EVS in Belfast
when 3 inches make you really happy
There’s the funniest little shop in Skegoneill; it has one glass and three metal walls. It’s filled with colorful items; it looks lively every time I pass by it. Seems like there’s always someone in, spending time chatting with the salesman or with the other customers. When the store is closed, you can’t even tell that it’s a shop. It’s positioned just next to the roundabout. It’s not a big roundabout; it’s actually a wee white circle on the wider part of the road. I’ve been passing by that roundabout for a few months now, and I always had to check the store. It looked so warm and, in a way domestic. I liked how people seem to like going there, it’s their local place. It wasn’t until yesterday that I found out that the roundabout is actually an interface.
New Lodge, Skegoneill, Mount Vernon, Cliftonville, and maybe some other nearby guests as well, spent their Thursday afternoon/evening on a joint Christmas event which took place next to the – roundabout.
There was a lantern parade – a wee dander from the roundabout to Antrim Road and back – with toddlers, young people, their parents and even a few dogs. They were all, except for the dogs, carrying simple, but effective homemade lanterns, following the car which was playing Christmas music. Toddlers seemed really enthusiastic about the walk and the lights, they weren’t cold even though it was a wee bit windy and they were out in the open for some time. Just as the parade was about to start, final touch of magic happened – it started to snow.
Some singing, some walking, some more singing, taking pictures with the Santa in his improvised house by the roundabout, some hot chocolate and warm soup..and some more snow later, after the event was over, they all slowly started to walk to some warmer places.
Youth workers, volunteers and other community active people gathered around in a community centre to celebrate the past year, share some thoughts about what they’ve done and what they hope to work on in the upcoming time. And, of course, to have some Christmas fun :)
It’s great that this year I didn’t get too much of Christmas spirit way too early as I usually do. Everything was timed perfectly. I’ll manage to stay in my ho-ho-ho mood until Christmas, without getting sick of all the lights and songs flashing from all sides. And it seems like it’s going to be, completely unexpected, a White Christmas after all.
Dry autumn months, white Christmas time.. and I’ve been told that I’m in Belfast :)
half a pint isn't a beer.
I'm not quite sure when night turns into day, because I'm privileged. All through this week I didn't have to get up early enough to find out about that cruel fact.
This weekend should be fun, one of our housemates who's doing his EVS in a hostel has a project in Newcastle (I just recently found out that NI also has Newcastle). 3 of us from Rushfield Mansion and 3 EVSers from Ravenhill House are gonna be in NI's Newcastle for two days, taking a part in some film project. I'm not sure what the theme of the film is, but I don't really care. We're doomed to do something outside Belfast „for a change“ :)
So, the weekend has officially started on Thursday. It didn't start brilliantly, though. I was supposed to meet a group of young people that I've been chasing around for quite some time now, and when I finally thought everything's settled, none of the young people showed up. Ah, nor did their Youth worker. So, once again, I enjoyed cool North Belfast breeze for half an hour before I decided to search for a warmer and happier place to spend my evening.
Tuesday's group was amazing. Boys were completely hyper, not productive as usual, but certainly more lively. After the session, I couldn't get rid of them. Even if they said that they wanted to finish the session a wee bit earlier then we usually do, when we were done, they found a million and one new way how to sneak back in the centre and hide inside, making me play hide-and-seek for almost half an hour. They were getting in through the back doors, unlocking them alternately, through the windows, hiding in different rooms.. this much cooperation wasn't demonstrated in any of our organised activities. I might make a team building activity modeled on their behaviour, I'm sure it would be a winner. And we got a new member! Again, for the second week in a row. I'm not sure what are the boys telling their mates about this project, but the group is growing rapidly. Will be fun when they merge with the other group – we might need to find a bigger community centre to fit them all in :)
Wednesday's St. Gerard's group was fun as well. Well, not my group, since they weren’t there, due to December's flues, choir practise, and who-knows-what.. I joined another group of young people who are in a process of making a film about theft. They are sooo amazing.. and I couldn't help but laugh. They were enjoying the acting part so much that they wanted to repeat the scenes over and over again, working on tiny details.. but when asked about the message of their film, they went mute. I do know that they discussed it prior to writing a script, but once they went into the characters, it was hard to pull them out of it and make them think for a bit. We slowly engaged in a discussion about who's all involved and how are people affected by the theft process, and their minds started to tick properly after few right questions. It was so fun to see them getting back into their own „role“. It looked like a waking up process. I know that, not so long ago, I would be annoyed if I had to do stuff in this slow motion, step by step, and that I would lose my temper easily, but now I just .. take my time to absorb the situation and all the details. Their „waking up“ from the character back to themselves was like a little metamorphosis. St. Gerard's isn't what I expected (feared) it to be. I do like those groups, I like how they make me think differently about some things, and how they help me see how a totality is made of different pieces which so brilliantly complement each other to make a masterpiece.
There's no time like right now (to learn, travel, love, enjoy, think, feel, express yourself, .. or get some sleep :) ).
Good night, where ever you are.
and what a treat it was..!
Every year Halloween is celebrated in more and more countries. People usually don't know what it’s all about. I'm not planning to play smart and start explaining it now, since everyone is perfectly capable of googleing it.
Everyone enjoys dressing up and becoming someone else for that one night. People don't try to find „deeper meaning“ in purpose of costumes, and that's perfectly fine. As long as you're having fun, forgetting whatever it is that you're trying to forget, celebrating the joy of life and letting your inner child to peak out. This year I was privileged to have a king tour for Halloween weekend.
Apparently it all starts few days before the event, and most of the schools here are closed during those days. Kids and young people have a chance to express themselves in various ways, not just through the costumes. On Thursday, the 24th, I went to see the Lantern Parade. Starting point was in Skagoneill, where I met my new group of young people. After we chatted for a while and agreed on the starting date and time of our „serious work“, Halloween madness officially started. We met with few other groups of toddlers, their parents, bunch of young people and the ceremony slowly started to move to Waterworks.
There were a lot of people everywhere, coming from all the sides. Everything what was happening for 2 previous weeks in Botanic Gardens during the Belfast Festival at Queen's moved to North Belfast. It was like a fairytale..fairies, mystical creatures, headless people, moon singers,... And a lot of kids' laughter. Fairy under a magical tree with her fairy dust, offering realisation of one wish to everyone, sprinkled me again with her dust. This time I didn't make a wish; I'm still waiting for the one I wished in the Botanic Gardens to come true :)
Lanterns were glowing all around the lake. There weren't many people without them. All the lanterns were handmade. And it wasn't until the end of the ceremony that I noticed that none of them were „beautiful“. Exhibition beautiful. All were .. different, unique and – completely simple. Most of them were made from stuff you can find in any kitchen, the total cost of making it was about 50p, and that's the cost of the light that was giving them life. Having such simple and cheap lanterns didn't make kids' joy any less. I was wondering would kids back home be equally happy with them, or they would want something more.. The fireworks started (almost) on time. It was really cute. Kids held their breaths, I didn't hear anyone talking during the entire event. You could only hear clapping of tiny hands from time to time and few whispers „mummy, did you see that one?“ or „this is class..“. I've seen more spectacular fireworks in Osijek 10ish years ago, I must say. But I didn't hear such applause at the end of it like I did now. I don't know if my perception changed that much or people here are just..happier with little things.
Friday, the 29th, was reserved for Dublin. Since I didn't find the city magical or breathtaking in any way, I'll just say that not a lot of people were wearing their Halloween costumes. Streets were filled with people all day/night long, but I don't think I saw many locals. I know for sure that I didn't hear a lot of locals. Students and tourists from all over the globe were everywhere; suits me right for going to the Temple bar. Next time I'm leaving tourist guides and maps hidden in the hostel room, and exploring the true city in search for some less popular places.
On Saturday, the 30th, I was back home! People in Belfast were all dressed up all day long. And the evening was amazing.. Botanic avenue was filled with various creatures from the fantasy world, fairytales, characters from big and small screen..and they were all radiant.
On the 31st, the last and the most important day of Halloween weekend, most of the EVSers (and friends) were in Derry. THE place to be on that day. It was freezing, but we laughed from the early morning. We took the morning train, and most of us were trying to put on some makeup and transform to some creatures in the train. Since there was a bunch of us, we occupied a part of the train, and we all transformed to kids. That's the way we were until we came back to Belfast. Derry really is..a place to be on October 31st. I'd recommend it to anyone who's still in doubt.
For all of you grown up, serious people out there – it’s ok to be a kid. At least once a year.
what is time
It takes me 30ish minutes to get to the office. It's quite a walk, and I love it in the morning. But when I'm going back home, it sometimes seems like there's no end to it. So, I imagined four „check points“. It's a mental construct which helps me to cut my walk in smaller pieces and make it seem shorter. First point is near St. George's Market, big crossroad approximately 10 min from the office. The next one (Carleton House) is 3 min further away. The third one is just above the railroad, from where you can see The Ormeau Bridge, which is the last check point.. There's also one optional, Centra, in case I forgot to buy something, but I don't count it as a check point since it's almost in my backyard. So, there you go! 30 min can just fly by, and what could be considered as a long walk, divided into few small fragments, really doesn’t seem that long.
When I first got here, I was moaning that I don't have a lot of work, I was bored. Now it's starting to get busier. By the end of next week, I'll be involved in working with 8 groups of young people. Oh yes..it's getting busy. And that makes me happy :)
Before that, I thought it would be nice to soak up this easy, slow time, with not so much work waiting to be done, and just relax. I took day off on Tuesday. I decided to spend a day completely selfishly, dedicate it to myself, in endless walks and doing all wee things I wanted to do for few weeks, but I somehow didn't find time. The day was great. Weather was, as expected by now, great. It was mostly sunny, but windy. Perfect combination. As I started my walk home (this time by Lagan, I'm trying to avoid 4-point route when I'm not on my way to/from work), it started to rain. Huge raindrops were falling on the trees, you could hear them even with people talking around you. People started to run to get some roof above their heads and escape the rain, and I found a shelter under some old, tall, perfectly green tree. I didn't even have time to finish my fag when the rain stopped and sun reappeared. Lagan was covered in bright sun rays, trees were full of raindrops which sparkled in the sun and the air was fresh. Over the Ormeau bridge, rainbow appeared. Well, rainbows are pretty usual here.. but this one was double.
I can't remember the last time I saw two rainbows at once.
Leeroy!
I don't get it. I never liked anything that's in between. But these Wednesdays are just special. A lot of nice/important stuff has happened on Wednesdays since I came here.
For example, I had my first group with young people on Wednesday. Girls I met few weeks earlier; it was nice to see them again. And it was great to start working outside the office! Girls are great, they talk really fast, with a strong accent, and then they wonder why I don't speak a lot. Well, it would be helpful if I could understand everything what they are saying.. but they do try to make it easier for me. If I remind them to slow down from time to time :) I like my first group. Hope the rest of them (other 5 groups) will be at least half this fun.
I went to a really nice coast trip. It was a few days long training which I already wrote about, and it began on Wednesday.
I got my first assignment at work on Wednesday. I could finally stop reading and start some actual work.
First time I took morning off to sleep in (because I had a group in the evening).
I went to my very first female football game on a Wednesday. NI v Croatia! We lost 3-1. Still, it was a good day..
I almost had the first pigeon in my room – which was scary. I was on Skype with a friend and I started to scream (feathery animals, pigeons especially, terrify me), she thought something awful was happening. Well, it actually was, but not life threatening, as, I'm sure, it sounded. Almost a fatal Wednesday!
And I've been here for only .. okok. I just opened my calendar to count how many Wednesdays I've been here for. And then I realized that I arrived here on.. yes! Wednesday. 4th August - Wednesday. Okies, that explains it. I wonder what all the Wednesdays-yet-to-come have prepared for me :)
This will be a free fall Wednesday. I decided not to have my rolling machine with me. I'm switching to hand rolling. No more backups.
once you pop, you can't stop
It really makes no difference if it’s Monday, Thursday or Saturday. I always wake up around half7-8. I didn’t think that I’d feel this one hour difference, but I actually do. This time, at the moment, suits my biorhythm. I might get used to it in some time and then I’ll again go to bed “late” and sleep in like I did back home, but for now it functions perfectly. It’s not too late to go to bed around 2, while it was late to go to sleep at 3. And it’s fine to get up at half7 (it’s a bit late to get up at half8), because you get enough time to do all your morning rituals to stop being morning-cranky and start a day before actually starting to work.
Fridays don’t have the same feeling. I used to look forward to the weekends, and each Friday was sooo special. I could feel it from the early morning..it was Friday! Now Friday is just the last day of the week. I’m not looking forward to spending time with my friends, getting my dog out for a torture-walk, recharging the batteries from exhausting week. I’m happy to have enough time to explore the city and places around it, but it somehow doesn’t feel the same. Maybe because I don’t get so emotional-tired at work. Maybe because I don’t have a lot of friends I want to spend time with. Maybe because my dog isn’t here. Maybe just because a lot of things here have a different feeling.
Today I woke up to another sunny morning. I don’t know what’s wrong with the weather.. I had my morning coffee in the back yard. Wearing a sleeveless shirt. It’s 11th of SEPTEMBER. After some time, we had a short rainy period, but I was determine that it’s not gonna mark my day as an autumn one. I decided to put my sunglasses on and ignore periodic rain during the day. And I enjoyed a walk in Botanic Gardens accompanied with a tour around Queens Quarters. Although, the kebab was .. way too much. I don’t think that I’ll get used to the amount of chips people here can consume, and how they find it convenient to serve it with any meal. I noticed that I didn’t use oil in any food that I prepared in a month. How more obvious could my organism beg for a reduction of greasy food? The day ended, as usual, with a wee party in our house (commonly known as “The Party House”; we’re trying to keep up with the reputation of former EVS occupiers of The Rushfield Mansion).
Few days ago, a guy stopped me in a street asking for directions. And I told him where he was supposed to go.
roar.
All over the city there are the cutest little houses made of red or brown brick. In the city itself, they lean to each other, giving the impression of community and support. As you move away from the city to the suburbs, houses are still the same, but they aren’t as close to each other. After some time, they get bigger. But still, most of them are made of that specific kind of brick. All of them have huge windows on the ground floor, which make it possible for the people inside to grab the sunlight. I like how houses everywhere up north have those windows, and how people are practical about some stuff. I think if they were in the south, that they all would have solar panels which would use the most of the large amount of the sun in the south. But we, in the south, don’t appreciate our nature-given treasures in the ways we should.
Anyway, we were going to the Zoo. It’s slightly outside the city, up on the hill. Nature is, again, really nice there. Entire Zoo is placed on a hill, and it requires a lot of walking to get from one animal department to the other. Not so much in length, but you’re almost climbing. The cages are rather big. The ambient made for the animals seems..well, it’s creative, clean, green. We saw a gorilla eating her lunch. She was just few inches away from the glass, and so were we (yes! on the other side!). Basically, she was sitting in the corner of the cage, maybe because she was trying to eat her lunch in peace and quiet away from the other gorillas, and there we were. Few inches away from her, staring at her. Exhibition piece.
Bears seemed satisfied in their garden. They were walking around, minding their own business, just being lazy, I guess. Sea lions have a big pool, with the island on one part. They were swimming, sunbathing, talking.. I’m pretty sure that they don’t even know what they are missing by being imprisoned in there. They might not feel deprived at all. But, is not knowing good enough of an excuse..? Is it easier just to stick our head into the sand and pretend that there’s nothing happening outside our little sandbox, just because we might feel deprived if we knew for other possibilities, for something different? Is easier always better?
They don’t have koalas in Belfast Zoo.
smoking as a social skill
Back home, I was working in the office. I had it to myself. I was listening to music when I didn’t have any clients, when I was dealing with the paperwork, writing stuff, correcting tests,.. when I wanted some company, I went to my colleagues' office and asked them if they wanted to go out for a smoke. I appreciated those moments we spent together, chatting about this and that, sometimes about work, and sometimes about the meaning of life. I always thought of smoking as a “social game”, especially at work. That was the time I stole for myself and my little pleasures. Now I work in an open office. I share it with 10ish other people. Where everyone is doing.. whatever it is that they are supposed to be doing. Sometimes they are doing it in complete silence, sometimes it’s pretty loud. Sometimes it’s quiet for a while, but it gets loud in a matter of seconds. It’s enough if someone asks a simple question, and everyone feels the need to jump into that talking space to contribute to killing the silence. Now I listen to music just to concentrate. And I go out to have a smoke, to steal some of the quiet time to myself and to gather my thoughts. I can’t say that I don’t like this kind of office. It’s just.. different. Maybe it requires some time to get adjusted. Oh, that must be it.. learning process has begun.
I learnt that smoking isn’t always a social game.
recycling time
I can't believe it's been a month since I came here. It just flew by.. a lot of stuff happened in this month, but this weekend is slow. Which I even enjoy, for a change. It's the first gray/rainy weekend in a month. Somehow that made us all a bit slow and chained to the house. Well, apart from one housemate, but hm, we're enjoying it :)
Yesterday, some time after Alessio came back home, Tobias got home from work and I was just finishing my morning coffee, spontaneously, we met in the living room. For some time, we've been talking about how our backyard is screaming and begging for a major cleaning up, and yesterday felt like a great time to do just that. Guys cleaned out huge stuff like chairs and bikes, then we got rid of the weeds and tiny annoying who-knows-what-not stuff. We took the first part of it to the recycling centre. Oh yes, up here it's normal to recycle everything. I'm pretty sure it's even your obligation, not just a matter of decision, but I'm not sure how high are the fines if someone just decides to behave like s/he's from Balkan. So I'm pretending that I'm not from there. And I'm behaving. According to the social rules here. I'm a good girl. Woof.
On our way back, we got first rain drops. Yes! It's September! Call me a weirdo, but I'm enjoying it. And it started to rain more heavily when we got back home. So, three of us smokers thought we deserve to have a smoke in the living room. Just as a prize for our hard work. While killing ourselves slowly, but still feeling like doing something useful (for a change), we started to clean the living room. I don't think it was cleaned this year (I hope only this year). Well, basic dusting and superficial cleaning was done every week, but not a proper cleaning up. After some time (non smoking housemate came back by then, but instead of nagging about our smoking in the living room, she just jumped in and gave us a hand - thank you a lot for that Nuria :) )..and a lot of separating of different kinds of useless stuff for recycling, we moved on to Harry Potter's room (yeye, the tiny room under the stairs..). After we were done, so was the rain. Second visit to recycling centre was interesting, with all those “vintage” stuff in our hands, and later on all over the street. Who could have thought that cleaning the house could be so much fun? We'll have to repeat it some time.
It's been a month.. A month. Recycling seemed fun. Well, cleaning up to be precise, but I like the sound of „recycling“ more. So I thought it might be fun to do some recycling of my own as well. I did a short mental review of everything that was happening since I arrived. A lot of new places, new customs, a lot of new people. A lot of alotofstuff. And I didn't stop even once to think about what's going on and how does it affect me. It all felt so natural, as everything is just the way it is supposed to be. There were some everyday thingies I had to get used to.. and I'm still trying to get used to :) but all in all, entire process of moving and starting a life in a new country/house with new/different people and getting around the office went smooth.
Could be cute to list some of the stuff that I found funny when I first got here. They use 2 separate water pipes in some places for cold and hot water, making it impossible to get wanted temperature of water in one stream, so you get either freezing water or you get burned, nice either way. There are no light switches inside the bathrooms, but there is a string. I've been told that it's regulated by their strict security and safety policy. To prevent people of touching anything connected to electricity while they have wet hands (yes, they do have towels; but they pronounce the word rather strange so they might not use them in a „normal“ way as well) or when there's a lot of moist in the air (and yes, they do have windows in most of the bathrooms). That's just one of their numerous (and I really do mean A LOT) safety rules. Other unusual thing in the house is how you have to pull the door knob up to the vertical position so you could lock the door.
The city is clean. Well, entire NI is pretty clean, no matter if it's an urban or rural area. There are trash bins everywhere, and people don't throw things around, not even cigarette ends. Fines are really high if you get caught littering (around £500). People are polite, always with a smile and a kind word. And they are really sociable. You can't sit anywhere longer then few minutes without having someone coming up to you and starting a conversation or just making a comment about something. By now I've met a lot of people who were in Croatia on their vacation :). They also have pretty dark sense of humour. Which I simply love! It's great to be yourself and joke like you usually do only among friends and people you know well.
Other unusual things here have some/a lot to do with the local weather. The grass is green. Really green, without any yellow-brown-any other colour areas in the meadows and lawns. And it's really, really soft. People usually walk on the grass even in city centre, without worrying if they will destroy it's perfect colour, texture and softness. Rain is also to blame for huge flowers. They have all the same kinds of flowers as we do in Croatia, but all of their flowers are BIGGER. Daisies are enormous. Clouds are fast. They run across the sky like they are in a hurry to get somewhere else, but I can't see why..it's so lovely here.
One thing that isn't really lovely is pretty lame organization of bus/train transportation. Bus lines are so random and weirdly organized that it's more practical just to rent a car if you want to get somewhere outside the city. Even in the city..everywhere you want to go to, you have to take 2 buses (except if you're living in the city centre), since all the bus lines start/end at the City Hall.
I've been around the city a lot by now, and I gotta say that there's so much more to Belfast and NI then the murals.
if you were a giant, could you reach Scotland from here?
Again on the north coast for few days, but this time in Bushmills. Cuteish little place, with few pubs, sweet hostel with bunk beds and 11 new EVSers. We spent 4 days together learning about what might happen during our EVS experience, sharing thoughts, expectations and having fun.
We had few really nice workshops. The most interesting one, for sure, was Irish tea party. Our trainers put a lot of effort in preparing it; we had a chance to taste traditional NI/Irish sweets, beverages, breads and other unusual stuff (like „tasty“ seaweed :x ). We learned a lot about some specific NI/Irish behaviours/traditions/special places/events/etc., and they didn't torture us with politics (thank you for that ;) ). We also learnt how to prepare the traditional stew; would be a shame not to abuse huge kitchen at the hostel which we could use. Another really nice learning activity took place in one posh pub – pub quiz! Apparently that's a tradition in pubs. We demonstrated poor knowledge about UK/NI/Ireland and still got rewarded with traditional drinks and sweets :). By the end of the training, our knowledge was significantly improved!
As a very productive and fast learning group, we had a lot of free time. What's more important, our trainer was at our service to fulfil every wish we had. So, we were taken to the Giant’s Causeway. Amazing place. Amazing landscape. I'm not sure what exactly happened to me here in NI. I never get so amazed by nature. I'm usually more impressed with urban areas, unusual buildings - human made stuff. But this place..this green island is..something else. Again, there were millions (yeye, I'm exaggerating, but almost a million!) of sheep and cows. Few horses as well. And a million (maybe even more) incredible rocks and stones (Giant's boot, hearth-shaped stones and some more funny-shaped ones). It's not just another beach with weird rocks, it makes you to stop and..well, not to think, but to turn your brain completely off. Just to stand there and soak up the beauty. Sunset on that place looks different then anywhere else.
And to behave adequately to our youth, we were also taken to Bushmills Distillery. I didn't like the whiskey. One part of distillery smells like honey, and that I did like ;)
No, it didn't all went great, it wasn't all pink. I think it was about time that something happens and puts some gray in these pink (ok, green) three weeks. I had a very first „fight“ with someone here. Again, conclusion is the same every single time – smoking kills. And if it doesn't kill you or your loved ones (in this case housemates or friends of your housemates) it certainly can kill the idyll. But, where there's a will, there's a way. I think that the way we chose wasn't the best one (ignoring the problem, and just pretending that nothing happened), but it served its purpose. Since I’m pretty sure that there will be few more chats on that subject, I don't have any doubt that some better solution will have to be found.
For our journey back to Belfast we decided to take a bus that goes along the coast. Although it takes 3 hours to get to Belfast, it's well worth every minute you spend on it. I think it's enough to say that I took approximately 200 photos of landscape and cute little houses (follow the link on the right to see some of them).
All in all, little cloud of smoke wasn't enough to ruin our on arrival training. I would still give it 4+.
