Our living/dining/laundry/kitchen room.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Friday, October 15, 2004
Beginnings
Dia duit!
This is Irish for "Hello," pronounced "dgeehuh ditch" and literally translated, "God be with you." In the past week I thought I was telling Aaron in Irish that "he was the man," but turns out I was actually telling him "I am the man," which many of you may have suspected for years now.
We've been here about five weeks so it seemed only fitting we begin to chronicle our adventures for your reading enjoyment/torture.
The first week was a wild ride as we pounded the pavement all over the city seeking a place to live and locating the scattered real estate agents (you might think one agency would handle a whole apartment complex, but you'd be wrong. Each apartment has a different owner and therefore a different agent). The first night we wandered into a beautiful flower park next to the University. We recognized a man with a dog we'd try to accost earlier (the man, not the dog) while looking at neighborhoods, who confirmed the park was a great place for dogs and invited us to church on Sunday.
It was difficult to rent without UK references or a rental history in the UK, so we needed to pay 6 months rent in advance. The current exchange rate is in the toilet, and we hadn't brought quite that much money with us. So, we attempted to wire transfer the money to a bank, but you can't get a bank account unless you have an address. You can't get Western Union unless you have a utility bill from your address; the same is true for movie rentals, no joke. We were fortunate to find a realtor who agreed to give us a lease for our traveller's checks, firstborn, and change in our pockets. (On a side note we went to the Int'l Office at the University who couldn't help us at all, but when we went to the man in the park's church, they were super friendly and gave us tons of help finding places to live. Score: Church 1, University 0. )
We were able to move into our awesome apartment one week to the day after flying in and we are living in much sweeter digs than many students. We have two bedrooms and two full bathrooms. The guest room has two single beds so all of you are invited to come over, two at a time. I have a reading break the week of November 7th. December 14th - January 31 I have one exam and we are going to a wedding in The Republic of Ireland. If you want to come when the fares are cheapest, that's a good time. I've got Easter break March 21 to April 8, finishing classes in mid May and exams by early June, then in theory I'll be working on my dissertation until September. Our current lease only goes until the end of July so earlier in the summer might be better to visit. We hope to travel as well during some of these breaks, if we haven't run out of money or Aaron's prostitution job isn't as lucrative as we're hoping (he actually has several good job leads and an interview next week, so stay posted for more on that later.)
So back to the apt, it's gated, how funny is that? It's like the Clampetts go to Beverly Hills to think of us in a gated apartment complex. We are 2.5 blocks from school, 1.5 blocks from the park for Haley, 3.5 blocks from two great churches, 2 blocks from a super cool coffee/sandwich shop and the busstop, 4 blocks from restaurants and shops, 6 blocks from the grocery store and yet we're somehow in a quiet residential neighborhood. We can get to the city centre walking in 10-15 minutes for shopping and movies. Everything feels nearby and we're enjoying the fresh air and exercise.
It is a myth that it rains all the time here. It is more that it can rain at any time and usually does when you're least expecting it (i.e. when the sun is shining and there are no clouds in the sky-where is that water coming from?) Then it stops after 10 minutes. This process can repeat several times a day. Other times it will be grey all day but never actually rain at all. It is the craziest weather and often one side of our apartment is sunny while the other is cloudy. My favorite part is that baby strollers have rain guards that make the children look like they are enclosed in Saran Wrap.
The word "wee" is actually in regular use, which is fitting, because many things are quite wee. There is a car here smaller than a golf cart. I have to give credit for the space efficient way things are combined, i.e our washer dryer is all one machine that takes about 6 hours to get one load through washed and dried (i.e. two pair of Aaron's jeans) and sounds like a plane landing and taking off (it's in the kitchen). Also the tv, internet (speedy broadband), and phone are all in one convenient affordable bundle, perhaps because most of what is on tv is news, shopping, travel and sports (someone please tape NYPD Blue, Survivor and Smallville for us!) The tv set plays cd's, dvd's, and I think also chops vegetables. Pop music here is a lot of techno remixes and some remakes of country music, which is especially odd. I came all this way trying to get away from Ashlee Simpson and I'll be darned if she isn't on 10 times a day. Thankfully we've been playing a down home country radio station on yahoo through the laptop-God Bless Nashville! I didn't think boy bands could be any weanier but I've seen a few here that make the Backstreet Boys look like the A-Team. Also there's plenty of nudity on regular tv. We found this out the hard way when when we flipped to a special on STD's with a graphic "in-depth" expose on anal warts that we still haven't recovered from.
There are many new things we are enjoying, like having little pancakes for tea (Aaron really likes this). He also likes fish and chips, sometimes referred to as "heart attack on a plate." They say "cheeky" here and I like it! I feel tall ( I've seen some older woman who can't be taller than 4'6", so I fit right in and have high hopes that I might find pants that are the right length). Also there are the wildest flavors of ice cream and potato chips, "crisps" (think Harry Potter's many flavored beans). So far I really like Smoky Bacon and Roast Chicken, do not like pickeled onion and Prawn (shrimp) cocktail. We still have 20-25 more flavors to try. The work week for some shops and Queen's goes around 9:30 to five-ish with an hour off for lunch, so things are certainly more relaxed, but not open as much as we are used to. My classes are fantastic. I'm in Sociology Research Methods and Politics of Northern Ireland, both on Tuesdays, so I'm studying a lot on the traditional weekend and Wednesdays have become the new Saturday. I'm also taking an Irish language class on Wednesdays (15 students from 8 different countries) and butchering the pronunciation horribly with this Southern accent. The other students in my program are great and we've met enough people and made friends that we're hoping to throw a party in the next few weeks to celebrate when Haley gets here. We've even found a few closet George W. supporters. The jury's still out on whether it's more difficult to be a Christian in Academics or an American Republican in Europe. I'll let you know after the election.
The guy from the park we met on our first night, Chris Blake, turned out to be one of the worship leaders at the church. His wife, Maureen, is a doctor, he plays in the Belfast Orchestra, and they only live two blocks from us. They, their teenagers (Richard and Joanna), and their dog (Goldie, who I hope will be a friend for Haley) have been especially kind to us, taking us in for dinner, tea and rousing games on the x box which keep Aaron coming back time and time again (Clear River folks think Mark and Amy Anderson). Thursday night Aaron was up at the church until 3 am handing out tea, coffee, and biscuits to folks walking home from bars and clubs.
We are soaking in the experience and adjusting well, I think, but we do often thinking fondly of the good ole USA (please send Mt. Dew, pronounced here "Mountain Jew," before I develop a serious coffee addiction.) We miss you all, and also nachos at Chili's.
We'll continue to update this with shorter musings and different pictures, feel free to leave us your comments and snide remarks. Aaron will be fielding all general inquiries through his e-mail, ukhillbillies@yahoo.com as I will be continuing to read until my brains ooze out my ear (thus he will be checking e-mails more frequently and have more time to actually write back). My new e-mail, and this is only for the good looking people, is thill02@qub.ac.uk . My UVA e-mail address will be shut down before the end of October. For gifts like peanut butter, white corn tortilla chips, and Mountain Dew, here is the rest of our info:
22 Rugby Square
Rugby Parade
BT7 1PY
Belfast
Northern Ireland
Phone: 011 44 28 9022 3763
This is exactly what you need to dial- international long distance and country code included.
I'll just leave you with this last thought. In the states, slang for the bathroom is "John" and here it is "Loo." For anyone not from White Oak, my parents are named John and Lou, so it is really only fitting that our worlds collide in this way.
Slan go Foill!
(bye for now)
Suellen
This is Irish for "Hello," pronounced "dgeehuh ditch" and literally translated, "God be with you." In the past week I thought I was telling Aaron in Irish that "he was the man," but turns out I was actually telling him "I am the man," which many of you may have suspected for years now.
We've been here about five weeks so it seemed only fitting we begin to chronicle our adventures for your reading enjoyment/torture.
The first week was a wild ride as we pounded the pavement all over the city seeking a place to live and locating the scattered real estate agents (you might think one agency would handle a whole apartment complex, but you'd be wrong. Each apartment has a different owner and therefore a different agent). The first night we wandered into a beautiful flower park next to the University. We recognized a man with a dog we'd try to accost earlier (the man, not the dog) while looking at neighborhoods, who confirmed the park was a great place for dogs and invited us to church on Sunday.
It was difficult to rent without UK references or a rental history in the UK, so we needed to pay 6 months rent in advance. The current exchange rate is in the toilet, and we hadn't brought quite that much money with us. So, we attempted to wire transfer the money to a bank, but you can't get a bank account unless you have an address. You can't get Western Union unless you have a utility bill from your address; the same is true for movie rentals, no joke. We were fortunate to find a realtor who agreed to give us a lease for our traveller's checks, firstborn, and change in our pockets. (On a side note we went to the Int'l Office at the University who couldn't help us at all, but when we went to the man in the park's church, they were super friendly and gave us tons of help finding places to live. Score: Church 1, University 0. )
We were able to move into our awesome apartment one week to the day after flying in and we are living in much sweeter digs than many students. We have two bedrooms and two full bathrooms. The guest room has two single beds so all of you are invited to come over, two at a time. I have a reading break the week of November 7th. December 14th - January 31 I have one exam and we are going to a wedding in The Republic of Ireland. If you want to come when the fares are cheapest, that's a good time. I've got Easter break March 21 to April 8, finishing classes in mid May and exams by early June, then in theory I'll be working on my dissertation until September. Our current lease only goes until the end of July so earlier in the summer might be better to visit. We hope to travel as well during some of these breaks, if we haven't run out of money or Aaron's prostitution job isn't as lucrative as we're hoping (he actually has several good job leads and an interview next week, so stay posted for more on that later.)
So back to the apt, it's gated, how funny is that? It's like the Clampetts go to Beverly Hills to think of us in a gated apartment complex. We are 2.5 blocks from school, 1.5 blocks from the park for Haley, 3.5 blocks from two great churches, 2 blocks from a super cool coffee/sandwich shop and the busstop, 4 blocks from restaurants and shops, 6 blocks from the grocery store and yet we're somehow in a quiet residential neighborhood. We can get to the city centre walking in 10-15 minutes for shopping and movies. Everything feels nearby and we're enjoying the fresh air and exercise.
It is a myth that it rains all the time here. It is more that it can rain at any time and usually does when you're least expecting it (i.e. when the sun is shining and there are no clouds in the sky-where is that water coming from?) Then it stops after 10 minutes. This process can repeat several times a day. Other times it will be grey all day but never actually rain at all. It is the craziest weather and often one side of our apartment is sunny while the other is cloudy. My favorite part is that baby strollers have rain guards that make the children look like they are enclosed in Saran Wrap.
The word "wee" is actually in regular use, which is fitting, because many things are quite wee. There is a car here smaller than a golf cart. I have to give credit for the space efficient way things are combined, i.e our washer dryer is all one machine that takes about 6 hours to get one load through washed and dried (i.e. two pair of Aaron's jeans) and sounds like a plane landing and taking off (it's in the kitchen). Also the tv, internet (speedy broadband), and phone are all in one convenient affordable bundle, perhaps because most of what is on tv is news, shopping, travel and sports (someone please tape NYPD Blue, Survivor and Smallville for us!) The tv set plays cd's, dvd's, and I think also chops vegetables. Pop music here is a lot of techno remixes and some remakes of country music, which is especially odd. I came all this way trying to get away from Ashlee Simpson and I'll be darned if she isn't on 10 times a day. Thankfully we've been playing a down home country radio station on yahoo through the laptop-God Bless Nashville! I didn't think boy bands could be any weanier but I've seen a few here that make the Backstreet Boys look like the A-Team. Also there's plenty of nudity on regular tv. We found this out the hard way when when we flipped to a special on STD's with a graphic "in-depth" expose on anal warts that we still haven't recovered from.
There are many new things we are enjoying, like having little pancakes for tea (Aaron really likes this). He also likes fish and chips, sometimes referred to as "heart attack on a plate." They say "cheeky" here and I like it! I feel tall ( I've seen some older woman who can't be taller than 4'6", so I fit right in and have high hopes that I might find pants that are the right length). Also there are the wildest flavors of ice cream and potato chips, "crisps" (think Harry Potter's many flavored beans). So far I really like Smoky Bacon and Roast Chicken, do not like pickeled onion and Prawn (shrimp) cocktail. We still have 20-25 more flavors to try. The work week for some shops and Queen's goes around 9:30 to five-ish with an hour off for lunch, so things are certainly more relaxed, but not open as much as we are used to. My classes are fantastic. I'm in Sociology Research Methods and Politics of Northern Ireland, both on Tuesdays, so I'm studying a lot on the traditional weekend and Wednesdays have become the new Saturday. I'm also taking an Irish language class on Wednesdays (15 students from 8 different countries) and butchering the pronunciation horribly with this Southern accent. The other students in my program are great and we've met enough people and made friends that we're hoping to throw a party in the next few weeks to celebrate when Haley gets here. We've even found a few closet George W. supporters. The jury's still out on whether it's more difficult to be a Christian in Academics or an American Republican in Europe. I'll let you know after the election.
The guy from the park we met on our first night, Chris Blake, turned out to be one of the worship leaders at the church. His wife, Maureen, is a doctor, he plays in the Belfast Orchestra, and they only live two blocks from us. They, their teenagers (Richard and Joanna), and their dog (Goldie, who I hope will be a friend for Haley) have been especially kind to us, taking us in for dinner, tea and rousing games on the x box which keep Aaron coming back time and time again (Clear River folks think Mark and Amy Anderson). Thursday night Aaron was up at the church until 3 am handing out tea, coffee, and biscuits to folks walking home from bars and clubs.
We are soaking in the experience and adjusting well, I think, but we do often thinking fondly of the good ole USA (please send Mt. Dew, pronounced here "Mountain Jew," before I develop a serious coffee addiction.) We miss you all, and also nachos at Chili's.
We'll continue to update this with shorter musings and different pictures, feel free to leave us your comments and snide remarks. Aaron will be fielding all general inquiries through his e-mail, ukhillbillies@yahoo.com as I will be continuing to read until my brains ooze out my ear (thus he will be checking e-mails more frequently and have more time to actually write back). My new e-mail, and this is only for the good looking people, is thill02@qub.ac.uk . My UVA e-mail address will be shut down before the end of October. For gifts like peanut butter, white corn tortilla chips, and Mountain Dew, here is the rest of our info:
22 Rugby Square
Rugby Parade
BT7 1PY
Belfast
Northern Ireland
Phone: 011 44 28 9022 3763
This is exactly what you need to dial- international long distance and country code included.
I'll just leave you with this last thought. In the states, slang for the bathroom is "John" and here it is "Loo." For anyone not from White Oak, my parents are named John and Lou, so it is really only fitting that our worlds collide in this way.
Slan go Foill!
(bye for now)
Suellen
Sunday, October 10, 2004
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