I am so American when it comes to shopping

I think a lot of Canadians don't realise how culturally close we are to the US. I am often mistaken for American, but it doesn't bother me. Most people say 'sorry' when I correct them, but I'm never offended. In fact, I think, 'so what? I'm pretty close to it.' Canadians are really close to Americans when it comes to many things, but most especially one thing in particular - shopping.

Shopping is not a positive experience over here by any stretch of the imagination. It actually provokes violent thoughts in me. People push you out of the way as you're looking at merchandise, roll their eyes at you, and are generally rude and surly - and I'm only talking about the sales clerks here! I'm not joking. There have been several occasions where I've been nudged aside by a sales clerk while I'm looking at a rack so that she could tidy up or put something away. They don't say 'pardon me' or 'sorry', they just push in and 'do their job'. Fine, I don't have to look at the merchandise here, I can do that elsewhere.

I'm also not exaggerating about the eye-rolling. I was in McDonalds one day and I asked for my quarter pounder with no onions. The twerpy 16-year old had the cheek to roll her eyes. Now even in Dublin, I imagine that eye-rolling is against McDonald's global customer service policy. I thought to myself, just for that, if there are onions on my burger, I'm not picking them off. I'm asking for your manager and insisting on a new burger and an apology for my inconvenience. I don't like onions, ok? I have a right to have my burger my way. Or is that Burger King? It doesn't matter. I'm sure Ray Kroc is 0n my side with this one.

I've tried boycotting stores, and only shopping in stores where I get good customer service, but I've found that I just don't shop or buy anything at all now. There are about four stores in Dublin where you can get good merchandise and good customer service, but you have to pay a big premium for it - above and beyond average Dublin prices, which I really resent. Most sales clerks are too busy texting their friends to help anyone out, but last I checked their job titles were still 'sales associate'. It's kind of sad, but when I do get good service at a reasonable price here, it makes my day - like I'm really, really lucky or something. Sometimes I think that this town really needs a recession. Nothing like an economic downturn to separate the wheat from the chaff and make retail employees work to keep their jobs - and only keep them if they're good and retain the customers that are still buying. Too many kids working in this town have never seen a recession, have never competed for a job, and have never had to be good in order to be employed - and it really shows.

Another example: I was looking for a blazer, but they didn't have my size on display. I interrupted a sales clerk who was busy with her very important texting and politely asked her if there were any more of said model in the back. She said, she was pretty sure there were. I then asked her if she wouldn't mind looking to see if there was one in my size back there. Her response was, 'oh you know, I'm sure we don't have any back there'. Huh? That wasn't her answer a minute before I asked her to go look. I then asked her if that was because she just didn't want to check, to which I got a very snarky response. I will admit that I'm getting ruder and more pushy as a response to my surroundings. I can't say that I like this about myself, but whatever. I'm not taking shit from them.

However, the sales clerks can't take all the credit. Fellow Dubliners are just as much to blame. They're rude, loud and very pushy. By the time I make it down Grafton or Henry Street on a Saturday afternoon, I'm done in. However, it's not like there is much choice on when you shop because stores are never open. They're only open late on Thursdays so you can shop on Thursday night, Saturday or Sunday. It's crazy busy on all three days all year round. This time of year is even worse though. These days, people are using their strollers as bumper cars, refuse to move out of your way, and will literally shove you if you don't move out of theirs. Negotiating your way around is a veritable contact sport.

Another problem in Ireland is stock - there is none. Grocery shopping is a nightmare. One day, my flatmate asked me to pick up some milk and Tesco was sold out of semi-skim on a Saturday. I've also stopped eating salad because it's too hard to reliably find fresh vegetables. On several occasions I've walked in to the store to see that there is no lettuce today or no peppers. There is no reason for it except that it's Wednesday or that it's two hours before closing. If stores close at 6pm or 7pm, and most people work for a living, how can it be expected for people to get to the stores early enough to buy lettuce? Does one have to be a stay-at-home mom in order to get good groceries? It's stupid. Today I went to four stores to buy a lightbulb. There must be a national lightbulb shortage because I had to stomach Tescos on a Saturday just to get one because SuperValu, Centra, Dunnes Stores, and Spar didn't have any. So, I'm in the three-items-or-less line at Tescos. One lightbulb: 15 minutes in line. Have you heard the joke, How many sales clerks does it take to ring in a lightbulb, and how long does it take them? The answer is more sad than funny.

If you ask a Dubliner, they think the shopping here is fabulous - except for the expensive prices. I say that means they have never travelled. It's easily the worst in the industrialised world. I can take French snottiness. They're only snotty if you're buying something tacky, yet they still manage to stock items and be efficient - even if they're also never open. Irish retailers can't even manage any of the above. Others have mentioned that I'm used to over-the-top customer service because I'm from North America. Well, you know what? Damn right. I've got the accent so I might as well use it. I've got my elbows out so you better get out of my way if you don't want to get hurt. I want merchandise and I want some service dammit. Now would be nice, thank you.

Oh My God, I'm Sick of Beer

Ok, I have actually been sick of beer since about March, but it's reaching desperate proportions now. I can't drink beer like the Irish at all. Canadians just don't drink as much beer. Most people in Ireland think it's because our beer has a lower alcohol content, which is not true. In Canada, most people drink bottles, which are smaller than pints. Also, if pints are bought, they're consumed at a slower pace, and most people only have three before stopping. Funny because people in Canada think that I can drink a ridiculous amout of beer, but I'm a complete lightweight here.

It's customary here to buy drinks in rounds. If you're out with three people, it's a safe bet that the 'just one pint' will actually be three pints. Unfortunately, because drinks are bought in rounds, it messes up the round system to order a mixed drink as they're more expensive. So, when I'm out at the pub, I'm drinking beer - whether I really want to or not. It's pretty anti-social to say, 'oh no, you guys buy rounds, I'll take care of my own'. However, for some reason, I just can't stomach it much anymore. I don't know why, and I don't know when this happened. I can only drink about four pints and then I hit a total wall, and I can't consume anything else at all - even food because I'm so full. The first two pints are great, but then I would really rather switch off to something else.

On a related note, there is a new product out on the market here called "Lifeline". It's a hangover pill, but unlike its predecessors, you don't have to take one with each drink you consume (ridiculous and you would never remember), you don't have to take it a certain number of hours before your first drink (because all nights out are planned), and you don't have to take it before going to bed (if you don't always remember your pint of water....). Also, it's available in pharmacies, not just on the Internet, so that eliminates some of the dubiousness of its claims. You take one with your first drink and that's it. The marketing line is, "developed in Ireland for Irish drinkers. So you know it works." Hilarious. I was at the pharmacy the other day, and I saw the display for them but they were sold out. Everyone is talking about them. I'll let you know the verdict.

Grasskicker

For those who know me, you'll know that one of my frustrations about living here is that no one seems to play sports or is very active. There isn't much in the way of social sports for adults, from what I gather.

I had looked into joining a co-ed soccer league, but only found an indoor league run by Aussie expats. It wasn't a positive experience (nothing against the Aussies). Basically, the guys on my team were really young and arrogant. They never passed to the girls at all and were really aggressive. After awhile the girls stopped showing up altogether since we figured they didn't actually need us to play even though two women are required at all times or the game is defaulted. None of the girls on the team wanted to be pitch warmers, ie. stand on the pitch purely so that the guys could play.

There are some women's leagues, but what I found is that you don't join a league and get put on a team, you have to join a club (team). There isn't a real way to do that if you're an outsider. You have to really campaign to get on a team and you basically have to know someone. There is no such thing as a spare list or an individuals/free agent team.

I also found out that the real social sport to play in Ireland is touch rugby. However, the league only runs for nine weeks in the spring, which makes me wonder what people do for the other 41 weeks of the year.

I recently heard that a few of the women at work were trying to put together a team. So, I joined. I was concerned at first because I heard that they have a trainer and conduct practices. I wasn't sure I would be good enough for the team because I've only played on a purely recreational level. When I approached the captain about playing, I started to tell her about my soccer experience. She looked at me and said, "you've played before? That's GREAT! None of us have." I then heard about their first game against the other work team, which was formed on the other office campus. It was described as 14 women running in a pack following the ball - kind of like when you see five year-olds play soccer, minus the two kids sitting down picking dandelions. So, I figured I would either love it or hate it.

I played my first game last night and I love it! Most of the girls have no soccer experience, but a lot of them are athletic and you can tell that they're picking it up. One girl is really good and has obviously played before. Rules are very loosely applied. None of them know the rules actually. There was a big discussion at one point between a goal kick or corner kick. I was on forward and kicked the ball last but bounced it off the defender's leg. So corner. However, she started to argue that I kicked it last. So, we discussed whether it was last 'kick' or last 'touch' (it's last touch). The best part though, is that these women are so enthusiastic about playing. It's really fun. I didn't exactly play full out, which was fine with me considering it was my first game in 10 months. I am also pretty much the second-best player out there, after the other woman I mentioned, who incidentally has the same last name as me. However, it was so much fun to get out there and run around. It was the best.

Ohio is the New Florida - but without chads, election fraud and Brother Jeb

I always kind of knew that Bush would win but it wasn't until it really happened that it sunk in. This time, Americans chose Bush as the President. The people have spoken. After four years of his bungling, Americans decided that they liked him. Americans decided that the election fraud of 2000 was forgiveable, as was lying to one's citizens about WMD to go to war in Iraq - a country not containing Osama Bin Laden. The Iraq quagmire continues, but hey Halliburton got their oil, so that's good right? Therefore, lying about WMD to send America's sons and daughters to war is ok because the price of gas won't go through the roof. Likewise, Americans don't seem to be bothered with the erosion of civil liberties or the tanking economy. They also don't seem to mind living in a thinly-veiled theocracy that has more in common with Iran than with countries in Western Europe when it comes to separation of Church and State. They also don't seem to mind that because this is Bush's second term, there is a republican-controlled congress, and Cheney has already stated that he's not running in 2008, there is little accountability on Bush over the next four years, and he can veer as far right as he wants.

This morning I was convinced that Kerry would fight it out for those 200,000 provisional votes in Ohio. C'mon Kerry, every vote counts. You go. By midday I thought that the world was going to hell in a handbasket and that I didn't really understand Americans at all. I mean, is it really worth selling your soul for a piddly tax cut - unless you're a billionaire, in which case a ginormous tax cut? What about ethics, accountability, responsibility?

By the end of the day, I came across this article on Slate.com.
http://www.slate.com/id/2109079/

I had been surfing intermittently throughout the day, but not often because not only was I busy at work, but also I had the inability to open up a web page without wanting to punch out Bush's stinking, smirking mug. The article is titled "Why You Keep Losing to This Idiot." It drew my attention immediately. The author is right, Bush won because he's simple. In 2000 I made fun of the fact that the CBC found no shortage of people who were voting for Bush on the basis of personality. "He's the kind of guy you can have a cup of cawwffeee with." Didn't these people want the smart guy to run the world's superpower, instead of the affable Joe? Who were these idiots? Well, apparently the majority of the American population. When you look at the State map, the West Coast is blue, the North-East is blue, most of the Great Lakes States are blue, with the notorious exception being Ohio, but I'm blaming that on the fact that it also borders West Virginia and Kentucky (cue song from Deliverance here). The rest of the map is a great patch of red - otherwise known as fly-over country. These are the people whose only source of news is the local TV station and the local paper - highly-skewed and no foreign content (don't want that). These are the people that The Onion was referring to with their headline "Lowest Common Demoninator Drops Further: Network Execs Flock to Fill the Bilge". They made Big Momma's House number one at the box office for one week a couple of years ago, and last time I checked, "Yes, Dear" was still on the air. That's who Bush was talking to. That's who Kerry wasn't talking to. Bush did the better job of convincing people that if they didn't vote for him, Osama was going to get them as they were unsuspectingly shopping at Wal-Mart and if that didn't happen, then the homos were going to grab them, bend them over and rape them of their family values.

The author of that article is right. The Democrats do have their person for 2008 in John Edwards. He's personable, has a 1000-watt smile, is attractive, has charisma and he's from North Carolina. Americans want leaders with a simple message and a great personality. Bush gets that. The Democratic party doesn't. In the meantime it's four more years of a virtual civil war in the US. The hippies/Yankee bluebloods against the southerners/mid-westerners and the rural/suburbanites against the urbanites. Let's hope Bush doesn't do too much damage in the US and abroad in his (thankfully) last four years in office. At least that also means four more years of Bush jokes - don't see them running dry any time soon.

Election 2004

I have to say that I miss the overkill in the media of the American election. If I was in Canada I would be making plans to go to a friend's house on Tuesday night to watch the results. We would watch the map of the states become slowly coloured in blue and red - blue along the coasts and red in one big swath across the middle. Kind of representative of the socio-economic status of the entire country.

It's well-known that Canadians have a keen interest in American politics. Our economic well-being is, for better or worse, dependent on the US and for that reason, we take an interest in their politics.

I've missed the emails that would circle around from a few politically-minded coworkers and friends with links to articles in both the international press and alternative web sites. I miss the political jokes that would also make the rounds. I really miss The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Checking out the Comedy Central web site is not the same at all. Funny, if I was back home, I would be crying enough already. Watching it from afar is not nearly as fun. On Tuesday night I'll be going to bed just as the first results start rolling in. By the time I wake up, it will all be over.

I distinctly remember in 2000 watching the election at my friend's place. Gore just won Florida, which meant he won the election. I got home, flicked on the TV as I was getting ready for bed, and in the time it took me to drive home from my friend's house, the state of Florida was now coloured red instead of blue. I was up watching nearly all night. What came out in the following days was even more interesting, but what was shocking was the reaction of the American people. What would have caused full-scale riots in countries such as Bolivia and Venezuela, was not even registering in the US with anything more than a shrug of the shoulders. It has since become clear that the Republican party stole the last presidential election. Will it happen again?

I'll be thinking about you all on Tuesday night as I go to bed. It won't be the same reading about it the next morning on cbc.ca. My bosses at work are pro-Republican so I can't even discuss this with them. I'll have to wait for the email discussions. Again, not nearly as much fun as sitting up watching it with friends and discussing it at work the next morning over coffee.

Just a side note on my bosses. They are only pro-Republican because the head of the company I work for is. They are the biggest sycophants I have ever met in my entire life. I have avoided political discussion with them but I have had to correct them a couple of times because what came out of their mouths was so completely erroneous, I couldn't let it slide. Like when they said Clinton did nothing for foreign policy (but Bush did??). What about the Good Friday accord, which had to do with, uh, Ireland. Or the Middle East peace process. Let's put it this way, the one woman doesn't have any pictures of her husband on her desk, but she has four pictures of the head of the company I work for as well as the book he's written. I was warned about calling it 'the shrine' in front of too many people, but that's what it looks like.

For those of you in the US, vote wisely.

Some links that I have been looking at the last couple of days:
http://www.theonion.com/election2004/
http://www.thestranger.com/current/
http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshowwithjonstewart/

All That You Can't Leave Behind

This post is dedicated to Bono because of my shameless use of his lyrics in this post.

I haven't written in awhile, and a lot has happened in the past couple of months. The job has gotten a lot better. It's gotten really busy for me at work, I get a buzz from what I'm doing, and I think I can do a lot with this job. Thing is, I'm wavering on Dublin as a whole. It's no secret that I'm not in love with the place, even though I have found some compelling elements about it. To quote a former boss, "I'm just not jazzed about it" (the city this time, not the job).

For a while I started to think that I would stay here a couple more years. As the visit from my parents approached, I even thought that I was crazy to go home at Christmas. I mean, what was I thinking? I hate Christmas. It's the worst time of year to go. There are so many things that I want to do and see over those two weeks and I won't be able to do half of them because of the holidays. Friends will be off seeing their own families, and the shops will be crazy, so shopping will suck. I also need to schedule dental, optometrist and hair appointments, renew my driver's license and get a new health card. That's not easy to do over the holidays either. I should have arranged to go somewhere warm and non-Christian over the holidays and visited Canada in October instead.

Now, part of me wishes that I was coming home for good over Christmas. I don't know when this changed for me. It seems like it was overnight. I know part of it was when the weather changed, and all of a sudden it was very cold out every day. I have even started wearing a scarf. It gets dark really early here and winter is generally damp and dreary. I now leave for work and come home in the dark, and we haven't even changed the clocks back yet.

I also know that another part of it was when a friend came to visit a couple of weeks ago. It's always great having visitors from home. Even though everyone here speaks English (though that might be debatable), only those from home really speak your language. The friend that visited was more a friend of my old flatmate than my friend, but it turned out that we got on like wildfire and it's safe to say that I have made a new friend out of the visit.

I have been really homesick this past week, the first time I've been this homesick since the spring. I realized that my friends are starting to drift. I've been warned that this happens around the nine-month mark. A lot of people have difficulty keeping up correspondence, and I'm as guilty as anyone. If you want to get a letter, you have to write one, and I've been awful this year.

However, the biggest thing that I've been homesick about is that I have no support system over here. It's something that I think I always took for granted because my family is just so solid. Many of my friendships were slow to develop, and as a result, my social support network snuck up on me. Now that I don't have that support of friendship locally, and it is something that I really needed this past week, I realise just how important it is, and how much it means to me.

Question is, am I ready to go home? The move back home would be really difficult. I wouldn't have a job and since I've only been at my latest job for 2.5 months, and temped the rest of the time I was here, I don't have a lot to show on my CV. If I could stick it out for a year, I would be doing a lot better career-wise. If I could stick it out two years, I would be laughing. I don't know if I want to though. I'm not sure being without my friends and family would be worth it in the long run.

In the immortal words of Bono, "you're on the road, but you've got no destination…", or maybe it's better to say, "you got stuck in a moment and you can’t get out of it". At what point is it a zen moment of not knowing if you’re staying or leaving, and not really caring either way, and at what point is it just inertia?

Can you tell I was listening to U2 while writing this?

Alpha traveller, beta worker

This month has just blown past. I thought for sure my next entry on here would be my Portugal travelogue (which was fab by the way), but I haven't finished writing it yet, and next thing you know, I've started my new job, been to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh and it's September 1. Summer is definitely over here, there is a definite chill in the air in the mornings, and it's getting dark by 9pm. In two weeks, my parents arrive for a visit, and then with a blink of an eye, it will be October, and I'll be finding my own apartment. I will miss Thanksgiving. I'm also going to try and book my flight home for Christmas in the next week or two once I get my vacation time signed off. Autumn approaching, talk of Thanksgiving and Christmas....I feel like this year has ended just as I was starting to get it together.

But am I getting it together? I had a bit of a crisis moment today. Luckily, I was in an unnecessary five-hour meeting, which provided me with plenty of time to dwell on my thoughts. The meeting was unnecessary on two fronts: had people been organised, it could have been 3-4 hours shorter, and also that I was even there to begin with.

A recurring thought has popped into my head over the past few days. My travelling style and my work style are completely different. It didn't hit me until I was in Edinburgh. A friend had texted me to see what I was up to and to possibly meet up. I responded saying that I was just about to the top of Arthur's Seat so maybe after I got back down. He responded with, "man, you don't fool around". I had arrived in Edinburgh that morning, headed off to a festival show, got a bite to eat, and climbed Arthur's Seat, all in the span of a few hours. They were all things I wanted to do and I was getting them in.

After I got back from Portugal, I had a conversation with my flatmate about the pace of travel. There is a hotel down the street from where we live that is popular with tour groups and the tour busses are always there early in the morning to pick up passengers. He commented that leaving a hotel at 7am to get to your next destination was his idea of hell. He likes to relax on his vacations (says he who is currently cycling in Kashmir). I responded that I'm the opposite. I wouldn't be out the door at 7am, but when I'm travelling, I'm out of bed and at breakfast by 9am and I don't even need to use an alarm. He was a bit incredulous because he knows what time I roll out of bed at on an average Saturday. Travelling is different though. I have a full day of things I want to see and do and I'm ready to go. I also don't really stop during the day. I don't usually want to. I would much prefer to sight-see all day and then go back to the B&B for a shower before going out for a relaxing dinner. If I had to characterise my travelling style, I would definitely say type A. I hate resorts, I like doing "things" on my vacations, and I try to travel whenever money and time allows.

While I'm doing very well on the travel front, I'm proving to be a complete failure in the work world. This week hasn't been a good one at work. Actually it's been god-awful. I've wanted to quit a couple of times and I don't know that I'm going to stick it out the six months. I probably should for the sake of my CV, but my CV is pretty much ruined by my little European excursion anyway, so it might not matter much at this point. First off, I'm really, really bored, which is never a good thing with me, as some of you might well be aware. I'm still in training and I just want to get it over with already and start doing stuff. Also, when I was hired, I was told I would be brought in on a couple of projects which were really interesting, but because my start date was then delayed, I am not on those projects any more, which means they can't really go on my CV - so why am I there again? The five-hour meeting was for one of those projects, and I spent most of the time stewing that I am not involved, they're so disorganised about it, and I could do a much better job of the running of the event. I mean, this is what I did at the ad agency. I tried to put in some gentle, good suggestions (really obvious stuff) and was mostly ignored. I was given one task, and it's a bit of a no-brainer. During the event, I'm holding down the fort back at the office, and I have to send out the press release at the appointed time. Ooooh, don't know if I can do it. They then asked me about four times if I was clear about my job. I said, yes every time, except the fourth time when I possibly, slightly snotty said 'crystal'. Oops. In my defence, I was now also annoyed that the meeting was going well past 5:30, which meant that by the time I got back to the office, and caught the train, I would miss my super spin class at the gym. I'm there for no reason AND I'm missing super spin. My boss pulled me aside afterwards, and I thought it was to give out on me for that, but it was to tell me she's pregnant. Oh. I thought she was looking a bit pudgy. My first thought after that was, 'Great, you're the one who actually gives me stuff to do occasionally and now you're leaving for a few months'. This thought was quickly followed by, 'Oh god, this doesn't mean that co-worker who is emotionally unstable and a total bitch will now be in charge, does it?' Just shoot me now. So of course, I've lost all enthusiasm in the job because I'm doing absolutely nothing of interest and the future isn't looking too bright. This also a bad sign because I haven't even been there a month yet, and there is only so long that I can hide my ambivalence.

I know, I should wait it out a bit more to give it a better chance. Once the girl I'm replacing leaves at the end of next week, I'll start doing the work myself and will be busier. I might also then have better control to ask for more challenging stuff - especially when pregnant boss starts to scale back her workload. Then again, I know already that this job is probably not for me. Of course, no job has been right for me - ever. I don't know how people can plug away at a job day-in and day-out until retirement. I really envy people who say they like what they do, because I don't think I do. I also envy people who can stick around at a company long enough to start earning a decent paycheque. I have never been able to stick it out anywhere long enough to amass decent experience and the money that comes along with it. I'm conscious of the fact that people way younger than me are surpassing me on the corporate ladder. But I don't know if this is something I even want to be climbing. Maybe I'm not a worker. Sometimes I think it's because I need to be my own boss. In my more self-righteous moments, I'll admit that I think it's because I'm too smart for the corporate world.

Maybe I have found something I like though. I like to write for sure, and I also really like to edit. The only joy I get out of my job right now is writing and editing for the newsletter - and it's just a company newsletter, the content is far from exciting. So maybe a career change is in order. This isn't the first time I've thought about this (far from it). The only thing stopping me is that I don't have any experience, so I would be entry-level (again) in a very low-paying field. Also, I'm tired of giving up on my jobs. I try hard to stick through everything. Until this year, I stayed on a team until the end of a season, I never dropped a course, and I stuck it out here when things truly sucked. When it comes to work, however, I carry a disk with my updated CV on it with me every day and I'm ready to bolt at the next available offer. Maybe, I need to start sucking it up and sticking it out and eventually it will get good. I might even have a career someday. Then again, ask me on Monday if I've picked up the Guardian (media Monday) and what I'm really doing at work with the newspaper - and no, I won't be examining it for company mentions.

Back in the workforce and into the sun

After six months of looking hard (and not so hard), I finally got a job. I got a six-month contract in the corporate communications department of an American Multinational Computer Company - not to be confused with the utterly dysfunctional one I was previously temping at and have previously written about. For being tight competitors, these two companies are complete opposites in work environment to one another. The dysfunctional company called me for an interview in their communications department and the interview was scheduled on the same day that I got the job offer at the other one. It felt so good to call up dysfunctional company and say, "sorry I can't attend the interview, I just received a job offer and I'm going to accept it. Oh where do you ask? At your biggest competitor. "

I was afraid that I had spoken too soon, however. Right after I received the verbal job offer, I was informed that it wasn't 100%, they had to pass it through HR, but it shouldn't be a problem. Well, it was a problem. Apparently, they broke a couple of HR laws, namely, they didn't advertise the job internally or externally or interview anyone else. It just so happened that I was temping there for a couple of weeks, they really liked me, and knowing that one of the girls was leaving in September, they offered me the job. It was agony waiting to find out the verdict as I really wanted this job. I know that I'm not very good at interviews and I had been on more than my fair share over the past six months. The thought of having to still play the job search game when I thought it was over was really discouraging. Not only that, but the thought of losing a job because of HR bureaucracy was just too much. I was afraid my two would-be bosses wouldn't fight for me and just leave it, or go through the proper channels while "keeping me in mind". I had pretty much decided that if it fell through I was going to really take stock about being over here as it didn't seem to be working out. I was stressing for nothing however because I got the job yesterday! Woo-hoo! It seems as though things are finally starting to work out for me here. This job could be a very good experience for me and it's a huge weight off my shoulders.

To celebrate, and get out of the rain, I'm going to Portugal for a week as of Thursday. I doubt I'll post while there, but I promise a travel report when I return. I've been dying for a summer, and I think this is the only way I'm going to get it. This past July was the wettest in British history and parts of Germany even saw some snow. It wasn't the wettest July in Irish history, but I imagine that it was right up there. It has to be truly dismal to beat an Irish rainfall record, and I think we did have one or two dry days in the past month. To give you an idea of just how cold it has been this past month, I was wearing the shell of my Columbia ski jacket while hiking this past weekend. I spent the whole day today going through the few summer clothes I brought over with me and I've packed them already. I can't wait.

I only seem to say goodbye in Dublin

I know I haven't written in over a week. I've had so much on my mind that I've wanted to post, but I'm in a temp job right now that's pretty demanding and I don't get to the net cafe as much as I would like. I was all set to write about Irish "customer service" - an oxymoron if I've ever heard one, but then something happened - I had to say good bye to a friend.

This friend is a Canadian man that I met over here. No, I know what you're thinking, but we're just friends. He is moving over to India tomorrow morning for a job that will last until around April. He'll be back in Ireland for a visit around Christmas - probably around the time that I return to Canada for a visit. He's the kind of guy who wants to go out all the time and always has something on the go. The kind of guy, who when he calls you for the third time that week, you somewhat sigh and say "YES, I'll see you Saturday, ok?". So today when I met up with him after a thoroughly frustrating shopping trip in city centre, I didn't clue in that it would be the last time I would see him for months. He's the kind of guy who you could always rely on for a night out, no matter what, which in Ireland, believe it or not, is hard to find. We said good bye a few hours ago at the Ha'pennny bridge; we gave each other a quick hug and parted. It wasn't until I was over the bridge that it hit me: I just said good bye to one of my only friends here and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself on the weekends. I'm really going to miss him.

she a Luas woman (warning it's long)

I rode the Luas for the first time this morning. The Luas is a new tram system that opened earlier this month in Dublin. The trains are silver, sleek and with their purplish interior, look like they would be more at home in France or Japan than in Dublin. As with any change, there was a big to-do about this new system in the press and especially on talk radio. Then again, what isn’t an issue on talk radio? They would create more traffic congestion, the cost is too expensive, and cars can’t drive on the tram tracks, therefore effectively closing certain streets to vehicular traffic. Dublin Bus complained that the trams were allowed to signal for priority when coming up to stoplights causing the busses to run behind schedule due to increased congestion. So what was Dublin Bus’ excuse for continually running behind schedule before Luas? The rain?

As someone accustomed to the Toronto Transit system (TTC), I wasn’t complaining about any possible improvement to the Dublin Transit system. Dublin Transit makes the TTC look efficient. Busses are regularly late, and on many routes don’t run often enough. When I first moved here, I lived in an inner northern suburb serviced by four bus routes. The busses travel from their respective terminuses through my suburb then into the city centre. From my suburb into the city centre, all four routes ran along the exact same streets. Some genius at Dublin Bus thought it best for these four routes to have the exact same timetable. So instead of the prospect of a bus coming along once every 5-10 minutes, all four busses come by once every 30 minutes. If you miss one bus, you miss them all and you have to wait another 25 minutes (usually in the rain) for the next one. Further, there is congestion along the bus route as one bus crawls along behind the other. I should add that the street these busses travel along is a main north-south artery that connects the city centre to the airport. It’s not a small, residential avenue.

I reached the end of my patience with Dublin Bus when one evening, I watched the bus drive by me as I ran up the street. I stood at an unsheltered stop for 25 minutes in 2C temperatures, cold drizzle and blustery winds that prevented me from putting up my umbrella. By the time I got home, I was a soaking mess and the damp chill had travelled down into my bones. I felt as though I would never get warm again. It was then I decided to move closer to the city centre and lessen my reliance on Dublin Bus. My toxic flatmates only hastened that decision. By comparison, the fact that there isn’t an express bus along Eglinton Avenue East seems to be a trifling annoyance. Of course, there should probably be a subway line along Eglinton Avenue, linking up at Kennedy station in the East End, Eglinton West in the West End, and then heading out to the airport, but hey, I wasn’t elected Planning Commissioner.

The only good thing about the Dublin Transit system is the suburban train line (DART) and the fact that there are more bus routes in Dublin, or at least more areas are serviced. It’s a rare, isolated suburb that isn’t serviced by at least one route. Toronto can’t say that about many of its inner suburbs, let alone the outlying ones. I’m also only talking about Metro Toronto in this instance, as the public transit in neighbouring municipalities borders on non-existence.

I had a job interview this morning and by my calculation, it would have taken me 45 minutes to walk to my destination. If I took the bus, it would have taken me an hour – 30 minutes to walk along the Quays (east-west route along the River Liffey, which dissects the city) to the bus stop, and another 30 minutes on the bus. If I took a bus along the Quays, an additional 15-20 minutes would be added to the trip. An elderly person with a walker can walk faster than a bus traveling along the Quays at certain times of the day. By taking the Luas, however, the trip only took me 40 minutes – 30 minutes walking to the closest stop, a 5-minute wait for the next tram, and the tram ride itself.

As I woke up at the ungodly hour of 6am to get ready for my 8:15am interview this morning, I reflected that though Toronto is much bigger than Dublin, both in population and size, it takes much longer to get around here. The distance I was traveling to my interview wasn’t that great – the equivalent distance and approximate direction from Bloor & Bathurst to Yonge & College. Yet, what would be 20 minutes at most on the TTC would take an hour on Dublin Bus.

One good thing about Dublin, however, is that the city council recognises the fact that the city is growing and a public transit plan needs to reflect the increased population and density. A second Luas line is opening in August on the north side of the city. However, true to Irish form, the lines are not compatible. So that means that even though they don’t link up now, they also never can in the future. Brilliant. That move almost makes Toronto’s Urban Planning seem forward-thinking and proactive in comparison. Almost. At least they’re trying. Toronto, on the other hand, seems to deny reports that estimate the population in the GTA to swell by 5 million over the next 10 years. Toronto’s response to projected population growth is to cut back on public transit. If DVP currently stands for Don Valley Parking Lot, what will it be like in a few years time? Where will everyone park? I suppose the city can convert any remaining green space along the waterfront into parking lots. The Gardiner Expressway and massive condo developments have already blighted the area anyway.

Riding the Luas this morning almost brought a tear to my eye. I had forgotten that public transit can be fast and efficient, and oh the luxury of taking a tram that doesn’t sit in traffic behind cars waiting to turn left (or in Ireland’s case, turn right). This is unlike taking the streetcar along Queen, College or Bathurst, for example, where streetcars sit in traffic along with everyone else. So what’s the advantage of taking public transit if it’s not any faster or more convenient? In its second week of operation, the Luas trams were full with morning commuters. For all the ballyhoo before it opened, people seem to welcome it now. It would be really sad if I were to return to Toronto a year or two from now and wax poetic on how Dublin Transit is so much better than the TTC.

here comes the rain again and again and again and again

I know it's not really fair to complain about the rain in Ireland. I mean, what did I expect? I also suppose that I was pretty spoiled this past Winter and Spring as it was unseasonably warm and dry. I just really didn't think it was this bad. I really thought there were good patches in between the rain spells. But there aren't.

July has been a total washout so far. I don't think my umbrella has ever seen this much action. This past weekend was cold, dreary and wet. Today, being Monday, it was really beautiful. Luckily I'm unemployed so I could enjoy it. Then tonight it started to rain again. We haven't gone one day in the past two weeks without rain.

I have figured out that I'm a summer baby. I need sun, and I need warm weather. I don't feel like it's summer at all and I'm starting to feel ripped off. I know I'll probably be depressed by autumn if this keeps up. The days will get shorter, the temperatures will get colder, and I'll be secure in the knowledge that it won't be nice and sunny again until next May - if I'm lucky. I never thought I would need a sun holiday in summer. I wonder if there are language requirements to work at a bar in Corfu?

Four seasons?

I realised today that in just two days it's July 1st. That's Canada Day back home, a national holiday. It's the kind of day that's usually celebrated with barbeques and fireworks. It's the epitome of summer. Everyone is out in shorts, lots of people head to the beach, there is the scent of sunscreen in the air and it's hot outside.

But I'm in Ireland this year, and you wouldn't know that it's summer. Today I'm wearing pants, a light sweater and a jacket. My umbrella is in my bag. I'm sure that in two days time, I won't be breaking out the shorts and tank top. Someone told me when I got here that winter and summer are only a few degrees apart. I would have to agree. While I don't miss the cold, damp rain of winter (and apparently I am here on a good year), it's also not too far gone in my memory. I seem to remember wearing my winter jacket and one day in April I switched to my lighter coat, and sometime in May I switched to my spring jacket. That jacket hasn't come off yet, except for a few gloriously warm days in May and June. As the Summer Solstice has come and gone, I wonder when I'll drift back into my coat without even realising it.

In Canada the change in seasons are dramatic. It's -27C one day, 0C the next, and entirely plausible to have 20C within two weeks of that. I've spent some autumn weekends leaving my place in Toronto wearing shorts, and arriving later that night at the cottage up north wearing jeans and a sweatshirt and seeing my breath when getting out of the car. People in Canada are often jarred by the change of the seasons. People get the flu around these times of year, or report having vivid dreams or trouble sleeping. People never drift through the seasons not noticing the change.

As I woke up at 4am this morning with the sun streaming through my window, I started to think that maybe Ireland does have seasons, but only two of them: light and dark. When I first arrived in February, sunrise was close to 9am and sunset was around 4:30pm. Now, sunrise is at 4am, and sunset is at 11pm. I love the light evenings, it makes the nights seem so much longer and it's a pleasure to walk home at night in the daylight. However, I haven't been able to get used to it in the morning yet. For the first few weeks of really early sunrises, I woke up with a jolt because I was convinced I overslept my alarm. I no longer do that, but it's a rare morning where I don't wake up at least once before 6am. Other Canadians I've spoken to here have also commented on not being able to sleep. I remember to when I first arrived and I was in bed at 10am every night. I thought it was because of the overwhelming nature of being in a new environment, but now I wonder if it was because it was so dark all the time - because I'm not sleeping at all now, and this place is still overwhelming for me.

I remember coming out of the gym one day in April and being shocked that it was still light out at 8pm. Something tells me that I'll be similarly shocked at the end of August, just two months from now, when I wake up one morning and it's still dark outside.

wanted: org chart expert

As I mentioned in a previous post, job #4 came to an end last week....or did it. On Friday, they asked me if I wouldn't mind working Thursday and Friday of this week as they needed me to cover for someone. No problem, it's not like my temp agency called me back for any jobs - a definite downside to having a longish temp contract is that you're no longer at the top of the list with the other temp agencies with which you previously registered. By the time Friday 5pm rolled around, I was really looking forward to my short work week. I had three days off and then work for two days for a bit of much-needed cash. Perfect. I had my three days off all planned out. I would go to the gym in the middle of the afternoon to avoid having to wait for any machines *bliss*. I would also clean the apartment because it's due for a good clean and I would get caught up on my laundry. I would drink a leisurely cup of coffee in the morning while reading the paper, and oh yeah, look for work.

I was just getting ready to leave for French class tonight when my phone rang. It was my replacement at the company I just left. She was having tremendous difficulty putting together the complex org chart that we started working on last week. My boss would like me to come in tomorrow to correct her mistakes and complete the chart as my replacement doesn't feel that she's capable of the task.

Now, I'm not a computer expert by any stretch of the imagination, but org charts aren't hard. I also find it hard to believe that there is no one in this company, which is incidentally an American multinational computer company, that can do this org chart. They have to call a contractor that just left back in to do the 1/2 day job (it will take me all day, I'm sure, I'm being paid by the hour). Actually, I can believe that no one there can do the org chart. They probably all said that it wasn't their job and got away with it. The "it isn't my job" attitude is something that I've found is unique to large corporations. I can't imagine ever getting away with that in the small companies I've previously worked for up until now.

I also can't believe that the person chosen as my replacement, who to her credit is a professional admin assistant, and I most definitely am not, is not very computer literate. She's working for a computer company! As an example, when MSN IM notified me that I had new mail while we were working together on my machine, she thought it was a pop-up from MS Outlook and that it was a work-related mail. She had never seen MSN IM before. She can navigate throughout most Office applications but it really seemed to me that she was remembering what she learned in a 10-week course, and not especially comfortable with the applications.

I can't help but wonder. If I'm so damn good at org charts, and no one else apparently is, how come I don't have a job? I'm not complaining, I'll get paid over €100 for this extra day, but there are just so many things wrong with this picture.

what's in a url?

I've had a couple of compliments regarding my choice of URL. First of all, thank you. I've also had a couple of questions about the inspiration behind it. Well, contrary to popular belief, it wasn't in any way connected with my move to Ireland but rather borne from an unfortunate incident at my 30th birthday party. No it wasn't just the drink, it turned out that I had the flu (no really). Anyway, I was recounting the events of my party to TH, a coworker, and said, "it came out of nowhere, I went from sober to smashed in 45 seconds". He then replied, "Ell, just promise me that whenever you do write your book, you'll use the phrase sober to smashed as your title".

So to give credit where credit is due: Thanks TH. It's not a book (yet) but it's on the Internet so that's something, right? Or maybe not.

TH, pour vous.

The job, or lack thereof

I am finishing up job #4 since coming to Ireland at the end of this week. Right now I'm temping as an admin assistant for a large American multinational computer company. After working here a week I soon realised why movies like "Office Space" are made, books like Douglas Coupland's "Microserfs" are written and why "Dilbert" is such a success. Every day there was something that just grated me about this place. First it was the superfluous use of acronyms. Now, I didn't get a handoff when I started so I didn't know my TEE HEE HEEs from my FOADs but that didn't stop people from expecting that I just knew what they were talking about. The thing is, they didn't know what they were talking about. Nine times out of ten if I asked them what a particular acronym stood for, the person I asked did not know despite the fact that they use that acronym in a sentence on a daily basis. The other idiosyncracy about the place that I couldn't get over was the abuse of the English language. Did you know that sometimes I hotdesked, and that I had to request that an item be actioned, and if I didn't get a response on my action request I would have to escalate the action? I felt myself getting dumber by the day. Pretty soon I would be working on some best-of-breed deliverables if I wasn't careful. Then I would be sent back to grade three to learn how to speak and write English again.

I was at said multinational for two and a half months. Now I realise that I haven't provided any background to my ups and downs over the past four months, which I'll do over time because like I said in my last post, I have a lot of catching up to do. Suffice it to say, I have had some real problems with moving out of my intolerable living situation and almost getting sued in the process for breaking the lease. It was nice to have a steady job and not worry about where the next paycheque is coming from. After about a month, I even started to like some of the people I was working with. That said, I wasn't really enthused about the job but I really thought I would be there until I found something else, not until they found someone else.

I told one of the HR representatives early on that I was interested in the marketing side of things since I was hoping that if an opening came up I could be considered. Unfortunately she tipped off my boss, who really liked the work I was doing, that I wouldn't be there for very long and they should find someone who actually wants to be an admin assistant, which to be perfectly honest, is something I don't want.

When I found out last week that I had a week left at the job, I was pretty annoyed about it. I was hoping to book a flight to Prague in July to visit my friend and also go to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival in August as well as London at some point in the summer. All of which are now put on hold. That said, after my annoyance wore off, I was pretty relieved. If I had to hear "Ell, my inbox is full again, can you vet some of my emails?" one more time... By the end of the day, I realised that I didn't really like the company, I certainly didn't like the job, I just liked the nice, steady paycheque.

Welcome

I am a Canadian currently living in Ireland. I decided to start a blog because I frequently have so much on my mind and so many things to say; observations about my newly adopted homeland, things I miss about home, and the joys and frustrations of the past four months (and counting). I really need to put pen to paper, or in this day and age, put fingers to keyboard. I've also been woefully behind on my email correspondence with friends and family so I figure this is a good way to get the word out on what's going on with my life without having to write several emails on the same subject. I have a hotmail account (I know, enough said) and when trying to organise my contacts into groups, I managed to make emailing more difficult because if I want to send one to most members of a group, but not the whole group, I can't edit people out for a specific email but at the same time, I can't find the email addresses in a master email list either to just select the people I want to send it to one-by-one. I would try to fix this, but I'm frequently online at a net cafe so it costs me money, and besides, I'm holding out for a gmail account.

So keep your eyes on this site, and I'll have more posted soon.