I thought that last bit was momentous enough to deserve its own blog spot :)
So.....we did get our hopes up higher than they were supposed to be. Like up there on the roof when the wind is blowing strong, near the edge, and they fell splat to the ground and laid there for a while....
But, Matt has, like I said before, had more calls every week. I know, a week sounds like along time to wait. Feels even longer.
He has four calls from recruiters that he is waiting on calls back from, for various positions around the country. Some in Dublin (which we have really fallen in love with and really want to stay in now) and one in Galway (which has lost some of its appeal now that Eric had to go back to Colorado -sniff sniff) and one in the town we started out in.
So, that means we are still in the game. And everyone says that the market is really picking up. We have a month and a half left on our passport stamps....
Although I really don't know what that means for our staying or going in the long run. I think we are most likely to stay as long as we can before we have to throw in the towel.
And then there is always London, which (this is the word on the street) has still got a strong IT need, and has less trouble with work permits. Matt knows a brother from Santa Clara that is currently working in that area.So, who knows, maybe we'll do that.....:)
On the tourist front, Matt and I have discovered a whole new sector of the town that we didn't know existed, full of exotic tasty sounding restaurants and beautiful boutiques. It seems to be the artsy quarter. Lots of homemade bread bakeries and used/"renewed" clothing stores. And books stores and record shops. RECORDS, not just CD's. (I miss my stereo....sniffle) And its a short cut between our apartment and down town. Although everything here closes down really early. All of the stores and shops are closed by 5 starting closer to 4 in the afternoon. So, we need to wake up earlier, for our 4 hour stint at the internet shop :)
We were wondering around the backside of Stephens Green shopping area and found an Indian Restaurant that we ate at the first time we came here. Its called Raj Doots We have been looking for it since we arrived. Now we have a new favorite place (Surma) that has been giving us things to try for free so we can taste more of the menu. Its really nice. We are starting to recognize more and more faces around us as we walk down the streets to town, or dinner, or meeting. Seems like everyday we pass witnesses on their walk home from work. And the guys from the internet cafe we see all over, and even the servers from Surma. And of course, they are all really friendly and stop t say hello and chat for a second. So, it is feeling homey even though technically we don't really have a home yet.
Tonight we are going to the Beauty and the Beast Theatre production that has been going on here in Dublin for a while, and has gotten rave reviews. We wouldn't be going at all except for the Griffins inviting us (once again) out with a crowd of witnesses from our congregation. They had two extra tickets apparently, and offered them to us. They refused to tell us how much we owe them for the tickets, saying only that if we get work and settle here, we can take them out for a drink. They don't drink.
So, I'm sure it will be a load of fun. Good craic and all.
We'll let you know how it is :)
lets see...today is Monday....okay
Thursday afternoon Matt had his biggest scariest interview yet.
The one with Lufthansa.
He said that it went really, really well. I hung out in the business parks coffee shop so that it wouldn’t look like he brought along support. It took almost 2 hours and he got a chance to look personable, as well as highly intelligent. Tech smarty that he is. So, now we get to wait and see if he made the cut for the short list. Then they call him back and set up the next interview (which sounds more frightening to me) with the big-wig IT guy that they are going to fly in from Germany to interview the short list candidates. Then, THAT guy is the one that will chose who to hire. So. Again with the waiting. But, at least, in the mean time Matt has had a few other calls from interested people. He’s got another recruiter getting him an interview with a “wind-farm” that needs an IT guy. I guess they actually have 12 positions open. New company. I can just picture Matt out on some windy mountain checking the wind-mills spinney chip or something…. Then there is still a brother here in our congregation that is moving jobs himself and says he can probably get Matt a job in computer sales at the new place he is going to. But I already told you about that.
Saturday we went and played tourist for the first time since we got here. We went and toured Christ Church Cathedral, which was founded in 1030 by the first Nordic King in Dublin (Sitric Silkenbeard, nice name, huh?), and has one of the oldest and largest Crypts in the country too. I love old things. It also is home to Strongbow’s tomb (which had a wired little guy attached to the side of it. When I asked about it the girl said its either Strongbow’s extra remains that wouldn’t fit in this new tomb from his original one that got broken in two in 1560- something, or it was the remains of his son that he accidentally killed. But its all speculation), and the heart of the Archbishop Lawrence O’toole (1173) encased in a steel heart shaped case, then wrapped in a cage. Holy Relic, so they say. It looked neat, but I don’t see it doing much for anyone. I’m quoting these details from the coolest map we have ever used. We lost it one night a few weeks ago and had to tool al around Dublin until we found the store we had originally bought it at because they were the only ones selling it. Collins Dublin StreetFinder. Rad. We also checked out St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but didn’t go in because it didn’t seem to have anything too special about it (outside of the whole this is where St. Patrick did that thing with the 3-leaf clover to explain the trinity, and that, I just don’t care about). Then we wondered over to the Guinness Hopstore. And we got severely lost on the way because it’s not in the same place that it was when last we were here. Oh, no. They now have a 7-storey tour with a glass enclosed bar on the top with a 360ยบ view of the city. We found it eventually. But not before we walked around the entire Guinness complex. It is a small city in and of itself. So, we spent the rest of the afternoon there, even though we were planning on seeing Dublin Castle too. But the place was so huge that we just stayed until they kicked us out :).
Tonight we are going to meet up with Eric Netzer (finally). His is a sad story. We haven’t rushed to meet up with him (as you can tell, we’ve been here a month+) because we had all the time in the world. Right, well…he is now flying back to Colorado on Tuesday (tomorrow morning) because his father has been sick. So, Eric is called home. He says it feels like time to go anyways. Such is Life. We are all rooting for his father to get better. He is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met, as is his wife. So, they are in our prayers.
That being said, its time to have one last night of fun with Eric before we loose him back to the states.
Thursday afternoon Matt had his biggest scariest interview yet.
The one with Lufthansa.
He said that it went really, really well. I hung out in the business parks coffee shop so that it wouldn’t look like he brought along support. It took almost 2 hours and he got a chance to look personable, as well as highly intelligent. Tech smarty that he is. So, now we get to wait and see if he made the cut for the short list. Then they call him back and set up the next interview (which sounds more frightening to me) with the big-wig IT guy that they are going to fly in from Germany to interview the short list candidates. Then, THAT guy is the one that will chose who to hire. So. Again with the waiting. But, at least, in the mean time Matt has had a few other calls from interested people. He’s got another recruiter getting him an interview with a “wind-farm” that needs an IT guy. I guess they actually have 12 positions open. New company. I can just picture Matt out on some windy mountain checking the wind-mills spinney chip or something…. Then there is still a brother here in our congregation that is moving jobs himself and says he can probably get Matt a job in computer sales at the new place he is going to. But I already told you about that.
Saturday we went and played tourist for the first time since we got here. We went and toured Christ Church Cathedral, which was founded in 1030 by the first Nordic King in Dublin (Sitric Silkenbeard, nice name, huh?), and has one of the oldest and largest Crypts in the country too. I love old things. It also is home to Strongbow’s tomb (which had a wired little guy attached to the side of it. When I asked about it the girl said its either Strongbow’s extra remains that wouldn’t fit in this new tomb from his original one that got broken in two in 1560- something, or it was the remains of his son that he accidentally killed. But its all speculation), and the heart of the Archbishop Lawrence O’toole (1173) encased in a steel heart shaped case, then wrapped in a cage. Holy Relic, so they say. It looked neat, but I don’t see it doing much for anyone. I’m quoting these details from the coolest map we have ever used. We lost it one night a few weeks ago and had to tool al around Dublin until we found the store we had originally bought it at because they were the only ones selling it. Collins Dublin StreetFinder. Rad. We also checked out St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but didn’t go in because it didn’t seem to have anything too special about it (outside of the whole this is where St. Patrick did that thing with the 3-leaf clover to explain the trinity, and that, I just don’t care about). Then we wondered over to the Guinness Hopstore. And we got severely lost on the way because it’s not in the same place that it was when last we were here. Oh, no. They now have a 7-storey tour with a glass enclosed bar on the top with a 360ยบ view of the city. We found it eventually. But not before we walked around the entire Guinness complex. It is a small city in and of itself. So, we spent the rest of the afternoon there, even though we were planning on seeing Dublin Castle too. But the place was so huge that we just stayed until they kicked us out :).
Tonight we are going to meet up with Eric Netzer (finally). His is a sad story. We haven’t rushed to meet up with him (as you can tell, we’ve been here a month+) because we had all the time in the world. Right, well…he is now flying back to Colorado on Tuesday (tomorrow morning) because his father has been sick. So, Eric is called home. He says it feels like time to go anyways. Such is Life. We are all rooting for his father to get better. He is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met, as is his wife. So, they are in our prayers.
That being said, its time to have one last night of fun with Eric before we loose him back to the states.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)