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

'Tis the Season

....no, not holiday season yet! It's only September!! Although, Brown Thomas, the biggest department store in Dublin, has already put up Christmas trees.

The season I am talking about is the Harvest. I know I mentioned this in my last post, but this goes much more into detail. The girls at swimming this week we asking me if Peadar was done planting potatoes. I corrected them saying, no "harvest is about cutting the wheat (also known as 'drawing corn') and then gathering straw, planting more wheat, then digging the potatoes. Potatoes don't get planted until spring."

The looks I got were priceless. Ask me to explain that a year ago and I would have laughed. So harvest is here, and Peadar leaves before I wake up in the morning and I'm often asleep before he gets home. He is working so hard to get everything done while the weather is good, because when it's bad, well, you'll see below.

Peadar, his "harvest beard", and his nephew Joseph in the tractor

There is a condition going around the farm right now, something I like to refer to as "harvest beard" which is caused by having no time to shave. Stop by The Yard, which is home to all the machinery and grain stores on the farm, and you well see plenty of "harvest beards" walking around the place. 

Have you ever been lucky enough to play Giant Jenga at a bar? (It's a great time).

Well Peadar and his colleagues (farmer pals? co-workers?) fellow crew members play Gargantuan Jenga every day with straw bales. Remember when I mentioned how poor weather can make things go very badly on the farm? Well check out what the rain did to these bales of straw. It caused them to get wet and heavy and eventually the whole mess toppled like Jericho. 

A whole morning's work, ruined. But straw stacker extraordinaire Daithi (pronounced dah-hee) was able to make it right again. He is Peadar's cousin and also works on the farm. 

On Saturday, I decided it would be nice to see my boyfriend in the daylight, so I went and joined him on the tractor for a few rounds. Check out the video below:

Heavy Machinery Action

Gorgeous shot of some straw that has not been bailed yet. The Irish countryside is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

This machine is a bale-chaser. It collects bales (8 at a time) like in the video above. 

Those of you who know anything about farming are probably wondering where the picture of the sweet machines, the harvesters, are. Well Pad was on straw duty the day I joined him in the fields, so that is why I am focusing on this part of the action.

Giant shed full of grain. 

I can't believe I am actually putting a picture of this in my blog, but another part of the harvest season means the critters, aka: effing spiders, are out in force looking for warm and dry places to shack up. And unfortunately, they have decided that every entrance way into my building should be infested.  I am a Stage 5 arachnophobe, and the thing about us, is that we actually like to feed our fear. Like when I Google Iraqi Camel Spiders.  For example, Peadar called me to warn me not to go out the particular entrance this guy was chilling at, and what do I do? Go and take a picture of him and have nightmares for weeks! 

We even found one inside our apartment, which made me have a panic attack. And several times I have not been able to actually enter our building until Peadar comes down with a golf club and kills a few. I just stand there crying until he gives me the all clear. Peadar, and Google, assure me that there are no poisonous spiders in Ireland. However, just the fact that these are called "Wolf Spiders" makes me want to die. 

Lastly, I was hanging out a Peadar's house over the weekend when a crane/stork wandered into the yard, causing the dogs to go ballistic. Eddie (Peadar's Dad, pictured above) caught the birdie before any damage was done, and walked him up the lane way to marshier ground. I actually think Brandy (their Irish Setter) was scared of the bird, but Max (the well-trained chocolate lab) would have gone in for the kill. So genius that I am, decide to take the dogs for a walk not too long after this happened. Can you just imagine the dogs finding the bird, the bird pecking at them with his beak, me fighting the dogs off with the stick yelling "you do not hurt the birdie?" Well, yes, that happened. And in case you were wondering, the bird lived.

 I think. 

I hope.

Love,

Amanda

Remember 9/11

New Year, New Beginnings!

I went in the office to do a few hours of work on Saturday to catch-up from being gone on my business trip to London last week. Peadar then called me to tell me he got locked out of the apartment and was going to the pub to wait for me to come home. Now, Pad's plan for Saturday after work (yup, farmers work on Saturday) was to watch rugby anyway, and under normal circumstances he would probably love to chill at the local (pub, but people in Ireland just say the "local"), drinking away and enjoying the games. However, he is training for a 10k obstacle course run this Sunday and was trying to avoid the drink!

4 pints later....

I went home and rescued him with the house key. We had a big weekend and all, seeing as I bought a new car AND we signed on a new apartment! But more on that later, let's begin where we left off last. 

I was at Peadar's last weekend and something that could only happen in the country, happened. A Sunday "Tractor Run" was on, where farmers gear up their brand new tractors or old vintage models and drive through the countryside at 5mph. Check out pics below...

Yes... they are still coming....

 

And there are so many more I didn't even post! Bet you don't mind ;)

Peadar also had a birthday recently, turning a ripe 27 years of age. But don't say he is getting old, he hates that when people say they are old when they are still plenty young. We decided to have a country-western party "fancy-dress". Fancy-dress for all my Americans, is not dressing up fancy, as in formal, but dressing up for a theme! So we asked everyone to come in full-on plaid shirts, braids, cowboy hats, daisy dukes, you know the style! We cleaned up the apartment nice and pretty, and I even had the local florist do some wheat stalks for me to add to the effect. It was a bit of a farewell party to the apartment too, since we are moving out in a week or so!

Makeshift Bar

Sunflowers, Cadbury Heros Chocolate, "Why Every Man Needs a Tractor" and a Cow Milk Jug (The last two items courtesy of Suzanne Keating. I think my mom sends me anything that has to do with farming, tractors, or Ireland. But we love it!)

Note the wheat stalks. Very important. 

Saloon doors! Too cute!

Now that we are moving out of our place, we have grown to love it even more! Even though we can't wait for the extra space and the upgrades of the new apartment, but 6 The Anchorage, Townyard Lane in Malahide has done us proud. 

Catherine Whyte, Rockin' Out. 

I catered fried chicken, mac and cheese w/ bacon, cocktail sausages and green been salad for the party so my Irish friends could get a taste of good ole' country American cooking. The funny party is I'm from Chicago, which is a city and no where near the south, but for some reason I am obsessed with all things country. I guess it works out that I am dating a farmer then! Who would have guessed? From country club to country pub! I was too busy running around all night to take pics so thanks to Pad's bro Mick's GF Lindsey for the great party pics below:

Peadar and I

Ciaran (Pad's lil bro) and his GF Jane

Pad's Oldest Bro Ned and his wifey Joan

Cousin Dermot and Brother Brian. They're all related around these parts. Big Irish Catholic families!

After Peadar's birthday party I headed straight to London for a business trip. boxPAY were exhibiting at the Digital Content Monetization conference at the Tower Hotel in London. Check out our booth and my colleague Paul below.

We went out for dinner one night to a nearby pub and there was absolutely no one in it! We were the only people eating, it was the strangest thing.

But later we went to a bar called the "Dickens Inn" which was super cute (it looked like an old 19th century hotel) and had loads of people in it. It was on St. Katherine's Docks and there were some pretty sweet sailboats and yachts in the harbor.  

The view from our hotel was straight onto the Tower bridge. I have been to London twice before this, once to sight-see and once to Chelsea for another biz trip. But I never got the chance to actually go into the Tower of London, so on a lunch break Paul and I decided to pop in. 

Toture Device. There was actually a sign in there that said "Torture was actually rare in London back in..." blah blah blah I don't believe it! 

Henry the 8th Suit of Armor

We also went to look at the Crown Jewels, which you are not allowed to take pics of, but I did snap a picture (above) of the vault doors going into the exhibit, which I thought were pretty mission impossible-esque. The jewels were cool, but just seemed so excessive and unnecessary. Just made me think of people sitting pretty on their thrones of gold when there are starving children out there.

When I got back from London, I had scheduled a drivers test for the next day. I can drive on my American license for up to a year, but the insurance is brutally expensive on it and I have already been here 8 months, and it takes like 6 months to get your Irish license. Americans- never complain about the DMV again, Irish bureaucracy can be much worse! First thing, you have to pay 40 quid (slang for money, i.e. Euro)  to take a written exam and get 35/40 questions right. Once you send those results in you can apply for a provisional license, which you have to drive on for 6 months. Then you have to take an independent eye test and apply to a waiting list to take your actual exam. It's a process. So anyway, I made the mistake of scheduling the test less than 12 hrs after I got back from my week-long trip and the result is below:

34/40!! I needed a 35 to pass. Failed by 1 question, 1 stupid question!! Well, no matter, I can still drive anyway for a few more months. I haven't been driving at all since Pad's car is a stick and I only drive automatics. So I solved that problem on Monday by buying my first car completely on my own! No help from parents anymore, I am a real grown up. I feel so old! (Sorry, Peadar).

It's a Suzuki Jimny! Basically, a baby Jeep. If you took my old Jeep from the States and chopped the back half off of it, you would have this little weapon. She's a grand car, and a good fit for me too. I wanted an SUV to sit up high (helps my car sickness on the curvy roads), but here cars in general are much more expensive than the states, especially SUVs. For example a new Ford Focus over here is 22,000 EURO. Yup, you can thank government sales tax for that. On top of that, you have to pay car tax every year as long as you have the car. So in addition to petrol (Americans, read: gas), car insurance, and a car loan, you also have to pay a motor tax. It's the environmentalist mentality as well. For example a 1.3 liter engine has a 333 EURO tax, but a 2.3 liter engine has a 925 EURO tax. Anything 3 liters or higher pays 1,683 EURO in tax, EVERY YEAR. To put that in perspective, a Jeep Cherokee typically have a 2.8L or a 3.2 L engine. So choose your engine size wisely! And pray for me driving on the opposite side of the road over here :)

In other fantastic news, Olive had her baby finally! She was 16 days over her due date! Meet Joesph Edward, a healthy big baby boy at 9lbs 9oz. (Potential nickname oppty: Jedward, for any of you Irish people who know who they are) He's not chubs at all though, just very long. I'd say he's going to be quite tall when he grows up. Conrats to O and Finn :)

Alright, hope you have enjoyed this nice long blog. It's the start of a new year, and there a lot of new Firsts for me here in Ireland. I hope all is going well for my friends and family back home, leave a message and let me know how you are getting on. I will post some pics of our new apartment after we get settled in next week! I'm off to Derry in Northern Ireland tonight for my first swim meet since I've joined the National Aquatic Center's Masters Team. 

Lots of Love,

Amanda