ArchiveDecember 2020

It’s two weeks until Christmas! With no plans solidified for the holidays here in Dublin, I decided to book a trip to visit my friend O. in Strasbourg, France over New Year’s, Dec 28 – Jan 3. The last time I was in Strasbourg was in 2018 for my 45th birthday. Strasbourg is known for its famous Christmas markets, but unfortunately those aren’t happening this year due...

Brexit is dominating headlines. As the final days count down until the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on January 1, Ireland has been at the forefront of the last minute negotiations. Thankfully today Boris Johnson backed down from his previous hardline approach that would have violated international law and the “Northern Ireland Protocol” as previously agreed between...

In case you missed it, the UK began rolling out the new Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine today, and the first person to be immunized was a 90 year old woman native to Ireland who apparently was visiting family in the UK. (Irish Times article) On my personal health and welfare front, I discovered the Irish government just launched a new online application for requesting a Personal Public...

Dublin was quite frigid yesterday evening with below freezing temperatures and a frosty fog. I met my friend D at nearby Bobo’s burgers as planned, but we opted to eat inside since it wasn’t very busy and there was plenty of distance between tables. It was the first time I’ve eaten inside a restaurant since arriving to Ireland. The portions at Bobos are fairly large and the food is decent...

It’s a cold day with highs in the mid 30s F.  I haven’t set foot outside of the apartment yet but am planning on meeting my friend D for dinner this evening at Bobo’s Burgers, just a few steps away from my building. We’re both wary of dining indoors in a packed restaurant, but they have outdoor seating with heaters, so that seems like a reasonable compromise. Bobos is...

It’s a very low-key, relaxed Saturday. My friend J comes over in the afternoon to hang out; we haven’t seen each other in a couple of weeks. We watch the latest episode of The Mandalorian, order some Chinese food for delivery, and then watch some of RuPaul’s Drag Race from last year (which he hasn’t seen).  When it’s time for J to head out, I walk him to his bus...

Today restaurants reopened both outdoor and indoor seating without many restrictions at all (pubs and bars not serving food are still closed). I’m not in a particular rush to dine in a crowded restaurant, but I did get out for a coffee with a friend and enjoyed sitting inside, especially given the drizzly weather today. Dublin is in full swing holiday mode. The lights and decorations really make...

Last evening, I met up with my friend D for a surprise activity. First he met me at Spranger’s Yard (my apartment building), then we got some takeout from a very good kebab place in Temple Bar called Zaytoons, which I had been to on a previous visit to Dublin but hadn’t revisited since my arrival in October. Kebabs and middle eastern food are actually a popular cuisine here;...

I inadvertently missed the cutoff for publishing yesterday’s post, which seems to be around 10:00pm Dublin time. I had written it earlier in the day but failed to click “publish” so it was still in draft mode. So I guess anyone who has subscribed to the blog via email will receive two posts today in one blast. The building fire alarm went off last night at 2:30am...

This morning I wake up at a decent hour with the motivation to keep my job search momentum going. Today I finished an application for a Director of Finance & Corporate Governance position at the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, located at the University College Dublin, about 20-30 minutes southeast of city centre. It’s probably a long shot, especially since...