Farewell, Sky Europe

Wow. I'm saddened to learn that European budget airline Sky Europe has filed for bankruptcy and ceased operation. Bummer, man. These guys weren't perfect, but they were pretty decent - and very useful for the budget traveler. If I'd spent more time in Europe recently, I would've certainly flown them again.

(...and, yeah, I know I haven't really done my Ireland trip justice. I've been busy w/work. Maybe I'll get to it one day...)

"Galway Girl"

My flights to Ireland were largely uneventful - particularly the Atlanta-to-Dublin leg during which the "in flight entertainment" monitor at my seat was mysteriously broken while everyone else's worked fine. (D'oh!) At least I was able to catch up on some sleep, though, given that I'd been working so hard before I left...

As I flew into Dublin, I fell in love with the Emerald Isle from the air; my first sight of her was almost magical - green and beautiful, rising peacefully from the choppy gray ocean. I knew right then that I was going to enjoy myself on this trip; it was just "a feeling". Once the plane landed, I had some time to kill in the airport before catching a CityLink bus to Galway; strangely, my flight landed an hour early - which, as any air traveler can attest, never happens. I ATM'd some Euros (and said a silent "hurrah!" when the ATM did not eat my card like the one in Marrakech did last year), found some decent food, and managed to doze quietly with my leg wrapped through my backpack straps as it leaned against my chair.

I spent the next 3-4hrs bussing it to Galway, wherein I sat next to an old woman who was shocked at the idea that I was traveling alone; she warned me to be careful..."because you think it's just Ireland, but it's not as safe as it seems". Given where I was raised and where I've traveled previously, I just smiled by best appreciative smile at her and commented wryly that I figured Ireland was probably about as safe as home - which means that pretty much anything could happen. My seatmate also inspired me, upon returning home, to inquire regarding the surname of my maternal Irish relations; she claimed that you could tell which counties families came from just from their names, so maybe there's hope of tracking down the part of Ireland we were originally from...

Galway served a nice "college town" entry point to Ireland. I explored so much that I wound up with crazy blisters on my feet, but it was worth it. One Irish guy I roomed with was an incoming university student looking for housing; to my amazement, he mentioned never having been to a city as big as Galway - and Galway's not all that big. Fortunately, though, Galway did have decent stores such that I could buy a waterproof windbreaker thing. (I mysteriously didn't pack anything waterproof - not sure what I was thinking!)

From Galway, I arranged day trips to visit Connemara (i.e. the picturesque Gaeltacht / Gaelic speaking region), and the Cliff of Moher. I'm glad I went on both trips, but they mostly just served to reinforce the fact that I'm not the kind of person who enjoys organized bus tours; they kind of rip the soul out of an experience. I hate suffering through obnoxious people with different motives for traveling - and especially other obnoxious Americans who don't know how to "not be in America", for lack of a better explanation. I also really don't enjoy being party to someone else's schedules. That said, with as exhausted as work had made me, I just plain didn't have the energy to figure it out on my own as I'd usually be wont to do. C'est la vie.

The land of Eire

Well, after tonight, I've only got 3nts left in Ireland - then it's back home to the daily grind in San Diego. Thus far it's been great though; I just haven't wanted to pay for internet because charges for it are outrageous. Frankly, updating a blog while on the road isn't that important. As of today, however, I'm in a hostel that includes free internet - so I'm making use of it.

I started off my trip in Galway, then headed up to Belfast. Much like other cities that have made others (who haven't been) personally comfortable at the thought...I found that I fell in love with Belfast. It's rough; it's still got issues to resolve; it's got amazing Victorian architecture mixed with a lot of new development given that the city is revitalizing. Anyway, something about it just "resonated" with me...so I wound up staying 5nts. Best decision I've made on this trip. Galway was nice, but I'll ultimately forget it; Belfast I will remember.

More when I'm stateside again...

Wheels up in the a.m.

Tomorrow, I leave for Ireland! Much like when I went to Morocco, I've been too exhausted and bombarded by work to get excited...until about an hour ago... :) I got off early from work due to the holiday weekend, then found the "print your boarding pass" email waiting for me at home, and I've been pretty much elated ever since. I can't explain what it is about travel that makes me feel so alive, but this is the stuff that really turns me on - the exploration, the unknown, the raw possibility. It's all good.

I've got boarding passes through to Dublin, just nabbed a 5€ bus ticket from Dublin airport to Galway (allowing enough time to eat once I land), and have a hostel booked in Galway. Beyond that, it's anyone's guess what the next couple week have in store...


Depart: Sept 5 (for Dublin)
Return: Sept 20

Independence Day in San Francisco

Work certainly hasn't given me much free time, so I decided a little mini-break was in order. I've always wanted to spend some time in San Francisco (beyond the I-got-stuck-there-for-a-night-once-due-to-weather-and-put-up-at-a-Radisson-hotel-by-the-airline experience), so it seemed like a good idea once I found a cheap ticket. I stayed at a hostel downtown and basically just enjoyed not living in my cubicle.

I froze my butt off with a few hundred thousand other crazy people waiting for the fireworks display at Fisherman's Wharf. Even though the display was likely a bit smaller due to the recession, it was still really enjoyable; I haven't seen a good display like that in years. The only thing missing was some sort of patriotic big-band music. (I'm surprised how much an impact childhood celebrations - from when my dad was in the military - have left on me.)

Overall, though, the best part of the weekend was getting in to the Asian Art Museum for free. There was an extensive display of Hindu and Buddhist iconography spanning centuries and geographic regions. I felt like a kid in a candy store - given that my academic interests, once upon a time, focused so heavily on the development and diffusion of Buddhism and on religious iconography.

I found it interesting that I'd always presumed San Francisco would resonate deeply with me...and it, somehow, didn't. Don't get me wrong, I liked it just fine; it just wasn't everything people have hyped it up to be over the years. I still prefer Eugene or Portland for West Coast liberal vibe, and I prefer a variety of cities I've been to in other countries. Life's funny like that, though; you never really know how you'll react to a place...until you just go...

Sometimes childish dreams do come true

Since starting my new job, life has continued to change...

In addition to scrambling to learn a variety of new technologies and software development processes on the work front, I started actively house hunting. Given the decrease in mortgage rates and home prices, it seemed a logical time to get serious about buying my first house. (Now, those of you who know me in person know that I've had a long-standing dream to move back to Oregon and settle for good in the place where I've been happiest. Unfortunately, these rough economic times seem to have put a damper on that idea. Oregon always gets hit harder and longer during economic downturns - and reports I get from friends on the ground include words like "desolate" and "desperate" - i.e. words one might more typically associate with a hard environment like Detroit. Even the most stable of employers are getting hit hard, and people think this is going to take several years to recover from. As much as I love Oregon, I can't put myself in a holding pattern forever - waiting, hoping, wanting it to be the right time to go back.)

So... I actually made an offer on a house I loved down here; however, I decided to withdraw the offer from a 3-way bidding war because, amongst other things, I wasn't comfortable with the 15min added commute each way. I also got scared. Pure and simple. (Even though prices have fallen in San Diego County, houses are still expensive and it's daunting to try to buy something as a single individual; it seriously means you're bound to working long hours at stressful jobs in order to get by.)

Since withdrawing my offer, I've decided to take some time "off" from house hunting in order to answer some personal questions that need answering before proceeding further. I've also got way too much happening at work to be able to devote adequate time to house hunting. In fact, given my workload, I decided I needed a "dangling carrot" - i.e. something to look forward to - in order to get through the next couple months. Me being me, I decided to book a trip...

September 2009: 2wks in Ireland

It's the Irish heritage odyssey I've been dreaming about since I was a little girl - even though I have no idea what part of Ireland my mother's mother's people hail from ;)

Faith

Until today, I honestly had no idea what my near term future held. I didn't know if I'd stay here in San Diego, if I'd follow my heart back to Oregon despite a precarious job market, or if I'd move to some comparatively unknown (to me) place like Austin or Durham or Nashville. Last night, I reached my frustration peak and actually did a runecast for the first time in years. I wasn't super enthused by the reading, but accepted it and went to sleep simply praying for things to work themselves out as they were meant to.

Today, however, I received a job offer. The offer may not be perfect (since things rarely are), but it's competitive - especially in this economy. So, it turns out I'll be staying in San Diego after all... I just had to have faith that, once I laid the groundwork, the Universe would sort itself out.

Goodbye: Job hunt
Hello: New Beginning, 2009!

Twists and turns

Life is full of twists and turns. I got back from my trip to Morocco late on Dec 7th and, despite being ridiculously jetlagged, went to work on time the next morning...only to discover that I no longer had a job. (~20% of my company was laid off while I was gone. Beautiful.) It's been difficult trying to digest this news because I genuinely liked the company I worked for; in fact, I'd actually talked about them with pride while I was gone. Go figure.

That said, being around comparative poverty in rural Morocco so recently definitely helped me to intellectually avoid the "woe-is-me" dynamic - because, let's get serious, I don't have it so bad. However, at this point, I have no idea what the future holds. I'm just trying to have faith that all will turn out well in the end...

I'm interviewing with a couple local companies and I've enrolled in a C++ refresher course to try to be productive during my unemployment. We shall see...

Rowdy bus drivers and hammams in Essaouira

After spending one more night in Marrakech, I left early the next morning, walked to the Supratours bus station (way out past the train station), and caught a bus to Essaouira - a coastal town highly recommended to me by a Moroccan friend/colleague I used to work with. On the bus ride, we got stopped at a checkpoint and our bus driver almost got arrested. There was a loud in-your-face argument, followed by several male passengers getting off the bus in order to try and restrain the bus driver. They pretty much started arresting the bus driver, but somehow, in the end things worked themselves out; the driver got back on the bus and we were on our way again.

It felt good to be back near the ocean and Essaouria was definitely a town with a relaxing, welcoming vibe; however, even there I was unable to go for walks without random guys latching on to me. I did meet one particularly nice young guy interested solely in practicing his English. We talked for a while by the sea wall, and I recall that he was very curious about how gays were perceived and treated in the U.S. Kinda strange subject for conversation with someone you've just met, but I guess you'll never know unless you ask questions, so it's all good.

In addition to wandering around town, walking on the beach, relaxing on the rooftop terrace of the hostel, and meeting some genuinely lovely people through the hostel, I went to a great hammam that was like half the price of places in Marrakech. I don't know if it was because I was there during low season or what, but I guarantee I would've gone almost daily during my time in Essaouira if I'd known how affordable it was. (It was also so warm/steamy that it really helped me start getting over my new cold. I'd gotten over the first cold from Marrakech; however, I picked up another one in Essaouira. I blame in on the fact that I live in San Diego; everywhere on my trip was much colder than anticipated.) Since I got there not terribly long before closing / transiting into the males-only hours, I got the basic hammam and the grommage (which, after you've bathed yourself, basically involves the hammam lady doing some super exfoliation to remove all the dead skin from your entire body and then rinsing you off and washing your hair). I've seriously never felt so clean; it was wonderful.

On my last morning, I caught a super-early bus back to Marrakech and then shared a cab to the airport with an English gal I'd met in Essaouira. Eventually, I boarded the plane bound to Madrid...and wound up in Madrid during some "Times Square on New Year's Eve" type holiday. Everyone was out and about on the streets of the old city at all hours - and it was definitely a shock to see young Spanish couples making out on the subway after spending the last couple weeks in a Muslim country with decidedly different cultural norms. It was basically a stolen night in Madrid, full of huge crowds and tapas and beer. I got up before sunrise the next morning to take an hour-long walk through the city. There wasn't enough light to take pictures, but I did get a chance to see how beautiful Madrid is (since I'd never really thought about it before); I think I'd definitely like to return someday and see the city for real.

I drastically miscalculated how long it'd take me to get back to the airport on the metro...and then check in for an international flight, get through security, go down three escalators to take the train to the other terminal, go up three escalators, go through customs, and then finally find the gate. I seriously almost missed my flight to Chicago; I think there were 5min from when I boarded (as the second-to-last passenger) until "wheels up". I must've looked like a bad movie running through the airport...but at least I made it...