Friday...

Friday 8-11-06

Is anybody ready for some football? Not American football though. Last night we had dinner at Father Raymond’s house after he said mass for us. Following the dinner was a game of football, the Irish and Germans versus Americans in an exciting game. The game was very close all the way through, but in the end the Irish and Germans won with an impressive move by Brian McKee, scoring the winning goal by hitting the ball with his head. Everyone had fun either watching or playing the game.

In the morning we all piled back on to the bus to spend another day with our faithful bus driver Tommy. He droves us to Woodhill were we would spend half of the day team building. We split up in to several different groups and we did a ropes course. Everyone had different tasks to do but everyone had a great time. Every group had a mix of Germans and Americans. The different tasks were problem solving and team building. It was hard at times because of the language barriers but we all got past that and had fun.

After the teambuilding we had a barbeque. Afterwards we had the opportunity to go in the water. At first everyone was a bit apprehensive because the weather isn’t very warm, but in the end everyone went in. We were nicely attired in wetsuits, lifejacket and helmets. We looked ridiculous, but it was well worth it. We had the chance to go kayaking or going on the banana boat (a large float that held six people kind of like tubing). In order to avoid your body from going in shock you had to jump into the water before you were allowed to go on the banana boat. It was rather amusing to watch peoples faces when they jumped in. The water was extremely cold, but the wetsuits kept you warm.

We are currently sitting at St. Malachy’s College and playing card games waiting until we go to mass. Following mass we will have a pizza party and go to an Irish concert. We are all looking forwards to this. Ireland has been a great learning experience thus far.

~Kris Kleiner