Fast Forward and beyond

It's funny nowadays to start your travel by taking off your shoes. The recent phenomenon of being in an airport, one of the most public places one can imagine, with people of all backgrounds, cultures, nationalities and professions, taking off their shoes together to make the five foot journey to the other side of the metal detector. Like some kind of reverent religious ritual, no one needs to be asked, everyone standing in their bare feet or socks as they await being labeled safe and secure to fly with others. Like a small, instant, transient community, you stand with your fellow travelers awaiting the mechanical scrutiny of a machine, vulnerable in a way we rarely are in public, knowing your ability to leave the area is determined by the time it takes for the plastic bin with your shoes, your more literal ticket, comes out the mouth of the x-ray examination.
Hello!
As you may or may not know, I have chosen to accept the position of long-term volunteer at the Corrymeela Community, a peace and reconciliation center located about an hour and a half northwest of Belfast, Northern Ireland. I first visited Corrymeela as a junior in college during my semester abroad in Ireland, enrolled in the School for International Training's Peace and Conflict Studies program. While my first visit was bracketed by bouts of pinkeye and bed bugs (ew! disgusting yet hilarious story), it was still one of the highlights of a wonderful semester. After graduating in May 2009 and being rejected from several fellowships to go abroad, I spent a year living at home and working as an assistant teacher at the Clear View School, where my mom works as a therapist. The school provides day treatment for severely emotionally disturbed/mentally ill kids residing throughout the southern half of New York State. Working at Clear View was a great experience--I was fortunate to work with extraordinarily compassionate, capable and insightful people and learned a tremendous amount not only about mental illness, therapeutic support and compassionate care, but also about myself, working as part of a cohesive team and effective listening. In any case, the urge to go abroad again was too tempting and I decided to apply to volunteer at Corrymeela only a week or two before the deadline for long term volunteer applications. I spent the summer back as a counselor at Buck's Rock Camp, working in the office and as a guidance counselor with the CITs, notified Clear View of my resignation in July, bought a one-way ticket to Belfast for $350 and hit the road!
My last week at home was fairly hectic as we prepare to sell our house. For at least the third time in a few years, I sorted, organized and donated much of the contents of my room. While parting from my family and the few friends I have in the New York area was hard, leaving the house was maybe the most emotional aspect of leaving, as I know it will be the last time I would spend in the house we have lived in for thirteen years. It's pretty impressive the way that we can form such strong attachments to what is essentially comprised of some walls, floors and paint. The truth is that I do really love that house, not least because my family has been in it for longer than any other place of residence. I was tearful as I walked through it for the last time, incredulous that it would not be here for me upon my return. By the same token, however, moving out is definitely the right decision and it will be good to let go of the obligations involved in caring for a house that size.
It is partly for this reason that packing what I was taking to Ireland became such a painstaking process, as well as the difficulty I had in narrowing down what I was taking, resulting in a gross over packing. Note to self: Three suitcases and an overstuffed backpack is NOT an acceptable amount of stuff for one person to take across the Atlantic. Just saying. The flight was uneventful and I even hung out in the airport in Newark with a friend from camp who lives at camp year round but was on her way home to Edinburgh for a visit and was flying out from the same terminal only an hour after me! Best $8 glass of wine I've ever had--thanks for the good times, Bev! I slept for about an hour or two on the plane, watched some TV and was the first one off the plane thanks to my exit row seat (assigned to me mere minutes before I boarded).
In any case, once I arrived in Belfast I phoned the host family I was staying with for the weekend, took a bus into the city center and was met by Judith, a warm and lovely woman living just outside East Belfast with her husband, Johnston. The Morrows have three daughters, the middle daughter having been a long term volunteer three years ago and the youngest of which is my age but was on vacation in Spain. They live on and operate a dairy farm, large for Northern Ireland with about 250 heads of cattle. They also have many other farm animals and run an open farm for people, especially families with kids, to visit a farm, see how it’s run, see cows being milked, pet a goat, hold a chick, etc., etc. The other lovely surprise of the weekend was a group of ADORABLE puppies—a yellow lab and two black labs—only 8 weeks old and for sale. One of the dogs was particularly teeny and we became fast friends...I ended up carrying him in my sweatshirt half the weekend! So cute! I managed to get through the day with only a two hour nap, went to sleep at 11ish and slept for FIFTEEN (15) HOURS, awakening the next day at 2PM! Oy! That night there was a barbeque at the house for local members of the Corrymeela Community at which I met two of the other volunteers: Kat from England and Roland from the Philippines. The community members were absolutely lovely, so welcoming, trying so hard to pronounce my name correctly! Unfortunately, my body compensated for the 15 hours of sleep by refusing to fall asleep AT ALL for the entire night! Needless to say, I got out of bed fairly groggy but surprisingly energetic, all things considered. Because I was up early, I went around with Judith while she fed all the animals—very fun. They have a whole bunch of chickens and guinea hens, rabbits, chicks, a “wee mouse house” as they say, three pigs, including one nursing twelve piglets, sheep, goats (that make sounds like people impersonating goats), calves, guinea pigs, geese...very picturesque, especially with the beautiful rolling hills in the background! I got my stuff together and around 2:00 was picked up by host family for the rest of the year which consists of a 29-year-old gay man who loves theater and cooking and is awesome! Full of energy, had just come back from a vacation in Santorini, Greece and was just full of life. He took me to the center via a scenic route that added about an hour to the journey but was absolutely breathtaking, right along the northern coast and over the most stereotypically Irish green rolling hills you can imagine.
Since I arrived at the center last Sunday (I can’t believe it’s been less than a week here!) the routine has been a lot of training sessions...I will elaborate more in the next post about my job, the other volunteers and people I work with, how I celebrated Rosh Hashanah and what is in store for this new year. In the meantime, I hope you all are well, know that I miss you and plan on sharing as often as I can to keep you all abreast of my whereabouts and goings on.
xox, Yael (your favorite daughter/sister/miscellaneous relative/friend)