Monumental moments in life...

So, apparently I'm not great at keeping new resolutions (ie. blogging each week) which is why I never really had a New Year's Resolution each year because of that. But I won't dwell on that and just keep on blogging!
Lots has happened in the last couple of weeks - two big things: my first St Patrick's Day experience in Ireland and I landed a new job. First off - St Paddy's Day. It was everything I expected and then some and my Irish friends were shocked that I lasted till the wee hours of the morning because most Irish people don't even last that long and I was up and ready to go by 10am. Carlee, Rachelle, Ashlie and I went to the Galway St Paddy's Parade and coming from a small town, I knew not to expect a lot of glitz and glamour but it was fun and I'm still glad I went...just wish I had a few extra layers on because when the sun went away, it got super chilly. The parade consisted of essentially lots of school marching bands, football (soccer) and hurling teams, displaying the different ethnicities and culture in Galway and some of the arts/music clubs too as Galway is a very musical/arts town compared to the rest of the country. Below are just a few pics.

 Just a display of how 'green' the town gets when leading up to St Paddy's Day - ie. a storefront window of a used book store.

Three Canadians excited for what St Paddy's Day will bring us in IRELAND. :)

 Irish Pride

 Hurling team

 Rugby team

 Galway Indian culture

 Shop St after the parade = insanity

 first pint of Guiness of St Paddy's Day

 and my first Guiness of the day

 Meeting up with friends - Nathan & Jonny

Post-St Paddy's Day Sun and friends @ Spanish Arch

After the parade the streets were mayhem so we quickly got through the crowd and went to a big pub just outside of Eyre Square and found a little side table as the pub was already packed. We stayed for a few pints and then went to visit Jonny as he was working till 8p at Sleepzone (hostel) that day as he just started at the job a few weeks ago. After our visit we stopped off at Le Supermacs for a fine dining experience (kidding - it's much like Mc D's) to make sure we had some food in our bellies for the next few hours. We then just hopped pub to pub and I met up with some of my coworkers from the Dail Bar (where I work) and then I called it a night just after 1am, got some more food and headed home. All in all it was a fantastic day, I would haven't changed a thing and I'm glad that I had the experience as it may never happen again - that is, in IRELAND. :)
Next piece of news, I have landed a new job as an Account Manager at a small event marketing agency. My new boss always owns a small recruiting company, hence how I found out about the position. We had been exchanging emails since the day I landed in Galway and he proposed sales positions at different companies to me but I kept declining because I'm a marketeer at heart. He soon realized that I wasn't going to change my mind, we met a couple times to go over in details what my skills and career experience was in Canada and he essentially created a role for me in his small company to design, organize, implement and manage all the event campaigns for his clients. It's hard to understand if you're not from Ireland but the three clients we have are pretty high-profile: Eircom (like Bell Canada), Vodafone (like Rogers) and Bord Gais (like Ontario Hydro). I won't bore you with details but I started my first two days in the office this week and everyone is really nice and I'm looking forward to having a 9a-5p job for the summer season. The only downside is that the office is located a 1/2 hr outside of Galway so for the time-being I will be taking the bus but it's not too bad as I tested it out yesterday. I just have to be at the bus station by 8am and it will drop me just outside of work and pick me up along the way too. It's a coach bus so there are no labeled stops so you just have to tell the driver where you want dropped off along the route and then flag them down when you're on the side of the road...haha. I feel like I'm back living grade school when I ran after my school bus out in the country but it's pretty good.

Other than that, not much is new. The weather has been pretty nice in the last week or so. Therefore on my days off, I sit down by the water basking in the sun and thinking of my friends back home in the cold and sending positive weather thoughts so it warms up there quickly...especially when I come back in just a few weeks for a longer visit. For anyone who wants to meetup, I'll be back in Ontario April 22 for almost 2 weeks. I will be celebrating my birthday once again with my BFF in Toronto at our annual 'Shimmy Bash' so look for details on Facebook soon. Unfortunately I won't have a phone number when in Canada but you can always reach me via Fbook and email.

Well, I must get back to work as I'm just on a quick lunch break from my shift at the bar. I worked at the office on my two days off this week as I'm still currently working at the Dail Bar. My official last day is next Saturday at the bar as my manager is away in New York next week so even though I gave my week's notice last Saturday (a week is only required in Ireland) I said I would work a couple shifts next week to help them out and my new boss was ok with that. It will be sad to leave the pub because I love everyone I work with and, even though I hate to admit it, it was a good workout with all those stairs! But, I will get to visit often as I'm back in the city by 6pm each day and I have weekends off! It was such a good experience for me in the last 6 months and I met so many people and looking forward to what the summer brings.

Miss you all and will write again soon!
xo

Jetlag Recovery, Waitress of the year and 'Green' Week

I'm trying to get better at blogging more because I know I've been pretty poor at it lately. I can't promise much excitement in my posts as, between work and my days off to relax, I don't have many exciting events in my life. My goal is to do a lot of fun things in the summer and 'love life' so for right now, I'm just going to work a lot and save up more for my 'summer of loving life' piggy bank.

Currently it's just about 3am on Monday evening and I'm about to turn in for the night. Seems crazy that I'm up late but this is quite the norm for me as I don't have a 9-5 job anymore and I don't have to work till 1230p tomorrow. I'm still adjusting back to Ireland time which is not fun because I've felt like a zombie in the last few days or so at work. Losing 5 hours in time difference is not fun and even though I only spent 7 days in Canada, re-adjusting myself back to Ireland time is a slow process. Luckily, my manager was nice enough to grant me my requested days off this week and then some. I had originally booked off March 17th and 18th (hm....I wonder why?) and then after he saw that I was struggling with recovering with catching up to the time zone differences, he granted me an additional day off...March 19th. Which is PERFECT because the final match for the Six Nations Rugby is on that day - Ireland vs England. If you don't keep up with world rugby - the Six Nations is like the FIFA Cup or the Stanley Cup Playoffs for rugby...and a VERY big deal here. I was working at the pub this past Saturday when Ireland was up against Wales and the place was beyond packed and I almost lost my cool a few times. Not like me...I know but with a combination of a packed house, trying to weave in throughout people who are glued to the screen (and their pints) with hot plates of food or full trays of drinks and they don't budge even when you say 'Excuse me!' gets a little annoying...to say the least. That being said, as of this Wednesday I will have put in 65 hours of work in 7 days since my return from Canada. That's 30 extra hours than I usually put into a regular work week but I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel - or the pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow as the Irish would put it. In my case, it would be the pint of Guiness at the end of my shift on Wednesday. I'm supposed to be done by 5p on Wednesday which allows me a few hours to rest up before I start up the pre-Paddy's Day festivities (yes, us Canadians are going to start Wednesday night - it's the Canadian/Irish way I would like to think!).

So, my days off start on Thursday (17th) but I don't think I'll be sleeping in much because I want to get a hearty breakfast, hit the St. Paddy's Day Parade here (which starts at 1230p) and then try to hit a few pubs. I've been asking all week to my fellow Galwegians/coworkers the best places to go and what to do on the big day and they just said - hit up the pubs and find a seat and stay there because I believe by afternoon every place is packed till the wee hours of the morning. I'm hoping it's a nice sunny day but like a typical Irish person, I do expect the unexpected with the weather here. I've heard it will be nice, heard it will rain (shocker) but some are saying it might snow (no thank you!). But, either way, I don't think anything will rain on my parade (no pun intended) in terms of the fact that I will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day IN Ireland - a definite 'check' on my bucket list. :)

I guess that's about it for now...I don't know if I'll be posting again till after St Paddy's day (or whenever I recover) but I hope to have some fun pics to post and I have some pics still to post from when I was back in Ontario.

Until then, I wish everyone a safe and Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Duit from Galway, Ireland and a speedy post-Paddy's Day recovery. G'night!

While in transit...

NOTE: Apologies for the delayed post of below. I'm still catching up from jet lag and working 45 hours within 5 days doesn't leave much time to do much other than sleep/eat....if even. 

Monday, March 7th, 2011

So, I'm sitting in O'Hare Airport, Chicago waiting to connect to my flight to Dublin, Ireland. Unfortunately, the US is not as giving as Canadians and Irish people are when it comes to free Wifi access so I'm typing this up now and will post it later when I have access to wifi. It might not get posted till I get back to Galway but at least I am recording something now. Things I have discovered in Chicago airport thus far - like Heathrow, you have to take transit to get to your connecting terminal (luckily I have a few hours in between flight and they have a train that takes you from terminal to terminal, not a very delayed shuttle bus), eat before you go through security as there's NOTHING on the other side where the gates are, 95% of all the people working in Chicago are NOT nice to people (with the exception of the older security guard that chatted me up while I waited for my carry-on items to get scanned). It was disheartening to see how rude people are to each other here because I try not to have this negative perception of what all Americans are like because I don't like to judge or assume everyone is the same but unfortunately, through my travels in the last 6 months and the Americans that come into the pub I work at, most are not very pleasant. It's like they've been living a life where everything goes wrong in their lives and are annoyed when anyone talks to them. I will still continue to treat each person, no matter what their background is, with a positive attitude but this is what I've seen thus far. I should mention that the guys working at the fast-food place here in the Chicago Airport food court were quite pleasant…maybe a bit too friendly with their 'what can I get for you? you have beautiful eyes by-the-way.' or 'anything for you gorgeous'….a little much but better than an insult or rudeness! 

My trip back home was quick, as expected, but very enjoyable. It was so great to spend time with my family and friends and I thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to visit with me on such short notice. I didn't expect everyone to drop everything when I came home because I knew it was a surprise and I didn't give anyone the head's up but I do really appreciate the time spent together! Thanks to all my friends that came out for drinks last Thursday/Friday and I hope everyone had a great time - I know I did. Thank you to my parents for always spoiling me with the use of your vehicle so I could visit with others, your constant love and care and hosting the big famjam on Saturday - it was naturally a good feast prepared by all. I forgot how much fun Kelsey and I have on our playdates and I should have rested up better for it as she always seems to keep me on my toes. Thank you to my bff for always setting fun dates up for me/drinks with friends, being my shuttle to and from the airport and just for being you. I know that today was sad but before you know it, I'll be back for another visit and I'm really looking forward to you visiting me again and doing a bit of a tour around Europe with me. :) For those who I couldn't see, hopefully I will visit with you on my next visit. Nothing is definite but I'm hopefully looking to return back to Canada in just 6 weeks for a longer visit. I know, it sounds crazy but it's the best timing at this time of year because I can't really book much time off during the summer to come home as it's the busy season in Galway and I know that some of my family and friends are planning on visiting me in Ireland during the summer as it's the nicest time of year to visit. 

I think did everything on my list of 'things to do' when I was back home:

- had a lot of sushi (check)

- had a lot of Starbucks and Timmy Ho's coffee (check)

- ate Ken's French Fries (check)

- spent money on things I don't need with money I don't have - ie. Lulu's (check)

- caught up with friends in T-dot over pints (check)

- danced up a storm with friends and my shimmy'n partner (check)

- had a fun bff day (check - obvs)

- spent some quality time with my dad, mom, sis and the pup (check)

- picked up some Canadian snacks to bring back (check)

- spent time with my family over some country homecooking (check)

- playdate with Kelsey (check check)

- had Boar's Head wings/Cdn beer with Coopaloop (check)

- got my Rock Band fix (check)

- spent time with my G-ma and got a history lesson on our Irish/Scottish family (check)

I guess that's about it for now. Am I looking forward to going back to my life in Galway? Yes, but obviously leaving home again is not always a happy experience for me either. Knowing that I'll be visiting again soon and then people will be hopefully visiting me not too long from now either makes the trip back to Galway now a bit easier than the first time. Hopefully there will be no flight issues between now and when I land in Dublin and again with my 3-hr bus ride back to Galway. I'm sure I'll be back on the schedule at work for Wednesday and I'm even more sure that getting used to the time change will not be much fun either. Hopefully my manager will be nice and still give me St. Paddy's Day off (and the following day for recovery). My argument to him is that I will likely only live in Ireland once in my life and if I don't celebrate St. Paddy's day while I'm here - Irish-style - I'll never be able to forgive myself. He said 'Well, what about me? Shouldn't I get the day off?' and I of course said, 'um….you ARE Irish and have lived here your WHOLE life. That is the difference.' So - fingers crossed! 

Well, I guess I should go through security again and get to my gate. Going to let this traditional American meal (chilli cheese fries and Philly Steak sandwich) somewhat digest before I pop some Gravol into my system for this 8-hr flight….sigh. Sorry, Mom my options are kinda limited in terms of healthy things to eat in an American airport food court - but thanks for pumping me full of veggies and fruit before I left! 

I will try to blog again when I land but I imagine this will be posted once I get back in Galway due to lack of free Wifi access between now and then. Again, thanks to all my Canadian friends and family for the great visit. I will miss you all and I'll try to get back soon again for a longer visit. Until then…love life! 

Surprise, I'm in Canadia!

First off - deepest apologies for the lack of blogging lately. To be honest, I haven't posted much because not much has happened in the last month or so. I worked a lot of hours at the pub because I'm trying to make a dent in my Visa and because the two full-time servers resigned, I was the most 'senior' server they had...which is hard to believe. I guess Ireland has its' share of job turnovers just like Canada. It's hard to believe now that I've been in Ireland for almost 5 months now but like everyone says, 'time flies when you're having fun!'.
Now the biggest update - I decided to surprise everyone and come to Canada for a quick and jam-packed visit! Yes, the only person that knew was the bff (Rimi) as she's the only person who DOESN'T like surprises and also would be upset if I took a taxi from the airport. So, thank you Rimi for keeping it a secret (for the most part) for over a month. I know you were bursting at the seams everyday!
I took the 345am bus from Galway to Dublin early Sunday morning as my flight departed at 9am to Heathrow (ugh, I know) and then with the past experience I had with Heathrow on my way to Ireland last October, I rushed from my plane to my connecting flight with 10 min to spare (almost 2 hour layover to note). So, by the time I got to Toronto I was exhausted to say the least but also very excited to be home (with the exception of the frigid temperatures) as I hadn't slept since Friday evening because I didn't see the point of going to bed Saturday night if I had to take the 345am bus.
Naturally, Rimi was waiting with a big 'love bug' sign and jumping with joy and said she had been waiting for over an hour...doesn't surprise me and I love her for that.
So, after 1.5 drive back to Harrington the moment had finally arrived to surprise my family. It's been tough not telling my Mom and family/friends about it as I hadn't seen them in almost 5 months...especially when hearing how they couldn't wait to see me in April when I originally planned to come home (and still am planning to do another visit in April too!). It was funny seeing their expressions. I luckily had learned that my sis and bro-in-law would be over at Mom/Dad's for dinner as they are leaving this Friday for their 3-week adventure to Costa Rica (jealous!) so it was perfect timing. I told Mom that I would be 'calling' from Galway so they said they were waiting by the phone but I decided to take it one step further. :)
When I walked up the stairs, they still had not realized that Rimi's car was in the driveway and when I knocked on the door I just saw Mom stare at me in awe and kept saying "It's Shannon? It's Shannon!"and then my sister was frozen behind the counter cutting fruit saying "Shannon! Shannon's home!"...ha. Mom literally stood there with her jaw dropped for over a minute when I finally opened the door because I realized she was frozen in her stance to not open the door. After that there was lots of hugging and laughing and more hugging and it was a great moment after all these months. Rimi, being the great friend she is, took some pics with her phone and see them below. :)

So, it's been a whirlwind of a week thus far and I'm just about half way through it all. It's been funny seeing people's reactions in town that are confused when they see me when I should be in Ireland. It's definitely difficult fitting visits in with everyone but I think, being the planner I am, I have organized a way to fit in a small visit with everyone. Luckily, I will be back in the end of April for a longer visit and the annual "Shimmy Bash". I've realized how much I miss things like sushi (ok, it's not Cdn but we don't have it in Galway!), driving (I miss you Trix), my pup/fam/friends, Boars Head wings/Cdn beer (tonight's dinner), and TV. I've been watching Food Network Canada, Canada AM and anything NOT Irish as, I'm sorry my Irish friends, Irish TV sucks and I'm glad I didn't invest in cable at our apartment. Oh - and Jonny, just for you I've been watching TSN and lots of hockey to get mine and your fill.
I guess that's about it for now. Going to go see Gramma again today to show her some of my pics and then more visits with friends and family. Down to Tdot tomorrow for some drinks/dancing and bff time (BFF-Friday) and then back to Stratford on the weekend for more family/friend time. I knew this week would fly by but I wish it would slow down just a tad...ah well.

Will try to post another update before I depart back to Ireland but we'll see...

Starting a new year off...

When thinking of what to put as the title of this entry, I realized that it's a rare thing to say in my life that I've ever started a new year off in a foreign country. I guess I should be proud of myself and I am in my own way but if any of you know me well, I don't usually give myself credit for anything big or small...I guess that's the humbleness that my family has instilled in me which I am very gracious for.
I, once again, apologize for the delay in an update. It was a very hectic past month with working many hours at the restaurant, preparing for a Canadian Christmas at our flat and then spending as much time as possible with Rimi (best friend extraordinaire) while she visited for a week. From my previous entry, you can check out the pictures I took while on a tour with Rimi and then a quick little trip to Dublin the day before she flew back to Canada :(. We went on the Cliffs of Moher tour which was fascinating, no matter the winds and cold temperatures. The sites were breathtaking and I finally felt like a tourist again and can now say that I've seen more than just Galway, bits of Dublin and the Dublin airport.
I also experienced my first real dose of homesickness, which has not been most enjoyable but I knew it was going to happen sooner than later. It didn't really hit me till I got on the bus back to Galway after saying my goodbyes to Rimi but it definitely hit me like a ton of bricks. It was a very rough day with the lack of sleep, combined with feeling of sadness that my 'bff holiday' flew by in seconds (or so how it felt) and going back to my life in Galway where things are still unfamiliar and I'm still getting used to everything. I had to work that day so luckily I was the 'runner' (aka. the person that just delivers all the food orders to customers and doesn't wait on tables) so I didn't have to force a smile or pleasant conversation with customers because if there's one thing I don't like being, it's fake. So, I just kept to myself and did the work and prayed for the day to go by quickly so I could go home. My coworkers could tell, even the cooks in the kitchen, that I wasn't in the best of moods that day so they did their best to cheer me up and I even got a few hugs along the way when I told them I was just dealing with being homesick. I guess I've just been so busy with setting up my life here and working that I didn't have the time to feel sad or think about all the people I miss back home. I guess it's hard to explain unless you're in the situation yourself but each day gets a bit better and it helps me learn more about myself because everyday is a new experience, especially when living away from home. I have a great support system here with my Canadian girls and Jonny and also back home with Rimi, my family and friends. All I can do is keep pushing forward and focus on being happy and live life to the fullest. Luckily, that's the main attitude people in Ireland have - young and old - they always just want to love life and live life.
Other than that, not much is new. It's very slow around town now after the holidays, much like Canada usually is, because people are recovering financially and/or physically from the holidays. Therefore, all the businesses are not doing so well and the restaurants have been very quiet. A few restaurants and bars have had to close in the last week due to lack of revenue or debt unfortunately, so many are out of jobs but those who are doing well are looking for more staff which is a good sign too. Our restaurant did really well over the holidays but like I said, it's been very quiet now after the New Year but it's expected to pick up after January or so. I'm going take advantage of this quiet time and cut back in hours and since I have my first full weekend off since I started at the pub, I and am planning on doing a weekend trip to Connemara. No details yet but if I go I'll try to post pics as soon as I have time after the weekend.

That's it for now I believe. I've been working for 7 days straight now (open to close -11am-10p) so I must head to bed. I have a later start tomorrow and Friday which is nice but like most Landreths, we love our sleep. :)

Until then, I miss you all and think of you very often. xoxo

Shimmy'n in Ireland

Here is the link to the latest photo album that includes photos from Rimi's visit in Ireland over the Christmas holidays. We went on a tour to the Cliffs of Moher and also went to Dublin the day before she departed and went to the National Leprechaun Museum (yes, it does exist). Enjoy!

Tip #9 - Technology. Use it.

Merry Christmas! Nolaig Shona! (Gaelic)
Apologies for the delay in my weekly posts, but as you likely all can understand, December is always a very busy time of year for anyone. The pub I work at has lost a couple of full-time servers - ironically, they both are traveling to Canada to work and do the same thing as myself - love life. That being said, I've been working pretty much 6 days per week and it's pretty exhausting. The weekly paycheque has been nice for Christmas presents for those back home and also to start saving up some funds for some upcoming tours/trips.
I'm trying to think what has all happened since my last post, other than working. We had our staff Christmas party and it was fun to hang out with my coworkers outside of our busy pub and get to know people a bit more. I also managed to injure myself slipping on the icy streets here and sprained my ankle and knee so after a week or so now, my legs and knees are a nice black/blue/yellow collage. They are slowly but surely healing and I had to take a few days off of work because I would have been pretty much useless to them seeing I could barely walk and definitely could not do stairs - which are quite common at our pub.
Other than that, I just did some xmas shopping for the fam back home, spent some time with the girls/Jonny and getting prepared for Christmas. We hosted the Cdn girls and Rachelle's cousin that's visiting for Christmas yesterday. Made my first ever turkey and it turned out great. (pic of before and after below).

I also made butternut squash, stuffing, gravy, cauliflower/cheese sauce all from scratch and, well,  attempted mashed potatoes. Now, I have made mashed potatoes with no fail at least 20 times in my life (I have many witnesses) but when I went to check on them as they were boiling, they literally had evaporated into potato BROTH. We concluded that we got a bad bag of potatoes even though they looked completely normal. When I told my family about this later - the average comment was, "Isn't Ireland known for their tasty potatoes?" and yes - this is true but I guess not in my case on Christmas day. Either way - we didn't really miss them because we had so much food as the girls brought CHEESE (lots of it), salads, and desserts. We also did a fun little Secret Santa exchange and listened to lots of Christmas music. Even though we were all deep down somewhat sad that we weren't with our families back home, being together seemed to bring our spirits up and we made the most of the day.

 Some of the feast - lots of leftovers. :)

 Our Canadian-Galwegian guests

So my tip for the day is, if possible when traveling...try to take advantage of what the great world of technology has to offer. In that I mean - the world wide web, Skype, Facebook, email, etc. If it wasn't for Skype, email and my great international phone plan that I have now with my new iPhone 4 (product placement inserted here...haha), keeping in touch with my family and friends would be so difficult, especially yesterday when I wished that teleporting was a REAL thing. I skyped with my aunt/uncle/cousin and of course my family and even my precious pup - Chelsea. Maybe she can't talk but just seeing her with her reindeer antlers and covered in her traditional xmas ribbons made my heart smile. Yes, technology can be frustrating and some do misuse it more than less it seems these days but I definitely would have a hard time living without it. I'm also thankful that my mom is 'in the know' with all the gadgets and such. For example, with her new laptop, she was able to bring me along to the Landreth Christmas so I could even skype with my Grandma - a first for her and she loved it...and so did I!
I do agree that sometimes receiving cards and letters in the mail is still a great feeling (thank you everyone that sent me some and I'm sorry that I'm so slow with sending mine out) but on an everyday basis, it's great to see emails from my Mom (everyday - thanks momma!!), my family, my friends and such in my inbox or messages on Facebook or comments on my photos because I feel like I can share my experiences with you all back home. It's hard to think how life was before the web and the digital world.
Anyway - that's my tip for the day and my update. I hope to have another update next week but if I don't have the chance, I wish you all a happy and safe New Years! Here's a few more pics from the last month.

Snowing in Galway

 Xmas Eve at our flat

 Merry Christmas :)

 Sunny Xmas day looking out our Balcony

 Deformed kneecap (right) and colourful legs - one week post incident.

Miss you all so much....xo