Recapitulation:

Still living in a hostel, I finally (very quickly, by Dublin standards) secured a room in a house. Now that I have some peace of mind, and especially now that every moment on the internet is not spent at daft.ie trying to find a home, I felt like I should communicate with the rest of you.

As I have been a bit tardy in establishing this thing, here is some recapitulation of events I've taken some notes on.

9-7-07:

I'm sitting here on the plane, less than an hour from Dublin, savoring the last red round freshly picked tomatoes--courtesy of my aunt Suzanne's garden--I'll have in, likely, a long, long time. The time will soon be 16 hours of travel, 8 hours of lost time, bringing me to 5:45 a.m., right about the time yesterday I checked my bags in Seattle. Upon landing, I should have no trouble finding my ride: Evan, a "short, fierce" man by Dennis's words. I'll probably be expected to repay him by playing bicycle polo and breaking a limb or two. This promises to be a long day; after searching for roommates and a house I'll probably have to explore the town. Hostel accommodations, after all, are not the type to encourage tucking in early.

Really, I was lost this entire day. Since Dubliners don't seem to believe in street signs, and since I couldn't find north, I walked maybe 20 miles trying to get around the city. It was the first day in months (the rainiest summer in 103 years) that it was sunny, and it was hot and humid. I don't even remember what happened. I looked at a house, right across the street from the Guinness factory. Didn't get it. Probably for the better.

On that note, celebrate with me my first Irish pint, from the International Bar, on Grafton St.

9-8-07:

Busy, busy day. I almost knew where I was headed, saw "Bones" at Trinity College's Samuel Beckett Theatre, saw Josh Ritter at the Tripod club on Harcourt, ate at Kennedy's Pub right next to Trinity, walked a lot.

Kennedy's was an excellent place; vegetable soup and a Guinness for lunch, with a cappuccino slightly later. Once I become established I may apply there, for 20 hours a week or so. They serve excellent coffee, perfectly steamed milk, right around the corner from Trinity. I will become a regular.

I also ran across a coaster saying "Coors Light -- Now on tap!" If I see it again, I'll take a picture.

9-9-07:

Bicycle polo is likely one of the scariest sports, especially if you haven't ridden a fixed-gear bike before and don't know how to stop. I mostly spent the game running into people and having bicycles fall on me. Basically a lesson in pain tolerance. Speaking of pain tolerance, rugby seems to be the most violent sport I have ever seen, aside from professional wrestling. Coincidentally, it is also Ireland's second love--the first being Gaelic football, a more violent form of regular football. Regular football, of course, meaning soccer.

Does anyone really think the NFL is violent? How about a bunch of unpadded guys pummeling each other, when a tackle does not end the play but rather escalates the violence? Needless to say, Ireland won, but 35-17 against Namibia is shameful. Yes, the 2007 Rugby World Cup is off to a rough start for Ireland; if they want to make it to the finals over Argentina and France they'll have to win by more on 9-15 against Georgia. Because after that, there's only France and Argentina--and they'll need quite a buffer of points in order to have a safe lead. As Colleen said, "My god, you're not even American any more."

9-10-07:

I successfully got a house. At first I didn't get it, but then they texted back and said I did. I feel like I'm on HGTV. Either way, I'm now living with three others, all in (I think) their late-20s or so, mostly professionals and architects. But it's a good price, right off the bus which heads straight to Trinity, and I have my own double room. The kitchen is also huge, and there's a garden out back. It seems safe, as it is very residential. It won't be a crazy place, so that will be nice during the weeks where I actually have to work.

9-11-07:

The day of this post. I got my bike back, although something is seriously wrong with it. I'll fix it later. For now, I had lunch at Davy Byrne's pub--Moral pub, according to Leopold Bloom in "Ulysses." A small salmon sandwich, with Guinness. Then a cappuccino and small scone at Bewley's. With this much time, I feel inclined to have two small lunches instead of one lonely one. Davy Byrne's pub, the original Dublin gastro-pub:


Comment if you feel inclined. Also, send this to all my friends and family. Your friends and family, too, if they seem interested.