Distance and priorities

One difference that is most certainly clear between Northern Ireland and America is the pace of life. I thought I would be working long and hard here, non-stop. When I am assigned to a group I do work long days (8am-midnight) but I also have a decent amount of time off between groups. During this time off I get to catch up on sleep, exercise, good cooking, and all the thinking I never had a chance to do during college when other people got to tell me what to think about.
One thing that I've considered is priorities. What's really important in life? When you meet with people who live in less than ideal conditions or have suffered great tragedies, it makes you realize how good you really do have it. And you realize that work and money take a far backseat to spending time with the people in your life. This shift in priorities is good, I think, but it can cause clashes with those who think otherwise.
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Tonight I watched the entire 5th season of Sex and the City with three of the other volunteers. We snuggled up in the pit around the fireplace with a laptop on the hearth (no fire at the time) on tons of cushions with our duvets off our beds. We ate cheese toasties, drank hot chocolate and laughed til we nearly cried. These are the times that I will remember most and most fondly. :)

Fifth try?

WELL. The internet and my laptop have finally kissed and made up and is letting me upload pictures and use blogger! Yay! That's what peace and reconciliation is all about. Be it between Protestants and Catholics, Palestinians and Israelis, or Lappy and the internet (yes, my laptop is named Lappy. let's give a shout out to all those homestarrunner fans).

I can't post pictures of other people without their permission, and I can't give too many details about the groups I work with, so you're stuck with pictures of me and more general stories. Sorry. This picture is of me (obviously) playing on some rocks on the north coast. I forget the exact location and name of the place, but it was fun! Our whole volunteer team (except one Salvadorian who came late) had a day out to bond over the Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. This was one stop in a tiny less-than-a-village with a tiny port and tons of rocks to climb on. We have our picnic lounch in pretty much the same place.

Since then, our team has become much closer. We were all so polite to each other in the beginning. Now we're picking on each other and yelling at each other for not washing our dishes. Ok, we aren't yelling yet, but we are reminding forcefully.

The work is becoming easier as it becomes more familiar. I'm learning how things work, the Northern Irish lingo, and how important what we do is. It's the little things like knowing exactly what you need to take from the kitchen to the other residential units that make things move so much more smoothly. Before, we'd forget so many things that we'd spend way too much time and energy going back and forth. We are much more streamlined now. Practice makes perfect in nearly everything, including being a good volunteer.

Now comes the interactive part of this post. I will not be attending graduate school next year for a couple reasons (way too complicated), so I am researching different options for what I want to do come July 2007, other than be in weddings. So...I'm open to suggestions! What do you think I should do? Leave a comment and tell me!

Psych 110 meets Corrymeela

This week I have been able to make more connections to my psychology studies than ever before. I worked with four couples from Northern Ireland who have recently lost a child to a terminal illness. Some groups are hard because you're constantly running around or chasing wee ones or doing tons of organized games. This week was hard because they were emotionally draining. The first session on Saturday, they all talked about how they were dealing with their grief, how they dealt with others who thought that they should be "over it" by now, and the differences between partners' grief. People cried, couldn't talk, and had to leave the room. Mothers spoke about staying in bed all day and buying their dead children gifts when they went on vacations. Fathers cried because everyone else expects them to be tough and not cry over the loss of their little girl or little boy. Most of them had never met each other, but they were all connected by the same organization that provides care for terminally ill children and their families both before and after the child's death. Our hope is that after this weekend together they will reach out to each other for support. As was said several times this weekend, no one but a parent who has lost a child can tell them what to feel or that they know how they are feeling.
The workers who came with them from the support organization talked about the psychological theory behind the grief process. I actually remembered some of it from psych 110! Then I talked with the Corrymeela programme worker who also does reflexology work, and she spoke about doing paired imagery to help trauma victims of all types to learn how to help themselves handle stressful episodes, just like we talked about in abnormal psych. Amazing how you actually learn stuff at school, huh?!
I also met a few Americans this week who were around either on a residential or volunteering for the weekend. Nice people. Time for a toastie....