Dublin: The story so far

Tomorrow it will be 7 weeks since I left Sydney. Time has flown by unbelievably fast. I am slowly starting to feel like I actually live here, rather than feeling as though I am on a prolonged visit, though I miss Sydney terribly. I am still not completely settled, given that I STILL don't have the shipping of all my stuff which I sent via sea, but on the flip side I have started to be able to confidently navigate my way through the Dublin streets, and hope to settle in to some sort of routine soon - now that I am done with my training at work and all the Jewish holidays of this time of year are done with.

So then, it is time for an update, isn't it?

What can I say, it has been an adjustment. The two toughest things on me have been the weather, which hasn't been TOO rainy so far, but it is certainly windy and chilly, which I don't deal with awfully well. This has not come as a surprise, as I did know what I was getting myself into, but nevertheless the cold is a struggle which I am learning to deal with. On a plus side, in preparation for what is already shaping up to be a chilly winter, if autumn is anything to go by, I acquired these pair of gloves today to keep me warm:

Why yes, those ARE teddy bear gloves. If you know me, it will come as no surprise to you at all that I am a total sucker for this kitschy childish stuff, and naturally had to own these. 

The second thing which has been tough is not having the network I am used to. Living in Australia was tough at times, in the absence of family nearby, but over time I built an amazing network of friends whom I love dearly and miss terribly. It is always a bit of a bummer when instead of living your life to its fullest, you find yourself having to explain injokes and funny moments in your past, and have to launch into a description not only of the moments that made you smile, but the people too, who they are and what they mean to you, because everything is foreign, and so am I. For example, a couple of weeks ago, on a typical Friday afternoon at work, come 5pm I wondered downstairs with my workmates to the regular Friday arvo drinks, with a live band playing cover songs for our entertainment. At some point, the band played "do you come from a land down under." I was immediately reminded of last December, in Mumbai, with 20 fellow Aussies and our Indian buddies at a pub when this song came on and we all went mental with excitement and faux patriotism, so much so that at the end of the night, the DJ played the song again just for us, and was met with no less enthusiasm the second time. Irrespective of this moment, which brings back fond memories, any Aussie hearing this song while abroad, I imagine, would probably get quite excited/proud. At my work though, it is a mixture of mainly Europeans of all nationalities, a sprinkling of Middle Easterners, and the odd Americans or Asians. I haven't met any Aussies here, certainly not at work. So not only were there no familiar faces, but no random Aussies either, to share in my enthusiasm when I heard the song. Noone cared but me. Stupid, trivial, inconsequential? Yes, but it's the little things that often make the biggest difference. 

Don't get me wrong though. Things are good. Work is going well so far. I finished my training about a week and a half ago. The day we finished, my team had a team outing to a place by the water, just out of Dublin, called Howth. We went out on a fishing boat for about an hour and a half, ate cheese and drank wine, enjoyed the sunset and even saw seal/s!!!!! Look how freakin' cute the seal was:

We then had a lovely dinner at a seafood restaurant before making our way back into Dublin. It was a great way to get to know some of my teammates a bit better, and do something different. I find Dublin to be a bit small as far as cities go, so it was nice to venture out. I mean, there are suburbs, and it extends further than the average expat ventures within the city boundaries, but I mean more in the conceptual sense, rather than in a literal sense. 

To give you more of an idea what I mean, let me explain. For one, aside from when going to the airport, I have yet to have caught a taxi anywhere I've wanted to go which has cost me more than 10 Euro. Secondly, Dublin has much more of a mono-culture as opposed to multicultural Sydney, all (and other things) contributing to the feeling of smallness, which I am just unaccustomed to.

As such, I have made it a mission once every 4-6 weeks to take advantage of the proximity to continental Europe and venture out of Dublin to explore on weekends. The first such trip was made last Saturday when I jetted off to Paris. Paris was a mere 24 hour trip, but I am very very glad I made it. The purpose of the trip was to visit a friend from Australia who was there at the time. We spent a lovely day, despite it raining more than Dublin was on that day, seeing the main sights: The Champs Elysees , Arc De Triomphe and le Tour Eiffel. Yes, there is more to see in Paris than these, but I have visited Paris before and seen many of its other sights, have no fear. Revisiting the Eiffel Tower was particularly breathtaking as we did so at night. The tower was lit up and it was just stunning. Aside from catching up with my friend, which was great, the only other plan of the day was to eat well, and a lot. I can confirm that this goal was carried out successfully. Unlike Dublin (sorry Dublin..) finding a good place to indulge in anything from a good coffee or baked good, to a nice meal accompanied with a great glass of wine, is as easy is walking into virtually any place you encounter in Paris. It was a great treat. For a taste of the beauty of the Eiffel Tower, and my 24 hours of eating decadence, check out these photos which I took: 

Pain Au Chocolát, et Macaron Pistaché

Next on my list of places to visit: Copenhagen (November) and UK (December), where I am excited to be attending Limmud this year. And those are just the trips already booked. Also on the short term travel list are Barcelona and Berlin, but not confirmed as yet :) 

On the topic of Limmud, I am excited to go not only because I have previously immensely enjoyed its offshoot, Limmud Oz, nor because I am meeting a good friend there (though both are exciting and compelling reasons in their own right). The third reason is a craving for Jewish life since I arrived in Dublin. Before leaving Sydney I joked that I needed to maximise on Jew events as much as possible, knowing I would not get the same in Dublin. Of course, I was right. Funnily, I live in Portobello, which is actually the historical centre of Jewish life in Dublin, unbeknown to me when I decided to live here. There is even a (semi) kosher bakery, the only one in Dublin, just up the road from me, which has been here for over a 100 years. The Irish Jewish museum is also only just around the corner. In saying that, whatever Jewish life once existed in Portobello now exists in the history books only. There is still a community here, in another area, mostly centred around Dublin 6. There are two functional Synagogues, and from what I've seen the community is pretty tight knit. The Jews of Ireland are said to number around 2000 all up. From what I understand, the active number, in Dublin, is far less. 

The Chagim (Jewish holidays, for the non-Jews reading), therefore were an interesting experience. Spending holidays without my family has always been tough. Over the last few years though, I have been lucky to spend the holidays with some varied and interesting people, and some very dear friends. For Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) this year, myself and other Israelis at my company had a joint meal together at work. It was very nice and festive, though I didn't really know anyone as I'd only been in the company for 2 weeks. For Yom Kippur I took a day off work and during the day I went to the Orthodox Synagogue. There I met a bunch of young people around my age, which was nice. After the fast ended we went out for drinks and I met a bunch more people, that was also great. So there is -some- Jewish life, but definitely not the diversity of offerings you get in Sydney. No chance of getting "Jewed Out" in Dublin, that's for sure. I have met some nice people though, and several who are also craving a bit more of what they are used to from elsewhere by way of more Jewish cultural stuff, so you never know, maybe our own thing can grow from that - if anyone will do it, anyone who knows me probably thinks/knows I'll get on it, so we'll see....

So what else is there....Dublin is "interesting", let's put it that way. Irish people are definitely one of the nicest I've met in the world, I still stand by that. The longer I'm here though, the more I come to the conclusion that years of mocking hipsters and yuppies in Sydney, and having existed in that environment, I've become a pseudo hipster/yuppie hybrid myself. I am definitely always on the lookout for a good coffee place (they are scarce), that also serves good/unique/vegan/exotic cafe food and beverages (haven't found anywhere that quite hits the spot yet). I have found a few places that serve chai lattes fortunately, one which is even quite up to my standards (Place is called "Grub" on Georges St, for anyone who may be interested). The chai place even has a whole ethical/fair trade/organic/recycling thing going on which hits the spot for my inner do-gooder/closet hippie persona so that was a nice find. No cafe favourites as yet though. Also, having massive Max Brenner and other chocolate cafe withdrawals here. 

In terms of what I have adopted from Sydney's Inner West alternative dress sense, I definitely haven't seen a similar scene here. I am also yet to discover some good markets for second hand shopping - a new favourite activity I picked up in Australia thanks to a good friend over there. On that, the dress sense here is..... "unique", let's just say. I am baffled at the amount of girls here in ridiculously high stilettos on any given night out. It's all they sell in stores too. For a tall girl like me it doesn't leave many options. Not to mention most girls can't even walk in them and end up looking like they are walking on stilts, in my humble opinion. Given the weather here, and the fact this is still a rather conservative Catholic country, many of the dresses you see girls wearing in clubs is..... (running out of polite descriptions here...) well, astonishing. It doesn't leave much room for imagination let's just say. Sometimes I feel like I dress like a nun in comparison....hmmm....

To sum up though, I'm having a great time all in all. I'm trying to maximise my time, setting up a routine the way I want to. I've signed up for Arabic classes. I hope to start gym and yoga soon. Constantly planning my travel plans on weekends. Always looking out for good concerts in town - they are so much cheaper over here! I went to the Scissor Sisters concert the other week - that was fab. I've been going to the theatre a lot too, that is something I love about Dublin, as it is renowned for its literary greats. Last week I bought a copy of Ulysses for only 3 Euro - bargain! So far in the theatre I have seen "A woman of no importance" by Oscar Wilde, "The picture of Dorian Gray", also by Oscar Wilde (it was FANTASTIC), next week I am seeing "The Judas Kiss" ABOUT Oscar Wilde (do you see a pattern developing?), and in November I will be going to see a stage production of Ulysses by James Joyce. And to top it all off: I found out "The Book of Mormon" is coming to London next year, and there is no way I am going to miss it. So lots of exciting things on the culture front.

Anyways, that's a pretty solid update I think. I wish this post was more sharp, or witty, or philosophical rather than just descriptive, but I'm too tired and it's taken me a while to get motivated to write this, so it is what it is.

Much love to all. Over and Out.