a three hour tour, a three hour tour...

Hi everyone! Here's the second installment of my video blog :D
Sorry if the angle is weird sometimes, it's hard to know when you're using a built in webcam.
(side note: I haven't seen a lot of pictures of myself since my haircut and I have to say that I like it quite a bit in this video -- haha)





This week, I'm in the kitchen. I'm not doing anything incredibly difficult. A little inside joke for myself (because no one else here has seen Firefly) -- they have blue latex gloves to use. Like the creepy men who are going after River in Firefly. Creepy creepy creepy.


btw, I'm wishing that I had brought more movies with me, or maybe some yarn to crochet with, or more books. There isn't a whole lot to do on days off. And most people just stay in their rooms once they have a break from groups b/c it's so exhausting. There are a couple of bookshelves here, but I haven't seen anything that interests me yet. I need to practice my figure drawing more too, but I feel awkward asking people if I can draw them. So I just end up drawing teapots and the like.

what to do with a rainy day?

I spent today's rainy rainy day inside. Besides the Monday schedule meetings, there wasn't much to do, so I updated my portfolio website. The theatre galleries are new. Enjoy!

EDIT: My images are having trouble uploading onto the server. All the links work, but the images don't want to upload. Soooo, everything is still old. It's too bad too because it looks a lot nicer now with so many awesome pictures of my two most recent shows. I will try uploading them again tomorrow.

In other news: my life has been taken over by bacteria/viruses. My cold has definitely gotten worse. Bugger. I'm planning on going to bed quite early tonight with the hopes that I will be much better tomorrow.

rainbows

Now's the time for a story that I meant to tell on this blog and completely forgot about. Ready? Go!

Last Monday (so almost a week ago) we went to a Corrymeela Community members' home. Rachel and Collin, if I remember correctly. They live on the other side of Ballycastle. Their home is beautiful. Rachel designed it and they built it themselves, which is incredible. Since they are near the top of one of the hills away from the town, they have full views of Fairhead, Raithlin Island, and Scotland! They took full advantage of this and one corner of the house is entirely windows.

Besides having a great time with Rachel, Collin, their dog, Fly, and the rest of the volunteer gang; there was a rainbow. There was a bit of rain over Corrymeela and the town centre and as we drove out, we caught a glimpse of a rainbow behind us. Sadly, I did not have my camera with me at the time. It was gorgeous beyond gorgeous. The second full length rainbow I've ever seen. The first was, incidentally, in the UK. When we visited Stonehenge. This rainbow spread across the sky and dove into the sea and occassionally reflected itself into a double rainbow. Breathtaking.

This is why rainbows are a gift from God. A reminder that depending on which way you look at the storm and the rain and the wind, there is always beauty to be found.

Glamorous, ooo flounsay flounsaaaay

As I settle into this life of a volunteer at Corrymeela, there is a certain event that occurs where you begin to understand the hard work required of being a volunteer. This week was that event. I, with three other volunteers, had a group of primary school kids. They were delightful children, very unlike the Montecito children that were often in my care during my years at Westmont. Always respectful, many pleases and thank yous among the girls and boys. There were, of course, many times when scolding was necessary, but direction was always heeded. No serious problems. The teachers who accompanied were also wonderful. They often volunteered themselves to do the dishes for us, which after a long day was a blessing.

When you are hosting a group of children, there is not a lot of time for breaks. We serve them breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. The kids get free time usually directly after the meals, but we do the dishes. This means that you only sit down for about ten minutes in order to inhale your food. Immediately after dishes, there are activities that often involve running and yelling. Some of them involve battling the rain and wind. Such as the beach day where the rain blew in sideways as we walked to Ballycastle for ice cream. The last time I felt this exhausted was during the holiday season at Barnes and Noble. I think that I was so exhausted that I caught a cold. Huzzah. I probably also passed it onto my roommate, Jessica. We've called the germs our "third roommate."

I've had a good time getting to know the other volunteers. Went to the pub last night with a few of them. It was Lisa's birthday this week and so I bought her a tequila shot :) Working with the other three with the primary school was really wonderful. I thought we worked very well together, easily taking on roles and helping each other out without needing to ask. I feel like I've really gotten to know the volunteers on my team. It was not very easy to get to know everyone right as I arrived and I've soon realized this is only because everyone is busy all the time. There isn't time to chat in the middle of sessions and duties. Hosting groups is more than a full time job with 10-14 hour days. Coventry, the house where all the volunteers live, is a lovely place. Though I've noticed there is an odd sense of unsociability to the building. The volunteers do not often spend a lot of time in the common areas. I whole heartedly admire the long term volunteers. Their job here is not easy. I've only had one week of hosting a group and it's hard to imagine doing this for a year. Especially once the summer program starts in July. Apparently, there will be 192 children at Corrymeela the first week of the summer program.

I have the weekend off, which is very nice. I've convinced Jessica that she will watch Star Wars with me before we leave. She's never seen them before, which should be a crime against humanity. We watched A New Hope earlier today and will probably watch Empire Strikes Back tonight.

terrible death whiny

If I intend on doing a video blog, I can't help but think of Dr. Horrible and the maniacal laugh. Enjoy this little unrelated clip.

btw, I watched Dr. Horrible with my roommate Jessica. It was fun. In only a few weeks I will hopefully infect the rest of the volunteers with Joss Whedon's brilliance, which will then spread to the rest of the world. Haha.

so that's, you know, coming along

Video blog time! A short little ditty. Tours of the volunteer house (it's called Coventry) will be coming up this weekend!

Ti, a drink with jam and bread

I need to cut back on my tea intake. I feel so very awake right now and it's almost pumpkin time.

more departures and arrivals

Corrymeela! I am here!


There are recgonizable features, like Scotland in the distance, Fair Head on one side, the main building that everyone calls "the House," the tea, and the green. So much green.

What is not familiar are the people and the names and Coventry. Coventry is the volunteer building. Large lounges, decent rooms, excellent shower, a kitchen, a computer room, and a elevator. Oh, and did I mention Ikea? Coventry is FULL of Ikea. There are very few things that are not from Ikea in this building.

I'm in that awkward phase of not knowing what I'm supposed to be doing and not knowing who everyone is and just not knowing. I don't like to not know things. This place will certainly be a learning experience. It is very odd being on the volunteer side of things. I am the new face trying to find a place. On Eng Sem, we were a new group to Corrymeela, but we knew each other (so some extent) and we were familiar with the routine of moving place to place to place to place. As a group, you know where you are.

Tomorrow I am to do housekeeping 10a-3p and reception 5-9p. I don't know what I'm supposed to do for housekeeping and I'm told that reception on Friday evenings is very easy because almost no one calls.

Last night I hung out with Ruth and her friend Allyson. They made pasta for dinner and we watched Dr Horrible's Commentary: the Musical! which is currently stuck in my head. I had spent the day with Ruth walking all over Oxford, back and forth, forth and back, up and down, and side to side. Needless to say, I was tired. We also watched a few episodes of South Park online about Mormonism, Scientology, and the Jonas Brothers. The episode of the Jonas Brothers ended with a giant Mickey Mouse floating over Denver breathing fire. Terrifying? Yes. But you should watch it because it's very funny.

arrival to Oxford

Today seems long. Probably because two days have been smashed into one with the time change. I slept four hours on the plane and watched two movies: "Last Chance Harvey" and "The Young Victoria." Plane ride went smoothly, though we did land about a half hour late after taking off a bit late. I met a very nice Oxford undergrad student named Milo on the way to Oxford. He had flown in on my plane and was headed to the same place. He had come from LA because his girlfriend just graduated from Azusa Pacific and he went to the ceremony. Small world indeed.

I spent some time with Ruth and her Medievalist friends. We had a lovely dinner of Thai food and drinks at a pub called The Turf. (Mom -- they loved your cookies btw) I chatted with Robert from Corrymeela this evening and we arranged for him to pick me up at the airport because he will be in Belfast that day. This is a relief because the buses and train I was going to take are the last services of the day and there's the question of "what do I do if I miss one?" He also gave me a rundown of the next few weeks. I'll be doing housekeeping the first few days and early next week I will be working with 3 other volunteers to teach/do group activities with 26-27 primary schoolchildren. This will be interesting. Another week, I'm doing kitchen duty and I will be hosting a group on my own the first weekend in June. That's all I can remember from his rundown.

I think sleep is a good idea at this point.

a root of all stress

Please pray that God would somehow provide the funds needed for this trip. As the time draws nearer, the expenses list seems to grow, and so does my level of stress...

I've recently been in contact with the Volunteer Coordinator at Corrymeela and am all set with the details of getting to Ballycastle and Corrymeela. I can't believe I'm about to go. There's so much I still need to do and my procrastination this week has not helped. Le sigh.

the countdown begins

One week from now, I will be on a plane headed for England.

It seems quite strange. How time has flown this month. This week will be filled with making lists and having questions buzz round and round my head like:
where did I put my power converter?
how do I get from the Ballycastle bus stop to Corrymeela?
will I be able to afford my hostel in Dublin?
will I manage to pack under 44lbs?
will I be able to make my student loan payments while I'm gone?
I may be going to a community, but will I truly discover community?

I'm looking forward to my time there. I'm grateful for the break from B&N. I have no idea what to expect, which makes me a little nervous. Or a lot nervous. I'm so very detail oriented and the not knowing part is challenging. But it is those challenges of life that make us better people, right?