Well...it's monday again...

So here's the scoop as of today...

I have a flat i told everyone the wrong address so i will need to re-email you with the write zip. oops. so i had my "skills" test at la creme office people agency. so here's my skills turn out:

i got a 65 on basic Microsoft Word skills...not so great in teh advanced I got a 78 kind of impressive. kind of funny that i am better at the advanced skills then the basic.

i got in the upper 80s for Powerpoint. Not really surprising considering how many powerpoints i have had to do.

and as for the typing tests, i got 55 words per minute, when i asked how this compared to other people i was told that administrative assistants type an average of 50 words per minute, which admin. assistants are the tops of the tops of assistants, again we all knew i had skills and not super surprised by the results so i am now in the lottery for clerical work. i can also mention this crap when i apply for hotel reception work. so over the weekend and today, i have applied at footlocker (lol) and an internet cafe, 2 hotels: one as a resturant assistant, the other as a receptionist and i will be checking irishjobs.ie and jobs.ie after this to see where i will plan attack tomorrow, i will also be making some calls on some applications tomorrow. so i have faith it just sucks kind wandering around aimlessly looking for places i would be williing to work, i really hope it doesn't come to Mc Donalds, i think i would rather come back to the US then work there, that's how unethical it is for me.

so i ate at a resturant for lunch today they had a 2 course lunch special of 9 euro, which is a lot but i needed something besides what i had at home. so the resturant was called juice! and it was all vegetarian. so had a house salad with those little skinny mushrooms i have gotten at the coop that are really good and then for my main course i had pitas with hummus and the other with a kalamata/cashew patte. both really good, and complete source of protein with everything. so i had a nice meal then off to the USIT office to print off more CVs. You don't have to pay for them, so i take full advantage of it, considering they don't really help you find a job!

i also stopped by the museum gallery today, i didn't make it all the way through the first time, and i asked at info when the Caravaggio would be back and they told me in July, so i will see it before i leave...hooray. I also saw a few poussin's and a monet. i didn't recognize poussin's style off hand so i was kind of disappointed.

then out in the rain walking to more places to drop off CVs. I think i have dropped off so many i might start reapplying at the same places soon. not so good. but i know which stores i want to call tomorrow so i will get the numbers tonight.

so funny thing happened today, while i am out and about looking for work, i got a job offer from someone at the UMD for a design job. granted it was only one book cover, but i was just laughing at the irony that here i am in dublin trying to get myself a job paying minimum wage, and i got a job offer in the US for doing no work, because a professor recommended me. slap in the face...yeah a little bit.

so the plan tonight is go to bed early and then go to the post office at 9am tomorrow and get myself a PPS number. it's like a social security number, only in Ireland. i think i have just about everything for it. then job hunt commence.

so i suppose you are all wondering about my roommates. So there is Paul, he is from Cork, he has a degree in Psychology with a masters in addictive studies, so basically useless until he gets a master's in psychology. he is currently just doing odd jobs, and is going to volunteer at the state government to work with the addiction that is occuring in Dublin. Apparently the big drugs are heroin or opium, and to a lesser extent crack...i don't know. I said what about methAmphetamines and he said, "well, fortunately we're a little bit behind the US on drugs of choice." and laughed. so he's a nice guy i don't know what his interests are besides that but he does do some desktop publishing using Flash and Dreamweaver, so an ammature I am competing with in the field of GD. i find it also funny because he has more stuff in the bathroom then Francesca and myself combined, definately metro sexual. I had know idea there were so many man products for your hair and face!

And Francesca, she is my roommate. She is so friendly and outgoing i love talking to her. she holds three jobs! she is from italy and speaks great english, she told me last night she loves the american accent so she likes to listen to me talk! we were talking about dublin and nature and the lack of that in this city, as well as being vegetarians (she used to be for 7 years but became anemic). she answers the phone at an auction house, she also works on the weekends as a waitress, and she also had an internship for a company called Cultivate. This company applies for city grants and puts on organic events. including one last saturday that Francesca planned, i heard it was wonderful. so we had lots to talk about and i asked them some qs they asked me some qs.

i asked Paul if they had any irish drinks...like ones we have in the states. i asked him if he ever had a Black and Tan which is Bass ale or Guinness Harp and Guinness, it all depends on who you ask. i also asked him if he ever had an Irish Car Bomb which is where you take two shots of Jameson irish whiskey and/or bailey's irish creme and dump it into a Guinness. He had never heard of either of these, but was intrigued. (thank you to my roommates for clarifying these drinks to me b4 i came over) and as stated by Paul, you should probably not ask for them in a pub or Temple Bar.

I also talked to Francesca about the bar scene over here and she said she had never witnessed such violence and loss of self control as she had scene when in Temple Bar sometimes. She was leaving her waitressing job one night and she saw some drunk girl sitting in front of a building just pull her underwear down and start peeing. Unreal. She also couldn't believe the people she had seen in collared shirts with blood stains all over the front, from like fist fights or whatever.

Which brings me to my next point that it is against the law to even own a gun, let alone be in posession of one, you can not own a pocket knife either! i am so glad i didn't bring my leatherman. which is when i brought up the point that i had taken firearm safety and paul and francesca said that neither of them had ever shot a gun, and Paul has never held a gun. Crazy dudes. MN has a licsense so you can conceal and carry. Paul also said that the general Garda, or police do not carry guns! no way, i know it is less prevelant in the US as well due to an increase in tasers or what have you. we covered lots more stuff but i realize how long this blog is. lots of new things behind ever corner, like bums, begging at ATM machines...

Well people, i have talked your ear off and so now i will go back to my flat and make myself some quinoa with the blue cheese and walnuts i have at home, it will be delicious, and nutrious. i also bought some tempeh for another night.

last night i had a frozen pizza and a coke...it was sooo good. the coke here is only 500ml and it is like 1 euro .40 so it is really expensive. but i ate the whole 10 inch pizza with a salad and my coke and i felt really full but i didn't eat lunch so i didn't feel too bad about it. it was so good...product of germany.

so if no one is home tonight i will probably stake out my plan for tomorrow as well as watch some world up action that starte 2 minutes ago. so goodbye.

xoxo,
christie