Updates!

Since we’ve been a bit delayed on the blogging I figured I’d just summarize a few things we’ve been up to in the past month or so.

Newgrange
In early November we spent a lovely (rainy) Saturday at Newgrange, an ancient burial site dating back to 3000BC (making it older than the Pyramids, Stonehenge, and probably the oldest thing I’ve ever seen!).

Appearing to be a giant dome-shaped mound of earth Newgrange isn’t overwhelmingly visually stimulating, but it does have some interesting tid-bits. The stone wall surrounding the site is quite unique in that the rocks used were sourced from 70 miles away, and this was well before the invention of the wheel, meaning that they were all somehow transported uphill from 70 miles away. Also, as you can see, there are certain stones which have the ‘swirly’ art on them, which no one really knows the meaning of, but it is interesting none-the-less.

The coolest part about Newgrange is the inner tomb, which is the purpose of its existence. The tour lead us inside the tiny opening, slightly uphill, into the inner chamber where the ashes of the dead were laid to rest. The construction was so precise that light only hits the tomb area once a year on the sunrise of the winter solstice for 17 minutes. Apparently there is a lottery and thousands of people apply to visit for that day.

Overall it was worth a visit, though if you do, hopefully you get a different tour guide than us - Brayden was not fancying him at all! He kept using the exact same really obnoxious phrases like ‘while we can not know the exact meaning of blah blah blah, we speculate that blah, because of blah, though this is just speculation and we can not truly know.’ And he literally used that set up for every element of the site. Otherwise, it was pretty cool!

Glenn’s Parents Visit
Next up, Glenn’s parent came to visit the week before Thanksgiving. Not too much to say here, though we spent a nice Friday night with them, taking the Jameson Distillery tour (interesting but not quite as nice as Bushmills) and an amazing pub dinner (which confirmed my love for home-made pot-pies).

As you can see we were all very focussed at the Jameson tour (G’s parents to our right).

The highlight of the tour was when Brayden and Glenn’s mom were selected to do the Whiskey tasting test of a bunch of different Whiskeys. I’m sure they enjoyed!

Me Racing
There’s me racing again. Brayden came to cheer me on at the Dublin Intermediate (4K) Championship race. It was exciting because I won my 1st individual medal! A bronze, but still good! We got team gold for the overall once again so everyone was really happy (and cold!). I’m also setting the stage for Brayden to be Michael Phelps for Halloween sometime, as I’ve got 7 on the season so far, so just a few more to go for his costume!

Thanksgiving
This year was a very weird Thanksgiving as of course the Irish don’t celebrate our great holiday. It started out with the girls at work surprising me at lunchtime with an assortment of American snacks. Then, since the guys had bball practice we decided to cook breakfast for dinner and had bacon, eggs, and toast – weirdest. Thanksgiving. Din. ever. Luckily we were invited by their coach Dave, and his wife, Sue, to have a big Thanksgiving feast the next night, Friday. They actually out-did themselves and represented the Irish quite well (having 3 different kinds of potatoes). It was a great feast!

Me, Brayden, Glenn, and our friend Franzie. As you can see they, unlike us, get more than 4 tv channels, which means we could even watch football on our Thanksgiving!

The Bachelor Party!
A week or so ago we were graciously asked to host a bachelor party for one of Brayden and Glenn’s classmates, Jehan (French). Although it was my 1st bachelor party, I’m thinking it was quite atypical, as it was mostly girls! The group is so diverse because most of their class is international, so that always makes for an interesting mix. Glenn and I prepared the decorations, making cut out letters spelling ‘Congrats Jehan’ on our wall. Brayden and Glenn have taken a vow to leave it up all year... just a heads up for any visitors! Everyone had a great time at the party, and it culminated in an intense snowball fight!

Weather & Politics Update!
I wanted to touch briefly on the 2 topics that Irish people discuss the most, weather and politics (with potatoes a close 3rd). While I have been cold since the day I set foot here in August, the real icy weather really set in about a month ago. Apparently it was the coldest November in quite some time and they got maybe the most/earliest snow ever! It started snowing around Thanksgiving and lasted on and off for a week and a half. Overall they only got a few inches each time, but they are so unprepared for it- I have never seen roads so bad! There were literally miles of ice-skating rink roads! One positive side effect was getting a few days off from work (though we really couldn’t go anywhere). The negative side was that we have broken into a water shortage emergency. Apparently Irish people like to leave their water running to try and prevent their pipes from freezing (an interesting technique, especially since no one pays for water...). This led to the water ban that has been in effect from 7pm – 7am for the past few days... not cool. On to politics. I actually don’t have much to say here, but I’m sure you’ve all heard about whats going on here... the multi-billlion dollar bail out. It’s sort of sad because there is a real gloomy feeling because it’s literally everywhere in the news and radio etc. People are freaking out about it and there was a huge rally downtown the other weekend. Luckily in the midst of such a touch economical time we are able to find supporters for Habitat, and brought a nice little article to the Irish Times today, about yesterday’s launch of our new (my new!) renovation project. It went great, now down to work!

The Revival of the Local Programme!

As I previously mentioned the ‘local programme’ in Dublin has been dormant for the past few years. Habitat Ireland has instead been sending groups of volunteers abroad to spread the message and build homes in impoverished communities around the world. Meanwhile Ireland has felt the recession as much, if not more, than us in the States. In the 3 months I’ve been here I can say I have not witnessed any new construction in the greater Dublin area (pop 1.6mil). This is quite different from where I last worked in Bellevue, WA where there were at one time 14 cranes in a city of 120,000. Anyways, my job of course as the Local Programme Manager is to revitalize/bring back the Local Programme in Dublin. I am so happy to announce that we finally have our 1st “big” project! As you can see below I have my work cut out for me!

Being that Dublin is such an old developed city, renovations are much easier to come by than new building opportunities. This is why we have partnered with Dublin City Council to renovate derelict, abandoned properties that diminish the local neighbourhoods. This particular building is actually quite the find. I’ve looked at a lot of potential properties around the city ranging from a tiny 3 room cottage with an outhouse, to this historic-front old townhouse residence. The cost benefit is really amazing as there are no significant structural repairs necessary. With a lot of cosmetic work, a new kitchen, new bath, they will be really beautiful homes.

The building is comprised of 6 units: 3 two-story 3-bedroom townhomes, with 3 daylight basement 1-bedroom apartments below. The unit on the left (and apt below it) has already been privately renovated and is actually a lovely home. I now have the other 4 units to renovate and turn into HFH homes. One of the main initial hurdles is that the townhome on the right side has been completely over-run by pigeons for the past 2 years; meaning that there is pigeon excrement, feathers, and corpses on almost every inch of the interior.

House of Horrors!

This presents a number of health and safety issues however after professional fumigation and cleaning services it will be ready for volunteers, tradesman, and the families to begin work on site. The Family Selection Process and the Family Training Programme are also on my plate. This means finding compatible low-income families from the city housing waiting list who want to partner with Habitat (i.e. contribute 250hrs) and qualify for our pre-arranged no-interest bank loan. It is a really great opportunity for families who would otherwise never be able to become homeowners. These homes in particular, in a great location in Dublin, will be a huge asset.

Note the high ceiling moulding... so much potential!

I am sooo excited about starting this project, but for the purposes of contrast/irony I thought I would display for anyone who hasn’t seen, my last 2 projects.

Quite different...

Halloween

First sorry for the lack of posts recently. Who knew doing a masters program and playing for two basketball teams would take up so much time?!?! I'll try to be better about the posting.

Anybody who knows Alisa knows she won't let Halloween pass quietly into the night. We started out by carving pumpkins. I improved quite a bit from last year. In fact I didn't even have to get Alisa to finish mine for me this year! It's funny, we always think our pumpkins are good until our friends (read: Alisa's friends) start posting theirs on facebook. Here are ours:

Alisa's has the menacing eye brows, while mine looks like Cartman.

The week leading up to Halloween was a bit hectic as Alisa was trying to figure out costumes for Sat/Sun nights for the both of us. Thursday afternoon she came up with a great idea, deciding to be a lumberjack. This of course entailed me being a tree. Although I do suppose it's a rather fitting costume.

For my costume Alisa went to a fabrics store and purchased a couple yards of plastic, brown, tarp-like fabric. I was quite skeptical of my costume to begin with, but Alisa did a great job creating it. She fashioned a hat out of the leftover fabric and taped scrunched up napkins all over it. It turned out pretty well, and several people attempted to climb me during the night. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds.

Alisa's costume was pretty good as well. She wore her work boots, some borrowed jean shorts and a flannel shirt. Then she made an ax from scratch with a pole, some cardboard and tin foil.

While we weren't quite as scary as we were last year...

Last year

It was pretty terrifying when Alisa axed me down!

Before going out we invited my coach and bunch of my teammates over. It was a great time. !

Clockwise from upper left: Construction worker (teammate), Joe Jonas (teammate), tree, lumberjack, nurse (coach's wife), lifeguard (coach), Bruno Mars (Glenn - roommate/teammate), Little Red Riding Hood (team physio).

10.10.10

Apologies for this being way overdue, I actually wrote it right after 10/10 but forgot to post it... anyways:

So 10/10 rolled around and overnight I got a year older. Ridiculous how that works, but none-the-less it was written and said to be the big 10/10/10 all around the world (here they do day/month/year). Anyways now begins the unfortunate month when Brayden absolutely relishes in being “2 years younger” than me. He will go out of his way to mention our ages as many times as possible before his birthday next month. Anyways this year was quite special being a once in a lifetime birthday. Since 10/10 was on a Sunday I took the liberty of having a “birth-weekend” instead of a “birthday” which is fair really.

Friday night we stayed in and watched that comedy ‘Date Night’ which was pretty funny. Saturday was a beautiful and sunny day and started with my track club workout in the park. Though really tough, a great way to start the day! Afterwards Brayden and Glenn (our new roommate and Bs long lost twin/best friend separated a birth - probly deserved a post but short story he's from western MA, went to Amherst, really nice and awesome etc) made a big brunch for us, it was grand. Then we did some errands, relaxed, they had practice, I watched my favorite new show ‘The X-Factor’ (yes I gladly admit that) and then the celebrating began! Our good Irish friend Tina came over so it was an intimate group of the 4 of us celebrating. This was perfect for me because I really really hate making a big deal over my birthday. We had a lovely night out on the town in Dublin as. (Don't ask why the guys have their shirts off, it has something to do with this Jersey Shore clip, I've accepted this is what I have to live with).



Sunday, the actual 10.10.10 was another beautiful day! And after another great homemade brunch the 4 of us went to this nice fishing village on a cliffy peninsula called Howth, north of Dublin. It was very lovely. We walked around and got some fish. It was grand. Then later Brayden took me out to dinner and we watched the X-Factor results show. Now that’s what I call a grand birthday!

Our Home-Gym & the Donore Harriers

If we haven’t already mentioned it, Ireland is really expensive. Shockingly expensive. For example it is the 2nd most expensive country in the EU for groceries (behind the Danes). One of my first serious awakenings to this sad fact was my attempt to join a gym. Shortly after arriving in August I began looking, surveying, touring and trying all the gyms in our area. To my dismay, the Irish have a different take on fitness, and there was really only one decent gym close enough for me to run to. 100€ joining fee + 79€ per month ($141 + $111/month). At home, I pay $30/month for a gym 3 times as large. I understand that it’s a different culture etc, however I could not live with myself paying that! And if anyone would get their money’s worth at a gym it’d be me. Anyways, this led to the birth of our very own home gym!

Luckily, we have this large area of our apartment that is just awkwardly large with no functionality or purpose... until now! As you can see we have state of the art equipment... hehe. Braydens coach, Dave, donated a weight bench and dumbbells, I got an exercise bike, mat, and ball, and there we go! I think by Irish standards we could probably charge at least 20€ a month entry, but I prefer having it be our ‘private’ gym.

Of course this gym is only a supplement to my running workouts, which are now getting pretty intense with my new club, the Donore Harriers. I was running in the park one day back in August when I clearly saw a track club doing a workout on a big beautiful grass track. I went back the same time the following week and the coach (who is the nicest/funniest little old Irish runner-guy ever) invited me to join. Since then I’ve been doing their track workouts on Tuesday, long run on Thursday, and hill workout on Saturdays. I joined the club to stay in shape and meet people, but go figure this club is serious about racing! Despite my strong desire to not race, I’ve gotten roped in! Two weeks ago we had our 1st race, my 1st XC race of my life... a 3K. I did pretty well, 4th out of 60+ girls and 1st for my club. But, unfortunately this means they want me to keep racing... ug! Apparently there is a lack of exciting news in Dublin and I even made the sports section of the paper! Hehehe.

Derry

After all the running around we did at Portrush and the Giants Causeway, we drove 20 minutes west to Derry. Being a big history enthusiast, I was more excited for this portion of the trip than the Giants Causeway (which was quite spectacular).

We arrived around dinner time, and while my parents took a nap Alisa and I headed out for a walk. We decided to walk around the old walls of Derry, which still form a complete wall today. The walls were built in just six years in the early 1600s. When they were built they were up to 50 feet high. The walls also have over twenty of the original cannons on them.

Free Derry Corner

The next morning we were up early and we went out for a walking tour of the city. Although it rained non-stop during the tour, I enjoyed it because the tour was so informative. Being too young to really remember the troubles first-hand, I only had a faint idea of the magnitude of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

While most people see the conflict as a religious one, that is not really the case. It is true that it is Catholics fighting Protestants and vice versa.

Several hundred years ago, as England was dominating the less advanced civilization of the time, the King made the decision to conquer Ireland. Because Ireland was mostly a clan-based society, this was not difficult. English settlers then moved to Ireland. As it so happens, the only successful English settlements were in Ulster County, which became Northern Ireland after the partition. The English settlers were all Protestant, and the native Irish were Catholic. What this conflict boils down to is not whether you are Protestant or Catholic, but whether you are a Nationalist (prefer Ireland as one nation) or a Unionist (prefer union with England).

Although national identity is the root of the conflict, there has been too much killing, too many families torn apart and too much discrimination to be solved quickly. Undoubtedly there is blame on both sides, and because the hatred is so deep-seated it will take several generations before any real progress is made.

The west bank is 97% Nationalist and 3% Unionist. The siege mentality still exists, despite the cease-fire being adopted in 1998.

Having given a (relatively) brief overview of the conflict, I'd like to give a little background on Derry. The walled portion of the city sits on top of a hill that was formerly an island. The River Foyle eventually shifted it's path, connecting the city with the mainland. The area where the river used to run became a boggy mess, known as the bogside. These undesirable mud flats was given to the Catholics, who built their houses below the city in the bog.

The view of the bogside from the city walls. If you enlarge the picture you can see some murals in the foreground.

Approximately 100,000 people call Derry home, with about 75% of the residents considering themselves Catholics. While they may make up the majority of the population, for a long time the Nationalists controlled the political, economic and social arenas. For a long time the police force was strictly Protestant.
With the minority holding the power and oppressing the poorer majority, it was only a matter of time until chaos broke out. The event that would bring this conflict to the eyes of the world and be immortalized by one of the biggest rock bands of all time happened in January of 1972.

Spurred on by the American Civil Rights Movement, approximately 20,000 Catholics gathered in Derry to march in protest against internment (imprisonment of Catholics without trial or charges being levied) and job/housing discrimination against Catholics. The Protestant government deemed this march to be illegal, and the British paratroopers were brought in. This was the most elite, best-trained fighting force in the British military.

As the protesters were marching in the bogside, the British soldiers panicked. Later claiming they were sniped at by a single shooter, the soldiers opened fire. By the end of the firing 14 people lay dead and 14 were maimed for life. Of the 14 who were killed, seven were teenagers. Worse yet, all of them were unarmed and at least five of them were shot from behind. One person, shot in the back of the head, was waving a white hankerchief. Forensic tests after the incident proved that nobody who was killed was armed.

A inquiry was quickly set up by the British government after the incident. This inquiry was deemed to be a whitewash by most everybody who was not British. Not until 1998 did the case get reopened. In June of this year, the last inquiry was finalized. It proved that the soldiers were not fired upon and that none of the deceased had weapons.

In 1998 a leap in the quest for peace was made when the two sides signed the Good Friday Agreement. While technically only a ceasefire, it is still a step in the right direction.

Throughout Northern Ireland one of the most popular forms of expression are large murals. The murals in Derry, all located in the bogside, are quite famous. Below are three of what we think are the most powerful ones.

The Petrol Bomber: Depicting the Battle of the Bogside in 1969, three day riots that pitted bogside residents against Protestant police.

The Saturday Matinee: Named this because riots were commonplace, it shows a young man about to take on an armored vehicle with a shield and a stone.

Bloody Sunday: Originally a photograph, depicts Father Daly waving a bloodstained hankerchief while a mortally wounded man is carried from the scene. The Civil Rights banner at the soldiers feet became bloodstained when it was used to cover the body of one of those killed.

Portrush & The Giants Causway

On the cliffs above the Giants Causeway

So begins the long weekend trip w/ Brayden's parents to Northern Ireland! Mr & Mrs B (Ted & Sheila) arrived Friday afternoon and are in town for 17 days! good for them right! I was able to get Monday off from work so the 4 us planned at trip up to the North. Their agenda is to then tour around the rest of Ireland and then come back to see us and Dublin at the end. It looks like we might also meet up this wknd for a bball tourney in Limmerick but we shall see.

Anyways so Friday after work we pack into a rental car and head off to Portrush, beginning an interesting driving experience for 2 reasons. One being the fact that Ted is 6'5" and Brayden is 6'11" thus we are all crammed to smigens in the European style car. The other being the fact that driving in Ireland is quite tricky due to the very narrow roads and left-side driving (this will play in later...). We stopped for din on the way and got up there to our lil B&B on the ocean around 11pm.

This used to stretch all the way to Scotland!

Saturday was a very eventful day! Portrush is adorable and has a great deal to offer, but the main attraction is the beautiful Antrim Coast which is home to the Giant's Causeway. The GC is a bunch of basalt columns that are shaped like hexagons and form an ancient link from the coastline, under the ocean, which used to connect like a bridge to Scotland! There is a cool old legend about how it came to be. I think it's like there was a giant warrior named Finn MacCool who built the bridge to fight his giant counterpart in Scotland for whom he was fighting over a girl-giant. Drama. Anyways it's a World Heritage Site and quite impressive! We were lucky enough to have bright blue skies and sunshine while hiking around the GC coast, until... the weather changed as it always does in Ireland... and we got caught in torrential downpour! Like torrential. Like we jumped in the ocean in our clothes wet. So we got in the car and proceeded back to the B&B to change clothes. Now recall the narrow roads and tricky driving... Ted accidentally brushes a curb on the way home. No big deal, I do it all the time. But we get a flat! It was actually pretty funny and luckily the people at the B&B helped us out since it was Saturday and no tire stores were open. Good Irish people.

So a bit later shall we say decided to try our luck over at the Bushmills Distillery. Most people think of Jameson as the famous Irish Whiskey (that distillery is literally like 3 blocks from our apt in Dublin) but Bushmills is the other famous beverage of the Irish. I wasn't too too overly excited about the tour but it ended up being really cool! I don't know how the Irish came up with such a complicated process but I'm guessing lots of taste testing along the way. Their logo is "making Irish Whiskey legally since 1608."

Dunluce Castle

Next we stopped at the awesome old ruins of a castle on a cliff, Dunluce Castle. It was really cool and the history there is that the owners finally decided to move out after the kitchen fell off into the ocean during a dinner party one night. Brayden took a particular liking to the 'Wee Cottage' next to the castle. One of the many things we quickly learned in Northern Ireland is their affinity for the word "wee" meaning little. For example, Brayden is not wee.

Wee!

Later we went to dinner at this really good (and trendy!) restaurant called 'The Bistro' in the harbour. I guess I did forget that it was Saturday night but I was quite surprised at how done up all the locals were. I didn't let my touristy jeans/sneakers/fleece caught-in-the-rain hair look interfere with the great food and company. Anyways it was a very exciting and eventful day.

After passing over the rope bridge.

Sunday we got an early start and headed over the famous Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. The weather turned stormy and it was very windy and ominous. Maybe it was the weather, not the shear drop below the narrow bridge, but a certain 7-footer was scared to dealth of the little rope bridge. Notice in the picture how I stop and pose for a pic while Mr. "My-center-of-gravity-is- a-lot-higher-than-yours" runs awkwardly to the other side (you can click the photo for further enhancement)... ok I guess the handrails were a bit low for him, but still!

Alisa bravely posing while Brayden scurries across!

Next we headed over to a wee pitch and putt (3 par) golf course. It was a great and really inexpensive course next to the beach, just lovely! While I have very minimal golf experience we all proved to be less than Irish expert golfers. There may have been two or three pars (1 for me!) but lets just say we all golfed about as well Mr. B drives (joke!). Then we had a nice lunch by the beach and headed over to Derry...

Weed-whacking or golfing? You decide.

Roommate gone

The other American who came over to do the same program as me is now gone. He went crazy, long story short there aren't a lot of people sad to see him go. Because he left Alisa and I now have an open room. If DBS fills the basketball scholarship then somebody will use it, if not we'll have a free room all year. DBS will undoubtedly attempt to fill the spot, and they likely will. But here's hoping they don't!

Address Again*

Today I finally got our address correct. I've asked the lady who runs the property for the address, and she gave me the incorrect address previously. Today she figured out the correct address, which is great....except for all the mail that I was supposed to get is still missing. Anywho....Here is the correct address:

Brayden (Or Alisa)
Block B - Apartment 3
Arbour Hill
Dublin 7
Ireland

Aran Islands!

After Alisa got out of work last Friday we took a bus over to Galway. We got there about 10 pm, which was about perfect for a Friday night. Galway is a small city, about 70,000 people. It doesn't have a lot of sights to see in the city per se, but it is close to a lot of great things. The other thing about Galway is that it is a university town, so the pub/music scene is very good on weekends.

We walked around the town, checking out the various pubs. Since we were both tired and we had a lot of plans for the next day we decided to just get some ice cream and call it a night. For a weekend trip where you want to "enjoy the pub scene"....or see some cool things (Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher, Connemara)...Galway is a great place.

Alisa with St. Benen's church in the background

Saturday morning we caught a ferry to the Inishmore. We landed on the island about 11 am and immediately rented bikes. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel and grabbing some picnic foods from the "grocery store", we set off to ride around the island. Actually, up and down the island is probably the right way to say it. Inishmore is the biggest of the three Aran Islands, it is 9 miles long by 2 miles wide. About 800 people make their residence here, while almost 2000 tourists come everyday. So there aren't a whole lot of roads.

Since most people go north toward Dun Aonghasa, we rode south toward St. Benen's Church. It is considered the smallest church in the world and measures just 3.2m x 2.1 m. It was originally part of a monastic settlement by St. Benen, a disciple of St. Patrick himself. Apparently it is considered to be a tomb-shrine to St. Benen and has stood unaltered for a thousand years. That's probably why they blocked the entrance. Oops!

I would have needed a sun roof to attend this church.

It was awesome, situated on top of a ridge that allows you to see the Atlantic on one side and the sea toward the Irish mainland on the other. We had the place to ourselves, which was great.

After St. Benen's church we continued south toward St. Enda's church and graveyard. The graveyard was alright but the 1500-year-old church was rather meh. Enda's story is much more captivating than his actual church.

 After the churches we headed over toward the Black Fort to eat our picnic lunch. It was a pretty impressive structure, the stone walls were 18 feet high and 13 feet thick!

Alisa peering over the edge.

The Black Fort was built along the cliff walls. It was probably about a 150 foot drop into the Atlantic.

After eating our picnic lunch at the Black Fort we headed toward the main attraction on Inishmore, Dun Aonghasa. This ring fort was built sometime in the Iron Age, and it's within reason to believe this fort was built a thousand years BEFORE Christ. The coolest feature of the fort though has to be the fact that it's not a complete ring. It's more like a capitol 'C' in that it is built next to a 300 foot cliff that falls off into the frigid Atlantic. 

The tour guide tried reassuring us by telling us that nobody has fallen off the cliff in the 10 years that the fort has been open to the public. I was less than enthused about the cliff and didn't go near it. The ground, being limestone with smatterings of grass, was very uneven. Plus....you know....heights and all.

After Dun Aonghasa we casually rode around the island, marveling at the stone walls that were everywhere. It's unbelievable really. A small island that has a current population of about 800 people is completely gridded by stone walls. The puzzling part of all this is that inside most of the sections was just grass. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that they use a section for crops maybe once every 20 years or so. I guess to let the nutrients in the soil regenerate.

A view from St. Benen's. You can see the stone walls in the distance.

All in all the Aran Islands are definitely my favorite place I've been in Ireland thus far. It was a great time, a little expensive, but the natural beauty we saw there was quite different than anything I've seen before. If you are thinking of visiting Ireland, the Aran Islands are a must-see.

Here is Alisa feeding a horse. What is not pictured is what happened after this horse rejected the grass Alisa offered it. After sniffing the grass, the horse promptly turned around and pooped in Alisa's direction. It was possibly my favorite 10 seconds of the trip!

Alisa and horse. Sans poop.

1st week of work...

So I made it through my 1^st week at my new job and all is going good so far... with a few minor exceptions which I’ll get to. Basically Habitat Dublin is fairly new and started up maybe less than 10 years ago. Because they too have been experiencing a financial crisis they haven’t been able to get mortgages for new home owners, nor been able to get land, thus haven’t been do any new homes recently. They did a few homes and some renovation work in the past but for the last few years their office (5 woman + myself now) has been focused on their Global Village Program, which organizes groups of Irish volunteers to do projects abroad. Anyways, so I’m the ‘Local Programme Manager’ and basically that means re-establishing our presence in Dublin and getting some local projects going! This will be a big challenge, and the plan is to start w/ some small refurbishment projects (lots of landscape work, cosmetic improvements like painting etc) and eventually do some legit renovations! I’m excited.

So the pics are of one of my 1^st projects which is for the St Vincent DePaul Charity. They have this old house on 30 acres that they use as a holiday/vacation home for elderly people. Basically groups come in and stay for a week, sometimes like boy scouts etc, but mostly elderly. Anyways the grounds are really cool, there are ruins of an old chapel and cemetery (actually a heritage site!), a river, farm, etc and we’re going to do some clearing, make some walking paths, gardens etc. and do some cosmetic work inside too.

In other news last Thursday my boss and I went up to Belfast to meet with the Habit Northern Ireland group and get some info/advice from them since they have a much bigger, more established program/programme lol. Anyways that was cool. Doesn’t look like there is a ton to do in Belfast but I did see the crane that built the Titanic! Lastly regarding Belfast I saw something else that shocked me.... ‘peace walls.’ I had no idea what peace walls were, how prevalent they are, and that they actually gate off different areas at night, weekends, or whenever there is tension I guess. I visited the Habitat jobsite and it was right next to a giant wall that almost resembled the external wall of a prison.... I don’t even know which side we were on! In other areas the walls have crazy graffiti murals. It was very, very interesting. Something cool about the Habitat branch up there though is that they focus heavily on diminishing the conflict in terms of group diversity, location of homes & families selected , public awareness etc. So that’s good.

Now to the aforementioned minor exception to my job going well... because I’ll be spending a lot of my time at job sites they want to get me a car. But by car I mean a mini-van (European standards- they look even goofier!) with a Habitat magnet logo! Yeah! So the other day my boss takes me into the park to practice driving... stick.... and on the left side of the road?!?! Anyone who has ever driven with me knows that this is a bad idea. A horrible idea. Needless to say I need a lot of practice. And my boss is going to look for an automatic, fingers crossed... I’ll keep you posted on my new ride!

Kinsale & Blarney Pics