Well, let's see...after moving to a different hostel because they didn't have room for little ol' me last Saturday (Galway is a big party city on wknds), I stayed at another hostel for one night and came back to my preferred hostel Sunday where I met three great ladies - Ashlie who is from Nova Scotia, Carlee who is from outside Montreal and Rachelle who is from outside Saskatoon - all smalltown gals and naturally we all 'clicked'. They had known eachother for a week but were all in the same boat as myself - traveling to Ireland on their own in hopes of staying in Galway to live and work for a year through the SWAP program. We've had lots of laughs and memories thus far and I'm sure we have many ahead of us. They did things a bit backwards than myself where they secured a place to live and then worried about finding employment. They are all renting rooms in different houses but we are all about less than 5 min walk away from each other...which is great. And so far, I think our work schedules should jive pretty well for meeting up during the evening too.
Yes - work schedules or as they call them over here 'rosters' means that I am now an official server at the Dail Bar in Galway city centre. It's a great place and the inside is pretty much all wood design and it's two floors. You can Google it and they have their own website complete with lunch and dinner menus and even though I have to say it, the food is REALLY good. :) It's a workout and a half when I go in there because it's a 2-floor restaurant to begin with and the kitchen where you pick up the food is on the 4th floor...soooo....we all have to take turns being the 'runner' where you are literally running everyone's food for them. I have volunteered twice in both of my shifts because I need the exercise and it gets me comfortable with what food is what and getting to know the layout of the restaurant. I was pretty much thrown right into taking tables and things are quite more fast-paced here in Ireland which is surprising because all the people are so laid back to begin with. But, I think I will fit in well with this restaurant and I count my blessings everyday that I have a job as some people have been here for 2 or so weeks and haven't had any luck finding work.
Second piece of good news is that I found a place to live last night and it's about 200m from my work. It's a two-floor apartment above a quiet tailor shop right in the heart of the city and I felt at home as soon as I walked in the door. Everything is a bit out of date and different in Europe - a standard-sized fridge here is what we call a mini-fridge or beer fridge back home, if you have a dishwasher you are living in luxury (which I am not), the washer for your clothes is in the kitchen, the 'cooker' (stove) looks like one you would buy at Toys R Us for little ones and the decor is just - well, let's just say I feel like I'm living at Brady Bunch's house in the 70's. BUT - the landlords are great and remind me of Mom & Dad (miss you guys), they lowered the rent for me because they 'want to find someone to take great care of the place' as they live out of town and I'm HOPEFULLY moving in next week. Since the girls are sharing apartments with other people, I've already volunteered my place for Christmas dinner, movie nights and official 'the place to be' (for all you Seinfeld fans) for the next year.
So, as you can see things are slowly starting to fall into place. Hopefully I get enough hours at the bar to survive financially but if not, I don't mind picking up another part-time job so I can save a bit of money for some trips here and there. :) I work 8 hours shift tomorrow and Sunday which I don't mind but I know it's going to be hard work as the bar is pretty busy constantly and those flights of stairs are a bit tiring after a while but motivation is key. Luckily in a week or so, I can easily go home around the corner after my shift and relax and not have to worry about odd hostel flatmates or the weekend party-ers disturbing my sleep. Looking forward to next weekend as Halloween is huge in Ireland (note the sign below - Welcome to Ghoulway) so I'm sure the girls and I will be doing something fun or 'get into some good craic' as they say over here. Here are a few candid pics thus far and I promise I will go and take some good ones of Galway soon. Until then...keep fit and have fun.
are the people in the kitchen nicer?
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