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