It's been a little while since we "got off the plane." 3 days, in fact. I know you've all been at the edge of your seat. Truth is, we haven't been able to get to a computer until now.
Anyway, in general things are going well. Our room is nice, and there's a pub and a mall within walking distance; The essentials of life. The school and the city, however, are not. The bus service is nice, but hard to decipher and too expensive to use every day.
I have lots of pictures, but we learned yesterday that the outlets here deliver 220 volts, as opposed to the U.S., which is 110. That means my camera is limited to it's current battery power until I buy a transformer to recharge it. Ugh. When my computer (which doesn't need a transformer by the way, just an adapter for the outlet) is running, I'll post the pics with more details of our first few days.
There's not much to say about the travel, except it's no fun to lug 160 pounds of luggage through 3 airports and a train, and my back is still recovering. It's also not fun to sit in the Dublin airport for 7 hours, even though they have a nice cafeteria.
All in all, leaving is a funny thing. It starts with goodbye and ends with hello. It's impacted me more than I expected. It means feeling like an outsider. Even the different accent and dialect reinforces that perception. And yet Providence is evident the whole time, from the particulars of the journey to the friendliness of the "natives." And that is comforting. Second to that in invaluability is Melissa, whose partnership is immensely helpful on a practical as well as an emotional level. I think we're both going to find this time beneficial and enjoyable.
There's some kind of truth to be experienced in travelling that can't be found in the safety of home. Maybe because it serves as a encapsulated metaphor for the journey of life, which moves from a known past to an unknown future. The end of the small journey, when it arrives, provides some sense of confidence that the end of life, when it too inevitably arrives, will proove the trip worthwhile.
Cheers! ;)
2 comments:
Hello hello! This is TJ. I'm glad to hear things are going well. Er...I don't have much substance to post, so I'll send you this link instead: http://www.pandora.com/ Pretty cool new site - you input a song or artist that you enjoy and it analyzes their music and finds similar stuff. It's definitely worth a look, and you can use 10 hours of their custom streaming radio station for free.
Enjoy!
-f
I love that... it starts with goodbye and ends with hello. That's very well put.
I'm very glad to hear that you've arrived safely! I'm thinking of you from time to time...talk to you more soon. :)terri
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