Tuesday, April 29, 2008
This morning we got to tour the biggest Cathedral in Germany. It was the only building still standing during WWI in the city of Cologne. This afternoon was more adventurous. We split up and I went to a Modern Art museum which has the third largest collection of Picasso paintings (and even some sculptures) who is my favorite artist. The others went to a Roman remains museum next door. After a little trouble trying to find a locker for my bag I was on my way to see some amazing Picasso paintings. I asked a lady where the Picasso section was and she started talking to me in complete German. I didn't want to be rude and stop her so I just nodded and then she started walking away. I followed her and she led me to four sculptures of Picasso. I went around and saw the sculptures by Picasso and saw the one and only Picasso Painting. I was extremely excited about the painting, but I was wondering where were the other paintings in the third largest collection of Picasso paintings. Then all of the sudden a museum attendant came up to me and asked me if I liked Picasso. I told him yes! He said something in German and I guess I nodded so he assumed I knew German. Then he asked me if I spoke German in German. I said, "no just English". He grunted and said, "okay, I'll start over." He went on to explain that their collection of Picasso paintings had gone abroad and had just returned. \They were in this room in the basement waiting to be inspected for any damage while traveling. The museum was planning on having a huge Picasso exhibition in a couple of months. I snapped my finger and said, "oh man, I'm gonna miss it." He said, "well, if you follow me maybe I can give you a little look." we walked over to a staff elevator and he led me down to the basement. On the way down he told me that I shouldn't come up the same way I went down because we didn't want anyone else to know especially the woman sculpture by Picasso. He said she might cry if she knew that I was going to see the others without her. He led me to the room with all the Picasso paintings. I was in HEAVEN! He joked with me and said that we should work on stealing the second painting together. Then he left me there and told me I can stay there as long as I want as long as I don't come up the same way I went down. I got a private showing of the third largest collection of Picasso paintings!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
I’ve just returned from Galway, Ireland which is on the Atlantic Ocean side of Ireland. We stayed in two bed-n-breakfasts while we were there. The one I was privileged to stay in was called The White House. Our room window overlooked Galway Bay… it was beautiful. The day we arrived we all went to this fancy Italian restaurant where we all ate to our hearts’ content. YUMMY! When we got back the bed-n-breakfast one of the boys, Chris, came into the room I was standing in, got down on one knee, handed me a rose that was drawn on a little piece of paper, and asked me if I would be his date to the Pick-a-date on Valentine’s Day. I was the second person to get asked!! The next day we visited a mission organization in Galway, and then we went and explored Connamara which is a rocky area which is quite different from the landscape of the east coast where we are living. We drove to a bubbling stream and we got out of the bus to take pictures. It was very very muddy there and I fell… needless to say I was had to explain why the back of my pants were brown. J We decided to stop at this hotel to use the restroom but to our dismay the hotel was closed for renovations. Luckily one of the members of our group was brave enough to ask one of the construction men if we could use the restroom. He said of course… but what he didn’t know was that there were thirty of us who had to go. They laughed and laughed at us as we kept piling in. The walls of the stalls were freshly painted so some of us got paint on us. It was truly a funny experience.
We went to visit Bunrady Castle where we received a tour. It was the first time I had ever been inside a Castle. After our tour we wondered around Fowler Park until dinner time. For dinner we went back to the Castle and attended a Medieval Banquet. We had four courses. The first on was soup, then we had barbequed ribs, then came the grilled chicken and vegetables, and last but not least we had strawberry cake for dessert. It was so fun. All the people were dressed in Medieval clothing and sang us songs while we ate. Brian our bus driver taught us a chant that Irish people say at Rugby matches. He says Ogie, Ogie, Ogie and we respond with OY! OY! OY! as loud as we can. (The first time we were taught this Brian was driving and a bird flew into our windshield.) We did this three times during the Medieval Banquet. As we left a man was standing at the doorway playing the bagpipes.
We also went to visit the Burren which is a geological phenomenon. Basically it is a limestone desert. All you see for miles is limestone except the occasional green you see popping up through the cracks of limestone.
On one of the last night we were there, four of us went to a pub to listen to some live music. It was a blast. Then on our way back my friend Rob and I decided to check out the Atlantic Ocean. It was low tide and dark. There only two colors on the ground beneath me, dark and light. I decided I needed to stay away from the dark stuff because it was probably seaweed and I didn’t want to get that all over my shoes. But what I didn’t know was that the light areas on the ground were little puddles of water. Rob got ahead of me and turned around and asked why I was stepping in the puddles only? I laughed and said that I thought I was doing the opposite and keeping other stuff off it. When we finally reached the waters edge a lot of memories came flooding back to the times I went shelling on the shore of Sanibel Island, Florida at 5 in the morning with Brenda. I was amazed at how far the water retreats in low tide. I remember being a little scared my first time to walk out there because I was walking into what was the Sea the day before. I missed that feeling but God was so gracious and allowed me to have another experience all of my own in Ireland.
We went to visit Bunrady Castle where we received a tour. It was the first time I had ever been inside a Castle. After our tour we wondered around Fowler Park until dinner time. For dinner we went back to the Castle and attended a Medieval Banquet. We had four courses. The first on was soup, then we had barbequed ribs, then came the grilled chicken and vegetables, and last but not least we had strawberry cake for dessert. It was so fun. All the people were dressed in Medieval clothing and sang us songs while we ate. Brian our bus driver taught us a chant that Irish people say at Rugby matches. He says Ogie, Ogie, Ogie and we respond with OY! OY! OY! as loud as we can. (The first time we were taught this Brian was driving and a bird flew into our windshield.) We did this three times during the Medieval Banquet. As we left a man was standing at the doorway playing the bagpipes.
We also went to visit the Burren which is a geological phenomenon. Basically it is a limestone desert. All you see for miles is limestone except the occasional green you see popping up through the cracks of limestone.
On one of the last night we were there, four of us went to a pub to listen to some live music. It was a blast. Then on our way back my friend Rob and I decided to check out the Atlantic Ocean. It was low tide and dark. There only two colors on the ground beneath me, dark and light. I decided I needed to stay away from the dark stuff because it was probably seaweed and I didn’t want to get that all over my shoes. But what I didn’t know was that the light areas on the ground were little puddles of water. Rob got ahead of me and turned around and asked why I was stepping in the puddles only? I laughed and said that I thought I was doing the opposite and keeping other stuff off it. When we finally reached the waters edge a lot of memories came flooding back to the times I went shelling on the shore of Sanibel Island, Florida at 5 in the morning with Brenda. I was amazed at how far the water retreats in low tide. I remember being a little scared my first time to walk out there because I was walking into what was the Sea the day before. I missed that feeling but God was so gracious and allowed me to have another experience all of my own in Ireland.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
It's been awhile
First of all, I apologize for my lack of updates. We were traveling in Galway, Ireland for a week were we had no internet access, then when we returned I fell ill and have just now recuperated. I will post an update shortly. Thanks for your patience!
Amanda
Amanda
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Last week we visited a place called Newgrange. Newgrange is a passage tomb and is considered the oldest architectural site in the world. It is dated to be created around 5000 B.C. which means it's older than the Pyramids. We were blessed enough to be able to go inside the tomb and look around. Just outside of the tomb is a rock that is reported to be the most photographed rock in the world. Although it was completely incredible to be able to witness this firsthand, it was frigid cold out due to the fact that we were on top of a hill where the wind seems to be at it's highest velocity. I will add pictures of our trip soon.
Care Package Suggestions
Jolly Ranchers, Equate Allergy Pills (Cheap Wal-mart brand... non-drowsy), Ice Tray (Irish don't use ice for anything), decorative socks (one's you can buy at the dollar store), USB drive (it doesn't have to hold much) or a CD-RW cd (so I can transfer work from my computer to a community computer with no internet), Stationary, Mint Gum... This is just a suggestion, not thing more :)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Meeting Bono... ;)
I have had an eventful few days since I last wrote on my blog. As you can see by the pictures, we have traveled to places extremely beautiful and learned a lot of stuff. Thursday we went to Glendalough which is situated in a valley of the Wicklow Mountains. The front of the valley holds 11th- 12th Century monastic settlement remains. This settlement was started by Saint Kevin. There are several interesting urban legends surrounding St. Kevin and this monastic settlement. One for example is that St. Kevin approaches the King of the Providence about a piece of land to build his settlement. The King not realizing that St. Kevin is a Saint agrees that if he heals a lame duck then he can have all of the land that the duck flies over. St. Kevin picks up the duck and throws him into the air and it takes off. The duck circles the Glendalough valley and comes back. The King sticks to his word and grants him the land. It was built long before the 11th century but until the 11th century wood was used to build the community and in the 11th century they began to use stone. After taking a tour of the monastic settlement remains we took a hike into the Wiclow Mountains. Beautiful beautiful beautiful!!
Friday afternoon we were given five Euro to visit two coffee shops by taking the DART to two different stops between Greystones and Dublin. My friend Bridget and I went together. We got off the DART at Booterstown because I thought the name sounded funny. We walked a little ways and couldn’t find a coffee shop. (We did find the Church of Ireland, it was so cool) So we stopped at a pastry shop to ask for directions to a coffee shop. The lady led us to a shopping center. We went into the first building we saw and looked around. We saw a McDonalds but no coffee shop until I looked up and saw people sitting on the second floor drinking out of coffee cups. I told Bridget we found a coffee shop. Come to find out it is located in the underwear section of this big department store. It was called Café Melt. Funny huh? Anyways, as we were leaving we saw a sign for the DART station. We followed the sign and it led us to a different DART station from which we had come, so that meant that we had walked into a different city altogether. We looked at the schedule for the DART and realized we would be able to get back in time if we got on the DART and found another stop. We decided to stay in Blackrock and find a coffee shop there. We did and when we approached it we saw another group of girls sitting there from Taylor. We stayed there and drank mango kiwi smoothies. Then we caught the DART and came back home.
The weekend was rather uneventful. I studied a lot. By Sunday I was ready to get out of here. I went to this really contemporary Church called Hillside. We sang songs we sing in America like “How Great is Our God” and “Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord”. After Church I decided to take a walk along the beach. It was a beautiful day! So many people were out with their doggies.
On Monday things got much better. We got to go on a hike up this mountain in Dalkey, Ireland. We got to take our pictures in front of Bono from U2’s house as well as Enya’s house. In fact when we raised our cameras over the tall fence to get better pictures of Enya’s house we realized there was a gardener working on the yard. Seeing it odd that twenty or so cameras were suddenly appearing above the fence the gardener began to smile for the pictures, only we didn’t know this until we decided to look at the pictures we took. Once we reached the top of the mountain the view was worth all the toil and sweat to get up the mountain. You could see the Irish Sea and the Wicklow mountains and sun rays were bursting through the clouds… so beautiful! A couple of us took pictures like we were Jack from the movie Titanic when he said, “I am King of the World!”
Today is kind of blah. It’s rainy, cold, and cloudy. So I think I’ll just stay in and study… tonight we are going to learn Irish Dance! YAY!
Friday afternoon we were given five Euro to visit two coffee shops by taking the DART to two different stops between Greystones and Dublin. My friend Bridget and I went together. We got off the DART at Booterstown because I thought the name sounded funny. We walked a little ways and couldn’t find a coffee shop. (We did find the Church of Ireland, it was so cool) So we stopped at a pastry shop to ask for directions to a coffee shop. The lady led us to a shopping center. We went into the first building we saw and looked around. We saw a McDonalds but no coffee shop until I looked up and saw people sitting on the second floor drinking out of coffee cups. I told Bridget we found a coffee shop. Come to find out it is located in the underwear section of this big department store. It was called Café Melt. Funny huh? Anyways, as we were leaving we saw a sign for the DART station. We followed the sign and it led us to a different DART station from which we had come, so that meant that we had walked into a different city altogether. We looked at the schedule for the DART and realized we would be able to get back in time if we got on the DART and found another stop. We decided to stay in Blackrock and find a coffee shop there. We did and when we approached it we saw another group of girls sitting there from Taylor. We stayed there and drank mango kiwi smoothies. Then we caught the DART and came back home.
The weekend was rather uneventful. I studied a lot. By Sunday I was ready to get out of here. I went to this really contemporary Church called Hillside. We sang songs we sing in America like “How Great is Our God” and “Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord”. After Church I decided to take a walk along the beach. It was a beautiful day! So many people were out with their doggies.
On Monday things got much better. We got to go on a hike up this mountain in Dalkey, Ireland. We got to take our pictures in front of Bono from U2’s house as well as Enya’s house. In fact when we raised our cameras over the tall fence to get better pictures of Enya’s house we realized there was a gardener working on the yard. Seeing it odd that twenty or so cameras were suddenly appearing above the fence the gardener began to smile for the pictures, only we didn’t know this until we decided to look at the pictures we took. Once we reached the top of the mountain the view was worth all the toil and sweat to get up the mountain. You could see the Irish Sea and the Wicklow mountains and sun rays were bursting through the clouds… so beautiful! A couple of us took pictures like we were Jack from the movie Titanic when he said, “I am King of the World!”
Today is kind of blah. It’s rainy, cold, and cloudy. So I think I’ll just stay in and study… tonight we are going to learn Irish Dance! YAY!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
January 23, 2008
The past two days haven't been too exciting. We were in the classroom learning about Irish History. Today three of us went into town. I wanted to visit the e-baby store because next month is my nephew's first birthday. Then we went to SuperValu to buy phone cards and pens. Then we ventured into the local library. I read a magazine called the Pheonix. It made fun of American politics. On the cover it had a picture of Hilary Clinton and another important looking person. The person had a speech bubble that said something like, "so I see you just cried" and Hilary's speech bubble says "well it looks like it worked for you this time". It made me laugh. Tomorrow we are going on a field trip so I'm sure I'll have lots to update you on tomorrow.
The past two days haven't been too exciting. We were in the classroom learning about Irish History. Today three of us went into town. I wanted to visit the e-baby store because next month is my nephew's first birthday. Then we went to SuperValu to buy phone cards and pens. Then we ventured into the local library. I read a magazine called the Pheonix. It made fun of American politics. On the cover it had a picture of Hilary Clinton and another important looking person. The person had a speech bubble that said something like, "so I see you just cried" and Hilary's speech bubble says "well it looks like it worked for you this time". It made me laugh. Tomorrow we are going on a field trip so I'm sure I'll have lots to update you on tomorrow.
Monday, January 21, 2008
January 21, 2008
Today we went into Dublin and did a scavenger hunt. It was very windy. So windy in fact that it almost blew me away. Anyways, we took the DART into Dublin which is an electric train. The view was I believe was a glimpse of heaven. On one side you had the view of the beautiful Irish mountains and the other side you had a view of the beautiful Irish Sea. I took some pictures and just sat in awe of it all. Once we got to Dublin, we visited Trinity College and got student travel cards. From there we started our scavenger hunt. We ate at the Aroma Cafe. It was yummy! Then continued to find things on our hunt. Several times while we were walking around we had moments of clarity that finally, as if we'd waited all our lives for that one special moment, realized that we were standing in the middle of Dublin, Ireland. Flat Stanley didn't join me on this adventure today. I was afraid, with all the running and rushing around we were going to do that it would be pretty easy to loose the little guy. He will certainly join me on another adventure to Dublin in the future. Oh, before I forget, I have an interesting difference I have noticed between America and Ireland. In public bathrooms, the lighting that is used is a black light. They say that black lighting kills more germs, but it sure does provide interesting ways of seeing what you're doing in the bathroom. ;) Now we're back home safe and sound and I just took a nap... even though it's 9:55pm here. :) I shall update later when I have more to say. Love you all! MUAH!
Today we went into Dublin and did a scavenger hunt. It was very windy. So windy in fact that it almost blew me away. Anyways, we took the DART into Dublin which is an electric train. The view was I believe was a glimpse of heaven. On one side you had the view of the beautiful Irish mountains and the other side you had a view of the beautiful Irish Sea. I took some pictures and just sat in awe of it all. Once we got to Dublin, we visited Trinity College and got student travel cards. From there we started our scavenger hunt. We ate at the Aroma Cafe. It was yummy! Then continued to find things on our hunt. Several times while we were walking around we had moments of clarity that finally, as if we'd waited all our lives for that one special moment, realized that we were standing in the middle of Dublin, Ireland. Flat Stanley didn't join me on this adventure today. I was afraid, with all the running and rushing around we were going to do that it would be pretty easy to loose the little guy. He will certainly join me on another adventure to Dublin in the future. Oh, before I forget, I have an interesting difference I have noticed between America and Ireland. In public bathrooms, the lighting that is used is a black light. They say that black lighting kills more germs, but it sure does provide interesting ways of seeing what you're doing in the bathroom. ;) Now we're back home safe and sound and I just took a nap... even though it's 9:55pm here. :) I shall update later when I have more to say. Love you all! MUAH!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
January 20, 2008
Yesterday was what past ISPers call the “hell” day. I didn’t think it was that bad. I did get dizzy at lunch and had to sit down or I would have fallen. We took a tour of Greystones, the city we are living in, yesterday. We found out that there are more dogs than people in Greystones and more Vets than Doctors in Greystones. Then my roommate and I decided to check out the room we were assigned. Sure enough we were the lucky ones to get the Anne Frank room or as someone once wrongly named it the Helen Keller room. It’s called that because the view from the window is nothing but this side of another building. The other rooms have views of Sugar Loaf Mountain and the other of the Irish harbor. But because we live in the Anne Frank room Vance Maloney will take my roommate, Courtney, and I out to a fancy dinner in April.
Now it’s Sunday morning. Courtney and I got up at 7:30am to watch the sunrise over the Irish Sea. After that Courtney left me there to go running. I did my quiet times there while the waves were literally crashing against the rocks. It was amazing. I had a dog bark at me for a long time, so after awhile I started barking back and he stopped. Lol. The birds played me a beautiful sound too. In fact there were a group of birds that fly over my head and they kept making noises and one of them sounded like it kept saying “hey, hey”. It made me smile. The temperature isn’t that cold here like I thought it would be. The only thing is it rains a lot, so the longer you’re outside the colder it gets because you start to get wet and the wind then takes advantage of it leaving you cold.
January 18, 2008
I’m sitting in the airport with Flat Stanley at gate K11 waiting for my plane to take me away to Dublin, Ireland. I finished saying my goodbyes and things unspoken. My new friend Whitney Cerak said that if I was boy that she’d hit on me (it made me laugh)….Now Katie, Bridget, and I are sitting here talking about Katie’s recent trip to Thailand. I read them a passage that Jane gave me before I left. Psalm 91
Now I’m on the plane sipping coke and tomato juice and nibbling on a lemon… I know what you’re thinking…”how can she eat all those things all at the same time…gross”. Yeah, well I’m enjoying it J. Flat Stanley is sleeping in my coat in the compartment above my head. I need to be sleeping but my ears are going crazy making it difficult to do so. I pray for some super natural strength tomorrow cuz I’m gonna need it! The flight is going to be 6 and a half hours long, which is shorter than I thought. They are handing out our dinner now so after I eat I’m going to try to get some zzzzs. By the way, I have many people are praying for me back home for a certain issue I was worried about. Well, I have really good news. God is answering your prayers!! I’m not that anxious or nervous at all. God has given me peace!! I love Him!!
Yesterday was what past ISPers call the “hell” day. I didn’t think it was that bad. I did get dizzy at lunch and had to sit down or I would have fallen. We took a tour of Greystones, the city we are living in, yesterday. We found out that there are more dogs than people in Greystones and more Vets than Doctors in Greystones. Then my roommate and I decided to check out the room we were assigned. Sure enough we were the lucky ones to get the Anne Frank room or as someone once wrongly named it the Helen Keller room. It’s called that because the view from the window is nothing but this side of another building. The other rooms have views of Sugar Loaf Mountain and the other of the Irish harbor. But because we live in the Anne Frank room Vance Maloney will take my roommate, Courtney, and I out to a fancy dinner in April.
Now it’s Sunday morning. Courtney and I got up at 7:30am to watch the sunrise over the Irish Sea. After that Courtney left me there to go running. I did my quiet times there while the waves were literally crashing against the rocks. It was amazing. I had a dog bark at me for a long time, so after awhile I started barking back and he stopped. Lol. The birds played me a beautiful sound too. In fact there were a group of birds that fly over my head and they kept making noises and one of them sounded like it kept saying “hey, hey”. It made me smile. The temperature isn’t that cold here like I thought it would be. The only thing is it rains a lot, so the longer you’re outside the colder it gets because you start to get wet and the wind then takes advantage of it leaving you cold.
January 18, 2008
I’m sitting in the airport with Flat Stanley at gate K11 waiting for my plane to take me away to Dublin, Ireland. I finished saying my goodbyes and things unspoken. My new friend Whitney Cerak said that if I was boy that she’d hit on me (it made me laugh)….Now Katie, Bridget, and I are sitting here talking about Katie’s recent trip to Thailand. I read them a passage that Jane gave me before I left. Psalm 91
Now I’m on the plane sipping coke and tomato juice and nibbling on a lemon… I know what you’re thinking…”how can she eat all those things all at the same time…gross”. Yeah, well I’m enjoying it J. Flat Stanley is sleeping in my coat in the compartment above my head. I need to be sleeping but my ears are going crazy making it difficult to do so. I pray for some super natural strength tomorrow cuz I’m gonna need it! The flight is going to be 6 and a half hours long, which is shorter than I thought. They are handing out our dinner now so after I eat I’m going to try to get some zzzzs. By the way, I have many people are praying for me back home for a certain issue I was worried about. Well, I have really good news. God is answering your prayers!! I’m not that anxious or nervous at all. God has given me peace!! I love Him!!
My Mailing Address
My mailing address in Ireland is to your left!! Just thought you should know... I'll post my real blog up here soon! Love you all! Thanks for praying!
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