the wheel

tonight i went on the big huge wheel in the middle of city center. it was fantastic. m, m and h came with, and it was an amazing view. the christmas lights were beautiful, you could see out to stormont in east belfast, and right down on top of the market. so fun. i think i may go again after the holidays for a daytime view.

also had our afterschools christmas trips yesterday and today. we took the older ones ice skating last night, which was good fun. it does a lot for the ego when a kid calls your name and asks to skate holding your hand. today we went to a garden center a big outside of belfast, and they had a christmas trail that led to santa, and then to reindeer, ducks, goats, sheep and llamas. the kids each got an apple and a book. it was a good trail, but it was a bit hectic keeping everyone together...

so that's us done with afterschools for december. we'll have some cleanup this week and several big youth events. all of these parties and outings are good for the christmas spirit.

days like today

on days like today, we wonder why we sometimes struggle with youth work. we think that working with yp is the best thing in the world. we are willing to forget the events that went down in the worst ever books. we genuinely enjoy spending time with yp and i think that, maybe, on days like today, youth workers and yp walk away with equal amounts of satisfaction.

at the start there were four of them and five of us. we sped through the program and they were actually complimentary about the program we had been running the last four months. four more of them came during the open club time and the mood was light, stress-free and fun. they asked us to play basketball with them, a game of pool (and happily teased us when they saw how bad we were...). we laughed, joked, sang. no discipline was necessary, the craic was good.


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H sent me an email tonight of her thinking aloud about her future. I thought I would share my reply, and open up the floor for suggestions:

"i like and identify with your random thoughts. the thought of having to look for a paying career related job makes me nauseous. i still dread the question "what do you want to be when you grow up?" uhhhm, me? A nice, normal person? someone better at reading the bible? unfortunately i do not want to be an astronaut or zoologist. i am jealous of my friends who are ALL going into nursing because it is a straight up skill that they can take anywhere...uva, alaska, africa. but alas, i do not want to be a nurse. i'm not into [shelving] yogurt, but [shelving] books is fine with me. the guy who is our interm director is super cool. he does freelance community relations work; people bring him in to facilitate their organization's retreats and planning sessions. he [occasionally] leads sessions on how to talk about controversial issues. that sounds like fun. i want to freelance, but i don't have anything to freelance....it is hard to even make up a job suited for oneself when i don't have a clue what i want to do or what i am good at."

Almost Royalty...

I hung out with the President of Ireland today.

OK, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but I did shake her hand and have a wee conversation about how lovely Virginia is (she and her husband have spent holidays there). She (Mary McAleese) came by FS for a bit as a part of our 10th anniversary celebrations. She shook our hands and spoke with the women's group for about 20 minutes and then came into the sanctuary and gave a 15-20 minute speech without notes. It was interesting, intelligent, unscripted and felt just like she was having a conversation with a room full of people. She talked a lot about the Wall as failure, and how she also envisioned a future without the wall and a shared island of friendly neighbors. She grew up in the Woodvale and went to school in Belfast, so it seemed as though she were really talking from the heart. She specifically addressed the kids and just appeared to be a super sassy cool woman (and her boots rocked). M was the photographer for the event, and he says he got a good shot of me chatting with her and her husband. I will post it when I get it!


Santa visited the afterschools today. Too cute. The kids were fabulous, asking all about his reindeer and how they fly and what they eat and where they've seen Santa. It was good fun.

Second Sunday of Advent

Clonard Monastery had a cross community carol sing service tonight. Three choirs singing fabulous choral music in a church unlike any I've seen. It was beautiful, with wood arches and tiny mosaic tiles the entire way up the walls. At the start of the service they turned out all of the lights, so there were just candles burning, and then they turned on the christmas lights up the posts and on the tree. There was a time for folks to bring gifts and place them up at the crib in the manger (toys and food for the community) and the line of people coming up was endless. It really felt like Christmas.

Yesterday was Megsfest 2007. It was pretty much fabulous. We met at the market (a bit disappointing for its billing as the "Christmas market") and then did some errands. Found the new Wickerman Store (this is exciting!), bought some "stinkin' " cough syrup, saw two of the yp I work with at their coffee shop jobs, bought a fab hat...rented three movies, got Indian take away, watched two movies (Because I Said So and The Holiday), played cards, sang karaoke, laughed A LOT.

New photos posted, check the link on the left!

I think one of the cool things about being in a new place for Christmas is that I really get to see which bits of tradition and celebration I seek out. Sadly, I have no motivation to make our home festive, since I'll be home to enjoy the decor at mom and dad's house, but I did get to put up and decorate the FS Christmas tree today. I hung garland and attempted to hang a few strands of Christmas lights. Last weekend a group of us went on the Christmas tour of Belfast Castle. Their decorations were scarce, and most of the castle/big house is now meeting rooms, but the views are amazing and it was nice to get geared up for a special event. Plus, there was complimentary tea, coffee and mince pies. After our tour we took over the courtyard for my Christmas photo shoot (in an attempt to get a "cute belfast photo") and then just went a bit nuts. It was good fun. Then on Sunday, 10 of us gathered at F's home to bake Christmas cookies. We had so many cookies, and they were all amazing. We rotated our cookies through the ovens and ate cookie dough and bumped elbows and watched Riverdance.

To top it off, tonight B had a concert for the Christian Firefighter's Association. It was mostly a carol sing, with bits of the Christmas scriptures and a brief Christmas message. It was a really refreshing night.

Yea for Christmas, more fun to come :)

Updated Top Ten Things I Love About Belfast

1. sitting in the front row of the top level of a double decker bus
2. in one day it can be rainy, sunny, partly cloudy, windy
3. they know how to wear their scarfs
4. chai lattes with tea AND coffee
5. knowing that i have friends in the little white house on black mountain that can be seen from everywhere in belfast and has the best view in all of belfast (even better than the castle)
6. photo shoots on the grounds of a castle/big house
7. the Secret Millionare tv program(me)
8. Brit Rock, Pop and Boy Bands
9. finally beginning to understand their language
10. complimentary coffee, tea and mince pies

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I'm not good with the word ironic, even though Mrs Nelson would cry to hear that. This seems ironic, let me if know that's true. Thanks.

Last night we had a facilitator in from NICEM (Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities). She did the island exercise with the yp: you have 20 character profiles and have to pick 12 to go to an island where they will live in isolation for 50 years as they start a new society. As I'm listening to various groups discuss, I hear a debate about bringing clergy. One yp says "yea, bring the clergy man because religion unites people together." The faciliator (also an American, but she's been in Belfast for several years) and I chuckle to hear that coming out of the mouth of a Catholic male living on an interface in Northern Ireland...