I made it!

After a tearful farewell to Rufus and Olive Grammy dropped me off at LAX for my adventure. I was quite nervous to put my backpack on the scale... but it weighed in at 47 pounds! Whew.

I had a non-eventful flight to Atlanta and then spent 45 minutes wandering around Atlanta trying to find something to eat that wasn't meat filled or fried. I sat down in a restaurant and ordered and waited for my greek salad. I kept looking at my watch and thinking I had plenty of time because Atlanta was two hours ahead of LA... riiigghhhttt. Until I looked up at the television and realized it was time to board! After a mad dash to the gate I boarded just in time and sat next to a lovely woman from Texas. The flight went well but I had 1 hour of sleep because I was so excited!

Got off the plane and waited in line for customs. I don't know why but customs always makes me super nervous! The customs agent was super cute though.

After picking up my ginormous bag it was off to try to locate the bus to Belfast. They speak so fast here I couldn't understand a word they said and had to ask both of the gentlemen giving me directions to repeat themselves.

Made it on the bus, it was a nice short ride (2 hours) but of course I couldn't go to sleep because it is so jaw droppingly beautiful here! Didn't even notice when we entered Northern Ireland until I started seeing the United Kingdom Flag everywhere. Then I was dropped off in Belfast and waited for John to come pick me up.
My first volunteer experience is on an organic farm in Northern Ireland.

John picked me up (I was sooooo nervous) and informed me we had to make a stop to check on his cattle on the way home. I promptly tried to get in the car on the right passenger side. HAHA

It is so strange to be in a car driving on the left side of the road!
We went to check on his cattle that are grazing at his brothers house. Brothers house=small castle. I was in awe.

Then it was off to the farm! The farm is north of Belfast by about 20 minutes. It is so pretty here.

John is quite a character and was quick to ask if I was Mormon after finding out that Dad & B live in Utah. (: He then told me all about the holiday tomorrow, Orange Day. He then asked what my background was to see where my loyalties lie. He was fine with me being anything but a mormon. Apparently the LDS church tried to buy his parents house in order to build a church there. His parents refused to sell to them and then sold to another couple. Who promptly sold it to the LDS church. There would be the origination of the dislike.

Laura; his wife is very nice, she is active in historical reenactments and will be participating in the parades tomorrow on her horse with full costume! No she is not a member of the Orange Party. The other WWoofers and I get to go to the parades which apparently can get a bit rocky as John puts it "There are a bunch of music bands with young men with too much anti-pope machismo." So this will most definitely be an experience.

Along our ride home John asked me about my farm and vegetable experience. That was a short conversation. (:

The other WWoofers and I are staying in a two bedroom apartment over their shop. All of our food is provided by their shop which has a large selection of organic goods and we are allowed to take anything to make up our meals! I am soooo looking forward to cooking amazing meals!

After sharing lunch with the other WWoofers Laura offered me to nap but I declined and said I would like to get out to work ASAP! It was off to weeding leeks! Wow I was one with the dirt. It was so peaceful though, just the sounds of birds chirping, leaves rustling, and the smell of freshly dug dirt. It made my heart happy.

The other WWoofers are Erin who is a middle school guidance counselor from Ft Lauderdale and Alex who is an archaeologist from Lyons, France. Alex is helping me with my french and I am helping her with her english! Both of the women are really nice and I think this is going to be a wonderful time.

As I was chatting with Alex who has never been to the states I asked her wher she wanted to go see when she came to the U.S. Her reply??? ALABAMA!!! I told her it was an armpit and then I had to explain what that meant. She said she would like to visit there because of Forrest Gump. I couldn't help but smile.

We are about to go for a walk, the nearest village is Straid which is about a 10 minute walk and all that is there are houses and a store. The nearest pub is in Ballynure which is a 40 minute walk. That is definitely on the agenda for later in the week!

Well hope everyone isn't too bored at this point of all of my minutae, but needless to say I am loving Ireland so far! And I am going on 24 hours with no sleep, local time here is 5:00 so I am anticipating an early bedtime tonight!

Hope all is well with everyone and miss you all!