Tiffany In Dublin

I just returned from a week in California and it feels strangely familiar to come back, but it still hasn't started to feel like home yet.  Mr. D arrived two days earlier than I did and strangely enough it snowed when he arrived.  I, on the other hand, came back to sunshine, weird weather. It was nice to be back in California and to visit with friends.  It felt like a much needed therapy session since Mr. D and I haven't really met people in Dublin yet.  It has been getting lonely here and I guess it feels even more pronounced since I spent a good part of last week bonding with my 4 month old nephew.  The way he would smile at me seriously melted my heart. We almost had a place to rent, a nice two bedroom house in Stoneybatter, but after reading through the lease I saw provisions added in that actually went against the Residency Tenancy Rights.  The most egregious was the landlords wanted to retain the right to end the lease within the first 6 months w...

I feel like a lot has happened in the last week.  I went through a roller-coaster of emotions, but a much needed trip to Vienna and Bratislava during the weekend helped tremendously to ground me.  Vienna is a delightful Austrian city.  In the past we've only ever been to Salzburg in Austria, and the two cities couldn't be more different from each other.  The historic center of Salzburg is absolutely gorgeous and feels very medieval with the castle watching over the city.  Vienna on the other hand is grand, it is everything you would expect from the seat of the Hapsburg empire.  Massive structures, elegance and decadence, and history.  Mr. D. and I felt right at home in the small city center.  Cafe Central In Vienna The highlight for me was visiting the Freud museum.  I've been fascinated with Freud ever since I was in school.  He's the biggest influence on my decision to study psychology in university.  Freud Museum...

This week I've been struggling with food poisoning.  I find it funny how I've eaten questionable things throughout my travels to around 30 countries, but it takes living in Dublin for me to get food poisoning.  Though food quality here has been questionable, I never considered food hygiene an issue here, but it can happen anywhere! Today I felt well enough to stop by Facebook for their Valentine's Day lunch, on paper everything sounded lovely, but having eaten at Facebook a number of times since arriving in Dublin, I've been very much underwhelmed.  Mr. D and I were saying how spoiled we were with the Menlo Park office. The best part of lunch were the fresh oysters with shallot mignonette sauce, the worst were the beet arancini.  Mr. D grabbed a bit of every dessert, but we wish he hadn't.  After a quick sampling, we couldn't finish the rest.  Desserts From The FB Office Lunch At FB We actually noticed this in general, so far most of the bak...

Dublin has been keeping up with this sunny weather streak.  From my apartment window I could almost feel like I'm in California, but the moment I am outside, I feel the difference in temperature. We spent Saturday in Howth, but we weren't too impressed.  It felt like an amusement park with how many people were on the cliff walk.  But at least lunch made it worth the DART trip. Howth Cliff Walk Howth Cliff Walk Howth Harbor Craft Beers At Brass Monkey Seafood Chowder at Brass Monkey Oysters And Smoked Salmon at Brass Monkey Sticky Toffee Pudding AT Brass Monkey Overall the chowder was lovely and the oysters were very tasty.  The salmon was good, but the sticky toffee was burnt.  Toffee can be difficult to get right, and if not careful, it can come off as too bitter. On Sunday we stopped by the Custom House Quay to see the Chinese New Year Festival.  The festival was well attended and reminded me of when I was little ...

Today the relocation specialist we've been working with took us to apply for our PPS number and to sign up for a bank account in Ireland.  After chatting with her regarding housing, we feel a little better about our prospects.  There is still a massive housing problem in Dublin, but it sounds like a number of apartments will be going on the market soon.  She assured us that with the budget we quoted for her we should be able to find a number of prospective apartments in the locations that we've been eyeing.  She mentioned in some instances we may be able to get a two bedroom if we went a little over budget.  The prices she quoted seemed reasonable, so we are keeping our options open.  One thing that I've been noticing since arriving on Friday is that Dublin seems much more vibrant then when Mr. D and I were here in 2012.  Everything seems more alive, clean, and overall positive.  What a difference 6 -7 years makes.  We've also been getting...

Happy Chinese New Year!   It's the year of the (earth) pig, the last time it was the year of the (golden) pig, 12 years ago, I was living in Shanghai.  How fun to be living abroad each time it has been my piggy year.