHOOL! But I had a meeting with Tom yesterday morning, and I am not doing to badly and am right on schedule work-wise, so I decided to be sociable :)

For the past several days, there has been sunshine most of the days, which has been a HUGE blessing - and of course, the one day Nicole decides we need to celebrate (for any reason we chose), it decides to rain. A LOT. haha! so not surprised - and half-expected it!!!

So we all agreed to a potluck/covered-dish/whatever you call it, and we had pizza, flavoured tortilla chips, veggies and (hidden valley ranch - aka something you can't find in Eire) dip, garlic bread, potato salad, about every meat you can think of, and s'mores for dessert! There were 11 of us. lol!

The evening started out non-threatening... it hadn't actually rained, but had been overcast all day - a "grand, soft day," as the Irish say. It was also described as a "close" day, meaning kind of muggy... regardless -- we decided to risk it and spend what time we could outside on the deck. At one point, these tiny transparent snails started appearing on the tabletop and I got a little creeped out and had to move - I can't help it that I'm so weak.

ANYWAY!

So we all spent a little over an hour out on the deck visiting and catching up - some of us hadn't seen each other in nearly two months - and just before Diane & Eddie arrived, we decided to start up the grills.

Now, keep in mind: these are not "grills" perse. They are makeshift, temporary grills that are sold in grocery stores, made out of rectangular foil pans (the kind you put small hams in for Easter), laden with coals and covered with some kind of lattice grating. Overall, they are about 11x14x4. And we cooked something like 12 sausages, 6 chicken patties, 6 pork chops & 4 burgers on TWO of these things! AND we still managed to make the s'mores later that evening!!!

But. before we get to the s'more making, let us begin at the beginning:

The grilling began with 2 men (Jonathan and Dave) ACTUALLY READING DIRECTIONS on how to work the fake BBQs... we wanted a photo, but weren't quick enough on the draw. Oh well.

Then there was a 20min heat-up phase, during which guy # 3 (Eddie) arrived with most of the M-E-A-T*. And about 2 mins after the meat was placed onto the lattice, the rains came.

and it rained. and rained. and rained some more! At one point, there were 3 men, 2 grills and 4 umbrellas out on the deck --- and 8 women standing around the dining room table stuffing our faces and giggling**!

Once the food was cooked, less the steaks that were placed onto the George Foreman, the men returned to the dry indoors, changed clothes, and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

The rest of the evening was not terribly eventful -- but there was the free entertainment provided by #1 making s'mores over fake BBQs, #2 burning marshmallows with a mini-blowtorch-type apparatus, #3 watching a marshmallow expand in the microwave (the Irish had never done this and it drew a crowd...), and #4 singing respective national anthems (Jonathan & Eddie sang the Irish, Nicole and I attempted to sing the unsingable American, and Serena had us almost jumping up and cheering for the Italian "SI!") while waiting for our taxi.

And this is what my life is like outside of the 'usual'.

*Insert male, Tim Allen grunt here.
**This post is dedicated to the amazing men in the world who are willing to make food with fire while getting drenched in the process - it takes sacrifice!

(it's the little things...

...that make a person feel at home.)

For those of you who heard me whine about the weather here in Ireland while I was enjoying SK sunshine, I would like to state that yesterday was quite a nice day! It was warm and sunny with some clouds meandering in late afternoon... no complaining here!

I don't have much to say:

I flew for 22.5hrs and arrived into Castletroy around 7:30pm Tuesday & since then I have slept, ate and walked to the library (only to be disappointed that they did not have the books I ordered nearly 3 weeks prior through inter-library loans...).

Ireland did not change much in the past couple weeks - except for an obvious influx of tourists. There were lots of tourists before I left, but there are masses everywhere you look now. And I did find myself really happy when I heard the Irish flight attendant say "cheers" to one of the Amsterdam airport employees as he helped closed the plane door on my flight to Dublin... I had missed the quaint little "irishisms" and I am glad to return to a world where they are everyday lingo :)

On a different note, I miss everyone in Canada and am so glad I got to visit with as many people as I did! It was truly a special time for me and I am especially glad that I was able to celebrate my BFF's wedding! :)

I'm fairly certain I've reached a point of split-personality where I am in love with too many places and feel at home in all of them.

love you all...

I can sleep in August

so I don't really have much to say, but since I learned this past week at church camp that a heckuva lot more people read my blog than I thought -- and that one lady has my blog on her bookmarks, but is disappointed that I don't blog often enough -- I decided to send out a short update:

since arriving in SK after a 24hr unexpected delay in London, 50hrs of travel and about 10 hrs of sleep in 5 days, I decided to get exceptionally ill, hang around Stoon for a couple days waiting for my luggage which had been missing for 3days, have a dress-fitting for the wedding I'm standing up in, get one bag, and go to camp a couple days late...

I love going to camp! It is such a wild experience going to a place where "everybody knows your name"*. I was told about 30 mins (and 50+ hugs) after my arrival that I needed to stop being so nice to people. The person who made that remark was not very thrilled** that our conversation was being interrupted by greetings and hugs and hellos from people I love... so apparently, I must expose abrasive-Steph to people from now on in order to maintain decent conversations with my faves... :)

lots happened at the camp, but not much of it was actually story-worthy. I am most excited about the fact that I was able to visit with nearly everyone I needed/wanted to - that's about 200ppl - in the course of 3.5days! I love them all so much...

since the camp, I have begun to feel a little better - I got over my jetlag on Friday-ish - and the illness is subsiding. I have helped Ang pack a trailer-full of tables & chairs, had my second dress-fitting, gone through about 18 boxes of stuff I had in storage all year, recycled 5 boxes o'stuff, gave 2 boxes to Sherie, packed one box to bring back to Eire and left 10 boxes in storage for future shipping to SC, and got some research started/continued on chapter 2 of my thesis... not too shabby!

the rest of my week is mostly wedding-stuff: one more fitting tomorrow or thurs, some pre-decorating stuff tomorrow afternoon, some research squeezed in whenever possible, and then on the road to PV for the weekend, woot!!! :)

I think that's all for now, love you all ~
Steph

*I just started singing the "Cheers" theme song in my head...
**more of a joking, smartmouth remark than actual irritation

Greyhound flashbacks...

for those of you who don't know my Greyhound story - the title is probably odd - but trust me, it was so much more dramatic and painful than the current saga:

took a 4am bus from UL to Dublin Airport on Saturday. Arrived an hour early - good start, eh? WRONG. after being awake since 630am Friday morning (less a few tiny naps), I crashed on the mezzanine level and got caught sleeping by a custodian. I found out that Aer Lingus and Northwest Airlines are not networked together, so I was only able to checkin for the Aer Lingus flight - and had no boarding pass for the last 2 flights. once I was able to check in my luggage, I went up to grab some breakfast and buy some souvenirs for friends. (fyi: spar at the airport does not carry full size toothpastes - nor does anywhere else in the Dublin airport!).

11:20 plane leaves around 11:40 and arrives in london 20 mins late. after waiting to get someone to unlock the door into the building, I make my way to the train and then on to terminal 4. I find the NWA/KLM desk only to find out that (after 30+min of cross-airport travel) my first flight landed 5 mins after boarding for my transatlantic flight closed - and since I was not checked in, I was restricted from the flight.

flight changed to 24hrs later.

back on train - to Aer Lingus desk. they comped me 2 meals and a hotel for the night. ummm... maybe I should say "motel" in the shape of a "hotel". the bathroom wasn't clean and my hairdryer had blue sparks flying out of it when I tried to put it on high.

managed to find a grocery store with my friend's toothpaste, YAY!

crashed. with no fan. for 11 hrs. :) I guess I can sleep without a fan after a 3-day conference and being awake for the greater part of 60hrs!

today, I arrived at Heathrow 3hrs in advance. got to the check-in counter with my boarding passes to make sure my baggage was checked through on this flight, but NO. That would make life too easy! :)

The airport had no record of my baggage. 2 NWA employees and 30min later, they found my bags and told me to check with NWA after I crossed security to make sure that NWA had them logged into their system. Did that. The lady SAID it was there, but to check with the people at the counter to double (in this case, quadruple)-check. checked with the employees at the boarding gate - was told that the luggage "would" be on my flight.

flight sat on the ground for nearly an hour, spent the first 2hrs in the air without audio/video because the system kept crashing, arrived in Minneapolis after nearly 10hrs on a plane... to NO LUGGAGE.

spoke with 2 NWA employees in MSP who informed me that there is NO record of NWA ever having my baggage, that London hires out employees who are contracted and not actual NWA staff, and that the people in London probably (and I quote) "just told me that my luggage was on the flight to keep the line moving".

so this trip, I have cried, once again -- but not in the good way!!!

:)

*sigh*

still in MSP. called the 800# and complained. can't file a missing baggage claim until Canada if I want my luggage to be shipped to me in SK on NWA's tab and then it will be an additional 24-48hr minimum before my luggage arrives.

if it arrives. my luck with missing luggage is all or nothing. should be 'interesting'.

PS
my scrapbook, my primary thesis texts, and the books I bought at the conference are all in my checked luggage...

I hope to never repeat this experience & I honestly wish I could get out of flying with NWA on my return flight, but that is not an option, eh?

later!

Howdy!

I just wanted my Canadian folks to know that I had several mini-Canada day celebrations throughout today... random outbursts of "OH Canada" and "HAPPY CANADA DAY!" in public places, haha! Nicole warned me that she'd have to disown me if I embarrassed her :)

Anyway, not much else to say. I got that chapter written, 4 days late, and have bumped my future deadlines back a week, so I don't have another one due until a week after I return from SK. (WOOT! about the SK part, not about the returning - or the chapter-writing)

This week, I am helping out a little with a Utopian Studies conference hosted by The Ralahine Centre for Utopian Studies at my university and will be pretty busy until I hop on the bus to Dublin for my FLIGHT Sunday -- so for those of you I get to see in less than a week - YAY!!! - I am terribly excited!!!

okay - off to bed now - registration for the conference begins in 8 hrs.

what a boring post. sorry.

I don't want a Repeat.

Hi all,

Much has happened since my last post, including a trip to NC, which I will try and make time to blog about in the near future. However, tonight/this morning's blog is not nearly as fun-filled.

Since I returned from NC, I have been going full-speed on my first chapter. Which was due no later than 4 hrs ago. Now is when I am terribly grateful for (1) setting my own deadlines & (2) really easy-going supervisors, because:

it is now 4am my time - technically, the chapter was due on Wed, 18 June, and one of my supervisors is in California, so I "technically" have four more hours - but seeing as how I haven't breathed fresh air in 50+hrs and I've been in the same PJs since Monday (I have showered!), and I am STILL only 2000wds into my 5000wd chapter... I don't see how the next 4 hrs of exhaustion-filled composition will be useful.

So I turned in my first 2000wds to the supervisor that's in Limerick in the hopes that he'll be made aware of my good intentions to meet self-imposed deadlines, and now I am off to the land of clouds & bunnies.

CLOUDS & BUNNIES??? man! I am tired! :) What silliness! I meant unicorns and faeries...

and those last 3 lines are reasons why I should NOT be composing for brilliant lecturers' review of academic material. hah.

I will leave you with a photo I just found on my Mac:

(l-r): Maria (my future sister-in-law) and Cilena (more beautiful than ever) - not sarcastic :P

love you all!
g'night

what do rental cars, blindfolds and sunburn have in common?

why, a class kidnapping to Lahinch, of course!

So yesterday** was Jonathan's birthday. He is the guy who knows EVERYBODY - and who EVERYBODY knows... or at least it seems that way to the rest of us! All year long, Jonathan has been affectionately dubbed the 'shepherd' because he was the only one who knew where he was going for the first... forever. Every time our class went on a break or out to lunch after class, we would follow Jonathan around the (completely insane) Main bldg. We decided we felt like sheep and that all that was missing was Jonathan's staff.

Well, since Jonathan has borne the responsibility of giving us direction for the past 8 months, two girls in the class decided that for his birthday, we'd make the decisions for him!


7 of us rented a car (we already had one car), told Jonathan we were taking him out for breakfast, blindfolded him, put him in one of the cars and told him to trust us. Then we stopped @ a petrol station for coffee with his blindfold still on and hit the highway! We drove for a little over a hour before there was a random roadside check that stopped every car. The gardi were apparently looking for someone specific, but our car (which did not have Jonathan, was in front and was driven by me, fyi) kind of panicked when we realised that the other car would be approaching an officer of the law with a blindfolded man in the backseat! All was well... at the last second, they took off the blindfold and he didn't recognize his surroundings. He did figure out where we were on the last turnoff before we got to the beach, but it was a fun game overall!


Jonathan had been talking about going to a beach at West Clare for weeks now and yesterday was the PERFECT weather day to go! It was +26C/78F, sunshiny and breezy all day long! The water was about the temperature of a a liquid glacier, but several of us managed to suck it up and dive into the waves - woot! (seriously, it was about 15F). Lahinch is a few miles away from the Cliffs of Moher and we could see them on the other side of the bay; there were surfers out on one end of the beach and we were pretty much the last group on the other end of the beach from the surfers, which offered a really nice sense of seclusion.


We had all brought food and had a picnic lunch on the beach, took walks, sat around and talked, some of us kicked a soccer ball around... basically, we took the day off! Except one poor girl, Muireann, who received a call from her thesis supervisor while we were in the car during the kidnapping. She had emailed him to talk about our next report and what his expectations were, but he was leaving today for a research project until Thursday a week (the report is due the following Monday) and he wanted to talk with her before he left the country... so she spent a half-hour on the phone with her professor with the ocean and all of us classmates playing around in the background. She felt badly 'cause she was like, "umm... sorry Michael, I gave up the one day you had left in the country before my deadline to kidnap someone and spend the day at the beach... sure... I am a REALLY good student!" Apparently, she pulled it off until the very last minute, when someone in the group told a joke & the entire 7 of us roared in laughter and he heard it... and made a remark about how he hopes the weather is really nice where she is... oops! It's a good thing these guys are so understanding!!!


Overall, I think the kidnapping was a success. Hopefully Jonathan realises how much he is appreciated and remembers this birthday for a long time!

** by 'yesterday', I mean 12 May... it took me a while to upload the photos onto my computer...

And you all thought I was in Ireland!

Tonight, a friend invited me over to her place for a Cinco de Mayo celebration and I decided to take a break for a couple hours and have some Mexican food...

I had a really good time and watched people the whole time I was there - I was fascinated!

Here in a tiny apartment in Limerick, Ireland, we had:

5 Americans (Georgia, California, New Jersey, NC and somewhere else in New England that I can't remember - MAN!)

1 Greek

1 Cubana

1 Mexicano


around 10 Frenchmen & women (they just kept coming and coming... I lost count after a while)

and TWO... yes... TWO Irish men! lol! One guy is from Cork and one is from Donegal.

I really enjoyed watching all these people from different backgrounds - and languages - communicate with one another and really enjoy one another's company... These are good people :)

anyway! thought I would share...

The rest of my life is ESSAYS. Don't expect much in the next few weeks!!!

love you all ~

update

Hello all,

Apparently, my life & plans change on a minute-by-minute basis lately, but I thought I would share my latest information:

1) I will be moving off-campus into a house with 2 or 3 other classmates at the end of May. The walk to school and back won't be as idyllic - I am now crossing the River Shannon into County Clare and enjoy purple mountains in the horizon every day on my walk home - but I will be in a MUCH more convenient place. I will have a microwave and a bathtub and I will only be a 15min walk from the grocery store instead of a 45min walk, woot! :) (fyi, I am being forced to move out of my place, so it's not necessarily because I am making a conscious choice, but I am grateful for the change, regardless!)

2) My sister is getting married! (that's not my news, but I am excited for her and thought I would share...)

3) I will be in a wedding in SK this July, and have plans to go early for NB camp.

4) I have been accepted into a PhD program at South Carolina - Columbia, yay!!! I am deferring until next school year (Aug 09) for many reasons, including the fact(s) that my MA isn't complete until the end of September and I am ineligible for a teaching assistantship this year. I have a high eligibility for next year, so I am willing to wait!

In the meantime, my latest plan is to stay in Eire until next summer (09) and work anywhere making an income on the Euro after my thesis is complete. I figure it can't hurt.

I miss you all and look forward to seeing "ye" :)
SS

Swiss chocolate, cheese, army knives...

(View on Cruise... to be discussed below)

Per Ky's Request - & I do apologis/ze in advance for the sideways pics. Can't figure out how to get Blogspot to accept them after I rotate them. Maybe it's just because it's late & I'm tired. You'll just have to turn your head:

The trip: PHENOMENAL! The company: Couldn't have asked for better!

We flew from Dublin to Zurich and got straight on the train to Vevey, which is on the top of Lake Geneva, in the french-speaking part of Switzerland (heretofore called "SW"). We got in around 8:30 and it was raining a little. Apparently, neither of us were expecting anything else BUT rain - I've been living in Eire ('nough said) and apparently, everywhere she's been has been rainy - so it didn't kill us. We checked into our hotel (which was right above the train station - about a 1min walk) and went wandering the city looking for food. We found a tiny ethnic restaurant (mediterranean of some sort) and ordered food from a foreign menu. Not a good idea for me and my picky self. The picture showed a gyro meat platter, but when it came, the meat was more like chopped, fatty pork. So Lyn switched with me (her sandwich had gyro meat in it) and I made it maybe 4 bites before I had to ask for a glass of milk because it was SO spicy! I ate over half the sandwich. not bad. And I asked for the milk in french! :) I did conveniently forget the part about how as soon as we sat down, 2 old men (60ish) got up from the table behind us and started talking to us in french. We told him we don't speak much french, so he decided that touching my arm and making "booby" gestures at Lyn was appropriate behaviour. What is it with me and old pervs touching me?????

then we wandered to the lake (about 3-4 blocks) and around a bit of the lake and then up this canal that was feeding into the lake back to the hotel. All in the rain, of course! and settled in to make our plans for the half-day we had in Vevey. The next day was Saturday and not rainy! It was cloudy and cold, but no raindrops, so YAY! We wandered the "historical" town which looks exactly like I imagine France to resemble - Lyn has been to France and agreed. There was an old-timey carousel planted right on the lakefront at the beginning of the old town. The area was filled with windy cobble-stoned 'roads' and ornately detailed french architectural bldgs with tiny little shops in all the ground floors. While wandering, we went to a museum that told the history of winemaking in Vevey and all about this crazy festival they have (once a generation) about every 25yrs or so. We watched a video that really entertained us and Lyn mentioned wanting to go to the next one (2024 or so)... then we walked along the lake back to the carousel and had a lakeside kiosk "lunch" of a hotdog inside a french baguette (literally inside - they pierce a hole in a half-baguette and drop the hotdog into it - lol - and a banana/nutella crepe, while we enjoyed tiny little tantrums of several small children walking by... haha! I should probably mention that we were within spitting distance of the Swiss Alps, by the way... absolutely AMAZING!!!

(Yes, that's a giant fork standing in Lake Geneva)

After that, we hopped on the train back to Zurich. At the Zurich Hoptbahnhof (train station - now enters the german portion of my weekend), we needed to buy tickets to our hotel and we wanted to buy tickets for travel around town while we where there. The guy at the info desk was USELESS, so we wandered around and found an actual ticket counter. I chose a window with a Cory Wensley look-alike, BECAUSE he looked like Cory. Lyn came over and this guy was just too cute and so helpful! We got a 24hr ZurichCard and a one-way ticket to the hotel for that evening. The ZurichCard also got us free or discounted entry into many places, so we were happy. It cost 11euro/17chf. I (obviously) took a photo of "little cory" - as he was affectionately known thereafter. :)

("Little Cory")

We checked into the Swissotel around 9pm and met the cutest concierge, Sascha (no picture of him, sadly), who offered to make our dinner reservations for us. We decided on TexMex 'cause it doesn't exist in Ireland. Went upstairs, unpacked/threw all of our belongings all over the room, got cleaned up because we had to walk by Sascha to leave the hotel, and went an ate burritos & burgers! :) Things I learned in Cheyennes (the restaurant): they pronounce it Cayenne in Zurich and, Swiss restaurants do not have a concept of "non-smoking". We are pretty sure that we got lung cancer from just sitting at the table.

Back to hotel to plan the next day and take a bath in a REAL bathtub for the 3rd time since July!!!! (it really is the little things...)

Sunday, we made plans to go to 5 places. They were spread out all over the city, so we wanted to factor in travel times. It was supposed to be 16/61degrees and ended up being 18/64degrees... SO NICE! And SUNSHINY!!!! :) Our first stop was to the top of Mt Uetliberg, which is right inside the city. We got off the train, took some scenic shots and one of Lyn sitting in the kiddie swings that was too cute, and got right back on the train. lol. The rest of the mountain was hiking trails and we had neither the time, the desire, nor the footwear for that.

(From top of Mt. Uetliberg)

Stop #2 was to a cruise around the lake (not lake geneva - actually, I don't know the name of the lake at all... I'll have to look it up - I did: it's called Zurichsee). The boat was actually a part of Zurich public transit, so it was included in our ZurichCard, woot! It was 90-minutes in the sunshine with a backdrop of the Swiss Alps and tiny little mountain villages at mini-ports around the lake. One port held the Lindt Manufacturing Plant, which made us happy! This boat trip was too cool for many reasons, one of which included the billion opportunities I had to take pictures of cute boys. I think I could make a calendar of Zurich men. Lyn and I decided SW gave Eire a run for its money in male prettiness. We were sitting at a table with 3 chairs, so we were visited twice by random people. One was an old man (not perv) who was on the trip with his daughter and grandson. We talked about his daughters (one lives in Toronto) and what they do for a bit, his grandson came and visited for a second, and then he left when a seat became available near his family. A little while later, a cute Turkish man who was from Switzerland sat down. Turns out he is getting his MA in Sociology in Turkey and comes back to SW to visit his family one week out of every year. He was great fun, and of course, I don't take photos of the ones I actually TALK to! *sigh*

(One view from Cruise)

After the cruise, we were waiting for our tram and saw a mini-parade of tiny children all dressed up in various costumes, so we took pictures. :) And went to stop #3: Museum Strauhof. It was a museum that had rotating displays involving the arts - literature, history, photography, etc - so we thought we'd check it out. The current display was about a woman I'd never heard of (Annemarie Schwartzenbach) and was completely in German. I did not get much out of it until the very end, when I realised that she was a photojournalistic-style traveler in the 30s & 40s. I am not sure if she was a photojournalist by trade or what, but the last room had her photos from the Southern USA, Africa and other places I can't remember - and these photos were sooooo good! All black & white and mostly about poverty. Once I figured that much out, I wasn't so blaisee about the display. It was just that for the first 3 or 4 rooms, it was mostly just photos of her or stories/letters written in german that were useless to me. I have an eerie feeling that german will be my next language. MAN!

On our way to our last stop, our tram got stuck behind a marching band. We were very entertained! When we left the Museum Strauhof, we realised that there was, in fact a real parade going through the city! So we wandered around downtown in the warm sunshiny weather and watched the little tiny kids in their costumes and the various marching bands (even a couple bagpipe groups!) - lots of pics & videos! I asked a "polizei" (I think is how it's spelled?)/police officer what the parade was for, and it turns out, we were smack in the middle of the Springtime Festival! lol! What great timing! There were sidewalk kiosks everywhere, so for lunch we had Wurst. Mine was Knobli (garlic) Wurst - and by 'wurst', I mean literally, a sausage wrapped in wax paper! After the parade, we had chocolate dipped fruit (bananas in our case) and decided that we didn't need to go to stop #4 (Swiss National Museum), so we just wandered around an amazing city in the sunshine with thousands of people around...I must say that the experience itself was incomparable to the Dublin St Patrick's Day parade, but the actual parade was MUCH better in Zurich. And it was so much simpler. And at the end, there was a snowman sitting on a pile of branches. When I saw it, I remembered reading about this snowman in a tour book on the way to Vevey - and at the end of the festival (the day we leave Zurich), they burn the snowman to signal the end of winter - YAY! :)

(View on Post-Parade Walk)

Our final stop was the Zoo. We didn't know if it would be worth it to go or not, but we had the time and it was right near James Joyce's grave, so we hopped on the tram. It was not worth it to pay 11chf for an hour in the zoo, but the cemetery was SO cool! It was like a garden, with fountains and variety of plants and trees and birds singing, and all the gravestones were different - very individualised. There were many famous people buried there, but we only knew Joyce. His gravestone was very simple and there was a statue of Joyce in the background. After a bit in the cemetery, we hopped on the tram and decided t go our separate ways for a couple hrs. I went back to the hotel, went upstairs to the 32 floor and hopped into the jaccuzzi, where I had an almost 360degree view of Zurich city and a panorama of the Swiss Alps as the sun set. *sigh* and then went into the aromatherapy wet sauna for a bit... Lyn had some shopping she wanted to do, so we made reservations for the (world's worst service) Italian restaurant and met back up after our mini-excursions to go to supper.

(Joyce's Grave)

The italian restaurant was good food, but not very spectacular - and I am not even going to waste my time complaining about the crappy service - the part I enjoyed the most was the walk to the restaurant from the hotel, when we saw these people out in a courtyard playing chess with GIANT chess peices! They had to pick up the piece, walk over to a new square, and put the piece down. They were probably 2ft tall at the shortest... I enjoyed seeing that. :) Back to the hotel around 10, I read for class while Lyn packed. And the next morning wasn't terribly eventful. Unless you count the fact that we waited around until 9:30for a shoe store to open at 9am, because they were decently priced, cutesy shoes... we have our priorities! lol. Then we checked out and went our separate ways - Lyn by train to Berlin and me to the Airport to read until my 4pm flight.

All three mornings, the hotels offered buffet breakfasts. The Swissotel breakfast was sooooooo good! I found a new love for muesli. They mixed it into berry yogurt and it made me happy.

So not much happened on my trip - hah! You asked for it! :)

procrastination by photo

So I spent WAY too much time trying to get these pictures on here the "easy" way... and they are not in the same list order as everyone else's, but I think I will survive.

As seen on MayB, Jen & Ky (well, sort of):

Here’s how it works:
1. Go to www.photobucket.com
2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box
3. Insert the picture into your Blog

What is your favourite candy?

What do you look like?

What are you doing tomorrow?

What is your favourite tv show?

Describe yourself:
What is your name?

What is your current mood?

What is your favourite movie?

What kind of pet do you have?

Where do you live?

Where do you work? [technically, this is my dorm, but I put in University of Limerick...)

What is your relationship status?

'nuff said.

Mormons, Mormons, YAY!

This was the cheer going through my mind the entire time I talked with 2 cute mormon boys on their mission here in Limerick today... :) It's a miracle I didn't actually tell them about the cheer, oh my.

So I am walking to the grocery store from the bus stop. It was a sunshiny day (FINALLY!) and I took advantage by walking a bit farther than I normally would have. This route meant that I would walk for about 5mins along a walking/bike path and let me tell you: when the sun shines in Ireland, people come out of the woodwork! I can't remember seeing this many people outside since the summer when Ky and I toured. I'm listening to my ipod and enjoying my walk when I notice up ahead two young men wearing black suits... and then I looked for the name tags.

I haven't ever actually talked to mormons who were on mission before.

At least a hundred people walking around, but at the moment when we actually cross paths... not a soul! So they stopped and offered me a tract. Now - do we know me? haha.

I took the tract, but told them that it was pointless to talk to me about mormonism, that I was a devout Christian and I would just be a waste of their time.

So then they asked me about my church. haha! I told them that we didn't have a name - that we were just Christians. One guy was from Idaho, so I told him about our assembly in Peyette, which brought up the "church universal" scenario. They asked if I had a local assembly, and I said, "no", but that two assemblies in Canada post their services online and I am able to participate online, which impressed them... :)

At some point, I am sure I mentioned the fact that I know mormons who go on missions & that I saw them (missionaries. not the ones I know.) all the time in Canada. They agreed that they are easy to spot & I said, yeah... all I have to do is look for the name tag... *sigh* big. mouth.

At another point in the convo, I mentioned that I am doing my own evangelism here and they were very intrigued! I said, well, I live in a 96% catholic nation and I am protestant; of course people are going to hear where I am coming from. It's a miracle I didn't stand there and evangelise them - 'cause that would have made for some great stories!

And that was my 10 minute talk with mormon missionaries on the side of the road in Limerick, Ireland. :)

SPD 2008 :)

Nicole, Serena & I (L-R) at the SPD parade!

[most of this is a repeat for Ang. except the story about the train station... sorry AG]

almost...ALMOST... kissed a cute irishman. Actually, not anywhere close. One guy was cute, but he was on his way to work at O'Neill's... and the rest of the guys I saw were not irish. I did, however get hit in the head by a giant inflatable hammer that made a sound like a baby toy when it hit me -- the guy was like, 22 tops, and he pretended like he didn't do it... we were walking into & out of the hotel via revolving doors, so he pulled it off quite nicely... I called out "happy st patrick's day to you, too!" but no kissing. And he was DEFINITELY american.

* * * * * *

Dublin was WONDERFUL! Nicole and I took the 735am train up from Limerick Monday morning and met Serena there (she went to visit a friend on Sunday). Our big adventure was when we learned about the efficiency of the Irish, which was aptly identified as an oxymoron by Nicole, the hard way. Once our train arrived at Heuston station in Dublin, we still had to take the LUAS to Connelly station and then the DART to Pearse station in order to walk the least amount with our luggage. One thing we learned was that it is exactly TWO stops from Connelly to Pearse, but we did not learn that until after we waited at Connelly on platform 5 for 15 mins only to have the Pearse train disappear at the last minute and miraculously reappear on platform 6. We had to walk the equivalent of 2-3blocks, go down a flight of stairs, cross under the tracks, & go back up the stairs -- as we are crossing under the tracks, we can hear the Pearse station train drive away... so we get up the stairs and ask 2 more train employees when the next Pearse train leaves and they say 14 mins. Next train arrives. No one is on it. 14 mins go by. The doors are unlocked, so 7 of us jump on the train and the guy waves the engineer on. The train crawls slowly for about 5 mins... a girl thinks we're going backwards, away from Pearse station. Train stops. Engineer comes out and tells us that we are on a train that is sitting in the trainyard and going nowhere! *sigh* We wait for the green light to return to the station, get off train #1, walk under the tracks (again), arrive at platform 6 to see the same people who were waiting for the train when we left. Another 20 mins go by, get on train #2 like normal people, stand for 4 mins and get off in 2 stops. In the hour that it took to do all that, we could have walked to Pearse station 3 times! haha!

We met Serena & checked our baggage at the hotel and walked to the parade. It was crazy-crowded! 650,000ppl! see here for more about the parade:

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0317/breaking14.html?via=me

We kept moving places so see different angles and I have some really fun photos of people climbing trees, lamp posts, phone booths, other people, etc to see the parade... I loved it! It was sooooooooo much fun to be around so many people who were as excited about dressing silly and green :) I also have pics of cute boys and cops... can't help myself...



Then we went to O'Neill's Pub&Carvery (where Angela and I went in October & Jill & I went in January... becoming a regular hang out of mine!) for lunch and it was unbelievably crowded. We ended up sharing a table with strangers and when they left a guy came and sat down beside us all by himself. So when Serena & Nicole went to the bathroom, we chatted for a bit. Turns out he was there by himself because he works there. He's lived in Savannah, GA and NYC, and we talked about how the majority of irish people who actually celebrate SPD are either under the age of 10 or the parents of those under the age of 10... haha!

Then we went to check in at the hotel and just talked/relaxed/enjoyed the room for a few hrs and went back out to the city in the evening for supper. We walked to St Stephen's Green and down Grafton St and around Temple Bar a bit and finally settled on a Tapas Bar called Salamancas. It was really nice! A little on the expensive side, but we cut out a night at the hotel so that we wouldn't feel badly about spending $ on food.

We went back to the hotel and talked more (it's 3 girls, what else would you expect, eh?) and I took a BATH in a BATHTUB!!!!!!! and when I got out, the girls had found an episode of Corner Gas and left it on for me to watch - how cool are they???? They'd never seen/heard of it before, but it played here at midnight, so that is good for me to know! :) I laughed so hard - they did not get most of the jokes. Or at least did not find them as funny as they would have if they'd lived in SK. But they enjoyed making fun of the characters :) It was the episode when the "small town doctor" comes to check out Dog River to see if she should move there and decides Dog River is too big for her... I loved it :)

Bed at 1am, up at 845 to go sit in the jacuzzi for 20 mins while the other two were dressing and then we went to starbucks and mcd's before taking the train back to Limerick... how american did we feel: starbucks and mcd's??? But we so did not care! It was cheap. ish.

just in case

Just in case anyone thought I was exaggerating about the psychotic gale-force winds I mentioned earlier this year, tonight's wind is averaging around 74km/hr (45mph). A friend of mine was walking home from work (we live in the same village), in the rain, and when she reached the end of the bridge, the wind pushed her over the edge and she slid down the bank - but just a little, and she didn't fall on her butt - but STILL, wind that can knock a full-grown person over... I was not exaggerating. She had to stand still and brace herself against the wind for a minute & wait for it to change directions before she could continue walking.

Why is this not mentioned in books? Okay - so sometimes it is. When the people are on a coastline and its a "brisk wind". Well, let me tell you... I have heard the Irish use the phrase "brisk" with this kind of wind here... and it's not what you're 'tinking'. It is seriously like SK in the winter mixed with NC hurricanes. :)

I guess that's why they never write about it... it is pretty indescribable... just trust me, I guess! Love you all ~

and THIS is why I love Irish Men:

I found this on a website on accident and actually sighed aloud:

Irish He Is

A strange blend of shyness, pride and conceit,
And stubborn refusal to bow in defeat.
He's spoiling and ready to argue and flight,
Yet the smile of a child fills his soul with delight.
His eyes are the quickest to well up with tears,
Yet his strength is the strongest to banish your fears.

His hate is as fierce as his devotion is grand,
And there is no middle ground on which he will stand.

He's wild and he's gentle, he's good and he's bad.
He's proud and he's humble, he's happy and sad.
He's in love with the ocean, the earth and the skies,

He's enamoured with beauty wherever it lies.
He's victor and victim, a star and a clod,
But mostly he's Irish.. in love with his God

Only because Jen tagged me ;)

Four Things Meme

4 Jobs I have had:

camp counselor
instructional assistant (I am in the pic!)
admin for (court-sentenced) domestic violence offenders counseling
research assistant/transcriptionist/etc/all-in-one

4 Movies I can watch over and over:

The Holiday
Serenity
Aladdin
Bridget Jones (technically, this scene is from the Edge of Reason, but I love this scene so much! - I enjoy the first film in its entirety more...)

4 Places I have lived:

Charlotte
Saskatoon
Calgary
Limerick

4 TV Shows I love:

CSI (Vegas, of course)
Criminal Minds
Bones
House
I had to limit this according to shows still playing...*sigh*

4 Places I have vacationed:

Orlando (not Bloom, sadly)
Bahamas Cruise
Kelowna
Eire (pre-move touring)

4 of my favorite dishes:

my grandmother's Beef Stew
tomato basil soup from Java's (UL coffeehouse)
pierogies (wow, there are a billion ways to spell this!) and winkler sausage
dolmades & pastichio

4 Sites I visit daily:

UL Website
Gmail
Limerick Weather (technically, it's on my homepage, but still...)
Any new Blog Posts

4 Places I would rather be right now:

Park Valley
Hugging my Family (NC)
In a Hot Spring at Banff
actually, I LOVE the place where I am - I just miss the people who aren't here with me...

Four Bloggers I am tagging:

Plead the 5th. ;)