Storms and exploring

When I woke up on Saturday morning after our pub adventures from Friday night (see blog below) I had a crazy desire to go for a good run and explore the area. It could have been my body yelling at me for all the calories consumed in a 24 hour period, but I decided that a good run would wake me up. So I got all ready and bundled up in my running gear and headed downstairs to let Sarah (the only one awake at the time) know I was going for a run. Her reaction involved the words, "shut up, bloody hell, you're crazy..." and with a British accent you can't help but believe her. Needless to say it looked like a tornado was coming into town. Despite the rain, wind and tree branches falling from basically every tree I ran around the neighborhood and found the ocean! I only got so far until the rain and wind mixture felt like needles on my face and then turned around and went back toward the house. You know it’s bad when you see birds getting thrown against houses because it's so windy they can't fly!

We had all decided we were going to stay in and bear the storm with some frozen pizzas, drinks and movies. As soon as there was a break in the weather we walked to town to pick up what we needed from the market. On the way home it was getting dark like normal, however when we started to approach Abbeyside (our neighborhood) we noticed it was almost pitch black along the street. Besides the occasional car headlights we were walking in darkness using our phones for light. We noticed all the houses were dark as well and figured all the power had gone out around us. We got into the house and fumbled around for a flashlight and started lighting all the candles we had. I built a fire and we suddenly regretted all the food we had just bought from the store. So about 20 minutes later, still in darkness, we decided to order a pizza and hope they could find the house. When the pizza showed up about 40 minutes later the power had just come back as well but continued to flicker in and out the rest of the night.

But all the wind from Saturday must have blow most the rain and clouds away because this morning it was sunny and beautiful...at least for most the day (it is currently raining and storming again at 9 p.m.). When Stephanie and I noticed the sun coming through the blinds we decided it was the perfect day for exploring. We walked all around the neighborhood and found the "Abbey," the old but still active church and cemetery right along the water, the shoreline of Dungarvan Bay where the river and bay lead to the ocean, almost got attacked by a killer dog, met some purebred greyhound puppies, and other things here and there.

The walk to find the Church

You can see the church through the plantsIt was really low tide along the bay
Walking up to the Abbey and cemetery
Horses just hanging out
Me and Steph on our walk

The Abbey
The creepy entrance and side room that Steph did not like at all



This is the way we walk to town/work...over the bridge and the row of buildings you see is town

Steph found her favorite Canada tea...she was excited
My street!

My first weekend full of pubs, storms, sun and fun

It is Sunday evening and I am slowly preparing for my second week of work. I had a pretty successful first weekend here in Dungarvan. Friday night consisted of some Irish wine at home with the roommates before we headed to a pub in town rightfully named The Local. This is where I had about a 10 minute conversation with the bartender about what beer I should have to "work my way up to Guinness." Now keep in mind my 15-year-old looking bartender had a thick accent I could barely hear, I'm sure he had no idea what I was trying to say, plus include some fiddles, flutes and another Irish music-making instrument and you have a very difficult conversation. Where in the end I walked away with a pint of.....Heineken. Yes, yes I know. How original, right?

After listening to some live music and feeling like you have a big neon sign around you clearly identifying you as a "newbie," although I have made it my mission to become a "local" there too, we moved onto another pub basically known as The Beergarden. We sat in the outside, covered section and listened to DJ music and even did a little dancing to the one and only Bob Sinclair...who would have thought my Aussie music would come back to me? After an interesting encounter with the guy we dubbed "boob man"(FYI, he wasn't named that because he was carrying a set himself) we moved along to The Anchor where we had just about enough time for one more pint before closing. And when I say closing I mean just a bit after midnight kind of closing.

The lesson learned: We clearly need to start the night off earlier.

Almost blown away...

This doesn't even come close to describing how horrid the rain and wind mix can be here in Dungarvan....or just simply in Ireland!! But Steph captured a great image of Sarah and I on our walk....Pat was too far ahead trying to get out of the rain!

We were attempting to get to the grocery store/ have lunch and it was raining pretty hard even though you can't see it! By the time we got to the restaurant we were basically soaked and three out of three umbrellas were broken...


The next day my sister was telling me how difficult the humidity and heat in San Diego was....


yeah I just about hung up.

Sunny day in Ireland!

Just for the record, the sun doesn’t rise in the morning until about 8:30-ish to 9 a.m. so it takes a while for me to register that 7 a.m. is really the right time and I just didn’t wake up in some parallel universe and skipped a day. It took twice as long this morning when I looked out my window and saw the moon directly across from me bright as ever. But once I realized I haven’t lost my mind, I was VERY excited because that meant the sky was clear and no sign of ….dare I say it….rain! It was a very joyous morning.

Work was basically the same thing as yesterday except I started learning more information about the computer systems and how to take sales bookings and enquiries from customers over the phone and online. I feel like there is still a lot to know but I’m getting pretty antsy to start digging in and actually feel helpful in the office.

p.s. I got to "frank" mail today with Steph...basically use the fancy postage machine...but it was still pretty cool.

My first conformity to the Irish culture is I’m starting to try and use the term “grand” in many of my sentences. Example: “Oh that’s just grand,” “You’re grand,” “Don’t worry it’s grand,” etc. I still feel a bit silly but when I don’t say it I feel even more ridiculous. I can’t really win, yet.

Stephanie and I attempted the walk home tonight (5:30 p.m. is basically as dark as the middle of the night) and succeeded…eventually….in finding our house. I prefer to use the phrase “turned around” rather than “lost.” It really isn’t that difficult except that streets have no signs and everything keeps winding in circles so it really is quite easy to get turned around.

I love work, really it’s not like I’m overwhelmed or unhappy but I can’t help but wonder….

Is it Friday yet??

PARIS PICTURES

I figured this could use some more fun pictures so here are some from France. The descriptions for each picture will be above them!


A picture of the port in Marseille with the sea top frozen...
Marseille tree branch covered in snow..
Tim and I getting covered in snowfall!
Eric and Stephan not too happy in the downpour of snow..you gotta click on the picture and see a good close up of Eric's face!
The town of Marseille making history with this much snow!! This is why I was snowed-in and missed my flight back to Ireland!
Tim making a snowball to begin the first fight...along with the rest of the town!
A street covered in snow....people were randomly skiing down the middle of the street...
Group picture on our way to buy drinks...what else do you do when you're snowed in??
Eric at his favorite store!...
Close up group shot...we look pretty happy to be experiencing the snow...must be BEFORE I fell in a gutter!
Tables outside a cafe....Eric and Stephan played Tic-Tac-Toe across them..
The port...
VERSAILLES, France...
The walkway in the garden around the back of the Palace...

It was a LONG walk around the whole garden fountain/lake and Tim decided to leave his mark on the ice...
Boys will be boys...
Part of the Palace at sunset...
The "lake" at sunset on our walk...

In front of the Palace near the garden (in the back)
The Palace garden....the long white thing in the background is the freakin' long "lake" we walked all the way around...took FOREVER!
Across the frozen water...


Boys still being boys...

Bummer the fountains were all frozen over!
But looks pretty cool like the horses are coming out of the ice...
The attempt to buy water and tea and somehow ended up with a crepe...not really sure how that happened but I wasn't complaining!!

Pretty obvious....
Paris covered in snow...
The view from the top of the Tower at night...


Les Invalides where Napoleon's tomb is buried....
The real deal...
Outside of The Louvre...
In the metro station..
The Arc de Triumph...
Pretty pond near the Eiffel Tower...

They really are sleeping on the metro after a long day...we were tempted to leave them there...
Eric's fabulous night and the coolest public restrooms....
On my grand adventure wandering around...
The front of the Tower...much prettier at night though!