Entry 008: First day off!
Date: Friday, 11.11.16
Location: Hostel in Dublin
Yesterday I went to my future employer at 12 noon, got workwear (a jeans shirt and a blue apron, so no problems with washing) and worked for trial for all in all six hours. After three hours I got half an hour break, and because I work with fresh foods, and there are allways leftovers, I was allowed (and even a little bit pushed) to take and eat some of the food we prepared before.
The house is all in all quite small, but full of nooks and crannies. When you walk in the store and squeeze yourself through the small gap between the showcase and the counter, walk through the tiny kitchen and through the backdoor, you’ll find yourself in a minuscule inner courtyard with two possibilities: One way to the kitchen, the other to the stairs and the roof.
But the roof is not just a roof, but it appears to be an own inner courtyard itself, with about 3 squaremeters concrete floor, a small wooden gate to the other roofs, plastic plants, a (probably selfbuild) extension to an office container, a small wooden shed and two rooms on the other side (one of them for storage, the other one another office).
At 6pm I had another conversation with my employer, where he told me that he would like to hire me for 8,65€ p.h. in the beginning because I still need a lot of training. But thats okay, I guess, because I really do have allmost no experience in working in a kitchen, and also he said he will pay me more as I get more experienced. In two weeks he will reconsider my payment, and then probably pay me 9,15€, minimum wage. After four weeks again he will reconsider and then probably pay me even more.
Btw: I will get my money in cash until I have a bank account, so no problems with money and debit cards any more! ^^ (yay!)
When I went home, at about half past six, I went to the local Lidl to see how different the Irish Lidls are from the German ones, and I fond that they look very similar but have about 75% different products. I bought some bread that smells like herbs, oats, vanilla sugar (they don’t have these little pachets we have in germany, but only big shakers. At the Irish supermarket I didn’t find any kind of vanilla sugar- seems like they are not so fond of baking at home) and some juice.
Fortuntely, they even accepted my german debit card, so as long as I didn’t get payed, I can simply go to Lidl for grocery shopping.
Today and on saturday I am off from work, so I start working on sunday.
I was on the laptop that night until very late, so I sat on my bed and was awake, where I was able to watch the following: Everything was quiet and peaceful until 01:05 AM. Then suddenly two people came into our room, did not look up but just took an empty mattrace, pillow and blanket, and then left again. So apparently you have to be prepared for everything in an irish hostel- also for people coming into your room and stealing a bed at 1 AM.
I wanted to apply for the PPS number today (Personal Public Service Number, you need that if you want to work here in Ireland), so I’ve read on the internet about how to do that. Unfortunately, the rules about how to get an appointment changed only about one month ago, so the information on the internet is mostly confusing, outdated and wrong. I went to the registration center and was told that I could only make an apointment online. When I went back to the hostel, the only appointments left were on 5.12., so that means I will have to wait for a really long time... well, at least the guy on the front desk told me that it’s okay to work without a PPSN for a while.
Afterwards, I went to a shopping mall and then to a small cafe in Abbey Street Middle. There I had a tea while I listened to music and drew a picture. When I was done, I left the cafe and went out to search for St. Stephen’s Green which I had wanted to visit for a long time. When I finally arrived after about half an hour walk, my phone’s battery was almost empty, so I wasn’t able to take a lot of photos- but I took some and will upload them later.
I wandered about the paths in the park and followed the trail of information boards, that displays information about the easter rising of 1916, that took place right in this park.
Before leaving the park, I saw a little boy (about three years old) running towards the pigeons to make them fly away. Two of the group of three pigeons flew away in shock, but one just stayed on the ground to pick up seeds, obviously unimpressed by the boy who was now too afraid of it to come any closer. Half angry, half afraid, he fidgeted and shouted “HALLO!” at the pigeon. The mother, who sat on a bank and watched the scene, told him (in german), that the pigeon is apparently not afraid. Realising, that the two are german, I had a little chat with the mother about the difference between the pigeons in dublin and the ones in germany, and then went off to the hostel to charge my phone.
Surprised by the ammount of germans,
