18 days LEFT...

The major parades and events begin tomorrow.


We have already experienced the marching on July 1 and the following Saturday, which seemed to be an impromptu "just for funsies" sort of affair. These events have given us a broader picture of the community, as everyone makes it out onto the streets, covered in Union Jacks head to toe, with food trucks, sweet stands, and Union Jack souvenirs lining the streets along the parade routes as well. For the 1st of July, it was determined that the PSNI (Police Service) would set up screens at the main location of the flag protests earlier this year. The result of this as the bands passed was a giant metal wall beside them, so that the adjacent community would have the sight of the bands shielded from them. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Even if giant bass drums are being slammed to the point of breaking drum heads......It truly is fascinating to see drum corps after drum corps and flute band after flute band travel by for about 45 minutes with their lodges of men, boys, and sometimes women and girls following behind (and the super cute old men who have to ride in cars). The tunes are rarely familiar to me, but I know they are songs of British and Protestant pride, played as loudly as possible in places so that the pride can be heard beyond walls.

And boy, can you hear it. Saturday's more informal parade was one of ear-splitting volume that moved down the Newtownards Road until nearly 11:00 at night. It is impossible to think of anything but the bands as the pass, since you can nearly feel your brain rattling in your head to the rhythm of the tunes.

Both the July 1 parade and that on Saturday seemed to be peaceful occasions, the first being dedicated to commemorate the Battle of the Somme, and the second...well, I have no clue what it was commemorating...but overall, they seemed to be joyous occasions without threat of violence from either side of the fence, literally. As we stood at the riot screens watching the parades pass, the bands stopped, and I was discretely advised "just be aware when the bands stop, that's when things will get thrown over...if anything happens, run that way." Later someone jokingly said, "always know your exits." This is real life now. The threat of danger is apparently entirely real, but you have to know your exits, know how to get away and get home. But nothing happened. Despite the fact that to have the screens up was a step backwards in the ideas of the peace process, both communities welcomed not seeing the other.

But the parade on Saturday is much larger, much longer, and has had regulations set down on it...resulting in anger... (to read all about it go here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23250221)

There are rumors flying that this could be a 12th of July that is taking multiple steps back in the peace process, while others say that because the 1st was peaceful, it set precedent for this event as well. While this is the hope, over 600 extra police force from throughout the UK are being called in as backup after last year's events, the upset of the Orange Order over a regulated parade route, and the flag protests earlier in the year.

My hope is that this day proves that peace is achievable, and despite upsets on both sides, that the ongoing conflicts will eventually resolve in time and through the communication between parties, communities, and particularly young people across Belfast and Northern Ireland. To see something really hopeful on that front watch Hannah Nelson's speech before President Obama's speech here in Belfast last month (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/g8/10124626/Belfast-schoolgirl-Hannah-Nelson-upstages-Barack-Obama.html).

Other than parade season, this is also holiday season for the community here. Everyone seems to be away at their caravans, and soaking up the sun here in Belfast and beyond as we have seen temperatures in the 70's (fahrenheit). This would've been very welcome last week when some of us traveled with the drop-in young people to Portrush on the north coast to go for a surf lesson. While we were being blasted with freezing cold rain that felt as if it had a good mix of hail we learned to get up on our surfboards laying on the beach, and welcomed the warmer water of the North Atlantic Ocean in comparison to the rain that felt like it could penetrate a wetsuit. Overall though, despite the cold, we had so much fun, and the kids were ranting about it all the way home...and yes, that's an hour and forty minute train ride. Tomorrow we take them down to a waterpark-Funtasia in Drogheda...down in the republic. International trips, now...haha. The summer stuff for the community kids has been going great. Now if only the people to participate in my piece of work for the congregation would not be on holiday and prove just as a successful summer venture for the church leadership. I'm keeping my hopes up that we can get all the procrastinators in at the last minute, and get a flood of responses to the survey right at the end of my time.

While the ones we have gotten in have proved interesting to read and see, some sadden me while others give me hope and give ideas for the future of this church family. These last two weeks that I have here may be filled with reading more interesting stories of this place...I hope they are. I want this place to thrive in the next year, and for the congregation and leadership to be spiritually renewed. I want them to feel the hope for the future alongside the city that they seek to provide hope for on a daily basis.


Other than that, some random thoughts:
- I'll be home in 30 days...WHAT?
- wetsuits and claustrophobia don't exactly mix...especially since they're like impossible to get out of!
- Barry's...a Northern Irish tradition, but really like a creepy carnival that sets up in mall parking lots in the States...but in a permanent building. Hilarious!
- As I shared the notion of Myrtle Beach as the "Redneck Riviera" with another leader, it was decided Portrush is the "Redneck Riviera" of Northern Ireland
- Yes, I will buy tons of bags of my favorite sweets here to take home with me...and by tons, I mean 7
- Never ask and American to paint Union Jacks on the faces of children...


Until later, and probably an update after the parades of the 12th...
Cheers!