Home Improvement

I finally have an office set up in our spare bedroom.  It is great not to have computer monitors covering the table where we eat.  We also put up some IKEA shelving in the kitchen.  It's still a mess but at least  we have more counter space.

An Exciting Arrival

We finally got our stuff from Nashville.  So far nothing is broken.  However, we are missing the biggest item in the shipment, our kitchen table.  How do you lose a table???

Now we need to figure out how to fit everything into our apartment.   A trip to a furniture store for a few extra shelves and places for books is next on our list.  We'll do that once we buy a car, which is proving difficult due to some insurance issues-- but that will hopefully be sorted out soon.

Boxes

Unwrapping the chest of drawers from Grandma Bea

Small mountains of paper

No More Smoky Apartment

Today was an exciting day because we now have a new oven and stove, or as it's called in Ireland a "cooker and hob".  The old one worked but was so caked with who-knows-what on the inside that it smoked up the apartment each time we tried to use it.  This one works much better and also looks nicer.  Our landlord was very nice and replaced it just one week after we asked.

The oven is pretty small as you can see-- definitely smaller that what we're used to in the US.  But then again, everything in our kitchen is smaller-- the fridge is the size of what we would normally have in a college dorm room, the sink is tiny, there's no dishwasher, and the washer/dryer is combined into one appliance (I didn't believe it at first, but it actually works.)  The up side of all this is that once you get used to it (we already have) it uses a lot less energy and takes up much less space.  Our apartment is fairly small already so having the smaller appliances is a must.  I definitely am not complaining as this apartment is a huge huge step in the right direction compared to the place where I lived in Dublin six years ago, as any of you who visited me back then could easily attest.  And compared to the coin-operated electricity, lack of hot water in the kitchen and electric shower we had in Wales, this place is like a technological haven!

Anyways, now that we have a new oven I can begin my quest to learn how to make traditional Irish brown soda bread.  It has such a unique tangy flavor and I love how moist and crumbly it can be.

The Vacation's Over: Working from Home

My three week vacation officially ended on Sunday and I've now completed half a week of working from home.  Part of the three week vacation involved some work, including packing all of our things in Nashville, organizing a garage sale, among other things.  Once we arrived in Dublin we had to take care of some things like finding an apartment, getting Irish bank accounts, electricity, internet, social security numbers, etc sorted out.  But we had fun in the meantime and had plenty of time to do some touristy things, go for some hikes and generally have fun exploring Dublin.  (I can't really complain though, considering Richard started work only two days after we arrived.)

We're now mostly settled into our apartment-- only partly settled since we won't receive our shipment from Nashville for another two more months or so.  Why would it take three months to get our stuff?  Well, only yesterday did our things arrive in Charleston, South Carolina to be loaded onto the boat.  That means our stuff sat in Nashville for about three weeks.  Once our things are loaded on the container ship in Charleston, it will take a few more weeks to arrive in the port of Felixstowe, England, then has to go through international customs.  Then it will be driven across England and Wales, ferried from Wales to Ireland, and finally driven to our apartment.  

I have a temporary office set up in our living/dining room.  Once our shipment arrives I plan to use the second bedroom as my office with our old kitchen table as a desk.  Until then this set up will work fine.  The technical logistics of working for a Nashville company from Dublin have so far worked out great.  We have a lot of tools to make this easy, included video conferencing, instant chat, email, and I can work through our Nashville server and access all the files and programs I used back at my old desk.  So, really, the only difference is the six-hour time difference and not seeing my coworkers and hearing the chatter in cube-land.

Well, that, and the fact that there's an Irish pub across the street.  Padraig Pearse, that is, where on Saturdays they have Irish karaoke.  Where two Saturdays ago I maybe sang a very sobering version of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett (that one was especially for you, Mack and Holly).

We've Arrived

We arrived in Dublin on Saturday and since then have managed to get settled in and find an apartment.  We're still working on getting our bank account, PPS numbers (the Irish equivalent of a SSN), my permanent resident card to allow me to stay more than 6 months, among other things.

Our apartment is a short walk from Richard's work and pretty much right in the center of town.  We looked at about nine apartments and this one was an obvious choice.  It has two bedrooms, and we're still deciding if we want to keep a bed in the second, since this will also serve as my office when I start working from home.  We want to make sure there is a comfortable bed for our (hopefully) many visitors!

Here are a few photos of our new (furnished!) apartment.