It has been nearly a year since mum dropped us off at Auckland airport, so what have we been doing in that time?
Here is our 2019 in brief.
January
After frantically packing up our house, we flew to Los Angeles stayed with some friends I've not seen in about a decade, and explored every corner of the city in 5 short days. We skipped the walk of fame but did get to Malibu, the Getty Villa, the SS Iowa, La Brea tar pits, California space center and the Natural History Museum.
Hollywood in Auckland Airport to actual Hollywood
La Brea Tar Pits
And people say I have a big mouth
Waiting for the LA Philharmonic to start
USS Iowa
Docked near Long Beach, it is a sight to behold.
The Getty Villa is simply stunning - it is a recreation of a villa believed to be owned by Julius Caesar's Father in law
Sunset at Santa Monica Pier from the ferris wheel
Santa Monica Beach
The lovely Lyndon and Beth hosted us, and Lyndon got us cheap tickets to the LA Philharmonic performance of John Williams soundtrack show - the one where he would be conducting a special happy birthday rendition to the resident conductor of the LA Phil.
Us outside Walt Disney Concert Hall
We were in the Choir Stalls, could practically read the music over the musicians' shoulders! Very cool to see the mechanics of it all.
We enjoyed watching an American football game - the Probowl - at an American bar, drinking American beer, eating American pizza, being befriended by Americans who were very curious about New Zealand.
Highlight: torn between seeing the LA philharmonic play the music of John Williams from Jaws, Harry potter, Star Wars, Hook and more and looking out over LA from the Griffith Observatory by the Hollywood sign.
View from Griffith Observatory, on the hill by the Hollywood sign
Lowlight: Thinking because of the government shut down our ESTA status hadn't cleared and having major panics. Also frantically trying to get everything sorted with our house before we left the country.
From there, we went to Las Vegas.
February
Las Vegas
Las Vegas the expensive, gawdy beacon shining in the middle of the desert.
Cirque du Soliel - Mystere
The shows are definitely worth it - Cirque du Soleil's Mystere and Absinthe - would highly recommend.
Somewhere near Caesar's Palace
Absinthe Show
More from the Absinthe Show - male pole dancing
At Caesar's Palace
Chillin in the spa at Treasure Island
Out and about on the Strip
Somewhere near our hotel, just chillin on the sidewalk
In New York New York after the rollercoaster there - it is EPIC!
Finally a high heel that might fit me ;)
Trying twinkies at the Neon light graveyard... very average
There's a 5 storey m&m shop on the Strip
We explored lots of casinos, decided the lines for a bunch of rides were too long, tried some gambling with a modest amount of money, got tricked into going to an after party for the Lady Gaga concert as Lady Gaga was supposed to be there - it was feasible-ish - she was playing mere metres away from that club.
Paris, in Las Vegas - the real Paris is obviously better
Freemont St in Old Town part of Las Vegas. There was a 3 hour line for the zip line along the roof, so we enjoyed the lights instead.
30th Birthday Crew ready to paaaaartaaaaay!
I was definitely not the shiniest thing at any point in LV.
We enjoyed escaping to the country to catch up with Jared's friend and his family for a day, having BBQ and playing with guns. It was the quintessential American experience. (The Americans didn't like it when I made them pick up all the gun casings from the bullets though.) When asked about my (Lauren's) reticence around guns, I explained what happened with my brother, and how I vehemently disagree with the American philosophy on guns for fun, however despite my soap box moment, I was pleased to know that I was still quite a good shot.
Little Harvey and the lovely Heather
Mayer and his Nana - kiwi girl from Gizzy I believe, but now living with her whanau in Moapa.
We journeyed around the Grand Canyon and stopped at the Hoover dam on the way. It's the finest dam Jared had ever damn seen.
What a damn sexy man ;)
We then proceeded on to meet up with Jane and Marie, and it started snowing when we were nearly there. We were passed by a BMW going too fast, and caught up to it about half an hour later, where it had had a close encounter of the tree kind. It snowed about a foot overnight and Jane's dreams of tramping in then sleeping in the Grand Canyon were halted, so we ended up spending 2 days in a crappy hotel room in the Grand Canyon Village, Lauren as sick as a dog.
Grand Canyon
About a foot of snow fell overnight and we were to all intents and purposes snowed in.
We caught a bus to the village centre, the others went to the information centre but I was too sick, so went back and slept.
We ventured out to another lodge later that night for dinner, and saw a glimpse of the canyon from the restaurant just as the sun was going down. It was very magical!
So before we departed the following day, we made sure we go as close to the Canyon as possible and basked in its snow-dusted beauty.
Something like -10 degrees Celsius low overnight
We had planned to circumnavigate the Grand Canyon, but there was too much snow, so we bailed on our plans to do that. We drove south with the girls to Flagstaff, Arizona for Jane's birthday breakfast pancakes at IHOP. They continued to [some amazing National Park], while we headed back to Las Vegas and onto New York.
We stayed another night in Las Vegas with Matt and Heather before jetting off to New York.
New York
New York was equal parts amazing and tragic. We loved the architecture and the general grandeur. The views from the Rockefeller and the Empire State Building were spectacular and a tribute to man's creation. I loved the subway system but the people we met on the subway, begging for food and money was a damning indictment on one of the richest nations in the world and how they (do not) take care of all those in their society. This was an echo of the tent city on Venice Beach in LA, and was hard to stomach.
We procured a City Pass and went to the 9/11 memorial, the Met (far too briefly), Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (I was shocked by how small it was in real life).
Mangled truck at 9/11 memorial
The subway to get off at BW - Broadway baby!
Time Square - very close to Broadway, didn't realise this before
View from the Top of the Rock
I, Lauren, had my birthday in New York and we went to see Aladdin, then to a dessert buffet in a rotating restaurant and there were fireworks - for me, obviously - on the Hudson River while we were there! We also were able to get along to see Jeff Daniels in Aaron Sorkin's To Kill a Mockingbird. It was a powerful performance. (If you don't know who those people are, Jared or Michelle are disappointed but will school you up.)
We went to see Aladdin for my birthday!
|Dessert buffet
Grand Central Station
Us at Grand Central
Not sure what this is, but it looks fun!
Not as big as I thought it was...
Us on Liberty Island, looking back at Manhattan Island
I mean it's really just a stylish Smurf right?
The main immigration centre for a long time, on Ellis Island, processed millions from 1892, before closing in 1954
Just a small town boy...
Jackson Pollock at the Met
Hard Rock Cafe before a comedy gig
It snowed a lot while we were New York, which was magical, but slippery. One disappointment was the free ice skating I was hoping to do while we were there was free.... you had to pay to hire the boots and store your stuff so would've ended up being about US$50, so we skipped that.
Snow in Central Park - we were staying quite close so walked from our accommodation to the Met
Somewhere in Central Park
Museum of Natural History - East Coast edition
We also had Valentine's Day in New York. Jared organised that night and we were treated to a 3 course meal and a live Jazz band in the Bronx. It was thoroughly delightful!
Final day- Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge
Our final day in New York was crossing culinary things of our to eat list - we had alcoholic ice cream, cookie dough sundaes, but didn't quite make it to design-your-own Macaroni cheese.
Cookie Dough Sundae
LOVE me some good badges! or buttons...
Near Madison Square Gardens
Just so many pretty buildings everywhere!
The Empire State Building - all 102 floors of it!
View from the top towards the Hudson (?)
Alcoholic ice cream yeeyah!
Dublin
Feb 16 we arrived in Dublin. Dublin was quite warm compared to New York, and it felt much closer to home. Arriving here was like stepping back in time in terms of architecture, and we were soon to find out, in terms of infrastructure. Dublin has lots of quirky back alleys and funky art studios, and is simultaneously parochial and progressive.
Guinness in Dublin tastes different - it tastes lighter and smoother
Along the River Liffey in Dublin - buildings aren't allowed to be more than 5 storeys high to maintain the 'look' of Dublin
Jared started work on Feb 20 so we figured we'd be able to find a place in a few days now that we were actually on the ground. Prior to arriving, we hadn't even received responses from adverts. After arriving, it was a 1 in 10 rate of reply for a viewing time that we may or may not be able to make.
No.
Pre-dawn light from Monkstown, where we had our first non-hotel accommodation in a month
Monkstown Castle remains - which some random old guy came and showed us around.
Dublin rental market is insane (please refer to this article about how it is the worst city in the world for expats to be securing accommodation). After a dozen viewings and putting in a few offers on places we decided to broaden our search in terms of geography and price range.
We secured a temporary premises in Monkstown so we could get out of a hotel and cook our own food, and found somewhere in Lucan for €1450 (~2500NZD) a month. It seemed nice, so we made an offer, and they accepted it.
A church in Monkstown looking eerie in the pre-dawn fog
Poolbeg towers from Monkstown
Highlight: 2 shows on Broadway, arriving in Dublin, and exploring our new home.
Lowlight: Guy with newly amputated arm on New York subway begging for money as his job let him go, not even asking for money, just wanted someone to talk to him and make eye contact. It was absolutely heartbreaking.
March
March 1 we moved into our apartment in Lucan. It was not very nice after all it turned out. The owners had done a hodge-podge job of transforming an office block into apartments, and there were many problems including random wires hanging from random places to the hot water in the shower only working intermittently. The clincher was living there for 2 months and still not being able to get internet connected because there were no new connections available as our neighbours upstairs had taken the last one.
Did not count on tiny fridges when we were collecting magnets from everywhere we went
March was full of painful life admin. We had to pay our first 2 months plus deposit in cash from our NZ bank account as it took us an age to be able to get an Irish bank account.
The bankers were very proud of how hard they'd made it - it kept the criminals out of the banking world.
Briefly the process went like this:
Go to bank
Say 'We'd like to open an account - here's every piece of legal paper in life that matters.'
No that's not enough, you need to also have X
But we have Y
No, that's not enough you need to go, make an appointment with A, and then wait probably another 1-2 weeks to get X
Then an appointment and a week later,
Ok, we have X now, can we open an account?
Lolno, we also need Q and Z
But I can't get those until I have a bank account
That seems like a you problem
Eventually An Post Banking submitted some address evidence for us that they knew wouldn't be accepted - and An Post sent us a letter that said 'what you sent us was unacceptable, but if you return the bottom part of this letter that we've sent to your address, then that counts as proof of address'. So simple, so effective, job done.
This painful process was repeated for trying to get internet set up, and trying to get a job, and trying to get things done with our landlord - like get a mailbox so we could receive mail.
March was cold, bleak and full of red tape.
But in that time, we did make it to Draperstown, in County Derry, Northern Ireland. This is where Jared's family is from as we did some scoping to see if we could find anything further out. The answer was no, not really.
On the rocky road to Dublin, 1 2 3 4 5... Though actually heading to Belfast at this point
The road to Straw
One LPT to figuring out if you're in Republic or Northern Ireland - the NI phone boxes are red, ROI ones are green
We spent a morning walking around a graveyard in Straw, trying to find some of Jared's missing heritage. We didn't find anything much really, but we did find hurling.
The Straw Church
A Bradley of some flavour - there were hundreds of them - but none of the right flavour - we tasted them all
Hurling yeeyah! Gotta get me to a game at Croke Park
Hurling is this most brilliant sport that is like a combination of hockey, baseball and soccer, and hurlies are giant bad ass sticks that fling a solid af ball across a field at break neck speed and do bad ass stuff like this....
After the hurling we went to find someone who might've remembered one of Jared's great uncles. Turns out who he remembered had the right name, but was not the right person.
This is thought to be the road where some of Jared's forebears resided.
St Paddy's day is also worth a mention! We had our first St Patrick's day in Ireland and went into Dublin proper for the parade, and saw sweet fa, then came back out to Lucan where it had a delightfully small town feel to it, much more reminiscent of Whanganui.
Crossing Ha'penny bridge
One of the few floats that wasn't a marching band from the States
Fun fact: most of the harps in Ireland are backwards for the govt logos because Guinness patented the harp symbol sitting the correct way.
This is the guy tried to convince us all the famous people we knew were Irish and went one for one with Jared, after J was already 2 whiskeys in.
Around this time I started working at Finnstown Castle Hotel as a waitress. It was alright, but their resounding lack of organisation drove me insane, and the 6am starts which required a 4:30 am wake up on my part were hard.
Highlight: Visiting Draperstown before Brexit, Getting a job at a castle, albeit minimum wage and 20 hours a week.
Lowlight: BANKS
April
April was full of working, getting frustrated with the shit systems or lack of systems that permeated every facet of this workplace, and applying for other jobs.
We watched a lot of Father Brown, and hotspotted from our mobiles to get internet in our apartment. Thankfully 20GB mobile data is a standard part of prepaid plans here.
We went for a weekend adventure to Maynooth, and found a beautiful campus.
And I fell in love with this tree!
Celtic Nights gave us a taste of Irish dancing and song and a beautiful three course meal to celebrate Jared's birthday.
Convenient when one's birthday falls on Easter and one loves chocolate
The warmer weather enticed us to some outdoor adventures and we discovered the beauty of Bray Head.
Highlight: Jared actually getting paid, after working for 6 weeks, and between us, our first pay since December.
Lowlight: Job hunting - apparently my CV is too extra for Ireland.
May
I started working in a creche in mid-May. It was slightly less shit than hospitality, but did involve more real life actual shit. The hours were better, the staff were great. The management were dysfunctional and the systems, again, were shit or nonexistent.
We spent a lovely weekend in London with Debra and Geoff, and it was so very lovely to see them! We went to The Mouse Trap and also Matilda, and a lovely river cruise along the Thames.
The Mouse Trap is the longest running show in the West end and the world
We dined in Chinatown, much to Jared's ambivalence
We stayed at a hotel in the West End and it came with a... toy?
Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery
Trafalgar Square has lions
Westminster Castle
Tower Bridge
Mid-afternoon espresso martini
Exploring Camden Markets
Flying into Dublin
Alas, half of our trip was getting to and from London Southend Airport which is in actual fact nowhere near London at all.
Malahide Castle was on our list of local places to explore, and it was certainly worth the venture. It is set on 260 acres of beautiful, well kept grounds, including an international cricket pitch. We were able to get in for a guided tour and it was worth it, it's a very interesting place. It was lived in until fairly recently (1975) and dates back around 800 years. It was the rally point for the Irish armies of King James II as they prepared for battle against William of Orange (See Derry Girls, Season 1, Episode 5 for information on how that turned out for the Irish). Also, Butterfly house and International garden, including an Australian and NZ section.
We also moved in May. We decided that enough was quite enough and not being able to have a functional internet connection was a deal-breaker for us. Jared was exhausted from leaving at 6:30am and not being able to get home until 7:30-8pm at night due to all the buses leaving town after 6pm being full by the time he went to catch them.
We found a really nice apartment in town with an extra bedroom, and proceeded to leave Lucan as quickly as humanly possible.
Customhouse Dublin on the Liffey
Highlights: New apartment that actual feels like a home, London cherry popped, and visiting Malahide castle.
Lowlight: Having to pay double rent for May/June during switch over or Ryan Air experience getting out of Southend London - £50 cab ride to get there on time and then flight delayed for 2 hours.
June
(Skip June, it largely sucked, with the exception of 24 hours in Galway)
June was wet and cold, and I was sick for nearly the entire month. My creche job let me go, which I was pissed off about, but definitely feeling like I'd dodged a bullet. It did mean that we had even less income in June and July than we'd anticipated, and a significant increase in rent from what we were paying in Lucan.
However, I did have the luxury of Kim and Kelsey. friends from Auckland, coming to visit from their temporary home in Edinburgh. Due to timetabling issues, we didn't really have much time to catch up, so long story short, I ended up in Galway with them.
So Jared caught the train over and we enjoyed 24 hours in Galway.
Galway is full of quaint wee buildings
The mouth of the Corrib River
I think Galway looks a lot like Wellington
Sitting at the river mouth
Memorial for the victims of the famine
The Corrib river used to be full of Salmon, but due to overfishing, has been severely depleted
Following the Corrib River up to the dam
Dam where the salmon swim up
I spent the whole month applying for jobs, getting interviews and then being told I'd been beaten out by an Irish person or someone with slightly more niche experience than me.
I did secure a summer job at a language school, but it didn't start until July. There is no apply for a job and yes please start tomorrow/next week here.
Highlight: Summer-ish evening at Howth having fish and chips on the beach at Claremont Beach.
Lowlight: €70 doctor's visits, perpetual sickness
July
I worked at a English Language school taking students from Spain, Italy, Mexico, Russia and Andorra all over Dublin to touristy activities such as Dublinia (Dublin's Viking History Museum), Dublin Castle, Butler's Chocolate Factory, up to Belfast a few times and many more places. It was very fun, and I met some quality people.
Castletown House in Celbridge
Irish National Stud...This is not one of the studs
St Patrick's Cathedral
Trinity College Library, over 300 years old
The Titanic Experience, Belfast
Model of Titanic
Protestant mural in honour of 'Top Gun' who killed the most Catholics in a year
Bobby Sands, who died in the hunger strikes in the Troubles
The beautiful building that is the Belfast City Council
Viking Splash tour... This is my smile prior to the breakdown
Glendalough upper lake
Glendalough Lower Lake
Wicklow Jail showing what kinds of conditions prisoners endured if thrown in jail.
Bray Air Show
July was when a lot of good nannying jobs came about, and I secured a job for the start of the next academic year, nearing the end of August with a lovely family.
It didn't rain for the entire month of July and the Italians and Spanish still complained about the weather here.
Highlight: Belfast Taxi trip learning about the Troubles and also the Titanic Experience, meeting like minded people.
Lowlight: Failing to teach the chocolate game to Italian teenagers - the fuckers just stole the chocolate.
August
I managed to get a job working at a creche for the 3 week gap between my summer job and my nannying job, and it was the 3 week confirmation that I needed that early childhood teaching is not for me, not here at least.
I commenced my nannying job and knew at once that I'd made a really good move. I loved the freedom, the responsibility and the kids.
We went to Belfast for a day trip on August 3, and did the full version of the Black Taxi Tour with John which was very eye opening. The murals on the end of the housing rows show some progress towards togetherness and unity. Belfast is a really pretty city, and I adored the City Council Building.
The peace wall that divides Belfast
Belfast Rose Gardens
Queen's University
We partook in a historical walking tour with someone from Dublinia about the old Viking city and the city walls. It was very interesting.
Vikings Mural with a map of the stars, by Smock Alley Theatre. Dublin was created as a city by Vikings.
The ancient city walls built when the 1200s when the Brits came and walled in the city.
We also just went for a few good walks. One from Dalkey to Killiney Hill...
The view from Killiney Hill
And another circumnavigating the Howth Peninsula, backwards and losing the trails haha.
View from a golf course atop the Howth Peninsula
I present Howth
Heather be the purple stuff methinks
Howth Cliffs
Howth Village
Highlight: Exploring Howth peninsula with my bae
Lowlight: Being told by an Irish mum that I wasn't 'nice' enough to her kid who threw a tantrum about everything and took great delight in hurting other kids, me and swearing when she didn't get her way.
September
Brendon and his friend Raukawa came to visit in September, which was awesome. We took a few days and went around Ireland in what can only be phrased as a whistlestop tour, circumnavigating most of the island in three days, and we then met them in London for a weekend a couple of weeks later.
This is a photo of the trip we did, minus the Giant's causeway in the far north.
Powerscourt House and Gardens
Us at Glendalough
Kilkenny Castle
Slea Head Road
We met Brendon and Raukawa in London for Brendon's birthday weekend, which was lovely, but monarchy is a weird thing.
Buckingham Palace
Picture Gallery in Kensington Palace
Hyde Park
On the London Eye
Westminster Abbey
A lot of my down time was spent compiling paperwork to put together my application for my Irish teaching registration.
I spent several weekends training to be part of a youth mentoring programme called Le Cheile (It's not pronounced how you think,unless you french I guess?) that mentors youth who are on probation, and also the families that support them.
Highlight: Road trip all over the Irish countryside with Brendon/Raukawa/Jared - although technically most of this was in August.
Lowlight: Dealing with Irish teacher's council and their obsession with paperwork.
October
In October, we had the delight of hosting Jess Julian, given Jared was really stressed out at work and I had more time off than him, we opted for me to meet Jess in Paris.
The next weekend we all went on for a road trip around Ireland, bonding with other Kiwis over rugby. We trekked to Kylemore Abbey, pit stopped for a rugby game. The Cliffs of Moher were breath taking. Definitely go to the top - cheaper and better looking than the ferry.
Kylemore Abbey
Sunset from Galway
Cregg Castle
Doolin, by the Cliffs of Moher
Cliffs of Moher
My nanny kids were aghast that I had never been trick or treating before, so invited me to come with them, and I did. It was a very sweet night.
Highlight: Montmatre Wine and Food festival and salsa dancing by the Seine at midnight.
Lowlight: Dealing with Irish Driver License issuers
November
Kat Davidson, a childhood friend, who happens to live in Ireland as well, came down to visit us and stay for a weekend, with her very adorable daughter Skylah. It was really lovely to reconnect and meet her now.
We spent a Friday night listening to the oratory pratings of Sean Rocks, the host of the RTE Arena 1 show, and I really enjoyed his way of questioning. It was thorough, well-researched and brought out these really great stories from these really great writers. I had forgotten how utterly lovely it is to hear well-put together words being read aloud by their authors. We went upstairs to the wine and schmooze evening afterwards and managed to meet Siobhan McSweeney, Sister Michael from Derry Girls, who was a contributing author.
November is now officially done, and to be honest, we didn't really do very much at all as we are saving for Christmas in Prague and still sending money home to subsidise our house.
Highlight: Going to the Dublin Book fair, listening to the RTE Arena show interviewing some of the authors from the Winter Papers book, and meeting Siobhan McSweeney, an actor from Derry Girls
Lowlight: Falling down half a flight of stairs and bruising my tush after a Christmas Party in front of all of my new friends!
In conclusion...
Things that we really love about Ireland
Music on every street corner
Their party spirit - getting into Pride parade, Halloween, Christmas
Proximity to Europe
Scenery of the Irish Countryside
Public transport - it's really easy to live without a car here
Great pubs, plenty of craic
Proliferation of New Zealand wine
Living in the middle of the city - everything is on our doorstep
Inclusiveness of other cultures by most
Compassion and kindness are a big part of the ethos here
Things we loathe about Ireland
General lack of functional systems - where the fix to us seems self-evident
Cost of living in Dublin coupled with depression of wages and our relative need for belt tightening
It is like stepping back in time living here in terms of technological advancements, and environmental awareness. Some pluses with this in terms of social stuff are that people are quite friendly.
Flakiness of Irish friends - people are initially friendly, but difficult to make meaningful connections, as we're an optional extra for them.
Humidity + cold = asthma
Everything is so small and tightly packed - from groceries packaging sizes to housing to roads
There are no extremes of anything - weather, emotions, effort...
How much Ireland copies American social policy and the resulting poverty, homelessness and extortionist medical system
There is no bona fide equivalent of The Warehouse or K Mart
Unnecessary plastic packaging on maaaaaaany things, but mostly fruit and veg.
Things we dearly miss about New Zealand
Our friends and whanau!
Kiwi junk food. It is simply not worth the calories here
Good beaches
My car
Our house
Functional internet
Spaaaaaa
Winter that only really lasts a couple of months
Jacinda
Foooood in general, but decent quantities, and also Vogels and Marmite, and good fish and chips.
My golly gosh and we still have another few weeks to go until the year has been seen out... so very much life has been fitted into this year, and oddly, it feels like much less than years previous.
If you have made it all the way to the end of this epic epistle, then my heartiest congratulations and salutations. I trust you will have a delightfully merry Christmas and a thoroughly enjoyable New Year.
We are heading off to Prague/Brno for Christmas and we'll be back in Dublin for New Year.
I'm very much looking forward to bringing in 2020 and a whole brand spanking new year with new possibilities and hope of even more adventures!
We caught a bus to the village centre, the others went to the information centre but I was too sick, so went back and slept.
We ventured out to another lodge later that night for dinner, and saw a glimpse of the canyon from the restaurant just as the sun was going down. It was very magical!
We caught a bus to the village centre, the others went to the information centre but I was too sick, so went back and slept.
Kat Davidson, a childhood friend, who happens to live in Ireland as well, came down to visit us and stay for a weekend, with her very adorable daughter Skylah. It was really lovely to reconnect and meet her now.
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