Nights Out and Nailing the Interview

I went for my interview in the Swan Centre, which was only a 15 minute walk from our house. I arrived just in time to meet a blonde woman at the Kylemore Café upstairs. She asked me to talk about my work experience, so I started from the beginning and talked about my first job in the concession of an ice rink, and how the building could hold up to 5000 people all wanting food within a four hour period. I joked about how it was scary for a first job, but made a point to talk about being placed in both the Popcorn and Dominoe’s Pizza stands without any assistance or supervision. Apparently this was the right choice, and I didn’t even get to talking about my most recent job. She was happy with how much cashiering experience I have, and when I told her my coffee-making experience is minimal to the point of pressing a button, she said, “That’s okay, we’ll train you.” Within ten minutes she had offered me the job with an, “I don’t usually do this but…” I took it on the spot.

Dale was waiting for me at the other end of the food court and was surprised when I showed up after only a sip or two of his coffee. What a relief it was to have my first interview over with! The job will most likely be minimum wage since it is a start-up company that my new employer, Anna, is building with her husband. And I mean “building” quite literally. We walked past the location downstairs, and the only aspect that wasn’t covered in hanging plastic or jip rock was the girlishly pink counter along the right wall. I’m not even sure what the café’s name is yet. My first training session will be tomorrow. Dale and I did our grocery shopping, which is a frustrating process to me, and we ended up carrying it all home in the rain. I collected my pay from Barry, which was a total of 240 euros. I also did a Skype chat with Brandie, who is moving into her first home back in Canada this week. It’s crazy that a friend I have had since I was seven is now the proud owner of a house! The conversation had to be a little short, but it was nice to see a familiar face. Later in the week I also spoke to my mom, Sydnee, Dominique, and even our cat, Loki. After taking the bus to Fitzgeralds that night, Joyanne broke out her ukulele and everyone in the nook behind us started cheerfully singing popular Irish songs like Galway Girl. We were invited to another bar, O’Neill’s, on Wednesday, and to Joyanne and Sophie’s birthday party on Friday.

Dublin from Daniel O'Connell's lap

Before going to O’Neill’s, Dale and I made a trip into town to stop at the USIT office. We had just found out that if Dale had a bill with his name on it and our address, he could then write a letter confirming that I was living with him. We wrote the letter at USIT, and paid for our tickets to Riverdance for tomorrow after my training (I’m hoping the timing will work out alright!), then walked to the PPS building so that I could finally apply for my number. Since it took forever and it sounded like the girl beside me was going to die of cough, Dale headed out into town on his own. He applied for jobs and picked up some strings for one of the guitars. I used my British passport to apply for my PPS number, and now have to wait about a week to receive it in the mail. Then we can finally set up a bank account! We ate Subway on the statue of Daniel O’Connell’s lap, then went home for a short rest and a glass of wine. It turned out not to be very relaxing. I had grabbed a glass from the back of the cupboard and only noticed after taking a sip that a spider’s legs were lolling in my drink.

Looking up at Daniel

At O'Neill's

O’Neill’s was much more pleasant. It turned out to be right across the road from where we usually get off the bus. We went upstairs and found Sophie, Tessa, and KT looking out over the oak counter at the very small bandstand. The band itself was small too, with only a guitarist and accordion player, but both were very good. We sang along to “Tell Me Ma,” “Little Lion Man,” and “Galway Girl,” which Tessa assured me she was not sick of yet. We watched a girl from one of the Pub Crawl crowds getting pulled onto the stage for some Irish dancing, and then the other three slowly headed home at different times. Dale and I stayed until last call, and ended up getting pulled into a conversation with a young Irish guy. The guitarist overheard him mistake us Canadians for Americans and called him out for it, which was hilarious. I reassured the guy that we were expecting that mistake right from the start, and that we weren’t really offended. He continued to chat almost non-stop as his girlfriend sat by quietly, then signed off by pinching Dale’s chest. Pretty weird guy.

Temple Bar at night

Thursday Dale went job hunting on his own in the rain, and came home feeling unsuccessful, but he has had some luck with jobs.ie since, including a posting for a horticulturalist, a job that he might actually have some experience in to back him up. In our odd bits of spare time we have started watching Doctor Who and playing a lot of Crash Bandicoot on Dale’s PSP, which is a game I rock at since I used to play it as a kid. On Friday we wandered around Dublin looking for the Dublin City Library and Archives building, which was supposed to be easy to find and somehow wasn't. I wanted to go to the free Genealogy event they had planned. As it turned out, tons of other people had the same idea, so we essentially had to take a number and go out to find coffee. For once it was decent coffee, but the library closed at 4:30 so that left me with half an hour to talk to a Genealogy expert. And the woman said I didn't have enough information to go on. She gave me advice, such as pick a living relative and either ask them for information to get me started, or start with their birth date and work my way back through the generations to marriage certificates, etc. She suggested using the websites findmypast.co.uk, or ancestry.com. I was a little disappointed, especially because these websites cost money, but I'm glad I went and found out what information was available. I would have been upset if I had missed it.

Then it was time for the birthday party, but we realized it would be difficult to get to because we are in the south and it is in the north. We took a bus into the town centre and were thinking about hailing a cab when we spotted the number 16 ahead of us. We didn’t think there was a chance of making that one, so we were very surprised and lucky when we were able to just walk right onto it! The party was at Joyanne’s house, which she shares with two male roommates from Cork. Most of the USIT group was already there, and the night commenced with vodka shots and chanting something in Russian. A new Canadian from Edmonton was there, as well as the Vancouverite, who told us about his travel plans and graphic design career. He clearly did better on the education-to-career mission than I did. Joyanne was delighted that Dale and I had taken her advice to watch “A Very Potter Musical” on Youtube, and we had a good laugh at the ridiculousness of it. Our cab ride home only cost 15 euros, so all in all, I was happy we had gone and gotten to know some of the group in a more one-on-one setting.

A group of SWAPers

On Sunday we found a giant snail way up on our front curtains. It had blended in very well. The type of wolf spider we found up there today was a little more noticeable. Even with the other spiders and now the snail, I felt pretty safe in this flat, but not so much anymore. It’s time to get out the tape and start sealing up all the cracks we can find. On a nicer note, we dropped by Niall and Leonie’s to give them some flowers (Chrysanthemums, of course) and a thank you card, and in return received a hair dryer, curling rod, and beer. They had just come back from their own vacation the week before, so we stayed for a chat. They also let us borrow some screwdrivers to get rid of our rusting shower rack, as well as their air mattress for when Julie and Stu come to visit us in a few weeks!

The giant snail on our curtains