What? I've been here for a week and a half already...?!

Here's me at this cool place about 30 min. from here called the giant's causeway (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant's_Causeway).
Another from the causeway

Yep, I've been here at "Corrymeela" for almost a week and a half now. The reason I've not done any updates is most definitely not because there has been nothing exciting happening or nothing to write about. Au contraire- It has been a whirlwind of excitement, newness, fun, and intensity.

A bit more about Corrymeela: Corrymeela is a Christian reconciliation organization here in Northern Ireland. It's in (well, next to) a tiny little town called Ballycastle directly on the northern coast. It's a really unique place- a Christian organization, but not an evangelical one (by which I mean that their primary task is not to convert folks to Christianity), A Christian organization, but not one that requires people who work/volunteer here to be Christian necessarily. They describe themselves as a Christian community who also welcome people of all faiths or of no faith... All kinds of different groups come here and Corrymeela provides them with a place to stay, activities, food, conversation, daily worship/ reflection time, etc.. Some of the groups are families who've been directly affected by the violence and conflict between protestants and catholics (who come for a small respite from the craziness), kids who are part of youth programs, families with small children, other marginalized people groups, ... It's very hard to summarize quickly here because it has so many facets and dimensions.

My role thus far has been to facilitate groups (2 thus far- 1 really fun and easy and the other incredibly challenging and rough), build relationships with the folks who come here, make meals, do dishes, lead games, play soccer in the rain with punky Irish teens, fellowship with the other volunteers, drink lots of tea, live in community, share meals, go rockclimbing with groups, etc..


Here's some videos of me talking, just explaining a bit about my time here at Corrymeela. Watch these if you're my family or you're really interested (cause they're a bit long and perhaps a tad boring unless you just love listening to my voice and watching my face).








Here's the Croi (pronounced "cree" that I mentioned)
And here's the place where I've been living for the past while. It's brand new and just perfect...

Here's a few of my new friends-Daniel from Switzerland and Noa from Israel. They've been my closest buds here thus far...

My Swiss roomie Daniel and I

Some castle remains we climbed around on...