Belfast

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Note: it's really hard to find wifi. Will post pics later.





Just in case you didn't know, the Titanic was built in Belfast and just a few months ago the city opened a tribute to its workers and passengers. What we didn't know is that it took them 100 years to do this because the city was in mourning. Its people took every death personally.



You see it seems the people here take tremendous pride in their work --- whether it's herding sheep to riveting the hull of a ship to being the lord mayor. The successes and failures are a collective thing. There's plenty of debate over whose to blame for this and that, but when something goes wrong or right it's everyone's bit to own.



We were so incredibly lucky to be able to stay two nights with my friend Patrick. Getting to hang out with an old friend is cool enough on its own, but he also gets to work with folk who are involved with governing Northern Ireland. He mentioned our visit to Sammy, a member of Northern Ireland's seat of government, and Sammy set up a meeting with us and the Lord Mayor, which included a tour of City Hall. We didn't know how rare an opportunity this was until later when we mentioned it to a woman we chatted with in a cafe. In an instant we turned into "oh my god they must be important."



What this means is that we --- scraggly looking tourists --- sat in a smaller version of the Oval Office and had tea and biscuits with the man who oversees city functions. To say we felt sooooo out of place at first is an understatement. But Sammy and Gavin, the Lord Mayor (ew, we're on a first name basis now!), were so accommodating that it felt like we were just hanging out with two guys who love their city and its country. Sammy's family was involved with the making of the Titanic (way back when), and he now sits on the "Titanic Experience" board. His stories about Titanic's effects on the city were fascinating (and they made our tour later in the day that much more interesting). The Lord Mayor's family had a linen mill that was later bombed (I'm sorry I can't remember if it was during WWW II or the Troubles). Something new I learned is that linen was a major factor in Belfast, so much so that one of the Titanic exhibits was dedicated to "Linenopolis."



After tea, the Lord Mayor turned us over to Cindy, who gave us a fun tour of City Hall, which was built in the 1700s. This was no dull "and here you have" tours. She brought us to where all the action takes place and let us even try on the old ceremonial robes, which are worth more than my car, and sit on the Lord Mayor's chair. My students would never want to leave class if they had her as a history teacher. Again, she took such tremendous pride getting to share all of this with us. When our time ended, we felt like we were leaving good friends.



After checking out Titanic, the water docks and pumps, and the studio where a good chunk of Game of Thrones is filmed we found our way to Patrick's office, which just happens to be inside the former home of Titanic's engineer, so of course we got a tour of that too! Ericka may have drooled a bit because we also got to learn more about Northern Ireland's soccer (I mean football) history, which included the touching of some trophies.



I'm running out of time (and have probably written too much already), but Patrick also took us through a tour of the city's Peace Wall murals. First we drove through the Catholic side of town and learned a little about their perspective of the Troubles, and then we drove to the Protestant side and saw their side. At night the gates that divide both sides are closed, so you have to drive around to get to either side --- an extra step just to ensure peace continues. It's amazing to me that the Troubles even happened here. I cannot fathom how such welcoming, prideful, hard working, god-loving people can be so divided amongst themselves. But, then again, because there is such a loyal bond to their sense of place I guess I can get why both sides would fight so hard to have what they believe is rightfully there's.



The scars are visible on both sides and for many I'm sure the scabs are still fresh ( I wouldn't dare offend anyone by pretending to think I know what any of this truly means and feels like), and the city still has its problems (although as tourists we didn't get to see any of that). But, you can feel the pride in its rebirth. There is a lot of new being built --- including a community that has an honor system pantry and coffee shop and an upcoming nondenominational place of worship. Ancient and modern art grace just about every major intersection. In a way I think this must be similar to the way things were a century ago when they were building the Titanic. They're on the cusp of something grand, and whether it goes well or not it belongs to all of them.

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