Belfast

This week has been my first week of holiday since coming to Ireland! I spent the first three days in Belfast with Lisa and Luong in a hostel downtown. These three days were a transition for them, going from volunteering to vacationing, and I guess it kinda was for me, too. But I have more volunteering to do. We met up with a friend, Katie, who lives in Belfast and volunteered with us at Corrymeela. She brought a few of her friends, who we proceeded to run into during the rest of our stay in Belfast. We also randomly ran into two other Americans who had volunteered at Corrymeela. So we all hung out together and we pretty much felt like we owned the city.

While Belfast is a lovely city with many interesting things to see, it can be startling from an American point of view, I think. First of all, our hostel was across the street from a Loyalist pub, meaning we should not enter that pub. It would kinda be like walking into a known mafia hangout. Also beginning in front of that pub, the curbstones are painted red, white, and blue. No, they are not big fans of the U.S., they are indicating their loyalty to the British. It also serves as a warning to any Belfast Catholics who might consider wandering through that part of town. The three of us were always conscious of our green and orange jackets--green being Republican and orange being Loyalist--depending on which part of the city we were in. We figured that if we walked together we would balance ourselves out. Who knew colors could be so dicey?

On Saturday as we were walking around, we could hear marching bands. We asked a friend we were having coffee with why there was marching. (We knew that 12 July is a huge marching day, but we weren't sure what this occasion was). Turns out that on the last Saturday in July, the Protestant bands march again. This means that groups of men march around playing drums and flutes and everyone else drinks. This also meant that the pub across the street from our hostel would do great business that night. I am definitely glad that I saw the marching. It's a staple of life here in Belfast, I'm sure.

History museum?

We went to the Ulster Museum in the middle of the city, next to Queens University. The current exhibit was titled something like 'Troubled Times in Ireland.' We were very excited, thinking that there would be a huge exhibit on the Troubles, right? Actually, the exhibit displayed times of war or conflict dating back to the bronze age and did not focus on the Troubles much at all. Nothing was there about the Troubles that I hadn't read elsewhere. When we thought back on it later, we realized that to say much about the Troubles was bound to offend one side or the other, resulting in more trouble. I would be very curious to read the history textbooks used in schools to see how they tell the story. I'd love to compare a textbook used in a Catholic school to that used in a state school. I think about the way we are taught about Native Americans back home. We were taught a very slanted version of history. History is more than retelling facts--it is framing the future as well. If students in Northern Ireland are taught a balanced history--not favoring Catholics or Protestants--perhaps the nation could hope for a more balanced future.

Touring the trouble

On Sunday, we met up with Katie for brunch (she laughed at our orders and the waitress gave us funny looks). Then we met up with Lisa's American friend, Justin, who has been in Belfast for the past year or so. He has been working at Queens University with Steve Stockman, a chaplain at Queens and a writer on Bono. Justin gave us a driving tour of the murals, peace wall, memorial gardens, and places of interest in Belfast. Most of it I had seen the last time I came, but some of the stories, and Justin's perspective, were new. It really hits you to see it all. And it's something that you have to see for yourself. You can see pictures of murals glamourizing paramilitary men, but until you see them in the context of a community of homes with children walking by everyday, it doesn't really hit. Again, I go back to the children. They walk by these murals that glorify terrorists--on both sides of the conflict--everyday. They walk past graffiti like 'KAT'--Kill All Tigs (Tigs=derogatory slang for Catholics). How does that breed peace, I ask?