Louckses in Northern Ireland: Bringing Back the Fun and Corrymeela!

Wednesday, August 18 was a rest day. It seems a little funny to have a rest day right after being on holiday for over a week, but it is true and was a nice day of adjustment back to life in B-fast. We cleaned the Ark during the day and in the evening headed to cell group.

Thursday, we were back to the office. Lucy worked away at emails since it had been awhile and new volunteers are shortly arriving. Micah had a meeting with Maria. We had dinner at the Ember which included May just back from her holidays in Israel!! The community was starting to come back together after summer holidays!! In the evening we played Kniffel (Yatzee) with others in the Ember.

On Friday, Micah and Scott headed up to the allotment to see how out of control it was after a week of no one taking care of it. They returned with tons of veg and sore backs from mowing the long grass around the fire pit. Lucy was in the Ember in the evening. Larry and Lucy cooked curry vegetables with the help of many others.

On Saturday (which was Lucy’s little bros bday) we were present in the Ember. It was a busy day of cleaning, laundry, errands and a few cups of tea. In the evening we all headed with Maria to Downpatrick for Talent Quest 2010, a fundraiser for L’Arche put on by some youth. We had no idea what to expect and ended up having a few laughs and hearing a lot of AWFUL “talent”. The best part was when Jillian tried to sing along with the performers. It was a good outing that will be remembered for some time.

Sunday was a rest day. Sadly our church was on a retreat so we did not get to go to church. We spent the day going for a walk, cleaning, skyping with our families and friends and spending time outside in the sun.

Monday began as usual with a meeting. We went to IKEA to come closer to finishing purchases for the Ark. Pretty uneventful day...

Tuesday we had manual handling training the majority of the day. We learned all about lifting boxes, our spines, helping people stand up and sit down as well as proper technique for walking with core members. It made us all a bit more conscious of our spines! After we did a bit of office work since our office day was cut out before attending Scott’s birthday prayer. Thomas came over for dinner, which he was quite excited about since it had been a few weeks since we had last had Tuesday dinner together. During dinner, Neil came down to see if we wanted to go to a pub quiz, which was a fundraiser for a friend of his that is going to South Africa to work in a school. It was a fun evening. Team “Larry’s Lads and Lasses” did not fare too well, BUT we did not get last place!

Wednesday was a rest day. We went to our fav bakery in the morning (Ian’s!). Then we headed out for a walk. After lunch in the Ember, Lucy stayed to surprise Makiko with a birthday celebration. Makiko was quite excited to get her ears pierced which was a present from Cami and Teresa, but she was so cute because she kept asking, “Does it hurt to get ear holes?” Micah headed over to a meeting before the party with Maria and other Soup Shanty coordinators. On October 1, the kickoff to Root Soup is taking place at the “Soup Shanty”, an evening of fellowship, music and good soup! They were busy planning the details of the evening at this meeting! Then we went over to cell group in the evening. We had been asked the week before to lead the Bible Study so that was a good way to get more involved in the group!

Thursday was a full day in the office. Lucy met for her exit interview with Teresa, a one-month volunteer who headed back to Austria on Sunday. Other than that it was emails, fixing documents and reading about being non-discriminatory in “hiring” practices. Micah created a Facebook group for Root Soup as well as a blog. If you are on Facebook, join the group “Root Soup” or check out his Root Soup blog. The link for the page is on the side and it is www.rootsoup.blogspot.com. Nothing has been written yet, but it gives a good description and he will be adding to it soon. In the evening we headed to the allotment for a “bring back the fun” party that celebrated Scott’s birthday, Makiko’s birthday, Teresa’s farewell and Rachel’s amazing test scores to get into Cambridge University. It was full of great food, great fellowship and lots of laughs. It was a spectacular day full of sunshine!

Waiting for Food: Jillian, Teresa, Eimear, and Thomas.

Aodh looking cool.

Having fun at the allotment!

Friday, Micah and Scott headed to the allotment for the morning. They tidied up, picked weeds and pulled veggies. In the afternoon Micah had a meeting with Open Door, a collaborator in Root Soup. Lucy spent the afternoon preparing for the weekend holiday. She prepared a picnic, packed the car and went on a walk with Jill. Then Maria phoned to say that it would be better to eat at the Ember, so we unpacked the picnic and ate (quite early) before setting off for a work weekend at Corrymeela, another community which focuses on peace and reconciliation work. The centre is situated on the north coast up on a cliff right by the sea, which provided stunning views! After arrival, we had an evening prayer, hot chocolate and toast before helping the core members off to bed.

Saturday began with breakfast and morning reflection. Then it was off to work interrupted only by intermittent rain. The tasks varied from scraping moss from between stones on the path, to collecting stones at the beach to trimming hedges. It was a day of hard work, lots of food and quite a bit of rain! In the evening we had a reflection on the weekend and then prayer before more hot chocolate and toast. Once the core members were off to bed, the two of us had a chance to talk to a man from the Focolare Movement.

Sunday we were back to work in the morning. The main task of the day was moving stones from a bed that they wanted to plant grass in. Then it was worship, lunch and time to head home. We packed a very tired bunch into Rosie (our community van) and Scott’s car and not too long into the trip the back of Rosie was very quiet. Once back, we enjoyed relaxing.

This next week is full of transition. Teresa has already left and Cami leaves on Friday. Additionally two new volunteers are coming, one from the U.S. and one from Austria. It will be an interesting week in the community with so much happening. Hope you enjoy our new blog set up!