It is the middle of the night. I am on the Shannon Airport sitting in the front of my laptop in a quite comfortable place - kinda of bar with a bar chairs - a special place for all people addicted to Internet. There are 3 desktop computers, and from 3 to 6 stations for laptop owners. There are both electrical and lan nests, and there is a free wireless Internet access (you need to sign in to get a 5 hours for free, unless you have only 15 minutes).
This comfortable place with access point helped me to stay conscious and present during the last 3 hours of waiting. I am sure I will be fine till 6.15 am when the plane takes off heading for Poland.
It is exactly what was missing on Dublin Airport (there is wi-fi access but not for free) or Huston Station.
I wish there was the same facility on stations/airport in Dublin.
It is almost a year ago, when I went for a trip to Cork and Kerry. Here is one of my favorite photos I took during that trip. Skelig rocks (click to enlarge)
Published at February 19, 2007
in blog.
I would like to thank you all who voted for my blog on Irish Blog Awards. I wrote it once, but I am doing it again - I didn’t suspected so big feedback and popularity of it. I am glad that so many people found my opinions, reflections and photos of Ireland so interesting, and thanks to that I got some other opportunities than being a digger only.
Due to the feedback and your support I am thinking about my own Media/Internet self-employed business.
Go raibh maith agat!
Today, Sunday Times devoted its attention to the problem of avoiding Irish health care and dental service by Eastern Europeans. I am quoted in that article.
There is couple of reasons why Poles and other Eastern Europeans avoid it and prefer to cure themselves while visiting the homeland:
1. Price: Total cost of a dental treatment in Poland varies from 20 (simple treatment) to 50 Euro (cleaning channels etc.). It is not expensive, especially when we are in Poland visiting our families. Then we are going to dentist. So usually we don’t go to Poland only for dental treatment. Even if we have to go only for dental treatment: plane tickets cost now even less than 20 Euro one way. (I paid 17,50 one way)
2. Lingo: Most of the Eastern Europeans don’t speak proper English enough to explain what is going wrong or what pains.
3. Confidence: We trust our doctors and dentists in Poland. They are usually like a family ones. We usually have used their services for years and we don’t want to change it. I have just found out that some Poles don’t trust Irish health system and dental service. There are a couple of examples, when my friends had to wait 3 or 4 hours to visit a doctor of the first contact - as we call it.
4. Attitude to the living in Ireland: most of emigrants mentally still live in Poland. I mean they are working here, earning money, but they eat Polish food (which is available here), watch Polish TV (Satelite receivers - kind of SKY - brought from Poland), reading Polish press (issued in Ireland and brought from Poland), and living virtual live in Poland (via Internet). The only thing we can’t bring is a health care and dental service. But we can go and use it while we are in Poland (see point 1).
I have just realised that we have some confusion in the calendar of similar holidays.
Yesterday - in Polish calendar - we had Doughnut Thursday, during that people are eating great amounts of Doughnuts and sometimes even cook them at home.
Polish “Doughnut Thursday” resembles “Pancake Tuesday” or as it is called in Scotland “Shrove Tuesday”
But… 
in Poland “Pankake Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday” is called “Ostatki” (the Lasts) and it resembles Irish (or American) Hallowe’en. When children disguise themselves as a ghosts, deaths, pirates etc., and walk from door to door singing songs and getting sweets, cakes and money sometimes.
There is some confusion, don’t you think?
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