Random Stuff

At least in the couple of restaurants we've gone to here, they use paper straws.  Pretty cool.

Feminine hygiene products have been available for free in every public restroom I've been in, and I don't hear anyone bitching about it.

At the libraries here, you use the check-out computer to also return your books.  At the library in Elk River, I would drop my books in the return slot and the library staff would check them in.

The Eire/postal code is you-specific.  For example, our postal code is D18 YN2F (Dublin is split into districts, and we're in district 18).  Whereas ZIP codes cover a particular region, Eire codes are each for a specific address.  I don't know if they have it set up this way because they don't have house numbers?  We live on Cherrywood Avenue but there's no house number (i.e. 1234 Main Street) associated with it.

We had our immigration appointments back in August, and INS mailed our cards to us - only to have them returned (the postal code they used was D22-something, which isn't even close to our postal code so something got messed up at INS during data entry).  Eli picked his up a week or so ago.  He had the day off yesterday, and we took the train into city centre so I could get mine.  Oddly enough, your IRP (Irish Residence Permit) card shows you are legally allowed to be in Ireland but despite the fact that it has your photo, DOB, and full name....you can't use it as identification.

We finally got a bank account established here and received our ATM cards.  Anytime I've ever gotten a new credit card or whatever, I've had to call a number to activate it.  With these ATM cards, we activated them by simply using them.

Speaking of credit cards, about a week after we moved, Bank of America sent us new credit cards because our current ones expire in October.  We had a forwarding address on our mail, so they were redirected to my mom.  She sent them, along with Eli's new debit card from the bank, to us in mid-August.  I don't know what else she sent, but she put everything into a regular manila envelope.  No problem, right?  Yeah, problem.  It only took about four days to go from Minnesota to Ireland....and then it sat at a facility in Ireland for a while.  And then it got sent back to Minnesota just a few days ago and was showing it was in Minneapolis.  I thought perhaps it was being returned to Mom for whatever reason.  NOPE!  It's currently in Chicago again.  What the actual fuck?

Most bottled products are part of a return scheme ("scheme" here means "plan" or "process" - I'm used to it meaning something shady or duplicitous so that's taken some getting used to).  You get charged a deposit fee (usually around 15-50 cents) when you buy it, but you can return the empty bottle and get a voucher that refunds the fee.  Most convenience and grocery stores here have the return machines so it isn't a big deal.  You have to use the voucher in the same store - if you don't think you're going to buy something there, you can cash it out.