Niki's Visit

This past week, Niki was here to visit me. It was great because not only did I get to see my BFF, but I also didn't have to work. Here, now, I will attempt to remember everything we did. I picked Niki and our rental car up on Friday and after getting a little lost, we came back to my apartment to re-pack for our Donegal weekend and to pick up Bridget. On the way out of town, we also picked up Chandra. It was going to be a real girls weekend. We got into Glencolumbkille in the evening and had a bite to eat and a nap before hitting the (small) town. We did the obligatory pub crawl (there are only 3) and met some of the locals.

Saturday we did a little sight seeing. We went to my favorite beach (Silver Strand) for some photo ops and to wet our toes in the Atlantic. It was lunch at the Tea House in the Folk Village in Glen to warm up after that. Then it was off to Ardara via Glengesh Pass to see the waterfall. We stopped at the chemist to visit Alisha at work as well. After that, it was off to the pubs again and a long night is was. The pub we were at stayed open into the early morning and then a load of us went off to the beach for a makeshift bonfire and sing along and to watch the sunrise. Super fun and super cold.

Sunday we joined Captain Paddy Byrne on his boat The Nuala Star and he took us for a spin along the coast. It was very windy and the water was super choppy so it made for an exciting 2 hour ride. We stopped at The Rusty in Teelin for a drink and then had dinner at An Cistin in town before having another exciting night on the town.

On the way home Monday, we stopped in Donegal town for a little sight seeing and shopping before really hitting the road. Stopped in Mullingar again for a breather and then had a quiet night at home.

Tuesday morning we had to return the car so we stopped for groceries on the way back. I introduced Niki to some of the delicious Irish foods such as Crunchy Nut cereal and Irish Pride bread, two staples of my diet. Tuesday night we went to Whelan's. It's the pub where P.S. I Love You was filmed. We saw a little live music by a Canadian guy. After that I took Niki to one of my favorite pubs in Dublin, The Hairy Lemon. It was dead but it turned out good because we didn't have to wait for drinks and we got to chat with the barman. He let us leave our mark on the pub, we pinned a dollar bill with our names and the date on it onto the woodwork above the bar. If you're ever there, check it out.

Wednesday we did the Wild Wicklow bus tour. The driver was insane and totally inappropriate which made for an excellent time. We drove along the coast and port and then through the Hollywood Hills of Dublin where we got to scope out the homesteads of Bono, Van Morrison, and Enya before getting to Wicklow. We stopped at Avoca for a bathroom break and to look around. They sell all sorts of cool stuff. They're sort of like Bibelot or Patina but they also do handwoven wool stuff. Wicklow was amazing, I would love to live there. We went to Glendalough, picked blueberries, had a pub lunch, and went for a little hike. Our bus driver even brought along a bottle of Jameson for us to enjoy. He put two Belgium dudes in charge of the bottle and they ended up drinking pretty much all of it...never trust a Belgian. P.S. I Love You was also filmed at Glendalough. The weather was gorgeous and sunny so we were exhausted by the end of the day. When we got back we had a cuppa at Bewley's (my favorite people watching spot) and then went home to catch up on some much needed rest.

Thursday we hit up Guinness where we did the tour and had a pint direct from the source. You'll never have a tastier Guinness. We had a unique and tasty dinner at Gruel after that. We went out to my other favorite pub, Flannery's, that night. It was insanely hot and packed but we had a blast watching a group of very entertaining dancers. Only in Ireland do they have Riverdance and they're national anthem as part of their playlist. I wish I could've videotaped the chaos that ensued when Riverdance was playing.

Friday, Niki and I hit up Phoenix Park. We walked around a little (the place is huge, bigger than Central Park), laid on the grass and people watched, and had a nice lunch. Friday, I took Niki and Rachel out in Temple Bar just to say they had been there. It's really touristy and full of stag and hen (bachelor and bachelorette) parties. After that it was on to a Dublin institution called Copper Faced Jack's. It's about the only "club" in Dublin and so has quite the reputation. It's something you only have to experience once. It's better on Monday nights when the clientele are mainly nurses, cops, and firefighters.

Saturday we did our shopping and sight seeing in the city center on Grafton St. and O'Connell St mainly. Niki wanted to see some live music so I bought us tickets to Sharon Shannon on a whim. She and her band do all traditional Irish music (she plays the accordion). I know it sounds lame but it was actually great and a very good way to end Niki's vacation. Sharon Shannon made "Galway Girl" famous with another Irish artist Mundy on the P.S. I Love You soundtrack. I know right, we had a total P.S. I Love You week...it was totally coincidental. Anyways, Mundy was also at the show and was sort of the surprise guest. It was great because Niki, Rachel, and I had heard a song playing at the Hairy Lemon one night that we were obsessed with. Nobody could tell us the right artist and Niki and I couldn't find the song anywhere online. Well, turns out it's Mundy, which we figured out when he sang it at the show (the song is "July" if anyone is interested). We met Sam and Chandra at The Hairy Lemon afterwards for a few drinks and to say our goodbyes. Niki made it safely home on Monday. I miss her terribly and wanted to hold her hostage. I'm currently working on finding her a job here so she can come back :). I wonder if Enya needs a nanny, we know where she lives. 

I'm officially an Irish nurse!

Well, it's official, I got my registration in the mail yesterday. I'm officially on the register for An Bord Altrainas (the Irish Nursing Board). Now I can stop being so passive and start ruffling feathers at work and they can't do anything about it. 

I had a rather eventful weekend. Thursday night I went to Estelle and Jay Z with Chandra at the RDS. It was a good show, not very packed. Friday, Jen convinced us to go to The Hoodoo Gurus (an '80's Aussie band) at The Button Factory. Also a good time. One of the pictures is her with the lead singer. Saturday, we decided to go to see Morrissey. It was at the old Royal Hospital which is now the modern art museum. It was outside on the grounds. The weather (mostly) cooperated. He put on a good show. 

Now that I'm all done with my work orientation/adaptation I have to start working weekends (boo). I worked my first couple of nights this week and it made me a much happier person. I know my educator doesn't want me working nights for the next few months (or as few as possible) but hopefully once that's done I can work straight nights or mostly nights. I'm working this weekend so there probably won't be much to report. 

My old weekend work crew from Regions sent me a fabulous care package for which I am so grateful. I have already utilized the Burn Center curly straw as you can see. I'm sure various other items from the package will show up around Dublin and in pictures soon. 

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. 

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. 

In The Name of the Fada

I've been watching this really hilarious show over the last couple of weeks and I thought I'd share. It's called "In The Name of the Fada" which is a play on words. A fada is an accent over a letter. It's a "reality show" in which Des Bishop, an Irish-American comedian, attempts to learn Irish well enough to perform a stand up act in Irish. Even if you don't know any Irish, he's pretty entertaining. During his training, he translates House of Pain's "Jump Around" into Irish. The first link below is a link to the shows, the second link is one to his website. There is a free download of "Jump Around" on it and some of his other stand up acts. 

http://www.rte.ie/tv/inthenameofthefada/

www.desbishop.com

Bruuuuuuuce!

Friday night, Chandra was nice enough to invite me to see Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band...for free! Of course I said yes, I can't pass up live music. I was rather impressed, he put on a good show. It was about 2 1/2 hours non-stop. I was mostly there for Max Weinberg but they were all good. The weather cooperated which was good because it was an outside show. They mostly did their new stuff which I hadn't heard a lot of but I liked it. It was at the RDS were Chandra works. I had never been there, it's a nice place. It's in the ritzier part of town right near the US Embassy (which is good to know). The rest of the weekend we just relaxed. I finally watched Borat last night which was rather painful. I watched it through my hands covering my eyes, yikes! I think it's a movie you don't have to see more than once, if at all. This afternoon we had lunch at a co-worker's apartment who lives 5 floors down from us. It was nice to spend some time with co-workers outside of work and catch up. JoAnn is very nice. She trained in England and has been living there for awhile but has just recently moved back. Anyways, she helps us try to understand this country and the way things work. Back to work tomorrow, no Memorial Day holiday here. Next weekend is a bank holiday weekend again and I'm off to Donegal for the Gaeltacht. It's just a weekend full of Gaelic Football and music. It apparently brings quite a few tourists into Glencolumbkille so it should be a bit of "craic". I'm looking forward to a long weekend away. I'm going to try really hard to utilize my camera. 

Home Phone Number

We now have a land line in our apartment. If, for whatever reason, you want to call me it's way cheaper to call a land line. The number is 011 353 014422636.