Sunday Funday

This has been a weird day.

We woke later than we'd hoped   and I started doing laundry. Along the way, I set up the clothes drying rack in the bathroom and figured I'd turn on the radiator in the bathroom to dry the clothes quickly. Yay!

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Now, this isn't a mouse house getting destroyed in a plowed field or anything, but I tried to figure out why the radiator isn't working and through a stream of manuals and internet seaching and messaging with friends, the consensus is that the radiator needs to be bled and that's not something I should do on my own. So I called the Accommodations Office and they were...um...very accommodating. Monday someone will come by and fix it. Huzzah!

Viv and I saw the sun, put on our coats and started walking up Malone Road. Then boo-boo belly started. Uh-oh. Instead of walking, the bus seemed like a great idea and last night I got a 10 day pass for the bus and I was eager to try it. At the stop, we met Xena, a medical student from Greece studying at Queen's University. She was helpful and told us all about Greece and that she's from Athens but recommends going to islands when we visit. Vivian has a little stack of my business cards and is in charge of giving them out. Xena has one now.

Xena!

Cool sights along the way:

We got to Reids Shoes on Sandy Row so we passed by the main building of Queen's University! It was fantastic! My heart leapt!

We got Vivi another pair of school shoes since she'll probably stomp in puddles and need two so she always has a dry pair. Why do I think this? If today is any indication, puddle stomping is a big thing right now.

To explain how far our trek today would be, I explained it's about the distance from our house to the bridge over the creek where we spit into the water. Somehow this has never been weird for us, but others are always super grossed out. Growing up, my pals and I would do this so we could see the ripples and we didn't anything to drop in the water. Anyway, I turn my head and there's Viv spitting into a puddle. Face-palm. I squatted down and explained that we don't want to the be Americans spitting on Northern Ireland.

We came back to the flat for a quick Vivi bath, changing of laundry, a little lunch, and backpack emptying. Then we were off again! This time we walked up Malone and Vivi wanted to know the story of Romeo and Juliet so I told her the story over the course of our whole afternoon adventure.

Look where we stopped!

 

We walked in the front door and decided to open whatever doors we could and found ourselves in an art exhibit. 

 

 

I love how the rug goes around the corner. 

 

 

 

Then we went across the street to the Student Union where we got Viv some school supplies. 

Along our walk, we went down Lisburn to a Charity Shop where we got Viv a lunch bag, a few toys, a collapsible umbrella, and a coffee press (for me. Clearly. Can you believe I've only had one cup of coffee since I've been here? I know! I'm as astonished as you are.)

Look at this teeny tiny building!

At this point, Juliet had taken the potion and we arrived at Tesco. We got things like hangers and garbage bags and an entire backpack full of goods, then trekked back up the small hill of Windsor Park.

On our street we met two lovely people moving a dresser in from their car. Anna and Niall have a cuuuuuuute dog named Alfie, who looks a bit like Grandma's dog, Teddy. Vivi gave them a card and chatted them up. Niall has a niece who is in P4 at a different school, Anna knows people who went to Victoria and they loved it, and both said all the girls at Victoria are nice and will really like Vivian.

Laundry is hung up, groceries are put away, both of us are fed, and Lemony Snicket is on Netflix. It's 6:20 Belfast time, so it's 1:20 at home. We will be in bed by 2:00 Pennsylvania time because we agreed we WILL get up at 7:00 tomorrow morning! Or 7:30. But no later than 8:00!