paperboy

The other night, I attended a book reading by local author Tony Macauley. It did exactly what those kinds of things are meant to do, which is make you want to read the book. In this case, the book is Paperboy, a memoir about Tony's life in the Shankill, Belfast as a 12-14-year-old paperboy from 1974-6.

Read it. I plan to, whenever Conn gets around to bringing his copy by.

And, in a few years, go see the movie (screenplay in process).

Conn had asked last week if we were interested in going, talking it up as one of Northern Ireland's favorite and famous authors. He neglected to mention that Tony was also a personal friend of his. Turns out, Tony's primary work has been with peace & reconciliation programs, particularly for youth, in Northern Ireland. Also turns out, he was Conn's first boss after Conn finished his degree, hiring him to run a new program he had just started. (sorry about how vague that is -- i'll try to find out the actual details...)

Northern Ireland is a small place.

Portstewart

If you read a tourist guidebook for Ireland, you likely won't find Portstewart in it. Or at least, not for its own sake. It's a small coastal town, overshadowed by its larger neighbor Portrush, which is the launching point for sites of interest further east - namely, Dunluce Castle, the Giant's Causeway, and the Bushmills Distillery. In fact, besides Belfast and Derry, the Antrim coast is the only other place in Northern Ireland deserving of mention in many guidebooks. Perhaps that's because they don't seem to make guidebooks solely for Northern Ireland... In any case, I haven't made it to any of those other places yet, but I DID make it to Portstewart on Saturday! And I'm so glad I did.

The weather around here makes it difficult to plan outings. When I went to bed on Friday night, it was rainy, windy, and stormy. I had no plans for the weekend because I knew that I wouldn't want to do anything at all if the weather didn't change. But Saturday arrived clear and calm, so all of a sudden I was left wondering what to do and where to go! I had a slow enough morning that I knew a train ride to Derry wasn't in the cards, and besides, I was limited by having to incorporate a 45-minute walk into Coleraine and back in order to go anywhere. So I looked up the bus schedules to Portrush and Portstewart and decided, well, I'll at least go into town, and once I'm there I'll decide whether to catch a bus or not.

On my way out, I stopped to chat with our part-time groundskeeper who was working in his garden allotment, saying I hadn't decided if I would go in to Portstewart or not - but before I could even finish my sentence, he said, so matter-of-factly, "Oh, you'll go!" Well, then, that settled it. He even offered to drive me to the bus station.

£2.90 and a 10-minute bus ride later, I stepped off the bus in Portstewart and spent 2 1/2 hours traversing its jagged, rocky coastline, complete with beach, 1600s fisherman's cottage, 1830s castle, and golf course. The coolest part was the walk along the edge of the cliff under the castle/convent/college. The shoreline and promenade were teeming with people, and of course it was absolutely beautiful. It was simply a magnificent, splendid, sunny and breezy 50-degree afternoon. Topped off by some "chips with curry" (fries with curry sauce!) to devour on the bus ride back.

And that's what a wee bit of encouragement can do to a wee idea.

You can view the photo album here.

digging in the dirt

today = fabulous.

Sunny and warm, it felt like April or a warm March day, and I got to dig in the dirt! :) my endorphins are happy.

A lot of people were here today working in their allotments, just like me, beginning to prepare the beds (Kilcranny has 13 plots rented out). I'm so energized and excited about gardening! I had forgotten how good it makes me feel.

In this case, I think it makes me extra-happy because it gives me a project I can take [at least partial] ownership of, and gives me a sense of purpose and direction that I've been lacking so far. With no one else assigning me tasks or schedules, it gives me something to do that I know how to do and that I can structure my day around.

and it's spring! (at least compared to being buried under snow in Boston!)

day one

Day one of information overload and overstimulation.

I met all of the staff and got talked talked talked at all morning long. Well, all day really, until about 3pm, and then we were supposed to meet with Rachel to find out about her Future Communities project, but my brain couldn't handle it and I took a nap instead.

Later, rejuvinated, Mike and I walked into Coleraine so he could do some money changing and shopping. It was a nice, 45-minute walk each way. I'm looking forward to having a bike, because there are so many towns and interesting places nearby, but not quite within walking distance. having a car will be nice too, but I'm particularly interested in getting the bike cleaned up and in working order -- apparently it's in the stone barn covered with toxic pigeon feces...

Right now I'm feeling rather constrained and unenthusiastic about life here and muy job description. I hope that changes as the week goes on with its orientations, trainings, and conversations! Because I want to love it here, and I want to have fun. :)

Boston to Belfast, and beyond!

My journey into the damp northerly lands has begun.

At 12:45PM on Saturday, I walked off the airplane that I'd been on for 10 hours into a perfectly typical drizzly 45-degree day and rode through the Northern Irish countryside to Kilcranny House, a drive that felt oddly familiar to my senses after all those trips home to Oregon from Minnesota at Christmastime. Well, except for the fact that we were driving on the wrong side of the road and the signs were white with blue or red, not yellow with black.

Kilcranny is located just outside of Coleraine, close to the western banks of the River Bann. Portstewart is to the north of us on the opposite side of the river and Portrush farther north and east along the Antrim coast, in the direction of the Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle. From the top of the drive, we can see where the river runs into the sea, and the town of Castlerock across the bay. We're about 90 minutes northwest of Belfast and 45 minutes east of Derry.

This is where I'll be for the next three months, living in the newly renovated farmhouse with my compatriot Mike, from Pennsylvania, who's here for a year through the Brethren Volunteer Service. Our main duties as residential volunteers are to be caretakers of the buildings and grounds (including gardening) and hosts to the groups that use the facilities. I am also looking forward to being able to participate in some of the peace & reconciliation programs that they do out in the community, especially with schoolchildren. For now, please go to Kilcranny'swebsite to learn more about the organization and what they do -- you'll get more first-hand impressions and accounts from me later on!