“We may have bad weather in Ireland, but the sun shines in the hearts of the people and that keeps us all warm.”
– Marianne Williamson
To be continued...
First, let's talk about the weather in Ireland. It’s not just bad; it's terrible. Chinese people greet each other by asking if they've eaten, while foreigners often chat about the weather. After I went to Ireland, I understood why people talk about the weather so much — it's truly bad enough to discuss for half an hour. I arrived in Q1 and was lucky enough to experience the worst season for weather. Not only did it rain every day and freeze, but the wind was also strong. A Korean colleague transferred to Ireland, and on his first day, a hurricane hit right after he got out of the taxi, almost blowing him away. I wonder if at that moment he regretted his decision to transfer.
Next, let's talk about Ireland's national holiday, St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated every year on March 17th, when men, women, and children across the city take to the streets wearing green hats in parades. March 17th is the day the Irish commemorate Saint Patrick, the bishop who brought Christianity to Ireland. During his missionary journey, Saint Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The shamrock thus became a symbol of Ireland. After Saint Patrick passed away on March 17, 461 AD, the Irish established this day as St. Patrick's Day in his memory.
It is said that in America, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, there are grand parades and activities where the Chicago River is dyed green. This is because there are many descendants of Irish immigrants in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's ethnic subgroup statistics from 2008, approximately 36.28 million Americans claim Irish ancestry, accounting for 11.9% of the total U.S. population. Irish-Americans are the second-largest ethnic group in the U.S., following German-Americans. Irish immigrants have had significant social and political influence in the U.S., with many presidents having Irish ancestry, including Truman, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, and Obama.
That day, I went out with a few friends. I took a picture wearing a green hat and sent it to my then-boyfriend. He smiled and said, "You don't need to buy a green hat; you already have one." (The joke copyright belongs to Guo Degang.)
Let me talk about taxes in Ireland. Ireland's tax system has been rated as the most business-friendly within the EU, with a corporate income tax rate of 12.5%. Google set up its European headquarters in Dublin partly due to tax considerations, though personal taxes are still quite high. Irish individual income tax is paid annually. Within the specified taxable income limit, 20% of all income must be paid as personal income tax, and anything exceeding that amount is taxed at 41%. There are also social security taxes, universal social charges, capital gains taxes, etc. My colleague complained that after getting a promotion and raise, the actual increase in their take-home pay wasn't significant.
Finally, let's talk about overtime work. The Europeans are famously resistant to overworking. Every time I stayed late, any colleague leaving would come to my desk and say, "Renee, it's time to go home. You shouldn't work so hard." So later, I simply left with them at 5 PM and then returned around 7 PM to work until 11 PM before going back home. Once, while chatting with a manager, she mentioned that she had to leave work at 3 PM to pick up her child from kindergarten. After dinner around 7 PM, she would work for another two hours, sending some emails. Her manager reminded her not to send emails after 5 PM, suggesting she save them as drafts and send them during working hours the next day to avoid putting pressure on her subordinates.
In between, I attended the MWC in Barcelona, the Mobile World Congress. Other details are blurry, but I remember the ham was delicious. There were a lot of thieves and scammers, and the public security wasn't great. A Spanish male colleague warned me, "Renee, you'd better look homeless." I looked at him and said, "Can you lend me some clothes?" Later, this male colleague accompanied me shopping. We passed by a flashy men's underwear store, and I said I wanted to buy a pair as a gift for my boyfriend. His body type was similar to my boyfriend's, so I told the shopkeeper to give me his size. The shopkeeper asked what size I needed, and he said XXX-large. I glanced at him and said, "Give me an S, please."
After that, the male colleague and I ended our friendship.