Stereotypes : My vision of Ireland before I emigrated

All countries have a degree of stereotypes. French are supposedly arrogant, always on strike, walk around in stripy shirts with a baguette in one hand, glass of wine in the other, while smoking a "Camel" cigarette. German are very organised and don't have any sense of humour, and British are.... well, Irish people just don't like them (800 years of oppression, as  they like to remind me, is...

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The Expat dilemma - Sometimes I want a "real holiday"

Ile De Batz - Brittany Le Morne - Mauritius We're going to France for 2 weeks in July and I can't wait. I haven't had a holiday for a year and I'm glad to go home, spending some quality time with my family and friends. We usually try to go to France once a year, and we especially...

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Sun's out !

Yesterday was very lovely day. It was sunny the whole way through, and everybody seemed to be in the good mood (even if nobody could buy alcohol). After work, I stopped by the supermarket, and all I could see were people in shorts, skirts and tee-shirts, wearing sunglasses and eating ice-cream. I...

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Good Friday and other alcohol related stories...

I already mentioned that Irish doctors have strange advice sometimes. Well, this has been proven once more. I went to my GP on Friday with neck and shoulder pain, and I was told that all I needed was a massage, a holiday and a bottle of wine. Is alcohol the answer to everything in this country?...

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Lost in Dublin

I have no sense of orientation whatsoever. Give me verbal directions, I'll get lost. Give me written directions, I'll get lost. And don't ever give me a map. I won't know how to read it. The only solution to find my way is to be driven to the destination once, and I will remember how to get...

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Juggling full-time work and family

I was so tired for the entire week that I didn't have the courage to publish anything. Everything I attempted to write about felt boring, flat and uninteresting.  Not that I had a particularly busy week -I even took a half day on Wednesday- but I had this feeling of extreme tiredness coupled...

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