Dublin, Ireland
10:07pm
And I just gotta say something about GPS.... OUR GPS is fantastic. It took us everywhere we needed to go, even through construction, changed roads, and no road signs. The dang thing was spot on! We are both so grateful for that little GPS! It did us a lot of good! :D
Anyways... (I'm obviously getting sidetracked easily right now, I'm tired. lol!) we were driving to Mullingar and the whole drive there was this extremely ominous cloud in front of us. I was a little worried because we hadn't been through any rain the whole time we were in Ireland until that point. So we were driving and the big, scary cloud kept shifting from one side of us, to the other side of us, until it was far away enough, that I came to the conclusion that we weren't going to go through it. There were a few other patches of dark clouds that we saw, but I wasn't as worried about them. We kept driving and then we hit a little bit of rain from one of those clouds. I have to admit, it was pretty scary. Partly because the windshield wipers on our car were pretty horrible, so whenever they would go to wipe the rain they would totally smear and obstruct the view. It wasn't raining that hard THANK GOD, but it was still enough to make me a little freaked out. lol! I kept my cool, though, as I always do (at least on this trip), and we made it through it. It's pretty amazing that that is the only bit of rain that we've hit since being here. Other than that, it's been absolutely LOVELY! :D I mean, the other day, it was like Dublin, CA weather! It was so great! So anyways, we're driving to Mullingar, and we realize that our gas tank is about half-empty (yes, only half at this point. Our car was a diesel and it had AMAZING mileage). So we were like, "Okay, we should top off the tank." (this part of our journey was just chock full of new experiences) So we get to Mullingar, and we pull into the gas station and we have absolutely NO IDEA what to do. We see the diesel pump and regular pump, but we don't know what to do besides that. So we go into the little gas station store and there's this little old man who is the sweetest thing ever, but swears like a sailor (I thought it was hilarious, but Grammy didn't even notice because she couldn't tell with his accent. It was. SO. FUNNY.). So he helps us get the diesel pump into our car and says it'll stop when it's done. So we wait for a while and then we thought we heard the "Clank" sound that means it's done. So we go back into the little store and say we're done, and he rings us up and starts LAUGHING! He starts laughing so hard, he thinks it's the funniest thing! He says, "1.40 euro! 1.40 EURO! That wouldn't take ya over the *expletive* bridge!" We all started laughing so hard! And I said, "We don't know how to do it!!" haha! So he says, "I'll help ya, I'll help ya." So he saunters back out of his little store and we follow along like lost sheep and we get by the car and he looks at us pointedly, "Ya gotta HOLD the handle while it pumps ta gas!" Me and Grammy both chuckled and said okay. So we learned from the awesome, swearing-like-a-sailor, Irish man that in Ireland, you hold the handle up while it pumps the gas, or you might only get 1.40 Euro worth of gas in your car and get laughed at. lol!
Anyways... (I'm obviously getting sidetracked easily right now, I'm tired. lol!) we were driving to Mullingar and the whole drive there was this extremely ominous cloud in front of us. I was a little worried because we hadn't been through any rain the whole time we were in Ireland until that point. So we were driving and the big, scary cloud kept shifting from one side of us, to the other side of us, until it was far away enough, that I came to the conclusion that we weren't going to go through it. There were a few other patches of dark clouds that we saw, but I wasn't as worried about them. We kept driving and then we hit a little bit of rain from one of those clouds. I have to admit, it was pretty scary. Partly because the windshield wipers on our car were pretty horrible, so whenever they would go to wipe the rain they would totally smear and obstruct the view. It wasn't raining that hard THANK GOD, but it was still enough to make me a little freaked out. lol! I kept my cool, though, as I always do (at least on this trip), and we made it through it. It's pretty amazing that that is the only bit of rain that we've hit since being here. Other than that, it's been absolutely LOVELY! :D I mean, the other day, it was like Dublin, CA weather! It was so great! So anyways, we're driving to Mullingar, and we realize that our gas tank is about half-empty (yes, only half at this point. Our car was a diesel and it had AMAZING mileage). So we were like, "Okay, we should top off the tank." (this part of our journey was just chock full of new experiences) So we get to Mullingar, and we pull into the gas station and we have absolutely NO IDEA what to do. We see the diesel pump and regular pump, but we don't know what to do besides that. So we go into the little gas station store and there's this little old man who is the sweetest thing ever, but swears like a sailor (I thought it was hilarious, but Grammy didn't even notice because she couldn't tell with his accent. It was. SO. FUNNY.). So he helps us get the diesel pump into our car and says it'll stop when it's done. So we wait for a while and then we thought we heard the "Clank" sound that means it's done. So we go back into the little store and say we're done, and he rings us up and starts LAUGHING! He starts laughing so hard, he thinks it's the funniest thing! He says, "1.40 euro! 1.40 EURO! That wouldn't take ya over the *expletive* bridge!" We all started laughing so hard! And I said, "We don't know how to do it!!" haha! So he says, "I'll help ya, I'll help ya." So he saunters back out of his little store and we follow along like lost sheep and we get by the car and he looks at us pointedly, "Ya gotta HOLD the handle while it pumps ta gas!" Me and Grammy both chuckled and said okay. So we learned from the awesome, swearing-like-a-sailor, Irish man that in Ireland, you hold the handle up while it pumps the gas, or you might only get 1.40 Euro worth of gas in your car and get laughed at. lol!
So we filled the car up, got some water, went to the loo, and asked the man where Annebrooke House Hotel was and he directed us toward it, saying that it was a wonderful place. So we got to the hotel and it really was beautiful and the service was great. They had pretty good hotel food, too! :) We pretty much chilled the rest of the day because the drive had been a bit exhausting with the rain and everything. I know, for me, that when I have so many different emotions going on, like I did that day, that I get REALLY tired from that. So we just rested and enjoyed our little hotel room and the good dinner that we had there at Annebrooke. The next day was absolutely beautiful and the drive to Rostrevor was going to be about 2 hours long. We were really excited about going and I got to explain to Grammy more about what exactly I was going to be doing there, and that made her really excited. So for those of you who don't know, Youth With A Mission (or YWAM) is a non-profit missions organization that has schooling and short-term missions trips that are more geared towards raising up youth in missions and teaching them how to go out and spread the love of Jesus in the most effective ways possible. YWAM has a base in Rostrevor, Co. Down, Northern Ireland that has something called a Discipleship Training School (DTS) that they do every year (most YWAM bases have this school) for people ages 18+. Next calendar year, 2013, I am going to do the DTS with YWAM Rostrevor, so it was a really awesome opportunity for me to go there. I'll tell more about that part of the trip in my next blog, coming soon! :D TTFN! :P
Prayer Points:
Prayer Points:
1. Good Sleep
2. Healthy bodies
3. Safe travels
4. Good moods, even though we're leaving Ireland. :(
Thanks, guys! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment