razzle dazzle!

i'm not even going to bother trying to explain myself anymore, this is just getting ridiculous. but, sneaky as i am, i figured out a way to blog from work. don't tell my boss.

(there seems to be a bit of a sizing issue with a few of the pictures. i'll post them now and fix them later. sorry about that.)

so, let's see. what has happened. first of all, the weather has been amazing. apparently in the papers at home it says it's been raining in dublin, but they're all lies! it's been so hot and sunny for about 3 weeks now, and i think that was what they call summer. but i did manage to get a few good trips in, and a few good sunburns as well.

paddy, ceira, niall, neil, britt

first, there was our work party. or "work do" as they call it. we had just finished cheltenham, which is one of the biggest horse race meetings in the uk (busy times for paddy power), and the company took us out for some drinks. needless to say, it got a little out of hand. free bar and a bunch of crazy people? it can only end well.

brian malone & seamus

britt & kevin

there are way more pictures from that night, but i've only chosen my favourites. and you've probably seen the video already on my livejournal. it was a fun night.

a few weekends ago the lovely kevin clancy and i had a day off together (finally) and i mentioned that i hadn't yet seen the irish sea. crazy, i know. so we hopped on a train and he took me out to bray which is in wicklow, the county south of dublin (it's on the map up there). it was a beautiful train ride along the coast and a beautiful beach once we got there.

bray

it was an interesting little town, but very cute. i was surprised at the number of casinos on the main street just behind the beach (or "amusements" as they say here) but not too surprised to go in and have a look around. we spent most of the day on the beach, then had a pint on a patio, played some pool, then caught the train back home. good day.

it's so hard to remember things that have happened and in what order. i should be keeping a journal of interesting things that i do and then transcribe it to here to avoid all this confusion. meh.

i finally visited the cemetery across the street from my building. i know, dad, it only took 8 months. the cemetery is cut into two sides, the old one and the new one. i can only see the new one from my window but have been wanting to look around the old one for quite some time. i walked around a little, but got a little creeped out by some guys sitting on the church steps making animal noises at me, so i promptly left. i'll go back at some point.

after the failed cemetery attempt, i hopped on a bus into town to catch yet another train to an unknown destination. i had a day off, kev was working, the sun was shining, and i wanted to do something fun. so i got to the train station and decided to go to howth. howth is north of dublin city (only about half an hour on the train) and was one of my favourite places yet. (you can see it on the map above as well)

i did a lot of walking that day. there are two main piers you can walk out on, and then the main walking street in the "town"...

i spent a lot of time on the piers, just enjoying the sunshine and taking lots of pictures. as you'll see below:

windy.

a girl came up to me when we were out near that island and asked me to take her picture (we were both taking a lot of pictures of ourselves). i recognized the accent right away and said "oh my god! canadian??". i couldn't believe it. i'm pretty sure she's the first canadian i've met here. and from vancouver, of all places! we were both very excited to hear a familiar accent and ended up taking the train home together to discuss our travels. it was nice to meet someone else who was away from home by herself in a foreign country and hear her stories.

so that was really fun. it's nice to get out of the city for a while and see some water and some greenery. reminds me of where i am.

i'm glad that kevin taught me how to take the train so now i can go pretty much anywhere. and ireland is so small, you can get to the other side of the country in like 2 hours. i've been wanting to go to belfast for a day, but haven't had the time or money. but i do have the weekend off, so we'll see.

not much else is going on over here. melinda moves back home on thursday, which means it's been 3 whole months already! i can't believe it! another roommate come and gone. but this means that i get the place to myself for a few weeks, and then it's mom and myrna time! i can't believe how quickly that's coming up. i'm really really excited and we have so many great things planned for their trip. also, i have the whole 3 weeks off work so that's another thing to be excited about.

then that brings us to the end of may, june i'll be working and saving, july i'll be spending some time in spain and italy, then coming home before my birthday in august. it's all happening so fast! but i was accepted to ubc for september, and would really like to get all of that finished, so i'll need some time to get home, get settled, and get my normal accent back. i guess there's no sense in worrying about all that now, i still have another good 3 months here.

so, i'm very sorry about the delay in my posting. now that i know i can do this from work i might be posting more often... but who knows... i hope everyone's well at home, and don't forget to keep in touch!

and even though the games are on around 3am here, i'm still keeping up with the hockey playoffs. i'm the only person in ireland who watches hockey, but i'm still supporting my team! go canucks!!

Tallaght, Ireland