Day 3
Sept. 16th 2012
Today I woke up, got ready and went to go meet the Mcfeeters at the front gate.  We all rode to church, which was in the most fantastic building I've ever seen.  I will get pictures soon, I promise.  Church was very similar to a presbyterian service in my hometown in Ohio.  I sat next to Lexlie and Bernie and Lexie's brother and sister.  The only thing that I thought strange was when we sang hymns, there were no notes on the pages, only lyrics.  So how are you supposed to keep a tune?  Guess?  The choir gets notes and lyrics and we get no notes. haha. oh well.  It was fun anyway.  After church, I went to the Reverend's home for lunch with his wife.  Their home is very fancy.  All stained glass windows and oriental rugs and fireplaces.  The Reverend told me that home belongs to the church and they can stay there as long as he is the minister.  When we first arrived, they already had irish stew in the oven.  A few minutes after we arrived it was almost finished.  We also had turnips, carrots, and brussel sprouts.  For dessert we had a small cup with irish cream, chocolate sprinkles, and mandarin oranges.  It was so good.  After we finished eating we went into the living room, sat by the fire and had tea and 'biscuits.'  We chatted about everything and I showed the Reverend my home on the map.  Then he showed me a book that includes all the places I must go see while I am in Ireland.  Later on, the Reverend took me home and I tried to add minutes to the phone that the Mcfeeters gave me.  It was difficult but I think I got it sorted.  I've just been organizing ever since then and Aoife and I walked to the little gas station to buy a few things.  Aoife told me that nursing students here in the north get all of their college paid for!  Also, today we got TV in our common area.  There are a lot less commercials than in the U.S.
        When I was spending time with the Reverend today, I commented on how all of the cars look brand new. He told me that they have strict inspections here for their cars once a year and if you don't pass, you have to get a new car.  Every 5-10 years, you have to buy a new car due to these inspections.  People take more pride in their cars here because the average car is about $45,000 dollars! But, these cars are more fuel efficient.  About 45 miles to the gallon here and their gallons are a little bit larger than ours in the U.S.  Can you imagine spending $45,000 dollars every 5 years on cars? $45,000 is the average salary for a Northern Irish worker here.  Crazy! I still want to live here though.