The Dublin Connection: October 2012

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Halloween in Dublintown

Happy Halloween!

Tomorrow is Halloween in Dublin (and the world over) and there are many festivities on to celebrate. The Wax Museum has a chamber of horrors, and the Leprechaun Museum has a Celtic Mythology show that is meant to scare even the bravest adults! 18 & overs only! Check out this little creep show below. The Bram Stoker Festival is on and the holiday happenings are everywhere. In my research of Halloween in Dubs I came across the tidbit that is was Irish immigrants of the late 18th and early 19th century that really brought the traditions and customs of the holiday to America. So yet another connection between my American heritage and my new Irish home. I am hoping to get to some of the events on this week.

Speaking of Halloween and the dead, that was me last week as I was suffering the worst sickness I think I've ever had in my life. Hunkered down in the "bunker" (my bedroom) for 7 straight days with one thing after another. First I had a sinus infection, which I have come to realize the Irish call the "flu". The with my low immune system I caught a terrible stomach flu, which the Irish call a "vomiting bug". Even the sicknesses have different names over here. Either way they suck, and I was straight out of commission for 7 days. Now that I am among the living again I have some big news....

I have a new job!

My current company is selling and I have a new job working for an Inbound Marketing Company called HubSpot. They are a Boston-based software co. opening EU headquarters in Dublin and I am one of their first 12 local hires. At the end of November I head to Boston for training for 4 weeks. So any Americans that want to come visit in December feel free. I am still determining holiday plans but may be home for Xmas! I am finished up at my current job today so I have actually have about 4 weeks off for the first time in my life. After going straight from HS > College > Job #1 > Job #2 I have never had this much free time, I am a lady of leisure!

I am thinking of taking 2 weeks in Dublin then Peadar and I are going to make the most of it and head to Thailand for our first real, proper vacation together. I had a hell of a time convincing him to go since they are still stressed about getting the potatoes out of the ground and the harvest pressure is STILL ON.

Basically the harvester drives along and drags the grader through the mud. Then the grader sifts through the mud and drops the potatoes into boxes in a trailer being driving by a tractor next to it.

Peadar told me we can't go to Thailand until all the spuds are out of the ground and it has been too mucky and rainy to dig them. So I did the only thing I knew, and took over the job myself.

Peadar is a bit of a legend in my book. This hair and this harvest beard, recognized the world over. My mom pointed out to me after reading my last blog that I forgot the most important part of the story of the drunk guy in the bar in Galway recognizing Peadar from years ago. "THAT HAIR MAN, THAT HAIR. I'D RECOGNIZE IT ANYWHERE."

To be honest I think Padman might be the antithesis of the Gym-Tan-Laundy motto. He has been too busy working to hit the gym, he has never tanned in his life, and laundry? We send that out. I may be a Farmer's girlfriend but that doesn't mean I have to do Farmer's laundry!

There was a mass on for Granny Whyte last Sunday, and afterwards Peadar and I took flowers up to her grave. Many Whytes have been buried in the Naul and it really was a happy moment, because Granny and Grandad Whyte lived for many years together and died in old age. But we walked around and checked out all the graves and there were some very young people there too, and those are the saddest. Peadar told me the stories of the people he knew, like a 12 year old boy from the village who died of an Asthma attack, and I cried for them. It is a very old and interesting graveyard with chapel ruins.

On a happier note, I have been keeping up with the swimming and water polo. There was a Celtic Masters swim event on with teams from all over Ireland last Saturday. I won gold in the 50 fly and bronze in the 50 backstroke. I actually won another gold for a relay I was in, but my good friend Laura Harvey has that metal... I'll have to get it off of her!!!

Have a safe & spooky All Hallows Eve!!!

XOXO

Amanda

Friday 12 October 2012

The Parents Are Coming, The Parents Are Coming!

Actually, they already left! I was lucky enough to have my parents, the ultimate American tourists, Kev and Suz visit me in Ireland last week. They had a lovely time for Kev's 2nd visit to the Emerald Isle and Suz's 4th. My parents have seen the surrounding Dublin and Wicklow areas pretty extensively, so this time we decided to travel west to Galway for the International Oyster Festival.

Shouts out to our dear friend Maggie Rutledge, who is from Gort in Co. Galway!

Turns out we got there fairly late on Saturday during the day, and missed the main tent event. So we pretty much wandered around the village and ate at local restaurants and ordered plates of oysters and lobster. Galway is Pad's favorite city in Ireland. He says it has it all: good people, good pints, great craic! The whole main part of the village has pedestrian-only streets and a big square which gives it a unique feel.

You never know what you will see on the streets of Galway, case in point, a one man band... well one man if you don't count Marilyn or Obama.

Galway is a bit of a college town, and on weekend nights pubs like The King's Head can get a little rowdy. After dinner with the parents one night Pad wanted to go into the aforementioned establishment, and I suggested that it might be a bit "too much" for my parents. Well, at least, my mom. Peadar insisted that my parents weren't that old, and in we went. Funny story, within 5 minutes of sitting down, this guy starts screaming "Peadar! Peaaaadaaar!!" We look at each other like, is this guy talking to you? Pad says he doesn't recognize him. Turns out this guy did know Peadar, comes over, and starts screaming in his ear about how they use to go to school together. Every other word is feckin' this and that, and you can just see my poor mother sitting there uncomfortably, all while Kev is too distracted by the Ryder cup to notice what is going on.... We thought we were rid of him when he goes and sits back down at another table, finds some other Americans, and starts arguing with them about the merits of Michael Jordan (his opinion- hero) vs. Kobe (child molester) with this couple from San Diego.

It was classic.

Anyway, the guy comes back over to us and keeps slobbering and hollering, so eventually we moved the party back to the hotel bar. We stayed at the Radisson Blu, which was lovely.

Mom and Dad also did excursions to the Cliffs of Moher, and Kylemore Abbey, check out the pics below.

The best part is the below pic:

Yeah, sheepys in the road, pretty standard for the West of Ireland. Gotta love the juxtaposition between the modern GPS and sheep cruising down the lane. Oh and by the way, in Ireland they call GPS "Satellite Navigation", or "Sat Nav". Kev kept accidentally calling it Nav Sat which Pad found pretty funny.

Pics my parents took. Pretty & Pinterest worthy: