Hello all...just a quick update on my life thus far in Galway, Ireland. To be honest not much has happened because I have been working at the pub for 10 days straight (ugh, I know). Yes, I know I'm not here to work like crazy rather love life and I promise that's still my intention. I want to work many hours up till the holidays and then maybe I'll cut back a bit on hours after the New Year so then I can take some time here and there to go do some traveling around Europe and Ireland. I'm settling in well with work and even though I've been there just over a month, I trained a new server yesterday.
I'm also experiencing my first cold & flu in Ireland which has not been particularly fun but wasn't expecting it to. I have realized having a flu here in Ireland is much worse because I was a spoiled child back home where my mom would take care of me and I would have Chelsea (my pup) by my side. So, when you're far away from home, your entire body aches, you're stuffed up and don't have the energy to make any food or do anything at all...the feeling of being lonely and also homesick settles in. Fortunately and unfortunately I had work to keep me occupied but also drained what little energy I had left out of me as well. My coworkers and managers at work were great and gave me longer breaks and sent me home first when things started to die down at work. Yesterday, I definitely hit the 'inner funnel' of the cold so even though I got sent home a bit early, it was a long day and I was so happy this morning when I woke up well-rested and realized I had the day off.
Today, I have to finish organizing the flat as I had zero time this week, finally finish unpacking (I know, crazy that I haven't yet), pick up some last few things to complete the place and tidy up. Jonny gets here on Tuesday afternoon and because I booked Tues-Fri off to show him around and relax, they booked me all day Monday to work so everything must get done today pretty much. I'm taking the bus Tuesday morning over to the airport and then I don't have to go back to work till Saturday afternoon. Oh joy, oh rapture. :)
So, that's about it thus far. We might try to squeeze a day in at the Cliffs of Moher this week as the weather has been pretty nice (clear and sunny today) but I know that I'm here for a year so there's no rush either. It's starting to look a lot like Christmas around here (minus the snow) as you've likely seen from some of the pics I have posted with all the Christmas decorations and so forth. There is a big Christmas market that I might go visit today if time permits but it's up till Christmas Eve too so I've got some time.
Hope everyone back home is doing well and feel free to write or email anytime.
Miss you all very much...xo
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Galway pics...
Hi all - here's just a quick peek at some of the sights in my home away from home. Click on the pic and it will redirect you to my album of pics. I will take more as time goes by and when I take some tours around Ireland. I tried using Flickr but it's even too confusing for me being a pretty big tech-geek. Enjoy...
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tip #7 - Capture everything
I'm trying to get better at posting so I'm aiming to do one post per week as I work usually 5 out of 7 days and the two days I have off, I'm trying to do fun things around the city. For example, Carlee and I both had Tues/Wed off this week so we did some grocery shopping and were tourists during the day taking pics of the city and coastline. I'll be posting those pics soon for sure because I want to ensure that everyone back home can see how I'm capturing almost every moment throughout my adventures. I know I haven't really posted many pics yet in terms of Ireland but, unlike the Cdn girls here, I haven't had a chance to do any tours. I guess it's the 'planner' in me where I wanted to station myself first somewhere, establish some roots and income and then I can start planning some road trips and tours around Ireland and parts of Europe. I keep reminding myself that I AM here for a year so there's no rush. Plus - Jonny is going to be here in less than two weeks so I figure we could do some tours together as the girls have already done a lot of touring around parts of Ireland.
Rachelle, Carlee and I went to our first official Ireland rugby game. Our home team is called the Connacts and even though they aren't ranked high in the standings right now (10th out of 12 teams?) the hometown pride and support is very strong...much like the Leafs in Toronto but less embarrassing. (Go HABS!) It was a pretty cold night but Carlee and I bought some Connact toques, got ourselves some Connact scarves right before we entered the stadium, layered up and had some Guiness to keep us somewhat warm. Rachelle, being an ex-Canadian rugby player was teaching us all the rules and lingo throughout the game. She even managed to catch the gameball when it went over the sidelines and kept a hold of her beer too! Such a true Canadian girl right there and we were all so proud! After the game we went down to Skeffs, a popular pub in town, because with our ticket stubs we got a free pint. After that we headed to our favourite pub - the Spanish Arch - hoping to hear the live Irish band that's always playing but they were just jamming in the corner and not on stage. It was still a good night and naturally we saw some 'interesting' sights at Supermacs (Irish version of Mc Donalds) filled with many intoxicated students and such as usual.
The weather has been all over the place this week. Pretty much the weather changes literally every few minutes. On my two days off, I woke up to it being sunny and clear and by the time I went upstairs to get myself a cup of coffee and some breakfast, it was grey and misty. Its been really windy lately in the last couple of nights too so many of the restaurants (including our bar) and the nightlife hasn't been very busy. Oh well - thus is Ireland weather and, although I miss the snow in Canada and definitely will at Christmas, I can't complain too much about the weather here as it's pretty mild. It reminds me a lot of BC (Vancity) where it's just a really damp cold and misty precipitation.
I guess the biggest news lately is that I have my OWN flat now!...well, till Jonny moves in in a few weeks but still very super exciting as it will be nice to have a friendly face around! The place is great and I'm still slowly unpacking. It's two floors (located on top of a tailor shop) with two bedrooms, a tiny European bathroom including a claustrophobic shower, an open-concept kitchen/dining/living room, and a large balcony facing a quaint backyard. I did my first load of laundry last night (washer is located in my kitchen where a dishwasher would be). I also hosted my first dinner last night (no, takeout at 3am from Mc Donald's with the girls on my first night doesn't count). Carlee's mom sent her a care package that included some KD (Kraft Dinner) so we had a 'carbalicious' night with pizza, KD, garlic bread, brie and veggies. Dessert? Rachelle brought pie...mmm. We were literally lying on the floor digesting for a good few hours after.
Other than that, I'm just trying to relax here and there and get things slowly organized in the new flat. Jonny is coming in less than two weeks so it will be super exciting to have a someone to share some of my journey with and also the monthly bills....just kidding. :) I'll send a post soon as to when new pics are uploaded to my Flickr account.
Must get some sleep as it's almost 2am now and I have to open tomorrow at work which includes a 10-hr shift....ouch.
Miss you all very much. xo
Rachelle, Carlee and I went to our first official Ireland rugby game. Our home team is called the Connacts and even though they aren't ranked high in the standings right now (10th out of 12 teams?) the hometown pride and support is very strong...much like the Leafs in Toronto but less embarrassing. (Go HABS!) It was a pretty cold night but Carlee and I bought some Connact toques, got ourselves some Connact scarves right before we entered the stadium, layered up and had some Guiness to keep us somewhat warm. Rachelle, being an ex-Canadian rugby player was teaching us all the rules and lingo throughout the game. She even managed to catch the gameball when it went over the sidelines and kept a hold of her beer too! Such a true Canadian girl right there and we were all so proud! After the game we went down to Skeffs, a popular pub in town, because with our ticket stubs we got a free pint. After that we headed to our favourite pub - the Spanish Arch - hoping to hear the live Irish band that's always playing but they were just jamming in the corner and not on stage. It was still a good night and naturally we saw some 'interesting' sights at Supermacs (Irish version of Mc Donalds) filled with many intoxicated students and such as usual.
The weather has been all over the place this week. Pretty much the weather changes literally every few minutes. On my two days off, I woke up to it being sunny and clear and by the time I went upstairs to get myself a cup of coffee and some breakfast, it was grey and misty. Its been really windy lately in the last couple of nights too so many of the restaurants (including our bar) and the nightlife hasn't been very busy. Oh well - thus is Ireland weather and, although I miss the snow in Canada and definitely will at Christmas, I can't complain too much about the weather here as it's pretty mild. It reminds me a lot of BC (Vancity) where it's just a really damp cold and misty precipitation.
I guess the biggest news lately is that I have my OWN flat now!...well, till Jonny moves in in a few weeks but still very super exciting as it will be nice to have a friendly face around! The place is great and I'm still slowly unpacking. It's two floors (located on top of a tailor shop) with two bedrooms, a tiny European bathroom including a claustrophobic shower, an open-concept kitchen/dining/living room, and a large balcony facing a quaint backyard. I did my first load of laundry last night (washer is located in my kitchen where a dishwasher would be). I also hosted my first dinner last night (no, takeout at 3am from Mc Donald's with the girls on my first night doesn't count). Carlee's mom sent her a care package that included some KD (Kraft Dinner) so we had a 'carbalicious' night with pizza, KD, garlic bread, brie and veggies. Dessert? Rachelle brought pie...mmm. We were literally lying on the floor digesting for a good few hours after.
Other than that, I'm just trying to relax here and there and get things slowly organized in the new flat. Jonny is coming in less than two weeks so it will be super exciting to have a someone to share some of my journey with and also the monthly bills....just kidding. :) I'll send a post soon as to when new pics are uploaded to my Flickr account.
Must get some sleep as it's almost 2am now and I have to open tomorrow at work which includes a 10-hr shift....ouch.
Miss you all very much. xo
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Welcome to Ghoulway...
So....it’s just about 6:30am and I’m sitting outside the Immigration Bureau in Galway because I need to register my residency card as they only give you a temporary stamp for a month once you land in Ireland. The office doesn’t open till 7:30am but unfortunately this is the system – you have to get here super early to get in line to GET a ticket to then wait in line, after they open. The sad thing is that I arrived just before 6:30am and there was already four people waiting ahead of me. Anyway – I’m crossing my fingers that everything goes smoothly because, well, I’d prefer not to get sent back to Canada just yet.
Apologies on the delay of the blog update but I’ve been working a lot (which is good for my bank account…well, once I get one opened over here) and Halloween was super busy as well. If you don’t know already Halloween is just about as big as Christmas here with lots of festivities starting the week OF Halloween. So needless to say work was very busy and I’m very much looking forward to today and tomorrow off. I was worried about getting another part-time job but honestly the hours that I’m getting are pretty good and I’m just happy to have a job since it’s very hard to find work in a small tourist town during the winter season.
It was actually mandatory for employees to dress up in a Halloween costume at work on Saturday and Sunday and they even brought in professional make-up artists Fri-Sun to do all the staff's makeup. So, I put my awesome Transformers t-shirt in Vegas to good use, bought yellow/black striped knee socks and a yellow tutu and called myself ‘Bumblebee the Transformer’. I even had the make-up artist do my make-up on Sunday night with the Transformers logo on my face...all she had to do is look down on my shirt as a reference anyway! The shirt was a hit with everyone, naturally, as the Transformers symbol on my shirt actually lights up and it’s activated by sound (although after my friends told people this when we were going out I had some inebriated people yelling into my chest). I even had a customer offer me money for the shirt but it’s a rare find so I had to decline. The Canadian girls and I went out after I was finished work to a few bars on both nights and the costumes were interesting and funny. It was great to see some fun creativity although some took it a bit too far. Examples – we saw a group dressed up as the Ku Klux Klan and two girls dressed up as the Twin Towers with airplanes as props. There’s always a few each year who forget what’s appropriate and not so much.
What else? I’m moving into my new flat on Sunday (see pic below - blue door) and I’m very, very excited about that because as much as my stay at the hostel has been not unbearable and the staff (minus the scary Polish cleaning staff) are really nice. You know you have been there too long when everyone knows you and calls you on a first name basis but after Sunday, no more flat-mates that don’t understand the concept of whispering when you’re sleeping, crazy old ladies barging into your room at 2am and yelling at you for having your 'radio' on (ie. My laptop) and blaming you for the ‘poor living conditions’ (it’s the 9th best hostel in Ireland), not have to worry about the security of my things and my food and lastly – no more living out of my suitcase/backpack…sigh.
Other than that I have just been spending time with time with the Canadian girls. They all have jobs now and two of them might try to get second part-time jobs but luckily we are all now working and settling in well. I think they are more excited than me to move into my own flat because they are all renting rooms in different houses so apparently my place is going to be the ‘hub’ for our social gatherings, movie nights, Christmas dinner, etc. which I don’t mind because I always enjoy company and when living in Toronto I didn’t have many guests other than my bff Rimi (miss you!)
Well...I guess that's it for now and again, I do apologize for the delay again on the post but hopefully I can do weekly ones as I'm sure my adventures won't be as frequent in the future versus the past month. It's hard to believe that I've been here for one month now and I have a flat, a stable job and a great group of friends already. :) I am going to do some tours soon to Connemara, Cliffs of Moher and Aran Islands and, also, start taking some pics on my day off so stay tuned for those.
Talk soon my friends/family....xoxo
PS – thank goodness I usually come prepared with headphones and technology to keep me occupied. If I learned anything by living in Toronto and taking the public transit, always be sure that you have headphones and a fully-charged iPod to drown out the noise around you (aka. Intoxicated people, loud talkers on their cell phones, ‘not-all-there’ people, and in this case at the Immigration bureau, a very vocal and whiney toddler – even if I can’t understand the language he is speaking).
PPS - everything went well as I wrote this post while I was waiting in line but I ended up getting called into work for Thursday and a longer shift on Friday...sigh. So much for having two days off work.
Friday, October 22, 2010
A lot can happen in 7 days...
So I realize that I haven't really been a great blogger in the last 7 days as I haven't posted anything but the good news is that I have good news to post. :)
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.
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.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Uploaded photos..
Just a quick note to let you know that I've signed up for a Flickr account to easily upload and share my pics thus far. Here's the link if you want to check them out. I'm not the best photographer but I do my best....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/howtolovelifein730days/
Enjoy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/howtolovelifein730days/
Enjoy.
Tip #6 - Be proactive.
Well, I took the leap and left Dublin and made my way to beautiful Galway. It's about 2.5 hours west of Dublin on the west coast and I boarded the bus yesterday afternoon and arrived safe and sound. It's a popular destination for tourists and students and reminds me of a Irish-version of my Stratford...but it's a tad bigger in population - approx. 75,0000.
As many had informed me, Galway is a great place to reside in and work but, due to the fact that the economy is still rebuilding itself and it's mainly a summer tourist place, you have to be very open to any type of work and be very proactive in terms of going door-to-door to find work. So, being the determined person that I am, as soon as I checked into my hostel I was out the door within in 5 minutes going place to place handing out CV's. I focused on the pubs, cafes and restaurants first and then today and tomorrow I will focus on the retailers and even the hostels. Seeing I'm from a small town, being very friendly and personable are key personality attributes so even if places weren't hiring, I thanked them for their time and moved onto the next place. Some places even recommended other pubs or restaurants to go to that were hiring which I found very helpful. The pub district was quite confusing so I pretty much walked around in circles but there was literally a pub or cafe within an arms reach it seems. Overall I handed out all 20 CV's I had in my folder.
As I was on my way back to the hostel (once I figured out where I was) my phone rang and the owner of one of the pubs called and asked me to come back as he was out when I handed my CV to the bartender. Note to self: write down the names of the pubs in which you hand your CV out to because you don't sound smart when you don't know which pub they are referring. He was quite friendly and tried his best to give me directions back to where they were located. The funny thing about Irish people is that if something is more than 5 min walk away, they think its 'out of the way' but I assured him I could come back. After walking tracing my steps back to the area things were getting a bit more confusing. Luckily, an older man saw that I was lost and asked if I needed help and after trying to explain where I was to go, he believed the pub I needed to go to was right behind me. He then asked where I was from and why I was here and he was so happy to hear my story. He said one year ago he was in Canada and loved it because the people are much like the Irish. He hugged me goodbye and wished me all the best. :)
I met with the owner of Dail Pub (missing the accent on the 'a'), and we chatted a bit about my serving experience and my marketing experience. He was impressed with my resume and skills and told me I would fit in well at his place. He owned two pubs in the district and said he needed a server right away as one of the girls was moving to Australia on Sunday. He said every Canadian he has ever hired has been great and wanted me to start right away. :) So, I have to go back to the pub around dinnertime tonight and meet with the supervisor but the owner said that he'd pretty much just tell him to hire me. I'm trying not to put my eggs all in one basket but just hoping for the best. A few of the pubs were hiring in the area so we will see if I get any callbacks today.
I also just spoke with the owner of the hostel I'm staying at and they are looking for people at reception. He also said he may need some help with some marketing/promotions but it would be more project based and not full time until the busy season. All I can do is be proactive and hit the pavement everyday looking for work. Some haven't found any work because they wait for people to call them or just search for jobs online but if I've learned anything from the cut-throat world of marketing and living in a small town, you have to get out there and market yourself.
Other than that, I'm just walking around the city a lot, picked up a laptop charger (forgot it in Dublin...oops) and trying to meet as many people as possible. I spoke to a fellow Canadian who works at the front desk yesterday of the hostel who is also doing the same visa program as I am. He's leaving for Scotland next month as he's been here for 8 months already. He said it's actually harder for guys to find jobs than women before I started handing out CV's and when I told him about my interview after I got back he just laughed and shook his head because he tried for a month to find a bartender's position in Galway when he first moved here.
I'm really hoping something works out this week in terms of employment because I just want to get settled into a city soon and I'm praying that city is Galway because I already love it. It just feels like a bit of home to me but we will see what happens.
Tonight I might meet up with a flatmate of mine, Yuki (Japanese if you can't tell). We both had to move out of the room today as there are two large groups here this weekend (I could definitely hear them last night) and so I'm here for another, staying in a different hostel tomorrow night, and then back at this hostel for 7 more nights...like Yuki. I helped her out with her CV today as she's not completely fluent in English and has been here for 2 weeks looking for work but I don't think she's been very proactive. With my picky English writing skills I think we fixed up her CV pretty well.
Well I guess that's it for now. I might venture out soon and take some pictures and drop off a few more CV's. I think I might open a Flickr account to upload all my photos as I'm sure some back home would like to see the beautiful landscape of Ireland. I will have to go back to Dublin eventually to get my luggage that USIT is storing for me and get a residency card. Luckily, I can pop on the bus and do that all in one day likely. I guess I should have gotten a residency card when I was there but I didn't really know what my plans were going to be moving forward.
Until then...thanks for following along and hope everyone is doing well back home. xoxo
As many had informed me, Galway is a great place to reside in and work but, due to the fact that the economy is still rebuilding itself and it's mainly a summer tourist place, you have to be very open to any type of work and be very proactive in terms of going door-to-door to find work. So, being the determined person that I am, as soon as I checked into my hostel I was out the door within in 5 minutes going place to place handing out CV's. I focused on the pubs, cafes and restaurants first and then today and tomorrow I will focus on the retailers and even the hostels. Seeing I'm from a small town, being very friendly and personable are key personality attributes so even if places weren't hiring, I thanked them for their time and moved onto the next place. Some places even recommended other pubs or restaurants to go to that were hiring which I found very helpful. The pub district was quite confusing so I pretty much walked around in circles but there was literally a pub or cafe within an arms reach it seems. Overall I handed out all 20 CV's I had in my folder.
As I was on my way back to the hostel (once I figured out where I was) my phone rang and the owner of one of the pubs called and asked me to come back as he was out when I handed my CV to the bartender. Note to self: write down the names of the pubs in which you hand your CV out to because you don't sound smart when you don't know which pub they are referring. He was quite friendly and tried his best to give me directions back to where they were located. The funny thing about Irish people is that if something is more than 5 min walk away, they think its 'out of the way' but I assured him I could come back. After walking tracing my steps back to the area things were getting a bit more confusing. Luckily, an older man saw that I was lost and asked if I needed help and after trying to explain where I was to go, he believed the pub I needed to go to was right behind me. He then asked where I was from and why I was here and he was so happy to hear my story. He said one year ago he was in Canada and loved it because the people are much like the Irish. He hugged me goodbye and wished me all the best. :)
I met with the owner of Dail Pub (missing the accent on the 'a'), and we chatted a bit about my serving experience and my marketing experience. He was impressed with my resume and skills and told me I would fit in well at his place. He owned two pubs in the district and said he needed a server right away as one of the girls was moving to Australia on Sunday. He said every Canadian he has ever hired has been great and wanted me to start right away. :) So, I have to go back to the pub around dinnertime tonight and meet with the supervisor but the owner said that he'd pretty much just tell him to hire me. I'm trying not to put my eggs all in one basket but just hoping for the best. A few of the pubs were hiring in the area so we will see if I get any callbacks today.
I also just spoke with the owner of the hostel I'm staying at and they are looking for people at reception. He also said he may need some help with some marketing/promotions but it would be more project based and not full time until the busy season. All I can do is be proactive and hit the pavement everyday looking for work. Some haven't found any work because they wait for people to call them or just search for jobs online but if I've learned anything from the cut-throat world of marketing and living in a small town, you have to get out there and market yourself.
Other than that, I'm just walking around the city a lot, picked up a laptop charger (forgot it in Dublin...oops) and trying to meet as many people as possible. I spoke to a fellow Canadian who works at the front desk yesterday of the hostel who is also doing the same visa program as I am. He's leaving for Scotland next month as he's been here for 8 months already. He said it's actually harder for guys to find jobs than women before I started handing out CV's and when I told him about my interview after I got back he just laughed and shook his head because he tried for a month to find a bartender's position in Galway when he first moved here.
I'm really hoping something works out this week in terms of employment because I just want to get settled into a city soon and I'm praying that city is Galway because I already love it. It just feels like a bit of home to me but we will see what happens.
Tonight I might meet up with a flatmate of mine, Yuki (Japanese if you can't tell). We both had to move out of the room today as there are two large groups here this weekend (I could definitely hear them last night) and so I'm here for another, staying in a different hostel tomorrow night, and then back at this hostel for 7 more nights...like Yuki. I helped her out with her CV today as she's not completely fluent in English and has been here for 2 weeks looking for work but I don't think she's been very proactive. With my picky English writing skills I think we fixed up her CV pretty well.
Well I guess that's it for now. I might venture out soon and take some pictures and drop off a few more CV's. I think I might open a Flickr account to upload all my photos as I'm sure some back home would like to see the beautiful landscape of Ireland. I will have to go back to Dublin eventually to get my luggage that USIT is storing for me and get a residency card. Luckily, I can pop on the bus and do that all in one day likely. I guess I should have gotten a residency card when I was there but I didn't really know what my plans were going to be moving forward.
Until then...thanks for following along and hope everyone is doing well back home. xoxo
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