What's the worst that can happen, you burn the place down?

That is the common phrase we say when we are left to look after something for the first time, and none of us ever think it going to happen right? Well today was the first day I was solely in charge of the Delphi Salmon fishery and what did I do? You guessed it, burnt it down, sorta. The day started off as normal as possible, I checked all the tanks and filters, took out the rubbish from the lodge, and then started to get some paperwork in line for Monday as we were going to start stripping the fish. I went to make some copies and to clean all the coffee mugs from the office. At this point it had begun to rain which is nothing new because it rains a minimum of three times a day here. Well today’s storm brought with it something I had yet to see or hear in Ireland while it rained, yep, common thunder and lightning. And while it was only a couple shots it was violent and quit close, but none of us could have guessed how close. After making my copies, washing the mugs, and chatting with the ladies in the kitchen I headed back to the fishery. When I came over the hill I saw a lot of smoke and thought that’s odd. When I got to the fishery I could see it was on fire. I ran back and informed the staff at the lodge and then sprinted back. I started throwing water on it from the stream next to it. By this time the whole lodge staff was over helping. We got in out fairly quickly and I then went to shut the generator off, and had one of the regular staffers make sure that all the power was shut off to the fishery. There was a lot of damage, but nothing that can’t be replaced. After all this the fire brigade finally showed up, as it’s a 35 minute drive from Westport. They cleared it and said the building was safe to be in. They also said that the cause of the fire was unknown. It was amazing to see how some of the electrical leads were blown apart. It makes me thing that lightning struck something. Luckily no one was working today because it all occurred about 10:30 in the break room where we would all be gathered for morning tea. Luckily no one was hurt. There is a lot of damage but nothing that can’t be replaced. Now we have to wait ‘til Monday for an insurance adjuster, get and electrician, and start the cleanup. And for now, you’ll find me hand feeding the fish about every 15-20 minutes while the sun is up. And as my boss said, try and keep the place in order tomorrow, and well, at least you can’t burn the place down… you already took care of that today!”

Life as a Salmon Farmer

Well that’s what I like to call myself anyway. I am currently working for the Delphi Fishery, which is a part of the Delphi Lodge. In the spring, summer, and fall the lodge primarily functions as a fishing lodge. Guest from around the world come to spend time fly fishing for salmon in the renowned lakes and rivers of the Delphi Estate. In the winter the lodge and cottages are used to host house parties for anyone who wants to rent the place out. It is a great get-away and I have yet to see a guest who isn’t smiling and having a great time. As for me, I am doing general work for the fishery itself.
I start off every morning by checking the 12 holding tanks of salmon. I check to make sure everything looks to be in order and when one of our friends goes belly up (dead) I scoop 'em out and dispose of them. I also check the system filters and make sure the food is being rationed properly. The morning routine is fun and usually followed by a tea break. After break me and the lads, Lawrence, Giles, Rodek, David, and several other stand ins go about the day’s work. This can be a range of things from plucking birds from the recent hunts, cleaning out streams so the local sea trout can make it up the rivers to spawn, hauling rubbish from the lodge, and every day we clean the nets and go netting. This has to be the most fun of the job. We take nets and go fishing in several different locations on the two lakes. We almost always do the stream on Finlough as the salmon wait here to head up the stream to spawn next to the hatchery where they were raised. We catch anywhere from 10 to 50 salmon per netting. We also only keep those salmon that have their back fin docked which means they are a Delphi hatchery raised fish. All wild salmon are released back into the waters. We then put them in a transfer tank and head back to the hatchery. We separate the males and females and also check for id tags. We kill any salmon that currently have tags as they are a non-native species that is no longer needed in the system. The first couple of weeks of December will bring a new set of jobs as the salmon will then be ready to spawn.
Once they are ready to spawn we will harvest the eggs from the females, milk the males, and start the next generation of Delphi salmon. It should be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it. At this point I know way too much about the lives of salmon, but I don’t intend to quit learning until my six weeks here is finished. I will let you know more about the process as I learn.

antique internet equipment = dial-up access

So, did I tell all of you that I wasn’t going to neglect my blog only to neglect it? No! I promise I have a ton of post ready to go but they are on my laptop and we lost the wireless connection when a storm hit last week. We are down to dial-up service. Yep, it still exists. It has been really windy and rainy here at Delphi. We get sleet and small hail about once a day. It is light around 8 and dark by 4:30. It is crazy, but then that’s just winter in Ireland. Today I helped set up the new feeder system, and went netting in a tiny stream by the hatchery. It is about 5 or six feet wide and usually from6 inches to a foot deep. When it rains a lot like it did last night it rises to waist deep water. This is when the salmon come in as they are ready to spawn now. We got 31 out of the stream and at least that many got by me. It is a ton of fun walking up a stream and scooping fish out of a stream, I suggest you try it if you get the chance. It is yet another moment that makes me glad I came on this journey. Sometimes I stop and think to myself, I am really doing it. I’m living in Ireland. Matt calls and says he and his roommates often times find themselves saying the same thing. It is a great thing that will soon end as I move to the UK. I leave on the 26th with a 4 night stop in Norway. Why you ask? Why not, it was a cheap flight at 67 euros. Then after I spend the New Year in Edenborough it will be off to Spain for 10 days with me and Matt's friend Cat. I think she may have a blog as well. I’ll look into that. I have a ticket scoped round trip at 37.50 euros a piece. I am going to book in a half hour when the system comes back online. It is amazing how cheap you can find flights. These have both been found at a great site Matt heard about called www.skyscanner.com You can get detailed and type in cities and dates or go as broad as from Ireland to Europe, anytime. It then tells you where you can get to super cheap. I recommend it if you are planning a trip soon. Well I have to get back to writing some x-mas cards to the family but look for more posts next week when the wireless is back up here at good ‘ol Delphi Lodge.

Whatever happened to that guy?

So if any of you are still trying to keep up with me I apologize. I got here and got so caught up with everything that I have neglected my blog for almost 3 months. To say the least a ton has happened to me in that 3 month period. So where am I in Ireland? What have I been doing? Where am I working? Well I am going to get you up to speed. The first few entries will be the quickest and most brief overview of the entire trip. Then I will break it down into more detail but I think you can look at Matt’s for a good review of what happened before we headed in different directions. His blog again is www.matthew-kyhnn-year-abroad.blogspot.com

So I instantly fell in love when I got off the bus in downtown Ireland. I had to ask a cop on a horse where to find the Temple bar district as we were staying there. After a couple hectic and sleepy days in Dublin we began to travel the countryside. Galway, Kells, Tramore, Donegal, Cork, Aughram, Ennis, and many other towns were hit. I saw tons of historical sites. The History over here is amazing. Everywhere you turn there is something that some town is proud of. And if you a curious just ask a local at one of the pubs and you’ll pry get an answer. And if you are in Kells you may have to knock on Mrs. Carpenter’s door to find the real answer. I have seen castles, high crosses, the Book of Kells, Guinness Brewery, Jameson Brewery, high crosses, towers, light houses, monastery ruins, cemeteries, and tons of churches! There is no shortage of sites to be seen in this great country the size of Iowa. So after about three weeks of traveling I had spent all the money I had brought and plus some.

So Matt and I had looked at a company called Face2Face Fundraising before we left. We applied and got the job which entailed talking to people in the street about a said charity and then trying to get this person to give 12-21 Euros a month. They did this by giving us their bank details for a direct debit. Sounds easy right? Well after 7 days I thought so. Then I didn’t sign anyone up for the next five days and got sacked (fired)! Oh well, the hours were long and pay was just ok. The plus was they had been providing my transportation and lodging. So it was back to Dublin for me as my couch surfing friend Lori happened to be coming to town the day after I got fired. We met up and I showed her all over Dublin. Then we grabbed a few pints, listened to some stellar traditional music and she headed back to her hostel as she had to catch a flight back to DC the next morning. From here I headed back to Galway. The young bustling town that 7 other Face2Face ex-employees were also moving too, to live it up. I got here before most of them and had a harder time than I thought finding a job. I finally did as a kitchen porter at Martine’s Quay St wine bar. I washed dishes, and on occasion plated a dessert. This lasted two and a half weeks. It was really tough work which didn’t bother me as I was eating first class food every night. Then I found out I wasn’t going to have any hours for two weeks as we were hitting our slowest time of the year. I couldn’t go too long without work and began looking elsewhere. I came across an ad at bestjobs.ie and now I am working at the Delphi Lodge Salmon Fishery. And I must say I couldn’t be happier. It’s funny how you find your way to a job that suits you. Even all my friends in Galway after being here just one week all told me I was in a much better state of mind! As I am now about an hour and a half from Galway I don’t get to see them too often. Working here in the nursery, netting salmon, clearing streams is great. Love it! Now I am starting to plan my transition to the UK as it is less than a month away. So that’s as short and sweet as I could possibly keep it. Oh how the time flies. That’s it for now but check back soon. I promise I won’t neglect my blog again!

Galway:

Day 3. So today was a pretty relaxed day. I woke up about 12:30 and headed down to the commons where I started work on my CV (Europe’s resume). I needed to add my Ambassador position and Skybox as previous bar experience is quit necessary here in Ireland. As for finding a place to live we have to wait until Wed. because a list comes out with all the flats available. I’ve heard the line starts forming about an hour before it is released. I submitted my CV to a company called face2face fundraising. They would send me around Ireland trying to raise awareness and funds for various non-profit organizations. Pay is great and I wouldn’t have to rent a flat which would save me a bundle. Now the question is do Matt and I try and rent a flat or do we bank on getting these traveling jobs. That’s something we are going decide first thing tomorrow. As for dinner went we attempted cooking for the first time in a hostel, which was crazy. There are tons of people fighting for burners and pans. As for the cuisine, Penne pasta, lasagna sauce, black pudding, and white pudding (that’s blood and bloodless sausage). We had attempted to go to 3 pubs each which had just quit serving food. Of course we didn’t find this out until after we had ordered our pints. After dinner I hit the hay in hopes that I can get a few things accomplished tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll hear back from face2face and I still need to get my PPS (SS#) so the Irish government can tax me!

Days in Dublin

Day 1: So it’s finally a reality. I have made it to Ireland! We landed about noon local time and got our bag which was a bit of a relief, we had 3 plane changes and London has one of the worst track records for losing luggage. All went well we got our bags, caught a bus and in about 30 minutes were at the city centre. Our Hostel was about a 15 minute walk from here. We stopped by the Temple Bar in temple bar district. Our first pints went down quit well and we ended up meeting another American that had taken his student loan and was backpacking Europe. The black stuff (Guinness) is easy to drink, mostly I think because the locals are so friendly. After heading back to the hostel to get caught up on some sleep I went out for another pint or two. It is outrageous that the pints are average 5 Euro’s. I don’t even want to do the conversions. After enjoying some live Irish music I called It a night. Back to the hostel where I have to share my room with 8 others, one whom is German and snores lightly. More to come when a few sights have been viewed

First Days Away

So things started a little rocky leaving from Chicago. Nobody informed us that the public transit ran on the Sunday schedule for Labor Day. So we headed to our 6:30am flight about 4. It was supposed to be a 45 minute L-ride. Thing is the orange line wasn’t running. Ok, no problem we will take the bus as informed by a friendly guy who had just gotten off work at a downtown club. Well, turns out the bus doesn’t go to the airport on Labor Day early but we ended up taking it anyway. We got close to the airport and by this time it was 5:30 with-in an hour of our plane leaving. I flagged a cab and got dropped off at the Southwest terminal and went to check in. Time was now getting tight as to whether we were going to make the flight or not. Luckily southwest had a short line and I was quickly to the front of the line only to find out that our flight was now being operated by ATA and that we needed to check in there. ATA had a long line and we then found out that we use a kiosk and still check our baggage. Matt and I did this and dashed for the plane. We made it time for the final boarding call. I caught a little sleep on the plane and was refreshed and ready to go when we got to DC. We headed out to Bethesda for a drink at the Rock Bottom. This turned out to be quit a stop. What was supposed to be a quick stop quickly changed? I ended up meeting a guy named Gerry Lee from Galway, Ireland. He was full of knowledge and stories. He bought us our drinks and even called a friend who might have work for us helping at banquets and events around Ireland. We are supposed to check in once we get to Dublin. After this we stopped by the coffee shop to check in with our families and grab a cup of coffee. Of course my PC wouldn’t pick up the signal so I ended up taking a nap while Matt spent an hour or so emailing, blogging etc. He had to point out several times that had I simply bought a Mac I wouldn’t be having these problems. From here we headed to Chinatown to meet our couch surfing host. For those of you not familiar with the site, you basically stay at people’s houses, apts, etc. on their couches for free in hopes that someday people can do the same on your couch. This was my first experience with anything like this and I was a little weary. We met Lori at a Thai restaurant were we talked and got to know about each other. Matt and I picked up the tab and then headed back to her place. She lived only several blocks from Capitol Hill. We continued our discussions and called it a night. The next day I woke up, enjoyed a cup of coffee and headed out. After a quick tour of our nation’s capitol it was time to head to the airport. We went back to Lori’s, got our backs and jumped on the metro. This time we got there checked right in and were ready to be on planes and in airports for the next 12 hours. It should be quit a trip, and the anticipation is now building.