One Reese’s Cup and It’s All Better

Never before have I actually counted down the days until a boss of mine returned to the office from holiday until this past week. Well now the boss is back from the States, Reese’s PB cups in-hand, and things seem to be looking brighter.

I’m still camping out / house sitting and, after absolutely no assistance last week from the powers-that-were, I’ll probably be returning to the volunteer house this week. The house still occupied by the sour, usually drinking grandpa who hasn’t quite figured out that peace is the way to go in 2007. I hate confrontation of any kind but I am kind of looking forward to laying down the law myself when it comes to this dude since the peeps at work last week just seemed to shake the hornets nest before handing it over to me.

Sometimes it takes a rough patch to make you realize how lucky/blessed you are. I spent last weekend with a terrific co-worker and her hilarious family. On St. Patrick’s Day we went to Down Cathedral in Downpatrick; St. Patrick is buried beside this church. Kind of fitting to visit the actual St. Patrick on St. Patrick’s Day. So there wasn’t a river of green beer floating by, but this year’s celebration seemed more fitting than spending March 17 crammed into a loud bar with people who’ve suddenly discovered their Irish roots.

Oh and it snowed yesterday. No joke!

Here’s a pic of St. Patty’s final resting spot.

Storm In a Teacup

Well this week has been pretty terrible. One of my dogs died and it turns out that one of the other volunteers living in my house is a drunk who supports a local terrorist movement you've all heard of. Pretty basic stuff for the folks over here, I guess, but we volunteers are American and are to act as neutral ambassadors for peace. Or so I've been told. Long story short, I don't feel safe living with this person and now select management have made the situation even worse by confronting this volunteer with me in the meeting and without presenting any of the evidence that this person supports that organization which shall remain unnamed. Because the other volunteer has only admitted to supporting the political arm that may or may not be connected to that organization mentioned before, there are no apparent grounds to send him packing. There are other performance issues with this dude but all of that seems to have been ignored.

Thankfully I've been house sitting this week for my "line manager" who has been on holiday, so I haven't had to live in the house with this guy for the past few days. He and his wife have a freaking awesome house and that is my only highlight to report. In a way I feel like a refugee who is being made to look like a jerk who won't compromise with the poor, elderly other volunteers in the house. It looks like I am the one stirring up a big storm in a tiny little teacup. But terrorism and alcoholism and terrible tempers are a big deal. Especially to an organization who says they are committed to bringing reconcilation to a land scarred by violence. And those elderly volunteers can be quite malicious when they don't get their way.

I don't know where I'll be living when my "line manager" comes back. Part of me wants to go back to the States and part of me wants to stamp my foot and scream, "This isn't fair!" In short, I can't believe I quit and incredible job, left a terrific city and moved halfway around the world for this.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. At least I figured out the bus system this week. Now I can pay one pound and 30 pence to ride in circles and over bridges.

The Best Name For A Dog

This is Guinness. He lives in one of the completed Habitat houses in Downpatrick and I love him even if he does get in the way of work sometimes.

The Purpose Of My Year

So I am actually here to help build homes. OK, so maybe I'm not picking up a hammer everyday but I am doing some things in the office that will hopefully assist in raising money or awareness to build houses. Here are pics of our current site in Downpatrick.