Iranian dancing?!?

Today it is my friend, Roya’s, birthday, and therefore yesterday she invited a couple of friends to meet up to celebrate. We met at Cafe Topolis in the city centre. With the help of a googlemaps printed map, Ross and myself managed to find the place quite easily. We asked about where the booked table is and they directed us downstairs hmmm. It seemed that Roya had booked the entire lower portion of the restaurant for our use (we were about 30people after all, and that is all that fit). Slowly other people joined us, including Zahra and her husband (and a couple of other Iranian people, who keep confirming my theory that Iranian girls are BEAUTIFUL). We had a great time chatting and then ordered the food. For starters I got to share a minestrone soup, and as main course got the Pizza Roma and got to try the Fettucine al Pollo E Funghi. Both were delicious, but I think the Fettucine were quite better

After the food however came the part I think I enjoyed the most. The Iranian dancing I have been hearing about this. I have seen it being danced on Zahra’s wedding movie and have heard some Iranian music when I went to her house earlier on in the month. The music really get you moving, and I decided what’s the worst that could happen apart from me making a fool of myself? so I plunged in and had a great time. In particular I enjoyed it cos there was a Spanish girl too, who had never done any Iranian dancing. So we just had a great time with our interpretation. We also got a masterclass session with one i=of the Iranian guys who really seemed to know his stuff.

Then it was time for the cake cutting. But that requires a whole set of other dancing….knife dancing. These people really have a great time with everything they do. It was then time to go home, because this morning I wanted to be in Uni early enough. A great night. Thank you Roya. Tavalodet Mobarak. Bia Baghalan

 

The Gathering

 

Who are the Dubs?

As I said previously, last weekend I went to see 2 Irish hurling and football games, with Dublin playing. On the game programme, there were a couple of articles. However one, written by Tom Humphries (Irish Times), really caught my eye. It is called You’re a Dub if…, and gives a couple of facts about what makes people a Dubliner. A couple caught my eye, and I wanted to share with you. At the dinner, after the game, I also discussed them with the other people in the OLV group. Well here goes:

You’re a Dub if…the women in your family go to the shops wearing their pyjamas

Yeps. People here have a weird sense of style. I have seen people wearing pyjama trousers EVERYWHERE. The city centre, shopping, even in church. I cannot understand this phenomenon. According to people in OLV (they find this phenomenon strange too), most Dubs think that putting the pyjama trouser bottom into your boots further elevates your fashion sense. The weird clothing I have seen here. It would be freezing and people are wearing the shortest hot pants or skirts, with no tights or anything. Well, whatever makes them reproduce the most, according to one former lecturer of mine.

…you consider a jacket over your Dubs jersey to be formal wear

…you think that buying a Dubs jersey in anything other than a size too small is a fashion howler

Others to do with clothing. Yeps, tracksuits and ultra casual clothes are the way to go here (there are clothes I would only consider to be suitable to go on a hike with, and perhaps sport training, but not to go to the centre of town.

Those are the ones that particularly struck me. Other interesting/funny ones are:

…you have bags of spuds but southsiders have ‘sex’ of potatoes

This sounds like someone talking with a Maltese accent hihi

…You know that Hugh Hefner is A Heff but that Kevin Hefferman is, ‘The Heff’

…Your mortgage has you broke, but it’s a useful half hour conversation [Oh God have I heard about the recession since I moved here]

…You think safe sex is when you stop the car first

…the opening half hour of Saving Private Ryan reminds you of your days playing junior football

Then there are a couple related to Dublin’s dubious track record in winning in hurling or football games, and their rivalry with Cork

…You once had a poster on your wall with a prayer which began ‘Bless the Dubs O Lord we pray, keep them on their winning way’

…You know for a fact that the GAA [the Irish games association responsible for football and hurling] exists purely as a mechanism for keeping Dublin down

…You tell anybody that asks that the Dubs are the worst ever. That you are never going again. But in your heart this is the year, this is always the year.

Regarding the last, I seem to have brought them luck last weekend. Let’s hope it lasts. I believe this is their year…Oh NOOO I am becoming a Dub

Goodbye Peter :(

Peter is a trainee pastoral worker at the OLV church I go to. His first week in the parish was my first week there. His placement at OLV is coming to an end, with his last mass being the 630 youth mass tonight. Therefore, as is fitting we all went out to dinner yesterday. The place chosen was a few minutes away from Croke Park, and therefore Ian and myself just went straight in after the game. The restaurant was called Independent Pizza. Not many people actually did make it. It was Ian, Colette, Sinead, Peter and myself. But we were a great group and had an enjoyable evening full of laughs.

I had the Special Pizza…mmmmmm…and for desert the apple crumble MMMMMMm MMMMMm hehe. The other people’s pizza looked as delicious as mine .

I also learnt some Irish. Learnt is the key word mind you…it means I knew it then. Does not say anything about remembering it this morning. Though I remember some things, namely (and I am writing phonetically):

Connish thought u…How are you?…written Conas tá tú?

Cecilia is anum dumb … my name is Cecilia…apparently it is written Cecilia is ainm dom.

I also knew… I was born and raised in Malta, I need to go to the bathroom, I am 24 years old, and possibly something else. But Oh well. Will ask them tonight and write them down Apparently they said I could get the accent quite well, which is good Possibly it is because I didn’t see them written down initially (that would be useless), but just copied the sounds.

Peter and myself (Peter is from the UK) were saying how strange it is that we both seem to have always tried to learn the language of anywhere we go to on holiday, but this has not been the case in Ireland. It is possibly because no one actually speaks Irish here, so it would be likely that no one understands me if I try and speak Irish anyways. But Oh well, I will try and put together my own small phrasebook. It might come in handy when we go on our Easter trip .

Thank you Peter for all the time you spent with us…it was great knowing you Thank you Colette, Sinead and especially Ian for a wonderful Saturday afternoon/Evening.

Gooooo DUBLIN!

A week or so ago, Ian, from OLV young adult group messaged asking whether anyone would be willing to go to an Irish hurling and football game. These are typical Irish games and attending one has been on my list of things to do since I moved over. So I immediately said yes. Therefore yesterday saw Ian and myself (no one else could make it) making our way to Croke Park. As is fitting with Irish tradition, we went for a pre-match pint at a pub close to the stadium and bought our Dublin Scarves, and then made our way to the stadium and got to our seats.

First up was the Hurling Game: Dublin vs Tipperary. Tipperary were last year’s All Ireland Champions, so they are quite good. With Ian by my side the game started and my questions began. He patiently explained the rules and answered the millions of questions I had (he is a patient guy). The first half was a bit difficult to follow, since fog descended on the pitch and the ball they use is quite small. However I used this time to get more acquainted with the game. By the second half the fog luckily lifted, and I had gotten the basics of the game. It was quite a close game, however Dublin won YEAH! by 1-16 to 1-15. Regarding the scores , the first 1 indicates they had 1 goal, which gives 3 points, whilst the second value (16 for Dublin and 15 for Tipperary) means they had 16/15 scores i.e. they placed the ball over the goal post but between the bars. i.e. overall Dublin 19 – Tipperary 18. But DUBLIN WON!!! yeah.

After the hurling game it was time for the Irish football game between Dublin and the All Ireland Champions, Cork. But before…the entertainment WEEE…who did we get…Jedward…most people either love them (generally teenagers) or hate them. They are also Ireland’s Eurovision entry this year. You can see them singing their Eurovision entry song here yesterday.

In the video you can also see the size of the stadium (35,028 people were there yesterday) and the general atmosphere. I do not even know whether I like them or not. As singers I do not like them, but entertainers they are good I think. They seem to be having a great time and really enjoy what they are doing, and I liked their choice of music. Who can so no to songs like Ghostbusters and Under pressure?

Then came the football game. The rules are roughly similar to hurling…but the ball is larger, you have no hurley and some other things. By this game I had started getting into the rules and could focus on the game more. It also seems that most people are more interested in football than hurling, since it is by this time that most people came in the stadium, and the stadium was largely packed (although the upper stands were not opened…but considering that this is the first year they are holding all games in Croke Park, and the previous venue held up to 10-15,000 spectators, I think it was a good choice to move to this location…this is also an early season game…and a sort of minor league before the actual championship).

The larger number of spectators also made for a much better atmosphere. Well Dublin were in good form. I got to see 3 goals by the Dublin side (generally these are rarer) and Dublin WON! again. Dublin 3-13 Cork 0-16 i.e. overall Dublin 22 – Cork 16. It was a great night, and thank you Ian for taking me. I seem to have brought good luck to the Dublin side yeah. I will certainly be back to watch more games. Dublin hurling and football teams…you have a new supporter

London et al

As I said before, this weekend I went to London. I flew out on Thursday evening and came back to Dublin this morning. Ann, my sister, with whom I was staying has some information on her blog. However we did not spend all the time together. Thursday night, as soon as I landed I went straight to St Albans, where my sister, brother, sister’s bf and most importantly BERNARD were waiting for me at the train station. It was a coincidence that my brother had to be in London (or close enough) in the same week I was flying in (though he flew back out on the Friday) for work commitments, so we had to meet. The others had already had dinner…I did arrive at 9:30pm after all. However we traipsed to another restaurant we found open (an Indian restaurant), where I had some dinner, and the others shared some platters. After dinner we said our goodbyes to Stephen and the rest went to Ann’s place to settle down and sleep.

Friday saw Bernard and myself wake up early, since we had to get a coach to Birmingham from Victoria Station at 8am, which is around 1hour away from my sister. Why go to Birmingham if we went to London? Well the University of Birmingham had a postgraduate open day, which Bernard (and myself (A) (A) ) were interested in. Overall it was good to see another University, and we got to meet the course coordinator who was really nice and got on a tour of the University led by a PhD student there. However, I felt there were some things to be improved…especially the absence of the Civil Engineering Department in the Postgraduate Research Fair.

After Birmingham, we again caught the coach back to London and had a wonderful (heqq hmmm cough splutter) trip back. We met Ann and Michael in the centre of London, where we had dinner at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen near Covent Garden. The food and service were great I must say and I was pleasantly impressed. After dinner we went straight to the Savoy for LEGALLY BLONDE. We really had a fun night out and it was made all the more special to spot an old friend we knew in high school in the cast. I think it was an excellent show. After the show we went for a short walk along the South Bank and then back home to sleep.

And sleep we did…so that Saturday we had a late (or lateish start, at about 10am). We did some shopping in Kilburn, including glasses for Ann and some shoes for Bernard and myself, then went to the centre of London, had some lunch and then visited the Transport Museum. My favourite poster there…this one below:

It really sets you in the frame of mind of how important the use of public transport is. Bernard also like the children’s activities (me too…and I won at Guess Who WEEEE).

After that we went to St Paul’s and sat in on part of the Evensong and then went for a long walk on the South Bank to Tower Bridge. We had dinner at Zizzi where the food was really good, but I would have appreciated slightly larger portions. After that it was to the Tower of London for the Ceremony of the Keys. I had been before, and at least Bernard was happy cos he got to see his version of the Beefeaters, who are actually guards. And obviously the Beefeaters themselves. Then back home to sleep.

On Sunday, Ann and Michael decided to stay home. So myself and Bernard caught the tube to Greenpark. First up…look for breakfast. I had been wanting an English Breakfast, which Bernard had mentioned the night before. We spied The Clarence pub and saw they had and offer of £10 for a breakfast for two, including a hot drink, which was a good bargain I guess. We got 2 sausages, 2 eggs, toast, baked beans, a mushrooms, a tomato, bacon and a hot chocolate…MMMMMMMMM. After that we made our way to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards. We found a good place and waited for around 30minutes until everything started (if you want really good location however you need to be there much before). In my opinion the Ceremony of the Keys is a much better Ceremony, particularly since you get to have someone explaining what is happening. In the changing of the guards you just watch but do not understand.

After that came shopping in Oxford Street, and I guess we did some minor damage to our pockets, but enjoyed ourselves. Soon it was 5:30pm and time to go home in order to go out to dinner with Ann and Michael. We walked to Bond Station and whilst going down the stairs, I suddenly found myself flying down the stairs on my bum. Yeps, I slipped, and I have a nice big purple, red, wine coloured bruise to prove it. We went home and tried to book The Wet Fish, but they told us they were not taking any bookings. We nevertheless went to West Hampstead (free on the Tube Replacement after all) and looked for a restaurant. Hard headed Ann as ever (and I do not blame her) still went into The Wet Fish and Yippie they had a table for 4 available. Dinner was really really good (and thanks to Bernard’s mum who sponsored most of the dinner for Bernard and myself…sorry Ann and Michael had to pay their own way hihi).

After dinner, it was home to pack and get ready for today. After a short (very short) sleep, we woke up at about 3:15am, said good bye to Ann and Michael and left to the train station to make our way to Gatwick. I said my goodbyes to Bernard who was travelling from the North terminal, then made my way to the South Terminal to wait for my flight, which was 2 hours later. I had some breakfast and then found a bench with no arm rests and had a good nap . Once the gate was announced, it was onto the plane and back to Dublin.

Till we meet again everyone (in about 8 weeks I guess ).

Thank you for a great weekend!

London here I come :)

In around 24hours I should be landing in London…weeeeee. Why London might you ask? Well I will be visiting my sister (and will also get to see my brother cos he will be there at the same time surprisingly enough). But more importantly….I get to see BERNARD OK so it has only been around 6 weeks since I saw him last (excluding seeing him on Skype). But still…I cannot wait to see him again . So what will this trip consist of? We haven’t got much planned. All I know is that we will be going to see Legally Blonde, the Musical, go to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London and spend the day in Birmingham, for the Birmingham University Postgraduate Open Day. Other than that? Who knows? Bernard should be checking out some things, but I doubt it It is his first time there and my 3rd time in the past 2 years. So I would be happy just lounging around. But I am excited to show Bernard away.

Will tell you more once I come back First I have a long day at Uni tomorrow. I will start lab session demonstrations for 1st year labs. Will see how that goes. I will be demonstrating the labs for Microbiology and Cell Culture (&!*£$£^). Then after that, I rush to the airport

Impressive Service

As I have previously mentioned, last week I moved into a new apartment. I am now living on the DCU campus postgraduate accommodation. What I am most impressed with is the service you get here. I had a bad (torn, water damage etc) carpet in my room, and they advised me before going up to my room the first time and advised they will be coming in to change it. Last Friday they came in, but there was more damage than they thought and they told me they will come in today. And guess what, today after Uni I came home, and found that my carpet was indeed changed. Not all of it mind you, because most was in good shape. But all the places where it was stained, torn etc. A job well done. I liked the fact that they not only keep you updated (they advised why the delay was last Friday etc), but they actually do the job. I also got a new bed base and a new lamp bulb. I still have some pending requests (heating which does not switch off, broken shower regulator, leaking shower and the bulb went off again) but these are inputted in the online system and I am pretty sure they will get to them soon.

What would I really like to be totally happy about my new apartment? That the bad smells in the apartment (especially those in the kitchen) disappear. We have a gone off cheese smell in the kitchen, which is not pleasant at all. In my room I had a smoke smell, but it seems to be getting better. Thank God for the nose getting accustomed to smells (knew the technical word once…if anyone knows please remind me).

Everyone is welcome to come visit

 

A Night Out In

Yesterday I had a night out, where I actually went in Hmmm…that sounds complicated. Well, it was a night out, but I stayed inside. Why? Because Zahra, the other girl on the ATWARM PhD programme in our lab, invited me over to her house for the evening. She had been softly inviting me for some time now, but I never really wanted to suggest it myself. Well, last Friday after Uni she said it again, and so yesterday morning we chatted a bit and somehow got around to the invitation. Zahra told me to go with my tummy empty and be prepared to eat. Hmmm no complaints about that. Therefore yesterday at 5pm saw me going to her place. I bought an apple pie on the way (yes I know…crappy present) and off I was.

We did not get around to doing much, but got around to doing plenty. I have missed such nights out, where you go to someone’s place, and just eat, chat and have a good time. The only other time I did that in Dublin was when I had the movie night with Monika. These are the best evening. No stress, no dressing up. Just lounging around. It was Zahra, her husband, and myself. Unfortunately other people from the lab had gone home for the weekend, since they are Irish and so they could not make it.

So what did we get up to? We chatted, watched youtube videos of Malta and Iran, and a couple of Iranian and Maltese music (I showed them some Wintermoods, Sammy Bartolo, Freddie Portelli, the Malta…Truly Mediterranean videos and a couple of others). I really liked the Iranian music too (although I could not understand most of it hihi).  I also got to see parts of Zahra and Ali’s wedding video, and continued to confirm that Iranian girls are BEAUTIFUL.

As promised Zahra had cooked a big dinner of Iranian food. We had (OK not the actual titles, but you can get the idea) some rice with herbs, nuts and potatoes, lamb with sauce, chicken, mushrooms, sort of meat and potato burgers and some salad. Yes lots of food I tell you (and all this after the nibbles at the beginning). We also had ice-cream for dinner.

Suddenly without knowing I looked at the time and noticed how much time had passed…time flies when you are having fun . So I got to leave, but the ever gracious Ali and Zahra walked me to my apartment. It was a nice walk. After the earlier rain, the air was clear. Just the smell of burning wood in the air. We said our good byes and they left.

I look forward to another such an evening. Thank you Zahra and Ali.

Bia Baghalan (hope I wrote it correctly)

Moving House

OK not really moving house…but moving apartment. Today the day finally came, where I moved out of my apartment at Shanowen Hall and into the DCU postgrad residence. I had a wonderful time at Shanowen Hall. I think the place is quite well organised, safe and well-kept. The people there were really nice, and I had no complaints with my apartment mates. So…why did I move you must be asking? Well, I think that living on campus has more benefits…I will be sharing the apartment with other postgrads (not that I had any complaints with my apartment  mates, but one left last Saturday and another is leaving in a week…so I do not know who will be coming), the room is quite bigger, I will be close to my friends, the gym and the lab and I guess I think it will be more convenient.

So today, after University, I went home and finished my last bit of packing, and waited for Ross to come over. Ross kindly offered to help me transport my stuff in his car. He could not believe the amount of stuff I had (and neither did I). This accumulation was of just 4 months. I cannot imagine how it will be once I come to leave Dublin. We managed to get everything into his car in 3 trips and made our way to campus. This time round we met with Monika, so we only needed 2 trips to get everything into the apartment. After showing them a bit around, they left and I started unpacking. It took quite long but at last I have everything in place.

So what do I think of my new room? I have now met one of my new apartment mates. She is a final year PhD student in Chemistry and seems to be really really nice. The other person is a guy who is also in his final year, though I have not met him yet. The room is much bigger and I have much more storage space. Oh and I do have the longest desk ever. According to my very accurate measurements (using the length of A4 papers) the desk is more than 4m long (14 A4 papers lengthwise ).

On the negative side? There is a funny smell in the apartment, and I have a sort of burnt carpet in my room (but the residence operators already know about it and told me before I went in, and they should be fixing it soon, so that should be OK). The residence is nice, though I do wish we had wireless internet access. Being a University I would have expected that. But Oh Well.

Tomorrow I should be going to IKEA (thanks to Ross again) to buy some more stuff for my room, and my room would be ready. I have a much bigger room now so visitors would be more comfortable.