Quick Update Updated...with pictures!

My travels in Turkey were a highlight of the trip so far. After Istanbul, I went to Goreme with Ameliano, an Argentian doctor who had been staying at the same hostel I had been in. We arrived, early in the moring, after a long overnight bus journey and found a cave hostel to stay in. The region of Cappadocia is characterized by their lunar-like landscapes of rock caves. Goreme is a town in a valley that is filled with these caves. People have built their homes (and hostels) into these caves. It was incredible to see the landscape change as we got closer and closer to Cappadocia. Our first day in the town, we basically walked around....and walked around some more. The town itself is really quite small, but there is an open air museum with really old cave churches. Inside of the churches were paintings of Biblical stories that dated back to the 9th century, but Christian communities have been thriving in the region since 3rd century. It was really nice to have the company of Ameliano. The language barrier was a bit of an issue at first but we could usually get the jist of what each other was saying. The hostel that we were staying at was not the livliest of places and so we decided to go out in the evening for some Nargile (waterpipe) and a beer. We found a little bar with a deck, cushions on the floor, and low tables that sat at. It was a really relaxing night out!





The next day we planned on catching the night bus (I was going to Olympos and he was going to Side) but it didn´t leave until 10:00 at night. So we faced a day of doing nothing because we had already walked all around the town and the outskirts of town the day before. I was kind of dreading it but to my surprise, it was a great day. We had a leisurely breakfast of fresh fruit from the market and picked up kebaps for lunch and then trekked up to the top of the valley. We found a large tree that provided sufficient shade and had picnic lunch. Knowing we had nothing of importance to do that day, we decided a long afternoon nap would be in order. So we literally just relaxed all day long. We each brought along iPods that we listened to...sometimes we talked, but mostly we just slept. After a good 6 hrs, we headed back down to the town, got more food, and then talked to the guy at the bus station until our bus rolled in.



I arrived in Olympos the next morning and got to my treehouse hostel. The town is set in the valley of mountains, right next to the Mediterranean Sea. It is also the site of a Lycian city dating back to 1000 BC so there are ruins everywhere. After getting situated in my room, I immediately headed for the beach. It was my first real time in the sun in a long time and it was lovely!!! I headed back in to the hostel in the early afternoon to nap and that evening met the people I would end up hanging out with during my time in Olympos. There were two very charismatic Aussie guys and two friends from England. In the dorm next to us were a group of guys from England. So that was pretty much the crew for the next few days.

During the days, we would head to the beach and swim, do some cliff jumping, and explore the ruins. There was usually a break for ice cream (or my favorite, fresh orange/pomegranate juice) mid-afternoon. In the evenings, we would hang out either in the dorm or go to different bars down the street.

The Beach:



Our Cliff-Jumping Cliffs:



Some Ruins:



On my last night in Olympos, Jack (one of the English guys) and I decided to walk to Chimera Flames. We could have paid 20 Lira and been driven there, but decided we were to cheap. So we set out on the journey which ended up taking about 6 hrs (round trip). The flames themselves have apparently been burning for millenea. They are the source of greek lenend and are really surprising to see. When we finally reached them, we thought there were just a bunch of campfires burning, but then realized there was no wood to fuel the fire. Instead, they remain lit from natural gas escaping from the earth.



The long, hot, and tiring trip was worth it, we decided, and we arrived back to the hostel in time to go out dancing to horrible techno music at the Bull Bar.



The next day I packed up and got ready for a few long days of travel ahead of me. I took a bus through Antalya back to Istanbul and then another bus to Sofia, Bulgaria. From there, I caught a night train to Budapest, Hungary that went through Serbia. The days of travel turned out to go by pretty quickly and my investment in a sleeper compartment for the night train was well worth it. During my first day in Budapest, I wandered around for a few hours and then went on a free walking tour of the city. Back at the hostel, we got FREE Hungarian goulash soup and FREE Hungarian red wine. People were going out to the clubs but I decided to opt out, given my very early arrival that morning (5:00 am). The next day was my day of relaxation at the Thermal Baths. The complex had at least 10 pools filled with natural thermal spring water of different temperatures. There were also steam rooms, scented steam rooms, and saunas. So for a few hours I just wandered in and out of these pools and treated myself to a massage from a very demanding/abrupt Hungarian woman. That night I went out with people in the hostel to a Reggae club, and then onto a couple different bars. As we were heading back to the hostel, the first light of the sunrise was in the sky and I knew that my bed had my name on it.

The Danube River that separates Buda and Pest:



I left Hungary via a train to Zagreb, Croatia the next morning with an American guy who was also heading in the same direction. We ended up staying at a hostel that looked great on the website but turned out to be filled with kids the day we were there. So it was kind of wierd to be woken up by 12 year old boys getting dressed and packing up at 6:00 in the morning. We caught the earliest bus out of Zagreb to Plitice Lakes National Park. It was stunning. There are about 5 lakes, all with different elevations so one lake flows to the next making about a million waterfalls. Footpaths are everywhere and you literally walk over top of rushing water. Included in the price of admission to the park is being able to take the boats across the lakes and the busses around the park. The water is unbelieveably clear. In the middle of the lakes you can look down and see the bottom completely clearly. After a few hours exploring the park, we needed to head back to the bus stop to go onwards.





I had plans of going to Zadar but the bus just never came. As I was waiting, a Canadian girl from PEI named Kayla showed up. We got to talking and had strikingly similar lives. Seriously. She was my doppleganger. So she was heading to Split, and because I had nothing booked in Zadar I decided to join up with her. That is the greatest thing about travelling by yourself and travelling without a plan: there is room for spontenaity. While in Split, we stopped by the market and picked up everything we would need for a picnic on the beach: bread, tomatoes, cheese, strawberries, oranges, and wine. Then we boarded a ferry over to the Island of Brac and caught a bus to the other side of the island to a town called Bol. We enjoyed our little picnic and although it was interupted once because of a light shower it was still great to be at the beach.

The town of Supertar on the island of Brač:



Back at the bus stop we met up with 4 other young travellers who were also staying in Split. That evening we all went out to dinner together where I had the most amazing seafood risotto. The others were going out to party that night but Kayla and I got ice cream for dessert, happened upon a dance competition in the old city walls that we watched for a little bit, and then headed back to the hostel.

The sunset on the way to dinner:



Kayla left early that morning to go to Bosnia and I headed up to Zadar. It seemed like the first time in a while that I had been alone, and I actually relished in the opportunity to be by myself. I stayed at a hostel outside of the city centre in a tourist resort-y place which was not my favorite. But I got caught up on some reading and journalling and went to bed early.

I left the hostel the next morning to catch a bus up to Pula in the Istria region of Croatia. There wasn´t a bus leaving until noon so I wandered around the old city of Zadar for a couple hours. I sat and listened to the Sea Organ for a while, which somehow makes music from the waves and tubes that are located underneath marble steps. My bus ride up to Pula was uneventful but long. Once again, I had nothing booked but met a woman at the bus station who was staying at a hostel I had read about previously that sounded nice. So I tagged along with her and luckilly, there was a bed available when I showed up. This place is like a little home. The woman is like a Grandma who made crepes for us when we arrived and apparently free homemade soup is a regular occurance too. I think it is a little more costly than other hostels, but I am willing to pay the price. This woman is a godsend.

It is 2 weeks from yesterday that I will be home. I can´t believe it...time flies.

I hope you are all well!

Love,

Kate

From cross country skiing to rooftop shisha...

This is going to be very newsy. Because a lot of things have been seen and done since I've last wrote a post. So I will guess I will just start in:

Mom and I stayed in Dublin for 3 nights before heading to Norway. While still in Ireland we had one last dinner at Deryk and Isobel's (so Mom could meet them, and I could say goodbye), went on a day tour to the Cliffs of Moher and many other things along the way, and went on another, more relaxing, day tour to Glendaloch and Kilkenny.



The next morning we headed to the airport to fly to Oslo. The city itself was surprisingly beautiful and but Mom and I both wanted to get out to the country because really, that's why we came. We took the train to Voss which is an incredibly gorgeous place: set on a lake, surrounded by mountains. Every morning we woke up to a glass-like lake that reflected the scenery around us...not a bad way to start a day. Mom and I fell in love with the town and ended up staying there for the rest of our nights in Norway except one. We spent one day exploring the area around Voss and hiked into a gorge and then up (and I mean up) a never ending trail that seemed to go nowhere. It was nice to be out in nature...real nature not commercialized or touristy nature.





The next day we did 'Norway in a Nutshell' which is an organized tour you buy a ticket for. But it's self led, so there's no 'following the red umbrella' business that some tours seem to be. We took the train up to Myrdal (900 meters above sea level) and then the Flamsbana railway down to the town of Flam which is at sea level. From Flam we took the a fjord boat tour through two parts of the Sognefjord to Gudvangen and then a bus back to Voss. Along the way there was part of the road, built by hand about a hundred years ago that had 16 hairpin turns in it. The bus driver explained that he had use engine retarder breaks and use 1st gear (speed limit was 15 km/h) because if not, the breaks would most likely go.





The next day we took the train to Bergen. It was a really relaxing day of meandering around and exploring the city. We walked amongst the UNESCO World Heritage section of Bergen called Bryggen enjoyed our Norwegian-smoked-salmon-from-the-fish-market lunch at a sunny picnic table. At the fish market we also tried a small bit of smoked whale. I am pacifying my nagging conscience by telling myself that it was only a small bit (p.s. if you're curious, it had the texture of roast beef, while tasting like salmon-y-chicken-y liver). After a leisurely lunch we took the Funicular up to see a view of Bergen and the sea and then hiked back down.



Our last full day in the Voss area was my favorite of the whole trip. We took a train to Finse which is 1222 m above sea level, and only accessible by train. It is located at the top of the mountains and was incredibly beautiful. We rented cross country skis and began the arduous journey to a cabin about 5 km away. This does not sound like much, I know, and we didn't think it would be either, but it was uphill almost all the way and the skis we had were not waxed. So we used skins (carpet/felt strips you stick on to the bottom of your skis for uphills) the whole time which gave us traction, but no sliding. But we made it up there (after peeling off all of our layers)and sat outside to enjoy another picnic lunch which included smoked salmon. The journey back was much more fun since it was downhill. There were a couple minor crashes but mostly just a lot of laughter. It was just a really great day...really fun. And full of memories.



We said goodbye to our home in Voss regretfully and took a bus to Lillehammer, home of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games. Our hostel was exceptionally posh (and expensive) with fresh cut flowers, lit candles, etc. On our search for a grocery store we happened upon a fashion show which we found the inspiration for Mom's mother of the bride dress (see picture below, it's the pink one on the left, pink rain boots included...Anne, you're ok with that right??) The next morning, after exploring the city a bit more and heading up to Olympic Park, we took the train to the Airport. We said our goodbyes and Mom headed off to Amsterdam and I waited to fly to Rygge, Latvia until 9:00 that night. I spent the night at the airport and then flew the Istanbul the next morning.



As cities go, Istanbul is pretty beautiful. Last night was really relaxed and I just had supper (FREE) and smoked shisha (cappucino flavoured and more importantly, FREE)on the roof with other people from the hostel. I spent time with a Calgarian man today and we went to the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and took a boat trip down the Bospherous to a fishing village on the Asian side of Istanbul. It was nice to have the company, I'm kind of surprised he offered to hang out with me but he is also traveling alone until he and his wife are to meet up in Iran to travel together. So the company was welcome.

So things are going well. I like Turkey a lot so far. I hope everyone is well!

Love,

Kate

The Days Have Dwindled...

My time with CASA is over. I cannot believe it...it feels like yesterday that I arrived. This last week has really topped off my experience here on an incredibly positive note though: a great kids group, a few days off to relax, an outstanding massage, outings to visit a few of my favorite, dinner at 1014, a night out in Dublin city centre, and a house bbq.

For my last kids group I was paired with Danielle who is pretty severely intellectually disabled but can walk around....and man did she walk! Basically my weekend consisted of following her around and watching that she did not pull the other kids hair or grab some one's glasses and break them. I mixed things up by singing some songs that used knee pats and claps. My favorite (and hers) was the kit kat song...you know, 'give me a break, give me a break, break me off a piece of that kit kat bar.' And she had an overactive metabolism so could pretty much eat all day long, so I took Claire's advice (who was been previously paired with her)and had a banana in my hand pretty much at all times and would occasionally put a piece in her hand to nibble. I was really nervous about how she would sleep because I had heard reports from past breaks about her being up most of the night and hitting her head against the wall and stuff, but she ended up sleeping on the couch downstairs with the woman came to stay awake all night and make sure the kids were ok, because we aren't allowed to sleep in the same room as them (new protocol to protect children). Danielle was a really sweet girl and my highlight of the weekend was going for a walk with her in Swords to a shop because we were running low on bread. We borrowed another girl's stroller and got Danielle all buckled in an off we went. The whole walk Danielle sat happily in the stroller singing unidentifiable songs to herself and moving her arms around like she was conducting an orchestra. She was so content and happy! Oh-the other thing that is very characteristic about Danielle is that she only really says a few things such as: 'Danielle go home?' and 'Danielle go to bed?' Or variations of that like 'Kate go home?' or 'Claire go to bed?'. Anyway, this whole time she just sang and smiled. Danielle was probably my most challenging kid that I've been paired with, but I also loved finding ways to adapt to her needs for constant stimulation. She required a lot of focus because she didn't really have a sense of danger or what would result in serious consequence (like breaking some one's glasses) and one time she got out of the unlocked door while I was grabbing something from the kitchen and I came back and she was gone!!! Ovidiu told me he saw her leave so he chased her down and she was halfway down the block, just trotting in the opposite direction of the house. I guess she finally got sick of asking if she could go home, and decided it was time to just take action. The one drawback to this group was that again, I felt isolated from the rest of the group. With the last kids group, I was with Chrissie who only really wanted to play with me and would actually tell other kids to leave if they came into the room. And with Danielle, it was difficult to incorporate her into group games or help facilitate group interaction with her attention always seemed to be somewhere else. I think that having the opportunity to hang out with Danielle, although it was not my most fun weekend, was a really huge growing and learning experience for me. The picture below is of Danielle on our walk.



This is a picture of Donal, the sweetest, cuddliest kid on the planet with Lisa who was paired with him for the weekend:



And I want to include this picture as well, for the sheer cuteness of it. This is Darren, after annihilating toast with nutella. Darren is also a kid who enjoys ketchup sandwiches.



We had some members come to the house on the Monday right after the group ended on Sunday because a Minister from the government was coming to check out CASA and hopefully provide the organisation with more funding. It was a great day. Claire and I were in charge of the food so we got to mingle with everyone! Julie, one of my first few members was there, and we were treated to a couple of her songs. The Minister was only there for a short time, and at the very end of our afternoon, but we all played domino's, card games, and chatted until he came.

The following evening Claire and I went out to Restaurant 1014 with Paddy Murray and Kay. We both felt so grateful to have been invited and it turned out to be an evening I will really remember for a long time. It was so special to be at 1014, which is a restaurant owned by CASA in which any proceeds made on top of covering costs goes directly to the charity. The food was great, the wine was great, but more than anything it was a nice way to be able to reflect on our experiences with CASA and spend some quality time with Paddy and Kay.

The week of awesomeness continued with a massage! We got his number from Dora (one of my favorite members) so called him up, and he offered us a group rate so Mary Fox, Claire, Kate and I did not hesitate to sign up. He came to the house with his massage table and music and, of course, his magic hands. We all emerged after our hour+ massage looking like we were about to fall asleep. It was 100% worth it.

On Friday we went on outings to visit members so I went to the CARA and St. Mary's. I got to say goodbye to a couple of my favorite members and it was really great just to chat with them one more time. We headed back to the house at got ready for the night's festivities. We bussed to the city centre and went to a couple pubs, tried getting into the Q bar which is the really lame dance club, but there was a newly in place cover charge which we were all too cheap to pay. So we came home and had our own dance party (which included borrowing moves from some of our members). It also involved a slow dance with Ovidiu who lifted me off the floor and spun me around the room and witnessing more hip circles than any person should ever have to see when Ovidiu hit the floor for a solo. It was a really fun night, and we had been talking about going out in the city for a while. Although I intended to take more pictures of the night's events, this one below is one of the only good ones. This was taken on the bus on the way into the city centre.



The good times just kept rolling (I'm sorry....I should stop using these sayings) on Sunday when we had a house BBQ. Everyone contributed something (Ovidiu's 'little things' which were basically sausage shaped beef/lamb burgers, homemade tiramisu from Lucy, a cold rice/veg salad from Lennart, packets of fish from Lisa, grilled veg and hamburgers from Claire and I) and we were able to sit down and have one last really nice meal all together. The night continued with a heated game of Extreme Uno and an amusing game of Pictionary.





I was up bright and early today to PICK UP MOM FROM THE AIRPORT!!!! It was so great to see her and hug her! We went out for a nice lunch at 1014 and then walked around Malahide all day. She's staying at a B&B right now and we'll head into Dublin to stay at a hostel tomorrow. It is so nice to have her here, and show her where and what has made up my life for the past 4 months. I'm excited to spend this next week and a half with her! And then I'm off on my own! And I'm gonna drop this little hint in...date of return to Canada: June 7th. It's a Monday.

And I'll leave you with this picture of flowers that are in Malahide. Claire told me that she'd never seen flowers like Ireland flowers and I thought maybe she was just exaggerating. Until I saw them in real life. And they are seriously amazing. And for some reason they always seem to be in bloom. Like this flower bed below, it's looked like that for at least a week and a half. Just thought I would prove it for all those non-believers.



I hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Kate

The Best Dance Moves My Eyes Have Ever Seen

Last weekend I was paired with a woman named Mary. Before she came I was thoroughly warned of her less-than-sunny disposition. Her tendancy to complain and be generally grouchy all the time had me slightly nervous and so I was prepared to need all of my patience to get through the weekend. But she arrived, was lowered down on the lift on the van, and glanced up with a HUGE smile on her face! As it turns out, she was in a great mood for the entire duration of the break! Her speech is a little unclear but she would just mumble away, and then chuckle and then her chuckle would turn into a full-blown laugh, at which point her dentures would come out of place. To be honest, I rarely fully understood what she was laughing about, but her laughter made me laugh. At first, myself and the other volunteers seriously wondered if she had been put on anti-depressants or some other mood altering drug because her demeanor was so drastically different from when she had been in last. Khadija assured she was not, so I was just thankful that I got to be with her on a 'good' weekend!



The rest of the members were also fun but I want to make special mention of a man named Keiran. I first met Keiran in my first couple weeks here when we went to the Pantomime production of 'Jack and the Beanstalk.' We sat next to each other and chatted a little before the show began. During intermission, Keiran disappeared for a while and returned with two ice creams in his hand--one for him and one for me. I tried to graciously decline the ice cream and encouraged him to give it to another member, but he insisted I have it. So that was our first meeting, and from then on I've always had a little place in my heart for this thoughtful, and immaculately dressed man. So I was really excited when I found out he was coming in for a group before I left. I had heard rumours of his dance moves from the other volunteers and couldn't wait to see them for myself. Luckily, on Friday night, we went to the Hilton where a live 'band' (if you want to call it that, really it was a guy on the electric keyboard and another guy with a guitar playing covers of horrible soft rock songs) was playing. But music is music so the dancing began...even Mary said she wanted to dance so her and I got up as I wheeled her around in her chair. Keiran is a big fan of the spotlight and so when everyone else sat down to take a break, that's when he got up to show us all what real dancing is. And I was not one bit disappointed. He had the whole crowd cheering with moves I have never even seen. Some of my favorites involved a full handed hair stroke (see picture below), and some exaggerated hip circles with a popped collar when an Elvis Presley song was played by request.





On Sunday afternoon, after we arrived home from Mass in Seabury, we had a really nice picnic in the backyard. It was the first of the summer-y season and we all donned our sunglasses to enjoy the beautiful weather. Below is a picture of Sister Mary, the nun who lives in the house full time. She has been with CASA since the beginning and although she is now in a wheelchair and needs full time assitance from a PA because her MS has progressed to such a stage, she still helps out with Mass at the house and leads the welcome prayer for adults groups. I realized I didn't have any pictures of her on this blog, but this one below of her and one of her PA's, Claris is a good one and thought I should add it.



We had 3 days off after the group and the girls and I planned a little indulgent day in the city centre. What started off just being a plan for a haircut, turned into a haircut, lunch, AND dessert. Claire, Kate, Lisa and I went to a hairdressing school that does cuts for only 10 euro. While Claire, Kate and I all just got regular haircuts, Lisa went a little wild and got a large panel of her hair died pink. Our haircuts were followed by the best lunch I've had in a while at this vegetarian restauraunt kind of close to Temple Bar area called Cornacopia. Stuffed, we walked around a bit and ended up laying in the sun in St Stephen's Green for an hour or so. It was beautiful. The flowers were in full bloom and the sun was shining. The four of us then headed to Queen of Tarts for dessert where we all shared from a selection of desserts (my top choice was the raspberry cheesecake tart). It was a nice way to spend an afternoon. We walked out of Queen of Tarts vowing to never eat again, but it was totally worth it. And nice to spend a day with the girls outside of the house.



Tomorrow is my last group...It seems so crazy to be near the end of my time here at CASA. But it's a kids group, which are my favorite...they are more exhausting, but so much fun...and we are going to a place called Hurly Burly which is basically a huge playroom with pits of plastic balls and things to climb in and jump through.

I hope everyone is doing really well back home. I hope school is wrapping up successfully and that exam stress is not getting to anyone. I love you all and miss you!

Love,

Kate

In the Land of Kilts and Shortbread...

My Scotland trip was good...it was my second taste of independent travelling and Erin's advice to me at the beginning of this whole trip is certainly true: You just do it; there is no one else to help you so you find a way, and just make it happen.

I slept in the Dublin airport because of my early flight out the next day, and found a really great padded bench which allowed me to sleep for like 5 hrs straight...not bad for a noisy and bright airport terminal! I arrived in Edinburgh to sleet and wind...the kind of wind that breaks people's umbrellas, but was able to find my hostel and dry off for a bit. I went on a walking tour of the city, and despite the miserable weather, the city itself is quite beautiful.



That afternoon I watched movies in the lounge with some other people from the hotsel and then played pool and drank free beer that the hostel provided. I hung out with a girl from Conneticuit who was really interesting to talk to for most of the night and we went on the hostel's pub crawl. She was also travelling alone so it was nice to find someone to hang out with but not feel like a 3rd wheel.

The next day, I took the train to Glasgow and caught a bus that was going up to the Isle of Skye. I arrived at night to this really kitchy hostel but the lady was really sweet. There were signs that indicated every possible direction for the place (ex: where hand towels were to be hung in the bathroom, to only put bread in the toaster, to plug in phone chargers in outlets, etc.) I hung around Kyleakin the next morning, walking around and exploring the area.



At a bus stop, I met a guy who claimed to be a Shaman who had the ability to call on spirits when he was in need of things, such as a ride to a place. You seriously meet the most eclectic bunch of people while travelling. The bus took me down to the Bridge of Orchy where I got of and hiked 7 miles on the West Highland Way to the town where my hostel was located.



At this hostel I met a British guy who attended Harry Potter Conventions in the States, where he actually met his future wife along with a British guy who was teaching snowboarding lessons at the ski hill. We all watched a movie on the snowboarding guy's laptop, during which, he was drinking straight vodka with water chasers. Needless to say, he obviously got drunk and it was pretty amusing seeing as he was the only one. The next day I carried on along the West Highland Way to the next town. I had planned to do more hiking but the weather that day was horrible, and the next few also looked bleak. So I cut my losses and took a bus down to the Glasgow Bus Station, looked at the departures list, and left on the bus that left the quickest, which ended up heading to Inverness.



Having not booked any hostels or done any research on Inverness I was kind of walking into the whole situation blindly, but ended up getting a room. In the middle of the night, the fire alarm went off and we all trapsed outside and waited for half an hour until the fire brigade came to sweep the building. I woke up to rain (surprise, surprise) the next morning but took the opportunity to find another hostel early because there was no room in the one I was at the night previous. I found one...it was horrible, but it was a bed. Just one bed, in a room, with a shelf and a nasty stained duvet cover/pillow and a window with bars on it. I walked around Inverness in the rain and went to a movie to kill some time, but eventually had to face the music and return to this horribly lonely room. I read, listened to music and hit the hay at 9 o'clock.

I awoke on Easter Sunday morning to SUN!!!! It made me so happy!!! I knew I didn't have to catch the bus until noon, so I attended a Church of Scotland service. While we were waiting for the service to start, the organist played 'Were You There When They Crucified My Lord' and it reminded me of home and Stuart Gardiner. There were a couple other very familiar hymns that were sung during the service and it was just really nice to be able to have that little bit of home with me during Easter.



I took the bus to Oban where I stayed at a hostel that was 100% better than the last night's. The owner was a gardener and served homeade jams and marmalade at breakfast. I had day of laying in bed, reading a full book, drinking tea and relaxing because, once again, it was raining outside. The following day it was raining too, but I took the bus down to Glasgow where I was meeting up with Lennart. We went out to a movie that night because all the shops and tourist attractions had closed. The next day was spent walking around (in SUNSHINE!). We went to the botanic gardens, the Museum of Transport, the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, St. Mungo's Museum of Relgious Life, and The Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis. We also made a very exciting stop at Tinderbox, the coffee shop that Erin worked when she lived in Glasgow! SUCH GOOD COFFEE!!!



We caught the last bus from the airport to Malahide and rejoined the rest of the volunteers to talk about our holidays. We've got a group coming in any second, so I should get going. Hope everyone had a very happy Easter!

Love,

Kate

20th Anniversary Dirty Dancing Box Set=Pure Happiness

Sorry it has been a while... Time is flying.

We've had two groups since my last group: an adults group and a 'tweens' group. I was paired with Dora for the adults group and she is my all time favorite member. She lives in a hospital setting (which is a really horrible place to be...in a room with 2 other women, no privacy, etc.) and has cerebral palsy. You would never guess the woman is 51...she has a nose piercing and 2 eyebrow piercings. She has a really soft and warm disposition, loves Patrick 'The Swaze' Swayze, cute men, romantic comedies and of course the movie "Dirty Dancing." While shopping we got a box set which included the 20th anniversary DVD, plus a nightgown, sleeping eye mask, and a toiletries bag. We spotted it and Dora was sold immediately! She needed full assistance with everything, but always cared about my needs. So as I would be feeding her, she would say, 'no, no, you eat' or when we were out at the movies, she offered to buy a drink for me when she bought her Fanta. I felt privileged to spend the weekend with her. She shows so much grace in the way she deals with what life has given her.



The second group was 'tweens.' I was with a girl named Chrissie who has Down's Syndrome. She was a bit of a handful because she chose to exercise her stubbornness many times throughout the weekend. But she was also really playful and imaginative. The whole weekend we played within one storyline, which developed as the weekend went on. It got to be quite complicated involving other volunteers when they were around but still including them even if they weren't. On Sunday we went ot an Adults Social which included a mass. The idea of sitting through a mass did not thrill Chriss ('Mass is boooooooorrrrrrriiinnngg,' she would repeat over and over). But with some distractions (ie: giving her my camera to flip through pictures, and providing her with paper and a pen to draw/write me somewhat illegible notes) we made it through without any disruptions. It was then onto music and dancing at the social which is my favorite parts. The other volunteers and myself are trying to mentally catalogue member's dance moves which we plan on pulling out during a night out in the city centre sometime in the near future. There was also a karaoke-like singing sessions where members went up to perform a song. Chrissie volunteered so up I went with her to do a partial rendition of Shania Twain's, "Man, I Feel Like A Woman."



After the group and had a day to relax, spent the night at Dublin Airport and got on an early flight to Edinburgh. I'm in Glasgow right now waiting for a bus to go up to the Isle of Skye. But when I get home next week, I'll do a full posting on my trip. I'll also try and get some pictures of Dora and Chrissie onto this blog, along with pictures from my Scotland trip.

Hope everyone is well!

Love,

Kate

Yes Gillian, Love?

These last couple of weeks have been filled with a really fun group, a trip to Liverpool and Wales, and experiencing St. Patrick's Day in Dublin. Time is flying. And the unwanted countdown for my time to leave CASA has begun, and it's coming up too quickly.

I was paired with a really outstanding woman named Gillian. She knows every song ever written (google 'Fist City' by Loretta Lynn, because she knew it) and is the picture of pure joy when she clasps her hands at the side of her head, gets a huge grin on her face and lets out this shriek of happiness. The group was one of my favorites: we went to Glendalogh which is a lake in the Wicklow Mountains for a day trip, went shopping trip and I got to experience what a champ of a shopper Gillian is--she knows what she wants and is not afraid to pay the money to get it!--and went out for supper on the last night. Unfortunately Gillian had an upset stomach when we were out for dinner so Erin, her and I went back to the house to clean up and rest. Gillian was just a really funny woman. She had great dance moves, even while sitting in her chair, and her winks really would win any one over.

Glendalogh:



Gillian:



Lennart had had taken the first season of 'Damages' at the library so after the group left, the marathon session of watching most of the episodes began. It was a really relaxing night and then on Saturday I packed for Wales and we watched the last couple episodes of the show.

So now for the trip: It was really good. It boosted my confidence for my solo travelling time after I'm done at CASA. I had a lot of fun and met some really great people which, I've realized, is essential to maintain sanity while travelling alone. I slept at the John Lennon Airport in Liverpool in my first night and had a bit of a sketchy encounter with some guy in beige camo pants that decided to sleep in the same little nook that I found. At 4 in the morning, he woke me up and asked if I wanted a beer. I was asleep, had ear plugs in, and had my hat covering my face, so you would think he would get the hint. But no, apparently not.

I took a bus into the city centre and walked around to get myself orientated. I visited the Liverpool Cathedral and attended the service that morning where I was 1 of 6 others in attendence, plus the priest.



I basically spent the entire day walking around and seeing the sights. I went to the International Slavery Museum which was nice and saw a couple other Cathedrals. In the afternoon and I was pretty bored of just walking around so I went to see a movie and it basically began a time of just waiting for my train to leave Liverpool at 11:45pm. So I walked into a Burger King (to use their free wifi)and started chatting with a Irish guy who had gone to school and was now working in Liverpool. We went to a pub just down the road to listen to some really horrible karokee, but it was nice to interact with another human being. His friends joined us for a pint and then I had to go back to the train station to catch my train to Betws-y-coed.

In front of the Liverpool Docks:



After spending a few hours in a freezing train station in Chester, I finally arrived in this really sleepy town of Betws-y-coed at 6:30 in the morning and walked around until the hostel opened. The town was in a valley surrounded by mountains. It was a really scenic place that was quiet and really relaxing. I had not gotten very much sleep at all over the past couple nights and so as soon as I got settled, my head hit the pillow and I was out for a couple hours. I got up and went on a hike up the a lake farther up in the mountains. I returned to the hostel and had some supper and basically had a shower, read part of my book and went to bed ridiculously early.



The following morning, I got on my train for Holyhead and then basically got right onto the ferry to come back to Dublin. There were so many (mostly American) tourists coming over for St. Patrick's Day so I got to chatting with a few of them, over the course of my travels that morning.

It was nice to get back to the house and upon arriving home, I met 2 of the new volunteers, Ovidui from Romania (pronounced Oh-vee-doo) and Lucy from the States. Both seem like they will be a lot of fun.

We all headed into the city centre to watch the St. Patricks Day Parade the next morning, only to be disappointed. The crowds were unbelieveable and streets were packed beyond belief. Back at the house we played games and had a few drinks that evening which was a lot more subdued than the madness that would have been Dublin.

Erin, one of the American volunteers who has been here for a year and a half will be leaving on Saturday and so some members and people from the office came over to the house for a bit of a goodbye party that on Thursday afternoon. It was a really nice afternoon, and a great way for Ovidui and Lucy to be introduced to CASA. Last night we went out to Gibneys for a drink and listend to some sub-par music, but I think Erin really enjoyed herself. It is going to be very wierd when she is gone because she has kind of been a staple person in this house for a long time.

This was a very news-y post. Sorry for rattling off the itinerary of these past couple of weeks. Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day! Love you and miss you all!

Kate