Never a dull moment!! Days 9 and 10

You thought we have already had adventures?  Wait’ll you read these!

Tuesday, Day 9

We were thrilled to learn that the pretty little church in the village has adoration all day on Tuesday, so we started out the day there.  We have gone to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Thursday for a couple of years, so it really felt like home and was a comfort to sit there in the presence of Jesus for a while.  There were several people in the church, so this seems like a pretty active parish.  Before we went into the church I decided to find “Pat,” the man that I was told worked at the church whose wife homeschools.  He was very nice.  We had a long pleasant conversation, and he shared with me that there actually is a fairly large Catholic homeschool group that his wife, Paula, belongs to.  He said they get together about once a week to do things together.  To add to that, most of the families live closer to where our house (in Dalkey) is.  To add to THAT, there is a woman in the group that is from Texas!  He said she is really a character.  So I am excited to be in touch with her.

 

After adoration we walked across for lunch in “Ground” coffee shop and café – fresh, hot soup and sandwiches while it rained gently outside.  The rain stopped just in time for us to head onward for our 15 min drive to our next destination….the Patrick Pearse Museum and Gardens.  Pearse was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916.  This was my first time to truly venture out beyond the scope of our little area, and because I have no GPS and no internet on my phone without WiFi, I carefully wrote down every direction that Google Maps delivered, but I forgot to remind the internet site that THIS IS IRELAND WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!  Googlemaps failed to take into account that the Irish never talk about highway numbers (nor do their signs), and the crazy roundabouts that rarely label roads (unless they are a motorway), but only towns that one might EVENTUALLY want to go to, but not the town I want to go to.  After getting famously lost but seeing signs pointing toward home, I made my way home and, forgetting my key card in the car which I left downstairs (6 flights), I sat outside our apartment door to log into the internet on my phone and try again with Mapquest.  Mapquest did better, but it failed to recognize that that signs might be on either side of the road or even on the OTHER side of the road, to where you have to turn you head to see it, OR that some signs get turned about by the wind and face the wrong way, so we found the sign for the museum, but it was pointing the opposite direction.  FINALLY made it to the museum, got out of the car and got blown around by some seriously frigid winds, and the sky looked ominous, so we turned around to get scarves, hats, and umbrellas for the long trek down a beautiful tree-lined trail toward the period home…..only to find that the museum is “now closed on Tuesdays.”  Hahahaha!!  The joke was on US!  Just then it started to rain, and after we made it as quickly as possible to the car, it started to hail/sleet.  Upon recounting this story to Thomas’s admin, he said to her, “To know where anything is here, you pretty much have to just memorize the whole city.”  She laughed and replied, “Yes!  It is SO TRUE!”

Wednesday Day 10

Homeschooling is so wonderful because it allows you the opportunity to do things like take your children to see Shakespeare in the middle of the day on a Wednesday, and that is just what we did.  Lucy is studying Shakespeare, so we were excited to learn that the famous “Abbey Theatre” was presenting a modern day setting of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Knowing it would apply well to Lucy’s studies, I ordered tickets, albeit hesitantly, as my record for actually finding places and being there one time was not good thus far.  And would it be over the kid’s heads?  Ah well, I thought, at least we can all have ourselves a good nap if we can make it there.  But first, that day, we were to meet my furniture lady and an agent at our house in Dalkey to see it for the first time in person and to decide on the purpose of each room for furniture placement.  Had to make our way there at 1130, then eat lunch, then park the car at the train station, and then take the train into City Centre and find the theatre.  It was a challenge, but we decided we were up for it.  I stayed up late the night before studying the maps, going over with Thomas how to park and get train tickets, etc.  We talked about how the train depot may not accept my credit card, so I gathered as many coins as I could find (coins include 1 and 2 Euro coins so they actually have good monetary value), but then Thomas decided to just give me a 20 and he took the change for his light rail fare the next morning.  Next morning I thought I was smooth sailing, and then, once again, the weird signage and round-abouts and one way streets that change names had their way, and laughed at me the whole time as I panicked, realizing I had no internet, and still had not figured out how to make a local call from my phone, and I couldn’t find the business card for the furniture lady in my purse anyway, despite beings sure I put it there.  So I was texting Thomas in board meetings begging him to please email these people and tell them I was lost.  Meanwhile, I was pulling over every chance I got to consult my good old fashioned map book.  The kicker came when I came to a sign that pointed left saying there was a stop light.  I thought, Okay…so be on alert for a stop light.  I didn’t realize that at that turn I was actually supposed to look SIDEWAYS and see that there was a RED light, and perpendicular to me that was there to prevent me from hit cars head on coming the opposite direction off an old stone one way bridge.  After a few honks, I managed over the bridge to see the train station I would come to later.  Eventually made it to the house 30 minutes late, and they had been so kind and patient to wait for me.  They just couldn’t understand how I could get lost since it is such a small village.  Haha.  Right.  Give me an interstate or state highway and I’ll find my way around any day.  I feel like I am in the movie, “European Vacation.”  Anyhoo, we finished up the house tour, which was hurried but fun, ate in the car, then headed to the train station with “plenty of time.”  Discovered that payment for parking is by COIN ONLY…..or you can text it in (but I can’t text for this type of thing with the service I have), and remember Thomas traded me the coins for the bill?  About that time, the train left.  After asking people in the car park, leaving, trying another spot to park that excepted credit cards, and finding out it didn’t allow us to park long enough, I walked down to a pub and got coins.  Took care of the parking.  Then off to get train tickets….accepted credit cards, but mine wouldn’t work.  About this time another train passed.  Dug around for the cash, held all sorts of things in my hands, including two different credit cards, backpack,  purse that was falling apart and things were falling out of, and wadded up money, tried to straighten out the money and feed it in.  Messed that up.  Tried card again and it worked.  Through the turnstile, over the bridge, and waited.  From the time we got to the car park till the time we actually got on the train was 45 minutes with all that hubbub!  Lucy had the forethought to bring a book of the stories of Shakespeare (the one I held in my hand earlier), so we read part of the story on the train.  Made it, huffing and puffing, to the theatre 30 minutes late, but they were SO NICE to seat us during the show in some great open seats!  NO judgment or scolding…just got us in.  I find here that in general people are pretty punctual, but they are relaxed about it and do not seem to scold others who are running late, but are gracious and understanding.  IT turns out that the show was EXACTLY at the point we had left off in the book, so it was like we hadn’t missed anything!  And it….was…HILARIOUS!!!  We were ROLLING with laughter and tears down our cheeks!  How FUN!  I was so impressed with how well Lucy and Sam followed the show and how much they go the humor.  No naps here!  The time flew by!

Afterward I got to chatting with an older woman named Pamela Murphy.  They kicked us out of the theatre because we were the last ones there.  They kicked us out of the upstairs lobby because we talked too long, and finally we ended up downstairs.  She was a regular attended of the Wednesday matinee, and gave me her critique of the show.  Then she proceeded to tell me everything I could possibly want to know about what to see and do on the north side of the city.  Great stuff.  Finally she wrapped it up with some very entertaining and personal information about her health.  We took some pictures of downtown

and then hopped back on the train to head back to Dalkey to get our car and then drive back to our apartment in Sandyford.  It was about 530 pm.

Dalkey is 30 min by train.  Then it should take 20 min to get to Sandyford if I don’t get lost.  It had grown cold and damp when we got off the train.  We were looking forward to sitting in a warm Italian restaurant by our apartment and having a nice meal (Thomas had a work dinner.)  Headed out down the narrow windy streets to make our way, and bump….in my effort to avoid an oncoming car I bumped the high curb on the left hand side (Dad, you know what I am talking about!).  Then….bump, again with another car coming.  And then thud thud thud.  What?!  I pulled over into a convenient store lot and discovered I had a flat tyre.  NOW was the time to figure out how to make a LOCAL CALL….to Double AA road side assistance.  Told us someone would be there within an hour.  It was an hour and 20 min.  Meanwhile, we got snacks and cash in the store and waited, as the frigid rain dotted our windshield.  The big man in the big tow truck was nice (How’s that for a Kindergarten sentence?).  We found out after much searching because there was no owner’s manual in the car, that I was one of the lucky ones who has a pump and patch kit in my rental car, but no spare tyre, and this tyre happened to be irreparable.  JC Tyres to the rescue…a local business in Dalkey…..would actually come out at 9:15 at night, in the cold rain, and replace my tire….but I had to pay for it since it was my fault.  WE were starved, so rather than wait an hour fo him to arrive, we went back into the store for more cash (180 Euro!, left it in the console, and left the keys with the store manager.  Then our Double AA guy squeezed us in the front of his tow truck which really only fit 3, but we had 4 (told us it never happened), and dropped us off in town for Italian food in Dalkey.  I was so grateful to be sitting in that nice dry warm restaurant while Jimmy changed our tire for us.  Then it occurred to me….I never did leave my keys wit the store manager but they were attached to my purse!  Fortunately I had requested Jimmy’s number from the two truck guy just in case, so I called Jimmy and could not understand a WORD he said except, “Where’s the money?”  Figured out I had actually left the car unlocked, and he couldn’t find the money!  Oh no!  Someone had seen me put it in there and had taken it!  Wait…..no…..he found it.  Whew!  Enjoyed our meal.  Called a taxi and rode with the sweetest Irishman that called me “Dear Heart” in every sentence.  He said he uses Jimmy for tyres all the time…..He said if you can just make it over to Jimmy’s house he’ll change your tyre anytime.  Otherwise, keep his number cause he can eventually come to yiz.  Guess what…..LOST AGAIN on the way home. Went the wrong way on a road and had to back up.  Ended up on a dark country road in the rain at the National Ski and Snowboarding School,  here I asked the uard at the guard gate how to get to our bloody apartment, for goodness sake!!!  All in all that 20 minute drive took us 4 ½ hours.  Finally made it home at 11 pm.  Whew!!!

Days 6-8: Settling in

Saturday, Day 6, felt like a somewhat normal day, except instead of watching March Madness, Thomas and Sam watched part of the Six Nations Rugby tournament on the teli.  There is a dry cleaner at the bottom of our building (yes....at the bottom of our quiet little complex is a coffee shop, what one referred to as "the best Chinese restaurant in Ireland," a hair salon, and a dry cleaner.  They tout that they have same day service, but I dropped it off on Thurs, and he said it would be ready Sat morning.  Well, Thomas went down 4 times to get it, and every time the guy, a Persian, told him "Half hour longer."
After acquiring Thomas's clothes we all headed over to look at cars at a dealership.  In perfect Irish fashion, the front desk lady made us tea and frothy hot chocolate made from real, fresh milk (none of that powdered stuff you mix with water with a little red straw that does nothing) and biscuits.  It was refreshing that our salesperson was a young, jovial Irishmen, because our temporary area of town apparently is known as a haven for foreign nationals from Eastern Europe and the Middle East.  I love how Irish people do things well, but yet in a relaxed way.  For instance, in a place where you would typically see cars in pristine condition in the U.S., when we opened up the boot to take a look we found some old shoes, a half drank water bottle, and some books.  We chuckled when Dave, our sales rep said, "Ah yeah.  You just never know what yiz'll find when when Carrick takes a car home." WE all joked about making room for the kids in the boot when we have company, etc.  We decided upon a VW "People Carrier" (7 seater) to have room for guests (but how will I park that thing?) and an Audi something or other.  That's what we picked, at least, but, also in true Irish fashion, we are still waiting to find out what is going on with actually getting the leased cars in our hands.  (Irleand doesn't really lease cars usually, but VW and Audi and a couple others  got smart and realized that ex-pats need to lease cars, so they have a program with Dell and other businesses)I

After resting up a bit, we took the LUAS light rail (just down the street from us....so convenient and a great line) into City Centre.  The had no idea what a huge deal this Six Nations thing is!  People spilled out of the pubs, and tv's were outside on the side walks for the overflow so that people could cheer for the games....not for Ireland at this point, though....for certain other teams to lose so that Ireland, by default, would eventually win the whole thing!  We had all been dying for some real fish and chips, and we read that one o the best places was Burdocks, so we found one on the map, in the perfect location to be convenient for our next activity, and we discovered that this is a take-away restaurant only...no seating.  The weather so far has been cool but pretty nice, but when the sun goes down it gets quite chilly. But we had no choice....we carried our heavy, hot paper packets of goodness over to the Christ Church grounds and sat on a low wall, in the dark cold, eating every delectable, warming bite that made us completely forget that our butts were sore and our hands were cold.  This was the perfect location to eat because our next stop happened to be 1000 year old Christ Church to listen to a choir and orchestra perform Handel's Messiah.  Handel was German born, and lived in Britain, but Dublin was the location of the premiere of this, later to become one of his most infamous works, in 1742.  What a treat!  Sam was totally exhausted, so we ended up cutting short our attendance, knowing that we had the walk and train ride ahead of us, and wanting to take care of his needs.

Sunday, Day 7 found us late to 11 am Mass at that pretty little church in Sandyford.  Mass moves so quickly here that we had already missed the Liturgy of the Word and they were on the Intentions so, disappointed, we decided it would be better to come back that night.  We were glad we did, and we think it may have been "part of the plan" because after Mass that evening we were stopped by some friendly people (no!  In Ireland?)  to compliment the children.  They started up a discussion, which led to homeschooling, which led to them telling us that there is a family in the parish that homeschools, and her husband works in the parish office!  That connection was no coincidence, and which was cemented later.  We were moved by the beautiful shine for St. Therese of Liseux, the Little Flower, and I thought of Jenny Klement (Hope you see this, Jenny) and Kendra (who mentioned her recently)  Behind the statue was a mural of the main events of St. Terese's life, which Lucy recognized immediately.  Outside, I also was struck by the crown of starts lit up around Mary's head.

Monday, Day 8 -- Thomas had an intense week at work with the board meetings and the president of the bank (his boss) gone, so he was flying solo.  Huge learning curve.  Anyway, it became clear to me that there was alot left that needed to be done to complete the relo, and Thomas really needed my help to do some things, so I spent quite a bit of time on the computer, while the kids worked on their schoolwork.  We also managed to have their personal trainer continue to work with them twice a week via Skype.  It works really sell....WE bought exercise equipment, and we just move the sofas and coffee table back, and she works them out hard!  WE also have a really big balcony patio which Sam and I utilize quiite a bit for jump roping.  Sam has been into leaning how to cross jump rope.  Went to the store for maybe the 6th time....we have to go frequently because the fridge is small, the items are small, the food is fresh and spoils pretty quickly, and we can only carry so much.  This day, after we crossed the street and were on the sidewalk about to head home, I realized that I had forgotten rubbish sacks (trash bags), and I needed to turn around and go back.  The kids were beaming when I suggested that maybe they could walk home on their own and I would get there later.  They made it to the building, punched in teh key, rode the elevator, opened up with the key card, and began unloading groceries.  We have noticed really big growth in terms of independence since we have been here.  I was also proud of Lucy this week because her trainer pointed out that when she started working with the kids Lucy couldn't even do one sit up, but this day, all in all, she did SIXTY!  I am hoping all this walking everywhere will be good for her/their fitness and tone.
Falling asleep and tonight is time change so it is WAY later than I need to be up, so I will end here.  Remind me to start on Tues, Day 9.  That was an interesting day!