We found a home! We went to look at our first place today, and it was perfect. It is a cute little house shared with a nice girl from Sweden and her baby daughter. We will post some photos after we move in (we move in tomorrow). And a bonus...it has a dishwasher! We've never had a dishwasher on our own before! Also, there is a back yard, but they call them 'gardens' here. If you want our address (to send us packages ;), e-mail us. See ya!
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
We have arrived in our new home city!
We have finally arrived in Cork City, on the south coast of Ireland, where we will be beginning our work abroad experience. We had intended to settle down much sooner than this, but once we started travelling, it was hard to stop. There is so much of this continent to see, and we have big plans for after we work in Ireland, but for now we are focused on different priorities: becoming part of our new Irish community!
We arrived in Dublin on November 10 after spending a relaxing and much appreciated week with Gren and Beryl in Cheshire, UK. In Dublin, we hooked up with a load of kids from the hospitality club from all over the world: France, New Zealand, Poland, Ireland, and other places, and they gave us a ton of advice about working and living in Ireland. Our sweet host from France, Caroline, helped us to get a cell phone (we cracked under the European cell phone pressure - not only does everyone have one, some people have more than one!... anyone who wants our number, send us an email) and she helped us get Mike's long-anticipated new bike (that just might be better than the one that was stolen in Canada! - we are using three locks now, hope we keep this one for a bit longer than the last one). We went to see the Book of Kells and of course toured the Guinness brewery, and we had so much fun getting acquainted with Ireland's pub culture. It is just how we imagined it: nearly every night there is a pub exploding with traditional music, while Paddy (red curly hair, wool knit sweater, rubber boots) drags his chair up to Mike and they cheers their Guinnesses and toast to the rainy weather. OK, that was only once so far, but we anticipate this to happen many times over the coming year.
We were stoked to begin cycling the 250 kms from Dublin to Cork, along Ireland's east coast, seeing as this was intended to be a cycling trip and we had barely even gotten on a bike in the last 3 months. The first three days were gorgeous, tough, but worth it. We cycled over the Wicklow Mountains to the south of Dublin (we kept seeing those mountains on Dublin's horizon and prayed that we would be skirting around them, but our cycling guide book had bigger visions for us). The misty peaks were blanketed by a huge bog; almost no other people, just old stones, green cliffs, and purple, brown and green heather and moss, and we watched the clouds tumble down into the valleys below, dotted with sheep and stone fences. I only fell headlong into the bog once, and considered myself lucky as it was probably the best place in the country to fall: the "Featherbed Bog". Our second morning, we visited the misty ruins of an early-Christian monastic city from the first part of the previous millenia, and met an old man; he had wine corks in his ears and a twinkle in his eye and as he zipped past us on his old, green bike, we could only attribute his odd spryness to leprochaunacity. Every field is green and lush, and fences in sheep or sometimes cows or horses, and in the dusk we startled deer and grouse from the ditches. We reached the coast that day at Courtown, and the next day cycled past thatch-roofed, white-washed stone houses, and stopped on the beach where they filmed the opening scenes of "Saving Private Ryan".
That night we slept in Wexford, and stayed for three days as Mike's knee was bothering him a bit, so we decided to take a break. It was a neat area and we visited a little, traditional fishing village and watched the fishermen preparing their boats on the harbour, skirting around the giant seal lounging on the dock.
As Mike's knee needed a little more time to heal (it will be fine, just a little over-worked), we ended up taking a bus the remaining distance to Cork. Now we are staying with a great hospitality club couple who are helping us get set up in our new city. We are excited to be getting a place and we are scoping out the job market and feeling quite positive about our prospects.
Take care and we will keep everyone updated as our situation unfolds!
P.S. Check out Paul's journal as he tramps about Asia: http://www.paulcoyle.com/
We arrived in Dublin on November 10 after spending a relaxing and much appreciated week with Gren and Beryl in Cheshire, UK. In Dublin, we hooked up with a load of kids from the hospitality club from all over the world: France, New Zealand, Poland, Ireland, and other places, and they gave us a ton of advice about working and living in Ireland. Our sweet host from France, Caroline, helped us to get a cell phone (we cracked under the European cell phone pressure - not only does everyone have one, some people have more than one!... anyone who wants our number, send us an email) and she helped us get Mike's long-anticipated new bike (that just might be better than the one that was stolen in Canada! - we are using three locks now, hope we keep this one for a bit longer than the last one). We went to see the Book of Kells and of course toured the Guinness brewery, and we had so much fun getting acquainted with Ireland's pub culture. It is just how we imagined it: nearly every night there is a pub exploding with traditional music, while Paddy (red curly hair, wool knit sweater, rubber boots) drags his chair up to Mike and they cheers their Guinnesses and toast to the rainy weather. OK, that was only once so far, but we anticipate this to happen many times over the coming year.
We were stoked to begin cycling the 250 kms from Dublin to Cork, along Ireland's east coast, seeing as this was intended to be a cycling trip and we had barely even gotten on a bike in the last 3 months. The first three days were gorgeous, tough, but worth it. We cycled over the Wicklow Mountains to the south of Dublin (we kept seeing those mountains on Dublin's horizon and prayed that we would be skirting around them, but our cycling guide book had bigger visions for us). The misty peaks were blanketed by a huge bog; almost no other people, just old stones, green cliffs, and purple, brown and green heather and moss, and we watched the clouds tumble down into the valleys below, dotted with sheep and stone fences. I only fell headlong into the bog once, and considered myself lucky as it was probably the best place in the country to fall: the "Featherbed Bog". Our second morning, we visited the misty ruins of an early-Christian monastic city from the first part of the previous millenia, and met an old man; he had wine corks in his ears and a twinkle in his eye and as he zipped past us on his old, green bike, we could only attribute his odd spryness to leprochaunacity. Every field is green and lush, and fences in sheep or sometimes cows or horses, and in the dusk we startled deer and grouse from the ditches. We reached the coast that day at Courtown, and the next day cycled past thatch-roofed, white-washed stone houses, and stopped on the beach where they filmed the opening scenes of "Saving Private Ryan".
That night we slept in Wexford, and stayed for three days as Mike's knee was bothering him a bit, so we decided to take a break. It was a neat area and we visited a little, traditional fishing village and watched the fishermen preparing their boats on the harbour, skirting around the giant seal lounging on the dock.
As Mike's knee needed a little more time to heal (it will be fine, just a little over-worked), we ended up taking a bus the remaining distance to Cork. Now we are staying with a great hospitality club couple who are helping us get set up in our new city. We are excited to be getting a place and we are scoping out the job market and feeling quite positive about our prospects.
Take care and we will keep everyone updated as our situation unfolds!
P.S. Check out Paul's journal as he tramps about Asia: http://www.paulcoyle.com/
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Irish Cycling
Hi, we only have a minute but just to let everyone know that we made it to Dublin safe and we stayed with some new friends from the hospitality club who got us well acquainted with the important parts of living in Ireland (going to the pubs, Mike bought a new bike, going to the pubs, caved in and bought a cell phone, going to the pubs). We began cycling from Dublin to Cork a few days ago and we have seen some beautiful views of the ocean, mountains, bogs and lots of animals and tiny valley villages. We are taking it slow as there is so much to see but we are having a great time and will let everyone know when we arrive in Cork!
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Heading over to the Emerald Isle
Tomorrow we are flying to Dublin to begin our working abroad experience and we are excited (but a bit nervous, of course)!
We have had a wonderful, relaxing week with Gren and Beryl and their family, touring the north west England region. Gren has taken us to see the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, and we got a view of the Granada studios where they film Coronation Street. Today we toured the Wirral Peninsula, took a ferry across the River Mersey from Liverpool, and had a great view of Wales over the River Dee, the sun streaming in (for the first time in a week) through the clouds. We have been cycling a bit (although Mike still has to get a new bike in Dublin), and Mike has been perfecting his computer skills designing a couple of web pages. And the highlight of our time in England has been the Bonfire Night Party at Gren and Beryl’s son and daugher-in-law’s, Peter and Jane’s, last Saturday. They threw a great party and set off dozens of fireworks of all sorts from their back yard, as is the tradition. Everyone here does it, so at any given time, there are fireworks exploding out of three or four yards in the neighbourhood at once, all evening and even for a few days before and after the date. It was a great celebration.
We will let everyone know when we have settled down in Ireland, wherever that might be. Wish us luck as our hope is to cycle across the country from Dublin to where we decide to set up for the winter, and are a little nervous about the weather and sinking into a bog or getting washed to sea in a flood. Hope we don’t chicken out!
We added a few more photos to the Britain section on our photo site.
See ya later!
We have had a wonderful, relaxing week with Gren and Beryl and their family, touring the north west England region. Gren has taken us to see the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, and we got a view of the Granada studios where they film Coronation Street. Today we toured the Wirral Peninsula, took a ferry across the River Mersey from Liverpool, and had a great view of Wales over the River Dee, the sun streaming in (for the first time in a week) through the clouds. We have been cycling a bit (although Mike still has to get a new bike in Dublin), and Mike has been perfecting his computer skills designing a couple of web pages. And the highlight of our time in England has been the Bonfire Night Party at Gren and Beryl’s son and daugher-in-law’s, Peter and Jane’s, last Saturday. They threw a great party and set off dozens of fireworks of all sorts from their back yard, as is the tradition. Everyone here does it, so at any given time, there are fireworks exploding out of three or four yards in the neighbourhood at once, all evening and even for a few days before and after the date. It was a great celebration.
We will let everyone know when we have settled down in Ireland, wherever that might be. Wish us luck as our hope is to cycle across the country from Dublin to where we decide to set up for the winter, and are a little nervous about the weather and sinking into a bog or getting washed to sea in a flood. Hope we don’t chicken out!
We added a few more photos to the Britain section on our photo site.
See ya later!
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Back in the English Speaking World
We have arrived safely in England and are staying with Mike’s family again, Gren and Beryl, in Chester, between Liverpool and Manchester. Since we updated last, we checked out the capital of Slovakia (photos), Bratislava, then travelled through the Czech Republic (photos), went to Germany for breakfast on Wednesday (to our favourite city, Berlin and to visit Morten), and flew in here. Today we had our first experience with haggis, a traditional Scottish dish of organ meats and grains baked in a sheep stomach, served with whisky and neeps and banged tatties (turnips and mashed potatoes). Oh, we are brave travellers.
We are glad to be back where we can ask strangers for directions and actually understand the answer. We will see how that bit goes when we arrive in Ireland next week though!
The Czech Republic was a super interesting country, loads of culture, art galleries, castles, beautiful countryside. We stayed in three places: Olomouc, Cesky Krumluv, and Prague, of course. Our favourite memories of Olomouc, in Moravia, were finally seeing wild hedgehogs rustling about in the fallen leaves in a park that used to be the moat around the castle, and cycling out to a lake in the country where we saw wild swans flying, and they looked just like angels! We went for a drink in an old airplane that has been grounded and made into a bar, where the communist elite used to frequent in the 1970’s. I was very proud of Mike for ringing the doorbell on a communist airplane in the dark in a foreign country; it felt like a situation that could turn out a number of unpredictable ways.
Cesky Krumluv, in South Bohemia, was a gorgeous tiny medieval town. Our highlights were riding horses (guided by little Czech girls) in the autumn hills overlooking the river that wound around the little eighteenth century red-roofed village and castle, squeezing our way into a little pub that was shaking with the energy of a gypsy band, and partying with all the friendly kids at the hostel.
We had a great time in Prague too; the architecture is amazing. Along with all the regular tourist stuff, we went to see jazz, and an excellent marionette show (it was all in Czech, and we were the only ones there over 5 years old who weren’t escorting their kids but there were 15 different characters, 8 different sets and we were very impressed). To celebrate Halloween, we went out to a church in a little village that is decorated with the 700 year old bones of 40 000 people, many of whom died from the plague. It was pretty gruesome, especially the way the bones are organised into chandeliers and crests and crosses. Strange.
We added a bunch of new photos onto our photo site, including some of the bone church, some more of Poland, and Mike made a good photo map of our travels so far. By the time we log on again, hopefully we will be in Ireland and close to getting jobs and a place. We can’t really imagine how it will all unfold, but we are sure it will be interesting.
Keep in touch!
Carli-Ann and Mike
We are glad to be back where we can ask strangers for directions and actually understand the answer. We will see how that bit goes when we arrive in Ireland next week though!
The Czech Republic was a super interesting country, loads of culture, art galleries, castles, beautiful countryside. We stayed in three places: Olomouc, Cesky Krumluv, and Prague, of course. Our favourite memories of Olomouc, in Moravia, were finally seeing wild hedgehogs rustling about in the fallen leaves in a park that used to be the moat around the castle, and cycling out to a lake in the country where we saw wild swans flying, and they looked just like angels! We went for a drink in an old airplane that has been grounded and made into a bar, where the communist elite used to frequent in the 1970’s. I was very proud of Mike for ringing the doorbell on a communist airplane in the dark in a foreign country; it felt like a situation that could turn out a number of unpredictable ways.
Cesky Krumluv, in South Bohemia, was a gorgeous tiny medieval town. Our highlights were riding horses (guided by little Czech girls) in the autumn hills overlooking the river that wound around the little eighteenth century red-roofed village and castle, squeezing our way into a little pub that was shaking with the energy of a gypsy band, and partying with all the friendly kids at the hostel.
We had a great time in Prague too; the architecture is amazing. Along with all the regular tourist stuff, we went to see jazz, and an excellent marionette show (it was all in Czech, and we were the only ones there over 5 years old who weren’t escorting their kids but there were 15 different characters, 8 different sets and we were very impressed). To celebrate Halloween, we went out to a church in a little village that is decorated with the 700 year old bones of 40 000 people, many of whom died from the plague. It was pretty gruesome, especially the way the bones are organised into chandeliers and crests and crosses. Strange.
We added a bunch of new photos onto our photo site, including some of the bone church, some more of Poland, and Mike made a good photo map of our travels so far. By the time we log on again, hopefully we will be in Ireland and close to getting jobs and a place. We can’t really imagine how it will all unfold, but we are sure it will be interesting.
Keep in touch!
Carli-Ann and Mike
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