Vote for us!

Vote for the Macrory Bike Club!

I know you're checking in hoping for more photos, updates on site placements, or just general awesome banter from yours truly - but today, I will instead share a fantastic opportunity that has just been presented to one of my work sites, Fortwilliam and Macrory Presbyterian Church.

Part of what I will be doing with my time at FMPCI is spending time with the Cycling Club and Bike Maintenance Workshop each week. This is a new project that will promote cycling as an accessible means of transportation, encourage inter-community partnership and provide useful job training for youth in the local community.

We have been short-listed in a funding competition hosted by Coca-Cola. This is where we need your help! Please visit http://www.coca-cola.ie/community/thank-you-fund/thank-you-fund-voting-form.html and log in via facebook. Scroll down to where you see 'Fortwilliam and Macrory Presbyterian Church' and vote for us!

We need to get as many votes as possible so please, please spread the word about this fantastic project!

Small victories

I've made it through my first week in Belfast!

After a week of running around, visiting sites and learning how to do even the simplest tasks in the city, we escaped to the country for the day on Saturday. We visited the Loughinisland churches, gorgeous ruins which range from the 13th to the 17th century, on our way to the beach at Murlough National Nature Reserve.

Loughinisland:

Murlough:

 

Toes in the Irish Sea!

Sunday was our first day in our congregations, and I had a lovely time. After the service, a few of us went out for pizza, then Claire took me for a wee dander about the City Centre (a dander is a bit of an aimless stroll). We had a lot of fun. I even kissed a fish!

Claire and the "Salmon of Knowledge"

I was glad to get home and have the opportunity to put a few things in order at our flat in the afternoon, though. It's amazing how just a few changes can make a fully-furnished apartment start to feel a bit more personal. Today and tomorrow will be our last for orientation, and I begin my full-time YAV-ness on Wednesday. It looks like my schedule will be pretty full, so I'm excited to get into the swing of things!

At our Stony Point orientation, we learned about celebrating the small victories whenever you enter a new culture. So here are a few things that I'm currently quite proud of:

• Any time I manage to lock or unlock my front door on the first try
• Getting on the bus and making it down to the PCI offices without incident this morning
• Cleaning and reorganizing the apartment yesterday afternoon
• Capturing that massive spider

Finishing up site tours

Today we visited the last of our placement sites for our time here in Belfast. First was David's congregation, Abbey Presbyterian in Monkstown. This is their first year with a YAV, and they plan to use this opportunity to work on outreach with local youth. Next was the site where Anna and I will split our time, The Vine Centre. Anna will work mostly with the advice centre and computer lab, and it seems I will be doing the toddler's group, lunch club and afterschools tutoring. I look forward to learning more about the vast array of programs they offer. Our last site was Whitehouse Presbyterian, which had quite a friendly group on hand to greet us. Their building was burned by a sectarian arson attack several years ago, and they have used the experience to build ecumenical bridges within the community.

Much to the chagrin of people from Belfast, most of the publicity about Northern Ireland involves the Troubles... even today. What isn't seen by the casual observer is the people throughout this city who do amazing things every day to make their communities better and stronger. I don't see how I can go through this year and see what I've seen and not be changed by it. I'm so glad to have the opportunity to work with these people for a year!

Fun fact of the day:

My computer has reverted to blogspot.co.uk. When I want things to be in the middle of the page, I have to "centre" it. 

Today, I saw Scotland.

After quite a heavy day yesterday, today was much more fun. We began at Kathryn's placement, East Belfast Mission - which is a large social outreach congregation. The energy there is amazing as they complete the finishing touches on a gorgeous new building. And we got to wear hard hats.

Doug and Kathryn prepare to tour the new Skainos site at EBM

After EBM, we toured Courtney's site at Garnerville Presbyterian, Beth's placement at Dundonald Methodist, and Grace's church at Regent Street Presbyterian. We rounded out the site visits with Grace's community site, the LINK Centre. All with some very, very cool programming.

I know that I'm just glossing past my fellow YAVs and their placements at this point for the sake of brevity. Once we've settled into our sites, we plan to do guest blogs with a little more detail. Hopefully this will give you a better sense of my Belfast family and the incredible work they will be doing this year.

After LINK, Doug took us up to the Scrabo tower to have a look over the city. The weather was clear enough that we could even see Scotland! We had a fantastic time scrambling over the rocks and frolicking in the grass (it is SO soft here)!

 

Fun fact of the day:
The people here seem to serve chocolate with everything - with tea / coffee or the end of each meal. I could really get used to this!

Getting real

Sorry you're getting these posts a little late, 

but I have a lot to process before I feel I can post these and really do them justice.

Today we started the days-long process of visiting everyone's sites. We started with my church, Fortwilliam and Macrory Presbyterian. The staff seems nice, and the building is gorgeous. I think I'll enjoy it there. We visit my community site, the Vine, on Friday.

After Fortwilliam and Macrory, we visited T.J.'s community site, the 174 Trust. It was very cool, and they treated us to a nice lunch. David's site, the WAVE Trauma Centre, was next. They were formed to work with those traumatized or bereaved by the Troubles in Northern Ireland, but have expanded their services somewhat since that time. It was our first real glimpse into the impact the Troubles have had on people's lives here.

We drove around the area to see some of the peace lines, famous in Belfast for their murals. The walls themselves separate unionist from nationalist neighborhoods, ensuring safety for those on the other side. The murals are used to show political loyalty, to express hope for the future, and memorialize events of the past or highlight perceived wrongs to members of the community.

This was followed by a trip to T.J.'s church, Woodvale Methodist, which is just off the Shankill Road, an area highly impacted by sectarian violence. His supervisor was very upfront with us about the troubles in the neighborhood, which began to make what we'd heard at WAVE feel much more 'real'.

We ended the day at the Bakers' house for dinner and a video taped from the BBC a few months ago about the Bloody Friday bombings in 1972. I've hesitated to post this video, but will include a link below for those interested in learning more. I will warn you that it can be quite emotional. Seeing the personal stories of these people really hit home the work that many of us would be doing in this area.



I know this may be new to many people back home. For those of you who might be worried for our safety, please don't. Doug has assured us that the most danger we're in here is to look the wrong way when we cross the street!

Fun fact of the day:
To add money to your pay-as-you-go phone is called "topping up".

You Guys, We're in Belfast!

This is the thought that I keep having (and often marveling out loud): "You guys, we live in Belfast!" ... to which Anna replied: "Put that in your blog and quote it." (So I did.)

You guys, we're in Belfast!

Everything they told us about the honeymooning phase and initial dopamine rush has proven to be true. Everything is charming ("look at those kids - they have accents!"), and when we went out for our inaugural Guinness this evening, T.J. made fast friends with an old man and his dog in a neighborhood bar.

Our flight was relatively uneventful, and we made it through customs, etc. without any problems. No one so much as lost a bag. The sun was even out to greet us! After a lovely lunch with Doug's family, we spent the rest of the afternoon trying not to fall asleep. Our flat is cute, and perfect for Anna and me. I'll post photos when I'm a bit more organized - as we were trying to unpack this evening, our neighbor-YAVs dragged us out to explore the neighborhood and enjoy the aforementioned Guinness.

Fun fact of the day:
All the plugs have on/off switches. Down is on.

2:02 / 7:02

written half-asleep on the plane, but had to wait for an internet connection to post:

It is late.

Or early, rather. We are somewhere over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and the sun is beginning to glow red over the horizon in front of me. The sky is still dark, other than the glowing band at the horizon, and stars are visible. Tiny little pinpricks in the sky.

Everyone on the plane is asleep, it seems, giving me a moment of peace amid the chaos of last week's orientation, which I fully expect to be continued into this week.

Anna just woke up, and I'm glad to share this moment with my flatmate before she turns her attention back to the glowing screen on the back of the seat in front of her.

There is so much to process. I don't think I'll be able to do it justice for some time to come. The fact that I will be arriving in Belfast in 2 hours is at once entirely frightening and so, so exciting. They've prepared us for culture shock. For the initial honeymoon phase followed by an inexplicable crash. Please be patient with me.

My placement coordinator, Lesley, has been in touch - excited to begin our year, but cautioning of wet weather and a heavy workload. On a side note: I love that my coordinators are named Lesley and Doug. Just 2 letters separate these from my parents' names. Somehow there is comfort there.

Such anticipation before we land. As my friends post pictures of their children's first days at school, I feel much like this is my new beginning. An excuse for new office supplies in a way (isn't that the best part of the first day at school?) I'm nervous. Will my new teachers like me? Will I succeed? But also excited for the failure I know I will experience, for it is there that I will find God.

I posted on facebook that this year, I will try my best to do good. When I can't do that, I will "be" good. While non-YAV's all took this as a half-hearted promise to stay out of pubs (ha!), my true meaning in this was that I will try my best and work hard in my placement. But when I can't "achieve" anything, or when times get tough, I will do my best to be. To be present for the kids I will serve. To be a good friend and flatmate. The YAV program is a ministry of presence, first and foremost, and this year I will do my best to be. Good.

Now David is awake. I'm happy to share this moment with my new friends.