February 19th, 2006

Trying to get out of the Hostel

Noeline had gotten very sick with a throwing up sickness and it kept her in bed for 7 days. She was so ill that the first time in her life, she had to let the animals go without food for one night. She wouldn’t let me come and take care of her and she was quite worried that I would come down with the dreaded illness. A few of her clients at her job also got it and a few of her co-workers. It was very hard on Noeline, not only the illness but also the fact that she hasn’t been sick in 20 years! She had had numerous down time due to cancer and thrown out backs, but not the run of the mill illnesses.
I was so glad that I hadn’t gotten it- which was a great surprise to me since I seem to get everything else that is in Ireland. I hate being sick all the time and I feel like a big baby. Plus, having throwing up fits in a hostel with paper walls is not good for business! So I stayed in my little box of a room and was happy that I was feeling well.
I had worked on a Resume (called a CV in Ireland) and made up flyers for my quest for finding an elderly person to trade room and board for in house help. I got them all done then had to figure out how to download it to a CD – because I couldn’t print from my machine. What a pain in the ass! But I was determined to figure it out. The day that I was leaving for Ireland my cousin Joey Mahoney came over to show me how to do this. But I was so out of my mind that I was in over-load and not one new thing was being let into my brain, so even though I could understand it and do it when he was there- the minute he left, it was gone. And I have not been able to figure it out since, so I have been waiting on Anthony. But Anthony is always running here and there and I haven’t gotten him to show me how. But I finally did it and now just had to print it and then make copies. But I again was dealing with where to get it printed and then copies. I do so miss all the convinces that the States offer in this area. There are very few places to get this type of thing done and then it cost an arm and a leg. There is really only one place for copies and it cost .25 cents for one copy for one side! What a rip off! And that’s AFTER you have to find a place to make the original print.
I worked on it all night and was so proud of myself. I finally got it done the night before Noeline was going to pick me up for my weekend work and she was picking me up later then usual so that I could do some “job” work.

In order to leave for Noeline’s for the weekend I have to strip my room and redress the bed, vacuum (they call it hover here) and remove everything and clean the bathroom. Then pack all my stuff and remove it- I had removed all the unused items earlier in the week when Anthony came and got me – so one of the big red monster backpack was gone. But since Tom moved into the staff room, I had to make sure all my stuff was removed to give him room.
But before I was able to get this all done, I had to run to the Expensive Internet café and get my completed CV printed. So I planned my day to fit it all in………
What I didn’t plan on was Alfia! She left a note for me to help Hannah with stripping and dressing beds and clean the bathrooms. Shit! I didn’t plan on all this extra work or time, so I was behind the eight ball the minute I woke up. I couldn’t refuse Alfia- so I was running around with my head cut off!
I whizzed through the bathrooms and stripping the beds and left Hannah to dress them and Hoover. Got all my stuff packed and stripped my bed and put the room back in order and emptied the trash. I told Hannah that I had to run to the Internet place and would return. I had worked myself into quite a tizzy by this point.
I got there and the dam CD didn’t have everything on it- it had the night before but not now! Shit! Then I couldn’t get the computer to read it. I tried everything that I had in my little (and I mean little) bag of tricks. I finally asked a young guy that worked there to help me and he couldn’t get it either! God, why does everything have to be so f’n hard!?!?!?
I am mad that I didn’t get this done, and I’m also not looking forward to Noeline when I see her. See Noeline is a self-made woman. She has had to do everything on her own since she was a child. She is a fighter and a do-er. Which are great traits, but she is also a person that expects everyone else to be the same way. (A lot like my sister Traci). They don’t see obstacles, they only see challenges and they push through. She doesn’t accept defeat- and she won’t let me either. So she will give me a hard time if I don’t have all the calls made that she thinks I should or the CV done and printed. That’s just Noeline- and I am dreading seeing her because I didn’t get it completed!
I was again defeated and I was just so coiled up- I had to calm down! I saw that I had a few minutes to get something to eat. It would calm me down and also with Noeline, you never know when or if you will eat again. So I took the time (and money) to get something. I went into a sandwich shop that I had never been in before and was looking around trying to get the lay of the land. Then I heard a little voice call out my name. I turned around and little Mary was there with a friend at a table having lunch. I was just not myself and I felt extremely pressured with time and not knowing what they even served here, so I wasn’t very friendly.

[read on]

February 15-18th, 2006
 

Having to leave the hostel

As you know, I have been living in a hostel in Westport Ireland.  It was quite an adjustment in the way that during the mid week (Tue-Thurs afternoon) the place was a ghost town.  Myself and one worker, either Alfia or Hannah would be cleaning and I would help when requested to.  I had lots of time to do as I pleased, walk the town, go to eat or eat in the common room, read, type, and pray for something more permanent.
  The other part of the week, Thursday through Tuesday AM is a different matter all together.  People start arriving on Thursday AM, they kind of trickle in.  Usually the private rooms go first- the room next to me.  I have to hear them bang up the stairs and fall into the room.  The walls are no thicker then paper and you hear EVERYHING.  Luckily I have never had to hear sex- THANK GOD!  But I hear laughing and talking – usually in languages that I have no idea what is being said.  I am usually in my PJ’s on the computer or reading a book.  The toilet (I hate that term) is right at the bottom of my feet.  It does have a wall, but I can hear like it is in the room with me!  I have heard many strangers pee.  I could really do without this experience…  One thing that happens each and every time new people stay in the room next to me…. They walk into my room!  I don’t have a lock on my door and boy- that piss’s me off!  The first time it happened, I mentioned it to Alfia to tell them that it is a staff room and do not enter. But these people must be thick!  They always walk in.  I do put a bag in front of the door to at least wake me up or warn me when the door is opened- but it doesn’t stop these people.  I sleep with earplugs, so I can’t hear things really clearly- and they scare the shit out of me!  One American guy thought it was where the shower was. Another French guy just opened the door and apologized, but this one night- a German couple got the room.  They were laughing and carrying on until I coughed to let them know that someone was there- and if they could hear a cough, imagine what I could hear.  They usually quite down after that.  Usually we don’t have people that go out and get drunk- but on this night, it was all the bullshit rolled into one.  The carried on until 10PM and then they went out.  They must of pee’d 10x’s before they left. I had peace until 2:30AM when then returned, ran up the stairs and pee’d, banged around then left again. Which is odd, because in Ireland they stop serving at 11:30PM and you have to be out at 12:30AM.  I have no idea where they went to 2:30AM
   Alfia had gently said to me that it was getting busier and she was going to need to have my room available.  I knew it was coming and yet it was devastating to hear.  I neither held nor hold any ill feelings- she has been a Godsend to me in the last few weeks since I have been in Westport.  I love this woman.  But since she had made this statement, I was propelled into another tailspin; I didn’t know what I would do.  I talked to poor sick Noeline and told her my dilemma, and she said that the room was available for me at her home, but was not the best situation- being that I would be too far from anywhere to get a job or go for interviews or anything.  But that didn’t concern me as much as having a bed to sleep on. She herself was still sick and had no plans to pick me up until the weekend.

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A Weekend to Remember- Noeline – Part One