A Breakthrough

As you can surmise from my previous entries, Katherine and I have been a little pessimistic about finding work. But rather than being down about it, we think we should take advantage of all of the time on our hands and do some traveling. So two nights ago we booked five nights in Paris for December 16–21. Capitalizing on an idea I gained from the Frugal Traveler, we looked into vacant apartments on Craigslist.org. Worked like a charm: we will be staying in a fully furnished studio within a few minutes' walk from the Louvre for €50 a night––cheaper than most of the hostels.

What happens right after we finalize this journey? Katherine lands a retail job with a golf store. Very luckily, her new boss is willing to work around the trip. This position might be our saving grace, at least for our goal of staying in Europe for a year.

In other news, I bought the last €15 fake Christmas tree in Cork City today. Dunne's had them, six-foot, fairly realistic trees for only fifteen quid. I bought the floor model. I don't know how it was only €15, it's probably extremely flammable or gives off toxic fumes. Luckily our windows are as drafty as screen doors, shouldn't be too dangerous.

Last but not least, we found the best pan-handler in all of Ireland:


This guy––unlike the other street performers in the city––has real talent. I mean, look at those dancing figurines! Elvis actually hit the cymbal! The other accordion players of the city are endlessly annoying. In particular, the man who plays "Jingle Bells" in a constant loop for sixteen hours a day (I wish I was exaggerating). But not this fellow, with his band members Marilyn and Elvis. We walked past him a half-hour later, and he was rosining up a bow to play a fiddle. That's impressive!