With The Fam: Day 2

(Yes, I realize I probably should have posted a Day 1 with the fam blog or something...but whatevs.)

First of all, the place they're staying at for these couple days in Dungannon (and myself, too) is lovely. But the beds...man, I am so glad mine at the house is softer than this one. I felt like I was sleeping on a piece of cardboard or something (not in that it's thin, but because it's barely any cushion to it at all). Anyway, I have enjoyed it, and it is nice.

Today, I took them to the Linen Green, which is a place in Dungannon that has a lot of designer and specialty shops plus a few different restaurants. I took them about the shops, and we had lunch together. Lovely.

Tonight, dinner at the house with my hosts while I'm here.

Tomorrow, taking them to The Press for lunch and off they go to Belfast while I stay behind in Dungannon and have my guitar lessons, etc. What a day it'll be...saying goodbyes, knowing I'll be seeing them come 1st August. Wow.

That's all for now.

Top 5 reasons to have family visit you in another country:

5: They can bring you things that can't pass through the post's customs, like prescription-strength acne medication which you have been scrounging for the past month for fear of what your face will become without it...

4: If they go on a tour and find something and think of you, they'll buy it as a gift. Even though, really, you should be buying them the souvenirs.

3: They'll tell you how much you've changed, and it'll all feel so good. ("You do look skinnier!"/"You've lost your MN accent!"/etc., etc...)

2: Your mum will make sure you're fed, no matter what.

1: It really does open your eyes to how big God made the world, yet He's bigger; how surreal life is, yet He's so real; how time can fly so quickly, though He's unchanging.

Northern Irish family, meet my Minnesotan family.

Last Week (and How it Flew):

Monday: Sierra arrived, another American intern--she'll be here until 3 August, so only two days longer than myself. Oh, and my mentor took me out for lunch and bought me a top. What a lovely, lovely woman.

Tuesday: Drop In, which was absolute chaos due to some from Annaghshee calling up...and deciding to cause a ruckus in the Centre any way possible.

Wednesday: Lots and lots and lots of prep work for the schools work (Th & Fr). That's pretty much it.

Thursday: Half the day spent with the P7s of one of the primary schools. A grand day, though I was beat afterwards. And a meeting with Krystal, which involved a few tears on my part but again positive.

Friday: Half the day spent with the P7s of another primary school. Went to The Press for lunch, which never disappoints. Guitar lessons were class, and I'm now on my way to learning Mighty To Save--but this journey will be a bit longer, as I haven't had time to practice yet... That night, a party at Ben & Gareth's, which was great craic. I got to hang out quite a bit with Alicia, which was very needed I soon found out. She's brilliant. I'm definitely blessed to have her at Crown with me next year...otherwise I would die.

Saturday: Being I spontaneously stayed over at Ben's with Alicia, I spent my day there as well. A bit of helping Ben clean, and a bit of lounging on the laptop and downloading loads of free, legal music (noisetrade.com). That evening, going to The Press for their once-monthly live music night. To be honest, I was not exactly "present" most of the time...and when Ben picked up on it and asked if I was "tired or bored", I didn't want to answer the question. I was neither. And I knew the actual answer wouldn't come out kindly, so I held my tongue.

Though it would probably help to get it out, some things are better left unsaid. At least when the person it involves is within earshot, and it's not their fault either.

So Sleepy...

From the moment I woke up, I've felt as if I could fall asleep again at any given moment.

Despite going to bed early.

Despite having a pretty chill day yesterday, with Sunday Dinner at the house and a wee Skype call with my mom (next time we chat, it'll be in person!).

Honestly, I hate that I'm now viewing 9 o'clock wake-ups as an early start. It's because of such long, long days at work. And though I'm not really looking forward to parting with the scenery, the people, and the ministry I've had here...I am looking forward to having nearly a month to get back to my normal sleeping pattern. Waking up at 8am, asleep by 11:30--we've been apart for so long, it'll be nice to have it back again.

At the minute, I'm manning the Centre while the breakdancers are in (a task I haven't had in a couple months because Mondays are Ben's night, and they don't come in on Wednesdays anymore but because Ben's away for the evening...well...). Meaning I won't get home until late, because they don't leave until 9. So I won't be getting home until 10 at the earliest. And I forgot to grab some dinner before the shops closed. Oops. And my mind might be playing tricks on me, but I suddenly smell fresh popcorn which isn't helping the hunger situation.

Awk well. Tomorrow = first day with the new intern (you read right), getting serious about the schools work for Thursday and Friday, and doing my best to stay sane.

I heart Fridays

Today was a fantastic day. Here's why:

1. So easily convinced Ben last night that we should go into the office an hour later than he suggested, meaning I got another full hour of sleep after being absolutely shattered yesterday. (More on that later, probably.)

2. Worked from The Press rather than the office, and got some social interaction rather than staring at a screen by myself.

3. Gladly ordered a raspberry and white chocolate scone, a gingerbread latte, and a bowl of the soup of the day (butternut squash and bacon) + wheaten in total today. I love The Press. And I will never order the same way I once did at coffee shops ever again.

4. Guitar lesson. And though I'm always hesitant going in because I get nervous playing in front of people, that they're going to look at me and think, "What a joke, she can't play a single thing"--but now that Ben's pushing me to join in, I don't get a choice. Today, however, I proved that I do have the G scale memorized (though it's quite slow), and that I can pick up theory (likely because of all those years playing flute, but even more likely because of my many years of choir).

This last bit is my real reason for writing another blog post. Because tonight, back at the house and after eating dinner (mashed potatoes, because I was too lazy to think of anything else), I decided to pick up the guitar and practice what I'd learned earlier. And I can now play the accompaniment for the verses in "Free Falling", as well as the entirety of "How Great is Our God"--yeoooo!

Yous have no idea how proud of this I am. My fingers are going to be bruised tomorrow--I need to build up a callus quite badly...but now that I can actually play something recognizable, I feel loads of encouragement to do so.

Tomorrow: relaxing about the house + cleaning (I keep saying it, so perhaps I should actually do it), Skype call with the fam, and Safe Haven that evening. And plenty more guitar.

P.S. Still Facebook free, and though I go back and forth on whether or not I should attempt to hack into my account (because sure Ben wouldn't hand over my password if I demanded it), it's evenings like tonight that make me feel more confident about leaving it behind for a wee while.

Facebook-free!

I've been Facebook-free since yesterday afternoon, and though it's been a relatively short period of time (not even a day and a half), I feel a heck of a lot lighter without it.

And though you'll still find me online, I have absolutely no access to it at the minute, as I handed over the password to Ben because I knew I was spending far too much time online. Aimlessly wandering through photos and profiles and comments from friends back home, friends from here, people I haven't talked to in years, people I haven't talked to hardly ever. It was getting out of control, so on Monday I surrendered my account.

Though I'm quite aware I'll likely be fraped before all is said and done, it'll be grand. It's actually a really great feeling to have no control over something at all--because no matter how much I fought this, I won't be getting my password out of him until I've shown that I don't need Facebook as a part of my life.

So, readers, if you try to get in touch with me via Facebook, rethink it. Because I won't be checking it for likely a week or two--we'll see how long Ben holds it from me. Shoot me an email instead, and I'll be sure to come in touch with you (be it for a Skype call/chat or for an update email or anything else you'd like) as I'm still very much on top of that sector of life.

Peace out, scouts. I'm using my free time to read, practice guitar (because I'm really getting somewhere with it, finally!!), and sleep. All neglected things, all very beloved things.

"Wait, so where are yous from?"

The only thing I knew about today, before it began, was that there was a team coming over from Holland to have a "cultural event" in the Town Square, and were going to use our Centre as a base for making tea and coffee and things like that.

Turns out the team was indeed from Holland, but they're all Indonesian. Didn't see that one coming.

And turns out that they were all super Pentecostal. Didn't see that one coming, either.

But, my word. Was it ever amazing.

It's truly been so long since I've seen the Body of Christ come together and really be the Church. I've seen flashes and bits, but then it fades away so quickly. But today, from 9 am to 9 pm, these people were completely lit for Jesus. And to them, though we were the ones with the Centre, the ones who've been in Dungannon for whatever amount of time, we were their guests. When it came to dinner, they served us first. They asked the YFC team and anyone from the street to come to the centre of the room later and they circled around us and prayed over us.

I've really missed people like them. And it makes me miss quite a few people from Crown.

Snow Tubing in June

See that title?

That's what I did tonight with the youth club. Insane, right? I thought so, too. (And I still think so.)

It was the last night of the Presbyterian youth club, so we took them to the "slope" in Craigavon. And this morning, when I was preparing for it, I hadn't a clue what I was supposed to dress in. Is it a legitimate slope? Do I need a winter jacket? Layers? Prepare for getting wet? How does this even work? How can snow even stay on the ground? Why has no one questioned this--and why has no one filled me in on what it looks like to snow tube in a country that gets very little snow?

Well, turns out they have a giant net of white artificial grass that's like a big brush which they lay over the hill. So, no real snow. And it's outside, so dress for walking up a hill several times but otherwise like normal.

Good thing I found all this out after being picked up in the morning...but it was still fun.

Still one of the strangest experiences of my life, though.

New Day

Suddenly, I feel charged.

Maybe it's that, during my one-on-one meeting with my supervisor yesterday, I brought up that I want to come back to Northern Ireland after graduation. And she told me, "Awk, what's college anyway--sure, just stay here right now," and then saying, "If you do want to come back to either Dungannon or anywhere in Northern Ireland or even in the South, just keep in contact with me and I'll set you up with one of my contacts." SCORE. Though I do want to stay in the North, it's so good to know how vast the options are. And that she's just an email away, even when I'm across the pond + halfway across the States.

And today, I'm realizing that there are going to be so many smiling, happy, and eager faces waiting to greet me once I'm in Minnesota. And maybe that makes me vain or prideful or conceited or something, but that's a really good feeling. To know that I've been off having an adventure for five months (when it's all said and done, that is), and that there's people waiting to hear about it. Waiting to see photographs. Waiting to have the stories unfolded. Waiting for me, just a 20-something kid who went off to do an internship.

Those are the kinds of thoughts that just wrap around you like a big ol' hug, and I like them.

Retrospect Kills.

Since getting to the point when {amount of time remaining in NI < amount of time since coming to NI}, I've been thinking about all the things I haven't done by this point. And about how busy my last two months (well, less than now) are going to be, and how I don't know that I'll get to do those things. And about how much I'm not looking forward to saying goodbyes.

The night before last, I kept waking myself up with panic attacks. I was dreaming over and over again about leaving. All of a sudden, it would be time for me to go, and I kept getting ripped from all the people I've met here. I wasn't able to say my goodbyes properly, and I was being pushed forward to the next step before I could even finish the one prior. All I wanted to do was cry and scream and dig my heels in and say, "No! I'm not ready yet!" But it was all to no avail.

And then, I'd wake up. In a cold sweat and breathless. And completely lost.

I'm trying to remind myself to just enjoy the days I've left here, and to soak up every single bit of them that I can. I'm trying to tell myself to be adventurous and to take a leap and just take each day as it comes rather than count out all the ones passing by so quickly. But it's just so difficult, and all I want to do is curl up into someone else's arms for a nice long hug, be handed a cup of tea, have a nice seat, and talk about all these things. Or better yet, go out and do all the things I've been longing for--another Belfast adventure, seeing the mountains, going to the beach, taking edgy photos to document all of it. Or even better, be handed a plane ticket for me to come back, and a place to live with an awesome roommate and an incredible job (no matter what the pay, if any at all).

But on the plus side here, the fam comes so so soon! In 20 days, I'll be with them (and in 11, they'll be sharing a time zone with me--which is pretty fantastic, even if I won't be near them). Mum, you better take plenty of photos on your tours--especially of funny road signs or meals or anything of that sort.

Sending my love across the pond--send me some of yours as well, please.

"Danger, danger!"

Today, I spent quite a portion of time in Belfast getting trained in First Aid.

I'll be honest, I hated it. I really don't like practical work like that--having to get up and move around and treat someone according to a scenario and pretend like they're about to die if I don't help them. Seriously, not my thing. But, all fine and good--now I'm certified for the next 3 years. (Just, no one get injured on my watch or anything. I still can't remember the order of anything when he kept repeating "DRS-ABCDE". And I'll likely break your neck on accident. And I'll accidentally say "danger, danger!" when I'm actually just supposed to be checking for danger...oops.)

Then the second half of the day, we had Drop-In at the Centre. A few new faces came up, and though they were connected to the Centre in some way prior (three girls came up, one being a sister of a volunteer and the other two being her friends), it was still quite encouraging to see new faces and to get others into the Centre besides the regular crowd. I was beat by a 15-year-old on Just Dance (after totally creaming her two rounds in a row before she started to get determined), but it was all good craic.

And now, I'm completely shattered. After being up at 7 and having a full day, I'm ready for bed.

As I often hear on this side of the pond said by adults to adults, "Ni'night."

Nap Day

Safe Haven took place last night at the Centre, and though the town was alive the Centre remained quiet. Once people left the pubs and the clubs, they went to their cars straight after--so no one came up to the Centre. But in two weeks' time, we'll be back out again to give it a go.

However, the last two nights I didn't go to bed until at least half 2 (a.k.a. 2:30), which was very very unwise of me. And today, shortly after getting home from church, after changing clothes and cleaning up some of my things from the morning, my bed just looked so comfortable...

It began with me crawling beneath the covers and going online.
Then the internet got mucked up, so I started reading the book my mum sent in a care package.

Then my eyes grew tired from trying to keep characters and background stories straight...

And before I knew it, I jolted awake with Lexie at my door telling me that lunch was ready. And I knew I'd only been sleeping for about 20 minutes at most, but with how quickly I was out I knew the best thing was to just give in and take the nap.

So I did. For the next 4 hours. (And they even saved me a plate, so lovely.)

Things I've learned:
Never, ever stay up that late willingly when I know other late nights are required soon after.

It's not bad to just give in to sleep during the day, even when it's against a held principle.

Should I ever get to choose my own fixtures in a house, I'll be sure not to choose any that wake one up just by the use of them and without any announcement from the user. (I woke up not to the sound of Lexie's voice, but the sound of the door handle creaking against the wood.)

That's all at the minute. (Oh, and in case you were wondering, I have never ever fallen asleep in church to date. Though there have been many instances of doodling on paper scraps to keep my mind sharp.)

Meet the Sons of Caliber

I love these guys.

Right, so I've two months left...

I'm finding that each and every day lately, I keep clinging with all I've got and thinking, "But there's so much left for me to see and do and taste and smell and explore! I can't leave in two months! There's no way!"

That's how I feel.

I want to go back to Belfast and explore the wee shops that no one knows about but the insiders. I want to have more meals with friends and joke about with them. I want to go to the beach and take great photos. I want to see Dublin (even if I hear Belfast is better). I want to go to more coffee shops and live music nights.

I feel like I've lived so much while I've been here, but not nearly enough.

Looks like I really will just have to move back here after Crown. Because I'm not done with Northern Ireland, not by a long shot.