Wysiwyg – The name of the blog suggests two things; first it's has something to do with the apparatus that's bringing you this text, and secondly it's written by a sincere person (what you see is what you get). The layout is neat and a gives the author another piece of work to add to her portfolio as a web developer. The first post I read pointed me to Dublin Journey Planner, a brilliant mapping tool by the Dublin Transportation office which shows you the route between two streets, the time it takes to walk or cycle, and the amount of calories you'll burn.

Twenty Major – This was one of my first Irish blogs and lately Twenty Major has posted some kick-ass posts Fuck off we're not stupid and I will scratch my balls if I want to that will probably get like-minded visitors to hit his RSS feed. Twenty also likes posting observations about current Irish events which are just enough to keep in touch with the hot topics here.

Inphotos – One of the best Irish themed photoblogs I've came across.

They say that in Dublin you're never far away from a pub and they're very right, but I might add you're never too far from a shopping center either. Shopping centers seem to spawn out of nothing here and most areas have their own shopping centers. Ours comes complete with cinema, theatre, multitude of shops, restaurants, bowling etc. General purpose shops are good when you're in a hurry but if you're looking for better value and more selection then it's better to seek specialized shops that cater for your niche.

• Madina – (Moore Street, the food market street) for Indian spices and Middle East and food. It also imports bulk food like 20kg basmati rice sacks, and it has its own deli.
• Celtic Signs (St. Stephen's Green Shopping center) – for Celtic themed jewelry
• Cycleways (Parnell Street in front of Aldi) and Cycle Logic (Quays) – Cycling shops. You can try Halfords for a general purpose alternative
• Forbidden Place (Quays opposite Cycle Logic) for Manga, Comics, MTG, Fantasy and TV figurines, Posters etc.

Old readers of the blog might remember me complaining about my old job – actually the blog started out from an old job misfortune – and might be wondering what I'm up to at work. I've now got a new job which after the first month I can claim to be satisfied with. Now that I'm working in a private company with less bureaucracy to get sacked my work related blog entries will be sparse and far in between, probably non-existent. I just wanted to make a personal note for my own future benefit to remind myself that I'm happy at the job, it's challenging and I feel respected by my peers.

I allowed myself to get dragged to watch this film because it's a South African film with an African theme. Tsotsi (Review – 80%) is the word for thug so the story is about this thug nicknamed Tsotsi, a part brilliantly played by Presley Chweneyagae. The first part of the film shows Tsotsi as a gang leader in Africa who does a great job of showing his cruelty in his actions and facial expressions rather than in his words. Tsotsi ruthlessness is first seen in a gang attack on the subway where a rich man is coldly murdered, then later in a bar where Tsotsi fiercely beats one of his own men. In the second third of the film there's a turning point after a gang attack to steal a Mercedes from a rich lady.

Throughout the film, director Gavin Hood, creates some very crude shots which are quite disturbing because of their potential reality in the poverty of Africa. Tsotsi is quite short running at 94 minutes, and it has a fast pace. The film is completely driven by the story and doesn't directly attempt to document Africa specifically, although I think it could have had with some more African specific themes while still keeping the pace of the story. All in all it was a good film that is sure to keep you interested and with your eyes wide open – 4/5.

Ireland is well known for two things; pubs and its Catholicism. Well, there's a day in the year when the latter wins over pubs and that day is Good Friday. On Good Friday all pubs are closed! As if that statement wasn't strong enough to stand on its own, I will add that the liquor section of Tesco is also closed on Good Friday.

After spending Monday night scrubbing the kitchen from curry spills and other obstinate stains, getting a new table cloth and washing the parquet kitchen floor I thought the kitchen was fit to invite my 3 friends for Easter lunch. I cooked the main dish while one of the invitees prepared the starter and dessert.

Starter

Cold plate assortment

Boiled green and red peppers with chopped garlic basil and garlic
Sweetcorn
Italian Fiorucci Salami
Italian Black Olives

Main Dish

Stuffed Turkey

Roasted stuffed turkey coated with rosemary, 1tsp. Curry, stock cube and oil cooked for about 3 hours on medium heat.

Mushroom gravy

Brown half a medium sized onion and 2 finely chopped garlic cloves. Add 250gr chopped mushrooms, 1tsp curry, 1tsp pepper and stir fry until the mushroom's liquids evaporate. Add ½ glass red wine and 1 stock cube and keep stirring until gravy thickens. Might possibly add some flour to facilitate this process but probably not necessary.

Roast potatoes

Roasted 4 large baking potatoes toped with melted Irish butter, rosemary, fennel seeds (buzbiez), salt & pepper, and 4 garlic cloves (garlic gives a nice taste)

Boiled vegetables

Baby sweetcorn, carrots, runner beans and sweet peas

Dessert

Fruit Flan

Coated sponge flan with a layer of blackcurrant jam, 1 tin of Tesco custard cream, boiled apple slices and some peaches.

Tea or coffee

Selection of Twinings Herbal Tea or Nescafe.

The end result was great, all the food was fantastic and plates were scraped clean. I must thank one of my pals back home who managed to send me his recipes in 1 SMS. You made me look like a good chef mate.

On Sunday we planned to go for a daytrip to Howth but we missed the bus. Instead of waiting for 1hr we decided to go to Portmarnock instead. (Read the Portmarnock Report in the travel section)

Thanks to my Bangladeshi friend we’ve got a sack of basmati rice and a rice cooker at home. Yes, these people so much rice that they need a sack of rice and a rice cooker!! I should be learning Irish culture in Ireland but I’m going multinational. Now do you think that I'll ever buy a packet of rice while I'm living in this house?

Last Friday I was invited at one of my new friends for a quick get together. Since I've become a seasoned professional I went straight after work benefiting form the better public transport facilities that go to the center from the Corporate Park where I work. The evening was fine and we had a couple of ciabattas, popcorn, cashew nuts and some wine.

We spent most of the party comparing our language to Arabic because there was a Moroccan friend of the host at the party, and he was saying that our language was so similar to Arabic. He was able to understand most of our conversations even though we tried our best to proof that the languages are very different. For example a gay person in Arabic is called 'zemel' which in our language almost means horse. This is like comparing Spanish and Italian, similar yet different, and potentially dangerous because the same words might mean two different things. A gay might take 'zemel' as a complement in our country.

On Saturday my old friend decided to give a party at his house. He spent the previous two days texting all this acquaintances to come for this party but from the 20 contacted persons they were already short listed to 7 by Saturday morning. Amongst the excuses people found there were people who had "semi-commitments", "visiting people in other counties", "sorry couldn't make it", "I got another (read: better) party" or even people who fell asleep on their couch instead of coming to the party.

Without many high expectations on Saturday morning I was dragged to Tesco and hired as an additional pair of arms to carry stuff back home (the misfortune of not having a car sometimes brings these consequences). After helping him carry his 40 Euro worth of vegetables back home I felt the need to detox myself from society, so he lent me his bike while he went to the center to get some more fresh produce.

In the afternoon I went for a long bike ride from home to Phoenix Park. Actually it's only about 10 minutes to get to the park but once you're there you can spend a whole day going around. The weather in my first Irish bike adventure was a perfect portrayal of Irish weather because in the 3 hours I spent there I had rain lashing, rain pouring, a hail storm, clear sky and ¾ of an hour bright enough sunshine to dry my clothes. Phoenix Park was quite busy because of the preparations for the Holy week activities but I managed to find a quite spot beside a small lake inhabited by only 2 Mallards.

After resting a bit in the sun I left back to my friend's home to help him prepare for this famous party. We spent about 3 hours hastily preparing food before our multitude of guests arrived.

At 7.20pm our first 3 guests arrived and the party started. At 8.30 one of my pal's housemates arrived back home and was forced to join us. By 9.30 the party finished with the following stats:- 3 bottles of beer consumed by guests, 3 guests participating in the food buffet and enough leftovers for the rest of the week. I'll let you judge the success of the party ... no I will say it myself, it was a complete flop!

Anyhow, to cheer up after the fiasco we had enough time to go to the center at night and found a fantastic pub called Porterhouse (see review in Travel Section), and we spent a night drinking there till early morning.

Ireland may be many things but the buses are never punctual. Guess when the bus decided to come on time; just when I crossed the street to talk to a Polish guy I met on the bus stop the last day. The bus flew past on the other side of the street ... adieuÂ… wait for another hour. At least now I'm waiting at the office, consecrating the first time I'll be here till 8pm.

Last Friday before leaving work my new colleagues asked me what plans I had for the weekend but I had none except for cleaning the kitchen; ha ha housewife mike. Despite my lack of plans I ended up with a rather full weekend and I didn't clean the kitchen.

On Friday since I already was had lunch at Eddie Rockets on my work pals (the joys of being young newbie) I afforded to arrive late at home. After turning down an offer to go and watch a play I decided to go out alone and watch a movie at the theaters in the shopping center. After a 15 minutes quick walk I arrived at the UCI Cinemas and paid 9 Euros for a ticket to watch Hostel (Review). I can't remember the last time I went to a cinema alone (if I ever did) and it felt a bit funny at first, but then the film was the same whether alone or accompanied so it turned out not to be so fastidious. Going back home I discussed the film with Nikoali Illaws, my new imaginary friend, (told you I was going to get one) and he agreed with me that I could have spent the 9 Euros better.

The film starts with a "Quentin Tarantino presents" header which is nothing by a marketing gimmick, as if the name alone can make a great film. It is about 3 backpackers who are lured in Bratislava in pursuit of hot sexy chicks. They get the chicks alright, but with some side-effects as one by one they start disappearing. The film is supposed to be a horror movie, but while the gore isn't missing the horror must have remained trapped in the authors head. I found it funnier than scarier so it gets a 2/5.

On Saturday I lazed most of the morning and after breakfast I cleaned my bathroom. There's a first time for everything. In the afternoon we went to the city center and I brought 3 cheap books about Ireland and a comic novel, then at night we went back to the city center but returned back early.

On the last day of the week I went to the coast of Dublin for the first time. Because the morning wind discouraged my new conational friend we changed plans and instead of going to Killiney we went to Sandycove to visit James's Joyce tower and Dun Laoghaire. To arrive there we took a DART train from O'Connelly Station in the city center and stopped at Sandycove.

James Joyce is the author of Ulysses and James Joyce Tower is basically a tower in which he spent a few days and is mentioned in one of his books. Inside there's a sort of museum which costs a hefty 6.50 Euros just to see a couple of Joyce's stuff, manuscripts, paintings, bust and other small things you'd expect in a museum. Not worth it unless you're really into literature.

It's a pity I haven't yet got a camera as Sandycove deserved a couple of photos. There's a decent stretch of beach that hosts many seagulls and the occasional cormorant. Despite the usual rain and wind the walk was nice and the company was good. We also saw some mad sadistic people bathing in the freezing waters which deserve a mention for their courage or stupidity, depending on how you look at it.

Halfway through our outing we met another person who's also from our country. I've made a couple of new friends but unsurprisingly enough they are all from my mother country. We'll soon open a community of immigrants if it continues like this.

Walking back to Sandycove from the coast we ended up in Dun Laoghaire. Apparently here there's a ferry that'll take you to Wales in about 90 minutes, an option that I might consider in June, although probably a plane would be a better option. We had lunch at a café which was the first place I've visited that didn't serve beer then went back by the DART train to the city center. Before returning back home we went shopping for groceries – yes you can do that at 7pm on Sunday here in Dublin.