Notes From Another Land

The conversation of coincidences

Hope you had a lovely Easter long weekend! Before I delve into what we got up to in Edinburgh by way of too many photos, I must share a conversation I had today. Because really, this isn’t just a picture blog, it’s also for sharing snippets of everyday moments that happen to me. Rare or not, I meet a lot of interesting strangers.

Today, while waiting for another late bus to Dublin city (25 minutes behind schedule guys, c’mon, you can do better), I met a lovely older gentleman.

While asking him about train fares, we discovered his family and my husband’s family are from the same area of County Galway, they may have even taught my relations in Corofin. He also has Canadian connections now, as his grandson just married a Canuck from Calgary AND he almost accepted a teaching job in Montreal back in the day.

We spoke about West of Ireland roadtrips on the newly opened Wild Atlantic Way and reminisced about how beautiful Scotland is (no offence to you, Eire). He met his wife over there and they lived in Scotland for some time, he missed it when they left.

We exchanged names, pleasantries, stories about Irish Canadian weddings and we even discussed photojournalism. He owns a Canon (I used to) and goes into Dublin to get his film rolls developed (I used to know how to develop my own).

So what of this conversation of coincidences? Perhaps I am overly friendly or just too curious but I did see today is ‘Pay It Forward’ day. Next time you’re waiting to get to your next destination, why not strike up a conversation with a stranger – you never know what you may have in common!

In other news

While we’ve been busy settling in to Kildare, a few exciting things have happened since my last post.

We bought a car! It’s a VW so here’s hoping it lasts for the time we need it. Solid, red and manual. While I’m not a fan of being a passenger in life, I will give in until Canada can sort out its’ license swap with Ireland.

I now have a lovely home office! It’s light, bright and cheerful. While you glance up at your drop ceiling tiles in the open plan office where your cubicle lies, know that somewhere, there is an expat sorting through her paperwork one pink drawer at a time.

(Real) spring arrived! Although it has supposedly been hanging around since February, it decided to officially make its’ appearance known through blooming daffodils and budding trees. Much better. We even had a 15+ degree day this week with sunshine and the ice cream truck had a cameo.

I was in the Irish Queenslander magazine for my sports club’s December annual social, as a friend informed me. AND I was published in Global Living Magazine! Ok it was one Tweet but it’s still in print and I am a recognised ‘expat’. Thanks GLM.

Lastly, I booked a short trip home to Canada over the May long weekend. So not only will I have a post about Edinburgh after Easter, I can also write about spring on the farm in Ontario.

Looking forward to a month of short getaways and I hope you get to do a bit of exploring of your own this season too!

Mid-March mayhem

Our Paddys Day (or St Patrick’s Day) celebrations went off last weekend without a hitch. Everyone’s flights arrived on time, nobody lost their luggage, we had a front row view of the parade, found a space to rest our pints and it didn’t rain!

We took our friends around the village we live in in Friday night, stopping in a local pub that used to be an old house. They loved the cosy atmosphere and friendly banter from the bar staff.

On Saturday we headed into Temple Bar to watch Ireland v France in the Six Nations Rugby Championship. I don’t think they’ve ever been around Irish sports fans before – they couldn’t get over the floor shaking beneath us when Ireland scored a try and the amount of roaring that goes on during a match. I guess I am now used to it?

They were also astounded by the number of people drinking on the street all weekend and the lack of Garda police present. Again, I must have expected it from last year because it didn’t surprise me! The last photo is our view from Gogarty’s pub on Saturday night.

We danced to trad music, joked with locals, drank with foreigners and everyone had a sample of curry chips. I think they also may have fell in love with Ireland, or at least one of the guys did as he kept coming up with reasons to skip his flight!

We took a stroll along the canal on Sunday and fed everyone roast dinner, chocolate Guinness and Bailey’s cream cheese cupcakes, with a side of mojitos in preparation for the big day ahead.

We arrived early enough on Monday morning to buy a few extra green accessories and queued along O’Connell Street for an hour before the parade started. We kept our spot at the front of the barriers and had two families on either side of us, one came from halfway across the country in Athlone to join in the festivities!

The costumes were brilliant and the theme ‘Let’s make history’ took spectators through moments in Ireland’s past, it even touched on the Celtic Tiger with people shouting, “show me the money”, alongside a green tiger float spewing smoke into the crowd. Controversial maybe, but timely.

We had a great anniversary spent with friends and are now heading back to Salthill for the weekend in Galway to continue celebrating. Next big holiday weekend? We will be spending Easter in Edinburgh!

Another chapter

Today I cried for the first time in over two months. I was in the middle of a book store.

It appears as though I can’t apply for a driver’s license here because even though they exchange Australian licenses for Irish ones, Canada and Ireland do not currently have a reciprocal agreement. So even though I have had my license for 10 years, since I originally held a Canadian one, my Australian full license is null and void in the eyes of their current law and those Irish authorities just won’t budge.

Turns out they’re ‘working on it’ with the province of Ontario, where I am from, but because legislation takes ages to get through here, I’m told not to hold my breath.

On the plus side, I can legally drive here for one year with my Aussie license, I just can’t get insured. Which means I can’t buy a car. Even though I can drive one.

Lately I’ve been feeling like Ireland is a toddler that is testing me with their finicky ways and changeable weather. Or maybe they are a senile senior using words like ‘ambiguous’ on public transit websites. Plain English people, it goes a long way in public service communications.

But I refuse to bow down to these obstacles and I won’t be throwing my towel in any time soon. Sure, I may lose it in a moment of frustration in the middle of the self-help aisle, but my optimistic outlook is here to stay. So bring your restrictive policies, Ireland, I can take it.

As an aside, it’s our one-year anniversary tomorrow, so we will be quietly celebrating before our friends arrive from Berlin and London for a weekend of festivities!

The life of a LOL

We’ve been run off our feet these days. While the husband has been working for the past month at his new job, I’ve been busy buying bedding, sorting internet, attempting to make detox smoothies, ringing car salesmen and testing out the local cafes. And I tell you, the life of a Lady of Leisure (LOL) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

There are no 2pm champers dates with local LOL’s, visits to the spa or regular pedicures in the village. I feel like although I should have more time on my hands I seem to be accomplishing less. Or perhaps I’m used to frequent, mini achievements and must adjust to these long, drawn out tasks that will make our new life in Ireland easier to manage.

Turns out life is much easier with high speed internet, mobile coverage, a warm cosy apartment and a car. Slowly but surely, we are ticking those things off on our list which all sound like luxuries as I write them. For small town living in rural Ireland, it seems like a necessity for ease of access to Dublin, Galway and keeping in touch with the rest of our family and friends around the world.

I’ve been very fortunate in that I was able to accompany the husband on his first business trip to Germany, less than two weeks after he started. I strolled around the small city of Wiesbaden, eating bretzels (pretzels), visiting the local gallery and evening enjoying a dinner of schnitzel and Erdinger with his colleague.

This past weekend we went to see Italy versus Ireland at the Aviva Stadium, which was also Brian O’Driscoll’s last home game before he retires. The atmosphere was great, the day was sunny and the seats we had were unbelievable for last minute tickets! We celebrated the win with dinner at Matt the Thrasher with friends and even managed to catch up with another couple from Brisbane that are living in Dublin, before heading for drinks at the local politicians haunt, Doheny and Nesbitts.

This week we’re getting ready to celebrate our one-year anniversary. Time has flown and what better way to enjoy the occasion than by hosting friends from London and Berlin who are over for the Paddys weekend festivities! Time to stock up on shamrock souvenirs and prepare for another memorable March!

On a side note: a belated Happy International Women’s Day to all of the ladies out there and the men who are supportive of the women in their lives. I read a few interesting pieces but my favourite was the tips from Irish Minister Joan Burton who advised women to be ambitious and to accomplish things by challenging the status quo (aka misbehave)!

Irish times

We’ve been in the Emerald Isle for the past month, while the husband looked for work, we caught up with family and tried to get our bearings.

I dealt with this uncertainty and the ‘winds of change’ the way any normal foreigner would. Through Guinness, long and winding walks, baking in the turf fired range, guzzling down mug after mug of tea and filling everyone in on the ‘news’.

You see, one thing that is drastically different from living on the other side of the planet from your relations is, once you’re next door or in the same house, it’s like life’s little and sometimes insignificant updates go from 0 to 150km an hour in terms of how fast news travels. In other words, the privacy bubble, the little cocoon you create around your expat lives, is no more.

I am in no way saying this is a bad thing, as we both grew up on farms near small towns where everyone knows your business. You can walk into any shop and have a chat or wave to strangers as they pass you by and you receive a friendly wave in return. But a little privacy goes a long way and we did enjoy doing our own thing, as we pleased.

The other thing that has changed is our portion sizes and the menu options. You get SO MUCH food here. Needless to say, two meals a day and a few snacks will get you through. Now that husband has a job and we have settled into an apartment in the village, we can start to cook for ourselves and get somewhat back into a routine. Call me a Canadian granola cruncher but is it too much to ask for a bit of muesli or avocado on the brekky menu?

I have heaps of updates from the past month and some interesting conversations with strangers, which I will share in my next few posts. For now, we are unpacking the cases, rebuilding our little bubble and trying to get settled into Irish life!

Being a tourist in Toronto

We stayed with friends who live between Yonge and Bloor and Church and Wellsley in the Big Smoke before Christmas, after New Year’s and again when our flights to Dublin were cancelled due to the Polar Vortex.

During this time we had plenty of time to get better acquainted with Ontario’s capital (and the city most foreigners think is the real capital of Canada) during our first winter together up north.

We saw Canucks skating, walked the underground tunnels between shopping centres and subway stops and tried our best to stay warm in the -40 conditions. We moved briskly between the toasty apartment, cafes, Eaton Centre and we even slid along the park on the way to Steam Whistle Brewery near the frosty Financial District.

Here, we sampled pints while we learned of the story behind the ‘Three Fired Guys’ who brewed the little beer that is all natural and crisp, with a company focus that’s as green as the bottle itself.

We shopped in the former Maple Leaf Gardens, which is now a grocery chain with centre ice located beside the Asian ingredient aisle. You can stand and pretend to drop the puck before you pick up your spices for the week.

We marveled at the dinosaurs and cultural displays at the Royal Ontario Museum, dodging school tours along the way.

I also had the chance to pop by the Art Gallery of Ontario with my friend for their free gallery night where we watched locals learn how to salsa.

We ended our trip with an evening in Koreatown sampling delicious goods, topped off with a night belting out classic rock tunes in a karaoke bar.

Were we the only tourists wandering around in Toronto during the coldest winter in 20 years? Quite likely but at least we made the most of our time there!

Oh Canada

We have been in my home country, Canada, for two weeks now and have noticed just a few things.

– We will never be warm enough. The mercury’s been solid since we’ve been here, never straying too far from -10. That’s Celsius people.

– Our dollars are stretching further. Between home cooking, $5 breakfasts and free coffee refills, we are well fed and our bank accounts been looking pretty healthy too.

– We really missed free WiFi. Coffee shops, hotels, pubs, libraries, it’s been nice to connect with others abroad from the comfort of the cozy indoors, without having to register for an account.

– We spend a lot of money on outdoor winter activities. In an article in today’s Ottawa Citizen, they outline the Ottawa Canal maintenance budget for the world’s longest skating rink, a cool $1-1.5 million each year.

– People are just so darn nice! We went out for breakfast with friends and family after a post-wedding gathering we had at a local pub so everyone could meet my Irish hubby and a complete stranger paid for our entire bill. It was a Random Act of Kindness (RAK) and we are meant to pay it forward. My Dad was chatting to him afterwards and he said he spotted us the night before at the pub and thought our family looked really nice so he decided to treat us to a full breakfast. How sweet, eh?

– We are growing up. My sister just got engaged, one of my best friends also announced her engagement which we celebrated in all of our jet lagged glory and one of my good friends from college told us she is pregnant over a breakfast catch up this week. Looks like we will have plenty to celebrate over the coming year!

That’s as much as I have time to write on my free WiFi while I enjoy a drink at a pub in the Glebe. I hope you had a great New Year’s Eve and that 2014 is off to a cracking start. Best wishes!

The adventure begins

We are sitting at the airport in the lounge waiting to board our flight. We’ve made multiple weigh-ins and the check in area bins are now stuffed with toiletries, runners, magazines and other odds and ends that were weighing us down. Literally. We couldn’t get through until I moved my belongings around and I’m now sporting multiple layers and a 8kg lighter luggage load.

And so the adventure begins! It still hasn’t quite sunken in that this is not a Christmas vacation to Canada and Ireland, that we are saying adios to Brisbane (for now) and that we won’t be able to walk around bare foot in shorts in the below zero weather we’re about to encounter.

We’ve managed to pack in as many memories as we could in the past two extra months we spent in Australia.

I turned 28 in our temporary apartment, celebrating with a cake on the 30th floor.

We went to Tweed Heads to see where a community centre was named after a cousin of my husband, who was an Irish priest that emigrated to Australia in the 1950s, taking photos to show the family when we get back.

We celebrated the silly season with work Christmas parties where we snorkled, lounged on the beach and enjoyed a few Sailor Jerry’s at a high street cocktail lounge.

We hosted a ‘white Christmas’ party BBQ at our hotel, where friends stopped in to see us off on our last weekend in Brisbane.

And we even managed to squeeze in a quick trip to see Bon Jovi play their final show on their world tour!

It’s hard to believe Christmas is in five days, especially since we haven’t started our shopping. It’s also hard to sort out our feelings – they are a mixture of excitement, sadness, apprehension and a small dose of fear thrown in for good measure.

We don’t know what lies ahead of us but then again, who does? We can try to predict the future and drive ourselves crazy planning a path that we may or may not take, but life is unpredictable enough as it is. So why not throw in a few more and see what happens!

I hope you enjoy the holidays and here’s to an unforgettable (and unpredictable) New Year.