No news is good news?

yo yo yo.

Still no news to report from Galway, so instead, I think I'm going to expand a bit on my thoughts of this place. It seems as though a lot of the emails I've been sending out have people thinking that we're not having a good time here. Not true. Things are getting a little boring waiting around for prospective employers to call, but that boredom is easily contained with a good book (I'm currently reading Sarah Vowell's Assasination Vacation) and a hot cup of tea.

What I love about it here is simply that I'm living the life I'd ultimately like to (perhaps why I want to move to NYC). Each day, we go to the grocery store and pick up dinner for that night, and perhaps lunch for the next. There is a spectacular butcher in the mall as well (weird huh?) that we buy most of our meat from. We have a pub where the barman knows exactly what we want the moment we walk in the door. If I was to get a job it would be within walking distance. There are people everywhere... friendly people, people from all over the world. Anyone who has talked to me about why I love living in the city... this is it.

Some things that haven't lived up to my expectations. I should have known better coming into this, but the weather here really sucks. It rains everyday. Not all day, mind you, but every day. It's cold. When trying to keep a sunshiny disposition, it's really hard when is raining all the time. Before leaving, I heard so many people tell me how friendly and laid back everyone is in Ireland. This is something we haven't really encountered too much. The people are friendly enough, but it seems as if they've tired a bit of having tourists and foreign nationals on their streets all the time. We've liked most everyone we've met, but no one seems overly welcoming or friendly. Oh, and the selection in the supermarket is crap. They don't have anything here.

...so there's some thoughts. Perhaps I should have switched around those paragraphs to leave you on a happier note...

...I've been eating the best scones of my life with the worst coffee of my life... I think that's many people's view of hell.

Peace out y'all, thanks for keeping in touch.

--Justin

(John Speaks) how john and justin got 'taken care of'

Its a cold and windy monday night, some sit in their flats drinking tea and playing monopoly, other, braver individuals seek the sweet refuge of a pub and a match. Through the rain damp streets and gale force winds we press on, knowing that our hearts and stomachs will soon be warmed from the Irish elixir brewing forth from the bright and friendly O'Connells.

Bleary eyed, we enter the pub to the familiar crowd, the barkeep acknowledging our presence by immediately filling up two pints of Guinness, he knows both our sorrow and the solution. Once settled we begin to notice over the din of conversation a distinct and to our ear piquant dialect...BOSTONIANS! After losing in battle to these assuredly fine brethen's compatriots the night before we find ourselves reluctant to engage these foes without more preparation. But before we can arm ourselves with more reinforcing liquors the football match currently on the tele is changed into, we couldnt believe it, an AMERICAN football game, there very same game that spurned our enemies on to victory the night before!

An appeal to our friend and ally the barkeep yielded nothing in the way of support, apparently these Bostonians have made a name for themselves to be reckoned with and we are faced with a decidedly purely internal affair. After careful consideration, and the benefit of the Oracle-like knowledge divulged within via fine American whiskey, we decided to attempt to avoid conflict by simply subjugating our point of digression and , using our University knowledge of the art of war, 'keep our friends close and our enemies closer'.

The opportunity comes at the end of the match, a suspect kick by the flamboyant patriot kicker offers our chance to strike. The conversation begins amiably and continues to prove most pleasant. Singling out the leader of their cadre, we discover that he is an executive vice president of Wells Fargo. Gold! If we could only convince this powerful american to join our cause, to make him believe he is one of us! Through our careful negotiations we find out he is a fine Catholic, a proponent of the aged belief in the complete intellectual superiority of males, and that he likes to play golf only with people who dont cheat. Fine, this could work out. Just when we are about to initiate him into our loving and needy cause, he croaks that it is time for him to leave, cleverly buying a round for us and tipping the barkeep for putting on American football.

Alas! victory eludes us once again, but what was it that we were fighting for again? Oh, well, at least we got a good story out of it. Oh, and I almost forgot, a lesson in all this story telling...

I really should get a job...

Weekend Antics

All-

So, sorry to all of you who didn't know we have a blog. My very, very sincerest apologies from the deep reaches of my crying heart.

...on to this weekend.

John and I (as well as Drew, his roommate Tara, and Steve from New Zealand) went to go see the Galway UTD. football match on Friday versus Monoghan UTD. We lost. But great fun was had, despite the terribly cold weather (5-7 C) It reminded me quite a bit of old Jefferson football games on a much smaller scale. The same kids running around socializing and parents watching the game sipping on coffee (everyone here drinks instant. It's terrible. REALLY terrible.)

Saturday consisted of sleeping late then playing monopoly.

we're poor.

Sunday we went out to our favorite pub and watched the All Ireland Gaelic Football finals. Kerry (the defending champion) was beaten in an extraordinarily exciting match.

Then the big news... no not jobs ... no not girls ... we found a place to watch AMERICAN FOOTBALL! At least AFC games... apparently FOX doesn't have any overseas partners to broadcast their games. We got to watch both the Eagles/Oakland game and the Pats/Pit game. The bar that we watched them in is apparently the 'American' bar in town. The had the ol' Star Spangled Banner above the bar and drunken Bostonians galore. If you've never watched a Pats game with a bunch of twenty something drunk Bostonians ... ... well, you're lucky. What a messy group of folks.

The job search continues... we're beginning to think we should just start traveling... making the most of the time we have instead of sitting around watching MTV Europe.

I guess that's it for now...
I hope all is well (and keep those emails and posts coming...)

--Justin

The Search Continues

Hello All--

Sorry we haven't been updating this as frequently as we'd like to. There isn't a whole lot of news to report. Both of us are still looking for jobs, and each have had a couple of interviews. Unfortunately, there is some reluctance to hire folks who are only going to be in town for a relatively short amount of time. We'll keep searching however, hoping to find a kind soul out there someplace.

There are, of course, some good things going on here in Galway. This weekend is the Guinness Galway Oyster Festival. There are people in from all over Ireland for the festivities which include a parade, a bunch of black-tie hoity-toity stuff and Oyster opening competitions. It looks as if going out this weekend will be a necessity. I personally have had a good time walking around town looking into the little food shops around. I have found a world class baker (Richard McCabe) who has won the world pastry championship a number of times. Though I haven't tried his confections, the scones are spectacular. I also have found a number of good butchers as a great Cheese shop (though without a job, cheese shopping is kinda out of the question.) Made some lamb stew last night from a local butcher that was great (the butcher also has award winning traditional Irish sausages that make a damn good Bangers n' Mash).

I think John and I are going to try and hit up a Galway United Football match this evening. Should be an interesting experience.

We're both getting lots of reading done in our plentiful spare time... Any book suggestions would be great.

Thanks for your emails and comments (all four of you...)

..Oh, and Pray for the Vikings. Can they really be that bad?

--Justin

Some Good News

Hey Everyone..

Finally some good news from the Emerald Isle...

After a terribly exhausting search (read 5 hours) we found a place here in Galway. It's nice, despite a dodgey landlord, and pretty cheap for the location. We are right in the city center, but in a more industrial area, which is much quieter except for lots of trucks.

The housing search here was a really interesting experience. The Glaway Advertiser (the weekly paper here) comes out every Thursday, but the accomodations to let section can be bought a day early for €2. We arrived 15 minutes before it went on sale and were in a queue with about 200 other people (100 ahead, problably more behind.) Immediately after getting the paper, many people sat down on the sidewalk in front of the office and started calling for flats. It was pure madness. People all over town walking around with the same piece of paper vying for the same properties.

We kind of stumbled upon ours, and we really liked the folks that were living there. So, we have a home. Our Address here is Niland Apartments #404, Merchants Rd. Galway City, Galway, IRE. I think that's all you need... of course we don't really know how we're getting our mail... so for all of you friendly people who are going to send us letters... you might want to hold off.

The job hunt continues tomorrow, and hopefully it will be just as productive as our house hunt.
I also got a mobile phone here. The number is 085 1467240 and Johns is 085 7386694. Although I don't know the coutry code.

That's all for now...

cheers!

john speaks

Though those of you reading this will most likely be able to tell when Justin or I am writing (mine are cooler), I believe it is necessary to differentiate my posts by titling them as above. Plus I think it sounds cool, even though technically I am not speaking but typing, 'john types' just seems to fall short.

So who can guess what the first thing I learned on the trip was?...No, not that drinks are expensive on planes...TRAVEL LIGHT. Yes my big ass American luggage has proved to be quite the encumbrance on this trip. I just didn't anticipate that little rolley things wouldn't work on cobblestone streets or magically lift luggage up flights and flights of stairs. Not to mention that fellow pedestrians must leap off the sidewalk whenever they hear my suitcase bearing down on them. Well, atleast the Irish are polite enough not to make fun of me (insert sarcastic tone).

Justin and I have made it a habbit to learn everything we can the hard way...But I am making our experience seem worse than it is, in reality we are doing quite well and finding people here, travellers and locals, to be most friendly and helpful.

I hope everyone is enjoying the Minnesota (or elsewhere) fall weather and all the cockers are as happy as ever. Cheers.

Aha! A New post!

Look at this... I've got a new post. Things continue to roll along here in Ireland without a great deal of progress. We have made the trip to Galway, and have been here for two nights now. Tomorrow starts the Job/Flat search, though both look very promising. There are a ton of young people here, and we've been going out every night (expensive yes, but a very interesting experience). Galway is right on the ocean on the west side of the island. It's got kind of an old world charm to it, although it has all the amenities.

We've recently immersed ourselves in the local sports. We were able to watch a world cup qualifying game the other night in Dublin (IRE/FRA), unfortunately Ireland lost, and there were obnoxious French fans parading through the streets of Dublin. Yesterday, we watched a rugby match between and Irish team and a team from Edinburgh, again, Ireland lost, but I think I may have a new love in sport. Great fun. Today is the biggest sport day of the year in Ireland: the national Hurling Championships. Galway is in the finals and it's near fever pitch around here, everyone waving flags, storefronts transformed into shrines to the local teams. They even have those awful on-car flags here too. The match starts shortly, so I think we may be off to the pub.

Thanks to all of you who are checking this... Hopefully once we are settled, it will become a bit more frequent. We'd love to hear from everyone out there, if you want to drop a line.

Later on, everyone.

Pre-Departure Thoughts

Hey Everyone. Welcome to my blog. I never thought I would be one to jump on this bandwagon, but here I am, publicly spewing my own thoughts and opinions.

I have no Idea how often I will be able to update this page, but I'll do my best to keep things (and you) updated. I hate that this ends up being such an impersonal way to keep in touch, but it seems like a much more efficient way to share our experiences. Feel free to write any time... I will hopefully check my email frequently.