At Lakeside Manor

I got in yesterday to Lakeside Manor around two.  And it took more than a hop skip and a jump to get there.  My parents dropped me off at the airport around 4:30, and I sat around the terminal for about an hour and a half  before hopping on my connecting flight from Cleveland to Phillie.  I sat down and for awhile it looked as though I would have the whole two seat row to myself, but about ten minutes after I sat down an Indian woman said that the seat next to me was hers.  She was quite polite, and looked to be about twenty five.  I, being myself, began to chat with her.  What I found out was quite interesting. Her name was Mehal, and she had grown up around Cleveland (I forget which burb), and was raised in a Hindu house by her Indian parents.  She went to Marietta College, and after graduating went to travel the world, only to find the love of her life.  A British man and practicing Jainist, who she  eventually married. They settled down about an hour outside of Manchester, and she has been teaching kids with special needs for years, and just got a new job the vice principal of a special needs school.  We spent most of the flight talking about getting out of Ohio and seeing the world, and how unnatural it was for man to fly.  At the end of our flight we went our separate ways, but not after exchanging email addresses, and being told if I was ever in the area to shoot her a message. Definitely the highlight of my time between Cleveland and Dublin as the plane ride from Phillie to Dublin seemed more like a flight between watching the Celtics and the Lakers in the NBA finals again and Hell.  No leg room, couldn't slide down enough to rest my head on the seat, couldn't fold up the arm rest, couldn't sleep. It, was horrible.

As soon as I landed I ran off the plane to freedom, after a quick passport check at customs and grabbing my carry on I walked downstairs to find Jazz and Jordon waiting for me.  We sat around the airport for a few hours as people trickled in, and then around ten or so loaded the vans.  But we were still shy a few people so we went back from the parking lot to the terminal, Jazz, Caleb and I taking up the rear and talking about how we would probably miss the Iron and Wine concert the next day.  And as the rest of the crew walked in the door I looked to the side to see a bunch of guitar cases, and handful of musicians and who else?  Sam Beam. Really nice guy by the way, asked us a load of questions about why we were there, what we were doing and gave us some info on how to get to the show.

After that we rounded up the rest of the crowd hopped in the vans and drove a couple hours north to Belfast. Now the left side of the road thing, takes some getting used too.  If I was driving, I would be freaking out the whole time.  But what was interesting to me (in my at this point sleep drunken stupor) were the changes from the Republic of Ireland to North Ireland. The signs went from speeds in kilometers per hour to speeds in miles per hour, and went from every sign in Gaelic and English to no Gaelic in sight.  The country side though was green the entire way, and not just the grass, the shrubs and the trees as well.  After a brief stop at subway to grab a meatball sub and a  fanta we got to Lakeside Manor (picture coming soon).  Lakeside is a giant brick house, three stories tall and its beautiful.  The backyard has a few mild slopes down to the lake.  After dropping off our stuff we went to Tesco Super, the local super makert, to get some groceries.  Then we made dinner and had a quick meeting and then bed.  Fun filled first day. Sorry that this is atrociously written, still a little jet lagged.  More to come soon.  Much love and thanks for reading.

Oso