First slush

Ah the first drippings of west coast winter.

We had a wholesome centimeter of snow fall upon this morning and what better thing to do than grab our sleds (dusty and forgotten) and race to the nearest construction site and slide down the iced over roads! Oh the glee! Actually it was a lot of fun and despite the lack of snow, the sleds really got going!

We took my two nephews to try out real sledding (real as in a large fast hill) for the first time. I taught my 4 year old nephew the all important "bail" maneuver, which he used on his next run down. Unfortunately I forgot to mention that it might hurt a bit and snow could get up your jacket, which it did. He rolled off the sled, but quickly jumped up and lifted his shirt in surprise he asked "am I bleeding?!" ..he just had some snow on his stomach.

Yes sir, snow is fun even if it's a small amount. There's nothing like waking up and seeing that the white stuff has finally fallen. Glory be.

It's time to write.

Gettin' hitched on June 16th!

Oh the time!

I can't belive it's September.

I must appologize for my lack of posts. I've been lazy. That's not ok. But, here I am, and that's what matters for the here and now.

So since I last wrote things have been getting better and better. I'm getting closer to my housemates, myself and God. I've been learning loads even in the times I'm not being taught. Dublin is treating me well and I feel so at home here it's ridiculous. I keep forgetting I'm on another continent, it's just so comfortable.

I'll be honest and say it's really hard for me to write on this blog because this is just my life and I'm not used to writing about my every day. I mean, when I came to europe last time there was a lot of change and I had tons of experiences to explain, but here I'm just being myself in a city living out my everyday there isn't much explaining to do. It's beautiful but it makes for difficult writing. I'm just enjoying life. Really thats all I can say. So much is happening that wouldn't really make sense on a computer screen. It's just going well. I guess that's what I can say. Sorry it's so vague..

And Grumps..the guiness is as good as I remember mmmmm.

Thanks for the support of me being here!
Justine.

Lectures, Food and Friends.

Hello!

I have been busy! My days seem to just appear and then disappear in the blink of an eye!

Class has been excellent this week. We're learning about relationships in life (with everyone) and how they are the core to humanity..people need people, and families need to be families. It's very interesting.

We're also learning a lot about various foods. Tonight we made an excellent home-made lamb curry with homemade butterscotch for desert..it was delicious, but a bit spicy for me..the curry I mean.

I'm enjoying all of the people I share this massive house with and we're all getting to know each other better and better each and every day.

Everything's grand.

The Festivities

Hello anyone that's out there.

A lot has been going on the last 2 weeks, we've had guest speakers, we've cooked up storms (figurative storms..we've just cooked a lot..) and we've all been getting to know each other. It's been fantastic.

Our first week's studies were on the presence of God and the second week's was about finding your identity in this life. It's been really good on the whole. I'm not really sure what to write about because there's too much information to write down so far as what we've been learning and I'm not sure what else to say..

Well, I did go see a hurling match (a game that kind of combines, field hockey, baseball, and soccer..interesting thing to see) and Gaelic football, (like soccer, only the scoring system is different, there aren't any stupid offside rules, and you can pass the ball with your hands..) I really liked gaelic football.

Today we went to a cultural festival in Dun Laoghaire (pronounced "done leery") it was supposedly for a whole bunch of countries with things from each place, but most of it was indian. Interesting. Anyway, it was a good way to spend our first Sunday off. Back to school tomorrow!

On that note, I bid you farewell.

Dublin.

Well, after a long sleepless journey I have arrived, whole and intact.

I'm now sitting in "Insomnia Cafe" right across the street from our house. Many of my e-mails and skype calls will be made from here because it has free WiFi..it's going to be my second home of sorts I suppose.

I love it here. Meeting all the people that I will be seeing for 7 months, learning bit and pieces about Dublin and discovering the house has been wonderful! The house we're staying in has been vacant for about 15 years and was given a facelift before all the students arrived, it's still in a little bit of dis-repair, but I'm in love with it! 15ft ceilings, stained glass windows, mystery doors, cracked walls and ceilings and alike..I love it.

There are 14 students in this DTS. I'm just starting to get to know them and I'm pretty excited to learn more about everyone.

Today we took a little trip on the luas (the tram that runs through the city) into the city centre where our lectures will be. We toured around a bit trying to familiarize ourselves...it's going to be quite the experience learning the roads and allys..that will take a while..anyway, it's great. Our lectures are right in an area called Temple Bar which is the buisiest area in Dublin. I also went to phoenix park which is a 5 minute walk from my house and is the biggest enclosed park in Europe..(not bad eh?) I'm going to be doing a lot of walking there I'm sure.

Well, I'm done typing now. So that's all for today!

Justine

Well, I'm heading off!

Today's the day!

In a few minutes I am going out for breakfast with my family and then heading to the airport for final farewells!

Dublin, here I come!