Celtic Tidings: Other things I've been up to...

I haven't actually posted in awhile about what I've been up to not work wise, so I thought I'd write about a few things. Two weeks ago, on Saturday I went to the Belfast Zoo with a family from Garnerville and Caroline. It was really fun and I enjoyed seeing the animals but more so just spending time with the family and their two kids and Caroline.

The zoo had a lot of animals and I wish I had the chance to take more photos, however, when you're holding two youngsters hands it's kind of hard. I was able to get a few photos though and mostly I took pictures of the view. But in the end I'd rather form a relationship than take photos of animals.

The zoo is on the side of Cavehill (the hill I previously climbed) and so the view is quite spectacular. The climb to get to certain animals is not so spectacular though, more so a good hike. But in the end completely worth it and a good bit of exercise as well. All in all I had a great time at the zoo.

After the zoo, Caroline took me to IKEA and we had lunch. Yes, you can eat at IKEA. I think perhaps I may be the only one that didn't know that but I had fish and chips ( I really need to break away from that every time I go out to eat but it's so good.) I also realized going to IKEA while trying to live simply on a minimal budget is not a good idea because I wanted to buy just about everything. But it was really fun to look and dream about what I could buy later on in life.

That night some of the girls and I decided to see a movie and do something like what we could do back home. So we went and saw The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It was probably my favorite book my freshman year of high school so it was really great to see it on the big screen.

I was really happy because the author of the book also wrote the screenplay and directed the movie so it was incredibly close to the book. It was also just really nice to go and see a movie since that's something I would have done just about every other weekend in the States. It brought on a sense of normalcy and was a perfect ending to the day.

Skipping forward to Monday, since Doug was out of town some of the YAVs met in the City Centre at the Crown Liquor Saloon. I thought it would be a good chance to go there because it is a famous bar and I figured that a Monday afternoon would not be busy. And lucky for us, it wasn't. So we had the delight of being able to sit and enjoy lunch together in a "snug" (the seats are enclosed and you can shut the door to your area to make it more private.)

Now, if we flash forward to this weekend, I've enjoyed the St. George's Market . It's a great market that is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to about 3 p.m. Now I find it funny that I have now been to a market in Belfast, yet have never gone to the Farmer's Market in Des Moines.

The St. George's Market has lots of vendors with tshirts, jumpers, photography, jewelry, and food to say the least. I had a delicious crepe and an Ulster Fry. I'm excited to go back and perhaps buy some presents for people back home. I did get a keychain though for myself this time that is a sheep with actual wool on it.