I know it's been a while since my last email as I don't want to inundate people's inboxes (we all know how wordy I can be:), but thought it was time for a seasonal update.
The weather in Ireland this summer has been…well, not very summery – a strange combination of humid/windy/cold – not sure how that's really possible. It's hard to know how to dress in the morning because we really do get the "four seasons in one day." Vancouver has that too, I know, but not so much in the summer, and not every day. Very frustrating. I get now why people in Ireland go south in the summer…as well as every other season.
Anyway, things are otherwise good…going pretty swimmingly at the moment. Had a brief scare a few weeks ago when it seemed like a requirement for my getting a work permit was leaving the country for three weeks while the visa application was submitted and processed. At first I panicked thinking of the financial implications of having such a long unpaid vacation, but then I began to focus on the vacation aspect of the situation, and was almost disappointed when, after a visit to immigration, I was allowed both to stay in the country and to work while the permit is processed. Incidentally, this is almost unprecedented, so luck was on my side that day! So it's all good – this permit will allow me to live and work in Ireland for another year, and is easy to renew.
In travel news, my luck continues with friends coming to Europe. I spent a long weekend in Amsterdam with my old housemate Pete and his wife Wendie, as well as Wendie's brother and dad. They had rented a house about an hour outside the city, so it was great to have such a nice space to cook meals in and just to visit. Amsterdam lives up to its hype and is a super cool place to visit – great architecture, tons of character, the canals and the "cafes," and of course, the red light district… Such an interesting place to experience in a cultural sense – no place on earth quite like it.
In mid-August I went to Irish west coast to visit my friend Robin, who is actually a friend of my cousin Marla's. Robin moved to Ireland in the spring and we'd been emailing since she arrived, trying to find a weekend when we could visit each other and it finally worked out. She lives in County Kerry, and we rented a car and drove the "Ring of Kerry" which is apparently one of the most spectacular coastal drives in the country. And spectacular it was…made me want to move there. And in an almost supernatural stroke of luck, we had gorgeous weather – sun and blue sky – while several other parts of the country were flooding (no joke).
And most recently, my friend Fiona came to Dublin for nearly three weeks – ten days of which we spent in Prague – yay! My cousin Erik, who I spent Christmas with in Israel, moved to Prague a few months ago, so it was great to see him again. Fiona and I stayed with Erik and his girlfriend for a few days, and the four of us visited a town called Kutna Hora, home to an ossuary, which is – according to Wikipedia – "a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains." And yes, it was as creepy as it sounds…but pretty cool all the same. This is an article about the ossuary we visited – note that it was visited by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on their "Long Way Round" journey:) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary
Fiona and I moved to a hotel when my friend Michele arrived for a few days on her Eastern Europe holiday. She had a car so we did a day trip to a nearby town called Karlstein, which had perhaps the most perfect Disney-like castle I've ever seen – keeping in mind I've never been to Disneyland:) So it was an embarassment of riches, visiting with friends and family in the impossibly beautiful city of Prague. I'll let the photos do the talking! The food was great, though heavy on meat and potatoes. We searched high and low for veggies and salads, but they were hard to come by.
Lastly, in other news, I've been published in the Irish magazine world!! I started a writing group a few months ago – just a place for people who are interested in doing more creative/personal writing – and one of the women in the group is a journalist for a bi-weekly mag called Business & Finance. She was doing a supplement on India, and because most of my pieces in the group are travel-focused, she asked if I'd be interested in writing a piece about my travels in India. If you're interested in reading it, email me and I'll send you a low-res pdf of it.
That's about it for now. I have a couple more weekend trips to the continent planned, and then I'm laying low till December, when I'll be back in Vancouver/Calgary for Christmas!! Woo hoo, I'm psyched!! I'll send dates and details a little closer to December to those who will be in/near those cities.
Photos of Amsterdam, County Kerry, and Prague are on my Flickr site. Peruse at your leisure.
Missing you all more and more.
Love Tessa
Monday, September 15, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
June news
June has been an eventful month...
Work
So, an update on work…it's great...
I spent the first two weeks in classroom training, which was a total blast purely because of the goofball guys I sat w/ in the back row (the back row always has the most fun:) Beside me there was David, who was just in town for a month of training from the states. He was constantly drumming, humming, tapping, beatboxing, etc. which normally I would have found extremely irritating, but he's so musical it was actually nice to listen to. Beside him there was Jamil, who often joined in, as he's equally musical, so I was constantly entertained:) Next to Jamil was Paul, who kept me in stitches with his subtle, witty one-liners.
I feel lucky to have landed in that group because we bonded so quickly even our trainer commented on how comfortable we were with each other by the end of day two… David has gone back to the states, but I have lunch with Paul and Jamil almost every day, along with a couple other folks from the group, and Jamil is going to help me move – yes! (More on the moving thing later…)
The tech writing team is also great. The team consists of four women, including me, and two men. My manager Vanessa is great – friendly, approachable, supportive – and she checks in with me all the time, and when I tell her I don't have anything to do, she gives me work – what a concept! The two other women, Karen and Aoife (pronounced ee-fa), are lovely to work with, as are the two men, Dara and Sean.
This is the first time I've ever worked for a company that has processes in place – everything from training, to an HR induction, to employee surveys, etc. It's probably the only place I've ever worked where everyone seems to actually *like* working there. They have excellent communication practices in place, and they seem to care if their employees are happy. So, it's a good place to be...
Travel
June has been a great month for traveling, and for seeing friends from home…
Scotland
I spent the June bank holiday weekend on a four-day hillwalking trip to Scotland. I was unbelievably excited to go to Scotland – it has a powerful pull for me, and I was delighted that I got to spend the weekend in the mountains rather than the city. I went with a hillwalking group that I had found online. I hadn't met any of them prior to the trip, and as I said to the training gang, it had the potential to be a total disaster! I didn't really think it would be, but you never know…
Fortunately, it was a total blast. The people in the group were super friendly and there were so many people around I always had someone to talk to. Over half of the group was non-Irish, so we all compared notes on why we'd left our respective countries to come to Ireland, which was interesting.
We went to a small town called Oban – a solid day of travel from Dublin – drive to northern Ireland, ferry to Scotland, and drive up the west coast to Oban. There were 12 of us staying in two cabins and if I had to sum up the weekend in two words it would be "organized chaos." Getting that many people out the door, fed and with lunches in hand, was an impressive feat, but it happened every morning:)
The first day we did a very light coastal stroll…really, we could've done it without hiking boots. But the second day we climbed Ben More (Big Mountain) on the Isle of Mull, and it ended up being fairly extreme – there were times when we were scrambling, and at one point the trail simply disappeared, so we had to climb straight up the side of the ridge we were attempting to scale. It was tons of fun though… I was pretty sore for the next few days, but it was great!
Belfast
My good friend Theresa, a writer who I met on the submarine project that I'm sure you all remember me complaining about, and her partner Chris came to Ireland in early June. I traveled to Belfast with them as they were on their way to Scotland to hike the West Highland Way. We just spent one night in Belfast, and had neither time nor energy to do much while we were there…just wandered the main drag, took photos of city hall, went for dinner, and had some drinks at a pub near our hostel. It was still light out when we went back to bed, which was a bit sad, but we were all too exhausted to stay out any later. And really, for me it was all about visiting with them, which we had lots of time to do.
My brief impression of Belfast is that there's not much there to see or do, and it has a very working class feel to it. I would like to go back though, and explore it a bit more, and do some day trips to some areas in the north from there.
London
I went to London the weekend of the 21st to visit with my good friend Luke, who I used to work with during my Faronics days. We were car pool buddies back when the company was in Coquitlam, and our commutes were filled with lively conversations about company gossip, our differing tastes in music and media, the general philisophical differences between men and women, and our mutual love of chai lattes from Starbucks. The only reason I was sad when we moved downtown was because I didn't get to hang out with Luke for an hour everyday anymore.
Luke was on his way to France for a wedding and was just in London just for the weekend. I spent Saturday morning having a lovely brunch with my friend Burcak and her son Sarp, and then met Luke and his girlfriend Grace later that afternoon. We had a great night -- drank tons of red wine and had drunken discussions about everything from movies to travel to more company politics. I spent Sunday afternoon with them as well, and then headed for Heathrow where I spent a half hour stalking Johnathan Rhys Meyers (for those of you who might not know him, he's an Irish actor who I first noticed in "Bend it Like Beckham"). Was a good weekend!
My new home
I haven't been very happy in the apartment I've been living in, so I used my new job as an excuse to move, and was lucky enough to find a place in Ballsbridge – the equivalent neighborhood in Vancouver would probably be something like Kitsilano, but not *quite* as trendy. It's a very desirable area to live, and I'll be able to walk to work in the city centre, which was kind of the whole goal of moving – that and to get away from my unsociable, strange flatmate… I'm moving this weekend, and can't wait. It's a four-bedroom house in a quiet gated community, but close to shops, restaurants, bus routes, and the river. Did I mention I can't wait??
Pictures from Scotland are here as usual.
I think that's all my news...till next time!
Work
So, an update on work…it's great...
I spent the first two weeks in classroom training, which was a total blast purely because of the goofball guys I sat w/ in the back row (the back row always has the most fun:) Beside me there was David, who was just in town for a month of training from the states. He was constantly drumming, humming, tapping, beatboxing, etc. which normally I would have found extremely irritating, but he's so musical it was actually nice to listen to. Beside him there was Jamil, who often joined in, as he's equally musical, so I was constantly entertained:) Next to Jamil was Paul, who kept me in stitches with his subtle, witty one-liners.
I feel lucky to have landed in that group because we bonded so quickly even our trainer commented on how comfortable we were with each other by the end of day two… David has gone back to the states, but I have lunch with Paul and Jamil almost every day, along with a couple other folks from the group, and Jamil is going to help me move – yes! (More on the moving thing later…)
The tech writing team is also great. The team consists of four women, including me, and two men. My manager Vanessa is great – friendly, approachable, supportive – and she checks in with me all the time, and when I tell her I don't have anything to do, she gives me work – what a concept! The two other women, Karen and Aoife (pronounced ee-fa), are lovely to work with, as are the two men, Dara and Sean.
This is the first time I've ever worked for a company that has processes in place – everything from training, to an HR induction, to employee surveys, etc. It's probably the only place I've ever worked where everyone seems to actually *like* working there. They have excellent communication practices in place, and they seem to care if their employees are happy. So, it's a good place to be...
Travel
June has been a great month for traveling, and for seeing friends from home…
Scotland
I spent the June bank holiday weekend on a four-day hillwalking trip to Scotland. I was unbelievably excited to go to Scotland – it has a powerful pull for me, and I was delighted that I got to spend the weekend in the mountains rather than the city. I went with a hillwalking group that I had found online. I hadn't met any of them prior to the trip, and as I said to the training gang, it had the potential to be a total disaster! I didn't really think it would be, but you never know…
Fortunately, it was a total blast. The people in the group were super friendly and there were so many people around I always had someone to talk to. Over half of the group was non-Irish, so we all compared notes on why we'd left our respective countries to come to Ireland, which was interesting.
We went to a small town called Oban – a solid day of travel from Dublin – drive to northern Ireland, ferry to Scotland, and drive up the west coast to Oban. There were 12 of us staying in two cabins and if I had to sum up the weekend in two words it would be "organized chaos." Getting that many people out the door, fed and with lunches in hand, was an impressive feat, but it happened every morning:)
The first day we did a very light coastal stroll…really, we could've done it without hiking boots. But the second day we climbed Ben More (Big Mountain) on the Isle of Mull, and it ended up being fairly extreme – there were times when we were scrambling, and at one point the trail simply disappeared, so we had to climb straight up the side of the ridge we were attempting to scale. It was tons of fun though… I was pretty sore for the next few days, but it was great!
Belfast
My good friend Theresa, a writer who I met on the submarine project that I'm sure you all remember me complaining about, and her partner Chris came to Ireland in early June. I traveled to Belfast with them as they were on their way to Scotland to hike the West Highland Way. We just spent one night in Belfast, and had neither time nor energy to do much while we were there…just wandered the main drag, took photos of city hall, went for dinner, and had some drinks at a pub near our hostel. It was still light out when we went back to bed, which was a bit sad, but we were all too exhausted to stay out any later. And really, for me it was all about visiting with them, which we had lots of time to do.
My brief impression of Belfast is that there's not much there to see or do, and it has a very working class feel to it. I would like to go back though, and explore it a bit more, and do some day trips to some areas in the north from there.
London
I went to London the weekend of the 21st to visit with my good friend Luke, who I used to work with during my Faronics days. We were car pool buddies back when the company was in Coquitlam, and our commutes were filled with lively conversations about company gossip, our differing tastes in music and media, the general philisophical differences between men and women, and our mutual love of chai lattes from Starbucks. The only reason I was sad when we moved downtown was because I didn't get to hang out with Luke for an hour everyday anymore.
Luke was on his way to France for a wedding and was just in London just for the weekend. I spent Saturday morning having a lovely brunch with my friend Burcak and her son Sarp, and then met Luke and his girlfriend Grace later that afternoon. We had a great night -- drank tons of red wine and had drunken discussions about everything from movies to travel to more company politics. I spent Sunday afternoon with them as well, and then headed for Heathrow where I spent a half hour stalking Johnathan Rhys Meyers (for those of you who might not know him, he's an Irish actor who I first noticed in "Bend it Like Beckham"). Was a good weekend!
My new home
I haven't been very happy in the apartment I've been living in, so I used my new job as an excuse to move, and was lucky enough to find a place in Ballsbridge – the equivalent neighborhood in Vancouver would probably be something like Kitsilano, but not *quite* as trendy. It's a very desirable area to live, and I'll be able to walk to work in the city centre, which was kind of the whole goal of moving – that and to get away from my unsociable, strange flatmate… I'm moving this weekend, and can't wait. It's a four-bedroom house in a quiet gated community, but close to shops, restaurants, bus routes, and the river. Did I mention I can't wait??
Pictures from Scotland are here as usual.
I think that's all my news...till next time!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Swiss Adventures
So, the cast of characters on my trip to Switzerland:
Me: no further explanation needed
Monique: my best friend from high school
Ben: Monique's husband
Kurt: Monique and Ben's son (who will be referred to as Kurtley to differentiate from Monique's dad, whose name is also Kurt)
Kurt: Monique's dad, born and raised in Switzerland
Eileen: Monique's mom
Beat and Adi: Kurt's childhood friend and his wife
Trulla and Hans: Kurt's sister and her husband
When I got off the plane I took the train to Kurt's hometown, a gorgeous little village called Hedingen, 20 minutes outside Zurich. I think Hedingen was my favourite place on the whole trip, in part due to our hosts, Beat (pronounced Bey-at) and his wife Adi. They live in a beautiful old house that was once, in typical Swiss style, a small house front attached to a large barn. The barn has now been renovated into more living space and it was a lovely, rambling farm style house with several dogs and cats running about the place. I felt immediately comfortable there and it was like a constant slumber party, as I slept a few feet from Kurtley, who slept at the head of Monique and Ben's futon, and Kurt and Eileen slept in the loft above us.
I loved their multi-leveled backyard, complete with fishpond and ping pong table, and set out to explore it one afternoon, but was sidetracked when I found a sun lounger on the top level and spent the next hour lounging on it, with a half a bottle of white wine and a bowl of pretzels. By the end of the hour I had been joined by Monique, Kurtley, and one of Beat and Adi's daughters and her husband. But they brought more wine and snacks with them, so it was all good.
Every morning we were up early and on the trains, traveling to cities, villages, and of course to the stunning Swiss Alps. We went to Mount Rigi, the Jungfrau range, and to Santis – none of these names will likely mean anything to anyone, so I'll let the photos tell the story. We also visited Bern, the country's capital; Appenzel, which is what everyone imagines Switzerland to look like; and Einsiedeln, which is a place of pilgrimage and is also impossible to spell/pronounce. I was so exhausted by the end of every day I was often asleep by 10pm, but then was awake before 6 almost every morning, which was a new experience for me – being among the early risers is not something I'm known for…
The food in Switzerland was wonderful. We had countless yummy meals at Beat and Adi's – roast pork and lamb, plates of sliced meats and cheeses, fresh bread, and one night, tandoori chicken, courtesy of Eileen. At Hans and Trulla's place we had roast beef, and more Indian food, and on my last night we had a very Swiss meal called Raclette. Monique always used to talk about raclette back in Kimberley, mostly to tell me how much I would love it, because basically it's a special cheese that you broil and then pour over potatoes and eat with various pickled salads – I wonder why she thought I would love it…? But because they had to special order the cheese, I never had it at their place in Kimberley, despite being there almost every other day:) So I complained about this (just kidding – it was more like campaigning for us to eat it) and they very kindly and generously arranged for us to have it on my last night. It was so fun and totally delicious. I took pictures:)
And of course, we ate tons of chocolate, because when in Rome….right? We even visited the Lindt factory, which was really just about buying lots of chocolate and smelling the sugar-filled air.
Switzerland is one of those places that you can't help having pre-conceived ideas of how it's going to look… There's just a stereotypical image of just how beautiful it is, and I have to say, it's just as picture perfect as it appears in those postcards; it just may be the most scenic place I have ever been to. There are hundreds of shiny blue lakes, low-lying green valleys dotted with orange-roofed houses at the foot of snow-capped mountain peaks. The contrast of the colours is stunning – the blue of the water, the green of the grass, the white of the snow. I kept exclaiming over the sheer beauty of the setting of the hundreds of little villages that we passed during our many hours on the trains. And of course the sheep and cows dotting the green pastures only added to the pastoral picture.
Oh, and I was completely unprepared for the unseasonably warm weather we encountered – I think we all were actually. I had to go and buy a couple of tank tops because I was dying even in short sleeves, and I rolled my long pants up into capris – black capris with white runners – I was looking good:) I got pretty sunburned, but now it has now faded to a nice base of colour – I'd almost go so far as to say I look tanned!
But really, the best part about being in Switzerland was being there with the Gross family. Monique and I fell right back into the rhythm of our friendship like we were teenagers again and talked about everything and nothing for hours on end, and I hugged Eileen every 5 minutes because I don't know when I'll get the chance to do it again. It was really special for me to be there with them and I feel grateful and lucky to be so welcomed into their family.
Pictures are here as usual.
Me: no further explanation needed
Monique: my best friend from high school
Ben: Monique's husband
Kurt: Monique and Ben's son (who will be referred to as Kurtley to differentiate from Monique's dad, whose name is also Kurt)
Kurt: Monique's dad, born and raised in Switzerland
Eileen: Monique's mom
Beat and Adi: Kurt's childhood friend and his wife
Trulla and Hans: Kurt's sister and her husband
When I got off the plane I took the train to Kurt's hometown, a gorgeous little village called Hedingen, 20 minutes outside Zurich. I think Hedingen was my favourite place on the whole trip, in part due to our hosts, Beat (pronounced Bey-at) and his wife Adi. They live in a beautiful old house that was once, in typical Swiss style, a small house front attached to a large barn. The barn has now been renovated into more living space and it was a lovely, rambling farm style house with several dogs and cats running about the place. I felt immediately comfortable there and it was like a constant slumber party, as I slept a few feet from Kurtley, who slept at the head of Monique and Ben's futon, and Kurt and Eileen slept in the loft above us.
I loved their multi-leveled backyard, complete with fishpond and ping pong table, and set out to explore it one afternoon, but was sidetracked when I found a sun lounger on the top level and spent the next hour lounging on it, with a half a bottle of white wine and a bowl of pretzels. By the end of the hour I had been joined by Monique, Kurtley, and one of Beat and Adi's daughters and her husband. But they brought more wine and snacks with them, so it was all good.
Every morning we were up early and on the trains, traveling to cities, villages, and of course to the stunning Swiss Alps. We went to Mount Rigi, the Jungfrau range, and to Santis – none of these names will likely mean anything to anyone, so I'll let the photos tell the story. We also visited Bern, the country's capital; Appenzel, which is what everyone imagines Switzerland to look like; and Einsiedeln, which is a place of pilgrimage and is also impossible to spell/pronounce. I was so exhausted by the end of every day I was often asleep by 10pm, but then was awake before 6 almost every morning, which was a new experience for me – being among the early risers is not something I'm known for…
The food in Switzerland was wonderful. We had countless yummy meals at Beat and Adi's – roast pork and lamb, plates of sliced meats and cheeses, fresh bread, and one night, tandoori chicken, courtesy of Eileen. At Hans and Trulla's place we had roast beef, and more Indian food, and on my last night we had a very Swiss meal called Raclette. Monique always used to talk about raclette back in Kimberley, mostly to tell me how much I would love it, because basically it's a special cheese that you broil and then pour over potatoes and eat with various pickled salads – I wonder why she thought I would love it…? But because they had to special order the cheese, I never had it at their place in Kimberley, despite being there almost every other day:) So I complained about this (just kidding – it was more like campaigning for us to eat it) and they very kindly and generously arranged for us to have it on my last night. It was so fun and totally delicious. I took pictures:)
And of course, we ate tons of chocolate, because when in Rome….right? We even visited the Lindt factory, which was really just about buying lots of chocolate and smelling the sugar-filled air.
Switzerland is one of those places that you can't help having pre-conceived ideas of how it's going to look… There's just a stereotypical image of just how beautiful it is, and I have to say, it's just as picture perfect as it appears in those postcards; it just may be the most scenic place I have ever been to. There are hundreds of shiny blue lakes, low-lying green valleys dotted with orange-roofed houses at the foot of snow-capped mountain peaks. The contrast of the colours is stunning – the blue of the water, the green of the grass, the white of the snow. I kept exclaiming over the sheer beauty of the setting of the hundreds of little villages that we passed during our many hours on the trains. And of course the sheep and cows dotting the green pastures only added to the pastoral picture.
Oh, and I was completely unprepared for the unseasonably warm weather we encountered – I think we all were actually. I had to go and buy a couple of tank tops because I was dying even in short sleeves, and I rolled my long pants up into capris – black capris with white runners – I was looking good:) I got pretty sunburned, but now it has now faded to a nice base of colour – I'd almost go so far as to say I look tanned!
But really, the best part about being in Switzerland was being there with the Gross family. Monique and I fell right back into the rhythm of our friendship like we were teenagers again and talked about everything and nothing for hours on end, and I hugged Eileen every 5 minutes because I don't know when I'll get the chance to do it again. It was really special for me to be there with them and I feel grateful and lucky to be so welcomed into their family.
Pictures are here as usual.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Job news
I forgot to put my last group email on the blog, and today I wrote a follow-up to it, so I've posted them below in chronological order:)
#1: May 1, 08
And here I thought April was going to finish up being completely uneventful…
On Tuesday morning, we got an email from our CEO at work with the news that "significant redundancies" were about to occur in the company, due to a softening in the order book and the continued weakening of the US dollar – financial speak for "tanking" I think.
Predictably, no one did any work for the rest of the day while we waiting for axe to fall, and in the end over 60% of the company was let go, including the entire documentation team, save one trainer.
Here's where things get a bit strange… When they told us the news, they said we could basically leave at the end of the day and we would be paid a month's salary as notice. So we all went in yesterday to clean out our desks and sign whatever we had to sign, and another email came out saying that there is a new law stating that whenever a company lays off such a significant portion of a workforce, there has to be a 30-day period of consultation. And then our notice period begins.
So they went from telling us we could leave at the end of the day to telling us we not only have to work the consulting period, but we now have to work the notice period as well – a total of two months working for a company that has just laid you off. You can bet how well that's going to go down!
My manager was so furious she told us all she's going to bring a book to work, that she'll be there in body but nothing else. The chances of people actually working out that two-month period are slim-to-none. The job searching has begun.
Anyway, while I'm disappointed, and was initially pretty shocked, the market in Dublin is still fairly buoyant and Mary, my manager, has already passed on some contact information to the team of people who have immediate positions to fill. I still have 5 months left on my visa, so hopefully I can find an employer who will keep me on beyond that, and if not, well, that's life. Just gotta roll with it. I already feel so fortunate to have had this opportunity to live and work overseas, so it'll be fine either way.
And, in other news, on Saturday I'm going on my first "European vacation" and I'm totally psyched!
So the story is: My best friend from high school, Monique Gross, had a baby last January. I haven't seen Monique for over three years -- I last saw her when I was in Alberta the Christmas my nephew Jeremiah was born (she lives outside of Edmonton). Anyway, her dad is Swiss born, so Monique, her husband Ben, her son Kurt, and her mom Eileen, and dad -- also Kurt -- are all going to Switzerland to show the baby around. And since I'm practically part of their family because I basically lived with them when I was in high school, I'm going too:) Got it?
I'm so looking forward to this trip. I'm going to meet them in Kurt's hometown, a little village called Hedingen, about a half hour outside Zurich. We'll be there for a few days, and then will be in Zurich at Kurt's sister's place for the rest of the week.
I cannot overstate how much I adore the Gross family and how happy I am that I get to spend a week with them in Europe. It's good timing really, as it will be nice to have some support right now, and it take my mind of the job thing and help me enjoy the vacation.
---------------
#2: May 13, 08
Well, where to begin...
So because I was going on holiday to Switzerland just a few days after we got the layoff news, I didn't really do any job searching in the immediate aftermath. The only thing I did was on Wednesday I sent my updated resume to one of the recruiters I had worked with back in October when I first arrived in Dublin. Brian got in touch with me on Thursday morning, asked me a couple of questions, and then called me again that afternoon to schedule an interview. I said I was available the following day (Friday) but would be out of the country all the following week. I didn't really think they'd be available at such short notice for an interview -- esp on a Friday, but he called me back and told me to show up at 3pm the next day.
The interview was with a company called Fineos, who are a financial software company. They have really taken off in the last few years and seem to be doing really well. They've recently gained a ton of new clients all over the world, and have been adding to their technical writing team steadily -- there's currently a team of 5 people. Ironically, the woman I replaced here at Xsil is at Fineos, so I got a hold of her and picked her brain about the company and her interview experience. She had only positive things to say and seems very happy there.
The interview went well, and even though the HR woman I met with in the beginning told me they wouldn't be making a decision until the end of the following week, I was standing at the bus stop 20 minutes later when Brian phoned me to tell me they'd made a verbal offer to him and wanted to know if I could start on the 19th of May. I couldn't believe it...in some ways I still can't. I'm still in a slight state of shock that it happened so fast.
I was on a mountain train in the middle of the Swiss Alps the following week when Brian called with news of the official offer, which was pretty surreal, so it's a done deal now! I start this coming Monday, and I'm really looking forward to it. I know I've said this before, but I have a good feeling about this place. My whole first two weeks are classroom training, with more to follow. They have a whole training department, which I'm delighted about because I might be able to move into that space eventually, which is a goal of mine. And their trainers do lots of on-site training, which means travel!!!
More good news is that it's more money and more holiday time than my current position -- woo hoo, more European vacations!! And it's also located in the city centre, which likely means lots of pub time:) I have been thinking of moving for a while now, and this just adds to my motivation -- it would be great to find a place just near the outskirts of the centre so I could continue to walk to work. I'll keep you posted!
Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for the dozens of lovely supportive emails I got in response to my news about the layoff. They were so nice to read, and I wanted to write this email as soon as I could to let you all know the good news. It took me until today because I had almost no time online when I was in Switzerland, which was fine with me because it made it feel like a real vacation, and yesterday I was too exhausted to do anything but lounge around the house doing nothing. Oh yeah, even more good news is that I don't have to go back to Xsil this week, so I'm essentially having another week of vacation. I'm planning on spending it doing some shopping, errands, and maybe playing a little bit of tourist in Dublin, since I haven't really done much of that.
AND it's sunny and warm -- first time I've been able to wear a short-sleeved shirt outside here. Does it get any better??
I'll write again with details of my wonderful week in Zurich once I've sorted through the hundreds of photos of snow-capped mountains, because really, all you need to see is 3 or 4:)
tm
#1: May 1, 08
And here I thought April was going to finish up being completely uneventful…
On Tuesday morning, we got an email from our CEO at work with the news that "significant redundancies" were about to occur in the company, due to a softening in the order book and the continued weakening of the US dollar – financial speak for "tanking" I think.
Predictably, no one did any work for the rest of the day while we waiting for axe to fall, and in the end over 60% of the company was let go, including the entire documentation team, save one trainer.
Here's where things get a bit strange… When they told us the news, they said we could basically leave at the end of the day and we would be paid a month's salary as notice. So we all went in yesterday to clean out our desks and sign whatever we had to sign, and another email came out saying that there is a new law stating that whenever a company lays off such a significant portion of a workforce, there has to be a 30-day period of consultation. And then our notice period begins.
So they went from telling us we could leave at the end of the day to telling us we not only have to work the consulting period, but we now have to work the notice period as well – a total of two months working for a company that has just laid you off. You can bet how well that's going to go down!
My manager was so furious she told us all she's going to bring a book to work, that she'll be there in body but nothing else. The chances of people actually working out that two-month period are slim-to-none. The job searching has begun.
Anyway, while I'm disappointed, and was initially pretty shocked, the market in Dublin is still fairly buoyant and Mary, my manager, has already passed on some contact information to the team of people who have immediate positions to fill. I still have 5 months left on my visa, so hopefully I can find an employer who will keep me on beyond that, and if not, well, that's life. Just gotta roll with it. I already feel so fortunate to have had this opportunity to live and work overseas, so it'll be fine either way.
And, in other news, on Saturday I'm going on my first "European vacation" and I'm totally psyched!
So the story is: My best friend from high school, Monique Gross, had a baby last January. I haven't seen Monique for over three years -- I last saw her when I was in Alberta the Christmas my nephew Jeremiah was born (she lives outside of Edmonton). Anyway, her dad is Swiss born, so Monique, her husband Ben, her son Kurt, and her mom Eileen, and dad -- also Kurt -- are all going to Switzerland to show the baby around. And since I'm practically part of their family because I basically lived with them when I was in high school, I'm going too:) Got it?
I'm so looking forward to this trip. I'm going to meet them in Kurt's hometown, a little village called Hedingen, about a half hour outside Zurich. We'll be there for a few days, and then will be in Zurich at Kurt's sister's place for the rest of the week.
I cannot overstate how much I adore the Gross family and how happy I am that I get to spend a week with them in Europe. It's good timing really, as it will be nice to have some support right now, and it take my mind of the job thing and help me enjoy the vacation.
---------------
#2: May 13, 08
Well, where to begin...
So because I was going on holiday to Switzerland just a few days after we got the layoff news, I didn't really do any job searching in the immediate aftermath. The only thing I did was on Wednesday I sent my updated resume to one of the recruiters I had worked with back in October when I first arrived in Dublin. Brian got in touch with me on Thursday morning, asked me a couple of questions, and then called me again that afternoon to schedule an interview. I said I was available the following day (Friday) but would be out of the country all the following week. I didn't really think they'd be available at such short notice for an interview -- esp on a Friday, but he called me back and told me to show up at 3pm the next day.
The interview was with a company called Fineos, who are a financial software company. They have really taken off in the last few years and seem to be doing really well. They've recently gained a ton of new clients all over the world, and have been adding to their technical writing team steadily -- there's currently a team of 5 people. Ironically, the woman I replaced here at Xsil is at Fineos, so I got a hold of her and picked her brain about the company and her interview experience. She had only positive things to say and seems very happy there.
The interview went well, and even though the HR woman I met with in the beginning told me they wouldn't be making a decision until the end of the following week, I was standing at the bus stop 20 minutes later when Brian phoned me to tell me they'd made a verbal offer to him and wanted to know if I could start on the 19th of May. I couldn't believe it...in some ways I still can't. I'm still in a slight state of shock that it happened so fast.
I was on a mountain train in the middle of the Swiss Alps the following week when Brian called with news of the official offer, which was pretty surreal, so it's a done deal now! I start this coming Monday, and I'm really looking forward to it. I know I've said this before, but I have a good feeling about this place. My whole first two weeks are classroom training, with more to follow. They have a whole training department, which I'm delighted about because I might be able to move into that space eventually, which is a goal of mine. And their trainers do lots of on-site training, which means travel!!!
More good news is that it's more money and more holiday time than my current position -- woo hoo, more European vacations!! And it's also located in the city centre, which likely means lots of pub time:) I have been thinking of moving for a while now, and this just adds to my motivation -- it would be great to find a place just near the outskirts of the centre so I could continue to walk to work. I'll keep you posted!
Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for the dozens of lovely supportive emails I got in response to my news about the layoff. They were so nice to read, and I wanted to write this email as soon as I could to let you all know the good news. It took me until today because I had almost no time online when I was in Switzerland, which was fine with me because it made it feel like a real vacation, and yesterday I was too exhausted to do anything but lounge around the house doing nothing. Oh yeah, even more good news is that I don't have to go back to Xsil this week, so I'm essentially having another week of vacation. I'm planning on spending it doing some shopping, errands, and maybe playing a little bit of tourist in Dublin, since I haven't really done much of that.
AND it's sunny and warm -- first time I've been able to wear a short-sleeved shirt outside here. Does it get any better??
I'll write again with details of my wonderful week in Zurich once I've sorted through the hundreds of photos of snow-capped mountains, because really, all you need to see is 3 or 4:)
tm
Friday, March 28, 2008
Happy Easter!
Last Tuesday my dear friend Cathy arrived in Dublin for a week-long visit. It was obviously a week I'd been looking forward to for some time, and now I'm a bit sad that it has come and gone so quickly. But it was so wonderful having her here, and we had such a great time. We spent a couple of evenings hanging about in Dublin, having dinner at a pub that's housed in an old church (only in Europe do they have enough churches to turn old, unused ones into pubs), and partaking in the literary pub crawl. The crawl was very inspiring as we were treated to snippet performances of some of the most famous Irish literary works -- Waiting for Godot being one -- and told colourful stories about James Joyce, Brendan Behan, and Samuel Beckett. It reminded me that I'd like to read more of these writers...perhaps not Joyce's Ulysses, but maybe start with The Dubliners or something a little more accessible!
On Good Friday Cathy and I took the train to Galway, the largest city on the west coast, and spent the day there. There are two days in the entire year when you can't buy a drop of alcohol in Ireland and Good Friday is one of them (Christmas day is the other). Luckily we had known about this and brought a bottle of wine with us:) We spent the day wandering around Galway Bay, getting lost while looking for the cathedral (there's never just one cathedral), and having a fabulous Irish breakfast at 3 in the afternoon...yum...
Saturday morning we took the ferry to Inisheer, which is the smallest of the three islands off the west coast, collectively referred to as the Aran islands. These islands have been at the top of my list of places to visit since I arrived in Ireland, so I was excited to get there! And Inisheer lived up to the hype -- it's totally gorgeous and charming. It has literally thousands of low stone walls and has a wild, windswept, almost desolate feel. We spent most of our time wandering around the island, checking out the shipwreck of the Plassy on the east side, and the lighthouse at the southern tip, as well as the ruins of O'Brien's castle.
On Saturday afternoon we stumbled onto a teahouse run out of a local home by a woman named Mairéad (pronounced Mar-ade, the Irish version of Margaret). Meeting Mairéad was the highlight of the weekend. She's a woman of 60, originally from Cork, who married an islander. Mairéad is one of those totally dynamic women who people fall in love with and want to take home with them -- at least that happened to me:) She has run the teahouse for several years and is a whiz with textiles -- she spins and dyes her own wool, knits incredible things with the wool, and also crochets, weaves, sews and anything else involving fabric. She served us tea and scrumptious cakes, then sat and talked to us about the island and about knitting.
I learned to knit a few weeks ago (yes, Braden, I know, I'm old before my time) and Mairéad gave me some beginner tips. I bought quite a bit of her wool -- hand spun and dyed -- and am planning to make some special things with it. While we were at Mairéad's, two girls who were artists in residence on the island came in. They are studying at an art school in Holland, and are on the island for 6 weeks. They are living in an old factory that has been converted into an arts and culture centre. On Sunday we returned to Mairéad's for more of her yummy cooking and then went with her up to see the girls in the residence. They have a gorgeous studio with high ceilings and a view of the west side of the island, which means they see stunning sunsets from the comfort of their couch. I was drooling with jealousy and was trying to think about what artistic talent I might have that could be parlayed into this situation...but, no luck.
Anyway, it was a wonderful, magical four-day Easter weekend, and it was a treat having Cathy here. Cathy and I lived in residence at UBC together way back in 1995 (!!) so we've known each other for a long time. It was so nice to have someone here to talk to who knows me -- my friends and family and life history. It was like having a piece of home here in Ireland.
Pictures from the weekend are on my Flickr site.
Till next time, then!
Love to all of you,
Tessa
On Good Friday Cathy and I took the train to Galway, the largest city on the west coast, and spent the day there. There are two days in the entire year when you can't buy a drop of alcohol in Ireland and Good Friday is one of them (Christmas day is the other). Luckily we had known about this and brought a bottle of wine with us:) We spent the day wandering around Galway Bay, getting lost while looking for the cathedral (there's never just one cathedral), and having a fabulous Irish breakfast at 3 in the afternoon...yum...
Saturday morning we took the ferry to Inisheer, which is the smallest of the three islands off the west coast, collectively referred to as the Aran islands. These islands have been at the top of my list of places to visit since I arrived in Ireland, so I was excited to get there! And Inisheer lived up to the hype -- it's totally gorgeous and charming. It has literally thousands of low stone walls and has a wild, windswept, almost desolate feel. We spent most of our time wandering around the island, checking out the shipwreck of the Plassy on the east side, and the lighthouse at the southern tip, as well as the ruins of O'Brien's castle.
On Saturday afternoon we stumbled onto a teahouse run out of a local home by a woman named Mairéad (pronounced Mar-ade, the Irish version of Margaret). Meeting Mairéad was the highlight of the weekend. She's a woman of 60, originally from Cork, who married an islander. Mairéad is one of those totally dynamic women who people fall in love with and want to take home with them -- at least that happened to me:) She has run the teahouse for several years and is a whiz with textiles -- she spins and dyes her own wool, knits incredible things with the wool, and also crochets, weaves, sews and anything else involving fabric. She served us tea and scrumptious cakes, then sat and talked to us about the island and about knitting.
I learned to knit a few weeks ago (yes, Braden, I know, I'm old before my time) and Mairéad gave me some beginner tips. I bought quite a bit of her wool -- hand spun and dyed -- and am planning to make some special things with it. While we were at Mairéad's, two girls who were artists in residence on the island came in. They are studying at an art school in Holland, and are on the island for 6 weeks. They are living in an old factory that has been converted into an arts and culture centre. On Sunday we returned to Mairéad's for more of her yummy cooking and then went with her up to see the girls in the residence. They have a gorgeous studio with high ceilings and a view of the west side of the island, which means they see stunning sunsets from the comfort of their couch. I was drooling with jealousy and was trying to think about what artistic talent I might have that could be parlayed into this situation...but, no luck.
Anyway, it was a wonderful, magical four-day Easter weekend, and it was a treat having Cathy here. Cathy and I lived in residence at UBC together way back in 1995 (!!) so we've known each other for a long time. It was so nice to have someone here to talk to who knows me -- my friends and family and life history. It was like having a piece of home here in Ireland.
Pictures from the weekend are on my Flickr site.
Till next time, then!
Love to all of you,
Tessa
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Bristol, Bath, and Stonehenge
I spent this past weekend in Bristol, which is in the southwest part of England, on the coast near the Welsh border. My friend Kristine is living there right now with her husband. Kristine and I kind of grew up together in Kimberley, as our moms taught together and were good friends. Kris and I also went to elementary school together for three years and have kept in touch over the years mostly through our parents, but have seen each other rarely. But there's something about knowing someone for most of your life that makes it okay to see each other every five years and then visit for a whole weekend and have it be easy and comfortable.
I had a great time hanging out with Kris this weekend, as well as her husband Chris (definitely some name confusion because I have always called Kristine Kris), and their little boy Cole. Chris works for Nokia and has been assigned temporarily to the office in Bristol. First it was going to be for six months, but now it could be a year... Kristine is on her maternity leave, so she's at home taking care of Cole, who's about nine months old and a cutie-pie!
On Saturday we drove to Stonehenge. What a cool sight to see... It's such an enduring image, and sometimes when you see those really iconic landmarks they can be disappointing, but I was fully satisfied with Stonehenge. We walked around it in a long slow circle and I liked how it changed so much depending on where you were standing, and how different it looked against different parts of the sky. We lucked out with the weather as it only started raining when we were leaving, when the massive hordes of tourists were arriving:)
On Sunday, Kristine, Cole, and I ventured out into Bristol to see some sights. It was quite cold and windy, but again, no rain. I quite liked Bristol, even though it's not exactly a pretty city, but it's one of those towns built on industry so it has a lot of character -- lots of boats and cranes, but like everywhere else in Europe, mingled with gorgeous cathedrals and churches.
On Monday, we went to Bath, which is just a 10-minute train ride away. If Bristol is a typical working class industry town, Bath is at the other end of the spectrum. It's a classically gorgeous Georgian town -- sort of what you might picture Jane Austen's England to look like. Jane Austen actually lived in Bath for periods of time and and we went into some assembly rooms that made me feel like I was on the set of Pride and Prejudice.
We visited the Roman baths, which were so cool, and were lucky enough to have a sunny afternoon so the creme coloured stone looked warm and glowing. The baths are just in front of the Bath Abbey, an absolutely massive Gothic church, which creates a really dramatic backdrop for the baths, where you can imagine Romans in togas hanging out by the sides of the pools.
Was a great weekend. I hope they stay in Bristol till at least the end of the year, so I can go back and visit again!
Pictures from the weekend are on my Flickr site.
I had a great time hanging out with Kris this weekend, as well as her husband Chris (definitely some name confusion because I have always called Kristine Kris), and their little boy Cole. Chris works for Nokia and has been assigned temporarily to the office in Bristol. First it was going to be for six months, but now it could be a year... Kristine is on her maternity leave, so she's at home taking care of Cole, who's about nine months old and a cutie-pie!
On Saturday we drove to Stonehenge. What a cool sight to see... It's such an enduring image, and sometimes when you see those really iconic landmarks they can be disappointing, but I was fully satisfied with Stonehenge. We walked around it in a long slow circle and I liked how it changed so much depending on where you were standing, and how different it looked against different parts of the sky. We lucked out with the weather as it only started raining when we were leaving, when the massive hordes of tourists were arriving:)
On Sunday, Kristine, Cole, and I ventured out into Bristol to see some sights. It was quite cold and windy, but again, no rain. I quite liked Bristol, even though it's not exactly a pretty city, but it's one of those towns built on industry so it has a lot of character -- lots of boats and cranes, but like everywhere else in Europe, mingled with gorgeous cathedrals and churches.
On Monday, we went to Bath, which is just a 10-minute train ride away. If Bristol is a typical working class industry town, Bath is at the other end of the spectrum. It's a classically gorgeous Georgian town -- sort of what you might picture Jane Austen's England to look like. Jane Austen actually lived in Bath for periods of time and and we went into some assembly rooms that made me feel like I was on the set of Pride and Prejudice.
We visited the Roman baths, which were so cool, and were lucky enough to have a sunny afternoon so the creme coloured stone looked warm and glowing. The baths are just in front of the Bath Abbey, an absolutely massive Gothic church, which creates a really dramatic backdrop for the baths, where you can imagine Romans in togas hanging out by the sides of the pools.
Was a great weekend. I hope they stay in Bristol till at least the end of the year, so I can go back and visit again!
Pictures from the weekend are on my Flickr site.
Friday, February 1, 2008
new year, new job, new home...
Well, guess what? I'm changing jobs...again. I know, I know...
But it had to be done. When I first arrived in Dublin, I had three job interviews and the company that was my number one pick, called Xsil, hired someone with specific industry experience (can't really compete with that when the industry is lasers and semi-conductors!). But they told my recruiter they were very impressed with my interview and would keep me in mind for other positions...
I never thought I'd hear from them again, but just before Christmas I got a call from my recruiter. Xsil had had someone leave their team, and they called my recruiter and asked her if I would be interested in the position. So I went in for an informal meeting with the manager, and the next day they offered me the job. And it was pretty much a no-brainer answer...
The job is basically everything I've been looking for -- working in a writing team of 5 people with a direct documentation manager, using Framemaker as a documentation tool instead of the much-hated Microsoft Word, and having the kind of training and support that's been so lacking in my current job. It's also a bigger company, has a social committee, and is in south Dublin in a much nicer area.
Needless to say, I'm delighted. I'm really excited about starting the new position, which will be on Monday... I'm hoping it's somewhere I can settle down and stay for a few years.
And along with the change in jobs is a change in living situation. The commute from where I'm currently living would be over an hour each way by transit, and I wasn't very happy where I was living anyway, so it all worked out well. I found a simply gorgeous apartment in Sandyford, sharing with one other woman, about a 20 minute walk from my new company. It's so nice...new, modern, airy, and bright. My bedroom has a small balcony off it, and I have sole use of the main bathroom. I simply can't wait to live there -- moving day is tomorrow!
In other news, I'm going to have my first visitor from Canada!! My friend Cathy is coming to Ireland for a week in March, over the Easter long weekend. We're going to visit the Aran Islands, off the west coast, and I'm super excited about the visit!! I'm also planning a weekend trip to Bristol to visit my friend Kristine who is living there for six months with her husband and their son who was born just last fall. I'm hoping to visit the famed Stonehenge while I'm there!
My new mailing address is:
97 Bracken Hill
Sandyford, Dublin 18
Ireland
But it had to be done. When I first arrived in Dublin, I had three job interviews and the company that was my number one pick, called Xsil, hired someone with specific industry experience (can't really compete with that when the industry is lasers and semi-conductors!). But they told my recruiter they were very impressed with my interview and would keep me in mind for other positions...
I never thought I'd hear from them again, but just before Christmas I got a call from my recruiter. Xsil had had someone leave their team, and they called my recruiter and asked her if I would be interested in the position. So I went in for an informal meeting with the manager, and the next day they offered me the job. And it was pretty much a no-brainer answer...
The job is basically everything I've been looking for -- working in a writing team of 5 people with a direct documentation manager, using Framemaker as a documentation tool instead of the much-hated Microsoft Word, and having the kind of training and support that's been so lacking in my current job. It's also a bigger company, has a social committee, and is in south Dublin in a much nicer area.
Needless to say, I'm delighted. I'm really excited about starting the new position, which will be on Monday... I'm hoping it's somewhere I can settle down and stay for a few years.
And along with the change in jobs is a change in living situation. The commute from where I'm currently living would be over an hour each way by transit, and I wasn't very happy where I was living anyway, so it all worked out well. I found a simply gorgeous apartment in Sandyford, sharing with one other woman, about a 20 minute walk from my new company. It's so nice...new, modern, airy, and bright. My bedroom has a small balcony off it, and I have sole use of the main bathroom. I simply can't wait to live there -- moving day is tomorrow!
In other news, I'm going to have my first visitor from Canada!! My friend Cathy is coming to Ireland for a week in March, over the Easter long weekend. We're going to visit the Aran Islands, off the west coast, and I'm super excited about the visit!! I'm also planning a weekend trip to Bristol to visit my friend Kristine who is living there for six months with her husband and their son who was born just last fall. I'm hoping to visit the famed Stonehenge while I'm there!
My new mailing address is:
97 Bracken Hill
Sandyford, Dublin 18
Ireland
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
My Christmas in Israel
Shalom!
I’ve spent some of this last week trying to organize my thoughts on the 10 days I spent in Israel, but I was distracted by other current events in my life, which I’ll get into in my next post because they’ll be relevant and story-worthy by then:) That’s a little teaser for you…
Going to Israel was one of those vacations you need a vacation to recover from, but those are the kind I like to take. It’s an intense place, with lots of energy, particularly in Jerusalem, where I spent the majority of my time. I saw a lot and did a lot, which took a lot out of me, especially when I started and ended my trip with 36-hour periods without sleep.
My cousin Erik has lived in Israel for the past three years, and since he is my only family this side of the Atlantic, I went to hang out with him over my Christmas holidays, and to take advantage of the opportunity to see such a fascinating country with a Hebrew-speaking tour guide who had a couch for me to sleep on! Erik was in Prague the week before I arrived, so we cleverly timed our flights to arrive in the Tel Aviv airport within an hour of each other. I arrived first, at 4am, to discover his flight had been delayed and wouldn’t arrive till 8:30. I dozed, off and on, for the next three hours, and then was told that the flight had been further delayed till 11. I had been up since 5:30 the previous morning to catch my flight to London, so I was beyond exhausted at this point. If the floor had been carpeted, I would have laid down on it and slept quite blissfully.
Anyway, Erik and I stayed up for the rest of the day, traveling from the airport to his place in Hadera, a town about 40 Km north of Tel Aviv, and doing some food shopping, but little else. The following day we went a little further north to Haifa, a port city on the Mediterranean, and did a lot of walking…we got lost, then found, and visited the gorgeous Baha’i gardens there.
The next day was Christmas day, but I had sort of forgotten about it, even though we had watched White Christmas the night before. That morning, I caught a bus to Tel Aviv to get a shared taxi, a sherut, to Jerusalem, where I was going to spend some time at Erik’s aunt and uncle’s place while he was at work. The stand for Jerusalem was mobbed, and each time a sherut pulled up, it was swarmed with people clamouring to get on it. I was puzzled by this, as Erik had made it sound as if there would be one waiting to fill up, and when I overhead a couple speaking English to each other, I asked them if something was up.
“I think it’s because of the holiday,” the woman said. What holiday is she talking about?? I wondered to myself, racking my brain for a Jewish holiday that fell at this time of the year… When I finally got on a sherut, there was much screaming and yelling between the passengers and driver, all in Hebrew, which I sat listening to in bewilderment. Finally, after the furor had died down, I said to the group in general, “What’s going on?” A man turned to me and said, “The problem is that it’s Christmas day and everyone wants to go to Jerusalem, so they are charging 30 shekels instead of 20, and people are upset.” And then the light went on, and I realized what holiday the woman had been talking about!
Needless to say, it was a very non-Christmassy day I had. I went to the Old City in Jerusalem and wandered around its maze of narrow streets, jammed with shops and vendors and restaurants. I went to the Western Wall, and stood staring in awe. I had lunch in an open-air cafe of hummus, pita, and a myriad of wonderful salads – cabbage, eggplant, pickles, tahini, mmmmmmm. That night, Erik’s aunt and uncle, Audrey and Tzvi, took me along to their folk dancing class, which was a ton of fun. I followed along as best I could, with Audrey muttering occasional instructions to me, and did not too badly, considering the instruction was all in Hebrew. And that was my Christmas day!
I spent three days in Jerusalem, wandering around the Old City. It’s a curious, ancient place, divided into four quarters: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian. I think there’s something about all these different faiths living cheek-by-jowl in an uneasy sort of truce that creates the feeling of tension in the Old City. I don’t feel qualified to describe the three holy sites within the walls of the Old City, because of their incredibly layered and complex histories, so I will just list them…
The Western Wall (sometimes called the Wailing Wall): the holiest site in Judaism, a place of worship and prayer.
Temple Mount: known to Muslims as the Noble Sactuary, it is considered the third holiest site in the Muslim faith. It has two major Muslim religious shrines: the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque. This site is also sacred to the Jewish faith, but Jews are forbidden to enter it, and the Western Wall is the holiest accessible site for prayer. Temple Mount is one of the most contested religious sites in the world.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre: This is the site where Jesus was crucified and buried, though this has been contested. There is a street in the Old City called Via Dolorosa, which is believed (and also contested) to be the route Christ walked on the cross.
On Friday, Erik and I went to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is in the West Bank, which is under Palestinian control, so it was an interesting experience getting in and out. Erik was concerned because he’s technically an Israeli citizen, and they’re not allowed in to Bethlehem. So he used his Canadian passport, and they basically just waved us through. It was only three days after Christmas, so they must have seen a parade of tourists all week long.
There’s not much to see in Bethlehem, apart from the gorgeous Church of Nativity, which is built over the cave that traditionally marks the birthplace of Christ. We also went to the Milky Grotto and stumbled on a cemetery with the most elaborate and ornate gravestones we’d ever seen. Manger Square is in the centre of town, and there’s a mosque on one side of it; when we arrived, there were prayers being played over the loudspeaker and the square was full of Muslims, just sitting and listening and praying, like an open-air, public service. Felt like we were walking through a church. We had some lunch, and then headed back to the wall, a literal and physical wall that separates the two sides. We were both a bit relieved to get back to the other side.
Friday night is the beginning of Shabbat, the weekly Sabbath or day of rest in Judaism. It starts at sundown on Fridays and lasts till sundown on Saturday. Because work is forbidden on the Shabbat, everything shuts down. Shops are closed, restaurants are closed, buses don’t run – nothing is open. Friday night dinner is an important part of the day, and Erik and I were invited to Audrey and Tsvi’s table. We started the meal with a braided loaf of bread, a challah, and a glass of wine, and ended it with a rousing game of Boggle!
Erik and I prepared for Shabbat by renting a car on Friday morning, and spent Saturday driving to the Dead Sea. Areas where there are more tourists generally have some things open so you can have a meal or get money. We drove through the West Bank to get to the Dead Sea, and then down the coast, and back into Israeli territory, again through mostly perfunctory checkpoints. We stopped off at a rocky beach and climbed in the water and floated around. It really is the most peculiar feeling, to be so buoyant. You feel sort of like you’re bouncing in the water, like you’re sitting on a big ball that’s pushing you up.
We drove back to Hadera on Saturday night and returned the car in the morning before Erik went to work. I went to Tel Aviv and spent the day wandering through the Carmel market, and putting my toes in the Mediterranean. This trip was the first time I had seen the Med, but it was too cool to swim in. I also went down to the port city of Jaffa, pronounced Yafo if you’re in the know, which was like a more relaxed and slower paced version of the Old City in Jerusalem.
New year’s eve Erik and I hung out with his friend Tal, and had a quiet evening, which is pretty much my ideal new year’s eve scene. My flight home left super early the morning of the 1st, so I left Hadera around 1am to get the train to the airport, and arrived in Dublin about 8pm that day.
I had a great time on this trip. It was great to see Erik and have some one-on-one time with him, and I had a great time staying at Audrey and Tsvi's lively home. I loved the food...I was in hummus heaven...wish I could've filled up my suitcase with all the yummy things I ate there. And it was just an amazing experience to be in a place with so much religious and historical importance to so many people around the world.
I created two sets of pictures on my Flickr site -- one for Jerusalem and one for the other cities I visited. Thanks for reading...I know it was a long one.
I’ve spent some of this last week trying to organize my thoughts on the 10 days I spent in Israel, but I was distracted by other current events in my life, which I’ll get into in my next post because they’ll be relevant and story-worthy by then:) That’s a little teaser for you…
Going to Israel was one of those vacations you need a vacation to recover from, but those are the kind I like to take. It’s an intense place, with lots of energy, particularly in Jerusalem, where I spent the majority of my time. I saw a lot and did a lot, which took a lot out of me, especially when I started and ended my trip with 36-hour periods without sleep.
My cousin Erik has lived in Israel for the past three years, and since he is my only family this side of the Atlantic, I went to hang out with him over my Christmas holidays, and to take advantage of the opportunity to see such a fascinating country with a Hebrew-speaking tour guide who had a couch for me to sleep on! Erik was in Prague the week before I arrived, so we cleverly timed our flights to arrive in the Tel Aviv airport within an hour of each other. I arrived first, at 4am, to discover his flight had been delayed and wouldn’t arrive till 8:30. I dozed, off and on, for the next three hours, and then was told that the flight had been further delayed till 11. I had been up since 5:30 the previous morning to catch my flight to London, so I was beyond exhausted at this point. If the floor had been carpeted, I would have laid down on it and slept quite blissfully.
Anyway, Erik and I stayed up for the rest of the day, traveling from the airport to his place in Hadera, a town about 40 Km north of Tel Aviv, and doing some food shopping, but little else. The following day we went a little further north to Haifa, a port city on the Mediterranean, and did a lot of walking…we got lost, then found, and visited the gorgeous Baha’i gardens there.
The next day was Christmas day, but I had sort of forgotten about it, even though we had watched White Christmas the night before. That morning, I caught a bus to Tel Aviv to get a shared taxi, a sherut, to Jerusalem, where I was going to spend some time at Erik’s aunt and uncle’s place while he was at work. The stand for Jerusalem was mobbed, and each time a sherut pulled up, it was swarmed with people clamouring to get on it. I was puzzled by this, as Erik had made it sound as if there would be one waiting to fill up, and when I overhead a couple speaking English to each other, I asked them if something was up.
“I think it’s because of the holiday,” the woman said. What holiday is she talking about?? I wondered to myself, racking my brain for a Jewish holiday that fell at this time of the year… When I finally got on a sherut, there was much screaming and yelling between the passengers and driver, all in Hebrew, which I sat listening to in bewilderment. Finally, after the furor had died down, I said to the group in general, “What’s going on?” A man turned to me and said, “The problem is that it’s Christmas day and everyone wants to go to Jerusalem, so they are charging 30 shekels instead of 20, and people are upset.” And then the light went on, and I realized what holiday the woman had been talking about!
Needless to say, it was a very non-Christmassy day I had. I went to the Old City in Jerusalem and wandered around its maze of narrow streets, jammed with shops and vendors and restaurants. I went to the Western Wall, and stood staring in awe. I had lunch in an open-air cafe of hummus, pita, and a myriad of wonderful salads – cabbage, eggplant, pickles, tahini, mmmmmmm. That night, Erik’s aunt and uncle, Audrey and Tzvi, took me along to their folk dancing class, which was a ton of fun. I followed along as best I could, with Audrey muttering occasional instructions to me, and did not too badly, considering the instruction was all in Hebrew. And that was my Christmas day!
I spent three days in Jerusalem, wandering around the Old City. It’s a curious, ancient place, divided into four quarters: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian. I think there’s something about all these different faiths living cheek-by-jowl in an uneasy sort of truce that creates the feeling of tension in the Old City. I don’t feel qualified to describe the three holy sites within the walls of the Old City, because of their incredibly layered and complex histories, so I will just list them…
The Western Wall (sometimes called the Wailing Wall): the holiest site in Judaism, a place of worship and prayer.
Temple Mount: known to Muslims as the Noble Sactuary, it is considered the third holiest site in the Muslim faith. It has two major Muslim religious shrines: the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque. This site is also sacred to the Jewish faith, but Jews are forbidden to enter it, and the Western Wall is the holiest accessible site for prayer. Temple Mount is one of the most contested religious sites in the world.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre: This is the site where Jesus was crucified and buried, though this has been contested. There is a street in the Old City called Via Dolorosa, which is believed (and also contested) to be the route Christ walked on the cross.
On Friday, Erik and I went to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is in the West Bank, which is under Palestinian control, so it was an interesting experience getting in and out. Erik was concerned because he’s technically an Israeli citizen, and they’re not allowed in to Bethlehem. So he used his Canadian passport, and they basically just waved us through. It was only three days after Christmas, so they must have seen a parade of tourists all week long.
There’s not much to see in Bethlehem, apart from the gorgeous Church of Nativity, which is built over the cave that traditionally marks the birthplace of Christ. We also went to the Milky Grotto and stumbled on a cemetery with the most elaborate and ornate gravestones we’d ever seen. Manger Square is in the centre of town, and there’s a mosque on one side of it; when we arrived, there were prayers being played over the loudspeaker and the square was full of Muslims, just sitting and listening and praying, like an open-air, public service. Felt like we were walking through a church. We had some lunch, and then headed back to the wall, a literal and physical wall that separates the two sides. We were both a bit relieved to get back to the other side.
Friday night is the beginning of Shabbat, the weekly Sabbath or day of rest in Judaism. It starts at sundown on Fridays and lasts till sundown on Saturday. Because work is forbidden on the Shabbat, everything shuts down. Shops are closed, restaurants are closed, buses don’t run – nothing is open. Friday night dinner is an important part of the day, and Erik and I were invited to Audrey and Tsvi’s table. We started the meal with a braided loaf of bread, a challah, and a glass of wine, and ended it with a rousing game of Boggle!
Erik and I prepared for Shabbat by renting a car on Friday morning, and spent Saturday driving to the Dead Sea. Areas where there are more tourists generally have some things open so you can have a meal or get money. We drove through the West Bank to get to the Dead Sea, and then down the coast, and back into Israeli territory, again through mostly perfunctory checkpoints. We stopped off at a rocky beach and climbed in the water and floated around. It really is the most peculiar feeling, to be so buoyant. You feel sort of like you’re bouncing in the water, like you’re sitting on a big ball that’s pushing you up.
We drove back to Hadera on Saturday night and returned the car in the morning before Erik went to work. I went to Tel Aviv and spent the day wandering through the Carmel market, and putting my toes in the Mediterranean. This trip was the first time I had seen the Med, but it was too cool to swim in. I also went down to the port city of Jaffa, pronounced Yafo if you’re in the know, which was like a more relaxed and slower paced version of the Old City in Jerusalem.
New year’s eve Erik and I hung out with his friend Tal, and had a quiet evening, which is pretty much my ideal new year’s eve scene. My flight home left super early the morning of the 1st, so I left Hadera around 1am to get the train to the airport, and arrived in Dublin about 8pm that day.
I had a great time on this trip. It was great to see Erik and have some one-on-one time with him, and I had a great time staying at Audrey and Tsvi's lively home. I loved the food...I was in hummus heaven...wish I could've filled up my suitcase with all the yummy things I ate there. And it was just an amazing experience to be in a place with so much religious and historical importance to so many people around the world.
I created two sets of pictures on my Flickr site -- one for Jerusalem and one for the other cities I visited. Thanks for reading...I know it was a long one.
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