More Than Just a Glitch???

I never stop being amazed at how such simple things can speak to me.  Today it was a simple Disney movie which started me thinking (and to be perfectly honest it was a Disney movie I wasn't even convinced I wanted to see!).  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that so often it is movies or books geared towards children that get me thinking about the big things, because that's their purpose.  Kids books and movies aren't just for entertaining them (at least not the good ones!).  They tackle the big issues in an entertaining way and are designed to get kids thinking about them and starting to understand them at whatever level they can.  And yet still I was surprised when I left the movie theatre today after watching Wreck It Ralph and found myself pondering the whole issue of identity.

Identity is a tricky one for probably most people in the world, and I know it has always been a struggle for me!  And perhaps one of the reasons the movie and the whole issue of identity resonated so clearly with me after watching that movie is because I suddenly find myself stripped of my identity and not knowing who I really am.  For my whole life I have been the sweet, loving, fat girl who works with kids.  That was my identity (at least as far as I saw it!).  And now everything has been turned on its head.

Four months ago I was diagnosed with an incurable disease.  I have Crohn's Disease.  It's never going away.  It will be part of my life forever.  Regardless of who else and what else I am from now on, illness will always be a part of that.  Is that my identity???  Well no, but it is a huge part of who I am now and that's a lot to swallow.  On top of that I have lost every aspect of what I considered my identity.  My disease has caused me to lose 100lbs over the past year and a half . . . don't get me wrong, I'm beyond thrilled about that!  I love being at a healthy weight and actually being able to buy single digit sized pants and size medium tops.  But there are a lot of unexpected strings attached to that much weight loss.  I've been a fat girl my whole life . . . I literally cannot remember a time when I wasn't fat!  That's who I've always been and I don't know how to be anything else.  My disease (or perhaps more accurately the medications I take to manage my disease) also cause me to be very irritable and moody and I find that I no longer love working with children . . . in fact I try to avoid them at all costs because they irritate and annoy me.  Children used to bring me such joy!  Now I can't stand them.  Children were probably the biggest part of my identity as I saw it and now that's gone.  I used to be sweet and loving, but now I'm angry and bitter.  I have a disease which has changed my life, but I feel like it has also stolen my identity and I don't know who I am any more.

So with all that back story about identity and me brings me to the story of Wreck It Ralph.  It's a movie which on the surface is just about video games, but which really delves into issues of trust, heroism, friendship, self worth, and of course identity.  The premise of the movie is that the villain of one video game (Ralph) decides he doesn't want to be the bad guy any more; he wants to be the hero!  But bad guy is his identity.  The other characters in his game see him only as a villain and treat him as such whether the game is being played or not.  They can't see past his label of "bad guy" to see who he really is.  In an attempt to prove to the others that he is more than just a bad guy, Ralph visits another video game to win a medal and ends up stealing one and then crash lands in yet a third game where his medal is stolen by a little girl who he later befriends.  It is in this third game (Sugar Rush) where the issue of identity is touched on yet again.  The young girl Ralph befriends (Vanillope) wants to race cars like all the other girls, but she isn't allowed to participate because she is just a glitch in the game and was "never supposed to exist."  By the end of the movie it is revealed that Vanillope not only was always supposed to exist, but she was the true princess of the game and her glitchy qualities end up saving everyone!

So here we have two characters both struggling with identity.  Both are told by others what their identity is (bad guy and just a glitch), but both long to be something more (hero and a racer).  And I think what I like most about the movie is that both of them were able to embrace their identities, negative connotations and all, and twist them around into who they actually wanted to be!  By the end of the movie Ralph is still  the "bad guy" in his particular video game, but he truly is a hero!  He saves the day when Sugar Rush is invaded by cyborg beetle things, but more than that, he saves all the characters in his own video game who were always so cruel to him.  He could have chosen to leave his video game forever and not have to be the "bad guy" any more, but then his game would have been unplugged and all the other characters in the game would be lost forever.  The game couldn't function without him, so by being the "bad guy" Ralph is actually being a great guy!  And of course I cannot forget about Vanillope!  Are there glitchy parts of her??? Absolutely!  But she was never just a glitch!  And it is when she embraces her glitchy tendencies that she is able to partner with Ralph to save the game, and also to win the race which reveals that she is actually the princess of Sugar Rush.

So what does that say about identity???  I think it says that identity is so much more than how others see us and even more than how we see ourselves.  Our identity is who we are . . . the whole part of who we are and I don't think we ever know the entirety of what that is.  Ralph was never just a bad guy and Vanillope was never just a glitch.  Yes he was the bad guy and she was had glitches, but that was only part of who they were.  Yes I was a sweet, loving, fat girl who worked with kids, but that was only part of who I was . . . it was never my full identity as much as I thought it was.  So I guess I haven't lost my full identity . . . it is still true that those aren't really who I am right now, but I think our identities can change over time and different parts of who we are come to the forefront at different times.  There will be some things that stay the same (the core of our identities if you will), but we as humans are not static beings, we are always changing, and I think our identities change too.  But I think the most important thing I took away from the movie is how we need to embrace all aspects of our identity and not let others look down on us for it.  There are always going to be parts of who we are that we don't like, but if it's part of who you are, embrace it!  And if possible, twist it around and turn it into something positive! 

Now obviously this is easier said than done.  I've spent most of my life believing I was just a glitch!  And of course when I finally had reached a point in my life where I was happy with who I was and ready to embrace the fact that I wasn't a glitch I developed this disease and now I have to find a way to embrace this disease and be happy with who I am as a woman with Crohn's disease.  If I am being honest, developing this disease feels like a glitch.  It feels like something has gone horribly wrong in the great plan that was my life and now I'm left picking up the pieces of my shattered hopes and dreams.  I hate pretty much everything about what this disease has meant for my life so far and yet I find  myself wondering . . . is it just a glitch???  Vanillope hated her glitchy tendencies, but they had a purpose.  Ralph disliked being the bad guy but that had its purpose too.  Could there possibly be some purpose here???  Is it more than just a glitch???

Holy Moly I'm in IRELAND!

Well I know you have all been desperately awaiting my update on my travel to Galway and pretty much the title sums it all up! On this trip I got to travel through the Irish countryside and I had so many moments when I realized . . . wow I'm in Ireland! I know I've been in Ireland for more than a month now but I've been in Dublin city and the nice seaside village of Malahide neither of which really remind me of my longheld image of what Ireland looks like . . . well on this trip I went through the country side and I saw so many green fields and sheep galore and very cool stone walls separating fields! Now that was my image of what Ireland is and I really felt like I was in Ireland. Of course the constant grey and frequent drizzle and rain also added to my realization that yes I am truly in Ireland! So that was exciting to finally feel like I was in Ireland and not just in some place far from home where the people speak with funny accents!

I had a couple of other real cool realizations on my trip as well. As I was brushing my teeth in my hostel one night and looking at my toiletry kit and realizing how ugly it really is it struck me that I have had that toiletry kit for more than 16 year! For my 9th birthday my mom had the idea that instead of goody bags with candy at my birthday party we should get little toiletry kits ad fill them with nail clippers and I can't remember what else, but kind of girly toiletry items . . . I thought the idea was great and my toiletry bag was the one I received from that birthday party! So then I started taking note of how ratty it is which makes sense since it is more than 16 years old and it hits me that this bag has been with me everywhere! It has come on every overnight trip with me since my 9th birthday! It has been to camp, youth retreats, friend's houses for sleepovers, family vacations to Port Alberni and even twice to Edmonton! Of course it has also been to the more exciting places I've been like Guatemala, Ucluelet, Australia, Mexico City, London, Dublin, and now Galway! This bag has been everywhere and seen everything and I can't help thinking if only this bag could talk and remind me of the adventures it and I have been on that I can't even remember! Eventually it will be time to retire this bag, but I'm glad it is with me here in Europe and gets to go on all my weekend adventures with me and add more countries to the list of places it has been while I add them to my list!

My other very cool realization came my third day when I was on the Aran Islands. I was climbing down the hill I had trekked to reach more amazing ruins and was struck by what I had just done. I was impressed enough that I made it up that big hill with no problems (I love the way I am able to stretch myself physically and feel so proud when I accomplish things with little problem when last year it would have been a problem!), but I explored these crazy ruins! And that's really what hit me, I have done some very cool things in my short 25 years. I have always kind of thought that I have lived such a slow unadventurous life and have really been waiting for "life" to start, but that is not true at all! I have definitely not had an unadventurous life . . . yes there were seasons that were downright dull, but I took that opportunity to think through what I have done. I have hiked mountains in Guatemala, pet koalas and kangaroos in Australia, visited thousand year old pyramid ruins in Mexico City, visited downright dangerous areas of Mexico City, traveled across the world on my OWN twice so far, now I've personally seen cliffs which are in the running for the new 7 wonders of nature, wandered through ruins on the top of a cliff on the Aran Islands, and that's just the beginning of my adventure! I know I have a lot more to see and do on this current European adventure, but I have done a lot already for 25 years and a lot that not a lot of other people would necessarily get to do! So I was very enlightened on my weekend getaway! I realized I have not led as boring and sheltered life as I thought and it was really cool to actually think back and list all the amazing adventures I've had (and I'm sure I've had others that I missed, but those were the ones that immediately came to mind!).

Now for the details of my trip (I'll try to keep it short since it's almost my bed time!). I was really happy that everything went off without a hitch! I love to travel, and it has always been a desire of mine to do a lot of traveling, but I also get so anxious before I travel! There is always so much that can go wrong (and plenty did on my way to Dublin!), and I have the type of brain that lists everything that can go wrong and it can be difficult to convince myself that everything will be ok and to trust that just because it could go wrong doesn't mean it will! So I always get that hit of anxiety before I set off on a traveling adventure and this time was no different. As I was riding the train to Dublin City where I was catching a bus to Galway I just kept thinking I wished I was in my room in Malahide chilling in front of the tv (I was EXHAUSTED!). I was anxious about travelling and I knew I wouldn't even get to Galway until 11:30pm and I was hoping everything would go well with checking into my hostel. Fortunately I slept a lot on the bus ride to Galway and when I say a lot I mean I slept the whole time! I actually wished the bus ride was longer because I didn't want to leave the bus as soon as I did! Fortuately I was able to easily check into my hostel and I took such care to be quiet and keep the lights off when I was setting up in my room since it was midnight and I didn't want to wake people up . . . well I later found out no one was in the room at that point so I took all that care for nothing! Oh well!

On Friday I woke up earlier than I wanted to, but got up when my alarm (and about 5 other alarms ) went off and managed to get ready with time to spare! So I made my way down to the bus station where I was supposed to meet my tour and ended up being there 45 minutes before I needed to (well I wanted to make sure I didn't miss the bus!). The tour for the day was to the Cliffs of Moher and it was great. We made some smaller stops at a birds of prey sanctuary and a cool cave called Ailwee cave, which I really enjoyed and definitely got some cool pictures of, but the cliffs were by far the highlight for me. They were spectacular! And I later found out when I was in the visitor center that they are being considered as one of the 7 new wonders of nature, so that's how spectacular that really are! I was really pleased that the weather cooperated so nicely for that visit, though it did start to rain on the way home! On the way home I also started to feel like I was run over by a truck (the results of a late night/early morning combo with little sleep in between!). I snoozed a little bit on the bus on the way back since it was a road we had already traveled so I'd already seen it, but I was still so exhausted when I got back to my hostel that I lay down in bed and rested for about 2 hours then decided I didn't even have the energy to go out and get dinner, so I decided to just get ready for bed and went to bed at like 8pm (as I'm sure my roommates made great fun of me for, but whatever, I needed it!). I didn't end up falling asleep until nearly 10, but it felt so good to just rest in bed and I felt a MILLION times better the next day than I did the day before!

The next day was a tour to the Aran Islands. They are pretty famous islands, so if you don't know them you should look them up because they are spectacular! Since I had so much time to spare for my tour the day before I decided to stay in bed longer and stop for an actual breakfast instead of grabbing a muffin at a convenience store! Of course what I didn't realize was that this tour actually left earlier than the one the day before. I found 2 departure times . . . 1 was 9:30 and the other 9:45 . . . I figured we meet at 9:30 and then leave at 9:45 . . . in reality the tour leaves at 9:30 and it was a different tour entirely that leaves at 9:45 (you'd think they could have made that more clear!). So I wander into the bus terminal at about 9:32 and tell the guy in front of the tour sign that I'm there for the Aran Islands tour. His eyes get big and he repeats me then says to follow him and hurry . . . I had no idea what was going on, but I followed him outside and we arrived just in time to see a bus pull away! The man said that was my bus. I didn't even really have time to stress out at all tho because the man got on the phone right away and then told me to get in this other bus, then he personally drove me across the city to meet up with my tour bus where they were picking up people at some hotel! I felt awful and apologized to the man and thanked him, and he was really nice about everything! The tour guide was really nice too! We didn't talk as I got on the bus, but he made sure to some find me on the ferry to chat and he told me how glad he was that I was able to make it and seemed really relieved when he confirmed that I was the one who had emailed him because I had difficulty booking the tour online, so he told me he'd put me on the list and watch for me, so when I didn't show up he felt bad that things hadn't worked out. But then I did show up and it all worked out. I had to remind him tho that I still needed to pay him (since the online payment didn't work when I tried to book the tour either) and when I tried to pay him he said he'd catch me later. I didn't end up paying until just as I was getting off the bus at the end of the day and he seemed surprised by it! I could easily have gotten a free tour, but that is not the way I operate! But the point I'm trying to make with that is what a nice guy and a great guide Michael was!

The Aran Islands themselves were beautiful! I wasn't at all confident the weather was going to cooperate for us tho. When we left Galway it was pouring rain and if anything it was raining harder when we arrived on Inis Mor (the Aran Island I visited!). But the rain ended before we even reached our first stop and it actually cleared up beautiful to become a nice sunny day! The landscape of the island was pretty special . . . it reminded me a lot of the landscape around the cave we visited the day before (the area is called the Burren). It was very rocky and that's about it. Michael was telling us that originally the island was all rocks like we were seeing on the more rugged parts of the island, but people worked very hard to chip away a lot of the rock, drag sand and seaweed up from the shore to cover their "fields" and try to create something capable of growing grass. Their hard work paid off nicely because there were a lot of fields on the island now which were home to cattle and Connemara ponies and the occasional donkey. While the Aran Islands are known for their knitwear (Aran sweaters are famous worldwide!), they don't actually keep sheep on the island anymore because they are too destructive! So they import their wool from the mainland now to make their knitwear! One of the most striking things about the island is the overwhelming amount of stonewalls! Michael told us that if there were to line up all the stonewalls on Inis Mor end to end it would total more than 7000km which is enough to travel across the Atlantic to Canada and back! Pretty impressive! What is also impressive is that the walls were all hand made and are dry rock walls which means they don't use mortar or anything, the rocks are essentially stacked one on top of the other and they just stay! While on the island we got to tour some great ruins (as I already mentioned) as well as the ruins of the Seven Churches (all destroyed by Cromwell when he took over England and destroyed a lot of people's stuff!), and we spent time at the beaches! I am pleased to say that I stuck my hand in the water and was splashed all over by a very big wave, so I have now official been "in" 3 of the world's 4 oceans! A trip up to the Arctic may be in order when I get home! There are still many continents before I've set foot on all continents, but I'm only 1 ocean away from being complete!

The rest of my trip to Galway was rather uneventful because it was so wet! I had purposely booked an evening bus back to Dublin on Sunday so I would have all day on Sunday to tour Galway as a city. There were a number of walking tours I could take and even an open top bus tour, but if you could have seen how hard it was raining on Sunday you would understand why I had no desire to either walk or be on an open top bus to see Galway. So instead of seeing much of the city (I did a bit of a walkthrough as I looked for breakfast that morning and had seen some as I wandered around the night before!), I instead toured Galway's cinema center and went to the movies so I could stay out of the rain! Then it was a wet and cold bus ride back to Dublin which took far longer when I wasn't asleep, and a wet and cold wait for a train back to Malahide since the delightful weather apparently followed me to Dublin. I didn't get back to Malahide until 9pm, but I immediately soaked in a warm tub and thawed for about an hour then went to bed knowing I would have a full week ahead of taking care of the girls!

So all in all my trip to Galway was a success . . . I had some fantastic tours and it was nice to be on a tour since then I was with other people too! I met some nice and interesting people on my tours (a lot of Canadians toured the Aran Islands with me!). I think this trip will hopefully help keep my travel anxiety down a little bit more in the future since it was such a success, but anxiety or not, I have the travel bug and I can't wait for my next weekend adventure!

How Has it Been a Month Already???

Wow, so as my title suggests I have now been away from Canada for a whole month! Not quite sure how that happened since in some ways it feels like I've been here forever and in others it feels like I was just in Canada, but whatever . . . time is a funny funny thing! So yes Friday was my 1 month mark of leaving Canada and tomorrow is my 1 month mark for arriving in Ireland (for those who are wondering how that works, remember I spent some time in London in between!). It's definitely crazy how much has happened in the past month, and also crazy how often I forget where I am and what I'm doing! Last night I was spending some time with God and was reading Jeremiah 29:11 and praying about that and I got this sudden revelation about how amazing God's plans are! I spend so much of my time complaining to God about his plans aren't matching up with mine and according to my timeline, but shocker . . . God actually does know what He's doing! I kind of realized where I am and what I'm doing and thought about how if my life had followed my plans I wouldn't be having this opportunity right now. According to my plans I would be married possibly with kids on the way by now so would not be in Ireland with the chance to visit all these places in Europe that I dreamed of seeing but never knew if I would have the opportunity to! So it was pretty exciting last night to realize that while getting married is still a dream I hold dear to my heart and would love to see come true sooner rather than later, it really is a good thing that I have trusted God (though complained a lot!) and let Him lead and guide my life to bring me here!

So where am I again??? What am I doing??? Well if you can't answer those questions shame on you! I'm in Ireland nannying for a FANTASTIC family and spending my spare time (which I actually get a lot of!) exploring Europe! And I am very excited to announce that this weekend I am going on my first exploration weekend! I am staying in Ireland for this one, but heading over to the west coast to visit Galway and some of the AMAZING sites there are to see there. I am going to make sure my memory card for my camera is empty (since I'm sure I'll fill it!) and that BOTH batteries are charged, because from what I've read (since of course I've done my research . . . I'm in Europe, but I'm still Leah!) I will have some fantastic photo opportunities, so prepare yourselves to sift through my many photos and relive my experience with me! In addition to going away this weekend I have been spending a lot of time over the past couple weeks doing research and planning my trips for the next few months. I'll keep them under my hat for now, but rest assured there are MANY adventures on the horizon for me to write about and post pictures of!

Hmmm . . . what else to say for now though since I haven't actually gone on those adventures yet??? Well my weekend was relatively uneventful . . . I had 2 very disappointing market experiences. I love our Langford Market back home . . . it's pretty sweet! And I've heard so much about European markets that I've been wanting to check them out and have looked into whether there are markets in Dublin and I haven't been able to find anything! But last weekend when I was rushing somewhere else so didn't have time to stop and check it out, I saw a sign advertising a market in this park that runs every Friday so I thought sweet, I'll check it out next Friday! Of course when I made the trek all the way into the city specifically for this market I discovered that it was a LUNCH market . . . meaning the stalls were all food stalls selling lunch to the businessmen in the area! It was fine I got me some lunch and a DELICIOUS cupcake, but I was sorely disappointed! I still had hope though because I had seen signs earlier in the week for a Malahide Market on Saturday, so I rearranged my plans to take a day tour on Saturday and went to the Malahide Market instead. All I really have to say is that I stayed about 5 minutes . . . it was that bad! It so small and was selling all commercial goods really, not homemade goodies and crafts like I was hoping! So that was disappointing and I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon at Starbucks with a hazelnut hot chocolate and a whoopie pie (DELICIOUS!). Sunday I went to church then spent the day in Dublin City again, then just chilled at home in Malahide and went to bed early.

There's really not much else to tell at this point . . . things are still going well with the family. They are so nice and thoughtful and very sweet to me. Last weekend we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving here in Ireland (Ireland doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving . . . it is strictly a North American thing!). Gillian made a delicious roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings for a Thanksgiving dinner and her parents and Simon's dad and Simon and Gillian's friend Fiona all joined us for dinner! I got home from church around 5 and the girls were both decked out in Canada T-shirts and everyone wished me a Happy Thanksgiving! Gillian also gave me a very sweet card and we just had a great time together . . . it was a very nice Thanksgiving! So yes, that's life with the family! The girls and I get along really well. They are both well settled having me around now and are delightful (if at times exasperating!) to spend time with! So yes, I will be sure to update after my adventure next weekend and post some pics . . . I'm SO super excited about it and hopefully you are just as excited to hear about it! Take care everyone!

A Childhood Dream Come True!

Well folks you are in for another sensational segment of Leah's latest adventures here on The Never-Ending Journey! If I recall correctly (which I don't always do!) we left off with me still in Dublin but ready to make my way to Malahide Village where the real adventure was to begin! And it has been an adventure to say the least!

I have now been in Malahide for 2 and a half weeks (though it feels as though I've been here forever . . . but in a good way if that makes sense!) and have been having a wonderful time getting to know my Irish family. I was very pleasantly surprised when I made home that first night and saw where I would actually be living for the next year . . . the outside of the house left a lot to be desired, but the inside had been completely redone and was quite lovely! The best part of all though was my bedroom. I knew from communication with the family that I would have the entire upstairs of the house to myself, but I didn't know what that would look like since it wouldn't have been right for them to take me on a virtual tour there when that was still their current nanny's private space! So when we climbed upstairs during the tour I was met with a lovely sitting area in the middle of 2 guest rooms . . . they showed me the room on the right first and said really I could have my pick of rooms, but the other room was nicer. I was looking at this absolutely BEAUTIFUL room and thinking how could the other one be nicer!?!?!?! Well then they led me to the room which is now mine and I saw for myself how it could be nicer . . . HUGE bed, HUGE HUGE HUGE tv (bigger than any of ours at home!), satellite cable, my own bathroom, a big skylight to let in lots of natural light . . . yep it was AMAZING! And what was even nicer was that as a cute little welcoming touch the family had bought a little Canada flag and 2 Canada teddy bears to sit on the top of the headboard of the bed! It was very sweet and thoughtful of them! I also got to know pretty quickly (as in the first 1/2 hour I was there!) just how friendly and welcoming the WHOLE family was as Gillian's (the mom) parents decided to drop by the house to meet me and to say welcome! So yes that was my arrival to Malahide Village!

I didn't actually start work with the kids until the following Monday (I arrived on a Wednesday night), but I spent a lot of time with Mayah (3), Ruby (almost 2), Gillian, and Gillian's mom Marie so the girls could get used to me and I could see how things worked in the household and get to know Malahide Village a bit better! I did have some free time that weekend too and used it to explore the village. Since it was such a beautiful day I of course ended up down at the beach which was lovely and also scouted around for some nice coffee shops in the area where I am sure I will spend many a cold rainy Irish winter day curled up with a warm drink and a book! Last weekend I went to explore Malahide castle! That's right there is a castle pretty much in my back yard! It was fun and very interesting to learn some more about Irish history and especially about the history of Malahide Village. Unfortunately much of last weekend it was absolutely pouring down buckets of rain so I didn't get to explore as much as I wanted to, but it was nice to just hang around the house too and hang out with the family!

My time with the girls has been fun but also trying at times. I know from experience that kids are often really good for you the first couple of days you are with them because they are feeling you out and wanted to make a good impression on you. Of course then once they start to feel more comfortable with you they like to push the limits to see how much they can get away with and how far they can push you before it is too far. So the first week with the girls went well! They were pretty well behaved with only a few small issues and the weather was beautiful for the whole week so we were able to go for lots of walks to the park and around the castle and do fun things outside. By the second week they were more comfortable with me so were definitely testing their boundaries to see if I would budge! They learned pretty quickly that I'm not the type to budge on boundaries because they are set for a good reason. That's not to say they still didn't try things! Ruby decided the second week that she did not like it when mom and Mayah left to go to school and work so started throwing temper tantrums whenever they left and would throw herself down on the floor and cry and scream. The first time she did it I thought she might be sick or something since she hadn't done anything even close to that the first week so she got a lot of attention from me for her negative behavior. When she did it again the second day I saw a pattern starting so let her throw her fit and when she was finished we went for a walk and had a really nice day! The third day was the most trying! She was exhausted because she hadn't gone to sleep until after 9:30 the night before! So it was pretty much an unending temper tantrum all day long. We tried to go for a walk but before we even left the house she threw a fit so we ended up staying home. She then got so upset we weren't going for a walk she screamed off and on for about an hour (probably expecting me to just give in and go for a walk!). Little did the fiesty, stubborn redhead know she had met her match in me and I was NOT about to give in to her temper tantrum!

So the mornings last week were rough, but the afternoons were a lot of fun! Ruby was always so much better behaved after her nap. The weather wasn't very nice any afternoon this week so we couldn't go to the park at all, but we baked cookies twice and played games, and made decorations for our Canadian Thanksgiving celebration we're having this weekend! And I just have to say that after the first time I baked with the girls, Simon (the dad) told me I was now the reigning baking queen of the house (because he was blown away by how good the cookies were) . . . I proceeded to tell him that that was my official title at home too! So apparently my baking fame is now following me to Ireland!

Now to actually connect this post to its title . . . how is any of that really a childhood dream come true??? Sure it sounds nice and everything, but a childhood dream . . . really??? Nope that wasn't the dream (though it has been pretty great!). When I first took the train to Malahide Village I noticed a sign on the wall of the train station advertising for the show Mamma Mia. It didn't have dates or anything, and I only got a quick look at it, but it sparked my curiosity! So last weekend I did a google search for Mamma Mia and Dublin and found out that the show was coming to Dublin in less than a week! At that point I was starting to get pretty excited, but didn't want to get my hopes up because I didn't know what ticket prices would be like or even if there would still be any available since the website I was looking at said ticket sales opened November 2010! But I did my little search and found there were tickets available! And after spending time looking for the best deal for the best seat I ended up going to see Mamma Mia LIVE on Thursday night for only 45 euro! That was my childhood dream come true. I can remember being 8 or 9 and watching TV and every summer commercials would come on advertising for Mamma Mia which was playing in Seattle! I knew nothing about the story at that point, but I fell in love with the snippets of songs I heard on these commercials! Then when the movie came out a few years ago I was stoked and I still love it! I often play the movie when I am painting and sometimes when I know I have a tough workout to do because the music gives me so much energy and I always have the biggest smile on my face (yes even when I was doing my 50 lunges in that workout I had the biggest dopiest smile on my face!). So the movie helped give me my Mamma Mia fix, but I still dreamed of seeing the show live. And on Thursday night I finally got my chance! It was actually surreal . . . I wasn't even excited the whole day because I don't think it had sunk in that I was going! Then when I was in the theatre and the lights when down and the music started it sunk in that I was actually seeing my dream come true before my eyes! And of course I had the biggest dopiest smile on my face during the whole show and took forever to fall asleep that night when I got home because I was so energized, but it was worth it! The show was great and I would see it again in a heartbeat! Possibly one of the coolest parts of the night though was at intermission when I was standing at the window looking out at the canal with all the fancy lights and it suddenly dawned on me that I was actually seeing Mamma Mia something I had wanted to do since I was a child, in Europe of all places! It was one of those moments when I was like holy cow! I'm in Europe! How did this happen???

So that's about the extent of my adventures for now. Today Simon is taking me out for a driving lesson on the "wrong" side of the road! Little bit nervous about that one, but I'm sure I'll get used to it quickly! Tomorrow I'm heading into Dublin City to go to church (I found a great one which actually reminds me a lot of The Forge!) and then tomorrow evening we are having our own little Irish Canadian Thanksgiving celebration! I'm hoping to take off for the weekend in a couple weeks and head west to visit the other side of Ireland. And I'm hoping next month to pop off to another country for the weekend though I haven't decided which yet! You can be sure though that I am going to make the most out of this opportunity and fill my time with as many adventures as I can before I have to return home to the "real world"! For those who are praying for me I would ask you to continue to pray for me to connect with a good church here in Ireland. I think I have found a good one like I already mentioned briefly, but I really want to connect there and build relationship (something which is not easy for me but I totally crave it!). I would also ask that you continue to pray for me and my Irish family as we continue to get to know one another and build relationships there. I think we have mostly gotten over the awkward stage of strangers living together, but I would still like to see our relationships deepen. Finally prayer for health would be great. My throat has been bothering me a little bit the past couple of days feeling scratchy and a bit sore and I would rather not get sick and would certainly rather not get the girls sick because I don't think they would handle being sick very well just based on what I know about them so far! So that's about it! Stayed tuned for further adventures in the weeks to come!

Let the Adventure . . . Begin!

Well it has been an amazing, crazy, bizarre, and wacky couple of weeks here for me! I left Victoria September 14 and when I arrived in Vancouver for my connecting flight to London, I discovered my 8:40 flight had been delayed until 3:00 in the morning! I was not exactly what you would call a happy camper at that point, but I survived! Once I actually made it on the flight it was fairly uneventful (which is nice when you are flying over a really big ocean . . . yipes!) and I spent my time watching movies and doing more sleeping than I wanted! Oh well! So I made it to London, made it to my hotel, had no problems there at all, so decided to settle in for a good night's sleep before meeting up with a friend in London to go exploring the next day. Well here's where I ran into a PROBLEM! I didn't really have a problem with jetlag when I went to Australia, so underestimated the power it would have over me in Europe! I did sleep a lot on the plane, but by a lot I really only mean maybe 4 and a half hours and I didn't sleep in the airport while I waited for my 3am flight, so I didn't really think sleep would be an issue for me! And it wasn't at first . . . I fell asleep pretty quickly (for me at least), but then woke up at 2am and stayed awake until about 6! My body was tired, I could feel it, but it just would NOT go to sleep because its internal clock was saying sorry it's time to be awake now!

So that was an interesting first night in London! Very little sleep following a sleepless night/day (I don't know what to call the time in between the time changes!) since I'd left Victoria . . . I was not exactly in prime condition to journey alone to the heart of London where I was meeting my friend, but what choice did I have??? Fortunately after asking for some help I did manage to make sense of the Tube system and meet my friend and we proceeded to have a great day together. We visited Buckingham Palace, Westminister Abbey, and the Tower of London! I absolutely LOVE doing the typical touristy things so enjoyed visiting those "tourist traps" (though I will say the Tower of London was a little dry for my taste!). We walked all over the city that day, so I was exhausted by the time I was finished at the Tower of London, but it wasn't time to call it a night yet! I had tickets to go see the Lion King musical and I was STOKED! I love musicals and love going to shows and I was so excited to see the Lion King! And the show was AMAZING! If you have never had the opportunity to see this live (and you like the story of the Lion King), you MUST! I was absolutely blown away by it. Of course I already knew the story and songs by heart, but the costumes and stage design were incredible! I cannot recommend this show enough . . . it was fabulous! Of course it was quite late by the time the show finished and I still had to manouever my way through the Tube system again to get back to my hotel, so I didn't get to go to bed until after 1am (after my sleepless night before!) so I was EXHAUSTED!

Fortunately that exhaustion meant I slept through the night that night! Unfortunately it also meant I slept through half the next day and it was 1pm by the time I made it back into London for my second day of sightseeing! So I didn't end up getting to see as much the second day as I wanted to, but I did make it to St. Paul's Cathedral and for all those who have never been to London, but plan to one day I just have to say you MUST put St. Paul's Cathedral on your list of places to visit . . . it is BEAUTIFUL! I absolutely loved it! It was too bad I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside because the inside was even more amazing than the outside, but I did take lots of exterior photos and I climbed to the highest observation tower (528 stairs thank you very much!) and took some great shots of London from above! Unfortunately by the time I finished touring St. Paul's it was pouring rain! That kind of put a damper on my plan to take a cruise on the Thames. However I'm a BC girl so I'm not afraid of a little rain and I went on the cruise anyhow! It was quite interesting actually! I got to learn about the different buildings along the Thames and the riverboat captain told us interesting stories about different points of interest. Plus of course I got to see and take a million photos of Tower Bridge which I am slightly obsessed with! It was really when I was in the vacinity of Tower Bridge that I was like wow, yep, I'm in LONDON!

Definitely after my late night the night before I was wanting to get back to my hotel early because I needed to repack one of my bags so it was easier to carry, so I stopped off at London's Chinatown (to check it out and I have to say Victoria's is WAY better!) and to get some dinner, then went back to my hotel. My packing went a lot better than I thought it would which was nice so I was able to spend some time on the computer, but that's when another problem arose! I plugged my laptop cord into my adaptor and I could hear sizzle sizzle sizzle! Uh oh! That's not good! So I unplugged it and decided to run off the battery for now and try plugging it in again when the battery was lower and hope it worked better that time! So I ended up chatting with Joanne and spending time on Facebook and sure enough battery is running low so I plug in the cord and there is no sizzle sizzle, but there is no power either! I fried my laptop cable 2 days into my adventure! So that explains the delay in posting on my blog . . . I was computerless! I was happy to have my Ipod touch so I could still connect to the internet and have basic communication and connection with home, but it was not gonna cut it for blogging!

So my time in London ended on a sour note . . . especially with the debacle at the airport which I won't get into, but I don't recommend Aer Lingus to anyone! However I was on to the next phase of my adventure which was 3 days in Dublin! Fortunately my flight and immigration and bussing to my hostel all went without a hitch (greatly appreciated after the recent debacles in London!) and I checked in and was happy with the conditions at the hostel! However it was dinner time so I decided to try braving the streets of Dublin to see what I could see. What I didn't know was that there was a big football match going on between Dublin City and their archrivals Carrey so there were people everywhere! The pubs were full, there were people in the streets wearing blue and grey or green and orange . . . people were cheering or booing together and releasing balloons into the air as a show of support for their team . . . it was absolute madness in downtown Dublin, and this was my first taste of the city! I did manage to find something to eat and then hid out in my hostel for the night, but unfortunately for me Dublin City won the match and the celebrating in the streets outside my bedroom lasted until after 3am so sleep wasn't the best that night either!

The next day I decided I needed some chill time to just relax and go at a quieter pace, so I visited Dublin Zoo! It was quite a nice little zoo and filled with history as it is something like the third oldest zoo in Europe. I love animals and going to the zoo, so this was the perfect activity for me to kind of recenter myself and just relax! I spent the whole afternoon at the zoo and ended up staying until closing time (my favorite was the 12 day old baby hippopotamus!). I kept my chill and relax attitude as I left the zoo and bussed back downtown to find somewhere I could eat dinner and hide away in a corner reading my book. It ended up being a very nice day and definitely what I was needing after the craziness of London and the madness I arrived to in Dublin! The next day in Dublin I had my work orientation which walked me through all the red tape stuff of foreigners living and working in Ireland, but it only lasted an hour and a half and I had the rest of the day free, so I just explored Dublin. I didn't take any tours or visit museums because I have lots of time for that in the future after I have researched more what I would be interested in seeing. I did however find Christchurch Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral (the oldest church in Dublin and the most famous church in Dublin) and they were beautiful. St. Patrick's Cathedral had this wonderful park outside it with beautiful gardens so I ended up spending a bunch of time there journaling and reading my book. Once I started getting hungry I walked somewhere for dinner, then found a Starbucks and curled up there with a Creme Brulee Latte and read my book some more. It ended up being another nice chill day in Dublin, which was good because the next day I faced the task of officially registering myself in Ireland, and then making my way to my new home of Malahide and meeting my new family! I think I will cliffhang the story there for now seeing as this post is already monstrously long! But then again those who know me know I love to write and really should expect monstrously long from my blogposts ;) So I hope you enjoying hearing the beginning of my European adventure. There are many more adventures to come this year, and I will keep you up to date on all of them!

And I'm Off Again!

Well folks you heard it here first . . . well maybe not for many of you, but regardless it's true I'm setting off on another globe trotting adventure! Destination for this excursion: Ireland! And of course since I don't do ANYTHING halfway, I'm not just going for a couple weeks for a vacation (that's way too simple!) . . . nope instead I'm taking the big plunge and moving there for a year! For those of you who honestly don't know what going on and are wondering what on earth this crazy lady is talking about, I'll break it down for you. I was offered a job as a live-in nanny for a family who lives in Ireland. After giving it a lot of thought and prayer I decided to take them up on their offer, and voila! I'm off!

I have heard many proclaim how quickly this summer passed for them and the same was true for me! Writing this blogpost has been on my list of things to do since July! Unfortunately life kept getting away from me and now I find myself mere days away from leaving and only now find the opportunity to fill you all in on my latest plans. So the official plan is that I'm leaving September 14 (yes as in 4 days from now!) and have a 3 day layover in London before finally arriving in Dublin on the 18. As part of my work visa I have a 2 day orientation to living and working in Ireland so won't actually be meeting my Irish family and moving into my new home until September 21. I won't actually be living in Dublin but will be located in a little seaside village just north of Dublin called Malahide Village.

I'm very excited to embark on this latest adventure and most of all to meet my new family. I will be living in the house with the mom Gillian, dad Simon, and two girls Maya (3 years old) and Ruby (1 and a half years old). I have had a lot of correspondence with the family and am really excited about meeting them as they seem really great. I will be taking care of the girls while the parents are at work during the day Monday through Thursday but will have every Friday through Sunday to myself. I'm really excited to spend my long weekends exploring Ireland and also visiting other parts of Europe.

My plan is definitely to keep this blog going while I'm away so I can keep you all up to date on the happenings in my life. I would also love to have those of you who feel so inclined to partner with me in prayer! This is a huge scary step in my life and it means a great deal to me to know I can count on people to remember me in prayer! My biggest prayer items at this point are for safe and uneventful travel (definitely!) but also for peace and opportunities as I settle into life in Ireland. You can pray that I make good relationships with my Irish family and do so quickly and also make friends in Ireland (preferably quickly!). Another huge point for me is that I really want to connect with a great church in Ireland and would appreciate prayer on that front. I know God has a great place for me over there, but I ask for prayer that I would find it quickly and that God would make it clear to me when I've found it. It is definitely hard to be leaving all the good friends and the great church I have here, but I feel as though God has new opportunities for me in Ireland and that there are good things just waiting for me over there. That's about it for now, but I will let you know how things are going and I'm sure make many of you jealous with my yearlong Europe adventure!

Wrapping Up in Mexico

Hola from Mexico! Life has been so crazy here we haven't had a chance really to be on the computer. Plus my faithful computer finally called it quits; the temporary super-glue surgery that was performed on it in October has reached the end of its temporary life-span and my computer will no longer turn on. I will try to bring it home so maybe my files on it can be salvaged and kept, but let's have everyone praying that in the airports no one will ask me to turn it on, because it won't turn on! Hopefully no over zealous airport officials think I am trying to transport a bomb! So yeah, basically I am having to borrow computers and when we don't have any free time, people generally want to use their own computer when we do have free time. So I will say that this is probably my last update before coming home!

As for a quick update into what we have been up to lately . . . well we have done a lot of evangelism and seen a lot of people come to know Jesus, which is awesome! We also have still been working with a LOT of churches. Not this past Sunday, but the Sunday before, I preached a sermon at one of the churches . . . very interesting, but it went well. It still blows my mind that these people here invite us to preach at their churches just because we are in Mexico as missionaries! It's been great though, and God has really moved and spoken through so many of the sermons that us young people have preached. Also this past Sunday, here is some news none of you will believe! I was at this one church with Everett and one of our leaders David, and David preached the sermon. After the sermon the pastor had us come up to the front and pray for anyone who wanted prayer. After that the pastor invited us to do worship with the team, but only David went up since Everett and I (thankfully) don't play instruments. After one song David and the worship team were trying to find a song they all knew to play another song and David (the person I am no longer talking to after this night) asked them if they knew this one song called "Dios Poderoso." They were like yeah, we totally know that one, do you? He says, "No, but Leah does!" So long story short the whole church is chanting my name wanting me to go up and sing this song with the worship team, so what could I do??? I had to go up on stage! I sang "Dios Poderoso", in a microphone, in front of 75 people! Yeah . . . did I mention I am not a huge fan of David's anymore??? Oh and to make matters even more interesting, David videotaped everything! So yes, life has been super interesting and I have been far outside my comfort zone repeatedly!

As for other things we have been up to . . . we have continued to work in this one community called San Miguel and done art with kids in the community a couple of times. Art and kids . . . it was pretty much my favorite day! We have also been visiting this one orphanage and hanging out with the kids there. That one was really sad, but I still really enjoyed it! So we have done a ton of work with kids and had super amounts of fun, but also worked hard. Please keep praying for us as we endure numerous goodbyes in the coming weeks! And I will be home soon.