The great Irish confusion

I'm starting to believe that Irish are very confused about their...hm...I don't even know how to define it...gender definitions. While they seem this very religious state with strong laws that have a religious background - like abortion, or the fact that all schools here still belong to the church and are built around churches - there are these small details that make you wonder. These small details are actually very strong contradictions that definitely reflect confusion.

To give a bit of background, in Ireland there is an ancestral fight between protestants and catholics. This fight started because each of these religions identified with the status of the people - conquerer (English) or conquered (Irish). This means that the poor Irish (the actual inhabitants of this land) are catholics, while the rich English (the ones who just thought they can claim any land) are protestants. These poor - rich gaps are still visible today - a colleague from Romania was telling me about her two kids (orthodox) who she had to enroll in different schools - one is in a catholic school while the other in a protestant one. The schools are across the street one from the other. While it was obviously very easy to enroll one of them to the Catholic school, she had to be put on a waiting list for the protestant school. Her luck is that she belongs to neither of these religions, so other selection criteria were considered...because otherwise it is really difficult to go to a school that doesn't have your religion....almost impossible. The other thing is related to the richness of the protestants - their clothes, the cars the kids are being brought it etc.

Anyway, now here are the contradictions that have me totally confused:

gay marriage is legal;

they are among the states that recognize trans-gender as an official gender;

they are very open about homosexuality - celebrating with pride and not hiding it in public;

they are considering the legalization of marijuana.

...very open right?! But then...

abortion is illegal;

at the gym there is a special "room" for girls who want to do fitness - you can also do it in the general room, but in case you don't want to, you can go in your ladies' corner;

high school is usually gender defined - there are few mixed schools with both boys and girls;

my friend mentioned above was asked if she is worried about that her sons reached the age when he should go alone to the toilet in public places and other men might look at him :))

This weird transition period when it comes to religion and gender roles is very confusing, and this is not really a place to raise children right now.

House hunting Dublin

Dublin became a very popular city in the past couple of years for European immigrants. The nice thing is that this turned the city into a multi-European capital which actually defines the idea of the European Union in my opinion. This is mostly due to their tax flexibility towards IT companies, especially for R&D (see the very actual and already famous Apple vs. Ireland case), but also due to the fact that no matter how much Irish people like it or not, they are an English speaking country, and that makes it a really good alternative to snobby UK.

I've decided to board the train and become part of what most people describe as not a city, but rather a village. I prefer to describe it as a University campus, because the city's average age I think is somewhere around 35, and everybody looks fresh and hip and busy :)

Due to all things mentioned above, the first major challenge you are going to face is finding rent in Dublin, especially if you want to stay in the center of the city. What you need to know is that Dublin has 24 postal districts. So, the first thing you want to do is look at a map and figure out where you would like to stay.

After doing that, there are several renting websites you could use to search for a home. The one I used and liked most, and actually found my apartment through is Daft.ie (they also have an app, so it was easier for me to search and send e-mails with it). 

When you're there you need to know:
1. the area you want to stay in;
2. how many bedrooms/ bathrooms you want it to have (2 bedrooms means 3 rooms basically, as all houses have a living room as well, but a studio is a studio);
3. central or electric heating - central is gas heating and is ideal because it's cheaper...but not very easy to find;
4. all the other stuff like: furnished or not, with parking space...etc. 

Now, to actually get the house you need to apply for the viewing (the agent will tell you the day and hour when that takes place), and have a small chat with the agent about your background and other details. 

After that you will need to send a couple of things by e-mail, if you are really interested:
1. letter of recommendation from your employer;
2. letter of recommendation from you previous landlord (as it was the first time I was renting a place in Dublin, I asked my home landlord for a letter - if you own a property you need to bring a proof of that);
3. PPS number (this is the citizen number in Dublin);
4. ...and ideally a utility bill which proves that you are a good citizen :) (I obviously didn't have that either and they accepted my application without it).

If you're lucky to get picked from the other at least 10 people who have seen the same apartment as you did, you will become the lucky payer of a rent of between 1400 - 1800 (even 2000) euro for a 2 bedroom apartment close to the city center. If you get here when all the university students are coming you will only get something decent for at least 1600.

Additionally you need to pay: electricity (the bill comes every two months - I don't know how much yet, but I heard it's around 300 euro), internet (around 60 euro/ month), cable if you have a TV (not so popular here, so you would probably need to consider buying one) + depending on the house, garbage company. Now the nice thing is that in Ireland water is free...because they just have so much of it :)) They're considering a tax on water starting next year, but fingers crossed that it doesn't actually happen.

What you also need to know is that all houses have boilers. That's how you heat the water...and you kinnda need to know how to use them if you want to be efficient. I didn't reach that level of savviness in boiler usage, but I hope mine is set ok. Now, the water pressure is not great here...so everybody has a device attached to the shower (basically a pump that looks like this). Our house owner didn't tell us what that was for, so it kinnda took us two days to realize how to use it...and when we discovered it was life changing.

Letters from the North

As most of you know I kinnda moved to Dublin....I'm using kinnda because for the past three months I've actually been on business travel, living at a hotel....so I haven't really moved to Dublin yet :)

I've been thinking about visiting Ireland for a couple of years now, but not until long ago the flight ticket was a bit too expensive for my pocket. So, when the company I work for offered this opportunity, I took it without a second thought. I had this fairy tale image of a green land made by fairies and leprechauns...full of gingers drinking ale while singing loudly in their rustic pubs. And guess what....this is exactly Ireland.

I never though of living here though, but now that I decided to take up the challenge...I'm wondering why...why Dublin? The North definitely seams to be calling me.

There are two major misconceptions people have about the North...especially Southern people - the weather and daylight.

After living in Denmark, I already know that the North is not necessarily cold, it just lacks extreme weather. The highlight here is definitely the rain, but as a pluivophile I don't really mind it, that's actually my favorite weather in Bucharest as well. What I mind is the inability to plan trips because of the rain...but maybe this is something I'll get used with in time. So moving to Dublin means good-bye 40 °C summers and -15 °C winters....hello 5 to 20 °C all year round....

While the weather is not extreme in the North...daylight is. I remember the dawnish nights I experienced in Denmark in July and August, and obviously found here as well. Summer nights never get pitch dark, as it actually starts getting darker only around 11 PM. We were eating out two days ago and it was 9.30 PM...we looked outside and it seamed as it was 3 PM. But well, the tables will turn in a couple of months and the dawnish days will be here. This means darkness all around...and 3 PM will look like 9.30 PM :)

Guess what was my biggest surprise here though?! The language...Gaelic is like nothing I ever heard before. Since their independence it became the country's official language and mandatory in school. Though not very spoken in Dublin, you do hear it in other parts of Ireland....I'm thinking about giving it a try...Language is actually another popular misconception...Irish English is English with a funny accent :)) but it's not that difficult to understand at all.

My YESes and NOs or things I had higher expectations from are:

YESes:

• no unnecessary stress - people are so much calmer and have happier faces, no honking, no nervous people on the bus...;
• milk and berries - bestest food related stuff ever eaten;
• clean air - the weather, but also the low density make the air super clean;
• walking distance to anything - the benefit of living in a small city - walk, walk, walk;
• great infrastructure - it's so easy to visit this country...unbelievable;
• all life is equal - no animal cruelty around the corner/ even the cows and sheep look happy and free;
• traveling - cheap and easy to fly anywhere...especially to Iceland, my next year's resolution trip;
• recycling - my biggest nemesis...but here, not only do they recycle, but they also have special bins for compost...how great is that!
• lots of American and European immigrants - French, Spanish and Italian are spoken more than English :)

NOs

• not so safe - I'm not sure if it was exaggerated paranoia coming from the stories I heard, but I don't feel that safe in the city...nothing happened to me for real....but it's just a feeling;
• lots of homeless people - hand in hand with the safety, but they are clean and well fed and they are not begging aggressively;
• maybe the weather - maybe when I'll have more money I'll have happy Caribbean summer holidays :P;
• not cycling as much - people are definitely into sports here as there a lots of joggers everywhere, but I was expecting them to be more eco-friendly and bike a lot more....would have loved to have a bike...still more biking than in Bucharest for sure;
• overcrowding - maybe I got here at the wrong time, but the city is getting overcrowded and for that reason rents are hugenormeous...a quarter of my salary will go on rent...rent for a room and a shared kitchen, shared living space and a shared bathroom...
• clubbing and going out - pubs are popular...and nice, but there's no real clubbing...at least not the king of going out fun I would like. I haven't experienced it a lot, but what I have wasn't great...need to experience this more;
• food - the Irish kitchen, like most Nordic kitchens is horrible...I don't eat beef and lamb, so I am missing a big part of it, but even so...they eat everything deep fried and greasy...I don't get it...I just don't!