My Dublin Life

Today it's like the seasons are battling in the sky over Dublin for supremacy. One minute, it's all big, black clouds and threatening to rain, and then the sun bursts through and everything is bathed in yellow sunlight. You can tell that warmer weather is around the corner and while I quite like winters, it's good to know that soon I'll be able to put away my heavy coat.

But the scary thing is that spring also means that I do need to start thinking about what to do next and, honestly, I don't feel ready to leave. That means either getting a job or starting a PhD or, perhaps, both. And should that be here, or somewhere else? There are so many reasons to stay. I've hardly seen the rest of the country. I really feel positive about my new relationship, and I've had some interesting ideas for research. Plus, although as a student I'm fairly protected from the wider world and all its problems, I do know it's not the easiest time in the world to find work. All of that is making me think that maybe I'll try to stay on and do some postgraduate work, and hopefully find a way to make a few bucks, even if it is by waiting tables. At least, as long as I have this blog, I'll get a few free tickets to things!!!

So yesterday, feeling thoughtful, I took a walk about. Near the Jervis Centre, they seem to be getting things ready for the Chinese New Year Festival this weekend. That put me in an Asian frame of mind so I went to a Filipino place I've often thought about going into, because it always seems to be full of Filipinos, and I think that's a good sign. It's called Cafe Manila and they have an all-you-can-eat deal at lunch time. I picked up a paperback in the discount book store on the same street and went on my own. How much did I eat? You don't want to know. I'd never had Filipino food before, but it's pretty good.

I'd bought a book but I didn't read. I really thought hard about things and then, out of nowhere, I had a really great idea for a research topic: Exploring links between Irish folklore and nineteenth century Gothic literature in Ireland. I mean, for instance, Bram Stoker's Dracula was set in London and elsewhere-not-Ireland, but he was Irish, right? Who knows where he found his inspiration. Last night I was at Saoirse's place, and her Mom suggested that I get in touch with an organisation called the ICA -- The Irish Countrywomen's Association. She said it's the sort of grassroots organisation that would help me do my own fieldwork easily. Sounding out the idea, I rang them up. I'm usually pretty awkward on the phone but I lucked out and got talking to a friendly lady who invited me to meet her for lunch at a place called Rolys. I've looked it up. It seems lovely, but out of my bracket, especially as I am taking my Boyfriend out Saturday for Valentine's. So it'll be a glass of water and the cheapest side salad for me. But how nice of her to not only meet me but spare her lunch time, and just because there's a small possibility that I might want to contact the members of her organisation. Really.

Am I getting excited about the weekend? Absolutely. And not just because of the Hallmark-greeting-card festival; I also haven't seen my Boyfriend that much the last couple of weeks, coz he's been so busy. I'm just really looking forward to a long evening with him over a bottle (or two) of the sort of wine I can't usually afford.

February in Dublin, and flowers are everywhere. Firstly, the real thing in the form of snowdrops and crocuses and early cherry blossom is beginning to appear in the parks, months before spring appears back home. Sure, the days are still often grey and it's not yet time to take off the winter coat, but these little flowers are so pretty in the wet winter lawns, it's almost enough to make this goth girl want to change out of her black clothes and into something a bit more summery. And that's not all. Because Valentine's Day is coming up, the stores and street vendors have gone all-out with window displays and shows of flowers and, know what? I know it's hokey and commercial and what-have-you, but who cares...it's pretty, even if you don't buy anything, it's good to see the city looking so bright and it's a welcome reminder that winter is nearly over. So there.

While we're on the topic of Valentine's Day, I've decided what to do. I'm going to take Himself (this is how the Irish refer to someone's Significant Other) out to Fallon and Byrnes Wine Bar, not on the 14th, when everything will be crazy, but on the 13th. It's great there. I can afford it (once in a while) and it somehow manages to feel both very Irish and sort of Left Bank Paris-ish all at the same time. Last time I went it was with a bunch of people from college, as a sort of informal continuation of a tutorial session. We drank a bottle of wine, solved the problems of the nineteenth-century-literature universe and hungrily watched other people eating. At the table on the left, a girl with bright pink hair and a leopard-print dress was having a mild argument with her boyfriend (didn't seem too serious) and on the right, two grey-haired ladies were planning a holiday. I love places that are for everyone.

So that's what I'm planning. Wonder what he'll do for me????

I mentioned it before, but Dublin Tourism asked me to point out again that the Chinese New Year is going to be celebrated here in a big way. I love Chinese food so I'm hoping that it's going to involve dim sum being distributed for free on Dublin's streets (although I should mention that I haven't heard that anything of the sort is happening). I do know that there are going to be street markets and concerts and all sorts of events around the city.

Just found out this weekend on a wander about the city that there are often concerts and things in Dublin Castle. I've never been, but I like the idea of a show in the castle!! Sounds fancy. :-)

Ireland won in the rugby this weekend against Italy, so things are predictably gloomy back home with Bepe, my room mate although everyone says that everyone knew what was going to happen in that match beforehand. He spend Sunday slouched miserably on the coach in a tracksuit, groaning. A sort of horrible mixture between disappointment and the associated hangover. Did I feel sorry for him? Well, not much. Just a little. I made him soup, but he didn't eat it. It's not clear if that's because the soup was a tad burned, or because of the heartache. But it's the thought that counts, right?

I thought we'd seen the last of Fabia, Bepe's on/girlfriend and then I come home last night and what do I find? Fabia! All 35 kilos of her. She's come over for the Rugby match!! I mean, come on, does the girl even like rubgy? Not that I care, but I've heard that Ireland is a sure thing for winning, so maybe the idea is that she's come over to console him? Match is on Saturday; I don't know how long she's staying. But once again our tiny bathroom is full of her lingerie, which needs to be handwashed, and drip-dried.

I raised my brows meaningfully at Bepe when she left the room at one stage last night, and he whispered that they are not back together it's just "a thing" so whatever that means...

Sure am glad I have a Boyfriend now; at least I can go out every evenng she's here, or at least the evenings he's not with his daughter.

So it's February in Dublin and of course the average visitor is thinking of...what? St.Bridget's day? Saint Valentine? The first dusting of snowdrops and crocuses in the city's parks? Well, sure. All of the above. But also, I've found out Chinese New Year! Obviously! Well, there are Chinese people all over the world, and Dublin is no exception. In the neighbourhood where I live, there are some fantastic Chinese supermarkets and just around the corner, the cutest family: Irish Mom, Chinese Dad and a pretty little girl with long jet-black hair, dark eyes and those resilient Irish freckles.

As Dublin is the sort of place where everyone jumps on the slightest excuse to have a party or go to the pub, Chinese New Year has joined the roster of festivals. As a lot of it is going to be taking place near my apartment, I'm in.

Well...I should get back to work. I want to finish early today. I've invited a few people over to my apartment for dinner (yes, it's crowded enough at the moment, but the only way I can deal with Fabia is to retaliate and bump up the numbers of not-annoying people around me) and as cooking is a major hassle for me, I need a lot of time to sort it out. No idea what to make. There's a butcher on Moore Street who sells pigs heads which, OK, look kind of disgusting but I've read are traditional and as I'm not a vegetarian, seems picky to eat one bit and not another of an animal. No idea how to cook one though.

I had a great weekend. After saving my cents every day this week, I managed to get to a couple of ticketed events at the Traditional Music Festival in Temple Bar. They were great, don't get me wrong, but what surprised me was that the highlights, at least for me, were the free events. Sunday afternoon, there was Ceili dancing on in Meeting House Square. The band was called the Kilfenora Ceili Band and they rocked. I grew up with quite a lot of similar music around me but these guys were among the best I've heard. Well, they started, and you could see everyone WANTING to dance but being shy to start. Then a young guy and a young girl did some free style Irish dancing. "Shan Nose" I think they called it. I don't know what that means.

Here's the funny thing. I think a lot of people don't realise how sexy Irish dancing can be. The guy was a skinny, fairly ordinary nice looking man maybe in his early 20s. I mean, he looked fine, but you wouldn't necessarily notice him on the street. Then he started to dance and suddenly he was all you could see. The girl danced second and then they danced together. She was gorgeous. Wish I could dance like her. Wish I looked like her. Heck, I wish I was her.

Anyway, after a while everyone was dancing and although I have two left feet, I even dragged my Boyfriend up to try.

Something you gotta love about the Dubliners is that they like their outdoors festivals, all year round. It's like they're saying: "OK, so it's northern Europe and it's cold, but we're not gonna let that stop us having a good time." After the Ceili on my way to a hot whiskey, I passed a Punch and Judy show with live music and a children's playground.

Back home, I am living in a sea of green, white and red. Why? you ask. Well, the Ireland v. Italy rugby match is coming up and I live with one of the biggest rugby fans from Italy, apparently. Bepe has tickets.

Nightmare. I'm expecting to come every night this week to a teeny-tiny living room crammed to the rafters with over-excited Italian boys discussing the match. And it hasn't even happened yet. I can't imagine how bad it's going to be if they win. Or lose.

It's February. That means Valentine's Day. I've always been one of those lame people who says she hates Valentine's Day while secretly hoping that someone will do somethind wildly romantic for her. You know the type.

Hilarious and rather Gothic Valentine factoid: Dublin is actually home to some of the body parts of the original St Valentine!!! Too cool. Check it out.

What I'm thinking though is that maybe it's time I was a liberated gal and organised something for my man, instead of waiting for him to thrill me...you know? But I don't want to be hokey, and I can't spend a lot of money.

Last of all, something odd and unexpected: My Uncle Joey is moving to Ireland. Not Dublin, for which I am slightly grateful. I love him and all, but...

No, he is moving to stay with his buddy in Wexford. He says the fishing industry may have its problems in Ireland but it's sure as heck better than back home. But the oddest thing of all was that I think he's actually moving IN with his buddy. As in, going all Brokeback Moutain on us.

Maybe I am jumping to conclusions and putting two and two together and getting five, but it all came to me in a flash. And you know, he never did get along with that ex-wife.

I don't think I've ever waited so long for the weekend. It hasn't been a bad week, but it's been one that seemed to go on and on, especially because I've been saving so's to go out as much as possible.

I've got tickets to this. Now sold out! I've heard that they're great. I love the bodhran. There's something really primeval about the sound; it gets into your bones and makes you feel wild and excited. I don't know how long people have been playing bodhrans, but there's something very elemental about them and it's easy to imagine wild-eyed celts beating out rhythms through the millenia!

OK, getting carried away!

That was the only paid event I could really afford, but there seem too be lots of free things on too.

Als, I found out that there will be a festival of Russian culture, music etc. on soon, which sounds like fun. There are quite a few Russian-slash-east-european stores around the city, and I have, ahem, sampled their wares. OK, mostly vodka, beer and wine from Georgia. But still. Doing my bit to support gastronomic diversity in this fair city. And then, after that, the Film Festival. Colin Farrell is going to be there!!!




The funny thing is, I've had so many "wait a minute, is that Colin Farrell?" moments since moving to Dublin. But I don't know whether I've ever actually really seen him. That guy is just so Irish looking. A good example of Irish male pulchritude of course (work of the week) but not an unusual one! In fact, my Boyfriend looks a bit similar, but with longer hair. And more handsome.

I'm getting really very psyched about the upcoming traditional music festival in Temple Bar this weekend. My friend Saoirse was laughing at me about it. Everyone's a critic. But really. Dubliners don't realise how lucky they are. It's January. It would be so easy to just sit back and wait until Spring but no: a festival featuring lots of OUTDOORS events as well as indoors ones. There's a parade. My Boyfriend is taking his little daughter along. Apparently her Mom has said "no girlfriends allowed" so I won't be meeting him until later, when she's gona back home. But I will still see the parade. And I'll go listen to all the jigs and reels. I really wish I was more musical. This girl seriously can't carry a tune. I've been saving really hard so's to have enough money to got out all weekend long: so much so that I can now conclude I've put away more than enough and can actually afford to go out for breakfast, which I'm gonna do now. I've been in college for an hour and a half and it's chilly so a big cooked breakfast is what I have in mind. I've texted my buddy and she's going to meet me at Cornucopia, which is one of my new favourites on the grounds that as it's all super-healthy and vegetarian, I can basically eat as much as I like and it doesn't count. Right? Agreed?

Still waiting to hear from Uncle Joey. He told me he had "big news" but has remained ominously silent ever since. I'm guessing he's gotten back with his wife. Let's hope so.

On Mondays, I usually write about the weekend just gone. But this week, it's really all about next weekend.

Next weekend sees Dublin's Traditional Music Festival. Something I love here is that traditional music is cool, and people see no disconnect at all between loving traditional music and also loving goth, or metal, or electronic, or...whatever. In fact, a lot of musicians seem to play in different genres. The result is that trad is young. As in, there are older players, of course, but it's not like it's FOR older players coz you can be 18 or 23 and tattooed and pierced and whatever and still whip our your bodhran or your fiddle and get down to it. It also means that while some of the traditional music is centuries old, it's also new; they are still making new stuff all the time. I love it. The music is great where I'm from too but, honestly, I don't think the Irish realise how lucky they are to live in a country where the traditional music just goes right on evolving alongside the culture and where it wouldn't strike anyone as weird to see a Doom Patrol CD on the shelf beside "20 Best Irish Reels" or something.

Anyway, because I want to go to town in the Trad Fest, I kept a low profile this weekend and spent as little money as possible. Plus, my Boyfriend's Dad is going to be playing with his band somewhere next weekend (not sure if it's part of the Trad Festival or an unrelated trad gig) and I think that we might finally meet. I'm hoping it'll go better than with his Mom.

So this weekend, all I did was have a Nice Meal In (OK, fish and chips from Beshoffs, not my usual home-made soup) with my Boyfriend on Friday and a movie Saturday. Up in the Air at Cineworld. Nice, but melancholy. Made a note to myself to be sure to settle down with someone by the time I'm 33 at the oldest. Would not like to be old and alone like George Clooney's character. Doesn't look pretty.

Got the strangest note from Uncle Joey. He's back home now. He said he had a great time and "Dublin and Ireland gave me a lot to think about." With all the drinking that went on, I don't know how thinking got much of a look-in!