Tis the season for Pondering's..

Since before Halloween, yes that's right the end of October, I have been hearing about Christmas and when will people start decorating and how are they going to save enough money for all the top gifts for their kids.

I know the season seems to start sooner and sooner but this is the first year I think I really thought about how early people were starting to fret over this upcoming Holiday. This is when I got really sad because I feel like the whole meaning of Christmas has been lost in the hustle and bustle of buying buying buying..

Back in the States I always look forward to Thanksgiving and I feel it starts the Holiday season off to a good start. It's a great reminder to be thankful for all the blessings we have in our lives.

This Thanksgiving I not only had to work, but was away from my family, and didn't even have 1 yummy feast. However, that being said.. this may have been one of my favorite Thanksgivings.

The reason being it really gave me the chance to think about how Thankful I am for everything I have in my life and how truly blessed I am. I wasn't distracted by turkey's or the craziness that sometimes can take over the Holiday.

I was able to phone my family and talk to everyone on my dad's side, it was so great to hear from them all. Even though I am miles and miles away I know I am being supported for what I am doing and that means the world to me.

Now as the days our drawing closer to Christmas the craziness has really set in.

I can't believe it's only going to be 20 day's until I am back home in the states again to celebrate Christmas with my family. It will be the simple joys of seeing family, having a real Christmas tree, and spending Christmas Eve with my family and sherbert gingerale punch!

Tonight we made egg nog, pumpkin muffins, and hopefully putting up our fake Christmas tree...

Yes the season is here.

I will be thankful for all I have, and hopefully spread the Christmas tree and true reason for the season

Pictures

Our Turnip :)

Waterfalls

Hamish the Scottish Coo (Cow)
Beautiful Sky

Me in front of the water fall and The Kilt Rock

Castle Looking over Loch Ness

Snow on the mountains

Sunset in Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle

Scotland and All Hallows Eve

This past week was a Holiday week from work for Halloween. I decided to venture on my own and take a trip to Scotland. I flew early Sunday morning into Edinburgh, and just loved what I saw. It's such a gorgeous city. I saw the Edinburgh castle, the school that inspired Harry Potter as well as went into the cafe where JK Rowling wrote all the Harry Potter books, heard some ghosts stories in a grave yard, had some good Mediterranean food, and read a good bit.

Monday morning our tour began around 9 am. I met some people in the hostel who were also traveling alone and chatted with them until we boarded our bus. We drove all the way from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye which took us all day but of course we made some stops along the way. Including seeing Loch Ness but of course the monster did not want to come out and play. We heard a lot of pretty cool legends and fairy tales and saw lots of castles and even snow up in the top of the mountains. We arrived to the Isle of Skye after driving over the Atlantic ocean, and stayed in a small town called Kylabin.

The next day we proceeded to venture around the Isle and even went on a 2 hour hike with mountain sheep. Such a good time. When we started we couldn't see the top of the mountain because it was in the fog. There are just so many breath taking views I can't even put it into words. Also we went to the Faerie Glen and the Sligachan River where it is said if you stick your face in the water for 7 seconds you will be blessed with eternal youth and beauty. :)

The third day was also spend mostly on the bus driving back to Edinburgh.

It was such a great time to go on my own and meet new people. It is almost empowering to go on a trip alone and know you will be a ok.

After my excursion to the land of the Scots I returned to Belfast, in which I had an odd since of returning home. I felt has if I had been away for too long, and I missed my little cottage on the mountain.

The rest of the weekend was really relaxing and I just hung out with a friend and experienced Halloween in Northern Ireland.

Halloween in the States just doesn't compare to fireworks, carved turnips, and the crazy costumes I saw this weekend. Halloween started in Ireland and was taken everywhere else by the Irish, just a little fact for you. We also went to this place called the Ulster Transport and Folk museum. It was so fun just to see everyone dressed up and enjoying themselves we were even able to make Halloween Turnip masks, try some Apple tart (apparently a Halloween treat) and enjoy soda bread.

Daylights Savings time also happened Saturday night so for one week I am only 4 hours time difference from home.

Our new volunteer should be here sometime in the month.

Everything is going well still loving the life and hunkering down for the cold winter. But I do now have a fire place which makes me a very very happy girl!! :)

Cheerio for now

What about ya?

What I wake up to

There is so much going through my head when I think about all I have to share about my experience here. But when I sit down to write, no words come.

Pictures and memories flood my senses but I am overcome with a writers block.

It's funny how I have adapted to the environment here, to the chatter to the lingo to the way of life.

When talking to family and friends they often comment about my Irish banter and question words I say. When I first arrived here I remember sitting in a meeting and not understanding a word that was being said. It was honestly like I had been thrown into a country where they spoke a different language. I was so nervous about driving the mini buses, learning all the bus routes, knowing how to handle difficult kids, and learning all the routines at Quakers.

I can't remember exactly when, but now all of these things I do without a second thought, they come so naturally and it feels as if I have been living here for longer than 7 months.

I have been reliving them more lately as I am watching my two new house mates find their own place at Quakers and learn everything for the first time and I can see how far I have come since I first arrived.

Not one day has been exactly the same and I think that's something I love so much about work here, you can never tell exactly how a day is going to go when you wake up in the morning.

I get to cuddle new born babies, play with toddlers and pre-schoolers. Watch after schoolers explore learn and be creative, have a bit of craic (a bit of fun) with the pre-teens and listen to them chat away about life. I can chat with the mums and hear a bit about their lives. But not only do I get to play most days, but I have learned the art of fixing chips (fries) and lasagna. I get to organize and clean clutter pretty much every day which is one of my favorite past times, I have great co-workers who keep me on my toes. I have mastered the stick shift mini bus and can find my way around Belfast pretty easily. I am learning to let things roll of my back and just accept what people say. and this is only what I get to do during the hours I am at work! Shew..

The other day I got a message from a friend and in the end he said I hope you are having the experience of a life time, and that really hit home for some reason, because it made me see how blessed I truly am to be here and have all these experiences.

So while I am missing things about home and my family and friends like crazy I have time left here and am going to soak it up!

We have next week off for Halloween and I am off on a trip to Scotland to explore the Highlands and the Loch Ness area! :)

What a lucky girl am I

6 months?!

Where does time go?

It seems as if I just arrived here in Belfast and now I only have 6 months left to do a whole list of things I'm not sure I will get to...

But when I look back at all I have done, I feel so blessed to have been given this time here.

Each day brings something new and exciting, and just when I think I have seen it all, something new surprises me.

The summer came and went and now we are settling back into our regular program.

There are currently two new volunteers here from Texas Emily and Reid, and a possibility of a fourth volunteer joining us at the end of October.

Tomorrow we are going on my second residential. This is where we take one of our family groups and head up to the north coast where we spend 3 full days with the families.

The after school kids get to go to the beach, castles, play parks, and Giant's cause way. The babies get to take cool walks (be pushed in prams) enjoy play parks and just get a chance to get out of Belfast. The mums enjoy shopping, coffee shops, horse back riding and the carrick-a-reed rope bridge.

Residential is just a nice time away and a great holiday and good times for all. When we return to Quakers, this group will now start coming once a week instead of two, because they will only have 4 months left with us. Which also means a new group of mums and babies will be starting up soon when we get back.

We have a week off over Halloween and I am hoping to either have my friend Kendra come and visit or do some exploring on my own through Scottland and maybe even London.

I am also looking into flights so I will be able to come home for Christmas.

More to come after residential :)

Where has the summer gone?

The last 2 months have been very exciting.

I have:

- made new life long friends (Thanks Emmy and Amanda for everything you have done this summer)

-turned 23 (I was told this is the best birthday year yet, so I'm expected to live it up, I also learned you get cool presents when you live outside of the country)

- ate a tuna sandwich most everyday for lunch (don't want to see tuna for a while)

- Spent a week in Berlin at my BVS retreat (good times, great people)

-Played at some pretty awesome play parks (Northern Ireland play parks are by far better than American ones)

- Explored beaches and castles

-Fed ducks and geese bread

- Sang many many many silly songs ( "When I was one I sucked my thumb the day I went to see I climbed a board a pirate ship and the captain said to me, we're going this way that way forwards and backwards over the Irish sea, a bottle of juice to shake me loose and that's the life for me......"

-paddle boated in swans (got drenched by teens having a water fight)

- Drove a lot and pretty much have mastered the stick shift mini-bus (Do not like the motorways here, not many entrance and exit ramps and can be very tricky to figure out)

- Changed lots of nappies

- Rode in the back of an ambulance for the 1st time (we had a boy fall out of a tree from about 10 feet flat on his back, luckily he just fractured his shoulder a wee bit and is A ok, but very scary)

- Played lots and lots of card games

- Got to pet an Owl, a fox, and a hedgehog

- Missed my friends and family tons (thanks for all of the emails and notes)

- Sailed on a real sail boat for the first time!

- learned I like oatmeal and some Indian food.

-Picked Blackberries and made a cobbler (had to climb through the window to get them right behind our house)

-Hung out with a lot of cool kids and overall just had a good time.

There were many challenging moments to my summer as well, and it is bitter sweet that it has gone so fast.

This past Thursday two new long term volunteers (Reid and Emily) moved in from Texas. I am excited to get to know them better and have some constant people around for a whole year.

I will be very sad to see Anna and Emmy leave, but it will also be nice to get back to routine.

I haven't been the best at blogging, and I apologize. I will try and do better for the next 6 months while I am here :)

If you have any questions about what is going on, please feel free to email meat pd4me13@yahoo.com

I love hearing from people!

“What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul”

Have you ever stopped in the middle of the playground and looked around and just listened to all the laughter? There is something so pleasant about the sound of a child's laugh and it can erase all the bad feelings from a day.

Lately there has been so much on my mind, a lot of thoughts came when I left Belfast and spent a week in Hamburg.

I came to realize I am really living in a world that is unlike any other place I have experienced before. It makes me sad to think that now I feel it's normal for a child to not be able to talk at the age of 3 and for 8-10 year olds not to be able to read and for kids to feel like it's Christmas when you give them a wee cuddle. For one year olds not to be able to crawl and teenagers who care more about getting out of the house to be away from parents than making it to school the next day.

I knew coming to Quakers I would be working with kids who needed extra care and attention but I tend to forget just how much these children really need.

Is it normal for a 7 year old to be taking care of their 4 year old sibling, I see this all the time while walking down the street. These kids are expected to take on so much responsibilities and have little time to just be kids. I so badly want the best for all of them, but it's then I realize they are making the best of what they have.

That's when I stop to think, yes their lives are sad, but for them they are getting by. I can't fix all their problems, I can't make them go away. But I can laugh with them, I can cuddle them, I can make them feel important.

I am sitting on the balcony over looking the city and wondering what is going on in each of the houses, which kids are getting to eat a decent dinner which kids are left to tend to themselves, and which kids are being loved?

My heart aches for all the people in the world who are struggling just to make it through each day.

Today I was able to hang out with the babies, and my heart was lightened by all the laughs I was sharing, weather it was because the ducks were eating the bread, being pushed on the swing, to blowing up a balloon. These kids teach me something everyday... Life is hard it's not easy, but if you dwell on that, and don't open your heart up to love, then you will never get anywhere.

So yes life is sad here, but it is also one of the best places I could be working, I am getting so much from these kids and I love being able to give them a little piece of me as well.

It's all "German" to me

Yesterday was the day I flew out of Belfast for my long awaited Holiday to Hamburg to visit my friend Kendra.
Kendra is living in Hamburg and volunteering at an organization called Peace Brigades International or PBI. I met Kendra at my BVS orientation in Florida and am really glad we have remained friends since then. We both have had some interesting experiences and it's nice to have someone who can sort of relate to what you are going through as in being a volunteer and living in a foreign country.
Being in Germany makes me thankful I am in a country where at least I can read signs in store windows and mostly understand what people are saying on the street.
I always took Spanish courses through high school and college, and never even bothered to learn much German. aside from "Hello, no, yes, good morning, and good night" all lovely phrases but not very helpful to me when trying to communicate. I just don't have an ear or mouth to correctly speak German. As Kendra says I just need more practice. But I just want to say everything with a Spanish accent. The rest of the week should be interesting.
After an early 4:30 am wake up call I took a taxi to the city airport yesterday morning where I caught a flight to Birmingham and waited for about 3 hours until my flight to Hamburg. The second flight I experience a lot of turbulation due to a "heavy rain cloud" another passenger described the expeince similar to that of riding a horse, it may sound exaggerated but I will have to say I think it was pretty accurate. Needless to say I was glad to be back on the ground again.
Kendra met me in the airport and took the train back to her apartment, after a stop at a friends apartment to get a bike key. I was over taken by the heat here, it was about 80 or so degrees if not warmer, and I have been used to upper 60's low 70's at the highest. I can say I do believe this was the first time I have been outside and started sweating just by standing still. I do not miss that feeling, even thouh the heat has been nice and I am enjoying walking around in my rolled up jeans (didn't think to bring shorts with me, not that I have many pairs in Belfast anyway).
We then changed and went for a swim in a river near by, it was nice to be in water, even though it was a bit dirty and we had to shower afterwards. We then went to a true Mexican resturant similar to a Chipotle, it was really good and the closest thing to Mexican food I have had since leaving home in March.
Today Kendra had to work, so after showing me to the Botanical Gardens she left and I wondered around looking at all the pretty flowers, and enjoying the lake there. It was nice just to spend a relaxing day in the park.
Everyone here rides bikes everywhere it's like a bike utopia ok not really but compared to seeing maybe 1 bike in a day in Belfast I am a bit overwhelmed. Needless to say Kendra has 2 bikes and we will be riding them around when she gets off work. I went out for a practice spin on my own, I was a bit shaky I realized I hadn't ridden a bike since my accident in high school.
I am currently waiting on Kendra to get home from work, and thought it would be a nice time to blog. I am not the greatest at keeping up with everything that happens. But to me a lot of what goes on is the same so I don't feel like it's new and exciting to blog about.
However, my two new roommates Amanda and Emmy are doing a great job writing things that happen and posting pictures if you are interested you can check out their blogs.
http://mandashayne.blogspot.com and http://emmylakes.wordpress.com

I will return to Belfast on Saturday the 17th.

Summer

The Pictures above are of my 30 K walk and a pretty rainbow looking over the city. The summer program is here and we have been taking full advantage of all the nice weather we have been having.

On Saturday two new summer volunteers came over from America, Emmy and Amanda. It has been so nice to have extra people around the cottage. Not only for work reasons but to have people to hang out with as well.

Both seem like great girls and I can't wait to spend more time with them here.

They will be here till the end of August. When more changes will happen. Three new long term volunteers from America.

The weather has been unusually warm here, and by warm I mean mid to uppers 70's. I thought I would miss the summers back home, but I think I am glad to be away for this one.

But I am praying we get rain soon it sounds like it could be a really bad summer.

It has also been a bit dry here for Northern Ireland anyways.

Work has been going really well and it's great to be able to tell new people how things work and have the full time staff turn to me to get things done. It's a nice feeling of finally belonging somewhere.

Other than work, life has been going well. I took a trip on the train with a friend to Bangor (a town not to far away) I also went on a 30K walk. in case you are wondering that is 18 miles. yea and we finished in 5 hours, it was so great though. We walked through farms and the countryside and along the beach. It was so nice to get out of Belfast.

I am planning on taking a trip to Germany to visit another BVS friend in Hamburg.

3 months

Who would have thought 3 months would have gone by so quickly?

I apologize for not updating my blog more frequently, sometimes it is just hard to find the time when I feel like sitting down and writing. Usually when I finish work in the evenings I am ready to just get a bite to eat, listen to some music, watch some tv and then head to bed.

Recently there have just been 4 of us working full time with the babies and after school children, which has made the pass several weeks even more exhausting.

The summer program is about to begin in about 3 weeks. This means new summer volunteers will be coming to live here for a while.

I am looking forward to seeing new faces and having other people around to hang out with.

The newest change at Quakers has been the new family group that started this past Thursday.

In this group we have a total of 14 babies, meaning children ages 0-4. In this group we also have 3 sets of twins. Needless to say our hands have been very full.

Each child is so special though and I am loving getting to know them all. I will work on getting some pictures up.

In the past month there really hasn't been anything too exciting going on other than working. Last night I went to a concert with a co-worker called Duke Special. It was really great such good entertainment and it was nice to be out and about.

The weather has been really nice even getting up to around 24 degrees Celsius that's about 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

I will post more pictures and updates soon!

Camping and other events

May 15th will be the 2 month marker! Everyone said the older you get the faster time will go, and I am really starting to believe that.

Getting older mixed with the day to day life of living at Quaker Cottage is making my time fly. I don't want to wish it away but I would rather it be going fast and staying busy than the other way around and wishing time would move on.

So what have I been doing in the past 2 months?

Well I am an official bus driver now and am learning the routes to pick up our mums and after school children. Let me tell you it is a lot to take in, especially since there are 2 bus routes with each group we have. But I am getting there slowly, I will need to pick it up quick because soon I am going to be the only volunteer here that knows what is going on and will have to train the new people coming in.

I am getting to know all of the kids better, and really enjoying getting to know them. There are days where my heart just breaks because you realize what a child may be going home to and I just want to keep them all with me.

The Quaker way of dealing with issues is something I am quickly adapting too and feel I have always had in me, but isn't really accepted in America or places I have worked. Basically everything is dealt with through love and understanding and the children get to plan what they enjoy doing. There are moments when we have to be a bit firmer and there are boundaries but nothing like home. I wish there was an easy way to describe it to everyone, but it is one of these things you just have to experience yourself.

Starting the end of June we will have our summer program and short term volunteers will be moving in.

I think I finally have a week schedule down and am feeling more comfortable throwing out my own ideas and taking charge of situations, it's so great to finally have that feeling.

This weekend will be our first residential. Which includes taking one group of about 7 families to a retreat center on the North Coast. The weekend consists of separate activities for the mums, babies, after schools, and teens, and also some combined fun. A lot of these families never get away and get to enjoy time with their children and just have fun and relax so it is a great time for everyone to get away.

It is for sure to be a long exhausting weekend but I am really looking forward to it.

The latest excitement was a camping trip to the North Coast with my roommate Heather and a BVS friend Becky. We took a bus to Ballycastle and then walked about 2 miles to a place called Kinbane Head. There is an old ruined castle on a point that sticks out into the ocean. This was one of the best camping spots I have ever had. Sleeping to the sounds of waves crashing around you and being completely away from all civilization. It is hard to even capture the beauty in pictures but I have posted a few below. After camping the next morning we walked about 2 more miles to the next town where we took a bus and then caught the train home.

By far one of the best weekends I have had so far here in Northern Ireland and look forward to many more.

Enjoy the pictures!

One Month!

Over Holiday I took a trip down to Dublin with Micah and Lucy for 2 days. This was on the train ride back

The snow falling on the buses.

Wow time sure does fly, it is hard to believe that just last month this time I was getting ready to leave to fly to Geneva and then on to Belfast. This is my 3rd full week at work already and I have experienced so much and learned so many different things.

Quakers is the type of work place where you can't really be told what to do you more have to just experience what is happening, each day of the week is also different depending on the groups so this makes it harder to explain as well but I will run through a typical week.

Monday- 9am work begins by setting up the babies room, preparing the snack, checking the mums' rooms and other various tasks

10am leave on a bus run to pick up the mums and babies

11-1:15 ish play with babies, have various tasks for babies 0-4, including going for a walk, painting, playing with cars, babies, changing nappies, and lunch time.

1:30- leave on the bus run to take the mums and babies home

2:15- return to Quakers, cleaning of the baby room if need be and then tea break to have discussions with everyone and some planning time

3- usually our day is finished

Tuesday- the morning is exactly the same as Monday

then around 3 we head out on another bus run to pick up the Tuesday after school kids. We do arts and crafts, games, books, and other fun tasks for them

5:30 leave to take them home back around 6:30

Wednesday is similar only we have a longer tea break with more meetings and then leave around 4pm to pick up the preteen group, we do activities with them and leave around 6:30 to take them home and our day is usually over around 7:30

Thursday is like Tuesday

and then Friday is like Monday only we have final Friday cleaning of Quakers and may not finish till 3:30 or 4

Remind you this is a typical week, and in my 3 weeks here, I haven't had one go exactly as planned.. but this makes life all the more interesting.

I think most interesting so far would be the week before Easter Holiday, when we had just a wee bit of snow and then the Electric went out for 4 days.

During these days we had to grit the mountain rd. so the buses could get up and down, and then since it was my kitchen week I was cooking soup and warming water over a gas oven.

We walked the babies up the mountain road to keep them warm since it was so cold in the play room.

There are 2 roads leading up to Quakers, and we have to be careful when we go down a certain one, since young boys both protestant and catholic like to gather on their respectful side of the road and build barricades or throw stones at each other. I have been told this is one of the worst years in a while for them to be out so frequent and often. I have moved my share of barbed wire and bricks from the road as well as smiling and waving as we drive past the boys hoping they see us and don't throw a stone over to the other side.

Yesterday we had to change the way we were hiking because a fire had been set to a certain part of the mountain.

I am learning to get used to the separation in the city and hear what each side has to say about the other, but all in all I do feel safe where I am living and am just smart about where I am going at certain times.

Quakers is great because we bring mums and babies from both sides of the conflict and they learn to get along with each other and learn their is nothing wrong with someone just because they have a different belief.

There are now 2 full time volunteers and myself living in the house, but Heather will be leaving come the beginning of May and Peter will leave in the beginning of July.

We are working on getting more summer volunteers, and full time volunteers there are a few possibilities but it doesn't sound like anything too definite yet.. could make for some interesting times, but nothing we won't be able to work though.

I am looking forward to the summer, because we do a lot of going out day trips and that sort of thing and it will be a good chance for me to see more of Belfast and the surrounding areas!

A week in the life of Quakers and a hike in my backyard

So I've officially been living in Belfast for 9 days now, it has been going really well.

I haven't been certified to work with the children yet, so I have been doing a lot of cleaning and working in the kitchen and preparing crafts and such.

I have also started driving the buses, the 2 main buses we use to pick up the mums and kids are automatic and have been pretty easy to learn to drive. It isn't as strange as I thought to get used to drive on the left hand side of the road.

Hopefully this week I will work on driving Sunny Bo, the bus we use for our personal use, he is stick shift, but things should go well with that.

Mondays and Fridays are shorter days and we work from 9-3:30is and Tues, Wed, and Thurs are longer days and we work 9-6:30 or 7. We have after school children on these days.

This coming week is my cooking week, and I will be making Lasagna and then baked potatoes for my "snack" meal. I get to learn how to make chips (fries), hopefully all goes well since the mums and be pretty particular about the way their food is cooked.

On another note, I took a hike in my backyard this morning, it was wonderful I was able to take time to think and reflect on a lot of different things.

I am truly amazed at the beauty of God's creation, I was speechless as I looked over the city from one of the highest points in Belfast.

Above are some pictures from my backyard hike.

Welcome to Quaker Cottage

After an 8 hour flight and 3 days in Geneva for an small orientation I arrived at my new home Friday evening around 4:30.

There is so much I could write about my flight and my time in Switzerland, but to sum it up I learned I am better at sitting still than I thought, I don't know a lick of French, Hostels are small and loud at night, my body can adjust pretty well to different time changes, it's nice to have familiar faces to travel with, Cheese Fondue is delicious, and meeting new people is always fun.

We were greeted in the airport by a man named Scott who is working with Micah and Lucy my two fellow BVSers who were in Geneva with me and will also be living in Belfast. He drove us (on the left hand side of the road) all the way up to Quaker Cottage, which you can see from almost anywhere in the City because it's so high up on Black Mountain. Ballygomartin is a tiny lane and was greeted by Sarah a BVSer who will be leaving in about three weeks.

She showed me around the Cottage I am living in which is a 3 bedroom spacious cottage.

Currently there is a German volunteer(Peter) and Heather another BVSer living in the Cottage with me. and Sarah moved to the Caravan and gave me her room. All three of these other volunteers will be gone by July and hopefully 2 others will be moving in in the next couple of months if everything works out... but enough of that.

The view from the Cottage is breathtaking, if it is clear we can even see Scotland past the Sea on a clear day and we can see rest of Belfast. It will take some getting used to city life and seeing lights and everything, but the mountain reminds me of home because we are secluded and there are even cows and some farm equipment.

On Saturday Sarah and I walked down the mountain (about a 15-20 minute walk) and then ended up walking into city center where a lot of stores and such are. I exchanged some money so I could do some grocery shopping. We met up with another BVSer who is at a different project and just walked around the city some and even went to a farmers market which was pretty neat.

I was even able to meet 2 of my coworkers yesterday (Phil and Rory) I think I will get along with them really well, and I am excited to meet everyone else tomorrow.

After our day out we took the bus to the bottom of our road and then proceeded to walk back up (about a 30-35 minute hike) my calves are a little sore today. There are some parts of the lane that are almost straight up.

Two German volunteers from last summer came back to visit and spend time for the week so it has been fun hanging out with them.

Today I have been doing a bit of cleaning around the cottage and settling in more.

I am ready to meet the children tomorrow and officially begin work. :)

Until then I am enjoying quiet moments because I don't think I will have many over the next few weeks.

I have been gone for almost a week now, but am loving every minute of my adventures so far. Hopefully things continue this way. There is so much to learn and so many "Irish" sayings I need to catch up on and learn what to say and what not to say.

For example pants here are underwear people like to say Aye for yes and Crack means having a good time of good fun.. oh so many things to pick up on. :)

A glimpse into orientation

The Last night was Celebration night. Lucy, Alex and I were on the celebration comedy and decided to plan a wacky tacky themed celebration, with games, karaoke, smore's and punch. It was a major success
On drop off day we found some kids making bracelets and decided to play with them for a while
We had a free day in Miami and spent it at the Beach :)
During the second week we had a potluck with camp volunteers and past BVSers we ended the evening with come contra dancing
The other part of my food group Lacey and Ian cooking up another delicious meal :) We had about $29.00 to make 3 meals for 17-19 people.

Now What?

How to describe what I am feeling right now? I don't think there are any words.. The best way is to say it's a feeling of bitter sweetness..
I have made a family of 14 other people from all of the United States and Germany these past 3 weeks.
We have grown in so many ways as a group; we have laughed together, cried together, shared many stories, views on life, games, bruises, inside jokes, bad food and good food, and learned how to roll what ever was thrown our way.
Even though I may never see many of these people again face to face I know that I will always have this family this support group.
How awesome is it that we were all bought together from many different walks of life to share in one common ambition which was to serve other people and live simply.
I have learned more about myself than I imagined possible before orientation.. after I have had time to process everything more I will write again.
It is official now that I will be living in Belfast Northern Ireland at Quaker Cottage. Everything has worked out so well and I just have such a strong feeling this is where God is calling me and I can't wait to see where my year of service will take me.
Challenges will include; learning the metric system, driving on the left side of the road in a stick shift mini bus, adapting to the Irish culture and learning new dialects, loving mothers and children, living with other people, being on my own in a setting I have never experienced, keeping an open mind and heart in all issues, and many more I'm sure I haven't thought of.

But despite all of these challenges I'm not concerned or worried, I am a bit nervous but I am just ready to be there and have things under control. I have to wait till about March 14th before I can leave the country because I need a visa to live in N. I. for a year.

Hopefully the process goes quickly.

I just had a few minutes in the airport before flying home to VA and snow

will update more with pictures soon .

It's here

After 3 hours of sleep, an hour and a half in the car, and 2 hours in the plane I have made it to Orlando.
Now I get to kill 6 hours in the airport.. 3 down 3 to go as of right now. Hopefully soon I will start meeting up with other people in my unit and connecting with them before we get picked up by a big white van at 4:30.
I still don't think everything has really sunk in, I guess it will when I start meeting people and actually get to camp Ithiel. This whole time I have had an unexplainable sense of peace about it all and even now I am not nervous.
I know it will all work out and be wonderful.
That's all for now
Micah 6:8

Lifesong

It's hard to believe in only 14 days I will be on my way to Florida for BVS Orientation! I would say ever since I was in late middle school I always had thought I would like to join BVS but it was always this far off dream of mine. I never believed it would actually happen.
I had a phone interview on Friday with one of the girls who will be helping to lead orientation. We talked briefly about my assignment and where I would be going, which is Northern Ireland (as long as my interview goes well at orientation).
She then asked me questions like; how do you deal with being around other people, how do you handle conflict, do you get homesick and how do you deal with that? I was expecting these sort of questions and answered them with ease. However, her last question however made me think about why I am really doing BVS. She asked how has your faith impacted your desire to join BVS?
I stopped for a few seconds and thought about her question... For so long I had gotten wrapped up in the idea of living somewhere else, moving away from home, what would happen to me, and would I be able to handle it all. but in that moment the answer came easily; my faith and religion has taught me to put other people before myself to serve others without ceasing and God will take care of me in return. It is my job as a Christian to show others the way and act as Jesus would have by being kind and loving everyone regardless. That night as I was going to bed I thought about this more and how everything that has happened on my journey to BVS has been a "God thing" and the song "Lifesong" by Casting Crowns came to mind.

LORD, I give my life
A Living sacrifice
To reach a world in need
To be your hands and feet

So may the words I say
And the things I do
Make my lifesong sing
Bring a smile to You

The other night I had a sleep over with one of my friends and she said to me "I don't understand how you are so calm, not knowing for sure where you are going and preparing yourself to leave for a whole year" I didn't have an answer for her really all I could say was I fully believe it is in God's hands and everything will work out.
I cannot express how excited I am to join a new community and be a part of that for a year, to share my talents with others and see what God has in store for me along the way. It's amazing to me that my small dream in middle school is becoming a reality.