Getting to know Belfast

Guten tag! (Yes, I am now taking German).

Life has gotten very busy very quickly. At all times, I have a phenomenal amount of reading to do for my two modules: Research Methods in Anthropology and the Politics of Northern Ireland. On top of this, there are weekly seminars/paper presentations to attend at the Institute for Irish Studies--and then my weekly German class. I'm still undecided on whether to join the PEC (Physical Education Center) for rock climbing twice each week, and on top of this, I have been trying to get a good start on my dissertation research. Since the focus of my dissertation is still at its most basic, broadest stage, this involves a lot of snooping around, asking questions, and doing things that I've never done before--such as interview people!

I spent this Thursday walking the Falls Road with a friend. I saw the murals, the numerous monuments and memorials, the bilingual (English/Irish) street signs, the Irish shop names, the cultural center (Culturlann MacFeirste), the graves of the 1980's hunger strikers in Milltown Cemetery, the expanse of land on the outskirts of the cemetery that reportedly holds 11,000 unmarked (and, until recently, unconsecrated) graves of mostly infants, and the mass grave for 80,000 victims of the 1918 pandemic flu. We took lunch in the cultural center, where there is a neat little cafe as well as a little bookshop. Most books were in Irish, and a good amount of people in the cafe were Irish speakers.

Today, I undertook the first of what will probably be many interviews. This required that I buy a tiny little voice recorder, the size of a mobile phone, in order to have digital record of my interviews. I now get to go back and listen to it all, to analyse the information and improve my interview technique--currently nonexistent! It's a somewhat daunting task, especially because I get thrown off by my own voice--do I really sound like that?! But the interview seemed to go well, at least in terms of directing my research and reviewing the complexity of the situation within Northern Ireland and particularly within West Belfast--where almost everything is (or will be) analysed along sectarian lines, including me. I interviewed the Director for Mediation Northern Ireland, which organisation is involved in providing a platform for improved understanding amongst those caught in conflict situations, not simply in Northern Ireland but internationally as well. In future, I may number among its volunteers.

My room is littered with excessive sheets of paper and books at the moment. I have a blank wall to tack photos on, so send some across the pond if ever you get the time! As for my physical and mental states, rest assured: I am healthy and happy and give you all my best!