My Gillian, Love

Well I just had one of the best groups of the year! It was our last group before our Christmas break, and everyone who came was a young adult. The group had amazing energy! I was paired with Gillian Groves, a girl that I've met a few times before. She came in a few months ago and spent the weekend with Kate. I was very excited to be with her because I remembered that she was a fan of the Carpenters and Neil Diamond, two of my very favorite musicians! Gillian is 24 and she lives at home with her parents. She is well taken care of, which is obvious when you meet her family. It is great for her to come here because she gets to be social, which is definitely something that appeals to her nature. Gillian is so friendly and sweet. She spent the weekend calling me Claire Love and singing "Forever in Blue Jeans" our shared favorite Neil song. Also on our "playlist" was "Oh Happy Day", "We've Only Just Begun", and "All I Want for Christmas is You." She was singing from the moment she came in the house to the moment she got in her sister's car today. Gillian is always in good form and is thankful for everything, which makes it so easy to be with her. She does, however, tend to spit quite a bit when she speaks, which takes some getting used to, especially at meals... She has cerebral palsy which keeps her in a chair, but she drives herself around and she transfers herself. It's amazing how strong she is! It was such a joy to have her. Although, I must admit that it wasn't so great when she patted my stomach at dinner on Friday and told me I needed to lose a few kilos (pounds). haha A true statement, yet unpleasant just the same. But other than that I was on cloud nine for the entire three days. We had dinner at the house on Friday for which I made a dessert. I made chocolate cheesecake bars and they were good, even though I couldn't find candy canes to garnish them with. (Seriously, Ireland sucks sometimes.) Saturday we went shopping and out to lunch in the afternoon and then we came back for dinner. After our meal we went to see Where the Wild Things Are in the evening. It was really fun to go out to a late movie, and the members loved it! We went to Mass in the village this morning and came back for tacos before everyone headed off around four. Gillian's sister came an hour early, which was sad. I didn't have nearly enough time to sing with her today. :)

Now I'm just cleaning up and relaxing. Most of us are heading home tomorrow, but I'm not leaving until Tuesday afternoon. I'm feeling really sad that I won't be home for Christmas, but I am so lucky to be able to spend it with my friend Audrey who is living in Germany right now. Her husband Andre's family was generous enough to invite me to stay with them for the holidays. :) So I'm counting my blessings and wishing everyone home a blessed Christmas!

Love you all,
Claire

The New Kids

Well it's been a while since my last post and I can't really remember if anything interesting happened before the group this past weekend. We had a kids group that started on Friday. I was really excited about it (although admittedly nervous) because it was a full group of new kids. I was paired with Perfect, a five year old with delayed development who sounded like a sweet little girl with a hard home life. Her parents think the devil touched her and with prayer and good behavior she will be healed. I can't imagine that in 2009 people still believe things like this. But I'll stop myself before I go into a rant. :P As the kids arrived, we were all quiet and slowly getting to know them. Kate was with a little boy named Donal who has a very rare disability called Ring 22 syndrome. He was such a beautiful little boy and he was so sweet and easy to be with. I was jealous! :) Lennart was with a boy named Sean with DS. After the weekend, Lennart was SO tired! Sean liked to jump on Lennart and kick him, etc. Lisa was with the cutest little girl of all time, Niamh (pronounced Neeve) who also has downs. I really loved her and I wanted to take her home! Erin was with Matthew who we've seen before. She was supposed to be with a boy named Brandon but he wasn't able to make it. A little boy named Phillip was paired with Jose. Phillip is the one that has the little brother Liam that I minded when we all met the new kids last week. Liam was so excited to come in and say hi, but when his dad told him he had to go home with them, Liam gave him the look of death and walked out. I was so sad I couldn't be with Liam all weekend! Kaitlyn had a boy named Cieran who's disability is unknown. Perfect didn't show up, and after a few hours we called her family to see what was up. Her dad said they weren't able to bring her that night and maybe not the next day. This sucked for several reasons. One being that I really wanted to meet Perfect and give her a good weekend away from home. The other being that they were taking a spot from another child who could use a break. We were able to get Danielle the next morning, however, and that was really good. Her mom was so excited to have a few days off, and I've been with Danielle before. Saturday morning we took the kids to Santa's Magical Forest of Dreams. It was just as amazing as it sounds! haha Danielle had a few meltdowns when we had to wait to go in and when we couldn't just walk all over the place, which is her favorite activity. But she did great, and the trip was a success. All of the kids really loved it, except for Sean. Danielle is a bad sleeper, but I knew that before we went to bed. Unfortunately she was worse than last time and I ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep between her waking up, screaming, kicking me, pulling my hair, and banging her head against the wall. She got up for good at about five that morning and for the rest of the day I was wrecked. Maybe I'm a baby, but I really have trouble functioning with little sleep. She was really having trouble being away from her mom and she really wanted to go home before we went to the cinema Sunday afternoon. In the past we have set it up so that in the cinema two volunteers would sit on the ends of an aisle and let her walk between them during the movie. I was so excited for an hour of sitting because Danielle is constantly walking around the house from room to room. About ten minutes into the movie, I see Danielle in the middle of the row giggling. This was a bad sign because she always does this when she's done something bad. I go over to her and I see that she took off her shoes, pants, and underwear! When I tried to put them back on, she pulled my hair. So I called Erin over and she held down Danielle's hands. This only made it worse because she starting screaming and kicking, including a straight shot to my eye. We finally got the underwear and pants on and I grabbed the shoes and pulled her out of the cinema. I was so tired and not happy at this point, but we went on the bus and she was perfectly happy walking around inside and exploring it, so that was fine with me. By the time her mom came to get her, we were all ready! I really like Danielle and I know how important it is for her to get the breaks, so I was happy to do it, but I can't imagine having her all the time. I definitely need to wait a few more years before I have kids. :P

My "weekend" was spent Christmas shopping and hanging out with the roommates. I'm getting a cold, which I blame on Phillip and his projectile sneezes. Today we had a meeting and our Secret Santa! I got a book and a DVD from Jose, and I gave Khadija a painting I got in Paris and some chocolate. I love presents! :D We're about to head out to Baldoyle to visit some members in a hospital over there. In the meantime I think I'll watch another episode of Glee. My friends back home told me I needed to watch it and I LOVE it!

I hope you're all enjoying the Christmas season! Love you!

My Heart is NOT Three Sizes Too Small!

Definitely not! I am so in the Christmas spirit these days that nothing can bring me down! :) Things here have been so crazy and it has been a good distraction from the fact that I'm here in Ireland and not home with my family, which is where I should be. And Neil Diamond's "Merry, Merry Cherry, Cherry Christmas" makes life that much better!

Last Wednesday our group started showing up a little before two in the afternoon. I expected the group to be an easy one, with the exception of my member, who I have met several times and I know to be difficult. Bernie O'Toole is twenty four years old and lives with her mother. She doesn't have the best home life and because of this she is a difficult person to be around. I'm not sure of her diagnosis, but she has some kind of intellectual disability. Bernie is notorious for constantly complaining and acting like she hates being here, when in fact she feels completely the opposite. Every once in a while you can see how much she really loves being here, and in addition to that, she always calls a week or so after a break here to ask when she can come in again. Knowing all of this, I mentally prepared myself to deal with all of the complaining and convincing her to do things that she truly wanted to do. Bernie called us around half two to be picked up from the DART station in the village. She greeted us with a smile and worked off her shyness in a matter of minutes. When we got to the house she was extremely chatty with me, painted my nails, and played Go Fish. I had no idea who that girl was and what she did with Bernie! She and I really enjoyed the night without any trouble, for the most part. The next day was a little rockier. I started to recognize the old Bernie more and more. But I think I did okay with giving her a little bit of tough love when she would complain. The thing with Bernie is, that a long time ago she realized that the only way for her to get attention was to complain or pretend to be sick. It's actually very sad. But I spent my time with her giving her positive reinforcement and not indulging her bad attitude. I think it was a success and we enjoyed the weekend. It was so strange trying to convince her to do things I knew she really wanted to do, and then endure the complaining out it after it was over. She also would cuddle up to me on the couch sometimes, which was so sweet. Friday morning during Mass at our house, I had to sit on the arm of the couch next to her. There was a foot or more of room between her and the person next to her and I asked her to move over a bit and she wouldn't. Then any time I would shift a little to get more comfortable she would grumble. I wanted to smack her! lol But instead I gently told her she could move over any time she wasn't comfortable....she never did. We drove her back to the DART station after a quick lunch and as she rolled her bag into the station she stopped to give me a big smile. That was thanks enough for me. :P

Aside from my experience with Bernie, the group that was supposed to be an easy one had a lot of chaos! David, Jose's member, got sick during the night and had to be taken to the hospital! He's doing ok now, but we were all pretty worried about him. Lennart was sick with a cold (aka Man Flu) and he slept most of the group. It was fine because Jose could hang out with Tony who was Lennart's member. It was a shame because we went to see "New Moon" and I know Lennart wanted to see that movie with us. He was Edward for Halloween after all! (Oh and by the way, I am SO on Team Jacob after that movie.) Mary, Kaitlyn's member, also got sick during the last night of the group, but she was ok after an hour or so. So the "easy" group was not so easy after all...

After the group was over, we all scattered to our rooms and awaited the cleaners. They came for an hour to clean up the major rooms for us. Kathleen and Khadija hosted a party for us volunteers and several other helpers of the break house, including drivers, cooks, and our handyman. The party began at seven and I think it was a success, although there weren't too many guests. I wasn't complaining, because we were so tired after the group. Gabriele came here that night from Milan to stay with us for a few days. We all enjoyed a good dinner and some wine. When the people were gone (after midnight! jeez...) we got some good quality time with Lele. Saturday was a day off. We had plans to go out to town, but the weather was so crappy so we all stayed in and watched movies. :) Sunday was the big Christmas social! Every month, CASA has two socials (one for each side of town). In December, we join the two sides together for a huge social! We rented out a conference room in Croke Park, Dublin's football stadium, and we filled it with all 450 of us! I had an amazing time, although I was really disappointed that my member, Shane, wasn't able to make it. Shane is one of my favorites! He's my age and he's deaf, but we had a lot of fun the last time he was in the house. He is able to read and write and sign a little, so communicating with him is easy. He was sick, so he didn't come to the social and I was so bummed. But I ended up just being extra help to other people, so it worked out. We started the day with Mass. The kids did a nativity play and I almost died, it was SO cute! Afterwards, we had a nice Christmas dinner with turkey, ham, potatoes, and stuffing. Mmmm! Then Santa came out, and Kate and I were asked to be his elves for our tables! We wore Santa hats and carried bags of presents. It was amazing! After the presents, there was LOTS of dancing! It was finally time to go home at around eight that night. Us volunteers went out with Lele for a few pints at his favorite pub in town. We came back and a few of them stayed up late, but I needed a good night's sleep so I went to bed around midnight.

Today is Monday, which means the cleaners will be coming in a little bit. I'll be off to the village for some reading and much needed coffee drinking. :) Love to all at home,
Claire

Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris.

I'm not sure who Thomas Gold Appleton is but I hope he's right! I have lots to say about my time in Paris, but I should rewind a bit and talk about Thanksgiving.



Wednesday morning, Kaitlyn and I ventured out to Tesco (the Walmart of Ireland) to buy groceries for the house and for our feast the next day. We were sincerely disappointed when we couldn't find several Thanksgiving essentials, the worst being pumpkin puree. I had been dreaming about my pumpkin cheesecake for almost a month, so you can imagine how sad I was when we couldn't find it! Later that day, Erin went out to a specialty store and found all of the things that we couldn't find! I was SO excited! That night we made some preliminary dishes to ease the work of the following morning. We made all the pies and a few other things. I stayed up that night until about 5 in the morning due to an unexpected and pleasant Skype call. (The time difference is so obnoxious!) So I woke up on Thanksgiving morning after only about four hours of sleep, but all of the energy in the world! I was so pumped to get in the kitchen and bake away! Us Americans stayed here and cooked and the Europeans went on a visit. We started drinking wine around three in the afternoon while we finished making our meal. Unfortunately I hadn't eaten much all day because I was cooking and snacking. By the time dinner rolled around at half five, all of us Americans were feeling pretty relaxed! :) The dinner turned out really well and it was so much fun to share the experience with Jose, Lennart, and Lisa who have never had a Thanksgiving dinner before. It was also Sr. Mary Fox's birthday and I think she enjoyed the day as well. I had plans to watch Christmas Vacation with my housemates and then talk to my family on Skype that night at 11, but because of the combination of lack of sleep, drinking generous amounts of wine, and lots of food made me so sleepy! I sent a message to my family saying I was sorry but I needed to go to bed! (It was around half ten at this point.) I woke up the next morning feeling crappy and I panicked about the fact that I ditched my family for a food coma! Jamie sent me a message saying that they waited for me and I never showed, so they apparently didn't get my message. I felt (and still feel) so bad! But besides the embarrassment of going to bed so early and missing my family, the day was a success! Being away from home during the holidays isn't easy, but having good people to spend them with is comforting.



The next day we all recovered from the day before. :) In the morning, we decorated the house for Christmas and wrote Christmas cards for the members. Later that night we went to the Swords house to decorate it as well and prepare for guests. In a few weeks we will be having a kids group that will consist of all new children members! I am very excited to have variety, and a little nervous to be in a group of kids I don't know. We had an open house for the new children and their parents, and we were each assigned a child and parent to show around the house. My girl didn't show up, so I spent the evening hanging out with Liam. Liam is the five year old brother of one of our new members, Phillip. He was quietly playing in the corner when I came up and sat next to him. Let me try to describe the cuteness of this kid, although I feel I won't even come close. He is blond haired, blue-eyed with glasses. He wore his school uniform of navy and white and little red converse! He took to me right away as I asked him about the dinosaurs he was playing with. We had so much fun with the dinosaurs. He had them fight with each other and he asked me what they were fighting about and I told him they were probably fighting over a girl dinosaur. He laughed at that and told me there were no girl dinosaurs. When I told him there had to be girl dinosaurs he looked at Lennart (the closest boy) and asked him. Lennart told him there were mommy dinosaurs and daddy dinosaurs and baby dinosaurs. He was so fascinated by that! When he was done with the dinos he picked up a toy gun and started shooting imaginary bad guys. When a few other volunteers started shooting back at him he jumped in front of me to protect me from the gun shot! When Khadija (my supervisor) told him to shoot me, he paused and then shot her instead! It was SO funny! When it was time to go, Liam was very sad to say goodbye, but the sadness melted quickly with a promise from mom of McDonald's. He turned around and lifted his arms up as high as they could go as an invitation for a hug. I couldn't resist how adorable that was, and even though maybe it's not prudent to hug a strange child, I gave in! I am so sad that Liam can't be a part of the next kids group!



We got home around half ten and tried to unwind for a bit. Lennart, Kaitlyn, Erin and I were headed to the airport the next morning at half four! None of us went to bed at a reasonable hour and boy did we pay for it. I woke up weighing the options of staying in bed or actually going to Paris. :P Paris won by a hair and I slowly made my way out of my bed and eventually out of the house. Our flight was delayed by an hour, but we weren't aware of that until we were already in line to board. So we stood there for an hour, and desperately wished we had known that was going to happen before we got out of bed! When we made it to the airport in France, Gabriele had been waiting there for an hour. It was soooo good to see him! We've all missed having him in the house. The shuttle to take us to Paris was outside waiting for us, and we all got our tickets and hopped on. Erin has been to Paris a few times already so she was accustomed to the way of the metro. I booked the hostel, but she got the information from me and then printed out maps. I also gave the name of the hostel to Gabriele. When Erin said, ok this is the way we go to get to the Young and Happy Hostel, Gabriele looked confused and told us that I gave him a different name. I sided with Erin and chalked it up to Gabriele being a spacey, Italian man. (No, offense.) We got to the Young and Happy Hostel (three metro rides later) and the guy behind the counter had no record of my reservation. We all groaned, with the exception of Gabriele who couldn't have looked smugger (not sure if that's a word, but it's exactly what he was!) I swallowed my pride and admitted defeat and tried to dodge dirty looks from my housemates who were being tactful about my annoying mistake. We made it across town and finally into the right hostel. The guy behind the counter told me that he gave away our reserved room with six beds and put us into a room with four beds. There are five of us! I wanted to jump across the counter and smack the guy! He told me we could either put one of us in another room or put a mattress on the floor. I decided that the latter was better and I offered to take the floor. Problem solved. We dropped off our bags and made our way out into the city.



As I walked the streets of Paris I got this overwhelming feeling of felicity (I've been reading too much Jane Austen. But isn't that a good word??) I feel like God sprinkled tiny parts of my heart in different countries when I was born and every time I visit a new place I find that missing piece! Our first destination was Notre Dame. I can't even describe how cool it is to be right there in the square looking up at the huge bell towers and intricate carvings in the stone. Gabriele and I sang some songs from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, to the embarrassment of the others. Couldn't be helped, really. We walked through the inside of the cathedral, which was beautiful, but not as impressive as the outside. After a sufficient amount of time by the church, we walked to the Latin Quarter where we were to meet our tour guide for a free tour of the city. It was four in the afternoon, getting gloomy, and raining a bit. This didn't do any damage to the big goofy smile I had on my face the entire weekend. Our tour guide was entertaining and cute. He's from England and his girlfriend is from Paris, so he moved here to be with her. He took us all over and told us several good stories, although none are really blog-worthy. We went to get some food at a market and settled in at our hostel. When I got ready for bed I realized that I had no blanket. So I went down and asked the lady at the counter and she told me she'd bring me one up in an hour. I was too tired to be mad, so I moped all the way up the three flights of stairs to my room and waited. She never came, so I went to sleep, on a mattress on the floor in the fetal position by the heater. Very pathetic! We slept in until 10 the next morning, which was a very good idea! We were energized and ready to go out and see more of the city! Our first stop was the Louvre, which we spent three hours in. We were told that if we wanted to see every piece in the Louvre for 30 seconds each, it would take 64 days without breaks for eating or sleeping! Isn't that insane!? So we saw as much as we could. I got to see the Mona Lisa, which was in a room filled of huge wall sized paintings. This of course made the Mona Lisa look tiny, but it was still cool to see! The Wedding of Cana is also quite famous and it was on the opposite side of the room. I also really enjoyed a painted that depicted the entire Passion of Christ. Luckily we were able to take photographs, so check out my Facebook in the future if you're interested! After the Louvre, we wandered down the Seine and over to the Arc de Triomphe. Gabriele went to the top, and us girls walked down the Champs Elysees. (I can't believe I just said that! So cool!) At the end of the busy street there was a Christmas market with lots of cool gifts and yummy smelling food. We broke down and bought chocolate pastries. Afterwards, we headed over to the Eiffle Tower to see the light show they have every night this year to celebrate its 120th anniversary. We were all starving at this point and after a lot of walking and arguing we settled on a cute little place near our hostel. I had delicious halibut and rice. Mmmm... We went home and went to bed, feeling full and happy.



The next morning started much earlier at eight. We had our breakfast and left Lele behind to sleep more. :P We went to the Eiffle Tower again so that Lennart could go up and we could take pictures. Then us girls went to L'Opera Garnier, which is the famous opera house in Paris that The Phantom of the Opera was set. It was SO cool! We only had to pay four euro to see inside. Unfortunately, the auditorium was closed, but we got to see the grand staircase (Masquerade!), halls, and foyer, which was absolutely stunning! We left to meet the boys at the Basilique du Sacre Coeur. It was on a huge hill with lots of stairs, but it was totally worth it to see the church and the view it looked out on. After some time there, we had a nice lunch, in which I had French onion soup. It was so delicious! We walked around the Montmatre area (where Amelie was filmed) and wandered to the red-light district where the Moulin Rouge is. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, the Moulin Rouge, that is. When we had our fill of that area (it didn't take long) we went to the Latin Quarter again and stopped at a cafe for coffee. An hour and a cup of coffee later, we sadly made our way to our hostel to pick up our bags and go to the airport.



We arrived at the Dublin airport at 11pm and ran through the place like they do in Home Alone (later Erin sang "Run, Run Rudolph") to make it to the half eleven bus home. We got there at 11:25 feeling so happy...until we realized the bus actually left at 11:15! So we pathetically made it over to the taxi area and passed our missed bus on the way home. :P



Today has been very lazy for a working day. The cleaners came yesterday, so all we had to do was have a meeting and prepare for the group tomorrow. I'm gonna leave now to watch Christmas Vacation with Lisa who missed it on Thanksgiving as well. In the words of Clark Griswald: "We're gonna have the hap-hap-happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny effing Kaye!" :)

My June Bug

Well it's been a week since my last post. I don't have too much to report, but I'll try to keep this interesting anyways.



I didn't do much last Monday and Tuesday, which were my "weekend." Because we are so used to having a three or four day break here and there we don't really plan much on the weekends that we only have two days off. Wednesday was a normal working day. Everyone had visits during the day, but Lennart, Erin and I had an evening visit planned. We took three members out to a pub to watch a World Cup soccer match between Ireland and France. Even though I hate soccer it was a lot of fun! I really got into it because towards the end France cheated their way into winning the match. It was ridiculous, really. But I didn't get home til midnight, so I was super tired! The next day was not as long. Kaitlyn and I went to visit Mary and Linda, two of our members who are notorious for talking. The only reason for visiting them at the same time is because they live in the same hospital. Kaitlyn and I ended up splitting up an giving them each seperate attention, which worked out nicely.



Friday was a very long day of preparation. Our group wasn't to start until seven or eight in the evening because people were coming up from Cork and Longford to join us. It was another Big Group, which means we had a full house in Malahide, a full house in Swords, and seven pairs in a bed and breakfast as well. I wasn't as lucky as I was last time, so I got to stay here in Malahide. I ws jealous of Kaitlyn and Lisa who went to the B&B because I remember how great it was! Anyways, even though we didn't start the group until seven, we were still scheduled to start at one in the afternoon. So we all were sort of slow and lazy about getting the house ready. It was certainly not ideal for any of us. The people from Cork didn't show up until about half nine, but we started dinner a bit before. Most of the people in this house were local. I was paired with June Mills. She lives in the Cara with Michaelena and Sean. I've visited there several times but I've never really spent time with her. I was a little nervous because the times I did sit with her she seemed to be in bad form. June is in her 50s and I actually don't know her disability. I think she has cerebral palsy, though. She uses a chair, but she can walk a tiny bit, which helps a lot in getting ready in the morning and things like that. She also doesn't talk at all, with the exception of fuzzy versions of "yes" and "no". June was kind of moody the first night. She was very tired and the dinner was too late for her. We sat in the corner and she dozed off. As soon as dinner was over we went to bed. The next morning she was in a much better mood. I was starting to see the sweet side of June, and I began to really enjoy my time with her. We all went to the Pavillions for shopping after we had oud our breakfast. June brought a lot of spending money with her, so we were able to find lots of fun things. It wasn't easy to bring her into the spirit of shopping, however. We went to Penney's (different from JC Penny's) and looked all over the shop. She was unimpressed with everything. I went through a list of things she might like and then I had a lightbulb. Shoes! The shoes she was wearing were a little worn, so I asked her if she wanted to look for a new pair. Her face lit up and it was smooth sailing from there! She picked out a pair of purple runners. Little did I know that by the end of the shopping trip we would put together an entire outfit of purple! We had a quick lunch and then met up with everyone to see a film. We were going to see A Christmas Carol, but for some reason they switched it to Up. I was fine with that because I missed seeing that one while I was at a meeting for Lourdes in October. It was so cute! Definitely one of the better ones I've seen with the members. We went back home and June changed into her new purple outfit. When everyone was dressed up and ready, we left for 1014, the restaurant owned by CASA. We rarely get to eat there, so it was a special treat. The food there is amazing! I went there with my parents last month and I had a pasta dish with eggplant. I was delighted to see that it was still on the menu. We didn't eat until half nine, which was another late dinner. June fell asleep a lot during the night, but she woke up when her meal came. :) By the time we got home it was almost one in the morning! June got her second wind and wanted to stay up. When I saw her start to nod off I told her it'd be best if we went to bed. I wasn't gonna stay up all night with her sleeping in her chair!



We were the first to get up the next morning. She was tired, which is what I think caused her to be quiet and non-responsive. I put on some music in the sitting room and sat with her for a bit. Finally I stroked her hand a bit and gave her a smile and said, "Come on June, we're gonna have a lot of fun today!" She looked up at me and smiled and then grabbed my hand. It was one of my favorite moments with a member.



After breakfast and a little bit of hanging out at the house, we met up with the entire group at the Grand Hotel for Mass and lunch. It was really nice to have Mass with everyone, and I got to be a Eucharistic minister, which I haven't done in a while. It was really nice. Another small reminder of being home. After we finished our meals, everyone gradually left to go back home. I feel bad for the people from Cork because they've had some serious floods there and many of them are going home to flooded houses. Keep them in your prayers!



Last night I was going to go to The George for gay bingo with my roommates but none of us wanted to go out. We were all so wrecked after the long group! So we stayed in and watched movies. I'm not sure what we have planned for the next two days. I might go in to Dublin tonight but that has yet to be confirmed. We work on Wednesday and technically Thursday, although us Americans are staying home and cooking all day long. There are four of us in this house and we're gonna have a proper Thanksgiving meal here! Now here is the part where you should all be jealous of me. Friday is a working day for us and our job is to decorate the house for Christmas! Sometimes I laugh at myself when I think that my job is tough. :P Then we fly out to Paris on Saturday! The rest of this month is going to be so much fun!

In case I don't write before Thursday, I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! May God bless you with many reasons to be grateful this year.

Love,
Claire

Neil Diamond Christmas

At the moment I am sitting in Insomnia (my favorite coffee shop here which ironically closes at 6pm every night...) with Kaitlyn and Lennart. The cleaners are at the house so we're hanging out til it's safe to go back. We just made plans for Paris! I am so excited to go there in two weeks! I have dreamt about going to Paris ever since I saw The Hunchback of Notre Dame! (And then there was the four years of French I took in school...) I wish my stay would be longer than three days, but I'm sure we'll get to see most of the important sites. It will be Kaitlyn, Lennart, Erin, and myself going and we will be meeting up with Gabriele for the first day. I can't wait to see him! It's been a while and we miss him in the house.

I can't think of a smooth transition into talking about the group so I'll just jump right in. The members started showing up at the house starting at half three on Friday. I wasn't too excited about this group because it consisted of all elderly people. Now before you get judgey let me explain why I don't like these groups. I don't like to group people by age because even though they were all similar ages, they all had different intellectual levels. But the activities we planned were based on ages, not abilities. I was with Dora, a very sweet woman in her 50s. She is very young at heart and loves to stay up late. Most everyone else went to bed early both nights and she was left with no choice but to follow. She really needs to be in a group that is more lively and energetic. But anyways, I'll move on. Dora has cerebral palsey which keeps her in a chair and has limited her voice to a soft whisper. That was my biggest challenge of the weekend. It was very hard to hear her a lot of the time, but she is very patient and she would repeat herself until I understood. Dora has an amazing personality! She loves fasion and is always wearing at least 10 bracelets. She is also unbelievably obsessed with Patrick Swayze. (Who could blame her?) It was so funny to hear her reaction when I tried to say that someone else was more attractive than him. "Oooooooh no! No way!" Kate let me borrow her iPod and we listened to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack both nights. She wanted "She's Like the Wind" (the song that Swazye sings) on repeat but after six or seven times I couldn't take it anymore! She bought his autobiography and we spent some time yesterday reading it. I was getting into it and now I want to read the whole thing! Male dancers have it rough...

The weekend was slow and long, but being with Dora was fun and I didn't mind. That's another reason why I like a mix of ages... it's good to have variety in the house. Anyways, shopping with Dora was the best. I normally don't like shopping with the members because most of them don't really enjoy it. But Dora loved to shop and she knew exactly what she wanted and was in and out of stores. Just the way I like it! We picked out some fun jewelry and other items. We went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox (a repeat viewing for myself) and most of the members liked it. When we got home Collie showed me the CD he bought. Neil Diamond Christmas CD!!! I was so excited, you don't even know. You just haven't lived unless you hear him sing "Silver Bells." :) I normally don't let myself get in the Christmas spirit until after Thanksgiving, but it's really hard to ignore all of the decorations everywhere and then the CD just pushed me over the edge! I'm trying not to think about missing out on my first Christmas at home, but it will be amazing to be in Germany so I'm focusing on that.

It was hard to say goodbye to Dora yesterday. She really hates the hospital she lives in. She says the food is bad, the people aren't friendly, and I don't think they care for her well. The last time she came in she had a bad infection that looked uncared for. She hates her roommate. She shares a room with a woman who doesn't stop talking. I would go crazy too if I were Dora! She told me that the TV in their room is her roommates, but she says it's hers so she can watch what she wants! I laughed so hard at that. She also said that she tells her to be quiet all the time, but she never listens. She said the wall would take notice of her before her roommate would! It was funny to hear Dora say these things because she is so sweet and quiet. She always cries when she leaves the house, but this time I assured her we would be seeing her twice in the next few months and there was no need for tears.

After everyone left we were all relaxing and doing our own things. I was getting ready to go out in a few hours with Kaitlyn and Erin to O'Neills when the power went out in the house. I was glad I was planning on going out! I did have to do my makeup in the dark though... O'Neill's was really fun! I love the band that plays there, although I was outside with Federico for a while and missed my favorite song that they sing. It's the band that has two old Irishmen and a young polish woman on the fiddle. They are amazing! We met these women from Connecticut and they bought us a round! They were on a long holiday weekend here scoping out places to buy a summer home. I was happy letting them buy me a drink! Erin is from Connecticut and when she told one of the women that, she was offered her son for when she comes home! It was a good night. :D

So now we are back to the present time. Full circle. :) I'm still in Insomnia, but it's time to go now. Love to my friends back home,
Claire

My Scotland

Hello to everyone (especially my mother who's been harassing me to update this!)

I had the most wonderful holiday in Edinburgh! But first I'm going to tell you about the group we had last week. My partner was Helen Doherty. I've met her several times before in the house. She lives in Lucan which is about an hour away. Helen is 30 years old and has a mild intellectual disability. She lives at home with her mother and sister. She is very mild tempered and agreeable, except for a few times a day when she would slip into her own world. I was able to detect when this was happening and left her to it. We had lots of fun together, with the exception of shopping which she had no interest in whatsoever. Helen was greatly disappointed that Gabriele has gone back to Italy, but she was satisfied with Jose and Lennart as substitutes. I must admit that while I truly enjoyed my time with Helen, I was even more excited to see Paul Lockery. He is my most favourite member and I'm sure I've written about him before. He is the one who loves to arm wrestle and the movie "To Sir, With Love." To my disappointment he didn't address me as "Claire, from the moment I met you I swear..." But that was ok because he made up for it by giving me the biggest compliment that he could give anyone. The entire weekend was spent with him challenging all of us to arm wrestling. He is very strong, and uses his left arm, so he wins 98% of the time. One of the nights I was giving him one last arm wrestle before bed and I won! I was so excited and he looked at me and said, "You're VERY strong!" That totally made my day! At the end of the weekend, Paul's driver was an hour late. Usually when this happens I am so tired and very impatient for all of the members to go home so that we can have our meeting and clean up. This was the first time that not only did I not mind, but I actually wanted him to stay longer! If Paul could live here I would absolutely love it!

After the group was over, we all hung out at the house and got ready for our mini-holidays. Kaitlyn, Lisa, and I went to Edinburgh, Erin went down to Cork, Lennart went home to Germany, Jose went home to Spain, and Kate went to Istanbul.

I woke up at half four on Saturday morning feeling very sleepy. (It's amazing to me that I used to get up even earlier than that for work every day...yikes.) Us girls and Jose called a taxi and headed out to the airport. (Jose's plane left about the same time as ours so it worked out well.) By the time we got to Edinburgh I was wide awake and ready to explore! The city was absolutely stunning. The architecture was beautiful and the history was very rich. One of the best things about Edinburgh is that it is small enough that you can walk everywhere easily. Our hostel was only a few blocks away from the bus stop. It was tucked behind a major street and covered in scaffolding, but we didn't have trouble locating it. The annoying thing about our hostel was that there were 89 steps to the top! I know this because as you start climbing the stairs there are little backpackers painted on the walls holding signs along the way counting down the steps left to the top. The walls inside the hostel had a very random selection of cartoon characters painted all around and it was very fun to see which ones I recognized. My favorites were B1 and B2 from Bananas in Pajamas! So good! We left almost right away and got breakfast before going to the Royal Mile. This is a major road in Edinburgh that is a mile long and runs from the castle to Queensbury, the home of the Queen when she visits (creative titles weren't important to the Scottish). We joined a group for a three hour free walking tour of the city. Our tour guide was Ruth from England. She is a drama student and has lived in Edinburgh for two years. I really liked her and she had a lot of really good information and stories for us about the city. The tour began along the Royal Mile itself. We walked past St. Giles Cathedral where I heard way too much information to remember much. I do remember that it is where Sean Connery was knighted by the Queen. It also holds the original document signed by the Covenanters. These were Presbyterians who refused to renounce their faith and join the protestants. (Can't say I blame them.) These men and women were tortured gruesomely and I will talk more about this later. The cathedral also stands next to the famous Mercat Cross which was used for proclamation or for punishment. When a person was caught stealing, they were nailed by the ear to the cross. They were to stay there for 24 hours and they had two choices. Stay for the 24 hours while people jeered at them and threw rotten food at them or they could rip their ear out of the nail and escape. If they did this, their ear would mark them as a criminal and they would be reduced to prostitution because no one would hire them.

Also along the Royal Mile were many closes. Closes are little walkways between the buildings. Many of them have been closed up or built over because the city used to be a few stories shorter than it is today. One of them in particular is a very famous one. But I will get to that later. We passed through one of them where Ruth told us a few good stories. One of them is about a very famous criminal named Deacon Brodie. This man was a very substantial and popular man of Edinburgh in the 17oos. He was a locksmith and he had a genius plan. He began to inspect his friends locks in their front doors and offered to fix them for free. When he changed their locks he made a spare key for himself. He then went in their homes as they slept and stole their valuables without ever making himself known. He did this for quite some time without getting caught. When it started becoming a big problem in the town, the councilmen got together and decided that one person should be appointed to figuring out who the culprit was. And who did they choose but Deacon Brodie himself! He knew he was in trouble so he decided to do one last job. He needed help for this job and hired several men. One of the men were caught and he told the police all of the names of the accomplices with the exception of Deacon Brodie. He was hoping that he could use this as blackmail in the future. However he didn't get the chance because as soon as he could, Brodie ran off to Amsterdam. Hours before he was to get on a ship headed for America, Brodie was found and taken back to be hung in Edinburgh for his crime. The ironic part is that he was hung by the very gallows that he himself built years earlier.

Another good story that Ruth told us was about the sewage system in the 1600s... The Royal Mile is on the top of a hill, and that hill runs down to what used to be the Nor Loch. The people who lived in the closes in "homes" as big as a living room would have buckets for toilets in the corner of their room. Twice a day they would dump their bucket on the floor of the close that they lived on and it would slide down to the river. This made their only water source impossible to drink from and so alcohol was drunk in it's place. In the evening, people were allowed to dump their buckets out from their windows to the ground of the close at 10pm. This was also the time when the pubs would close. So Ruth told us that when people would come out of the pubs stumbling around the closes they would hear the warning calls of people dumping their buckets and instead of having the quick response of moving out of the way, they would look up. Hence the term: Shit-faced. :)

The tour continued on with MANY stories and facts that I wish I could remember. She took us past the castle (18 pounds to get in and not worth it apparently) and told us a few stories about that. We went down to Victoria Street and Victoria Terrace where all of the dirty, secretive things happened in the city. This was the home of two very famous body snatchers named William Burke and William Hare. These two men decided to capitalize on the trend of body snatching. In the 1800s the medical school in Edinburgh was given one dead body from the gallows every year. This was obviously not nearly enough for the students to properly learn everything they needed to know. So the school began to accept dead bodies off the black market. There was a loophole in the system that when a person dies all of their possessions still belong to them, but their body no longer does. So people could walk into a graveyard, dig up a body, strip them of their possessions and walk out of the graveyard without being stopped by the guards. They were then given 5 pounds for the body by the school. Burke and Hare got tired of the business of waiting for people to die and digging them up. They began a plot to lure people to their homes and get them drunk enough to pass out. They would then suffocate them and take them directly to the school. They were very good at this until the day they took a famous prostitute to their home. She was not quite passed out when they killed her and screamed so loud that it alerted the neighbors. Hare confessed and gave up his friend. Burke was hung and Hare went to prison for only a few months. Guess which body was given to the medical school by the government that year? If you guessed Burke, you'd be right!

We moved on to the Grassmarket which is a strip of pubs and stores today. In the 1800s it was where all of the public hangings took place. There was a REALLY good story about a woman named Maggie Dickson who had an attempted hanging. I won't put the full story here because I'm worried that people are going to lose interest in all of these stories, but if you are even remotely interested I suggest you read about her. (Also, her more recent claim to fame is her inspiration for the character "Nearly Headless Nick" in the Harry Potter books.) http://www.the-grassmarket.com/history/maggie-dickson.html

After we spent time in the Grassmarket, we walked up to the Greyfriar's Kirkyard (graveyard) which holds quite a bit of significance, especially for Harry Potter fans. JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter novels, lived in Edinburgh after her messy divorce. While living there she began writing the famous books and used the beautiful city around her as inspiration. Inside Greyfriar's Kirkyard there are two headstones with names she used for characters in the books. We found them there: "McGonagall" and "Tom Riddell". Also, on the outside of the graveyard there is a school that was once donated by a very rich man who wanted to educate the young orphans of Edinburgh. It is now one of the most expensive private schools in the city and admits two orphans a year. (Sad.) JK Rowling used this school as inspiration for Hogwarts. Besides the Harry Potter connections, the graveyard had a few other interesting stories to be told. In 1858 a man named John Gray was the night watchman there. He had a little friend to help him keep watch: a skye terrier named Bobby. After four years of working together, John died and was buried in the kirkyard. Bobby was then handed over to the next watchman to be taken care of. Bobby would not leave his masters grave and continued this on for the next 14 years when he died. Because of his dedication to his master, Bobby became famous and now has his own gravestone which reads "Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all." He also has a pub named after him!

We continued the tour and ended up in Princes Street Gardens (the once famous Nor Loch which dried up and probably fertilized the now lush foliage there) where Ruth concluded our tour with one final story about "The Stone of Destiny." I won't put it on here for previously stated reasons, but it's worth a look if you're interested. It has to do with a very meaningful stone that was taken away from the British and was stolen by drunken Scottish university students in the early 1900s. Very entertaining, but too long to type out.

We left the tour and began to search for food. We were starving! After "linner" we went back to the hostel to rest a little before our ghost tour that night. (By rest a little I mean sleep for three hours... in my defense we had been up since half four!) We got ready and headed back into the cold to meet up with our funny British tour guide for the ghost tour. This was less impressive than our free tour, but still worth it. It didn't help that we were all tired. Anyways, she took us around the town to a few different grave yards and told us true stories and some legends of Edinburgh in the past. Edinburgh is famous for its witch trials, which lasted for quite some time. Woman were accused of being witches for several fatal flaws: birthmarks, third nipples, red hair (one in five people in Edinburgh have red hair), or talking/moaning in one's sleep. If a woman was caught with any of these things, they were tortured until confessing. They would then be burned at the stake. Nice, huh? Up on Carlton Hill, Ruth told us about the fairies that were menaces to the good people of Edinburgh. There were two types of fairies: the sealy and the unsealy. The sealy would mind their own business and were not a worry to anyone. It was the unsealy that you had to watch out for. They came in three forms: the half man, the kelpies, and the redcaps. The half man was said to be just that...a half of a man split down the middle. (Ruth said that he was the least scary because you could just push him over and run away. I agree!) The kelpies lived in the water and when they came out they were the image of a white stallion. When locals saw them and decided to tame them to sell in the markets they would touch them and be instantly glued to their skin. They were then dragged into the water and consumed by the kelpie. The redcaps were little men with red caps. (Think garden gnome.) They are said to be very fast and very strong. The only thing that will scare them away is if you quote Bible verses to them. Ruth gave us a very simple one: Jesus wept. I think that would do the trick! But we didn't run into any red caps, so I didn't have to worry. (Catholics aren't known for their scripture knowledge, after all...)

After the tour we had a quick free pint in the pub as part of the tour and then headed back to the hostel to sleep. The next morning we got up early and headed back to the Royal Mile to meet up with our bus tour. We took a day trip up through the highlands and to Loch Ness. This was such an amazing day! Our tour guide was Andrew, a local Scotsman and really funny guy. He gave us lots of information and loads of good stories of the history of those that lived in the Highlands. A long time ago, there were little communities called clans that would live together as a big family. Each clan had a leader and the leaders would all get together occasionally to discuss any issues that arose. Conditions were very hard at that time and they were often driven to stealing cattle. One of the clans (I've forgotten the name) got so good at stealing that all of the other clans got together to discuss what to do. Rob Roy was the second in command to the thieving clan and came to that meeting. He then told the other clans that they would stop stealing from them if they all gave them money at the end of every month. They were to put boxes on their doorsteps and put money inside at that time. This gave birth to two saying. The first being "mailbox" because "mail" is the old Gaelic word for payment. The second being "blackmail" because at the time, the cattle were all black...before different breeds were brought up to that area.

Andrew also told us a very sad story about a clan named McDonald. 150 years ago, when King James I was ruling England and Scotland, he ordered that all of the clans sign a document proclaiming their conversion to protestantism. Because of procrastination and bad weather, the leader of the McDonald clan was late in signing the document. When King James saw how few clan leaders signed the document, he chose to make an example out of the McDonalds. He ordered the Campbell clan (very disliked by all the other clans) to go and kill ever member of the Campbell clan. They did this by abusing the code of hospitality between the clans. They were always to let other clans stay when them when asked. In the night the Campbells attacted the McDonalds and killed all but a handful of them. The descendants of the McDonalds own a hotel and to this day they do not let any Campbells stay in their hotel. (I don't blame them!)

The drive was breathtaking and I couldn't stop myself from being in awe of the beauty of Scotland. I can't wait to go back someday and spend more time there. The Highlands are sprinkled with hills, mountains, and lakes. Most of the lakes were completely still and looked like mirrors on the ground. I've never seen that before! The scenery was used for several famous movies including Braveheart and Harry Potter. I saw where they built (and took down) Hagrid's Hut! We also drove by Doune Castle which was used for four castle scenes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The security guard has coconut shells behind his desk in case anyone wants to go clip clopping around the castle grounds! Apparently the cast spent the worst 6 weeks of their lives while shooting there because of the horrible weather and mean hotel owner.

We stopped to take pictures on top of a hill and as we pulled up we saw a man dressed up in traditional Scottish clothing playing the bagpipes. Andrew then said, "Jaysus we're gonna get piped off the bus! He's the worst bagpiper in Scotland. He's not even Scottish. He's Brittish!" haha He actually wasn't too bad. I give the guy credit for going out there in the middle of nowhere and making money off of standing and playing the instrument. If he wants to ask money for pictures with him, then more power to him!

When we got to Loch Ness, we were given two hours for a break. Lisa and Kaitlyn wanted to go on a boat tour, but I had little interest. I ended up sitting by the fire in a pub with some warm food and cold cider. Mmmm... But they tell me it was a good trip and they ended up talking to a man about the sea creatures that actually do live in the water. Their name is Macroplata. They are also found in Japan, Canada, and Lake Tahoe. Weird... When the break was over, we hopped back on the bus and made our way back south towards Edinburgh with a few more scenic stops along the way. We got home around half eight and went back to our hostel to eat dinner. We ended up staying in that night instead of venturing out to the pubs.

The next day we headed out to the Royal Mile yet again, but this time we went to shop! I didn't get much... just a present for my sister and a little stuffed Nessie for myself. :) We walked up the Mile to the Castle to see what was there. We didn't want to pay to go in, but the view was good. We went to the National Museum next, which was free! I wasn't that interested to be honest, because most of the things inside were old bones and artifacts from the vikings and that wasn't doing it for me. I did enjoy seeing the stuffed sheep Dolly. She was the first cloned sheep to survive the process. After the museum we went to have coffee at The Elephant House which has "The Birthplace of Harry Potter" as it's claim to fame. I can definitely see why JK Rowling liked to go there. It has cheap, good coffee and views of the castle and Greyfriar's Kirkyard. We traveled back to the Mile to the previously mentioned famous close. Mary King's Close to be exact. This is a very popular tourist site. It's only entrance is through the gift shop and you have to take the tour to see it. Best 10 pounds I've ever spent! The tour starts with a guide dressed as one of the maids that used to live in the close. She told us the basic lifestyle of those who lived in the closes and about Mary King. She was widow who moved into the close and worked very hard as a seamstress to the rich people of Edinburgh. This allowed her to be a middle class woman and raise her children singlehandedly. We walked through the dark rooms and were very freaked out! We fatefully ended up at the back of the group and as we walked out of the first dark, stone rooms we heard a step and a stomp directly behind us. Us three girl turned around and screamed because no one was there! We scurried out of the room and back to the group. I took it as either part of the tour or maybe someone above us...even though it sounded like it was only a few feet away that it happened. Later, we asked our tour guide about it and she kind of looked freaked out. She told us that wasn't supposed to happen and she told us that there is nothing above that room. She immediately went to another guide to ask if there had been anything weird in that room before and apparently they've heard stomping several times. I've never believed in ghosts before but that was REAL! (Laugh if you want...my parents already have!) Anyways, the rest of the tour was really cool! There were more stories and legends to be told. One of the rooms was especially scary. The walls were plaster made of horse hair, water, and human ash....yikes! We turned a corner and crowded into a small room. Inside the room was a large pile of little dolls. Our guide told us that in 1992 before the close was opened to tourists, a clairvoyant came through the rooms. She felt a lot of pain, especially in the room we were in. She turned to leave immediately when she felt a tug at her shoe. She turned to see a little girl in rags sitting in the corner. She said her name was Annie and she was left by her family. They assumed this was because in that time the Black Plague was a big problem and a lot of people would leave family members behind in order to save the rest of the family. She was sad because she was alone and couldn't find her doll. The clairvoyant came back later with a barbie doll for Annie. Now people all over the world come there just to bring Annie a doll. Maybe a little silly, but a good story nevertheless.

We left the close and decided to get some food from a grocery store to cook at the hostel. By the time we got back and ate it was kind of late and we decided yet again to ignore the pubs and stay home. I get enough pub life here in Dublin!

The next morning we packed up and checked out and were able to leave our bags there while we spent our last hours out and about. We went to the National Gallery which was one of my favorite parts of the trip! We got to see many beautiful paintings, including some from Rembrant, Raphael, Van Gogh, and Monet. We spent a few hours there, but I think I could have stayed longer! Now I am excited to go to the National Gallery here in Dublin... I think I'm going on Monday with Lennart. Anyways, after the gallery we walked around a bit more and saw a few last minute things we wanted to fit in. We then headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags and we made our way back to the airport to come home.

The last two days have been regular working days. Yesterday was Michaelena's birthday so we went to see her and the others at the Cara. Today was just shopping and cleaning. I made tacos for lunch. :) We have a group tomorrow that I'm honestly not looking forward to. It's an older group and we don't have much planned for them. But I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best!

I hope all is well with you...if any of you actually made it to the end of this crazy long post!
Love you,
Claire

Devils, and Cowgirls, and Edward...Oh My!

Another week has passed...not sure where the time has gone!



I left Dublin Tuesday afternoon to meet up with my parents in Galway. I took the train, which happened to be my very first train ride! My seat was way in the back and it was perfect for a few hours of "me time" with my book. The train took off and I was in complete happiness as I read and looked out the window. It was a beautiful day! A few minutes after the train took off three teenage girls came back and sat near me. Normally this would be a small annoyance, but I would be able to ignore the giggling and high pitch voices. But the girl next to me was playing music on her phone (loud annoying techno) and singing along with it. Then she started talking to me and asking me questions about what I thought of her clothes. I'm sure she was a nice girl, but it was obvious I was reading and had no interest in talking to her, or listening to her second-hand crappy British music. (Ok so I'm still a little bitchy about it...sorry!) Anyways, I made it to Galway and met my parents at their B&B. It was such a nice place! And it was so great to see them!



We were all starving so we head out with the Bakers to a restaurant down the street. After a nice meal and good conversation, we all went back to our rooms. It was nice to relax and talk, without feeling like we needed to go out and do something. The next day, Mark, Tish, and Dad went on a trip out to Knock and the Cong Abbey. Mom wanted to stay behind and spend time with me, which was great because I have already been to Knock. It was nice to just hang out with her for the day. We went on a walk along the water and ended up in a casino! We played the slot machines and lost four euro. Not bad for an hour or so of entertainment! Then we went and got some snacks and went back to the B&B. We played cards and chatted and it was really nice. The rest of the group got back about two or three that afternoon. I can't really remember what we did... I played cards with Dad, and the three of us chatted for a while. Then Mark and Tish went out to see Galway Town. I encouraged my parents to go as well, because I liked Galway. But they were tired and I was ok with skipping it because I had been before. Later, we walked down the street and found the best food of my life! (Ok maybe not the best but it was the best I've had in six months!) I can't remember the name, but it was a small Italian restaurant with very reasonable prices and huge portions. My mom had mushroom tortellini with homemade pasta, my dad had a pizza that was coming off the edge of the plate, and I had a calzone. We all shared our meals and everything was soooooo good! Ok I'll stop myself from talking even more about it... After the meal we went back to the B&B and went to bed early.



The next morning they dropped me off at the station which included only a little mayhem and an almost car crash. My trip home was much more peaceful. When I got back to the house everyone was decorating for Halloween. The kids were to arrive around 2pm and we were preparing activities and games for them. My parents left Galway and headed over to Dublin with a few stops on the way. I made plans to meet up with them for dinner, but I was able to be at the house for a few hours of the Halloween party. It was so fun to see our little members dressed up in all sorts of costumes. Billy (one of the toughest boys I know) dressed up as a princess complete with a pink dress and wig!



My dad picked me up and we met up with Mom and the Bakers in the Malahide village. I had never tried the food at Gibney's, but we thought we'd give it a try. It was really cheap food and pretty good. The Bakers left after dinner to go pack and get things ready to return home the next day. Mom and Dad dropped me off back at the house and gave me a few last minute hugs before leaving. It was hard to say goodbye again, but I know that the next six months will fly by just as fast as the previous six. I am lucky that I got to see them here, because I won't be making it home before I return for good in May.



Friday morning, we all gathered in our sitting room and awaited the arrival of Rose, our communication training teacher for the day. There has been a weird vibe in the house lately, so our boss thought it would be a good idea for us to have a day of team building and learning new communication skills. Peter, the newest volunteer from South Korea, will be leaving the break house in a few weeks, and that has caused a bit of tension. But we were able to come together for the training and I think it went well. It was a full day, and we were all worried the time would pass slowly. Sitting in a room for 6 hours is hard. Surprisingly, the time flew by and it was over before we knew it. As part of our training day, we were given a bit of money to buy dinner, provided we all stayed together to eat it! It was really nice to be together as a group and we all hung out after dinner and played games.



I woke up on Saturday and didn't want to leave my bed. It was nice to have the option to stay in as long as I wanted. I highly recommend doing this sometime. When I did finally face the day, Kaitlyn and I went out to find last minute Halloween costumes. I wanted to be a cowgirl but I couldn't find a hat or boots...it was sad. So I had a plaid shirt and I put my hair in pigtails. I was a recession cowgirl. Kaitlyn, however found a hot red dress and got some girly devil accessories. Kate put little cereal boxes around her body with plastic knives piercing them and red paint coming out of the cuts. She was a cereal killer! Lisa was a cat woman. Lennart was Edward from Twilight. He did this because Lisa has a deep love of the Twilight movie and books and we always tease her about this. He put his hair back, painted his face white, and put glitter all over his face. (For those who aren't in the know, in the Twilight series, the vampires don't burn when sunlight touches them. Instead, their skin is shimmery... Yes. That's right.) Peter, Jose, and Erin had no costume. I can't blame them. We went out around half six because Kate wanted to see some of the parade. When we got into town, there was no parade to be found. This didn't bother me at all because I've never liked parades. However, it meant that we were in town WAY too early and I think it is the reason I didn't want to stay as late as the others. Anyways, we went to a bar called Fitzsimons. It was a good atmosphere, and after an hour or so there were loads of good people watching opportunities. We left there, hoping to find a good place for some dancing. Most of us were up for it, with a few exceptions. I wanted to go to a cool place that we went to for May's last night because there was no cover and cheap drinks. However, we ended up going to a place and stood in line just to find that there was a ten euro cover and no one wanted to pay it. So we went to a nearby bar to listen to a band play. It was a good band that played fun music. They were all dressed up as skeletons and the drummer was a girl! I ended up leaving to catch the half eleven bus, because some of our group wanted to stay until one or two and I wasn't up for it. So Lisa, Lennart, Peter, and I left to head back home. Not a bad night, but I was hoping for a little more excitement!



The next day, I got up early and went to the village for Mass. I wanted an opportunity to get out of the house, so I volunteered for the teen social. I couldn't find a ride there, so I trusted the internet for bus routes to Swords. I ended up getting on the wrong bus! The driver was SUPER nice and went out of his way to get me closer to my destination. The walk there wasn't too bad. It wasn't raining! I arrived only a few minutes late, but it was ok because there were only a few kids there. I had never been to a teen social before so I had no idea what to expect. There were 17 volunteers there! I had only met Rebecca, the group leader, so I felt a little overwhelmed. But I was paired with Conor, one of my favorite kids, so that put me at ease. During the social we all had fun together, played games, and enjoyed a married couple who brought music and drums for the kids to play. Conor LOVED that and got up and danced around the room when the woman played "Wheels on the Bus" for him! It was so much fun! It was only four hours long, and the time flew by! I think the fact that I'm used to 48 hours straight had something to do with that. Rebecca gave me a lift home which was great! I had no idea how else I would have made it back. I made dinner and then convinced (easily) a few of my roommates to watch Sleeping Beauty with me.



Yesterday was Lisa's birthday. We all had to leave the house while the cleaners were here, so we went to a coffee shop and planned our trip to Edinburgh which happens to be THIS WEEKEND! I can't believe how fast time is going by...It's November! Jeez... Anyways, we made dinner and gave her our presents. We all pitched in to buy her the fourth book in the Twilight series. Kate made her a card. Lennart drew her a picture of herself next to Robert Patterson (Edward in Twilight.) It was so great! Lennart is an amazing artist and wants to be an illustrator. We all headed out back to the village to an Italian restaurant for dessert. When we got back we watched The Virgin Suicides which was a very sad movie, but I think I liked it.



Today was just a regular working day. I went grocery shopping with Lennart as the others cleaned the house. We all had lunch and then our typical planning meeting. Now I am waiting for a bit before we head out for a visit. We are going to Baldoyle to take a few members out to dinner. Should be nice. And then I'm going in to town to meet with Michael, an Irish volunteer who I also went to Lourdes with, for a movie. Zombieland. I hope it's good! :P



Tomorrow is a mid-week group. Lisa, Kaitlyn and I head to Edinburgh VERY early on Saturday and we will be back Tuesday evening. So to the several people that I've been meaning to call, I hope you can be patient for another week! In the meantime, don't be so damn lazy and write me emails! ;)



Love to Oregon,

Claire

My Parents...and Other Short Topics

My time with my parents was very nice! I met up with them after the teens group last weekend. There isn't much to say about the teens group. I was paired with a girl named Erica. She is just like every other seventeen year old girl. She wanted to spend the entire weekend texting her boyfriend. She has cerebral palsy, and is unable to speak and has limited use of her hands. But she communicates by using her elbow to point to letters on a table that is connected to her chair. She also uses her nose to text her boyfriend, and she is faster doing that than I am with my hand! The weekend went by fairly quickly, and I was anxious for it to be over.

My parents came by the house that Sunday night to meet some of my housemates and Mary Fox. They didn't stay too long here, because we needed to go pick up Mark and Tish (The Bakers...friends of the family that my parents are traveling with.) We picked them up and went to the restaurant that CASA owns, called 1014. I had been there once before with a group. It's a five star restaurant and all of the proceeds go towards CASA. I think it's such a good idea for a fundraiser! Anyways, the dinner was amazing, and Paddy Murray stopped by to chat with us. Paddy is the co-creator of CASA and he also lives upstairs in my house. I admire him very much and I rarely see him because he is so busy! So it meant a lot to me that he took the time to sit with us and talk to my parents. The next day, I took a bus to meet them in Kilkenny. I had been there before with Katie, but we didn't get to do much sight seeing there, so I was happy to go again. I got lost trying to find the B&B. I don't know how to explain to you just how annoying that some streets in Ireland have NO signs on them. I ended up way down the road at a Lidl store, where I talked to a cute Polish security guard. He told me exactly how to get there, and I loved him. :) I ventured out in the windy rain again and made it there safely. I spent some quiet time alone while I waited for them to arrive. It was really nice! We went out to dinner at a pub in the town. It was their first pub dinner here in Ireland, and it was also Dad and Mark's first guinness! They were all happy with their pub experience, and so was I! Unfortunately, the live music in the town didn't start before ten and it was only eight. So we decided to go back to the B&B and rest. That was fine with me! The next day we had a huge breakfast at the B&B. It was delicious! We then went to the Kilkenny Castle, which was really cool! We weren't able to take any pictures, though, which is lame. But what I really wish I had record of is the commentary made by my parents and the Bakers. Turns out there is a lot of humor that comes out of a castle tour. After the tour, we moved on to St. Canice's Cathedral. It was a very stunning building. The cathedral was built in the year 400 as a Catholic church, but was taken over in 1100 by the Anglican church. That happened quite a bit over here. It's kind of sad to think about that happening. I'm so used to having the freedom of my religion that I forget about what happened in the past. I know that it still happens today in other countries, but being an American, I often take for granted my many freedoms. Anyways, sorry for that tangent. We stopped by the Black Abbey after we were done at the cathedral. I was SO excited because when I was there with Katie, the abbey was closed and I really wanted to see a statue they had inside. It was hidden in the walls when Cromwell took over the abbey and shut it down completely. The Dominican monks hid a statue of the Trinity from 1267 in the walls of the church. It was found years later. We got there just as Mass was starting so we stayed for the small and short service and then I was able to take a picture of the statue. I'll post it on my facebook. It is an elderly man with a crown holding a crucifix with a dove on top of the cross. It is so cool! I've never seen anything like it. The Bakers wanted to do some shopping, so my parents and I left them and went a few kilometers out of Kilkenny to see the ruins of an old abbey. (Are you seeing a theme yet in the sites?) It's called Jerpoint Abbey, and I don't really remember much about the story of it, to be honest. But the ruins were huge! There was a cathedral, a cloister, and several stone rooms that are believed to be work spaces and kitchens for the monks. There was no sign of a dormitory, which really bothered me! Where did they sleep!? My mom didn't understand why I was concerned about this, and we spent a lot of our time there arguing. :) We headed back to Kilkenny to meet up with the Bakers for an early dinner. We skipped lunch because our breakfast was intensely huge. We had a really good meal at a really cheap pub. I'm sad that they don't have one like it here! The menu was really good and different than most pubs here. Then we parted ways with the Bakers yet again, and I waited for my bus with my parents. The ride wasn't too long...about two hours. I finally finished reading my book, I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. It's an amazing book, by the way! But now I'm giving myself a mental break and reading something a lot lighter. Hard Eight... It's the eighth in a series and I've only read the fifteenth one. My roommates who've read the entire series have yelled at me for this, but what are they gonna do? :P

The next day we had a full house of members! They are doing a news story on CASA and so there was a camera crew here to film us and how we are with the members of CASA. I was paired with Anne O'Rourke who I know very well. We had a nice lunch and a prayer and arts and crafts. It went very well, and I think they got good footage. Apparently, the segment is only 2 minutes long, so I'm not sure what it will turn out like. But I avoided the camera most of the time, so I'd say I'm free and clear. Thursday was just cleaning and group prep. Nothing too exciting there. Federico and Jonny came over for an American-style brinner. It was delicious! We made pancakes, French toast, an egg scramble, and fresh hash browns. I really wanted to make eggs benedict, but not for 10 people!

The next day was the beginning of a group. I was paired with Anne Roche. I've met her once before a few months ago when she was in the house. Anne is a nice woman, but I have to be honest when I said it was not an easy weekend for me. She is blind and has an intellectual disability. The caring for her was easy. The problem was that she didn't want help that she badly needed. In front of everyone she was very sweet, but when we were alone in the room she would yell at me for helping her, struggle to do something alone, and then ask why I wasn't helping her. It was not easy, but there were good moments in the weekend that made up for those other ones. She is a talker...to say the least. She loves to know everything about everyone, and hates to talk about herself. I learned quite a bit more about a few other members than I needed to! :) Overall the weekend went by just fine. There were some of my favorite members in the house. Willy Ayton, who lives with Michaelena and Sean at the Cara, was in. He is really fun to talk to. And Michael Maguire was in. I've seen him in the house before. He's such a sweet person! He only says a few words, which include, "happy," "Daddy," and "ABBA." Any time you walk by him he says, "Hello!" I love him.

Not much else happened last night. I went out for a bit to meet up with a friend and then I came home and watched Witness with Kaitlyn. I had no idea what that movie was about. Not an amazing example of American film, but I did love the shots of 80s Harrison Ford without a shirt. :)

I have been disgustingly lazy today. I should be doing something productive...but hey, blogging is productive in a way, right? I'm heading out to Galway tomorrow to meet up with my parents again. I'll see them for a few days, and I get to take two days off of work. Yay! I'm not missing too much, but I am a little sad to miss a Halloween party with the kids. I'll be back on Thursday night in time for a full day of "team building" on Friday. Yay! But then I have Saturday and Sunday off, which will be good. We're going out for Halloween, but I have no idea what to wear! I think I'll have to do some very last minute shopping this weekend...

As always, love to Oregon! :)
~Claire

My Pilgrimage

I had such a blessed trip to Lourdes! Thank you to those who prayed for my journey. I know it added to my trip in a special way.

I lay in my bed Friday morning still in my pajamas and watching The Office, mostly packed and completely wrecked (which means tired, not drunk) from the night before. My planned night of quiet pints and early bed-time was sabotaged by Federico missing the last bus into town. He had to take a taxi back because he had to work at five in the morning, and there were no buses into town before that. So instead of taking one right away, he decided to stay and hang out for a while. (He's crazy...it was half eleven at that point!) Long story short, Kaitlyn, Lennart, and I didn't go to bed until half three when Fred's taxi came. (He went straight home, dressed for work, and left, without sleeping or shaving. He worked for two hours and then they told him it wasn't until five that night that he actually had to work!! Poor guy...) Anyways, I didn't get as much sleep as I had planned, but I was rested enough. I finished packing and ate breakfast and planned just enough time to watch The Office and finish up. Our taxi was to come to collect us at twenty to three. So at two I was lying on my bed and relaxing when I get a knock on my door. "The taxi's here!" Erin shouted. I was so flustered! I changed into my uniform and threw the last minutes into my bag and ran out the door! A great start to my trip... :)

We arrived at the airport and everyone gathered and waited. I learned quite a bit of patience on this trip. With a group of 160 people, and a quarter of those people in wheelchairs, it is important to learn how to wait. I only knew a handful of the people there. Among them were Paddy Murray (the co-creator of CASA and also one of my housemates), Sr. Mary Fox, Erin, Michael (a local volunteer who has helped out in this house several times; he's also one of the five people who were my age), and several members that I've met before. My member lives in Cork, so I was assigned to mind Stephen until we arrived in Cork. His carer was to join us when the plane stopped in Cork to pick up the rest of our group. Stephen was nervous about the trip and even more nervous about the flight. But I was able to calm him down and distract him mostly from his fear. When we pulled into Cork, it took another few hours to load everyone else on the plane. Rita was one of the last to come aboard. She is about 50 years old and has Down Syndrome. I was told very little of her before I met her, but that didn't make me too nervous. I've learned to go with the flow during my five months here. She was nervous as well to go on this journey and I found it slightly more difficult to calm her. I had to gain her trust and gauge her comfort level with me. But it didn't take long for me to bond with her. She is very sweet and lovable. Within a half hour we were joking and laughing and getting along just fine. By the time we arrived in Lourdes, everyone was wrecked from the day. It was midnight by the time we got everyone off the plane and into the buses that took us to the hotel. We had sandwiches and tea waiting for us there, which brought a lot of joy to us pilgrims. As soon as we were all fed, we were ready for sleep. The next day was going to be long and it was going to start bright and early.
I'm going to have some trouble remembering everything that we did during the next full four days in Lourdes. I'll have to stick to the highlights, for the most part. Rita is fairly independent. She needed a little help with showers and dressing, but she could eat by herself and choose her own diet. I helped her mind her medications, and I also helped her with her cough. She is afflicted with chronic chest infections...something I wasn't too thrilled to be around for the six days. I've been getting over a cold that I've had for over three weeks now. She also needed a steady hand to hold while walking because she has terrible balance. Over the course of the trip she fell at least ten times. Although, I must say, most of those were more like "drops" than "falls." I learned quickly that she used this as a means of attention, and I tried not to encourage them with fussing, although, everyone else made this difficult. But besides these few things, Rita was a joy to be with. She appreciated everything that was done for her and given to her. She often said thank you and "You're very good to me, Claire." I felt almost guilty accepting these kind words because I felt as though I needed no verbal appreciation for doing something so simple as to care for her. But it did make the job easier. I was actually surprised at how well I did with remembering all of her meds and the little things that I needed to remember to bring with me every time we left the hotel room. I am normally scatterbrained, but I managed to keep it together during the entire trip. God's grace is my only explanation! :)
After breakfast that first morning, we all gathered for Mass. We had four priests with us, and each of them were wonderful. I especially bonded with Fr. Hugh. The first night he came up to us and we talked for a good bit. He lives here in Dublin and is the parish priest for what he calls a humble little church in city center. I hope to visit him there some time before I go home. After Mass, we took a trip down to the grotto. I can't really describe the beauty of Lourdes, but I do have pictures that I'll post soon enough on Facebook. There are several basilicas and a few other building inside the grounds. The River Gave flows through it and the grotto itself is lovely. There is a statue of Mary where the apparitions were to have taken place. People stood in line to walk in it and touch the stones there. Because we are a group accompanying the sick and disabled, we were able to cut in line. What a blessing this was! We had planned to go to the candle light procession that night, but it was to rain, and we wanted to avoid that. So we decided to go the following night. I can't remember what we did instead...

The next day was much of the same. We had a penance service and I was excited to participate. I waited to speak to Fr. Hugh. I had a very nice experience in confession with him. I feel bad for those who haven't experienced a good sacrament of reconciliation. I believe it is one of God's greatest gifts, and something that should bring great joy and grace to those who participate in it. Right before that I was feeling very sad and missing the religious community at home. But afterwards I felt completely at peace and truly enjoyed being a part of the community there in Lourdes. I hope to keep that spirit with me here, even if I don't have it directly with me in this house. The candlelight procession was not a good experience for me that night. I was feeling under the weather, and trying desperately to conceal that. It was raining desperately that night, and I was pushing Rita in a wheelchair (she used it for distances, which was a great relief...I can't imagine how many more times she would have fallen if she had to walk to the grotto each day) and I was wearing the stupid dress that was my uniform. Standing and waiting in the rain only to walk in the rain was miserable. I let those feelings take over, unfortunately, and I wasn't able to enjoy it at all. I regret that, but let it go. My time of appreciation was coming.
The next day we had Mass and a service of blessing our members with holy water, and having them bless us. It was so beautiful! One of my favorite moments by far. Rita was so sweet making the sign of the cross with her thumb on my forehead. This was the day we went to the baths... Now the baths are the most important part of Lourdes. There is a small building there, near the grotto. In it are several cells with stone baths built into the ground, and each are filled with holy water from the spring that Bernadette found 150 years ago. The water has brought many miracles and healing to many. Rita was terrified to go in the water. She was shaking before we even waited in line. I told her about what was to come and that she would be just fine. But I knew it made no difference. Still, being able to help her made me less nervous and by the time I went in I had no time to dwell on any of my own fears. We were brought into a little room made of curtains. Three little French women held up shrouds for the six women allowed in the room at a time. We were to take off our clothes, hang them up, and wrap the shroud around us. Rita was completely flipped out at this point, and the French women were not able to console her. I only know a little French so I wasn't much help. But I did make the point across that I was to go in there with Rita, even if they didn't like it. I promised her I'd hold her hand and by God I was gonna do it. Shaking and sobbing, she stepped into that freezing water and walked towards the statue of Our Lady. They wanted her to sit down in the water and I told them no. That they understood. They led her out and it was my turn. I wasn't able to be there to help her with her clothes, but I knew she'd be ok. It's their service and joy to do the work they do, and I really didn't want to interfere...but it was my job to take care of her. I was led into the water and the cold shocked me, even after all the warning! But I was forced to ignore that by the peace of the women and the powerful sense of prayer in the room. I walked to the statue and gave Our Lady all of my prayers and requests I brought with me. I sat in the water, and was led out of the bath. When I came out they were trying to put my bra on Rita! A comical moment broke up the spirituality I was experiencing, but it reminded me of our Lord's sense of humor. I explained to the little French ladies that it was mine, and Rita's panic continued. She didn't care who's bra she was wearing as long as she was a step closer to getting out of there! I quickly dressed and grabbed Rita and left. Afterwards, she was completely fine, and looked back on it as something she'd never do again, but not as a horrible moment either. That was the good thing about Rita; she never dwelled on the past.

On Tuesday, we had a beautiful Mass of Healing. It was very emotional for everyone, although I still felt enveloped in God's peace. We were all anointed with oil as our team members put their hands on us. It was very touching. The rest of the day was left for shopping, something that Rita had looked forward to since the plane. "Big shopping! Loads and loads! All day!" she would say. We found our big shopping and she got everything she needed. That morning after her shower she said, "I'm gorgeous! I'm gonna find a man!" And let me tell you, she found her men. They were everywhere! All the male shop keepers were putty in her hands. I could learn a thing or two from this girl. When we were done with our big shopping, we had our last dinner in Lourdes. The next story I have might not be very funny if you weren't there, but I must tell it because it was one of my favorite moments of the trip. When we first arrived and I checked her bag, I noticed that she hadn't packed a toothbrush or toothpaste. She wasn't too concerned with this, but I managed to find her one on the second day. I didn't bother buying her toothpaste, but let her use mine. Not a word was said about this for the whole of the trip. During dinner, Rita was eating her roll, and I was talking to the person next to me. All of the sudden out of nowhere, Rita said, "Oh sugar! I forgot to buy toothpaste!!" I laughed so hard I couldn't contain myself! It was such a random thought for her to have and by far the best thing she said the entire trip! (Although, another favorite was when after being tickled by me, exclaiming, "I'm very ticklesome, Claire!")

That night we had another candlelight procession. The experience was like day and night compared to the first. It was clear out, but cold. Everyone was in good form and much happier to be there. I was proud to be in procession with the wonderful people of CASA among a crowd of thousands. The procession was around the grounds and it was done to the sound of the Rosary being said in several languages, English included, thankfully. At the end we all gathered around the steps to the basilica and sang a few songs. I had to dash to the holy water fonts to get Rita's bottles filled. One of the leaders wasn't too happy with the last minute task, but I wasn't sending Rita home with empty bottles! We walked back and went to bed. I didn't sleep much that night, although I'm not exactly sure what caused this. A mix of emotions, I'm guessing.

The next morning was a blur of breakfast, a quick final Mass, and boarding the buses to take us to the airport. I was sad that the trip was over, but tired and ready for sleep. It was a very long day, with several unexpected delays. Saying goodbye to Rita in Cork was hard. She gave me a big hug and told me she loved me. She asked me to write her, and I promised I would, but after she did first! I hope to see her again before I go home. She is a sweet person and much more fun than trouble. ;)

It was half eight before I got to the Swords house last night. 12 hours of travel time for a flight time of about 2.5 hours. The Swords house was empty and that's just what I needed for quiet and rest before the teens group this weekend. I was alone for the first time since I've been here in Ireland. Luckily, Federico called me and kept me company for a bit. I had my first meal of that day, and then went to sleep. This morning Kaitlyn joined me there to get it prepared for the teens group. We came back and had lunch and a meeting to prepare us for the weekend. The rest of the day was filled with catching up on emails and chatting with all of my housemates that I surprisingly missed. :)

Now I'm settling down before going to bed. I have to admit that the teens groups are my least favorite. I didn't like teenagers when I was one! But these ones are good kids and I'm sure it will be good. My parents are on a plane right now and will be here during my group. I'll meet up with them afterwards, and I'm so excited! How wonderful it will be to see them!

I hope that things at home are going well and I'd love to hear from you! I never get sick of news from home.

Love from Ireland,
Claire