Grindstone

Staying late at work to get a project done is sometimes the greatest reward. Granted, me and the two guys I have working with me have been staying late every night this week (wouldn't have been able to get close to what we've achieved without them...!). But I don't mind, it's through the coming together of the project that makes it all worthwhile... My boss is happy with the outcome thus far as well. The whole project seems to have taken on an energy of its own, stimulating all involved. I love that kind of effect.

Starting off the Week

Yippie! I got the apartment with Andrea! I'm getting excited to move. I've packed some of the bathroom stuff and the drawers of misc papers and stuff already. Now I plan to eat as much food as I can so I don't have to carry as much over and pack my large suitcases full of clothes. I know it's still a couple weeks away, but this kind of change is good.

There are a slew of graduates who are taking a tour of the bank, and two of them started in the department I'm in and will be there for a short while. I get to delegate tasks to them in Brian's absence and this is exciting. They seem eager to learn and help and come up with ideas, which is really nice to work with people of that mentality. So, it should be a good time over the next few weeks.

Now, I'm off to watch Friends and then to Table Tennis!

Keinohrhasen

This weekend has been a great one...!

On Friday, I went to look at another apartment, and it was quite nice. It's located in the same general area, just 5 minutes from where I'm at now. The guy who's renting the other room, Andrea, seems really nice. He and I chatted for a half an hour before I left, which was nice (another place I viewed on Thursday, the girl was a chatterbox, and I couldn't get a word in edge wise! So a two-way conversation was quite a pleasant change! ;-)

Later that night, I met with my friends for Anthony's birthday party -- he invited just a handful of people, which was nice, nothing crazy and wild, actually quite a good time and relaxing. Anthony and his girlfriend Sophie just moved into a new apartment, so I got to see their new place, and we all just sat around eating pizza and chatting. It was really great. I lost track of the time, and before I knew it, it was 3 am, so I figured I should head home and get to sleep...! Funny thing was, I wasn't even tired!

The next day, Andrea, send me a message asking if I wanted to come with him and his friends for a coffee. It sounded nice, so I agreed to go. We all had a really nice time (had a coffee in Cafe en Seine, which is a really cool bar, and we talked for around 4 hours). Then we decided to buy some food in the supermarket and cook a meal together (it's so much easier to cook with 4 people helping out!!). We'll see if he picks me to move in, I think we'd have a good relationship, as in not awkward and I'd feel comfortable living there (unlike now where I feel confined to my bedroom all the time). And it's just 5 minutes up the road from where I am now, so it'd be a perfect location still. Time will tell -- if nothing else, Saturday was a really fun day with him and his friends.

Today, I woke up really early (4:30 am) for some reason (my internal clock must be all messed up at this stage...!), and watched a great movie. It's a German movie called Keinohrhasen (Rabbit without Ears) -- 2007. I really enjoyed it, I laughed and cried and smiled. It was about a guy who instead of going to jail for crashing a wedding (by mistake - the glass roof broke and he fell on the cake while he was trying to take pictures from above...), he was given 300 hours of community service -- helping at a daycare. The kids absolutely adored him, and he looked like a great guy. However, he used to make fun of the girl running the daycare when they were kids, so she was determined to make his life miserable...! But when she starts to kind of like Ludo, things change. It's just a really good, feel-good movie. Go rent it if you can! :-)

The Heart of Humanity

Today I spent the afternoon with the disabled children through the CASA organization. It was really nice. The girl that I was paired up with is the same girl I've been with for the last two events; she really loves me. Emily is 13 years old and in a wheelchair. She's just the sweetest girl ever. I'm not sure what her condition is, but she doesn't let it get her down. We drew pictures and played catch and talked and ate chicken and got the same tattoos from the really cool magician who also seemed to be a great artist with paint on arms. The Kodak moment for today was when Emily asked me for a hug. It felt so nice to have her arms wrapped around me in love, and then she put her arm around me and rested her head on my shoulder. I put my head on hers, and we just stayed there for a while relaxing and relishing in our friendship.

Which brings me to another story... When I went for a drink with my new boss (he promised me he'd take me out for belated birthday drinks), he was telling me about his little girl; she's two years old, and she has down-syndrome. My boss gave me a very interesting perspective -- he said that having a child with down-syndrome, you do sacrifice some of the plans that you might have had for him/her, but a child with down-syndrome is incredibly lovable. So what you gain is being able to have a child who loves you so incredibly much, and in turn, you end up spending more quality time with your child. I liked that fresh perspective, and it puts a whole new positive image in my mind...

Snakes & Liers >:-(

I despise people who make agreements and then retract them.

I received a text at lunchtime yesterday, and it was my supposed to be new flat mate telling me that he found someone else to move in next week and that it suits him and his flat mate better. I have already given my flat mate my notice a week ago, and Ryan knew this. The nerve that he had to send me a text to say this and that he's "sorry for the inconvenience" made me extremely irate. I had done a number of other things in the week's time, such as changing my address with some companies, etc.

Today is Saturday, and instead of enjoying the day, I'm now spending it looking at apartment ads, wondering if I should just pay more and have a small apartment to myself, or if I should try to find someone to rent with. It's just that I've not had any good experiences here in Ireland with flat mates, and I'm tired of that situation, it's left me cynical with regards to renting a room.

I'm sure things will work out (not sure if my current flat mate would now raise my rent or not if I stayed on), but the truth of the matter is that I've never enjoyed living with her, and only tolerated things because it was a decent room that I was renting and close to the places I frequent.

My boss took me out last night for a couple drinks, and we had a nice talk about various topics. He gave me suggestions for the situation that I seem to have gotten into with my living quarters, so I don't know, I'm sure things will work out for the best, but at the moment, I'm just a bit peeved at what happened.

Hmm, Satisfied :-)

This week has been a good week :-)
And I'm happy.
And that's good.
Because when I'm happy it's easy to make others around me happy.
And I like seeing the world happy.
Even if the financial world is topsy-turvy right now...

It started out being a rotten week when my flat mate told me that she required 1 month of notice to move out, especially since I'm meant to move into my new flat on Oct. 1st. Then come to find out, she's not even going to look for someone during that time at all. That made me angry because it meant I'd be paying double rent as no one would be filling my spot early during the 30 day notice time. After a day of fretting (and releasing my anger at the gym), my new flat mate texted me to say that his current flat mate can stay on for the first 2 weeks in October! I was ecstatic and relieved. One week of double rent will be okay (much better than 3!!) I can't wait to move!

Tuesday was my birthday -- I've climbed all the way up to 29 now, which is kind of hard to believe, but I'm happy in my life, so I actually don't mind all that much. I celebrated the evening after work with two of my co-workers (Tuesday's just a bad night to gather people for drinks...), and it was a really nice time. We all shared a plate of The Gasworks' really yummy Macho Nachos, and they tasted so delicious -- it's my favorite thing to eat there! And I had 3 strawberry daiquiri's -- also very delicious! The guy at the bar gave me a free apple pie and ice cream, which was really nice of him (it might have had something to do with the fact that I asked if they give a free birthday cocktail if it's your birthday... ;-)

Wednesday was another fun night of table tennis with my friends.

Thursday was a good day at work. My old boss was impressed with the program I found and used to "analyze" the team's network drive because it showed him which file types were most prevalent, as well as which folders contained the most data. It made me happy that such a simple little find was found to be so useful. Also, I noticed during a meeting with Steven (one of my new co-workers) and another guy, that Steven was getting very stressed and frustrated. I told him that tomorrow, he and I will sit down together, and he can hand over the project where he has become the middleman, and I will work on moving things forward from hereon out. He was so relieved by this news. I like Steven. He's really funny at times. He must have done well for himself to be working in Finance at such a high level, be married, and all at the same age as me... Anyway, I'm glad I'll be working with him on some projects, I feel that he's a meticulous and hard worker. I admire that in people.

My boss came in briefly to talk to our high-up boss, and he mentioned that tomorrow (Friday) he wants everyone to come out for one drink, his treat, to celebrate my birthday. I thought that was an awfully nice gesture. And I haven't socialized with any of my new team outside of work, so we'll see what pans out -- sometimes Fridays can be a hard day to catch people, but maybe it will work out, just for a half hour after work.

I bought a ticket to Cirque du Soleil today! For the first time ever, they're coming to Ireland's new performance venue, which is due to be re-constructed in December 2008. Cirque du Soleil will perform in April 2009, but I wanted to make sure I got my ticket before they sold out. It's called Quidam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUM5EWwxar8) and like their other performances, it's sure to dazzle and delight :-)

For now, I'm off to snuggle in my bed and dream about the cards, texts, phone calls, e-mails, Facebook/MySpace messages, and presents that I've been showered with over this last week. I feel so honored to have had so many people think of me! :-)

Movin' on up...!

I've decided I'm going to move into a new apartment!

And...... it's going to be the easiest move I've ever had to make! It's literally right downstairs from the apartment I'm living in right now!

I'm really excited for this move:

1) The guy I'll be moving in with (Ryan) seems really cool (how can he not be? -- he loves table tennis! and he works at the coolest place ever -- Google!)

2) Ryan's going to let me have the en suite bedroom (which is probably 1.5 times bigger than the one I'm in now!) which also means that I can have friends stay with me now and not feel like I'm imposing on my flatmate.

3) The rent is a bit more, but balancing that out with the fact that Ryan gets free (really fast!) Internet on behalf of Google, I'll actually be saving 40 euros per month. So, I'm not going to be paying all that much more overall, and I get the bigger bedroom, and a flat mate who seems to be interested in some of the same things as me!

I'm stoked! :-)

Is Age Just A Number??

Well, I have to admit, my new boss is quite comical and has a very mischievous streak to him, even if he might not actually follow through with his ideas.

Friday afternoon, Joanne, one of my co-workers and P.A. to the big boss (Joe) handed Brian (my new boss) his stack of business cards. He looked them over and said, "hmm, they're all here, if I were you, I would have taken a handful for yourself - you can have a lot of fun with business cards..." When both Joanne and I looked at him with looks to say, "go on...", he elaborated with being able to post business cards in a bathroom with the heading, "for a good time call.." and all the person's information is contained on the card; or if you're of the same sex as your boss, you can hand out the business cards to other people and pretend you're interested in them, especially effective if you start pretending you're gay while in a gay bar...

There were many other stories he had for the subject of business cards, but I'll move onto a new story, which made me laugh and glare at him at the same time... He was typing up the agenda for the meeting of the powerpoint presentation I just finished, and he typed in that there's something happening (a meeting of some sort) on the 23rd of September. I said, "oh, that's my birthday." He asked how old I will be, and I told him (with an unbelieving sigh at my own age) that I'll be turning 29. A short while later, he was discussing what he wanted me to do for the next project, talking about how he'd like to have a report which contained for one, demographics, such as sex, region, age, etc. He went on to explain a little detail of age, saying that I could create a pie chart and categorize it in such a way that anything from 14-28 could be considered young and anything 29 or older would be considered OLD...!

Anyway, my job is going well, Brian was happy with my effort so far during my first week, and that's good. :-)

Pressure

So my old boss came to see how I was doing in my new job this morning (my first "official" day was today), and I told him things are fine (I haven't really had any training on how I need to do what my new boss wants me to, but I'm putting as much as I can together and then on Friday I presume we will get together to discuss things). Since my new boss hasn't been around more than 10 minutes, it's difficult to understand how things were done in the previous month, but I suppose sometimes stumbling your way through you get to learn what it entails in more detail for later discussion.

Anyway, my old boss told me that my new boss is very approachable and very fair, however he didn't get to the top by being nice. My new boss expects things to be done right, and he expects people to work hard. I can do these things, I just hope that I don't make any mistakes... I worry that sometimes even if I triple check things that sometimes I might not see something that I should have changed. Still, I'm hopeful that I will discover any mistakes before I "turn things in".

I'm also told that I will have the head of the whole department (in charge of 2,000 people) giving me things to do too. He's very nice as well and quite approachable. So with all this pressure to do things correctly, I really hope I live up to being able to. I have to. My old boss told me that not only have I been given a great opportunity to network, to learn new things, and to prove myself to executives, but I am also representing Scorecard Management, the department that I was previously working at (and will likely go back to in 10 months so far as I know). It's a lot of pressure, so I have to gather all my confidence and play and do my part in this new role.

Send all your hopes and best wishes this way for me over the next 10 weeks... ;-)

Small Steps to Big Change

Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yeeeeessss!! Yes!

Brian and Conor called me into a room to discuss something with me this afternoon, and I'm so excited for the opportunity! There is an executive who is taking on a 10-week project and during this time, since his focus will be on the project, he will need assistance in keeping his current role going. Apparently, Brian and Conor recommended me to do this! I can't wait, and I hope I can be everything and more in fulfilling this role for the next 10 weeks. Who knows what it might lead to... The nice thing is that all the executives are located on the same floor that I currently am on, so I'll merely need to move my PC and telephone. The drawers are on wheels, so that should be easy to just swap by rolling an empty set of drawers over to my old desk and taking mine with me. It all happened so fast this afternoon, but I'm absolutely thrilled. I hope I'm inundated with lots of work and I hope I can do an excellent job in my new role, or as Brian called it: a sabbatical!

I will, however, still make my way over to Dave's desk at lunch time so we can do our daily crossword puzzle together...!

Some Photos of Prague

As mentioned in my previous photo post, you can see more pictures on Facebook or MySpace... I also plan to print the ones I like the most for an real album, so you could also meet up with me for a personal "tour" through some of the photos. Enjoy these anyway for the time being!

My camera kind of ran out of battery a couple days after arriving in Prague, so hopefully some of the friends I met along the way will email me some of the photos we took together!

Some Photos of Krakow

You can see more pictures on Facebook or MySpace... I also plan to print the ones I like the most for an real album, so you could also meet up with me for a personal "tour" through some of the photos. Enjoy these anyway for the time being!

The main castle in Krakow as seen from across the river.

Me and Romek at Zakapone Mountains

I love Tatanka!! A drink made from Polish vodka and apple juice, and tastes exactly like Apple Pie!!

Here is the entrance to the concentration camp, Auschwitz. The title above the camp says "Workman's freedom" and is where prisoners would go, thinking they were free from working in the horrid conditions of Birkenau. It was an evil trap... :-(

Birkenau -- the extermination camp, where you can see the remains of the chimneys that were built to burn the corpses... :-(

St. Mary's Basilica (Church) in the main square)

Sarah, Cindy, and Me (they live in Ukraine and are in the Peace Corps) - I hope to visit them soon, they're really sweet and a lot of fun to hang out with!

There's No Place Like Home

I arrived back in Ireland yesterday, and it feels nice to be home. I know I should be longing for my vacation to continue, but I was actually ready to get home, take a bath, do laundry, etc. There's just no place like home, as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz says.

On Saturday, I set my alarm early, got ready, ate breakfast, and headed to the airport for my flight that was supposed to take off at 10:40. We weren't allowed onto the shuttle bus until around 11:20. And we further weren't allowed into the air until around 12:45. Thus, we didn't get to Ireland until around 3:30 pm! Well, I'd expected to have the whole of Saturday to get things sorted, read, do laundry, etc., but because of the RyanAir predicament, I decided to extend my vacation until Saturday was completely over. So... I treated myself to a full dinner (appetizer, main course, and dessert), read, and look a lovely bath with aromatic salts and tea-light candles. It was great!

This morning, I spent the day ironing, washing clothes and bed sheets, and reading a little. My goal is to sort through all the photos (both from Peru and from Poland / Prague) to pick out the best ones to share. I will get this done shortly... well, at least I've given myself a deadline of the end of September...

The last days in Prague were nice, I went to the castle, took a tour around old town, and spent time walking around the city. It's quite well preserved, and the architecture is amazing. It's hard to believe that this type of beautiful architecture was designed so long ago! As I said, I'll post pictures soon.

Konk!

Last night (my first night in the Prague hostel / inn), I konked out as soon as my head hit the pillow!! It was extremely refreshing to have a good night's sleep, to wake up on my own accord (at 7 am, no less...which was impressive and great in terms of getting a head start on the day), and not to even be disturbed by other people coming into the room later that night.

So, since I've been absent from telling you what I've been up to, let me start with my last few days in Krakow, my adventure on the train to Prague, and my initial start in Prague.

Friday, I spent the day walking around the city of Krakow, doing nothing really in particular. Later that evening, I ended up talking in Spanish to a guy I met in the hostel. We drank Tatankas (my favorite!) since I knew it could be my last chance to taste this delicious drink. Tatanka is a speciality of Poland -- unfortunately, I don't have any room whatsoever in my backback to bring back a bottle of the special Polish vodka, Zubrowka, so I'll have to just remember its flavor since I can't purchase it elsewhere.

Saturday and Sunday I spent with Romek at Tatra Mountains in Zakopone. We stayed in the traditional houses of this region that homeowners usually rent out to people (we rented two rooms, and it was cheaper than the hostel in Krakow!). The mountains were really nice. Saturday we took a leisurely walk along one of the paths for 5 hours (roundtrip) with a break in the middle when we reached the end -- I had a nice cup of hot chocolate). We went with a friend that Romek knows named Eva, who is really nice, so when she comes to visit her sister and mom in Ireland (they're all Polish), hopefully she'll send me a text to meet up with her and her husband. I discovered a cool cave, but my flashlight wasn't strong enough and so we didn't get to go in. I was quite disappointed because I love going in caves and was so looking forward to finding one and exploring it. Sunday was a great day (good thing Romek had some sunscreen in his backpack, or I'd be a lobster -- mine was back in my suitcase backpack...), Romek and I hiked for a good 6 hours in total, and thank goodness he was patient with me because it was uphill for the majority of the hike and rocky all the way up to the top, so I was stopping to catch my breath every few minutes...!

I spent Sunday night in the same hostel as before in Krakow, while Romek went off home. We got in late, got my train ticket, had a light salad, I grabbed a shower, and then I fell into bed after such a weekend of lots of walking!

Monday I got to ride my first cross-country train in Europe (could have taken the overnight one on Sunday, but I just didn't feel like it, I wanted a shower and a bed!). I liked riding the train, however it makes you sleepy easily! I set out to read, but didn't get as far as I wanted to because I kept nodding off. I made some people on the train jealous because I had bought some smoked cheese when I was in Zakopane, and some famous Krakow pretzels from the street vendors that morning. It made for a delicious breakfast seeing how the train was at 7 am. I did have a little bit of a mishap, but I was proud of myself for not getting worked up and for getting myself sorted. I saw that the time was 2:09 and we had pulled up to the station "Praha". The train was supposed to get into Prague at 1:59, and I remember hearing that it was 10 mintues off schedule, so I figured this is where I need to get off. Wrong. Especially I was confused when only a few people exited the train, and the station didn't look like I'd expected (I thought it'd be really busy with people). Anyway, the train left, and I was there wondering how I get to the Metro to eventually get to my hostel. The poor lady at the train station selling tickets tried to mime to me so I would understand (which I wasn't understanding), but eventually she was able to convey to me that I need to take a tram to the place I need to be then change to a different tram. So, I guess I bypassed having to take the Metro and also rode the tram for free since I didn't know we had to pay, no one was asking or telling me otherwise, and it's a good thing, seeing how I didn't have any Czech money yet!

I had some dinner when I finally got checked in and then went to visit the Communism Museum since it was open until 9 pm. It was really well put together (a lot of reading, but informative and interesting -- it was a combination of displays, video, replicated models, and posters to read and look at pictures).

Today I joined a free tour around one side of Prague (they work off tips), and it was good to go on. It gave me more of a sense of the city and the girl giving the tour was really nice. I made sure to put on some of my sunscreen today! Boy was it hot! I miss Ireland's weather...!!

Well, that's it for now.

Exploring More of Krakow...

The last couple days have been great. I spent all of Tuesday hanging out with Cindy and Sarah (who invited me to visit Ukraine, which I will take them up on sometime in the near future). I was going to let them spend time together after we visited the castle, but we were having a good time, so I continued to stick around with them. It was Cindy's birthday on Tuesday, and it was her day to pick everything to do. We had a relaxing day: after the castle, we went to an art museum, a book store, and for dinner.

Yesterday, I decided to spend the day walking around the mall. I felt like doing something completely non-site related, as it was quite warm, and just didn't feel like walking in the heat. I bought a few clothes in H&M (and now will have to figure out how to pack them into my already full bag...), but I'll enjoy the clothes. I really wanted to get a watch from Swatch, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend more money (around 40 euros), even though it wouldn't take up any room since I could wear it. I'm still thinking about it...

In the evening, I went out with three people from the hostel. We were looking for the Jewish Quarters, but after 25 minutes of walking, we ended up discovering that we'd walked in a circle and were back at the castle! We tried again, and then reached the Jewish Quarters and went for a nice Polish dinner and then stopped in a bar for a drink on the way home (I had my favorite: Tatanka - apple juice and polish vodka, which together taste like apple pie!).

Today (Thursday) is a completely relaxing, no schedule day. I woke up when I woke up, no alarm, and am still putzing around the hostel at 10:30... Some days you just feel like doing this... I plan to walk around the whole city where the castle surrounded, stopping to read my book every once in a while, and then I'll meet a couple guys I met from the hostel for dinner. Still taking pictures and will post when I get home. :-)

Oh yeah, and I discovered a shop which sells the best ice cream in the world somewhat near my hostel -- yum, yum!

Krakow... the beginning few days

So far, Krakow has been good fun. I spent a couple days with my friend Romek, who drove us to different sites around Krakow, including a famous salt mine, and beautiful forest areas (will post pictures with the names of the places later... can't really pronounce them to try to spell them, so best to wait and get it right...).

Now that Romek's gone off to his home town for work (about 2 hours away from Krakow), I'm exploring around by myself.

I met two really nice girls (Cindy and Sarah) the day Romek and I arrived at the hostel and the four of us went and had a drink together and shared some laughs. Today (Monday), Cindy and I went to Auschwitz (a concentration camp in Poland) and Birkenau (an extermination camp). It was quite sad to see the museums there, and also to walk through the areas where millions of innocent people walked through at one point. Lots of thoughts went through my mind while walking around... I'd only ever seen reinactments of concentration camps in movies, but being in the camp for real was...well, there's not really words for it... but realizing how real it was and that it really did happen on the ground I walked on, was eye-opening...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp

On a lighter note, the hostel is great, and is in the center of the main plaza (it also includes breakfast!) Although, last night was a bit annoying. There's a crowd of people from Spain, and last night, they were extremely loud. The room I'm staying in happens to be right next to the common room / kitchen, and the Spanish people decided to drink last night. Not that I have a problem with people who make some noise and all, but they were doing so until 5:30 in the morning, turning on the lights in the bedroom, talking at the top of their lungs, banging around, etc! On top of that, at 2:45, I heard a girl moaning in the bunkbed nearby...a guy and a girl decided to have sex right there in the dormitory! Sigh... Needless to say, I didn't have such a great sleep last night, and I really hope that I will tonight...

Up, Up, and Away!

Saturday I head to Krakow, Poland for 9 days and then to Prague for the remaining 5 days! I'm really excited for the trip, and will share pictures when I get back.

I'm off to read more of my book after I finish packing!

Backlogged Blog, but Still Accomplished and Excited :-)

This weekend was really nice. I started the weekend off by going to a play by Oscar Wilde (An Ideal Husband), which was quite funny throughout (I do admit I was getting a bit sleepy in the middle, but that's not because of the play, it was just because it was late at night). I also had a wonderful Sunday afternoon with Sonja, Natalie, Steffi, and Lukas!!

Friday
1. I enjoyed having a lovely dinner of nachos at the Gasworks
2. I talked with a family at the bar who were traveling through and gave them some tips about a place to eat for dinner, and also some tasty drinks for later at the Gasworks!
3. I got an extra half of a Strawberry Daiquiri by asking the bar-man (after all, he would've thrown it out otherwise... ;-)
4. I picked up some shopping items in town that evening (a bunch of bottles of a great vinaigrette that tastes delicious on cucumbers!)
5. I had a pleasant conversation with my Uncle that evening - will have to take the initiative to invite him to a play or movie next time I go.
6. I enjoyed watching the Oscar Wilde play that evening -- one of the characters was extremely comical, and I realized where Angelica picked up one of her tag line quotes that's used as a signature on her e-mails: "The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself."

Saturday
1. I enjoyed lounging around the house.
2. The dreadfully powerful rain that fell all day was actually quite nice to watch and listen to.
3. I got most of my packing done for my trip, which begins on August 23rd!! Woo-hoo!

Sunday
1. I got up relatively early and had a good "irish breakfast" complete with an egg, toast, and rashers! Needless to say, I was quite full afterwards!
2. I went into town and bought everything on my list, including a bike lock and an adapter for Poland and other miscellaneous items. I was quite pleased that I managed to run from store to store and still make it to lunch on time, with 3 minutes to spare!
3. I met up with Sonja, Steffi, Natalie, and Lukas for lunch at a Sushi restaurant (no, I still don't care for sushi, but I can tolerate some with avocado in the rice roll...). We all had so many laughs together, and it was great to see everyone. I'm sure going to miss Sonja's company when she leaves for Germany, but I hope that Natalie and Lukas (Sonja's housemates) and I can stay in regular contact. And Steffi and I will have to meet up more as well!
4. After lunch, we all went to Dundrum shopping center, and I bought yet a couple more items, but I really love them, so it's okay that they cost the money that they did.

Monday
1. My friend Dave from work bought me an mp3 player because it was in the bargain bin at Tesco. I was absolutely thrilled with this present, and loaded a bunch of songs onto it so I can listen to them on my trip this coming weekend, and on my way to work during the week. It works brilliantly! I never realized how cool portable music could be until now!!
2. I successfully managed to make it into the city center and exchange items before the shops closed (one I realized was broken and another I realized I'd grabbed the wrong size) during my purchases on Sunday morning), and also make it back home in time to watch Friends (yes, I still really love that show even it makes me a silly mongoose...)
3. I was able to catch the bus home (barely), which means I didn't have to wait 20 minutes for the next bus to come along.
4. Table Tennis was great fun as usual, and I got some pointers from my other friend Dave, who's really good at the sport.

Tuesday
1. I went into work early today (since I left a half hour early yesterday to do my returns), and it was a pleasant walk in (it helped that I was excited to try my new mp3 player...!)
2. I had a nice chat with my Grandma and my mom after work over the phone.
3. I remembered to floss my teeth in between the bar that's on my first four lower teeth (it's always a chore to thread the floss in between the bar and my teeth...). I'm going to make that an every-other-day process.
4. I also ate my broccoli today - that made me proud of myself... ;-)

Ride Around Sally, Ride

1. I got myself a bike (used) today from my friend Sonja. It'll be nice to ride by the sea. Now I just need to get a lock and a helmet...

2. Today I called and talked with my dad, I missed his voice, and was glad to hear from him :-)

3. My boss congratulated me on getting so much feedback on workplace morale from the mini-group sessions I set up. It helped that Elaine, one of the line managers who's also really into this area, was there. Elaine is able to really make people feel comfortable in sharing things. I'm in the process of trying to emulate her work manner.

4. I figured out why there was a mismatch with my checkbook register, finally! I had forgotten to write in a payment I made through Paypal for $25 to Skype. It's a relief to know what it is!

5. I got good news from the gym that I'm going to join, which made me quite happy :-)

Yes!

1. I called a meeting today with my boss, another line manager, and our boss to discuss how to keep morale up in the workplace, especially with the downturn of the economy (I'm supposed to be in charge of this area for our team, but people are tired of having the meetings 7+ years for the purpose of increasing the Gallup pole results). The meeting went really well, and afterwards, I discussed with my boss and his boss about my discussion with the head of the department. I think it was well-received, so we'll see where it leads!

2. I figured out how to free up 8GB of space on my laptop, whose hard drive space was increasingly inching its way towards being entirely full! Now I can finally run the disk defragmenter (you have to have at least 15% space free to use it apparently). This saved me from having to buy an external hard drive and it saved me from having to take it in to a shop!

3. I received an email from a friend, and I laughed my head off after reading it -- I love a good belly laugh! Thanks Romek! ;-)

4. I received another email from a different friend who gave some very good advice, and it fits in perfect with my desires and goals in life. Thanks Dick! :-)

Timing

1. I was able to catch the bus this morning just as it was rounding the corner, saving me from being too late to work (seeing how I fell back asleep after turning the snooze button off by mistake)!

2. I received some good advice while talking to the head of our department, and will try to suggest incorporating the idea into my goals for the year when I have a chat with my boss.

3. I put the final touches on a report I've been working on at work for a few weeks. It feels good to have it mostly behind me (pending one area that I'm awaiting information).

I Should Be Sleeping in The Flowers...

Here are some photos from Saturday's adventure to the Botanical Gardens in Glasnevin. It's a great place, and if you haven't been there, definitely make time to go!!

This was just a cool metalic statue (I wanted my picture with him, but no one was around to take our picture together, so you just have to imagine...!)
There were so many colors of flowers in the gardens, it was really nice to have all in bloom!
This was a pretty arrangement
I love these flowers!!!
This is designed and created with flowers! Each color you see is a flower or plant of some sort! Amazing, huh!?
A meddow I saw, outside the garden gates, but wildflowers are just as pretty in my mind!

This little squirrel liked getting fed. He was also quite the bully if any other squirrel tried to take food from me, he would make a strange noise and then run them away from me! Still cute though...
These magpies kept trying to take the squirrels' food. When I left, they finally went searching for the leftovers!
This is a different little squirrel, I liked his curiosity and his smile ;-)
See, loads of colors!!

A nice little patch where you could sit and enjoy the garden...

The one and only...!
A pretty little waterfall, anyone who knows me, knows my fascination with waterfalls of any shape form or size!
Walking along the canal, quite nice, my feet always seem to head towards water when my ears hear it rushing along...!

Abundance in Life :-)

I just finished the Law of Attraction (by Michael Losier) and I'm going to start again with writing about things that made me feel good about what's happening in life, and to make me appreciate anything that helps keep my vibrations positive.

Friday -
1. The head of our department, Joe, acknowledged an email I sent to him, and told me to schedule an appointment with him for Monday just to chat (he's in charge of 2,000 people, and he is choosing to spend time chatting with me about my ideas and thoughts!) - all because of an email I wrote to him with a suggestion after he gave a speech to our departmental team.
2. I had a lovely evening with Dave and discovered that I love Strawberry Daquiries and Frozen Snowslides. And doing the crossword with alcohol involved, Dave still managed to get more answers than me (I'm going to attribute that to the fact of him not drinking as many beers as my cocktails...!)
3. I talked the bartender into giving me 1 euro off a 6 euro drink! (as a compromise to giving me a free drink...! ;-)
4. I met my friend Frank while I was walking home, and it was a nice surprise! We chatted and then parted (I play table tennis with Frank)

Saturday -
1. I spent the day in a beautiful botanical garden (which was free to enter, I might add!)
2. When feeding the more-than-happy-to-get-food squirrels, a handful of children came up to me wanting to share the food I brought to help feed the squirrels. It was nice to see their excited little faces. One of the kids was young, and when I handed him a small handful of food, he ate it himself instead of giving it to the squirrels!
3. Twice I met the same happy group of people (about my age) giving a tour of Ireland to their friends from another country while walking around the garden, and we had a good laugh in our brief conversation exchanges!
4. One of my friends, Ali, brought me a pizza for dinner just because.

Sunday -
1. I started to put a pair of jeans on to go out and look at bicycles today, but then it started raining. So, I took the jeans off and put my pajama bottoms back on, then the sun came out again. I took that as a sign to lounge around the house and do things as my jeans are a sure sign of rain today. It hasn't rained again since, and I was quite happy lounging around my apartment!
2. I finished reading a book that I've been glancing through for a few months now, and actually wrote out all the required exercises! I'm proud of myself for that, and I hope I can make a difference with what I wrote!
3. I started going through the thousands of photos from Peru (yeah, I know this trip was back in July...but there's a lot of photos and it's slightly daunting and tiresome!). I've decided that I'd like to finally pick out the good ones and create my photo album of my trip to Peru, it's been long enough!

Busy Fun!

This weekend was a blast. It was also fairly constant in meeting different friends, but in a good way. I did have time for some nice sleep-ins (not too late though) in the mornings.

Saturday was a nice day with pretty warm sunshine (contrary to what the weathermen were saying) and so I met up with Sonja, Lukas, and Natalie for a BBQ in the afternoon. I came to discover that I really love Polish Sausages, and I can't wait to have the real deal when I go visit Krakow, Poland in a month's time. They were absolutely delicious, not to mention, fresh BBQ food is always good! Sonja also made an excellent salad dressing that was to-die-for! The night was filled with so much laughter and fun banter. I always have a good time with them!

Sunday was also nice. I received a call from Sonja asking if I was free for lunch, so I met up again with the three of them and also their old housemate, Sam. We went to a sushi bar (they also have chicken for non-sushi lovers like me), and it too was great fun. I had to jet away a little early though so I could meet Dave for dinner and for the comedy show we were going to. Dinner was wonderful (first Mexican food restaurant I've found in Ireland!!) and ice cream was a push to eat after all the Mexican food, but also nice. Oh, I also found a beautiful necklace and bought it (thank goodness Dave had to text his sister to make plans for meeting later in the week, it gave me time to hop in and look around the jewelry store!).

The comedians were hilarious and well worth going to. It reminded me of the times when my mom and I would go to the comedian show at the night club in Redding on the first Thursday of every month. I love doing that kind of thing, there's something about comedy that takes the edge off of any cares or worries you might be having and lightens life up a little. :-)

Pay It Forward

I watched a good movie tonight called Pay It Forward (2000). I thought it was a great concept (though I cried a lot at the end). It's based on the simple idea of doing good deeds for others to repay the good that has happened to you, and that if everyone did this, it would change the world. It doesn't even have to be big acts of kindness, just ones you observe to be worthy of your help.

I realized that watching the world from a perspective of trying to figure out what you can do to help others (even though the other person might not see it themselves) and not desiring the other person to pay you back in any other way than to carry on the idea forward in his/her life is an interesting idea. It forces you to look at the world through a different set of eyes until it becomes a natural state of living. It sounds like a great way to live.

Decidingly Peaceful

There isn't a lot that went on this weekend, but that's not to say I enjoyed it any less. It was actually refreshing not to make plans and to just enjoy being on my own time schedule.

I spent Friday night drinking nearly virgin cocktails at that Gasworks with Dave (well, he drank beer...which is so un-inventive...! just kidding!). It was actually kind of nice that the cocktails didn't have much alcohol in them because normally cocktails blow a person away quickly, and this way I was able to have a few of them and still barely feel even tipsy and also hold a nice conversation all the way through. I learned that I don't like Mojitos (unless I alter it by adding some sugar), Cosmopolitans are tasty, but a Lynchburg Lemonade is the best!

Saturday was a lazy day, but still perfect.

Sunday was a day for cleaning and also met up with Sonja for a late lunch. It was so great to chat with her, to share our excitement about things and our worries and anything else on our minds.

Now begins another work week of getting out of bed when my alarm clock goes off instead of whenever I feel like it...! Aw well, that's what puts bread on the table ;)

Rules, Smules... Who Needs Rules?

I had so much fun at Table Tennis tonight! It started out that as I was walking to the gym, a random passerby from the other side of the street said that I have a nice smile. I guess I must have smiled courteously at the girl who was passing the opposite way as me on the same side as the street, and the guy across the street must have seen (he must eat his carrots so he can see well...!). It was nice to get that compliment, albeit a bit unexpected. Still, I said thank you and kept going toward the gym.

There were only a few of us down to play table tennis tonight, as seems to be the norm during these summer months. After playing my friend from Poland, we all played doubles (us girls each got paired with one of the guys who are much better than us!) and it was a great game, despite the fact that Paul and I lost... (well, you know you love a game when you don't care if you win or lose and you just enjoy playing it!!).

Later that night, after Klaudia left, Alan and I had a knock back and forth. I think we both get a bit silly towards the end of the night, and tonight was no exception. He began serving two balls at once at me, or one right after the other, so I decided I would start teaching him some Table Tennis rules, Lisa-Style! He caught on quickly, and soon was also making up rules as well. We laughed so much and had a really great time with the game...!

Comedy :-D

Well, I'm really excited to be living here in Dublin City! I just booked a double comedian show to go to in a couple weeks at the Carlsberg Comedy Festival. I was watching the comedians' acts on youtube tonight, and I think they're hilarious! I can't wait until Sunday, the 27th of July! My good friend Dave and I will have so many laughs while watching these two guys!

Enjoy a couple short clips:
David O' Doherty (5 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrB6GeaXwmY







Lee Mack (9 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4pI2thlhl8

My Childhood Love

When I first discovered Nathan Sawaya, I was amazed. I was also kicking myself for not thinking of such a career! Nathan is a Lego artist, and his work is incredibly unique. http://brickartist.com/

I used to love playing with Legos when I was a kid. I used to build houses and then play with the people and make up lives for them. I built a big white bear (well, 12 inches high) and a penguin from my own imagination and kept those near a shelf by my bed for quite some time. I even built a bed for my dog (though she didn't like it much, plus I couldn't make it very big because I didn't have enough bricks). I would construct anything my mind could conjure, although, I admit, nothing to the extent that is on Nathan's website. Still, I think it would be utterly fun to get back into Legos! Also, I'd love to visit LegoLand one day...!

When I was a kid, I used to want to be an architect who builds scale models. I think that would be really fun, whether or not it's using Legos...

For those back home who are interested in Nathan's work, he bringing an exhibit to Turtle Bay Museum from May 16, 2009 to January 3, 2010. Mark your calendars. :-)

Spic n Span!

Cleaned my room today with a good vacuum cleaning, and it feels so nice. I think I will keep this up once a week (or worst case, once every two weeks). I also cleaned the whole bathroom and that feels equally as nice. I didn't realize how much I love having a clean living space. Over the past while, I've just spot cleaned, but I think I prefer a good, deep cleaning instead. I will make this my new goal.

Also got some great deals in the stores today (to continue with my amazing deal shopping from last weekend). Now, I'm all set for a beach scene with a bikini bathing suit, a sun dress, and sunglasses (total - 19 euros for all...!)! Not that a beach scene will happen in Ireland, but who knows, I might decide to go to Greece or Spain at some point...

A Different Religion

I understand that some people are religious, and I respect that. I understand that some people are not religious, and I respect that. What I don't understand completely is how some people can allow religion to become so much apart of them that certain parts of life are ignored. I think that religion should help guide those who need to feel guided, but I don't think that religion should overtake the mind and force people to do things they think they should do simply to satisfy a higher power. Doing good things or living a good life should be a personal endeavor, in my mind, with or without the help of a higher power, but definitely not to satisfy a higher power.

I would love to know what a Parisian or Prussian Catholic is. I'm not sure if that's how you spell it, but a new co-worker revealed to me that he's of this religion (I guess I was trying too hard to make him feel welcome and asking him too many questions to try and include him in conversations), so he finally came out and said that he is of this religion. Being of this branch of Catholicism means that he's not allowed to talk to me or the other co-workers about anything except work, supposedly because we all dress differently than him (I assume this means outside of work) and simply don't hold the same beliefs. This is very limiting in the workplace for him because it excludes him from bonding moments such as lunch, tea time, and probably also from social events that we occasionally hold outside of work. Even talking about something as vague as public transportation, I have noticed that he puts his head down and pretends not to listen to the rest of us.

I'm all for respecting people who believe in various religions, but never before have I encountered someone whose religion overtakes his right to live. That said, I'd love to be an invisible bug on his shoulder for one week, to see what it's like at his home, at his church, what his social outings consist of, what he wears, etc. I'm very happy for my freedom and I'd like to keep it that way, still, his religion intrigues me. I wish that I could even look it up on the Internet (I'm having no luck though), then again, I suppose, how would it be possible to look up a religion where they don't believe in talking to anyone other than those who are the same as them...

If anyone has heard of this type of Catholicism, please let me know. I'd be interested to get an alternate view on what it entails...

Only Ryan Air...

This morning, I was looking into a one-way ticket from Prague to Dublin on RyanAir (I already bought my ticket from Dublin to Krakow, and will then travel by train most likely to Prague).

Anyway, I got really excited when I saw that the ticket was FREE on Saturday morning, September 6th. I thought it'd be nice to have a day to relax at home before heading back to work (I always hate having a long vacation and then going straight back to work the next day -- that's where the phrase "I need a vacation from my vacation" comes into the picture). So, since I couldn't believe my eyes at the price of the ticket, I clicked on "continue" so I could book the ticket. However, add on a luggage fee for having a suitcase, taxes, fuel charges, an airport check-in fee, a luggage handling fee, and even a fee for paying with a credit card (which I might add is the only way to pay for the bloody ticket!). Still the ticket ended up being a good price (50 euros), but man I wish they'd just come out and say the price in the beginning rather than waiting until you're filling out your credit card information...!

I know I'm a woman, but I swear, the person in charge of setting up the fees at Ryan Air MUST be a woman. A man says what he means and gets it over with...!

Dentist

I went to the Dentist today to get my teeth cleaned, and I was told that I was an ideal patient! That's always a great thing to hear at a dentist office! (thanks Mom for always making me brush!).

However, while at the dentist office, I made a stupid mistake, an innocent mistake I might add. The lady who cleaned my teeth and took the x-rays told me I was done, and I asked her if I need to see the Dentist before I go. To which she replied, "I am the dentist." I was thoroughly confused by that statement because the dentist office is run by a Dr. James Tarpey and she sure didn't look like a James to me, and on top of that, never in my life have I ever had the dentist clean my teeth, I've always had a hygienist clean and a dentist quickly check my teeth before I go. However, I felt really bad when I finally realized that over here, there can be multiple dentists in a practice (who you see once a year) and multiple hygienists (who you see once a year), based on 6-month interval cleanings.

I think I should go in and apologize to the dentist in case I offended her. I certainly didn't mean to stereotype her as a hygienist, but seriously, I just didn't know that dentists over here also clean teeth! And plus, a dentist is one person who you don't want to upset, you never know what tool they might use on you during the next visit...!!

Freezing Penguins

This article really hit a soft spot with me, and it makes me wish I could do something to help the situation: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/080702-endangered-penguins.html
Basically, baby penguins who haven't yet developed the feathers necessary to repel water are dying. The summer Antarctic days see heavy rain, while the nights see temperatures below freezing, so the baby penguins are literally freezing to death since their feathers are still wet from the rains. They say this is attributed to Global Warming...

I'm glad to be able to say that I walk to and from work every day and I take public transportation (also because I have to), at least that helps, but I do enjoy long, warm showers, so that pretty much counters the good things I do for the environment. I will have to look into how to be more eco-conscious, and if any of you have suggestions, feel free to throw them out there.

A Perfect Mix

This weekend was remarkable. It was the perfect mix of relaxation, time to myself, and time with friends.

I celebrated the 4th of July with a chocolate muffin instead of fireworks...both fulfill completely different satisfaction quarters, but it was so delicious! I also watched a really cute and informative movie called Arctic Tale. I didn't realize how much the effects of global warming were affecting the lives of Polar Bears, Walruses, and other animals of the North... They mentioned that in the last two decades, 20% of the ice in the north has disappeared, and by 2040 (that's only 30 more years...), if trends continue as they are now, all the ice will disappear completely! The animals up there are having a hard time finding food and have to go for longer periods without it, also babies have to be weaned from there mothers a year before they normally would due to lack of food. My new favorite website is: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/, as there are so many eye-opening stories and pieces of news on it.

Saturday was filled with shopping, and sales galore are filling are stores here in Ireland! I've never seen such a thing here (it's not as normal as it is in the States for sales to occur...!). I bought some new exercise shorts for the gym and a few bits and pieces of summertime clothes. I also splurged on some cute cards that weren't on sale, but I was in a world of my own when i discovered an entire floor dedicated to cards and little gifts! I probably spent an hour or two just wandering around Eason's looking at the cards...! Saturday night, I met up with friends who I play table tennis with (they're from France) and it was a load of fun, just chatting back and forth in a cool church bar (a protestant church renovated into a bar/disco club...). It was handy too because they live in the next apartment block to me, so getting home in a taxi with three people was much easier than just myself!

Sunday was a relaxing day in the morning, and I met my friend, Sonja, for a walk through Phoenix Park. Would be nice to ride bikes through the 15 acre park, but I have to get a bike first...! I ended my evening with a lovely Italian ice cream from my favorite Italian restaurant in Temple Bar... :)

Ka-Boom! Sniffle, Sniffle...

The Fourth of July comes and goes yet another year while I'm abroad. I have missed the last three Redding fireworks shows (my hometown). It's my favorite holiday of all time too... I think the colors are beautiful and the show spectacular. I become fascinated and awestruck when watching the fireworks up in the dark sky, like a little girl.

This year, there are a lot of fires near and in Redding that have the sky smokey and the air quality quite bad. If the city is still allowed to go through with the fireworks show, the obstructions will definitely make for a slightly less enjoyable fireworks display... I hope the fires get contained soon, especially for all the evacuated homeowners' sake.

At that thought, it makes me contemplate what are the most important things I would put into a backpack if I had notice to leave my home. Definitely would put my laptop in there, there's so many pictures and other important files stored on there (which reminds me, I should back things up again, haven't done that in a couple months...). I'd grab my purse (including my phone and wallet and credit cards). My table tennis bat would need to go in the backpack for sure. And probably a couple shirts and a couple pair of pants so I could get by at work and on the weekends. Also my electric toothbrush, that's always important in today's society! I guess I don't have all that much material things that are vitally important to me here (although my closet would seemingly depict otherwise...).

Maybe I should look into a spring clean of the things I do own this weekend.

Drizzle, Drizzle

Sideways, frontways, downways, anyway...! It's raining here in Dublin, and the sky was dark and gray all this summer's week. I think that contributed to the feeling of this week dragging on and on, especially today because the sun didn't bother to show it's face today, not even once.

I still managed to have a good time this week, after work was over that is... Monday was Table Tennis training and Wednesday was also supposed to be Table Tennis training, but instead, I met my aunt and her niece and her niece's friend for dinner at, where else, but our Italian restaurant! It was really nice. The friend was hilarious, and the niece who I haven't seen in I don't know how long, is really sweet, and very well-mannered. I sent a text to her dad saying I'd like to plan a trip down to see all of them sometime, that would be fun.

Monday and Tuesday I had great chat conversations with my friend from Poland, I was laughing the whole time we were chatting! I'm planning to visit Romek at the end of August, and I'm really looking forward to that trip a lot. On top of getting to have great company, Poland is supposed to be beautiful and full of Medieval castles and Alp-like mountains. I'm going to the southern area, Krakow, which you can see more of the countryside. The capital, Warsaw is just like any other big city, so I'm very happy that Romek lives near the nice part of the country. And have you ever looked on a map? Poland's pretty big! There's so much about Europe that I have yet to discover...!

Great!

This weekend was wonderful and fun after Friday was over and behind me. I had a nice chat with my friend, Dustin, on Friday night, and he really cheered me up. Saturday I just had a relaxing day, sleeping in and going for a walk by the sea. Sunday was busy, I learned to cook a special rice dish from Mauritius (where my friend is from) and it was really tasty - and I can bring the leftovers to work for lunch and save myself some lunch money! After that I met another friend for a coffee and had a nice chat. To follow, my dad and I watched the final Euro 2008 championship soccer match together. He called me and we stayed on the phone watching it together. It was interesting to watch a game that way with someone, but it was quite nice! I really enjoyed having his "company" :-)

I also looked into iPods -- I would really like an 8GB Green or Turquoise Nano, ...that and a bicycle are my current wish list items. So, if any rich people out there are looking to buy anything for someone, I'd like to put my name in the hat...!

TGIF

I'm so glad it's Friday. I need time to recharge myself and to think about life. This has been a rough week. My head is heavy, my eyes are tired, and my back and shoulders hurt... I hope to have a peaceful and restful night tonight.

Negative Energy >:-[

I don't normally complain on my blog, but today has me steaming with negative energy.

Whoever coined the phrase: "There's no such thing as failure, only feedback" clearly wasn't having to deal with trying to engage employees who don't want anything to do with improving their workplace's results from the American Gallup survey.

I thought this job duty would be fun. I'd intended to make sure everyone understood what constitutes each question, and I also had some fun activities that I thought would help people get more in touch with how important they are for the bank, and also ways to come up with ideas that would improve morale and overall happiness in the workplace and with their work. But not one person showed any interest, as usual. This was my second time holding this type of meeting, and I thought by being prepared with things to do, that it would help stimulate positive conversation and get people thinking about the kinds of things we might be able to do something about (rather than them just complaining about things that are out of our control to change). One girl was great and kept intercepting everyone's negativity with a few ideas, which helped keep the meeting somewhat at bay, but it really was just completely disheartening and unfulfilling to host this meeting where no one wants to be there, most people try to avoid coming to the meetings, and the atmosphere reeks of this attitude.

I feel like I fail in being a good leader... A good leader should be able to pull everyone out of this funk and engage others just by their words and enthusiastic thoughts... Mine weren't strong enough :-(

Table Tennis!

I'd forgotten how much I love playing table tennis until this week. After renovating the gym for two months where they have table tennis (so, that meant no access to playing the game) and after my trip to Peru, I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. I get to laugh and smile and have a really good time with all my table tennis friends, old and new, and I really enjoy that. I met a couple tonight who came to play for the first time at this gym, and they seem really nice (from Poland... lately so many people I meet are from Poland and they have all been incredibly nice and fun people). The girl and I were talking about taking classes at the gym together, which I think would be a lot of fun, especially having someone in the class to giggle with each other when we can't keep up with the instructor! The gym membership is really expensive, but to keep playing table tennis, I will have to now join the gym (a request the gym is making...). However, this might turn out to be a good thing, as the classes will enable me to meet people and keep healthy, while also continuing with my table tennis. The other gym I go to doesn't have classes and of course doesn't have table tennis... So, decision made, I will fork out a load of money for my sanity, health, and entertainment :)

Hope

Happiness comes from the little actions... And I hope these things among others keep me well fueled with happiness of my own

1) I did something daring today!! Sorry though, it's a secret and I can't disclose more... I was proud of myself for following through with it though. I had been thinking about it for quite some time.

2) I chatting on the phone with Emily (the girl in the wheelchair in my previous post) and it seemed to make her day. I also enjoyed our easy-going banter.

3) I trained the new guy at work, Dominic, on how to use a bank-specific program -- I also surprised myself today with the knowledge I have amassed about it thus far in the 4 months of using it!

Windy Weekend

Had a lovely, relaxing weekend...

It was downright cold, wet, and windy, but I still found a way to make it great and not to waste it.

On Friday night, I went to a leaving party for one of my co-workers, who next week will pick his belongings into a suitcase and travel across the pond to Canada for a year. It was a fun time, and I had good chats with a lot of my co-workers.

Saturday was a lazy day, quite dark and dreary, but I had a good sleep and watched a movie in bed in the morning. Then, come evening, I decided to check out Tesco (a large grocery store) in Marion (about 20 min by bus). I thought it was going to be something exciting (thought it had 2 stories), but it wasn't any different from other Tescos. Still, I enjoy supermarkets, and I went up and down every single aisle and had a good time looking at all the different foods. Also got a shock when the cashier told me how much I owed, I did a double take and asked her to repeat the price!! To which she said with a smile and a smirk, "I guess that means you won't be wanting any cash back today...?" Well, now I'm well-stocked for quite some time!

Sunday was also lovely, the wind is blowing like crazy, never I have seen it so windy before! I met up with a friend, and we walked along the beach (about 10 minutes from my place). It was a great surprise to see the ocean so close to the path. Normally, the water a good distance out (about 15 minutes walk on the sand), but today, it was right up to the rocks on the shore. It was great to walk along and hear the water moving and feel the wind blowing strongly by. In some cases, I was able to "fly" with the wind pushing me strongly on my back! I had to hold onto my hat walking back though!! Now, I think it's a good evening to settle down to a movie and think about next week.

Hope you all enjoyed your weekends too!

Cookies! (revised) and Lessons Learnt

On second thoughts, I tasted a chocolate chip cookie this morning and they taste much better. I must have had too much sweet food yesterday... Although, on third thoughts, maybe this discovery is a bad thing. Now I've decided to keep one bag of cookies (out of three) at my apartment instead of bringing all of them into work. I definitely need to start going to the gym again...!

Well, the cookies seemed to be a hit amongst most everyone, but I couldn't enjoy that feeling. I was joking around with my friend and told everyone on our team that I made the cookies for his birthday and that I was proclaiming today to be his birthday (he won't tell anyone what day or month it is). Since we're always joking around with each other, I had no idea that he was upset with me for doing this. When I discovered he was mad at me for real, I felt so bad. I hate making other people sad or hurt with the things I do. And I guess I went too far.

I learnt 2 very good lessons today:
1) Be careful when joking around at someone else's expense (I should already know this from reverse experience in Korea), and
2) Don't try to make yourself feel better by buying a pile of junk food -- it'll only make you fat and it will put a hole in your spending money.

Cookies!

I spent tonight baking chocolate chip cookies. My right arm definitely got a workout from trying to mix the dry ingredients with the semi-moist ingredients. It would have been easier with an electric mixer, but maybe it's not popular to have those in Ireland. The cookies turned out okay, but for me, they don't taste quite as nice as another recipe I have. I found this recipe on the Internet. I don't think I'll trust recipes on the Internet anymore...

Whirlwind

This will be a week-long post as I haven't got myself settled back into life yet to where I write often on here...! I will get back into the swing of things.

Last weekend was an absolute blast. I had a lovely dinner with a friend from Mauritius on Friday night; we had a special rice dish that's eaten in Mauritius, fresh fresh with sweet and sour sauce, and some refreshing cucumber salad. It was amazing! Unfortunately, I was just coming down with a cold, and couldn't enjoy it to the full degree, but it was definitely worth getting to taste everything nonetheless. Saturday I spent the whole day and evening with my friend Sonja. It was relaxing, awakening, and a very comfortable day. I really hope she finds a new job here in Ireland, otherwise she will go back home to Germany in July. I would miss her terribly then... Sunday was another packed day with helping the disabled children; we had a picnic in a park and enjoyed the sunshine. Later that night, I met up with Sonja and her flat mates and their friend from Poland. We had so much fun chatting and laughing that evening, and I didn't get home until 3 am on Monday morning... This is what made the rest of the week hard -- trying to catch up on my sleep! But it was well worth it!

This weekend was also nice -- I went to visit my grandma in Sligo. We prepared a lot of meals for her freezer and had a lovely time together. I wish so much that I could live with her. But, she's 3 hours away, which makes it not so feasible with me working in Dublin. It would be do-able in terms of train times, but I'd hate to spend 6 hours a day on the train, plus have to pay a taxi twice a day... I left a postcard hidden under her pillowcase, where she keeps her cross and blesses herself every night. I know that will make her smile to find and read that -- once she tears herself away from the sudoku tonight...!

I still have so many mosquito bites on my lower legs and a few on my arms. I'm a devil for picking at them, and can't seem to stop. I hope they heal soon! I'm glad there's no mosquitoes in Ireland.

Take a Peak -- Here's Peru!

Well, Peru was absolutely fantastic! I loved speaking in Spanish all the time (the locals even thought that I speak well -- initially I would tell people that I only know a little bit of Spanish since I haven't practiced it for 11 years, but soon they'd tell me that I know a lot and speak it well, so I guess I'll take that as a compliment!). The Amazon jungle was amazing and I learned a lot of interesting pieces of information. The Inca ruins were also incredible, and it's unbelievable how they were able to build such brilliant cities with granite rocks.

I wish I could be back in Peru now! I don't want to get in the mode of thinking what it'd be like to live in another country, but Peru sure looks like it'd be great: lovely people, wonderful food, and a genuine atmosphere that seems to invite happiness. Well, it's something to think about for way off in the future. For now, I still like Ireland.

You can have a look at a few pictures (down below after the "facts I thought were cool"). I'll gather an album soon, but for now at least you can have a taste of what I experienced.

Thought I'd share some interesting facts that I thought were cool:
- In the rain forest, there are Snake Trees, which are sensitive to parasites, and if it feels like it's being attacked by one, it will shed all it's brown bark and underneath is a beautiful, shiny, moist, green bark (which later turns brown again). It amazes me that it's able to do this.

- Giant River Otters are at the top of the food chain and love to eat baby alligators for dessert if they can find one! There can also only be one family in a lake at a time, they're very territorial (so siblings must vacate to a new lake when they feel they're old enough to start their own family and hope that another otter makes his/her way to the same lake).

- There's such a thing as Garlic Trees! Very strange...!

- Alligator's eyes glow red in the dark when a flashlight is shined on them.

- In Machu Picchu, 80% of the ruins are original work of the Incas. Only 20% is restored. That's impressive!

- Salt mines in Peru date back to pre-Inca times, and are still operating today via a natural spring that continuously runs from the depths of inside the earth (my hat blew off my head and landed in the very salty water here, but luckily our guide was able to retrieve it for me -- it still tastes like salt now!)

- Squirrel Monkeys are the coolest little creatures and scramble like crazy by the hundreds across the branches of the trees.

- The people of the Amazon believe that eating vegetables causes laziness (some monkeys, sloths, etc). Leaves and plants are so easily available that they think it promotes lack of motivation and so practice a virtually carnivorous diet.

- Ceviche is a meal that consists of white fish that is "cooked" in lime juice. Actually, the lime juice is poured on the fish and the acid "cooks" the fish. It is absolutely delicious, and that's saying something since I don't like Sushi!!