Sorry for the Slacking!

Hi friends and family,

Thanks to all of you for looking so regularly. I know I haven't posted in ages. It's been a crazy past month. Lots of social events through school, not to mention the fact that I've been sick for a great deal of it.

We went to visit Newgrange and the Hill of Tara a few weeks back. It was incredible. Again, I say that the age of things here is always enough to blow me away. The Hill of Tara is the legendary site of the kings of Ireland. Resting on the top of the highest hill is something known as the Lia Fail, or the stone of destiny. Rumor has it that whomever touches the stone will be the next ruler of Ireland... I'm guessing I'm not queen yet!
Newgrange is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites, and is 1000 years older than the pyramids in Egypt! It's a stone mound that has a cruciform chamber which held bones and basically the purpose is unknown other than its amazing use of light at the Winter Solstice. That was really a wonderful day (on the last Monday of October - a bank holiday here).

The following week was full of class and work and other such stuff. We had a few people over for Halloween, which was nice, and then the next week hosted the Musical Pub Crawl for a few people. It was just as much fun the 2nd time, except people kept talking really loud! I kept wondering... why spend 10eu just to talk in a pub? You can do that for free!

The following week was week 2 of the Judaism/Jewish-Christian Dialogue class. It was pretty much the weekend of the Holocaust. Ridiculously intense. And providing decades of existential guilt for the role (or should I say absence) of the church during the Holocaust. It was brilliant, and beautiful, but painful as well.

The last week has mostly been spent at home, with antibiotics for me and Aaron taking really good care of me. He just yesterday found himself with a scratchy throat, ACK! So we've spent a quiet weekend at home. It's been getting colder...40-50 degrees, and starting to be a bit cloudier. The weather is still lovely, though. I wish that my Southern California lungs would adjust a bit better to cold and moist.

One exception to the week at home was a play/satire/one-man-comedy show I went to go see. My friend Abie from ISE is the star, and his play is called "Jesus, the Guantanamo Years." The basic premise is that Jesus comes back to the US but is imprisoned in Guantanamo because he's a Middle Easterner with no passport and no fear of martyrdom. It's quite insightful and poignant. It's also quite critical of American religious rhetoric in the War in Iraq and the War on Terror.

This week is Thanksgiving back home! Sadly, no Thanksgiving here, but we'll be celebrating at the ISE on Thursday evening with a turkey and potluck dinner for those interested. It should be a hoot! We'll miss being home for it, however. The second week in December will be the trip to Belfast for Peacebuilding and other stuff. It should be a blast.

All that to say, we're doing fine, we'll be back in the states from the 14th-ish of December through the 1st-ish of January. We'll be in Los Angeles through the 25th, and St. Louis for the rest.
Love to you all...
Katie & Aaron