Three Thomson's and a road angel

Well my Parents have come and gone, and now I am alone in Ireland once again. Much of me happy to see their smiling faces again, (Dad a little Greyer, Mum, well just little I think she shrunk in the wash Dad did you put her on the wool cycle?).

Traveling through Ireland with the Pez (for those of you playing the home game thats my name for the two of them) was a somewhat interesting experience. Dad wished to talk to every Irish person he could find, even though he could not understand them. A prime example of this was when we went to the sheep sales. Oh yes people I actually wanted to go! He had 5 sheep farmers animatedly listening to him tell his tales of how sheep sales work in Australia.

Great to see the Pez's temproments had not changed, Mum the little Aussie Battler as she is had to keep her toungue tightly bit as Dad and I tussled over which way to turn, where to eat, and where to go next.

At the end of the day, good trip all round, got to see loads of different parts of the beautiful country, and meet some very interesting locals.

I'm off to Pamploma Wednesday for the Running with the Bulls Festival, then Italy, and Eastern Europe finishing in Greece. Then Back to Ireland for a Mates Birthday. So who knows when the next installment of the life and times of one young Thomson will be.

Cheers, take care.

One more thing the Gay Pride March was Dublin on Saturday. I was lucky enough to see the beginning of it! The chant was nothing more then you'd expect from a bunch of Irish

'We're here, We're Queer, now go and buy us a Beer!'

Egypt, Turkey, and the thing that was

Hi everyone,

I know it's been a long time, and the truth is I spend all day on a computer at work, why would I want to do it in my leisure time?

OK so Turkey was an amazing experience, I met some truly fantastic people and had some great laughs. The most amazing thing I've done so far in my lifetime is see the Dawn service at ANZAC cove. You can't imagine the feeling of seeing the sun rise over the cliffs with the hush of 10,000 people and listening to the bugle play. It was an unforgettable experience and I am so unbelievably glad I have had to opportunity to do that.

Egypt was amazing the huge pyramids and temples are just mind boggling. Imagine with the limited tools the Egyptians had to bore hundreds of meters into sheer cliff face to make a burial for a king. The kings designed their own tombs well before their death just so their shift into afterlife was perfect. Egypt was hot and dirty, and to be honest pretty gross, but the amazing architecture, and history of the land made up for it over and over again. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go snorkeling in the Red sea. I did not expect underneath such bright blue water to have an array of colour and a whole new world awaiting me. Above the water barren dry dusty desert as far as the eye can see, but underneath a completely different picture.

Last weekend, I unfortunately became the victim of theft having my phone and camera stolen. Now honestly although that's a pain and a bit of money I normally would not care to much about such trivial objects, however on this occasion I had not downloaded all my photos of Egypt and Turkey from my camera which now some scumbag will delete without a second thought, and I have no pictures of me at ANZAC Cove, or in front of the pyramids. Which saddens me.

Aside from that bit of unfortunateness things are going really well. I've been having loads of fun with all my mates as per usual. Mum and Dad are coming over next week, which will be good to see them. This weekend coming my mates and i are going to a comedy festival in Kilkenny which will be a good laugh. Been doing many exciting things, and seeing loads of great stuff.

Betta sign off, going to plan my trip to Europe. In a stupid bet with some mates whilst watching Eurovision I now have to somehow get to Serbia the winners of Eurovision 2007.

Wish me luck

I'm not dead

No ye lads and ladettes, I'm not dead as some of you may be speculating. Perhaps Spontaneously combusted with happiness of the country, good weather, good times, and the joyful company of myself. No alas I have no excuses for being so slack on the internet. I have been sitting in this Internet Cafe for over half an hour now realising how tedious the task is of writing emails, and checking out things. I solemly vowl when I return on my exciting adventure in Turkey (leaving on friday) I will put all my photos on from my last few adventures (drinking mostly) and write a good story to ya all about turkey, and write some personal emails that have probably not been done in for ever.

I apologise, but Hey I'm having the time of my life, and at the end of the day is that not the only thing you guys really need to know.

Miss you all

Paddy's Day in Ireland To be Sure To be Sure

The trip began like any other, rushed to get a seat on a train we all thought would be full of Paddys trying to get away from the comercialisation and crowds that was Paddy's weekend in Dublin. Much to the dissappointment the train was not full, nor was it worth rushing for!

So the girls were off on the big cultural adventrue of a lifetime Paddy's day in the most irish place you could find in Irealnd the Aran Islands. Inis Mor to be exact.

We arrived on Inis Mor about midday on Saturday (Paddy's day) and being rather hungry and full of beans we decided the best place to go for some grub was the pub, so we did. Realizing the last weekend of the 6 nations clash was on, and that Ireland were in with quite a big chance of taking it away this year we got distracted after our food and outstayed the locals being at the pub until 7pm, then realising we were possibly a little drunk, and not dressed up for the night we got changed, and well where else were 4 girls gonna go at 8pm on Paddy's day on Inis Mor? the local pub perhaps?

The fantastic thing about our Paddys night was EVERYTHING!!!! Gayle, Leah and I got up and played a game on stage each attempting to get a fork through our lads trousers from pant leg to pant leg. The DJ telling the guys the Frank n Beans should be carefully watched out for as the girls had been in the pub since midday! I spent a lot of the night tattooing anyone I could find with tacky flags and shamrocks in true Irish spirit, and finding anyone I could to bail up in the corner and teach me some Irish. (not remembering any of it the next day).

Sunday morning, very much worse for wear we found a little cafe to have some real grease! being such a small town we ran into many people from the night before asking us all how our heads were, and how we capped off the night. To be fair I don't know how the night was capped off, or half these new friends were who knew I was a mad Aussie girl called Carmen.

We all decided the best way to get over a toxic hang over was to hire bikes and cycle the Island. Brilliant idea as the sun was shining and the wind was blowing a light gust....... Then we got on the bike and the heavens opened. Not willing to waste €10 we went on our way beaten half to death by hail stones and gusts that would lift a sheep if it stood on it's highned legs (or front ones and did a head stand). I can honestly say I have never ever been so freezing cold, wet and bruised in all my 23 years of life, and don't forget my friends I also had a colossal hang over. It took us two and a half hours to ride the length of the Island which is 14km long, two hours!!! it also felt like we had riden 100km not a mere 14! During this time I had a discovery that tea is quite possibly the best drink to ever exist! Now this 14km, 2.5hr bike ride took us 30min to cycle back due to the extreem wind gusts that sent us flying all the way to the other side of the Island, which is a good indication of just how strong those winds were!

Beautiful Scenery should be mentioned about now, because after all that was half the reason we went. it is gorgeous there, so unbelievebly green and rockey, and one place where you can look and see both coast of the Island. Minus all the cattle that moo at freezing cold cyclists it would have been beautiful!

Where else would freezing cold, hungry, thursty tired cyclists go after a hard days riding??? Bed? No, the lounge? No, The Pub? Yes of course! This time much quieter occasion we sat with a group of Dubliners sining Irish songs, and sharing the craic till the wee hours of the morn.

What a great time spent on old Aran, He was very hospitable to 2 aussies, a Kiwi, and a Canadian!

Thanks Aran for all the Craic, good times Happy Days!

*Happy Mothers Day Mum*

To Mum

Happy Mothers Day

On the 18th of March

Hope you have a wonderful day

With Love

Carmen

I suppose your wondering why I'm wishing you a happy mothers day now? well, here in Ireland Mothers day is this Sunday. Unfortuantely I will be incapable of contact during that day so I thought I'd get in early, I'd send you an email, but it's blocked, so next best thing....

So have a great Irish Mothers day, and enjoy.

P.S. Dad, your really lucky, Fathers Day in Ireland is in actual fact one of the Sundays you'll be in ireland. :)

Playing the Fame Game

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before, but there is a nightclub in Dublin for the rich, famous, and elite of the world, isn't there one in every big city? As luck would have it I've finally latched on to the right crowd, and a couple of people within this crowd are members of this club or have their name on the door. Therefore I've been into this club for free on a number of occasions, and never, until last weeked has there been a celebrity sighting (well there has been but I don't know them, ie footballers, english soap stars, and reality TV stars) This time we got into the VIP room of this exclusive club and who should be there?? BONO! BONO! BONO!

It would be rude to be in Ireland and not see the most famous irish musician in the history of Irish musicians, so there you have it, rubbing shoulders with Bono in the VIP room of the only exclusive club in Ireland. Now not many Aussies can say they've done that! I can officially go home a happy girl who lived in Ireland becuase I've seen Bono, and lets face it you can't be a real tourist until you see everthing Ireland is famous for: The Cliffs of Moher, The Giants Causeway, Belfast, Guiness, and Bono! (Trust me when you've lived in this country as long I have you begin to think like the Paddy's Bono is God)

Enough about my brush with celebrities, this week I've been working at a finance firm. It's really great, but as you can probably tell I've had not much to do, otherwise I would not be writing in this blog. Some sights are blocked, but not this one.... The people are unbelievably friendly, I don't think I can do them justice in text just how kind they have been, Pink bunnies would be considered Hitler compaired to them. So it's sad that today I leave.

Next week I'm back to St Pats Hospital. This time Secretary to the Director of Nursing, and I've met this guy he is so nice! Completely different to Nazi Prof. They want to employ me as long as they can, so I must have made an impression last time, so much so I even got a pay increase! And to top it off they want me for 6 months, at least! Obviously unable to commit to this, however working out costings, budgets etc. to see if I can extend my stay and buy a new ticket home for December. But I change my mind every 10 min, so who knows how long my Irish lifestyle will last. Anyways, just wanted to brag a little, Nazi boss must have thought I was OK to pass the news on to others within the hospital, or perhaps it was because I was the longest temp in that position?

Tomorrow may I remind all readers is St Patricks day. Now I'm presuming based on the 22 years I spent in Australia that you are all aware of this as they tend not to keep this too quiet, however can you imagine what spending St Patricks day in Ireland is like? Gayle, Leah, Kelly & I are off to a tiny little Island off the west coast of Ireland called the Aran Islands (actually collectively the Islands are called the Aran Islands, we are actually going to Inís Mor. It's a Gaeltalk area so we'd better scrub up on our Irish! I think it will be one of the most cultural experiences I will ever have, and just an amazing craic.

So I hope you all have or had an absolutely fantastic St Patricks day, no excuses because it's on a Saturday, drink green Guiness (it's taboo in Ireland so enjoy it in Aus), and if anyone asks why the hell your celebrating Irelands National holiday even when your Australian in Australia tell them it's because you know someone in Ireland and your celebrating with them!!!!

Happy St Patricks Day!

Updates from the backwards irish girl

In an effort to get my overly slack arse out of everyone from Australias bad books for completely falling off the face of the earth these last few weeks here is some news for you all....

Now this is my first blog as a 23 year old. But perhaps we should think of this and an hours and minutes thing and if I was in Australia I was born at 11am in Australia on the 6th of March which could almost mean that I am in actual fact 23 already (time difference being a big blow our minds way it's pretty late here) So I guess in actual fact i'm really unsure of my age right now perhaps i'm stuck in limbo, and could be any damn age I like right now. Guess what guys I'm 83 and fancy free!!!!!

A lot of you have been asking me what I've actually been spending my time in Dublin doing. ie how can I afford the lifestyle that I lead. The hospital I'm working at is feeding my living right now. And turns out the Nazi Doctor I'm working for is not soooooo totally hitler after all and just has no idea of personality when it comes to working. Not so bad but it's definately a differernt living to the girls at the college.

If you have not heard the great fantastic, hope your sitting down for this or you'll be falling down news. I have a home. A place to store my shit for the long term. And it's with really great people who are so cool. All Aussie house and I have a big bed. and with friend everyting is fantastic!! Tomorrow (a saturday) I'll have to pull myself out of bed early, god damn not on a saturday and go to a store called Argos. Now anyone who's visitied the Northern Hemispere may know a bit about Argos, but for those who don't its the ultimate catalogue shopping game. In fact you don't actually see what your purchasing until you've paid for it, and it's in your hot little hands. But I'm going to buy a bed set, inc. 2 pillows, doona, 2 mattress protectors; a matress topper to make bed more comfy, a lamp, coat rack, and a couple of other things, and all this for just €99.99 wow, but if thats not enough will you throw in a doona cover, No Troy I can do better than that, all of this bedding, plus..........

OK Tangent, sorry.

Saturday we all went on a Porterhouse Pub crawl. The porterhouse is where a regular number of us go for quiz night on a Tuesday night and tend to spend at least every second weekend there too. It was so awesome. First out to Bray, gorgeous place, then to the three in town finishin up at the local. I scored a free T-shirt as it was my birhday, and some free cocktails, because you know you can't knock them back. Just to finish off a fantastic night the cute bartender asked me to go clubbing with them on Sunday. Unfortunately Sunday was a trackies and slobfest day and could not muster the strenth to pretty myself up even for a very cute Bartender.

I have officially found the perfect place to work in Dublin. All I have to do now is get a job there. But if you've got a goal to work towards then life will be grand. It's a childrens hospital, that has a specialist school within it. I could do admin work, and go visit sick kids in my lunch break. Will be so fantastic. So the mission is not lost.

I hope your all enjoying the sunny side of the world. No doubt its gonna get a little better here sometime soon.

Cheerio I'm off to enjoy a cherry ripe cocktail as I can't have the real thing over here, but if any of yas wish to share the cherry ripe nation with me...... i now have a postal address

Hint Hint