Greetings from Belfast

Hi everyone:

I guess I have lurked long enough and should properly introduce myself.  My name is Rose and I live in Belfast, NI with my husband of 7 months.  I have been over almost a year and we married in March of this past year.    I am originally from Lancaster, Ohio but have spent the last 13 years living in Orlando with my daughter who is now 21 and lives in NYC. 

I am currently looking for work and not having any success, have had one interview just two weeks ago and I was rejected.  :\\\'(   My mom passed away on September 1st, 2004 and I had just flown back in that morning to Belfast.  Being a person who can never sleep on a plane I was a bumbling idiot at the interview.  Can anyone sleep on a plane other than my daughter?   

My adjustments have been very difficult, especially with the situation with my Mom, but I think I am over the hump and feeling better about things.  I have lurked for quite a while now and I commend all of you who can put their feelings into words and open themselves up on a forum such as this.  I am just not one of those people, but with everything that has happened I could sure use some friendly, sympathetic people such as yourselves to associate with.  I will try my hardest and I can not tell you how therapeutic it is to read everyones trials, tribulations and successes here. It has helped so very much.   

Sorry to be so lengthy, but that is me in a nutshell. 

Rose

Hello from Belfast also, there's a good crowd of us Americans here, we just got together some of us yesterday at Starbucks, we try to get together every now and again.

Welcome to the forum Rose!  Looking forward to seeing more of your "foodie" posts as well as getting to know more about you.

Hi Rose!  Adjusting to a new country is hard enough without tons of other things to weigh you down.  Just try to hang in there on the job front I am sure things will look up for you soon.

Feel free to vent at anytime or just to sit a read if you want.

Welcome to UKY as well!

 Welcome to our community Rose

   Rhia

Well thank you everone for the warm welcome, I do appreciate it. 
 
Stella:  Please do let me know about the next get together at Starbucks, I would love to attend and compare notes about my new home.  I could use some advice and pointers about where to find things in Belfast.

Saf:  Well, I hope I can help.  I have been a food and beverage buyer for the past 16 years and have always had a multitude of different Chefs that I have worked with.  Believe me, as they worked me to death, I bent their ear about the culinary arts.   

Kcg:  Thanks for the good thoughts and hugs, those are so important right now.   I have been through Downpatrick, but can not say that I have actually been and visited the community.  All of Ireland is pretty and so majestic from what I have visited.  Good luck on your upcoming move here, let me know when you arrive and we will have a coffee, or perhaps a glass of wine sometime if that is your persuasion.    As far as patience on the job front, patience has never been one of my virtues and it still isn't.  My mom always told me that patience comes with age, she lied to me 

Again, everyone thanks for the warm welcome.  I do not know that I will be able to help anyone here as I am still quite new at this new country thing, but I will certainly try.


Rose

As a foodie the first place you have to get to, if you haven't yet, is Sawer's, which stocks much of the ethnic foods you can't get anywhere else, including a selection of American items. It's on Fountain Street behind Boots, you can't miss it as it always has fresh fruits and veg on display outside it's front.

There's also an Asian market off the Ormeau Road that is worth checking out.

We haven't another get together planned yet but should do towards the end of the month. It's good for touching base and knowing you're not on your own in terms of the experience.

Stella:

Thanks for the shopping tips.  Yep, I have found both of those shops and I quite like the asian shop off of the Ormeau Road but it is so stressful shopping there.  Carts and people running everywhere and the aisles are soooo close together.  Makes me claustrophobic.  On the other hand, I do love their selection of foods, and in fact I kept asking them to bring in Edamame' beans and they kept telling me no,that no one would buy them.  Eventually though, I noticed them in the freezer and was delighted.  Now every time I stop in there, I buy 3 or 4 bags for fear that no one else is buying them and they will stop stocking them.

Thanks again for the help.

Rose