I'm famous?

Last week Kelly and I were in the newspaper. We were promoting fairtrade at a local grocery store. Here is the link to it. http://www.derryjournal.com/news/business/fair_s_fair_in_the_trading_game_for_derry_charity_1_2501763

St. Paddy's Day & such...

Monday we had our weekly seminar in Belfast. We met with the Good Relations Unit of the City Council. It was interesting to see all that they do and how busy they are. The Good Relations does a lot of work that goes unnoticed and is under appreciated. We also got a tour of the City Hall.

It was cool and really old. We were able to sit in a very important chair.

We then headed over to the Northern Ireland Assembly, also known as Stormont.

It was much stricter security-wise. We sat in on a session of official government business. It was kind of boring because government and law-making isn’t exactly my cup of tea. We then got to chat with different MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) from different parties. For example, we talked to a Sinn Fein, SDLP (Social Democratic & Labor Party) and a UUP (Ulster Unionist Party) representative. It was interesting to hear actually what their party is about in an abridged version. One might think they were different because they are in a power sharing government and in Northern Ireland, but they were still politicians and could talk the talk. It was an exhausting day of politics.

Tuesday I travelled to Omagh (which is about a 1.5 hour bus ride away from Derry) for a workshop, but once I got there I found out the workshop was cancelled. I was kind of frustrated, but those in charge of the workshop were very sorry. One good thing was I learned how event planning works. Those interested in an event must inquiry/ say they are interested in the event. Once enough people sign up, then the planners confirm the event and the event takes place. I felt silly for travelling all the way to Omagh, but in the end I learned something so it was okay.

Wednesday was a slow day at work because no one was really around. I think people were getting ready for the holiday on Thursday.

Thursday was St. Patrick’s Day. It was a bank holiday and a holy day of obligation, so let’s just say it was an official holiday! One of my friends, Sara, was organizing a group from her organization to be in the city parade, so the three of us who didn’t have to work volunteered to be in the parade.

 In Sara’s eyes it was a disaster because it seemed like pure chaos. In NI there isn’t a lot of structure and no one is ever on time. So for us Americans it’s a bit tough sometimes. Our group eventually found our (ridiculous) costumes, face paint, place in the parade, and we were ready to go. As you can see from the pictures we kind of looked like Disco Dali Lamas or something just as outrageous.

It was a lot of fun, even though it was crazy. After the parade we went back to our flat to finish our papers before going out.

We went to a bar, Peadar O’Donnell’s, for a couple pints of cider. It was packed just like every other bar on St. Patrick’s Day.  It was a good time and there was live music. There was no green beer in sight, but everyone in town was quite crazy. People started drinking in the morning so by the evening it got a wee bit ridiculous.  

Friday, most of us didn’t have to work, so we relaxed and hung out. We stayed in and watched movies. Newsies was one of our choices, so I may have belted out a few of the songs that I may or may not know by heart. Kelly and I made Nigel’s famous Glenny wheaten bread recipe. We didn’t exactly have anything to measure stuff, so we guesstimated. Kelly called it soul food because you just go with it and see how it turns up. We only had 1 bread pan so we used a mini cake pan too. It turned out awesome.

Saturday was also another relaxing day. That night we met up with a high school friend, Tonya, who is also studying here in Derry. I felt kind of bad because I had been in Derry for 3 weeks and hadn’t seen her until last night. It was kind of funny because I thought I saw her from across the street, so being me I yelled her name. Luckily it was her, so I didn’t feel like a dork. We met up at a bar and had a drink. We swapped some of our NI stories and such. It was good craic.    

Today I went to a new church. This one was a 30 minute walk compared to the 15 minute walk to the closest Catholic Church. I had no idea where I was going but apparently my sense of direction is better than I thought because I ended up where I wanted to be! It was a nice mass and much more welcoming than the big cathedral that I had gone to previously. Tonight Kelly & I made our second batch of wheaten bread; this one turned out a bit different than the last but I suppose that happens with “soul food”.

Tomorrow we have our seminar here in Derry. Hopefully this week will be more productive than last week.

Derry, the Junction, Seminars and Co. Donegal

A lot has happened since my last post. I have moved to Derry/Londonderry,

(This is the view from my bedroom window and yes this is the sunrise. Crazy, I know that I was up early enough to see the sun rise.)
 started my internship, began our weekly seminars in Belfast & Derry, had a surprise going away party and gone on a day trip to Co. Donegal. At the beginning of March, I started my internship at the Junction, a community resource and peacebuilding center. At first there wasn’t a lot to do, so I was kind bored. But I soon figured out I needed to take the initiative to find my on tasks and go to workshops and conferences. This self-directedness was one of the things that drew me to the Junction because I knew it would be more of a challenge than just being given lots of tasks and work to do. The first week at the Junction I got to go to a presentation about Ethical Remembering and Commemorating the past that my supervisor gave to a group of community workers, leaders and volunteers. One issue that is coming up in the next few years is how to commemorate the past without alienating or putting down “the other”. It’s quite an interesting topic. This past week I went to another conference about Being the Change You Wish to See. It was put on by an organization that focuses on international development. It was good and there was a lot of variety of participants, i.e. parents, students, community workers, professors, random people from the community, etc.

Last weekend those of us in Derry travelled to Belfast for a surprise party; one of the guys in our group hasn’t been feeling well for 2 months, so he made the difficult decision to go home to the States. He had no idea we were coming! It was great to spend a little more time with him before he left. It was a good trip to Belfast even though the reason we were there wasn’t the best.

Every Monday we have a seminar which is our class. We alternate between Belfast and Derry. The first week we were in Belfast. We met a man whose wife and father-in-law were killed in a bomb in East Belfast. He talked about the pain and how he turned that pain into something productive. He is working on making Northern Ireland a better place. That afternoon we went to East Belfast Alternatives, an organization that works with youth and paramilitaries. They do a lot of work with restorative justice. They gave us the tour of part of the East Belfast neighborhood. Some of the little kids (like 5 year olds) were yelling at us and telling us to go away. It isn’t an area that is toured very often, so when a group of 15+ people are wandering around their neighborhood they probably didn’t exactly like it.

Last Monday our seminar was in Derry. We spent the day at the organization that does international development. A man who was blinded at age 10 talked to us and told us his story. It was amazing because he has never been angry about what happened. There has never been any bitterness in his life. It was incredible.

On Friday a few of us went out. We ended up at Peadar O’Donnell’s. There was live music, and it was a good time. Saturday Nigel took us to County Donegal. The weather was rainy & cold, but it was still awesome. We went the Glenveagh National Park. We toured a castle which people lived in until the 80s. The view was amazing!

We then went to the Atlantic Ocean and frolicked along the beach.

Some people wrote messages in the sand. Someone even drew the shape of Minnesota in the sand. We even saw a rainbow while in Donegal. We rocked out to music on the way back to Derry.

Today I didn’t do anything exciting, but it was awesome to just relax and not really worry about anything. My flat mates (roommates) and I made burgers and fried potatoes for dinner. It was delicious! This week will be good. Tomorrow I’m in Belfast for our seminar. Tues & Wed I’ll be in Omagh for a workshop. Thursday is St/ Paddy’s Day, so I don’t have to work. Friday I don’t have to work either! It’ll be a little weird but brilliant.