Since being stationed in the town of Mindo for my service portion of SST, I’ve noticed a big cultural difference between U.S. Mennonites and Ecuadorian “Mindo-nites” – pun intended 🙂 approaches to life. There’s a palpable sense of serenity and...
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BelFAST!
Jun 12 2024
Just as the title implies, the day starts FAST! Alarms blare at 8 AM sharp to catch a quick breakfast. We assemble at 9 AM to depart on our usual 40-minute walk down the coast towards our bus, which departs at 10 AM. Time is of the essence on this journey towards Belfast, as we have a long day ahead. Off to the races we go! We arrive later than anticipated, and in a frantic panic, we rush towards our train, and hop on just in time. Destination: Belfast!
Our lovely bus driver, who is eager to take us on our first leg towards Belfast. We would later reconnect with her because she drove the last bus of the day back to Ballycastle! Photo by Rolando Lopez.
We arrive in Belfast roughly around 1 PM. The city is all hustle and bustle, a melting pot of cultures teeming with people! Our purpose in Belfast isn’t just to sightsee, however. We are there to experience the Belfast Book Festival, and to attend a 2 PM live recording of the radio show and podcast “Sunday Miscellany,” which has been a staple of Ireland’s national public broadcasting station, RTÉ, since 1968. This leaves us with very little time to explore, but nevertheless, we decide to run around the city in search of a souvenir shop.
Photo by Brenton Pham
Managed to take a quick snapshot of this old architecture right next to a modern skyscraper. –Rolando
The building in this picture really encapsulates the feeling of Belfast. –Rolando
Now regrouped with the rest of the class, we attend the sold-out live performance and recording of writers and musicians. The theme for the episode is “Ways of Seeing,” a reference to a classic BBC show and book of essays by writer and artist John Berger. The writers reading their work are mostly Irish (the class’s favorites are Jan Carson, Lucy Caldwell, John Toal, and Glenn Patterson), but a couple are American, including the poet Marie Howe. The stories, essays, and poems range in topic from getting thrown out of the Van Gogh museum, to graphic eye surgeries, to watching David Bowie on TV as a kid, to house hunting in Belfast. Each piece had a unique perspective, personality, and response to the prompt. And the musicians—Scott Flanigan, the band Trú, and a fiddle/guitar duo who weren’t on the program but who brought the house down—made half the audience cry as they sang along with the Scottish/Irish classic “Wild Mountain Thyme.” It was amazing to be there in person.
Hannah and Lindsey waiting for the show to start.
In the audience at the Cube, in the Crescent Arts Center, Belfast. Top row from left: Adriana, Brenton, Magaly, Liam, Mariana. Front fow from left: Lindsey, Hannah, Madeleine, Lydia, and Kiara. Back corner: Friesen.
The full stage of authors and musicians taking a bow. Photo by Rolando Lopez.
Like all good things, the trip sadly came to an end. We had to make our way straight from the performance to the train station to catch the 4 p.m. back to Ballycastle. Although the day had its moments of chaos, in the end, it was a wonderful day in Belfast, however brief, certainly a day to remember.
Caption: The road home. Photo by Rolando Lopez.
–Rolando Lopez and Brenton Pham
P.S. If you haven’t already, please wish a happy birthday to Lindsey Graber, who had her birthday on the Sunday of our Belfast trip; to Adriana Guevara, whose birthday was the day after on Monday; and to Mariana Vivanco and our leader Jessica Baldanzi, who already had their birthdays on our first day of travel! After Belfast, we planned a small birthday party complete with cake, gifts, and singing. Happy Birthday guys!
Kyle leads the class in singing “Happy Birthday” to the four bashful birthday people. From left: Lindsey, Mariana, Adriana, Jessica, and Kyle. Photo by Brenton Pham.