Guest Blogger: Alex Brase

I thought I'd switch up my blog a little bit and have a guest blogger. So my fiance Alex, has written a blog about his time here in March. Here is the first part of his blog.

As many of the readers here know, I’m Courtney’s better half… They always say start with a joke. So Courtney has asked me to take a little of the typing outta her fingers and have me share what we were up to for the two weeks I visited. I’ll just jump right in and give you a day by day breakdown of everything we did.  

Saturday March 9, 2013: 

I arrived in Belfast at 9am (4am my time). I am greeted at the airport by Caroline and Courtney! The trip is already amazing in my eyes because I finally get to see Courtney for the first time in seven long months. I am also welcomed to Belfast by the weather. Cold, windy, and light rain! Better than the snow I’d just come from, but not by much. After getting checked in at the hotel and taking a second to unpack a little, Courtney and I head to the city center for lunch at St. George’s Market. 

Courtney has talked about St. George’s Market in the past but just as a reminder, it’s a farmer’s market in the city center that on Saturdays focuses on arts and crafts. We don’t get long here until we are picked up by Desi from Courtney’s church to give us a driving tour of Belfast. Desi was an excellent guide and took me all around Belfast showing me many historical sites. The things that stood out the most from the tour were the walls separating certain communities and the murals. It was a lot to take in during my first day and it didn’t help that I was jet lagged. 

Many people asked what I thought of the murals. It’s really hard to describe the murals because there really isn’t anything like them over here in the states. A lot of the murals are very intimidating and remind you of the culture and history of Belfast. Many of the murals remind you of things that shouldn’t be forgotten but they also make it hard to move on, so I have mixed feelings on them. After the tour, Courtney and I went over to her house and I got to see it for the first time in person. I had already been given the Skype tour but it’s just not the same. We proceed to go to dinner with Beth at a restaurant down the street from Courtney called Ace’s. After dinner Courtney introduced me to a show over in Northern Ireland call Miranda. I did find the show quite funny and entertaining but at this point I was getting very tired and the jet lag was getting to me. 

C.S. Lewi's house (on Desi's Tour)

St. George's Market

Sunday March 10, 2013:

After a rejuvenating night’s sleep and feeling recovered from the traveling, Courtney and I got ready for church at Garnerville.  I finally got to put a face to many of the names I had heard about from Courtney. It was a little overwhelming being introduced to so many different people in under an hour but I think I learned many of their names by the end of trip. After church, Courtney and I went to Leonora’s for a wonderful home cooked lunch. By the end of the trip, I realized that Courtney would never go hungry over in Northern Ireland because the people at Garnerville were keeping her well-fed. After lunch we went to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. 

This reminded me a lot of Living History Farms in Des Moines, but Northern Ireland style. It was here that I first noticed that Courtney was starting to pick up a sort of Northern Ireland way of talking. When the blacksmith asked where we were from and Courtney responded Iowa, he proceeded to ask if that’s what she was from originally. I think Courtney enjoyed this because I could definitely tell throughout the trip that she was indeed picking up a slight Northern Irish way of talking. After the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, we proceeded to head back to Garnerville for a Celtic knot workshop. Åsa, Peter’s wife, led the workshop and taught us how to draw Celtic knots and how we could use them as a way to meditate or pray. Some people’s artwork turned out better than others. I don’t want to brag but I was referred to as the star pupil. 

Celtic knots from the workshop

Celtic knots from the workshop

Ulster Folk and Transport Museum

Ulster Folk and Transport Museum

Monday March 11, 2013:

Monday was another jam packed day. We started off the day with lunch at the Crown Liquor Saloon with Beth, David, Tricia, and one of Tricia’s friends. The Crown was a very beautiful and fancy pub. I wish there were more places that had the secluded booths that the Crown had. I loved how you can separate yourself from the noise and focus on your conversations. Even though it was only lunch time, I ordered a pint of Guinness. People always say the Guinness is better over there and I will defiantly agree. I am not a huge fan of Guinness in the states but I could see myself enjoying Guinness more if every pint I had here tasted like it did there. After lunch Tricia, David, Courtney, and I headed to North Belfast to see where the other YAVs lived and to hike up Cavehill. The hike up Cavehill was a bunch of fun. I got to see a castle that seemed like it was dedicated to cats, have a bunch of conversations on the way up, pet a group of friendly horses, and get some well-needed exercise. 

The view from the top was absolutely amazing and makes me wish I lived in a place that wasn’t so flat. Despite being freezing and windy at the top, it was wonderful to sit back and take a look at the beautiful landscape. The trek down was equally exciting as the hike up. We decided to take a different route down the hill through the trees to get out of the wind. This route was definitely less windy but also much more difficult than the way up. I found it fun while the ladies in the group may have been a little worried about staying on their feet. After making it down the hill safely with only minor falls along the way, we grabbed a bite to eat and continued on to the East Belfast Icebowl for bowling with some church members from Garnerville. Bowling was a bunch of fun and allowed me to spend some time getting to know the people at Courtney’s church. Courtney is truly surrounded by some wonderful people over in Belfast! 

Cavehill

Cavehill

Cavehill

Belfast Castle

Belfast Castle

Belfast Castle

Crown Liquor Saloon

Belfast Castle

Tuesday March 12, 2013:

Tuesday started with Child’s Play at Garnerville. I got to see Courtney in action and see how she has really made an impact on the mums and tots that attend Child’s play. The kids loved to have her around and play games with her. I could tell their mums were happy to have Courtney there to help entertain their children. After Child’s Play, Courtney and I had lunch with Peter. I really enjoyed getting to know someone that has had such an influential impact on Courtney over the past year. It helps explain some of the things I had only heard of from Courtney before visiting. 

Next was the Newspaper Club at Knocknagony Primary School. I believe this was one of the last meetings and the kids were busy practicing for their school play. It was good to see the finished product and see how Courtney has applied her technical skills to the Newspaper club. Those kids had a very professional looking Newspaper! That night we had dinner at the Dyer’s house. At this point, I was starting to realize how much home cooked meals we had and I loved it! Nothing beats a home cooked meal and getting to know a wonderful family that is taking great care of your fiancée! I really enjoyed following Courtney around on her normal work schedule and getting to see some of the activities Courtney was involved with. I think I enjoyed these days the most since it gave me a closer look into the life that Courtney lives over here. 

Wednesday March 13, 2013:

We started Wednesday early by jumping on a bus with the Mums and Tots group and heading to the Belfast Zoo on the side of Cave Hill. Some of the mums and tots attended Child’s Play the day before so it was good to see the children again. The Belfast Zoo is a difficult place to take a group of children due to all the hills so it was interesting to see the children’s reactions. One minute the kids would be bored of walking, the next they would be wide eyed with excitement looking at a bear. 

Then they would start crying because we couldn’t stay all day at the bear exhibit and the next minute be running over to the playground climbing up the slide. It was a fun and a little exhausting but well worth the trip to the Belfast Zoo. For lunch, we attended the Garnerville Friendly Club. After a soup and sandwich lunch, we were entertained by some lovely Johnny Cash and Traditional Irish music. Wednesday ended with another wonderful home cooked meal at the Clarke’s house. The Clarke’s were another wonderful family from Garnerville that has been looking after my Courtney! Wow, there are a lot a wonderful people taking care of Courtney!

    

Belfast Zoo