FINALLY!

Hey everyone, I'm back! I finally found a computer that can pull up this website. So unfortunately, I'll probably only get to update this about once a week or so, hopefully.

Things are going great here. I've had the last 2 days off and basically have been exploring. Today, a friend from the Hostel took me down to an old castle ruins where he then jumped in the water...I was tempted until I felt it-the Irish are NUTS!

So far, not much craziness. The people here are wonderful. I finally found a place where my sarcasm fits in perfectly...maybe too perfectly. The Irish have great sense's of humor.

I'm gonna try and put a picture on here today too-we'll see. I wish I had a crazy story for you, but oddly enough, things are running rather smoothly. I've had a million things I've wanted to write about, and now that I'm finally on my blog, I can't think of any.

I understand why Mel always wants her tea HOTTER! The Irish drink SCOLDING hot tea. I also now understand Grandma with her neverending butter dish and constant toast-it's an Irish thing. There's just a brick of Butter that sits on the counter next to a loaf of bread in the Hostel. If I thought I was going to lose any weight here, I was sorely mistaken. I went to the grocery store with a friend yesterday and she said "I forgot my glasses, can you tell me how much fat is in this?" I looked and cringed as I said "24.48 grams..." She said "Great! The more fat, the better." I really AM in another country. They cook with Butter milk (which I think comes straight out of the cow) and even the lowfat milk tastes creamier than our Whole. They pour yogurt on just about everything and eat cheese by itself...(the wisconsinites might understand that). I love it here!

Those are my tidbits for the moment. It's weird being a place where no one knows anything about the US. I am the ambassador---look out America! I've been filling people in on the important things like the "Hot Coffee McDonald's lawsuit" and that the "F" in "Fifty Cent" is silent. That it's not PC to say "Merry Christmas" anymore, and that Starbuck's basically has their own language. I've also held a workshop in the art of Southern Drawl, you can only imagine what an Irish accent in Southern Drawl sounds like. It's way too entertaining. These are all good things to know if they come visit America.

I'm gonna try and put a picture in here now. John, a husband of one of the other Volunteers was visiting and I asked him to take a picture of me. Before I could even let go of the camera, he started taking pictures. He wouldn't stop. This is one of those pics. He was having way too much fun.

I miss all of you and sorry for the delay on my blog...you should see the computer in the woods...let's just say that it probably remembers the 80's better than I do. Love ya-me

I have no idea what I'm doing

I hope this works...Everything is in German, so I don't quite no what button I'm pushing.

I just sent out a mass e-mail to everyone, but I'm going to copy and paste it here too. I'm loving Ireland and especially loving the Dzogchen Beara. It's so beautiful, it actually brought tears to my eyes. I wish you all could see what I wake up to. I picked the bunk directly across from the window, so the first thing I see every day is the ocean. I start work at 10:30 am (after the days first meditation), have an hour for lunch and then end work around 3pm...ending with the days second meditation. Not too shabby. I get cereal and stuff for breakfast, a delicious vegetarian lunch and then soup for dinner. Everything is organic and healthy and I love all of it! I've warned the staff to stop me if they see me walking near the cliffs, even though I've already done all that, or trying to cook. Either thing is VERY BAD! I'm attaching the mass e-mail to this, so sorry for the repeating myself. Of course, I'm not sure which button to push to actually publish this post. Hopefully "VEROFFENTLICHEN" means Publish. Never a dull moment eh? Oh yea, by the way, my plan of being Canadian over here has been foiled. There are Canadian's everywhere. I heard Bush on the radio yesterday and sunk down in my seat.

One last fun ditty before I attach the e-mail...a girl here yesterday asked me what an SUV is? How wonderful! Ciao, here's my e-mail:

Hi everyone,

I know the blog is supposed to eliminate these mass e-mail's, but at the present moment I can't seem to get on my blog. When I do, it's in German-go figure. I sure hope that's not permanent...I have gotten all your comments though and love it that I can kind of talk to you across the Atlantic.

Well, I'm here. I did finally get in touch with Harry at the Retreat Center and he was thrilled that I was coming a day early. And things surprisingly enough went rather smoothly. I got up at the butt crack and got on a bus. As it turns out, there was a woman on the bus also going to Dzogchen Beara. Unfortunately, her friend that was picking her up had a car smaller than my pack. So they offered to take my pack and drop it at the Retreat center for me...I know, mini series material here. Her friend then waved down another car and asked the driver to take me out there. She said she could take me PART of the way there. SO, I hand my belongings for the next 3 months to complete strangers and watch it head down the road, as I climb into the back of another complete strangers' car...they drop me off in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE and point out which way to head. I'm glad I walked. When I came to the entrance of the Retreat Center and came up over the hill, I had to stand there for a moment. It was breathtaking. I can only tell you that the pictures on the website ARE NOTHING compared to what it really is. No Money Pit here.

So far, everyone is wonderful and the weather has been great! I slept for about 13 hours last night in my bunk that I've kind of made into a little cave. Today I woke up at the ripe ole time of 10:45...yes that's right Auntie Ceil, I slept in. I know that's hard to believe. I had a spot o' tea and headed off down the road. I walked through the sheep pastures and climbed down the cliffs and touched the Atlantic Ocean. It was amazing. I took a million pictures and one of these days, I may be able to send them to you. I don't know though-I may have to wait until I get home for that, we'll see.

My one thing is...As some of you may know, I have a tendency to ALWAYS live next to some kind of construction site. I think my presence promotes demolition and renovation...well, although I am MILES away from ANYWHERE, they just broke ground on the new Spiritual Care Center RIGHT next to the Hostel...so...the peaceful sounds of silence continue. I chuckled as I came up over the hill and heard the beeping and crashing of the big digger. I feel at home.

Well, that's all for now folks-I'm freezing. You should see where this computer is. It's down the road and in the woods in a little construction tin can cubicle. I can't believe I'm online in here. Needless to say there's no heat.

I will leave you with these little ditties...The local Pub also sells groceries (America is so far behind), I haven't drank out of a straw for 2 days, I'm so glad I cut my hair (the winds are ferocious here) and Ireland recycles EVERYTHING! I love it here.

I miss all of you and hope all is going well for everyone. Love-Me

Day # (who knows)...in Cork

Howdy again. I have no idea what day or time it is or how many days I've been here. First of all, there has not been ONE clock that shows the right time since I've been here. Not in the Buses, the Train station, Hostels or pubs. Today I asked what time it was because there were 2 clocks with different times on them. One said 8:28, the other said 1:10. It was 2:45. Nice. I guess I should have bought a watch. I do however like the idea of a place that doesn't really care enough about time to make sure their clocks are right.

The rest of yesterday and today have gone MUCH smoother from the previous day. After Khara left yesterday, I was one of the only people at the Hostel last night. So I went to a movie, there's a SHOCKER! You know what though? It was so nice. The theater was full, but there were no popcorn CHOMPERS, no chatty Kathy's, no cell phone's ringing, no BlueTooth lights or texters. No one sat directly behind me when the rest of the row was empty, or directly next to me for that matter. I felt like I was the only one in the theater...AH now that's the life.

They don't use straws all that much here. I asked for one yesterday and they had to go into the storage closet looking for one. Khara made fun of me, even though by the end of the day, she was drinking her hot tea through one...my job is done here. Martzifying the world one person at a time.

I got up this morning and got on a bus to Cork. I was going to go to Castletownebere, but as it turns out, the Hostel I made a reservation at, went out of business...another Shocker. And that was the only Hostel there. So, I'm staying in Cork and trying to get in touch with the Retreat Center to see if I can come a day early. Again, as it turns out, the ONLY bus out to Castletownebere is tomorrow. YIKES! And unfortunately, I can't get in touch with the Retreat Center...this should be good...do I take my chances and just go? No buses leave there again until Friday and there's nowhere to stay...EH, why not? What else do I have to do?

Well, i could keep going on forever, but I have no idea if anyone's even reading this. One more little fun ditty though. Today, walking around in Cork, there was a sign in a Pub window that said "Tuesday night's Texes Hold'em"...I wonder what they think Texes is?

Keep your fingers crossed for me-R

Let the Martzy fun begin!

Alright-so here it goes. My first night in Ireland was, as you can only imagine…eventful. And I’m sure it has just begun.

After, what would have taken about an hour in the States, 4 buses and 6 hours later, I finally made it into Killarney and and the Hostel. Needless to say, I was exhausted. By the time I got off the last bus, I could barely pick up my pack anymore. A busdriver helped me with it and asked me “Why in the World would you want to carry all of that stuff with you?” I responded with “I’m starting to wonder that myself.” I’m seriously rethinking quite a few things I’ve brought. However, my favorite purchase for this trip so far are my thermal leggings. The Irish don’t seem to need to be as warm as us cold blooded Americans.

So anyway-on with the funness. I was seriously pathetic and after going out for dinner, I got into my PJs and hunkered down for the evening at the ripe old time of 7pm. I had one roommate named Khara and she seemed pretty nice. She checked in and went out for awhile, so I thought I would lay in bed and read or write. About 10 minutes into writing, another woman came in the room. She didn’t have any things with her and she just leaned against the bathroom door and stared at me. I introduced myself to her and she just grunted and continued to hang out in the doorway. I went back to my writing, but was a little uncomfortable with her watching me. She circled the room and checked under all the beds and around the windows. I finally asked her if she was staying in our room. She said “Well, YEA. How do you think I got in?” OK. She then sat down and said her name was “Ester”. And trust me, there’s a reason for the quote marks. She started to talk to me about her travels and ask me about my travels, we had a mildly “normal” conversation for about a half hour. Then the conversation took an interesting unexpected twist. She moved further away from me and began by saying “I actually haven’t been honest with you. I haven’t only been here for a week, and my name really isn’t “Ester”. I have to be careful because I’m being tracked and stalked. A few weeks ago “THEY” sprayed my car down with Piloneum 2000 (a form of some kind of nuclear poison…god only knows)”. As you can imagine, the expression on my face stayed about the same, but my brain did a major tail spin. She continued to tell me about the different conspiracies she’s uncovered, particularly with the Russian government and all the terrible things that have happened to her because of it. And yes all, this is my roommate. I was very excited about it.

In the middle of one of her stories, as I’m running out of the room screaming in my head, Khara comes back in. “Ester” stops talking and makes things extremely uncomfortable. Khara introduces herself , but “Ester” doesn’t even make eye contact. So Khara just goes about her business and goes to take a shower. “Ester” finishes her story and tells me she’s going to her car to get me some literature on her cause. She leaves and never comes back…so we hoped. Khara came out of the bathroom as soon as “Ester” left and we discussed the freakiness. We both saddled up in our beds surrounded by ALL of our belongings.

Around 1:30am, “Ester” comes back and even though Khara and I didn’t speak, we both knew the other was awake. “Ester” stood between our beds and hovered over us making the signs of the cross over and over again for about a half hour. We both lied still. Finally Khara pretended to wake up and asked if she needed a light on. “Ester” then accused Khara of drinking too much that evening, even though we had both gone to bed around 9pm and had drank NOTHING. When Khara told her she hadn’t drank, “Ester” said that it must have been me. She said that the room smelled like 6 Molson’s…exactly. She opened the window, after checking all around it for god only knows, and finally went to bed. I lay there, eyes wide open for at least 4 hours. Even though I could hear “Ester” sleeping, I didn’t quite trust it.

This morning Khara and I planned on going on a tour of the Ring of Kerry so we set the alarm for 8am. When it went off, “Ester” JUMPED out of bed, dressed and ran out the door, leaving behind 2 grocery bags she had brought in with her in the middle of the night. We got dressed and went down to the front desk, where they had already been VERY aware of her presence. I guess they had a minor issue with her when she came in late last night. She had foil across her windshield to stop any satellites from tracking her and she wouldn’t give the front desk her name. I told him that she said her name was “Ester” but then said that it wasn’t her real name. That is when he told us that HE had named her "Ester" because she refused to give him any info…nice. He then apologized profusely and said that she has been removed from the premises and will not be allowed back. As we walked out the door for our Ring of Kerry tour, he said “I don’t understand it, weve never had a crazy like THAT here!” I thought “of course you haven’t. Then again, you’ve never come in contact with Martzy”, We walked out the door where we then came in contact with SNOW! A man on the tour with us said “I’ve lived here for a few years, and NEVER have I seen it snow.”…Black Cloud anyone?

The rest of the day went well. It was cold, but the Ring of Kerry was beautiful. I even got to see the Beara Penninsula (where I’m going to live) over the Atlantic Ocean. That was pretty cool. I now have a room to myself tonight…YEAH!!!!!

I Made it!!!!!

I just woke up and somehow found myself in Ireland....Well, I'm here. I can't quite focus on anything after 13 hours of travelling and carrying 50 pounds on my back (not sure what I was thinking there). But let me just say that Ireland is absolutely, positively beautiful. It's wet and rainy, but I love it!

I miss all of you and can't wait to take some pics and post them for you. Love you guys-R

Getting Ready

I'm checking in, but no one has this web address yet. So I guess I'm talking to myself...again. I have one day left and I'm feeling a little frantic. I spent the ENTIRE day trying to fit my WHOLE world in my backpack-but unfortunately you didn't all fit. By the time anyone reads this, I will have my feet firmly planted on Green Irish soil (hopefully). I'll see ya on the flip side-R