Irish for the Year

Yesterday, I had to register with the Garda [police] at the immigration bureau. They took my photo and fingerprinted the index finger of each hand. It took me about three hours... so boring! Luckily I had my iPod and was reading a bit of the paper. Apparently the cost of living is higher in Dublin than London! Can you imagine? But, I'm having a great time and wouldn't change it for the world. On the other hand, I don't think I'll ever get over having to pay about 8 euro for a barcardi + diet coke. Mind you, they give you the little glass bottles of coke, so you can make that last 2 or 3 drinks... depending on how strong you like it. ;)

Anyway, I took the LUAS [Dublin's tram system] on my way home from the garda yesterday, and a Spanish guy asked me how to get to the Guinness Brewery. I was so happy I could actually give someone directions! hahah. I told him what stop to get off at, and then he asked for more directions from there. Rather than explaining it, I told him I could walk him most of the way since I live about a minute away. On our short walk, I discovered he's looking for a new flat because his flatmates are boring. I suggested he come look at our flat 'cause one of my flatmates is leaving ASAP. So I showed him the flat, introduced him to one of my flatmates, and he really liked it. So he called me and said he'd like to make the deposit on the flat! So funny how things like that work out. All of us had put ads on the internet, and Harry [the one who's moving out] puts ads up in Trinity College, stores, etc.

So, we have a new flatmate moving in tomorrow! His name is Pedro, he's 26 and from Spain. He seems nice. Like so many other Europeans from non-English countries, he moved here to learn English. Which is really weird because even I have a hard time understanding Irish people. So he's happy that I live here and that I'm a native English speaker, so I can help him. It's funny to be helping people with English words... Just the other day I taught Renata the words "fancy" and "auction".

Tonight I'm going over to Jess' and Holly's place, then going out. Our plans keep getting skewed so we'll see...

No more news on the job front, really. A lady called me from another temp agency... she saw my CV online. So I'm meeting with her tomorrow at 3. Hopefully one of these agencies will hook me up with a job and soon!

Still no snow yet, but I guess you guys in Ottawa have enough for both of us, eh?! One of my flatmates saw white stuff on the ground and he was so excited because he thought it was snow. A lady looked at him with disgust and said "that's SALT". Hhahah, poor Junior, he was so embarassed.

Oh, I also found my new favourite store that I can't afford. I'm thinking maybe applying to work there part-time. It's called TopShop and is very popular here and in the UK. So this is definitely going to be a place where I'll spend a good chunk of my pay..!