We have been on the farm now for 3 weeks and we have gotten to the point where all we can think about is leaving. That is mostly due to the Arctic front that apparently has made its way to Ireland, and in the last three days the temperature has dropped by at least 15 degrees. We spend our nights wearing sweatpants, hoodies, and woolly socks, and as we watch TV we sit directly on the space heater in an attempt to stay warm.
The farm has been an experience, however, and here are a few highlights from the last week:
Thanksgiving without an oven. Menu included already cooked slices of chicken (we couldnt find turkey), mashed turnip, cranberry sauce, instant stuffing and instant gravy. Not exactly a gourmet meal, but we made the most of it, and we were sure to at least spend a little extra money on a bottle of red wine. We found some old curtains that we used as tablecloths, lit some candles, and toasted eachother with mugs of wine on how lucky we are for having been able to come on this trip.
The pigs. As we are in charge of feeding them twice a day, we have begun to bond with the animals. They hear us coming and bumble their way over to us. We swear they have doubled in size since we arrived at the farm. We now have a strategy when it comes to feeding them: One person walk into the pen as a distraction, while the other slips behind and sprints to the trough to dump the food. Once they hear the food being dumped we are completely ignored, and no longer have to worry about being trampled into the mud. We are getting a soft spot for the little guys, and we are coming up with ways for the gate to be "accidentally" left open on our last day at the farm.
Tom. Tom has been a recent addition to our life. He is Padrig's 85 year old father and he and his wife live in the big house on the farm. The highlight of our day is seeing Tom's daily outing on the farm. He begins by stopping at the barn, assessing our carrot bundling while warning us about the Arctic chill. He then slowly creeps along the muddy path to stop and stare at the pigs for a good 20 minutes, making sure they are okay and getting quite upset if they haven't received their daily treat of old tomatoes and avocados. He seems to have a soft spot for them, as well, and we are considering asking him if he wants in on our pig evacuation scheme. We think Tom is great, but became extremely concerned for the safety of the Irish population when we saw him roll up in his car to the farmers market to buy some fish. His face was 6 inches from the windshield and he usually has to be within 5 feet of us to even recognize (or hear) us, so we can only imagine what he must be like on the road. He is very proud of himself as he informed us that last year he bought the first automatic car in Ballinasloe.
We find ourselves getting rather frusterated with the lack of organization and common sense of our bosses. We leave you now with our favorite quotes from each of them, just to give you an understanding of what we're dealing with:
Padrig: "Hey, do you want to know something? I just found out that these little raisins are actually made from dried grapes! I never knew that till this month!"
Una: "I'm having one of those days where I can't believe I'm an organic farmer."
Laura: "Did you always want to be a farmer?"
Una: "Oh no. When I was eighteen I wanted to be an actress!"
Thank god we only have a week left on the farm.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The Two Best Farmers You've Ever Met
We have survived our first week on the farm and since we only make it into town once a week, we bring you now our weekly blog entry. Here are some key points and insights into the daily routine of life as an organic farmer:
- Wake up when it's still dark and real cold. Laura makes the instant coffee as Meghan whips up the porridge. This usually involves searching around the house for the Splenda, which we always hide frantically from Una, the wife of the organic farmer, because she only does organic and frowns at us for even chewing gum due to its artificiality.
- Get dressed in long underwear (pants and top), sweats, jackets, wellies, and waterproof overalls. Head over to the pig pen to begin our day. As we mix up their organic porridge breakfast, the 6 large males pigs crowd the fence, squealing for us to hurry up. One of us then has to take the food into the pen with all six pigs swarming and nipping her legs as she makes her way to the trough. The other stands outside and is usually crying from laughing so hard as the other tries not to get taken down into the muck. Usually half the food has been dumped on the pigs and the other half is smeared all over our clothes. We then trudge back up the barn, feeling defeated.
- The rest of the day is spent harvesting a variety of veg, including carrots, parsnips, celery, brussel sprouts, cabbage and tomatoes, all to get ready for the "market." We are still working on our harvesting skills, as we tend to either eat what we pick, or spear the veg with our pitchforks as we attempt to dig them up.
- Market days are particularly exciting because we get a chance to head into actual civilization. Our first day at the market, however, was not quite what we expected. In the days prior we had felt intense pressure and expectation to make sure there was enough harvested, and in our minds we pictured a giant, crowded market. We were amused to roll up and discover the market consisted of 4 stands and our four new best friends: the fish man from Russia, the pastry man from France, Martin, the wine and cheese connoisseur, and Padrig, the organic farmer we work for. We are there to help set up, but for the most part we stand around and gawk as Una, who is quite petite, displays her freakish strength by hoisting around bags of potatoes and wooden tables.
- There are a few elements of organic farm life to which we are having a little trouble adjusting. First things first, we aren't allowed to have a trash can because everything has to go in the compost or be recycled. We spend a good half hour arguing about what goes in which bucket, and whether paper towels actually ARE part of the compost (the dampness of the paper seems to play an instrumental role, but we haven't quite mastered the art). In the end we get fed up and hide a plastic bag of garbage in our room for our next trip to town where we can get rid of it in a public trash can. Another difficulty we face daily is having to walk outside to go to the bathroom. In an effort not to dirty our house (which is basically a large room with a space heater that Meghan is usually hovered over), the door to the bathroom is on the outside of the house, and every night at about 2 am we wake each other up as we turn on a light and dig around for shoes and a sweatshirt.
- The best part of farm life is the giant refrigerator room in the barn with all the fruit and veg we could ever want. We usually wait till everyone has gone home, and then we lurk up in the dark with a box and go on raids for dinner. Our favorite item is the expensive golden kiwi that has been imported from New Zealand. We've never eaten so much organic produce in our lives; we're going out to Indian tonight.
- Nightly activities, aka until 9 pm, involve alternating between reading and staring at each other.
We'll be back next week for further updates, unless we've been fired or eaten by pigs.
- Wake up when it's still dark and real cold. Laura makes the instant coffee as Meghan whips up the porridge. This usually involves searching around the house for the Splenda, which we always hide frantically from Una, the wife of the organic farmer, because she only does organic and frowns at us for even chewing gum due to its artificiality.
- Get dressed in long underwear (pants and top), sweats, jackets, wellies, and waterproof overalls. Head over to the pig pen to begin our day. As we mix up their organic porridge breakfast, the 6 large males pigs crowd the fence, squealing for us to hurry up. One of us then has to take the food into the pen with all six pigs swarming and nipping her legs as she makes her way to the trough. The other stands outside and is usually crying from laughing so hard as the other tries not to get taken down into the muck. Usually half the food has been dumped on the pigs and the other half is smeared all over our clothes. We then trudge back up the barn, feeling defeated.
- The rest of the day is spent harvesting a variety of veg, including carrots, parsnips, celery, brussel sprouts, cabbage and tomatoes, all to get ready for the "market." We are still working on our harvesting skills, as we tend to either eat what we pick, or spear the veg with our pitchforks as we attempt to dig them up.
- Market days are particularly exciting because we get a chance to head into actual civilization. Our first day at the market, however, was not quite what we expected. In the days prior we had felt intense pressure and expectation to make sure there was enough harvested, and in our minds we pictured a giant, crowded market. We were amused to roll up and discover the market consisted of 4 stands and our four new best friends: the fish man from Russia, the pastry man from France, Martin, the wine and cheese connoisseur, and Padrig, the organic farmer we work for. We are there to help set up, but for the most part we stand around and gawk as Una, who is quite petite, displays her freakish strength by hoisting around bags of potatoes and wooden tables.
- There are a few elements of organic farm life to which we are having a little trouble adjusting. First things first, we aren't allowed to have a trash can because everything has to go in the compost or be recycled. We spend a good half hour arguing about what goes in which bucket, and whether paper towels actually ARE part of the compost (the dampness of the paper seems to play an instrumental role, but we haven't quite mastered the art). In the end we get fed up and hide a plastic bag of garbage in our room for our next trip to town where we can get rid of it in a public trash can. Another difficulty we face daily is having to walk outside to go to the bathroom. In an effort not to dirty our house (which is basically a large room with a space heater that Meghan is usually hovered over), the door to the bathroom is on the outside of the house, and every night at about 2 am we wake each other up as we turn on a light and dig around for shoes and a sweatshirt.
- The best part of farm life is the giant refrigerator room in the barn with all the fruit and veg we could ever want. We usually wait till everyone has gone home, and then we lurk up in the dark with a box and go on raids for dinner. Our favorite item is the expensive golden kiwi that has been imported from New Zealand. We've never eaten so much organic produce in our lives; we're going out to Indian tonight.
- Nightly activities, aka until 9 pm, involve alternating between reading and staring at each other.
We'll be back next week for further updates, unless we've been fired or eaten by pigs.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Life on the Farm
Yesterday was our first day at the farm, and I can now say that Meghan and I are the best carrot harvesters ever. Our day began by waking up in our little wooden house that is located on the farm itself in our bunkbeds. After a breakfast of oatmeal and tea (we were feeling very
farmlike), we hauled on our wellies, waterproof pants and jacket, and headed out. Una and Padrig are the couple we are working for, and Una began by showing us around the farm, including the polytunnels, crops, and pig pen. We thought we were only dealing with vegetables, but just
our luck, they acquired pigs about 4 weeks ago, and Meg and I now have the pleasure of helping feed them every morning. After feeding the pigs, we headed into the carrot patch, where we spent the next 5 hours
pulling carrots out of the ground and loading them into the tractor. There was a huge order to be shipped to Dublin today, and so yesterday we apparently harvested in a day what they normal do in two weeks. After the harvesting we had a quick lunch of organic vegetables and
then headed into the barn and bundled 250 bunches of carrots that had to weigh 1kg each. Needless to say, we were busy until about 7pm.
After quick showers in the bathroom that only has an entrance from the outside (which is starting to get annoying when we have to walk outside at 2am), we whipped up a dinner of more organic, had some tea and played cards, and then looked at our watch to see that it was
still only 9:30pm. We sat and stared at eachother for 15 more mintues,then decided it was more than acceptable to get into bed to read.Within half hour we were both completely passed out.
Because we had such a busy day yesterday, we were given the day off,and we have wandered into town to use the internet and check out theshops. Our legs and backs are pretty sore, but we are enjoying beingin the country as opposed to the dirtiness and craziness of Dublin. We
will try to blog again soon, as well as post some pictures to give asense of our current situation. Hope all is well with everyone, we miss you!
farmlike), we hauled on our wellies, waterproof pants and jacket, and headed out. Una and Padrig are the couple we are working for, and Una began by showing us around the farm, including the polytunnels, crops, and pig pen. We thought we were only dealing with vegetables, but just
our luck, they acquired pigs about 4 weeks ago, and Meg and I now have the pleasure of helping feed them every morning. After feeding the pigs, we headed into the carrot patch, where we spent the next 5 hours
pulling carrots out of the ground and loading them into the tractor. There was a huge order to be shipped to Dublin today, and so yesterday we apparently harvested in a day what they normal do in two weeks. After the harvesting we had a quick lunch of organic vegetables and
then headed into the barn and bundled 250 bunches of carrots that had to weigh 1kg each. Needless to say, we were busy until about 7pm.
After quick showers in the bathroom that only has an entrance from the outside (which is starting to get annoying when we have to walk outside at 2am), we whipped up a dinner of more organic, had some tea and played cards, and then looked at our watch to see that it was
still only 9:30pm. We sat and stared at eachother for 15 more mintues,then decided it was more than acceptable to get into bed to read.Within half hour we were both completely passed out.
Because we had such a busy day yesterday, we were given the day off,and we have wandered into town to use the internet and check out theshops. Our legs and backs are pretty sore, but we are enjoying beingin the country as opposed to the dirtiness and craziness of Dublin. We
will try to blog again soon, as well as post some pictures to give asense of our current situation. Hope all is well with everyone, we miss you!
Our last days in Dublin
Our final week in Dublin was a bit of a fiasco.
- on sunday we left the house to run around the corner for a huge cup of coffee, in our pajamas, planning to be gone about 5 minutes. when we walked back (without coffee...we forgot everyone is at church sunday mornings) we both looked at eachother waiting for the other to open the door. no keys. awesome. we spent a good 2 hours trying to get into the house.
- tuesday-last day of work. we have to celebrate so we go out for a pint. we walk back to the house only to put in our keys and set the alarm off. it is deafening and we have no idea what the code is to turn it off. there is no number on the alarm box and we dont know who even set the alarm on (we hadnt been setting it). We had no cell phone so we frantically run up the street to call our landlord for the code at 1am...they tell us the code and we run back home. code doesn't work. bollucks. we run back to pay phone to see if tehre is maybe a different code. landlord doesn't know. we run back to house. still can't turn alarm off. dont know what to do. all of a sudden, there are about 4 cop cars that come screaming down our street and surround our house, thinking there is a burglar in our house. we try to explain what is going on but they yell at us to be quiet while they send men in. they look at us weird and dont understand when we show them our keys. finally they realize we live in the house,there is no burglar, we dont know how to turn off the alarm and that we are foreigners. police man gets alarm to miraculously stop about 4 hours after it started going off. we eventually go to bed. our poor, poor neighbors.
-thursday- we are tired of the city and want to see a little of ireland before we go to the farm. so, we rent a car. it is manual so i drive while laura navigates. we are a genius team and manuever ourselves through ireland and their terribly marked road system. i manage to drive on the right side of the road (most of the time) and we arrive safely back in dublin. the car rental place is closed until morning so we park the car outside of it and walk back in the morning to return the keys. we arrive in the morning to see that someone has stolen all of the hubcaps off the car and scratched the door. cool.
-saturday-we managed to pack up all of our stuff and head to the organic farm where we plan to work/live until the end of november.
- on sunday we left the house to run around the corner for a huge cup of coffee, in our pajamas, planning to be gone about 5 minutes. when we walked back (without coffee...we forgot everyone is at church sunday mornings) we both looked at eachother waiting for the other to open the door. no keys. awesome. we spent a good 2 hours trying to get into the house.
- tuesday-last day of work. we have to celebrate so we go out for a pint. we walk back to the house only to put in our keys and set the alarm off. it is deafening and we have no idea what the code is to turn it off. there is no number on the alarm box and we dont know who even set the alarm on (we hadnt been setting it). We had no cell phone so we frantically run up the street to call our landlord for the code at 1am...they tell us the code and we run back home. code doesn't work. bollucks. we run back to pay phone to see if tehre is maybe a different code. landlord doesn't know. we run back to house. still can't turn alarm off. dont know what to do. all of a sudden, there are about 4 cop cars that come screaming down our street and surround our house, thinking there is a burglar in our house. we try to explain what is going on but they yell at us to be quiet while they send men in. they look at us weird and dont understand when we show them our keys. finally they realize we live in the house,there is no burglar, we dont know how to turn off the alarm and that we are foreigners. police man gets alarm to miraculously stop about 4 hours after it started going off. we eventually go to bed. our poor, poor neighbors.
-thursday- we are tired of the city and want to see a little of ireland before we go to the farm. so, we rent a car. it is manual so i drive while laura navigates. we are a genius team and manuever ourselves through ireland and their terribly marked road system. i manage to drive on the right side of the road (most of the time) and we arrive safely back in dublin. the car rental place is closed until morning so we park the car outside of it and walk back in the morning to return the keys. we arrive in the morning to see that someone has stolen all of the hubcaps off the car and scratched the door. cool.
-saturday-we managed to pack up all of our stuff and head to the organic farm where we plan to work/live until the end of november.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Hi ho Hi ho It's off to Oktoberfest we go...
Our 10 day hiatus from Dublin went as follows:
London:
London was great because we both got a little taste of home. We spent our first day with my dad (he was on a business trip in London) sightseeing and going on a "jog" around Buckingham Palace. Besides getting to stay at a nice hotel, wear comfy white bath robes and be treated to a good meal (and get to see my dad of course), a highlight for us was the Tower of London. After reading so many historical fiction books on Henry VIII, we thought it was so cool to see where he lived and where Anne Bolyn was beheaded (wow, that sounds really morbid). We also go to see Westminister Abbey which was pretty amazing. Everything about London was very cultured and cool (minus the fact that everything is super expensive!). The other short days we were in the city we spent with Laura's cousin and her family in Notting Hill. Notting Hill was gorgeous and really cute, just like in the movie. Laura's cousin and her family were so good to us- it was hard to leave but we had to head off to Germany.
Berlin:
We arrived in Berlin on Tuesday night and made it to our hostel which for some reason was called Green Eggs and Ham. After spending the night in the smallest bed we have had yet to share, the first thing we did was take the train across the city to what is known as the East Side Gallery. Basically it is a portion of the Berlin wall, extending about a kilometer, that has been preserved and painted by people all over the world with images regarding the separation of East and West Berlin, the destruction of the wall, etc. We walked up and down the street for a good hour looking at the murals and took a ton of pictures. We also visited the location of Checkpoint Charlie, and though there isn't much left of it, a memorial has been constructed that describes the history behind the wall, the Cold War, and the eventual resolution when the Americans finally left Berlin.
Other than that, Meghan and I spent our two days in Berlin just walking around the city and taking in the sights. The city has amazing architecture and has a very modern feel to it, and we were constantly impressed with the efficiency of the Germans. Fast speed trains were always whizzing around, everyone spoke English perfectly, and the city streets were immaculate. The Germans were also extremely friendly and always willing to help when we had questions, and for the first time Meghan and I felt like we fit in with the population, as people frequently assumed we were from Germany and would come up and speak to us in German. It was a nice change from the weird stares we had grown accustomed to receiving while travelling around Eastern Europe.
OKTOBERFEST:
#1. Drink slowly (remember childhood story of tortoise and hare- slow and steady is better)
#2. avoid all italians (i.e stay away from creepy men and stay near to hot german men who can beat up creepy italian men)
London:
London was great because we both got a little taste of home. We spent our first day with my dad (he was on a business trip in London) sightseeing and going on a "jog" around Buckingham Palace. Besides getting to stay at a nice hotel, wear comfy white bath robes and be treated to a good meal (and get to see my dad of course), a highlight for us was the Tower of London. After reading so many historical fiction books on Henry VIII, we thought it was so cool to see where he lived and where Anne Bolyn was beheaded (wow, that sounds really morbid). We also go to see Westminister Abbey which was pretty amazing. Everything about London was very cultured and cool (minus the fact that everything is super expensive!). The other short days we were in the city we spent with Laura's cousin and her family in Notting Hill. Notting Hill was gorgeous and really cute, just like in the movie. Laura's cousin and her family were so good to us- it was hard to leave but we had to head off to Germany.
Berlin:
We arrived in Berlin on Tuesday night and made it to our hostel which for some reason was called Green Eggs and Ham. After spending the night in the smallest bed we have had yet to share, the first thing we did was take the train across the city to what is known as the East Side Gallery. Basically it is a portion of the Berlin wall, extending about a kilometer, that has been preserved and painted by people all over the world with images regarding the separation of East and West Berlin, the destruction of the wall, etc. We walked up and down the street for a good hour looking at the murals and took a ton of pictures. We also visited the location of Checkpoint Charlie, and though there isn't much left of it, a memorial has been constructed that describes the history behind the wall, the Cold War, and the eventual resolution when the Americans finally left Berlin.
Other than that, Meghan and I spent our two days in Berlin just walking around the city and taking in the sights. The city has amazing architecture and has a very modern feel to it, and we were constantly impressed with the efficiency of the Germans. Fast speed trains were always whizzing around, everyone spoke English perfectly, and the city streets were immaculate. The Germans were also extremely friendly and always willing to help when we had questions, and for the first time Meghan and I felt like we fit in with the population, as people frequently assumed we were from Germany and would come up and speak to us in German. It was a nice change from the weird stares we had grown accustomed to receiving while travelling around Eastern Europe.
OKTOBERFEST:
Day 1-
We rolled up to Munich after a turbulent flight. Meghan was looking somewhat terrified by the time we finally landed (she's not exactly a fan of flying and didn't take her Xanax...I tried to be supportive and not giggle at her continuous grabs at the seat in front of her), and the first thing she said to me was, "I need a drink."
After checking into our hotel and dropping off our bags, we headed to the festival at about 1pm. Five minutes after arriving we were completely overwhelmed and at a bit at a loss of how to proceed. We walked into the first tent we saw and were immediately overpowered by the polka music, Germans dressed in lederhosen standing on tables singing, and beer wenches screaming at us at the top of their lungs (kinda scary) to move out of the way as they made their way to tables with six gigantic mugs of beer stacked on top one another (which takes an impressive amount of strength). We wandered around for a bit, looking for a table at which to sit, as you don't get beer unless you are at a table. Finally some Italian guy snatched us up as he walked by and led us to his table, where we squeezed in and finally got a taste of our first beer at Oktoberfest. Conversation lacked as they didn't speak English, but after a few minutes we were kicked out of our spot anyway by people who had planned ahead and reserved the table (sometimes I realize how much it would help if Meg and I were planners). So we wandered around for a bit, finishing our mugs and making random converstation here and there, until we came across a table of old Dannish men who let us squeeze in with them. The beer wenches were busy at this point and nowhere to be seen, so being the classy ladies that we are, we dumped the remanents of beer from various mugs that had been left by previous seat occupiers into our own cups. Free beer! Sweet. Things start to go downhill from there. We both remember standing on the table, swinging our mugs back and forth and clanking them with those of others while exclaiming "Probst!" in between verses of "Que sara, sara." After that its a little hazy (apparently the beer at Oktoberfest is considerably more alcoholic than regular beer. Who knew?)
After some more beer and singing, we emerged from the tent and decided to try out some rides. We hit up the rollercoaster, the swings (our favorite) and some spinny ride that made us extremely nauseous. So we nixed the rides and spent some time eating ice cream and huge gingerbread heart-shaped cookies that people liked to wear as necklaces. We were both still very drunk and Meghan began complaining that her feet were freezing (it had been raining all day and neither of us had the sense to bring an umbrella), so we headed back to the hotel. At 8pm. I watched TV while Meghan went to shower, and after about half hour I started to get a little concerned that she was still in the bathroom. I yelled at her from my bed just to make sure she was still alive, and I eventually got the muffled response that she was cool, she had decided to take a bath to warm up and she passed out. Winner. By that time it was 8:30pm and we both decided to "rest" aka we both fell asleep and woke up at 2am completely wired because we had been asleep for the last 6 hours. We did a little recap, trying to piece together the events of the day, and at 3am decided the best thing would probably be to try to sleep so the hours until we could do Oktoberfest all over again would go by faster.
Day 2 :
We had two rules for ourselves on Saturday:#1. Drink slowly (remember childhood story of tortoise and hare- slow and steady is better)
#2. avoid all italians (i.e stay away from creepy men and stay near to hot german men who can beat up creepy italian men)
what happennned: we ended up sitting in the italian section of the beer tent, laura had to dance with a creepy italian dude, we were hammered by 11am, took a "power nap" in the mud, rode on almost every ride in the park, ate way too many giant pretzels and german sausage, and lasted all the way to night. success. The day goes as follows:
We wake up feeling suprisingly well rested and ready to give it another go. Oktoberfest might have killed us on Friday (as we were unprepared and inexperienced), but now we were really and truly ready. After a hearty breakfast of eggs and coffee, we hopped on the metro and rode out to the festival. Lucky for us, the sun was shining and, although it was only 10am, the beer tents were already packed. We made our way to the front of the line and snuck in only to be pulled aside by a german security guard. Laura and I look at eachother like, "crap, do they remember us from yesterday and won't allow us back in their tent?". Oh no, don't worry...they just wanted our ID's because we look UNDER THE AGE OF 17. we didn't see them card anyone else, we couldn't believe it!
Anyways, once we got in the tent we wandered around trying to find a table we could squeeze into. It proved difficult as there were SO many people already there. All of a sudden, this cute, little man invited us to sit at their table as they had some space. We were desperate for a beer by this point (you can only order a beer if you are seated at a table) so we thankfully sat down with them. Sure enough, only one of them speaks english (and very little at that) and of course, they are italian. Furthermore, everyone in the area is Italian. and not just Italian, but men (ok, i dont want anyone to think we dont like italians...its just that italian men that we have met through our travels have all been super intense and really agressive). We had no idea what they kept talking about so we focused on our beer consumption. Several giant, cold mugs of beer, 2 jumbo pretzels and a few dances with random italians later, we staggered out of the tent into daylight. This part of the day is a bit hazey...please refer to pictures on the side of the blog to understand. We spent the afternoon riding rides and eating ice cream. and obviously, having a ball.
Soon the alcohol and rollercoaster rides caught up to us and Laura turned to me with red eyes and a slightly nauseous expression on her face and simply stated, "Meg, I need a quick rest". I nodded in agreement and we headed towards some grass/a bench outside one of the beer tents. Unable to get comfortable on the bench, Laura and I noticed that there were a few people "napping" on the muddy grass. They looked very content (probably were passed out) and we became jealous. Thinking at the time that it would be totally acceptable to nap on the disgusting ground at oktoberfest, I gave Laura the thumbs up for her to sleep while I performed "lookout duty" on the nearby bench. Genius idea, we know (again, good thing we have college degrees so that we can come up with these great ideas). Well, she fell asleep really fast and a few random men came by and tried to take a picture of her...not to worry, i scared them off by yelling and throwing pretzels pieces at them. Soon I had company on the bench in the form of an old, german man who kept laughing at Laura and I. He wouldn't stop talking to me in german despite me continuously telling him I didn't understand. Finally, he pointed to the grass next to Laura and showed me that he would lookout for us. So, I went and layed down next to Laura in the grass for a little rest, only to be woken up about 15 minutes later by some dude taking another picture of us and the old man on the bench crying because he was laughing so hard. Laura and I quickly ran away with a few leaves in our hair but felt rejuvenated after our "nap".
The evening we spent drinking more beer, riding more rides, eating more german food and being fully entertained. Eventually we pooped out and headed home around 10pm-fully proud of ourselves for having lasted so long. It was a fabulous day/night and 2 days of Oktoberfesting was just enough for us. We aren't sure if we could have lasted another day and still be alive.
We are now back in Ireland, working, hanging out, doing irish stuff. Its nice to be back.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Our newest and best plan yet
So, here is a little life update:
1. Theory: we are supposed to be coming home in a month and this should be our last week of work.
Reality:we got kicked out of our sweet apartment and are now living in our bosses guest room, we are spending next week in Germany at Oktoberfest, somehow our bosses have agreed to let us continue working through October (they are the best), we have decided to move our plane tickets home to December (so that we can eventually hit up Scotland and England), and for the month of November we will be working on an organic farm in a small town on the west coast of Ireland (dont ask how this came about).
2. Its a good thing we are leaving town for a week because we have made friends with just about every bouncer within a one mile radius of our old apartment. They see us walk by their pub, smile and yell 'hello' to their favorite california customers and then insist we come into their pub by waving us past the waiting line of people.
3. It has all of a sudden gotten really COLD here so we have been looking slightly homeless as we wear almost all of our clothes at once (no pun intended by the fact that we currently are actually homeless). This just adds to our weekly experience of rolling into the nice irish bank in our ghetto clothes, throwing down two fat paychecks and asking for an envelope of cash. We are pretty sure they think we are running some sort of illegal business.
4. We spent this last weekend up north. It was gorgeous, like Ireland in a postcard (rolling green hills into the really blue sea). It was another world up there...the conflict between protestants and catholics still runs the towns. We couldn't fully understand the politics of it all as it seems to run deep in one's family blood; making it impossible for outsiders to grasp.
While up north, we spent a day in awe by the beauty of the Giants Causeway. It is a natural phenomenon where the stones leading into the ocean have formed into hexagonal columns. However, the Irish say it was obviously not a natural phenomonon and instead, the workings of none other then the giant Finn MacCool. Finn wanted to build a bridge across to Scottland so he could fight the giant over there (duh). He laid down the hexagonal rocks as stepping stones so that he could get across...good ol Finn MacCool.
**I'm taking over for Meg to write about the North a tiny bit. We took a train from Dublin to Portadown, a town about half hour past the border between Northern Ireland (which is part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland. Our friend Peter, who comes from the North, picked us up and played tour guide for the weekend. As well as Giant's Causeway, we toured the northernmost coast and drove through endless green fields filled with sheep (for some reason that made it feel really Irish) until we made our way to Belfast. The drive really was idyllic and we were extremely content just being in the car staring out the window. It was also somewhat mind boggling for us because, as Meghan said, there is such an emphasis on the division between the Catholics and Protestants. We would be on a country road that would reach a little town and all of a sudden the British flag would be hung from every lampost and the curbs would be painted in red, white and blue; then 10 minutes of continuing down the road a flag of the Republic of Ireland would be hung, signifying the Catholics who lived in the area. Even as we drove through parts of the country that didn't have any sort of marking, Peter would tell us whether the area was a Protestant or Catholic part of the country. Meghan and I were fascinated because it was such a foreign concept for us and there is really no way that we can fully understand the tension and intensity of the feelings within the two groups. Driving around Belfast was also a unique experience; again, sections of the city seem to be designated as Protestant and Catholic, and as we drove around we saw a number of the murals that have been painted on the sides of buildings that refer to the IRA, hunger strikers, Easter Rising, and other individuals and events relating to the conflict. It felt like such a different world compared to anything Meghan and I are used to seeing at home (especially in the Bay Area), and while we can't relate, it was definitely an experience that we appreciated.
So thats a quick update. Tomorrow we are flying to London for a few days, then to Berlin, and finally to Munich for Oktoberfest. We will write again when we get back. Hope this finds everyone well. Cheers!
1. Theory: we are supposed to be coming home in a month and this should be our last week of work.
Reality:we got kicked out of our sweet apartment and are now living in our bosses guest room, we are spending next week in Germany at Oktoberfest, somehow our bosses have agreed to let us continue working through October (they are the best), we have decided to move our plane tickets home to December (so that we can eventually hit up Scotland and England), and for the month of November we will be working on an organic farm in a small town on the west coast of Ireland (dont ask how this came about).
2. Its a good thing we are leaving town for a week because we have made friends with just about every bouncer within a one mile radius of our old apartment. They see us walk by their pub, smile and yell 'hello' to their favorite california customers and then insist we come into their pub by waving us past the waiting line of people.
3. It has all of a sudden gotten really COLD here so we have been looking slightly homeless as we wear almost all of our clothes at once (no pun intended by the fact that we currently are actually homeless). This just adds to our weekly experience of rolling into the nice irish bank in our ghetto clothes, throwing down two fat paychecks and asking for an envelope of cash. We are pretty sure they think we are running some sort of illegal business.
4. We spent this last weekend up north. It was gorgeous, like Ireland in a postcard (rolling green hills into the really blue sea). It was another world up there...the conflict between protestants and catholics still runs the towns. We couldn't fully understand the politics of it all as it seems to run deep in one's family blood; making it impossible for outsiders to grasp.
While up north, we spent a day in awe by the beauty of the Giants Causeway. It is a natural phenomenon where the stones leading into the ocean have formed into hexagonal columns. However, the Irish say it was obviously not a natural phenomonon and instead, the workings of none other then the giant Finn MacCool. Finn wanted to build a bridge across to Scottland so he could fight the giant over there (duh). He laid down the hexagonal rocks as stepping stones so that he could get across...good ol Finn MacCool.
**I'm taking over for Meg to write about the North a tiny bit. We took a train from Dublin to Portadown, a town about half hour past the border between Northern Ireland (which is part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland. Our friend Peter, who comes from the North, picked us up and played tour guide for the weekend. As well as Giant's Causeway, we toured the northernmost coast and drove through endless green fields filled with sheep (for some reason that made it feel really Irish) until we made our way to Belfast. The drive really was idyllic and we were extremely content just being in the car staring out the window. It was also somewhat mind boggling for us because, as Meghan said, there is such an emphasis on the division between the Catholics and Protestants. We would be on a country road that would reach a little town and all of a sudden the British flag would be hung from every lampost and the curbs would be painted in red, white and blue; then 10 minutes of continuing down the road a flag of the Republic of Ireland would be hung, signifying the Catholics who lived in the area. Even as we drove through parts of the country that didn't have any sort of marking, Peter would tell us whether the area was a Protestant or Catholic part of the country. Meghan and I were fascinated because it was such a foreign concept for us and there is really no way that we can fully understand the tension and intensity of the feelings within the two groups. Driving around Belfast was also a unique experience; again, sections of the city seem to be designated as Protestant and Catholic, and as we drove around we saw a number of the murals that have been painted on the sides of buildings that refer to the IRA, hunger strikers, Easter Rising, and other individuals and events relating to the conflict. It felt like such a different world compared to anything Meghan and I are used to seeing at home (especially in the Bay Area), and while we can't relate, it was definitely an experience that we appreciated.
So thats a quick update. Tomorrow we are flying to London for a few days, then to Berlin, and finally to Munich for Oktoberfest. We will write again when we get back. Hope this finds everyone well. Cheers!
Friday, September 7, 2007
Rule #1 at work functions: Don't drink so much that you black out and wake up on the boss' couch
Scene:
Its last Saturday morning. I wake up. It's 5:30am and I stare confusedly at the somewhat familiar room full of children's toys. Then I realize I'm still fully clothed in yesterday's sweater and jeans and I begin to freak out a little. I look over and am immensely relieved to see Meghan sleeping beside me, and notice that she is also in yesterday's outfit. I try to think back on what I last remember.....oh yea, the company BBQ. Let's backtrack.
Last Friday night the employees of LeCayla Technologies decided to have a little get-together. Let me start out by saying that the entire company consists of 12 employees. However, Conor, our boss, decided that was more than enough people to justify purchasing a keg for the occasion, as well as champagne and copious amounts of wine. We all sat out on the patio at Conor's, eating hamburgers and "crisps." Meghan and I had been looking forward to the opportunity to bond with our coworkers, and we took it upon ourselves to get the party started. After a few beers and glasses of wine, Larry, our other boss who is Irish but now lives in California, decided that the concept of a keg stand needed to be introduced to his country. Meg and I jumped at the suggestion and suspended him in the air, chanting the number of seconds Larry was able to chug while the rest of the party gawked. This is pretty much the last thing either of us remember until the moment we woke up the next morning on the pull out couch in the childrens' playroom. We got up, snuck around the house until we found our shoes, scribbled a note to Conor and his wife apologizing for any "inappropriate behavior based on alcohol consumption" (yes, that is literally what we wrote; I got a classic photo of Meg writing the letter still drunk while it's still dark out), and jetted out of the house asap until we found a cab to take us home (where we passed out again for a few more hours). The next day we tried to pretend the whole night didn't really happen, but on Monday morning we knew we had to face the music.
We walked into the office, eyes cast downward in shame. We stopped in the doorway of Conor's office with embarrassed smiles on our faces and began to apologize until he stopped us. He told us that we were "brilliant" and everyone had a great time, and if it made us feel any better he and Larry woke up together on the couches in the guesthouse the following morning while his two kids and wife were comfortably asleep upstairs. We felt much better after that.
We don't have a whole lot of news to report. Mainly work and seeing the inside of a lot of Irish pubs. We are having a great time and think we are going to bum around for a while longer. That means we are probably on something like "Plan E" now. Hope everyone is well, we will keep you updated and try and blog a bit more.
Cheers.
Its last Saturday morning. I wake up. It's 5:30am and I stare confusedly at the somewhat familiar room full of children's toys. Then I realize I'm still fully clothed in yesterday's sweater and jeans and I begin to freak out a little. I look over and am immensely relieved to see Meghan sleeping beside me, and notice that she is also in yesterday's outfit. I try to think back on what I last remember.....oh yea, the company BBQ. Let's backtrack.
Last Friday night the employees of LeCayla Technologies decided to have a little get-together. Let me start out by saying that the entire company consists of 12 employees. However, Conor, our boss, decided that was more than enough people to justify purchasing a keg for the occasion, as well as champagne and copious amounts of wine. We all sat out on the patio at Conor's, eating hamburgers and "crisps." Meghan and I had been looking forward to the opportunity to bond with our coworkers, and we took it upon ourselves to get the party started. After a few beers and glasses of wine, Larry, our other boss who is Irish but now lives in California, decided that the concept of a keg stand needed to be introduced to his country. Meg and I jumped at the suggestion and suspended him in the air, chanting the number of seconds Larry was able to chug while the rest of the party gawked. This is pretty much the last thing either of us remember until the moment we woke up the next morning on the pull out couch in the childrens' playroom. We got up, snuck around the house until we found our shoes, scribbled a note to Conor and his wife apologizing for any "inappropriate behavior based on alcohol consumption" (yes, that is literally what we wrote; I got a classic photo of Meg writing the letter still drunk while it's still dark out), and jetted out of the house asap until we found a cab to take us home (where we passed out again for a few more hours). The next day we tried to pretend the whole night didn't really happen, but on Monday morning we knew we had to face the music.
We walked into the office, eyes cast downward in shame. We stopped in the doorway of Conor's office with embarrassed smiles on our faces and began to apologize until he stopped us. He told us that we were "brilliant" and everyone had a great time, and if it made us feel any better he and Larry woke up together on the couches in the guesthouse the following morning while his two kids and wife were comfortably asleep upstairs. We felt much better after that.
We don't have a whole lot of news to report. Mainly work and seeing the inside of a lot of Irish pubs. We are having a great time and think we are going to bum around for a while longer. That means we are probably on something like "Plan E" now. Hope everyone is well, we will keep you updated and try and blog a bit more.
Cheers.
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