Tuesday night we headed to watch Inception. I had heard it was deadly and wanted to see it for myself. Once again no butter on the popcorn (if I go to the movies again, I’m bringing my own melted butter). The movie was one of the best I’ve seen in a while. It was a long movie, but I didn’t even notice. If you haven’t seen it, please go watch it!! And if you have, let’s watch it again together when I get home!
Wednesday was Irish stew night. I made the mashed potatoes and James made the stew. What made it really Irish was the Guinness we added. It was very very good, I’ll make some when I get back home.
Thursday was wine and cheese night. Thanks to David, we decided to have one!! And what a perfect night… Olivier was bringing his family along. Michelle and David came as well. Everyone brought a bottle of wine and a type of cheese (I opted out on the cheese… didn’t feel it was my job to contribute, because of my lack of taste for cheese). I brought some California wine, some good ol’ pinot grigiot (I had never had any before and my parents used to love it! So I have to try it while I’m here).
We decided to do a type of wine tasting. Try a bit of everyone’s. Olivier’s family brought REAL French wine, and some nice cheeses. My favorite wine was a white dessert wine that Olivier’s sister LOVED… and I agreed with her. It was sooo good, I wish we had some back in the states. I also agreed to try every single piece of cheese, even the stuff that had mold (literally mold) growing on it. I was able to eat a cracker with a kind of cheese on each of it, except for the most pungent cheese. It was AWFUL. I hope to never eat anything like that again in my entire life. 
By the end, we didn’t make it to my bottle of pinot grigiot, so we saved it for another night. After wine and cheese, I’m afraid I’m becoming a bit of a wino… I like it!! I always thought of myself as more of a beer person, but who knows, maybe the tides have turned…
And now for the weeknd...
This weekend in order to save money I decided to stay in Dublin. Friday after work, I dragged James along with me to play some soccer with some friends of my mentors (Zoe… the wannabe American). It was a bunch of men and me in an indoor cage like soccer field. We played for a bit, and I had some good fun. James and I had to leave a bit early, because we had agreed to meet David in the city center for some dinner at a place that supposedly served excellent chicken wings. No shower (well, a sponge bath… I would’ve but we had no time!), headed to the spire. Jussi and Luke joined us and we went to Elephant and Castle (apparently there is one in New York?) for some chicken wings!
James, David, David’s friend Sam, and I all ordered a full order of chicken wings. Supposedly only 20 chicken wings… I counted, there were at least 30 for each of us to eat. I only made it to around 20. The wings were very good… for the first 10. And then the taste was somewhat boring. But there was something about them that you couldn’t stop eating them. No idea. The boys ate ALL of them. David finished first, a fantastic feat given that he is fairly small, kinda like a leprechaun (had to say it, sorry David). After everyone was stuffed, we headed to do a pub crawl that David lead us on. It started a bit outside of Dublin city center, but by the end we ended up near Stephen’s Green. The idea of a pub crawl is one drink at each pub and then leave. At first people were tired, but as you know after a few drinks, it livened up! A great crowd and a great time. For food, we went to Charlie’s Chinese Food. It was supposed to be the best Chinese food. I wasn’t impressed. Mine was salty, but it satisfied the appetite at the time. I’m looking forward to having some Happy Wok when I get home!!
The next day we slept in, and James cooked breakfast. Mmmm. It was 1:30 in the afternoon by the time we were finished eating. James and I sat around the apartment and worked on our blogs. We were supposed to meet Ann to go to a friend’s birthday party, but she wasn’t going to make it. By that point it was 7 pm, James was still in his pajamas, and I didn’t know where to go for the party. So… we first watched Top Gun. Then Layer Cake (a movie). And then Away We Go (another movie). And 4 glasses of wine (I told you I was becoming a wino!!) and a bowl of popcorn. This was the first day in Ireland that I didn’t leave my apartment. And yet, it was still a lot of fun. Kinda reminded me of a normal day I would have at home if I was there.
The next day I woke up, texted James, and we headed to beach town called Bray. About 40 minutes on the DART (the train). It was a lovely town with a carnival going on near the beach. I was told that Bray had a proper beach, but it was no where close to Spain or California. We walked along for a bit, and then grabbed a bite to eat. I had a batter burger and chips with vinegar and salt (vinegar and salt is normal here… I guess like ketchup at home), James had fish and chips. A batter burger is basically a hamburger fried in the same batter that the fish is fried in. It had no bun, but was of course excellent because it was fried and greasy.
We sat and ate on some grass near the ocean and then headed on a walk. It was a quite nice, up and around the edge of a hill near the sea.
By the time we had walked there and back, we had walked around 10 kilometers. That equals around 6 miles. My legs felt like the creaked as I walked… kind of like the tin man in the Wizard of Oz!! The sun had peaked out, and we attempted to get a small tan (to no avail. But I have to try!!) Even though I was exhausted, I was glad to be out and about after my previous day relaxing indoors.
We then went home, ate a bowl of cereal, and thought about life. Just kidding about the thinking about life, more just on the internet stalking people on facebook...
This week: soccer with the Spaniards, James' cooking, beer pong/flip cup, and a gig in Dublin.
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