And what’s even better, I even have a lot to write about. First things first: my excuse for letting my blog go rusty is that in the meanwhile I was working on two other full blown websites: JCI Dublin and my very own!

I joined Junior Chamber International Dublin back in December, and started to get deeply involved in January and February. I found it while looking for some management and self-improvement trainings. There are quite a few companies that provide that in Ireland, however at steep prices, tailored for corporations rather than individuals. Maybe my company will sponsor that kind of training for me one day. Until then, JCI proved to be a perfect match, and love at first sight: their motto is “Learning by Doing!” and their purpose as a nonprofit organization is “to contribute to the advancement of the global community by providing the opportunity for young people to develop the leadership skills, social responsibility, entrepreneurship and fellowship necessary to create positive change”. Long quote, but hey – I think it’s worth mentioning it, as I fully agree with that.

I have a feeling I’ll be blogging about JCI some more in weeks to come :)

Other things that kept me busy were Philip Pullman’s trilogy “His Dark Materials”. An excellent book, that kept getting more and more interesting as I read on, practically devouring my way through the 1000 pages monolith. The book is a wonderful example of modern magic realism, touching on issues ranging from religion to biology, archeology, physics and metaphysics, all wonderfully wrapped around the architecture of a bildungsroman.

In the beginning of February I went to Scotland to take part in two events organized by the Glasgow and Edinburgh JCI chapters respectively. While waiting in the airport on the way back, and browsing through a library, my eyes caught sight of Intelligent Life, the lifestyle magazine edited by The Economist. Since I am a great fan of the Economist, I bought the magazine, and the first thing I read was the cover story on Pullman’s book and how it came to be. I had heard of the book before, and my interest was already raised, so from there to actually getting the book it was just a small step :) I saw the movie adaptation of the first volume as well – special effects aside, it was disappointing.

I also saw a movie called Juno this month, the story of an unwanted pregnancy, with a funny twist, a far cry from the bleak “4,3,2″ story, which I was blogging about a while ago. The main plot in both movies is very similar (a young girl is faced with an unwanted pregnancy), but they are set in two different eras and in two different worlds, thus with completely different outcomes.

And that was my February, in a lot of words actually, but still fewer than what it would take to tell the whole story.

Anyway, getting back to the point, I thought I should preserve something for posterity here (me and hundreds of other people who experienced it :D ).

South Dublin, last weekend: birds chirping in the sky, sun shining, spring flowers blooming on the fields, children playing in the grass, an ideal 20 degrees temperature. Only thing missing was Snow White and the seven dwarfs… And this is January.

South Dublin, today: snowstorms, rain, winds of what felt like 80km/h (literally pushing the unlucky few pedestrians), wet, cloudy, apocalyptic nightmare. Then a brief patch of sun. Then again winds, hale, rain, snow, winds… And this is still January.

Now I know that global warming has something to do with all this. I also know that most Irish people told me Ireland was always famous for having 4 seasons in one day. Oh, sweet continental climate, how I miss you… :)

And if you were wondering why I talked only about south Dublin above, the answer is simple: because I was there, and could see it with my own eyes. 5km away could have been a completely different weather, from all I know!

Choose the middle back seat on the lower floor of the double decker, sit back and listen.

Chances are that a scenario very similar to the following will occur: On your right, two chinese girls are chirping away. On your left, a Polish guy is talking on the phone to his girlfriend. A couple of blonde German backpackers is checking a map two seats in front. A brazilian guy on the left seat facing backwards just answered his phone, and is talking to what sounds like his manager with a very strong accent. An Irish teenager stops a second from listening to her iPod, and her eyes grow bigger at the multitude of different languages spoken around her. As the bus reaches your stop, you head for the exit, passing by a family of Indians. Oh, and you are Romanian :D

The 46A is the busiest bus route in Dublin, or Ireland for that matter, according to Wikipedia. It crosses the entire southside of the Dublin Area, starting in Dun Laoghaire, and ending in the City Centre, just a bit on the Northside, in Mountjoy Square. Being such a long and busy route, it’s no surprise that it provides for such a fine example of Dublin’s multiculturality.

That is not to say that the 46A always has this kind of people distribution. It would be probably interesting to conduct a full research on this – and I think the bus drivers would have a lot to tell. However, based on my personal observations alone, there are certain times of certain days, when the population on the bus has a high proportion of foreigners, be it immigrants or tourists. And it’s not the same as in the case of London, Paris or New York, as these are really huge cities, which traditionally have had a lot of foreigners. Dublin is relatively small for a capital, and it therefore feels more cosy, in a way like a big village – where everybody knows everybody :) I like Dublin, and I like the Dublin bus (probably also because I don’t neet to travel that much on it ;) ) And being a foreigner myself, I can say I understand why Dublin was voted friendliest European city in 2007.

I saw the film myself, and while I liked it a lot, I can definitely say it is not for the faint hearted.

Not sure as well how much of the underlying drama can most westerners understand, as the whole movie is basically a snapshot of the life and drama of two student girls in the 1987 Romania, under communist rule. For the person unfamiliar with the Romanian background at the time, the movie will simply seem Kafkian and bleak, the atmosphere crowded, and some of the actions of the characters – insane or impossible to understand. The film does not give any explanation of the social background in those dark days, it has a story to tell, and the director does not want to draw a conclusion, leaving it to the viewer. However, no scene in the film is useless, everything is there for a reason. I think for a person who never experienced life under communism, the film might lose a lot of its value.

Some things – off the top of my head that I think one should know about before watching the movie:

- abortion (and contraception) were illegal in communist Romania – due to the grand plan of Ceasescu to increase the population

- good coffee, and foreign cigarettes were very hard to find, only available on the black market, and usually sold by foreigners living in the country, who were allowed to buy from certain shops that only sold goods in foreign currency, dedicated for tourists or foreign people. That explains the fact that Otilia (one of the main characters) is buying Assos cigarettes from a Palestinian student living in the same hostel (you can see the palestinian flag on the wall behind him in his room).

- because of the scarcity of these items (good coffee and cigarettes), they were commonly used as presents, ways to soften the mood of people you needed help from (bribes, to be blunt).

- communism tried to eliminate class distinctions. This led to opposite reactions from the people, who instead put a lot of emphasis on their social status (When Otilia goes to visit her boyfriend’s family, the host introduces all the guests to her, carefully mentioning the “title” of each – professor, doctor, and so on).

- sexual education was taboo and matters of sexuality were seldomly discussed, and using only carefully chosen, euphemistic language. This can be seen in the conversation between Otilia and her boyfriend, while in his room at his parents’ house.

I will stop here, hoping that the above was at least a bit useful for potential western viewers. Any comments or suggestions are welcome. If you have not seen the film, and are more a Cannes kind of person, than a Hollywood blockbuster type, go see it – I highly recommend it. This is a link to the trailer, if interested.

Unfortunately, my Cyprus experience is over for more than a year now. Since I did not have a blog back then, the thoughts of a fresh Cyprus expat are lost forever. Same for the thoughts of a fresh Ireland expat (as I only started this blog after spending about a year here already).

Still, it’s never too late for memories. Cyprus is a great little island, with friendly climate and people. They speak Greek over there, but English is the second official language, and the place is a favourite among British and Irish tourists alike. I had a great time over there, and my most fond memories are related to the weather, which is at the extreme opposite of Irish weather (it’s sunny 9 months a year over there…)

Cyprus has a few similarities to Ireland, from the most obvious (they’re both islands!) to the British connection (they both were once under British rule, and have English as one of the official languages spoken). They both also have “trouble up north”, albeit Ireland’s troubles are over for a while now. The northern part of Cyprus is under Turkish occupancy since 1974. The flag of the Republic of Cyprus is showing the full island, a strong sign that they are not going to recognize the turkish side any time soon. Time will tell, but I think it will be interesting to see how the issue will be solved politically, especially since Turkey wants to join the EU, of which Cyprus is already a member.

I was living in Limassol, on the greek side of the island – probably the most southern city in the EU. The current header photo of this blog is actually taken on a remote beach on the north side of the island. We visited the “turkish side” with a group of friends in August 2006, and slept on the beach, one of the most pleasant experiences I had. The thing I remember best is that the moon was full, and it was shining so strong, that it felt as if the light was on in your bedroom. However, since there was no other light around, one could clearly see the Milky Way in all its glory! Such a beautiful sight, too bad that due to light pollution in cities, few modern people get to see it at all in their lives.

Cyprus is more mountaneous than Ireland, the highest peak being Mount Olympus at 1953m (highest in Ireland is Carrauntoohil at 1038m). On new year’s day in 2006, I took the following picture from the top of one of the hills near Limassol:

I was celebrating New Year in Vienna, going up the Kahlenberg, taking the attached photo, and one day later experiencing my first Segway ride :)

Happy New Year!

And thus it came to pass that on the 26th at 12:30 we were among a large crowd at the Leopardstown Racecourse, trying to make sense of the whole betting frenzy, the bookies’ cries for odds and favourites, the weird names of horses (like Is He Serious, Shoulder To Shoulder, Minestrone Soup, Indian Spring and so on…)

The atmosphere was indeed festive and electric, especially during the last minute of each race – when the horseracing commentator would continuously raise the tone of his voice, building up the tension in the already tensioned crowd. I suppose we could not truly get into the feeling of the race, since we did not place any bets. This was unfortunate, but I’ve seen to many movies with bookies that come after you to break your legs if you don’t pay up! However, horseracing is definitely something to try again!

Even Santa seemed happy to take part in the event! (or was it just a guy hired by a newspaper? ;) )

Anyway, everybody seemed to enjoy the day, bystanders and participants alike. We did not have our bathing suits or towels with us, nor did we feel like dipping in one of the most radioactive seas in the world – we nevertheless admired those who did! I must say the name 40 foot is a bit misleading, I was actually expecting a 40 feet high rock (about 12 meters), when in fact the jump was more like 2, maximum 3 meters. Still, an unusual Christmas activity, which I’m glad I took the time to experience look at :D

Well… my Simpsons version anyway. Fun stuff to try:

1. go to http://simpsonizeme.com/

2. upload a mugshot of yours (or a friend’s)

3. get Simpsonized!

Being a great fan of Simpsons myself, I could not resist the temptation. Had a few good laughs as well :)

The image analysis they do is pretty basic. I noticed that the photo is always rotated to make the face perfectly vertical (or otherwise put, a line connecting the two eyes would be parallel to the bottom margin of the photo :D ) . Does not seem like they analyze anything more than the symmetries of the face (forehead, nose, eyes), so don’t expect miracles. However, you can set your gender, age, clothing style, hear style before the rendering of the “simpsonized” version, and can fine tune the details after the rendition.

I am in no way affiliated to the site, other than being a Simpsons fan myself. The site also promotes Burgerking, which I am not a fan of.