Cave Hill Hiking!

Brie and I woke up early this morning and decided we should attempt to "carpe diem", if you will. Hiking on Cave hill has been on the agenda for quite some time, and since the sun was shining we figured it would be a perfect day to do it. Clad in tennis shoes, hiking apparel, and after a wee stop at Clements Coffee, we were on our way.

We won't argue the fact that we aren't really in shape for challenging hikes at the moment. People in Northern Ireland definitely don't seem to prioritize working out like in the states. Generally, they "can't be bothered" with things like that, and I think our whole HECUA class has gladly taken on that attitude in the last three months. It's been kind of nice, but I must say the day was kind of a slap in the face. BUT. We did succeed in scaling that monster, and it was well worth the sweat and pain. The view of the city was beautiful, and the fresh air and sun felt amazing. I think it was an appropriate thing to do on our last weekend in County Antrim, aye?





We made it!


Sigh. We shall miss Belfast when we're gone.

Ta,
Karen

Bits and Bobs

Wow, this week is flying by. I only have 2 more days of work! I've been plugging away yesterday and today at the four articles I've been working on for the next magazine, and I'm proud to say 3/4 are completely done, and one just has a few tweaks left to make. Yay!! For the last article, I'm interviewing a gal named Emma who is the "Faith and Life worker" at Corrymeela. We're putting together an article about how small, positive things you do in life can add up and make a big difference. She's probably one of the nicest, most smiley people I've ever met! I think we're probably going to use this picture I took of her in the mag:



Aww. Anyway, I'm on the home stretch at Corrymeela and I have to say I'm quite sad to be leaving my wee desk in No. 8 behind. I got good working experience, wrote some pieces I'm pretty proud of, formed new relationships with co-workers, and got the chance to volunteer up at the Ballycastle Centre a few times through it. All in all, I'd say it was a rather successful way to spend 7 weeks.

Unfortunately the work isn't quite behind me, as I still have my independent study project AND group project to do. They are 15-20 page research papers (shudder)on a topic of our choosing relating to Northern Ireland and social change/history/democracy/justice/politics, etc. You could take it a lot of different directions I suppose, which is good because any 15-20 page research paper I'm writing absolutely has to be about something I'm extremely interested in. I'll disclose my topics after I get a good chunk of the papers finished.

I skyped with Katie last evening! So nice. I think it's too late in the trip to be "homesick" anymore, as there's only a little over three weeks left. Rather when I spoke with her I just felt anxious thinking about trying to pack everything I possibly can into my short time left here, and at the same time extremely excited to go home and be among people and things I love.

I caved and bought BASSHUNTER'S "Now You're Gone" album on iTunes. Ahhh I had to.

I'm all turned around about this stupid keyboard. In the UK the @ symbol and quotation marks are opposite, so at work I have to type one way and on my laptop the other. Some things would just make so much more sense to be universal. What could the point of switching them possibly be?? On that note, I hope I remember how to drive when I get home. Not just remember how to control a car, but remember what side of the road is appropriate to drive on. Errr.

5 days until I'm here:




9 days until I'm here:



25 days until I'm here:


Eep! OK, time to do a bit of research and fold my laundry.

cheers,
karen

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Corrymeela Weekend

Last weekend volunteering at the Ballycastle site of Corrymeela turned out to be a lot less hectic than the previous one. I helped lead a teenage group from Derry who for some reason had about 10 years of maturity on the Scottish group. Not sure why. They were fun to work with and also were curious in learning more about the volunteers, whereas the Scottish group just wanted to run around and be rebellious. I had fun explaining what the heck a "s'more" is to EVERYONE, since it seems the USA is the sole place that makes them. The chaperone's of the Derry group also asked the volunteers to put something together for their talent show on Saturday night, and to be quite frank I think we passed with flying colours. I had let it slip that in my past I used to cheerlead (the fellow volunteers were slightly fascinated), so of course they made me teach them a stunt. Alas, our "talent" at the show was Corrymeela cheer that included lifting Lisa above our heads. Needless to say, the Derry group was amazed. "That was sooo cool..."



I'm at the top, from my left is: Lisa from Germany, Vishwas from India, Chris from England, and Elsa from El Salvador. Pretty neat.

The weekend came and went, and I arrived back in Belfast Sunday night. I absolutely can't believe it's my last week in this city. I feel like I just got here, but at the same time I sort of feel like I've been here forever. I guess it's only natural that the sun is deciding to come out and the weather is beautiful just as we begin our departure...

Last Tuesday ever at my Corrymeela-Belfast desk! I'm so sad-my co-worker Astrid is on "holiday" this week, so I'll probably never get to see her again. Strange. Anyway, hope all is well at home.

cheers,
karen

Newly acquired skills

So this morning I:

-Woke up at 9:00 a.m.
-Packed a weekend's worth of things in a small backpack (computer included)
-Caught a bus from Belfast to Ballycastle (which required a transfer in Ballymena, if I may add)
-Hiked 45 minutes and navigated my way from the town of Ballycastle up to Corrymeela (please note: with the 20 lb backpack/child on my back) and arrived at the Centre dripping in sweat

I feel very accomplished, and it's only 3:00. It was nice to arrive here and find familiar faces who were excited to see me. Yay Karen.

Now for a weekend of extremely intense, 15-hour workdays trying to lead a youth group from Derry. At least their accents will be easier to understand than the Glasgowians...

-karen

Bangor

MORNING

My day without work led to my spontaneous decision to buy a bus ticket to Bangor, sit by the sea, get a wee cappuccino, and get cracking on 2 different papers. Bangor is a town on the east coast about a half hour outside Belfast. I'm not really sure if there's anything particularily special about it, but some of my co-workers reside there and I suppose it will be nice to get out of the city for the day. Yay spontaneity? I'm currently sitting in a seat on the beloved Ulsterbus and I have sneakily piled my belongings in the seat beside me to ensure my personal bubble is not tested at this time of the morning. Ta ha. I'm a crab, aren't I...oh well. Nigel did tell me yesterday he initially got the impression from me that I was sort of a "lone wolf." So I am, at times I suppose, but I think my lone-wolf tendencies need to be equally balanced with enough social interaction to keep me satisfied.

I met for coffee with Nigel yesterday afternoon for about 2 hours to discuss things ranging from my paper to some more personal issues. I think it was one of the first extremely beneath-the-surface chats that Nigel and I had actually. It was good-I think he is probably one of my favorite (if not absolute favorite) professors I have yet to be instructed by. Anyway, the bus will be in Bangor in a few minutes so I'll add more later on.


EVENING

Hi hi. Bangor was absolutely delightful. I've never been to Connecticut or Cape Cod, but I guess if I imagined it it would look similar. I started the day with a cappuccino, walked for about an hour and a half on the coastal sea path, and then lounged in the grass for an hour or so to start my papers. So nice.

This was the first thing I saw when I arrived:

Who knew?!







Lovely day. I discovered Bangor is the location where Brie's internship organisation docks their boat, and it's known as a very "posh" location in Northern Ireland. I think I could handle it.

Back up to Corrymeela for the weekend! Yay peace and reconciliation...and free food. Woot!

Ciao,
Karen

The Wee Morn'

-Here I am, up with the sun. Or lack thereof. Weird.

-New banner! I have no life, clearly.

The flat and I assembled this about a month ago and I forgot about it! Here we are:


THINGS WE MISS
Target
Screens on windows
Peanut butter that doesn’t taste like paste
Cars
Full sized refridgerators
Dishwashers
Clothes hangers
RICE KRISPIES and NOT crisp rice
Large bags of chocolate chips
Chips (or crisps here) that don’t have flavors pertaining to meat. Ew.
Refridgerated eggs
Grocery stores that make sense
Sun
Chocolate sauce
A selection of syrup
Vegetables that aren’t plastic wrapped
Looking right then left then right and knowing it's okay to cross the street
Not wearing my raincoat and hood every day
Somewhere to lounge
TV without a license (Coleraine), or TV in general (Belfast)
Diversity
Not having to dress up just to run to the grocery store
Even sidewalks that we don't trip on
Wireless internet that works
Plugging things in without a converter
Not military time
Being able to watch certain videos on Youtube and not being "forbidden for being foreign"
Being 100% comfortable wearing green
Saying I’m American and getting a response not having to do with obama
Quilted toilet paper
Not having to wrap cloth around doors handles to prevent slamming
Having valid IDs
Not having the gates to our colleges close and lock at midnight
Black beans
Anything in bulk
Soy milk
Coffee makers
Spices
No bomb threats
Knowing the measuring system
Trustworthy locks
Separate light and fan in bathroom
Not having to carry an umbrella everywhere


Things we like about NI/Things we don’t miss:
The level of history
Wee things
A low amount of class time
Loose schedules
The culture
Accents
“traditional irish dancing”
Meeting influential people
Scones
Dark humour
“you’re very welcome”
So it is.
HECUA clan
Nigel and the Glenny house.
Nancy and NOT Jake
Bushmills
Half loaves of bread
Coleraine
Ben craig and co.
The Real World: Belfast
Harassing roommate while they are sleeping
Martin and Kenny the cab drivers
Morelli’s
Family dinners
Kremlin
Good "craic"
The anchor
Running on the beach in the rain
Knowing more than average tourists
Tesco’s garlic bread
Having to walk places (sometimes)
Jordan’s "prayers"
Derek from UNESCO
Cheap flights to different countries
Being close to other countries
Driving across the island in 2.5 hours
The fact that everyone knows everyone
Legit clubs
Being young professionals
The past first minister not having any security
Dunluce allusions
Lady gaga playing in random stores
Guinness (for some)
Designated tea breaks
An ocean within 100 miles
Cherry blossoms everywhere
The walk down Malone Road
Botanic Gardens
Picking up NI phrases
Grass-fed cows
Wee sheep everywhere
40 shades of green


ta,
Karen

The Remedy

So Paris was great, but I didn't mention mine and Brie's bout of homesickness on our return trip to Belfast...

We boarded the train at 6:30 p.m. in Paris towards Charles de Gaulle airport, and literally 10 minutes into the ride both of us looked at each other and started to get teary eyed. We talked about how great the weekend is, but at the same time how much foreign countries make us nostalgic for things at home. We mentioned how we wished we were getting on a plane to MN rather than NI, and spent the rest of the travel time home in a bit of a dreary mood. We splurged on a taxi from the airport to our flat in Belfast (it's about a half an hour), and went to bed.

I forgot to mention this: Many shops and organisations are closed this entire week for Easter, and it just so happens Corrymeela is included in that number. What does this mean? It means I have the week off to explore Belfast and do things I haven't gotten a chance to do yet! 'Tis a very refreshing feeling. Anyway, I awoke this morning to my flatmates in the kitchen talking about how they all were feeling some homesickness this weekend. Maybe we've just hit a low point in the trip, but everyone seems to be a little nostalgic for the good old midwest. Not fun. I mulled over some things in my head while eating my cereal, and eventually decided I shall attempt to use my day/week off to help my spirits rather than wallow in the flat. Hence, the idea for a new project was born:

What Makes me Happy about Northern Ireland: A Photo Essay.


-Walking down the streets with my ipod and getting lost in the moment. The latest: Steve Earl's "Galway Girl".

-The amazin' Value Cab Company. Meets all of our needs for lazy days, tired legs, late-night and early-morning pick ups. We'll just forget about the car accident incident.

-Charlie's Coffee Company! One of my treats.



-Walking by Queens University on my way to work everyday. This building is SO beautiful and looks like it is part of Hogwarts.

-Stopping at Winemark on the way home and everyone in our flat enjoying a glass with dinner.

-"To Let" means "to lease", basically. I love the fact that my mom initially thought these signs said "TOILET" and the I had been rubbed out somehow.


-The ocean. Minnesota is so unique in the sense that it's one of the furthest places from the ocean on earth. I try to make NI natives realize how lucky they are to live so close to it, as well as understand why I always want to just "take in the view" for a few minutes.

-My new found love for scones. Enough said.

-The "family". OK creepy, that sounded a little Charles Manson-esque, but seriously. Our group would not function even if one of us left. We are all continuously supporting each other, squabbling like siblings, and trying to hold on to the time we have left together before we're splintered all over the country again.


-Cherry blossoms! I'm not even sure if I've ever seen them in real life before this trip, but they are ALL OVER Belfast and I am coming to adore them.

-Cooking dinner and eating together as a flat. If everything else seems foreign and difficult, this is the one thing we can all look forward to at the end of a long day.

-Learning about the peace process and actually living in it. We're so lucky HECUA and Nigel have put together such a great program for us. The people we meet, the classes and jobs we have, and the field-trips we take are all top-drawer (NOT top-shelf, which means something completely different, thanks Nigel).


I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for coming up with this idea. It was pretty therapeutic, and I plan to continue on with it whenever I'm feeling a twinge of homesickness. I had to laugh when I took a walk today to get some of these pictures this afternoon and made a wee stop at the grocery store (one of my favourite things to do) and then started home feeling good only to watch my poor grocery bag split in two and all of my groceries spill onto the sidewalk. Too ironic. Luckily, my purse was almost big enough to hold most of my food. I was only the weird girl with a bulging purse, apple in one hand, and box of Rice Krispies under the other arm for the rest of the walk home. Ta ha.

Anyways. Hope this finds everyone well!

-Karen

Paris

There HAD to be one of these:


I have returned from Easter Weekend in Paris slightly reluctantly (the city was BEAUTIFUL), and also slightly poor. I've never seen prices more out of control, but I tried to convince myself i was paying for the experience of eating a crepe, or a pain au chocolat, rather than just for the actual food. Right? Yeah...err.

Luckily, Brie has a friend studying in Paris at the moment who allowed us to stay in her flat in the city with her, so there was no lodging expense. She was such a great hostess and also extremely beneficial when it came to encounters with rude people who had zero tolerance for non-french speakers. Oh, right..that was almost every encounter. Sorry to be offensive, Paris, but your citizens should look up the word "polite" or at least "cordial" in the dictionary. My goodness...

Our adventures arrived Thursday night when our plane touched down late at night at Charles de Gaulle. Brie and I felt pretty proud when we navigated ourselves out of the airport, onto the metro, and to her friend's flat with virtually no issues. Hooray. We called it an early night in order to make the most of the next day and snuggled up into a fold-out couch. On Friday, we visited the Lourve, tasted our first crepes, had an absolutely splendid lunch, and visited the Eiffel tower. Both of us were a little disappointed the line to get to the top of the tower looked to be almost three hours, so we decided not seeing the top would just be our excuse to someday maybe come back to the city. We meandered through the streets for the rest of the day, took a wee nap back at the apartment, and finally went out to a French bar with Kathy and some of her friends.

Lourve



VERY anti-climactic.


Delicatessen :)


Saturday was a little quieter-we allowed ourselves to sleep in, got brunch at an Italian restaurant, got STARBUCKS (we caved), explored a cemetery, and sat in a park. When evening came, Kathy wanted to visit a museum and Brie and I opted for a boat tour down the Seine. I would say it was the best spent 11 euro of the weekend.

A spur-of-the-moment decision was made Sunday morning when Kathy, Brie, a girl called Jane, and myself decided to go to Mass at Notre Dame for Easter morning. It was probably one of the most beautiful (and the most crowded) cathedrals I've ever seen. It also was my first time going to Catholic Mass. It might've been a little more interesting if any of it had been in English, I suppose.

Ah, my computer is acting kind of funny. I shall update more later. I really need to get back on a regular schedule of blogging-I've been really busy and lagging behind lately.

Ciao
Karen

I started the day with straight hair.

Can we just take a moment to discuss the effects of Belfast weather on my hair....?




Thank you for your time.

-Karen

The Maze

We had our second to last seminar today (time is going so fast!) at the University of Ulster-Belfast. It consisted of meeting with three HECUA representatives who have travelled to our wee country to make sure the program is up to standards, hearing presentations from a few of us, and meeting and speaking with a man named Laurence McKeown. Who is this man, you ask? Well, he only:

-was in prison for 20 years for IRA activity
-was a hunger striker for 70 days and was "mates" with Bobby S.
-slipped into the coma that hunger strikers usually begin death with, and since at that point the power of attorney shifts to the family was hospitalized and thus, was the 11th hunger striker that should have died but didn't.
-speaks fluent Irish

Amazin' (said in a Belfast accent, put most of the emphasis on the second 'a'). He had some interesting insights for us all, and was also very honest and open about whatever we asked him. Honestly the way he described hunger striking made it sound downright easy. I wrote down this string of descriptions he shared:

"You have to be all-in psychologically before you start a hunger strike, otherwise you couldn't succeed. You're mentally prepared and just knowing that you will not eat keeps you from getting hungry. It's like when you're busy at work, you realize it's 3:00 and you've missed your lunch. You weren't hungry until you realized it, right? Hunger striking has a very anti-climactic start-the doctor visits you and tells you the harm you're doing to your body, and in a few days you might get a wee bit of a headache and are very cold. I think at one time I had 12 blankets on me trying to warm myself up. Your sense of smell gets extremely heightened within a few weeks, and around the 40th day your eyesight becomes very fuzzy and eventually doubles. It wasn't that we were trying to die-every hunger striker who died wanted to live. It was about staying alive as long as possible in order to get our requests granted."

Honestly, the man must be made of iron. "Wee bit of a headache" in the first week? I get crabby if I don't eat for 5 hours.

Hunger strikers graves at Milltown:

I'm working on my paper tonight, as well as trying to figure out what classes I need for summer session. Registration is tomorrow at 8:00 a.m., eep!

cheers,
Karen

Ballycastle Weekend

Hello! Sorry it's been so long-it's been somewhat of a hectic week. I returned from Spring Break less than completely enthused to return to work. I was pleased, however, to find out my opportunities to work for the week extended outside the office and gave me the chance to spend this weekend up in Ballycastle doing an extremely interesting array of things.

On Friday, I got a lift up to the North Coast with my co-workers Bernie and Astrid, where we had a hectic day of setting up and hosting an event at the Corrymeela Centre in Ballycastle. The day included serving lunch, entertaining/making small talks with guests (I'm Karen. "Kier-en?" No, it's Karen. "Ohh! Kah-ren!" Sigh...yes.), and meeting the PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, yes that's right, Mary McAleese. She's a Belfast native, speaks fluent Irish, and was extremely nice. Yay, Mary.

Corrymeela Centre-Ballycastle:

It's right on the ocean. Lucky Justin gets his internship placement here.

Friday was only the beginning of the work, as I had committed to volunteer at the Centre for the weekend as one of the leaders of a youth cross-community programme. The job titles included a 8:00 a.m.-12:30 a.m. (I'm not kidding) work day of setting up for, leading, and cleaning up various activities, serving and cleaning up all meals, leading discussions, and making sure everyone was safe and having fun the entire time. The group that myself alongside two other girls were in charge of were 14-16 year olds from Glasgow, Scotland. What an experience! Scottish are a breed of their own, I tell you. I haven't heard that much swearing in a long time, I haven't met as many girls who spend 3 hours on their hair and makeup just to do arts-and-crafts, and I was just a little taken aback when their leaders let them take smoke breaks. Ah, it's a different world over here. It was really fun and extremely interesting spending the weekend with these kids, but I have discovered I enjoy working with the wee ones rather than the preteens, so I do.
We did get a short break on Saturday afternoon when we were given the option to accompany the group to Giant's Causeway for a field trip or stay back. Since I'd already been there, I opted to stay back at the Centre and ended up watching "Twilight" in a room with a few other volunteers on break. It was part way into the movie that I realized, "I'm sitting in Ballycastle, N. Ireland watching Twilight with a German, an El Salvadorian, a Brit, and Justin." Paints somewhat of a unique picture.

Arts and Crafts on Sunday morning



Anyway, not much is new in the world of the Belfastians. I arrived back to my flat tonight, made a veggie burger for dinner, and now am going to start working on one of my big papers. Woo hoo.

kah-ren