At the Café!

This week I went from feeling very low about working all the time as a cashier, to feeling…well, better about it. The first week was quite stressful, and the only day I had off was Thursday. Then I worked all weekend and will continue until I’ve done seven days in a row. Then I might get one day off. And I hear the tax on working so much makes it not worth it. I still dragged myself out on Monday to the Fitzgeralds night, using our Leap Cards for the bus, which make it cheaper. We ended up separated into small groups because it was so packed. I talked Harry Potter with Cedric, having just finished the first book, and exclaimed over two of our members’ never having watched either the movies or the books! We swapped stories about having the bejezus scared out of us and decided there are some scary movie nights in order. Despite that plan, we ended up going to Heather M’s new place on Thursday to watch Disney movies. It took us an hour walk and a minor meltdown because we couldn’t figure out which way we were going for the billionth time. But other than that, the night was exactly right. 14 people crammed into one tiny room to sit on pillows and the backs of couches just to enjoy Mulan and Alice in Wonderland on two little laptops we synced up. I have to say, I was happy to discover that a large number of us knew the words to “We Are Men,” and consider it just the best song ever. One of the girls apparently belts it out in the middle of the night, according to her half-annoyed, half-amused roommate. I had to laugh, thinking of myself and my sisters.

To my great surprise, two of my fellow employees were fired. I mean “sacked.” One for having another engagement during opening week, and the other for simply not getting along well with one of the owners. I’m glad I’m still standing…hopefully my constant asking of Anna to repeat herself doesn’t get too annoying. Every now and then, with her and with customers, I’m not sure if I don’t know a word, if I can’t hear it because of noise, or if I can’t understand the accent. However, I am getting better with making coffee as well as knowing our foods! I really enjoy having interesting soups and salads for free at lunch. Too bad lunch is only half an hour after all, and I never know when I’ll get it. It will be nice when everything settles down. I have had a few customers who were quite friendly, and I noticed Anna take a picture of me and one who I happened to be laughing with. Another looked at me funny for a moment and said, "You don't have an Irish accent." She was from the States, and we talked a bit about VISAs and working in Ireland. When I told her I had been here almost two months she said, "Oh, you're new!" The man she came in with left a little tip for us, which we are going to share out at the end of each week. But to add discomfort to the mix, on Sunday I had these intense deja-vus that I have once in a blue moon that make me sick to my stomach in the most horrible way imaginable. It happened twice, and the first time I actually went to sit outside. I couldn’t get my mind off them for the rest of the day because I still don’t know why they happen.

I have had three sets of visitors at the café. The first was Dale on opening day to tell me he had finished his interview at Lenehan’s Hardware, and that he got the job! He also reported that we made the best coffee in Ireland. So there you have it: within the first two months of our stay in Ireland, both of us found employment. Dale’s may be a three-six month job, but it could also carry on for the rest of the year. He starts this coming Thursday. My second set of visitors were Rosaleen and Fionnuala! They happened to show up while I was on my lunch break, so I got to sit with them and chat about how everything was going with the new job and the new place. Fionnuala suggested we go to Newgrange together one of these days and offered to do the driving, which would be awesome since we never did figure out what shuttle to take. My third visitor was Leonie’s mum, Della. Unfortunately I was tired and a little out of it from having just seen a bunch of customers in a row, so I didn’t recognize her right away. But it was very nice to see yet another friendly face!

An old photo, but relevant!

In my spare time I finished reading the second Harry Potter book, and I think it has helped to keep me sane because I looked forward to coming home and reading more. Dale and I are still enjoying Doctor Who as well.  He has had practice re-stringing guitars this week, as well as tuning them by ear. But I am not enjoying having no days off to do laundry since I only have three appropriate black shirts and still no uniform in sight. Thankfully, Dale was on the case today and I at least have fresh clothes for work tomorrow!