A potential sublet person is visiting today. Is "subletter" the proper term? Because the spell check doesn't recognize it. Screw you spell check - I break ALL the rules!
Ah, anyway, I'm blogging while I probably should be tidying up. Then I'll be eating cereal while I should be tidying up. And I'll probably end up watching the last half of that Pushing Daisy's episode instead of tidying up at all. And I'm sure it won't matter a damn.
This subletter would work out perfectly. He intends to move to Seattle (from Portland) the day after I leave. So monetarily that would work out rad for me. Plus, he's the first person to see the place and if it works out then I don't have to keep slogging through e-mails and tromping strangers through my messy apartment.
Right-o. Cereal time.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Hello again!!!
Hello all you sweet little things, it's so good to have your eyes back along with your eager curiosity to hear what thrilling adventures await me on this spin of the Wheel of Life!
So as you've all probably heard, I'll be traveling to the Dominican Republic on August 19th (exactly one month from today!) and so I'll be writing about the preparation for travel in the upcoming month, and then I'll be filling y'all in on my daily adventures once I'm there. Fab! I'll be living with my sister and her family - her husband, Dave, their son, Aidan, and the two dogs, Neuf and Jack.
The first question that usually comes up is "what will you be doing there?" The answer is - a whole lotta nufin. My sister is a part of the foreign service and will be working at the US consulate (or embassy, I'm not sure what the difference is) so I won't really be able to get a "job" like I did in Ireland. There might be some volunteer work, and I'll pitch in as much as I can helping out around the house and watching my nephew, but overall I'll have a lot of free time. I just started playing guitar, and much to my utter surprise really liking it, and so I'm looking forward to devoting a lot of time to practicing and ideally writing some stuff too. Other than that, I'll read, pick up some dirty Spanish phrases, drink lots of beer, meet some folks and ideally not get into too much trouble - though if I do it'll be all like, "pffft, whatever, do you know who my sister is?"
The second question that usually gets asked is "who is watching the rats?" The answer to that is my most excellent good buddy Benny. Benny is tops and I owe a lot of my relative sanity to him, plus he's super great with animals and loves the rats! He watched them while I was in Asia last April and did a brilliant job. Of course, they did come back to me complaining that the cheese I give them was for too quotidian, so, whatever, Benny's cheese is better, like I care.
So, a month out, and it's just beginning to set in that my life is going to change radically in another month. For now it's day to day, trying to deal with some difficulties life has recently presented me, and from time to time remembering that I'm off to tropical good stuffs. It couldn't have come at a better time. Sometimes everything unfolds in a most curious and beautiful way. Also, often it is painful and messy, but I believe that the beauty is there if you sit with it long enough and allow it all to unfold. Undestructable, my friends.
So as you've all probably heard, I'll be traveling to the Dominican Republic on August 19th (exactly one month from today!) and so I'll be writing about the preparation for travel in the upcoming month, and then I'll be filling y'all in on my daily adventures once I'm there. Fab! I'll be living with my sister and her family - her husband, Dave, their son, Aidan, and the two dogs, Neuf and Jack.
The first question that usually comes up is "what will you be doing there?" The answer is - a whole lotta nufin. My sister is a part of the foreign service and will be working at the US consulate (or embassy, I'm not sure what the difference is) so I won't really be able to get a "job" like I did in Ireland. There might be some volunteer work, and I'll pitch in as much as I can helping out around the house and watching my nephew, but overall I'll have a lot of free time. I just started playing guitar, and much to my utter surprise really liking it, and so I'm looking forward to devoting a lot of time to practicing and ideally writing some stuff too. Other than that, I'll read, pick up some dirty Spanish phrases, drink lots of beer, meet some folks and ideally not get into too much trouble - though if I do it'll be all like, "pffft, whatever, do you know who my sister is?"
The second question that usually gets asked is "who is watching the rats?" The answer to that is my most excellent good buddy Benny. Benny is tops and I owe a lot of my relative sanity to him, plus he's super great with animals and loves the rats! He watched them while I was in Asia last April and did a brilliant job. Of course, they did come back to me complaining that the cheese I give them was for too quotidian, so, whatever, Benny's cheese is better, like I care.
So, a month out, and it's just beginning to set in that my life is going to change radically in another month. For now it's day to day, trying to deal with some difficulties life has recently presented me, and from time to time remembering that I'm off to tropical good stuffs. It couldn't have come at a better time. Sometimes everything unfolds in a most curious and beautiful way. Also, often it is painful and messy, but I believe that the beauty is there if you sit with it long enough and allow it all to unfold. Undestructable, my friends.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Sarajevo and Eastern Croatia
The first two shots here were taken in Sarajevo, the rest are from the journey from Sarajevo and my travels through eastern Croatia.
This is a sign warning to beware of landmines in the area. There are a lot of these signs. This photo was actually taken as we were stuck in traffic due to a team up ahead clearing mines.
This is one of the rail stops in Eastern Croatia.
Ancient Roman ruins out in the woods.
My hosts in Voloder roasted chestnuts for me!
A museum in Zagreb
This is a sign warning to beware of landmines in the area. There are a lot of these signs. This photo was actually taken as we were stuck in traffic due to a team up ahead clearing mines.
This is one of the rail stops in Eastern Croatia.
Ancient Roman ruins out in the woods.
My hosts in Voloder roasted chestnuts for me!
A museum in Zagreb
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Phew!
Back in ireland again. Wow, what a journey. Croatia was amazing, I'm still processing it all. Again, I owe so much to couchsurfing. The people I met through that program really made a world of difference. From advice on where to find great food in Sarajevo to a firsthand look at the devistation of Vukovar, a small town on the Croatian/Serbian border. I drank with the locals, danced with a sea of sweaty Croatian men, watched team Hrvatska win a football match, ate pizza under the night sky in the shadow of the fortress that protects old town Osijek, walked through the woods near Virovitica and gathered mushrooms that we ate for breakfast the next day, tasted boiled chestnuts and didn't like them so much, tasted roasted chestnuts and liked them better, got completely lost in Zagreb and couldn't find a toilet, tried dried figs for the first time - oh! sweet heaven! played for an hour with a 5 year old boy with only a handful of shared words between us, fell in love with the Adriatic coast, ate the best pizza I have ever tasted, had the motto "Nema Straja!" bestowed upon me (if means No Fear), sat in many terasas drinking scrupmtious beverages, climbed the gorgeous bell tower of Spilt, ate grapes that tasted like they had been filled with perfume, marvelled at plethora of produce at the green market in Split, went to a Croatian rock concert, had the nicest hostel I've ever stayed in all to myself, ate fish soup with Igor and Pavel, had a teeny sip of tripe stew at lunch with Vinko and Kosta, chocolate coated sour cherry honey cakes with Zarko, the best shish kabob ever with Emre and Umit, and too many delicious things to list with Spomenko and Suncha. This weekend I plan for the leek soup detox.
Loads of pictures but I'm actually still in Dublin, so pictures will have to wait a few more days until I'm back with my computer.
For those who are interested, here is the recap of my route...
Day 1 - Carndonagh to Dublin, spent the day rummaging through Dublin
Day 2 - Morning/afternoon in Malahide, a town north of dublin, evening flight to Zadar, Croatia.
Day 3 - Bus from Zadar to Split
Day 4 - Split
Day 5 - Split
Day 6 - Bus from Split to Sarajevo, arrived very late at night
Day 7 - Sarajevo wanderings
Day 8 - Sarajevo wanderings pt 2
Day 9 - Sarajevo to Osijek, Croatia
Day 10 - Osijek
Day 11 - Osijek to Virovitica
Day 12 - Virovitica
Day 13 - Virovitica to Voloder
Day 14 - Voloder
Day 15 - Voloder (but spent most of the day in Zagreb)
Day 16 - Voloder to Zagreb to Zadar to Dublin
Day 17 - If all goes right, Dublin to Carndonagh!
Loads of pictures but I'm actually still in Dublin, so pictures will have to wait a few more days until I'm back with my computer.
For those who are interested, here is the recap of my route...
Day 1 - Carndonagh to Dublin, spent the day rummaging through Dublin
Day 2 - Morning/afternoon in Malahide, a town north of dublin, evening flight to Zadar, Croatia.
Day 3 - Bus from Zadar to Split
Day 4 - Split
Day 5 - Split
Day 6 - Bus from Split to Sarajevo, arrived very late at night
Day 7 - Sarajevo wanderings
Day 8 - Sarajevo wanderings pt 2
Day 9 - Sarajevo to Osijek, Croatia
Day 10 - Osijek
Day 11 - Osijek to Virovitica
Day 12 - Virovitica
Day 13 - Virovitica to Voloder
Day 14 - Voloder
Day 15 - Voloder (but spent most of the day in Zagreb)
Day 16 - Voloder to Zagreb to Zadar to Dublin
Day 17 - If all goes right, Dublin to Carndonagh!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Hrvatska!
Yipee! I love Croatia! Well, to be honest I can only say I love Split, Croatia! I've been here for three days and it's one of the greatest places I've ever visited. The vibe, the buildings, the food... everything is dead brilliant! I really don't want to leave but I was actually supposed to go to Srajevo yesterday but couldn't tear myself away from Split! So today I'm off to Sarajevo, and it's goodbye to the Adriatic, bummer. But I hear Sarajevo is amazing too, so I am quite eager to see it. Gosh, I just want to melt into the streets of Old Town and stay here just loving life.
It's a very good thing that this place has been so amazing, as while I was here I got the dreadful news that one of my beloved rats, Tresiallian, had died, and, AND Team Etruria headquarters got robbed and a lot of stuff was taken, including most of my jewelry, which was pretty must just costume stuff, not worth much of anything other than the sentimental value for me. It's good to be travelling actually at a time like that, it's easier for me to remember that people on the whole ARE basically very good, it's just those rotten eggs that spoil it. On the down side, it's very very difficult being away for Tresillian's death, knowing that I'll never see her again or smooch her fuzzy belly. Plus there's the horrific guilt that wonders if she thought I abandoned her.
But overall I am having a great great GREAT time and have found another spot I can daydream about one day calling home :)
It's a very good thing that this place has been so amazing, as while I was here I got the dreadful news that one of my beloved rats, Tresiallian, had died, and, AND Team Etruria headquarters got robbed and a lot of stuff was taken, including most of my jewelry, which was pretty must just costume stuff, not worth much of anything other than the sentimental value for me. It's good to be travelling actually at a time like that, it's easier for me to remember that people on the whole ARE basically very good, it's just those rotten eggs that spoil it. On the down side, it's very very difficult being away for Tresillian's death, knowing that I'll never see her again or smooch her fuzzy belly. Plus there's the horrific guilt that wonders if she thought I abandoned her.
But overall I am having a great great GREAT time and have found another spot I can daydream about one day calling home :)
Monday, October 6, 2008
Neglecting the Blog
Sure, yeah it's been a while, been too busy eating scones and shivering to post. There is no heat in my flat, and my roommates left for the weekend and left me with no coal for the fire. After a teeth-chattering Saturday afternoon and evening, I eventually had to throw myself on the mercy of my employer who has a car to deliver me a big beautiful bag of coal on Sunday. Then it was toasty warm firey goodness.
Went to the Inishowen Gospel Choir concert last Thursday. My employer is one of the members and her sister is one of the head honchos. It was a great time, there were a few other acts as well, so it was a whole evening of entertainment. It was just a really lively atmosphere and fun times.
I witnessed the great excitment of Gaelic football the other day. I've heard tell that Seattle has it own's league or something, but I had never seen an entire game til last Saturday. It was great craic. The local Carndonagh team was playing, there was a lot riding on the game, if they won they'd be playing in the semi-finals next weekend. Well they housed the compitition! W00t! It's a super fun game to watch, a fab cross between soccer and american football with a wee bit of volleyball thrown in. Plus it's lots of fit young men jumping around and getting muddy. Dream-tacular!
Went on a pub crawl last Saturday with Marty Kelly and a gaggle of boys, and managed to keep my own even better than I hoped I would. In the course of far too few hours I had...
1/4 bottle of red wine
1 shot of this super yummy stuff called Mickey Finn's
1 pint of Guinness
A glass of whiskey and lemonade
Vodka and orange flavored liquid
Shot of baby Guinness (Baliey's and Tia Maria)
Something purple
Something amber
Something green mixed with something fizzy
There was much laughing, much dancing, and amazingly, no puking and not such a bad hangover. Go figure. My liver can't wait til I go back to Seattle and stop abusing it.
So I'm off to Croatia and Bosnia tomorrow, with a day stop-off in Dublin. Excited to find out what adventures lay ahead!
Went to the Inishowen Gospel Choir concert last Thursday. My employer is one of the members and her sister is one of the head honchos. It was a great time, there were a few other acts as well, so it was a whole evening of entertainment. It was just a really lively atmosphere and fun times.
I witnessed the great excitment of Gaelic football the other day. I've heard tell that Seattle has it own's league or something, but I had never seen an entire game til last Saturday. It was great craic. The local Carndonagh team was playing, there was a lot riding on the game, if they won they'd be playing in the semi-finals next weekend. Well they housed the compitition! W00t! It's a super fun game to watch, a fab cross between soccer and american football with a wee bit of volleyball thrown in. Plus it's lots of fit young men jumping around and getting muddy. Dream-tacular!
Went on a pub crawl last Saturday with Marty Kelly and a gaggle of boys, and managed to keep my own even better than I hoped I would. In the course of far too few hours I had...
1/4 bottle of red wine
1 shot of this super yummy stuff called Mickey Finn's
1 pint of Guinness
A glass of whiskey and lemonade
Vodka and orange flavored liquid
Shot of baby Guinness (Baliey's and Tia Maria)
Something purple
Something amber
Something green mixed with something fizzy
There was much laughing, much dancing, and amazingly, no puking and not such a bad hangover. Go figure. My liver can't wait til I go back to Seattle and stop abusing it.
So I'm off to Croatia and Bosnia tomorrow, with a day stop-off in Dublin. Excited to find out what adventures lay ahead!
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