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.