15 June 2008

Rody Bolands




I went out on Saturday night with some girls from work to celebrate a couple of birthdays. I thought I would post a couple of pictures to introduce you all to some of my new friends. We went to a pub in Rathmines that was so much fun called Rody Bolands. The first picture is Jen and I. She's my friend from Australia that works in Nephro-Urology. The second picture contains Bridget (my roommate from New Zealand, she works in Oncology) on the far left, Jen, Rachel is in the pink (she is from Northern Ireland and works in the transitional care unit), and Mary is to the left of her (from Essex and works in the high dependency unit). Rachel and Mary are roommates and live in the same apartment complex as Bridget and I. The last picture is Rachel again. 

On another happy note...Niki is coming to visit me! She'll be here July 18th-27th. I can't wait to see her and explore Ireland with her. 

12 June 2008

My internet frustration.



I have the day off today so I'm on a mission for internet that consistently work. We currently have our phone, internet, and broadband through one company. They haven't all worked together since we got it. I called the company to complain and tell them that I wouldn't be paying my bill until everything worked. The customer service guy who was helping me replied "You're just trying to get all kinds of money out of me aren't you...you Americans." I couldn't believe it. If not paying for services I don't receive makes me American, I'm proud to be an American. Argh. 
Another upsetting piece of news...the Ireland Prince show was cancelled. Nobody has really said why except that it was out of the hands of Prince and the production company. It better not be just Prince being Prince. 
Work is still slightly frustrating. When I first started work, my educator told me I would be expecting to "seek out my own learning opportunities" so I did. Then, the following week she told me I should only be focusing on the way the unit is run and the daily activities, not to even focus on the burn cares (this is a burn unit right?), basically telling me to stop seeking out my own learning opportunities. So, that week I just did what I was told. Then, the next week, my educator told me I seemed "disinterested". Kind of odd considering my Kiwi roommate had heard the exact same thing the day before from her nurse educator. I only found out this week that another one of our friends from Africa had also been told the same thing. Those nurse educators must go to weekly meetings where they're given the word of the week. The other week, it must have been "disinterested". I just told her that she was giving me conflicting tasks and that she needs to be more clear. It takes Irish people a bazillion words to say what we can say in one short sentence and I think they take that as disinterest. I kind of told her that in a very nice way. She has kind of left me alone since. At least all us foreigners kind of stick together. 
A couple of weekends ago I went up to Glencolumbkille for "The Gaeltacht". It's a big gaelic football weekend that happens at a different gaelic speaking location every year. Lots of towns apply and this year Glen was picked. They fixed up the town really nice. A lot of buildings had new paint jobs and landscaping, etc. The town was packed full of people from all over Ireland. It was great craic as they would say. It was football all day and then music at night. I'm glad I had the opportunity to go. Gaelic football is a pretty entertaining sport. It's like football, rugby, volleyball, and soccer all mixed. I got to practice a little Irish as well.