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!