Workin Hard for the Money

The last few days have been a whirlwind. Sunday morning we woke up early and took a cab out to Salthill for Erin's "interview" at Coco Cafe. Salthill is an absolutely beautiful area. You can look straight across the Galway Bay and see rolling green hills. It's what you picture when you think of Ireland. We'll try to post pictures later today. We found the cafe and it turns out that by "interview," they meant "first day of work." Erin walked in, they threw her an apron, and she worked for 7 hours! I waited around in Salthill for a few hours, still under the impression that this was some kind of interview, but when I walked by the Cafe and saw Erin sweating, red in the face, and carrying dishes, I figured I should head back to the hostel. She came back around 7:30 and looked like she had just been punched in the stomach. They gave her ZERO instruction and just kept yelling orders at her. "Wash the dishes!" (There's no soap.) "Bring this to table five!" (The tables are not numbered.) "Maam, please bring me some cutlery and a serviette." (A what?) "It's under the till!" (What the hell is a till??) Needless to say, she was spent, but the day wasn't over.

That night, we moved into our new house. We each have a very small single room, and we share with two guys. One is a little Algerian man who really, really likes to talk and tell (off-color) jokes. He said his favorite thing to do is tell Americans that he's their neighbor. They ask if he's from Candada. No. Mexico? No. Colombia? Nope. He says, "I'm from Afghanistan. You have 150,000 troops there, so we're like neighbors." He really cracks himself up (and no, he's not from Afghanistan). The other roommate is an Irish guy named David. He's a lot more normal. His band is actually touring in the states soon. He'll be in Chicago in March! (www.withoutgeorge.com)

That night, we finally treated ourselves to a good dinner. It was our first meal out in Galway (we've bought and cooked everything so far), and we went to a pub called An Pucan where there was live Irish music. The food was delicious and we both had a much-deserved glass of wine.

Good thing we were tired when we got back because it was probably the most uncomfortable night of our lives. Neither of us had pillows, since we'd been staying in hostels. I slept on a folded towel and Er slept on a balled up sweatshirt. Our mattresses are basically a bed of springs covered by a thin layer of fabric. David hasn't bought oil in awhile, so there's no heat for the time being. Luckily, it doesn't get too cold in Ireland. The next day, Erin made a point of educating David about rheumatoid arthritis with the hope of guilting him into buying oil.

Yesterday was my first day of work at River Island. For a country that's in recession, the women here sure do like to shop. They threw me on the till (cash register), and I was checking people out for seven hours. No joke. There was a constant line of women purchasing clothes, and this place isn't cheap! By the time I left, my head was spinning. I had to learn a different procedure for every transaction- cash (euros!), credit cards, gift cards, vouchers, credit slips. It was exhausting. Erin worked seven hours yesterday too, but she says it was a lot better than the first day. They had her on till and she got to do some waitressing... still no instructions though!

Last night, we went out for a beer and some pizza (I know, we're really splurging this week) with our friend Sheila (from Res). It was delicious. There were two Irish guys playing guitar and singing old Irish folk songs. After a long day, it was exactly what we needed. We bought pillows and Erin found a fleece blanket, so we slept pretty well!

I start work in a half hour and Erin is off today. We don't have internet at the new place, but we met a guy who owns an internet cafe (Mixer Dooley), and he gives us free coffee and internet. Our posts will be more infrequent, but we'll try to be on a few times a week. We love you and miss you all tons.

-Katie

We're going to try to give you a google image of something we're talking about every post so it's a little like you're seeing what we see. This is the Salthill Promenade along the Galway Bay, it's what my cafe looks out onto allll day :)
http://www.crookhaven.net/images/galway/prom.jpg
Love you!!
-Erin