So the whirlwind continues. Got a job working for a company that does fundraising for charities by getting out there on the streets of the country and chatting to people. So rock up at their office on Monday morning in Dublin, with all my worldly possessions, all ready for training and then to start.
It was a bit of daunting thing thinking that I'm about to become one of those people that everyone avoids on the street but alas, I will give it a red hot go. Training went well - real mix of people, some young some older, Aussies, Canadians, a girl from South Africa, an English bloke with the driest sense of humour and an older Irish guy. COmes the end of the day and we're told where we are heading - so on a bus to Cork I go. I arrive there with the Canadian girls about 11pm, so I crash at their place for the night. THey're on the residential team that is living in Cork all the time and I'm on the roaming team so I'll get to my provided accommodation the next day.
Wake up Tuesday morning to learn that Stephanie and Jen are feeling as anxious as I am. Our boss, Sinead, buys us coffee at Gloria Jeans to pep us up and off we go to the street. We practise our dialogues on each other and I'm trying to remember every silly little oral presentation tip I've given all my English students over the years. Then we're given our streets and off we go. I stopped two people in the first half hour to no avail, then to be told by Sinead that I can't actually work for the day because they never got me an Oxfam t-shirt so I am going to be paid to walk aroun Cork all day! Bonus - I'm liking this job already.
So tonight I head to Youghal with the rest of my team (only the two at the moment; Alice and Max) to the place where we're living for the next two weeks. I think the whirlwind is going to continue for the next few days, but I'm looking forward to it.
Cork is a pretty down, pretty cold too, but now I know the streets like the back of my hand. So that brings me to sitting in an internet cafe writing this entry to update everyone on what I'm doing.
I hope I'm good at convincing people to donate 5 Euros a week to a worthwhile charity. And I'm never going to put my head down and walk past these people in the streets again!
Starting to Miss the hot weather - but having a blast! Can't wait to get back to Dublin to do all the things I ran out of time to do while on the job hunt trail. Dublin is certainly a cool place.
