stuff

Here I am in Waterford, Ireland. Yes, the place where the famous Waterford Crystal factory is. After two hours of searching and waiting for the next city bus to Waterford from a costal town of Tramore where I'm staying for tw nights, I gave up and plunked 15 euros to hire a taxi. Will take the next bus (that I know where to take from here. oy) back to Tramore after some web surfing and sighting of the city.

The flight to Dublin from JFK was uneventual other than a fellow passenger who wanted to do nothing with me as I him. Didn't sleep much as I'm a poor sleeper on a plane. I can sleep in any mode of transportation. It's the confined space, a broad shoulder passenger fighting for arm space, and the dry air on the plane. Thankfully not only I had the window seat, I m left handed and the passenger right handed, so we didn't spar our elbows as we ate.

I did manage to sleep for an hour until I felt the plane bank to descend and land. Less than two hours, after checking through immigration, an express bus into the city and I grabbed the next Eireann Bus (think irish version of greyhound with the golden retreiver) to Waterford. The driver must've just left school and is a hot shot driver. He whipped the bus around as if it is a mere sports car. The sun didnt rise til after 8 am, and despite the erratic driving I was able to sleep soundly for the most of the 3 hour journey south to Waterford.
My blackberry didn't activiate - I'm only able to obtain emergency services but text doens't work.. Tried texting my friend. oh well. Least we already sorted out meeting place and time. I checked into O'Shea hotel which is right by the water. My window faces the sea. I'm happy. I got some lumch and went out to the beach. Unlike beaches we know in the Americas, the beaches here are broad as if the moon has a very deep tide. I walked about for a while on wet and hard sand eventually reaching to where the waves crashed. A local dog joined me and kept me company. Nice dog. As I exited the beach, a man came with another dog so 'my' dog quickly lost interest in me.

After a long nap (bad idea) I had a yummy dinner of fried fillet with fries and salad with carlsberg beer. I felt so contented with myself that I didn't care about the woes of the world. I miss the real carlsberg beer.. tastes so much better than back in the states.

This morning - Had difficulty sleeping and finally fell asleep around 4 am and forced myself out of bed at 9 30. had some breakfast and headed out for a walk by the coast and down to Newton Cove. It's a marked drive/walk so I took in some amazing scenery of the cove, where a swimming club meets and a trail nearby. I took a short cut back to town, and there's a number of development popping up.. Some moderately large houses overlooking the sea and smattering of *ugh* burbs. With improved economy, house construction are up.

having spent all morning and early afternoon outside.. and now I've been in the internet cafe for three quarters of an hour, I still haven't thawed. Yeah it's a bit warmer here (50s) but with the coastal winds and you don't know how chilled you actually are until you get inside a warm place. I'm having difficulty typing with seized up fingers..

Tomorrow, I'll be returning to Dublin to spend three days with my deaf friends. My ISL is pretty rusty but will get the hang of it within 2nd day. On Tuesday will be meeting up with my former grad school (hearing)classmate for a day of sight seeing and dinner and drinks with the old gang on Tues night as most of them live in Dublin now. Then fly out back to the states on Wednesday.. My eyes feel like they're ready to roll out but I'll tough this out so I can really get a decent night's sleep.

More to come over the weekend..