Yeah, it has been a while. Sorry about that. All I can really say is life has been pretty low key lately with lots of thesis work. But I do have some pretty exciting news, tomorrow, well tomorrow I'm coming home!!!!
Before the state of Mississippi erupts in cheer (just a lil joke), I'm coming home-TWICE. First, I'm literally getting on a plane tomorrow to fly back to Mississippi for a week! This is a very last minute trip and means that I will be spending next Saturday at one of the greatest days of the year, Double Decker. Hope to see y'all there!
But the real reason for the trip also helps explain how I'm coming home in another way. I am flying home to take the Praxis, the test I need to become a certified teacher in Mississippi. I'm excited and proud (and a little bit nervous) to share that I am a part of the 2012 class of Mississippi Teacher Corps! So come end of May, I'm packing up my Irish bags (hopefully with a finished thesis in there somewhere) and flying home, for good. Well, for at least two years. I got this awesome news from MTC two weeks ago but I wanted to wait and share until I had a school placement. The weight got too much to bear, because I still don't have that part to share with you. But it should be developing any day now and if I run into you over Double Decker, hopefully I will be able to tell you where I will be teaching within the state!
I know that I have a challenging two years ahead, but I'm ecstatic to meet those challenges head on! Now I'm having trouble sleeping because I keep having these dreams about what my classroom is going to look like. I don't know why I've fixated on this particular part of teaching, but I keep having these dreams where there are cheesy "DREAM" and "ACHIEVE" posters covered with Michael Jordan floating around. The life of a first year teacher...oh the things to come!
In other random news, I spent yesterday at a Benedictine Abbey. Glenstal Abbey is set in Co. Limerick, almost in the center of the island of Ireland. Not that I have really spent much time at Benedictine Abbeys but this was far from what I expected. Let's just say if I were to ever become a monk, I want to join these guys. We spent the whole day with some of the funniest old men I've ever been around. Men, who take their faith and scholarship very seriously. Yet men who are able to approach all of life with a calm, and humor that is too often missing in our busy lives. It was just really really neat stuff and I woke up this morning feeling blessed to have spent the day with them and to turn around tomorrow to spend a few days in Mississippi.
So Y'all I'm coming home. It has been quite a journey, and it isn't finished yet. Thanks for reading about all of it along the way! Hope to see you at Double Decker!
Cheers Y'all!
Chelsea
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Good People and Seders
I'm currently throwing together these blog posts
from my dorm because the whole country of Ireland has shut down. The Pope's
Children do not play around when it comes to Easter, specifically Good Friday.
This is the one of the few (maybe only) day all year where alcohol is not
allowed to be sold. Most businesses and all schools shut down from Friday to
Tuesday to celebrate Easter. It's 10:50am for me, usually the time that I head
to the pub but since it is closed I guess I will write this blog post...
(to clarify, that was joke. a bad one, but a joke
still) Anyway, these thoughts are a jumble, so buckle up!
First things first. LISTEN. NOW.
(please)
The lead singer, Brittany, has a
tattoo of the state of Alabama on her right upper arm. Whatever you have to say
about my love for MS, I have yet to take it to the permanent ink level.
Like countless other youth in revolt around the
country I've been listening to the Alabama Shakes
on constant repeat for the past four months. I love these Athens, Alabama
natives and I'm anxiously counting down the days until I get to see them in
May! There first full length album came out this week and the buzz around
them is growing into something closer to a rumble. They've gotten tons of love
and most of you probably already know about them. While I wanted to share my
love for them with the world via blog, I also wanted to talk about their email
list. They send out the nicest fan emails ever! You can tell that these are just
four kids from Alabama who had never left the country until a few months ago
and now are embarking on an international tour. Check out these opening lines
from the latest email blast...
"First and Foremost, thank you. Thanks for all
of the support and love you have shown us. As our record is released and we
take a second to reflect on the last 6 months, we can't help but smile and feel
blessed to be where we are right now and feel excited for the future. Thank
you, thank you, thank you."
So that is just the first paragraph but the whole
thing sounds like friends updating other friends on their lives. Join the email
list! It will make you smile every time you get an update! I'm thinking about
making a sign for when I see them in Dublin that says "I"m from
Mississippi and I love your emails." Maybe they will give me a special
shout out in their next email? Things to think about.
Next up on the list of good people, Old Try.
"I spent
five years in Mississippi, riding around the Delta, the Piney Woods, the Coast,
the Hill Country. Pulling into and driving out of hollers and fields and
getting into trouble and finding myself growing from a boy into a man. I found
my Saviour there and found my voice. And now even though I’m far removed from
it, I still think about those crisp Indian summers and that oppressive humidity
and the bugs and the howling dogs and the laughter of the place that the world
simply doesn’t get. I still don’t fully get it – but it sure got me."
-the
description underneath the print on the website
To start with, how could I not buy this print with
that description under it? So maybe he read North Towards Home one too
many times, but so have I. The description isn't really the best part
here. Yet again I get another awesome email! My "shipment"
notification email was this personal email from the guy who makes the prints
saying that he spent his morning working and listening to the Alabama Shakes
(OMG-what is going on in Alabama, they are stealing all our thunder MS!) and
that my print should be safe and in my hands soon. Quirky, funny, and totally
unexpected.
LESSON OF THE DAY: SEND NICE,
FUNNY EMAILS! (when possible...)
I've posted before about Southern Hipsters, Old Try
and Alabama Shakes are more proof for my theory (ok, not really my theory. More
like what Southern Studies academics spend their lives talking about. maybe
I'll let them take the credit for the theory).
So if you read the title you are probably wondering
where seders come in? Ahha curve ball, not just about southern hipsters.
Tonight my good friend Jess is hosting a Passover Seder for all of us non-Jews
out there. This will be my first seder (which shouldn't be too much of surprise
seeing that I grew up in Hattiesburg, MS) but this is what my little bit of
research has taught me...a seder is a family/community meal where everyone gets
together to celebrate and retell the story of the liberation of the Israelites
from ancient Egyptian slavery. The retelling involves different stages and
songs and drinking of a special wine for four cups. This could all be wrong, my
ignorance is embarrassing, but hopefully I'll be a little less ignorant after
tonight. I'm looking forward to learning more and sharing a good meal with
friends! It will be a seder, with lots of good people!
Oh and don't worry, we planned ahead and bought the
wine needed for our seder yesterday! I know y'all were worried! I hope everyone
enjoys their time off for the Easter break!
I've got big life updates happening at the moment,
I'm holding in all the excitement until the right moment to share it on the
blog. Ah, who am I kidding my mom already knows...
Cheers Y'all!
Chelsea
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Brussels: A Winner has emerged!
Brussels, Belgium: land of beer, chocolate and waffles
This says it all. Of course I would love this place! How could anyone not love a place known for beer, chocolate and waffles? C'mon!I just got back from a nice little weekend away in this land of sweet and savory treats! But I was pleasantly surprised by more than just the food in Brussels. The trip was organized by the Irish Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the first few days were filled with meetings and receptions that centered around a variety of work within the European Union.
A couple highlights of this more official part of the trip:
-We stayed with host families. This in theory sounds incredibly creepy. Staying in a person's home you have never met before? Yeah I'm not so into that but I got proven wrong this weekend. All of the hosts are staff from the Irish Office so with the heavy background screening required for Irish Foreign Service we knew that we were walking into a reasonably safe environment. My host was a young, cute Foreign Service officer who lived by herself in an awesome apartment in one of the cutest neighborhoods in Brussels! It sort of felt like we were sorority sisters (laugh away, I'm letting the cheesy come out). It was just so nice to be in a real house (not a dorm room).
-We learned a ton about the European Union and the complexity behind trying to create a unified policy among 27 countries who are still very much individuals. Besides the EU meetings we also got to spend some time at Google! Y'all go to work for Google (if only it were that simple). You have probably read some about this but it is just such a cool environment! We also had a reception at the Irish Ambassador to the EU's home and lunch with the US Ambassador to the EU!
-Brussels is like D.C. I spent my summer in DC and by the end was ready to come home (but this was largely because my tonsils were slowly killing the rest of my body-sorry that is gross). I know people have mixed feelings about DC, but one of the things that is really cool and that felt really similar in Brussels is the city is run by hoards of young people. Just like DC, Brussels offices end up being staffed with lots of young interns and staffers, all with an interest in politics. So you go to the bar and it is filled with 20-somethings in suits talking about policy. After life in a college town filled with teenagers dressed in short short skirts and high high heels talking about who threw up last night, the slightly older but still young crowd was refreshing.
After the "official" part of the trip was over a group of us hung around in Brussels for the weekend. Friday we experienced a classic Belgian dinner with mussels, fries and beer. Good stuff.
Saturday a few of us headed to Bruges for the day. The best way to describe Bruges-cute. It seems pretty clear that Bruges is a tourist hub. Luckily for us the weather hasn't warmed up and the sky is still grey in Belgium so the crowds are low but I get the feeling that come summertime Bruges is so crowded it might lose a bit of the "cuteness." In Bruges, like Brussels, I ate a lot of chocolate and drank some good beer.
Cathedral of the Holy Blood
So Bruges is kind of like a religious pilgrimage city. It is filled with really historic beautiful churches. This one claims to have a vile of Christ's blood, which you can pray over...for a fee, of course.
Cute Waffles. I now have dreams about the smell of waffles that covers the entire country of Belgium
the cute streets of Bruges
just cute
Cheers Yall!
chelsea
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