Beautiful days

<-- The Cafe/Bookstore

Down at the beach with the dogs --,

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Good afternoon world!

I have already been up for over six hours and it's

barely noon! Needless to say, I am just pumped with energy due to lack of sleep -- but with that comes a crash and burn in the afternoon that I'm not looking forward to. Bobbi and Sophie left for California at three am this morning - and so begins our full take over of the nine dogs (see pictures below!). I woke up before six this

morning to let the dogs out, and then at eight thirty I fed them breakfast. In between those two and a half hours, I watched the sun rise and listened to Chris Tomlin whilst on the roof of our house. It was a lovely beginning to the day! Thus far I've tried in vain to get Bria to eat (she's having withdrawals from Bobbi, already), threw the ball around for the pups down at the beach, and made a delightful breakfast.

<-- North-ish side of the Island

Hill and I atop a "mountain" --,

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LATER

The four of us - Miriam, Jeanne, Hillary and I - went to the West end of the Island. We live on the East end. Anyways, at the west end there are amazing cliffs, and today we could see the Skellig Islands. It was majestic! We spent the whole afternoon there, soaking up the sun.

Skellig Islands -->

(The Island on the right has an old monastery on top, which is the reason for their fame)

Speaking of sun ... An old man told us to not get sunburned, because all of the sun we were having (haha). It was funny meeting this old man ... we were in town the other day, all of us getting into the car... When an old man

comes up to me and says, "What did you do? Run into barbed-wire?" I laughed and said no. And then he asked, "What's in your nose then?" Laughing, I told him that it was a nose ring. Oh man, then we had a few more laughs about how, yes, You Grandpa, don't like it either :0). Also, the man said that he had spotted us across the way in the Butcher Shop - Turns out, he is the famous Ted Kennedy. He has a taxi service -- drives everyone wherever they need to go and only need about four hours of sleep. He was driving Bobbi and Sophie to the airport that night. Nice chap.

Hillary near a cliff on the Island! -->

For those of you who didn't know... I am now the sole driver in the house. Since Bobbi left, someone had to be able to drive into town for food and such -- And I am apparently the only one old enough, haha. It's been interesting reigning in my skills from driving in New Zealand. I'll get the hang of it again.

Hillary and I went on a lovely walk to the Island's Lighthouse this last week. It took about two hours to walk there and back -- but definitely worth it. We usually work in the morning and then do something fun/active in the afternoon. Finally got a soccer ball to practice with! And we are constantly playing cards at night - Jeanne taught us a new way to play speed (Kim, I'll have to show you You'll love it).

<-- WOOFERS: (L to R) Miriam, Jeanne, Sophie, and Hillary

Have a lovely week!

Peace

The Dogs

LUCY - The old woman

SALLY - The adventurer of the crew

MOLLY - She's got the game of 'catch' down to an art

MADDOCK - The Grandpa of the group (aside from the fact that he is quite a young chap

BRIA - Don't let the size of her fool you. She owns the place.

MAY - The sweet one. She has awesome eyes too! One's brown and the other, blue.

MAGGIE - The twin

MORGAN - The other twin

JOEY - The newest addition and he is afraid of everything.

A Summary

We ended our first day in Ireland going to a pub with our newfound friend, Francy. Her homeland being Germany, she was off on a two month adventure in Ireland by herself. Ireland is pretty safe to travel by oneself, but traveling alone could be quite lonely - in my opinion. We listened to live traditional Irish music while chatting with a couple from Chicago.

The next day, we found ourselves waiting at the Cahersiveen bus station and in anticipation... we were excited to have so many questions answered.

1. Was Bobbi a man or woman?
2. Were the rescue dogs doing the rescuing or were they being rescued by us (possibly having three legs and one eye)?
3. Where were we living?
4. Were there other WOOFERS at the Knightstown Cafe?

Bobbie Zeff is a lovely woman of about fifty years from California, who fell in love with the Island of Valentia. She started the Knightstown Cafe about thirteen years ago with her two sons- one son fell in love with an Irish lady and now lives here. Through the past few years she has acquired nine dogs... who neither rescue nor are missing any limbs. She has taken in these dogs who have crazy stories of being locked up, about to be shot, and generally terribly abused. I’ll have pictures and names of all nine soon! Bobbi is quite nice and always laughing - some have called her woof site a refuge. She took Hillary, Jeanne and I to the supermarket and said, “Get whatever you want. The only thing I don’t pay for is alcohol and cigarettes.” We might have gone wild with food...

The place we are living in is huge! It is 10,000 square feet with three floors and holds the cafe, bookstore, kitchen, woofer rooms, and some random other rooms for storage. Then there is a lovely garden on the side of it and Bobbi’s house in the back. Her property runs from the main street in Knightstown to the water. Hillary and I were placed on the second floor in the pink room - holy cow it’s pink! My bed is surrounded by mirrors.

As far as other woofers - we came the same day that Jeanne came. She is a french girl who has been hitchhiking around Ireland for the past five months. She is also a chef! And then there is Xeno and Kristianna. A couple from Switzerland who are in the middle of a six month trip around Ireland, but they left this morning. There is also a sweet German girl, Sophie, and Susannah from Slovakia.

Our first day on the Island didn’t start out too well. Both Hillary and I slept terribly. We got up to start work and couldn’t find anyone! We wandered aimlessly for an hour until we discovered that everyone was down at the beach hauling rocks. We helped for about two minutes, and then they were done. How embarrassing...

We’ve found out that Bobbi takes naps every afternoon - this leisure time for us has been spent, so far, going on walks or reading books. I think Hillary and I read pretty much all day yesterday. I actually finished a book - Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Our first day we took a walk with Jeanne - a swan almost took her finger off. This morning the three of us took a walk with eight out of the nine dogs along the beach because it was low tide - two of the dogs (one who can barely walk!) went on ahead of us and we lost them, whoops! They were found later roaming around a neighboring field.

The only other work we’ve done so far is: gardening one morning (Hill and I planted Daffodil bulbs), taking stickers off of journals with goo gone, and randomly hauling books up and down the stairs to different rooms.

Last night was quite exciting. Jeanne got bored and decided to make four of us a gourmet dinner - it was so good that she has possibly changed my mind about mushrooms! We also played spoons and I tried some guiness. I don’t like it, but it wasn’t terrible.

All in all, it’s been good and I'm excited to see what other odd jobs we do. Hillary and I have a goal: to be invited to tea by a lovely Irish lady. We'll see if this happens.

There's No Place Like Home

Yes, I said it. There is no place like home! As Hillary and I wereawaiting our drive to the airport on Monday morning, we were told, at a local coffeeshop in Charlotte, NC, that there was a tornado watch going on. We very calmly asked what we were supposed to do if a tornado came our way - the owner said that the bank had a "shelter" (he actually did air quotes ... that's very reassuring...) Hillary told me later that day, "You know, I'm okay with taking a bit more rain up in the Northwest - I'd rather have rain than tornadoes." - Yes please.

Turns out, the only thing we met was a big thunderstorm --- in the air. The turbulence of the flight from Charlotte to Philadelphia was unreal! Hillary is gripping my leg, there is a man across the aisle from me doing sudoku (how he could write is beyond me) and a women a row in front of us sharing the love of Jesus to a Canadian college kid ---needless to say, I was giggling at all the absurdity. And praying.

A few randoms at the airport: Hill and I splurged on some chips and salsa - who knows when the next time will be?, we chuckled with a TSA employee about how it was so hot in the airport because the people hadn't turned it down from the past week of cold, and Hill and I ended up running to our gate in Philly -- turns out that was a ridiculous move on our part. I think I lost a lung there...

The flight to Ireland was only five and a half hours to my surprise. Both Hill and I didn't sleep, so we've been up for days! We traveled to Killarney today by double decker city bus and train. Ireland is very beautiful - very scenic. Also, the people have been so nice - especially the old men. So many of them have helped us out today!

The dreaded "W" word was mentioned on accident at customs in the airport ... the man was hesitant to let us in the country, but then changed his mind. He said, "I don't want to spoil your ladies' holiday." And when he found out we worked in Alaska in the summers he said, "Well, I'll come over there when they start paying us proper wages here!".

When we arrived in Killarney, we were so tired and laughing about everything ... stumbling around the streets with laughter. This elderly man looked at me and I said, "We're having too much fun!" And he said, "That's what life is for!" Then another elderly man saw that we were trying to figure out where to go, and said he could help us - he walked us all the way to our hostel and told us a bit about the town and his life along the way. It's just been lovely.

Hillary and I just ate a delicious and cheap meal of chicken and fries. We just finished a LONG walk to Ross Castle in the National Park here. It is beautiful and on a lake. Hopefully I can post a picture...

Last... and perhaps least, you choose. Remember that one time Hillary and I took awhile getting through customs in Ireland? Well, while we were chatting with the nice official there, there was another official in the same boxed room chatting with a guy on the otherside. I looked at him through the windows - only took notice that he was quite a short guy. My height, maybe. Before we left, our official dude asked us if we knew who Bruno Mars was - we replied with a yes - and he said, "Well he was just right there a minute ago, apparently." WHAT?! ...Crazy! (Mom, Bruno Mars is a famous pop singer).

Anyways, keep you updated!

Going to the South! ...and then on to a great land

Well, when hillary and I set out to make our plans for Ireland, we weren't aware that it only cost twenty extra bucks to swoop by the southern state of North Carolina. Good thing we found it! We decided to stop by because we have a good friend, Kate, here - we met her in Honduras. Before I go into NC, I have to tell about our hilarious ride on the shuttle to the Seattle airport. Our driver, and Englishman, was so funny and nice - saying things like, "You're going to Ireland? Girls, let me tell you something - Don't fall for the accents!.. My wife did, haha." Come to find out, we graduated with his daughter ... we got to the airport (despite snow storm scares) safe and with laughter.

The flight to N. Carolina? One word - Agony.

Aside from the rough start, being in Charlotte has been great. We had a fun time with Kate - laughing and playing games. We also went to a museum that was showing 'Race'. It was very educational and interesting.

The rough start I mentioned involved a trip to the Emergency Room and an Orthopedic Doctor. I was told to get a cast on my arm because I had two fractures in my wrist. The E-room refused to cast it, and the orthopedic Doctor said I didn't need it, and if I had it how could I impress the Irishmen? I agreed with him. All in all, it was cool to see the locals of Charlotte and chat with some nice southern ladies (who really do have a sweet southern drawl that makes you feel so good about life).

Tomorrow Hillary and I are off to --- IRELAND! We'll arrive in Dublin on Tuesday morning and head off to Killarney for a night. And then we'll head to a little town called Knightstown on the Island of Valentia.

Knightstown: An Island of 174 people + 2 woofers (Hillary and I)

Woofers: Worldwide Opportunities On Organic Farms (Woof), a host welcomes people who work for their room and board, the work mostly having to do with organic farming

Our Job: Weeding the organic ornamental rose garden, organizing the bookstore within the cafe, and walking rescue dogs

We will be staying above the cafe and taking care the rescue dogs ... which, we haven't quite figured out which side of the fence the rescuing is taking place. I thought that the dogs were doing the rescuing and Hillary thought that we were rescuing the dogs ... haha! So we'll see... Maybe I really will need a cast later...ha, just jokes mom!