It was a 'Grand' experience.....so it was!

...Gosh! My last day in Belfast!!! What an unexpected experience!
So crazy how things turned in the end and how i ended up in Belfast! I still can't believe my Irish luck!!! I've had such an inspiring time here and met soo many interesting people...artists, youthleaders, community workers, drunkards, spides, French, clowns, Natty Wailer (allegedly The Wailer from Bob Marley!), millies, performers, musicans, Gerry Adams, Kenyan, Polish, more drunk irish, x-prisoners, Orange band members, Sinn Fein members, Priests etc.....i'm forgetting soo many but u see what i mean....

Had a lovely goodbye lunch with my organization...They were soo nice! And am having dinner with my lovely housemates Amrita and Marc and will thereafter go partying into the night to say my goodbyes at the Spring and Airbrake 'Extraordinary Sensations'! Hopefully then be waking up in time to catch my easyjet flight 6771 arriving in Amsterdam at 12:35! So hopefully i see you there and otherwise really soooooooon! nI'll tell you all about it when i get home...so many spaces to fill....

...The sun is shining bright today in Belfast and i'm really going to miss it all!!!

Lovely Easter Spring with duck eggs and cute lambs in Gweedore!

Community Dialogue in Dundalk!

After a crazy friday night with rowdy Belfast youth and police confrontation (not sure of the content...but quite some sectarian chanting taking place!) on the streets and the wild owneresses of the Spuds kicking out a drunk customer with violent physical force....and a knife!:O (on red high heels and bleached blond hair might i add) i woke up really early saturday morning to catch my 6.50am train to Dundalk!
I was off to Dundalk for a residential organized by Community Dialogue who i had earlier contact with. They organize these residentials about once a month and get a cross-section of all communities to participate. Even though the emphasis was on dialogue this gave me a great opportunity to hear all the different views, as well as see the interaction between the communities take place.
It was a beautiful trainride to Dundalk (though i dozed off most of it;) and suddenly and quite unexpectantly to be honest, realised i was in Ireland haha (all the signs were in Gaelic) whilst i thought i would be on the edge off the Northern Irish border. But anyhow funny misunderstanding to find yourself in another 'country'. The only inconvienience was that i had no euros on me.
Anyway i was 1 and a half hours too early (cause the next train would arrive too late) and waited. We were in a sort of cconference hall and everyone trikkeld in and guess who decided to sit next to me? A Kenyan! haha....the only 'dark' man there and he was from Kenya and he knows Braeburn (the school i went to there!) Very cooincidentel as one would not easily bump into a Kenyan here.

Mediation Training at CTRC!

I just had my first day of mediation training! Its a training organised by the New Belfast org (NBCAI) for artists who will be working on cross community projects in the future! It's a 2 day course (next thursday) and is given by the Director/Mediator of the Conflict Trauma Resource Centre. I had initially asked to just observe the sessions but instead i was invited to participate! Yes!:) It's a great opportunity for me to take this training as well as have the insights of the artists involved and hear about the issues they have to deal with whilst working on community arts projects! A great focus group!
By the way i just discovered that the Director/Mediator is a former paramilitary and has served a life sentence in the Maze Prison for his activities as a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)! Interesting info to know after hand....ahum. No but seriously i wouldn't have imagined this at all! He's such a lovely man...soo calm and friendly...i guess people can change their paths and He's a living proof!
I really look forward to the next session!

Circus & Corrymeela

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Missing the first lecture!!!

I am supposed to be in room F-123 (W&N building, VU Amsterdam) at 13.30 today...but i am not!
As some of you may already know...i'm hanging around here in Belfast a 'wee' bit longer!;) Considering that i missed my first month of research (due to unforeseenable circumstances ahum...ref my first blog) i have been given extension on my stay here by the faculty...thankyou very much!:) Even though things have been going well for my research and i have obtained alot of information since i've been here i still feel i need some more time. I came here without any background info or specific research plan and just dove into it all! Basically i became very flexible...as i had to! I am really glad with these extra few weeks (still haven't pinpointed a date) and will use it to round up my research and get the focus necessary! However, this extra time here still puts me at a disadvantage to my fellowclassmates (timewise) and will miss many seminars etc.!
But what i feel i will miss most is not being there today to see everybody together and 'fresh' back from research!:( I wish i could be there to share the first meetings and experiences of everybody...!
But I'm sure Elena (my partner in crime;) will fill you in to many Belfast experiences too! Waved her goodbye yesterday early morning! It would be strange not having her around i'm sure...we lived together for 2 months! We had a good 'craic' together and it was good to be able to discuss the developments of our research with eachother as well as the 'natives'...hihihi!
So guys...keep some stories for me eh!;) Enjoy being back and watch out for the culture shock!!!;)