Castlewellan Castle

Last weekend saw me heading away with a few youth groups from Dublin to Castlewellan Castle! It was a really fun camp in a beautiful castle. I met some really fun people my age and had some great chats about life and God and the world. It was a brilliant weekend. Since a picture can paint a thousand words here are a few thousand words about my weekend:

Alive

Due to numerous complaints/requests (depending on how you look at them) I though I would let you all know that I am alive and well here in Dublin. St Patricks day was super fun! I watched the parade, went to an irish dance, enjoyed a port and a cigar and generally just had a great time hanging out enjoying the craic that over flows here in Ireland. For those of you who arent in the know craic as defined by my good friend dictionary.com is: fun, enjoyment, abandonment, or lighthearted mischief; and sometimes in the context of drinking or music. People say things like: 'There was great craic' or 'Whats the craic?'. I have even adapted it to my own likings: 'whats craic-ing'.

I was stoked to be able to find a job and a place to stay within my first week here in Dublin as it is notoriously hard to find either, especially a place to stay. I happened to be out one night in a pub and run into two girls who were in the year ahead of me at Roskill Grammar and they had a room that was coming up for rent. So I jumped at the opportunity and proceeded to go through the rigmarole of applying for tax codes and all that fun stuff. Once sorting that out I was able to relax and settle into my own little slice of heaven in phibsborough, Dublin 7. For reference if anyone feels like sending me mail or a much welcome taste of home then my address is: 99 Connaught St, Phibsborough, Dublin 7, Ireland. I will be at this address until the end of April.

I have also been really fortunate to find a good group of friends through the church that I am attending, Abbey Presbyterian. Its an amazing cathedral that is really beautiful but the numbers are dropping and so they are going through some tough times of looking at where they are heading in the future which is both difficult but also exciting.

This is a photo of abbey!

So yeah I have had an awesome time here in Dublin so far although although it is going to be great when I head over to continental Europe for a bit of travelling and then a month in Freiburg, Germany with Campus Crusade and then a week in Korea at CM 2007 which is the first world wide Campus Crusade for Christ conference. So I am excited about what is to come! That will put me back in NZ early July which is now only a few short months away. It will be great to be able to finally hang out with my girlfriend and to be able to pursue a short distance relationship rather than a long distance one :P It will also be really great to catch up with mates and see how they have fared over the past year while I have been away.

Here are a few photos from my time here in Dublin so far:

This is a group of lads from the hostel. Three kiwis and two Italians

This is me dressed and ready for my first day at work!

This is two of my flatmates and me at the local kiwi/aussie pub called the woolshed

Local overground trains

When it snowed at 2am in the morning!!

The Liffey as it heads towards dusk

A local hospital in Phibsborough

The early morning sunrise on my way to work

A local gallery lit up for a display

Grafton St at its quietest. It is one of the main shopping streets in Dublin and on a Saturday it is shoulder to shoulder

ME WITH MY NEW BABY! Literally! Its an SX Baby 1/2 size guitar, perfect for travelling and fitting into overhead storage compartments.