The Gift of Gab

Terribly sorry for the late update. I don't have Internet at my new place yet, so I have to lug my incredibly heavy netbook to random cafes with access if I want to be online. It's generally not so bad going, but climbing the hill back up to the house is certainly enough to make me question the necessity for Internet access. Either way, things have been pretty fantastic this week (minus the job search).

I did find a place to live. The house is pretty old and not very big, but it's newly renovated, so it's clean and has a washer and dryer. Maybe shouldn't be the highlight of the house, but it is when you've had to wait three days for your jeans to dry because it rained on them after you hung them outside. My roommate's name is Dave and he's 28. I only understand him about a 1/4 of the time because he's got a thick Cork accent and talks like he's on speed. He's bloody hilarious though and such a nice a guy. He's rarely there because he stays with his girlfriend a lot. There's a 40ish Finnish guy moving in on Sunday, so we'll see how that goes. I'm sure it'll be fine (once I have Internet and can hide in my room if I have to). I may be calling home for a winter coat right away though...to lounge around the house in. Gets a bit drafty in there. Brr.

I stayed at a hostel when I got to Cork on Monday, and I managed to make a couple new friends. I overheard some girls talking about Canada, so I started chatting with them. They're from Toronto, but one of the girls, Tanisha, has been living in Edinburgh for the last five years. Somewhere to stay when I get there perhaps? I think so.

They had met a couple Irish guys who ended up driving us to the Blarney Castle the next day. I was pretty excited because I've been wanting to go kiss the Blarney Stone but really wasn't keen on going alone. The castle was pretty neat, but going up the "stairs" to get to the top of it was an experience in itself. One of the guys had been leading the way and conveniently stepped into a little room so I could be the first to go. He apparently didn't like the narrowing spiral staircase either. Of course, I had to show them how Alberta girls do it.

Tanisha and Jess left Tuesday night after we got back from Blarney, on their way to Barcelona. Yes, I was a bit jealous. Mostly because it's cold and rainy here. As per usual, I guess. I settled into my new place late Tuesday night rather than staying at the hostel again. It was so nice to be able to have a clean, hot shower in my own place. I went job searching yesterday and managed to have a few good chats with some of the managers. Hopefully by next week I will have at least a part time job. I'm not expecting much this week because of Good Friday and Easter Monday. I guess we'll see.

Not having a job has been good for my new "exercise regime" though--pretty much just walking anywhere I need to go. There are hills galore here, so it's been fun just exploring different parts of the city. Dave's girlfriend was telling me about a really beautiful Loch near the house, so I'll be going to check that out tonight or tomorrow. Gotta keep myself busy somehow, otherwise I'll have nothing to update you on.

I'm going to post my pictures from the castle here because I think it will be easier to just look at them all together. Enjoy!