Boston to Belfast, and beyond!

My journey into the damp northerly lands has begun.

At 12:45PM on Saturday, I walked off the airplane that I'd been on for 10 hours into a perfectly typical drizzly 45-degree day and rode through the Northern Irish countryside to Kilcranny House, a drive that felt oddly familiar to my senses after all those trips home to Oregon from Minnesota at Christmastime. Well, except for the fact that we were driving on the wrong side of the road and the signs were white with blue or red, not yellow with black.

Kilcranny is located just outside of Coleraine, close to the western banks of the River Bann. Portstewart is to the north of us on the opposite side of the river and Portrush farther north and east along the Antrim coast, in the direction of the Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle. From the top of the drive, we can see where the river runs into the sea, and the town of Castlerock across the bay. We're about 90 minutes northwest of Belfast and 45 minutes east of Derry.

This is where I'll be for the next three months, living in the newly renovated farmhouse with my compatriot Mike, from Pennsylvania, who's here for a year through the Brethren Volunteer Service. Our main duties as residential volunteers are to be caretakers of the buildings and grounds (including gardening) and hosts to the groups that use the facilities. I am also looking forward to being able to participate in some of the peace & reconciliation programs that they do out in the community, especially with schoolchildren. For now, please go to Kilcranny'swebsite to learn more about the organization and what they do -- you'll get more first-hand impressions and accounts from me later on!