wish my name were irish

this will be far from a complete post on northern ireland…but you’ll survive.

super oversimplified background information about northern ireland:  separate country from ireland.  still a part of the UK.  unionists (and most protestants) want northern ireland to remain a part of the UK.  republicans (and most catholics) want to be part of ireland.  they fought about this from like 1968-1994.  men in masks and ak47s running around the streets.  death squads.  internment.  almost anyone  you meet in northern ireland knows someone who died because of the conflict.

started my journey from suburban dublin being LATE (surprise surprise).  standing at my bus stop with a 45 lb backpack and already breaking a sweat, i realized that i was NOT going to make it to the train station on time if i took the €2 bus ride….and instead took the €25 cab ride (like $4 or $34ish).  in the cab, i listened to how the irish government guaranteed all the banks.  big deal apparently.  helped the irish economy a lot.

took the train to south armagh.  went on a bus tour in the rain where we got on and off the bus to look at piles of rock.  thrilling.  we saw a mini stonehenge (it’s older apparently) and the oldest stone in ireland with writing on it (oooooh!  ahhhhhhh!). saw the grave of some dude from braveheart (braveheart’s brother?) and the well where st. brigid was from (very important saint in ireland….it’s all about st. patrick and st. brigid).  we went to the two st. patrick’s cathedrals– one catholic and one protestant– which are both the respective irish captials for both faiths in ireland.

south armagh is actually interesting because it’s on the border of ireland and northern ireland, so it has seen a lot of conflict.  up until recently, the british army base dominated the local town square.  there were billboards in the town square about recent deaths (possibly linked to the ira).  pretty chilling.

fast forward through our first couple of meetings in belfast.  three of us get in a cab from our hostel to go to the local grocery store.  he drives to the first main road from the hostel and then stops the car on the side of the road and mutters something in his super thick belfast accent and takes the taxi sign off of the top of the car and puts it in the trunk.  apparently, the grocery store was located in a protestant area and he took the sign off because he didn’t want to be a catholic cab driver in a protestant area. because it was too dangerous.  WHAT?!

little background– most of the cabs in belfast are still run by the paramilitaries.  some are run by the local city council.  the drivers are all supposed to wear long sleeved shirts to cover their political tattoos.  so people in belfast can tell what kind of cab you’re in (catholic or protestant) by the cab company.  our tour guides (former prisoners) and the nonprofit people have all been telling us, “well the conflict is pretty much over, but we still have some work to do with ex-prisoners and truth recovery.”  but too risky for a catholic cab driver to go into a protestant area???? WHAT?!

tonight. we went to dan winter’s cottage, which is where the orange order was founded.  as far as i can tell, it’s like an irish protestant version of the american legion– the idea of brotherhood and tradition with the potential for extremism and discrimination.

tomorrow we’re going to ian paisley’s church.  he was (and still is) a very prominent politician and protestant leader in the conflict.

we also learned about the red hand of ulster– story time!  greatly simplified!   when these guys were in ships and being all imperialistic and explorer-like, the first man to set foot on the land was the founder or ruler of the area.  so in order to make sure he was first, a captain would cut off his hand and throw it onto shore so he would be first.  thus, the red hand of ulster.  also interesting– both sides in the conflict use the symbol in their propoganda.

in general, not a huge fan of belfast.  it was an industrial city that experienced huge economic decline and lots of violence– there are still murals all over the city depicting masked men with guns.  next week we go to corrymeela which is near giant’s causeway…apparently lovely landscape, etc.  we shall see. in belfast until thursday.

okay last bit.  saw how to lose friends and alienate people.  so funny.  but no one in the theater was laughing! and a british actor played the lead, so you can’t even say that they just didn’t get american humor.  so weird.