St Pat's MADNESSSSSS

Wow what a coupla days! (Coupla is actually a gaelic word but it means 'a few' or 'a little').

St Pat's Madness is upon us. Don't know where to start right now, but basically we've had 200 backpackers check in, about 30 we had to turn away because their bookings weren't valid. We've got a new building and it has NO water connected/working in it...

I've decorated the office in St Pat's garb. It's fantastic and tacky-I love it. Sparkly shamrock banners and decorations and cut-outs of dancing leprechauns everywhere. Will take a photo to show you guys soon. We're also wearing our bright green shirts and we've added on big goofy hats (ohhhh I miss my wacky hat from Niagara) and temporary tattoos and badges/etc. We look like pillocks....right gits.

It is so lonely without all the long termers and all the backpackers/tour guests are out during the day so we have no distractions or anything. Quite different to what it's been like lately. I'm getting put more and more in charge of stuff, usually the shitty jobs, and while responsibility isn't a bad thing it's just stressful when the boss is expecting so much.

I got paid a sweet €450 last week-awesome! I'm working today which I thought would get me Tuesday off but it means they want me to take tomorrow (St Pat's Day proper) off. I would have preferred to work tomorrow and just slip out to see the parade because it's double time tomorrow and it won't be too busy. Also I need to go to the Visa office on a weekday-and really wanted it to be Tuesday. Oh well.

Darren has booked the Gallipoli tour for April. We got flights from Belfast to London for £8 each-taxes included!!! How can I never find cheap flights like that for myself?!? Anyway, I've already asked the boss if it's busy over ANZAC weekend here and he said it's not. So next step is to ask for the time off. I'll say if they give me the time off then I'll work there for sure until at least July, but if they don't want me to come back after then pffft no skin off my nose.

I had to sleep on the couch in the common room last night because we had more people than there were beds (including staff) and at first the staff were going to have to sleep on mattresses up in the attic of the new building, but then almost all the mattresses got taken away to give to the backpackers and that so we had nothing. Since I was working early today I just slept on the couch. It wasn't too bad, but it was weird waking up and having all these people around me. Finally got to break out the sleeping bag though!!!

OH! Another thing, it's so random but I met up last night with a friend from back in Sydney, Tubby. I know him through my friend Darren (the one I know from uni) and have known him for like, 3 or 4 years now. He's a top bloke and it's such a coincidence that he's here at the same time that I am (kind of, he's working in England at the moment actually) but it's so weird to be so far from home and be sitting around with friends from home like it was no big deal :-P I suppose I don't feel like it's that weird cos I have lots of Aussie friends here now and it just feels like he's another one of the gang. Nevermind the fact that we're almost 17000km from home. But yeah, the first friend from home I've met while I've been abroad (apart from Michael, cos that was pre-planned)! Would have met Melly in New York but the timings didn't match up :'(

So, because I spent the night on the couch and today is Sunday it's also 'Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day'. In my world it is, at least. At least the weather has cleared up-it was raining (quite hard, too) for, no exaggeration, ALL day yesterday. These poor bastards come in off the street sopping wet and think they have bookings but they had been cancelled long ago to make way for our tour groups and they never checked their emails or called to confirm their accommodation. Oh well. It sucks but that's what our job has been there's not much else I can do about it. We have a few cheeky spare dorm beds and the boss is making us sell them for €50 each, minimum 2 night stay. What a rip off. Nobody is buying them...if they were like €35 or 40 then *maybe* but not at €100 for the two nights.

But yeah, it's actually been a busy day-and it's been sweet because there has hardly been any people coming in through the doors and bothering us :-P We have to do the grocery shopping for breakfast stuff (free breakfast at this place) and I swear we're going to go through at least 20L of milk, 10 loaves of bread, cornflakes and weetbix galore...it's taking 3 people with two big bags each to go and bring it all back.

*edit*

OK sorry I got distracted had to run before. Turns out it took 4 regular carry bags and TWO GARBAGE BAGS to bring back all the groceries. Argh! Who knew bread could weigh so much?!?

Anyway, St Pats is over and it wasn't the horrible nightmare I thought it would be. The parade was cool-we watched it from the second story of a nearby pub, and it was a strange experience being semi-drunk at 3 in the afternoon and have it be not out of the ordinary...

Have discovered the joys of the 'baby guinness' shot. Kahlua and baileys goodness. Here is me with one:





It wasn't that bad, I promise!

On another note-looking at recent photos I've realised just how FAT I've gotten. It's disgusting. No more chocolate for breakfast...more exercising I suppose. I want to join a sports team or something here-gyms just don't inspire me anymore. Plus it's a good way to make new friends. But yes. I'm a fatty now and it's gross I hate it. I've been way too careless with what I've been eating and now that I'm sitting on my arse all day in the office it's not conducive to a healthy body. At least when I was backpacking around I was doing stacks of walking-I even lost a bit of weight for a while. But yes...fatty fat fat fat.

Speaking of food, Berny cooked a proper lamb roast and all that tonight for dinner. It was delicious and it's really cool sitting around a table with like, 7 other people and eating a proper meal. He does it once a month or thereabouts I think.

At the hostel, the staff have moved into the basement now. What once was the lesbian jungle is now the lesbian basement (long story-I wouldn't worry). I'm interested to see how it goes because some people really hate it and some people really love it down there. I'm sad I didn't get a photo of the old room before all our stuff got moved out though. I'm sure it won't be long til we make our room 'our own' but I'm worried that it's attached to another room and just anyone can go in there so it's not as secure as the old room (even though people would constantly leave that door open...).

I had better go and digest this roast-until I upload my photos from Pat's Day there isn't much more for me to say just now!

Easter is the next hairy time we have to deal with then hopefully after that it will be smooth(ish) sailing all the way to Summer. A new girl started today and she is really cool and I think we work well together so that's a bonus. After the last new staff member I really wanted somebody to come in who I got along with and who didn't irritate me every second of the day.

Slán go fóill! (Goodbye in gaelic)
xxx lisha

Way to go post eiranne...

Look how mangled my parcel came over! Luckily the latest parcel to arrive came in a better shape...

Mmm beer

Staropramen...

You want to know what I did today?!?!

Argh let me be as concise as possible. A lot happened today!

First off, I get to bed around 3.30am, due to waiting up for Darren to finish his night porter shift and just hanging around talking to a couple (ok, the only two) long termers at the Belfast hostel. There were a group of noisy and obnoxious english kiddies (ok, young adults) who came back late, stole a duvet from another room, bought in people who weren't paying to stay there (major no way!) and then one of them said he had £70 missing from the £100 or so she had in her wallet. Instead of us saying 'Too bad you forfeit any right to complain about stolen stuff when you bring in outsiders into the hostel' we just had to take it (even though she probably just got tanked and spent it without realising) and then she called the police-what's more, the police actually showed up! They basically laughed at her and went on their way. They have better things to do on a Friday night at 2am.

I was supposed to get up at 6am to get on the 7am bus back to Dublin to make it there by 9.30am/10am when my shift was starting. Mind you it wasn't my shift to begin with, I was just covering it for someone else...
Anyway since I left my irish phone back in Dublin I only had my aussie phone which is still on australia time. I got the hour right, just not the am/pm so as such I didn't wake up til 7am. Got the 8am bus and slept all the way to what I presume was the border when a couple of Gardai (ROI police officers) got on and asked to see everyone's identification. The Garda who looked at mine asked how long I was going to stay and I didn't really have a good answer for that so I started to explain that it was a new passport so that's why I didn't have a stamp. He was like 'new passport-good on you' and went on his way. I think I managed to get out something like I was staying for three weeks. He didn't care anyway.

Got to Dublin about 20 min late for my shift but nobody there cared. Hardly any tours go out on a Saturday so there was little to do. I did do some admin stuff and make some new templates and stuff so that kept me busy. When I first walked in though it was nuts-the lights were all down and there were towels all over the reception desk. Wet towels. And chinese food containers catching drips. I thought it had just rained hard down here and that made the leak, because it was raining so much up in Belfast. But no, it turns out there was a fire alarm and that tripped off the hot water system and something happened to make the water pipe burst. Up on the 3rd floor. It saturated through four floors...I'm so glad I was away when it went down!!!

I fielded lots of stupid questions today and sold lots of tours. Not a bad day so far. Getting to be around 2pm though things start going pear shaped. First off, we need to buy replacement duvets and duvet covers and pillows. I haven't been up to my room yet so I go up there to get my phone and find my bed is not the way I left it and a strange girl is sitting on it. What the hell?!?! Turns out, because I'm not 'paying' for my bed it becomes fair game when I'm gone. So I turn around, partially disgusted, and go back down to Guinneys to buy this bedding and stuff. It's weird, on Talbot St there are like 4 Guinneys in a space of about 100m. I asked the guy in the shop why this is and he sort of smiled and said 'Cos the owners have lots of money'. Fair enough? I get back and the girl has gone and I get my bed back in shape. They had taken my pillow...like, the one that I bought with my own money. So I got another one of those. I need to find a way to distinguish my pillow from the others (they are all from the same shop so it's difficult). I tried writing on the tag-no good. I tried putting my own pillowcase on it-also no good. Short of writing on the actual pillow or embroidering my name across it in big black stitches, I have no idea how to stop the cleaners taking my pillow and mistaking it for one of the house pillows. Any ideas?

A tour bus pulled in so a whole stack of travellers got off it and generally made my life difficult. I was supposed to finish at 6pm but with all their questions and running around fixing the water pumps and stuff like that, I was still working at 8pm! One of the long termers here (there's like, 12 of them) came in with a bunch of pink and white roses in a vase and put them down in front of me. They were for me!! So nice! It was so cool to come back and everyone was like 'Welcome back!'. It's good to go back to where your friends are. That was one good point. Another was eating ice cream for lunch. What a fatty.

Around 7pm it turns out that there is no water in either of the buildings. Like, none. Pipes are dry. AAAAAARGH. A fully booked hostel of travellers who are tired and just want a shower-not good! So I called the plumber and he came out and it turns out it was an electrical job (the pump fuse was gone) not an actual water thing. Too bad our two trained/registered electrician long term guys are away for the day. So I've been running around making sure the pumps are working. Which they are, it's just taking ages for the big tanks to get full up. I won't get into the details of it but the system is a bit backwards. It doesn't help that everyone keeps turning the taps on and stuff-drains it all out. Then they wonder why the water isn't coming yet.

It's about 9pm and I finally get out to Supavalu to get some dish detergent for the hostel and some cleaning products for me. Like washing detergent, fabric softener, stain remover. That sort of stuff. Anyway I get back and the kitchen is absolutely packed. Full of these damn frenchies that have been here all week. They are going tomorrow and I can honestly say it will make me so happy to see the back of them. They were taking up all the space, had dirty plates and cooking stuff EVERYWHERE and they were singing these stupid french songs really loudly and the kids were yelling and generally being obnoxious pricks. I managed to slap together a casserole or stew or something with my steak and kidney and some veges. It's not so bad, actually. Not as good as mum makes them but I didn't have any worstershire sauce or stock. Just had to use gravy and tomato sauce. So yeah it had steak, kidney, chopped up sausages, broccoli, peas, pumpkin, mushrooms, onions and eggplant in it. I made a stack of it semi by accident though so I need containers to store it in so I can have some tomorrow. Some stupid frenchie was trying to get the hotplates to work and was being impatient and turning all the dials-not waiting to see if they actually heated up. Anyway, after she heated her thing for like 2 min she left and I kept cooking. I could feel some heat coming from somewhere and it wasn't for a while that I realised it was the grill-the dumb bird had turned the grill on to full and the door was closed! Far out I'm lucky it didn't smoke the whole place out. So so angry.

So much happened today to stress me out-maybe after coming from a few days off it felt worse but everything was left up to me. I'm lucky Nelly was on the hostel side but she only knows the hostel side so the plumbing stuff and the hoo-ha with the drivers and tour stuff is all lost to her. I'm going to have to tell people tomorrow morning that their tour has been cancelled and I really don't want to but I don't have a choice. One of the drivers had the shits because the room he is supposed to be staying in got water damaged so the carpet is a little wet. So he kicked up a big stink and I left it to the security guy and Nelly to take care of it-my head was ready to explode. He's staying out in a hotel near the airport he's so stubborn. I know that if the boss were here though he'd stay in the room, it's just because it's us on today and he is trying to take advantage of us. I'm really scared about the boss coming in tomorrow because he is going to cut sick on everything. The hoovers are all broken so we haven't been able to hoover behind the desks like he prefers it to be and I KNOW there will be stuff he will be angry with me about. Not sure what yet, probably that stupid thing with the envelope his wife wanted couriered out to her. We'll see. Gotta just let it all run off my back like water off a duck's.

I also have this stupid sore throat and cough...I really hope it's not bronchitis or something coming on. I have Tuesday and Wednesday off though so I might try and get out to Galway. Hopefully Darren has those days off too and he can come as well.

Oh BUGGER there are more issues with the bed sheets (sheets that we write the bed allocation on, not bed linen) on the hostel side. This afternoon there were major problems because the new girl has been fucking about (sorry mum) and messed up the bed sheets and it's been like musical rooms with these poor travellers. Tomorrow there will probably be problems and I'm not looking forward to it but as long as I take care with what I'm doing and my tills balance at the end of the night I will be happy. Or at least as happy as I can be with the boss on my back. Fingers crossed it won't be as bad as I'm expecting.

But enough of that. I'm off for a pint!
xxx lisha

Belfast (again)!

Yay Belfast!
I like it up here. It's rainy and blowing an absolute gale but it's mostly how I remember it. Went on a Black Taxi tour of the city today, it was really interesting. The driver knew alot about the political history of Belfast and we actually got to drive through the openings in the peace wall from the Catholic to the Protestant side. Last time I was up around that area the damn gates were closed. When we were stopped at a set of lights the driver goes 'You see that wee dog down thar?' and we look at this little dog sniffing around on the pavement...'that's a protestant dog'. We are intrigued as to how he knows this. 'Aye, and he's come across to the catholic side just to take a shit'. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!

In other news, I'm not dead from the chicken sandwich. Score 1 for Lisha, 0 for 3 day old meat sandwiches of questionable origin.

I'm sure I had some more interesting stuff to write up on here but it's out of my brain at the moment. It's almost 3am here-waiting for Darren to finish doing his night porter business here at the hostel. It's good to see all the people here again :-) I reckon I'd like to run a hostel myself one day. There is a job going right now for somebody to run the Annascaul hostel (same company/owner as Belfast and Dublin) but you have to be able to run the pub and the food part of the pub and stuff like that too. It doesn't get real busy but it only pays €250 a week. Plus I'd get too lonely down there by myself. If only a certain trained chef/hostel employee I know would work down there too...

Speaking of which, yesterday was the 29th of Feb. Happy once in four years day! Up here it's a big thing that on Feb 29th it's the 'womens day' to propose to their boyfriends. No, I didn't propose to anybody. The Daily Sport (don't know how they get away with calling it that...it's just all boobs) had a double page spread of 'How to stop your girlfriend from popping the question to you today'. Apparently back in the day when Queen Mary was in charge of things it was law that on the 29th of Feb it was illegal for a guy to reject a proposal and if he did he got fined. But then again I read that in the Sport too so it's probably bullshit.


That's about all from me for now-just dropping in to leave a quick word. Back to the grind tomorrow in Dublin (10am start OHHHHHHHH DAMMIT) and then the boss gets back on Monday. He's going to come down on us hard when he comes back I just know it. I'm already getting my pay docked by €46 this week because that's how much my till was short on my last shift. Fair enough but it's not like I took the money so it's slack that it's out of my own money. It encourages good book-keeping I suppose. It's not fair though when you are called to do something else and there is nothing stopping somebody from going behind the counter and taking it though. What is really retarded though is that if the till is *over* for the shift, then that same amount also gets taken from our pay!!! It's much easier to spirit away money or explain it away than it is to find lost money. So yeah, apart from that my shifts have been coming up with even tills. Expect a very narky and frustrated entry on Monday, that's all I can say.

Ireland's Entry into Eurovision Song Contest 2008

I wish I were joking...

ohhhh that sandwich was a bad idea....

Ok this is #98 of 'stupid things I've done since I left for my trip'...but there has been this chicken focaccia that's been hanging around since the 24th. It's, what, the 27th today? Anyway I got sick of seeing it there and it looked pretty good so I nuked it and ate it. Well, most of it. I am pretty sure I'm going to get food poisoning. Right when I'm supposed to get on the bus to Belfast tomorrow arvo.
So yeah...we'll see how that goes.

Last night a bunch of us went to see U23D at the movies. FREAKIN' AWESOME!!! It was a bit disappointing that we didn't get the retro green/red glasses but even with our boring glasses the effect was still the same. All concerts should be filmed like that! Hell, all movies should be made in 3D! The effect was so real, it was almost like being there. Minus the sweaty bodies, burst eardrums/hoarse throat and sore calf muscles from jumping about.

Apart from that it's just been same ol' same ol'. Working and alternating between going out and staying in. Lots of people are leaving which is sad-even more are leaving soon too :-( I've moved into the 'Lesbian Jungle' which is the name of the all-girl staff quarters. Long story but the name is not born from any real experience or encounter. As far as I know.

Ohhh my tummy....

It's 3am on a friday

And we're eating taco fries...a step up from twisty fries...

Dublin still

Hi ho gang. Not sure who still bothers to log in to read this, so please gimme a shout out if you still do so I know I should still keep writing.
I suppose I should write anyway, just for my own records. I've stopped writing by hand in my book so I should at least write here to keep a record.

The boss has gone for a few weeks so it's less stressful here at work without him. He's not a bad guy-it's just high pressure when he's here.

I think I have a boyfriend now, too. Not sure how that happened but he's a top bloke. Up in Belfast, unfortunately, so that will mean trips up and down but it's not far away really. We went to the Guinness Storehouse/tour today and that was cool.

There really is too much to say right now in one little entry. I'll start writing more frequently so I can keep on top of what's been happening.

Work is ok, the people are all mad (in a good way). Quite a few of them are leaving soon which is a bummer but that's the nature of travelling and working when you're a backpacker I suppose...

I'd love to be able to save enough money to go sailing in Croatia for my birthday. That would be sweet. Gallipoli on ANZAC day would be equally as awesome. I paid for my passport today and lodged the application. So in 10 days time I should have a shiny new passport. Yay!

Been drinking way too much Guinness lately-it's criminal. Criminal how much Temple Bar charges for it's pints, at least.

Ok I suppose I should go. Not much else to say right now without getting too in detail. Should be putting some photos up in the next few days, too.

Hope everything is well wherever you happen to be.
xxx lisha

baby steps

After what happened I am really reluctant to post here again...but since I am not writing in my regular journal anymore I need to keep writing somewhere so the days don't get 'lost'!

I had a great time in Belfast and was sad to leave the friends I had made there, but there are new friends to be made in Dublin and the Belfast lads will probably visit down here sometime anyway. Plus, it's not like it's not far to go to get there if I want to visit them! Definately going to Belfast again so I can do one of the Black Taxi tours...

Having Passport woes yet again. Of course nothing goes easily but I suppose it would be a boring life if everything went according to plan. This job pays cash anyway so I'm not in the same rush to get the Visa/PPS number/bank account like I was before. I won't talk about work sorry.

The weather here has been nothing short of glorious. There is consternation thought because springe has already sprung it seems and all the flowers are starting to burst out and bloom, it's been sunny and clear during the day too. I miss the cold, to be honest!!! Luckily for me it was a nice day when I visited the Giant's Causeway-very cool! Derry was really interesting, too. Would love to go back and check out some more of it later...

I bought a new phone so I now have an irish phone number. I have most probably texted all of you guys anyway with my new one. Use that instead of my australian number pleasssseee!! It's such a chick phone, too. It's a little flippy pink shiny thing. Good on ya Sony Ericsson! Next thing to get is a straightening iron (you can pick them up for cheap around somewhere) and then finally a laptop. Definately need a lappy but am loathe to pay Dublin prices for them. There's one I really want from Circuit City but they don't ship to Ireland. Of course!

Argh I have the sniffles and need to run. There is a cup of tea with my name on it!
Sorry this blog will probably be pretty crappy for the next few entries while I get back into it properly. You can't be too careful about who reads this stuff, hey...
Take care,
xxx lisha