Criticism

I found myself making small talk with a couple of Northern Irish and Germans yesterday amidst the project. What is surprising is that I found myself more critical of the United States than I usually am. Was I providing accurate criticism of my home country from a different viewpoint than them? Or, was I trying to "fit-in" by presenting criticisms that I thought they would agree with? Probably a little of both. My question to myself is: why?

I've found that the general stereotype of Americans (amongst Europeans that I work with) pictures us as ignorant, arrogant, and bullish. That is: we don't know much about the world outside the United States, yet we believe our culture is the greatest in the world, and we try to impose it upon others. I first recognized where this stereotype when I overheard an American wondering about why, when an Irish colleague called in sick, he kept explaining that he had a doctor's certification. The American colleague's response was "What? Is he afraid somebody might think he's faking it?" The truth is, getting a doctor's note is common practice here, regardless of the number of days you're off. Instead of mocking his Irish colleague, he might have been better served to understand the culture before making a joke about it. (Though a good jibe IS part of the culture over here, perhaps that was just a bad attempt at humor).


I've always been one to try to understand people. To do so, I'll often try to build repoire by trying to find something in common with others. When you're standing amongst a group of Northern Irish and Germans, there isn't much that you can find in the way of common ground for people to talk about. Once you get past the weather reports, you have to reach for something. I'd like to think that my mockery of our country's media and of our education system was just a way creating subjects for a diverse crowd of people to talk about.

Being a very talkative folk (another stereotype), the Northern Irish volunteered their own stereotypes (car bombs and civil unrest - yikes!) and the Germans remained silent and granite-faced (yet another stereotype). Though I know the Northern Irish can become just as granite-faced as the Germans and the Germans can be just as talkative as the Northern Irish.

So, I guess that I've answered my question. I was trying to get people to open up and talk. If I was overly critical of my home country, I apologize. I didn't really mean it. I was just trying to find common ground for some Germans and Northern Irish (who had never met) to talk about.

RJ Visits the Castle

Today we took RJ out to see Trim Castle. This castle was featured in the movie Braveheart. You might remember it from the scenes where William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson, gets hung drawn and quartered by the English. What we found was that a 3-story castle presented little room for RJ to (safely) run around. Did I mention that RJ loves to run? He loves to run. He needed his "Freedom!" (the quote is to be read with a bad Mel Gibson Scottish accent).

Since I had been on the tour before, I let Beth continue on the tour and I exited with RJ before we even got off the first level of the castle. RJ had plenty of fun running around the castle grounds. As I have probably mentioned before, RJ likes to run down hills more than he likes to run up hills. Thus we ended up spending most of our time on the river-side of the castle as opposed to the curtain wall side of the castle.


We ended the day with Spaghetti Night in Navan. As you can see, RJ likes spaghetti. He even finds that it's in fashion to wear his spaghetti.

Navan House

We've now been settled into our new abode for about a week and the verdict is in. I've gotten two thumbs up from my wife and a plethora of dolphin chirps from RJ. I did well this time.

As with my last experience securing Irish housing, this one was fraught with many stumbling blocks. Having been through the experience once already though, I was much better prepared to take on the challenge.

Our home-for-a-month has 4 bedrooms, has a garden in back (see picture below), and is well decorated. On top of that, it is actually cheaper than my apartment on the North side of Dublin (I still have to pay rent there, too). However, it is a 30-40 minute drive to work in the morning. I can't complain, though. At home, my commute is one hour each way. I'vegotten spoiled the last few months with my Dublin apartment being a 5-minute walk to work.


So now I get to see my family for 7 weeks straight. What a concept! I love getting home and spending time with Beth and RJ. We put RJ to bed a little later because the sun sets at 10pm. He doesn't like to go to bed when it's still light out (yet he has no problem sleeping-in in the morning).

Mostly, I'm glad that this time I got the dwelling space right. My apartment isn't a good fit for a family of three (or two even). I guess there's hope for me yet.

Outside the Signal

It's been a hectic week getting the family settled in our temporary abode for the next month. We've rented a flat (townhouse in American lingo) about a half hour northwest of Dublin. So far, so good. Beth is much happier with this choice than my choice regarding apartments. Granted, I still have the apartment, too, but use it mostlly as a place to keep my work clothes. I drive in, park the car in my apartment parking space, change into my suit, then walk over to the hotel where I'm working.

Unfortunately, I'm outside of the wireless signals that I'm accustomed to and thus may not have much time over the next month to update. I'll try to keep up to speed by doing 3-4 blogs a week. We bought Beth a wireless internet connection (and local cell phone) on a pay-as-you-go basis and should be able to write the blogs up on my computer, then post them from hers. Or I might write them up at night, then post them from work first thing in the morning. Either way, it's not as easy for me to post as it was before.

This past weekend RJ and I had a Daddy-Son Day and drove up to Kingscourt (County Cavan). I forgot my camera, so you get no pictures. It is a nice little town that has a Nature Preserve nearby. The Nature Preserve is beautiful, but it was not made for strollers and 17-month olds. Lots of hills and rocky paths. I did get some good exercise pushing the stroller up steep grade paths, but RJ didn't get as much exercise as I did. The paths were narrow and careened into a river valley below. I thought it best not to let him run loose. The few places where RJ could get out and run around were still hilly. He's mastered running down hill, but not up hill. So, no matter where I parked the stroller, as he ran we kept getting further away from it.

The Heart of Darkness and Other Stories by Joseph Conrad

Beth and I traveled back to Ireland today with RJ in tow. My brain isn't working quite yet so I doubt that I'll say anything profound about this book that I finished a couple of weeks ago. Joseph Conrad's novella "The Heart of Darkness" was a hard book for me to get through.

I found the frame narrative style quite difficult to read. The point of view is of somebody being told a story to, but the entire novella is essentially in quotes, dictated by the main character, Marlow. Still the story is good. Good enough for Francis Ford Coppola to make it into a film (though the time and location were changed). You might have heard of the movie: Apocalypse Now.

The story deals with a character, Kurtz, who develops a god-complex ruling over local tribesmen in the heart of the dark continent, Congo. In the beginning of the story, Kurtz is held in high esteem by Marlow, but as Marlow uncovers the mysteries surrounding Kurtz, he discovers Kurtz's heart of darkness and the evil that he commits to obtain ivory.

Good story, hard narrative style. I don't know if I need to recommend this book. I'll be checking out Apocalypse Now to see how the story was adapted and perhaps I will recommend the movie to you instead.

As far as my 10,000 pages goal is concerned, I am about 600 pages behind at halfway through the year. So I'm on target to hit about 9,000 pages unless I pick up the pace. The next book I'll be reading is the 1000 page monster sequel to A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, so I expect to catch up quickly.

Four More Paws in Heaven

R.I.P. Montana.

Trips to Ireland for my family have brought sad tidings. Last time they came back to Ireland we had to put Kiowa down. This time we had to put Montana down. Lung Cancer.

This picture is one of my favorite memories of her. I don't remember exactly how she ended up with the underwear stuck in her collar, but I do remember her running around for about 15 minutes trying to get it unstuck.

Many days have come and gone.
Running 'round the fresh cut lawn.
But all we can now is look back
Remember paws go clickity clack
On the tile or hardwood floors.
Knowing those days will be no more.
Because there are four more paws in heaven.

Goodbye Montana, we'll miss you.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

I had the opportunity to read another classic. This one by Herman Hesse. Before I start into my understanding of the book, I will preface it with a quote taken directly from the book: "What is a treasure and wisdom to one man always sounds like utter foolishness to another."

Although this isn't one of the best books that I have ever read, it is one of the most profound books that I have ever read. This is another easy read you can probably go through in a night and the nuggets of wisdom that you will find between the covers is absolutely amazing. To quote just a few:

"Seeking means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal."

"Writing is good, thinking is better. Cleverness is good, patience is better."

"If a person has nothing to eat, fasting is the most prudent course. If, for example, Siddhartha had not learned how to fast, to day he would have had to accept some kind of-any kind of-employment, whether with or somewhere else, because hunger would have driven him to it. But as it is Siddhartha can wait calmly, he knows no impatience, he knows no distress, he can let hunger besiege him for a long time and laugh as well. For that reason, Sir, fasting is good."

Throughout the book, you follow Siddhartha on his path to self discovery. Some of the things that he discovers about himself are sad like the realization that people like him cannot love. Love is the blessing of the "child people" as he calls them.

This is a book that I will read again.

The Castles, The Wall and the Angel (Part 2)

After taking the not-so-quiet approach to leaving the Newcastle University dorms, I hopped in the car and headed for Hadrian's Wall. I needed to exit the A1 at A69 going west. Unfortunately, I couldn't, because this bastard shot a police officer at that junction only 6 hours before. I did eventually find a way around and got on the A69, but it's not fun when you're lost and there's a gunman on the loose who was known to be in the area only six hours earlier.

Hadrian's Wall was not what I pictured it would be. Most of the wall has collapsed and where it is standing it is rare for the structure to be over three feet high (having collapsed down to it's base). Yet, it was still impressive, especially when you consider the terrain that it was built on. Though the prevailing rumor is that the Romans built Hadrian's Wall to keep out the wild Scots, that's only partially true. It actually acted as a border control to limit the number of people coming into England from Scotland . . . especially those that didn't have their green cards. ;)

To bring my trip to Newcastle and Northumbria to conclusion, I had to go see the iron icon of the area that is The Angel of the North. This piece of artwork was built by Antony Gormley in 1998. It welcomes all the visitors to the North that drive past it on the A1 . . . or if you live up North it welcomes you home. It is a most impressive structure. The wingspan is the same as that of a jumbo jet. You can see the scale in the picture below (a photographer in the bottom right and a person standing up next to the sculpture).


One more drive past the A1/A69 intersection (which was now open to traffic) and I was back at the airport. After a long week of work, it will be nice to fly home tomorrow and see my wife and son.

Incidentally the picture at the head of the post is the "new castle" that Newcastle Upon Tyne is named for. Not quite as impressive as the others.

The Castles, The Wall and The Angel (Part 1)

If you want to see some freakin' cool castles, go to Northumbria, England. There are other things to see like Hadrian's Wall and The Angel of the North, both worth seeing, but the castles were absolutely phenomenal. Last weekend, I flew over to Newcastle Upon Tyne and had an interesting weekend, which included avoiding a disgruntled convict with a gun.

On Saturday, I did the all-castles-all-the-time tour of Northumbria. The first castle that I saw was on Holy Island, Lindisfarne Castle. Holy Island is an island that you can drive to at low tide. A causeway opens up, just don't get caught trying to drive across when the tide is coming in.

The town was neat and I would have liked to stay a little longer, but I had a tonne (that's the British spelling) of castles to see and only one day to do it! Here is Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island:


Next it was down the coast toTHE most amazing castle that I have seen to date: Bamburgh Castle. This one deserves two pictures.

From the park:
From the beach:


And, although I have many other pictures of castles, I cut it off after this one as it's a good one to end on. This is Alnwick Castle, but you might know by it's other name: Hogwarts. This castle was the featured backdrop for Harry Potter as Hogwarts in three of the six films already released.


After my tour of the castles of Northumbria, I toured the cities of Newcastle Upon Tyne and Tynemouth. There really isn't anything spectacular about the city other than it attracts stag parties and hen parties from all over the United Kingdom and Ireland. For your reference stag party = bachelor party, hen party = bachellorette party.

I found cheap accommodation staying in a dormitory at the University of Newcastle. I'm such an old fart. I was in bed by 10pm. I first woke when the loud and raucous stag parties returned from the pubs (obviously of the same mind for cheap accommodations) at 2:30 am. I next awoke to my alarm and to extract my revenge, being loud (though not raucous) at 6am when I got up to start my Sunday adventures.

To be continued . . .

More Good Music

In my foray over to the landladies' house for tea yesterday, I discovered another good Irish music act. How did I discover it? It was playing on the radio at their house. In fact, it was one the ladies' son: Simon Fagan.

Check out the link here. If you sign up to his mailing list, you can get a free EP.

http://www.simonfagan.net/

Irish Hospitality

Since my apartment in Ireland is unacceptable to my wife (it is small and falling apart), I've been hunting for a place for us to stay when she comes over in a couple of weeks. I had found a place up in Navan that seemed pretty decent, but the people who were renting it out seemed a little dodgy. So I went up to Navan to get everything straightened out.

I have spent a couple of weekends looking and finally settled on the place earlier this week. I called up one of the ladies that was renting the place (two sisters rent it out) and I agreed on 750 Euro for the month that we'll be staying there. As I was confirming the price and the dates via email, I got a text that it was actually 800 Euro for the month. Dodgy. I didn't see the text until after I'd sent off the email, so I waited to see what the response was be email.

This morning I got an email back from them confirming the 800 Euro and a different address than the one that I saw. Dodgy. So I called them back and she laughed when she realized that she gave the wrong address (her address, not the rental address, which happens to be on the same street). Then I asked about the 800 Euro and it was explained to me that this was the price that I was presented when I saw the place two weeks ago. It could be, but I don't remember. Under the guise of going up to pay the deposit, I decided that I wanted to go up and meet these people, because I wasn't sure that I trusted them. If it still felt dodgy after meeting them, I would have left without paying the deposit.

After meeting the two sisters for half an hour, I decided to pay the deposit. Half an hour later, I was invited over to their other house for tea. Two other sisters joined us there and the hospitality was wonderful. Very nice ladies. It turns out that their family owned all the property that the subdivision was built on, so they have a couple of houses in the subdivision. One of them owns a golf course and offered up a free round of golf. They even offered to lend us their SatNav while we were renting from them. Good people, great hospitality!