Dublin – My Bittersweet Symphonie

Just got back from town with my co-worker Andreina and her husband Simon. We had such a great time drinking a beer at the Market Bar and then having Tapas and Sangria at Havana. That place where Havana is (all the way south from George Street) is amazing and full of NORMAL people (well as normal as they get around here ;-))! Well, I had to catch the latest bus back up north where I live unfortunately… The thing is, everytime I have a nice night out in Dublin I really think that I could have had an amazing time in this city had I just lived closer to the city centre. Yeah some days it’s smelly but you’ve got all the pubs and bars. Of course had I had a group of people that knew their way around here to go out with, too, probably would have made a huge difference. Dang. It’s days like that when I curse at my office for being so boring and never going out after work on the weekends (and we’re all around the same ages more or less). Everybody just lives in their own kind of bubble. Roommates aren’t better cause they’re working weird shifts. Just saw my one roommate go out with her sister and another girl when I got back but no invitation along. Bummer. Well, actually might be safer to stay in tonight. There’s a helicopter circling over head and a police car with 4 guardi stopped some drunk guys that were walking on the sidewalk in front of me on my way home and they got them the pet down. Yeah, looks like it’s just another night in the ghetto.

Anyways, the whole point of this entry is that I’m sure I could have befriended Dublin much more, had I been in a different area and had a group of people who could have taken me to all the cool places that only locals know off. Bummer. Makes me feel really bad or almost regret (though I couldn’t really have done it any different) how it all went and how I’m not a big fan of Dublin even though it does have its fun parts. But hey, it’s been hiding them from me pretty well.

Oh and to my defence, another typical Dublin story that comes back to mind, just as I start to feel bad about not liking the town that much: When I walked to the bus stop this evening to get to town there was this guy leaning over on the side walk and he was just puking like a mad man. Sooo nasty! And it was 7pm.
On the bus back to my borough this guy sits down next to me. At one point he takes out his cell phone and starts talking: “Ja hi, naja mir geht’s ganz gut nur langweilig ist mir. Die Stadt gefรคllt mir nicht so. Total dreckig hier und so” I was like huh?! Well he was still on the phone when I had to get off the bus otherwise I would have totally said something like “I know how you feel” in German to him. But I just made him get up so I could get out of the bench and then said “danke” and just smiled at him. Should have seen his face! ๐Ÿ˜€

Ah well, good night world!

Continue Reading

Elections

Election Poster in DublinFor the past few weeks there’ve been loads of posters on the streets showing heads of different Irish politicians. Obviously elections were coming up! From what I’ve seen, PR for the politicians is by far not as mad as in the US nor Germany. I think people were still more bummed about Liverpool losing that soccer (ok, football…) match than they were excited about the elections yesterday. I did actually see one cutie politician campaigning in a shopping centre and by his looks alone I would have voted for him but well I’m not Irish. ๐Ÿ˜‰ So girls, check him out.
Anyways, this article on yahoo was pretty interesting as it explained some of the backgrounds and the preliminary results of yesterday’s election:

Continue Reading

I Love Germany

Being back in Germany was so exciting! Everything was in this luscious spring green and the temperatures were much higher than in Ireland. Ok so when I landed in Frankfurt the clouds were hanging so low they were touching the trees in little cloudstrings and people don’t say sorry when they bump into you but they do try not to run you over unlike people on sidewalks here in Ireland. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Having made it to the central station in Frankfurt, my mouth almost dropped because lunch rolls/bagels etc. cost about half of what they are here. I hadn’t been able to get a reservation for the train seeing that it was a holiday and probably booked out months earlier but I was lucky enough to get a tiny seat even though coach 7 (the one without reservations) wasn’t there. I had a group of fathers on their way to Berlin for father’s day sitting around me and they happily offered to share their beer and sausages with me and we chatted all the way to my town. And they were German! Nice! That was actually the second time I got free beer on the train – seems like Germans aren’t as unfriendly as I always always make us out to be.
So I got home fine and on time(!) and I relaxed a bit at my parents’ house and then my step-dad and I visited my Grand-Ma who was in hospital (she’s fine and back home now). We came back and cooked a delicious dinner of porkroast, asparagus and potatoes. Yum!
Friday I took the train to Hanover for the wood working trade show Ligna. I met up with my friend and we walked around for a bit until he had to take care of some customers. So I explored a bit more myself, looked at some artsy things made from wood, had some lunch and watched timber sports. I definitely need to remember the Ligna fair as a great place to find guys, there were maybe 20 women in total that I saw (other than the hostesses of course). ๐Ÿ˜‰ Anyways, met up with my friend again and talked to a couple of his bosses and then we headed to Bad Nenndorf where their hotel was. Hung out for a bit and then went out to eat some weird Italian food for dinner. It was supposed to be Spaghetti Carbonara but was more like Spaghetti with half-raw eggs. The pizza was yummy though.
Saturday I slept in and then we headed to Hannover, checked my friend in his new hotel and then started looking for some breakfast/lunch at 2pm. Luckily there was an Alex right outside the hotel. We were too late for breakfast (wahh) but lunch was fine, too. We walked around the city for a bit but the stores were so hot and I was feeling kind of weak from the weatherchange and lack of sleep so we headed back quite soon. Hung out a bit more and then Massimo drove me home where we had a quick dinner and I gave him a tiny tour of my city. Had a cup of wine with my parents and then I just fell asleep like a stone. So tired!
Sunday I slept in a bit and then packed my bags and tried to sort through some of my things. I don’t know why, but every time I come back from a trip, my closet is still full. A pile of mail is also awaiting me and I don’t even know where I’m supposed to put all my things. Arg! I go through my clothes every time I come back from somewhere and still no space! I’m at a point where I don’t want to give away any more of my things because I’m only left with the ones I like. Ebay…. big bag full of Beany Babies, books, CDs,…
My Mom made a rhubarb cake for me (yay!) and we sat on the porch in 26C sunshine and ate it with whipped cream. Oh so nice! I just caught my train in time (they closed the Autobahn and the cars were blocking the city) and this time coach 7 was there and I got a seat all the way to Frankfurt. Got into the S-Bahn (commuter train) and some British guy sitting opposite of me asked me if it was the one to the airport. I said yeah and we chatted for a bit. So we get to the airport and he asks me to show him Terminal 2 and bla. Then he’s like can I give you my card and nice girl that I am I of course say yeah. Well, he doesn’t hand it over, he sticks it into the backpocket of my jeans. Yikes! Weirdo. Also very nice that it’s one of those free to print out cards and looks really weird. Well, ego boost nonetheless. ๐Ÿ˜‰
Made it back to Dublin and now I’m working working working. Seems like my to-do list is getting longer by the minute.
So overall, I had a lovely weekend and had a great time with my friend. We still get along super great even though he’s not the nice, good guy he used to be anymore. Talk about Americanization!

Continue Reading

San Interviews Me

A while ago, Sannie sent me these questions as most of you had some interviews going on. so here goes:

1. If there was one person -dead or alive- that you could choose to meet, who would that be?
Hmmm not sure. Maybe my aunt who passed away in 2005.
Oh and uhm yeah, Robbie Williams! ๐Ÿ˜‰

2. What is your best memory from highschool?
Ok so we’re looking for an event between the classes 9-13. At high school or also from my life while I was in high school? I really enjoyed the times my friends and I met up to work on our graduation magazine. We always met at my friend Marc’s place and had the best times working away. A lot of times we were really annoyed by my friend Jens who did so many funny yet super annoying things like taking photos while he was at the loo etc. Not sure why we didn’t kill him one of these days there. ๐Ÿ˜‰
The five of us still hang out regularly whenever we’re all in town and it’s great fun.

3. What do you like most about yourself, what the least?
Well there are a lot of things that I like about myself. I’m really proud that I’ve come a long way from being this shy little girl that cried so hard every time she was dropped at Kindergarten (daycare) and am now travelling the world (ok not the world but some places ;-)) all by myself.
What I like the least is that sometimes I have a really hard time to talk comfortably with people. I’d love to be someone who makes people feel at ease and can chitchat with them about everything and just have an auro around you that just draws people to you. Ah well. Oh yeah I also don’t like the size of my breasts at all!

4. Having lived in different places, do you consider yourself an “international person”?
Well not sure how you define international person. I am definitely German – something I always note when I’m abroad but I have picked up so many traits from other cultures American, Italian, Indian, and Irish people that make me less traditional German than most Germans are. So I guess, yes!

5. What do you miss most about the US?
My happiness. I was just so frickin’ happy most of the times I was there. My pittyful job fulfilled me, I love my way of living there, the weather, the pool, the shopping possibilities, the politeness, Charlotte, …

If you want to be interrogated by me:

1. Leave me a comment saying, โ€œInterview me.โ€
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your weblog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Continue Reading