The day my baby went to school....

Today was Miles' first day of school ever.  It was bitter sweet.  Sweet because he was so excited, and I know he'll have friends, and bitter because I just handed him off to a group of gorgeous young ladies who don't know a thing about him.
We started out the morning with a hearty breakfast....

Then had a small photo shoot....

And then he was off.  When I picked him up he had on his little uniform, which was just about the one thing that sent me over the edge.

We enrolled him in an Irish school.  I think it's safe to say that he will be one of very few Koreans that will be able to speak Gaelic in the near future.

what exactly have you been doing for this whole week?

kn Well, I'll tell ya.
At first we were busy doing a big fat nothing.  For the first few days we were told just to relax and do nothing.  It was a little hard for me to do, but I put on my big-girl pants and did nothing (except clean out the closets in my flat, reorganize the furniture, and a list of other things that they wouldn't know about behind closed doors).

On top of doing nothing, we also spent some time exploring our new "yard", walking to the beach, and trekking into town.  Right away last Wednesday we went to Knocklayd - a house owned by Corrymeela to meet the long term volunteers that we will be working with for the first year.  That was pretty much the only thing that was expected of us for the first five days.  Hard work I tell ya.  Actually it WAS hard for me because we don't have internet or a working phone yet in our flat, and then top that with no drivers license (which we do have now), and you've got one antsy mama.

Finally on Monday - just two days ago we were able actually sit down and get to work.  Wait, scratch that.  Dustin played the role of stay-at-home dad while I participated in the Monday meetings that we will eventually be leading.  Mondays are the big organizational/housekeeping/keeping everyone in sync meetings.  He did take a break from super-dadding it to take me out for a spin in the car.

Who is that hotty behind the wheel of a station wagon?

Reasons I hate driving so far:
I have a hard time gauging the distance from me to the left side of the car.
Shifting with my left hand.
The car is big.
The roads are skinny.
Everyone else knows what they're doing.
I keep getting in the wrong door when it's my turn to drive.

On Tuesday we were able to write out a schedule for our induction these next three weeks, which made me feel better.  (on a side note - I'm trying really hard to just go-with-the-flow, and it may not seem like it through my posts, but I'm on the edge of turning into one cool chica.)  (on a side note of the side note - I've been told that this will make more people want to hang out with me.)

Wednesday is when the real work began.  We started by organizing our office.  We have a nice big room to work with, but will have to wait until some people get back from vacation before we'll be able to move certain things out and put in shelving for all of the resource supplies.

Dustin also spent a portion of the morning hauling long term volunteers to the doctor.  Then last night we had a going away party for three people that were here on summer staff and were ready to leave for home. I'm not sure how I'm ever going to get used to saying goodbye all the time like they do here. I'm terrible at goodbyes!

Today was slow again.  Dustin spent the morning hauling volunteers to the doctor, while I was in our office pretending to work, while really all I did was make two posters and then get on Pintrest for the rest of the time.

Now I'm back in the office working blogging while I'm waiting for Liam to wake up so we can go on an official tour of the centre. :)

And to the shock of your's truly....it is super warm here right now.  Yesterday and today were both warm enough that we thought briefly about taking a swim.  I even got out my sunglasses.  crazy.

What's on the agenda for the next few days?
- Miles' first day of Irish school
- Our first car trip to another town.
- Hopefully more adventures.

Parenting in a "Community"

Let’s be honest, fathers have it easy.  If they change more than one diaper a day and give a kid a few pushes on the swing they are deemed an irreplaceably wonderful dad.  Mothers, in my opinion, got the short end of the stick in that department.  My husband’s a great dad and usually changes more than one diaper a day, and people always talk about how great of a dad he is.  I also change a lot of diapers in a day….I’m still waiting for my mother-of-the-year trophy.

 Something that has surprised me is how easy it is to be a parent when you’re the only family around.  We’re surrounded by 20 and 30-somethings all day – not a single parent in sight.  At first I thought it would be more difficult because they would have less tolerance for my children and their sometimes annoying eccentric habits – like spitting out half chewed food, peeing their pants, running away, and always asking for other people’s food. 

But the opposite is actually true.  I’m hesitant to say that they culture here is more understanding of the child-like spirit, because I am sort of in a bubble called Corrymeela.  However, these people either really find my kids charming, or are just good actors.   And when my kids aren’t charming – they don’t seem to mind one bit.  

a morning walk on the beach.

 I guess I never thought about myself as worrying about what others think of me, but that would be the only explanation for how this is all panning out.  For the first time since I’ve had two I feel like I’ve totally got them under control.   I’ve got myself under control.  They are completely well-behaved.  And they will without a doubt someday become pillars of society.  I may be delusional, but nobody is here to tell me otherwise.

5 days, 6 hours, 24 minutes, and 23 seconds.

 That is exactly how long it has been since I’ve stepped onto Irish soil.  When I write it down it doesn’t seem like a very long time, yet in my mind I keep having these expectations for myself that I’m disappointed I can’t meet just yet.

This week is all about transition….

into a house I’ve never been in.

having limited internet access.

into a new time zone (Miles hadn’t been asleep before 11 pm until last night.)

and from a family unit to living in a community.

Things have been really fantastic at times, but also really hard at times and really sad at times. 

Ways that I’ve made myself feel better….

• It actually took me until yesterday to realize that they meant it when they said that we must do nothing but rest for the first week.  Once I finally let my guilt as a misunderstood multi-tasking busy freak be put to rest, I actually found ways to enjoy myself without a single commitment in the world besides getting to dinner on time.

• Finding ways to get certain comforts. Dustin and I walked into town yesterday and bought an armful of ground coffee.  Trust me, if you were a coffee drinker and were given a tin of instant coffee the minute you got off the plane, you would walk 2.5 miles one way for the good stuff too.  Other things I bought: peanut butter, HobNobs (my favorite UK treat from way back when), and olive oil.
• Television.  It seems silly because we didn’t watch tons of television back home (unless it was on Netflix or I was taking in endless Kardashian and Real Housewife episodes on my parents’ sweet cable), but I’ve found real comfort in the US shows I can find here, including, but not limited to How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and my personal favorite, The Real Housewives of New York.  I’ve also found their version of what I can only imagine is The Hills and although I’ve never really gotten into The Bachelor, there is a version here that I might watch, purely for research reasons of course.
•  Changing my reading habits.  When I left Ohio I was reading a Science Fiction book called Sparrow, which I may have normally liked.  It is about these Jesuits that travel to another planet that is discovered to have life – feeling as though it is a calling from God.  As they get closer to arriving, the main guy becomes weery of whether this is the right thing to do.  Turns out he should have listened to his instinct because these people were then mamed, raped, and even killed.  Although I have no fear of any of these things, the parallels outside of that freaked me out.  I finally decided to give up the book and read something more “light” – like A Girl Named Zippy.
• Finally getting into a groove.  These people eat lunch at 1. 1!  That is about two hours after we normally eat (which I acknowledge to be unusually early).  They boys were sleeping from 2-5 and then not falling asleep until 11.  Not cool.  We finally figured out how to get them fed by 11:30, down by 12, and tonight will be the ultimate test of falling asleep by 9 – at the latest.  (I’m hoping for 8, but we’ll see.) J

So there you have it….I wish I could share about all of the cool work we’re doing, or all of the cool things we’re trying, but the truth is that we aren’t really doing much of anything outside of visiting the beach daily and trying to shake off jetlag.  Perhaps my next post will be full of witty and clever adventures and photos of all the cool things we’re doing....but don’t hold your breath.

Although I have about a million emotions and thoughts running through my head right now, I thought I would keep it light and just post a few pictures of our flat.  When we got in yesterday it was decorated with all sorts of cut flowers and family pictures by our volunteers.  I am already getting really excited thinking of ways to decorate it and make it more like our home.  :)

Our kitchen

Our dining room

Overlooking our back patio

Our study/guest room

Our master bedroom

The boys' room

Our living room - you can see Miles has made himself at home.

We made it!

Two plane rides, seven checked suitcases, and four very tired individuals later.....we made it.  So far so good, and I will post more very soon.  I feel good so far.  I did have a very private panic attack waiting in line at the border patrol - not sure if I am doing the right thing.  More on that later though.  This lady needs to rest and help her kids rest. 

oh yeah.....

....and because I can't tell you I have a new nephew, and not show you a picture of my little brother as a dad......