I am amused by some of the commercials, including kitten-branded TP that a guy wears to the tune of Kung Fu Fighting.

I’ve been surprised by the number of TV shows in Gaelic Irish. Right now I’m watching an Irish language talent show where viewers call in to vote: stoopid. It’s much like English language talent shows, but the judges are sickeningly nicer even when performers stink, and every other act is Irish dancing. One of those was 40-something moms who all needed sport bras. The judges tell everyone they are brilliant.

I’ve been to work two days so far and only hit a couple curbs (I consider this success). Everyone takes a tea break in the morning (which also includes a lot of breakfast foods) and then a couple hours later everyone eats a big lunch together. The cafeteria has been quite good so far and recycling is the norm. I have to say my coworkers are extremely friendly. I’m having issues getting my computer set up so I’m even less useful than I would otherwise be, but it looks to be an interesting job once I get done reading a LOT of training.

Tonight I wasn’t very hungry after all the food from work, so I decided to get some fries chips to go for takeaway. I stopped in my first real pub, where the locals were watching soccer football. The bartender left right after I placed my order and the cook had to get a beer for an old guy who just arrived. The bartender came back after a couple of minutes with a roll of foil he’d just bought down the street to wrap my fries! Then he repoured the Carling in the right glass (the old guy wouldn’t drink it in the wrong glass though he didn’t say anything to the cook when he poured it) and I chatted a bit with another old guy who was friendlier. Back to the hotel for an unhealthy dinner!

On Wednesday, I am going to the police station Garda to complete some immigration paperwork, getting a bank account, seeing my house (but not moving in yet), and getting up to Cork for the first time to see where to shop and figure out if this country has any fast food places.

Post Office in Kinsale

Harbor shots; all but the first one are right outside my hotel window

That big ship was full of some kind of sand. It woke me up two days in a row when they took the lid on and off. It took them a whole day to unload it into trucks.

This mast has been turned into a tourist lookout point

Driving from the airport yesterday, we had to stop for some hounds in the road. Shortly after was a guy with a walking stick, and around the bend a couple of riders in dressage with their horses. I can safely say I haven’t run across a hunting party while driving before.

My relocation agent showed me the house briefly, but I can’t move in for a week. Then she led me to the hotel, where we dropped off my car (that was enough left-hand driving for me!) and she took me to work so I could find my way later. The “downtown” of Kinsale has narrow streets and little in the way of traffic signs; it’s a good thing she was driving, because it was terrible to figure out who had the right of way and two cars couldn’t fit past each other in several places. But we made it, and today (Sunday) I made the trip myself, which went fine since I had to focus on driving and not on how close we were to the walls out the window.

On Saturday, I had dinner at an Italian place in town, about a ten minute walk from the hotel after I got lost for another ten (I wasn’t about to drive or figure out how to pay for parking yet).

I stayed up to a “normal” bedtime but still slept too much today, and now I’m up at night again. I made it downstairs for a little breakfast Sunday and was able to find fuel for the car (1.269 Euro per liter, which I think is over $7 a gallon? can’t believe they rented me a car almost out of fuel) and get a few snacks. Sunday’s dinner was at the Blue Haven, a yummy mushroom risotto.

And I bought wine on a Sunday, a brand that is corked at home for $9 but was €12.49 here with a screw top.

The view from my hotel room

Mom: a pay toilet!

I watched Up in the Air, and I wondered if they played it on purpose to encourage us to fly ten million miles. My airline was the same as the one in the movie. I guess they might get more travelers if we thought we might be sitting next to George Clooney. I think the Oscars are going on Sunday, but I didn’t really find this film to be fabulous enough for best picture. Maybe the first ten minutes I missed were the awesome part.

All three of my flights were pleasant enough since I never had anyone sitting next to me. Heathrow was pretty sucky, and I’m glad two people warned me before I left. The maze of corrugated metal halls was like hiking Battlestar Galactica. It’s like no one planned the space or travel from one terminal to another: it took me a good 40 minutes to get from my long flight to the short one to Ireland, with heavy bags, and all the turns and halls made no sense. Perhaps they hoped to weed out undesirable immigrants by wearing out the weak ones before they stepped on British soil. The flight screens were all down so it was pretty confusing to figure out where to go anyway. At least all the customs, security, and immigration stops were quick and easy.

My first thoughts on stepping foot in Cork: Stairs? Down from the plane and then back up into the terminal, and by then I was really tired and the bags seemed heavier. But soon enough I was speaking with the immigration guy, who was expecting me (now that’s a good relocation agent! this guy recognized that I was on a company transfer when he saw my name on my passport), and after a few stamps and holding up everyone in line behind me, I met my agent and got some cash and was driving on the wrong side of the road! Have you heard of a Nissan Note?

I’ll pick up again later since it’s five in the morning and I’m tired again. I can only sleep in two hour stints but at least I don’t have to be anywhere for another day.

Arliss has her own blog! Yes, that’s right, I kicked her to the curb while I went on a European adventure for a year and she has already taken over her foster home’s computer to complain about it. I guess she got an even bigger head when she became a famous Disapproving Rabbit.

Please visit Arliss and I’ll try to let y’all know when she posts a new rant. Those are the only kinds of posts she will be publishing, I’m sure.

We had a big housecooling party last weekend which was a lot of fun and was also good for forcing a clean house! Meanwhile I hit a HUUUUGE pothole, got a flat a mile later, walked home, and had to get roadside out twice for help. The rim is bent and I have to go deal with getting the repaired wheel put back on soon.

Arliss leaves for her Cincy-area home tomorrow. This week’s last vet check shows her in great health and I expect to see her back, still stomping at me, in a year! The pigs went to my parents’ home a couple weeks ago, the frog went to David’s brother, and Vegas fuzzbun leaves in a few days. The zoo is shrinking. Soon the humans will equal the nonhumans, but I still think the dogs have the best deal in getting to sleep all day and have all their meals prepared for them.

A big country house and a castle house have now fallen through with various drama (sorry guys, but at least the pictures were neat), but our agent has found a great place for us a thousand feet from the sea! The fenced yard and minimal furniture will meet our needs well and it’s only ten minutes from work (and a mile from a 17th century fort with star shaped fortification).

view from a bedroom

It was supposed to be unfurnished but the agent talked the owner into at least some beds and chairs, so now I have to come up with lamps and pots and TV and spoons and everything else. I’ll probably be in a hotel for several days to start, anyway, so I’m just letting it all slide. It will be fun to explore and find my new belongings. Flexibility is the central part of this adventure, and that’s a huge step for this overplanner.

The hardest part has been not knowing the date I’m leaving. Without a work permit I can’t purchase a flight, and planning for HR and IT items that take several weeks of notice is difficult as a result. Meanwhile HR and IT and seven vendors need various approvals and forms and knowing the date I’m arriving to set up anything for me, and none of that is established. My pallet of stuff arrives on the island before I leave and even before I have an address for delivery!

Work computing, form filling, inventorying, and banking adjustments remain. And moving all my stuff from the desktop to the new laptop! I like the idea of a simpler system but I did send a real monitor and wireless input devices and my actual office chair. Maybe I can entertain myself in my empty house by rolling around in it.

One of the properties on our short list of where to live in Ireland is what I’m calling the Mother-In-Law Castle!

The Dower House, Kilbrittain, Co. Cork

It was built in the 17th century for the MIL of the lord of the ridiculous c. 1035 castle across the street!

I keep thinking we need boiling oil or maybe Nancy Drew will stop by and find something under the staircase. I’m already afraid of the wine cellar and the “sub-lower level.”

pics from kilbrittain.net

Anyway, I found this while cleaning up for a fun going away party:

My first pets and their method of dispatch:

I also found evidence of hours spent at our first home computer, an Apple IIGS, for a school report. I drew a diagram I saw in a textbook, I think around 5th or 6th grade:

And here we have Amy creating a Rudolph-pulling-Santa’s sleigh photo op. I don’t know if we DID anything once dressed like that or if I just made the outfits and had the picture taken, but there ya go.

My favorite comment is that “she’s like a punk rock retiree”

This tool makes a graphic of how your tax dollars are spent (or were spent as compared to years back to 1940) if you enter your income.
Where your money goes

And everyone needs a giant guinea pig along with a regular one.

She had another checkup today and the vet couldn’t find any evidence of the abscess. So unless we feel something else collect under the skin, she just gets to finish healing! No more poking and flushes. It only took three abscess surgeries after the incisor removal surgery and a lot of aftercare to get us here. Her weight is stable and I will keep supplementing her food to make her stronger. She’s been through a lot in less than two months.

We’re pretty sure of her birth month from the story of the person who had her first, plus she was young but full grown when she came to me nine years ago. I just had one bunny at that time: my first, the beloved Luke, who later became Arliss’ pal. My friend didn’t want her bunnies anymore and Arliss and Cow came to live with me because she was going to give them to a circus or petting zoo. Can you imagine Arliss in a petting zoo? hahaha She and Cow had some seriously rough starts under that family’s care; I learned a lot about vet care with my new acquisitions! Arliss was originally named Avarice, which I thought was a terrible name for a bunny. I wanted to change it but call her something that sounded similar and that’s how she became Arliss!

Arliss’ first day home back in 2001. You can see she came with the glare.