Days 3 and 4

Today is the big day of the week: the schedule is full.

7 AM: Wake up and shower at the public facilities at Waves.
We walked across town and walked all the way back from our showers. For our walking, we did get a little surprise. The owner/manager/some guy decided to show us around the building. He showed us the workout gyms, pools, and hot tub/sauna that he said we could use later that week if we wanted to. We want to.

We then grabbed a quick breakfast and walked to Dickson School, a local primary school with war murals painted on nearby buildings. Primary school is for grades P1-P7, similar to preschool to about fifth grade.

The first thing we did at Dickson was present a skit for the kids at assembly in the morning. They wanted us to do a skit directly related to the Gospel (in public schools, it is legal and encouraged to talk about faith and religion). We did a little play where we made a boat. I was a Jamaican Jesus that asks the disciple (Quinn, in this case) to walk out onto the water. The kids laughed. Quinn was a good actor. I wasn't. I'll confess, we just winged it.

We also individually introduced ourselves to the school. We told the kids about weird talents we had. When it came to me, I said, "close your eyes if you have weak stomachs and ask your parents before trying this." I flipped my eyelids inside out and the kids loved it.

Jason, KB, and I formed a group to go around to all the different classes. We could tell that kids were a product of their teacher in this school. In our first room, kids were silent, and the teacher gave us a blank stare until she finally asked us in monotone our opinions on Obama.

We walked upstairs to the oldest group of kids and did a trust walk camp-like initiative with them, you know, one that's easy to explain the spiritual metaphor behind. They did really well and not many kids cheated.

Back downstairs, we played with preschool-age kids in a class ran by an award-winning teacher. She speaks softly and has a therapeutic way of getting the kids attention. She is professional in every way.

When we got to Mrs. Pillow's class (she's the principal and a teacher), we played a game where we stick nouns to kids' foreheads and they have to find their partner without saying that noun. Mrs. Pillow made it quite clear that my little eyelid trick was gross. I overheard some other teachers condemning it, but my vibe the whole day from Mrs. Pillow was quite negative. To be honest, I began to question why I'd even bother coming if I was just causing a disturbance. Then I remembered that every teaching and action of Jesus was basically disturbing anyway.

The funniest questions all day were asked by young girls. The first: "Have you ever been to Las Vegas?" - a question asked by two different young girls in two different classes......The second: "Have you ever been to Playboy Mansion?" - that one embarrassed the teacher a little I think.

We walked back to the church after eating a fun little lunch with colorful plastic silverware (aka "carvery"). Here, we prepared for the youth group lock in, an event that local kids had already signed up for before we arrived in the country.

We began a pick-up game of keep-away soccer (which from this point I may refer to as "football"). I fell on the gravel and scraped my hand. It bled like nuts and I would have a significant gash between my ring and pinky fingers on my right hand for over a month.

After washing up my wound, we watched the first Narnia movie. I began to feel sick, so I went and sat on the toilet for half an hour.

When I came out of the bathroom, we went to the sanctuary where Chad was prompting what he called a "very serious discussion in which guys need to support each other and be honest." We made vows not to talk about anything said during this discussion. You can imagine what we discussed. Yes, it is common for children to begin engaging in such things at age twelve in Northern Ireland (not that Americans are any better at all). The response was very good.

The boys wouldn't sleep that night, but I was out despite the noise. I slept next to them from 2 AM to 8 AM. I woke up tired and grumpy and not ready to deal with kids. I was feeling a little better but still out of it. At breakfast, I was wearing a hat and an older man came over and accused me of not eating and removed my hat, saying that it was impolite to wear it at the table. I explained that I was sick. Meghan kinda of looked at me with a "what the heck is that man doing" expression, which kind of lightened me up and reminded me that I wasn't a complete failure. But at this point, with all the disapproval from authority, Mrs. Pillow, this random churchgoing man, etc....I'm starting to wonder if my presence is actually impacting kids or anyone else positively.

We went to Belfast with the kids for Laser Tag. This put me in the right mood. I'm competitive. I play serious. I dominated. Second place, only behind the guy that worked there. I'll take it, but next time, it's his throat.

When we got out of the Laser Tag arena, I was feeling refreshed, especially since I knew the next stop was Newcastle. We were dropped off and given a few pounds each to walk around town for a few hours. We went to some rather large indoor arcades and walked across the beach with the boys. Gambing is huge in Newcastle, so the kids were all about those games where you shoot a quarter in and try to knock down all the other ones.

For food, we went to a Subway and a KFC. There were also several ice cream shops. I'll admit it, I flirted with an ice cream girl. She was cute, but I realized that our relationship could not last because she said she wanted her "boyfriend" to be a "cowboy" in "Texas." I think she would've been disappointed if I told her the only time I went to Texas was for Chick-Fil-A. I did get to eat some delicious honeycomb and turkish delight flavored ice creams, though. I'll take those over a long-term relationship with an ocean between us and four hours time zone change. Okay, I didn't flirt that much, give me a break.

On the ride back in the van, KB and I had a wonderful conversation about living and road trips and earth. It was liberating to have an open mind like hers in our group, an accepting personality.

The kids were all picked up at the church when we got back.

Pastor Steve Hughes turned our "Night Off" into a long meeting. It wasn't bad though. We talked a lot about his family, the kids, how to act and be effective around them, the nature of his church, and the building itself that we were staying in. Then Meghan did a "Bible study" - more of a discussion - about forgiveness. I like thinking about forgiveness because I always learn that I'm in the clear. I'm pretty sure that's the wrong reason for liking to study forgiveness. Anyway, I also started reading Shane Claiborne's "The Irresistible Revolution" before going to bed.