Highlights

It is all too easy to slack on writing once I skip a day/event, although, I suppose it's only been about a week since I last posted. Feels like much longer. So here are the highlights, minus deep thoughts:

Saturday, 4th August: St. George's Market, Belfast Pride Parade, City Hall Tour (it only took about four tries for me to make this tour happen...)




Sunday, 5th August: Checked out a new church. TONS of young people, good message (by a guest speaker), good worship (the guy who wrote "Days of Elijah" is their main leader, but in the states for the summer), but maybe a bit TOO much contemporary and nearly impossible to get to on a Sunday morning without a car.

Monday, 6th August: Saw Happily Never After with the wee ones. MUCH better than the Simpsons, which we saw last week (my apologies to any fans, but I truly thought it was awful).

Tuesday, 7th August; Hip Hop with the afterschools. So super. But those years of dance lessons sure don't show.

Wednesday, 8th August: Day trip on the train to Castle Rock with F, C, J and MS. We missed our first train...
played Uno on City Hall lawn

finally made it to Castle Rock

walked up the beach and coast to Massenden Temple and Downhill House. Amazing. (check out the link on the left for more photos)


Friday, 10th August: Belfast Hills Hike with C, F, R (visiting BVSer)


Saturday, 11th August: Day trip to Portaferry and Strandford (via bus) with R and N (visiting BVSers). These little towns are on the Ards Penninsula. By ferry they are 5 minutes apart, by car, 1.5 hours. We spent the day ducking the rain, sitting in coffee shops, eating the most amazing seafood chowder, crashing in the lobby of a hostel for a cup of tea and a sweet, following the walking tour guide. We got back to Belfast in time for AN's (another volunteer in Belfast) leaving do. We got drinks at a Maddon's pub while listening to Irish music and then began the hunt for a dance club that would let people in without id (since a few folks had left their's behind...) We ended up at Union Station, one of Belfast's premier gay bars, tunred it into our own little dance club, and rocked it. It was quite a night...it's nice to be a minority among ten Germans (three Americans) and eight guys (five girls).

Sunday, 12 August: Visited a church with a coworker. It was nice and very traditional. Again, a guest speaker, so I'll have to visit again when their new pastor is back from holiday.

Throw in a bit of work, a few episodes of Britain's Next Top Model, MANY Ultimate Uno games, two books (Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott- EXCELLENT, and The Pact, Jodi Picoult), lots of walking and public transport and that's my week. It's been super.