2 months in Ireland

“How do you do?” and I responded “Not too bad”, and that, is the typical Irish greeting. My friend once recounted to me that she was walking down a corridor of a client’s office, and a whole row of Irish starting with “How do you do”, and they walked past her before she could respond. Amazingly, they can speak the “How do you do” so quickly, that it barely takes more time than for me to say “Hello”. Other Irish peculiarities include saying “grand (it means great)”. And like most Caucasians they are expressive in their language, and would often reply PERFECT, or BRILLIANT and of course the ubiquitous GRAND. A friend once joked; saying “you should reply BRILLIANT to their PERFECT. “
As the title suggests, It has been nearly 2 months since I have left tidy little Singapore for the even more minuscule Dublin City. Whereas Singapore has a population of close to 5 million people, Dublin’s population is closer to that of 1.5 million, with the total number of Irish residing in Ireland being about 5 million. Amazingly, about 20-30 million Irish stay abroad, a result of a poor economic environment in the 1970s to 1990s.
To date, my experience with Dublin has been slightly disappointing. Perhaps, my initial expectations of the place were set too high. I was expecting a vibrant city booming with activities, but unfortunately, it has not been the case. Pubbing appears to be the main social activity here, and the city appears to have not much to offer in terms of other social activities. Perphaps, it is because I have yet to fully settle into the pace and beat of the city. I have heard that musicals are of a relative high standard in Dublin, but had not have the time to visit it yet. Nevertheless, my friends and I remark that Dublin is probably 10 years behind Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, which is probably true, given that Dublin’s plan to become an international financial centre was only executed in about 2000.
Nonetheless, aside from the weather, not all is gloomy. It is indeed a beautiful place. About 3 weeks back, I travelled slightly north of Dublin City, to a place called Malahide. Our driver, is an Irish Man, who could speak English fluently without a strong Irish Irish accent. Accordingly, my mates and I did not have to strain our ears to listen to him as he gave us a quick overview of the city. Unfortunately, Dublin does not seem to have done much good to my brain cells, and I am unable to remain the bulk of his introduction. He does posses a good voice, and the bus passengers all applauded in appreciation of his singing. I can imagine we were rather fortunate that he has been in this business for over 15 years. I speculated to my friends that his voice probably improved considerably with his daily or weekly singing.
Malahide has a small castle, which is about 3-4 stories high, some beautiful paintings and some medieval furnishing. In many respects it is quite similar to the many castles you see in Hollywood movies. What was more beautiful was its surrounding park, which was expansive and filled with lush green grass. Having experienced good weather that day, it was rather unfortunate that we did not bring our picnic mats along. In reality, our tour guide and the rest of the tourist were waiting for us at the bus, as we were too busy taking photos and exploring the beautiful park. Our journey back allowed us to further appreciate the beautiful landscape that Dublin is famous for. To side track, real estate is expensive in Dublin, with a lower end terrace house (equivalent) costing about 800k euros and better ones costing about 2 million euros. Considering the high tax rates (41% for annual income that is earned beyond 30 plus thousand Euros), and the lower per capita income of Ireland than in Singapore, the price is staggering.
A quick description of my typical day would be as follows: I wake up about 6.30 to 7 in the morning, and ‘speak to some of my friends’ on msn, followed by showering and breakfast. I would leave for office about 8 and reach about 830 to 840. Lunch is usually sandwiches as the local staff canteen, and I usually lunch in. I usually knock of about 6.30 and would bring some of work home. Following dinner, (My housemates do the cooking), I will do the dishes and shower again, and do some work. I tuck in about 1130 pm. I shall stop providing greater details, lest your eyelids are unable to support your droopy eyes at this stage. To put it mildly, life is not exactly exciting. My most exciting bit would be trying to keep my blood from boiling or keeping my irritation in check, to which I would explain later.
Another positive thing about my experience in Dublin is that I have learnt to appreciate my juniors more in Singapore. I have had coached /led about 10 juniors over my time in E&Y, but some of the juniors here may result in me having to visit a cardiologist frequently. I once asked junior A to transfer some information form one excel spreadsheet to another, and he replied that was not confident about getting it right. In the end, I had to write down for him that information in Col A of spreadsheet 1 has to go to Col B of spreadsheet 2, even though most of the headings are identical if not similar for most of the columns. To date, I am still undecided as to whether Junior A or B is more challenging to manage. I once told Junior B to send an email to query a Bank about some details about an audit confirmation. Incredibly, the email was sent to the client instead of the Bank, simply because the client’s name was included as a CC, on the hardcopy of the confirmation. He had mistaken the client for the bank! What was mentioned above was more of the norm than exception. Suffice to say, these incidents have provided me with all the excitement I need at work.
My 2 months in Ireland has caused me to better appreciate the BIG and little things more in Singapore. I miss my loved ones, and my friends. I miss blading, dinner and our little chit chat sessions. I miss our drinking and clubbing sessions. To all of my dear friends, your presence is missed.