Week 1 Summary

Here are the implications of my first week at Google:

My shoulders hurt and my back is almost broken from carrying my new laptop to and from work.

I have some blisters that refuse to heal from walking to and from work, 30 minutes every direction.

My arms are full with bruises as I bump into so many people on rush hours in the crowded city of Dublin.

My ass hurts from sitting for 3 hours at the Immigration police waiting to get a Certificate of Registration card that looks exactly like an ID card, but says at the back: This is not an Identity Card. And they got my details wrong: they changed my name and made me 2 years older. what the hell will happen if a policeman will check my certificate and see I'm supposed to be 30 according to it? He might think it's a fake one!
Ohhh, and almost an hour at the social security offices.

I have a cold from walking in the rain. With umbrella. No jacket.

Lack of sleep. It just feels that way. Now that I'm working again, I feel like I need to sleep more than I used to when I was unemployed. Besides, I don't feel like my back is healing as well, because of the lousy mattress we have in our apartment. In Israel I had my own wonder mattress. Now we have the cheapest mattress the owner could find. which probably wasn't that cheap. After all he paid in Euros.

And of course, I'm broke.
But somehow there's always money a pint or 2 everytime we are going to the pub.
Some of my last month expenses:
British Airways' (expensive) ticket to Dublin (which will be reimbursed);
New shoes for work, paid 100 (!!) Euros for the above-mentioned certificate (which will be reimbursed);
A new mobile. I know I cannot allow myself luxuries, but I'm an Israeli, I cannot function without a mobile. In spite of the fact that I don't really use it, I must grant people the opportunity to reach me all day. Doesn't matter if I'm broke;
New pants. In order to justify this purchase I will state that it was for work as well.

I'll get my first paycheck and the reimbursements on the 25th of August! I'll have to use the Israeli bank account for everything, and the money in it is about to evaporate by the 2nd of August.
Or maybe just ask Dan for some money... Haven't asked someone for money for over 10 years...
Isn't life wonderful as a poor girl?

So as you probably already figured out, Israelis like to complain. A lot.

But I, contrary to other Israelis, can also distinguish some positive aspects of the situation:

I start working on Mondays. I always thought that working on Sundays is useless. And at last someone actually agrees. (And for the moment, lets drop the fact I also work Fridays, OK?)

It is so nice to see the smiling face of the man who hands out the morning papers at the same street corner, and greets me every morning and wishes me a wonderful day.

I met so many interesting people, from at least 15 different nationalities!

I become even more eco-friendly than before.

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of free beer in the canteen (Where we have breakfast and lunch everyday) on each Friday's TGIF. And after drinking some, we go to the pub to drink some more.

Playing X-BOX, Foosball (Still learning), Pool (trying to, anyway), and the possibility to choose any other game, such as SP2 (t, Table-Tennis, and more (the rumor says there is or are PS3 somewhere).
If I don't feel like playing I can always sit on cushion seat (pouffe). Or on the massage sofa.

And....
I do have a google.com account, which is priceless!

What is Home?

Is it the place where I grew up?
Is it the apartment where I live?

Is it the apartment I rent or the one my parents paid mortgage for?

And what happens if I feel like a guest at my parent's place, and my place feels like home, but not quite yet?
And what about a situation where my childhood home is sold and I haven't been at my parents' new place yet? Should I consider it home? It doesn't feel that way.

Either way, how can home be called home when I practically packed it all into 2 not-so-big suitcases??... And close the door behind me the same way as I used to when I went to work or just out, knowing I'll be back within few hours?

And is it normal to just enter a new place and all of a sudden feel like that's the home I was searching for over the last few years?

Because it feels like I found home, at last.

News Flash

Yes, I submitted my resignation letter a month ago, and I'm not working there since last Thursday. It feels wonderful to be unemployed! Even though I wake up at around 7:30 every morning for a different doctor, meeting at the bank or breakfast with friends.

Yeah, I'm busy! If you want to meet me (in addition to all the 20 doctors I met), you must schedule. But I'm afraid it's too late, my time here is almost up... Well, by HERE I mean Israel.

I'm leaving in 6 days, for as long as possible!

On Monday I'll be heading to Dublin, Ireland. I'll be working and living there, and of course I'll be joining Dan, at last!

Right now my apartment is one big mess. Suitcases, bags and cloths that need to be washed are thrown on the floor, along with some dust and a bit more dust... And few pairs of shoes. I have so many papers on every table, and every time I need to look for my mobile phone, I must call it from my land line...

So of course I'm all excitements and stressed at the same time (WIll I be able to pack everything in the 2 suitcases? Will I be able to meet everybody by monday? etc...), and can't wait till monday comes!

The Sociology of the Israeli Dubliners

Just like every other place on the Globe, Dublin has its Israelis. And we all know that Israelis that live in the same place know each other.

So here's the story about how Dan got himself familiarised with the Israeli Dubliners:
Before Dan moved to Ireland, He knew a guy that his wife started working for Dublin Amdocs offices. The wife have been to Dublin for a month already when Dan first met him. He was supposed to move there soon.
As you all know, It's been 4 months since Dan relocated to Dublin, and he's in touch with that couple since.

On Easter Monday, the day after we were back from our Easter holiday (Ellen, here's what you, and probably many other fans, are waiting for: The debt from my previous post), they invited us to join them to Dublin's Botanic Gardens. We decided to join, although we had the cunning plan of staying home and getting lazy.
We got our first impression when we were walking into the Cafeteria. It felt like walking into a Geriatric Institute, thanks to all of the old people (some on wheelchairs) accompanied by their sons, daughters and grandchildren.
But we really enjoyed the gardens. By us, I mean Us the girls. The guys were just enjoying talking business, the stock market, politics and Irish girls of course. To be precise, the conversation over the Irish girls was about the outrageous training suits they just love to wear. In fact, all 4 of us took part in that conversation over that high-importance issue. Every suit is in one color only, but it comes in many different colors, in a variety of fabrics, and they really like the velvet-like fabric!!! Most of the time it shows their bellies, and sometimes it's a huge belly and in some other times it's just a big belly. And that, i must say, is the real Irish culture shock. I apologize for not taking a picture of a girl in her brown or orange velvet-suit, to demonstrate you.
After the gardens, we went to a retail center, and then we went to eat in an Indian restaurant. Since the amazing Diwali was closed for the afternoon, we had to settle for not such a good restaurant, in the Temple Bar area (and that says it all...)
After eating and talking some more about the Israeli and Irish economy, work, stock-market, and this time we all took part, we went home. That day outside lasted 8 hours!

The following week they invited us and another Israeli couple for dinner at their place. That evening we were revealed to some important facts about the Israeli Dubliners.
There are 2 major groups: The Amdocses and the Intels.
The Amdocses are very connected and stay in touch, even organizing events, such as the Israeli independence day they celebrated with BBQ in the park.
The Intels, however, are mostly married to Irish, so they stay among themselves, and don't like to join those get-togethers, or stay in touch with those who doesn't belong to their group.
The rest are somewhat like Dan, who is an only Israeli in their company. That was the situation with the other couple that was invited that evening. Those Israelis are usually familiarize with the others through someone they know (or knew) from Amdocs.

Now I just want to apologize for not writing, again, for such a long time... I feel like I have so many things on my mind when I'm not in a relaxing vacation, and I'm not even in the mood to write and practice my writing.
I promise, again, to try and get over it!
We'll see how it works.

The Southern Feast or How I Spent my Easter Holiday

As I promised, I'll tell you a little bit about our Easter holiday and our trip to the south of Ireland.

We left Dublin at around 12:00, heading south, towards Cork county. As we approached the big city (Cork), the direction road signs became lousier. So we were taking some wrong turns or just not taking the right ones. I must admit- that was no surprise. We were driving and we stopped at the more interesting places on the way. The road lead us to many villages and towns, since the national roads in Ireland goes through the center of each and every one on the way.

When it come to cities, luckily there are the Irish Roundabouts. Ahhh, the magnificent Irish Roundabouts! Now, let me tell you a bit about it: they are quite wide, with 2 or 3 lanes, sometimes there are traffic lights at the enterance and sometimes even along the roundabout.

One of the places we had a stop was a village near Cork, a very touristic one, called Blarney. Why is it so touristic? because it has a castle. One taxi driver told us we should kiss a certain stone at the castle, but he forgot why... Back to Blarney and its castle. So what do they do? Charge 9 euros per adult only to enter the castle and it's gardens. Does that worth it? Don't know. We didn't even hesitate and decided not to pay. 9 is far too much for just another castle that looks exactly the same as other Irish ones.

There was a shopping center pretty close to the castle's entrance. Since it was made especially for the tourists, they sell Irish gifts only. Besides all that, there are many pubs.

Then we continued towards the coast, and this time we passed through another touristic village called Kinsale. It is s supposed to be the culinary capital of something (of Ireland or the county). But we weren't hungry, so we didn't eat there. Which will turn out to be quite a fatal mistake. We continued driving along the coast, tying to find a nice B&B to spend the night. It was around 18:00, and we found a great B&B in a place called Kilbrittain. Don't get too excited, the initial Kil comes from the word 'Cill' in Gaelic, and means Church. Our room's window was facing the Celtic Sea, that will soon merge with the Atlantic Ocean. how Amazing was that! An hour or so later we started to feel hungry, so we got into the car and drove to the near village, and then to another one, only to discover all the restaurants are closed. Even the hotel's restaurant was closed. Then it hit us! It was Good Friday! Easter! We already knew the poor Irish are not allowed to consume any alcohol that day, but no eating, as well??? Eventually we came across a convenience store, so we ended up eating sandwiches ans dairy. Certainly not the kind of dinner we had on our mind that day. But we are lucky we were able to buy something to eat. By the way, remember the alcohol restrictions that day? We noticed the alcohol shelves at the supermarket were covered by a plastic covers...Sounds familiar?

It's getting too long, so in brief- the next day we were doing the Ring of Kerry, where I took the amazing landscape pics I attached to my previous post. Been to a Natioal Park near Kilarney, a very nice town. Then we drove in a very narrow national road, and again, you can find a related pic in my previous post. Then been to a Village called Kenmare, and this time we ate there, not waiting for the evening hours, affraid we'll stay hungry...

At the late afternoon hours we were in a town called Waterville, because at the east side of it there's a loch, and at the west side there's the Atlantic Ocean. It was a beautiful town, but we decided to driver further mre for a hour or so, and then find a place to sleep. And then we were in Cahersiveen, a disgusting town, with dirty, old and ugly B&Bs, not to mentin the horrible hosts. I'm tellng you so you can learn fom our mistakes. After that we drove for another 30-40km, to the next town, Killorglin. a very nice town, definately unlike the previous one. There we found a very nice B&B- Grove Lodge, with the nicest hosts ever- Delia and Fergus Foley. We enjoyed our staying there. We also ate at a good Indian and Pakistani Restaurant, and we had a long talk with the nicest waiter ever- Manny (NOT to be pronounced like Money!).

The day after we were heading back home, had a stop in Kilkenny, the town where you can smell the beer in the streets. Probably becaue of the tens of pubs over there (and only 2 or 3 restaurants). Oh, and there's a castle as well.

By 20:30 we were home, so tired and exhausted, thinking we have 36 hours until tuesday morning, which means 36 hours to relax, sleep, watch TV and eat, without even leaving the house.

But we were sooooo wronge......

The One and Only Ireland

The Last few days Dan and I were exploring Ireland, the country where in addition to the Careful, Children Crossing road sign, you can see Cattle Crossing, Causion Cross Wind and Leprechaun Crossing road signs.

The country that in addition to the gazelle and cow road signs, you can find a road sign that from a distance looks like the Puma logo (but actually notifies the driver of a merging road)...
The only country where you can smell the beer in the outside fresh air and find empty beer-cans thrown at the national road in the middle of nowhere, and still find a sign such as this:

The country where you can find an advertisment sign for Castle for Rent, a place called Kilbritain, and a chain of islands called after the cattle family (The Bull, The Cow and The Calf)...

The country where you can find a roadkill every 1000 meters and sometimes even every 100 meters. Mostly foxes and crows, yes I actually did mean crows, but also other kinds of birds and badgers (and no, I didn't even think about taking a picture of it...).

The only country where you can find yourself on a national road such as this,

and find that the maximum speed allowed is 100 km per hour.

But also the only country where you can find that kind of breath-taking landscapes.

More about our Easter holiday, in my next post.

Ode to the North

Last Monday-Tuesday we've been to Northern Ireland. The place where Pind (sounds almost like pint that ends with a D, but still, not exactly) is actually Pound (the currency).

Dan had to be at a place called Banbridge, for some meetings. Luckily, he rented a car on the company's expense, so I joined him. I've decided that while he's on his meetings, I'll go to Belfast. I did some checking on the internet, and it took me 15 minutes until I found a proper website to check whether there's a bus or a train from Banbridge to Belfast. They should do some major upgrade works on their SEO... I discovered that there's a direct bus, Ulsterbus, line no. 38 or 238 or 238a to Belfast, every 20-30 minutes. I was afraid it was too good to be true, and hoping that the internet search doesn't necessarily say anything about their service.

Well, the bus was exactly on time, every time! And it's surprisingly good, considering the fact that it arrives from Newry.

I don't know whether there was a vacation from school those days, but there were many teenagers at the lawn of the city hall in Belfast. Seems like they all fancy the Gothic look: dark black hair, dark cloths. They all look the same. The girls wear too much make-up powder at that age, and the shade usually doesn't fit their skin colour. When they'll grow up, it doesn't matter whether they'll keep the gothic look, they'll add some tan to it. Yeah, many Irish women (haven't see tanned men, yet) put some kind of lotion that makes their skin look tanned. But it seems like they put it on their lags and their faces only, so when it's extremely hot, like these last few day, so many girls wearing t-shirts and skirts, uncover their extremely white, untanned hands (compared to their faces or legs).

By the way, after that, they'll probably get pregnant, have kids and that's it...

Except the city hall I went to the Belfast Castle, just to discover that except for the great view from up the hill, there are 2 rooms to be seen by the public, and the rest of that pretty huge castle is used for conferences and weddings... It all explains why they don't charge to enter the castle.
The most interesting thing was a neighbourhood where walls at the end of each block is painted, and it all been kept from the time of The Troubles. I took many pictures over there, and there were some more, but I didn't have the time to stay there, I had to go back to Banbridge, and then back to Dublin. I give you a quick glimpse. If you wish to see some more, just email me.

It was a nice place to visit, Belfast, but certainly not a must.

And now, for the first time, I going to use my blog to say hey to Jeremy, the taxi driver from Banbridge. We had a nice, long chat when he was taking me from the hotel we were staying, just outside of Banbridge, to the town center, to catch the bus to Belfast. I'm quite sure he doesn't read my blog, but still... I hope you enjoyed the Chelsea-Valencia match yesterday (He flew to London for the match!). And please, next time you drive with an Israeli, I think it's pretty stupid to ask whether it's safe living there... You're from Northern Ireland, you must know that what's on the media is quite different from the real, everyday life.

Tomorrow is Good Friday, and the following Monday is Easter Monday. What better reason do we have to go out of the city for few days? This time we go to the south, and when we're back, I'll update you, of course ( who else???)

The Saga of Dublin Airport

Well, I have just landed at the Dublin Airport, where I'm supposed to meet Dan. Yeah, yeah, he had to go on a business trip and was supposed to land at 19:00, 2 hours after my plane lands. I decided I'll wait for him at the airport.
Well, nothing is supposed to work as planned, so when I landed I called Dan, and he told me there'll be a delay, and he'll probably land at 20:00!!! I knew something like that would happen! Why couldn't my flight be delayed??I just hope nothing else will occur out of the blue...

Well, at first I was thinking to go to the city, put my suitcase (which is quite big to travel the city with) at a luggage deposit, but at the tourist info i was told that there are 2 places in Dublin where I can deposit it, but they are both quite far from the area where Dan lives and from the more interesting parts of Dublin. So I decided to stay at the airport. And what can be better than writing my next post at the airport? So that's why I'm sitting down at the airport under the Meeting Point sign, my dear suitcase is next to me, and I write everything in my cool 888.com notebook.

It's 18:25. I have 1.5 hours left. If I find nothing better to do, this might be a very long post. Talking on the phone could be nice, but expensive- almost 1$ per minute for incoming calls. and that also means I'll have to convince people to call me... maybe that's not such a good idea after all.

5 minutes have passed.
There are some available Internet access positions, but it costs 1E per 10 minutes! so expensive!
hey, I can also watch and try to understand Cricket. The TV in front of us, the people at the Meeting Point, is on, and there's a cricket match. Everybody around me are quite fascinated by the match between Ireland and England.
Another 5 minutes have passed. It's going to be soooo long... That post.
Hey, I've got a wonderful idea! I'll go to the tourist info and get some ideas for Monday- Tuesday.When I come back, I'll explain.

Well, I'm back, after spending 20 minutes at the line, so that the nice lady at the tourist info would tell me that she has no info about Northern Ireland, and she gave me the address of the tourist info in Belfast (for Or's Travels Advice- near the Jury Hotel, at Royal Avenue. Hey! you've earned a free link! You lucky bitch!).
after that I bought a bottle of water, drank some, ate my last sandwich from this morning, yes, it was delicious, and no, I suppose (I use that word so much. I think, or even better- I suppose I'll have it as a label) it wasn't spoiled. After that I drank some more, and my mom called, so now I have 40 minutes left!

Ohh, No!!! I now look at the board, and his light will land at 20:10! that means I have to wait another 15 minutes!!
So now the countdown is 55 minutes.
OK. So now I have the time to tell you all ( all of my 3 frequent readers) what's on for Monday. Dan has to go to Northern Ireland for a business trip, by a rented car. I'll join him. At first I was terrified, I thought he was supposed to go to London or some other place in England, and I'll have lose 2 days with him (If I want to join him that means we'll have to book myself a flight, too expensive. And besides, there's always the chance there are no available seats on the flight). So he has to go to a place called Banbridge, and it's quite close to Belfast, so I'll take a bus there, or Dan will drop me there. I better not drive the car, unless I'm in the mood for an accident. I'm sure I'll find what to do and where to go there.

There's a couple in their mid-20's sitting next to me. they are fighting and laughing like 5 years old... What's wrong with you people??? (Dear Ellen, this one is for you!)

So now I have 40 minutes left, I filled 3 pages in my cool 888.com notebook, and I still have to type it later on today. So I think I'll watch Cricket after all, and keep you updated in what I've learned about it in my next post.

Just another boring friday...

This blog idea came up one Friday night, while my Dan is in Dublin and Or's Kfir is in Hong Kong. We were discussing over the phone (free call from our work's mobile) about our day, and Or thought I had a wonderful and interesting day, unlike her. Well, it's hard to disagree, after all I went to the supermarket to buy some things to fill my fridge after visiting Dan in Dublin. I also bought some things I should have bought months ago- a small bulb for my reading lamp and a multi-plug electricity sockets (is that the name for that thing??...).
At home I made some avocado salad and sauteed mushrooms. Don’t even try to understand that mixture… I add mushrooms to everything I eat or cook, as long as I have some in my fridge!
The highlight (I'm still talking about my Friday) was the white chocolate with raspberry pieces that I bought in Dublin, and eating it as a desert! Or is definitely the only one who understands me and my crave for berries!

I'm trying to remember what was it that we were talking about that made me decide to have my own blog, but I do remember that I offered her a link to her travelsadvice.com.
Anyway, I don’t want my posts to be that long, otherwise you'll get tired and bored of it pretty fast. But in the other hand, I don’t really know who's going to get in and read it… so maybe I can continue writing and writing everything I have on my mind? And I have a lot!
Well, maybe, but not this time!

Cheers!