I HATE THE POST OFFICE AND I HATE PHONE ROBOTS.

Phone robots can never understand what you are saying and can't direct you to the right place. People think that you are crazy when you talk to the robots because you really aren't having a conversation, you are just repeating words and phrases over and over again.

The U.S. Post Office can rarely do anything correctly. Almost every time that I move and have my mail forwarded, something gets screwed up, whether they are still delivering to the old address, the wrong address, keeping a package hostage, or returning to sender. I WANT MY MAIL. By the way, read Charles Bukowski's Post Office for an entertaining insider's actions/views. He really cares about the mails (sic).

It's All About Me

I had a "me" weekend and it felt good. I can say that it was the first time in a long time that I did anything I damn well pleased these past 2.5 days, barring the mandatory Body Jam class this afternoon (more on that later) at the gym.

On Friday, I went to a friend's gallery opening in the Pilsen neighborhood, and it was interesting, but unfortunately I cannot afford nice things, such as original artwork, so I just admired. The theme of this particular gallery was "Love/Hate" and was based on two songs, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division, and "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain and Tenille. I have to admit that most of the work there didn't do it for me, but I sure did like the painting of a pig with the word "BACON" at the bottom (everyone secretly, or in my case, not so secretly loves bacon). Another enjoyable piece was two paintings of couples. One couple was Sid (as in Sex Pistols) with Marie Osmond and Nancy (as in Sid's Nancy) with Donny Osmond. I had a good conversation with one of the artists, and he asked me if I was there to give moral support to one of the artist's girlfriends, who I am friends with. I said not entirely, I actually do enjoy art, and wish I had enough money to buy some. After that I corrected myself and said "no, if I had enough money to buy original artwork, I wouldn't be here right now, I would be asleep in Goa, and selling hot dogs from a shack on a coconut and palm tree lined beach" and meant it. Of course, the artist enjoyed my honestly, who wouldn't?

After that, I went to a bar to celebrate a friend's surprise 30th birthday. Unfortunately, most of the other people there are ones that I hold no affinity for, so I made my appearance brief. I was hit with a barrage of questions about my trip, such as the generic "how was it?" and at this point, two months after my return, I'm tired of answering such basic questions, especially when it comes to people who I could care less about.

Around 4:30 AM on Friday night, I was woken up by men yelling outside of my apartment building. Hearing voices from passer-bys in the night is nothing new, but this was different. It sounded like something was wrong. I got out of bed, and peeked out my window to see a large S.U.V. sitting in the street with the driver's side door wide open. Then I see the driver wiping off his hands and jumping back in the truck and driving away. I knew that something wasn't right, but I couldn't figure out what had just happened. Less than a minute later, there was a man standing at the gate to the courtyard of the building calling for help and ringing everyone's buzzers. I could see that he was bleeding, but I still wasn't sure what to do...one of the other tenants of the building called out the window to the man and asked what happened and if he should call the police. Shortly thereafter, a woman came out of the building with towels and let the man into the courtyard to help him and wait for the police to arrive. It only took a few minutes for them to show up, surprisingly, at which point, I got dressed and went outside to see if I could help. I gave the two police officers a description of the guys that I had seen as well as the vehicle that they were driving. I couldn't believe that someone had been jumped just below my bedroom window, I thought I was back in a good neighborhood...so much for that feeling. The next morning I walked outside, and there was blood on the sidewalk, and it's still there, I hope it rains and washes it away. Maybe people who have told me to keep a baseball bat are right, or maybe my dad is right when he says that I should get a gun and learn how to use it to maim. My only reservation about those two ideas, is if something ever were to happen in my apartment, and the intruder got a hold of either the baseball bat or the gun, they would most likely turn it on me.

Enough of the bad stuff, back to me. On Saturday, I went to the grocery store, the post office, and back to my previous residence to pick up some more of my stuff. Then I treated myself to a lunch of fries, a corndog (the infamous cousin of the hot dog), and a cupcake. Then I came home and took a two hour nap, man did I miss taking naps in the middle of the day!! Afterwards, I did some more unpacking, and now all that's left is miscellaneous little things, and putting a bunch of pictures into frames and hanging them. Yay, I have a home!!

Today, I enjoyed tea (from my new teapot) and read the Sunday paper, before heading out to the gym for my torture session, I mean Body Jam class. Since the gym is trying to really push this new class, they required that all front desk staff and managers participate in a preview class. Body Jam is a hip hop choreography aerobics class, and let's just say that I haven't participated in a group workout class for probably 15 years. I'm not saying that I don't like to dance, I just like to dance on my own terms, and not in a large room full of windows and mirrors. Fortunately, none of us were exceptionally coordinated with these new moves, so I didn't feel like a total jackass. Also, I was impressed with myself to make it through an entire aerobics class without dying in the middle, considering it's been about a month since I've worked out, and cardio activity has never been my total cup of tea. At least the music was semi-tolerable and up to date.

In the afternoon I treated myself to a movie. I guess I'm not such a cheap date anymore, or else movies and refreshments are exorbitantly priced nowadays. I paid $9.25 for the movie ticket, and $7.50 for a small popcorn and Coke, ridiculous!. At least it was worth it. I saw "Little Miss Sunshine" and it was great! All of the characters were exceptional in their roles, and at one point I was laughing so hard that I was almost crying. I highly recommend seeing it if you have the opportunity. I can't remember the last time that I was in a theater and enjoyed a movie so much. I should take myself out on dates more often, it was nice.

I made my first full dinner tonight in my new home, and it was tasty. I also caught up on Grey's Anatomy, which is a program that I've always had on the TV in the background, but never really watched it. I have to admit that I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to actually watching it in the future.

So that was my "me" weekend, napping, eating, errand running, cleaning, unpacking, eating good food, sleeping late, and self-dates. I really appreciate it more than I used to since I've been so busy lately. I can't wait for the next one!

Moved AKA Shifted

Today was the big moving day for me. I loaded and unloaded all of my belongings. I have most of the furniture set up and arranged, with the help of my parents and my brother. I even have my internet set up already, obviously...

Anyway, the main reason for this post: I just made MY bed, and I am excitedly anticipating sleeping in it for the first time in five months. As much as I dislike the stupid, piece of junk, bad mattress, futon, those pillows are really calling my name, saying "Cristin, please just slip under the sheet and lay your head down..." and that's exactly what I'm about to do.

Goodnight!

Recap - Part VI

The second week on the farm started off poorly for me. I developed some sort of repetitive movement muscle strain in my right forearm from all the digging the previous week. My lower arm was very swollen, and I could barely pick anything up with it or rotate my wrist. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to carry my load, but I was wrong about that. While injured, I was relegated to the hill at the top of the farm to spend my days planting strawberries, alone. The first day was miserable, as it rained all morning. By the time lunch rolled around, I was soaked from head to toe. Fortunately, Robin took pity on me, and told me to spend the afternoon cleaning up the house.

Monday nights were big for trad music around the pubs. Miriam went every week, and invited us to go along. We drove about 20 minutes to the town of Doolin, where we had a couple of pints and enjoyed the lively music. This was a tradition for us the rest of the time that we were there.

I also made my first attempt (and it was successful) at making oat porridge, Irish style. It had quickly become my favorite breakfast on the farm, and still is today. Lorenzo wasn't the biggest fan, but my brother and I loved it, especially with some Irish honey added. We also got the chance to take a sizable piece of organic salted pork and do something with it one night for dinner. My brother and I sauteed some garlic, onions, and apples, and added the shredded pork. It was damn salty, but pretty good, especially with the mashed potatoes, green beans, and custard with bananas.

By Friday, my arm was feeling a bit better, so I was able to move onto other projects, like painting, clearing brambles, and planting more seeds in the polytunnel. In the afternoon, Robin and I went into the town of Ennis to pick up another WWOOFer. We did some grocery shopping at a few different stores (which is one of my favorite activities, especially in a new place/country), picked up some lumber, and then tried to find the new girl. She was supposed to meet us at the train station, but she wasn't there. She was from Italy, and her English wasn't the greatest, so when she called Robin on his mobile phone, and said that she was in the middle of the city at the bus stop, it was a little difficult to pinpoint exactly where she was...we started driving and miraculously found her standing on the side of the road, not too far from the train station. She was a nice girl, but didn't look like the typical WWOOFer, especially with her giant suitcase. Robin stopped off at another lumberyard, and left me and Ilaria (the new Italian)in the van. We made basic conversation, but I think that some of the things I was telling her about the farm got lost in translation. On the way home, we stopped at the local butcher shop, and Robin asked for some extra money for some food, as he had run out of cash (which would have been quickly repaid when we got home). I gave him what I had, and he asked Ilaria for 50 euro. She was very dubious about his request, and thought that he was asking her for money to stay at his farm and work. I honestly felt bad for her, and tried to communicate that wasn't the case, but I don't think she totally understood. Needless to say, when we went to Galway City the next morning, she said she was going to Dublin for the weekend to visit a friend, and never returned...

On Saturday, we all woke up bright and early to depart for our trip to Galway City at 6:30 AM. My brother and Lorenzo had the best ride, as they were seated on kitchen table chairs in the back of the van, trying to keep upright for the entire hour long trip. We were headed out to sell honey and knitwear items at the weekly market. The ride there was amazingly beautiful, as we got to see the sun rise over the hills of the Burren and Galway Bay. Being in Galway also meant some city action for us. We were free to roam around for several hours before heading back to Dromoher. I also filled up on extra delicious food, such as a bagel, ice cream, a veggie and cheese filled crepe, and a donut! The weekly trip to Galway was always fun to look forward to because it meant that we could go shopping, see lots of people, enjoy some pints in the middle of the day, and eat whatever our hearts desired.

On Sunday, Robin took the three of us out to see some archeological sites, such as an ancient ring fort.

We also took another long walk, along the bay, and learned a lot about cave systems in Ireland. Afterwards, we headed to the coast, near the Cliffs of Moher, to enjoy a picnic lunch and take a walk along the rocky shoreline.

We ended the day with a few pints back in the town of Doolin with one of Robin's sons. Most of us could handle a few, but I have to admit that poor Lorenzo was feeling quite tipsy after two pints of cider. Poor guy!

During the week, I also played my first and last game of Risk, ate plenty of porridge and sandwiches, along with quiche, roasted veggies, dal, rice, baked beans, scones, fish and chips, and beef stew.

Recap - Part V

Our first weekend on the farm was upon us. On Saturday morning, we slept in until about 9:30 in the morning, and then my brother and I decided to go for a walk. Robin drove us about 2.5 km to the main road, and we began our journey to the top of the hill opposite the farm. We finally made it and found what we were looking for, the Parknabinnia Wedge Tomb.

It was an amazing sight, and especially pretty when the sky was clearing. After we walked down the road a bit further, we decided to head back because it looked like rain could be on its way in. We made it back to the house in just under three hours. We came home just in time to enjoy a hard boiled egg and Heinz baked beans over toast with Robin and Miriam's daughter, Rowena, who was visiting for the weekend (she is studying jewelry design in Prague). I spent the rest of the afternoon reading "Kafka on the Shore" and baked a delicious pear and chocolate cake with Lorenzo that we enjoyed after dinner.

On Sunday, although it was rainy and wet, I decided to embark on another long walk. This time, Robin drove me and Lorenzo to the top of the hill, just past Parknabinnia, and dropped us off on a dirt and grass road that seemed to be only trafficked by cattle. Needless to say, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into...for the next five hours, it rained, and rained, and rained, and we walked, and walked, and walked. The first three or so hours were filled with us dodging pits of mud and cow dung while walking down the "road". For some reason, I decided against wearing my work boots, and was just in my tennis shoes, very bad idea. We both had on rain gear, but that didn't stop us from getting quite soaked from head to toe. We left the road a couple of times to explore some really cool rock formations in the landscape, and at one point, were forced to climb over fences just to bypass the miniature lake that had formed in our pathway. We finally made it to the paved road, and walked a bit longer before making it to the lake at the foot of Mullach Mor . There, we sat down on some rocks, and enjoyed cheese sandwiches, apples, and small bits of chocolate. On the long walk home, we discussed the current states of our lives (at home (America and Italy) and in Ireland), as well as our individual purposes and hopes for the organic farming experience. I thought a lot about some of the things that are most important to me, including making a point to visit good friends. I also did quite a bit of thinking about India, little did I know that I would be there in two short months... We returned home, wet, tired, and filthy. I think it took about four or five days for my shoes to completely dry out. We were met with a beautifully hearty dinner of vegetable stew...I'm missing the food that I ate there more and more by the day!

Welcome Home!

Today there was a "Welcome Home" party to celebrate my return to Chicago. Yes, it has been about 1.5 months since I've been home, but, everyone likes a party, everyone has busy schedules, and everybody made today work. I believe we had close to 30 guests, and I spent a good deal of my time mingling. It was nice seeing lots of people, and telling them about my trip. Sometimes I just wished that I was back in Ireland or India though, just because life was a lot less hectic there. I also have some friends that are thinking of going to Japan or Taiwan to teach English. I told them that if they decide to go through with it, I'll join them. That way, I can make some money to pay more bills, and then have a chance to do some more traveling. To hell with regular, mundane life. I'm not done adventuring!

In other news, it was extremely hot here today, and supposed to be hotter tomorrow. I was waiting for the bus this afternoon, and the temperature said that it was 109 degrees Fahrenheit, that's 43 degrees centigrade for you metric lovers. Maybe tomorrow I'll head out to the beach in between apartment hunting and working the closing shift at the gym.

I also worked today at my gym job, and I was sent into the women's locker-room to investigate a cockroach situation. As soon as I walked in, I saw the largest cockroach I have seen in America. It was the size of my entire thumb, no joke. For a moment, I pondered letting someone else kill it, but it was making a break for the work-out area, and I didn't want anyone else to be freaked out by it, so I gathered up all of my gumption and prior cockroach killing skills, and smashed it with my shoe. It was definitely gross, and it sent waves of slimey-ness chills through my body, but it had to be done. I called the manager on duty to give and update, and five minutes later he came downstairs and handed me a $10 bonus for going out of my way and doing something so disgusting. Not too shabby considering that equals more than an hour of work! Maybe I should start looking into the extermination business...

Recap - Part IV

The time had come for my brother and I start our intended purpose of the trip, WWOOFing. The farmer, Robin, picked us up in Ennis in the afternoon and we swung past the train station to see if the Italian guy, Lorenzo, was there waiting before we headed back out to the farm. He wasn't there, so we began our journey. It was about a 40 minute drive out into the countryside. The farm was located atop a big hill overlooking the very small village of Kilnaboy in County Clare. Kilnaboy didn't have much to offer besides a junk car lot, the old old church, the old church, and the new church, a post box, and a pay phone booth. Believe it or not, there was not a pub in the vicinity! We drove up the big hill past a few other farm houses before pulling into Dromoher. As soon as the van pulled to the back of the house to park, we were overtaken by the beauty of the vista. There were flowers and trees, and green, green, green as far as the eye could see...



Robin showed us our room...



and introduced us to his wife, Miriam, who was busy in her knitting studio, and we sat down for some tea. Then we pulled on our boots for a quick walk around the farm...



First, we met the sheep and lambs. The lambs were only a few days old, and were the cutest things every. We stocked their "house" with some fresh hay and saw where the food and water went. Then we walked around the gardens and heard about what veggies we were going to be planting and met Harry, the horse.

We went inside to get settled and Miriam started whipping up her famous fish. Robin also informed me that one of my ongoing jobs was going to be stocking the stove that heated the kitchen/living room with turf. At first I thought he was joking, since it's such an archaic activity to a spoiled American, but he was dead serious...







While dinner was being made, Robin went to get Lorenzo back in Ennis, and got home just in time to eat. We had a nice dinner of salad, fried mackerel and bass, mashed potatoes, broccoli (from the garden) and cheese sauce, and apple pie. After dinner, we cleaned up, and listened to music and played card games.

For the remainder of the week, we planted a bed of onions, pulled up the mustard plants, planted shallots, dug up the Jerusalem artichokes, fed the animals, brought in the sheep (which was quite the funny adventure when Lorenzo and I were in charge for the first time, considering we had to chase the sheep all around their yard in the mucky mud), transferred the strawberries to the top of the big hill, planted seeds in the polytunnel, cleaned the house, and of course, did lots of digging.

We also ate like kings, including, but not limited to: porridge, beef stew, salad, cheese sandwiches, scones, Indian food, fish and chips, and more apple pie. My God, the food there was amazing, and since we were working all day long, it just made it taste even better and soooo satisfying! All of us worked together to get the meals prepared, which was a nice family feeling, and we always knew that someone would be in charge of chopping up "loads" of garlic for every dinner!

We also learned how to play cribbage, and met some of the kids (who are adults now) who were visiting the house. Our evenings always consisted of reading, listening to music, and playing various card games. It was a great first week!

Recap - Part III

After securing a hostel in Killarney for St. Patrick's Day weekend, we headed to the other side of Ireland. We hopped on a bus in Dublin, hoping for a six hour trip. The traffic in Dublin was bad, so we got a slow start, and then it started hailing and then snowing, and that slowed us up a bit too. Needless to say, when we made it into Limerick City, we had missed our connecting bus by 5 minutes and had to wait 2 hours for the next one. After a 10 hour trip to Killarney, we were pleasantly surprised when we made it to Neptune's. The atmosphere was good, they had free internet, and great people. My brother, his annoying new Canadian friend, and I whipped up a nice pasta and veggie dinner before hanging out with other hostelers for the rest of the night. We ended up meeting a cool couple from New Zealand, an Austrian girl, and a guy from Detroit and stuck with them for the rest of the weekend.

Next up was St. Patrick's Day, the biggest party day of the year in Ireland, and we weren't disappointed. I started my day with a trip to a cafe to get some food in me before beginning my marathon drinking day. The group of us headed down the street for a good little parade, but not before stopping for our first pints of the day. After the parade, we proceeded to drink our fills at five different pubs in town, all being a great time. The Stretford End had a good jukebox, not to mention it was five feet away from the door of our hostel. Laurel's Pub had a nice little fire going to keep us warm, although there was a serious lack of space to move around, let alone hoist a pint. The fun really started at The Vintage. Here, Karin (the Austrian) and I decided that we were going to try to get guys to buy us some pints. Unfortunately, it didn't work, but instead, we were entertained by the story of sex going on in the men's bathroom. When the report first reached our table, we didn't believe it, but soon enough, men were coming out of the bathroom laughing and showing the pics that the took on their cell phones to their friends. The next thing we know, the guy comes out of the bathroom and the whole pub erupts in cheers and clapping over his feat. A few minutes later, his lady friend followed out of the men's room, also met with yelling and clapping. I'm guessing that she was very embarrassed since she ran straight out of the pub! The next stop was O'Connor's, where a good time was had by all. First off, we met the mayor of Killarney, who proceeded to call my brother a dirty, lazy hippie. He was at our table for quite some time drinking whiskey and Guinness and shooting the breeze. I also had a little adventure of my own and was finally treated to a pint by an Irishman named Ian. After the group decided that it was time to move on, we traveled to The Grand. There was a live band playing there and they kept Karin and I dancing for a couple of hours. It was a bunch of young guys, accompanied by a really old guy who could wail away on the drums. Finally, after loads to drink (and a couple of food stops), we decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel. I do admit that it was probably the best St. Patrick's Day I've had so far, and much better than the first time I celebrated in Ireland.

Saturday morning, I dragged myself out of bed and head out on a coach tour of The Ring of Kerry (pictures below). Unfortunately, it was a bit dreary, so the sea didn't look as nice as it could have. When I returned to the hostel, I joined the New Zealanders at a pub to watch my first rugby match. It was Ireland vs. England, so it was bound to get exciting watching it with a crowd. Miraculously, Ireland pulled off a few goals at the very end, and we were all cheering with the victory. It's always nice to see England defeated in just about anything. Afterwards, we made it to a couple more pubs before calling it a night. The next day, I took a two hour walk to the top of Aghadoe. It was a good hike and a great view of the town, mountains, and lakes. We ended our night back Stretford End and enjoyed a birthday pint in honor of my brother on his 21st.

We left Killarney on Monday morning to head to Ennis where we were getting picked up to go to the farm. Ennis wasn't too great of a town. Our hostel, Abbey Tourist Hostel, wasn't the best that I've stayed in. I don't know if there are better wings or rooms in the place, but the walls were cracked and it wasn't the cleanest or warmest, but the people staying there and running the place were all very friendly. They had satellite TV, so we spent most of our time watching that, including some crazy movie that involved the revenge of locusts who killed everyone except those who only at organic food, which I thought was a good set-up for the work and lifestyle we were about to begin. We had bad Chinese food for dinner on my brother's insistence. I warned him that every time I had eaten Chinese food in Ireland, it was bad, but he wanted to try for himself. I was not proved wrong.

We decided to get a good night's sleep because the next day we were going to be picked up and taken to the farm to begin our organic farming fun!

Sometimes...

I wish that I was here, eating pancakes and porridge, watching fireflies at night while walking hand in hand, swimming in the sea and tasting the salt, feeling the sand between my toes, and letting time go as slowly as it likes while we just sit back, relax, and enjoy...

Recap - Part II

The following are some details of how I spent my first couple of days in Ireland:

The brother and I arrived in Dublin early in the morning, and the first thing that I said when we landed was "Well, I guess we're home for a little while". We made it successfully through customs, but got a funny stamp saying that we were allowed "no unauthorized work/business" and "no recourse to public funds" with a definite due date for our exit out of the country. So began our allowed 90 days within the European Union.

We took a bus into the city center of Dublin, and trekked about 15 minutes to our hostel. It wasn't the funnest walk that I've ever taken, considering my pack was quite heavy, but I survived (and later unloaded some unnecessaries). Unfortunately, we couldn't check into our room at the Avalon House until after 2 PM. It was only around 9 AM, so we had plenty of waiting to do and were dead tired. Fortunately, it was a beautiful morning, so we stopped at the local supermarket for some pastry and juice and made our way to beautiful St. Stephen's Green. After that, we decided to take a long walk over to the train station to check schedules, and afterwards stumbled upon the Museum of Decorative Arts & History at Collins Barracks. One thing I definitely love about Dublin is that all of the National Museums are free to enter. We spent our time exploring the exhibits (all pretty interesting, even with a terrible lack of sleep and jet lag), and at one point, I took a seat near a giant clock and it's gentle ticking nearly put me right to sleep like a baby. We were nearing our allowed check-in time, so we started to make our way back to the hostel. We stopped for a good lunch deal of shared garlic bread, pizza, and tea or coffee at one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Dublin, and headed back to the Avalon for a nap. Later we fixed ourselves a dinner of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and french bread and caught a little television.

One the second day, I decided to go out and do a little solo wandering. Since it was my fourth time in Dublin, I was pretty confident with navigating around the general area, and decided that it was time to do some exploring past my usual boundaries. Stupidly, I did not bring a map with me, and ended up feeling quite lost in some residential areas. I think I probably walked down at least three streets more than twice, and was thankful when I finally saw an old sign that pointed me in the direction of the big park. After returning to the hostel and killing some time by watching The Big Lebowski with some nice Canadians, my brother and I headed out to a pub for some drinks and dinner. Needless to say, we enjoyed a Guinness and some Irish stew, and both were superb. Unfortunately, the night took a turn for the worst when I called the farmer that we were signed up with to let him know which train we would be on the next day so he could pick us up...when I got him on the phone and made my intentions known, he said something like "There's no chance in hell I can pick you up in Ennis tomorrow, I'm flying to England tonight and won't be back until Monday night". Mind you, this was Wednesday night and St. Patrick's weekend was upon us, so there was only a smattering of lodging options available to us. After exhausting our options for a weekend booking in Dublin, Galway, Cork, and some other large cities, I started to ponder other ways to find a bed. One of the things that we came close to doing was flying to Amsterdam for the weekend. It would have been a fun time, but budget-wise, wasn't the wisest. Miraculously, we found a hostel with beds available in a little town called Killarney, and the rest is history.