Business or pleasure? (a trip to Dublin)

Where to begin? First, some background information. For those Americans who, like me, have long thought the terms 'bachelor' and 'bachelorette' sound a wee bit degrading, here's your opportunity to use a new English term for a pre-wedding celebration: stag or hen do. OK, now that I think about it, those are just as bad, but regardless, Newcastle is a popular hen and stag party destination. The levels of drunkenness reached on these weekend-long excursions are fairly shocking to a girl who grew up in a county that didn't sell beer or wine on Sundays. I've been saving up photos to show the lengths people take, but I don't think my collection is complete enough to post just yet. You'll have to wait.

So to tie this to last weekend... two summers ago, a co-worker of mine got married, and the office (of mostly men) decided to take a weekend trip on the ferry to Amsterdam to celebrate. They had such a great time, they decided to do it again this year with Dublin as the destination. Someone at the office was in charge of booking our flights and hotel rooms and one office-wide meal. As we were waiting in the airport for our cheap Ryanair flight last Friday morning, I joined the banter about seeing Dublin from the inside of various pubs, and a co-worker turned to me and jokingly asked, 'Haven't you been on a lad's weekend before?' There was an architectural excuse originally, but in the end, everyone knew this office trip was just a lad's weekend, essentially a stag do without the justification. A lad's weekend with a few women, of course. A lad's weekend with the people you see every day for nine hours, who are your bosses or colleagues or merely acquaintances, the people who you may want to impress with your speed, articulateness, punctuality... not so much your drinking skills. For about the umpteenth time, I wondered what I was in for. (Side note: my computer's dictionary didn't mark 'umpteenth' as misspelled. Wow.)

Read the rest...
I'm glad I went. If nothing else, I got to see a very integral part of Northern English life. (I make no claims for the rest of the country. It may be only as big as my state, but even I can see the diversity in it.) I could easily argue that key element as alcohol, but I can also argue it as an evening spent with friends, creating stories, bonding through ridicule, broaching subjects bordering on 'too serious' for typical English conversation. It may be my femaleness that allowed that last one to occur, but I discussed sexism, racism, marriage, swearing, American city nomenclature, inhibitions, road construction, autism, smoking, xenophobia, diversity, the number of tigers in America, sportsmanship...

That being said, upon arrival and hotel check-in, we ventured forth to explore the city and made it only as far as the fourth pub. Luckily I had been to Dublin before, so I didn't feel obligated to part from the crowd for some sightseeing, but of the eighteen of us, I would estimate about twelve had never been. Apart from a wander by the three women, we pretty much spent the rest of that day in various pubs. The second day brought a lovely walk up a hillside south of the city for some beautiful views of Dublin bay and the sea, but that was followed by some quality pub time as well. Sunday? Do a bit of souvineer shopping for the kids and then wait for the airport bus in... you guessed it, a pub.

I have no idea how much those men spent on alcohol, but I would estimate each pub's tab (and we went to multiple per day/night) equalling my entire weekend expenses. It certainly made for some good stories, which were blearily recounted come breakfast. And the stories will continue to be recounted over the next few months, separating those who know them and those who don't, those who were there from those who were not.

I guess what surprises me most is that drunkenness in general is accepted, even encouraged. I remember reading articles in my trusty free morning newspaper (quality all the way) in New York warning employees not to get drunk at the company Christmas party. Here on Monday morning after the Dublin trip, I read an article in the British version of the same paper about the growing drinking problem in thirty-somethings and explaining alcohol units and recommended allowances. It's not an issue of the Christmas party, but any time someone leaves the office, gets married, or simply proposes a Thursday/Friday night out (Thursday for my office). Drunkenness in front of or even with your boss is not frowned upon, but inevitable. I suspect it is rather more explicit at my office due to the dearth of women and a younger boss who enjoys good food and drink and sharing this love with his colleagues. But I would still be careful of how many drinks I had in front of my American colleagues and boss at a work function (or any function). Here, an empty hand should be filled again, never mind who you're sitting next to.

What else to say? I did have fun. I didn't mind coming in on Monday morning, despite having spent the entire weekend with my co-workers. I looked forward to more open conversations with those whose company I already enjoyed and also with those I'd struggled to talk to before (or who had struggled to talk to me- female, American, younger, uh...). But surely there's a healthier way to bond?

I also had an almost overwhelming moment of homesickness while in a hot, crowded pub listening to some traditional Irish musicians on Saturday night. There was just something about the familiarity (folk music, the little bar with live music as in NYC, memory-laden American songs like 'The Gambler' being covered) and the foreignness (the absurd drinking, the people I'd only known for a year, the 'Powder Day rules' of each man for himself attitudes, the absence of my husband) that made me miss something that wasn't there. I think those intense moments fit with the oddity of the entire weekend.

So where to start? Perhaps with the word surreal. That's what the whole thing was: surreal.

Fish Eye(s)

So last year for Christmas Megan bought me a Lomotography Fish Eye Camera, which happens to be the world's smallest fish eye camera. Now, its a standard film camera (remember those?) but it has a fish eye lens permanently mounted on the front instead of what you normally find there. As such it ends up distorting the image and light bending it around the curved lens, which results in a round photo, instead of a standard rectangle (see the photos to the left and the right).

Anyway, since then I've played around with it a decent amount and am starting to get the hang of the thing (it's a little tricky but lots of fun). And after the last round of photos came back I decided to scan some to show to folks. The plate on the scanner wasn't overly clean and the quality of the scanner isn't that great so keep that in mind, but even with those it's a cool little toy.

With that being said here are the photos... (Be warned there are kind of alot...)

Prague: reprise

Hey, remember how we went to Prague almost two months ago? And how Josh did a brilliant job planning the whole thing? And then how he forgot the camera? Well, we finally got some film developed (much, much cheaper in Michigan than Durham) and got the pictures on CD as well. The quality is not fantastic, but we thought we'd share some anyway. As the photos themselves look great, it must be the scanning that made them so grainy, so don't hesitate to buy one of those disposable cameras should you ever find yourself in our camera-less situation!

Read the rest...

Wenceslas Square
Wenceslas Square from the other side
The old clock in Wenceslas Square
Looking across the river towards the castle
The old Jewish cemetery
Crossing the bridge to the castle
Josh in one of the palace gardens
Looking back at the city
Our last supper. We were eating inexpensive Italian, sitting on a square with a bell-chiming church in a large green, watching people walk by in the sunshine. We both agreed that Prague is a very beautiful city.

I remembered everything.... but the camera.

So it all began with an idea... 'Josh,' I thought to myself 'it's your fifth anniversary, you didn't really celebrate your anniversary or Meg's birthday last year, do something fun.' Finding my own internal sales pitch rather compelling, I got clearance to spend more money than usual (I'm still a student after all!) and decided to get cracking.

Europe is an amazing place at times, primarily because of how close exciting and historic centres are to one another and how easy and cheap it is to get around. So, knowing my wife rather well I decided to plan a surprise trip to somewhere fun and exciting and after spending way more time that I should (I was either thorough or stalling my dissertation depending upon how you look at it) I decided to surprise Megan with a surprise long weekend in Prague!
Read the rest and hear about the camera...

Now I was rather excited about this idea and thought it would be quite fun. I'd pick her up from work, blindfold her, wisk her to the airport and see how far I could get her before she realised where she was. However, there were a couple of things that made me nervous... well really only one thing, packing. The idea of packing for someone was a little scary and that idea that I, as a boy, am packing for Meg, as a girl, even moreso; primarily because her array of traveling equipment dwarfs mine... and I don't know what any of her stuff does. But doing my level best, I packed as much of it as can fit in one of those airport sized ziplocks and took off to meet her and, consequently, begin my glorious and faultless plan.

In general, I have to say it all worked quite fabulously. I showed up at her office a little before quitin' time and told her I was 'taking her out.' We loaded on Newcastle's metro to go to the airport and it was all good. Although it turns out there are apparently announcements on the Metro announcing, 'this train terminates at the airport' every 5.62 seconds... dang. From there I lead her to the airport, past the smiles, waves, and thumbs up from by-standers and made it to security before I took the blindfold off. We walked through security and standing in front of the departures window I asked, 'Ok Meg, pick three places you want to go?'

She responded, 'Uhhmmm.... Düsseldorf, Exeter and Prague.'

'How about Prague then?'

'Really?'

'Yup.'

'We are going to Prague?!?'

'Yup.'

She then beamed that smile that clearly states to those around that I did something incredibly good while we sat down and waited for the plane, and the great weekend to come.

However... turns out I forgot the camera. I remembered everything else she needed, mostly because I threw anything that looked relevant into the bag, but forgot the camera for our glorious little weekend in Prague. We saw the sights, ate some great food (thanks again Elliot), and had a good time in the rather un-English weather (warm and sunny!) of the Chezk Republic. And while I'd love to tell you more about those bits, the great squares, bridges and one weird clock... it just isn't nearly as much fun without pictures. So you are just going to have to wait until we develop our pictures from the disposable camera we bought upon arrival. We'll elaborate when there are pretty things to look at (I've decided blogs are kind of like children books, the ones with pictures are alot more fun).

But in general, just know that if you want to surprise your wife on your fifth anniversary with a surprise trip to Prague, I'd recommend it... it tends to go over rather well.

Your final easy installment: Zaragosa Expo

Zaragosa was the original reason for our trip to Barcelona, so I can't skip this last Spain post. It's been delayed due to a surprise (for me) anniversary trip to Prague (I know! I feel the same way! It's just that Easy Jet has cheap flights and Josh thought our 5th should be specially celebrated! I'll get into that later). In the meantime, we've been posting some old posts that have been lying in wait.

Anyway, Anthony was a designer for an exhibition at the Zaragosa Expo 2008, a worlds fair-like event with a focus on water and sustainable development. He and Queenie booked the trip to Spain with the intention of visiting the Expo. We then booked our trip based on the fact that friends from NYC would be within a budget airline flight away from us. And thus... we all spent a hot afternoon wandering around northern central Spain learning about water (well, not really. We didn't do much learning exactly...).

Read the rest...

Already high on the carbon footprint scale with all our flying, we chose to keep up the good work and rent a car for the trip. It's a 3 hour drive from Barcelona, and the car cost less than two train tickets. As the trees thinned out and Utah began to appear out our windows, the temperature warmed up, too.

But who am I to complain about heat right now? It's 62 outside as I type this in Newcastle.

The Expo was unlike anything I'd been to before, although I don't know that I need to attend another any time soon. Over 100 countries had individual exhibits, each its own room in a series of very large, open buildings, and these varied from well done and interesting to imported cheap souvineer shop in a box. Many had a water theme, although some didn't seem to grasp the concept at all. Of course, that being said, we flew through any that had actual real information on the walls; we weren't there for educational purposes.

We started off in a building built just for the expo... and then couldn't find our way out. This photo makes it look cooler than it is. You walk in and up escalators and then back down going round and round the building via ramps. The thing is... there's actually nothing in the building and if you decide you aren't interested anymore, there's nowhere else to go and you just might end up getting shushed and yelled at in Spanish by Expo personel.

The reason we came was to see Zaha Hadid's new bridge and the exhibit in it and directly in front of it. Here's the bridge:
So as Q, Anthony, and I headed to take photos, Josh took a seat...
Anthony and Queenie at the exhibit:
And then here's us right before the bridge entrance. We're looking at some statistics about water availability and usage. Very well-presented and interesting to look at... Must have been some really smart people who designed it.
Inside:
Anthony's name was even listed on the exhibit (below). We were so impressed.
On our way out of the bridge, Josh spotted a place he wasn't supposed go... and promptly went there.
Check out their surprised expressions at that crazy door:
We decided to wait in line for at least one amusement-park-esque exhibit. It ended up being a really bad "4D ride" about extreme weather. Oh, and it was in Spanish.
(I think Queenie looks nervous.)
We did think that the entire place lookedmuch, much better at night.
All the buildings and exhibits were lit quite nicely, and I think the cooler temps didn't hurt. For example, this huge and completely random statue we passed by during the daylight suddenly became photo-worthy:

Huh. Guess that's it. Sorry to end on that random note. Definitely, go back and check out that photo of Queenie and Josh. That's a good ending any day.

Barcelona: Installment #2

This section is called: Photos Stolen from Queenie and Anthony that Will Show our Families that We are Healthy and Smiling.

These photos are captioned the following:

1. The Mediterranean was colder than we expected. Also, I miss the beach. And the sunshine.

2. Yea! Queenie and the subway! We could almost be back in NYC!

3. Bari Gotic (and a good-looking group)

4. Josh being offended that the dog was more interested in its owner leaving the store than him.

5. Now which of these little La Sagradas is the least horribly made and will look the nicest sitting on Megan's desk at work after being spray painted silver?

6. In Park Guell

7. Wait. Where's Anthony in any of these? Oops. Sorry, Ant.

Read the rest...