Farmer's Market

So I went to the Farmer's Market today... again. It's becoming a little weekend ritual of sorts. The nice weather the past couple of weeks has made it easy to enjoy the outdoor shopping. It's great for getting fresh produce and they've got yummy cheeses, pesto, and falafels!! Not to mention the fresh lemonade. Now where else would you get a combo of items like that???

I never had a falafel before last weekend but there's a man who has a little tent there and he sells these amazing wraps for 5 euro. He's also the man who had the lemonade. SO yummy. There's another guy who sells really good pesto. He's got about 3 different kinds and it's great on just about everything. He's also got all sorts of jams, sauces, chutney, etc. There's a woman who sells jewelry, a man with a fish truck, one tent has plants, another cheeses (great tomato and basil & chili, like pepperjack). This is what the set up looks like:

On my way back I decided to stop at a new store. It's not really new to Arklow, but new to me. They've got the craziest shoes mixed in with some more traditional styles. I picked up a new leather bag and new pair of kitten-heeled shoes. They're both dark brown leather and SO cute. I only spent 50 euro between the two and saved over 150 euro off the original prices. Two new pairs of shoes in two weekends. I need to stay out of stores that sell shoes!

No big plans for this weekend. I'm thinking I'll take it easy and try to be in good shape for my match tomorrow. Soccer this weekend. We're in the cup tournament, which means we can win the league. How that happened, I'm not quite sure. We haven't won a game all season. I've been told we're still 3rd from the bottom. I'm hoping the nice weather holds up through then.

One week from now and I'll be cooking dinner (or maybe taking them out) for Crystal and Kara! Yeah!!! Can't wait. It's almost good they aren't coming until Saturday. I didn't realize that EVERYthing is closed for Good Friday. Including the pubs. Christmas and Good Friday are the only two days that happens. Crazy. Monday is also a bank holiday, which means that Sunday will not disappoint. It sounds like my Gaelic team is already planning on being out in full force and Geraldines + alcohol = definite fun.

Hope you all have a fun weekend, whether you're out partying or at home relaxing. I'll catch up with you early next week!! ;-)

Knackered

'Knackered' is an Irish word for 'tired' or 'exhausted' which is what I am after training tonight. Tuesday was bad enough with all of the sprinting and then he made us do it again tonight. He added a minute this time - or so he thought. He didn't have a watch on the other night and thought we ran for 15 minutes. It had actually been about 30 minutes. :-) I timed it but wasn't about to tell him. He would have made us go for 31. Yikes!

Father Ted is on tv right now. Quirky little Irish comedy about priests who live on Craggy Island. It's on NetFlix if you subscribe. It's funnier than British comedy (in my opinion) even though it's a sort of older show. You should check it out if you get a chance. It's good for some stupid humor.

Tomorrow is the big 'Programme Forum'. We're walking through the schedule line-by-line with pretty much everybody involved in the project from 11am to 4pm - which means it will run late and I'll be stuck there forever!! Oh, well. As always, a good learning experience.

I'm seriously exhausted and going to pass out. It's almost 10pm here and I'm like an overtired child this evening. I'll try to make more time tomorrow night for a more interesting blog. Sorry for the slacking! ;-)

Deadly!!

'Deadly' is my new favorite 'Irish word'. It means 'cool' or 'awesome'. Sunday night was deadly!! I meant to go out for 1 or 2 drinks and instead ended up out UNTIL 1 or 2. Actually, it wasn't quite that late, but it was certainly late enough. Damn Lisa and her double vodka and Red Bulls!! My blog has been a bit bare lately so I made certain I took photos to entertain you all:

This is a typical Sunday out at the pub... band jamming, people dancing:

Then you throw in a few football players and change pubs:

Then head to a true 'local' pub for a sing-song and to finish the night:

Deidre was really thirsty (above) but in the end decided to share her Mickey Finns with the rest of us (below). Thanks, Dee!

It was a really fun (though unexpected) night out and was well worth being a bit tired yesterday at work. I didn't feel so bad because I was still really productive and got quite a bit done. Boy, was I glad to see my bed last night though!

I'm hoping the weather these past few days is an indication of what summer is going to be like. It's been beautiful!! I even fired up the grill for some steak, seasoned potatoes, and brussel sprouts (very popular here and came out pretty damn good for my first time cooking them). The clocks changed on Saturday night so the days are much longer. It's already light until after 7pm - I'm looking forward to training in natural light. The lights on the pitch just aren't the same!!

So I'm off to head down to my other project to work on the schedule. I've apparently been picked by my boss to present it to all of the owners, architects, staff, etc. on Friday. THAT ought to be interesting, considering it has over 1100 items on it and I only started working with it last week and a half!! I'll keep you posted on how that turns out! ;-)

Ahhh...

That's the sound I just made after taking a lovely long sip of my Sam Adams Boston Lager. I treat myself to it every now and again... It's a bit of a splurge at almost 15 euro for a 6 pack, but well worth it every once in a while. Now to find something not fried to eat with it. I was too lazy to go to the grocery store after work so there's no fish to cook. I spoiled myself (and Noush) with salmon steaks and mussels last week. She had already had Chinese but even she managed to eat a good helping - I impressed myself with it.

I downloaded two episodes of Bones this week. My mom usually records it for me but she missed the episodes. Itunes had them so I downloaded them, but there isn't really any way to get them to dvd so I can watch them on a regular tv. I'll have to hook up my speakers and watch it on my laptop unless somebody out there knows how to get it to my tv. I looked online but with no luck. Ugh.

Ahhh... another sip of Sam. No big plans for this weekend. Just my 2 matches on Sunday. I've got football at 11am and then soccer at 3pm. After screwing up every time the coach was watching last night, I doubt I'll get much playing time. I don't mind so much though because I actually did well when he WASN'T looking so I know my skill is at least improving. My kick-passing and accuracy is up. I was catching the ball on the fly, and I was having no problem making runs and finding open players. I was solo-ing just fine too. Practice makes perfect, I guess.

Anyhow - my friend Joan is stopping over so I have to pick up the clothes I have hanging all over the place drying. I hope you all have a great weekend!! ;-)

Cruel Teasing

Teasing is just not nice. No, I'm not talking about a school yard bully. I'm talking about Crate and Barrel. They keep sending me e-mails (granted, I signed up for the list ages ago) with lovely things I would adore having in my place, but they're SO far away and shipping is SO expensive. I want a Crate and Barrel here! Or maybe an Ikea... They're having a hellish time getting planning permission (permission to actually build) in Dublin. Something about it creating too much traffic. Of course it would create traffic. It would be the only decent homestore in Ireland!

My typing today is totally off. I think it's got something to do with my fingers still thawing out from last night's match. It was SO cold last night. Windy and raining on top of it all made for some very purple, very stiff extremities. Brrrr!!! I got to play most of the match, even if the first half WAS for the other team. It was only a friendly (aka scrimmage) and the other team was short until players could make it there from work. It was a good experience and I had a brief warming up period during the first 10 minutes of the second half (my raincoat never felt so good) before Paul put me on at corner forward for our team. I don't think I did half bad and I feel like I learned more about where I should be in each position, so maybe the cold was worth it. Training again tonight. I'm hoping it stays a little warmer...

I'm still running back and forth between my normal job site and the one at the main office in Arklow. It's a bit of a pain but I'm trying to catch on so I can take over the schedule and progress reporting for the €90million+ job the company is doing down there. I could use the scheduling experience and I like a challenge so it should be good for me. It's just a lot of history and work in place to catch up on. It's nice being back in an office with loads of people again though. It gets kind of lonely up here in Rathdrum!

Alrighty - my time is limited up here today so I've got to get some work done. Hope your week is going by faster than mine! Just think - tomorrow is Friday and whether you're in Ireland or the good ol' US of A, it's ALWAYS a welcome day of the week! ;-)

I Survived!

I survived my first St. Paddy's (I was corrected by all people Irish when I spelled it 'PaTTy's' the other day) Day in Ireland. It wasn't too much different from most other weekends out here, except that everyone was much drunker much earlier and there were plenty of crazy hats and green shirts to be found around town. Beer was flowing and good craic was to be had everywhere.

The parade was an interesting site. There were a few good floats, some tractors, some concrete trucks, some kids, some cars... just a hodgepodge of local companies getting a bit of free advertising in, from what I could tell. The sidewalks were jammed and the kids were excited, so I guess it was mission accomplished for the parade planners.

Our friendly match for Gaelic on Saturday was not a win, but it was a good match anyhow. Our trainer, Paul, was pleased with us for holding our positions and making space. He said we improved, even if we didn't win. The team we played were the Wexford Co. Senior Lady Champions, and we put up a good fight. Oh - and notice how I said 'we' because I actually got to play half a match at corner forward. Everyone said I did well, so I think it was a step in the right direction. Just watching the matches is a help because I get to learn the rules and what I really need to work on. It lets me figure out what questions I should be asking at training to help improve my match. It's so strange learning another new sport again. I like it though!!

Yesterday was another day out - watched rugby in the sun and snow and then took it easy for a while before heading out to dinner (had the BEST steak at Diablo's - first time there and it's my new Arklow favorite) and met my friend Joan and a few of the boys out for drinks. I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open, so it was an early night and I slept like a log! There's a really good band playing in town tonight so I may stop in to check it out for an hour or two. This weekend feels like it's stretched out forever! I guess it kind of has...

Time to walk over and get my car. I'm so NOT looking forward to heading back to work tomorrow. ;-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

My first St. Patrick's Day in Ireland... I hope it's better than everybody says it will be. They tend to talk it down like it's really not a fun night, but the shear volume of people going out would convince me otherwise. This year has two advantages - 6 Nations rugby is on all afternoon so the pubs will already be packed AND it's on a Saturday.

Arklow is decorated in green orange and white flags. The shopfronts have all of their finest green clothing displayed. Little kids are walking down the street wearing funny hats with shamrocks on them (that look like they were probably a fun school art project) and the parade floats are parked along the way, being made ready for the parade.

This year's parade doesn't look to be so hot. Apparently, there's not so much as a marching band in it. It's looking a lot like boy racers and lots of business floats. We'll see.

I've finally got my broadband set up so I'm sitting on the couch watching Ireland play Italy in rugby as I watch this. It's a good match so far and Ireland is up 13-9. There are 17,000 out of 22,000 Irish supporters at the match. Their national anthem was louder than Italy's. That wouldn't seem significant, expect that the match is IN Rome! :-) Can't say they don't show their colors and support for their team!!!

I have to head to the shower so I can get over to watch the parade. We got beat in our Gaelic friendly match today. It was just one of those days where everybody was a bit off. I played most of the second half and didn't do badly for the times I got the ball. It wasn't making it up to the front of the pitch quite as much as it should have... Hard luck - and probably hard training too. Our coach/trainer seems set on the idea that we need more sprinting. Ugh! I suppose what won't kill us will only make us more fit!

I hope you're all having a great St. Patty's Day and I'll get back to you tomorrow or Monday (I LOVE having broadband) to let you know how it really turns out! ;-)

Text, text, text

Lots of texting goes on in Ireland. It seems to be the preferred method of communication, right behind speaking over pints at the local pub of course. People don't call (or 'ring') each other very often - they always text. I can pretty much guarantee that if my phone rings on the weekend, it's a business call or Noush. Everybody else just texts.

I mean everybody. I know kids as young as 8 who have their own phones and they can text just as well as most adults. It's like a sport to watch the teenagers texting here. They can hold a full conversation with you in person and text and entire conversation with another person without ever losing eye contact with you. It's crazy.

I've developed a fairly quick texting hand as well. It's an easy mode of conversation while at work and it's easy enough to 'group text' a team to let them know when the weekend's matches are being played. It's also the preferred method of conversation when I need to reach my mom with a small question or tidbit of information. Way cheaper than calling and she's even gotten to the point where she uses 'text speak' to type away messages.

The other thing that's kind of funny about text is that it's really popular with tv and radio programs. It wasn't like that when I left the States, but who knows? Maybe it's getting there. Anyhow - people text in instead of calling in now. It all comes up on a computer in front of the DJ and they can read them out or discuss them or whatever. Same thing with radio contests. People text in their answers and then it's a random draw instead of the '10th caller' or whatever.

So that's my little tidbit on Irish life for today. I'm a bit busy with cleaning up other people's messes at work today, so I really should get back to it. Hope you're having a Happy Hump Day!!! ;-)

As Noush once said:

'The odds are good but the goods are odd.' I love that saying and I'm sure Noush will enjoy that she earned herself a title shout-out in my blog! :-) Well deserved. That was said in reference to a night out on the town I had a few weeks ago where it seemed that every other guy I talked to hit on me. I'm not sure why or what was going on, but it was noticeably strange. Maybe Irish guys are just friendly. They can certainly be odd. The saying was proved correct again when Noush and I hit the town on Saturday. What a crazy night of talking to people.

There were farmers, coworkers, married men, sportsmen, bartenders... you name it. Now I know how the guys who used to be my housemates felt living in America with an accent. It's an instant conversation starter. Lucky them!

This weekend was the weekend people switched the clocks ahead in the States. Not so much here. We have to wait until the 24th into the 25th of March. A bit behind the times here. Ha ha. Get it? Behind the 'times'. Yeah - I'm horrible. I know. Anyhow - that makes me an hour closer to all you folks reading over in the States. It's nice to think of you as being closer, even if it's only in theory.

In other news: The Geraldines kicked some bum in the match yesterday. They only played the starters with two subs, so most of us were spectators. Spectators in freezing wind and pouring rain - so we did a lot of cheering to keep warm. The ladies blasted through the first match of the season, with Liz scoring more than most people will all season. It was good to watch and made me feel a little more comfortable about what I need to work on in training so I can be on the pitch for a change! It's so strange learning a new sport again. I thought I was through with that when I discovered rugby. Who would have thought?

That's most of the news for the weekend. Ireland beat Scotland in a pretty close game on Saturday for 6 Nations action and I managed to get the new place fairly well settled. It's nice to be able to WALK home after a night out in Arklow. I'm looking forward to doing it a lot during my upcoming 4 day weekend. Yep - we get FOUR days for St. Patrick's Day. Heheheeee. Want to come drink with me? ;-)

Mother Nature

Two things are becoming increasingly obvious over here.

1.) Somebody copied Mother Nature on our training and fixture (game) schedules.
2.) Mother Nature has something against dry socks.

It was lovely and sunny this morning but no sooner than I thought about what it might be like to train in dry weather did it start cloudy up and big drops fell from the sky. At least the weather is warming up a bit. It's somewhere in the 50's during the warm points of the day. We've got our table quiz tonight so maybe if it's raining, Paul will show some mercy and let us out a smidge early. That would be nice. Doubtful, but nice.

I'm off tomorrow, so this will be my pre-weekend post. It's looking to be a busy one. There's an Arklow rugby match on Saturday morning, followed by Ireland vs. Scotland for 6 Nations. It's being played in Scotland so most people will be packing themselves into pubs like sardines to watch the match. It's good craic and the atmosphere is a bit unique. It's fun to see everyone trashed so early in the evening too. I may go out and then head home for a bit because the match is on at 1.30pm and I was getting drunk pretty quickly at the last match, which didn't start until 5.30. Lots of food and slow drinking on Saturday.

Sunday there's a Gaelic match at 11am and it's away so we'll have to be up bright and early. Then I have to be back for my 3pm soccer match, which I already KNOW is not going to be fun. It wouldn't be so bad if we had more players and I knew I could play for just a half if I needed to. I refuse to give up all of my weekend fun just because somebody decided that all physical activities should be scheduled on Sundays. Grrr...

So I've got a big weekend ahead: settling into the new place, making it through a Saturday of drinking college style without ending up 'legless' (as they like to say here), and then managing to get to everything I'm supposed to be at on Sunday. Wish me luck!!! ;-)

Sunshine and birdsong...

What a GORGEOUS day out here. It makes me wish I were out hiking instead of sitting inside at this desk. I've certainly been able to come up with plenty of excuses to be outside and walking around site today. It's a nice change of pace from trying to stay dry. The sun is shining and the birds are singing and I'm sure it will only last until this evening, but I'll take what I can get.

Today I've been sending texts and e-mails to recruit people for our table-quiz fundraiser tomorrow night. It's for the Geraldines, so the whole team will be there anyhow. It's a good start. I realized as I was doing this that most of you wouldn't even know what a 'table quiz' is so I thought it would be a good topic to blog about.

Table quizzes are pretty popular in Ireland. They can be done as fundraisers or just for fun, where all of the money is put towards prizes. Most require teams of 4 and charge between €5 and €10 per person. The teams all sit together at a table and the quiz usually works in rounds. For each round, a sheet of questions is given out and the team works together to answer them before time runs up and they have to turn the papers back in. At the end of each round, the answers to the previous round are usually read out so you know what you missed.

The scores are usually tallied by rounds on a big board and at the end, the team with the highest points wins. I've only participated in one quiz (to raise money for a charity through work) and we did okay. I usually know the stuff nobody else does and they usually know everything else. There tend to be a lot of Irish celebrity/sports questions and although I'm catching up and do okay on current news, I haven't quite nailed the recent history or Irish pop questions yet.

Questions can also be photos that you need to identify (bad celebrity pics or baby photos of older celebs) or word puzzles. Overall, it's a pretty good time and if you've ever been to Hooters on quiz night then you might have a decent idea of what it's like. I'm counting on a 'fundraiser' being a good excuse for people to drink on a Thursday and I'm hoping they'll come out for just that reason! I've got Friday off, so I may indulge in a few and then walk back across the river to the new digs!!

Wish me luck recruiting a team!! I'll catch you tomorrow (I hope)! ;-)

Another Rainy Monday

It started out nice enough today. A bit cool, but clear and sunny. Not so much the case this afternoon. I think I might drown if I step foot outside. It looks like a good day for tanning salon. One of those days it feels nice to close yourself in a little booth, shut your eyes, and pretend you're on a beach somewhere. I'd LOVE to be on a beach somewhere.

The weekend was pretty uneventful. I spent most of it packing and cleaning so the landlords could show the place yesterday. It was a big hit and the first couple who saw it want to take it. The landlords were so delighted about having people move in next week (and at €100 more per month which we insisted they would get if they asked) that they want to refund the last two week's rent and all of the deposit. Sweet.

I've also managed to get Friday off without having to take an actual holiday or call in sick. My boss says no worries, since it's been so quiet up here anyhow and he knows I won't get any help on Saturday. All of Ireland will be watching the 1pm Scotland Vs. Ireland match so I'd be out of luck. Just picture me carrying my desk and bookcase up two stories by myself. I'm NOT superwoman!! (Although I do like to pretend sometimes!)

That's pretty much it. The match was called off due to rain yesterday. My leg still feels awesome after my visit to the physio on Friday. He needs to do my neck and shoulders. I don't remember what it feels like to have them knot free. I think it must feel nice though.

I'm going to attempt to swim through the rain to my car now. Hope you're all having a dry Monday!! ;-)

Ouch!!

That is HOT. I've always been a Matthew McConaughey fan and this pic, posted on TMZ, solidified that. Wow. Take me to THAT beach please!! sorry - I couldn't help it. That photo needs to be seen and enjoyed.

I've been a bit of a slacker with my posting this week, but I didn't realize how much of a slacker until I did a quick check of my blog before I left work yesterday and noticed I hadn't posted since Friday. We're pricing another job here, so it's been a bit hectic. Most of it got done yesterday, so I should at least have my breaks and lunchtime back now. I'm moving up to Arklow next week, which means I'll have broadband access and be able to blog at home a little more easily as well.

Last weekend was fun. Friday was kind of quite. The highlight was going out for a seafood dinner and they served scalloped potatoes! I love those and haven't seen them since I've been here. Granted, they called them something different, but they tasted the same.

Saturday was a good amount of fun. There were no major incidents during the 'God Save the Queen' at the rugby match. I realized for the first time that the song 'My Country 'Tis of Thee' is written to the same tune as the English national anthem. Yes, I'm a little slow sometimes. I met up with my friends Sue and Sue to watch the match at about 5.30pm and ended up out for about 10 hours. That's a lot of drinking for out-of-practice me. Yikes! I had a great time though. I ran into a lot of people I know and made some new friends along the way.

My soccer match wasn't until 2pm, but it still made for a long match. The small tear in my quad from sprinting the week before still hadn't healed and I probably would have sat a half out but we only had 11 players. I don't think my quad is ever going to get better and that's insanely annoying because I was enjoying the workout and getting in shape and I can only do everything half-assed when it's hurt.

As I mentioned before, I'm moving into a new place in Arklow next week. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment on the 3rd floor. It overlooks the river and marina and is about as close to everything in town as you can get. It's a really nice place - fully furnished, as rented apartments tend to be in Ireland. Our old place is online and up for rent so I'll be spending tonight and tomorrow night cleaning the house in case anybody wants to look at it. I'm not looking forward to that at all. I've been so busy with training and everything else that I haven't had time to keep up with housework. Did I mention I hate moving? Ugh.

Anyhow - time to get back to work. I've got to go walk a guy through an area for pricing crane hire. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?? ;-)