Newsflash: LAURA ATE AT McDONALDS ... by choice! We went there after work one day last week because we wanted some good fountain coke & lots of it. We figured that McDonalds would actually have free refills on their drinks since it's an American restaurant. After I downed my value meal coke in 2 seconds, I went up to the counter to request a refill. The Irish guy behind the counter gave me a look before I even asked him. He said "McDonalds in Ireland don't do refills." When I asked him why not, he said that they just don't. I told him that I like the way they do things in America better. I don't know why Europeans are so stingy with coke, napkins & other condiments. It seems like everywhere we go we have to pry an extra pack of ketchup out of the employee's hands... Y'all don't even want to hear about me trying to get a little extra malt vinegar for my fish & chips in Howth. I thought I was going to be knifed.
Anyway, after working 50 something hours last week at the restaurant, we were ready for a fun weekend. We went to Howth & Dun Laoghaire. Howth is North of Dublin & Dun Laoghaire is South. Both towns are on the sea & offered great pier walks, scenic views & good food. Click here to check out the pictures. Many locals said that it was one of the nicest days they have seen all year. That night when we got back to Dublin city center, we decided to stop by the arm pit of the city, "Temple Bar" to get some dessert & people watch. Temple Bar is not one bar, but a historic area in the city which is a number of pubs, restaurants & shops lining a cobblestone street. It gets very wild at night. The streets are crowded with drunks of all shapes, sizes, colors, etc... It is also a popular place for stag & hen (bachelor/bachelorette) parties (see pictures).
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Chapati Grill
We have finished the first week of work at Chapati Grill. It has been a long, overwhelming and stressful week and we are so glad it is the weekend. Next week shouldn't be so bad now that we are trained. Our duties as managers include doing the banking every morning, making sure the restaurant is set out right every morning, order products, run the registers, make sure all the employees are doing their job and basically make sure the restaurant is running smoothly. By the beginning of November they will open their tapas bar and we will be managing that one too. Things might get crazy:) We think we are going to enjoy our job. We will definitely never be bored.
It is 9:45pm here right now. We are listening to the bulldogs right now on our computer. We were downtown today looking all over for a place to watch it but we couldn't find anywhere that had the channel it was on. We went to the TGIFridays here and they didn't even have it on. We thought surely an American restaurant would have American channels on their T.V's. We were sadly disappointed.
Michael and I woke up this morning craving some kind of American food. Wings, burgers anything. Which is unusual because I don't usually eat many burgers. We went to a restaurant today with Aunt Helena and her son Richard (pronounce Rishard) that supposedly has the best wings. Michael's cousin Cian goes to this place once a week to get wings. We thought we would try it out. It was called the Elephant & Castle. It was delicious and hit the spot. Tomorrow we are going to Pizza Hut for lunch. It is funny how you crave these things.
Michael and I woke up this morning craving some kind of American food. Wings, burgers anything. Which is unusual because I don't usually eat many burgers. We went to a restaurant today with Aunt Helena and her son Richard (pronounce Rishard) that supposedly has the best wings. Michael's cousin Cian goes to this place once a week to get wings. We thought we would try it out. It was called the Elephant & Castle. It was delicious and hit the spot. Tomorrow we are going to Pizza Hut for lunch. It is funny how you crave these things.
Well, I guess that is about it. Hopefully Michael will start writing these blogs for your entertainment. He is a funnier blogger than me. Go Dawgs!!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I am too Tired to Think of a Title
So, we have two full days under our belt at work. It has been very overwhelming. We are coming into this restaurant trying to learn everything about every position so we can manage all those people working those positions. We will be working along side them also, especially during the busy lunch hour. We have been exhausted coming home. Our hours right now are Monday-Friday 9-6, which is pretty much what we are use to working back home. But working in this restaurant has been exhausting. Once we hire some more staff and have things running smooth we will help with the other two new tapas restaurants in marketing and managing those. The first one of those should be open in November. If any of you Americans want to come over and work, we have a job for you. They only like to hire Americans because they say they are the best workers and their sales go up when they have the Americans working. This is coming from the director who is Irish. We have a few other nationalites working there and they are pretty good, but for the most part they like hiring the Americans. We are going to be hitting some of the colleges hoping to find some American students here wanting to work.
We have found some really cheap flights to Italy in October on Ryanair. It would be 40euro altogether including taxes, fees everything for us to fly to Italy and back. Our bosses at the restaurant told us to give them a heads up and we can go traveling. Hopefully we will be able to book this flight. If anyone wants to fly to Ireland and then to Italy for really cheap, come on over. We would love to see some familiar faces!!
We have found some really cheap flights to Italy in October on Ryanair. It would be 40euro altogether including taxes, fees everything for us to fly to Italy and back. Our bosses at the restaurant told us to give them a heads up and we can go traveling. Hopefully we will be able to book this flight. If anyone wants to fly to Ireland and then to Italy for really cheap, come on over. We would love to see some familiar faces!!
Monday, September 8, 2008
New Pictures
Here is the link to the album on facebook. I added more pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2421049&l=1d74a&id=4901999
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2421049&l=1d74a&id=4901999
Sunday, September 7, 2008
"Working 9-5..."
Well, we both have jobs! At first I just had a job at St. Vincent's University Hospital working in the psychiatry office as a secretary. They called me on Friday about this job and asked me to start on Monday. But now I am quitting that job before I start it. One of Tadhg's American friends owns a Chipotle Grill over here and is opening two new tapas bars in November. He wants us to work as managers and help with the marketing for the new restaurants. He also wants to look into buying Viking appliances for his new restaurants from me. We are meeting with one of his directors tomorrow to go over the kitchen plans and to discusss our jobs in further detail. This all happened today. The great thing about the St. Vincent's job is that they told me that if I didn't like the job I could quit and there would be no problem. I am just quitting before I start. We are in complete amazement of how the Lord has completely taken care of us. We are very excited about these jobs.
The weather was beautiful today. This has not been the norm, though. We have not had very good weather here. All the locals have said it has been the worst weather they have seen in years. The other day Michael and I were going into town and it was pouring outside. We had our rain jackets on and our umbrella's in hand. By the time we had walked to the bus stop (which is only about two minutes away) our pant legs were soaking wet. We couldn't help but laugh. I wish we had taken a picture. We were quite the sight to see.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Pictures
Here is a link to pictures on Facebook for all of you who aren't on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2421049&l=1d74a&id=4901999
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2421049&l=1d74a&id=4901999
The First Few Days...
I told everyone not to worry... that they would not have to read long blogs about everything we're up to. I'm sorry about this one in advance. I promise to take more pictures next time.
The first weekend was good. It is definitely colder here than Athens. Laura is always cold...and it's only the beginning of September. Poor young lassie doesn't have the thick Irish blood like me.
We got back to Tadhg's house in Dublin Sunday night and started the job search process Monday morning. We now have all the proper documents to work here. I am slightly jealous of Laura's cool work permit card that lets her stay here for up to 5 years (don't worry Donna, we're not staying here THAT long... that is just the way they do it). I don't have to get a card b/c I'm already a citizen.
We've handed out a few CVs (resumes) and spoken with some recruitment companies. Hopefully we'll have people begging us to work for them by the end of the week. If not, we'll see ya'll sooner than you think.
We're mapping out our plan of attack for tomorrow. Hopefully, now that we're done waiting in public office lines for proper documents, we can actually focus on jobs. We hope to post more pictures soon. Pictures of standing in line in government buildings is probably not something you want to see.
We miss everyone & America very much. I am coming up with a list of things that America does better than Ireland. So far, plumbing is at the very top of the list. You see, to me it's like the Chinese. Why are they still using those chop sticks? You know they've seen the fork. In Ireland, the people just need to bring the kitchen plumbing into the bathroom sinks. In the kitchen, they have a normal human style faucet where the water comes out of one spout, both hot and cold water enabling anyone to conjure up the magical temperature of "warm." Why they haven't brought this to the bathroom sink is beyond my comprehension. Instead you're stuck with two separate faucets on either side of the sink, providing EXTREME temperatures only. It's either water that actually turns to ice before it hits the sink basin, or instant 500 degree water on the other side. Washing your face, hands or shaving has become quite interesting. We now either suffer with boils on our skin or frostbite, or use the shower.
I'm thinking about buying some loose pants and going door to door pitching the sale of the "newest" wave of bathroom fixtures. I think I could make a fortune.
The first weekend was good. It is definitely colder here than Athens. Laura is always cold...and it's only the beginning of September. Poor young lassie doesn't have the thick Irish blood like me.
We got back to Tadhg's house in Dublin Sunday night and started the job search process Monday morning. We now have all the proper documents to work here. I am slightly jealous of Laura's cool work permit card that lets her stay here for up to 5 years (don't worry Donna, we're not staying here THAT long... that is just the way they do it). I don't have to get a card b/c I'm already a citizen.
We've handed out a few CVs (resumes) and spoken with some recruitment companies. Hopefully we'll have people begging us to work for them by the end of the week. If not, we'll see ya'll sooner than you think.
We're mapping out our plan of attack for tomorrow. Hopefully, now that we're done waiting in public office lines for proper documents, we can actually focus on jobs. We hope to post more pictures soon. Pictures of standing in line in government buildings is probably not something you want to see.
We miss everyone & America very much. I am coming up with a list of things that America does better than Ireland. So far, plumbing is at the very top of the list. You see, to me it's like the Chinese. Why are they still using those chop sticks? You know they've seen the fork. In Ireland, the people just need to bring the kitchen plumbing into the bathroom sinks. In the kitchen, they have a normal human style faucet where the water comes out of one spout, both hot and cold water enabling anyone to conjure up the magical temperature of "warm." Why they haven't brought this to the bathroom sink is beyond my comprehension. Instead you're stuck with two separate faucets on either side of the sink, providing EXTREME temperatures only. It's either water that actually turns to ice before it hits the sink basin, or instant 500 degree water on the other side. Washing your face, hands or shaving has become quite interesting. We now either suffer with boils on our skin or frostbite, or use the shower.
I'm thinking about buying some loose pants and going door to door pitching the sale of the "newest" wave of bathroom fixtures. I think I could make a fortune.