I have had the pleasure of hosting 3 visitors this week. On Monday and Tuesday, Jai was here from Toronto and Ryan was here from Cork. Ry came to Dublin cause he had 2 interviews and also to meet one of his best friends, Jai. Jai had left Toronto at the beginning of October and has travelled to London, Scottland and now he's in Ireland. I had Tuesday off so I went sightseeing with Jai. We first went on a tour of Dublin Castle. It was not as exciting as it sounds. Dublin Castle used to be a castle but is now an administrative building. We saw the various rooms of the building including throne rooms and halls. The best part of tour was when we went underground to see what was left of the orginal castle. There is a river that runs under the building which used to allow vikings and others to bring their boats up to the castle. The walls of the castle were all smooth so that people could not climb up the side to attack. They also used to pour goose fat down the walls to make it even more slippery to climb....mmmmmm, goose fat! We also walked around St. Stephen Green which is a park here and Trinity College where the ancient book of kells is kept. We didn't feel it was necessary to pay 12 Euro to see a book, no matter how old it is!
On Friday, Carla, a classmate of mine, arrived in Dublin from Toronto. We had panini's for lunch and I took her on a tour of Temple Bar at night. We went to 3 different bars and Carla had a pint in each of them. At the thrid bar, we ran into my Italian friends and partied with them for a bit.
On Saturday, Carla and I did some more wandering around town going down random alleys and stumbling into food markets and such. Carla, being the party animal she is, wanted to go out again so we met up with her cousin's roomate downtown. Petra, said that there was a nice bar that she liked....turns out, it was Temple Bar, in Temple Bar. So, for the second time in as many nights, we went to Temple Bar. I stayed for a couple hours and then went home early......i'm such a party pooper. Carla is here until Tuesday when she heads for Cork so I have no idea what else she wants to do. It's also a bank holiday weekend here in that Republic of Ireland so everyone has Monday off!
Ciao for now.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Hockey Night in Canada at Temple Bar
On Saturday, I found a place to live in Ireland so I went out with my crazy Italian friends to celebrate. We decided to go to Temple Bar and it was rocking. The rugby world cup finals had just been played and the British lost, which makes the Irish very happy. We went to an 2 level Irish bar that was packed. We left around 12am and since there were so many of us, we waited outside for everyone. In the bar next door, there was a tv and guess what was playing on it? Hockey Night in Canada!!!!! On top of that, it was an Ottawa Senators home game at the Scotiabank Centre. Here I am, all the way in Ireland, in Temple Bar and I got to see my hometown on tv! Ah, the memories.
I moved into my new diggs yesterday. It is a 3 bedroom house that I share with an Italian and an Irish guy. So far, both seem nice, helpful and easy to get along with. Only time will tell. I can also walk to work in 15 minutes so the location is ideal and it takes about 25mins to walk downtown. Yay! I am out of the hostel!
I moved into my new diggs yesterday. It is a 3 bedroom house that I share with an Italian and an Irish guy. So far, both seem nice, helpful and easy to get along with. Only time will tell. I can also walk to work in 15 minutes so the location is ideal and it takes about 25mins to walk downtown. Yay! I am out of the hostel!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Hostel Life
Hostelling is full of ups and downs. If I was on vacation, being in a hostel would be loads of craic (fun), however, if you like sleeping, hostelling can suck. On Monday night, I was in an 8 person room and it was nice an quite until 3am. At 3am, 3 LOUD German people came into the room, turned on all the lights and began talking. Urgh.
On Tuesday morning, I packed up all my stuff, dragged it down 3 flights of stairs and then disappeared to do some observations at the chiropractic clinic. When I came back, I was placed in a new room and I dragged my stuff back up another 4 flights of stairs. Again, I was placed in an 8 person room. I spoke with a German guy for a bit, then went off to bed. This room was much better. People were actually trying to be quite when they came back. The lights stayed off and I actually got some sleep.
On Wednesday morning, I packed my stuff up again and prepared to changed rooms. This time, I was placed in a 6 person room with some CRAZY italians. They were lots of fun. I ended up going out to Temple Bar with them for a drink. It was interesing b/c they could barely speak english and I spoke zero Italian, but they were great.
On Thrusday, I had to change hostels because there were no beds left. So, I packed up my stuff and moved down the street to another hostel. This hostel was terrible. It was like a maze and there were 6 flights of stairs to go up and down. Thankfully, someone who was watching me drag my suitcase up 2 flights of stairs, decided that he would bring it up the rest of the way. This time, I shared a room with 20 people. While I didn't like the actually look of the hostel, the people in it were really nice. I met a few French people and j'ai parle en francais, which as always fun for me. As you can imagine, sleeping in a room with 20 other people is quite difficult. I probably woke up about 100 times. Also, unlike the other hostels that I have stayed in, this one doesn't provide blankets. So, I got an extra sheet with sleep in but it was still cold. Yay for my fav Lulu Lemon sweater that kept me kinda warm. This morning, I went back to my old hostel and I am booked in there until wednesday.
I have been glued to daft, which is Ireland's housing website. I've seen 5 place so far but it is really expensive to find housing and very difficult. Each place that I visit, 15 people are already waiting there. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I find a place soon! I now appreciate all the things I used to have.....like running hot water....or a shower that stays on for more than 15 seconds!
On Tuesday morning, I packed up all my stuff, dragged it down 3 flights of stairs and then disappeared to do some observations at the chiropractic clinic. When I came back, I was placed in a new room and I dragged my stuff back up another 4 flights of stairs. Again, I was placed in an 8 person room. I spoke with a German guy for a bit, then went off to bed. This room was much better. People were actually trying to be quite when they came back. The lights stayed off and I actually got some sleep.
On Wednesday morning, I packed my stuff up again and prepared to changed rooms. This time, I was placed in a 6 person room with some CRAZY italians. They were lots of fun. I ended up going out to Temple Bar with them for a drink. It was interesing b/c they could barely speak english and I spoke zero Italian, but they were great.
On Thrusday, I had to change hostels because there were no beds left. So, I packed up my stuff and moved down the street to another hostel. This hostel was terrible. It was like a maze and there were 6 flights of stairs to go up and down. Thankfully, someone who was watching me drag my suitcase up 2 flights of stairs, decided that he would bring it up the rest of the way. This time, I shared a room with 20 people. While I didn't like the actually look of the hostel, the people in it were really nice. I met a few French people and j'ai parle en francais, which as always fun for me. As you can imagine, sleeping in a room with 20 other people is quite difficult. I probably woke up about 100 times. Also, unlike the other hostels that I have stayed in, this one doesn't provide blankets. So, I got an extra sheet with sleep in but it was still cold. Yay for my fav Lulu Lemon sweater that kept me kinda warm. This morning, I went back to my old hostel and I am booked in there until wednesday.
I have been glued to daft, which is Ireland's housing website. I've seen 5 place so far but it is really expensive to find housing and very difficult. Each place that I visit, 15 people are already waiting there. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I find a place soon! I now appreciate all the things I used to have.....like running hot water....or a shower that stays on for more than 15 seconds!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Kinsale
After all the mess with the association, I decided to get out of town for the day. Since Ryan had the day off, he came along with me. Kinsale is about 1 hr away from Cork by bus but this was one of the longest hours I've ever spent on a bus. Firstly, the roads in Ireland are built so poorly that two cars going in the opposite direction cannot travel on the same road! You would have thought that when they built roads, traffic would flow two ways....anyways, so when the bus is going straight and another car comes along in the other direction, either the bus or the other car will have to pull over to the side of the road so the other can pass. On top of that, the roads are constructed poorly, so after about 15 minutes on the bus I was ready to throw up. If I did not have my trusty homeopathy remedy on me, I definately would have. Instead, I settled on nausea and looking green by the time I got off the bus. Even Ryan, who doesn't get motion sickness, was having difficulty with the bus.
The town of Kinsale is very small. It has about 2 main roads. We arrived in the afternoon and rented a bike. The bike shop was really nice because it closed at 5:30pm but told us that we could keep the bikes as long as we wanted and to chain them up when we got back and throw the keys into their mailbox.
Ryan and I were on a mission to see the coast, so we headed as south as we could get. Kinsale is a harbour town and it also had bike paths and walking trails. We biked for about 2km to Charles Fort. This place was really cool. It was bascially a fort in a shape of a star with lots of holes in it from the cannons that had attacked it previously. We skipped the tour and spent time playing amoung the ruins. After the fort, we hopped back on our bikes and continued towards the coast. After another few km, we ran out of trail. By the way, the trail was really hilly, and we rode up and down and up and down pretty much the entire way. When we ran out of trail there was a huge hill which of course, we decided to climb. At the top, we were told that we were on private property. The lady told us that the trail had ended and that there was no road to the coast....however, it turns out that she owned the wheat fields that were near where we were biking and you could see the ocean from there. She was kind enough to let us go trekking into her fields. So, we got off our bikes, and walked through 3 wheat fields to finally reach the coast!!! What a sight. It was so quite there because Ry and I were the only ones. You could hear the waves hitting the rocks below. I'm not quite sure how long we stayed on the edge of the cliff but it started to get dark. We ended up riding back through the trails in the dark, and of course, me being a scardy cat, I did not like that much.
To emphasize the smallness of Kinsale, when we were walking up yet another big hill in the dark, a guy asked us if we were ok and needed help. Turns out, he was the guy who rented us the bikes! Crazy! We dicided that we wanted to bike back so we did not take his help. At the top of the hill we saw an amazing view of the city at night with all its lights. When we got back to the town, we decided to reward ourselves by eating Indian food. It's nothing like Toronto and it's more expensive here, but it was Indian none the less.
The bus ride back home was even worse then on the way there. The driver was driving Formula 1 style and we ended up getting back in 1/2 an hour.......I was again a nice shade of green. So, that was my adventure out.
Today is Monday and I just moved to Dublin. I took a 5 hr bus ride and now i'm in hostel again. Getting hungry so I'm going to eat. No word yet from the Chiro Assocaition but i'm going in to shadow the other chiro tonight.
The town of Kinsale is very small. It has about 2 main roads. We arrived in the afternoon and rented a bike. The bike shop was really nice because it closed at 5:30pm but told us that we could keep the bikes as long as we wanted and to chain them up when we got back and throw the keys into their mailbox.
Ryan and I were on a mission to see the coast, so we headed as south as we could get. Kinsale is a harbour town and it also had bike paths and walking trails. We biked for about 2km to Charles Fort. This place was really cool. It was bascially a fort in a shape of a star with lots of holes in it from the cannons that had attacked it previously. We skipped the tour and spent time playing amoung the ruins. After the fort, we hopped back on our bikes and continued towards the coast. After another few km, we ran out of trail. By the way, the trail was really hilly, and we rode up and down and up and down pretty much the entire way. When we ran out of trail there was a huge hill which of course, we decided to climb. At the top, we were told that we were on private property. The lady told us that the trail had ended and that there was no road to the coast....however, it turns out that she owned the wheat fields that were near where we were biking and you could see the ocean from there. She was kind enough to let us go trekking into her fields. So, we got off our bikes, and walked through 3 wheat fields to finally reach the coast!!! What a sight. It was so quite there because Ry and I were the only ones. You could hear the waves hitting the rocks below. I'm not quite sure how long we stayed on the edge of the cliff but it started to get dark. We ended up riding back through the trails in the dark, and of course, me being a scardy cat, I did not like that much.
To emphasize the smallness of Kinsale, when we were walking up yet another big hill in the dark, a guy asked us if we were ok and needed help. Turns out, he was the guy who rented us the bikes! Crazy! We dicided that we wanted to bike back so we did not take his help. At the top of the hill we saw an amazing view of the city at night with all its lights. When we got back to the town, we decided to reward ourselves by eating Indian food. It's nothing like Toronto and it's more expensive here, but it was Indian none the less.
The bus ride back home was even worse then on the way there. The driver was driving Formula 1 style and we ended up getting back in 1/2 an hour.......I was again a nice shade of green. So, that was my adventure out.
Today is Monday and I just moved to Dublin. I took a 5 hr bus ride and now i'm in hostel again. Getting hungry so I'm going to eat. No word yet from the Chiro Assocaition but i'm going in to shadow the other chiro tonight.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
I hate the chiropractic association of Ireland
Ok, so more drama at the association since I last blogged. Last time I wrote, Trina and Brian were going to write reference letters for me. Turns out, their letters were rejected as references! She said that they could not accept letters from my classmates. Such bullshit! So, I had to get 3 references to express post the letters from Canada. Firstly, I contacted one of my professional references via e-mail but since I didn't hear anything from him, I decided to call him. Turns out, he had read my e-mail incorrectly and didn't know that he had to send another letter. This put me behind another couple days. Then I got a hold of another reference and they had said that they would send the letter right away as well. 2 days after I talked to them, they inform me that they had sent the letter for 7-10 business days because the price was significantly less expensive....however, I can't start until I get that letter gets to Ireland and I can't wait 2 weeks so, I asked them to resend the letter for me but by express post. Then, last night, my mom informs me that she had the letter....ok...this is getting rediculous. Anyways, my mom works for Canada Post so hopefully, she will be able to get my letter here faster than anyone else. To add insult to injury, each express letter is going to cost me 50$!!!!!!!!!!! I hate this stupid assocaition........
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Back to Dublin
So after letting a place, finding a job and getting all settled in Cork, I'm moving to Dublin. I went to see a chiropractic office there and I really like the people that worked there and how the head chiro. runs the clinic. I really like Cork but a job in my field is a job in my field. I hope to start next monday, providing my paperwork goes through.
The chiropractic association here is a pain in the ass. They wanted 4 references (2 personal and 2 professional) which I had prepared already before coming here. However, 3 of my references were sent through e-mail and were not signed so the assocation said that they would not accpet them. I asked if they were going to talk to my references and they said yes. I told them that my references were going to say that they typed everything in my letter but that wasn't good enough for them. Then I asked if my references could fax them a signed paper but they said it had to be the orginal and it had to be signed in pen. Then I asked if they could send an electronic signature but that was also turned down. Urgh. Then, I asked if they could process my application for now and if they didn't receive my letters within a couple of weeks, they could cancel my insurance and I wouldn't practice anyways.....they said no again. When I got fed up with them, I asked if there was another liability insurance company with whom I could sign up with without going through the assocaition and they said no again. Haha. Finally, I asked if I could change my personal references to people who were here in Ireland. She told me that they had to have known me for 4 years and that they couldn't be my friends....but she said it in a way that made it seem like that was not possible since I just got to Ireland. Thank god for Trina and Brian. They each wrote a reference letter for me and they wrote that they are my colleuges and classmates for the past 4 years. The assocaition can had fun trying to prove that they are not my friends. I am still waiting for one more reference from Canada. Hopefully, it comes in time.
On the more fun side of things...on thursday, I went to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone! The stone is situated at the top of the castle and to kiss it, you have to lie upsidedown and hang over the edge of the wall. Don't worry, there are bars there and a guard to make sure nothing happens to you. The view from the top of the castle was pretty nice. Also, within the grounds of the castle, were wishing steps. These were interesting because you had to make a wish and then walk down and back up the stairs, with your eyes closed!! The guy who had done it just before Su and I told us to be careful cause he nearly broke his neck! So we took it very slowly when we went down. The only problem is that you are so concentrated on not trying to kill yourself that you forget to keep your wish in mind. I hope it works!!
Today, I went to a wildlife park with Su and Angie, two fellow Canadians. There animals roam free here without cages. We saw penguins, giraffes, flamingos, monkeys, zebras and many more fuzzy animals.
Another funny thing, there Irish have some phrases that they repeat over and over again. Hrere are some: that's brilliant! that's grand! thanks a million! They also call a car trunk and boot, and vaccuuming is called hoovering.
Hope to take a trip tomorrow. I feel like going hiking and I have the day off. Will let you know where I end up. Ciao for now.
The chiropractic association here is a pain in the ass. They wanted 4 references (2 personal and 2 professional) which I had prepared already before coming here. However, 3 of my references were sent through e-mail and were not signed so the assocation said that they would not accpet them. I asked if they were going to talk to my references and they said yes. I told them that my references were going to say that they typed everything in my letter but that wasn't good enough for them. Then I asked if my references could fax them a signed paper but they said it had to be the orginal and it had to be signed in pen. Then I asked if they could send an electronic signature but that was also turned down. Urgh. Then, I asked if they could process my application for now and if they didn't receive my letters within a couple of weeks, they could cancel my insurance and I wouldn't practice anyways.....they said no again. When I got fed up with them, I asked if there was another liability insurance company with whom I could sign up with without going through the assocaition and they said no again. Haha. Finally, I asked if I could change my personal references to people who were here in Ireland. She told me that they had to have known me for 4 years and that they couldn't be my friends....but she said it in a way that made it seem like that was not possible since I just got to Ireland. Thank god for Trina and Brian. They each wrote a reference letter for me and they wrote that they are my colleuges and classmates for the past 4 years. The assocaition can had fun trying to prove that they are not my friends. I am still waiting for one more reference from Canada. Hopefully, it comes in time.
On the more fun side of things...on thursday, I went to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone! The stone is situated at the top of the castle and to kiss it, you have to lie upsidedown and hang over the edge of the wall. Don't worry, there are bars there and a guard to make sure nothing happens to you. The view from the top of the castle was pretty nice. Also, within the grounds of the castle, were wishing steps. These were interesting because you had to make a wish and then walk down and back up the stairs, with your eyes closed!! The guy who had done it just before Su and I told us to be careful cause he nearly broke his neck! So we took it very slowly when we went down. The only problem is that you are so concentrated on not trying to kill yourself that you forget to keep your wish in mind. I hope it works!!
Today, I went to a wildlife park with Su and Angie, two fellow Canadians. There animals roam free here without cages. We saw penguins, giraffes, flamingos, monkeys, zebras and many more fuzzy animals.
Another funny thing, there Irish have some phrases that they repeat over and over again. Hrere are some: that's brilliant! that's grand! thanks a million! They also call a car trunk and boot, and vaccuuming is called hoovering.
Hope to take a trip tomorrow. I feel like going hiking and I have the day off. Will let you know where I end up. Ciao for now.
Monday, October 1, 2007
On to Tel Aviv!
Last time we left off, we had gone to Phili temple for the sound and light show.
The next morning, we woke at 3am to go to Abu-Simbal. This was interesting b/c we travelled there in a convoy of 40 vans. We saw two temples here that were dedicated to Ramses II and his wife.
That night, we flew back to Cairo and went back to the Berlin Hotel....don't ask me why we went back to that hotel...the Berlin Hotel was horrible that night! While we were gone, they had "fixed" the elevator. After opening the sketchy doors, we put our luggage inside and hit the up buttom. The lights went out and the elevator moved upwards and the lights came back on. At the top, the elevator stopped and the lights suddenly went out again. Irene and I screamed! We thought that the elevator was going to go plunging to the ground but...nothing happened and the lights came back on again. When we got out of the elevator, two ladies who were watching us were laughing at us. We ran out of that elevator as fast as possible.
We stayed in a different rooms this time but the AC didn't work very well and there were ants crawling in my bed. After complaining to the manager, we were switched into a different room at 4am. We woke at 9am to go to the airport.
Irene and I left to Tel Aviv and Dave went back to Canada to start school. Before we arrived in Tel Aviv, we had a 10 hour stopover in Jordan. The plane ride from Cairo to Amann was quite turbulant and I was looking quite pale after the ride. If it wasn't for Irene's quick thinking and accupressure points, I would have tossed my cookies for sure!
We finally arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday night. Tel Aviv is modern, unlike Egypt and it reminded me of Canada or Europe, except for the Hebrew signs everywhere.
Eric came to meet us at the airport with his car and diplomatic plates. It was so nice to see a familar face! They sure do ask a lot of questions at border control, why are you here, who are you staying with, where are you staying, how do you know them, etc, etc.
Eric took us back to his styling pad paid for by Canadian Tax payers and Irene and I had the best sleep since we left Canada. The next morning, we walked around the markets buying fruit and looking at arts and crafts. In the afternoon, we went to Jaffa which is the arabic part of town and I was not feeling well so I had to go back to Eric's. The heat in Tel Aviv was not as intense as Egypt but the humidity is INSANE and you were sweating just standing in one spot. After napping, I felt better and we went to eat at the Brewhouse.
The next day was spent on the beach. The water was warm, salty and a clear, clear blue. We spent the whole afternoon on the beach. We also met one of Eric's friends from Canada who had just come to Tel Aviv to work at the Canadian Embassy, like Eric. For dinner, we walked around the old port and ate seafood. On sat night, we went to a club called Lima Lima where we watched Isralie's dance with no rythm. We left after 15 minutes to go to Clara which is a club right next to the sea.
Tel Aviv was definately more relaxing than Cairo, thanks to Eric and his hospitality.
The next morning, we woke at 3am to go to Abu-Simbal. This was interesting b/c we travelled there in a convoy of 40 vans. We saw two temples here that were dedicated to Ramses II and his wife.
That night, we flew back to Cairo and went back to the Berlin Hotel....don't ask me why we went back to that hotel...the Berlin Hotel was horrible that night! While we were gone, they had "fixed" the elevator. After opening the sketchy doors, we put our luggage inside and hit the up buttom. The lights went out and the elevator moved upwards and the lights came back on. At the top, the elevator stopped and the lights suddenly went out again. Irene and I screamed! We thought that the elevator was going to go plunging to the ground but...nothing happened and the lights came back on again. When we got out of the elevator, two ladies who were watching us were laughing at us. We ran out of that elevator as fast as possible.
We stayed in a different rooms this time but the AC didn't work very well and there were ants crawling in my bed. After complaining to the manager, we were switched into a different room at 4am. We woke at 9am to go to the airport.
Irene and I left to Tel Aviv and Dave went back to Canada to start school. Before we arrived in Tel Aviv, we had a 10 hour stopover in Jordan. The plane ride from Cairo to Amann was quite turbulant and I was looking quite pale after the ride. If it wasn't for Irene's quick thinking and accupressure points, I would have tossed my cookies for sure!
We finally arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday night. Tel Aviv is modern, unlike Egypt and it reminded me of Canada or Europe, except for the Hebrew signs everywhere.
Eric came to meet us at the airport with his car and diplomatic plates. It was so nice to see a familar face! They sure do ask a lot of questions at border control, why are you here, who are you staying with, where are you staying, how do you know them, etc, etc.
Eric took us back to his styling pad paid for by Canadian Tax payers and Irene and I had the best sleep since we left Canada. The next morning, we walked around the markets buying fruit and looking at arts and crafts. In the afternoon, we went to Jaffa which is the arabic part of town and I was not feeling well so I had to go back to Eric's. The heat in Tel Aviv was not as intense as Egypt but the humidity is INSANE and you were sweating just standing in one spot. After napping, I felt better and we went to eat at the Brewhouse.
The next day was spent on the beach. The water was warm, salty and a clear, clear blue. We spent the whole afternoon on the beach. We also met one of Eric's friends from Canada who had just come to Tel Aviv to work at the Canadian Embassy, like Eric. For dinner, we walked around the old port and ate seafood. On sat night, we went to a club called Lima Lima where we watched Isralie's dance with no rythm. We left after 15 minutes to go to Clara which is a club right next to the sea.
Tel Aviv was definately more relaxing than Cairo, thanks to Eric and his hospitality.
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