Some people have been asking for my mailing address. So here is the one I have now and will have for most of my stay.
greenhill ymca
donard park
newcastle
county down
bt33 0gr
From Dec. 10- Jan. 9 I will be working at the East Belfast Mission. I don't know what my address there will be but I'll get it to you right away.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
"Master of Table Tennis"
In my last blog I wrote about a table tennis tournament we had against another volunteer group. It was so much fun that we had another this week. I thought that it would be a good way to tell you a little about the people I'm working and living with. The tournament was so much fun. Clause ((pronounced Clous) German, he's very funny and plays a mean harmonica, and tries at guitar) and Ben (American from the other organization) decided to be the commentators. They went around and interviewed all the other contestant it was hilarious. We had 16 people come to play in the tournament, and the games got pretty intense. The first round I played Aden (Irish, doesn't live with us, but helps out with outdoor stuff). I beat him and we talked for most of the rest of the night. The next round I played Carolyn (Slovakian who also plays badminton very well and made the trophy for the winner) I won that match, but we had some great rallies, she had improved a ton from last week. This put me in the semi finals with Clause, Stefan (Slovakian last weeks winner), and Christoph (German, who had just gotten back from a mountain hike, and was the first person who I met because he was being picked up from 3 days in the mountains when we arrived) I played Clause and it was a good match, but I beat him, which meant that I would at least get second (better than last week). Stefan won rather easily. Clause and Christoph played for 3rd place, Christoph won. So I was playing Stephan (He's been at Greenhill for almost a year now. He helped get me involved in the local church, and is a very nice guy). Everyone was having a good time eating biscuits (which they have basically made into a sport of itself), drinking tea and watching the finals. It was a very close first game, which I barely won. Everyone was surprised that Stephan had actually lost a game. In game two he regained some dignity by beating me 11-1. Ouch! I regained my composer in game three and beat him! Afterward everyone went crazy (in a joking way) and we had the award ceremony. The crown that Carolyn and Pavlina (German, she hasn't been here long and she is still working on her english) was beautifully adorned with candles on top. When Seb (Sebastian: French or Peruvian depending on the day. He's the most experienced mountain climber in the group, and might also be the craziest) saw that there were candles he decided that they had to be lit. So thats how I ended up with a cardboard crown that said "Master of Table Tennis" lit on top of my head. It was such a fun time.
These aren't all the people, but I think it gives a good cross section of what this group is like. (sorry if it was hard to follow). We are all having a lot of fun together. If the rest of the time is as fun as the start I'll have a great year. Next week might be a football (soccer) game. :)
These aren't all the people, but I think it gives a good cross section of what this group is like. (sorry if it was hard to follow). We are all having a lot of fun together. If the rest of the time is as fun as the start I'll have a great year. Next week might be a football (soccer) game. :)
Monday, November 5, 2007
First Week
What a great week to start off my time in Northern Ireland. I should probably start out with where I'm living, and working. I live in an old house with about 12 other volunteers. Its a very large house (we all have our own rooms, and a nice lounge area) that is right on the beach. I have a beautiful view. (the picture is from my window) On the other side of the house are mountains (another nice view) about a mile up the tallest mountain is the place I'm working, the Greenhill YMCA. The Y's here are a lot different from in the states. This is a lot more like a summer camp (there are ropes courses, canoeing, rock climbing, ect.). I will be working more with getting to know the kids who come through, and more indoor tasks.
Back to my first week. I was pretty jet lagged, the first day, so they gave us the second to re coup. That night (Monday) the volunteers had a ping pong tournament (what luck)! I got 3rd out of 12, but the tournament gave me a way to beak the ice a little. Tuesday we learned a little more about the camp an met a lot of the administrators. Wednesday was halloween, and the volunteers had a halloween dinner. It was basically like thanksgiving. The food was great and afterward there was a fireworks show. Thursday we went to Belfast and walked around the city. The weekend was a lot of fun as well nothing to write home about. Next week we will be getting started doing some work and learning how do do specific tasks.
As the locals say "The week was brilliant."
Thursday, November 1, 2007
What a trip
Wow I had a great week at home. Thanks to everyone who visited with me while I was home it was so awesome to see everyone. After that great time home I was hoping for a nice trip to Ireland... it didn't quite go as planed.
Everything went fine getting Checked in at the Cleveland airport, but our plane was delayed. We got to Newark (our connecting flight to Belfast) right when our other plane was supposed to be leaving. It was still on the ground but they were done boarding. We couldn’t go that night. They gave us a hotel room and some food vouchers, and the next plane was going out the next night, and we might get on it. So Saturday I spent with Amo Daoud’s family (after we could find them with the messed up NJ train system). Tata (Grandma) found out that I was going to be there so she made Aunti Phoebe take her. Tamara and Yasmin also come down to see me. It was really a good time, and again showed me all the people who cared for me, and would be praying for me. So we went to the airport hoping to get on the plane. It was overbooked, and we only had standby tickets. The terminal was packed with people. While we waited for the workers to load everyone else on the plane and tell us if we had seats, I used all my food vouchers to buy snacks for the flight. Finally we were called! There was just enough room for us. The plane was packed, but we were on it. I slept for some of the flight, but about 6 hours later we landed in Belfast. We had finally made it after two full days of traveling, but when we went to get our bags they weren’t there. We waited around for a while, then waited in line for a longer while, waiting to tell the workers what had happened. My guess was that our bags had somehow gotten on the plane the night before, which we had missed. The clerk said that it had probably been misrouted, and we would have it hopefully by tomorrow. I had already spent 2 days and nights in those clothes, and didn’t want to spend another, but we left and waiting for us in the pickup area was Tim (the guy in charge while we are in Ireland). He welcomed us and told us what had happened to our bags. The plane that we missed was stuck on the runway for half an hour, and then the people were sent back inside for another 2 hours (all of this after we had “missed it”). So our bags had gotten on that plane, and were waiting for us at the airport. We got them and stuffed them and ourselves into Tim’s small car. He took us to his office where the three of us could eat change and relax after our long trip. We were finally in Ireland.
Everything went fine getting Checked in at the Cleveland airport, but our plane was delayed. We got to Newark (our connecting flight to Belfast) right when our other plane was supposed to be leaving. It was still on the ground but they were done boarding. We couldn’t go that night. They gave us a hotel room and some food vouchers, and the next plane was going out the next night, and we might get on it. So Saturday I spent with Amo Daoud’s family (after we could find them with the messed up NJ train system). Tata (Grandma) found out that I was going to be there so she made Aunti Phoebe take her. Tamara and Yasmin also come down to see me. It was really a good time, and again showed me all the people who cared for me, and would be praying for me. So we went to the airport hoping to get on the plane. It was overbooked, and we only had standby tickets. The terminal was packed with people. While we waited for the workers to load everyone else on the plane and tell us if we had seats, I used all my food vouchers to buy snacks for the flight. Finally we were called! There was just enough room for us. The plane was packed, but we were on it. I slept for some of the flight, but about 6 hours later we landed in Belfast. We had finally made it after two full days of traveling, but when we went to get our bags they weren’t there. We waited around for a while, then waited in line for a longer while, waiting to tell the workers what had happened. My guess was that our bags had somehow gotten on the plane the night before, which we had missed. The clerk said that it had probably been misrouted, and we would have it hopefully by tomorrow. I had already spent 2 days and nights in those clothes, and didn’t want to spend another, but we left and waiting for us in the pickup area was Tim (the guy in charge while we are in Ireland). He welcomed us and told us what had happened to our bags. The plane that we missed was stuck on the runway for half an hour, and then the people were sent back inside for another 2 hours (all of this after we had “missed it”). So our bags had gotten on that plane, and were waiting for us at the airport. We got them and stuffed them and ourselves into Tim’s small car. He took us to his office where the three of us could eat change and relax after our long trip. We were finally in Ireland.
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