Rathlin Island

What a beautiful weekend we spent as a group! Rathlin Island is a small island just off the coast of Corrymeela; even on the foggiest of days you can still see it out the dining room window of the center. Our two-day excursion there was planned for us to reflect upon our hectic first two weeks of induction and spend a little time together in nature outside the center.
There are two ferries that shuttle between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island: one takes 20 minutes, th other, 45. Tiffany, half of the resource couple, had been on both and recommended the slower boat for a smoother ride. It's a pretty treacherous stretch of water, despite being small, because it holds the convergence of seven major currents, including the Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic, and the Irish Sea, among others, squeezed in between two pieces of land. We knew that the ferry company canceled the boats when the water was too rough, but little did we know that the ferry we took was one of the only ones to sail that day--the sea was not at its smoothest, to say the least. The crew wouldn't let us stay on the deck so all 11 of us, plus the 8 or so other people on the boat, had to stay in a cabin that could not have been larger than 6 square feet at the most. Two or three people squeezed onto the back deck, but everyone else was stuck crammed into a tiny, smelly space. As we set out from the harbor we could tell that the water was rough, but it wasn't until about 10 minutes later, when we were no longer sheltered from the wind by the mainland, that the boat fell victim to the ruthless waves that LITERALLY were 5-7 feet high. Within seconds, everyone on the boat turned green, the water was splashing over the side onto the back deck where Tim, Tiffany and Roland were standing until it was about knee high (could I make this up? Thank goodness there were openings at the bottom of the rails!) and the ferry shook so violently that you literally could neither stand up nor sit without bracing yourself/hanging on for dear life.

WARNING: HILARIOUS VOMIT STORY AHEAD; NOT FOR THE FAINT OF STOMACH.

Kat, a fellow LTV, and Aileen, our coordinator, sat next to each other puking into these paper sick bags that looked like they were swiped from a local gift shop to wrap postcards. Andrew, the only one who had admitted being prone to seasickness prior to the fateful voyage, planted himself in front of one of the portholes and did not move for fear of barf, while Michaela's face was literally whiter than a sheet. Sara, everyone's favorite Hungarian, was the third to toss her cookies, and turned a shade of ochre before emptying the contents of her stomach into one of the available paper bags. Twenty minutes in, I glanced at Aileen and Kat, who were vomiting into bags in their left hands, while holding filled bags in their right. Valentin and I handed them tissues and I wanted them to be able at least to throw away the horrible dripping bags of sick they were forced to hold. I went into the bathroom, grabbed the trash can, and held it out for them. Unfortunately, as Aileen tried to throw hers away, she missed the trash, dropping the bag on the floor, where it split open and exploded on my shoes and the floor. An astute crew member had the wisdom to throw bleach on it , which, as you can imagine, served only to increase the awesomeness of the smell taking hold of the tiny, rocking cabin, at which point it was all I could do to keep the morning's toast in its place. Tiffany was the last to lose it, hurling over the back rail as the waves continued their threat of swallowing whole the whole shebang. When we finally landed at Rathlin, all of us practically ran off the boat, except for Aileen and Kat, who stayed with their heads between their knees until they heard the crew chatting about getting us to take them off the boat already. We helped the poor things hobble off the boat and into the office building of a man who used to be a Corrymeela volunteer and now works in Community Development on Rathlin. We had some tea, dried our socks and recovered for the most part (well, except for Kat, who continued her barf crusade for a couple of hours), before listening to a boring talk (no offense! He was very nice! but his voice was soothing and made me want to nap), and starting the walk to our accommodation.
To get to where we were staying, we took a beautiful three mile hike on Rathlin's only road through the most idyllic green hills dotted with purple heather, yellow forsythia and the occasional cow or donkey. We had been told we would be staying in a "camping barn" but we arrived . at a lovely cottage with hardwood floors, nice beds, a kitchen and a full stock of board games--hardly the barn we'd imagined. While half the group stayed in the cottage to drink tea and continue to recover from the traumatic journey, I went with a few others on a walk through the bird sanctuary that occupied half the island. In the summer there are puffins there (puffins!) but this time there were a few birds, a couple of cows and a lot of sheep. We reached the edge of a cliff overlooking an upside-down lighthouse and watched as the deep water crashed against the rocks below.
We returned, played some trivial pursuit and made dinner while I asked questions about Jesus (didn't someone have to betray him? How come Judas gets a bad rap?), the pope (why are people so pissed off about him coming to England? Also I ended up defending John Paul II from the wrath of the resident Catholics. HA!) and whether people thought Harrison Ford was really a robot in Blade Runner. You know, the important stuff. We did some reflecting as a group and were given journals to write in...sometimes it's so nice to do solitary activities like writing while together as a group. After dark, Tim and Tiffany set up an amazing walk on the trail behind the house, guided only by small glow sticks in the ground. Each person started several minutes after the previous person so we were each on our own in the dark, walking through the grass and overlooking the ocean for a large part of it. It was pretty terrifying for me, as I'm still afraid of being alone in the dark, but at one point I looked at the sea and the clouds had opened just where the moon was, causing a beautiful halo of light on the water from the moon. We got back, had a bonfire, played some games together using glow sticks, and I laughed so hard for so long I almost peed my pants.
The next morning, Andrew and I made porridge (oatmeal) for everyone and we spent a relaxed morning hanging out, talking all together, packing up and going over some silly songs and games we had learned for working with kids. After our beautiful walk back to the harbor, we ended up catching the express ferry back, which was a sparkling brand new boat. We sailed over a calm sea, puke free. It was such a great two days just spending time with my fellow volunteers and staff, sharing and reflecting and enjoying the beauty of the natural world around us.
It took washing my hair three (3) times to get most of the smoky smell out of it, and I had the foresight to get my clothes straight in the washing machine before everyone else realized the urgency of the odor situation (thanks, mom!). Yesterday I spent a relaxing day doing not much of anything and tomorrow we are working with our first group! Andrew and I are in charge of 9 5-11-year-olds for three days! Wish us luck! xox