In the Blink of An Eye

My last week has arrived and I cannot believe how fast it has all been. Seven weeks are over and this one will be gone before I can blink.  I will not spend my last post in Ireland reflecting on my time here but will save that for once I return.  The last couple weekends I have spent in Dublin visiting more places and soaking in as much as I could see of this city I have called home for two months.  Not to ignore my weeks but I still spent the majority of time at work or watching movies with Georgia so there is not a lot to update. Though my relationships with my co-workers have developed more and it will be sad to say goodbye until who knows on Friday

The first weekend in July I went to a social on Friday night with people from the organization that I booked through and met a lot of people from Germany and a girl from Maryland.  I also was able to talk to the director of the organization for a length of time which was interesting to hear how this organization works.  On Saturday, I made plans to meet up with the girl from Maryland and her friend to go touring but miscommunication happened at I was up earlier than I wanted and in Dublin alone again for the second Saturday in a row.

I moped around for a bit and decided to be productive and finish souvenir shopping.  Then one of the shops I wanted to go into was closed until 1 and it was just 11.  The National Library was just around the corner so I popped in for a little bit and looked at some old books and information about James Joyce but was not really in the mood for touring.  Although the reading room was absolutely breathtaking in its design and the smell of old books so I took my time walking through there.  Since that didn't take very long I headed to the St. Stephen's green park to walk around as I had never walked through it only around it. It was a shocking contrast to the gloomy buildings and busy streets.  I found a bench and sat down for a while to take in the people, the pidgeons, and the puppies.  The shop never did open so I headed home a little defeated but none the less more educated and happy to have a caught a little glimpse of paradise in the midst of a busy city.

A quick snapshot of the park.

I went to church at Shankill Bible Church for the third Sunday in a row and it was starting to feel like home.  I greatly anticipated this day as after church Heidi, my new friend from Iowa who was helping with the youth group at the church for the summer, and I were going to spend the afternoon together.  Church was of course good as it is the little bit of regularity and Christian community I faced on a weekly basis and I love learning about Daniel as that is what the sermons have been about.  Heidi and I went to a church members house for lunch which always seems to be more supper than lunch but it was so appreciated to be welcomed into another families home.

Heidi and I decided later that this was going to be our Fourth of July celebration! We baked chocolate chips from scratch and made brownies with a friend of Heidi's that she had met in the neighborhood.  And then Heidi and I walked to the Irish Sea just a ten minute walk from her house because legend says if you dip your feet in the Irish Sea than that means you will return. So of course we had to do that and took plenty of pictures except I forgot my camera at home so Heidi has all of the pictures. After the sea Heidi made dinner and we just got to talk and I realized how much I missed just hanging out, not worrying about time, and talking about life, it was so sweet.  And then to finish off our July 4th celebration we watched the Patriot movie. It felt so good to spend the day being loved, relaxing, and celebrating I did not want the day to end.

And fast forward to this last weekend.  Friday night, my host mother made a traditional Irish dish called coddle which was basically stew but they said it didn't fit any category. It was a broth with potatoes, onions, carrots, ham, and boiled sausage and it was delicious. I think that I may be ready to take a break from potatoes for a while though or maybe just cut back to once a week. :)

Saturday I went to Howth which is a peninsula that juts out into the Irish Sea just north of Dublin and only a bus ride away.  I traveled with an Italian friend I had met on my trip to Belfast.  Howth is known for the cliffs that the city is built on and Giovanni and I hiked the cliffs for a few hours before we reached the city.  The weather was gorgeous and the scenary was of course the same.  We also found a castle and church ruins to explore before we headed back to Dublin.  

 The following are all pictures from Howth.

Once we returned to the cities I had the change to meet a girl named Simonia before I met my friends. She is from Slovakia and is living with her grandparents but has to beg since she does not speak good enough English to find a job, yet.  We sang a few songs about Jesus and talked about Psalms and it was refreshing to talk to another believer; God provides situations that encourage us to show us how close He really is.  It was a huge blessing.

Simonia and I

I met my friends at a pub called the Legend to hear traditional Irish music and see Celtic dancers before I left Ireland without that experience. The atmosphere was so welcoming and lively and I just loved hearing the music I have listened to for years, played live.

My last week and it is already half way over.  Just two more days of work, three more nights, and one experience that will be with me the rest of my life.  The things I look forward to about being home: my moms cooking, my pillow and my bed, my puppy, my family and friends of course, American food, real summer heat and tanning, thunderstorms, and bonfires.  I promise I'll write a reflection post so keep checking. :) Thank you for your support and prayers through this journey in life!!!! 

Walk Away the Pounds

                My apologies in delay of keeping you updated.  It has been three weeks since I last posted and I have done so much since then including trips to Belfast, Derry, Giant’s Causeway, Glendalough, and a tour of Dublin.  The original post was only going to include Belfast but I decided I’ll just do one long entry instead. 

                Three weekends ago now I went to Belfast which is in Northern Ireland so a part of the UK.  I traveled with two girls from work, both from Germany, through a small English language school tour group.  We just went up for the day but got a tour of the city, which is the largest city in Northern Ireland, that included the history and present events that have transpired.  This includes the walls that divide the Protestant loyalists whom are loyal to Britain from the Catholic nationalists who are loyal to the Republic of Ireland.  The history was very sad as a lot of the disagreements and fights continue today and there is still a lot of unrest.  Though this part of the tour wasn’t very exciting it was good to learn more about this history to understand it better.  We also saw the dock where the Titanic was built and then had some down time to explore the city.  My friends and I plus a couple of the students from the language school found a couple of statues to see and ended our day in Belfast at Starbucks!  Overall, I am very glad I had the opportunity to go, to meet new people and get to know my friends better, to learn about history and tragedy that still affects the people I’m living around, and to explore a new country and different currency.

 This is one of the peace walls that was built to segregate the Protestants and Catholics

 The Titanic's dry dock

Hussam, Selina, myself, Christina, and Giovanni at a viewing tower overlooking the city

                On a regular day I spend my days working on sales calls, advertising and promotion of the charity event and of the new product launch, revising the company business plan, and recently I began learning more about SEO of the company and how I can help improve it.  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization which is wording the text and titles of your webpage and linking your web address to different sites that make it more likely to be found in search engines like Google or Bing.  The people, like in any other environment, either make or break the experience and I can definitely say that my fellow colleagues have made this experience grand.  I have had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and build friendships with many of them.

                Home in Terenure (Dublin 6) continues to be the place that I love to spend my evenings.  I still spend a lot of time with my host sister playing cards, watching movies, or recently coloring and drawing together which have made my evenings relaxing and full of laughter.  Last week I was able to go to Georgia’s final choir concert and was very impressed by the harmony and skill of the 4ht-6th grade girls.  The time I spend with my family is confirmation that I made the right choice in housing, and I know I will be sad to leave when the time comes.   

Georgia and I after a make-over!

                Two weekends ago now, I spent Saturday seeing many of the major attractions in Dublin.  I first visited the National Museum of History and Archaeology mostly because if my family were with me, we would have visited it, but I did learn a lot about ancient Ireland.  Once I finished there I made my way to Christ Church, a significant and large Catholic Church in Dublin, but stopped at an outdoor market and Dublin Castle on the way.  I arrived at Christ Church with the intention to absorb as much information as I could about the place so that I could share with my friends and family back home.  I took in carefully each room, the architecture, the statues and the significance of each.  My highlights of the church included a few minutes spent in prayer in a side room for the visitors of the church and the citizens of Dublin and viewing the crypt since I have never been to the basement of an old church before.

                After Christ Church, I made my way to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells the ancient monastic copies of the Gospels and the Old Library which holds thousands of books from the past hundreds of years.  The intricacy and detail of the pictures and text of the Book of Kells was truly unbelievable, breathtaking, and beautiful.  And then to soon after walk into a two story high room that smelled of old books with books lining the walls and a library only imagined in a fairy tale was almost too much to take in.  This was my favorite touristy place in Dublin and I would love to go again.  To end my long day of touring, I went to the World Champion Street Performance festival and watched a couple acts before exhaustion kicked in and I headed home.  The best part of this day was spending the day just me and God and being in awe of how he has spanned all generations.

 An "artsy" picture of Dublin Castle

 A side view of Christ Church

A glimpse at the interior of Christ Church

                On Sunday I went to church for the first time since I’ve been here.  I didn’t know what to expect but couldn’t contain my excitement to worship again in community.  The church is Shankill Bible Church and there was a congregation of about twenty.  Now the thing I love most about small churches is how welcoming and like a family they are and this church was no different.  I felt so welcomed and included and soaked in everything from the first hymn to last amen. God simply amazed me at His provision in giving me this weekend pointing back to Him and reminding me that He is why I am here and He does take care of all of my needs.  (I was also able to attend the church again this previous Sunday which was again a great blessing.)

                This last weekend I spent a lot of time with my family.  I went shopping with Georgia on Saturday and went to Glendalough with Georgia and my parents on Sunday.  Glendalough is a large park in the Wicklow mountains with ruins of a monastery on the grounds as well.  To reach it, we spent an hour driving through the mountainside and then hiked around the trails.  Needless to say but this was one of my favorite days, it was warm enough to wear a tshirt, the scenery was gorgeous, and the company was grand. I don’t know how else to describe it so I’ll let the pictures explain it to you.         

                This Monday, I traveled with two girls from the U of M and visited Giant’s Causeway and Derry which is also in Northern Ireland.  It was another long day of touring and driving but the sites, sounds, and sometimes good smells made it all worth it.  Once again the sites were breathtaking and I loved just looking out the window of the bus in awe of all of the green.  The first site we stopped at was called Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge.  Now the great thing about this is you would expect it to be a long, scary bridge but it wasn’t but it did lead to a cute little island and better view of Scotland just 12 miles across the Irish Sea.

 The "really long" rope bridge

Scotland is on the horizon

                Our next stop was the famous Giant’s Causeway which by legend was believed to be formed by giants.  The rocks were very easy to climb and obviously unique so it was a joy to be able to experience this great natural wonder for myself.

Myself, Lauren, and Rachael

                The last place we stopped was in the city of Derry.  This city is also rich in past and present history and has a similar story to Belfast.  We only stayed in the city for a brief tour and headed out.  But I again learned more about the tragedy that still affects the lives of the people living in the North, the conflict between the loyalists (unionists) and nationalists (republicans).  I’ve decided that I’ve done enough day tours and look forward to at least one more adventure outside of Dublin.  Thank you for your continued love and support!

It’s Greener on the Other Side

                I have been trying to stay on top of my blogging and journaling but have obviously fallen behind.  At last, the greatly anticipated blog about my trip to Galway, Cliffs of Moher, and Kylemore Abbey.

                It began with a taxi ride followed by a two and a half hour bus ride from the west coast to the east coast.  Now the landscape was similar to Minnesota but with many “dry walls” or fences built of stone without plaster separating the fields, a few ancient towers, more hills, and a lot more sheep.  I met up with the other students I was traveling with at the first rest stop, Lauren and Zach from the University of Minnesota; there is nothing like traveling with people close to home in a far away land.

                Once we arrived in Galway, the tour group was given a quick walking tour of the city including the church where Jane Eyre was buried, an original medieval city wall, and the ancient main port. 

After the tour, we continued on bus to the Cliffs of Moher by traveling through the Burren, which is the limestone hills with sparse grass that covers the land to the south of Galway.  Our tour guide talked non-stop informing us of every detail about fairy lore, Irish history, and the Burren.  Before we reached the Cliffs themselves, the bus stopped a few times to take in the scenery of the Burren and the eastern coastline.

                Upon arrival at the cliffs, Lauren and I were in awe that we finally stepped foot in this place for ourselves, a place we had seen only in photographs.  As I was still adjusting to the fantasy I found myself in, I heard someone call my name and looked up to see another U of M friend, Elizabeth.  I cannot describe how excited and happy I was to have run into her as I knew she was in Ireland but did not expect to see her.  The cliffs were as breathtaking as I expected and we were very thankful for the clear weather.  If only I could have stayed longer, to sit and take it in and write praises to God for the beauty of His creation.

                On the way back to Galway, the bus stopped at an abbey and a very old tomb called the Poulnabrone Dolmen and is a Gelninsheen Wedge Tomb which supposedly dates back to 4,000 BC. 

                We returned to Galway, checked-in to the hostel, and went into town for dinner at McDonagh’s for my first ever dish of fish and chips.  After dinner we found an ice cream shop and wandered around the city experiencing the Havana Cubana festival of music and dance before we turned in for the night.

                Thankfully the tour to Connemara and the Kylemore Abbey did not depart until 10:00 so we were able to sleep in a bit.  The scenic drive through the region of Connemara which is north of Galway was breathtaking and beautiful.  Along the way to the abbey we stopped at a smaller abbey, a few scenic stops, and Cong, the town that the movie the Quiet Man was filmed in.

 Ross Errily Abbey

 Lough (pronounced lock) Corrib

               We arrived at Kylemore Abbey and had just two hours.  The first path provided the most gorgeous view of the abbey nestled between mountains and a lake.  Lauren, Zach, and I went to the gardens first, to the abbey, and then to the small gothic chapel also located on the property.  My highlights were definitely the first view and the gothic church.  Unfortunately, the huge abbey only had three rooms open to the public although they were beautiful, you couldn’t really grasp the full size of it.

 First glance of Kylemore Abbey

 The Victorian Gardens planted with vegetation from the 17th century.

 A closer view of the abbey.

 The small gothic church.  What I enjoyed most about the church was recognizing the architecture specific to the gothic time period and the stained glass.

                Once we finished exploring the grounds, we took lunch, bought souvenirs, and then boarded the bus.  The bus ride back to Galway and then Dublin was not too exciting; I slept most of the way and couldn’t wait to get back to the house and crash.  Looking back on this weekend I cannot thank God enough for providing safety, protection, friends, and fun in His beautiful creation.  Your prayers are truly being heard and felt, thank you!

Daily Grind

Week 2

                My second week in Dublin is over and it does not seem that I’m a quarter done with my stay.  This week has been simplistic and uneventful which has been wonderful.  It included going to work and coming home to spend the night with my family.  

                Being an unpaid intern is not the most glamorous thing, especially at a small start-up company.  As my friend has told me I should still strive to be the “Best American” my co-workers have ever met.  I continually seek to be positive about my work and to do my work to the best of my ability despite it not being what I expected.  My work is focused around sales calls, specific projects assigned by the general manager, and especially public relations and marketing for a charity event that the company is sponsoring.

                The charity event is for the Ireland Cancer Society and is called the Dublin Zombie Walk or DZW for short.  On July 23, more than 3,000 people will dress as zombies and parade around the streets of Dublin for the event.  As I have been assigned to assist Eamonn, the event organizer, I have already spent many hours brainstorming new ideas to promote the event as well as plan activities and promotional products for the day of the event.

http://www.dublinzombiewalk.com/zombiewalks.html

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dublin-Zombie-Walk-2011/170073763041685

                Throughout the week, as work picked up, I enjoyed my relaxing nights at home teaching Georgia some new card games or playing Mario Kart and getting hooked on the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent.  I’ve also thoroughly been enjoying the home cooked meals that Sharon whips up most every night.  My food highlights for the past week would definitely have to be the homemade French fries or chips and potato wedges.  You just can never go wrong with potatoes especially when they are home fried!

                On Friday I was able to join Sharon’s sister’s tennis club for a four week long fun tournament.  It was the most beautiful evening and the warmest weather of my stay yet and I was so thankful to be able to spend it outside.  I may have been a little rusty at my tennis game but most of the players just play for fun.  I’m sure my dad will be happy to hear that I’m playing tennis and getting ready to play with him once I return home.

                I miss home off and on but am getting more used to calling Dublin home, at least for the next few weeks.  I love receiving encouraging notes and reminders that friends and family are thinking and praying for me as it does get a little lonely, but sincere thanks for the encouragement!

(Coming soon: It's Greener On the Other Side, a summary of my travels across the country to the east coast, Galway, Cliffs of Moher, and Kylemore Abbey)

Is This Real Life?

Week 1

      Flying for the first time on my own was a little nerve-racking to be sure but it went as smooth as could have been possible.  My transfer was easy, I sat next to a very kind, funny man on the flight to Ireland, and found my luggage and a taxi very simple once I arrived in Ireland.

 My first glimpse of Ireland from the plane

      I realized on the flight that I was more nervous about traveling to my host home that I hadn’t thought about what was to come once I finally arrived.  My first impressions of Ireland: not as green as I imagined, not as historic looking, using public transportation will be difficult, the accents were wonderful but hard to understand, many different words that aren’t American English, and has felt like a dream that I haven’t woke up from yet.

      Thankfully first impressions are usually not representative of the truth about people or places.  I’ve found I’m getting better at understanding the accents and I’m enjoying the bus rides through the towns on my way to work.  Also, I look forward to getting outside of the city bounds to see more green, hopefully I’ll make it to Galway next weekend.  

I took a trip to the city on Monday before I started working and took an unintentional walking tour of Dublin as I tried to make my way to the train station.  It also so happened to be the day President Obama was in town so the town was full of blocked off areas and hundreds of police.  After about an hours walking I finally found where I was going.  The picture above is the River Liffey which separates North Dublin (left-side) from South Dublin (right-side).

These pictures are of Grafton Street, another place I wondered into when I was in Dublin.  This street is very popular for tourists as it has many quaint shops in one location.

      The Curran family is dad-Kieran, mom- Sharon, son-Adam, and daughter-Georgia.  I have been so welcomed by them and enjoy spending my evenings hanging out with the family.  In the evenings, I watch movies or TV and play Wii with the family or love just chatting in the beautiful living room.  I really couldn’t have asked for a more lovely family to spend my months here.  Georgia has asked numerous times if I’ll stay until her birthday in December.  

The Curran Home

A glimpse of my bedroom

 The beautiful living room and kitchen

      I started work at 4pm on Tuesday for a Sales and Marking internship.  4pm is a website design company that is working on launching a huge public template offering website which is backed by their realty products and personalized websites.  Their website is 4pm.ie.  The picture in my head of my experience is a little different than the reality of my job.  

This is my company's sign on the door. My friend's name is Sarah which was given to me by a friend to travel with me since she can't.

      4pm is located in an old house behind a Laundromat, with five rooms including the General Manager John’s private office.  The designers, accountants, developers, and sales and marketers each have their own room.  I share the sales and marketing room with five other people with my desk being a nice folding table, only a slight contrast from my cubicle job last summer.  My responsibilities for the summer include revising the company’s business plan as well as proposing a new format for it, sales calls promoting a realty product, marketing research for the realty and website design products, and brainstorming and planning a charity event that the company is sponsoring.  The people are very friendly and kind and my first week was wonderful; I look forward to learning more and expanding my knowledge of business.

      This weekend has been relaxing which is what I needed after a busy, unusual week.  I’ve been able to sleep in, go for a couple long walks, watch my brother’s soccer match, and enjoy a few films with the family, if only it didn’t have to come to end so quickly.

      Please continue to pray for me as it has started to become real that I am away from home.  I’ve missed home a lot this weekend and am reminded of my friends and family everywhere I go.  Specifically, pray that I would be a light in deed and word to my family and co-workers but especially to 12-year old Georgia who is dear to my heart already.  Also, that my character and integrity would stand strong in the light of cultural pressures as well as a continued strong walk with God as I find it hard to be without a community near me.  God has been faithfully teaching me that His hand is steadily guiding me and He will never abandon me.  Thank you for your prayers and support!