Leap and a net will appear

We have our own Internet!

When I was talking to people about the first steps to take when arriving in Ireland, they all said to get a cell phone right away then get a place to live. Those were both good steps, but they stopped there. Having Internet should have been on that list! The Internet it soooo important in today's society... we have had so many questions that could be very easily answered on the Internet. anyhow, the good news is, that crisis is over. If you move to Ireland, get the Internet first, then a cell, then a home :)

Ireland is a very interesting place. We are having a lot of fun here. Dublin is a very busy city. The sidewalks and the streets are always packed with people. I think European people tend to live less in Bubbles then North Americans. They seem to spend more time "out and about" rather than sitting in front of the TV or PC. This could be because their houses/apartments are so tiny :)

Our first few days we stayed in hostels. On the third night here, we stayed in a hostel that had 10 people sleeping in 1 room. It was not fun! 3 of those people were snoring like you wouldn't believe. We didn't get much sleep that night. The next day we realized we had to get our own place, even if just temporary. We found a nice temporary place a bit outside of Dublin city center. Our temporary place is TINY. The whole apartment is about the same size as our master bedroom in our house in Kanata (and that includes a kitchen, bathroom, and utility room) - crazy!

Anyhow, we are moving out of here on July 24th. We found an amazing apartment downtown. Its on the top 2 floors of a 4 story building. The top floor has 2 outdoor patios. Of course its fairly expensive. Everything in Dublin is expensive. Luckily both Julie & I will likely be working. Julie is leaning towards getting a job, but she has been accepted to a masters in history degree at University College Dublin.

The job front is going pretty well. I have interviewed 5 times for 1 role at Microsoft. The role is localization testing for the Mac group. I will be involved in testing language conversion of the Microsoft Office Suite on the Mac platform. My former managers Gelu & Blaine have been great references for this position, so fingers crossed.

I also have a second interview coming up for a company called Pocket Kings. They make the back end software for online poker games. Their main customer is Full Tilt poker. I would be testing their software.

Both jobs seem interesting and it may be a tough call if I get both. If I don't get either, I have been assured by my recruiter that there are jobs-a-plenty for QA people in Dublin... its mostly about salary and prestige at this point.

Here are a few "first impression" pictures of Dublin:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27085&l=4720f&id=502577840

Last weekend we took a guided bus trip around Ireland. Its really not that big. We drove to the other side in about 4 hours. The trip was a 2 day trip to Galway, the Cliffs of Moher, Limerick, and a few random stops in between. We also visited a massive park just outside of Dublin. The leader of Ireland lives in the park. The American Embassy is also inside the park. Lots of deer in the park, we saw a huge herd of them. Here are a few pictures of the bus trip:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28049&l=a25e0&id=502577840

and

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28047&l=b0e29&id=502577840


This trip has been very much about "leap and a net will appear". We came to Ireland not knowing anyone here. We came with no jobs, no house, and little savings. We have just signed a lease for an apartment without jobs. All of these things are a bit scary, but we are both confident that it will all work out. Julie and I are both smart people. The job market is strong here and we have both been getting interviews. The universe will provide what we need. If others have done it, so can we.

Please reply to this blog. Its nice to know if people are actually reading it. I will keep you posted on further adventures and updates.