Friday, March 30, 2007

St. Paddy's and Musings

First of all--St. Patrick's Day. Basically, the 17th of March is the same in Northern Ireland as it is in the U.S. It's an excuse to go out to the pubs all day, wear green, and drink. That said, it was a good time. I was off that evening, so I did venture out into the town with a few other volunteers. Sorry to disappoint, but it wasn't all that exciting. I was home by about midnight even.

In other news, things are still going well. I've worked with some really good groups these past couple weeks. This week I worked with a small group of 10-year-olds from the Belfast area. They were really good kids, especially considering that I got the impression that they hadn't had the easiest of lives so far. I will definitely remember so many of these kids. I couldn't forget their obsession with the rabbits on site if I tried. Some of them had never seen wild rabbits before, so it was hard to peel them off the windows when we wanted to start an activity.

After the group left, the other volunteer and I were cleaning up the unit. I was mopping the kitchen and dining room and thinking about lots of things. I thought about friends. I got a long email the other day from a really good friend back in Ohio with lots of news--good and bad--and it made me think about our friendship, and friendship in general. I realized that some friends are the sort of people that you might call up for a fun night out on the town. Some friends you know you could call at any hour if something had gone terribly wrong. And, if your lucky, some friends are both in one. And those are the ones really worth hanging on to. Living away from everyone I know has made it more difficult to keep in touch with friends in general, but I have come to realize the truth in the old adage, 'you don't know what you've got til it's gone.' Living away from Ohio has made me appreciate my friends back home, but I wonder what it will be like when I leave Northern Ireland? I have made some really good friends here, but will I be able to keep in touch with them when I return to the states? We shall see....

As I was having my wee think about friendships and relationships, I also mused on my reasons for being here. I thought to myself with a smile that one reason was so that I would have those moments of mopping or window washing to think about the important things in life. At OWU I didn't have time to stop and think. I was always on the go or had something that I should be

doing. I'm busy here, but not too busy to think. And of course I'm here because this is something and somewhere completely different from what I know. Who knows, this could be good preparation for another challenge later in life. Maybe I'll end up living abroad again at some point. Anything could happen!

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2 Comments:

At 5:30 AM, March 31, 2007, Blogger Yair Ashi said...

haha you cant live with out that zebra hat. i know exactly how you feel about friends. hope all is well email me some time yairwalton@gmail.com

ps i had a dream last week that we where running from john and he was a borg tryin to get us it was scary.

 
At 5:46 PM, April 02, 2007, Blogger Lisa Ho said...

amazing photo- I saved it as my desktop background. Thanks!
lisa

 

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