Ikea

We had one goal for today – go to Ikea and purchase furniture.  Although we shipped a 20 foot container to Ireland, we still have some furniture needs. Thus, we arranged for the grandparents to watch the girls while we left for Ikea shortly after 9 this morning.  In fact, I was a bit in the doghouse for not being ready to go at 9.  However, traffic was light and we arrived at Ikea at 9:50, 10 minutes before it opened.  It saddened me that we have become that sort of family who shows up to Ikea before it opens, waiting eagerly by the door.  We double-checked our list and discussed strategy.

Despite all this planning, we did not escape Ikea until after 1pm.  The biggest challenge was tracking down a couple of the large furniture items from the collection area.  We didn’t realize that the bed slats for one of the beds had a different name than the bed.  So that was a wasted 10 minutes.  More time was wasted finding the location of the elusive aisle 0.  But we were successful in finding all the items except for a couple of minor items (like nightlights).  And we were able to arrange for next-day delivery on a Saturday no less.  And I got a second breakfast for under 2 Euro.

The afternoon was less exciting – stuck around the new house while the gardening service provided by the landlord cleaned up the place.  It was a challenge understanding them at times.  I later learned that they had thick Cork accents.  My wife enjoyed the role reversal, as she struggled at times to understand some of the people when we lived in Kentucky.  Still, the jungle has been removed, and I had some time to remove the stickers from all the glasses, plates, etc. purchased at Ikea.  And I checked out the satellite left by a previous tenant.

We had the first casualty of the trip – I broke my glasses today.  Fortunately, my mother-in-law has offered to take me to the Irish equivalent of Lenscrafters tomorrow.  For now, I have some electrical tape holding them together, sort of.

Freesat!

Alas, the trip to Ikea was not to be.  It was simply too far away, and we had an important appointment to meet the landlord / owner.  Although we had some communication issues on the appointment, the kids enjoyed running around and exploring their new home.

What was less enjoyable was the afternoon trip to see the new school (for the older daughter).  She acted like it was the march of death, annoying both parents until we realized that the jet lag and lack of nap were to blame at least partially.

However, by far the best discovery of the day was made on-line: Freesat!  Freesat is a joint venture between the BBC and ITV to provide free digital (including HD) satellite TV service with over 140 channels.  Although one needs a satellite to access it, there are no monthly fees.  Conveniently, Ireland offers its own free service as well, called Saorview.  As an economist, it’s good to see that the market has responded – several companies offer receivers that combine the two signals.  I’m very excited about the possibility of getting over 150 channels with only the up-front costs of satellite, antenna (called an aerial in Ireland), receiver, cords, and installation.  It’s a bit expensive to start ($500+), but the prospect of no monthly fees (and the ability to record, pause, etc. live television as in DVR / TiVo in the U.S.) outweighs these upfront costs.

Day 2 (May 23, 2012)

One of the few benefits of jet lag is that the kids aren’t getting up too early in the morning.  Today, they slept until 9am.  Too bad that I awoke at 8am confused by the sound of a radio, even though my wife was still asleep and our in-laws (and hosts for now) were out of town.  Turns out that the in-laws left their clock radio alarm on.  Oh well – I was happy to sleep until 8am.

My wife accomplished several of the items on our master to-do list.  For example, we now have one unlocked phone and 20 euros worth of credit on it.  Alas, my free (with service) “dumb” phone appears hopeless for use in Ireland.  That’s ok – I was hoping to get a new phone once we arrived here.

Given the difference in voltage, we left nearly all of our electronics in the U.S.  So we also started acquiring electronics today.  We (i.e. my wife) of course started with the most important items: alarm clocks, a toaster, and my favorite – an iPod dock.  Tomorrow, we plan to go to Ikea (a much further drive) for other items that would not fit in our rental house, such as a guest bed (which will be ours until our stuff arrives) and bunk beds for the girls.

The description of the store – Argos – reminded me of a now defunct chain in the U.S. called Service Merchandise.  It’s basically a giant warehouse.  You place your order and the items are brought to you for you to take home.

On the bright side, the kids have enjoyed the in-laws’ back yard (i.e. the garden, as they call it here), as well as the neighborhood park.  The weather is amazing – possibly the best weather I’ll ever see in Dublin.  Despite what you hear, the sun does shine in Ireland.  Just not very often.  In fact, the weather has been so nice that we ate lunch and dinner outside.