The Floods of 2009

Last week it rained so much that there were floods all over the south and west of Ireland. Cork got hit pretty hard and on Thursday night the rivers overflowed and parts of Cork were submerged. We live in the city centre and the floods came right up to our street but luckily did not go any further. UCC's lower campus was completely flooded and there was so much damage done to the buildings and to some of the student accommodation that they decided to close campus for the next week, everything was cancelled. Thank goodness, because my final year research project was due this week and I would've been ready but I will definitely use the next 3 weeks to make it even better! So while half the city has no clean drinking water (we do) and are not loving life right now, I'm so happy I don't have to present my project until Dec. 17! So I decided I have time to update the blog. Here are some pictures of the flooding.

This is Grand Parade, right by our apartment.

Another view of Grand Parade, entrance to the English Market is up on the left.

This is UCC's brand new Gateway Building and that's the bridge leading to it. Destroyed the building's ground floor, just opened up a couple months ago.

This is Washington St, right by the Courthouse. Also right by us, but our street was spared.

This Washington St., the road we walk on to get to UCC. Yes, those are floating cars.

Stand Up and Fight!

For Andrew's birthday I took him to see a Heinekin Cup Rugby game, that's like the Champion's League of Rugby. It was Munster vs. Treviso, some french team at Thomond Park in Limerick. Munster killed them 41-10. Andrew loved it, it was his first time seeing Munster in person, now he wants to buy season tickets.

Here are the tickets.

This is Thomond Park. We were in the North Terrace, where there are no seats, you stand the whole time but we were lucky because all the action was down on our end.




And this is how they begin every game, Stand Up and Fight! With the 3 Irish Tenors.

Darby O'Gill and the Little People

Andrew and I went to a wedding of our friend's, Eric and Anne-Marie, a couple weeks ago. It was good fun and the reception was held here at Darby O'Gill's in Killarney. First time we'd ever been there. During the reception a great trad band showed up and everyone gathered round and sang Irish folk songs for a couple hours. There's just something about drunk Irish people singing. As they would say, the craic was mighty!

I'm gonna put some videos up but videos from a mobile phone are not the best...

The Wild Rover




Whiskey in a Jar

Fields of Athenry

Road Trippin'

Andrew and I took off for a crazy weekend road trip to South Carolina to visit the Axtell family. I met Aimee and Michael in Regensburg, Germany on my mission. Michael was working for Siemens at the time and they'd moved there for a bit. We had some good times together and now's the first time in forever that I got to see them, and their 3 kids. Aimee was pregnant with the oldest one when she was in Germany, so it was good to finally meet the kids. We only got to spend a day with them before we had to drive back to Philly for work. But it was definitely worth the 1300-mile trip.

So I used to live in Virginia, but never really ventured further south, but we saw some great signs along the way and here are some of the best of them for your viewing pleasure.

Guess they come in all sizes in the Carolinas, big, tall, short, small, 12XL, size 84!!!! There aren't really any people that are size 84 are there?

Unfortunately we saw this one too late, but it says: It's your choice... and the tree's covering up a picture with clouds and the word HEAVEN, and you can see the other choice...

Pretty much any store called Booty Brothers is a store for me.

You know when you're in North Carolina tobacky country...

And my personal favorite, who wouldn't want to eat there!

Andrew's thoughts Part Deux

Leaving New York, felt great to get outside the oven-like heat in the city.

The view from the boat, but why is it so famous?

Megan loves taking pictures of me...

Ya, saw the statue and it looks great. But tickets were sold out to go to the crown.



The madness trying to leave Liberty island, had people pushing their way onto the boat.

Spider Man does live in New York.

Megan really wanted another picture with the Late Show or Danny wanted to take a picture of us.

Danny picked a great place for desert, Serendipity3. It's possibly the only chocolate fudge ice- cream sundae I couldn't finish.

It rains worse in America than in Ireland!!!

What's in a blog?

So after creating this blog I've gone through a dilemma of what to fill it with. Some people use their blogs to update friends and family about their lives with witty tales and amazing photographs, some use it as a cyber dumping ground for their thoughts, some use blogs to sell products or as infomercials or as opinion pieces, some write poetry or review things. I do not yet know what I want my blog to be. And so, I turn the time over to Andrew for his first ever blog entry...

Andrew's thoughts

We went to a David Letterman show and could just about see him as we were put in the top corner seats. He was funny but we never watch his show when we visit here.

Alex says kids are a blessing. I was only playing with Nikki for a few minutes and was ready to sleep..think we are going to wait a few more years.

This is the only time Hersheys chocolate tastes good is when your making smores!!

Celebrating July Fourth weekend in Philly..but never celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Ireland.

Sang along to all the Cheryl Crow songs that I know!!

This is the real reason why I wanted to go into the city..to check out the fireworks. They were class...

So we went to Washington...and found out that this tall pointy thing is there for no reason!! But had to get a picture anyway.

This site is for WW Two..America has more recent history to talk about than Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising.

Should I know this guy?

Yep that's about as close as they will let you get to the White House..and then they have 4 cops just standing by these gates!!

Summer

Well, exams are finally over so I can update this blog. Andrew and I will be going to Pennsylvania for the summer. I have an elective at the University of Pennsylvania for a month. Andrew has his J1 Visa and is hoping to be able to work while we're there. My elective is in Pennsylvania Hospital and is in Neonatal ICU, so I will have to brush up on my neonatology.


Pennsylvania Hospital is the nation's first hospital founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond. It's in Center City Philadelphia.

Thursday night we decided to go up to Dublin and visit Cath and Stewy. We found out late Thursday night that Stewy had Friday off, and he easily convinced us to come to Dublin right then, so we left at midnight to head up to Dublin. Three hours later we made it there no problem. On Friday we decided to head to Glendalough. We'd never been there before so it was good to finally see it. It was a pretty nice day, cloudy, but no rain so perfect for a picnic near the upper lake.




Then we took the scenic route back to Dublin through Sally Gap and passed by this waterfall.



So it was a good trip and Saturday morning was back to the usual rain.

Ireland!

This actually happened last Saturday. Where else would this happen? Ireland is the best.

And on another note, Andrew took his driving test on Friday and passed first time, which is good because in Ireland the fail rate is something like 60%. Driving tests are huge deals over here as opposed to doing Driver's Ed in High School and driving around the driving range and in the simulators a few times and they basically hand you your license. But man I loved that class. Good fun.

Funny Patients

Getting to do different specialties is great experience and so far it has helped me eliminate a lot of things I don't want to do, such as gynaecology, psychiatry, opthalmology, dermatology, radiology and urology. So I just finished an Ear, Nose, Throat attachment yesterday and I've decided I definitely don't want to do that either. That's not to say I don't find aspects of each specialty fascinating because there are interesting things in all of them, but to choose it for a career, I mean I can't imagine looking at pus filled waxy ears, sore throats and snotty noses every day all day long, I need a little variety.

Anyway, there was a great patient who came into the Casualty Clinic the other day. He was probably in his 50s, and he came in because of wax-buildup in his ears. He was incredibly entertaining. Like a toilet overflowing, nonsense just spewed from his mouth. It started off when the doctor asked him to sit on the examination table, he looked at the paper pulled over the table and said, "That must be for an elephant!" To which no one responded and he sat down. While the doctor was preparing things to look and clean out his ears, he started to wax nostalgic. "When I was 18 I worked in a theatre and they told me to go work in the out-patients department. So I went there all I did was take off two bandages. So you never know." Awkward silence.

So he'd come in basically to get the doctor to clean out his ears, so when the doctor put a speculum in his ears to look inside he grabbed the bars at the side of the bed and wouldn't let go, the doctor brought the overhead scope down to look in his ears and he said, "I'm building one of those in my spare time. That's the problem with having a big head, you know too much." To which the doctor completely ignored again but we medical students stifled snickers. Then the doc started the suction machine to try and clear out his ears, and you'd swear she was trying to pull out his appendix through his ears! The knuckles on his hands were white from grabbing the bars and he was moaning and writhing around. The nurse came in and asked him if he was in agony and he said he was ok, but continued to writhe and moan, so the doctor tried the other ear. She only got to the point where she puts the plastic cone in his ear to look inside when he grabs the bars again and starts moaning. So she stopped and told him to go home, put in a couple drops of olive oil every day into his ears to soften up the wax and come back in a week. He objected to that, said he didn't want to because it's harmful. The doctor insisted it wasn't harmful and he replied firmly, "No, no, I don't want to put olive oil in my ear it forms an air bubble and can damage your ear by osmosis!" By this time we were nearly dying from laughter yet trying to maintain decorum, medical students are not supposed to laugh at the patients!

Anyway, I did learn a lot from this attachment but I definitely don't see it as a career for me. And hopefully I'll gain some relief from my perennial allergic rhinitis, I've discovered sinus washes and I'm testing them out, I'll let you know how it goes!

Eddie Would Go

I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for some time now and it's taken a sunny Irish day and upcoming finals to drive me to it. My mind cannot stay focused on medicine for 8 hours a day, I'm lucky if I get 20 minutes, I just have to attack it from different angles, 20 minutes here 20 minutes there type of studying.

Anyway, last Friday Andrew and I decided to head down to Garretstown and go surfing. I was surprised because I discovered the icy waves of Ireland some time ago but every time I suggested Andrew try it he'd decline, saying that there were no waves in Ireland. But this time he said yes, so we went and got the gear and headed off, it was a perfect day for it. We got there and struggled into the wetsuits which are a must for the frigid temperatures of the Atlantic and headed out into the swell. After a brief lesson on the pop-up, we dove into the ocean. I told him to just try and catch the waves first. So after a few tries of paddling into waves, Andrew caught one and rushed in towards the shore. Needless to say, he loved it, and wants to do it again.

And so my blog begins, and we may not fighting 20 foot waves and saving lives but we should always remember that spirit and when faced with something new or challenging say to ourselves, "Eddie Would Go."

Story behind "Eddie Would Go"

Born May 4, 1946, Edward Ryon Aikau was the third of six children to a Hawaiian family. His life became one rooted deep within the ocean - a pioneering lifeguard, passionate big-wave rider, all around waterman and Hawaiian traditionalist. He was lost at sea during an epic voyage in 1978 when the double-hull voyaging canoe Hokule'a capsized in storm seas in the Molokai Channel, en-route to Tahiti. Aikau paddled away in a rescue attempt March 17, 1978. He was never seen again. His life is now legend.
In the 1980s, bumper stickers and T-shirts with the phrase "Eddie Would Go" spread around the Hawaiian Islands and to the rest of the world. According to maritime historian Mac Simpson, "Aikau was a legend on the North Shore, pulling people out of waves that no one else would dare to. That's where the saying came from -- Eddie would go, when no else would or could. Only Eddie dared."