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Published: September 23rd 2008
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Sorry for the brevity yesterday, but internet time is scarce until our service is hooked up. And although we’ve made several desperate and futile attempts, we have been unable to “share” the internet with our neighbors.
So where did I leave off . . . ah yes. As we were leaving Dingle, there was one more little bonus it had to offer. There is a tiny little town as you leave the main city of Dingle called Spiddle. If you blink, you’d pass it by. We happened not to blink, and found ourselves on this quaint little beach. As Brian was about to go to the store for more snacks, he noticed something, “People are driving on the beach!” He ran back to the car and we raced off down the sandy shores. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to live out Mario Kart racing, this was it. After Brian had his thrill I floored it up to 120km/hr (thank you Budget rental cars!) spinning the car and driving over sand dunes and through the water making the greatest wave over the side of the car. It was by far one of the greatest thrills I’ve ever
had. That point at the top of the
roller coaster where you hold your breath and wait for the drop, that was the entire car ride 😊 A few other cars took note of our joy and began to follow suit as well. Even though I was still feeling sick the adrenaline rush filled me with glee!
So lets see, we officially left Dingle and made the long journey to Galway to finally settle and start hunting for jobs and a place to live. Our first few days included the most wonderful bed and breakfast stay yet with Ms. Sara who provided the best French toast I’ve ever consumed along with medication and a warm bed until I kicked my cold. She even sent the people who were supposed to take over our room to a B&B owned by her friend just so I wouldn’t have to leave the bed and could continue to get back to normal health for an extra night.
Before I get into the beauty that is Galway, let me share our last car horror story. While I was negotiating with the man at Budget car rental to let us have the car for
one extra (not an easy task as it would be in the states, instead of picking up the phone and asking for one extra day I had to go down to the office and close out all the old paperwork as well as resign all new paperwork whilst I was still sick . . . uh uh not cool), Brian decided to find a place to park the car. Now, most streets in Ireland are not marked, so you have no clue if you’re going down a one-way, a dead end, or an actual street that will get you to another street. Brian decided to go down a teeny tiny little alley way and get the car completely stuck, so the first words out of his mouth when I exited the Budget store were, “You will not believe what I have done. It is so amazing, but don’t be mad ok?” I spent the next 15 minutes pulling an Austin Powers as I rocked the car back and forth (Brian was incapable of this task as he is still in a fight with 1st gear), until we were free to go. And just as we exited the street, a woman
drove down, no doubt impressed with our skills, and said, “Wow, well that’s too bad because I have the gate key.” With a sigh as to our wasted efforts (the gate opened to a roundabout at the end of the street), we were off once again.
Getting back to Galway . . . Brian and I walked along the waterside the first night and I instantly fell in love with Galway all over again since I left it a few years back. There is nothing like smelling crisp clean air coming off the bay while staring in awe at the moons reflection glistening on the water. We drank at the same pub I’d been at with my family a few years back (ironically at the same table), and ate some of the most delicious meals yet. I think Brian actually got a little teary-eyed while eating his peppercorn steak (he licked every drop of that sauce.) And as we enjoyed sitting in pubs, listening to the locals hammer on about politics and local affairs, we searched for jobs and places to live. After twenty-some-odd phone calls and two visits, we found an apartment!
Now, there are a select
few of you who actually knew me when I lived on Pleasant Lane, and even a smaller number of you who actually visited our quaint duplex. Living on Pleasant Lane with Dad and Chrissy in our duplex that leaked everytime it rained and had two bathtubs (fantastic for waterworld battles with the shower hoses) was one of the greatest experiences of my life. It taught me that a home comes from the people living in it. It also taught me that I could tolerate a lot as long as I had a space to lay my head, preferably with a roof to keep out the rain. The place Brian and I are now living in is much the same. There is a moisture in the air that we can’t seem to get rid of, and the entire apartment is only slightly bigger than my room in San Francisco. We have caught and killed three spiders so far (boo-ya Cheryl . . . boo-ya!) and our source of warmth besides the cheap comforters we bought at the market comes from a stand-up heater we plug into the wall. There are no bills because in order to get electricity, we feed a
metered box that hangs above our front door. If we don’t pay the box, we don’t have electricity . . . simple as that.
But . . . we can cook, which already saves us a ton of money not eating out. And although I enjoyed our time in Dingle with Tom (greatest unibrow I’ve ever seen!) and our time in Galway with Sara (practically staying at Grandma’s house) its nice to have a bed of our own that doesn’t cost us a fortune to sleep in each night. The other pluses are that its about a ten minute walk to the city center and its directly across from the Galway Greyhound race tracks. We live on College Road (54 College Road to be precise, which we’ve now dubbed “Studio 54”) so there are several dorms down the street. The street is also lined with Bed & Breakfast facilities pretty much every other house, so we figure the neighborhood has to be fairly safe. And while our view is of the city street and the race track, our neighbor Fergel has a beautiful view of Galway bay and a few quaint little Irish cottages on the hillside (I’m thinking
its time for a “Friends” bet to apartment swap) with Fergel.
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Cher
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Hot Damn! You get those spiders! If you need extra help, I can bring my well trained Chloe pirate spider hunter with me to get the rest! Oh, and driving on the beach... SO AWESOME! Love ya