Archive for the 'Dublin' Category

Dublin Weather

Published on January 31, 2008 in Dublin and Ireland. 2 Comments

You might have heard of the Irish weather. The Irish themselves are complaining about it a lot. Which is funny enough, given that if they’re born here, they had a lifetime to get used to it… :)
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!

Babel on the Dublin Bus

Published on January 26, 2008 in Dublin. 1 Comment

irish_bus_stripe.jpgDublin is a very cosmopolite city. You don’t have to take my word for it. Just ride the 46A bus into town on a Saturday morning…

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.

4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days at the IFI

Published on January 11, 2008 in Dublin and Romania. 2 Comments

Film poster at the IFIThis week the IFI Cinema in Dublin is showing “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days“, a Cannes acclaimed film by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu.

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.

Irish Traditions - Stephen’s Day Horseraces

Published on December 26, 2007 in Dublin and Ireland. 1 Comment

Leopardstown RacecourseUnlike many expats who get so homesick during Christmas period that they fly home to mammy, we decided to spend this Christmas in Ireland, and fully immerse in the Irish ways during both Christmas day and St. Stephen’s day (25th and 26th of December).

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!

bookies.jpg race_horses.jpg leopardstown_horse.jpg

Irish Traditions - the 40 foot

Published on December 25, 2007 in Dublin and Ireland. 0 Comments

Irish Santa at the 40 foot On Christmas day, my girlfriend and I went to Dun Laoghaire, to witness what is apparently a very popular Irish tradition (perhaps a Dubliner’s tradition is more accurate). It was a gorgeous sunny day, around 6 degrees Celsius - which for Ireland its almost as cold as it gets! Irish men and women of all ages were steeling their health by jumping in the chilly Irish sea, at the place called 40 foot, just a bit south of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

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

Irish Time & Irish Post

Published on December 3, 2007 in Dublin and Ireland. 2 Comments

Dublin General Post OfficeIf you set foot in Ireland as anything more than a tourist, you will sooner or later (rather sooner) find out about one of the central elements in Irish life: the Post Office!

Everything happens because of the Post Office: from applying for the PPS and tax certificate, to applying for the University, receiving your bills, paying your bills (if you want to do it this way), receiving coupons from the grocery store, receiving spam from the super-market - the Post is omnipresent. These may all seem like normal things to people used to the Post being a common part of their lives. To me however, it sounded a bit strange in my early Dublin days that the words “It’ll come in the post” or “you can send it by post” came so casually in people’s everyday conversations. And then of course is the apparently unbreakable catch 22 of relocating to Ireland for the first time:

  • To rent an apartment, you need a bank account.
  • To get a bank account, you need proof of address.
  • To get proof of address you need a utility bill.
  • To get a utility bill, you need an apartment (and a bank account!) .

Of course, there are ways to get out of this circular logic - I won’t dive into them here, they’re part of the whole relocating “fun”. The main point is that what links all of these together, the underlying platform that provides the subtle cohesiveness is… you guessed it: the Post Office!

All communication with Government bodies, or institutions of any kind is done through the post. You can’t escape it. There is a slim chance that the Internet will help a bit, but guess how you’ll find out about your Internet bill… ;)
Anyway, I would have no problem with the post if it were not for a minor detail: time! You might know already that time is perceived differently in different cultures of the world. For the Irish, time is there o’plenty: No rush. It will come in the post. Give it 3 or 4 days for delivery. And so on.

I gave it. Sometimes 3 days, sometimes 3 weeks. It happens. This actually reminds me of an anecdote I read somewhere about the time in Ireland, which goes like this:

A Spanish backpacker winds up in a pub in Connemara (on the west coast of Ireland). Somehow the conversation leads to the gaelic language and yer man¹ asks one of the locals “How do you say mañana in Gaelic?”

“Oh, we don’t have a word for something describing such a rush around here…” came the answer :D

All jokes aside though, I think the Post office does a pretty good job overall (think of the HUGE volume of information these guys are shifting everyday - after all, they handle everything). And when you think that the General Post Office is the most central building in Dublin (ground zero right next to the more modern and recent landmark the Spire), one can begin to understand how it came to pass that the post is so omnipresent in Irish life.

¹ - “yer man” Irish slang for “that guy” ;)