I will try & finish yesterday's entry (which I really think stretches too long - maybe I should have compressed it) before getting on to the events of today. So where did I leave off...?
Ah yes, we returned to Ruth and Robbie's from Dublin, and we were all drenched and exhausted. We came down to the kitchen for tea, and the other two were eating & talking pleasantly, but I still felt peeved and was reticent. They talked to me a bit, but I only gave short answers. I was thinking about the stuff that had gone wrong, and that didn't help me feel better. I might have given a bit of effort to thinking more positively, but not much, and it didn't really help.
Finally we finished our snacks, and by that time I was feeling so upset and in need of releasing stress that I went up to my room and shut the door behind me. I flopped on the bed, stomach down, next to the souvenirs from that day and had a little cry. I prayed that God would help me feel better and have a proper attitude toward things and not be resentful of anyone or anything. And crying helped me release my tension, so I did feel much better afterward.
Then the others were calling to me - the Janis(c)es were displaying their souvenirs again for Ruth & Robbie, and they wanted me to join in. I'd already laid mine out, so I went to look at Janis's and then brought them in to see mine. (I love the t-shirt I got myself. And it fits perfectly! I was worried it'd be too small.)
So after the cry, I was more sociable and felt much better, and I ended up in a good mood before going to bed.
Now, on to today!
I woke up around 11:30 (to Janis's knocking again). She said I should get in the shower before too long, cuz we were to eat lunch at 12:30. So I pulled my tired bones out of bed and dragged myself into the bathroom. To my dismay, the shower was cold again. Arrrgghhh... The others always get up earlier and take all the hot water. It must take longer to come back, here.
I tried to get some more packing done before going down to lunch. We had all done the majority of it last night, to get ready for leaving for the camp after lunch. I had wondered if all my stuff would ever fit in the luggage now, but thankfully, it all did pretty easily, and it didn't take too long to pack.
I still wasn't completely finished before lunch, though, because my shower towels were wet and I had some pants that I thought might still be wet. Lunch wasn't the most perfect example of Ruth's wonderful cooking, as it was lasagna, which I don't like much, and the cheese was kind of burnt in places.
After lunch, I finally got all my stuff packed, then hauled the very heavy suitcase downstairs. (I hope it's not too heavy for Aer Lingus. [the Irish airline flying me between Dublin and London]...) Ruth and the other two girls left for the camp then - Ruth only had room for that many in her car with all the luggage now. So I sat at the kitchen table & wrote a couple postcards while I waited for the people who were coming to pick up me & Robbie. (The Burnses only have one car, by the way.) Robbie was working on something elsewhere in the house, but he joined me after a while and was watching birds out in the back garden.
A little after 3:00, Linda Basdeo and some other women/girls arrived to drive us to the camp at Ovoca Manor. I met Shaz (sp?), Linda's 18-yr.-old daughter, whose real name I think is Sherry. [Edit: It's Sharee.] Along with those two were some friends from Dublin, Joanne & Rachel. Shaz rode w/ them in Joanne's car, while Robbie and I went w/ Linda. (All of them are very nice and friendly.)
The 40-mile drive to Ovoca was just gorgeous. The countryside in Wicklow is so green, and the buildings are pretty, and I saw lots of grazing sheep and cows, and the rolling hills in the distance were sometimes covered by clouds at their tops. It was a cloudy day, but thankfully it didn't rain. (It's also been chilly the whole day.)
I was absolutely delighted to drink in the breathtaking sights outside the car as we drove along - but, much to my chagrin, I didn't have my camera on me to take pictures! Dang! I had packed it into my bookbag an hour before leaving Burnses', and when Linda arrived, she immediately put the bag in the boot [trunk] of her car. By that time, I wasn't thinking of the camera at all. Dang!
Eventually we came to the quaint little Avoca Village, which was pretty to drive through. Then we passed through the front gates to the manor grounds. The gravel road was closely flanked by woods, and it wound up a hill where the manor was situated at the top.
We were there at last. We climbed out of the cars and went to join a bunch of people who were standing around in the gravel parking lot in front of the manor. Janice & Janis were there with some other workers. Janice introduced me to some of them. There is a group of young guys who are fun and nice. And I think one of them, Daniel Dawson, is VERY cute. Tee hee. (He looks rather like Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.) He is from Northern Ireland, and he came with a family, the Millers, who are also from there. Some of the Millers' accents are very thick, and they speak pretty fast, and sometimes I can't understand what they're saying.
Anyway, the manor is gorgeous, and Janice took me & Janis up to the big, long room full of beds where the younger women are sleeping. It is on the 3rd floor, and it was quite an effort to drag our bulging bags up there. After we had claimed our beds (2 each - 1 for luggage, 1 for sleeping on), Janice took us on a little tour of the grounds. I really like this place a lot; the atmosphere is peaceful and inviting. I won't go into physical descriptions, cuz that'll take too long. And I've been taking a lot of pictures.
