ireland oh ireland

The past week my team and I have been working with Dublin Christian Mission at the Drimnagh Family Camp. In order to explain everything and share stories I feel as if I should give you a run down of what exactly our week looked like.

In the mornings we’d wake up and head into the forest for a little prayer just with our Race team. We’d then head to a meeting for all the staff just to pray together and run through the day’s events. Next was breakfast. Then a little free time before the first Session of the day. In Session the kid’s would play games and be taught about 2 of the 10 commandments. Then would be craft/activity time followed by lunch. After lunch we’d head out of camp for a different outing every day. For example one day it was the pool, another a park. Then we’d head back to camp for tea (aka dinner #1) followed by another Session. We’d then have supper (dinner #2) with some free time for games or walks through the forest.

Even as I write that I can’t believe it’s only been a week. This routine has, strangely enough, become comfortable. Tuesday afternoon as the campsite came into view I thought “we’re home!” then I realized that I’d only been here for 2 days. And honestly, we have been so spoiled in our new home. There were big tents already set up when we got here. There are at least 4 meals-a-day of really amazing food and the kitchen’s always open if we’re ever hungry (which never happens because we’re always being fed!) We get to jump on trampolines, ride go-karts, watch movies, and go hiking through Irish forests. The toilets actually flush and the water in the shower is hot. Every person seems to be so kind and pretty funny too making for some great conversations and good laughs. But the focus of everything is the Lord, which just makes it all a million times better. There are so many stories I want to share but I’ll have to do that when we get some more free time in a couple days. But for now, here are just a few interesting things we’ve learned:

• “deadly” and “massive” are good things.

• I always though that in Lord of the Rings when the hobbits talk about 2^nd breakfast and Elevensies that it was a joke or just something hobbits did. It’s not. Those both really exist.

  • Here’s the easiest way to describe it: Breakfast is always “breakfast”. Lunch however is only “lunch” if it’s light. If it’s a big meal then it’s actually “dinner”. Dinner is only “dinner” is its a big meal. But if it’s lighter, they call it “tea”. Then the snack or light meal at the end of the day is usually called “supper”.

• The chocolate really is better over here.

• “y’all” is NOT universal and you WILL be picked on for saying it.

• It’s cold. Coming from Texas, this is winter.

• And it rains…alot. The sun coming out is pretty rare, so when it does, people WILL be outside.

• Even when its raining, Ireland is absolutely gorgeous.

• They don’t usually pronounce the “th” sound-they just say the “t”. For example, “thanks” to us sounds like “tanks”.

• It’s REALLY easy to slip into an Irish accent.

• Northern Ireland is an entirely different country. (Yes, I should have know that, but still…)

• When sharing a tent with 6 other girls, ear plugs are the greatest invention ever (thank you Zach Watson!)

• It seems like most people don’t really like peanut butter. And peanut butter and jelly is just disgusting here.

• “ma’am” and “sir” aren’t really used. Anytime we’ve used them the usual response is “oh please don’t call me that; i’m not old.”

• Ireland is a lot like the South. The people are hospitable and helpful. Almost anytime we’ve asked for directions, the person has gone out of their way to actually take us to where we’re going, making great conversation along the way.

• They drink tea. All the time.

• Being red-headed or “a ginger” is actually kind of a bad thing. If you’re a ginger evidently you get picked on for it. It’s like blond jokes, except they’re not seen as stupid like blonds are (if that makes sense…)

• Time is told a little differently here. What I would call “five thirty” they would call “half five”.

• Brewed coffee is a rarity. Instant coffee is much more common.

• Irish names are absolutely beautiful. Some of the ones we’re come across are Aoife (pronounced “eef-a”) and Niamh (pronounced “neeve”) Oh and they sound nothing like they’re spelled 🙂

• Everyone is funny. Seriously I feel like everyone has the best sarcastic, dry sense of humor.

• Time is kind of optional in Ireland. It reminds me a lot of Zambian time. When someone says 5 o’clock they mean that more of a general roundabout time, not a deadline or exact measurement.

• I should have researched things like money conversion, the metric system, and clothing sizes before getting here. For example, I have no clue what my shoe size is now.

Matt compiled all of our pictures into a little video for all the families at camp. So here’s a quick taste of what we did in our week at camp: