Week 6: Return from Texas and prepare for the West

Week 6
Thomas came home a week earlier from Texas than we did.  His went immediately to the car dealership, lugging giant luggage, filled with everything from clothes to a computer to a stash of Advil and Beano and face creme, behind him.  Jet lagged and bleary-eyed, he dopily filled out the paperwork and was oriented to his new VW, which he drove home.  He then showered and headed off to begin a full work week (bless him).

You would think that after purchasing 5 or 6 vehicles in his lifetime, leasing a vehicle and procuring the necessary auto insurance would be old hat, but this is Ireland, and nothing is the way we would expect.  (Sam says everything is opposite here.)  He had called multiple times to try to get the insurance, and it now came time to get the car, so the salesperson assured him that they would work it out with insurance when he got there.  Signing up was not the problem.  PAYING for it WAS.  First he tried paying with credit card, and seeing as how we have used our credit card all over this country, and seeing as how the insurance company is an AMERICAN one (Liberty Mutual....even has the Statue of Liberty on their letterhead), you would THINK they might consider having the capability to accept AMERICAN credit cards.  Instead, Thomas found himself scrambling around trying to figure out how to actually get money to them.  Next he decided to go through the bank, but when we had set up our bank we found out that we could do nothing with it until they had seen our PPS card, which we did not have yet at the time.  The cards came in whilst we were away, and he took care of that and arranged to get the money wired to the insurance company, at which time he was informed they don't accept wires!  Finally, after 7 hours of annoyance and frustration trying to PAY the company, he went and got CASH from the bank, took it to the post, and got a special money-order type-deal and had it specially delivered to Liberty Mutual.

What a man Thomas is.  He has dealt with stuff like this over and over during this process and has maintained his cool.  That week he managed to get us a TV and printer, get the Wii set up for Sam, mow the lawn for the first time with the electric mower (actually his first time to mow in, hmmm...10 years?  but it's not NEARLY the task here that it is in Austin), etc etc.  The list was long.

The kids and I arrived on Monday morning and it felt good to be back.  The piping hot tea whilst we were nourished at the airport restaurant after our long journey tasted good.  It took us three hours to eat and get our leased car (for the kids and me, as my vehicle was still not ready....I was going to get the only VW manual van in Ireland when it was available).  We all three were so relieved to walk in the doors of our Dalkey home (recently picked up by Thomas), and Sam seemed about as excited about the home as the first day we moved in.

Very surprisingly, we did not nap that day.  I don't even remember what we did, but by the time we settled in it was really too late to nap.  Jet lag was not that bad this time.  Sam had it the worst and had trouble going to sleep and woke up in the night for about the first 3 or 4 nights, but really it wasn't too bad -- just took patience.  After our first blurry headed day, we only had three days to have school, get things done, and then get ready to head out again for our holiday together.

During one of those days, the kids set up in one of our spare rooms (ver

y small room that was used for a treadmill by previous owners) a campground, complete with tents, a fire, a log to sit on, and even s'mores!


Quite unfortunately, on one of the last few days we were in Texas I got a speeding ticket.  I have not received one in several years, but this happened to be my second in 3 months.  The first happened when everything was crazy with Mom and our move, so I just paid it because there was no time for defensive driving, so this time I feel like I have to take defensive driving because it would be bad to have 2 on my record so close together.  Also, it was pointed out to me that my Texas license is set to expire June 13, and I found out I can't renew with an outstanding ticket.  But now I was across the Atlantic, and snail mail will take forever.  How would I get it all done in time to then be able to apply for my new license, which I would need to have to get me by for the next year in Ireland (at which time I get an Irish license.)  Plus, we were getting ready to be gone for 10 days, so I really coudln't wait to get the process started.  I was officially under the gun (and still am as I write this.) 

I called to find out how to take care of things from overseas, and I learned that I needed a notary to sign my request.  In Austin I would just go to my local bank and their notary would vouch for my signature, so I emailed our re-lo person to ask how to find a notary.  I knew I was getting in deep when she told me the nearest one was in another town and to "let her know if I have trouble getting an appointment."  Appointment?  To sign a paper?  It turns out that, while notaries in the State of Texas need only be 18 and have never committed murder or held up a bank, notaries here are generally made up of "solicitors."  I thought this meant they were door to door salesmen that watched people sign things (haha!), but actually that is a version of a lawyer.  Being a notary requires a pretty extensive 2-3 year training and they are appointed for life by the Secretary of State.  So I called my notary lawyer dude and set up an appointment for Thurs.

Meanwhile, we realized that the car that I had rented really was unecessary as the things I needed to do were mostly at home, and I was only going to have the car until we left for holiday that Friday (We would take T's car on that trip), so I did some research and found out that there was a leasing location in Dun Laoghaire, the same town the notary was in, so my plan was to go to the notary, return the car, and then take the train home.  I was still relying on a paper Mapsco to get around so I planned my route via that and GoogleMaps and it seemed easy enough (haha!)  The day of I intensely gathered all the things the man would need from me....my ID, my PPS card, my NIB card, something with our Irish address on it, my Passport, my fingerprints and criminal background record and a saliva and hair sample (just kidding on the last 4), and the kids and I set off for our nice, smooth trip to the notary and back, but as is usual for me, I got lost.  I forked over the money to call the notary, and just as he answered I realized that in my attempts to remember all the documents he needed me to bring to prove I existed, I had not brought the silly little paper from the County of Bastrop to be signed!  I rescheduled with him and rearranged my schedule for the rest of the day (The kids had P.E. via Skype....which has been great!)  I had originally figured I would just sign that and then ask someone where to find the car hire place to return the vehicle, but now, since we had to be back for P.E. I decided I needed to return the car first.  So we went home and got the paper and figured out where the car hire place was and set off again.

Sometimes I can be so DUH about planning and time and how to make everything fit together.  I had it in my mind that we would have time to be in Dun Laoghaire for a bite and maybe a bit of shopping, and then there was the train ride home, so the kids both brought things to do.  For a moment I thought "We are not going to have time for them to read, etc, so there is no sense lugging stuff with us, but oh well, if they don't use it I can always just leave it in the car." DUH.  (I was returning the car.)  It also did not occur to me that there was STUFF in the car -- Thomas had come home for a brief moment and gave me his Nav system so I wouldn't get lost again.  There was my Mapsco, a permanent water bottle, the kids books, etc. -- stuff you collect when you drive in a car -- so when I arrived at the place to drop it off, it dawned on me that NOW I was going to be walking to the notary, and then taking the train back....with all this stuff in my arms.  DUH.  THEN I realized that I had taken it for granted that we would even be ABLE to walk to the notary, but I learnt from the lady behind the counter that it was a "good 30 minutes walk" there (and with Lucy it would be a lot longer), sooo.....I had to call a cab.  Now I was starting to wonder if all this would even save us money by returning the car a day early!  (In the end it was definitely the right thing to do.)

Made it EARLY to the notary (applause please), located in an old fire station.  Being essentially a lawyer's office, I expected a pristine place with shiny marble floors, an elevator, and a busy receptionist fielding calls.  The place was interesting, in a creepy cozy sort of way.  The very friendly "receptionist"  behind the clutter-covered desk wore a furry vest, sat on a stool with one knee bent , and hadn't shaven in about 5 days.  By clutter I mean not only papers, but Lucozade bottles, half of his lunch, a dead potted plant, and an empty pitcher used to water it (My memory may not serve me exactly, but this is the general idea).  The notary led us down the hall, passing through the "break room" with it's empty milk jugs, dirty dish rags, tea kettle, cardboard boxes, and full rubbish bin, to his office.  There were four of us cozying up in there, and we had to walk sideways to pass between his desk and the two chairs that could not be scooted back due to the 11 boxes piled behind them.  The piles of paper were up to his chin.  In the corner was a fake fireplace with a "roaring toasty fire".  There was obviously a lot of important stuff being done in there!  We made small talk (he was quite friendly and personable) and, after checking all my documentation, having me share my whole story as to what it was about, getting a description of the notary's role, and then passing a lie detector test (not really), we used a giant pile of paper as our desk to do the deed, after which he found a small 4 inch square piece of table to use to chunk his stamp on the page.  At this time, he passed, sideways, back and forth between the children in the chairs and the desk (I had to turn sideways to move out of his way), toward his copier on the far side corner of his desk nearest the door.  I paid my 25 Euro (it started out as 30, but he gave me a deal), enjoyed some more of his gift of gab, and we set off to the train station.  That was fun.  Felt like real commuting people going from town to town via train, and then walking, which turned out to be their warmup for P.E., which the kids promptly had the minute we walked in the door.

While all this was going on with the car and notary and P.E., Thomas was enjoying himself with some bankers at the Punchestown horse races, a grand affair in these parts.  He even ran into Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones!

Friday was spent catching up on MORE paperwork, etc,, laundry, researching stuff for Mom's dental work (which needed to be taken care of before we left), taking care of more stuff for my ticket, packing.  We did not set off until 17:30.  WE grabbed a pizza for take away in the car, and enjoyed the 3 1/2 hour car journey together.  Amazing we are able to cross the country in the same amount of time it would take us to drive to Dallas!  Finally we could put our feet up and relax and reconnect.  Thomas really needed it, and I couldn't complain about obliging! :)

Days 18-26 Triduum and Easter, Immigration Fun, then....Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

We moved in just in time for the long Triduum/Easter weekend.  On our first morning at our new home the kids and I headed directly across the street to the Fitzpatrick Castle for some breakfast.  This happens to be the hotel that we stayed at in Feb when we came for our house hunting trip.  (Funny thing....we looked at 14 houses all over the city and abroad and ended up choosing a house right across the street under our nose!)  The rooms of the hotel need some sprucing up, but we considered its close proximity a selling point when our home, as the castle itself is charming, with a fire almost always roaring in the many fireplaces around, the large bar and lobby area where one might find locals and guests enjoying afternoon tea of a pint, the nice restaurant downstairs in "the dungeon," as well as the more upscale restaurant.  There is even a gym and beautiful indoor pool that we have been able to gain access to via annual family membership.  It was exciting to be able to already take advantage of the place that morning, considering that we had no food or dishes in the house yet, but we ended up having to cut it short and have breakfast boxed up for take-away because the truck arrived with our shipment from Austin!  The kids and I spent the next couple of hours rummaging through our boxes, each one containing delightful surprises, as if we had never seen these objects before.  It was like Christmas morning for all of us.  Sam even declared that he wanted us to take out one thing at a time and do put it away so as to enjoy and extend out the process as long as possible.  He got to work setting up his Aggie room and was so proud to get it organised.  Lucy, upon seeing her science set, proclaimed, "Oh, I love you microscope!"

I was giddy when I remembered that I packed our soup bowls, which now would become not only bowls, but cups, pitchers, teapots, and more!  We finally had some dishes.  Our gardener was happy, too.  At the same time that the chaos of the movers was happening, the garden was filled with men cutting, pruning, and weeding.  Being that it was a cold and damp day, one of the men knocked on the door to ask for hot water to make tea in his thermos, but I had no vessel whatsoever to boil water in.  Everyone in Ireland has been so hospitable to us.  I was sad I had nothing to offer him.  But I unpacked those bowls just in the nick of time and was able to boil some water for him in the microwave, making this my first moment of hospitality and "failte" for a stranger in our new home.
That afternoon, Thomas dropped off the car so the kids and I could do some shopping.  The only trouble was I had no idea where to even begin to completely fill up an entire house (everything from pots and pans to laundry hampers to trash cans to towels), or where to go to get it.  I had gotten some advice from the gardeners to try Dunnes, and they told me where the closest one was.  So after dropping Thomas back at work, we set off, and promptly ended up in a little village and later in the complex of a giant leisure and recreation centre, but no Dunnes.

Thomas's new Dell office.  Like a flash back to Austin!

Somehow I managed to find my way to a shopping centre, and we got out to see what we could find.  It is just so interesting to see how stores brand and organise themselves here.  Everything is categorise differently than I am used to.  For instance, I have had the hardest time finding a kettle (imagine that...in Ireland!)  In the U.S. you would find that in a kitchen store, such as Bed Bath and Beyond, or even the kitchen department of a department store, such as Macy's.  I later found out that a kettle, being attached to a plug, is to be found, of course, in an "electrical store."  (Where else would you find things that plug into an electrical outlet?)  Side note:  I have yet (as of 8 May) to make it to that electrical store to get a kettle and have been boiling in a pan on the stove still.  Back to the story....organisation and branding.....We went to "Next" home store, which I loved, but it is curious how little selection they have.  For any one item you are looking for you might have exactly 2-3 versions to choose from.  For instance, 2-3 flatware sets (again....Bed Bath and Beyond would have 15 to choose from!)  And once you know what you want, they may only have a couple in stock.  You can special order, but not that much is kept at the store.  I got Lucy a hamper there, but they only had one, and they did not have the larger size for our bedroom.
The next store we went to was so peculiar.  You name it, they've got it....but only one of every thing.....It's like a tiny WalMart/Party City/Barnes and Noble/Home Depot/Target/Sports Authority/garden center/Dollar Store.  I found a broom, a laundry basket, an iron, some hangers.  If I was ready to purchase some beet seeds, 2 dozen inflated balloons, or a Gaelic football set, I could have gotten that, too, but first things first.
Then next door to Heatons (i.e. Joanne's Fabric/Hobby Lobby/Toys Are Us/Hallmark/Kirlands) where I found a picture for our bedroom wall.  Okay!  Shopping done!  haha.  Still nothing to eat with or on!  But time was up and I had exhausted my possibilities, I thought, so we needed to head home for Holy Thursday Mass and some dinner.  It was such a fun experience WALKING to our first Mass in our new church (Well, actually we had attended there while house shopping, but this was our first one as actual parishioners.)  We are WALKERS now!!  Cool!!  Mass was nice, and then we walked around figuring out where to have dinner and also where to get reservations for Easter Sunday.  We were pleasantly surprised at the number and variety of restaurants in our little village.  For dinner we chose the Mag Pie Inn.

Check out Sam in the background.

 Like all restaurants around, the front facade makes the place look like a hold in the wall tiny restaurant, but when we walked in it was spacious, warm, and teeming with life!  What a great feel this place has!  A local pub, but also friendly to families.  WE enjoyed our meal while the place gradually filled up around us.  Afterwards, a quick stop to pray with Jesus "in the Garden at Gethsemane" during the traditional come and go Holy Thursday adoration time at the church, and back home (up hill in the dark) for bed.  We learnt that it may be better to drive to town when we will have a late night coming home, as the 1 km walk up hill can be a bit much when the kids are really tired, but mostly we should be able to walk.

Thomas took off for Good Friday -- Veneration of the Cross and Eucharist and later Stations of the Cross.  Everyone stood in the pews while the stations were prayed, but Sam chose to walk from station to station, unencumbered even by standing out in the crowd.  It was a proud moment to see him take ownership of his faith and choose to do what he felt called to do to enter into the Stations.

After our day of fasting we were hungry for our one meal of the day, but we soon discovered that the people Ireland take Good Friday seriously.  Places shut all day or early on Good Friday -- no signs; it is just a given.

A little Good Friday levity

There was a deeper sense of reverence and seriousness in the church that day. Thomas filled me in that it is the law that pubs are closed on two days a year....Good Friday and Christmas Day, and no alcohol can be sold in stores.  We walked through the supermarker and the entire beer and wine section was completely covered by black tarp.




We struggled a bit to find an appropriate place to ear where we could go meatless (and dairy free for Sam), and landed upon one of maybe 2 places open....an Italian place called Benitos....the same one we ate at during our flat tyre debacle.  Benitos once again was our refuge when we were weary.
Holy Saturday -- shopping, of course!  haha.  Yeah, the traditional shopping day.  Not exactly how we wanted to spend the day, but I needed Easter shoes, and the kids had nothing to wear for Mass on Easter, and of course we still had little at home to live day to day.  So we headed to the (gulp) mall (Dun Drum Town Centre...the largest shopping mall in Europe).  New adventures awaited us as we attempted to figure out where in the world to shop for the kids and to translate the sizes of the clothes.  After some success, with bags in hand, we headed to Marks and Spenser to try to find things for the home, and we were stunned to walk in to the Dillard's-like department store, and look off to our right and see a frozen food section, a produce department, a fish market, even check out lines with beeping registers....in a mall department store!

After all that mall walking who has energy for GROCERY shopping?

After choosing some pots an pans, they sent us on our way with a shopping trolley (grocery cart) to maneuver through the mall and parking garage to our car.  Next up, Easter stuff.  We needed baskets, as I didn't bring the kids'.  Not a basket in sight.  We needed plastic eggs for the Easter Bunny to fill with small treats for the kids....no shiny plastic eggs to be had.  In fact, our friend Mel had no idea what I was talking about, "Savages, we are," she told me, "Only wrapped chocolates for us!"  (Great for Lucy....calorie rich milk chocolate.  And great for Sam....dairy filled milk chocolate.)  If you want chocolate, come to Ireland at Easter time.  You will find every version and shape of milk chocolate imaginable....all in LARGE sizes and boxes.  When I asked Mel later about egg dying (which I could not find either) she replied with, "Oh no, that would take entirely too much organisation."

"Well," said I, "I wonder what the Easter Bunny will do for you two this year.  We shall see!"
Sunday morning we found out!  First, let me back up....the first morning we were at Ashdown (our new home), I looked out of Sam's window across the street and could have sworn I saw a fox basking in the sun, but before I could get Sam to come look it was gone.  Now, on Easter morning, Lucy reported seeing the same thing.  Then, upon heading outside to the back garden, Easter BAGS in hand (well, actually polka dotted and butterfly gift bags), we discovered that the Easter Bunny had left Cadbury eggs in a 4 pack carton on the ground, and that Easter Fox had meticulously chewed through the side and collected ONE of the four eggs and gobbled them up!  Then he proceeded to eat up a pack of Juicy Fruit gum, strewing the wrappers around the yard.  Along with chocolate and gum, the Easter Bunny left all sorts of interesting articles....books in the fence, pens in the trees, stationery on the shed roof, tissue paper bundles of gummy candies on the stone wall, some weird alien looking toy popper thingies, some sort of girlie craft, etc., along with a chocolate bunny for Lucy and what we THOUGHT were some fruity candies for Sam (a huge hen full of Smarties and carrot shaped lollipops), but it turned out both were chocolate as well!  The kids had fun finding all these things and commenting on the weird traditional gifts that the Easter Bunny brings in Ireland!

Mass was lovely and we looked spiffy donned in our Easter bonnets and suits.
Followed by a lovely brunch in town.  Then we explored Killiney Hill and Victoria Park for the first time.  This is a huge park that is practically in our front yard.  Filled with trails, beautiful views, statues, and even a tea room, I can see utilizing it frequently!

Easter Monday is a National holiday.  it was a GORGEOUS day and we had the absolute unique privilege of spending it at Powerscourt Gardens.  Ahhh.....how beautiful.  We joined in a fun bunny hopping potato sack race in a walled courtyard and split our sides laughing.  Then, after some lunch and rolling down the hills, we meandered the trails through the amazing historic gardens.  Sam was in heaven, and Lucy kept saying, "I'm sooooo DREAMY!  This is like a fairytale dream!"

Hilarious video of all of us!

Sam initiated the hand holding

The Irish are such RULE FOLLOWERS!  haha!  (Everywhere we turned there were people on the grass.  Sam was DYING that they were all on there but he felt he shouldn't get on it.  We did give in however when 26 kids were rolling down the awesome hills on the grounds, and we just knew there was no way to resist.  No one said a thing.)

 The kids and I definitely plan to come back here many times and enjoy school reading over a picnic lunch.
Once again....so blessed.

Tuesday and Wednesday were all about logistics.  Immigration and setting up utilities, cars, insurance, etc, have been a BEAST, and Wed was no exception.  We got to experience the JOY of the NIB (National Immigration Bureau).  Both Thomas and I had to be there, and we had no one to be with the kids, so we all had to go.  Fortunately for us, we were going to have a relo representative escort us to the office and guide us through the process.  She told us she would pick us up a little BEFORE 6 IN THE MORNING, and that we would stand in line for a couple of hours to get a ticket, at which time we would stand in another line, and that the whole process could take up to 9 hours.  This is a requirement for us to be in the country long term, and it is how we would acquire a VISA card for ID.  After that, we would head over to another government office to get our Personal Public Service (PPS) number and card, which is their equivalent of a Social Security number, necessary for paying taxes.  This also would take a while, but not as long.  And we would cap off this fine excursion with a visit to the bank to open our account (which could not happen until we had a PPS number).  Sounded like a really fun thing to do the day before our overseas flight back to Texas.  WE had no idea what to expect, if we could get food, if we would have WiFi, etc.  The kids were beyond themselves with excitement, I tell ya.
Low and behold, in the nick of time, we got a call from the relo office that the lady there had pulled some strings and had gotten us an APPOINTMENT at the immigration office at 9:30, so we wouldn't need to leave until 7:15 am, and we would jump the line.  THANK THE LORD that we had this privilege.  Let me tell you, this place looked like USSR citizens lining up for bread, the line wrapped around the building with skin of every color, each body holding a soul just begging to God that their waiting would not be in vain if the tickets were all given out in a couple of hours and they were sent home, only to come back another day to try again.  We waited outside a door for 30 min, and then a man brought us in and we cut straight to the front.  The whole process for us was only a couple of hours.  Someone else was there with another relo rep from the same company.  They got there before 6 am and didn't leave until 15:00!

Waiting to get inside at the NIB.  We got to avoid the line wrapped around the bldg.

 

Irish NIB indoor line (fills up the entire room....probably 200 people)

I won't bore you with all the details about the rest, but I will just say that despite our connections, the day was grueling, and we did not get something to eat (other than some energy bars) until after 5
when it was all said and done.

Next stop....TEXAS!!!  Home to see my beautiful, amazing, wonderful cousin enter into the Catholic Church, and to visit family and friends.  Kristen greeted us with fanfare at the airport, and it was nice to step on Hill Country soil once again.

 

Loads o fun at Lucy's Ancient Rome Party (I don't have easy access to many of  the pictures of the event to put in the blog.)

Squeezed in some art time for the Dell Children's Art of Giving

Check Mom out walking in the grass!! Way to go, Mom!

Our last visit to 518 Fairway

We love Buddy!

And Nanny, too!!

MFFFLL

I think that's Hailey back there.  We were so happy she came.

  

Good bye, Texas family and friends, till we meet again.