So, I'm not really sure where to begin here...there's so much to tell...so much news. So be warned, this is going to be a long one:)
I'm going to start with my recent weekend warrior escapades to the continent. In April, my friend Robin and I went to Belgium for the Easter long weekend -- an appropriate place to have an easter egg hunt! We stayed in Brussels, but also visited Bruges and Ghent. Robin drank lots of Belgian beer and we both had our fair share of chocolate...I was amazed to see just how many stores there are selling chocolate -- I thought it would be just one or two main brands, but it seemed every other shop window had these amazing displays of easter eggs and bunnies. We thought it only fair to sample a good portion of them:) Bruges is totally gorgeous, just like it looks in the movie, except the main square in front of the bell tower was unfortunately full with a traveling fair, complete with rides, cotton candy machines, and bright flourescent lights...was a bit incongruous with the centuries old cathedrals and churches surrounding it. The architecture of Bruges reminded me a lot of Amsterdam -- the rooftops and the canals. It was definitely the highlight of the weekend.
Robin and I also went to Barcelona for the first weekend in May. Her parents took a cruise from New York to Barcelona, so we went to meet them. I think the city may be my new favourite European capital. It has everything -- sunny beaches, fantastic architecture, crazy publin art, great food, plentiful sangria... I think sangria is my new favourite drink too! We visited a lot of the Gaudi buildings, including the park he designed, and just cruised around Las Ramblas and the old city, enjoying the sun, the markets, and the aforementioned sangria:) I don't have my pictures posted yet...as much as I loved Barcelona I found it a difficult city to capture on camera
-- the size and grandeur of the buildings are just too much. Especially some of the Gaudi stuff -- you feel like you're just getting bits and pieces of it.
So my really big news is that I was laid off from my job in April, so things are changing for me. But I have a new plan, that I'm pretty excited about.
I've known for a while now that I wanted to get out of technical writing, as it's never been a satisfying profession for me. I would like to do something more interactive to feed my extoversion, which I now accept as a prominent element of my personality:) And I'd like to do something a bit less corporate and more meaningful... Anyway, I can't work in Ireland without a visa, and given the current economy here where every second person I know is getting laid off, the chances of me getting sponsored are slim to none. And I'd have to get sponsored as a tech writer and I can't face another year of doing that work. But, I decided that I didn't want to leave Ireland right away. However, I certainly can't afford to live in Dublin if I'm not working, and I don't want to be in Dublin anyway. I like Dublin, but my favourite part about Ireland has always been the countryside and the small towns. There are a lot of places I haven't seen yet, so I decided that I'd go and do some volunteering on various farms in the country, which can be done in exchange for room and board. This is known as "wwoofing," for those of you who are familiar with that term (www.wwoof.ie). You can do this all over the world, and it's a great, cheap way to see and experience a country.
The two counties I focused on were Donegal, the most northern county, and Cork, the most southern county. I have spent a week in Donegal and am already in love with it. It's raw and wild and just endlessly gorgeous. I'm staying with a family who run a small organic vegetable farm, and they're so lovely -- very welcoming and generous and they're just a bunch of characters who make me laugh all the time. It also feels like a really authentic way to experience the country, to live with a family and meet the neighbors and do local things like go on historical walking tours, or visit farmer's markets. I'll put up some pics of the farm in a couple weeks, but the web site is here, if you want to have a look: http://greenhill.weebly.com/
I'll be in Donegal till the end of May, and then I'll spend the month of June in west Cork, on two different farms. People rave about west Cork and how beautiful it is, and I've never set foot in the county, so am also looking forward to that. I'm going to continue wwoofing through July and August, but will go to Italy to a farm in Tuscany. Suffice it to say, I'm pretty psyched about that! I'll go by myself for July, and then Robin will come for August. My aunt and uncle will be in Tuscany for August and September, and the farm is very close to where they'll be in August, so hopefully we'll be able to get some visits in!
This is the site of the farm in Italy: http://www.poderelapiana.it/en/
In September Robin and I are planning to do the Camino de Santiago trail in northern Spain. This is something I've wanted to do for ages and I always thought it would be something neat to do when I left Europe/Ireland, sort of to mark the end of my time here. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's a pilgrimage trail through the Pyrenees from Pamplona to Santiago. There are a few different routes, and you can walk for a week or ten days or twenty days -- whatever you like really. The whole path is almost 800Km long, and that's what Robin and I are planning to do. So, the training starts now!
I'm going to come back to Canada after we finish the trail (likely early October), because I'll probably have no money left by then:) Though, living as a wwoofer is extremely cheap -- my only costs will be moving between farms, so I'm making it stretch a long way! I don't really want to come back to Canada (permanently) just yet though, so I'm going to stay just long enough to arrange the paperwork to go
overseas to teach english for a year or so. I've been thinking about teaching a lot, and there's a ton of work in Asia -- namely Korea and Japan -- so it seems like a good option in this economy. I can go and make some money and try out teaching, see how I like it, and continue to travel. I've already been offered a job with Berlitz, a private english language company, but I can't complete the paperwork for them until I get back to Canada, so we're trying to work out the timing. There are plenty of jobs there anyway, so I'm not worried.
Anyway, I know this is a lot to digest, as it's a lot of news, but I feel good about it all. I'm excited about being outside on farms all summer, instead of stuck inside in front of a computer being sedentary and bored. My internet access in Donegal is limited, so please be patient with me and my response time to emails!
That's all for now:)
Love me
Monday, May 11, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
April 2009
Just a quick one... I was in Budapest over St. Paddy's day long weekend, and have posted the pics on my Flickr site as per usual... I tend to leave Ireland on this particular weekend, even though it's such a big event here. It's mostly just a weekend of stepped-up drinking, which doesn't appeal to me. It's always fun to take the air coach through the city centre on my way home and see all the shenanigans still happening on the streets...
Anyway, Budapest is a brilliant city -- lots to see and do, and it's just simply gorgeous. The Danube splits the city in half, creating Buda on the west, and Pest on the east. That's my big fun fact -- that Budapest is actually two different cities -- who knew?? I went with my friend Kerry and we had a blast seeing the sights, tasting the regional delicacies (wine, kolbassa, pate, pastries, and more wine), and trying all the different baths in the city. We went to three different ones -- they're sort of like a collection of pools of all different temperatures, along with steam rooms and saunas. Most of them offer massage and are really for therapeutic purposes -- they're not touristy places, except for the Gellert Baths, which are part of a big hotel, and was our least favourite of the three. The best one was almost like a palace and the open courtyard space had three huge pools for us to play in. The old Hungarian men bring their chess boards and play each other in the pools. We had a Turkish massage at one of them, which was agonizing, but felt great at the same time...as I believe a massage should! Was a great weekend.
For Easter my friend Robin and I are off to Belgium for the weekend...going to see Bruges and maybe Ghent...can't wait for those moules frites!
Love Tessa
Anyway, Budapest is a brilliant city -- lots to see and do, and it's just simply gorgeous. The Danube splits the city in half, creating Buda on the west, and Pest on the east. That's my big fun fact -- that Budapest is actually two different cities -- who knew?? I went with my friend Kerry and we had a blast seeing the sights, tasting the regional delicacies (wine, kolbassa, pate, pastries, and more wine), and trying all the different baths in the city. We went to three different ones -- they're sort of like a collection of pools of all different temperatures, along with steam rooms and saunas. Most of them offer massage and are really for therapeutic purposes -- they're not touristy places, except for the Gellert Baths, which are part of a big hotel, and was our least favourite of the three. The best one was almost like a palace and the open courtyard space had three huge pools for us to play in. The old Hungarian men bring their chess boards and play each other in the pools. We had a Turkish massage at one of them, which was agonizing, but felt great at the same time...as I believe a massage should! Was a great weekend.
For Easter my friend Robin and I are off to Belgium for the weekend...going to see Bruges and maybe Ghent...can't wait for those moules frites!
Love Tessa
February 2009
Hello all, and happy almost-spring! I know it’s still another few weeks away, but I am continually heartened by the ever-increasing daylight we’re getting here…it really helps with the whole getting-out-of-bed thing…
We’ve been lucky enough to have relatively dry, clear weather these last couple of weeks, which is always a huge treat. However, the first week of February brought below-zero temperatures and – wonder of wonders – snow. Apparently it was the first time in 15 years that it has snowed in Dublin proper…I’ve been hoping for this since I arrived, despite being laughed at numerous times for hoping for such an outlandish thing... So I was delighted when the white stuff began to fall…until it interfered with my travel plans – but more on that later.
I had a great three-week holiday over Christmas, although it was a very busy and highly scheduled time. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to see everyone, but there just weren’t enough hours in the day. Despite the weather, I was quite successful in negotiating my way around Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary, and Kimberley and managed to use every form of transportation available – planes, buses, trains, ferries, etc. – with minimal delays – even my flight to Calgary was only an hour late. I think I had a little travel angel watching over me:)
Anyway, after a brief period of post-Christmas blues and hibernation, I started feeling relatively normal again.
The last weekend in January I went on a hillwalking trip to the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. This was probably not the smartest time of year to go, but I like these weekends – they’re fun and sociable and the people are always great. It turned out to be a rather eventful weekend though, starting with a torrential downpour on the Friday night drive up north. One guy got lost and by the time he found the place we were staying, the roads were fully flooded and he had to abandon his car. The police were called to rescue him, and they ended up having to abandon *their* car. Finally he was collected by the woman who ran the hostel we were staying at…
The next morning we headed out on our walk – into the wind and lashing rain. About a half hour into the walk we had to cross a stream – not particularly wide, but wide enough that it required a running jump to cross, and it was quite deep. During the crossing of the stream, several things happened… One guy fell in as he was throwing his daypack across, and one of the women joked that the men should have to carry the women across – and then she pretended to jump on the back of the guy standing in front of her…unbeknownst to her, he had a bad knee, and crumpled like a paper bag…so that was it for him for the day – for the weekend really. She felt terrible of course, and the two of them headed back to the hostel. The rest of us soldiered on and while the rain eventually stopped, the wind never let up. I’ve never experienced wind like that – it quite literally took my breath away. It was so loud you couldn’t hear what anyone was saying unless they were standing six inches away and shouting at you, and it was so strong I couldn’t hold my camera still to take photos – so I took fewer photos than normal:)
But the Mournes are lovely – in a classically Irish way – windy, misty, foggy, with low stone walls running from one peak to another. I really enjoyed the walk, and would like to go back again – maybe in better weather though…
My friend Robin and I went to Edinburgh as a birthday treat for the first weekend in February. The aforementioned snow wreaked all sorts of havoc in the city, as Dubliners have even less of a clue as to what to do with snow than Vancouverites do:) My Thursday night flight was cancelled, so I had to go the following morning at an ungodly hour, but at least I didn’t lose too much time. Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to in Europe – it definitely lives up to the hype. We did a lot of wandering…down the Royal Mile, up to Arthur’s Seat, over the “bridges” to Princes Street. I’ve never seen so many bridges in a city that has no water…
Robin and I went on a tour of the underground vaults, which were built in the 1700s and have been used in all manner of ways since then – as storage, as meeting places for gangs and criminals, as brothels, as places of worship. The legend is that they’re haunted and there are lots of bizarre and scary stories that have come out over the years, and it was one of the spookiest places I’ve ever been so I was glad to get out at the end.
We were lucky with the weather in the sense that it was dry all weekend, but it was also absolutely freezing – I wore all the clothes I had with me practically all the time. As a result, we were forced to stop frequently into the pubs to warm ourselves up:) Some friends of Robin’s were in town that weekend as well, and we had some great meals with them, including dinner at a fantastic Indian restaurant with naans the size of flying saucers, and a big pot of steamed mussels at the Mussel Inn…yummmmm.
Anyway, that’s the latest with me. Oh! I went to a film on the weekend at the Jameson Film Festival (only in Dublin would a film festival be sponsored by a whiskey distillery:) and saw a film with Liam Neeson, and he was there afterward for the Q&A. It was pretty cool seeing him – and he is more gorgeous in person than he is on screen…
Everything else is fine…just cruising along, travel planning as per usual:) – next month – Budapest!
Love you all,
Tessa
We’ve been lucky enough to have relatively dry, clear weather these last couple of weeks, which is always a huge treat. However, the first week of February brought below-zero temperatures and – wonder of wonders – snow. Apparently it was the first time in 15 years that it has snowed in Dublin proper…I’ve been hoping for this since I arrived, despite being laughed at numerous times for hoping for such an outlandish thing... So I was delighted when the white stuff began to fall…until it interfered with my travel plans – but more on that later.
I had a great three-week holiday over Christmas, although it was a very busy and highly scheduled time. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to see everyone, but there just weren’t enough hours in the day. Despite the weather, I was quite successful in negotiating my way around Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary, and Kimberley and managed to use every form of transportation available – planes, buses, trains, ferries, etc. – with minimal delays – even my flight to Calgary was only an hour late. I think I had a little travel angel watching over me:)
Anyway, after a brief period of post-Christmas blues and hibernation, I started feeling relatively normal again.
The last weekend in January I went on a hillwalking trip to the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. This was probably not the smartest time of year to go, but I like these weekends – they’re fun and sociable and the people are always great. It turned out to be a rather eventful weekend though, starting with a torrential downpour on the Friday night drive up north. One guy got lost and by the time he found the place we were staying, the roads were fully flooded and he had to abandon his car. The police were called to rescue him, and they ended up having to abandon *their* car. Finally he was collected by the woman who ran the hostel we were staying at…
The next morning we headed out on our walk – into the wind and lashing rain. About a half hour into the walk we had to cross a stream – not particularly wide, but wide enough that it required a running jump to cross, and it was quite deep. During the crossing of the stream, several things happened… One guy fell in as he was throwing his daypack across, and one of the women joked that the men should have to carry the women across – and then she pretended to jump on the back of the guy standing in front of her…unbeknownst to her, he had a bad knee, and crumpled like a paper bag…so that was it for him for the day – for the weekend really. She felt terrible of course, and the two of them headed back to the hostel. The rest of us soldiered on and while the rain eventually stopped, the wind never let up. I’ve never experienced wind like that – it quite literally took my breath away. It was so loud you couldn’t hear what anyone was saying unless they were standing six inches away and shouting at you, and it was so strong I couldn’t hold my camera still to take photos – so I took fewer photos than normal:)
But the Mournes are lovely – in a classically Irish way – windy, misty, foggy, with low stone walls running from one peak to another. I really enjoyed the walk, and would like to go back again – maybe in better weather though…
My friend Robin and I went to Edinburgh as a birthday treat for the first weekend in February. The aforementioned snow wreaked all sorts of havoc in the city, as Dubliners have even less of a clue as to what to do with snow than Vancouverites do:) My Thursday night flight was cancelled, so I had to go the following morning at an ungodly hour, but at least I didn’t lose too much time. Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to in Europe – it definitely lives up to the hype. We did a lot of wandering…down the Royal Mile, up to Arthur’s Seat, over the “bridges” to Princes Street. I’ve never seen so many bridges in a city that has no water…
Robin and I went on a tour of the underground vaults, which were built in the 1700s and have been used in all manner of ways since then – as storage, as meeting places for gangs and criminals, as brothels, as places of worship. The legend is that they’re haunted and there are lots of bizarre and scary stories that have come out over the years, and it was one of the spookiest places I’ve ever been so I was glad to get out at the end.
We were lucky with the weather in the sense that it was dry all weekend, but it was also absolutely freezing – I wore all the clothes I had with me practically all the time. As a result, we were forced to stop frequently into the pubs to warm ourselves up:) Some friends of Robin’s were in town that weekend as well, and we had some great meals with them, including dinner at a fantastic Indian restaurant with naans the size of flying saucers, and a big pot of steamed mussels at the Mussel Inn…yummmmm.
Anyway, that’s the latest with me. Oh! I went to a film on the weekend at the Jameson Film Festival (only in Dublin would a film festival be sponsored by a whiskey distillery:) and saw a film with Liam Neeson, and he was there afterward for the Q&A. It was pretty cool seeing him – and he is more gorgeous in person than he is on screen…
Everything else is fine…just cruising along, travel planning as per usual:) – next month – Budapest!
Love you all,
Tessa
November 2008
Hey folks,
Thought I'd send an update about my latest adventures, and also to let you know about my Christmas travel plans -- six weeks -- woo hoo!!
At the end of September I took a weekend trip to Heidelberg, in Germany, to visit my friend Stefan. Stefan and I met in 2000, on a trek in northernThailand. We hit it off from day one and traveled together for another week or so after the trek. He convinced me to rent a motorbike and travel around the northern Thai border towns, which turned out to be one of the top highlights of my whole year in Asia. Anyway, it was great to see him, though a bit strange, having had pretty sporadic contact these past 8 years. But it was a wonderful weekend, with the most perfect fall weather possible. We wandered around Heidelberg, which has a gorgeous old town, climbed the hill to the castle, and looked down on the river. Such a beautifully situated city.
I spent the first couple of weeks of October going with various friends to a number of plays that were staged as part of the Dublin Theatre festival. We saw Waiting for Godot, which was the first time I'd seen it, and then another Beckett play called Happy Days. I didn't realize Beckett was so weird -- he's not really my cup of tea. We also saw The Cripple of Inishmaan, which was written by Martin McDonagh, who wrote and directed the film In Bruges. My favourite was a play called Black Watch, which was staged by the National Theatre of Scotland about the Scottish regiment called Black Watch that gets deployed into areas no one else wants to go into. Totally fascinating story, based on true events from their deployment to Iraq, and one of the most powerful plays I've ever seen. I'm really enjoying the theatre scene here in Dublin…such quality productions and acting. And lots of famous actors too! I've seen a number of the cast members from the Harry Potter films -- Dumbledore, Aunt Petunia, and Argus Filch.
In mid-October I went back to County Kerry on the west coast to visit my friend Robin, and we spent the weekend in the town of Dingle, on the Dingle Peninsula. Dingle is known for its pubs because they're built into hardware stores and bike shops. We went to one called Dick Mack's, which is an old cobbler shop, so the walls are full of shoe boxes and there are random wellies lying around. There was a trio in the front room playing some trad music -- so fun. We rented a car for the weekend and drove around the peninsula. Dingle is typically gorgeous, wild west coast. How I wish I could live there…though I'm trying to convince Robin to move to Dublin:)
At the end of October, I took a 4-day weekend and my friend Emily and I went to Lisbon. Aside from the fact that Emily and I were completely incompatible as travel partners, I had a great time. Lisbon felt very eastern European to me -- Portugal doesn't seem to have the wealth associated with a lot of western Europe. The city feels older and more run down than most of the EU capitals I've been to, but it's still very charming and has a lot of character. I didn't know how famous Lisbon was for its tiles, but many of the houses and buildings are covered in painted tiles, which adds such great flavour and colour to the various neighbourhoods. Lisbon is built on 7 hills, most of which we climbed, and I loved the cityscape views of the red roofs against the water. We had *perfect* weather -- hot, sunny, and totally clear blue skies. A real treat at this time of year…:)
The weather has really changed in Dublin, and while we've had some lovely dry, clear days, it's pretty cold and dark. I have a bit of the November blues, so I bought myself a new winter coat to cheer myself up...It has a pink scarf so I'll be visible on these long dark nights…:)
Anyway, my plans for Christmas are pretty much set. My dates are as follows:
Dec. 17 - 23 Vancouver
Dec. 23 - 26 Calgary
Dec. 26 - 29 Kimberley
Dec. 29 - Jan. 3 Vancouver/Vancouver Island
Jan. 3 - depart for Seattle/London/Dublin
If you are going to be in the Vancouver/Calgary/Kimberley area on any of those dates, please let me know so I can begin planning visits. So looking forward to seeing everyone, and having lovely long visits accompanied by good food and wine:)
Love me
Thought I'd send an update about my latest adventures, and also to let you know about my Christmas travel plans -- six weeks -- woo hoo!!
At the end of September I took a weekend trip to Heidelberg, in Germany, to visit my friend Stefan. Stefan and I met in 2000, on a trek in northernThailand. We hit it off from day one and traveled together for another week or so after the trek. He convinced me to rent a motorbike and travel around the northern Thai border towns, which turned out to be one of the top highlights of my whole year in Asia. Anyway, it was great to see him, though a bit strange, having had pretty sporadic contact these past 8 years. But it was a wonderful weekend, with the most perfect fall weather possible. We wandered around Heidelberg, which has a gorgeous old town, climbed the hill to the castle, and looked down on the river. Such a beautifully situated city.
I spent the first couple of weeks of October going with various friends to a number of plays that were staged as part of the Dublin Theatre festival. We saw Waiting for Godot, which was the first time I'd seen it, and then another Beckett play called Happy Days. I didn't realize Beckett was so weird -- he's not really my cup of tea. We also saw The Cripple of Inishmaan, which was written by Martin McDonagh, who wrote and directed the film In Bruges. My favourite was a play called Black Watch, which was staged by the National Theatre of Scotland about the Scottish regiment called Black Watch that gets deployed into areas no one else wants to go into. Totally fascinating story, based on true events from their deployment to Iraq, and one of the most powerful plays I've ever seen. I'm really enjoying the theatre scene here in Dublin…such quality productions and acting. And lots of famous actors too! I've seen a number of the cast members from the Harry Potter films -- Dumbledore, Aunt Petunia, and Argus Filch.
In mid-October I went back to County Kerry on the west coast to visit my friend Robin, and we spent the weekend in the town of Dingle, on the Dingle Peninsula. Dingle is known for its pubs because they're built into hardware stores and bike shops. We went to one called Dick Mack's, which is an old cobbler shop, so the walls are full of shoe boxes and there are random wellies lying around. There was a trio in the front room playing some trad music -- so fun. We rented a car for the weekend and drove around the peninsula. Dingle is typically gorgeous, wild west coast. How I wish I could live there…though I'm trying to convince Robin to move to Dublin:)
At the end of October, I took a 4-day weekend and my friend Emily and I went to Lisbon. Aside from the fact that Emily and I were completely incompatible as travel partners, I had a great time. Lisbon felt very eastern European to me -- Portugal doesn't seem to have the wealth associated with a lot of western Europe. The city feels older and more run down than most of the EU capitals I've been to, but it's still very charming and has a lot of character. I didn't know how famous Lisbon was for its tiles, but many of the houses and buildings are covered in painted tiles, which adds such great flavour and colour to the various neighbourhoods. Lisbon is built on 7 hills, most of which we climbed, and I loved the cityscape views of the red roofs against the water. We had *perfect* weather -- hot, sunny, and totally clear blue skies. A real treat at this time of year…:)
The weather has really changed in Dublin, and while we've had some lovely dry, clear days, it's pretty cold and dark. I have a bit of the November blues, so I bought myself a new winter coat to cheer myself up...It has a pink scarf so I'll be visible on these long dark nights…:)
Anyway, my plans for Christmas are pretty much set. My dates are as follows:
Dec. 17 - 23 Vancouver
Dec. 23 - 26 Calgary
Dec. 26 - 29 Kimberley
Dec. 29 - Jan. 3 Vancouver/Vancouver Island
Jan. 3 - depart for Seattle/London/Dublin
If you are going to be in the Vancouver/Calgary/Kimberley area on any of those dates, please let me know so I can begin planning visits. So looking forward to seeing everyone, and having lovely long visits accompanied by good food and wine:)
Love me
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