Strange but true

I've had a Happy Monday! Strange as it may seem. Let's hope it's an omen for the rest of the week and not the build-up prior to a massive smackdown.

Reason #1: I've been all tied up in knots for the past week after finding a great apartment in the city centre, with parking, but was terrified that they were going to balk at allowing pets. She may be crazy, but Meesha is my crazy cat and, despite snarky suggestions to the contrary from certain family and friends (who I have no choice but to love), she goes where I go. So after some intense supplications to "the man upstairs", I finally broached the topic with the agent today and she was all "that shouldn't be a problem" when I oh-so-casually broached the existence of my feline companion. Despite her annoying dismissiveness of something that's been keeping me awake at night, I'm extremely pleased!

Reason #2: I heard from my HR manager today that, after sitting on it for a week (surprised anyone?), she'd checked on my work permit situation and confirmed that I am released from the need to renew and will only have to get stamped by the Garda when the time comes. She then casually refers to that being it in terms of the steps needed to continue my employment here. When I question her re forms to be signed, temporary contract vs. permanent employment, etc, etc, she offhandedly says she'll check in with my boss about what she wants to do. What?? Aren't you the HR manager? Don't you make those decisions, or at least know what the parameters are? Argh! Enough with the casual dismissal of issues that are of the utmost importance to my life! The good news? I have a great relationship with my boss, so I'm not worried. And now I know that I will be staying on here after my contract is up this summer.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm....

The longer I’m here the more I get used to the strangeness of things. Then something happens to remind me that I’m in a foreign country and I have to go “Huh?” Here are just a few that have come up lately.

1. Different standards re what counts as private information: listen to any news broadcast and you’ll hear it; when talking about the criminal of the day, the reporter will come right out and give the poor schmuck’s full address. No glossing around with just the name of the town or the general neighbourhood. Nuh uh. House number and everything. I’m not sure if it’s about shaming him in front of the whole country or what. I guess nobody’s afraid of being sued over here.
2. At the last minute I found out that my Certificate of Registration from the Gardai was about to expire. What does this mean? I have to go stand in another queue, show the same papers I showed a year ago, and pay another €100. Why can’t they issue this thing for the full period I’m allowed to be here on my work permit instead of shaking me down for cash every year?
3. It took me awhile to figure out, but there’s no such thing as prepaid credit cards in Ireland (I wanted one because I’m tired of having to use my US credit card when shopping online). Why not? Because the government tacks on a €40 tax per year for each card! This means no combo debit and Visa/MC cards either. Aaargh!!
4. Another financial thing that gets my goat is the weird rules about savings accounts over here. No such thing as an account that you can sock money away in whenever the urge strikes. You have to set up a regular/monthly account debit and even then most of them have strict rules about how often and how much you can withdraw, and with how much notice. I’m not sure if this helps make the Irish better or worse savers than the U.S.
5. One thing I do like about the financial/banking system here vs. the U.S. is how easily you can electronically transfer money to accounts not your own. All you need to do to send money to somebody (e.g., pay rent) is to have their branch’s Sort Code and the account number and you’re good to go. No charge either!
6. Another cool thing? VAT included in all prices. This means no frantic calculating and guesstimating in your head about the total price of an item or how much your whole shopping cart is going to be. What you see is what you get.

Two-faced

One of the major lessons that's really been brought home to me through this process of moving country and setting out to live the dream is that, even in the midst of adventure and excitement, everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) has both an upside and a downside. Case in point - while I very much enjoy the one-on-one nature of my interactions here (my bank's customer service rep recognized me the 2nd time he saw me 2 weeks later!), that person-to-person style of business goes hand in hand with what feels at times like a massive lack of efficiency.

That's probably my biggest complaint right now, and one I have to remind myself to take in context, but NOTHING seems to get done quickly here! It took me three weeks to get a bank account. Why? Because of just how non-streamlined the banking industry seems to be here. Everything needs to go through your original branch. Even if you see a branch on the side of the road and think, "Oh, I'll just stop in there and take care of a little business", that so convenient stop will cost you, my friend! I went in to do an international transfer to my U.S. bank account. After all the forms, etc, etc, were completed, what did I hear? "Thank you Ms. Expat, we'll send this on to your branch and you'll hear back from them tomorrow." What the .....?!! What did I waste my time for with you then?!!

On the other hand, I do really enjoy customer service people on the phone talking to me as if we're buds and the odd bus-stop companion engaging me in conversation and somehow rooting out quite a bit of "personal" info in what seems to be record time!

Plus, I have to say, I've never met a more generous and giving group of people. And I don't think it's the fact that I'm in a social services field or just that I'm a single woman, alone, who apparently looks a good bit younger than her age I've been driven places, taken out to dinner, offered loans and places to stay when my 1st paycheck got messed up then sent somewhere else, and generally had people put themselves out like you wouldn't believe just because they felt it was needed (even when it wasn't). It's actually been overwhelming at times because it's not what an American frame of mind leads you to expect from virtual strangers at all.

I think it's called the silver lining :-)

Woo hoo!

I've been grinning so hard the last couple of days, it's a wonder that my face hasn't frozen in that position! Yes, it's true, the final (almost) hurdle has been overcome. I heard from the recruiter yesterday morning that I am officially "validated" to work as a psychologist in Ireland. As Michele says, Woo hoo!! Nothing can stop me now, well except for waiting for the work permit (Green Card) to come through. But, that's basically a formality in the process. My big worry had been that somehow, Ireland's psychologists would say that my training was somehow lacking (that's crazy talk!) and tell me I needed to have some extra training/classes/ whatever. Silly worries, I know. I'm a highly trained and very experienced professional after all, if I do say so myself. But I've heard of crazier things happening and, this is me after all, not heretofore the luckiest person in the world. But, things are looking up!

So, what this means in the immediate future is that I can FINALLY give in my notice at the job from hell. [pause to allow me to do the crazy, happy jig dance] And, uh oh, there goes that darn grin again! My plan, unless someone I trust talks me out of it in the next couple of days, is to give in my notice when I go back to work on Tuesday, then work out the rest of the month. That would give me 3 weeks or so to pack up and close up the house, start showing it to potential renters, and do all the other tiny, little leaving-the-country tasks, before flying out. I'm estimating I would be leaving here around the 3rd or 4th week of June, unless the work permit takes an overly long time to come through. Worst case scenario, I'm left waiting around an extra couple of weeks with nothing to do and no salary. Again, the lack of control issue rears it's ugly head - I have no way of knowing how long it takes to get the Green Card. It's such a new scheme (i.e. "program" for you other non-Irish readers) that it's not clear how long it takes. I've read of some people getting it in 3 weeks, while others say 8! But, I'm determined to think positively. After all, I have been lucky in some things so far, even if the validation did seem to take forever.

All in all, I'm still doing a little jig in my heart :-)

Funk-induced ranting

Remember my earlier post about things I hate (see #3)? Why do people, even professionals in a business environment, think nothing of backing out of their given word? In the last 4 days, I've had 3 specific promises broken outright by the paperwork facilitator girl at the recruiter's office. After telling me time and time again, "I'll call you at such and such a time. Is that OK?", she then proceeds to NOT call! These are not promises I've solicited, but completely spontaneous on her part. Don't tell me you're going to call if you're not sure! It just makes me MORE anxious! Don't you get it?! Yesterday, I fell into a huge funk because I was on edge waiting for the 2nd (or was it the 3rd) promised call that never came. I was so preoccupied and disappointed that I couldn't even enjoy the work "party" we had. I even refused cake!! When I saw today's email, again promising a call later today, my immediate thought was "You lie!" And, I was not proven wrong.

The long and short of it people, is that I still don't know what the outcome is of the big review meeting (for Irish professional licensure) that was held on Friday. At this rate, I'll get the d-mn notification in writing before I hear anything from their "inside source".

Speechless

I'm in absolute shock! No, more than that, I'm totally flabbergasted!! When I opened my mailbox tonight, what should I see but an envelope from the U.S. Department of Justice. Now, at any other point in my life, such a sight would have turned my bowels to water. But, given the surreal situation I now find myself in, I instead found myself laughing with joy! Weird, huh?

So, why all the excitement? My FBI police clearance came in! After only 2 weeks!!! That's just almost inconceivable. Why am I so shocked? Well, the FBI website says the process takes 16-18 weeks! I was sure this was going to be the big hold up in the whole process. In my hope of finding some more reassuring information than that, I'd spent at least a couple of hours surfing various websites and discussion forums from all over the world. The best news I read was a single individual who said she'd gotten hers back in 3 weeks. I took that to be a futile hope. Most sites' predictions fell in the 6-8 week category, with a few saying 4-6 weeks if you made sure to request expedited processing. Well I did that, but the quickest I dared ask for was for a 4 week processing time. Well, for once a government bureaucracy has exceeded my expectations in a positive way!

Of course, as if to contradict this amazing news, I also got some not so happy news from the recruiter today. My application for Irish validation of my professional qualifications is going to take longer than I'd hoped. Apparently, I got the application in just a leetle too late to be reviewed at their March meeting, so it's going to have to wait till the April review date. Bummer.

Oh well, I'm still stoked about the FBI's shocking user friendliness. Plus, I got my pre-employment physical today and everything went well. Apparently, I'm "normal" in every way that counts and thus "fit for duty" :-)

So, what all this means is that I've done my piece. Now it's all up to the recruiter (to check my references) and the Irish government (professional validation and work visa). Sigh. I hate not having control.