paris apartments

I'm heading to Paris for the first time in a couple weeks and this is (as near as I could get to) where we're staying!!! SO excited! 5 minutes walk from the Louvre and 15 from Notre Dame!

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my Christmas journey

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antarctica

My youngest sister and I have been wanting to go to Antarctica together for a while. This is largely inspired by the book Troubling a Star by Madeline L'Engle. We're realistic about it, we realise it will take a few years to save up the money for a trip of this nature. This week the first concrete step of planning was accomplished. Lacy found this expedition. Now, all we have to do is save up about $25,000 each. (And we will definitely be doing the optional extension trip to Easter Island. I mean if you're going to take a month and spend a year's salary you might as well make the most of it. Right?)

i'm here!

I have made it to Belfast!

After a car ride, two flights, several gate changes, an Auntie Anne's pretzel and lemonade, Starbucks' Passion Tea Lemonade and chocolate muffin, lugging three 50 lb. suitcases and a backpack across an ocean, a bus ride, and a taxi ride I arrived at my old/new house on Tuesday afternoon.

I have unpacked both the things I brought with me and the things I left here. I've made a list of things I need from Ikea, mostly curtains as the blinds in my room are broken. So I'm doing pretty well on the settling in phase. Although my body seems to be having a more than usually difficult time adjusting to the new time zone. Normally I'm just really tired for a few days, but this time I've been waking up at odd times, exhausted during random times of the day and just generally feeling "poorly." I think this is because I was running myself ragged the last few weeks at home and I'm sure that a little rest and TLC will have me right as rain in a few days. It's just a bummer cause I wanna go and do but I know that I need to rest...

On Wednesday I went in to the college to pay the remainder of my tuition. It was a funny meeting because I've been here before and already know where things are and have a cell phone, etc. So she was pretty much like, just let me know if you need anything and welcome! Next Friday is my official enrollment day. This is when I will meet my tutors and the others on my course and take care of a bunch of admin things like getting my student id and the letters I need to open a bank account, find a job, etc. (So a lot like orientation for us Americans.)

Until then I have plenty of time to keep trying to get my body used to being in this time zone, settle in, and catch up with friends. The weather has been lovely and cool. It's a little overcast today and we might see some rain this weekend. Perfect!

I guess that's all. I have some pictures of my last few days in the States to post soon...

cleaning out my phone...

I'm switching back over to my UK phone today, so here's a few pics and videos I saved from my US phone:

Will likes his head covered when he sleeps...

Ben's Chili Bowl!

Emily, Luke, and Flower

We fed "Flower" a lot, but we're not exactly sure if she's a girl...

Alternate name if she turns out to be a boy, "Blue"

Graduation!

Will's Birthday!!!

rigamarole

I'm still moving forward with my plans for returning to Belfast. I think last time I talked about it here I was still waiting to hear from the college. I finally heard back from them mid-May and since then absolutely nothing that could go smoothly has! Everything has been complicated, from loosing my wallet on vacation causing a delay with the processing of my deposit to not being able to have a student loan because my school doesn't work with any banks in the US. But despite all that I'm still plodding forward one weary step after another!

Today, as part of my visa application, I went in to have my biometrics taken. That's the new scary way of saying fingerprints. But these are 21st century fingerprints, digitally scanned, with not an ink pad in sight. I have no idea if the lady who took mine spoke English as she uttered not a word the entire time, just motioned me over, grabbed my hand and started manipulating it as she willed. Ok, I exaggerate, she did answer me at the end when I asked if I needed any other documents, she said, "no."

the great trip (mid) west

A little peak at where I've been and what I've been up to for the last two weeks!

Iowa

Illinois

Michigan

a long one

I usually try to keep my posts short and sweet but this one, well I have a feeling it's going to be a doozy! This is an update on the last month-and-a-half of my life... with pictures!

So, I went to Wales for Christmas. I had such a lovely time with my friend Beth and her family and our friends Frances and Alana! There was snow and ice on the ground when I arrived but it all melted before Christmas. We watched movies and read and talked and cooked and ate and went for walks and enjoyed being together. It was fantastic! This is Beth, Frances, and Alana on a walk around the estuary near Beth's house.

On Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) we went to the Gower Peninsula where we admired the beautiful South Wales coast, got caught in a rain storm, and climbed up and down cliffs. Lovely!
I spent New Years with friends from Guildford and 24-7 at some cabins in the New Forest near Southampton. We shared a meal together and shared stories and sang a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne at midnight before sending a lantern off to the heavens with our hopes and dreams for 2010. Then we all went back in side and I played my first game of poker ever. Also, I won!

From Southampton I went to London to visit my lovely friend Kirstin. She got engaged over Christmas and I'm the maid of honor so we spent most of our time flipping through wedding magazines and laughing and trying on wedding dresses. (Well, Kirstin did and I took pictures.) We managed to squeeze in plenty of (mostly window) shopping and a trip to St. Paul's Cathedral. Also, we had a lovely engagement celebration dinner where I, at 27 and for the first time in my life, got drunk. (But don't tell my mom.) Not too drunk, I could still walk (slowly, in 3" heels!) and didn't have a hangover (having nursed a glass of water all night, and I don't think I forgot anything that happened. No, I remember all to well that all I could manage to do was laugh and say, "I am horribly drunk!" (Quoting the woman in the wheelchair on Notting Hill.) It started snowing while we were eating and all through our walk home and through the night.
It snowed so much that the airports were closed and I couldn't get home. I didn't mind as all the alcohol and rich food had made my stomach a bit angry at me. I did finally get back to Belfast two days, an hour long taxi ride, a night in Southampton, four cancelled flights, and a bus ride from Dublin later! Ireland was so beautiful covered in snow!

After all of that I only had three and a half days left in Northern Ireland. They were filled with a party, lunches and coffees with friends, packing, farewell dinners, roommate banter, and lots of packing. Oh, also a trip to Belvior (that's pronounced beaver, don't ask me why) Forest Park and some packing. This is a view of the Belfast hills from the Park.
And me, taken by Helen, watching Sam and his nephews playing in the snow. (Look at that little double chin... too much lovely holiday food!)
I got back to Charlotte on January 12th. My layover in JFK was extended from 3 to 6+ hours so I managed to read the entirety of Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Perfect sort of book for that situation! Since being home I've taken up knitting and I'm loving it! I've also learned how to drive a stick shift (aka manual transmission for you Brits). (That's three new things I've learned to do this year: play poker, knit, and drive stick. Four if you count learning how to be drunk, but we won't talk about that anymore!)

This is my tested and tried method for learning how to drive stick:

1) move to a foreign country and give your lovely car to your sister.

2) return to your country of origin when said sister is out of state at university. (Having your brother leave his (horrid) car at home while he is also out of state at university is key here.)

3) receive one lesson from your dad, equal parts helpful and bewildering.

4) clean the car.

5) do some research online and print instructions from several different "how to" websites

6) make a few CDs

7) take car, CDs, and instructions to a (mostly) empty parking lot and practice starting from a complete stop until you can do it (most of the time) without stalling. Then take a spin around the neighborhood.

8) After an hour or two, or when you feel confident, take a trip up the road to Target.

And that is how I learned to drive stick. Hand brake starts were learned in an emergency situation involving a sloped parking space. Also, renaming the car helps. Naming things aids in attachment, that's why farmers don't name animals they will later slaughter. I named the car Alphonso as it reminds me of a sleazy Italian.

I've returned to my former life of nannying and enjoying the convenience of life in the States and planning and plotting how to return to Ireland.

Been giving a lot of thought to story and how to make my life into the kind of story I want it to tell. (Inspiration on this topic having come from Don Miller's book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, The Brother's Bloom, and most recently Beth Moore's Bible study on Esther and Adri.) I found out today that the course I was interested in in Belfast is already full for the coming academic year. So the knocking continues. The big question at the minute is, do I stick with the "where" or the "what?"

So, I guess that's it.

Oh, wait, one more thing... On Tuesday I went with my sister and brother-in-law to her ultrasound appointment and we got to see baby Will! He was so cute! They (unexpectedly) did a 3D ultrasound and we got to see him waving and playing with his feet and covering his face so we couldn't get a good picture and pouting when the technician jiggled Laura's stomach so he would move his hands. Absolutely adorable!!! Can't wait to meet the little guy in real life!

So, besides the fact that I am so totally excited about this final season of LOST (especially after the premiere on Tuesday!!!), I think that really is it!

culture stress

"You feel tired, anxious, discouraged, isolated, angry, and homesick but cannot think of any reason why you should feel that way."

"Culture stress is the stress that occurs when you change to a different way of living in a new culture. It is what you experience as you move beyond understanding the culture to making it your own so that you accept the customs, becoming comfortable and at home with them. If you are trying to become a real part of the culture, to become bicultural, you are likely to experience culture stress as you assimilate some of the conventions to the point that they feel natural to you."

"Culture stress is the adjustment stage in which people accept the new environment, adopting new ways of thinking and doing things so that they feel like they belong to the new culture. This takes years, and some missionaries never complete it."

~from What Missionaries Ought to Know about Culture Stress by Ronald Koteskey

This is why I've been feeling so out of whack the last few weeks...

a weekend in wicklow

Over the weekend I went down to Wicklow with some of my housemates and some friends. We had a wonderful time climbing mountains, scaling boulders and rivers, eating around campfires, building sweat lodges, etc. (You know, all the things you normally do on the weekend. Here's a few of my pictures. Also, you can see Dennis' pictures here.

Walking through the ferns.

The valley

That's the waterfall we climbed.

The fire!

Apparently I over exerted myself just a bit, because I found myself in bed all day Monday with a fever and a nasty cough. Feeling much better now thank Goodness!

Finally got all my smoke soaked clothes in the wash today. Here's a picture of the blue, green, and brown load:

And this is a picture of things that make me happy! First is the copy of To Kill a Mockingbird I got out of the Ormeau Road Library for my book club next week. (Happy about the book, happy about the Library, happy about the book club!) Then you'll see a copy of InStyle Magazine. This is one thing I love about the UK, you get free gifts when you buy magazines. Buy InStyle and get free L'Occitane hand cream? Yes, thank you!

And here is a video of the valley which we climbed down into, hiked through, and then climbed back out of. If you listen very closely you can hear the eerie call of Stags who had returned to the area for mating season. It haunted us all weekend.

I AMsterdam

The 2nd 24-7 Euro Gathering was held in Amsterdam this past weekend. Such an amazing time! Got to reconnect with old friends and to meet new ones. Had lots of time for wandering around the city which is beautiful! The Gathering itself was full of inspiring and challenging teaching and great times of worship and prayer. I felt like I had come home. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

As far as sessions/teaching goes my highlight was an afternoon seminar on mission and culture in Europe. It was taught by Gerard Kelly (at least I think that's his last name) and I really appreciated what he had to say. He pulled a lot of stuff out about history and how important it is doing mission in Europe today to have an understanding of the past and the role that the church and Christianity has played in Europe's history. Vital questions: If the paganism in Europe today stems not from an ignorance but a rejection of Christianity, how do we make Jesus beautiful again? And, if the heart cry of Europe for generations has been for Freedom, Justice, and Truth, how can we expect to successfully share the gospel without answering this cry? Like I said, really challenging!

I stayed an extra day in Amsterdam to do a bit of touristy things. I went to the Rijksmuseum which was recommended in a couple guide books I flipped through. I'm wondering if they were displaying at full capacity because I was thoroughly disappointed. I was in and out in an hour and it cost 11 Euro! I tried to go to the Van Gogh Museum to make up for the disappointment, but was unable to. So I got to wander around the city and pop into a few used bookstores and some funny souvenir shops and fun things like that.

Since I flew through Dublin on my way here I officially entered the UK on my way home from Amsterdam. So my tourist entry will end on April 5th. A lot can happen between now and then and I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store!

Just to give you an idea of how great and intense the weekend was, I spent 5 hours on Tuesday journalling about it!

i just can't help it...

Ok, I know it's kinda boring to read quotes other people loved from books. And I know that I share quotes that I've enjoyed way too much. But I can't help it... This is another bit from "Notes From a Small Island" which I loved all the way through. When a book consistently makes you laugh out loud at almost every page it's something worth sharing. But I promise this will be the last that I share from it.

"Among the city's many treasures, none shines brighter, in my view, than the incomparable Burrell Collection, and after checking into my hotel, I hastened there now by taxi, for it is a long way out. 'D'ye nae a lang roon?' said the driver as we sped along a motorway toward Pollock Park. 'I'm sorry,' I said for I don't speak Glaswegian. 'D'ye dack ma fanny?' I hate it when this happens - when a person from Glasgow speaks to me. 'I'm sorry,' I said and floundered for an excuse. 'My ears are very bad.' 'Aye, ye nae hae doon a lang roon,' he said, which I gathered meant, 'I'm going to take you a very long way around and look at you frequently in the mirror with these menacing eyes so that you'll begin to wonder if perhaps I'm taking you to a disused wharf where I will beat you up and take your money,' but he said nothing further and delivered me at the Burrell without incident."

I found this especially funny because I myself have been in a very similar situation, except it involved two jolly Glaswegian men searching my bags at the airport and not a menacing taxi driver. I usually have little problems understanding people who are from other countries. There are two notable exceptions for this, Jamaicans and Glaswegians.

my love/hate relationship with traveling

So while I love traveling I really actually dislike the getting there part. Here are a few reasons why:

1) Manhandling luggage. I know it's my own fault for not being a very light packer, but I can't help it, I'm still learning. I hate dragging luggage around: into the car, out of the car, up to the check in desk, onto the scale, oops! too heavy, back off the scale, take stuff out, onto the scale again. Then the carry on is too heavy because of all the stuff you've crammed in at check in. (I swear I weighed my bags three times and they were right on target. I think they rig those wretched scales.) So now the carry on is heavy and you've gotta wheel it around the airport with your purse/laptop case either bruising your shoulder or breaking your wrists as it rides on top of the wheeled bag. (When you finally arrive at your destination to discover that your bags made a side trip to NY you're actually rather relived because it means they will be hand delivered to you instead of you having to drag them around the airport, on and off a bus, and then into and out of a car.)

2) Accidents. When you've finally gotten settled with your luggage and you decide you deserve your favorite drink at Starbucks (a Venti Sweetened Passion Tea Lemonade) which you won't be able to have for the foreseeable future because they don't make it in the UK what do you go and do, after only having drank about 1/4 of it, but spill it all over the carpet by the internet station. Oh well, at least it didn't land on any one's bag.

4) Trying to sleep on the airplane. Number one the seat is hardly ever comfortable. Number two there is always too much activity to get more than a couple hours anyway. Number three, the elderly gentleman sitting next to you, while lovely, is quite fidgety, keeps dropping his pillow, and doesn't seem to mind getting into your personal space. So you just decide to watch movies instead and give yourself permission to sleep as much as you want when you get home.

5) (This comes under the love part... I think) When you go through passport control in Dublin the passport control officer, if a man, will most likely assume that the reason you've been to Ireland so many times is because you have a boyfriend here.

6) Trying to pay with a credit card. For some reason while I've been gone lots of place have stopped accepting payment by card. This is fine except when the only noticeable cash point at the airport is out of order...

7) International telephones... My US phone, while stocked up with plenty of leftover credit, refuses to work here which leaves me unable to contact my housemates letting them know what time I need to be picked up. So I try my UK phone only to discover that it's been cancelled due to disuse. Great. So I find a cash point that works and take a taxi to the house. No one is home. But now I have change from paying the cab and can walk up the street to use a pay phone. Where are these missing housemates? In town waiting for me. Oh dear.

I guess that's all....

Oh, one thing more not exactly related to traveling: I am not immune to catcalls or blatant stares, etc. while walking down the street. My favorite so far was yesterday when I was walking home from town a guy rolled down his window and just stuck his arm out with a thumbs up. (Girls probably aren't really supposed to talk about this for many different and complicated "polite" reasons, but I don't care.) I thought that was pretty funny.

a long awaited update (perhaps I flatter myself too much!)

So, I guess the last significant update into my day to day life was written way back in the beginning of July. (Was that only a month and a half ago???) So, I figured it was about time for another!

I was in Florida for just under six weeks. I went down to be a summer nanny for the wonderful girls I used to care for before I left to do Transit and their wonderful baby sister who was born while I was gone and their wonderful cousins who live in Jacksonville. I think I can safely say that everyone involved had a great summer.

We were right on the beach, as you can see from this picture. This is the spot where I did quite a lot of reading when I was "off duty," not bad, huh? The summer was full of sand and water and sun and origami and reading time and ice cream and the dynamics of little girl relationships and naps and trips to the park and trips to the girls' Papa's tree farm and good food and all kinds of other fun things like getting caught in the rain almost every time I went out for a walk in the evenings. And big, beautiful rainbows.

No summer would be complete without a trip to the zoo and this one included petting and feeding sting rays. (Their "stinger" had been trimmed, apparently much like you would trim your fingernails.)

We drove back to Charlotte on the 29th of July, I think. It was definitely a Wednesday. And that evening I booked my flight to Ireland. I fly into Dublin on the 12th of September and will make my way north to Belfast where I will be living until I find a job or run out of money which I project will be sometime in December! No, seriously, I'm heading to Belfast to job hunt and make connections and do some volunteering and have committed to stay through December, which hopefully will give me enough time to find a job so I can stay forever, or at least two years which is how long my visa will be issued for.

So, naturally, I'm excited and nervous and thinking about packing way more than I'm actually doing the packing. And I'm sure to run out of time to do several of the many things I have projected to finish before I leave. So it's all rather exhilarating and tiring.

On a sort of side note I saw movies 24 and 25 of the summer this week. Time Traveler's Wife with my sisters, Laura and Emily, and Nights in Rodanthe with my mom.

I feel a bit like Clare in the Time Traveler's Wife. (If you haven't seen the movie or read the book I'm going to be giving away plot here...) In the scene where Henry travels to and from the bathroom. She's very pregnant, but has tried to keep herself from hoping about this baby because she has lost so many before. Henry comes back from travelling to the future where he meets their daughter, Alba. He tells Clare all about her and she says, "You mean it's all going to be all right?" It was such a moving scene and I feel like her. There's this thing that I've been dreaming about and hoping for and working towards for so long, but because it's been so long it's so very hard to understand that it's really happening. That the dream is becoming reality. I think it can't be true.

But in three weeks from today I'll be sitting (well, sleeping actually) in Belfast. And I'll never again have to cry when I leave Ireland because I don't know when I'll be coming back. It's all rather overwhelming.

So anyway, that's my update.

more women should dress like us

So two weekends ago I visited my youngest sister Lacy in Tennessee where she goes to college. We had a great weekend. On Friday we went into Chattanooga and explored the city a bit. Fabulous independent bookstore where I found a copy of Pablo Neruda's Love Poems and Lacy found a wonderful little journal with birch trees. We saw The Proposal which was entirely predictable, but still enjoyable. We had great salads at Panera for dinner then crossed The Walnut Street Bridge for some ice cream from Clumpy's. The sunset from the bridge was beautiful and we just sat and enjoyed the evening. We walked past a man who said to us, "Good evening girls. Ya'll look great. More women should dress like you." We decided this must be because of our impeccable fashion sense and not because he thought we looked slutty. Sunset from the Tennessee River

Lacy

The Walnut Street Bridge

Sisters

On Saturday we went hiking in the Cherokee National Forest which was an adventure! The first half hour or so was fine, just following the trail and crossing the stream on rocks and fallen logs a couple times. Then we had to climb up the side of the mountain. That's when it got a bit interesting. As much as I love trail walking scrambling through the brush and decaying leaves full of large insects and possibly snakes is not my favorite thing. We made it down to our destination, a beautiful waterfall where we had lunch and soaked up the day and Lacy swam in the pool at the base for a while. (A short while as it was VERY cold.) When we decided to head back was when the fun really began. Lacy couldn't find the trail. You loose it on the way in and then have to climb back up to where you leave it to head back out. We were scrambling up and down and across the side of the mountain for a good 15 minutes when we came across an army back pack that had been lost or dropped or something. It had been there for a week or maybe less. Animals had gotten into it and strewn the contents. Prescription medicine, tins of food, a large package of ivory soap. And a machete. That was slightly disconcerting as we were half expecting to stumble on a body or hear the weak cries of an injured soldier. Anyway, I got tired of going back to the waterfall to start again and pushed ahead, blazing a trail in roughly the right direction. After a few minutes Lacy, who was lower down than me, called out, "I found the real trail!" Which was a huge relief to both of us! The rest of the day was taken up with snow cones and movies and easy dinners.

Giant millipedes were everywhere!

Lacy swimming in the pool.

Sisters

The waterfall and me

Staring up at the sky... This was my view!

The Waterfall

Snail and mushroom on moss

On Sunday we meandered our way to Atlanta where I caught a plane to Jacksonville, Florida. I'll be here until the 30th of July. So far, we're having a blast.