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Slàinte is Irish for "Cheers!"  I took a trip to the land of leprechauns, four leaf clovers, U2 and Guinness with some friends over the long weekend.  Ireland reminds of Norway in some ways…it’s a small country full of friendly people, and incredibly beautiful landscapes.   

What happens when 2 Chinese with Australian accents and a Japanese and an Indian with American accents travel together to Ireland and claim to live in London?  Mass confusion.  :-)  At least, that’s what we encountered on our travels.  I don’t think the Irish are used to seeing non-Europeans passing through, particularly in some of the small towns we encountered. We started off the weekend in Dublin on Friday night with a trip to Mulligans, which prides itself on having the best Guinness in town.  As a non-beer drinking, I have to admit that I agree!  I didn’t quite make it through a half pint since it’s so heavy, choosing to stick to cider instead…which by the way, will send you to the floor if you aren’t careful.  Deciding we had better grab some food, we headed to a world famous fish and chips place called Leo Burdock’s whose claim to fame is the 1 and 1 (cod and chips).  We grabbed our food and ate on the steps of a church nearby.  I have to admit, it was pretty good.  We finished the night off at a place called O’Sullivans which had live music.  After belting out a few songs with some new friends, we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we took the train to Galway, which is on the west coast.  The scenery is amazing, it’s as if someone took a giant can of green paint and threw it over the land.  The next two days were spent exploring the surrounding areas of Connemara and the south where we went to see the Cliffs of Moher.    I can’t describe it with words…I’ll have to post up a few pictures, because I literally was crawling on my hands and knees to peer over the edge of a very high cliff.  Now imagine lying there and looking out to see the wide open Atlantic in front of you…it’s a very humbling experience.   

We headed back to Dublin on Sunday night, and spent Monday exploring the city.  We started off at Trinity College, famous for some of its graduates….Bram Stoker, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, and a host of others.  I never realized just how many famous writers were Irish.  Of course, a trip to Ireland wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Guinness Storehouse, which we went to next.  I’d never been to a brewery before, so it was quite the experience.  The best part was sitting up in the Gravity bar on the top floor and enjoying the amazing views of the city. 

I took to a trip back to Stavanger about a week and a half ago…it was my first time back in 13 years.  13 Years!  It’s hard to believe that part of my life existed so long ago.  My friend Parul, who I met when I was in high school there that long ago, was going home for a surprise party for her dad’s 60th birthday and suggested I come along.  We left London in time to reach there on Sunday afternoon.  We went straight to her brother’s house to get ready and then headed to a Turkish restaurant in town where the party was being held.  There were probably about 40 people there, which is about half the population of Stavanger….kidding (it is only a town of about 500,000 though).  Needless to say, her dad was quite surprised when he walked in to a bunch of screaming lunatics armed with confetti-filled party favors.  He got another surprise later on when the the belly dancers showed up and dragged him on to the dance floor!  Somehow, I didn’t think he minded though.  We were there until about 2am before heading home and crashing. 

The next day was fairly lazy…we went for drive toward Frafjord. I guess I used to take it for granted as a kid, but the scenic views really are breathtaking.  Stavanger doesn’t tend to get much sun, so we when we did see the clouds part we would end up going for long drives and stopping for picnics.  Some of the places we stopped at, I remembered having visited long before….which is amazing as most of you know my memory isn’t my strong point! When we got home that evening, we arrived at the house and thought someone was blaring the stereo in one of the rooms…it turns out that some students live nearby, and had set up a tent and were having a party.  The music was so loud that being in the house felt like being in a club!  They were celebrating in anticipation of the 17th of May, which is Norway’s Constitution Day.   Usually the night of the 16th is a big party night.  Knowing that we wouldn’t have gotten any sleep anyway, we grabbed a bottle of wine and decided to crash the party.  Of course, we arrived to see a bunch of teenagers getting plastered…that’s when I started to feel old.  We hung out for a while, and would occasionally rush back to the house to thaw out or get more alcohol.  Then the cops came and shut down the party saying they were getting complaints from 10km away.  We were standing around hoping they would start the party again when we met some random Norwegian guys who happened to be close to our age and started talking to them.  Of course I can’t remember any of their names.  Needless to say, by the time we got home it was 4am.

The next day we went into town and watched the parades.  When I was in high school, we used to walk in the morning parade.  It’s a tradition that everyone walks in the parade….so our whole school went, all 400 of us from Kindergarten to 12th grade.  Since we went in the afternoon, we didn’t see any of the schools, just a lot of the sports clubs, and associations.  I recognized some of the clubs we played against in basketball and volleyball.  In the evening we went to a family friend’s house for dinner and then headed home.

On Wednesday we went downtown and walked around…the town center hadn’t changed much.  I saw the old movie hall we used to go watch movies in…back then we would pay about 50 kroner to see a movie, which is about $9, so it’s certainly not a cheap country.  My dad just happened to be flying in that day for meetings (it’s hard to believe that this is his idea of retirement), so we picked him up from hotel in the afternoon.  We went and saw our old house on Rodstilkveien….we used to the get the most amazing view of the sun setting from our living room.  Afterward, we went to ISS to have a look around the school.  When we walked in, the receptionist said How are you? as if she knew me….then when I gave her a puzzled look she said, "it’s Taruna, right?"  My jaw was on the floor…she remembered me from high school!  I couldn’t believe it.  I hardly even remembered her.  Crazy…apparently I haven’t changed much!  We went upstairs and saw the old classrooms, it was eerie at how familiar it all looked…nothing had changed.  Then we went downstairs and saw the gym, that looked a bit different, somehow I didn’t remember it having a blue floor.  I wasn’t sure how I would feel going back there and seeing everything again…I suppose I was reminded by just how fast time flies.  The kids in the hallways looked so young, I was struggling to remember what I was like at that age.  I thought about the friends I had at the time and wished some of them had been there to see it all again with me.  There were some good memories from those days…and it was nice to reminisce for a bit. 

I went to my first concert in London on Friday night…well, technically it was my second, but it was my first big venue event.  I went to see the Black Eyed Peas with my friends Parul, Angela, and Sonia.  They played at the Brixton Academy down in south London.  The venue was interesting, it looked a bit like a theater you would see Romeo and Juliet in.  We were standing on the concert floor, which was sloping downward.  The show was awesome, I don’t own any of their albums but the few songs I knew (Where is the Love, Hey Mama, Lets Get Retarded), I liked.  You don’t have to be a big hip hop fan to like their music and I would definitely recommend going to the show. 

On Saturday night, I hung out with some friends from work.  We started the evening at Waxy O’Conners, a seemingly small, quaint place from the outside.  Once you enter though, you realize appearances can be deceiving, it’s huge and loud!  It was jam packed…mostly with Chelsea (Football club) fans, apparently they won some huge match that day.  We saw a lot of them getting on the tube earlier, wearing their signature blue shirts and singing the club’s anthem…of which I didn’t understand a word.  One of these days I’ll make it to a football game, they are supposed to be quite the experience here.  Of course, the evening went on until what is becoming the more and more usual 4AM.  The next day was quite relaxing.  I went to Drummond Street for some good Indian food at this vegetarian restaurant called Chutney’s.  Afterward, I saw a Hindi movie that I would recommend NOT seeing called Kaal…it was terrible!  Luckily, it was only two hours as opposed to the usual three hours that are customary of indian flicks. 

It’s amazing how the weather can affect your mood.  This past weekend was a long weekend here in London, their version of Labor day, and the weather was perfect!  I decided to venture outside without my coat…oooh, daring I know, but when I stepped outside and realized it was 68 degrees, I was glad I left it behind.

Chaitan was in town this weekend, taking a pitt stop on his way to India.  The other Jain kid decided to quit the corporate world and has opted for a public sector job based in Bombay with the Give Foundation, helping companies with their community development programs.  I think he’s quite excited about the opportunity, and a bit nervous at the same time.  He’ll be fine though…all that globetrotting has made us rather resiliant when it comes to moving around.  I’m quite the proud big sister, it takes a lot to just up and leave when things are comfortable…I’m sure he’ll find it to be a great experience. 

We started the weekend on Friday night with a trip to Edgeware Road, where we met two of my friends for a Lebanese feast at Al Dar Restaurant.  A visit to this part of town will send you back to Damascus…women walking around in their burkhas, men sitting around smoking shisha (hookah), and Arabic newspapers lining the stalls of the corner stores.  Only a nearby Underground sign reminds you that you are actually still in London.  After a great meal, we decided to venture to the cafe next door, called Al Dar Cafe (how original) to smoke some shisha ourselves.  We opted for the apple flavor, which was quite nice.  Of course, every other table around us was doing the same thing, and the smoke was just a bit too overwhelming for the smoke detector, which unfortunately, was situated just above our heads.  The normal reaction upon hearing the blaring would be a rush to turn it off or vent the place.  Nope.  Nobody moved…in fact, nobody acted like anything was happening!  We asked a waiter to do something, and his response was "You know, it’s loud for me too!".  Huh?  Annoyed and slightly deaf at this point, we got up to leave…of course, as soon as we stood up, the alarm stopped.  I’ll remember to bring my ear plugs next time!

On Saturday, we first headed to Tottenham Court road, the electronics mecca of central London.  Not feeling like spending 400 quid on a new TV, I opted for window shopping instead.  Our next stop was the half price ticket booth at Leicester Square where we managed to score 4th row seats to Stomp that night.  Somehow, after all these years, neither one of us had managed to see it.  From there, we walked down toward the Thames, and crossed the bridge to head to the London Eye (which I luckily had booked tickets for the day before…it’s very rare that you can make plans in London and have the weather actually cooperate!).  I had seen it from afar, but never really grasped the enormity of it until I saw it up close…it’s huge!  A massive ferris wheel, where each pod holds up to 20 people.  It took us up slowly, and the view from the top was amazing.  The Thames, carving its way through the city, the whole of Westminister Abbey…I’ll post the pics later this week.  We killed some time at the park nearby people watching before heading into Theater land to see the show.  Stomp was a great show…if you haven’t seen it yet, it is definitely worth going to.  I had no idea it was possible to make music out of brown paper bags, kitchen sinks and newspapers! 

The show ended after 10pm, and we decided to meet some friends back in Leicester Square for a drink.  By the time we got organized, it was after 11pm, which means we missed last call at the pubs!  Yes, oddly enough, pubs here close at 11.  You can’t even buy alcohol after 11 in central London, it’s crazy.  The only way to get a drink is to pay cover and go to a club, which we weren’t in the mood to do.  Instead, we headed to the east part of town where the rules are bit less strict, picked up some wine and went to a friend’s place.  After watching Top Gun and Shaolin Soccer, we took a cab home at 5AM, and saw the beginnings of a new day as we ended ours. 

I’ve decided that I must have been a cat in my former life…there is no other way to explain the fact that I am, at the very least, on my third life.  The first was taken by the microwave snafu, and the second was taken last week, when I managed to blow up the TV.  If anyone knows of a way to appease the electronic gods, let me know, because somewhere along the way, I must have pissed them off!  My TV worked for about a week, before going up in smoke….literally.  Being in one of my Disney moods, I sat down to watch Aladdin.  The previews were rolling when I saw smoke rising from the back of the TV, a LOT of smoke.  Needless to say, some mild hysteria ensued, and luckily it didn’t catch on fire.  (I really do need to read my contract to see if I’d be liable for burning this place down…).   So now the hunt begins for a  new TV.  To my dismay, the TV I had was a multisystem that works in most countries.  Unfortunately they don’t really make them anymore which means if I buy a TV here, it won’t work back home.  Oh well.