Christmas and the Causeway

This week included Christmas! So naturally, it was a great week. I only worked two days: one before and one after Christmas day. Niall arranged to pick Dale and I up after work on the 24th and drove us out to Dalkey to spend the night at Rosaleen and Vincent’s with him, Fionnuala, and Dollar, who is visiting from England. As I usually love to go to church Christmas eve with my family, I was happy to find out that Dollar was going to the local church for the early midnight mass. Dale and I went along to stand at the back of the little church with pale pink walls and a large, two hundred year old nativity set. I enjoyed a ceremony that made me feel like I was right back at home and at the same time awed that I was so far away from my own church but experiencing the same contentment and gratitude. The homily spoke to the corruption that has occurred within the Catholic church, emphasizing the danger of power and the care and purpose God took in bestowing it on a vulnerable baby. It felt like a perfect homily for Dale to hear since he always addresses these issues when we talk about organized religion. He was also surprised and impressed to hear that the first collection that went around was to support the priests, while the second donations went to charity. It was a nice and relaxed atmosphere. Plus, as Dollar pointed out, I got to make a wish since I had never been in that church before!

Dollar, Sennan, and Rosaleen

Rosaleen and Vincent’s house looked like an explosion of Christmas. The tree was massive and full of flashing lights, every inch of the wood border along the mid-wall held a different ornament, there were holly and garlands over the mantelpieces, and more stockings than you could count. The living room was always warm and cosy with a fire burning, and I found myself ridiculously comfortable and sleepy throughout the stay. Unfortunately Roisin and Damien’s one-year-old son Sennan had a bad ear infection and had to go to the hospital, so we postponed opening our gifts to each other until the next day. We did open our gifts from Santa in the morning, which for me included some jewellery and a scarf. In the evening we enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner and watched terrible Christmas TV throughout the day. Even the Doctor Who Christmas Special was a disappointment. We even had a proper Christmas pudding, watching the whiskey fire dance around the cake like galloping blue horses. I even got to phone my mom and dad since there was free calling on Christmas day.

Fionnuala drove Dale and I home late in the day, and Dale and I opened our gifts to each other from the warmth of our bed considering our place was significantly colder than Rosaleen and Vincent’s. Dale gave me a pair of fuzzy pyjamas which I’ve been living in ever since, as well as fuzzy booted slippers, two bars of chocolate, Celtic knot earrings, and a large bottle of Bailey’s. I gave him an Irish-style cap, a nice pewter Dublin, Ireland wine stopper, and a Claddagh ring.

Work the next day was short and actually kind of pleasant. I received thirteen euros in tips just for breakfast, where we usually receive nothing. There was really only one rude customer, who responded to Dylan’s, “Merry Christmas, sir,” with, “You would say that.” I rode the bicycle home and Fionnuala took us back to Dalkey, where we joined Roisin, Damien, and Sennan for the gift exchange. I felt completely spoiled by everyone when I received enough gifts to fill the nice green leather purse I was given with warm scarves, socks, and even money!

Dale and I slept on the floor of the front room again with a fireplace at our feet. Everyone slept in, which was delightful considering most of my mornings have been starting around five am. We lazed about in the warmth for the day, and Dollar and I did a puzzle Vincent had started (how like home!). Dale and I also brought the laptop in order to book a day trip for Saturday—unfortunately I managed to drop it and now one of the fans is poking out.  But it works fine, so we booked a Paddywagon Tour to Belfast and the Giant’s Causeway, then Fionnuala drove us back to Dublin again with her little dog, “Bff,” enjoying the ride on my lap.

Looking towards the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge

Crossing the bridge!

We were up bright and early on Saturday to catch a bus to our Paddywagon bus in the dark.

A windy day

We drove for a few hours, the bus driver nearly giving me a heart attack when he asked for our passports at the “border” for a joke. We stopped only for coffee and bacon butties before arriving at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in the north. It had been closed the day before due to the weather, so we were incredibly lucky that it was open and nearly dry out. The bridge was made by fisherman to cross to the island, where they could more easily set out on their fishing trips. Dale and I braved the bridge and stood on the island cliff even though the wind picked up and dashed us with large raindrops that froze our foreheads.

The rope bridge

Lucky with sunshine

Sitting on the Giant's Causeway

The next stop was the Giant’s Causeway. Fionnuala had warned us that her experience there wasn’t as great as she had expected because the columns seen in pictures make it seem much bigger than it is, but I loved it. The tide was out so we were able to walk down to the coast in the cold wind and climb across the hexagonal basalt columns almost right up to where the ocean was breaking and splashing into the air. I couldn’t stop smiling I was so happy to finally be there in person. The official story is that the columns were formed by lava cooling suddenly in the ocean, but the tour driver told us the legend of Finn McCool, the giant who created the causeway in order to fight another giant in Scotland. Apparently he caught sight of the other giant and ran back to his wife in Ireland because he hadn’t realized he was so large! His wife disguised him as a baby. When the Scottish giant showed up, he caught sight of the baby and in turn ran back to Scotland, tearing up the causeway behind him. He thought that if Finn McCool’s baby was so big, Finn McCool himself must be massive!

Almost splashed

Dale and the mountain

Hiking near where Harry Potter was filmed

If you look closely you can see Dale enjoying the wind!

Though we didn’t have much time given it was a one day tour, Dale and I hurriedly took one of the trails up the cliffs. We knew that the sixth Harry Potter movie was filmed in the area, so I wanted a better look. Up at the very corner of the cliff we were met with such strong wind that we leaned against it and let it hold us up! I was having so much fun just with the weather over the ocean that it looked like I was laughing over nothing.

Dunluce Castle

We then hurried to the local pub, where we had had a gorgeous sunlit view of the fields and village by the cliffs across from us on the way in, but by then it was stormy over top. In the pub we ordered hot chocolate, a cider, and soup and sandwiches, which we ended up having to wrap it up and eat on the bus. This was fine by me. We stopped for a photo of Dunluce Castle, a chunk of which once fell into the ocean, including the kitchen, taking the cooks with it. Our last stop was in Belfast, where Dale and I did some window shopping and bought sushi for the drive back. I had a red dragon roll, which wasn’t too bad, but naturally was not the same as Gon Sushi’s!

Merry Christmas Belfast!

Today I spent the day in my pyjamas, but I did book Sydnee and myself a Harry Potter tour in London! Dale has decided not to come, but we’re already thinking about what Irish adventure to go on next!

Telegrams!

There was a much smaller group at Fitzgeralds than usual last Monday, but it was nice to have conversations as a whole rather than in small groups what with the group being so large these days. Ally invited Dale and I to see "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" with a few others the next day, so after work I headed into town on my own. I tried to do some shopping but ended up only succeeding in having dinner at Hot Wok since Dale was pretty much running from work. We were late for the movie and ended up not even sitting with each other, let alone the group. It was too bad, but even worse that I had such a bad tickle in my throat I thought I might have to leave or be kicked out. By the end of it I was also thirstier than I’ve ever been in my life and had to chug a bottle of water from a corner store. It was hard to enjoy the movie, but I know it definitely had its merits, and we did at least get to talk over it with the other guys, and even Lisa, who happened to be there that night too.

On Wednesday Dylan from work arranged another 12 Pubs of Christmas night/Harry’s birthday party. But first I went to Grafton Street with Katie and Irena to accompany them on a little shopping. It was really strange to be going shopping and drinking with work people. On my walk back to the bus stop my umbrella was destroyed by the wind and huge construction blocks were sent sprawling into the road. In the evening Heather, Dale, and I went out to the pubs together and despite being two hours late found everyone still at the first pub. I believe they only ever made it to five, which means Heather and I managed to go to all of them despite having to work the next day. Walking between two pubs we had buckets of rain dropped on us and cut into the nearest pub miserably cold. To my delight there was an amazing smelling fire to sit beside while I attempted to dry my hair, jeans, and jacket. Dale went home. At one point a fight broke out right beside us in Everleigh between one of our chefs and some stranger who decided to strangle him. Dylan was kicked out later because someone pushed him, then he got back in, and then sent out by the same bouncer because he recognized him. A high-up in the hotel showed up and apparently made-out with two girls. Plus, I heard of another fight. It was not at all what I had been expecting, but I actually enjoyed safely observing the drama, and seeing the people I work with out in the real world.

5 Pubs work party

Thursday after work I stopped in at Fitzgeralds because they were doing a customer appreciation event in which you could get four free pints. I ate a dinner of fish and chips by myself for about an hour watching the fire in the fireplace, then Heather turned up and we sipped our drinks as she ate her meal and I had an apple pie with ice-cream. We were ready to go by the time Stephen turned up, but stayed for a short chat with him and Thomas, then went to pay for our food. To my disappointment the pints weren’t free until after nine o’clock and we both were too exhausted and had to work the next day to wait it out. Considering it was my sixth day in a row going out and getting up just after five am, I went home and crashed immediately. The only thing I remember is Dale coming in to give me a hot water bottle at some point.

On Friday I Skyped with my Dad after work while Dale made salmon. I think I watched the Walking Dead later. I also have a memory of walking across St. Stephen’s Green with Heather at some point, but I don’t remember why. I may have actually been a zombie at that point, but I really don't remember.

On Saturday after work I cut across St. Stephens Green to Grafton Street and bought Dale his Christmas presents. I road the bike home since it was the usual bus-free-morning weekend, and nearly got hit by the Garda, who apparently didn’t shoulder check. Then Dale and I kept Heather company at her place since both her roommates were away. We watched Elf, ate cookies, chips, drank tea, and kept warm under blankets with hot water bottles. We followed this up with Gifs, and I laughed until I could hardly breathe and tears were streaming from my eyes at Reverse Cotton Candy.

On Sunday Heather and I came out of the Conrad to find the sky still a little light out and snow falling! I was surprised by how happy this made me, like a Christmas wish come true. Check “see snow in Ireland” off the list! I left the bike locked to a fence and we walked across St. Stephens Green (again?), and almost almost literally ran into Dale going in the opposite direction along Grafton Street. When Heather was done the last of her shopping we wished her a merry Christmas and she left to pack for her flight home the next day. Dale I did some Christmas shopping after stopping at the new KFC, then split up while he tried to find gifts for me. I took the bags on the bus, and he took the bike home.

Today I delivered a Christmas card to Leonie’s parents, then stopped in at the post office to pick up a parcel from Mum, which I was excited to open when Dale got home from work. I also stopped in at Tesco, where I met the most Bah-humbug Irishman ever, who complained to me about the Christmas music, the commercialization of the holiday, and no one actually believing in anything anymore, which he blamed on the English. I was polite with my, “Mhm,” and, “Oh yeah?” responses, then I started chuckling to myself as soon as I had walked out of the store.

I have now received five Christmas cards! One each from Sara, Missy, Jill, and Rosaleen and Vincent, and the one from my family in the parcel. Which means three of them arrived today, so I had a big smile on my face! I also work tomorrow, have Christmas day off, work the next day, then have three days off, so I’m quite content with the schedule at the moment and excited to travel somewhere in Ireland on the weekend with Dale. Unfortunately I’m hoping to have the second week of January booked off to see my sisters in London, so there won’t be much money coming in soon. But my Teacher Education Program application is finally underway, so at least that can get off my mind! On the other hand, Dale’s boss finally pulled him aside the other day to ask him what his plans are for March. The lady who was gone on maternity leave will be returning then, and Dale will be out of a job. We have some thinking to do!

The Christmas package!

In the parcel from Mum I received candy, including Mini Eggs, two necklaces, woolen socks for Dale and I, a deck of hockey playing cards for him, Christmas crackers, Christmas decorations, including the bauble I made with Harry Potter's face that reads, "Have a Very Harry Christmas!" and more!

I even loved the wrapping paper

The 12 Pubs of Christmas

This work week went much more smoothly than usual, barring a few rocky moments, as could only be expected. The guy I worked with last week who had been so rude and unhelpful to me was spoken to and he approached me while I was working on the terrace at Alfie’s to talk about it. He followed me around for a moment like he thought I was going to ditch him, then motioned for me to follow him into the temporarily deserted kitchen. I appreciated that he wanted to discuss the issue, even if he didn’t approach the subject the way I would have. In the end we shook hands and I’ll let it lie while hoping I won’t have to work with him alone again. I also confirmed my shift switch so I’d be off on Sunday, and then found out I had Monday and Tuesday off too. Not to mention I was allowed to leave early more than once. Later, I spoke to the Food and Beverage manager, and she said she would keep me off of serving wine until I had some training in the new year. I even received a text late Thursday night to say I didn’t have to come in so early on Friday, cutting down my twelve hour shift into nine hours.

Joyanne's song

After work one day, Heather and I headed over to Penneys to buy some Christmas gifts and our Christmas jumpers for USIT’s 12 Pubs of Christmas event. I also bought candy canes to decorate our tree with. She and I went to Hot Wok for Indian food, where Dale met up with us before heading to Cassidy’s for Joyanne’s goodbye party. Cassidy’s is the pub with writing all over the walls and free lollipops. Later we went to O’Neill’s. Joyanne was welcomed on stage by one of the guys from the old band, Hot Whiskey, to sing a song with them while we all raised our glasses. There was a 12 Pubs of Christmas pub crawl going on as well, so the room was packed by people in Christmas sweaters dancing like maniacs to the Irish music and clearly having a grand old time. Myself and the two Heathers ordered warm Kopperbergs, which came in black mugs, tasted like warm apple juice, and were quite delicious. We stayed late, but when we got home I was relieved to find out I didn’t have to work until 9 the next morning.

One of our tables at Fitz's Christmas dinner

The 12 Pubs of Christmas was most definitely the highlight of my week. The idea was to have a drink in every pub, which is now a Christmas tradition here in Ireland, while wearing Christmas jumpers. Heather and I were let out of work so early that we made it to the first pub and meeting place, Fitzgeralds, very windswept and with rather damaged umbrellas. The snowman's nose on my sweater was honked a little early in the day. But we watched the others having their Christmas dinners and puddings, then exchanging Secret Santa gifts, all while drinking with our left hands, then moved on to Fibber Maggee’s, where we couldn’t use anyone’s first names. As it was only about two in the afternoon, the dark pub was a little seedy. Lisa, from USIT, managed to say three names in a row and had to take three shots, which she did very stoically, followed by a fourth right after.

The next pub was Murray’s Bar, which was right across a courtyard of pubs. We all made sure to use the toilet at the last place, since that was the new rule. We sat on benches under heat lamps, which reminded me of Oktoberfest. Next up and only across the courtyard was The Living Room, which is where I found a shard of glass in my expensive White Russian and received a new one. There was no swearing in this wide, indoor, green-lit pub. I won’t comment.

O'Connell's. Most of the photos are to Sammy here's credit

At O’Connell's Bar we sat downstairs and drank with our right hands. I shared some bruschetta and chips with Sydney and Sammy, which was a good idea considering I only realized just now that I never ate any dinner. We moved on to The Long Stone, where Dale finally caught up with us in the busy pub and we were not allowed to hold our own drinks. Dale immediately had a shot in an effort to really catch up.

There are at least four people involved in this photo.

There was no sitting allowed in JW Sweetman's, and anyone without a jumper at Lafayette’s had to down a pint. I’m not sure which pub was which, but we stood in a fairly empty but dark room in one, and at the top of a flight of stairs at the other. It was dark outside by this point, and the half hour we stayed seemed to fly by very quickly.

Christmas jumpers! Dale, Sydney, myself, and Heather

In Doyle’s we had to link arms with a friend. We were starting to run into other 12 Pubs groups in the overcrowded bar, and I have to say that I was impressed by some of the sweaters. At Hogan’s Bar we had to speak with an accent. I chose to mimic Rachael from Friends with, “Bombay is bery bery nice this time of year.” This is the pub where Heather and I ended up sitting comfortably on the curb with pint glasses in our purses, regardless of whether people were watching us stuff them with tissue and slip them away or not. USIT’s photographer for the night was very amused by this, and I will be bery interested to see the photos that emerge soon. Dale made friends with some Irish lads and got a smack in the back of the head from Sammy, a good man for delivering the “smoking is bad for you” newsflash!

We're grand.

We shop at Penneys! Ally and I were not the only doubles that night!

Eleventh pub? With a nice photo bomb from Brant

Trinity Bar was up next, where we were not supposed to sing despite there being a band playing Irish favourites and Christmas songs. I knew I was going to fail at that one before we even walked in, but I’d decided long ago that there would be no shots for me that night, no matter how impressed I was with Lisa’s commitment. Finally we arrived at The Turk’s Head Pub, the rule being, “Just try to stay upright!” There was dancing, I never did see Lisa, money all over the ground, the groups splitting off at random, and eventually a stroll across the road for kebabs at Zaytoons. Tessa and Melissa, old friends of Heather's from Germany were visiting, and they joined as we finished eating. Then Heather, Dale, and I split a cab home.

Too pleased here, Dale.

Melissa, Tessa, Heather, and I. I have no idea who that is in the back.

The next day I was glad I’d chosen water at one pub and that the night had started so early that we could truly sleep it off. I felt perfectly “grand.” Dale wasn’t so lucky, but not so bad either. We walked down the street for a Traditional Irish fry up at Bijou, where we’d never been before. It was expensive but delicious, and included eggs, bacon, sausage, bread, a cappuccino for me, and  blood pudding, which is a little puck of croutons held together with blood. It was just like stuffing but a little liver-flavoured. The restaurant was very cute with dangling blue Christmas lights and a window that looked out right on the road. We took our time eating, then headed into town for some Christmas shopping on Parnell Street. Down a backstreet we found a bubble tea place, but neither of us were that impressed with out drinks. However, it was nice to just stop and do whatever we felt like while everyone else was rushing around.

We did a small grocery shop on the way home, then enjoyed some TV time. We both got up at 3:30am to join my family via Skype for their happy Christmas present unwrapping. They had to do it early this year because everyone will be in different places for the actual day. We watched quietly from our perch over the fireplace, then said goodnight and returned to bed, me quite glad that I didn’t have to work the next day.

Santa Sighting on Dalkey Castle

On Tuesday Dale took the bike into town to see the Avenged Sevenfold concert. He got back after I had already gone to bed, but said it was great and that someone dancing managed to accidentally knock another guy out cold with his elbow. I got to take some old pint glasses home from work, which are pretty cool. On Wednesday after work we went for an O’Neill’s night, which we haven’t done in a long time. It was a good thing we went too, because it was the band’s last night and we got to enjoy some good banter about the Canadian usuals. The bar was also decked out in garlands and “fairy lights,” which looked fantastic.

O'Neill's

After work on Thursday Katie and I took the bus to Rathmines, where we had MacDonald's before meeting up with Dale and Heather to finally see The Hunger Games! We were all pretty impressed with the movie, which was intense as expected.

I thought Saturday was the worst day of work yet, but then Sunday followed it. I was determined to quit today. I got a call on Friday to stay late Saturday, which brought my hours to nine and half hours. I said yes. But then I was thrown into a Christmas party where I was taking drink orders and people were asking me about wines, which apparently I was supposed to open in front of them in a specific way, and I had no idea what I was doing. I was stressed out and completely embarrassed. I was asked to stay an hour even later after that, but luckily it was to be spent polishing glasses and silverware in the safety of the back room (a place where we regularly get hit by a flying door). After ten and a half hours I was exhausted, but knew I was walking away with about 86 euros.

Making the day a little better, Dale surprised me with a tiny Christmas tree and a string of about ten lights. We turned on some Christmas music, set up the tree, then went out to bring back hot chocolate. I think the tiny tree looks great in the tiny apartment.

Our Christmas tree

Sunday was worse, despite being only six and a half hours, because the hotel was expecting more guests than it could hold in the restaurant and I was paired with a partner I do not care for. I was expected to stay on the floor and take orders while he collected them from the kitchen, but instead he went on smoke breaks and left me to deal with the guests asking me multiple times for their food. I ended up having to write all the orders on a notepad to keep track of all the chaos, and when he turned up he had the gall to say in front of customers, “You need to work on your memory.” I walked away before he was finished speaking because I’d had enough of his comments all morning. I became so frustrated with the customers complaining to me, the hostess coming to me to ask for tables to be cleared (which I was keeping up with as best I could), the supervisor coming to me to tell me to clear specific tables (which I was working on), and generally being blamed for his lack of support that I took a time out to breath in the linen closet and try to stop myself from punching him in the face or swearing at him. When breakfast was finally over he tried making jokes and saying you need to stay calm and everything will be all right. Even this made me angry. It would have been alright if I was paired with someone who was willing to work as hard as I was.

One of the supervisors pulled Heather and I aside at the end of the shift to ask us how we thought the day went and I was honest. I had to take a deep breath as I told him what my partner had said. He promised to have a word with him and agreed that writing the orders down was the right thing to do. But it definitely wasn’t easy to “tattle.” It also did not help that the schedule starting Monday didn’t come out until Sunday, especially since I had worked six days in a row right after Spain. I hadn’t realized I had requested Monday off, but was so glad to see that I actually had been given it, and not a seventh day of work.

Rosaleen had invited Dale and I over to Dalkey after work for Christmas festivities, so Niall and Leonie picked us up and heard all about my terrible time at work. I mentioned that I might wait it out until after the holiday I’m planning in January because I would get vacation pay still rather than being unemployed and going away. My youngest sister, Sydnee, will be in London before her study abroad in Wales, and my other sister, Dominique, has an eight hour layover on the way to her internship in India, so it’s too perfect an opportunity to miss.

The crowds and lights

Santa on Dalkey Castle

The Christmas festival in Dalkey was very cute. We had dinner with Rosaleen, Vincent, Fionnuala, Niall, and Leonie first, then headed into the centre with Rosaleen and Fionnuala. We were handed mulled wine as we walked and watched the sizeable crowd chant for Santa to appear on the top of Dalkey Castle. Across from Dalkey Castle was another tower in which a live nativity scene was set. We were the first to arrive after seeing Santa wave down at the kids. We found Mary and Joseph locked out after a pee break and making jokes about there being no room at the inn. When we got inside the rough stone building, which was quite tiny, there was even a donkey and goat standing around the couple with baby Jesus. Then we walked through the light-bedecked tram yard to where an ice rink had been set up for the kids. It turned out to be some kind of slippery flooring and not ice at all! We enjoyed another mulled wine at the house later while watching Niall and Leonie set up the huge Christmas tree. The high ceilings here in Ireland are perfect for Christmas time.

"Skating"

Setting up the Christmas tree

When we returned to Dublin Dale and I were supposed to go to Heather’s party at Dicey’s, but both knew we needed a nap first. I woke up two hours later as the neighbour made a loud bank next to my head and immediately knew I’d been asleep a lot longer than twenty minutes. Unfortunately I felt sick to my stomach and after trying to get over it for a while, I realized there was no way I’d be able to drink, which meant the rest of the night was a write-off. I spent Monday trying to decide what the heck to do about my job. I sent a message to the HR lady to discuss the late rosters, the fact that I’m scheduled for twelve hours on Friday, and another six days in a row, how uncomfortable I was working Christmas lunches, and the fact that I only want to work the morning of Christmas day, if at all. I got a message back saying she was away from the office.

By the time Dale and I arrived at Fitzgeralds I had decided to hand in my resignation the next day. I either wanted to be done Thursday, or in the expected two weeks if it could be arranged that I didn’t have to work the lunches. It was Joyanne’s last Fitzgeralds night, and Heather’s actual birthday. We signed Joyanne’s goodbye book and enjoyed the winter stew and some pints. I had asked the bartender a few weeks back about the Guinness posters that Heather loved, and when I reminded him he came back with armfuls of Guinness paraphernalia that I could give her for her birthday, including a huge black Guinness flag. I’m keeping one of the posters!

After Fitzgeralds Dale and I went out to Temple Bar with a slightly different group than usual. Brant had heard that Will Ferrell and Steve Carell were going to be there after the Anchorman premiere. We got to know some of the newer members better, but by midnight had to head home because we both worked the next day. The cast didn’t show up as far as we know, so luckily we didn’t miss anything. The bar did look very cheery with even more lights and garlands than O’Neill’s.

Temple Bar

At work today one of the girls offered to take my shift this coming Sunday. She also suggested I speak to one of the supervisors about not working on the floor at Christmas lunches. She encouraged me that they would be receptive. So instead of quitting I spoke to the same supervisor as I did on the weekend, first agreeing to work an hour later that day, and then bringing up my issue. He actually was fairly supportive when I told him I was uncomfortable serving drinks and said he’d keep in mind my suggestion to work in the back instead. Not all the issues are solved, but at least that’s a start that might get me through to January and another job. The manager seemed annoyed at our schedules too, saying I might as well have had another day off since I was only scheduled for four hours today, so I’m hoping he will start making changes. Although I wish he hadn't said that to me. Otherwise, the day was much better than I had expected.

At some point Heather and I also stopped in at USIT and the Shake place for a visit with other Heather and Joyanne over milkshakes. I had Reese Peanut Butter Cups blended in mine, which was delightful! Then she and I did some Christmas shopping at Penneys.

Hopelessly Lost in Barcelona

Being a shisha dragon

On Tuesday this week Dale, myself, Todd, Heather, Anne, Caillan, and Chris had a shisha night at a little tea garden in front of the Liffey. We went straight down steep, winding stone steps from the street and then had a little booth of our own with pillows to sit on. It only cost about ten euros for the raspberry shisha and midsummer tea. When I first sucked on the hookah I was very surprised by how light the shisha was to smoke, and it had a strong raspberry flavour that I enjoyed. It was the last night we got to spend with Chris before he returned to Germany, and it was a very relaxed evening.

A photo from Heather's céilí party

On Thursday I had a huge job trying to convince Heather to come out for drinks in town. Anne and I had planned a surprise Irish dance party for her, and she had been out late and up early the entire week. In the end I convinced her that there was a new pub to see and we met her at 8:00 for a very intimate party with two hosts. We had lost a number of people to work, so the women made an exception for our party of seven rather than ten and gave us an hour of  Irish songs, some history, and some group dance lessons! Ocean and Anne looked a little like hillbillies with their entwined arms and elbows up in the air, and Dale made me laugh because of the intense look of concentration on his face as he tapped his way towards me. Afterwards the two Heathers, Anne, Dale, me, and Sammy went to the Hard Rock Café. Most of us had a few girly drinks, and then Dale and I turned in because I had work at 6:30 and then we needed to go straight to the airport.


Dale met me at work on Friday and we walked to the appropriate bus stop. While Dale went in search of a sandwich, I had a ten minute conversation with an elderly lady who charmingly said when I sat down, “Use your head to save your feet, that’s what my grandmother always told me.” The line has been echoing in my head all weekend. Everything went well with the flight, but I seemed to have managed to tell Danielle the wrong time for our arrival. Luckily we brought along the laptop so I could fire away at Nanowrimo on the plane, and I checked it as soon as we found a MacDonald’s upon arriving. She had sent us a message saying to meet her, Tyler, and Ignatius, our English relative in Spain, at a restaurant. But Dale and I didn’t know how to get to our hotel, and the cab drivers were not helpful at all. We tried a train, and then had to follow it up with a cab. By the time we were checked in it was very late and I was very upset. I hadn’t even finished Nanowrimo because the stupid flight attendant made me turn off the laptop when I would have had a good half hour to finish up!

The view as we made our way up to Gaudi's park

In the end Danielle and Tyler came to our hotel room, which was a smoking room and had a spare cot bed. They sat on the cot like a couch facing us, and we talked and did some catching up until after 3am. I was determined to finish up my measly 700 words in the morning, but all the back and forth trying to figure out where Danielle and Tyler were had finally killed the battery. The hotel had no adapters, so I was determined to find one the next day and take the hour siesta time to finish. It sounded perfect.

Familia Sagrada in the distance

Gaudi's lookout

We went to the covered market for breakfast, where we shimmied through packs of people down tiny aisles and bought freshly squeezed juice smoothies (mine was kiwi-coconut) and little pizza-pocket-type foods. Then we sat at some high chairs off to the side at a tiny coffee shop and sipped café au lait. It was quite cold, so I was glad to warm my hands on the mug. Afterwards we walked to Gaudi’s park, Park Guell, which was up a steep hill, and checked out his architecture, which uses shapes found in nature. Despite it being morning, Tyler found himself a beer. As we walked to Gaudi’s Familia Sagrada, a cathedral that is still under construction, Dale went into a wine store were they let him fill up an empty bottle of water with wine for just over one euro. I will quote him on this one: “Let’s move here.”

This reminds me of dinosaurs for some reason

Me and Danielle

Pterodactyl nests?

Gaudi's Familia Sagrada

We shared plates and plates of tapas for lunch in a cheap restaurant that was one of the few not having a winter day’s siesta. My favourite was the toasted bread with melted cheese on top, but the plate of garlic shrimp was delicious too. Danielle and Dale tried fruitlessly to talk me out of finding an adapter and popping into the hotel for an hour to finish Nanowrimo (on the last possible day), but Tyler helped me out by saying I should just go do it, and eventually Danielle gave me a handful of

directions and said to meet them at a pub where they would be watching a rugby game. We found an adapter for 5 euros, then I had to get on and off the metro three times, then I was supposed to go left for one block, and right for three. Well over two hours later it was dark and I was sick of wandering around and around alone. I had asked a cab driver where the Confortel Hotel was, and he had no idea, so my last resort wasn’t even useful. Eventually I went into another hotel to ask for directions, and the receptionist said he was glad to help.

I was frustrated beyond human endurance when the laptop then decided it wouldn’t hold a charge. I had to go back downstairs to get another wifi password because you could only have one per device. I messaged Danielle on my otherwise useless phone to say I was safe and now that I’d finally arrived there was no way I wasn’t going to finish my writing. I grabbed the piece of paper the internet code was written on and ripped off the 633 words I needed. I still couldn’t believe I wasn’t going to be able to validate it on the Nanowrimo website. Then I grabbed a cab and got dropped off on La Ramblas, the pedestrian shopping street, and made my way to the pub where Ignatius was apparently waiting too. I had only met Ignatius once before, so I was seriously annoyed that the second time was on this night, when everyone was waiting around to find out if I was alive and getting more and more angry as they waited around.

However, Danielle insisted I have two shots of jager in a row, plus the rest of Dale’s cider, before we moved on to the next stop, which was a tapas pub down a small alley. Ignatius pointed out sights along the way, and we ate tapas and drank rosé standing over a decorative wine barrel outside the skinny glass French doors . The bizarre thing was a girl in the group of Canadians next to us was from Sardis, the town right beside our own, and happened to know Cameron, Julie’s brother.

A blurry photo of me and Ignatius

The next stop on the apparent pub hop was an oaken bar down some more cobbled alleyways. We sat or stood at the bar and had some more drinks, then Ignatius headed home and we decided to make our way back to the hotel. I’m pretty sure we took the Metro, and we ended up in Danielle and Tyler’s room before I ended up in front of the toilet.

When I woke up the next day it was to find that the laptop had a bit of a charge, and Dale had typed up half of my handwritten page. I set to work typing the rest up, then altered my Nanowrimo account to Hawaiian time in order to finally copy and paste the entire novel in for validation. At long last my efforts were rewarded with the “Winner!” title, and I can say that I did, in fact, do all the 50,000 words within the month of November. Against all the freaking odds imaginable.

Me and the Mediterranean

Sunday was warmer than the last days, so I left my light scarf and gloves behind and we headed for the beach. The sun was bright and the sky was a clear blue as we walked along the boardwalk and across the sand to touch the Mediterranean Ocean for the first time. I know the Spanish police were wearing balaclavas, but I’m pretty sure we could have swam in that water if we wanted to. Eventually Danielle and I were walking along in tank tops. I had a run-in with the ocean as I tried to pick up a bright blue seashell, which got everyone laughing because I managed to criss-cross my legs like Bambi while running from the wave. Luckily it barely got my shoe, and I did get the seashell. Tyler had a run-in with a homeless man. The guy handed him a disgusting chunk of coconut, then demanded payment for it. Tyler told him to get lost—incidentally, the “f” word is apparently world-wide—and the guy threw an empty water bottle at his back. I think he was crazy to pick a fight with a clear rugby player and he was lucky Tyler thought he’d dropped the bottle himself. He just picked it up and we walked away with it.

The duck pond in the middle of the church

We ate lunch sitting on the patio at a seafood place near the beach. The payaya, which was rice with prawns and mussels on top, was a hit with everyone else. It wasn’t my favourite food, but it was enjoyable. I do love seafood, even if it does stare back at you with large black eyes. After lunch it started to get dark, but we found another market, this time outdoors. I loved to see the Christmas decorations hanging from the booths, whether it was garlands for sale or chunks of plant life, not to mention the Feliz Navidad signs. I hadn’t thought about how close to Christmas we actually were on this vacation to Spain, and it was a delightful surprise. Because it was Sunday we were also able to go into two churches for free. One was a fascinating combination of duck pond and palm trees in the middle of an old stone catholic saints’ worship space. The other was a cathedral with high ceilings that were somehow illuminated with light.

Inside the cathedral (at night)

On La Ramblas again, Danielle and Tyler tried to bargain their way into a metallic bull decoration, but the vendor didn’t end up going cheap enough. As it got later we made our way to another tapas restaurant where we had a very enthusiastic waiter, spent 18 euros in Nestea’s, and ate ourselves into food comas. We went for a siesta this time, Dale actually falling asleep in the bathtub while I crashed fully clothed over top of the bed. Then we went for drinks in a little pub we found on a nearby corner—I had a mimosa—but since it was Sunday there wasn’t much open late. When it closed, we stopped in a corner store for snacks, then went back to the hotel and watched a little Spanish television. Before long the food coma made a reappearance and we all crashed again.

Feliz Navidad!

In the morning we went to the same place for breakfast as the day before, and all ordered bacon and eggs. Bacon is not the same in Ireland as it is at home, so it was wonderful. We had our café au lait, then Dale and I said goodbye to the two of them and got back on the Metro, then the train, to the airport. It was a bumpy ride, and I was full of dread about going back to work again the next day. However, I am very grateful to Mum, Jonathan, Grandma, and Danielle for the early Christmas gift of Spain. We couldn’t have done it without them! And today after work I found a letter from Taiwan! I was so excited to hear from Emily, a university friend who is teaching out that way. She gave me some advice on being away from home for Christmas, and generally made me smile. I loved getting her letter!