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!
30 September 2008
16 September 2008
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 :)
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 :)
01 September 2008
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!
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!
23 August 2008
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!
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!
17 August 2008
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.
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.
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