Dublin

Today we were out the door by 6:15. As our resident early riser this was not a problem for me! The rest of the team however resembled drowned rats who had been hit by a train. None the less, spirits rose once we got on our train which was headed south. The scenery from the train was typically beautiful as we had lots of sun to see the Irish sea and rolling hills.

Upon arriving in Dublin we were quickly guided by John to go and see the U2 recording studio. This was achieved with a pleasant walk along the river in which we struggled to read our maps due to the wind! After a quick look at the studio we all headed into the city centre for a full Irish breakfast. This is similar to an Ulster fry but with more pudding and less grease. I bet Isaak £1 that he could not finish the whole thing. Needless to say I am out £1, however the joke was on Isaak as they use Euros in the 'Republic'. At this point the girls went off shopping. Another total afront to cultural norms in favour of shopping did not surprise me, yet I was happy to not be dragged along as shopping with women (or should I say patiently waiting on a bench) is not my strong point! The men proceded to go into all sorts of sports stores. It is interesting to see the Tricolour flag displayed so prevalently, as in Belfast it is assosciated with the republican movement, and can be extremely provocative if displayed. Aside from this we took in all of the sights and sounds and I was able to buy a real Gaelic Football. This football will be put to good use once we learn the rules of the game at a GAA match tomorrow.

Anyway after our wander around we met up with two of the Youth Alpha leaders and went out for a lovely early dinner. The banter was class as per usual of course Isaak stole the show with one of his colourful anecdotes with a clever punchline which left everyone in stitches. We made our way back to the station and headed back north. It was nice to return to the comforts of Northern Ireland and our adopted home in Downpatrick. We settled in for a quiet evening in which most of the team relaxed while Travis and I designed a t-shirt and Jenessa raided the sweet jar. Everyone has gone to bed early as we are leading a service in Ardglass tomorrow and are quite worn out from our adventure to the 'Republic'.

All is well on this end,
Greetings from both the North and South!