Grecian Adventures

So my mother and I left for Greece on Tuesday morning and arrived in Athens in the early evening. By that time, we both felt extremely tired, slightly jetlagged, and decided it would be best to just lie low in the hotel for the night. I think we went to bed around 9 or 10, meaning we should have gotten up fairly early, right? Wrong. It was past noon before either of us opened our eyes on Wednesday morning. Yikes! Luckily the tour we had booked didn't start until 2:00, so we had just enough time to get ready and run to a cafe for a quick breakfast. You know there's a cafe chain in Athens called "Gregory's":


The tour was good despite our very odd guide, Thanos. He was very opinionated, yelled at me for putting my feet on the side of the car wall, and took the liberty to join us even after the tour ended for dinner and watching traditional Greek dancing. Strange, but we did get to see some pretty amazing sights throughout the day. I feel SO lucky I got these pictures, as the lighting/rainbow looked absolutely beautiful:



Lovely. We also got to see the changing of the guards at the Greek Parliament. I may or may not have tried to harass the guard a bit..?


Traditional Greek Folk Dancing:


So fun! Naturally I got forced up on stage and was twirled around the head of some sweaty Greek man in front of a room of about 200 people. Of course I did.

We got to bed around midnight after our day of Athens exploring, and got our "nights sleep" for about 3 hours until we had to wake up in the wee hours of the morn' to catch our flight to the island of Santorini. I have to say, I would have gotten up at any hour to get to that place. The island was everything I expected it to be, meaning beautiful, cultural, serene, and exotic. We stayed at the Volcano View Villas, which is a series of white buildings perched on the side of a cliff. SO nice. I sincerely hope I can go back and stay there again someday.
Our trip to Santorini included a visit to the village of Oia (the filming location of the movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants II), greek food in excess, renting a car and being defensive drivers, getting lost a few times, almost getting blown away by the wind, trespassing on church roofs in the village of Pyrgos, riding a donkey up the cliff, and my mom exercising her skills she picked up from the folk dances. Ta ha:



The island was fairly small, but each region of it was so different. From rugged wine vineyards to rocky cliffs, black sand beaches to red sand beaches, and touristy-villages to almost completely native ones, I'm pretty sure you could spend months exploring it and still not see everything.





Trying to demonstrate the intensity of the wind :)



Sigh. Like I said, I really hope I get to go back there someday.
All in all, my break was very relaxing and much-needed. It was good to see my momma, and I hope she liked the parts of Northern Ireland that she saw, and I'm glad we got to experience Greece together. Only Gregory women could somehow befriend all the homeless dogs on the island...

Back to reality! Cheers.
-karen

Spring Break Pt. I

Hi! I have returned from spring break (N. Coast and Greece) with 258 photos, good memories, and a wee sunburn from the one day of direct sunlight in Santorini. So nice!

I'm going to break the trip up into a couple posts. I wrote this on Monday the 23rd:

It is too bad I didn't have a chance to update at the time itself of "The Clare Women's" weekend in the North, as Nigel said, but I shall take the time to do so now. My mom arrived on Friday afternoon in Belfast. Despite my familiarity of the city already, the two of us took advantage of Belfast's touristy offerings and enjoyed a taxi-tour of the city (our driver's name was Feargel, how unfortunate), and a ride on the Belfast wheel. I'm glad I did both, as it's always interesting to hear tours given by different people and witness how they slip in their own biases and opinions. The wheel boasted what I'm guessing are some of the best views of downtown, which I thoroughly enjoyed.


After our tourist adventures, we had dinner at a small restaurant called "Beatrice Kennedy's". It was my first time really eating out at a restaurant since I've been gone, and it was quite a treat to have wine that cost more than £2.99 and DESSERT. I had forgotten how much I missed my sweets. After dinner, I showed my mom around my flat and introduced her to my mates, and then bid her goodnight since we both opted to call it a night due to our train in the early morning. Saturday arrived, as well as our 9:00 a.m. train to take us to the North Coast. Right before we hopped on, we found the absolute neatest souvenirs. I tell you. I won't give away what they are, because I'm not sure what my mom is planning on doing with them (maybe someone lucky will get their name drawn by me or my mom for Christmas :)), but I will say I never thought we'd find something like that in shop in Belfast.
NI Railway took us up to Coleraine (where I spent the first three weeks of my trip). We meandered around the city for a wee while, visited The Sandwich Co, and grabbed a taxi to Portrush where our B&B was located. It felt sooo good to be back up North and see green things everywhere again. And ah, the smell of maneure never smelled so welcoming. I had previously asked Nigel, as he lives in Coleraine, if he would have a chance to grab a cuppa to meet my mom, but we were especially grateful when he picked us up in Portrush and treated us to an hour-long trip in his car all around the coast with his very own "Nigel commentary", and of course, a fitting soundtrack. So nice of him.

He dropped us off later in P'stewart where we were lucky enough to catch the second half of the Ireland vs. Wales Rugby match. I won't pretend like I know anything about Rugby, but I have to say it is a very exciting game to watch. An older Irish gent named Russell displayed the local hospitality and supplied us with wine and an attempted explanation of the rules of the game. I don't think I'll ever really understand it, but oh well. BUT. Ireland took the triple crown FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 61 YEARS. WOOOOOOO. So amazing to witness. Nowhere better to celebrate than in P'stewart with free wine and cheering people.

On Sunday, my mom and I took the train to Derry and had sort of a make-shift tour, as I've gotten to know the city fairly well. We walked through the Centre, the Bogside, and stopped in the Bogside Artists' studio where I purchased some prints of their murals for my bedroom wall next year :) Kate, Katie and Jackie: I miss you sooo and I am counting down the days until we reside together on 7th and 12th! It shall be so fabulous.
Some recent grafitti in Derry: So comforting...

I did get to see some familiar Coleraine faces Sunday night, which was nice. Sigh. I miss that place, and I miss going out at night and always recognizing a face. I think I like to pretend I'm a city girl, but in reality I just want to live in a small community and have pet sheep. Aye.

Monday came quickly, and my mom and I took the train all the way from Coleraine to Belfast to Dublin to catch our flight to Greece. So much transit, but so worth it!

Cheers,
Karen

Busy times

I don't have time for an adequate post, I'm sorry! Just wanted to say that my mother arrived on Friday, we spent the weekend on the North Coast, I took her to Derry, we owned the NI Railway system, and we're headed to Dublin in a few to catch a plane to Greece until Sunday.

Busy busy Gregory women! Or Clare women, Nigel referred to us as.

Coleraine/Portstewart/Portrush was as lovely as I remembered. I wish I still lived up there, sigh.

I'll return home next Sunday with good stories and pictures, so hold tight, folks.

Cheers mates
-k.g.

Ballysally

Good day, so it is. My mom's plane gets in around 1:00, so I think I may leave work a couple hours early today. No matter, since yesterday my workday consisted of me leaving my flat at 6:30 a.m. in order to catch a bus to Coleraine, where I helped assist in a cross-community seminar in a primary school. The experience was BRILLIANT.

I arrived at Ballysally Primary School (a Protestant school in a Protestant area) around 9:20 a.m. and was greeted by a swarm of kids in yellow and brown uniforms. Who chose that color compilation for them I'm not sure, but it was fairly horrible. Besides the ugly uniforms, the kids were excited about the programme and even more so to get to spend the day with their "new American friend." I got asked more funny questions than I can remember, some of which included "Do you eat a lot of cheesy popcorn?" or "What is your word for soda?" and "What is your word for England?" Err...
A few minutes later, a bus pulled up and out hopped an armada of navy-blue donning Catholic 9 and 9 year olds. They came into the school, hesitantly waved at the other children, and sat together on the other side of the gym.
It didn't take long into the program for many of the kids to start to forget what uniform they were wearing. They had to draw pictures of what their "ideal community" would look like, and I was extremely pleased by the pictures that were appearing. One girl had drawn a house, a park, a church, and a cake shop. I asked her what sorts of people lived in her community, and she replied "all sorts." I then asked her where the other people might go to church if they were of different religions. She looked a little surprised and replied with "Maybe we could split the church down the middle?" Ha ha. So precious.
I think my favorite moment of the day was the scavenger hunt outside. Kids from each community were paired up into partners and they were on the hunt for different colours found in nature. Two little girls tugged on my sleeve, handed me a little handful of wildflowers they had picked, and asked if I would keep them and take them home with me. I think I almost died it was so adorable.
The last part of the day was a discussion on the meaning of colours. The woman leading the programme asked "What sort of feelings do you get when you see green, white, and orange together?" The Protestant children's replies were "scared", "nervous", or "I don't like those colours together". The same happened for red, white and blue, and the Catholic kids. When the topic of Protestants and Catholics came up, many kids were quick to defend their own community and also had many questions for the other one. It was clear that even though they had gotten along fairly well and co-existed for the day, society had already played a large hand in their forming prejudices even in the short time they have been alive. So interesting. I did also note that the girls were much more willing to intermingle with children of the opposite community, whereas the boys ran around like hooligans, made comments under their breath, and primarily stuck with their own mates when allowed. I remembered a lecture we had had in Coleraine about young men growing up in conflicted societies and the social norms they are subconsciously told to follow from the very beginning of their upbringing. Many of these boys appeared to be very defensive and proud of their own community, acted tough, and seemed to be weary and slightly defiant of the other children. Hmmm. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and think I am going to write my big thesis paper on the topic of cross-community interaction for young people.


On a different note: something is happening to me. Something very frightening. The accents in my sentences are cropping up on random words and I'm finishing speaking with a question-like tone, even when I'm just making a statement. I was speaking with the 20-something-year-old teacher who brought the Catholic kids to Ballysally, and when he told me he was from some small town in the country in my head without any hesitance I my exact thought was "ah, a wee culchie, so he is." The look on my face must have been hilarious, and despite the fact that that specific sentence was the one to appear in my head, I simply replied with "that's nice," because I still can't take myself seriously when I think words such as "wee" and "culchie." Ha ha. My life.

So it is.
-karen

A few extras

The parade in Downpatrick:





Down Cathedral and St. Patrick's grave:






A few from the US Consulate, which we visited on Monday:

Lá ’le Pádraig

Hello all, and happy belated St. Patrick's Day! The day in Northern Ireland was by far the best March 17th I have yet experienced. It’s an official holiday in the Republic and a bank holiday up here, so all of team Belfast (minus Jordan, poor guy) were graciously given the day off work. What did we do with our day of freedom and celebration, you ask?

While 6 of our flatmates opted to stay close to home for the parade and festival in Belfast, Brie and I decided head down to Downpatrick in Cty. Down to watch the parade and visit the gravesite of St. Patrick himself (“How very Irish of you,”said our friend Martin). At noon, we caught a cab from Stranmillis to the Days Hotel to pick up Brie’s dad and aunt who are in town for a few days. Unfortunately, there was a minor delay on the way.

As we were cruising down Malone Road, our cab driver was in the middle of making a joke about growing up in Belfast when suddenly I felt like I just got punched in my left arm. Startled, I looked out the window and realized I was staring into the face of another driver. Yes, our cab had gotten T-boned and I am THANKING MY LUCKY STARS the other driver was probably only going about 10 mph. I am quite ashamed to say that I didn’t bother to put my seatbelt on for the 5 minute ride, and I probably would have spent my St. Patrick’s day in a hospital bed had the other driver been going any faster. Our cab driver was absolutely fuming, as many of the taxis here are the driver’s own cars (this was the case in this situation). He made Brie and I scribble down our information, called another cab for us, and within five minutes we were back on our journey. Sort of surreal. But anyway. My first car accident (I’m not surprised it happened in Belfast), and we can luckily walk away with no apparent injuries. THANK GOODNESS.

After picking up Brie’s family, all of us took the hour-long trip on the Ulsterbus together. We knew we had arrived in Downpatrick within seconds, as the streets were flooded with people and music was blaring out of every car and shop. Despite the fact this is the burial site of St. Patrick, I was still quite surprised to find that any tri-colours present were few and far between. There were a lot of folks sporting green and wearing shamrocks, but I guess the Irish flag is just too big of a political statement even on St. Patty’s day. Sigh. Jordan (our flatmate who had to work) actually was given the job to walk in the parade in Belfast and take away tri-colours he saw. So sad. Despite, there was still a sense of Irish pride among everyone. The day was great-fabulous parade, tasty lunch in town, visiting the grave, witnessing a fight on the bus home, etc. Just the usual.

After returning home and a brief nap, the group went back out around 9:00 to a local pub. The streets were absolutely packed, and I have to say I’m surprised no one got seriously injured with things like this going on:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/12-arrests-after-south-belfast-rioting-14231214.html

Calm yourself, Belfast. It’s all good craic-there’s no need to throw bottles at police officers.

All in all: Good parade, good food, good friends, good spirit in the air, not-so-good car accident. I’d rate the day a 9.
I’ll add some pictures later.

Slán
-k.g.

Donegal (Dhún na nGall)

Hello! The rest of the flat and I are getting ready to make stuffed shells for dinner, but I wanted to share my experiences in Donegal a little bit more!

The day got off to a rough start for the three of us from Belfast who decided to take the day trip to County Donegal. Nigel had said he could pick whoever wanted to go up from Derry at 9:00 a.m., since Donegal is literally right next to the city. This posed an issue for me, Ben, and Laureen. We could have either stayed on the floor of the Derry folks' apartment on Friday night and left all together, or we could opt to get up at 5:00 a.m. and take the bus to Belfast. Being stubborn, we decided we didn't want to sleep on floors and all grudgingly awoke in the dark and went to the bus station. I'm not going to try to explain why we missed our bus because I still don't understand it. We arrived twenty minutes early to the station, only to watch our bus drive away. I'm blaming Ben. Anyway, we called Nigel and told him our sad news. The next bus didn't leave until 9:30, so that put us into Derry around 11:15 and our day was cut a little short. Fortunately, we still saw most of everything we wanted to see and the experience was definitely worth it.

When we all finally got on the road together (Nigel, Ben, Me, Justin, Laureen, Sarah, Becca, Katie, and Lindsey), the day started to look a little brighter. Not literally of course, because Donegal is the wettest, rainiest place on the island of Ireland. Despite, it was absolutely beautiful. It was all of our first times in the actual Republic of Ireland, and we quickly realised the completely different atmosphere that the lifestyle boasted. What? No Union Jacks? No walls between neighborhoods? Euros instead of British Pounds? Roadsigns in Irish?? That's allowed? I tell you, almost two months in Northern Ireland has probably confused us a lot.

We visited the town of Letterkenny, Glenveagh National Park, Glenveigh Castle, drove past Errigal (largest mountain in Donegal), passed entire towns who's first language is Irish, and lastly went to the Atlantic where we played on the beach and screamed at Boston.













Sigh. Too bad besides the Irish towns, most of the real estate in Donegal is rich, summer homes belonging to people all over the island. I can definitely see why.

cheers,
karen

P.S. Notice in the below video: I'm not driving and videotaping; the steering wheel is on the other side of the car :)

First trip to the Republic!

Sooo sleepy. 'Twas a fabulous day of Euros, being allowed to be Irish and proud, Enya's hometown, yelling at Boston, visiting castles, and seeing a lot of green things.
I wonder how much real estate is in Co. Donegal.

Too tired to add all my photos and talk about the day, but I shall leave you with this:

Team Belfast on the Catwalk

'Twas an interesting chain of events yesterday here in Belfast.

My supervisor was gone at work, so I spent the day beginning an article for the next edition of the magazine as well as continued work on the website. I'm not sure how I kept myself busy for 8 hours (I never am sure, actually), but before I knew it 4:45 had arrived and everyone else was walking out the door. It's quite amusing actually, the workday is 9:00-5:00, but here in N. Ireland that translates into: Once you've gotton your tea and scone and settled yourself, stroll in perhaps around 9:20. Make small talk around the teapot for a while with your co-workers, and begin work when you're ready. Lunch is an hour long in the middle of the day, but feel free to take breaks and/or long walks outside if you're feeling "cooped up". The day ends at 5:00, but by that time we're all ready for a nice cuppa tea and dinner so just leave somewhere in the realm of 4:00-5:00. Yeah? Yeah.

I walked home and learned of two new pieces of information:
1. The Crumlin Courthouse in North Belfast was on fire. I'm not really sure why/how.
2. The police have learned that a 300 lb bomb has been smuggled into Northern Ireland and have many people trying to investigate and locate it before something goes awry. Hmm. When I alerted Brie to this, she said "Oh my gosh! Where is it?"

...I don't know where the bomb is, Brie.

Hopefully someone cracks the case-we don't need a 300 lb bomb exploding anywhere around these parts. Despite the news, our flat managed to keep our spirits high in the evening. On the menu was "chicken and eggplant parmesan on a bed of angel hair pasta", which Ben and I cooked. For the breadcrumbs: I took some dried out bread, put it through the toaster once, and crumbled it up with parmesan cheese. Mmmm...everything turned out SO good.

After dinner, a few of us from Team Belfast headed to a small wine bar near our flat to see Brie's supervisor's band play (yep, she gets an attractive, Irish band guy as a supervisor) at the premiere of a new organisation which promotes more a sustainable, eco-friendly approach to fashion. The place was cute-none of us complained about the free wine for the event, either. However, the real kicker was near the end of the night. One of the women promoting the event approached me and Brie and said "Are you girls 18?" We initially thought we were being asked to prove our drinking age, so we probably looked a little taken aback and Brie began to reach for her ID. "No, no, I'm not asking for that reason," the women said, laughing. "I was wondering if you two would be willing to be models in our fashion show next weekend. The show is all day Saturday, and you would have to get here at 8:00 in the morning for hair and makeup..."

Ummm....WHAT? So apparently, Brie and I are going to be runway models next weekend. HA. I guess she didn't realize when she approached us sitting down that I stand at 5'2'' and Brie an inch or two higher. I guess we'll see if it all actually works out. My mom is arriving next Friday, so it depends if we can work around her and my schedule. If we do it though, I'm sure it will be quite the experience. I'll keep you all updated.

The organisation is: www.thechangingroomni.com

Har har har. More later.
-Karen

In Your Head

Hello. Our internet in the flat died yesterday and this morning, so here I am at my desk at work again blogging. I don't feel too guilty-I worked 8 hours yesterday and got the website looking pretty brilliant, if I do say so myself. There's still a lot more to do on it, though.

When I returned home yesterday around 5:30, I was alerted to the fact that I just missed a bomb scare in the city by a few minutes. This place, I tell you.

I don't mean to scare folks at home, nor do I want to focus this blog around the current negative events of Northern Ireland. I do however feel the need to share what is going on here from my perspective, since I think the news can be misleading and difficult to understand without some background information on what life and attitudes are really like here. As awful as it sounds (my flatmates agree), I'm somewhat glad I'm in this country at present state. Paramilitary violence and sectariasm are large issues in the world and I feel that growing up in MN has left me feeling very removed from some of the harsh realities in life. Don't get me wrong-I'm extremely greatful for my peaceful and happy upbringing, but it is in a way refreshing to live on the other side of the world and experience the things that are happening here right now. Err..I feel like that's going to be taken the wrong way. Anyway! To make it clear: I'm NOT happy this is happening, I'm very disgusted with the violence and attempt to disrupt the peace that everyone has been working for for ten years, but if I were to choose a time to be here I'm glad it's now. I think the good majority of people here have faith in the peace process and believe everything's going to get taken care of (myself and my class included).
I have to admit I've never been in a more anxious office than I was in yesterday. The first two hours at work were designated for sharing information and opinions and getting questions answered. You never realize how diverse a workplace is until political views come out!

This situation is just so unique. People aren't sure what to make of children putting flowers by the graves of the victims and asking for explanations, as the last military personell murdered here happened before these kids were even born. One of my co-workers has a son who when told there had been a "terrorist attack" in Antrim asked why they came here from the middle east. So crazy.



2 more subjects on current events in NI, then I shall move on to happier things:

-the CIRA took responsibility for the police officer's death on Monday night. The CIRA is another splinter group (much like RIRA) from the Provisional IRA, meaning once the Peace Agreement happened they took the stance that the IRA had gone soft, broke off and formed a smaller group, and vowed to continue the goal of unifying Ireland unfortunately by means of extreme measures. Some people are speculating the RIRA and the CIRA are merging together, and some are just saying since RIRA fessed up to the killings on Saturday the CIRA wanted to prove they still had a little kick in them as well. Who really knows. Neither would be extremely great.

-A silent protest in Belfast is taking place at the City Hall at 1:00 this afternoon. I have to work, but I'm not sure I would attend if I could. Even though I obviously agree with the protest, all I can think about is the fact that Bloody Sunday started with a "peaceful protest/march". So horrible. I'm sure it will be 100% fine. Knock on wood. Several times. Laureen's going, so we'll all get to hear what her experience is like when we get home.

OK, enough depressing topics. I think we're all getting worn out with this stuff. On a happier note, my job is going well, I'm adjusting well to the city, and my flatmates and I are becoming dang near family.
-We made a "Flat #3 Meal Planner" and have the week's menu up on the wall with a signup sheet. We have been cooking and eating together almost every night :)
-I found a tasty coffee shop (O'Brien's) that I have been frequenting on my way to work every morning. Lattes are £1.85, which really isn't bad, and my goal for the semester is to try to get Mr. Barista to respond when I say "Have a nice day" and walk out the door. He has yet to reciprocate. Oh yeah-you don't tip coffee baristas here, so that's kind of nice, but perhaps is aiding to the reason he is so bitter.
-I'm learning to value the time it takes to walk to and from work. It's a good time to take in my surroundings and get lost in my own head after a busy day at work or before a rambunctious evening in the flat. There's a wee market on the way, so I get the opportunity to buy fresh produce on a daily basis rather than buying frozen. So nice!
-I'm starting to love my co-workers. The woman with the desk next to me's name is Astrid, and she's absolutely divine. She's half Norwegian and half Northern Irish and always has really interesting perspectives on everything. Unfortunately she's sick today *looks over at empty desk with sad face*. The receptionist's name is Bernie, and she's constantly checking on me to see if I need a "wee cup of tea". I don't know how these people drink so much tea-it's literally a cup every half hour from sun up to sun down. Blegh. Then there's Angela, Joanne, Anne, Emma (the faith and life worker with crazy dreadlocks), Nicola, and Ciara who taught me the i with the accent above it in the Irish language is called a "Fada". Not sure if that's how you spell it, but there you go. Lots of females around here. Now that I think about it, that seems to be quite a motif in my life after working at a hair salon for three years and living in a sorority for two.

Alright, I must get cracking at the website. Hope everyone is well,

-k.g.

I can't believe the news today

Alright, I've only got a few minutes to update. I've just arrived at work and will be starting to learn how to upload things onto Corrymeela's website in a bit.

If USA folks didn't hear, after my class got a long lecture from Nigel yesterday about how things "can't go back to the way they were here, with police officers and civilians being targeted", a police officer was shot in the head in Craigavon last night. I was the first in my flat to hear about it since my body for some reason insists it can't fall asleep before 2:00 a.m. I was poking around on the internet and looking at google earth tucked in my bed when the headline emerged. On top of the two soldiers shot dead on Saturday, this is absolutely horrible thing to have happen to Ulster right now. On my walk to work through Belfast this morning I felt like there was a definite strange aura or uneasy tone on the streets. No one has claimed responsibility yet, but I think it's commonly accepted already as being another RIRA attack.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern
-ireland-policeman-shot-dead-in-ambush-14219526.html


I feel really frustrated. The original IRA's goal of a united Ireland made so much more sense when the Easter Rising happened in 1916 and even at the height of the troubles. After so much violence and loss throughout the past century, such a long process to peace, and now that the country has finally started to become stable I have wonder if it's even a legitimate goal anymore. Many people I've spoken to don't even think the Republic of Ireland would want or support a union. I feel like I'm not in a place to have definite opinion of whether or not a united Ireland would be the best thing, but I can definitely say I know it's not worth it if this is the way it has to be done.

“Children today do not remember the horrors of the past. Let us not repeat that pointless loss of life with them."

“A small group of people who are determined to wreck political progress are becoming more dangerous. This is a small number of people who we know could be dangerous with a small number of weapons. These people are determined to bring Northern Ireland back to a place that we won’t allow it to go to."

"I was a member of the IRA, but that war is over now. The people responsible for last night's incident are clearly signalling that they want to resume or restart that war. Well, I deny their right to do that." -Martin McGuiness

Grr I have work to do.
More later,
Karen

p.s. Paramore did a cover of U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and it's pretty good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sr-kMFjSkM

A Weekend of Troubles

Hello all. I'm very, very tired as we traveled to Derry for the day to listen to a lecture with our class, but I'm updating per request of my lovely sister as well as the fact I need to discuss the sad and disturbing events of this weekend in Northern Ireland. I'm not sure if people in the States have been up to date with the news around these parts, but take a quick glimpse at any of these:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/soldiers-shot-dead-in-northern-ireland-terror-attack-14217509.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/world/europe/09ulster.html?em

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/dissident-real-ira-claims-responsibility-for-army-barracks-attack-14217953.html


As we all know, the peace process in Northern Ireland is currently at hand. It's moving very slowly, but in general has been in an upward direction since the Good Friday Agreement in '98. Unfortunately after this weekend, there's been a bit of a bump in the road as the attack was a reminder of the darker days of the Troubles. If there is no retaliation and the consequences are left solely up to the government to handle, hopefully peace can continue for the better here. Unfortunately, history often repeats itself and passion and a chance for "revenge" sometimes overtakes moral conscience. If any paramilitary or individual group decides to take action against and retaliate against the events of Saturday, it could be a slippery slope back into Civil War in Ulster.

Nigel had told us at the beginning of our semester that sightings such as these:


cropping up around in cities around Northern Ireland were making some people uneasy. A 300 lb bomb was intercepted last month in a car on the way to a military base before it had a chance to do it's damage, and it seems as though a lot of people had been expecting something like this to happen sooner or later.

The first any of us heard about it was from a text message from Nigel late Saturday night. It read "Gun attack on an army base in Antrim, please reply ASAP and confirm everyone is OK." None of us really knew what this meant, so we replied to say in fact we hadn't been hanging around army barracks for the night and were all quite well. Then, we jumped on the internet and began searching for what had just happened.

In summary, two British soldiers were shot to death and four other people were wounded in a drive-by ambush at Massereene Army Base in Cty. Antrim (where we live) on Saturday evening. The gunmen continued to shoot the victims even as they lay on the ground. The "RIRA" or "Real Irish Republican Army" has since then claimed responsibility for the attacks. The "Real IRA" is a splinter group who disapproved of the IRA's cease-fire, decommissioning of weapons, and movement away from the left in the late 90's. They broke off from the original IRA, gave themselves the title "Real IRA" and claimed to be the only ones left that are true to the cause (a unified Ireland). The RIRA was also responsible for the Omagh bomb in '98 that left 29 people dead.

It was really only when we all met with Nigel this morning that we began to understand how serious and troubling this really is. Nigel is very cryptic about his past, but we do know he was somehow "involved" with the troubles at some point and led a life that he seems to be not very proud of at modern moment. He told us he hadn't realized until this weekend how "worn out he is seeing mothers crying over deaths of their sons" and really had thought he "had seen the last soldier shot in Northern Ireland many years ago." It's unfortunate this had to happen and people need to resort to such extreme violence in order to fight for their cause, but it's common that an organisation uses tools such as martyrs and terror to prove their dedication and demand to be taken seriously. I hate to say it, but they wanted and got the country's undivided attention.

The most frightening part of this event is simply the unknown of what will happen next. It's been a decade since there has been serious paramilitary violence here, and no one is really sure what the next step will be. It could very well be that the rest of the country has been fighting for peace for too long and absolutely will not intervene, or it could be that other paramilitary groups could plan a retaliation and violence will begin again. It's really out of anyone's hands. Ian Paisley Jr. did leave us with a few ominous quotes, however:

"This could be a defining moment in the history of Northern Ireland" and

"For the last 10 years, people believed things like this happened in foreign countries... Unfortunately it has returned to our doorstep"


Comforting. Anyway, the HECUA clan is safe and sound, and grateful for the past month of knowledge and experience we've gained about Northern Ireland. It's somewhat amazing (and horrible, obviously) to see an event such as this happen in our community, especially when we've been getting educated about it every day since the beginning of February and have all been working in peace-building internships for the past week.



I feel like this is a common mindset.

siochan,
-Karen

A Bit About Northern Ireland

Good morning!

I'm kind of stressing as my internet in my flat has died, and I have to get two papers e-mailed to Nigel by this afternoon. I have a meeting in a bit here at work, so I'll see if I can get a flash drive loaned to me afterwards and if I can get a chance to run home. Sigh! Nothing can be easy.

Besides that, I realized on my to work this morning that I need to clarify a few things about where I am and what I'm studying. I really have no idea who all reads this blog and what knowledge is out there, but I want to say a few basic facts just so everyone is on the same page. Lately when I've been chatting with people from home, I realize there is very limited knowledge on the topic of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Here we go:

1. I'm in Northern Ireland, not Ireland. They are different countries. It's on the same island, but it is a small section made up of 6 counties known as "Northern Ireland" or "Ulster" and is part of the United Kingdom.

2. Very basically, this is what the roots of the conflict is about. Many People from the Republic of Ireland (largely Catholics) want Northern Ireland to be unified with them, and many people in the North and from English descent (largely Protestants) wish to have Ulster remain part of the United Kingdom. It's partially a religious conflict, and it's partially a national pride/identity conflict. It is all extremely messy and complicated, and Nigel says "If you're not confused here, you don't know what's going on."

3. Ulster is made up of approximately 60% Protestants and 40% Catholics, and Catholics have been gaining a steady increase over the past years. This can partially be blamed on many Protestants migrating to England, and the fact that a lot of Catholics have qualms with contraception. This is all very general and not true for everyone, but Protestants are widely regarded as "unionists," meaning they want Northern Ireland and England to maintain their union, and the more extreme unionists are referred to as "loyalists." Loyalist is a broad term that can mean something more extreme than unionist. Loyalists generally aren't afraid to use violence and extreme measures to fight for their cause.

On the other hand, Catholics are widely regarded as "nationalists", meaning they feel as though their identity lies in the Irish heritage and want Ulster to be returned to the Republic of Ireland and the UK to stop interfering. More extreme nationalists are known as "Republicans".

4. The IRA and the UVF/UDA are the two main sects of paramilitarism. These associations have been called "terrorist groups" and have often been responsible for much of the violence in Northern Ireland. There's been over 3,000 troubles-related deaths, and almost everyone here knows someone who has been injured or killed in the last 50 years.

5. The "Good Friday Agreement" in 1998 was the main agreement to end the conflict. It followed a cease fire of the IRA and the UVF/UDA, allowed all criminals in prison due to troubles-related crimes to go free, and included various other compromises. This was the one of the first major steps towards peace in the country, but there is still an extremely long way to go.

6. Although the Good Friday Agreement was signed 10 years ago, many barriers still stand in the way of peace here. Schools are mainly segregated-Protestants go to state-run schools and Catholics to private, Catholic schools. "Peace walls" are large walls that run through neighborhoods in cities and are put in place to reduce contact between the two communities, as their neighborhoods are mainly segregated. There are about 30 "peace walls" in Belfast. About 5% of schools are integrated, and mixed-marriages are still at a low percentage as well. Many children only associate with people from their own community and there is a certain "fear of the outsider". Like I said before, all of this is very basic and certainly doesn't apply to every person and opinion here, but in terms of general issues, these are some that I've witnessed.

I didn't know any of this before I came here either, and I'm not trying to sound intelligent and/or superior. I'm not really sure why I don't remember any of this being talked about in school growing up-maybe I was sick the day they decided to mention the Troubles, or maybe we spent more time on other subjects and this one was forgotten or not a priority. Either way, it's been a prominent conflict in the world and I wish I could've had the chance to have been educatd about it earlier.

There's more I should say, but as I am at work I should probably do work related things. I must pop into a meeting in a few minutes, so I'll try to get my internet worked out at home and update later. Hope this finds everyone well!

Cheers,
Karen

as of late

Pretty much the cutest cappuccino. ever.


The River Lagan


We live here :)


we wish.


A common motif, so it is.

<3 k.g.

Very funny, Belfast.

I awoke this morning to…dun dun dun….
a blizzard outside my window. Naturally. For a moment I thought I was perhaps dreaming, or maybe my whole trip here was a dream and I was actually still at home.

Neither were true. Belfast did decide to play a dirty trick on us this morning and dump pounds of snow on the city-just in time for my morning walk to work. Sigh. I feel like I’ve been talking about weather a lot lately, but in all honesty this is the most pschytsophrenic precipitation I’ve ever seen.


Anyway, enough about that. My flatmates and I made “breakfast for dinner” last night, and it was truly brilliant. French toast, scrambled eggs, jo-jo potatoes, toast with jam, and coffee were on the menu. I also decided to home-ify our flat and purchased a tablecloth and candle, which I think everyone appreciated. We’ve been having a bit of an issue with dishes around these parts, so I took the initiative to tape our “Group Contract” over the sink and circle the bullet point that states “Respect the living space.” Passive aggressive? Maybe a little, but if I have to wash anyone else’s carcass-crusted pan I swear I’m going to vomit all over. And make someone else clean it up. Besides the dishes, our flat dynamics have been getting on well. We generally all sit down to eat together at mealtimes, and Brie made little signs for our bedrooms with our names on them. Pretty adorable. We’re like a little family.

I’m allowed to make my own work schedule, in general. Most of the work I’m doing is entirely independent, so I can arrange my schedule to my liking. We’re required to work at least 28 hours per week, so for the time being I’ve chosen T-TH from 9-5 and F from 9-1. I also have the option to go up to the other office in Ballycastle for a night or even a whole weekend to work, which could pretty much knock off my whole weeks worth of hours. I also have the opportunity to “shadow” the primary school worker, which would entail going into a school for a day and working with children primarily on the issue of religious diversity.

Alright I must depart. I’ll add some new picture later on.

-Karen

Rainy Days

If this works, I'm really excited that I just realized I could do this.


<3 karen

A Working Woman

Happy Monday! Today was quite eventful, as it was the first day of my two month long internship at Corrymeela Centre in the Botanic District of Belfast. I never pictured myself as the 9:00-5:00 desk job type, but I have to say it really wasn't that bad.

Since Laureen and I both work in the Botanic District, we decided to walk together on our first day (and hopefully every day, if our schedules are the same). We left the flat together at 8:15 this morning, business clothes clad and umbrella in hand. It's only natural on our first day of work it would rain. Despite the precipitation, the morning trek into the city was quite peaceful, and we both felt very professional as we marched down the city streets right alongside business men and women with briefcases and umbrellas. Aw.

I arrived at work at 8:50 not surprised to find that I was the first one there. When we had asked Nigel what time to arrive if we were supposed to "start work at 9:00", he looked at us like we were crazy. "In the states, it would be typical to maybe arrive ten or fifteen minutes early to work," said Laureen. "Usually starting at 9:00 means being at your desk working at 9:00. Nigel said the Irish are much more relaxed, and really that 9:00 a.m. means you should probably stroll in sometime before 9:30. I guess I'm too American, and I wanted to make a good impression on the first day, so I didn't listen to his advice. In turn, I sat at my desk twiddling my thumbs for about 20 minutes before anyone else showed up. Oh well. I got acquainted with my desk (yes, my very own desk!) and computer/printer. As my mom says "You know you've made it in the world when you have your own stapler."

Where I shall spend two months of my life:


The work day was fun. My coworkers were all extremely kind, and I have to laugh a little because it almost could be called Marcdaniel Salon: Ulster style. Out of about 15 coworkers, 14 are female and in their 20's and 30's. The only male is the director of Corrymeela, David, who works on the very top floor and keeps to himself most of the day. Down below in the estrogen filled floors 1 and 2, I listened all day to Ulster women chatting about "the price of my morning scone and tea went up," "I'm gaining weight, I may need to diet a wee bit," "having a 'nip' outside for some fresh air", their hometowns near London and Bangor, and the "good craic" from the weekend (all in Irish and British accents, of course). "Craic" is a term we all had to become familiar with really fast over here since it's used so frequently. I swear, everything is "good craic". It was confusing at first, but basically it just means it was "good fun" or a "good atmosphere". Hard to explain. You can pretty much just throw it in to describe any fun situation, however, and no one will question you. Good craic.

Besides the Ulster women gossip, the work day included me doing research on the internet for new ways to attract volunteers and donors to Corrymeela. I'm going to learn how to update the website later on this week, and my supervisor wants me to create a "FAQ" for volunteers, a more attractive layout that may grab younger people's attention, and a few other random bits and bobs. The day wasn't very structured, but she assured me once I got into the swing of things I will start to get very busy.

I grabbed a tea and scone for lunch around 1:30(what is happening to me?), and finished up the work day at 4:30. All in all, it was a successful day and I'm feeling very comfortable with the fact that I'll be spending a lot of time there. My job seems interesting and important, and my coworkers were very happy to have me around. The only downside of the day came when I had to walk home, and I discovered after being sunny all afternoon it had begun to rain again. Not a light, soft rain, but a violently windy umbrella-breaking rain. I fought my way home through wind and through my umbrella turning inside out a few times, but I made it and am now back in Flat #3 with sweatpants on and my north face fleece zipped up to my neck. Sigh, the life of a young professional.

Adios!
-Karen

omg ian paisley.

Famous places, Famous people

Hello. It's been a good couple of days here in the city, and I can't believe I start working tomorrow. It's kind of scary to think about! The walk from our flat to my work is about 35 minutes, so I guess I don't have to feel guilty for not working out here, eh? Also I guess if I'm planning on wearing heels to work I'll have to put them in my purse for the walk.

Here's a few pictures of my flat:


My new room! I love it.


Belfast bathroom-I'm in love with this shower. Reliable hot water=heaven.


The 8 of us share this kitchen/dining area. Yes, that tiny white fridge on the right hand side has to accommodate all of our food!


Yesterday we woke up early and explored a bit. We walked all around the city centre, did some shopping, and witnessed an amusing scientology protest. The streets of Belfast were absolutely packed-I felt like I was in a video game of some sort trying to battle my way through the crowds. After a few hours, Brie and I opted to walk home (about 45 minutes) and relax while the rest of our gang headed to a pub to watch the Ireland vs. England rugby match. It sounded fun, but sleep and food were high on the priority list for Brie and I at that point.

You can see the Belfast wheel and the City Hall in the background.

I got a good night's sleep last night, and the REAL excitement came this morning. Six of us decided to go a Presbyterian church this morning. Not just any old Presbyterian church, may I say, but THE church that Reverend Ian Paisley preaches at. Yep, the leader of Northern Ireland for 30+ years. At the end of the service, he came over and introduced himself to the six of us (It was no secret we were outsiders, the church was small and everyone was extremely dressed up besides us). He shook all of our hands, signed autographs for us, and allowed us to take a picture with him. As much as I really hate to say it, he seemed like a nice guy. Just not the best leader N. Ireland could have had. Anyway, it very exciting to meet someone we've been learning about for a month in class. Laureen has the picture, so once she puts it up I'll be able to share.

Alright, that's all I've got for now! Ciao!
-Karen