Hey Friends!

Sorry it has been so entirely long since I last wrote. However, I have lived in a tent for the last three weeks, so this is really the first opportunity I’ve had to write to you all.

So, Northern Ireland is completely amazing and things are very different here than what I expected. I came here thinking I would understand people just fine because we all spoke English. Boy, was I misinformed. Don’t get me wrong. For the most part, I can communicate with people here just fine, but sometimes…well, certain words that we use in the states don’t mean the same here. For instance, when you use the word ‘rare’ to describe something here, it doesn’t always mean ‘hard to find’ or ‘unusual’. It can mean ‘extremely weird’. Also, when you’re talking about bottoms like jeans or trousers, you don’t call them ‘pants’, because that means something different here.

Another thing that’s different here are the roads. I am now a permanent pedestrian, and so it is important that I understand how the roads work if I intend to walk everywhere. So far, there haven’t been any close calls, but I still struggle with remembering how the roads work here.

The last change I have noticed is the lack of darkness here, which made adjusting to the time difference slightly more difficult. At night, it gets dark around 11 and the sun starts to rise around 3:30, which makes the actual night very short. The light hasn’t really disturbed my sleep, but it does make trying to figure out what time it is a challenge.

I absolutely love my new home here and the last 32 days have been wonderful and I promise that a few photos of my time here will be up soon.

Sincerely,

Kelly