Today was a bit of a rough start for me... oops! I was super late to the first meeting of the day, the traffic was terrible and we went to the wrong place first, but no worries we got there eventually, sadly I did miss the first meeting. The rest of the group heard Judge George Connors speak about youth justice, I'm sure it was amazing! (like the rest of this trip). We then headed off to the Youth Conference Service. We heard from Martin McAnallan and Yvonne Adair. They spoke to us about restorative justice. It's an extremely interesting idea that I think all countries should attempt. Instead of immediately sending a child to prison, the mediators attempt to work with victims and perpetrators towards a better end. Apology notes, community service, etc... Mr. Hubbard was very interested in it and how he could apply it to our school!
We then headed off (wow I use that alot) to see the Community Restorative Justice, they are two groups, 1 Catholic, and 1 Protestant who similar to the Youth Conference spoke about restoring justice. Instead of working through the courts and police they are community members who are trusted to attempt to mediate problems. It was extremely interesting and informative (I have 2 pages of notes!)
Next we went to school!!!!!!!!! I never thought I would be happy to say that over spring break =). Probably one of my favorite parts of this trip is going to visit schools, its just so interesting. We started in a political studies class where they were learning the difference between the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews agreement, or if there was any difference at all. A little background The Good Friday agreement was established the Northern Ireland Assembly with devolved legislative powers and marked a deescalation of violence in The Troubles. It was signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998 (Good Friday) by the British and Irish governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. On 23 May 1998 the Agreement was endorsed by the voters of Northern Ireland in a referendum (thanks wikipedia for so nicely summing that up!) and the St. Andrews Agreement which was an agreement between the British and Irish Governments and the political parties in relation to the devolution of power to Northern Ireland. The agreement resulted from multi-party talks held in St Andrews in Fife, Scotland from 11 October to 13 October 2006, between the two governments and all the major parties in Northern Ireland, including the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin. It resulted in the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the formation (on 8 May 2007) of a new Northern Ireland Executive and a decision by Sinn Féin to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland, courts and rule of law (once again thanks Wiki!) We then went to an Irish class, we learned how to say my name is... and where we were from, sadly i can't remember how to say those anymore. Language isn't my talent but Evelina was amazing! Then at the end of the day we just got to sit down and talk to some seniors about their lives! Then.... I TOOK THE BUS HOME!!!! The school we went to was Kathy's so we took a double decker school bus home, as they say here, it was good craic!
For dinner I had some good ole fish and chips! They were so yummy and I was excited to eat this Irish staple. Ice skating followed dinner with all the TABU students and the host teens, it was so fun and so funny to see people attempt to ice skate, including me. We just talked for awhile after, always one of my favorite things to do! So I'm going to bed now... but wait! In Ireland they have these things called hot water bottles (My host family offered me one the first night and I was like no thank you... why would i want hot water?) Turns out its a big rubber jug/bag about the size of a pillow that you fill with hot water and put in your bed and it makes your bed toasty warm. I'm coming home with at least 100 they are so the best things ever!!! Now I'm going to get into my toasty bed =) and get ready to see Dublin tomorrow!!!!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday/Monday- Cari
Wow!!!!!! This has been the most amazing time of my life. So starting on Sunday which if you have read the other posts will already know it's a free day with the family! We had a wee bit of a sleep in and then headed of to St George's Market. If you have read Rique's post it's a place with food and and little shops. We walked around for about an hour and had lunch in the market. It was a good deal of craic (fun) We then went to the Irish Folk Museum! By far the most fun i've had. It's a little old time town with people working in the houses and telling you about things. Its pretty big and all outside and an amazing experience. Kathy and I went through the houses making up stories about people who could have lived their. That night we had a bbq at Paul's, everyone brought some food and we had so much to eat! (Tori made fantastic potatoes and didn't let anyone get away with out taking a plateful)
So Monday!!!!!!!!!!! Today was another fantastic day, we started with the reception at the Lord Mayor's Office in city hall. It was such an honor to meet him and he was such an interesting man to talk to. He was wearing this 14 pound solid 18 karat gold necklace, absolutely breathtaking. About halfway through the meeting Rachel and I suddenly felt faint, we think it was from being in the corner, everyone was so nice and got us water. Before you know it we were back on our feet! After the meeting we had a tour of city hall. My favorite part was in the center of the 2nd floor was a giant hole that showed you the first floor, another beautiful piece of architecture.
After the tour we spoke with a Jewish member of the Rotary Club, it was interesting, but a bit sad for me because of how little the Jewish population is in NI, only about 50 people. We then had lunch with the wonderful Rotary Club! The food and company were exceptional. We also each had to give a small speech, I was so nervous and soo lucky that I got to go first! (sarcasm on the last part) The speech ended up being fine, I talked about the SOS bus and why I had applied for TABU, each person talked about a different part of the trip.
Then we headed to hear a talk from Sean O'Baoill. He talked about mediating the problems. We had a very interesting start to the talk where he tried to guess if we were Protestant or Catholic, he then guessed. His point was you can't always know, but his problem was most of us were Jewish =)! His speech continued to talk about his work in the conflict
Tonight we went bowling with the Roteracts (I hope I spelled that right), they are Rotary University students, also along came the host teens. It was a night full of fun, similar to every night. I obviously beat everyone in bowling... yah right. Jacob Humerick won my lane, he is kind of an amazing bowler. Then we had some pizza and played arcade games! It was another great day in Ireland =)
-Cari Kraus
So Monday!!!!!!!!!!! Today was another fantastic day, we started with the reception at the Lord Mayor's Office in city hall. It was such an honor to meet him and he was such an interesting man to talk to. He was wearing this 14 pound solid 18 karat gold necklace, absolutely breathtaking. About halfway through the meeting Rachel and I suddenly felt faint, we think it was from being in the corner, everyone was so nice and got us water. Before you know it we were back on our feet! After the meeting we had a tour of city hall. My favorite part was in the center of the 2nd floor was a giant hole that showed you the first floor, another beautiful piece of architecture.
After the tour we spoke with a Jewish member of the Rotary Club, it was interesting, but a bit sad for me because of how little the Jewish population is in NI, only about 50 people. We then had lunch with the wonderful Rotary Club! The food and company were exceptional. We also each had to give a small speech, I was so nervous and soo lucky that I got to go first! (sarcasm on the last part) The speech ended up being fine, I talked about the SOS bus and why I had applied for TABU, each person talked about a different part of the trip.
Then we headed to hear a talk from Sean O'Baoill. He talked about mediating the problems. We had a very interesting start to the talk where he tried to guess if we were Protestant or Catholic, he then guessed. His point was you can't always know, but his problem was most of us were Jewish =)! His speech continued to talk about his work in the conflict
Tonight we went bowling with the Roteracts (I hope I spelled that right), they are Rotary University students, also along came the host teens. It was a night full of fun, similar to every night. I obviously beat everyone in bowling... yah right. Jacob Humerick won my lane, he is kind of an amazing bowler. Then we had some pizza and played arcade games! It was another great day in Ireland =)
-Cari Kraus
Sunday, March 27, 2011
sun/sat
time to blog again about our irish adventures.
Yesterday we went to stroke city(look at the previous post if you dont understand). It was super sweet to get to see all the murals on the walls, especially the famous "you are now entering a free derry" mural. It's one thing to look at the murals from pictures and other things like that, but it's even better to see them in person. You can kind of feel the history of the place by looking at all the murals. After we took the bus ride to the giants causeway which I can sit here for hours and try explaining the beauty of the place, but in reality, pictures are better than words here, so take a look for yourself. Although I will say the hike up and the 162 steps was quite a killer...
Afterwards I went home to have some dinner. I had some guinness stew, mashed potatoes with some onion(its called cham I believe?) and some vegetables. Such a great dinner.
We headed to the SOS bus and relaxed there for a bit until the organizer of the program arrived and explained to use the significance of the program and what it stands for.
We were all a wee bit knackered after the day so we all called it quits early and went home to sleep
This morning was our free day to roam around and do basically whatever we wanted. I live near a park so my host family and I went for a walk. Sunny day once again. Afterwards, Tori and I went to St George's market which is in the downtown part of the city. There were many vintage vendors and a wide array of food available. We then went shopping near Victoria's Square. Got some souveniers for my family and a Celtic jersey for myself.
There was a barbecue at Paul Chambers house which turned out to be quite fun and relaxing. The food was great, although it was quite chilly after a while. We were all shattered after the night so it was time to leave and go to bed. The lord mayor and the Belfast Rotary Club tomorrow. Can't believe we've been here for 5 days already...
-riques
Afterwards I went home to have some dinner. I had some guinness stew, mashed potatoes with some onion(its called cham I believe?) and some vegetables. Such a great dinner.
We headed to the SOS bus and relaxed there for a bit until the organizer of the program arrived and explained to use the significance of the program and what it stands for.
We were all a wee bit knackered after the day so we all called it quits early and went home to sleep
This morning was our free day to roam around and do basically whatever we wanted. I live near a park so my host family and I went for a walk. Sunny day once again. Afterwards, Tori and I went to St George's market which is in the downtown part of the city. There were many vintage vendors and a wide array of food available. We then went shopping near Victoria's Square. Got some souveniers for my family and a Celtic jersey for myself.
There was a barbecue at Paul Chambers house which turned out to be quite fun and relaxing. The food was great, although it was quite chilly after a while. We were all shattered after the night so it was time to leave and go to bed. The lord mayor and the Belfast Rotary Club tomorrow. Can't believe we've been here for 5 days already...
-riques
Saturday and Sunday
We've all been lagging a wee bit in our posts...
Saturday was our 4th day here. We started out with a pretty long bus ride to Derry (stroke) Londonderry, which we have opt'd to call stroke city or Legenderry. When we got there we met a lovely man who served as our tour guide along the walls of the city. there is so much history in that city, starting way back in mid-evil ages. So, walking along the walls was really interesting, especially when we encountered a man and woman dressed in outfits that might have been popular in American colonial ages. We got pictures with them and found out they were actually in a play that took place at that time...they couldn't have been nicer.
Something that was very interesting about standing on top of the walls that surround stroke city was that looking over the wall on one side we would see the union jack flying, with murals dedicated to the UVF, and looking over onto the other side the Republic of Ireland flag was waving, and there was spray paint on the roofs of buildings that said RIRA (real IRA). The closeness (spacially) of the two communtities, and how different they are culturally was incredible to see.
After we toured the city via city walls we took the bus up to GIANTS CAUSEWAY!!!! In case you couldn't tell it was amazing, look up pictures if you've never been. basically, giants causeway is a natural rock formation on the coast of Northern Ireland. It's a major tourist attraction, so lots of people were there, but compared to normal it was pretty empty. We were able to run around on the rocks and attempt to jump from one big boulder to another. The weather was great too, and of course to view was beautiful. Overall our trip there was extremely successful, and we were very lucky to have the weather and views that we had.
After the causeway we got on the bus and took the long trip back into Belfast. Once there we split up to go home to our host families. The kids living in the "country side" stayed in town and shopped, the rest of us went home, had tea, and got ready for the SOS bus.
The SOS bus is a bus that sits outside The Odyssey at night for the purpose of helping people who are drunk, and usually disorderly, to sober up, get medical assistance (there tend to be fights), or have a place to sit if they need a break from the 3 night clubs there. Just before we got on the SOS bus to learn about it and see the functions, we walked around the bottom floor of the Odyssey for a little while. There are 3 night clubs, the most popular was "The Box". The line (or Q as they say here) was out the door and around 3 corners. Basically, people tend to get pretty badly drunk before going to the night clubs, and sometimes before people even get inside the club fights will break out. There are security guards to help stop that, and often times what they'll do is break up the fight and bring the people to the SOS bus to calm down or get a bandage or whatever. While we were on the bus though it was pretty early in the night, so we didn't see any problems like that. The general conclusion of the group - I believe - was that the philosophy and ideals of the bus were spot on, and it seems to be very successful, so more power to them.
Last thing we did on Saturday night was go to Kathy's house. We just hung out for a while, then we all went home and got a good night's sleep for Sunday.
Sunday: family day. We all did different things during the day, and at night most of the group met up for a barbecue at Paul's. I went up to Portrush with my host family, the McDowells. It's my "younger sister" Debbie's birthday today, so we were celebrating at her favorite restaurant for dinner. We also went to Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. It's only a little past Giant's Causeway, and it is what it sounds like -- a rope bridge. It was pretty scary going across the first time, but the second was much better. And, the views were spectacular. I wish I could upload my camera to this computer like Cari did, because I think everyone should be able to see what I saw. Anways, after dinner we came back home, had some tea and now were going to bed. I know I made Sunday's description much shorter than Saturday's, but it's only because I know that if I don't go to bed soon I won't wake up in time for tomorrow when we go to see the Lord Mayor, so 'till then.
-Rachel
Saturday was our 4th day here. We started out with a pretty long bus ride to Derry (stroke) Londonderry, which we have opt'd to call stroke city or Legenderry. When we got there we met a lovely man who served as our tour guide along the walls of the city. there is so much history in that city, starting way back in mid-evil ages. So, walking along the walls was really interesting, especially when we encountered a man and woman dressed in outfits that might have been popular in American colonial ages. We got pictures with them and found out they were actually in a play that took place at that time...they couldn't have been nicer.
Something that was very interesting about standing on top of the walls that surround stroke city was that looking over the wall on one side we would see the union jack flying, with murals dedicated to the UVF, and looking over onto the other side the Republic of Ireland flag was waving, and there was spray paint on the roofs of buildings that said RIRA (real IRA). The closeness (spacially) of the two communtities, and how different they are culturally was incredible to see.
After we toured the city via city walls we took the bus up to GIANTS CAUSEWAY!!!! In case you couldn't tell it was amazing, look up pictures if you've never been. basically, giants causeway is a natural rock formation on the coast of Northern Ireland. It's a major tourist attraction, so lots of people were there, but compared to normal it was pretty empty. We were able to run around on the rocks and attempt to jump from one big boulder to another. The weather was great too, and of course to view was beautiful. Overall our trip there was extremely successful, and we were very lucky to have the weather and views that we had.
After the causeway we got on the bus and took the long trip back into Belfast. Once there we split up to go home to our host families. The kids living in the "country side" stayed in town and shopped, the rest of us went home, had tea, and got ready for the SOS bus.
The SOS bus is a bus that sits outside The Odyssey at night for the purpose of helping people who are drunk, and usually disorderly, to sober up, get medical assistance (there tend to be fights), or have a place to sit if they need a break from the 3 night clubs there. Just before we got on the SOS bus to learn about it and see the functions, we walked around the bottom floor of the Odyssey for a little while. There are 3 night clubs, the most popular was "The Box". The line (or Q as they say here) was out the door and around 3 corners. Basically, people tend to get pretty badly drunk before going to the night clubs, and sometimes before people even get inside the club fights will break out. There are security guards to help stop that, and often times what they'll do is break up the fight and bring the people to the SOS bus to calm down or get a bandage or whatever. While we were on the bus though it was pretty early in the night, so we didn't see any problems like that. The general conclusion of the group - I believe - was that the philosophy and ideals of the bus were spot on, and it seems to be very successful, so more power to them.
Last thing we did on Saturday night was go to Kathy's house. We just hung out for a while, then we all went home and got a good night's sleep for Sunday.
Sunday: family day. We all did different things during the day, and at night most of the group met up for a barbecue at Paul's. I went up to Portrush with my host family, the McDowells. It's my "younger sister" Debbie's birthday today, so we were celebrating at her favorite restaurant for dinner. We also went to Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. It's only a little past Giant's Causeway, and it is what it sounds like -- a rope bridge. It was pretty scary going across the first time, but the second was much better. And, the views were spectacular. I wish I could upload my camera to this computer like Cari did, because I think everyone should be able to see what I saw. Anways, after dinner we came back home, had some tea and now were going to bed. I know I made Sunday's description much shorter than Saturday's, but it's only because I know that if I don't go to bed soon I won't wake up in time for tomorrow when we go to see the Lord Mayor, so 'till then.
-Rachel
Friday, March 25, 2011
day 3?
supppp. it was a chill morning today. Got to catch some extra much needed z's this morning since we didn't have to meet till 10. We went to the courts at Langaside today and go to see a very interesting case about a man who grew 15 plants of cannabis. Although I might add that the representative for the defendant completely lost the attention of the jury. He went on about how you can't possible prove "intent to supply" over and over again for half an hour. Kind of a weak argument if you ask me.
After Langaside we went to the high courts which dealt with more civil cases such as damage, etc. Those were interesting as well.
Best part of the day was when we visited the Hydebank Wood facility. It basically is a prison for young men and women. Compared to the American prison system, I felt like Hydebank was a lot more leniant in their policy. Many of the inmates had a lot of freedoms that prisoners in America wouldn't be able to have. Interesting to note the various differences that took place.
After Hydebank Wood, all the tabu kids and the hosts got together at Victoria Square for some dinner and shopping. We had a good time. Spent the rest of the night chilling at home with Tori. LONDONDERRY TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!! SUPER EXCITED!
-riques
After Langaside we went to the high courts which dealt with more civil cases such as damage, etc. Those were interesting as well.
Best part of the day was when we visited the Hydebank Wood facility. It basically is a prison for young men and women. Compared to the American prison system, I felt like Hydebank was a lot more leniant in their policy. Many of the inmates had a lot of freedoms that prisoners in America wouldn't be able to have. Interesting to note the various differences that took place.
After Hydebank Wood, all the tabu kids and the hosts got together at Victoria Square for some dinner and shopping. We had a good time. Spent the rest of the night chilling at home with Tori. LONDONDERRY TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!! SUPER EXCITED!
-riques
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Day 2- Cari Kraus
Today was another amazing day in Ireland! The weather was absolutely beautiful, no rain! We started the day off at the Belfast Royal Academy, we had a mini presentation about Northern Ireland. Before that we talked with some middle sixth students (equivalent to our seniors in High School, most school call this upper sixth but its a tradition to call it middle sixth at BRA). We had tea and biscuits and then had a quick tour of the school. It was beautiful, I wish HPHS could look even close to that. They said it close to 200 hundred years old! Then we were lucky enough to have a chance to sit in on some classes, I sat in on a third year (eight grade) chem class and then math class. Both were super interesting and it was cool to see them learning subjects we learned in America, Enrique even knew some of the math things (we ended up going to an middle sixth math class, as well as a third year)
After the tour we all hopped in cars and ate lunch, sandwiches and drove off to Storemount Castle, so many beautiful building in NI. Their we were fortunate enough to meet the First Minister and the Deputy Minister, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuiness. Rachel Sacks's Uncle had set this up for us. We took some picture and asked a few questions and then we headed to The Parliament Building. We had a speaker from the Education board who told us how government works, their are 108 MLA's which stands for Member of Legislation Assembly. We were able to see where they sit and discuess things. Such a funny thing, when voting on bills they do an oral vote (ays and no's) and then if their isn't a obvious majority the person in charge calls for a division on the house and then he sounds a bell that goes through the whole building, the others in the building have three minutes to get down and they split on the sides of the room to vote, and then someone goes around and counts. Very cool! and actually very similar to debate, one of our school activities. I gave the thank you after this, I know it's weird but I was nervous but it ended up being totally fine, even a bit fun!
We then went to the CIYSM a sports/ rugby club where we heard from Reverend Harold Good. He gave a speech called stepping stones and building blocks. It was super interesting and he played an amazing part in the conflict resolution. He was one of the two people in charge to note if the IRA had surrender (this word was not used because in the IRA army it is punishable by death to surrender your weapons) their weapons.
After the interesting speech we had some social time. We met the last three Ireland Teens who we hadn't meant, all of their names are Kathy (who I am staying with =]), Leancha (who Ari and Evelina are staying with), Paul (who Jacob is staying with), and Tori (who Enrique is staying with). Rachel is staying with someone who did not travel to Chicago but we all can't wait to meet her! After dinner we went back to our host families. Kathy and I just talked for a long time, I showed her some things about my life in Highland Park and vice versa, it's so interesting to hear about her life!!!
Can't Wait for Tomorrow,
Cari Kraus
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