So…it ends well. I’ll mention that up front.
I decided, before heading off early this morning, that I’d make arrangement for my accomodation today. I compiled a definitive list of places of opportunity based on what I had seen and where I wanted to live. The south coast is hugely attracting, and i decided that a couple flyers in Dun Laoghaire were as far as I’d go, but a short DART down the coast would be fine. I set my upper limt at 1600 euro…a huge chunk of salary, but exchangable for a cool lifestyle. I attempted to arrange for showings of three place in DL, but all were putting off until Friday. Too long. I arranged for showing of a couple places between Sandymount and Booterstown. I hoped that the bid I made for a ravishingly skylit place in Booterstown might return my calls. In the end I hoped in vein. After spending the morning arranging visits…agents are recalcitrant in Ireland to simply say I’ll meet you there in an hour or two. More often its a day or two if you are lucky.
Wanting to accomplish something I decided to go to the Gardai and register my work permit. You may remember that I spent an extended period of time last week begging to be let into the country without having a work permit. I was admitted for two weeks to get my affairs in order and instructed to come to said office with proper permit. It should have been smooth. As it was, it was deemed I was illegally in country as the system claimed I had been refused entry. Questions of how I found myself in country. Confinement to a white room. Confiscation of passport. Deliberation between officials behgind closed doors. It appeared as though I would be deported. More begging and I was told that there were two options. Leave the country and attempt to re-enter with proper paperwork or appeal to the department of justice to have status changed. More begging and I finally was fortunate enough to have an authoruity figure grant an extenuating cirumstance and change of status. 100 euro later I have an immigration card and am in better shape.
Regaining composure I dashed out for afternoon showings in Merrion Village. Great place. Wandered neighbourhood and then jumped the DART back to Ballsbridge for a further showing. I spent a couple hours wandering in Ballsbridge and love the area. Made the decision to take a lovely smaller apartment on 5th storey of a very nice development offered by a friend of a friend. Awesome opportunity and Shawn has now shaken hands on a lovely place to plant my feet in Dublin. If plans come off will move in Sunday and pictures will follow. Yay.

Am in country, landed and now, even legally so. Have rather spotty internet access, so have not been able to report back for a couple days here, but here’s all the news that’s fit to post.

The flight from Canada was pleasantly smooth. Flyglobespan was just fine and got me into Dublin pretty close to on time. Unfortunately on arrival I did not have my work permit granted let alone available for presentation. After a hour or so of discussion (me proferring my contract and begging) I was granted two weeks to get my stuff straightened out or leave the country.

I headed into Dublin and because it was 8am by the time I got to the short stay apartment they were not ready, so I headed over to my new employer, the Royal Irish Academy. They welcomed me with open arms and even more importantly arranged a shower for me  and got me settled right in. I was introduced to many of the folks there and became intimately familiar with the winding semi-medieval stone staircase that goes all four stories up to the HR department. The Academy is in a listed building, so they can’t make the alteration to add an elevator. I love this. I will have a picture of the stairs shortly.

I acquired a phone quickly and it has the added benefit of being a skype phone, so I can make unlimited skype voice calls internationally at no charge. Pretty Cool.

Well, some disappointment this am. The RIA write to tell me that my application for a green card, so I can work in ireland, has been declined. My immediate question of why, unfortunately goes unanswered as the state is terse in its communication. As I understand it, this means we start the application procedure again applying for a work permit. The difference between the green card and the work permit for me is that after two years with a green card you can apply for permanent residency, where this option is not available to those with work permits. In a nutshell, time spent in Ireland counts towards citizenship if you have a green card and it does not if you have a work permit. Disappointing. One likes to keep one’s options open
So, am off to the photo shop this morning to plunk down another $20 for passport photos shot with a cheap little fuji digital camera. Then to the courier to pay $70 to get same photos there for next week and the RIA has to pony up another 1500 euro to apply for the work permit for me.
As I titled, there have been lots of little roadblocks in this process, so we’ll focus on the hope that this speaks to the fact that this is a great opportunity and we’ll just have to work a little harder to earn it.
On the upside I feel compelled to comment again on using Tagaroo to find images and tag my posts. It picked struggle out of my post and when it showed me pictures of what real struggles entail, I am remind of my great fortune in this opportunity and the absolutely miniscule nature of the hurdles I face