Troupin About

Snow Days, How I Love Thee . . .

2008-02-01T17:29:00.000Z

One of the coolest perks about being a teacher happened today - we had a snow day! I got the call at 9:30 last night - very rare for my school district to cancel school that early. Joyfully, I hung up the phone and promptly turned off my alarm for the next morning. There's nothing better than waking up suddenly at 5am on the morning of a snow day, wondering how much longer you have to sleep, then remembering it's a snow day and blissfully falling back onto your pillow. It's mornings like these that make it seem worth being on the receiving end of countless eye rolls and disdainful groans day after day. Well, most of the time. Actually, my students have been pretty good the last few weeks - I don't have too much to complain about on that end for the time being.

In total we got about 8 inches of snow - the most we've experienced in two years! It made our street look very pretty - the cute gingerbread houses are particularly comely coated in a blanket of sparkling white snow. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to sled or make snowmen - I did catch up on a lot of grading though, so that will free me up to enjoy the rest of my weekend! I was also proud of my thorough shoveling job - Nate was thrilled to look outside and see our sidewalks and driveway clear.

This is a packed weekend - Six Nations rugby starts tomorrow, so Nate and I will be parked in an Irish Pub by 8am with a full breakfast, and later a Guinness. Then we're hoping to catch some of the Mardi Gras festivities - and of course take in the Super Bowl on Sunday, regardless of our disdain for both teams. Plenty of Blog fodder there, so I hope to be back soon!

A New Year, A New Post (Finally!)

2008-01-29T18:03:00.000Z

Hi there!
Well, it finally happened - we got our new computer! So there's lots to cheer about. For instance: now I'm able to post on the blog again - yay! And I can check my personal email during the week again - yay! And in other random news, we had housecleaners come for the first time today - yay! (Nate finally caved and let me get someone to come clean once every two weeks - it's awesome, they've only been here once and my house is already cleaner than it's ever been!) And I mysteriously scratched my cornea last night while I was sleeping - yay! Wait a second . . . doh!No big deal - I just have to wear my glasses for the rest of the week and put in eye drops four times a day. No weird eye patch needed like the last time I did this (granted, that was about 25 years ago - but it was my brother's fault then!). We're still trying to figure out how it happened - even the eye doctor was mystified!

So for any of you who still happen to check this every now and then, I'm hoping to post more often - for real! I'll be putting before and after pics up of the house (when we first moved in and now), and I'll probably post a few of our Italy trip just to tie that experience off - even if it was nine months ago. We've come to look at this blog as a bit of a journal/scrapbook, so I don't want to leave that chapter of our lives unfinished.

So bye for now - but I'll be back again soon!!!Hopefully this weekend or shortly thereafter. It is Mardi Gras after all . . . maybe I'll get some pics of that too!

Our First Visitor

2007-09-30T18:48:00.000+01:00

It's unbelievable that we've been back for five months now. Exactly two years ago, Nate and I were spending our first weekend exploring Dublin and desperately searching for housing. It was so daunting and exhilarating at the same time! Oh, the memories.

This weekend afforded us plenty of opportunities to reminisce over our previous European home as we hosted our first visitor from Dublin! Nate's coworker Margaret has been working in Atlanta for the last six weeks, and managed to carve some time out for a quick weekend visit to St. Louis. Margaret made good use of her short time here by visiting the Anheuser Busch Brewery and perusing downtown sights like the Arch, the old Courthouse and Busch Stadium. We tried to provide a few classic American culinary experiences too - we went to a great cajun restaurant for dinner, complete with a live bluegrass band adding to the fun, casual ambiance. We also took her to Ted Drewes for some quintessential St. Louis ice cream. It was great to catch up with her, to hear about some old friends in Dublin, and to share a little of our own life here. Both Nate and I enjoyed the excuse to take a break from our insane work lives as well.

With fall approaching, we look forward to the distractions that the season holds - mostly in the form of American football. Since Nate has returned to his homeland, he is now fully devoted to nurturing his obsession with full force. If I ever get pictures running on this blog again, I'll have to post a few of the sojourns we've been taking to compensate for the time Nate had to spend away from his favorite sport! Until next time!

Life all Grown Up

2007-09-14T19:26:00.000+01:00

I've seriously got to get my blog updates back on track! It's a little hard to transition from writing about trips to Spain or Germany to waxing poetic on the mundane details of a life that's shifted back to more ordinary.

My life and free time as I knew it during the two years we were in transition has for all intents and purposes come to an end. I'm back to waking up at 5:15 am and spendng my weekends grading and planning. I won't lie, it's not all roses, but I am enjoying the challenges and rewards of working again. The vast majority of my students are awesome - my first class of the day has been an absolute joy to work with. And while my life is beyond frenetic, it's still much easier than my first year of teaching. Plus, I now have a host of wonderful memories from Europe to calm me when I'm feeling overwhelmed.

We've come a long way since touching down in the US in late April. We now have couches for our basement and living room, and a full grown up dining room set!! I've never had a china cabinet before - four years after our wedding, and I'm finally able to display our pretty plates! We still have a long way to go - the living room's still a bit sparse - but it's a good start. In any case, we have virtually no free time, so we'll have to live with it probably until at least Christmastime.

With grown up furniture came grown up birthdays for both of us - Nate and I have now transitioned out of the world of 20-somethings - aahhhh!! On the other hand, I suppose if our next thirty years are as unbelievably blessed as the first have been, we have have some incredible experiences yet to look forward to.

Fun with the Fam

2007-07-23T09:00:00.000+01:00

I bet we've lost most of our faithful readers now due to my extended blog absence!!! Hopefully some will return to check in and find this long overdue post. We now have home internet access, but need a new operating system for our computer, so we haven't been able to use it yet. The only reason I'm even able to make this post now (with pictures no less!) is thanks to my parents' letting me commandeer their computer . . .

. . . Which brings me to the topic of the post! We were in Indiana hanging with my family this weekend on account of my beautiful cousin and her beautiful wedding. We had a great time celebrating with her and my dad's side of the clan. My bro brought his girlfriend Lindsey, who I always love hanging out with. Nate was even able to break from his hectic schedule to join in on the festivities - check out the pic of our happy crew above. Cousin Lori and her new husband Dan had a wonderful ceremony and reception that was very meaningful to all involved. My dad and aunt Jayne caught both my mom and I crying our eyes out during the dad/daughter dance - Lori made an excellent song choice that caught us both off guard! It was a great way to spend time with the family and reunite with folks we haven't seen in a long time. Here's a pic of the new couple as they entered the reception room:

As far as settling news goes, we're still doing well - we have our cats back and they've adjusted much better than they did in Dublin. I guess American cats are accustomed to the space of an American house - at least these Midwestern ones are. Their humans still miss certain aspects of life abroad, but we're also enjoying getting our life started again here. We should be getting a couch by Wednesday, so we'll finally have something to sit on besides our bed and kitchen table! Once again, as soon as I can, I'll post inside pics of the house - maybe some good before and after pics.

Nate is back into his job full swing and is traveling like crazy. I'll be starting my first day of "teacher training" on August 1 - which also happens to be a big birthday for me. It'll be the first day I've ever had to work on my birthday in my life - guess I'm lucky to have made it this long! I don't think I need to say how excited I am to get started with work again though - people who know me know I've been missing that part of my life immensely!

That's all for now - I'll try to get another update in soon!

Reunion with the Felines

2007-06-16T18:34:00.000+01:00

We're in Kansas City this weekend being reunited with our cats! It's been nearly three months since I last saw their frightened little faces inside their carriers. They were being carted off on a forklift, bound for a plane headed for the US. Needless to say, this is a much happier encounter. They look great - Nate's parents have taken impeccable care of them. As Nate's brother Pat said, "They almost look more comfortable than they've ever been!" They've spent their hiatus in a much bigger house, and they had an additional four-legged friend - the family dog Digger who has made it to the ripe old age of 15!! Being the sage old hound that he is, Digger doesn't bother the cats much, unless he accidentally bumps into them due to his blindness.

Tomorrow we head back to St. Louis - hopefully the furry faction of our family will adjust quickly to our new house. We're liking the place a lot - it's close to a lot of great St. Louis landmarks and is in walking distance to the public transportation. I love the hardwood floors, but I'm wondering how the cats will deal with it . . . yikes.

Updates might continue to be a bit sparse until we get our home internet access! We're working on getting our house set up for wireless, so hopefully that will be complete within a few weeks or so. Until then, my only internet access is through the public library. It's also very close to our house, but they kick you off after an hour, and the online graduate course I'm taking eats up most of that time. Hopefully this will all change soon though!

It's amazing how fast the summer is already flying by, isn't it? We're already almost upon the two-month anniversary of our arrival back in the states. I'll be back in the classroom before I know it!

One Month Down

2007-05-21T17:58:00.000+01:00

It's hard to believe that we left Dublin a month ago. I wish I'd been able to blog about our move-in process from that end - that would have been some entertainment! I really learned to stop worrying about making a fool of myself over there, because I did it multiple times a day.

This weekend we saw Nate's brother Pat for the first time since we arrived - it was good to catch up with him again. On Saturday we headed downtown to meet up with him and some friends, and we happened upon Busch Stadium. The Cardinals were playing Detroit on a gorgeous weekend afternoon. As we drove by I counted not one, not two, but three wedding parties getting their pics taken outside the stadium! I pointed and exclaimed, and Nate wondered if perhaps I was just looking at one big wedding party, but no. I specifically recall three brides, big dresses, veils and all. This town sure does love its baseball.

Five more nights in the hotel! Think I'm excited about it?

New Wheels

2007-05-17T09:45:00.000+01:00

We've got wheels now! Both hybrids - we're committed friends of the earth now.

Nate opted for a charcoal Toyota Camry. He got a great deal on it because it's "pre-owned" (aka used), but only slightly so, and it's still a 2007. It's got some great features - it's amazing how the technology in cars is advancing.

I went for a Honda Civic. Not the most exciting of choices in concept, especially after the purple Cougar I had before we left for Ireland, but it's actually a pretty slick looking car. I like small cars - I'm much more comfortable in them, and I have a much better track record with them. My past driving blunders (several years ago now - only dents and dings!) usually took place when I was in a larger car.

So now we're behaving like little children with new toys - we're loving that new car smell!

Not too long before we're in our house too!! Then I just have to tackle the decorating and renovating on the areas we want to fix up. Hopefully the blog will be picture-enabled again in a few weeks!

Movin Along

2007-05-12T15:00:00.000+01:00

The best news from this week came on Wednesday, when I was offered a teaching job!!! The offer came two days later than I'd expected, but I was simply happy that the outcome turned out the way it did. I am very excited to be rejoining my profession. Hopefully I'll be able to channel a bit of what I've learned abroad into my classroom - I've already got some ideas brewing.

The inspection process for our house is still rolling - we should clear that phase early next week. Two weeks to go until closing and I am starting to count the days. The novelties of hotel living have worn off, and I'm growing weary of the sterile decor, saggy mattress, and the marginal cookery in our kitchenette. I will miss the housekeeping aspect of our stay though - guess I'll have to get used to vacuuming again soon!

This weekend is car-hunting weekend - hopefully we'll make some progress on that front soon. Nate's been using public transport for work, so we haven't had too hard a time sharing our one rental car, but the time is fast approaching when we'll need separate modes of transportation.

That's all for now - I'm sure we'll have more news soon!

A Suggestion and an Update

2007-05-07T10:00:00.000+01:00

If at all possible, I highly recommend avoiding purchasing a house, two cars, and searching for a job for the first time in three years all at once. It's a tad fraying on the nerves. Just a little tid-bit of wisdom for you to take with you.

A Few Updates:

We put an offer on a house last Tuesday and it was accepted! So we're going through the inspection process now. If all goes well, we should be able to move in by the end of May!!

I had my second interview at my former school on Friday, and I think it went well - I should hear some time today whether I have the job or not.

We test drove two cars during our second weekend back (end of April), and we'll probably do it again this coming weekend. We're looking into hybrids!

We've now been to two of our friends' kickball games as lazy spectators - nothing's better than watching your friends run around being athletic while lounging in the sun and playing with the grass.

I'll give more updates as they come! I expect I'll be able to post pictures again when I have my computer back, so maybe in June.

The Eagles Have Landed

2007-04-24T19:50:00.000+01:00

After three exhausting but incredible weeks in Italy, we've made it back to St. Louis. We already miss our Dublin friends and hope everyone is doing well. And we've already had a great time catching up with our St. Louis crowd. It's surreal being back in the states during the springtime. Temperatures are already nearing 80, and I can feel my allergies springing back to life. We enjoyed a nice turbulent thunderstorm early this evening - the first time I can remember seeing lightning since we left in 2005.

As for our settling process, we're frantically searching for a house right now, and will be starting our car search soon. Nate starts work again tomorrow, so most of the searching will take place on evenings and weekends - talk about hitting the ground running! I have a job interview on Friday, so I'm prepping big time for that. At least we have mobiles though - on Saturday, not 24 hours after we landed, we went into the mall and left 2 hours later with mobile phones! It took us a month to get our mobiles in Ireland, and at least three or four trips to the Vodafone store on Grafton. It was a lovely and wonderful thing to get a mobile phone on our first try - my parents were wondering why it took as long as it did!

We'll be updating you on more stories of our reassimilation, and hopefully posting a few pictures just as soon as possible.

Stay Tuned - We're in Transition!!!

2007-04-06T15:49:00.000+01:00

My apologies - I wasn't able to write any of the posts I said I would before we sold our computer! International moving is super busy!
We've now moved out of our Dublin place - that was a strange and ambivalent moment to say the least! We also had some great outings with our friends right before we left. I'll try to post on all of those things when I'm back in the US. Until then, we're currently on our last hurrah in Europe! So I won't be posting again until things are more settled, which will be after April 20.
We're taking a ton of pictures here, but have no way of loading them onto a computer, so you'll just have to wait! Just to give you a teaser: we spent two days in Barcelona, soaking up everything Gaudi. Unfortunately it poured the entire time, so our experience was much more limited than we would have liked. At least we had our previous trip! Sans rain, Barcelona is one of our favorite places that we've visited.
Italy has been amazing so far. We are in the Cinque Terre right now and have been doing plenty of hiking and lounging on the beach. Can't wait to see the pictures. We'll be headed off to Florence, Siena, Venice, Rome and Orvieto before we return. Lots to look forward to!
Well, that's the last update from me for a few weeks! Hope everyone is well - please check back in toward the end of April!!!

Update on the Flying Cats

2007-03-23T16:12:00.000Z

At 3:45pm (10:45am Missouri time), we received a report from Nate's mom that the cats are safe in Kansas City. One of them is already eating (can you guess which one it is based on the photo below?) and the other is at least drinking water. Huge relief!!!

Flying Cats, and Other Thoughts on our Next Big Move

2007-03-22T19:39:00.000Z

Back from hiatus! Well, for a very short while anyway - more on that later. Now to the issue at hand. I have had this blog for nine months now, and this is my first post about my cats. That's great - hopefully it means that they don't consume my life as much as I think they do sometimes.

For seventeen months, I had two fuzzy, four-legged critters here who accompanied me through every room of the house as I went about my various domestic duties for the day. Bob and Josie are my five-year-old stray/pound cats, and they provide Nate and I with much entertainment. And sometimes much frustration, as I'm sure we'll encounter when we don't get our security deposit back on our apartment (thanks for scratching the walls, Bob-o!). Nevertheless, I'm glad we had them here during our experience - and now they're headed to Kansas City to stay with Nate's wonderful parents. We just took them to the airport today. It was not easy seeing my scared little ones huddled in their crates as a forklift carted them away to the unkown. And now I have to wait until tomorrow to find out if they made it through the journey, because for some reason they have to stay the night in Atlanta. Alas! Now that I've tugged at your heartstrings, I'll be sure to post an update when I hear they made it. The above pic is Bob (looking at his back end may clarify his name) - for some reason it's the only pic I have on my computer of either of my cats!

So the final stages of our move back to the states are underway. We leave for our last European adventure in less than two weeks! Italy will encompass the vast majority of that trip - neither of us have been, so we're glad for one final exciting journey.

As for now, traces of our life here are gradually ebbing away. I've been selling our electronics, so we no longer have our DVD player, crock pot or bedside lamps. Our groceries are dwindling as we try to finish the last of our remaining supplies. With every possession that leaves our home, the realization that this exciting chapter of our lives is about to come to an end. Soon it will be time to look forward to other new prospects - like buying a home again! I'm looking forward to showing the final outcome of that search in a few months.

Until then, I'll try to squeeze in a few final posts from Ireland - our computer is going away in about a week. I've taken photos of St. Pat's Day 2007, and I need to write about our last visitors, who we had a great time with recently! We're also having several "goodbye" celebrations, but I might not be able to post those until we're stateside again. So stay tuned . . .

London Bound

2007-02-28T10:50:00.000Z

At the beginning of last week, I made a trip to London to wrap up some unfinished business. The last time I made it there, I had a long list of places I wanted to see and not nearly enough time to fit it all in. So I made a final solo trip - there are just some places an English teacher has to go when she's this close to England!!

I just missed the Chinese new year celebration when I arrived, which was a bummer - Chinatown was festooned with red and gold banners, and everyone was snapping off firecrackers and walking around with inflated pig balloons (in honor of the year of the pig). I did manage to get a picture of myself amidst the waning of the frivoloties, but I'll have to wait to post that. It's on my friend Amy's camera, and she's definitely not in a place to be messing with downloading photos from her camera right now - more on that later . . .

My first day in London was a museum day - I went to the British Museum and the British Library. I'd wanted to see the British Museum ever since our trip to Greece - it has some of the best artifacts from the Parthenon, known as the Elgin Marbles. I was able to see those in additon to a ton of valuable Egyptian and Assyrian artifacts. I left the BM with a fresh perspective on ancient civilizations, and quite a few photos.

The British Library was an English teacher's dream - the earliest surviving published works of Shakespeare, as well as hand-written and edited manuscripts from Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll (illustrated too!), James Joyce, WB Yeats - there were tons more, I just can't remember it all right now. I also saw the Gutenberg Bible and the Magna Carta. Understandably, I couldn't take photographs, so I had to suffice with a photo of the outside building - the statue is of Isaac Newton.

On my second day I made a much-needed day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon to see Shakespeare's birthplace - that's his house below. There aren't many surviving public records pertaining to Shakespeare - nonetheless, I thought the museum there did a good job of presenting all known information. What I found interesting was seeing the difference in the home where he was born, and the place where his daughter lived later on. Shakespeare definitely did well in life! After reading about so many authors who died in poverty, it was refreshing to see that he apparently lived well off of his literary career.

I stayed with my friend Amy throughout the trip and met up with her in the evenings - she was a fabulous host. She's been working in London since early January, but since her husband is still in Dublin, she's had to commute back and forth on the weekends - no fun. Well, my visit happened to coincide with the day she accepted a job back in Dublin and quit her London job. Not a great time for a freewheeling visitor to drop in! We had a good time despite the tumult in poor Amy's life. She even took the time to make it to a West End show with me. We saw Porgy and Bess - not the greatest show I've seen, but there was some good music, and I loved just having the chance to see one of those shows again.

Well, that just about wraps up February. With one month to go in Dublin, we are keeping busier than ever - I'll do my best to keep the updates coming!

I Rock the Kitchen

2007-02-26T11:20:00.000Z

Last night I made chocolate chip cookies. Let me preface the rest of the story by informing you that I've never been one who's exhibited exceptional prowess in the kitchen. My home ec teacher in seventh grade used to laugh at most of my attempts at cooking, cleaning . . . and sewing, and well, just about everything else. So I considered it no small triumph when I managed to make three dozen cookies last night without burning a single one! Add that to the fact that I probably haven't baked cookies since high school, and remember that I'm dealing with Irish ingredients (the flour, baking soda, brown sugar here are slightly different from American varieties), and I'd consider this an outright miraculous success!

Another testament to how I've learned and improved upon my culinary abilities: my first batches were slightly too fragile and crumbly, but instead of freaking out and pouting like I would have in the past, I simply adjusted and added more flour - the rest of my cookies were the perfect consistency!

It's strange for me to talk about since I've always been so focused on various career and educational pursuits, but my time in Ireland has, if nothing else, helped me to improve my domestic capabilities by leaps and bounds. I, who used to abhor cleaning and cooking, still abhor cleaning and cooking - but I'm much better at it now, so I guess I don't hate it as much. Furthermore, I actually do it! My recipe repertoire now extends well beyond simple baked chicken and crock pot dishes, and I do far more cleaning than I used to. I even baked my first pie over here - and brought it to a pot luck for my expat club! The women in my expat club know their way around the kitchen, so I was downright gleeful when I received compliments on my pie.

Anyway, just thought I'd take a brief moment to celebrate. Who knows how much of this will stick when I get back into fulltime work?

I Luv Hillwalking

2007-02-24T10:30:00.000Z

Hillwalking is one of the great Irish pasttimes that I've taken up as my own. This country is chock full of fabulous places to hike, regardless of your hiking prowess. I've been a hillwalker for about a year now - I started about five months after we'd moved here, when it finally sunk in that I wasn't going to be able to secure a job. My expat club goes three times a month, and I do my best to make them all. The only factors that have stopped me have been visitors, traveling, and illness. It has by far and away been one of my favorite aspects of my life here. Great exercise, unbelievable views, and it's important to get out and talk with everyone too, as domestic life can get rather mundane. I return from the walks usually rather muddy, often a bit rain-drenched, and a little achy/sleepy in that satisfying way when you've had a good excercise.

Dublin alone has dozens of great trails, hills, coastlines, and small mountains to meander, all within a thirty to forty minute drive or train ride from the city centre. After ten months as a hillwalker, I finally bought hiking boots in the hope that I will continue the hobby when I travel in the US. I don't take hillwalking for granted, and I'll miss the easy access to such gorgeous countryside when we return to the flat plains, cornfields and billboards of the Midwest.

After a year of hillwalking, I finally remembered to bring my camera along on one of our journeys. The pics are from our hike around the Ballinastoe area - just south of Dublin. More on Flickr - Enjoy!

Farewell to Galway

2007-02-22T10:50:00.000Z

Around the end of January, a friend of mine and I decided to make an impromptu one-day trip to Galway on Ireland's west coast. I love Galway - it's a great break from Dublin, very laid back. This was my farewell trip and Deborah's hello trip. We had a great time - I love taking spontaneous trips like this. We caught the Friday night train out, got dinner at an Irish version of a TGIFriday's, and had a pint at An Pucan, a pub on the road back to our B&B. Deborah got hit on by the first of three weird men who would accost her during our trip - they each got progressively weirder with each come-on. This guy was significantly older than either of us and had a monstrous beer belly. After shooing him away and gulping down our pints, Deborah and I headed off to our B&B where we nearly froze to death because we couldn't close the window in our room - can't win 'em all I guess.

The next day Deborah took her first trip to the Cliffs of Moher, and if her experience here is anything like mine has been, it won't be her last. She was off at the cliffs for the day, and I used the time to soak in Galway for the last time, taking pics and wandering up and down the scenic streets. It was quality alone time. I've been to Galway so many times I could practically lead my own tour of the area, but I wanted to see it one last time before taking off.

We caught the Saturday night train back in order to see our significant others. I'll put the pics on Flickr for all to enjoy. I look forward to seeing that town again, although who knows how old I'll be when that happens!

Northern Ireland/The Antrim Coast

2007-02-10T11:10:00.000Z

Nate's company has provided him with a rental car to get to his client for our last few months here. It's made us appreciate again how much freedom a car gives you - we now have the ability to take quick road trips if we want, and we have access to better grocery stores! The sad irony is that Nate is now in his busy season - he barely has enough time to eat breakfast, let alone make it out for a countryside soujourn. So when he found a slight lull in his schedule over one weekend in mid-January, we leaped at the chance to make a quick get-away. Northern Ireland was our destination - Nate hadn't had the opportunity to get there, and I was happy to return.

On Friday night we stayed at Nate's co-worker Dermot's home about 90 minutes outside of Dublin - he lives in Carrickmacross, a small town near the border. It was pitch-black when we drove up there, but here is the view we had from the guestroom window when we woke the next morning:

What a retreat! You can't see in this picture, but there were horses grazing in the field across the road - it was quite the vision of pastoral bliss. I quickly understood how Dermot had been able to withstand the stress of a CPA's life for so long.

We spent Saturday wandering the area surrounding Carrickmacross with Dermot - we saw a lot of sights significant to Patrick Kavanagh, a famous Irish poet. We also drove across to a lot of the border towns, took a scenic walk around a lake-strewn forest park/golf resort, and had lunch in a well-preserved castle. Apparently David and Victoria Beckham were married in this castle - the place books up years in advance. There was a group still lingering from a wedding the night before, and they were having a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee - an informal traditional music session), which was a great atmosphere to have lunch to. By late afternoon we said our goodbyes to Dermot and took off for Portrush, a town on the Northern Irish coast.

After a classic Sunday breakfast in our seaside townhouse B&B, we headed off to explore the coast, meandering through Dunluce Castle's ruins and scrambling over the hexagon-shaped rocks of the Giant's Causeway (pictured at the top of the post). It rained just enough at the Causeway to chase the majority of the tourists away, but Nate and I stuck it out, and were rewarded with a few moments alone to admire the dramatic coastline and reflect on our lot in life. The tide was in, which made for turbulent waves - great for taking pictures. We tried to cross the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, but it was closed for the winter. Then we raced to Belfast, where we had enough daylight and energy to walk around a few blocks and say "nice!" before heading back to Dublin. So now Nate's had a glimpse of Northern Ireland, and a rare moment to escape the hustle and bustle at work. With so few opportunities to get out and see the countryside from here on out, we did not take this quick sojourn for granted.

The Rain Game

2007-02-05T13:28:00.000Z

I'm still in a daze over what happened last night. I was not in bed until 3:45 am. Nate and I found it ironic that the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series the one summer we weren't in town, and joked that one of our teams would win the Super Bowl this year. Not only did it actually happen, but my two favorite teams ended up playing eachother! Nevertheless, I had to go with the Colts, and what an amazing game it was. I don't have any overly intelligent commentary to give, at least nothing more than what you could read in any of the hundreds of articles online right now. I just needed to celebrate the success of my team on the blog. Hurrah Colts!!!

Final Holiday Post From 2006

2007-02-02T17:52:00.000Z

Well, I'm pretty sure our Christmas visits weren't too different from anyone else's, aside from the seven-hour flight. Lots of fun and eating and merrymaking. I was able to see my best friend from high school and her sweet baby Ella, who was eight months old during her visit - she's almost ten months now. It's amazing to think of my childhood friends as parents, but I guess we're all getting to that stage in our lives now! We also paid a quick visit to our friends Adin and Almedin, who were the ringbearers at our wedding. They are growing up so fast - we had a great time seeing them again, as is evidenced by the serious video gaming pictured below.

In addition to seeing my family again, I was able to visit Nate's folks in Kansas City, and had the chance to see Digger the Miracle Dog. DiggerDog has been in Nate's family for quite some time - Nate has a permanent reminder of Digger in the form of a scar near his ear when Digger bit him long ago. Last Christmas, however, he was so sick we weren't sure if he would make it through our visit. In a last ditch effort to save him, Nate's parents gave Digger some kick-butt human antibiotics that somehow cured the sturdy little fella. He can't see anymore, but he's moving around just fine, and his disposition is even a little nicer than I remembered! That's good to know, because Digger will be having two temporary four-legged roommates named Bob and Josie in a few months (our cats - can't believe this blog has existed for seven months without a mention of them).

On New Years Eve we took Nate to his earthly version of heaven - probably his heavenly version of heaven too - a Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium. Nate and his brother should commend themselves over getting me into a pair of non-figure-flattering winter bibs - I looked like a big puffball, but was warm and cozy the entire game. And the Chiefs won too! I won't go into what happened to them later - just remember who's playing in the SuperBowl this weekend, that's all that need be said.

After the game, we headed to our old college town of Columbia, where we had a great New Years gathering with some friends. This cinderella was not ready to leave the ball when the time came for us to depart - we are just excited that at least two of our friends from that evening will be paying us a visit before we leave the Emerald Isle!

This concludes my holiday update, a month in the making - bet you're glad you waited for that!

Up and coming: We're taking a lot of short road trips with our final weekends here. Stay tuned for Northern Ireland's Antrim Coast and my farewell visit to Galway.

My Mistake!

2007-01-30T22:38:00.000Z

I realize it has been a long time since I've put an update in here - many sorries about that! Things are quite busy with our pending repatriation (what a fancy word). I'll have more up very, very soon - promise! I just have to get my camera back from Nate, who's in The Netherlands on a business trip right now. Then I'll be up and running again.

I just discovered a faux pas I've made while I was messing around with my blogger account this evening. I was wondering why no one ever made comments on my blog - until I saw that I had inadvertently turned off the comments!! Blogger has just been saving all these comments that people have been making but not publishing any of them! So sorry guys - I've put them all up in their entirety now, and they should show up from now on. I also tried to reply back to those who commented, although I don't expect many of you will be scrolling through my old posts just to read those. I was so excited to see some of the people who've been commenting!

I'm also going to try to write more regularly - maybe a little more about mundane, everyday things that happen. There may not be pics to go along with those posts, but sometimes it's just fun to write about weird,inconsequential things that happen to you. So be ready!

That Sounds About Right To Me

2007-01-30T22:09:00.000Z

Hmmm . . . apparently I'm Kermit. Not a bad Muppet to be - the star of the show! Does that give you a clue of what astrological sign I am? Love the attention.

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know.
You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems.
Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green.
Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

Christmas Bonanza - Deutchstyle

2007-01-09T12:00:00.000Z

With only four months to go in Europe, I'm particularly focused on checking out places and events that I don't think I'll be able to visit once I rejoin the ranks of the gainfully employed. Once I start teaching again, it'll be hard to sneak away unnoticed for a frolic in Holland's springtime tulips or a romp around the fun and festive Oktoberfest. So when I heard about the Christmas markets scattered all around Germany througout December, I was determined to see them while I still had the chance. For a long time it looked as though I'd be making yet another solo trip to Germany - which would have been fine, since I enjoyed it so much the last time, but it's much more fun to gawk and oogle over Christmas stuff with a friend. Out of the blue, my friend Monica saved the day, joining me in Munich from China of all places, where she's lived for over a year now. It was the first time I'd seen her since June of 2005, so it was a fun reunion.

We started off the trip on a sobering but meaningful note - I really wanted to make a pilgrimage to the Dachau concentration camp. I felt it wasn't right to make the trek to Germany twice in three months, to be less than an hour away, and not to visit a place of such horrible yet significant historical importance. The camp has been preserved in a very solemn, powerful manner in my opinion, and I'm glad we made the trip. I took a lot of pictures for possible use in my future classroom, so if anyone's interested in them, just send me an email and I'll be happy to oblige.

Within Munich, Monica and I focused our energies on the delights of the holiday season. Apparently the Christmas market has been a part of the German holiday tradition since medieval times. Hundreds of booths were set up in all of the main squares in town, filled with all kinds of Christmas goodies, from the culinary variety to the decorative. Some of our favorite consumables included Gluhwein, a steaming cup of mulled wine served in a commemorative mug that you could keep if you wanted. We also enjoyed the candied nuts and Christmas cake. There was much more food than either of us could have handled - I wasn't even able to sample the gingerbread or the roasted chestnuts! We didn't like the loaded baked potatoes we had for lunch one day - they gooped the sour cream and butter on much too copiously for my taste. But our yummy bratwursts were more than satisfying, as was the delicious fried potato thing we had with jam - tasted like a hashbrown to me.

As far as shopping goes, both of us stocked up on memories both material and mental for ourselves, as well as gifts for loved ones. I loved sauntering from booth to booth, rummaging through the colorful bins of Christmas ornaments and other traditional decorations. The US should really catch on to this idea - it was a blast, and I'm sure all the Christmas nuts like me would come out in droves to spend, spend, spend.

Amidst all of this oogling, we managed to sneak in a little sightseeing around Munich as well. We visited a church that contained the tombs of several Bavarian monarchs and their family members, including the famous King Ludwig II, who I talked about in my last post on Germany. We also climbed one of the town's many church towers for an amazing view of the city. The balconey on our chosen tower was crowded, and barely wide enough to squeeze two people side-by-side, so we often found ourselves pressed against the iron grating that kept us from falling to our doom. It took me about ten minutes to psych myself up, but I once again stifled my fears and made it onto the balconey, and was rewarded with some great photographs.

I returned to Dublin somewhat mournful for the end of a fun trip and a great reunion with a longtime friend of mine, but I was so grateful to have had the opportunity to return to Germany and once again learn so much. I was lucky to be able to have two great trips to this intriguing place, and have built two of the most significant memories that I've had during our stay.

I almost forgot . . .

2007-01-06T18:30:00.000Z

GO COLTS!!!!!!!!

The Final Furlong

2007-01-05T18:12:00.000Z

Wow, it's almost been a month since my last post! In my defense, we've been busy with much merry-making during the holiday season. After our Thanksgiving trip, I went to Germany to see a long lost friend of mine and to check out the Christmas markets that I'd heard so much about over there. Then I returned home for a whopping four days before we headed back to the states again for Christmas. We're back in Dublin now and are getting settled in for our last three months here.
I'm currently working on a post on my Germany trip, and plan on putting one up on our Christmas visit, which will pretty much catch us up again, as I have no exciting plans in the immediate future and plan to keep it that way for at least the next week or so!

Back in the USA!!! (Part Two - St. Louis)

2006-12-08T18:55:00.000Z

The St. Louis segment of my US visit was quite the adventure. For starters, it was the first time I'd done any real driving in about 14 months. Yep, 14 months - more than a year! I wasn't sure how I was going to handle it - it wasn't difficult really, but heavy-traffic situations were a bit overwhelming.

St. Louis has done some building since we left, so I was surprised to find roads that hadn't been there before and shops I hadn't seen before we moved. I even got lost at one point during the visit, ending up in Cahokia Illinois when I meant to go downtown! That was a shock to my system - getting lost in a town I'd called home for five years!

Despite a few setbacks, though, it was great to be back in mostly familiar surroundings. During the trip, I attended a wedding of a good friend, caught up with several other longtime friends, and paid a visit to the school where I started teaching. My goals for the trip were threefold: catch up with the people I missed, start looking into job prospects for my return, and eat more food that I'd missed. I was happy with the results of all three endeavors by the time I left. I know this sounds crazy, but I am very much looking forward to being able to work again. I'm not excited about the stress and sleep deprivation, but I miss having a career - the challenges, the feeling of contributing to the community, and of course the paycheck. So I was glad to start the search for work again - now ask me about this again in about eight months and see if I have the same outlook!

On the all-important food topic, I was able to revisit a few of my favorite places - Chue's Mexican restaurant being the best. Oh how I miss those delicious cheesy enchiladas, margaritas and the never-ending basket of tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole!!! I also made a point to visit Lion's Choice, since you can't get a hot, thin-sliced roast beef sandwich like that in Dublin, and there's no such thing as a Dr. Pepper.

Where, you may ask, was Nate throughout all of this? Well, while I satiated my various food cravings, Nate was busy catching up on what he missed most - American sports. In between his Thanksgiving celebration and catching up with friends and colleagues, Nate managed to cram in two professional football games, and a college football and basketball game. All this not to mention going back to his St. Louis office for a two-day work project before heading off to a work conference in Orlando Florida! Needless to say, it was a busy time for him, but he was in his element.

We returned to Dublin after 10 quick days, our suitcases laden with goods from our homeland. We're gearing up for our last three months here, and I know it will go fast. The part of me that misses home looks forward to the springtime, but the knowledge that we may never have an experience like this again makes me want to hang on to every moment we have left here.

Back in the USA!!! (Part One)

2006-12-08T17:30:00.000Z

So sorry for the delay - we've been dealing with a little jet lag and catching up after being gone a week and a half!

Our most recent trip took us to our beloved homeland for Thanksgiving - it had been 11 months since we'd last touched American soil, so Nate and I were really looking forward to the visit. Since it was such a quick trip, we had to "divide and conquer" - that is, I returned to Indiana to visit my clan, while Nate headed off to Kansas City to reunite with his family. It was a happy reunion on both ends, but I can really only bear witness to my experience. I had a blast gorging myself on all our Thanksgiving favorites - complete with my mom's exquisite bread and veggie dip, my grandma's delicious deviled eggs, my aunt's fabulous cheesy potatoes (handed down from her mom), and my uncle's incredible assortment of pies - YUUUUMMM!!! So much fun eating and catching up and vegging in front of some football.

Another highlight of this holiday was the opportunity for me to meet my brother's girlfriend Lindsey - she handled the cavalcade of extended family rather well. We found that we shared a similar taste in books and broadway musicals, so we had plenty to talk about! Then of course came the Christmas preparations. The pics above and below are glimpses of my family's traditional post-Thanksgiving Christmas-tree decorating. A lot of effort goes into this, as you can see - from the light hanging to the star-straightening, to the final positioning of the tree. Lindsey and Craig's friend Nathan (see previous post of their visit to Ireland in July) also chipped in on the decorating, so the task was completed in record time. These are Nathan's photos by the way. Neither Nate (my husband) nor I took any pictures during this trip - shame on us!!!

The visit with my fam drew to a close after two short days, and I headed on to the second part of my journey - catching up with friends and colleagues in St. Louis! I'll save that for the next post. I just want to leave off saying that this was a particularly special Thanksgiving for me. I try to never take holidays for granted, but I was grateful to be able to get home, see all the people I care about so much, and enjoy a tradition that is unique to my culture. I am overwhelmed with the blessings that this year has brought us, and am eagerly looking forward to the adventures that await us when we return home next year. Happy Holidays everyone!!!

The Danes Hated to See us Leave

2006-11-18T16:00:00.000Z

The above title is a reference to a beer commercial here – Dublin readers probably recognize it. And I have to comment on the above picture - that was taken while we were walking! An in-motion photo - I thought that was pretty impressive given the circumstances. Check out that enormously toothy grin of mine. What goofy kids we are.
So we just got back from a weekend in Copenhagen. Denmark was our quickest and most unexpected trip. Since it's starting to sink in that we're moving back to the states in less than five months, we’ve come to terms with the fact that we won’t see all of the countries on our wish list. It’s too bad, but we feel lucky to have been so many places as it is. Anyway, we’d pretty much accepted that we weren’t going to make it to Denmark . . . and then we caved and booked a quick flight anyway. Not good on our budget, but when else are we going to do this?!
It wasn’t as cold as I’d expected it to be in Copenhagen. We were pretty comfortable with sweaters and coats – I only had to pull out my gloves when it got dark. It’s a beautiful city with lots of tidal rivers running through it. The buildings are colourful, and there are plenty of statues hailing from Danish folklore. We made a point to visit The Little Mermaid, who gazes forlornly toward land at the edge of one of the harbors.

We also visited the Nazi Resistance Museum, which was very interesting. I took tons of pictures for possible use in my future classroom – I especially liked the exhibit on the underground press that supported the resistance movement.
We missed the best action by a week – Copenhagen is gearing up for Christmas, but the festivities haven’t quite kicked off yet. Our biggest disappointment was that the Tivoli Gardens amusement park was closed – we missed it by four days! So unfortunately our Saturday evening was somewhat uneventful. Here’s my wistful picture of the entrance to the Tivoli at night:

Our final half-day in Denmark was spent whisking around the city doing some easy sightseeing – we climbed a historic roundtower for a great view of the city and did a final exploration of the shopping district (lots of great clothes here, but most stores are closed on Sundays). We also ran through an interesting Danish history museum for about a half hour before we had to leave.
All in all, it was a much quicker visit than either of us wanted, but we were lucky to get to Copenhagen in the first place. Perhaps we’ll be able to dig deeper if we ever make a trek out to explore the rest of Scandinavia some day. Then again, that’s what we’ve been saying about every place we’ve visited!

Another Great Weekend

2006-11-06T10:01:00.000Z

With this post, I can finally say we are largely caught up on the major events in our lives. Luckily, our October was fairly quiet and uneventful. Now I can start giving more regular updates and thoughts on current experiences, rather than reminiscing on trips that occured weeks in the past.
Toward the end of the month, we distracted ourselves from the realities of the approaching winter with a quick trip to Glasgow, Scotland. The last time we visited Scotland, we decided to return to catch a Celtics football match. We were finally able to get there last weekend. Our friend Des played host yet again for us (we really owe him now). We were also joined by Ismet, who we visited in Cyprus, but is actually living in London. Nate, Ismet and Des all knew each other back in the states when they worked on the same client in the small town of Decatur Illinois. Are you confused yet?
Anyway, it was a fast but fun weekend. Nate and I were delighted to watch a match that included a win for the team we supported! We celebrated the victory with a short pub crawl that evening, where my wild and crazy husband climbed a pole in a bar to touch the ceiling, and later nearly killed Ismet by running him down the street in an abandoned shopping cart. Oh the memories! The guys were thankful that I'd forgotten my camera, preventing any documentation of their various hijinks.
So, after a sleepy Sunday of maxing and relaxing, we returned to Dublin, ready to face the week yet again. Maybe we'll bring some of the good fortune that the Celtics are enjoying back to the Irish football team - here's for hoping!

Traversing Bavaria

2006-11-02T22:19:00.000Z

After my esteemed cohorts left for their various destinations, I boarded a train for the south of Germany. In all, I spent three days wandering Bavaria solo. That’s an impressive feat for a gal who’s nervous about going to movies by herself, let alone wandering through a country that doesn’t primarily speak English!

This was a short but fulfilling trip for me. I’d never travelled by myself before, but it’s something I’d always wanted to do. The practical, no-nonsense, paranoid/safety-conscious side of my brain always made me avoid striking out on my own, but I’m glad I ignored that side for a few days.

My first stop was Fussen, Germany, near the Austrian border. Fussen is very close to the fairy tale castle known as Neuschwanstein (pronounced noy-shvan-shtine). It’s the castle that Walt Disney modelled Cinderella’s Castle after when he made Disney World. I’ve seen pictures of this place before, and I knew I REALLY wanted to see it! It’s fairly “new” as far as castles go, built in the 1800s, and the king who built it simply wanted to build his dream palace. If I were royalty, I’d probably do the same thing! Neuschwantstein definitely tops my castle list as my favourite, although I love the Scottish castles we explored back in May. It just had the total package – a beautiful mountainous setting (it was quite a hike to get there), an interesting history, gorgeous furnishings. The only thing lacking – it had never completely been lived in. The king was either murdered or committed less than a year after living there – they still don’t really know what happened to him. Weird!

The day after Fussen, I boarded a bus and travelled up the Romantic Road – a medieval trade route that takes you through tons of cool little historic German towns. The bus driver was not the friendliest, but I got to know a very nice girl from Japan who was also travelling by herself! We spent the day hopping between these little towns and marvelling at the scenery. I loved the architecture in Bavaria – lots of half-timbered houses, and churches with onion-domes. And the cows in the south were adorable – they had little bells tied around their necks, which made them look like pets to me. The bells would jingle as the cows grazed, so a meadow full of cows made for a lot of clinging and clanging. I tried to get the cow below to look up at me, but my efforts were fruitless.

In the evening, our bus stopped in Rothenburg, Germany where I had 24 hours to explore. Rothenburg is a picturesque medieval walled town. It was a trading hub back in medieval days, but fell into hard times during the Thirty Years’ War. Then it was almost destroyed during WWII, but was fortunately saved by an American general. Now it mostly draws tourist crowds, but it’s uber-cute, and has a lot of interesting history. I particularly liked the Nightwatchman’s walking tour, but didn’t bring my camera for it because I thought it would be too dark. Here’s a panorama of the town though, taken from the top of the wall.

In addition to its history, Rothenburg has a lot of great shopping – its Christmas Market in particular is pretty famous. So, without a husband to get bored, I had lots of time to ooh and aah at all the ornaments and Christmas decorations. The pic below is the inside of the Christmas shop - it looks like a little winter wonderland village!

On my final evening, I boarded my bus again and headed to Frankfurt. This was the least exciting part of my journey, as it was dark for most of the ride. Frankfurt is a big city, so I didn’t do much solo exploring there – it was mostly just a resting spot before I caught my plane the next morning. But it gave me plenty of time to reminisce over what I had seen and done. I hope to do another trip on my own before we leave, but at the very least, I know I won’t be as intimidated to do this again some day if the opportunity ever avails itself.

Beer, Brats and Braids

2006-10-27T12:30:00.000+01:00

Movin right along! This post deals with the end of September – we’re almost caught up!

After our last guests departed to head back for the states - that hallowed land of Targets and Wal-Marts, pumpkin pie and peanut butter, and let’s not forget the reasonably priced steak dinners (sigh) – Nate and I took a deep breath and hung out around our house doing nothing for an entire weekend. September 9th marked the first weekend since the beginning of June that wasn’t booked with either entertaining guests or taking a trip of our own! That was three solid months of activity. While we were glad for the break, it was also a bittersweet moment, realizing our only summer in Dublin was coming to an end. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the weekend of relaxation!

We couldn’t keep still for long, though. Two weeks later, we hopped a flight to Munich, Germany – home of the famed Oktoberfest! A colleague of Nate’s had reserved a table for anyone who wanted to join in, and we were only too eager to throw our hats in the ring. We were also lucky to be able to share this journey with our friends Amy and Kieran.

Oktoberfest was a mostly fun and interesting experience. We didn’t know what to expect really, but it ended up being pretty much what you hear about – lots of beer, food, music and singing. The beers were gigantic, and much stronger than the brews we were accustomed to. The women who served them must have done some heavy-duty weight lifting to gear up for the event, because they would heft about six or seven of these things at a time, spreading them out onto the table in a grand fashion. If you look in the background of the pic below, you will see how intimidated I am by the sheer size of these mugs. Nate on the other hand, looks excited, while Christian, a German guy we hung out with, appears completely indifferent.

The tents were like gigantic warehouses, and there was a raised platform stage in the middle of the tent for the band to play. The band would alternate between traditional German sing-alongs to cheesy US wedding dance music (“I Will Survive” made it onto the set list multiple times throughout the day). There wasn’t as much dancing as I would have expected, probably because there wasn’t room for it. By the end of the day, the tent we were in was so packed that it was hard to move much of anywhere. It also got pretty smoky as the day wore on – we realized how spoiled we’d been in Ireland, where smoking is banned in all public buildings.

One thing that surprised us was the number of people in traditional Bavarian garb! We thought it would mostly be cheesy tourists and people who were paid to dress up, but I would say about 60% of the crowd were wearing the lederhosen (the guys’ suspender outfits) and dirndl (the ladies’ busty dresses). We all decided that the outfits were pretty attractive for both sexes.

Well, we started the day off at about 10:30 or 11am, and the festivities continued until 11 or 11:30 in the evening, so you can imagine the condition of the people in the tent. I found the beer to be so filling that I couldn’t have very many, and after about seven hours, my attention span for the whole thing started to wane. So we headed out for the amusement park outside the tent, which I must say was one of the best amusement parks I’ve ever been to! They had about three different versions of every sort of ride you could imagine!

The next day we pulled our bleary-eyed selves out of bed for a final breakfast together before heading our separate ways: Amy to London for work, Kieran and Nate back to Dublin for work, and Megan . . . oh yeah, I’m not allowed to work. So I decided to stick around Germany and travel on my own for a few days – my first solo journey! Stay tuned for that post! Until then, auf wiedersehen!

Four Weeks and Counting

2006-10-24T22:53:00.000+01:00

Nate and I are both having a bout of homesickness! The weather is getting colder and the days getting much, much shorter here. Things are going on back home that we miss being a part of - like the American football season and the Cardinals being in the World Series (Go Cards!). And since the date of our return is fast approaching, it's sometimes hard to drum up the motivation and get excited about the final months of hard work and gross weather.

With that said, we're doing what we can to get out of the funk. We've booked tickets to Copenhagen for a few weeks from now, so that will definitely be a fun treat. And luckily, Nate has a work conference in Orlando the week after Thanksgiving, so we're both managing to get back for Turkey day!!

The picture obviously isn't of Nate or I, or anyone I know of for that matter, but I thought these kids were cute. The joy on their faces mirrors my joy to be headed home for Thanksgiving. And man oh man, don't those pies look good?!

I try really hard to never take holidays for granted, but this one will be special indeed, since we had to miss Thanksgiving last year. It was hard being overseas that day, when we knew our families were getting together. We knew it was a special day, but felt like no one else around us knew it. I canNOT wait to stuff myself silly with all the yummy food I've missed, to veg out in front of the TV watching football, to joke around with my family, to see loved ones I haven't seen in MUCH too long!!! Seriously, it can't get here fast enough. Below is my tribute to what I'll be doing after the big meal. Once again, not my family, but the photo represents what most families will be doing:

So that's something to look forward to! It really does take missing the holidays to truly appreciate them - I hope to not have to relearn that lesson for a while though - if ever!

To our friends and family back in the states - you are loved and missed! If you are reading this, you haven't forgotten about us - so I really hope that some are reading this! Four weeks to go!

Family Matters

2006-10-20T10:33:00.000+01:00

My apologies to our readers if you are confused. Since we’ve never quite caught up, I’ve had to write posts somewhat out of order. I’ll do my best to get us caught up so we don’t have to keep hopping from the past to the present. In the meantime, this post spans late August/early September – just about six weeks behind!

After Craig and Nathan left, I had five days to clean again and do laundry before our last major visit of the tourist season – Nate’s parents! We were truly excited to host them and show off everything we’d learned during our 11 months here.

Nate’s family covered a lot of ground in a short period of time! Local excursions included a visit to Guinness (of course, although I’m not sure if they cared for the black stuff), Dublin Castle, Kilmainham Jail, Trinity College, and Malahide Castle. Nate’s mom is an accomplished gardener, so they also toured a variety of local gardens. We recommended a few of our favourites, like the Powerscourt Estate and St. Stephens Green, but Nate’s mom was able to find even more and better ones that we hadn’t even heard of.

Nate’s fam also took a few long-distance treks out to the west coast. In true Irish fashion, it rained incessantly on their one-day trip to the Ring of Kerry! That’s zero for two for those of you who are keeping track on our good-weather score for the Ring! We had a bit better luck on our weekend in Galway though. We all took a trip around the northwest Connemara region, which sports some of Ireland’s greenest, hilliest landscapes. It was cool to see the peat bogs, with chunks cut out of it to use in the fires here. One of the quintessential elements of Ireland: the smoky-sweet smell of a peat fire. We also visited a beautiful Abbey (pictured below). Kylemore Abbey was a private family home to some super-rich guy from England. Now it’s a nuns’ residence and an all-girls boarding school.

We wrapped up the trip with a visit to the pub where Nate’s brother Pat and I had previously discovered a great traditional music group. They didn’t disappoint – the group fit in the right amount of ballads, classic sing-along songs, and fast, whirling instrumental jigs and reels before we finally had to retire for the evening. I really want to make it out to that pub a few more times before we leave! It was a great end to the visit for Nate’s family. The next day they departed with a few souvenirs, a ton of photos and even more memories for us to share around the holiday tables for years to come!

Those Wild & Crazy Hungarians

2006-10-17T22:46:00.000+01:00

Nate and I decided to go out to the Dublin Theatre Festival over the weekend. There was a play that I'd really really wanted to see - The Exonerated, about inmates on death row who were . . . well, exonerated. The play was apparently written from verbatim interviews and court documents of actual cases in the US - and one of the actresses was an actual exonerated inmate. Amazing. Of course, this play was completely sold out, with no hope of acquiring tickets. What to do?

So, we decided to gamble and see something else. We chose a Hungarian production called Rattledanddisappeared, or Ledarálnakeltűntem in its native language. I saw the cover photo on the program (pictured above) and thought, "That looks interesting!" It looked like something a little off-the-beaten-path, so we thought we'd give it a try.

Interesting is an egregiously mild way of describing what we saw. Wow. Perhaps “wacked out” is a more accurate phrase for what we experienced. Or maybe “1984 on cocaine and ecstasy” is yet another way to put it. The three-hour performance was all in Hungarian with infrequent English subtitles. Featuring broadway tunes, rap, breakdancing, a lady with her umbilical cord still attached, a guy eating poop, a dominatrix, a random alien, a guy on the gymnastics rings, and vague references to a linear plot, it was definitely a shock to the system. I was so blown away I had to write about it to get my mind around it. Here are some pictures, just so I can share a little of our experience:

This old naked dude came onto the scene after the main character got intimate with the umbilical-cord lady.

Here, our main character, after being put into a blender, is rebirthed into another universe. He's about ready to get up and go surfing. Does that make any sense to you? Well, wouldn't you go surfing after being put into a blender and then being rebirthed into a new universe? Don't tell me you wouldn't.

Crazy stuff. Nate loved it. Which was good, because I was thinking I'd never get him to go to a play with me ever again. Then, after 24 hours and lots of thinking and reminiscing, I decided I too enjoyed it. Even if I still don't have a clue of what happened. Not what I expected, but it definitely had an impact on me – as is evidenced by my need to ruminate on it here. (Insert dubious head shake) Whatever. Time to move on!

The Return of the Prodigal Photos - Part II: Greece!!!

2006-10-15T23:03:00.000+01:00

Around the same time that Matt sent his photos, we found our photos from Greece!!! Take a gander at these pics and see why we were so devastated to have lost these for three months. Above is from the acropolis at Lindos, on the Island of Rhodes. We visited here during our cruise. It was HOT that day, and our tour guide was a bit long-winded, so we had to escape from her after a while. But the views were gorgeous!

Nate enjoying the sunset on Mykonos (pronounced "Mick", not "Mike"). Mykonos is clearly the party island of Greece. We weren't there long enough to partake in the insanity - we had plenty of that to deal with on our cruise ship (lots of recent high school grads were cruising with us).

Here I am taking in the view during our trip to Delphi. I don't really need to say more about this - it was breathtaking.

Santorini - our favorite island. If we were to do this trip again, knowing what we know now, we'd have scrapped the cruise and stayed here - and maybe taken a trip to a few of the other islands. Of course, with our method, we now know about a lot of islands we would otherwise have missed. Patmos is quite remote, but we loved its peaceful, subdued nature.

This is the porch of the Caryatids. It's one of the more famous features of the Acropolis in Athens, next to the Parthenon, of course. The Parthenon has a lot of scaffolding around it, so the pictures of it aren't as impressive. These were uber-cool though.

Hopefully we've teased you enough to look at our other images now! I'm putting about 20 or 30 more on Flickr, so just click on the link in the sidebar for more. We took 500 pics in all, so I'm just giving you the highlights. Unless it's your own, there's no trip that's worth looking at 500 photos! Anyway, enjoy!

The Return of the Prodigal Photos - Part I: Pat & Matt's Visit

2006-10-12T19:18:00.000+01:00

Our friend Matt sent us some pics from when he and Nate's brother Pat visited back in July! I realize this is out of order, and their visit was a long time ago, but I wanted to put some additional photos up besides those of me and Pat on our tour. Besides, it reminds me of those wonderful bygone days when we could wear short sleeves here! Above, the guys celebrate their reunion.

And of course, what trip would be complete without a compulsory visit to the Storehouse?

There's also a few more pics on Flickr. Not much, but a little memoir to their short visit.

Another Trip Around the Sun

2006-10-07T11:46:00.000+01:00

We've officially been here for just over a year now. Above are our friends Liz and Kurt - though they live in the states, they were the first friends we made here, just one week after arriving. A mutual friend of ours got us in touch, since they were ending their Irish vacation in Dublin at the same time that we made our big move. It was great making a connection so early in this tenuous experience.

We arrived on a chilly, overcast Wednesday and walked the town aimlessly, trying to get a sense of the road that lay ahead. 365 days, 11 explored countries, 5 groups of visitors later, and here we are. Perhaps a little more educated about the world around us, but definitely hungry to learn more. We are still so amazed at what we've seen and done this year, and are immensely grateful for the opportunity to take on this adventure.

I remember how lonely and overwhelmed I felt in our temporary corporate apartment when Nate left for his first day of work. I remember the hammering jackhammers and the chiming church bells outside the window. I remember the comfort of my Harry Potter book sitting on the bedstand. I remember hours at the Internet Cafe, squirming on a rigid wooden stool, searching for a place to live - one that would take our cats. I remember wondering if Dublin would ever feel like home.

Flying back from Germany last Wednesday, I remember sighing with familiar relief as I looked out my airplane window and saw Ireland's green coastline break through the mist. While I know we will never be fully settled here, I do feel that Dublin is our home here in Europe. How far we've come.

Here's to six more months in this beautiful place!

A Tale of Two Nathans . . .

2006-09-27T22:14:00.000+01:00

. . . and two siblings - all under one roof, that is.
The weekend after our Paris adventure, my brother Craig and his best friend Nathan arrived for a visit (we're talking mid-August now - I'm still about a month and a half behind). We spent the week with two Nathans in the house, yet somehow survived the confusion.
I was thrilled to have my brother visit - since he's living in Los Angeles, we don't get much face time these days. And as Nathan has become an extension of our family over the years (Christmas wouldn't be the same without a Nathan appearance), it only seemed natural that the two should explore Ireland together. What's more, these two are well-seasoned travelers together, so they were great guests. Driven by their inner sense of adventure, they purposefully navigated Dublin without the aid of maps - and managed to find their way back home every time, which is better than what I'd be able to do.

Craig and Nathan's visit included an in-depth exploration of the pubs in various parts of Ireland. The first stop entailed a pilgrimage to the all-hallowed house of Guinness, where they became the first visitors I've had to actually acquire seats at the Sky Bar - you have to be a little cut-throat to edge out all of the other people. Below, Nathan savors the victory with a celebratory toast to the camera:

The guys frequented the Temple Bar area of Dublin regularly throughout their visit. They also invested time in the social scenes of Belfast and Galway. The pubs afforded the opportunity to talk with plenty of locals as well as immigrants from all over Europe. They even had guys giving them beers on the train! My favorite story: during a foray in Galway, some high school kids lit a trash can on fire. Everyone calmly milled about the square, seemingly unaffected by the smoke and flames, until the fire squad eventually arrived to put it out.

In addition to bars, food was another element of interest for these two wily travelers. The guys were particularly fascinated by Irish pizza:

Intent on exploring Ireland beyond its social and culinary scene, the two also ventured upon the popular Irish pasttime of cliffwalking when they climbed Bray Head, a small mountain south of Dublin. The walk rewarded them with great views, as their photos demonstrate.

These two were fun house guests - I enjoyed seeing Ireland through their eyes. All of the pictures from this post are Nathan's work. I'm putting some on Flickr as well, but if you'd like a little insight into the world of Craig and Nathan, take a gander at Nathan's photo site, complete with commentary that is guaranteed to amuse and delight:

http://picasaweb.google.com/nshipley/NathanAndCraigGoToIreland

Summertime in Paris

2006-09-10T11:16:00.000+01:00

I want to start this off by wishing Nate a happy birthday! We're back to being the same age again - cause for us both to celebrate!
Now - on to August! The very weekend after we returned from London, we set out again for Paris, taking advantage of a three-day Bank Holiday weekend. Once again, the trip was much too quick to be able to appreciate the city the way we wanted to, but we packed our schedule and tried our best to partake in the joie de vivre that the French are so renowned for. We even decided to cash in on some hotel points and stay in a fancy hotel on the Champs Elysees. Tres chic!

Although both of us had been to Paris before, I had never been able to climb the Arc de Triomphe - and as it's one of my favorite monuments, I felt it was necessary, so that was the first project on our visit. As we are now at an age when we can appreciate the Louvre, we took the time to give its famous works a proper study, as Nate demonstrates in the photograph below. (We did eventually find the real Mona Lisa, but it took a while!)
Our first evening was spent enjoying dinner at an outdoor cafe, followed by an evening ascent up the Eiffel Tower - I don't know when the sparkly lights were installed, but they look awesome, and I'm so glad the picture above shows them!

Our second day entailed a loooooooong wait to climb the steps of Notre Dame. My mom had told me we could walk amongst the gargoyles, so my curiousity was piqued. Plus I wanted to continue my ongoing quest to challenge my fear of heights. The heights were not as difficult as we thought they'd be, and the views from the top of the church were amazing.

During our final afternoon, we trekked out to the Sacre Coeur Basilica - a place neither of us had been. It was beautiful, and we're glad we did it, but we were exhausted by the end of the journey, so probably didn't appreciate it as much as we could have. We capped off the evening with another leisurely outdoor dinner and a walk down the Champs Elysees.
The weather was perfect for such a busy weekend, and we returned back to Dublin exhausted but happy with our trip. Even though this was my third "quick trip" to Paris (the two previous ones were back in high school), there were many experiences, like climbing Notre Dame, that I'd always wanted to try, but never had enough time for. We now feel as though we've done the sightseer's side of Paris properly - so if we make it back again, we're ready to explore a deeper side of the city.

Beefeaters and Birthdays

2006-09-09T10:17:00.000+01:00

This blog covers the last week in July:
The day before Pat returned to the states (the last blog’s topic), I hopped a plane to London. Nate followed after finishing up the work week and spending one last evening with his brother. We had a lot to celebrate during our trip to London! For starters, we had our next group of visitors in from the states - Brandy and Jen, from Nate's hometown stomping grounds (pictured above). We also met up with Tucker, a friend from college (pictured with Brandy below), and his wife Kerri. In addition to my (gulp) 29th birthday, we were also celebrating Brandy's birthday, Tucker's new job and new house, and Jen's recent wedding!

I met up with Brandy and Jen earlier in the week in order to fit in some classic London sightseeing. We kicked the festivities off with a trip up the London Eye - timed perfectly, at sunset! The next day was spent at Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the ultimate piece de resistance - a performance of Antony and Cleopatra at the Globe Theater! I was in my element, melting in the heat, but enraptured by the opportunity to watch a work of Shakespeare in his original theater - a replica of course, but that's the best we can ask for after 400 years in a fire-prone city!

During our final days in London, we ate lots of food, shopped at Camden market, ate more food, took in a little history at the Museum of London, gawked at Dali's works in the Tate Modern art museum . . . and ate more food. Tucker and Kerri really know how to entertain a group – we ate more incredible food that week than we've probably had throughout our stay here. We've promised to return their hospitality when they visit us in Dublin - we have a high standard to live up to!

The Days are Just Packed

2006-09-08T11:26:00.000+01:00

More picture issues - the following pics will be replaced whenever I receive more from our two visitors. I mistakenly left my camera behind during this visit, so I'm dependent on them to help fill the gap. Anyhow . . . .
No rest for the weary! Five days after our return from Greece and Cyprus in mid-July, we had our next pair of visitors. Nate’s brother Pat joined us for a quick visit to Dublin along with Nate’s former roommate Matt. The entire trip was planned about three weeks prior, making for a whirlwind of an experience all around. Matt flew in from Budapest, taking a break from his incredible new job that took him to Hungary for almost a month – he explored Europe a fair amount on his own throughout July.
I was the lone representative of the female gender during this recent foray – and I quickly realized it had been a long time since that had happened in a large group, as the conversation often leaned toward beer, sports, and commentary on the local ladies our friend Matt had encountered during his newest experiences abroad. Ask me about it sometime if you like, but I don't recommend it! :)
Matt headed back to Budapest after the weekend, but Pat stayed on to explore a little more of Dublin. The pictures from this post are from the one time I had my camera with me - during a trip to Newgrange, an ancient burial site during Ireland's pre-Christian era. Check out the pic of the rather phallic protrusion in the middle of the field - that's the crowning site for Ireland's ancient kings.

One of the week's unexpected highlights was when Pat and I stumbled onto a great Irish music session in one of the Dublin pubs. These guys were great – a fiddler, guitarist and accordion player made up the group, but they had a table full of buddies who would pick up an instrument and join in from time to time. They even had a guy playing the spoons. When the music ended officially, the guys weren’t in the mood to pack up, so a group of them hunkered down into a corner and continued playing some impromptu tunes. Not bad for a random Tuesday night!

Fall and Football

2006-08-28T22:37:00.000+01:00

Written by - aw heck, who else could it be: It's not even September yet, and already it's beginning to feel like fall over here. I've been downright cold during the last two nights, but pure principal prohibits me from turning on the heat! How's that for alliteration? I think both Nate and I are in denial over the sudden change in season - I keep trying to wear short sleeves in the fruitless hope that my clothing choice will persuade the weather to warm up again. I mean, it's August for heavens sake! I didn't even break my summer clothes out until well into June!
At least with the cooler weather comes one thing that brings joy into both our hearts - especially Nate's: American football!!! Three years ago we started a fantasy football league with a great mix of friends and family from both sides - and we just kicked the season off with our draft last Saturday. The Ireland contingent of The League completed their draft from an Internet cafe - I'm sure we had a few raised eyebrows in our direction during our three hours spent poring over notes and shouting at the computer screen - Nate says I get a little "intense." Does that sound like me? I cannot mention The League without noting that I was the first member to win the championship - so I get a little competitive trying to regain my title. This isn't our trophy, but we have one - and my name's the first one on it!

Since Nate's parents are currently visiting, we had three drafters at the keyboards - Nate's mom is also part of the League, and I must say she came prepared - with a binder chock full of secret information of which neither Nate nor I could steal a single glimpse! Nate's dad was very patient for three hours, watching us draft away. Hopefully some of our readers have heard of Fantasy Football - otherwise I don't think any of this makes much sense.
We weren't the only ones in unique drafting circumtances. My parents made a party out of draft day, inviting my uncle and cousin to join in at their house. I can only imagine the mayhem that took place over there.
But the first prize for fantasy football dedication is awarded to our dear friend Marshal, who drafted from his laptop in the hospital, where his wife had given birth to their first child not even 24 hours before! He was apparently caring for his new daughter in between his picks, as he kept asking if any of us wanted to hold his crying baby. I would!! If I didn't live on another continent right now. Congratulations Marshal!
It was an impressive feat to be able to coordinate twelve people drafting all at once - well, nine people. Three weren't able to make it. But the nine who did draft spanned time zones from Ireland all the way to California! Now that the first step is done, we have only to wait for the season to start. I'm ready to take my championship over again. Let the games begin!!!

Cyprus - Our first stint as houseguests in Europe

2006-08-27T10:43:00.000+01:00

Written by Megan: Our trip to Cyprus gave us one of the most personal, and therefore most meaningful glimpses of any of the countries we've been able to visit so far. The inspiration for this trip began last summer when we were still in St. Louis. Ismet, one of Nate's St. Louis co-workers, is from Cyprus. Though he was about to move to London, Ismet suggested that Nate and I visit him in Cyprus during one of his visits home. Fast forward over a year later, and there we were - staying in his family's beach house.

During our five-day stay, Ismet's family welcomed us into their home - we had delicious, leisurely breakfasts every morning. I always looked forward to coming downstairs and spending an hour listening to the ocean and talking to Ismet's family about our plans for the day.
The Turkish side of Cyprus is beautiful - and though it seems a lot of British have discovered how ideal this part of the island is, there were still significantly fewer tourist crowds than anywhere we've been this summer - during the height of tourist season. This made everywhere we went extremely affordable and accessible! One of our favorite sites was Salamis - a site of Roman ruins, with a remarkably well-preserved temple, bathhouse and theater. The best part - we were able to walk around the site and see the statues and mosaics and columns up close. The entire site would have been roped off in Greece, but here we were able to climb around and explore. I expect that won't be possible in about ten years, so we were extremely lucky.

While beautiful and uncrowded, the Turkish side of Cyprus is also experiencing its fair share of political turmoil and hardship. The military presence there is ever-present - we drove by multiple barbed-wire fenced bases and training camps regularly, just visiting everyday tourist sites. We had to be careful about what we photographed - the Turkish military frowns upon taking pictures of any of its facilities. We also saw more soldiers toting heavy-duty weaponry than what I'm accustomed to. Cyprus has a long and complex history of conflict tracing back to tensions between Greece and Turkey. Half of the island is affiliated with Greece, while the other half is affiliated with Turkey. The history is tumultuous and complex, and the tension is still evident, as most residents from either side don't typically cross the border. Ismet gave us a balanced breakdown of his country's history during our five days, which helped us to understand more about why people behaved the way they did (ie. why our Greek Cypriot taxi driver at the airport ripped us off and treated us rudely when we asked to go to the Turkish Cypriot border).

The five days flew by, culminating in a barbeque with Ismet's family. After five days of climbing castles and ruins and laying on beautiful sandy beaches, we reluctantly toted our slightly tanner bodies back to the airport. We were so fortunate to have had this experience, and are extremely grateful to Ismet and his family for opening their home to us - we hope to return for a visit again someday!

Other Firsts for Megan & Nate in Cyprus:

Walking within a few feet of a 6-foot black snake - it was out of there before Megan had a chance to scream.
Eating a whole fish - eyes and all - at the family barbecue. (Someday I'll get over that, but eyes just get to me)

Greece - The (Mostly) Unillustrated Version

2006-08-23T22:05:00.000+01:00

Written by Megan: I suppose we'll have to cross our fingers that we find these photos, but I want to get this post out before I forget what we did in Greece. I'll post the photos separately if we ever find them. Until then, this lovely pic of the tomb of the unknown soldier will have to suffice as the sole proof that we visited this ancient land (I'm the tiny person at the bottom).
The very day that my parents left Ireland (way back at the end of June) was the same evening that Nate and I boarded a plane to begin our trip to Greece and Cyprus. What an insane turnaround! Regardless, it was an amazing trip - one of the longest vacations we've ever taken, other than our wedding - or the fact that we've spent the last year in an alternate reality, interspersed with vacations!
We started our trip in Athens, exploring the Acropolis and Parthenon. It was so surreal to explore ruins that were around 5000 years old. We were disappointed that we couldn't actually go inside the Parthenon, but it's understandable considering how many tourists go there each year - it must be hard preserving a 5000-year-old temple that is still exposed to the elements!
Everywhere the Greeks do any digging, they uncover ancient artifacts. When Athens built its subway system, they kept uncovering more ruins - so every metro station is its own mini-museum with the artifacts from that site on display. (Imagine a pic of the Parthenon here)
Shortly after we arrived, we took a four-day cruise around several Greek Islands. I think we picked the right place for Nate's first cruise, especially since we didn't know much about the islands.

Our two favorite Islands:
Patmos - smaller, more laid back and less crowded than the other islands. We visited the cave where St. John apparently wrote the apocalypse!
Santorini - the middle of this island sunk into the sea over 1000 years ago during a volcanic eription. This is supposedly the lost island of Atlantis, and I believe it. It was indescribably gorgeous. We sat on a cliffside cafe in the midst of pristine white-washed buildings and sipped cocktails - I don't think it's possible to have a bad view on this island. (Imagine a pic of Santorini here)

After our cruise, we finished up the Greek part of our trip by taking day trips out of Athens. We visited the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, where the ceremony of the Oracle was once held. Sounds like the women who were mediums for the Oracle were taking some strong stuff in order to make their prophesies! (Imagine a pic of the temple)
We spent a total of six nights in Athens when all was said and done. We actually started recognizing a few locals after a while. One shopkeeper was out walking her dog one night and chatting with friends - we had purchased a few small paintings from her just a few days earlier. It was fun feeling like "long-term" tourists! One of our favorite moments was watching the world cup final match in an outdoor cafe - cheering on the Italians with a bunch of people who didn't speak our language. I admit, I'm a football/soccer novice, but it was hard to avoid getting caught up in the world cup fervor.
Stay tuned for our post on Cyprus - we really felt both countries deserved separate write-ups.

Evening at Lansdowne

2006-08-17T11:19:00.000+01:00

Written by Megan: Ugh - we keep running into hiccups in keeping the blog updated! Our latest delay has been the loss of one of our memory cards from our digital camera - the one containing hundreds of photos from our trip to Greece!! Since I'm trying to maintain some sort of chronological order, I've been holding off on the post in hopes of finding it. But alas, I should probably just move on - maybe find something off the web to show how beautiful and interesting that place was.

Moving on - last night Nate and I finally snagged a chance to see a football match at Lansdowne Stadium - the field just behind our house! Our timing is impeccable - we chose to watch a match against the Netherlands, one of the better football teams out there. Poor Ireland didn't fare so well, losing 4-zip! Nevertheless, Nate and I agreed we like watching live football better than on TV. It was so much more fun to be in the middle of the crowd. There wasn't as much pomp and fanfare as we're used to seeing at American sporting events - no band, music didn't play except at halftime. But it was still fun to be in the middle of the crowd. We're hoping to catch a rugby match some time soon.

My brother's in town visiting now, but unfortunately wasn't at the match, since he and his friend took the train to Galway (or maybe it was lucky, given the outcome of the match!) We'll have pics of their visit up - after we post all the other trips we've got backlogged!

Tackling Ireland!

2006-08-02T11:51:00.000+01:00

Megan's parents rolled into town in mid-June, becoming our first official visitors to Ireland. It was just in time to celebrate the half-way point of our stay here! Though we've had a few visitors drop by for a few days at a time, my folks were the first brave souls to experience a stay in our little town house. They were still smiling when I put them on the aircoach a few weeks later, so I don't think the little inconveniences were too difficult for them! As pictured above, we had plenty of time to enjoy a few pints with them throughout their stay.

It was a hectic but richly fulfilling visit - Megan and fam spent a week and a half traveling around the island. The traveling alone was one of the biggest adventures - none of us had driven on the left-hand side of the road! Kudos to my dad for bearing the burden so well!
Honestly, I could dedicate an entire post to each of the places we visited - each site provided another layer of perspective to add to my understanding of Ireland's complex history. Here are a few of the highlights:

The Highlights - a few of our favorite adventures:

Touring Waterford's crystal factory - home of the famous crystal factory - the tour is great, I don't care what other people say. It is so interesting to see the crystal being made - these people are artists!
Getting doused in the Ring of Kerry (pictured above before the rain rolled in) - this was the rainiest day, which was a tragedy, given that this is one of the most scenic areas of the country. I swear that photo above isn't a postcard! Too bad most of the drive was shrouded in fog.
Dolphin-watching and discovering Irish music in Dingle - A small town snuggled up to a picturesque bay and surrounded by lush, green hillsides. Fungie the dolphin has been swimming by himself in this bay for around 20 years - we got some great photos - of is dorsal fin. We had a great night in the pubs here too listening to traditional music.
Picnicing on Great Blasket Island - Also in the Dingle Peninsula - this island, now abandoned, once housed a small community whose people retained the original Gaelic language. Three people living on this tiny island went on to write internationally renowned novels! Their empty houses now lie vacant, but are fascinating to explore.
Cliffwalking at the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands - The famous cliffs are undergoing renovation, so the experience there will be vastly different from what people have been able to see up to now. Due to heavy tourism, they are walling off parts of the cliffs to prevent erosion - very sad!
Soaking up Derry - tension from the Troubles were much more evident to us than we had expected. The impact of the conflict exhibits itself in many ways - through the people, political murals and graffiti. Though our experience was eye-opening and somber, I found this to be one of the most thought-provoking places we visited.
Cracking up at Carrickfergus - the name of the town made this destination a requirement for my family! It's a seaside town with a large castle that's been restored. Displays there were rather cheesy, I suppose because the castle is used for lots of school field trips.

All in all it was a great visit. My mom put together a great slideshow of the trip on Kodak EasyShare, complete with commentary on a lot that we learned about the sites we visited. Although it took us nine months, we're glad to have finally taken the opportunity to see the rest of the country.

Belgium

2006-07-20T10:01:00.000+01:00

Even though this trip was so long ago, I wouldn't feel right letting one place slip just because I wasn't on the ball enough to document it on time - this blog is as much of a scrapbook to help us remember our experiences as it is a way to keep in touch with everyone. So here goes:
We spent our June Bank Holiday in Bruges and Brussels - probably the most popular places to visit in Belgium. In hindsight, I wish we'd had longer to see a little more off-the-beaten path places, even though they were both great towns. The above picture is a major canal in Bruges (relatively speaking - it's not a huge town). The clock tower has over 300 steps, and I climbed every one of them!
The last time I was in Belgium I was sixteen years old - on my first trip to Europe with my family. What was amazing was how little the area had changed. I remember specific landmarks and photographs I had taken with my family the last time we were there! Very surreal - now at 28, it was odd to reflect on the differences between teenage Megan and 20-something Megan - who knows what the next decade will bring?
Poor Nate was sick for the first day in Bruges, so I did most of my sightseeing alone. At least we had a great B&B for him to rest in. I spent the day exploring the clock tower (an impressive feat - those of you who know my fear of heights will understand!), and checking out the Flemish art museum. The museum had another painting of Bosch's, a rather nutty artist whose work I've begun to recognize! I also saw a church that contains the only Michelangelo sculpture to leave Italy during the sculptor's lifetime. Wish I'd taken a better picture of it - it's the first Michelangelo I've ever seen!

With Nate back in good health, we managed to squeeze in a canal cruise on our last day, and munched on some delicious handmade chocolates at the cute place in the picture above. In Brussels, we took pictures of the Mannekin-Pis, which I think is a bit overrated, then had time for a long dinner on the Grand Place - a major square with breathtaking architecture.
I think Belgium is often overlooked when considering a trip to Europe, but it is such a beautiful and interesting area - and it was perfect for a short Bank Holiday. Maybe some day I'll be able to give it more of the time it deserves - then again, I think we have 20 more countries on our list that we're not even getting to while we're here, and the more research we do, the more places we want to visit. C'est la vie!

Back in Business (for now)

2006-07-19T22:08:00.000+01:00

We're finally back in Dublin, although our insane summer hasn't slowed down. We're gearing up for a visit from Nate's brother in less than 48 hours - a trip that was planned only two weeks ago. Our friend Matt is visiting at the same time for the weekend - not sure if Dublin's ready for these two!
On a more serious note: With all of the turmoil in the world right now, it feels flippant to be writing about our trivial experiences over here. We ooh and aah about this or that monument or art museum, while so many people are suffering. We left Athens on the same day that Israel began its big retaliation, and now people are being evacuated to both Greece and Cyprus. I was just thinking about how lucky we were with the timing - then I remembered the friend we just visited, and I wonder how his family is doing back in Cyprus. What are they experiencing right now? It puts things in perspective.
I'll get back to chronicling more of our trips soon - I just needed to get my thoughts out.

Temporary Delay

2006-06-27T23:59:00.000+01:00

So sorry it's been a while since we've posted anything! My (Megan's) parents arrived for a visit on June 16th, and we've been out of commission since then. We're leaving for the first half of July, but I'll get updates and more pictures up as soon as we return. After July 17th, you should see posts on our visit to Belgium, my parents' visit (and our subsequent journey around Ireland - very eye-opening, I learn more about this country every day), and our trip to Greece/Cyprus. We hope you'll check back in toward the end of July!

Scotland

2006-06-13T15:56:00.000+01:00

If it isn't evident yet, we had a very busy spring, and are headed for a busy summer. Gotta get all this in while we can though. I'm envious of the expats here who are assigned for two or three years.
Our third trip out of the country was Scotland - in celebraion of our third wedding anniversary at the end of May. As if to test our loyalty to this beautiful country, it rained incessantly for the first four days, and it was much colder than we remembered it!
We returned to the castle where Nate proposed four years ago - it was even prettier than I remembered, even with the rainclouds. It was fun reminiscing over everything Nate had to go through to make that event so special. I will never cease to be amazed that he put such effort into asking me to marry him, but I feel tremendously blessed to have such a wonderful memory, not to mention such an incredible spouse to share these experiences with. Okay, no more mush - had to get it in there - it was our anniversary!
After walking down memory lane, we drove into unchartered territory (for us) - the Scottish Highlands. After being brought to our knees in drenching rains in Oban (cute harbor town - probably a great place in better weather), we finally enjoyed some sunshine when we reached Loch Ness. Although we didn't have the privilege of spotting Nessie, we had a great time exploring some ruins along the banks. Now we understand why the Highlands are more touristed than the south of Scotland. We drove off the road a few times while gaaping at the scenery, and I know we weren't the only ones!
Four years ago, we mainly explored ruined castles - this visit we saw a lot of castles in which people still live. One of our favorites was Cawdor Castle, which some of you may remember was mentioned in MacBeth. This castle had a description in every room written by a sardonic Scotsman who was very funny. The castle also had acres and acres of gorgeous sculpted gardens, as well as nature trails. We had a picnic lunch outside the grounds and spent most of the afternoon there. The picture above has nothing to do with Cawdor - that's Inverness, and I just liked the picture, so there you have it.
Our final stop was Glasgow, where we caught up with a friend of Nate's - and now a friend of mine as well! Des was a great host, taking us around the city center, and pub crawling later that evening. We're planning on visiting him again sometime in September to go see a Celtics football match - he has season tickets. Looking forward to seeing some football in the midst of some true fans! By the way, scotch truly is the water of life - I think I've found my new beverage of choice! See below if you want to know why.
On a final note, I know I didn't get to write much about Rosslyn Chapel, but I feel this is already getting a bit long. It was cool though - probably one of my favorite churches - very ornate and full of symbolism that people still haven't been able to fully decipher. I'd recommend that stop for anyone visiting Edinburgh!

Other Firsts for Megan and Nate in Scotland

Beholding over 1300 weapons in one room at Inverary Castle - Nate dubbed it the "1300 Ways to Kick Your Ass!" room.
Megan enjoys a single malt scotch
Megan outlasts both her husband and a Scotsman on the previously mentioned pub crawl (I have the photos to prove it, but I'll spare my two companions out of respect and admiration for their valiant attempt that evening)

Netherlands

2006-06-12T11:03:00.000+01:00

Our second mainland trip was to the Netherlands in the beginning of May. Neither of us had been there before - I wrote earlier that we hadn't been to Spain before, but Nate had actually visited there when he was a child. I've since corrected the error.
On this trip, we encountered warm weather for the first time since we moved to Europe. The clothes I packed were too warm! It was also sunny the entire time.
We stayed in Haarlem, just outside of Amsterdam, and were glad we made that choice. It was a smaller, calmer, cozier-feeling town, and it was nice to get away from the craziness at the end of the night when it was time to sleep. Plus, it forced us to see another part of the Netherlands that we might not have seen on our rushed four-day trip.
As usual, eating and atmosphere were one of the best parts of this trip. Among our favorite dining experiences, we loved sampling cheese by a breezy canal, gorging on an Indonesian rijstafel, and even checking out the savoury pancakes at this cute little family-run cafe in Haarlem. We went to that place twice, it was run by these sweet elderly people who were always at the back, playing cards and socializing while they waited for their customers.
The true highlight of the trip was the Keukenhof Garden. This place is only open two months out of the year, and has over 1,000 varieties of tulips in bloom. It was amazing - we spent almost an entire day there. When we left I took a long, lingering look, since as a teacher I probably won't be able to see this place again, as I'll be working during the March-May time period. Maybe I'll return some spring break in the future - if I'm feeling ambitious.

Other Firsts for Megan and Nate in Amsterdam

Visiting the Anne Frank house (very crowded, but a powerful experience)
Climbing a windmill (much scarier than you'd think if you're afraid of heights!)
Going to one of the more risque museums (in the spirit of the Red Light District)
Getting mooned on a candlelight canal tour - twice

Our Neighborhood

2006-06-11T21:35:00.000+01:00

We're alternating between catching up on experiences that we've already had, and what's happening to us currently. Today we wanted to comment on the place we're renting.
We've had a lot of adjusting to do since moving here, especially when it comes to our "house" (it's called a terraced house - basically it's a townhouse). With no dishwasher or dryer, some basic household tasks take a lot longer than what we're used to. Plus, our water pressure is much like showering under a sink - not good for a gal with long hair! Add all that and the lack of closet space, which creates the need for creative storage, and we had some pretty frustrating moments as we adapted to some of the realities of Dublin living. I won't get into opening our bank account, getting cable, etc. Maybe that's another post, maybe I'll spare you.
Now that we've mostly adjusted, though, we're beginning to enjoy some of the perks of our place. Our location is the best part. We are around the corner from Lansdowne Road, the football/rugby stadium, and also close to a major convention center called the RDS. This means that during the summer, we live in Dublin's concert central! This weekend alone, we've been able to hear the Eagles, Guns N Roses, Alice in Chains and Metallica live from our neighborhood. Great to hear during walks to the grocery store or doing yard work. And with the sun out until 10:30 pm, it's been great spending time outdoors. Tonight at 11:00 we were dancing and singing along to "Hotel California," with our neighbors chiming in now and then from their garden next door. So I guess with all things considered, we have no complaints. At least, not until I start laundry again tomorrow morning!

Spain

2006-06-10T11:00:00.000+01:00

Our first trip to mainland Europe was over the Easter Holiday weekend in April. We chose to visit Spain - I had never been there, Nate hadn't been since he was young, and we had hoped the weather would be warmer there than in Dublin. No such luck with the weather, but we really enjoyed our trip.
During our five-day visit we spent time in Barcelona, Madrid and Toledo. We loved them all, and definitely want to try going back some day. Barcelona is beautiful, and is hopping with activity at all hours. There's just something magical about sipping Sangria and munching on tapas at twilight while people-watching on Las Ramblas, a major pedestrian area in the city. We were amazed at the architecture there. Gaudi's work is incredible, I've never seen anything like it. Check out our Flickr link to see a few photos of Gaudi's unfinished cathedral - the Sagrada Familia, and another builing of his, Casa Milo. Our pictures didn't do Spain justice - we improved with our photography on later trips.
Also in Barcelona, we visited the Picasso museum and went to the fountains at the National Art Museum of Catalunya. I enjoyed the Picasso museum, although Nate doesn't really care for his work. The fountains were beautiful - they were choreographed to music, much like those at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The art museum looks like a palace - we got there at closing time, otherwise I'd have liked to go inside.
My favorite part of Madrid was the Prado Museum, of which we unfortunately took no photographs. My favorite works were by Velasquez, Bosch (freaky!), and Goya. I haven't studied much art, but this museum finally helped me develop an appreciation for it. I now have a greater desire to understand the symbolism that painters use in their work - it's a lot like what novelists do!
Toledo was also a highlight of the trip - it's a preserved medieval town an hour outside of Madrid. The town itself is really the attraction, filled with windy, narrow cobblestone streets. Very romantic - wish we could have stayed there a night. We found a sword craftsman whose family has been making traditional Toledo swords for generations. We now have a Spanish sword hanging above our fireplace! I know, it's a little odd, but it was definitely a souvenir that both Nate and I will enjoy - he likes to take it down and swing it around every now and then.
Our last night in Spain culminated at a Flamenco show in Madrid. This evening made us want to visit Sevilla someday - the capital of Flamenco dancing. The woman dancer was incredible - she just captivated the room. The crowning moment of the night was definitely when an obnoxious group of rich tourists in the front row got sprayed by the sweat/hair gel flying off of the male dancer! Gotcha!

Firsts for Megan and Nate in Spain:

Eating whole mini octopi (well, Nate did - Megan could only eat the legs)
Getting propositioned by a prostitute (well, Nate did - Megan was back at the hotel)

St. Patrick's Day

2006-06-07T10:45:00.000+01:00

Here we are at the St. Patrick's Day Parade in the City Centre. It was freakin freezing that day! A nice garda (policeman) took this photo for us. We toughed it out until I couldn't feel my feet anymore, then we went for a hot lunch at Bewley's, a popular tea & coffee place. I'm not one to leave parades early, but I seriously couldn't feel myself walking down the street - my feet were that numb. We had a great time though - we're hoping to get a visitor or two for the festivities next year, even if it's right around the time we need to head back for the states.

Failte!

2006-06-07T10:19:00.000+01:00

Welcome to our brand spankin new blog! We are slowly getting used to how to work this, so bear with us for a little while!
Our hope is that this will be a good way to keep in touch with family and friends by giving updates on our experiences here. I'm hoping to have pictures and updates on our experiences in Ireland/Europe as soon as possible!