YWAM! And Other Random Things that Happen in the Middle of Nowhere

A Rainbow on the way up to Closkelt. I know its not a great picture, but I was in Ireland, and I did see a rainbow, which is conclusive evidence that Leprachauns exist.
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This is one of the more random stops on my trip, to be followed by an even less likely one.  Why, you might ask, would Justin go to a no name town that is so small that the blog program doesn´t even have it (I was actually in a smaller town called Closkelt, and later Portadown).  Well, I´ve got a friend named Michelle Summaria who asked if anyone wanted to come visit her while she studied at YWAM.  I said OK.  Michelle and I went to college together, and hung out quite a bit over the years.

This is the YWAM base in the middle of nowhere, Northern Ireland. Its a pretty nice place, and seems to be well suited to what they do--make people stronger Christians. Or at least, thats what it seems like they do to me.
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So in passing I should note that I met a guy named Pete on the way up from Dublin who just happened to be a professor of modern thought at YWAM and called ahead for me to get a ride.  He also invited me to crash at his place if I was in Belfast.  I said thanks, and told him I probably would.  Pete, when he called YWAM, neglected to tell them anything about who I was or why I was coming.  Michelle also hadn´t told too many people that I was coming, so it caused no small commotion that "pete´s friend" was coming to the base when no one knew who the crap I was.  By the end it was pretty funny (for me at least).

Why was I on a bus to the middle of nowhere in Northern Ireland?

The view the other direction from the YWAM base.
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Michelle and I hung out at YWAM the day I got in and the next day until 6 when we left with Stevo, an Irish guy with a red mohawk who´s studying at YWAM too, and a couple other girls to go to Portadown.  Portadown is a normal Irish town--no tourists, just locals.  It was cool.  We hung out there till about midnight, then went to walk around a lake till 3 AM talking and scaring girls.  Good fun.  Then we crashed at Turkey´s house.  Turkey is another Irish girl who´s absolutely hillarious, and whose mom runs a bed and breakfast.  Her mom graciously put us up and fed us a real Irish cooked breakfast (nice!) and we hung out till about 6 that Saturday when all of the YWAM kids had to leave to go back to the base.  Then I peaced out to Belfast, and I´ll pick that up next time.

Another view from nearby. Gorgeous.
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All in all, I had a great time.  The Irish landscape is beautiful, and it´s always fun to be with a lot of people my age.  It was good to be with Americans too--that doesn´t happen too much over here, and it feels like home a lot more when there´s a bunch of people from the same (or a similar) culture.  And then it was good to go hang out with some normal Irish kids and do their thing.  I like the Irish so far--they seem fun.  But onwards, Belfast!