Helping out the Dublin Viking Rotary Club

On December 11, the Dublin Viking Rotary Club hosted a fundraiser for 4 Irish charities: the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (an organization similar to Needline), the Dublin Rape Crisis Center, the Father Peter McVerry Boys' Home, and the Merchants Quay Drugs Project (a society aiding the homeless and drug addicted).

To encourage people to donate, the fundraiser was held in a shopping mall in Dundrum, where a local retired men's choir sang Christmas carols to cheer shoppers. 

Initially, I had my doubts whether or not people would be willing to give, especially in light of the current economic crisis in Ireland.  However, I was astounded by how many people saw the Rotary logo and simply pulled out their wallets.  We had a sign posted, informing shoppers where the money would go, but rarely did the people who gave walk over to look at it.  One lady said, "Whatever this is going for, I know the Rotary Club will use it well."  It was just one more reminder of the charity work people associate with Rotary.

Turning 25 in Ireland

On November 26^th I turned 25.  It was a first in many ways: my first birthday in a foreign country, my first birthday to be away from my family, and my first birthday to be married.  Because Michael and I have always been careful with our money, we never bought each other birthday presents; instead we celebrate by going out for a nice dinner and enjoying a relaxing evening without the mess of cooking or having to do dishes. 

This year, because we are both students and the cost of living in Dublin is extremely high, we decided to scale down the celebration.  Since it had turned cold, the American and Canadian students in my class had been raving about a chocolate shop that sold what they described as “the best hot chocolate in the world.”  It sounded fantastic, but in our efforts to be frugal we had put off trying it for a special occasion. 

The morning of my birthday, Michael let me sleep in and then surprised me by announcing that he was taking me out to breakfast.  We ended up in the chocolate shop.  We each ordered a hot chocolate (mine was milk chocolate and his was dark chocolate) and we got a chocolate muffin to split.  It was incredibly decadent and the perfect way to celebrate. 

After our delicious breakfast, we took a trip to St. Stephen’s Green to feed the ducks.  I’ve always liked feeding ducks, even when I was a little kid.  My grandfather used to take me to the park and I would pick out which one I thought was the prettiest.  (Even at age 25 I still do that.)  Apparently one of the ducks thought Michael was the prettiest, as that duck that kept walking up to him instead of waiting in the pond with the others; by the time we were ready to leave Michael had taught the duck to catch the bread in his mouth. 

After taking the afternoon off to study, we walked around and looked at the Christmas decorations all over Dublin.  (Their store windows are absolutely incredible and deserving of their own post dedicated just to them.)  All in all, it was a wonderful birthday, and it just proved that old adage: Money doesn’t buy happiness.  I couldn’t be happier.