Lazy day...

Every now and then, there must be a "take-it-easy"-day. Which I had today.
After getting almost enough rest to compensate for 2 weeks of stress, I tried to find a grocery store to stock up on food. Not following my own advice of researching before setting out, I strolled around The Liberties, where I "reside" now.
I tried to do some geocaching, but have ot come back at least one more time to get all the clues to calculate the coordinates for the cache.
Well, instead, I was able to take some more pictures of things, you wouldn't necessarily see, if you followed the trodden...
Some background info:
The Liberties is a part of Dublin, existing since the 12th century. Which isn't really all that old, if you consider Dublin to be founded in the 10th century. Still considerably old.
In newer times, The Iveagh Trust, sponsored by the honorable Guiness family. Yepp, THAT guiness family. They took to constructing affordable housing for poorer people, providing after school teaching for kids and relocating street market stalls into an indoor market hall called Iveagh Market.

 The construction was finished in 1906 and the dereliction must have started shortly afterwards..Well, actually, that thing was in operation until the 1990s. Now, the market people went back to the street selling thier stuff (looks like a typical scene in Kosovo) and the building is in public-private ownership, and typically for Ireland, the future is questionable.
Considering Ireland, they have to make up their mind wether an enterprise is government or private run. A mix is almost always a desaster. For example the major logging company in Ireland is that unhealthy mix and they seem to be running natural assets to the ground.
Pictures of  the School will follow later. I just wasn't able to find a decent angle..
Instead, here are some other pics of things, I saw today but can't put info to. Just enjoy the view:

Guess, they had TOO many churches...

Hope, they don't want to go back to those times

Last but certainly not least:

Isn't that the truth???

Also, today I learned there were some big-whig politicians in "my" town, opening the centennial gardening show the town's been trying to prepare for the last year if not longer. I really do hope for them, it'll be a jump-start out of obscurity and into a brighter future.
Okay, dinnertime.

Moving day!!!!

Today finally was the day I was able to move out of the hostel.
I am now staying with a co-worker who was nice enough to let me crash on an airbed. But not too much, or else I'll pop the bed!!!
At work, I set up a chart with the different trees we have in the nursery and tried to figure out, which ones prefer shade and which ones are sun-lovers.
I left work two hours early, because we worked over-time on wednesday and I really had to get my head down.
As I got back to the hostel, I had to put a sweater on and took a good nap. Made me feel all sorts of better.
Okay, moving into the new place, I finally found peace and solitude. And a bathtub!!!
Maybe, I'm able to get some rest this weekend, especially saturday, because we'll be moving the nursery on sunday.
All last week, I was thinking how nice it is to work with people capable of accomplishing things. Again, that's really nice for a change.
At logging school, the stereotype one of my co-workers repeatedly points out is, unfortunately, met by the vast majority of the kids.
So, I really like working with these guys. It's also a lot of fun trying to work with different characters without real labelling.
Maybe, the French are, as my sister keeps pointing out, in some aspects more of the laissez-faire type.
As for tomorrow, I mostlikely try to sleep in, do some grocery shopping and catching up with the wealth of information I get sent. Which, by the way, I really appreciate.

Aftermath...

Still feeling pretty tired, I had to go to work, today.
We were specifically told to be at work by 0930,because we wanted to leave right away to visit an elementary school in Bayside.
There, we were supposed to give two presentations to kids aged 8 to 10 about Biodiversity and frog ponds.
Well, we didn't leave until 10 o'clock and when we finally left, we not only missed a train but also hopped on the wrong one. To be honest, it wasn't entirely wrong. We just didn't have all the directions we needed to get to the school. So, we got off a little too late.
Summing it up, we were about 45 mins late. To a German, that's pretty embarrassing. And the kids definitely let us know, we were cutting into their lunchbreak.
But they asked all the right questions made the right noises to make us understand they were definfitely listening.

 Where we got off the train, there was that rise to be marveled at.

The other day, I was reading on the internet, the drought in the African Sahel- area in the 1970s to 1990 leading to a massive famine is partly caused by aerosol pollutions in Europe and theUS. The scientist found out, rain shifted from the latitude of the Saharan area further south. They compared global weather charts, and that's what they told them.
It kind of makes sense. I don't exactly know the detailed impacts of aerosols, but the strong use of hairspray (if that's the only use for aerosols) in the 80s definitely was a given.
If those findings weren't shocking enough, the commenst left me really dumbfounded:
a lot of people argumented the rason for the famine was the overgrazing and China today is a worse polluter than the US.
The point is, though, China wasn't nearly as much a poluter back in the days of the Sahel- famine and jsut because we know, stuff isn't working anymore doesn't mean, we are willing to change.
Telling the Africans to kill their flocks because it's harmfull is about as fruitless as telling the Americans they need to be more environmentally conscious. The flocks are a display of wealth to the Africans and the Americans believe they are God's gift to mankind, no matter what.
If I haven't menationed it before, I will now: I recently read a book by a guy named Tony Juniper called "What has Nature ever done for us?" In the book, he describes that overgrazing or large flocks shouldn't be a problem, if the herders would leave a nomad livestyle. He went on to explain that African herbivores on their treks don't overgraze the land they cross. Why? Because the same patch of land is grazed on only every 9 months or so. And that is each time the herbivores are crossing. Again, I'm not too certain, but I believe to remember the Africans in Sahel being just that: nomads. So, did they really overgraze or is it just a lame attempt of an excuse in order to not take any responsibility.
Well, when I say Americans think of themselves as God's gift to mankind, I certainly have to make a few exceptions. That exception would include anyone willing to cooperate and help to make this earth a better place than it was when that individual first got here.
This weekend, I might be moving out of my accomodation. Really looking forward to it:
I am so done having no real privacy, slamming doors and people walking into "my" room at 0400 in the morning. What's even worse: I seem too old for a place like the hostel. When I sit in the lobby to be online (only place in the hostel with adequate connectivity), I plug my ears to drown out the noise as in loud music and annoying German tourists...Well, I guess, I'm just annoyed and over-tired.
Enough already. Today, I will get off 2 hours early from work because we did such an awesome job on wednesday :)    

Beaten...

like a disobidient slave.
The long awaited work in the nursery finally took place.
We met at 0730 hrs at Christchurch Cathedral and peddaled on our crappy bikes out to Crumlin.
The weather? Contrary to the forcast, it started out pretty nice with blue skies and sunshine and a light breeze.
Well, coming to the preliminary location of the trees, we didn't have keys to enter the premises.
So, we did like burglars and jumped across the wall. I'm sure, in Germany, we would have been very suspicious. Here, noone seemed to take notice.
Well, didn't matter.
Looking at the trees for the very first time, I was REALLY taken back: it was difficult to make them out under all the secondary growth they were covered with.

Doesn't look like a nursery, does it?
Well, we set out to work. The goal was to be done around 1200 hrs. Always optimistic me (or is that just a mild case of experience?) had my serious doubts.
Well, 12 o'clock came and went and we had roughly 1/3 of the work done.
IIt took us until 1800 hrs to get all the trees out of the grass and weed a big portion of the pots. THAT was the timekiller...I would have not meticulously weeded all the pots, but only taken out the worst weeds.But it wasn't my show.
So, around 6 o'clock, as mentioned, we were finally done. Not without getting drenchbed by some good ol' Irsih rain- again.
In the end, we worked on 2237 oaks,

493 maples (I think, they were all maple),

64 sweet chestnuts,

30 ash trees

20 hazel

16 chestnuts

and all sorts of weird and wonderful plants, I was only partially able to identify.

Despite the rain and being really worn after the day, it was really fun. Working with Stephen, our Irish supervisor and two French girls, I really enjoyed myself. Sharing a common goal and working towards achieving something realls seems to be a bonding tool.

Talking to some kids from Düsseldorf coming in by airplane, my observations were confirmed:
                                         
                                                DUBLIN IS INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE!!!

The cheapest meal, I was able to get as a takeaway was Fish and Chips for 4 Euros.
Admission to the Leprechaun Museum is 10 Euros and jsut getting into St.Patrick's Cathedral ranges around 5,50. They, I do believe, try to rip off the tourists, because the economy is very weak. 700,000 people unemployed, 300,000 moved away. By a total population of only 4 to 5 million.
Again, being an unsensitive German, I have to say, by what I hear, they didn't live very smart, when the economy WAS doing good. Stephen keeps telling us about how wasteful people were, when they had money.  Which is normal, but not very smart. It's always better to safe for a rainy day. Or, even better: it is always better to live within or below your means- you never know, if or when it's getting worse.
I probably should heed my advice and eat more stuff bought at the grocery store than the take aways...

One final note on something, which popped up on my mind today: living your potential.
A lot of people are unhappy, because they see what the neighbor owns. What they don't see, is what that neigbor might have had to do in order to get what he has.
I tried to explain to a youth group you have to recognize, what your potential is and make the most of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to belittle anyone. I'm just giving examples. Someone might be a genius with numbers. So, he becomes a Doctor in math. Obviously a brainiac.Someone is good at driving a truck or other sort of heavy equipment. Should the heavy equipment operator be unhappy because he's not a doctor? Only, if he didn't strive to be all he can be. If he has more potential than a truck driver, he should try and make other stuff happen. But at one point, any person also needs to admit, that this is all they can ever be. In the Forest Gump book, he plays checkers with a chimpanzee. And it dawned on Forest Gump, that neither will ever win this match, because they are both equally smart. THAT must be sobering: realizing, that's it, there is no more for you and there is absolutely nothing, you can do about it.
But then again, people do amazing things and surprise the ignorant rest of the world. 
Hopefully, my attempts of deep thinking make at least some sense.

Rotary Club

After a week of incredibly Irish hot weather (topping at about 20°C) and intense sunshine causing the world's fastest tan on my neck and arms, weather eventually showed some real Irish summer: temperatures around 15°C and rain. Weird rain: soft but heavy and, of course, on and off.
Today, weather dind't matter though.
The first half of the day I spent in the office working on the nursery plans.
And the second half, I was privileged to attend a meeting of  Dublin North's Rotary Club. That was interesting.
But I getting ahead of myself.
The day started as it finished: I found out my adaptor wasn't working right. So, last night meant no movie to distract me due to no juice on my computer. Instead I had to resolve to old-fashioned reading a book.
In the morning, I was able to do some research on a couple things and also charge my laptop using a borrowed adaptor.
As there were just too many people waiting around in the lobby to dampen my mood, I decided to head to work early.
Did pay off, as I was wanting all week to take a couple of pictures of Dublin's Emergency Services.
So, here we go:

It's getting- wait for it- even better!!!

Increasing excitement, there is one more!!!

At work, being a doubting Thomas, I had to put my research to paper.
It was just incredibly- if not impossibly- hard for me to believe, it should be okay in Ireland to walk into the woods, gather seed and start your own nursery. My doubts were based on German forestry seed-laws, which I assumed must be based on some weird and wonderful European Directive.
I hate to be right and be the bearer of not so good news. Nontheless, I found a document on the internet, suggesting just that: some species arenot included within that law, but, lo and behold, the interesting ones are: Quercus robur, quecus rubra, quercus patraea and petula pendula.
So, either the company will find a registered site to collect acorn, or they might as well shelf the whole idea of setting up a nursery.

Around lunch-time, I ahd to go the Dublin's Rotary Club. I kind of expected a bunch of older people wearing funny hats and working on taking the world over.
I was only partially right. They are a bunch of older people working on influencing the world to become a better place.
I just dind't see any funny hats. What I did see though, or better, who I did see, was a very enthusiastic and very American descendant of President Eisenhower. Didn't know they were still influental.

After returning back to my quarters, I realized, there are still too many people around. So, I might have yet another Pizza night, cooked by the Pizza place around the corner.
Returning to my room, I found out, this time, after sharing with some VERY loud Spanish or Brazilian poeple and folks from NNorthern Ireland (including one EXTREMELY gay couple), I now share with a girl. I could tell the moment I walked in as the room definitely smelled different from when I left it.
Some more poetry:

The Lonely Tree

A poor little tree standing all alone,
Swaying in the breeze, all on his own,
His leaves are blowing on a sunny, calm day,
As if he was happy in some kind of way.
As time passes on and the day goes by,
The poor little tree looks ready to cry,
The sky goes darker and the clouds turn grey,
He doesn’t seem as happy, he is blowing away.
As it comes to an end and day turns to night,
The poor little tree gets a bit of a fright,
Standing on his own with no-one else around,
He is stuck on his own, planted in the ground.

Sinead Mc Cormick

Feeling just a little...

down.
And I know, I shouldn't. Why? Because we asked the carpenter across the street from work to try and build the Donations box, I created. A really basic design based on my lunchbox, I hope it will help raise some money to bring the company out of obscurity.
Funny thing: yesterday, I was asked what I was doing in Ireland and got a quizzical look, when I mentioned the name of the NGO. And I had to say: "Yeah, that look explains half their issues: noone has ever heard of them."

I also created an Inventory sheet for our tree counting and specifying on wednesday.
Additionally, I started a powerpoint presentation on why current logging practices are not very sustainable. Aparently, I need to present that thing to a number of influental people in our target area towards the end of my time here.
It's a bit of a scary thought. I could bore them to tears with scientific and environmental facts, or I could go all layman and present it all like a clown-entertainer. As always, the middle seems to be the best option. Obviously.
But how do I present my message convincingly.... maybe, a testrun or some editing by a professional will help.
To meet popular demands for more pics, here are some:

James Joyce, another one of the Irish Dead Poets' Society

Memorial of Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers, a Republican group (meaning anti- British)

This is what they do to their trees- no wonder, they have to fell them after very few years

I think, what me feeling not so hot today is boiling down to being tired after the day and just wanting to be left alone. Which, in a hostel is close to impossible.
Well, dinner, then maybe talk to the family and watching a movie. And, eventually, calling it a day. That's the plan. Timing, though, is of the essence, yet very uncertain.

The nursery

Wednesday, we will start working on the nursery: We will weed the pots the trees are kept in.
Then, Sunday they will be moved to a new location.
Until Sunday, the location has to slightly be fixed.
It is on private property and I had to choose, which area on the property we'd use.
I picked the area with the most shade and least inconvenience for the land-owner.
Hope, it suits an unknown number and type of species...

Today, I heard an interesting story about a traveller entering a town at night. He found a place to stay and as he was about to settle for the night, the town's wise people walk in.
They tell him, when he's leaving the next day, he will pass a stream. And he should fill his pockets with the rocks from that stream, for as the next night, he will be both happy and sad.
So, next day, he does as he's told.
As he empties his pocket the enxt night, he wonders how stupid he only could be filling his pockets with useless rocks. As he pulls his hand out of his pocket, he finds rubies, diamonds and all sorts of precious gems.
So, as the wise men said, he was both happy and sad. The reason is obvious.

Also, I heard a lecture on being prepared, today.
The lecturer stressed a certain urgency, but my question still remains: with that urgency, do I need to panic or worry? My answer to that question is: if I'm prepared, I shouldn't fear.
But then, does that preparation mean "just for that moment or test to barely pass"?
Or should the preparation be more longer lasting? Meaning over a longer period of time? And if it took longer to prepare for something, does that mean I'm more convinced about the reason or cause?
Again, sustainability is key;
The German forestry industry takes great pride in thinking, they invented sustainability 300 years ago.
The Irish still use the mantra "Reduce, reuse, recycle". Which is fine, as a start. But reducing doesn't help one bit, unless you take only as much as nature is able to reproduce.
Next week, I think I should develop a scheme or plan to help local land-owners to understand the concept of selective harvesting and the concept of trees for the futrure paired with a change in tree species utilized.
I'm thinking about the traditional oak on clear-felling areas paired with maybe birch and ash.  
Ash, I hear has a high value as veneer and birch is so generous with light penetrating the canopy, it might be good as secondary plant as first harvest befor the oak. 
Thus, we would be generating a steady flow of money over many years instead of one big flow every 80 to 100 years.
It's definitely more than just a 1 stone-2 birds scenario. You would kill about 5 birds...