When you move, there are so many things to do. Set up new utilities, purge and pack your things, buy new furniture to suit your new home. When we moved overseas to Ireland, we had to do all that plus figure out all the basics you need for living like get a PPS number (Personal Public Service number) which is like your Social Security number, setting up a new bank account, registering with Immigration, etc. We also needed to figure out basic things like how to get our trash picked up at our flat and where to buy bus passes. Things you generally don't need to relearn if you are simply relocating in the US.
Setting up Mobile Phone Service
When we first arrived in Dublin, we went immediately to get our cell phones service set up so that we would have a form of communication. Luckily, wi-fi is available all over here and our flat included it as an amenity. But we definitely wanted to have our cell phones set up so that we could contact each other and have a contact number to put on all of our future paperwork. Before we left the US, Mr Puffles did some research and knew that we would be able to buy new SIM cards for our smart phones if they were unlocked. Luckily, he was able to easily get the unlock codes from ATT and unlocked our phones before we left the US.
For our phone service, we decided to go with Tesco Mobile which has a no contract/pay-as-you-go program that has an unlimited text and data plan for 25Euro per month. Since we were staying in the city center, we walked up to the Jervis Shopping Center to the Tesco Mobile kiosk and were able to purchase new SIM cards there. We "top up" or pay by going to a Tesco customer service counter and paying there. They give you a slip of paper with a code that you enter when you call their top-up number. It's fairly easy and it gave us immediate mobile and text service. I'm still not able to send files or photos on my SMS for some reason, but hopefully, I will be able to call their customer service and get it sorted.
Registering with Immigration
On the second day we were here, we explored the city a bit and tried to figure out where everything was located. We walked back up to the Tesco to purchase some basic groceries and on the way back, we stopped at the Garda National Bureau office in the city center to register. If you are moving to Ireland or planning on staying beyond the 90 day tourist visa period, you must register with the Department of Immigration.
When we arrived there was a large group of people already waiting and it was already 4p.m. in the afternoon. We quickly received numbers after explaining why we were there and then we waited for an hour. Strangely, no one was called to any of the service windows for 45 minutes and we were beginning to think that the staff had all left for the weekend already since it was a warm Friday afternoon. Imagine that this is the DMV and there was the same sort of depressed waiting happening. And then imagine that you brought your four tired, hungry, cranky, jet-lagged young children with you. I spent a lot of time letting them scribble on receipts and letting them get paper cups of water from the dispenser hoping that they wouldn't suddenly lose it and have a tantrum.
Finally, we were called up with Mr Puffles going to one window and me called to the adjacent window. Two very grumpy young ladies took our passports and our paperwork. They asked us some questions and Mr Puffles had to show them our marriage certificate (which I luckily had brought with us). Then, they took our photos and money (it costs €300 per person) and sent us back to wait. Luckily, they take credit cards because I didn't even think that it would cost anything to register.
After a bit, I was called to the back and a very nice, happy man took my finger prints electronically. We had a fun chat and he asked me to send in Mr Puffles. After a short wait, we were called to pick up our immigration cards which was like a small ID card. Done!
Setting a Bank Account
On the second day, we also tried to set up our bank account as well. Mr Puffles wanted to be prepared to fill out his new hire paperwork on the following Monday when he started work. We stopped into a bank and inquired. They tried to send us away with an appointment for the following week, but Mr Puffles was persistent and one of the girls was able to help us. In Ireland, they call basic checking accounts "current accounts" and they are not paired with a savings account as they usually are in the US. They also seem to be moving away from the laser cards they used previously and are giving people the same ATM/Visa debit style cards that we use in the US. At some stores though, they still use machines that only read the computer chip style cards and you have to specify if you are trying to use a credit card or "swipe" card.
When we tried to set up the account, we knew going in that we might have problems setting up an account since we need to prove our residency. We were hoping that a letter from Mr Puffles' employer would work but it didn't. You need a utility bill or official letter with your name and current address listed to set up an account. Since we were in a temporary flat, we didn't have any utility bills. We needed a bank account to not only set up Mr Puffles' direct deposit but also for the all the things that require direct debit here: all the utilities, our rent payment, etc.
Luckily, Mr Puffles was able to go to the PPS office to register for a number with his work visa paperwork. With the letter from the PPS office, he was able to go back to open an account in his name. Since I couldn't prove where I lived, we had to wait to open a joint account until I could secure a utility bill or register for my PPS number. I was only able to do so once we had signed a lease on our house and was able to take our lease letter to the PPS office and register. The whole process took several weeks and I am still waiting on my bank card.
Getting a PPS number
Luckily, this was fairly easy. I needed a PPS number to get a bank account. So, as soon as we got our letter from the leasing agency, I took it to the PPS office. Since we do almost everything with the kids (because who is going to watch them for me in this strange land?), we dragged all four kids again to the PPS office which is located north of the Jervis Shopping Center.
We entered into a small waiting area filled with lots of people and a feeling of dread came over me! Why?!? We waited in a short queue to get our number and then we took our forms and settled in for a long wait. But I had not been sitting for more than five minutes (I hadn't even gotten a chance to fill out all my paperwork), then I was called up to a window!
A very friendly man asked me some questions and took my paperwork. It happened to be a Friday again and I remarked that there seemed to be a lot of people waiting. He said it was always busy. Then after a few minutes, all of the children and Mr Puffles showed up behind me.
"That was brilliant! Bringing three kids!" I guess he didn't see the small one in the stroller.
"Really? I thought it was a terrible idea. I was kind of worried when I saw how many people are waiting."
"No! It was brilliant! You got put to the front of of the line! The rest of the people waiting out there have probably been here for two hours!"
What!?! That was crazy! I felt lucky and happy that my paperwork was all done in just a short time!
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Enrolling in Dublin Primary Schools
When we were deciding to make the move to Dublin, one of our top concerns was making sure that the kids got a good education. Based on our research (google), Irish public schools seemed to be highly regarded. A friend who worked at a local Catholic College in the Seattle area told me that all of their Irish students were very well prepared and it gave me some peace of mind. I figured that if we moved into a very nice family area that the kids would be able to get into a very nice public school.
The Irish public schools are referred to as National Schools and you can search for schools in your area at SchoolDays.ie. I tried to look at schools through their directory while we were planning our move, but it really wasn't too helpful because we weren't sure exactly where we would be living. The schools are organized on the site based on area code (e.g. Dublin 1 or Dublin 2). But since we weren't sure where the areas were, we were only able to get an idea of what schools were like by looking at the individual school websites.
Every school lists an ethos which describes it's religious affiliation. It seems that Irish public schools have a religious affiliation whether it's Church of Ireland, Catholic, non-denominational, Jewish, etc. There are also Irish speaking schools called Gaelscoil. There are some other language-speaking schools for French or German too. You could also pay for private school or international school, but we were trying to avoid that cost. English-speaking public schools were one of the advantages of moving to Irish versus some of the other countries we were considering at the time (Czeck Republic and Germany).
When we finally arrived in Dublin, we took a look at a couple of houses and quickly narrowed down which area we wanted to live in based on ease of transportation, family-friendly amenities, and easy access to public transportation. Since we won't have a car in Ireland for now, we needed to be able to walk easily to get groceries, get to the bus or Luas (Dublin's light rail system), and to other family-friendly activities like swimming and parks. Once we made that decision, I quickly started making a list of schools to contact. I actually did this using Google Maps and searched for primary schools in the area where we were searching for housing. I then googled each school for their contact information and quickly found that some wouldn't work for us because they were all girl schools or too far to walk from the areas in which we wanted to live.
Then I started calling. I started out confident and then quickly became disheartened! Because almost every school I called did not have room for all three kids. Most of the schools had one or two spots but no spots for all three. Unlike the Seattle-area community in which we lived before, you can't just send your child to the nearest neighborhood school here. They keep strictly to their maximum class size numbers and because most of the schools are run by churches, they are not obligated to accommodate students simply because they are in the school's district or area. Several of the schools had special policies for parents who put their kids' names on waiting lists for junior infants (pre-K) years before they actually attend. Some of the schools also gave priority to children in their parish but sadly, even for those children, if there was no room...there simply was no room.
I was starting to get desperate. School was finished here the last week of June. We were still frantically trying to find a house to rent and space in a school and neither was working out as easily as we had hoped. We were two weeks into our Dublin adventure and had two weeks left on our short term flat. Suddenly, I received a call from a school secretary with whom I had spoken a couple days earlier! She called to tell me that they had room for all three children and that she would hold the spot if we were sure we would take it. At that point, I was sure! It was in the right area and it would take all three kids! She told me would send me the enrollment paperwork with instructions to send it back quickly to secure our spots.
The paperwork arrived within two days and we decided to visit the school to turn in our paperwork (because I still didn't know how to post anything yet) and because I decided that it would be a good idea to visit the school. We took the bus from near our flat and took the 20 minute ride to the school. It is always a bit nerve racking riding the bus because you have to request a stop and since I didn't know the area very well, it was hard to tell if we were getting close. But luckily, we got off on our stop and then walked the short walk to the school.
It is a small school and has an enormous field next to it. When we went in, we followed the signs in the tiny hallway to a small office. We asked a small boy where the front office was and he pointed to a small room with a desk and said that was the principal's office. We waited a few minutes and the principal arrived. She seemed on her way somewhere, but she stopped to talk to us and ask the children questions. I explained that we were there to drop off our paperwork and then the secretary arrived. The principal offered to watch the children while I went into the office to do their paperwork.
I had brought their passports as well as copies of their immunizations and birth certificates with me since these are all required when registering your child in a US school. The secretary never asked me for any of it. I simply turned in the simple form she had previously mailed to me which simple asked for our address and contact information, doctor information, and our church information.
While I spoke with the secretary and tried to figure out uniforms, books, and fees, the principal came in to ask if it would be all right if she took the children on a tour of the school. When they came back, she remarked that the children were very well behaved and that they were surprised that the school was so small. The staff for the school is literally just the principal and the secretary. Each grade in the school is one single class of 24 students! We learned that their is a parent association which I will join in the fall and that Miss Piggy will be let out of school one hour before the boys. Ugh. Will have to sort out that schedule in the fall. But it does give me some time with Lulu and to do things with all three in school.
A couple of weeks later, our booklists arrived from the secretary and we headed over to the book store to purchase books. We found several moms waiting in line to sell back books at the shop. It reminded me of college! But we were able to find most of the workbooks and items the children need and put the rest on order for pickup in a couple of weeks.
We had discovered a couple weeks earlier that school uniforms are on sale at the end of May/June and that you buy uniforms for the following school year at the beginning of the summer. The sales assistants advised me to buy now because there would be no sales later in the summer and that it would be difficult to find sizes during the school year. So, I purchased a pinafore and skirt for Miss Piggy, trousers for the boys, and button down shirts and polo shirts for all three at Marks and Spencers. Other department stores also carried schoolwear, but I happened to be in the Marks and Spencers and bought their items there. We will have to order their track suits, jumpers (sweaters) and school ties from a specialty company as their school emblem needs to be embroidered onto these items.
So, I think we are ready and mostly prepared for school in the fall! A couple of the kids in our neighborhood attend a Gaelscoil. I have asked them to give the kids some lessons in some basic Irish over the summer so that they won't be so behind. I've also discovered some online resources that might help. The Northern Ireland Public school curriculum website has some great online activities for learning basic Irish words as well as French, German, and Spanish. The Monkey also qualified for the gifted program in our Seattle school district before we left. So, we are hoping that the school also has special activities for highly capable students. On their website, they list activities for "more able" students and advanced math classes. So, we will explore that in the fall once school starts.
The Irish public schools are referred to as National Schools and you can search for schools in your area at SchoolDays.ie. I tried to look at schools through their directory while we were planning our move, but it really wasn't too helpful because we weren't sure exactly where we would be living. The schools are organized on the site based on area code (e.g. Dublin 1 or Dublin 2). But since we weren't sure where the areas were, we were only able to get an idea of what schools were like by looking at the individual school websites.
Every school lists an ethos which describes it's religious affiliation. It seems that Irish public schools have a religious affiliation whether it's Church of Ireland, Catholic, non-denominational, Jewish, etc. There are also Irish speaking schools called Gaelscoil. There are some other language-speaking schools for French or German too. You could also pay for private school or international school, but we were trying to avoid that cost. English-speaking public schools were one of the advantages of moving to Irish versus some of the other countries we were considering at the time (Czeck Republic and Germany).
When we finally arrived in Dublin, we took a look at a couple of houses and quickly narrowed down which area we wanted to live in based on ease of transportation, family-friendly amenities, and easy access to public transportation. Since we won't have a car in Ireland for now, we needed to be able to walk easily to get groceries, get to the bus or Luas (Dublin's light rail system), and to other family-friendly activities like swimming and parks. Once we made that decision, I quickly started making a list of schools to contact. I actually did this using Google Maps and searched for primary schools in the area where we were searching for housing. I then googled each school for their contact information and quickly found that some wouldn't work for us because they were all girl schools or too far to walk from the areas in which we wanted to live.
Then I started calling. I started out confident and then quickly became disheartened! Because almost every school I called did not have room for all three kids. Most of the schools had one or two spots but no spots for all three. Unlike the Seattle-area community in which we lived before, you can't just send your child to the nearest neighborhood school here. They keep strictly to their maximum class size numbers and because most of the schools are run by churches, they are not obligated to accommodate students simply because they are in the school's district or area. Several of the schools had special policies for parents who put their kids' names on waiting lists for junior infants (pre-K) years before they actually attend. Some of the schools also gave priority to children in their parish but sadly, even for those children, if there was no room...there simply was no room.
I was starting to get desperate. School was finished here the last week of June. We were still frantically trying to find a house to rent and space in a school and neither was working out as easily as we had hoped. We were two weeks into our Dublin adventure and had two weeks left on our short term flat. Suddenly, I received a call from a school secretary with whom I had spoken a couple days earlier! She called to tell me that they had room for all three children and that she would hold the spot if we were sure we would take it. At that point, I was sure! It was in the right area and it would take all three kids! She told me would send me the enrollment paperwork with instructions to send it back quickly to secure our spots.
The paperwork arrived within two days and we decided to visit the school to turn in our paperwork (because I still didn't know how to post anything yet) and because I decided that it would be a good idea to visit the school. We took the bus from near our flat and took the 20 minute ride to the school. It is always a bit nerve racking riding the bus because you have to request a stop and since I didn't know the area very well, it was hard to tell if we were getting close. But luckily, we got off on our stop and then walked the short walk to the school.
It is a small school and has an enormous field next to it. When we went in, we followed the signs in the tiny hallway to a small office. We asked a small boy where the front office was and he pointed to a small room with a desk and said that was the principal's office. We waited a few minutes and the principal arrived. She seemed on her way somewhere, but she stopped to talk to us and ask the children questions. I explained that we were there to drop off our paperwork and then the secretary arrived. The principal offered to watch the children while I went into the office to do their paperwork.
I had brought their passports as well as copies of their immunizations and birth certificates with me since these are all required when registering your child in a US school. The secretary never asked me for any of it. I simply turned in the simple form she had previously mailed to me which simple asked for our address and contact information, doctor information, and our church information.
While I spoke with the secretary and tried to figure out uniforms, books, and fees, the principal came in to ask if it would be all right if she took the children on a tour of the school. When they came back, she remarked that the children were very well behaved and that they were surprised that the school was so small. The staff for the school is literally just the principal and the secretary. Each grade in the school is one single class of 24 students! We learned that their is a parent association which I will join in the fall and that Miss Piggy will be let out of school one hour before the boys. Ugh. Will have to sort out that schedule in the fall. But it does give me some time with Lulu and to do things with all three in school.
A couple of weeks later, our booklists arrived from the secretary and we headed over to the book store to purchase books. We found several moms waiting in line to sell back books at the shop. It reminded me of college! But we were able to find most of the workbooks and items the children need and put the rest on order for pickup in a couple of weeks.
 |
| Some of the books that we purchased for school. |
We had discovered a couple weeks earlier that school uniforms are on sale at the end of May/June and that you buy uniforms for the following school year at the beginning of the summer. The sales assistants advised me to buy now because there would be no sales later in the summer and that it would be difficult to find sizes during the school year. So, I purchased a pinafore and skirt for Miss Piggy, trousers for the boys, and button down shirts and polo shirts for all three at Marks and Spencers. Other department stores also carried schoolwear, but I happened to be in the Marks and Spencers and bought their items there. We will have to order their track suits, jumpers (sweaters) and school ties from a specialty company as their school emblem needs to be embroidered onto these items.
So, I think we are ready and mostly prepared for school in the fall! A couple of the kids in our neighborhood attend a Gaelscoil. I have asked them to give the kids some lessons in some basic Irish over the summer so that they won't be so behind. I've also discovered some online resources that might help. The Northern Ireland Public school curriculum website has some great online activities for learning basic Irish words as well as French, German, and Spanish. The Monkey also qualified for the gifted program in our Seattle school district before we left. So, we are hoping that the school also has special activities for highly capable students. On their website, they list activities for "more able" students and advanced math classes. So, we will explore that in the fall once school starts.
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