Here are some things I've done recently:
-Climbed a waterfal
-Biked through a national park
-Climbed part of a mountain
- Swam in a frigid but beautiful lake
-Gotten a free kayak ride from a friendly Irishman named Don
- Explored beautiful Belfast
- Met and enjoyed the company of the members of "Tricky Britches" a bluegrass busking band from Main
- Hung out a a pub where the live music included covers of "Hit me Baby One More Time" and "The Bear Necessities" with a guy from Belfast, one from Kentucky, and four girls from Georgia (state), France (x2), and Japan respectively. Following that ate fish and chips at a terrible chinese take-out place
- Saw my second rainbow and was put through and emotional rollercoaster of a day due to sporatic rain, bright sun, and hail. I have no idea what the weather is about here.
- Attended a Socialist Party meeting
After our day and a half in Kilarney Jasmine and I headed to Belfast where we stayed with a couch surfer buddy and his lovely mother. I have thoroughly been enjoying the sheer beauty of the countryside, the joy of live music and novelty of new places, however it was also really fascinating to be brought back to my interest in peacebuilding and politics while in Belfast. Be seeing the exhibit on The Troubles at the museum, as well as some of the murals in the Falls area and mostly through talking to our hosts Jasmine and I gained a much better understanding of what the conflict in Ireland was and to a degree is about. The family we were with was Catholic and the mother lived through all of the Troubles in the heart of Belfast. She works for Oxfam and has moved a lot. The first thing I noticed about her son, our host, was that he was wearing a "Palestine" bracelet. It's amazing the parallels and also the differences between the situations here. The international section of the murals I talked about earlier had two full murals dedicated to Palestine: one seemed more about the right to return and justice in general whereast the other was of Guernica and had a missile labeled "Gaza 2009" next to it.
I'm still very much mulling over all that I saw-- the hunger stikers, the role of the IRA, the deeper historical reasons for the conflict, etc. So I'm really not drawing in conclusions yet, but it's still fascinating and perhaps has some lessons that could be used.
For now I'm going to do laundry for the first time in a long time and then enjoy the comforts of being at a seaside home 10 minutes out of Dublin!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Galway!
I can't write anything in cool Irish script but regardless: I am in Galway!!
Since I last updated I was in Germany again, went to a rockin' pool with lots of stainless steel, had more delicious sausage and such, then headed off.
I left Germany at 5:58am on Wednesday morning. Three trains, one 16h ferry ride, and one RV ride later I met up with Jasmine in Dublin and we took one more tram ride and train ride to get to Galway around 8pm. It was a LONG trip. The RV I speak of came from a traveling-hippie-esqu couple that was in my reserved seat sleeping area on the ferry. I was antisocial the entire boat ride (mostly just reading " A Short History of Nearly everything", which is AMAZING) but finally decided to say hi my last hour as I was getting antsy and suspected I could get them to let me watch Always Sunny in Philadelphia (I'd heard the theme song the night before), turns out they couldn't, but they COULD drive me from Rosslare to Dublin and share their pasta meal in their camper. Which was epic. In return I let them listen to the Beatles off of my ipod. Good deal.
Galway has been fantastic so far. Our hostel is SO COOL (lets of colorful walls) and the city is lively, the bay beautiful and full of rocks, sand and BRIGHT green moss.
My favorite Ireland moment so far is coming up to one of the MANY buskers on the street who were tuning up (a punk rock band-ish busker group) and this little old man ina plaid vest walks up to them and asks " Can I sing 'I cant get no satisfaction'", the kids bemusedly agree, a small crowd gathers and this guy NAILS it. A very drunk couple (its 8pm keep in mind) start to dance, the woman in a leapard print coat, another very enthusiastic drunk man and many amused sober people rock along, and then it's over. A little plaid vest and surprising amount of talent shuffle away.
We walked by the same buskers an hour later and they were doing their rock thing...the old guy was better.
Ok that's it for now. Off to join the EMU group and see old Abbeys and such.
Peace!
Since I last updated I was in Germany again, went to a rockin' pool with lots of stainless steel, had more delicious sausage and such, then headed off.
I left Germany at 5:58am on Wednesday morning. Three trains, one 16h ferry ride, and one RV ride later I met up with Jasmine in Dublin and we took one more tram ride and train ride to get to Galway around 8pm. It was a LONG trip. The RV I speak of came from a traveling-hippie-esqu couple that was in my reserved seat sleeping area on the ferry. I was antisocial the entire boat ride (mostly just reading " A Short History of Nearly everything", which is AMAZING) but finally decided to say hi my last hour as I was getting antsy and suspected I could get them to let me watch Always Sunny in Philadelphia (I'd heard the theme song the night before), turns out they couldn't, but they COULD drive me from Rosslare to Dublin and share their pasta meal in their camper. Which was epic. In return I let them listen to the Beatles off of my ipod. Good deal.
Galway has been fantastic so far. Our hostel is SO COOL (lets of colorful walls) and the city is lively, the bay beautiful and full of rocks, sand and BRIGHT green moss.
My favorite Ireland moment so far is coming up to one of the MANY buskers on the street who were tuning up (a punk rock band-ish busker group) and this little old man ina plaid vest walks up to them and asks " Can I sing 'I cant get no satisfaction'", the kids bemusedly agree, a small crowd gathers and this guy NAILS it. A very drunk couple (its 8pm keep in mind) start to dance, the woman in a leapard print coat, another very enthusiastic drunk man and many amused sober people rock along, and then it's over. A little plaid vest and surprising amount of talent shuffle away.
We walked by the same buskers an hour later and they were doing their rock thing...the old guy was better.
Ok that's it for now. Off to join the EMU group and see old Abbeys and such.
Peace!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
When in Rome
First of all I'd like to apologize for all typos- Italian keyboards, like Italian traffic patterns, are a mystery to me.
Internet cafes have the unfortunate quality of costing money so let me just share a few things:
The city of Bern is beautiful, but more than anything, the two days we spent in Switzerland solidified for me the wonder of hospitality and Mennonite community worldwide. One phone call to a family listed on Mennonite Your Way led to our little band of four ( Phillip, Nils, Ingrid and myself) being treated to huge fluffy duvets, two epic breakfasts and wonderful cheese fondue. In general Switzerland stayed fairly true to the generalizations I tend to make about it: orderly, clean, and beautiful. Our full day out was spent in part hiking around lake Thun, oohing and aahing at the alpine beauty and in part walking through historic Bern to the bear pit. Mostly we walked around 9 miles and took a brief break to play "casino" for a while at a cafe.
Then we took a train to Rome. It rained the whole time we were on the train and has been mostly beautiful ever since. Except last night when we got caught in the most torrential downpour I've in in for a long long time. I was essentially wading up the flooded main street, turned down many an umbrella vendor's offer of 5 euro umbrellas and finally caved and bought one for 3 after Chris, our newly aquired Texan friend (he met us on our way through a park yesterday morning and has ended up hanging out with us every since. Interesting character, he's 24, has sold his first book and got a masters in criminology) seemed pained by my seeming obliviousness to the wet. Today we went to the beach and I realized if I have any home, it's the coast of land mass in general.
Ok, time to sign off. Chris also gave me a good synopsis of US news which I've been feeling hugely disconnected from. I'm suffering a bit from the constant guilt of not being helpful to the world or engaged in fighting for justice in any way, so for those of you who are, thank you. I'm sorry I'm being a slacker right now, I'll pick up the slack soon.
Much love
Internet cafes have the unfortunate quality of costing money so let me just share a few things:
The city of Bern is beautiful, but more than anything, the two days we spent in Switzerland solidified for me the wonder of hospitality and Mennonite community worldwide. One phone call to a family listed on Mennonite Your Way led to our little band of four ( Phillip, Nils, Ingrid and myself) being treated to huge fluffy duvets, two epic breakfasts and wonderful cheese fondue. In general Switzerland stayed fairly true to the generalizations I tend to make about it: orderly, clean, and beautiful. Our full day out was spent in part hiking around lake Thun, oohing and aahing at the alpine beauty and in part walking through historic Bern to the bear pit. Mostly we walked around 9 miles and took a brief break to play "casino" for a while at a cafe.
Then we took a train to Rome. It rained the whole time we were on the train and has been mostly beautiful ever since. Except last night when we got caught in the most torrential downpour I've in in for a long long time. I was essentially wading up the flooded main street, turned down many an umbrella vendor's offer of 5 euro umbrellas and finally caved and bought one for 3 after Chris, our newly aquired Texan friend (he met us on our way through a park yesterday morning and has ended up hanging out with us every since. Interesting character, he's 24, has sold his first book and got a masters in criminology) seemed pained by my seeming obliviousness to the wet. Today we went to the beach and I realized if I have any home, it's the coast of land mass in general.
Ok, time to sign off. Chris also gave me a good synopsis of US news which I've been feeling hugely disconnected from. I'm suffering a bit from the constant guilt of not being helpful to the world or engaged in fighting for justice in any way, so for those of you who are, thank you. I'm sorry I'm being a slacker right now, I'll pick up the slack soon.
Much love
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Guten tag!
Guten tag from Germany!
I arrived on the Old Continent on Thursday and have related strongly to the Avett Brothers' song " A lot of Movin'" ever since then. Since then I have had several interesting interactions/thoughts:
- My first night I asked my grandpa in broad terms "What's up in politics in France?" which led to a very interesting discussion about immigration and the benefits of the legality of Burka-wearing or not in France. It was interesting to see how the "us"/"them" mentality and fear of the other is prevalent even in the most "liberal" of societies. I was surprised to find myself siding, for the most part, with the US version of freedom of religion rather than the French concept of "laicite". Partly I think I just don't have a strong national identity of any kind. Partly my default stance these days tends to be on the side of the minority immigrants and that's a hard position to shake, as un-fond as I am of Burkas. Your thoughts on the relative value of being allowed to wear a Burka in public would be welcome!
- Highlight of Brussels ( I had a 2 hour layover in the train station) was going to a traditional brewery and tasting greik and rasberry beer before noon. It's also always a good time surprising people with my brilliant English after having them pretty well convinced I'm French. Also, Belgium waffles rock.
- Germany, so far, is essentially just REALLY GOOD FOOD and very similar family dynamics to my extended family in France. Yesterday we spent over 4 hours and 4 bottles of wine at the dinner table (which also included AMAZING chocolate mousse) and today we hiked in the woods (where I found a brilliant blue beetle), walked around a castle (where I remembered that I'm really not all that interested in tours or the history of places in general, so much as just exploring around) and then went to an adorable little German town by the Mosel river to get some sausage and more deliciousness. This mornings' wake-up call was stumbling out of my pitch black bedroom into the blinding light of day to be greeted with my friends' beaming grandma's "Guten morgen!!" and trying to mumble, politely, that it was indeed a guten morgen but that I was headed to the bathroom and also, I'm mostly blind right now, sorry.
Tomorrow we got to church (in German), and this evening we head to Bern.
I'm currently reading "A Geography of Bliss" which I highly recommend to anyone who wants a light, humorous travel book.
That's all for now, folks!
Peace,
Jess
I arrived on the Old Continent on Thursday and have related strongly to the Avett Brothers' song " A lot of Movin'" ever since then. Since then I have had several interesting interactions/thoughts:
- My first night I asked my grandpa in broad terms "What's up in politics in France?" which led to a very interesting discussion about immigration and the benefits of the legality of Burka-wearing or not in France. It was interesting to see how the "us"/"them" mentality and fear of the other is prevalent even in the most "liberal" of societies. I was surprised to find myself siding, for the most part, with the US version of freedom of religion rather than the French concept of "laicite". Partly I think I just don't have a strong national identity of any kind. Partly my default stance these days tends to be on the side of the minority immigrants and that's a hard position to shake, as un-fond as I am of Burkas. Your thoughts on the relative value of being allowed to wear a Burka in public would be welcome!
- Highlight of Brussels ( I had a 2 hour layover in the train station) was going to a traditional brewery and tasting greik and rasberry beer before noon. It's also always a good time surprising people with my brilliant English after having them pretty well convinced I'm French. Also, Belgium waffles rock.
- Germany, so far, is essentially just REALLY GOOD FOOD and very similar family dynamics to my extended family in France. Yesterday we spent over 4 hours and 4 bottles of wine at the dinner table (which also included AMAZING chocolate mousse) and today we hiked in the woods (where I found a brilliant blue beetle), walked around a castle (where I remembered that I'm really not all that interested in tours or the history of places in general, so much as just exploring around) and then went to an adorable little German town by the Mosel river to get some sausage and more deliciousness. This mornings' wake-up call was stumbling out of my pitch black bedroom into the blinding light of day to be greeted with my friends' beaming grandma's "Guten morgen!!" and trying to mumble, politely, that it was indeed a guten morgen but that I was headed to the bathroom and also, I'm mostly blind right now, sorry.
Tomorrow we got to church (in German), and this evening we head to Bern.
I'm currently reading "A Geography of Bliss" which I highly recommend to anyone who wants a light, humorous travel book.
That's all for now, folks!
Peace,
Jess
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