January « 2008 « Bakker Bugle Blog

13 January 2008

Simple Saturday in the City

Filed under: dublin,entertainment — Anita @ 20:54

In the spirit of getting out of the house, Will and I tried to be more active this Saturday than we have been in weekends past. We debated about taking a drive outside the city, seeing a movie or going for a bike ride. However, the weather on Saturday was not the best, so we decided to do a chore and go to a museum.

We did our chore first, which was taking some recycling to the “bring centre.” As I mentioned in an old post, the city will pick up only our trash, so we have to take our recycling ourselves. With our chore finished, we ate some lunch and headed to the museum we had picked for the day.

We had several choices, but we went with the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History. We just call it “The Collins Barracks,” which is the name of the site from its military days. I had been there once this summer when Mom was here for her visit and Will has been back a couple more times. It is a very large museum and both of us thought there would be plenty to see. We were right.

The major exhibit we viewed today was Soldiers and Chiefs: The Irish at Home and Abroad. With all the history relating to Ireland that we have been watching and reading, it was a good overview of the military side of Ireland.

We intend to try each weekend to take some time to experience our city. It is far too easy for us to sink into a winter funk and hide in our home. From now until Spring, we plan to use the time to explore the museums and other indoor activities. Maybe one weekend will be nice enough to do something else. Stay tuned!

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9 January 2008

Happy New Year

Filed under: culture,expat,mental state — Will @ 20:07

Last month, Anita and I spent several days in the American Midwest. Our return to our former (and future) homes in the US gave us a new emotional and intellectual perspective on Dublin and our lives in Ireland. For about a week, I’ve been contemplating a long post about that new perspective.

I have notes that I jotted as we traveled, and they still make sense to me. But I haven’t been able to bring them together and write something articulate. So that disquisition will have to wait until inspiration strikes.

In the meantime, it’s a new year, filled with promise. It appears that most Irish professionals returned to work on the 7th, and that many residents of Dublin traveled during the long break. So the whole city feels like it really is starting anew. I’m familiar with that feeling from the semester-based academic schedule. Anita’s jobs, in the past, required a lot of work during the first few days of the year (and preparation for that work in the last weeks of the old year). I’m not sure whether she feels any different in 2008. For years, we both dismissed the idea of January 1st as a legitimate interlude in an ordinary person’s life, but this year, it feels right.

The rest of the world seems to be entering a new period, too. The Irish newspapers took a break from Irish politics — and we didn’t read about Irish politics at all while we traveled. After the new year, even the papers seem to find the old scandals less significant. And the American primary season is finally underway; the US political class is hyperventilating after holding its breath for the past several months. The primaries are followed very closely in the Irish media. After each primary, the results are always the lead news item, even in the three-minute news summary on pop radio stations. As you might expect, the Democratic primaries receive the most attention.

We’re off to a fast start this year — no contemplative hibernation in the snow for Anita and Will! So before it becomes ridiculously late, let me be the last to wish you a charmed 2008.

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6 January 2008

First Visit to the Mothership

Filed under: ireland — Anita @ 12:59

As many of you know, Will and I have a fondness for IKEA. [Editor’s Note: Dave’s objections notwithstanding, we cannot resist the Scandinavian huldra of affordable design.] Once or twice a year, we would organize a trip to the Schaumburg (Illinois) store to get nifty storage containers, unique household items and functional furniture. Imagine our shock and dismay when we discovered that Ireland did not have an IKEA. Not one store on the whole island – a tragedy! We discovered this deficiency before we moved, so we made a final run to the Schaumburg store. We managed to get almost every IKEA thing we could need, but we did have a few holes that needed filling with cheap, function Swedish designs.

Not long after we moved here, the news of a new IKEA opening in Belfast reached our eager ears. The store opened in December. While the island is small, Belfast is still about two hours away. So, it wasn’t reasonable or practical to go to Belfast just to shop at IKEA, as we really didn’t need that much. But, due to circumstances outside our control, we had to go to Belfast Saturday morning. Never ones to miss an opportunity, we decided to go to IKEA after we completed our commitment.

We arrived not long after the store opened, before the crowds began. Our friend Kathryn went with us and all three of us had an excellent shopping experience. We found rugs, storage units, a small table – everything we think we need to make our apartment just a little more perfect. Since Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain, the currency is Pounds, not Euros. Right now, it takes about two US dollars to get to one Pound. So, to get a feel for what things cost, you just doubled each posted price. Even I can handle that!

IKEA has plans to build a Dublin store, but they have to wait for some roadwork to be finished before they are allowed to build the store. The best estimate right now is 2010. Sometimes, things take a long time in Ireland…..

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