03 September 2012

Small victories


I've made it through my first week in Belfast!

After a week of running around, visiting sites and learning how to do even the simplest tasks in the city, we escaped to the country for the day on Saturday. We visited the Loughinisland churches, gorgeous ruins which range from the 13th to the 17th century, on our way to the beach at Murlough National Nature Reserve.

Loughinisland:




Murlough:



 
Toes in the Irish Sea!

Sunday was our first day in our congregations, and I had a lovely time. After the service, a few of us went out for pizza, then Claire took me for a wee dander about the City Centre (a dander is a bit of an aimless stroll). We had a lot of fun. I even kissed a fish!

Claire and the "Salmon of Knowledge"

I was glad to get home and have the opportunity to put a few things in order at our flat in the afternoon, though. It's amazing how just a few changes can make a fully-furnished apartment start to feel a bit more personal. Today and tomorrow will be our last for orientation, and I begin my full-time YAV-ness on Wednesday. It looks like my schedule will be pretty full, so I'm excited to get into the swing of things!

At our Stony Point orientation, we learned about celebrating the small victories whenever you enter a new culture. So here are a few things that I'm currently quite proud of:
  • Any time I manage to lock or unlock my front door on the first try
  • Getting on the bus and making it down to the PCI offices without incident this morning
  • Cleaning and reorganizing the apartment yesterday afternoon
  • Capturing that massive spider

1 comment:

  1. Haven't read since your post about "We're in Belfast". My, you've been busy--sounds great.

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