St. Patrick’s Day

Finally I have found a nice accommodation, even though I still only rent a room with access to the public areas such as living room and kitchen. It has been a long way here with experiences that I would like to be without, but you get that story on the page “Settling in Dublin”. I am feeling a little better now, but I am still longing home to Sweden. It sometimes overwhelms me.

On the job front, there happened nothing new. I have quickly become accustomed to all the new computer software, we are working with and all their windows that need to be open at the same time. What I am not used to is, that the software does not work satisfactorily. I do not understand, that such a large computer company as IBM, to which we belong, can not make the software and servers work all the time. We have also been told, that we will continue until 31st October in Dublin and that is on the verge of the year that I can work abroad without screwing it up financally for my daughter.

However, I have already started looking for other jobs, both here in Dublin, in Sweden and in Denmark and maybe I also will check the job situation in Germany again. By the way, I applied for a job at IKEA in Austria, but I did not get that job. They wanted someone with good knowledge of English and I think I’m really good in it now. Should I take another job abroad, I have to go home to Sweden for a month or two before I could start the other job, of course.

Last weekend we had St. Patrick’s Weekend. In the past, St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated for only one day, but a few years ago it has been extended to an entire weekend. However, March 17th is still the most important day to celebrate Saint Patrick – who gave the Irish the Christian faith – and this day has also become their National day. I was going both Saturday, Sunday as well as Monday (I took a day off) to the city. However, Saturday was a wasted day, because I did not find any festivities, but there were lots of people in the shops and I was thinking about to buy a green hat, but they were all too big for me. Finally, I bought a tri-colored wig in the colors of the Irish flag.

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On Sunday I had informed myself better, before I took the bus downtown and asked around for the square, where most things happened. It was first and foremost a day for the kids, but many adults were out and had fun as well. There were an intercultural scene and there, for example, a group from Egypt performed traditional dances to traditional music. It was very interesting to see. Only men were dancing and even only men played, some of them did both. It is hard to describe how the men, with a lot of skirts on top of each other, constantly spun around the place, sometimes very fast. After a while, they took off their skirts during the dance – one by one and in different ways but always dancing and always very spectacular. It was, above all, a happy play of colors. I was very happy that I did not miss it.

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Finally, there were some Irish teenaged students, who played Irish music. On the square there was also a Parisian wheel and some other carousels. The offer was about the same as in a small Swedish town, which surprised me, because Dublin has about as many inhabitants as Gothenburg and such a weekend has lots of tourists. For the children there were many attractions and a lot of them were old wooden games. It was very interesting to see this games and also to see the children’s great interest.

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Of course, on St. Patrick’s Day I watched the parade – wearing my Irish wig – but I was a little disappointed. I had imagined more than music troupes (from different schools even though they were dressed like old-fashioned soldiers) and big balloons. There were three or four carriages, but they could not give me much either, because what do I get out of watching a big beehive with a queen bee who constantly shouts “I love honey”? I probably had too high expectations, I thought there would be political scenes and texts, because there is a lot of that kind in Germany on Carnival.

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After the parade, I walked through Stephens Park to see the Mangolies bloom. They were even more beautiful now. On the way into the park, I saw that Dublin is not just a chaos. The police seem to work well and now I also have a better understanding of walls and / or fences around parks, because it was quiet in the park and easy to enjoy. Policemen stood at the entrances and checked everyone who was going in. If they thought, someone had a knife or something dangerous with them, they checked his/her clothes. On the way out of the park, I asked a policeman for the street I was going to next, because who could know it better than they? With a clear, distinct and correct answer, I was soon among thousands of people who listened to Irish music and watched Irish Set Dance. Many young people danced in the street and that was also the intention – the place was chosen accordingly. It also itched in my legs. I would have liked to have danced with them, but with boots on my feet and a long coat on, I was a little too sluggish for that. The better were the groups on stage. I have been thinking for a long time about learning Irish Set Dancing and it was just another occasion, that told me that I really have to look for a dancing class. By the way, I’m still a little sad that I’ve never had the opportunity to learn Swedish folk dance, because polka is danced here, too – but not just for that. So there are things to deal with, when I am back Sweden.

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There are so many flowers in bloom here. Beautiful flowerbeds can be seen everywhere, even if the wind is still blowing cold over the country and one can see the Irish in the mornings with the coffee kettle with hot water, which they pour on the car windows to get rid of the thin ice coating. The daffodils have been in bloom for several weeks now and they are just as fresh as at it’s first day. In addition to that, I have discovered that there are a lot of beautiful buildings in the city, one just have to know, where to look for them. Dublin, like Helsingborg, is divided into south and north, but here it is the southern part of the town, which has the more beautiful houses and more expensive shops.

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That was all for today, next time I write I will probably be outside, on the west side of Ireland. I have discovered that there are cheap day trips and next month will be the best month in terms of weather on Ireland. So there is something to look forward to.