Oil Floats On Water

I'm so sorry I've been avoiding you

2008-05-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

It seems like I start every one of these things with an apology so here's another. I'm sorry. I am a terrible blogger. And its true my internet darlings that I have been avoiding you but for a good reason. It is really difficult/mildly painful to write one of these updates for me because I am not capable of carrying on a daily existence here and maintaining a mindset focus on back home. Its painful because every time I sit down to write on this thing it opens the flood gates for all the homesickness and loneliness that I can usually handle provided I don't think about it too much. But since the whole point of a blog is to think about things like that... So that's my reason for not doing very good at updating you lovely electronic people. But here are a few highlights from the past couple of months.

Oh and by the way if you go on Facebook and look at pictures of me, most of them were taken by my housemate Jess. She's a really diligent photographer to the point that I don't really take my camera anywhere anymore because she takes pictures of anything that I'd want to take pictures of and more. It also looks like all we do is drink... that really isn't the case... sorta... we just happen to take the most pictures while we're drinking so I dunno make your own conclusions I guess.

Ok so what have I been up to?

Well a few weeks back we (Jessica, Melissa, and myself) planned and executed a successful youth rally. Melissa did the music and the energizers, I spoke and did the Jesus/God bit. And Jessica planned the rest of everything which was a lot. The theme of the whole shebang was "We're all in this together" from High School Musical. I didn't pick this theme but it worked well. I spoke about unity in the body of Christ and I used a bicycle wheel as an example of perfect unity. We are just flimsy spokes, easily broken, by ourselves. But if we are anchored by a hub (Jesus) that we can center ourselves around, then we are much stronger together. It went really well and we had well over a hundred show up so it was good fun.

We also went on our final retreat as a YAV team to the Island of Iona in Scotland. It was quite trip. Our Ferry leaving Belfast was 40 minutes delayed which meant that we missed every connection for the rest of the day and what should have been a long 12 hour travel day turned into a really really long 36 hour travel. But after bumming about Glasgow for 4 hours, spending a night in Oban at an awesome hostel, begging a ride from the newspaper/vegetable delivery man on the Isle of Mull, and general travel awesomeness we arrived on Iona. Iona itself is beautiful. You could point your camera in just about any direction there and it would turn out looking like a postcard. We were staying in the Macleod Center which is the Iona Community's non-retreat center (they don't like calling it a retreat center even though it kind of is). Its a interesting way of having strangers live together. Every one does chores together everyday as an act of worshiping God which I am all for but I think that some of The Community's Ideas are a bit too systematic for organic community to really form. If you follow their guidelines then, yeah you get a sense of community which is good because not that many people get to experience community living these days. But we'd been living in (and struggling through) community this whole time so we sort of had our own brand of community making that didn't quite fit with the Iona system.

We attended the "Out and About" themed week. which was cool. One of the days we went to a local sheep farm that raised only black sheep. The rest of our group where only there for a short while before moving on the the next activity but myself and Daniel from Finland stayed behind and helped them tag and *gasp* castrate their new lambs. We also got to use the sheep-o-matic A machine in which you load a sheep and then flip it upside down to better clip their hooves. We also got to cuddle and feed the lambs who had been rejected by their mothers. You don't know what joy is until you are mobbed by ten little beings that are cuter and clumsier than every other baby animal rolled into one. That day spent working on the farm was by far the highlight of my week.

A bunch of other cool stuff happened two but I don't feel like typing it all out. I went on half of a really boggy pilgrimage around the island and then got sick and slept for 20 hours straight. I lead worship in the rebuilt 12th century benedictine abbey. I jumped all the way into the north atlantic ocean in just my underwear. BTW only some of these things were officially sanctioned by the Iona Community.

I have been bitching a lot since leaving Iona about religious tourism. I won't re-express the whole argument but I will say that I think it is dangerous to construct places like Iona as some how more holy than anywhere else. This sets us up with the mindset that we can't have profound religious experiences any where else but in these places. A few of the people who were rude to us in Iona had this attitude about them that they had paid their money and were impatient that God hadn't "moved" them or whatever and that made them be short with us because we were somehow interrupting their holy experience. I dunno it just seems a bit arrogant. If that didnt' make any sense let me know and I'll explain it to you.

I also ran 7 miles the other day in a marathon relay. Who knew? I HATE running. But I did it with only one stop in the middle to go to the toilet. yeah me.

Know that I am well and that I think of you often
Alex

This might end up a long one

2008-04-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since i last posted that I'm afraid this might turn out to be a long one. To make things easier I'll make a table of contents and then do bold headings so you can find you place again later.

In this issue we will cover:
St. Patrick's day
Easter
Manchester Holiday/ Track cycling world championships
1940s Dinner Party

Okie dokie here we go.

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY
Lot's of folks from home have asked me what St. Paddy's day was like here seeing as how it is an irish holiday and i am in ireland (well northern ireland). It was an interesting day to be sure. It is a big celebration like it is in the states but even more so. There was a parade in the morning (which I missed) and a free public concert (which i caught part of) all put on by the City. So lots of festivities and people having a good time. I also went to the schools final rugby match with Doug Baker (My PCUSA site coordinator), Mo (my housemate), and Craig (my housemate Jess's visiting little brother). Going to a rugby match isn't really traditional St. Pat's faire but a rugby game's always good fun. The schools final would be the equivalent of "The Big Game" of high school football. It was good fun.

St. Patrick's day in Northern Ireland specifically has another side to it though. Along with celebrating St. Patrick it is a time to celebrate being Irish which becomes tricky in a place where the community is very divided over what "being Irish" means. The Irish tricolor flag that we associate with St. Pat's doesn't officially represent Northern Ireland in any way. Northern Ireland has as its official flag the Union Jack flag because of being apart of the UK. Protestant/loyalist affiliated people here would fly the union jack as there flag generally. Catholic/republican affiliated folks, who desire a united Ireland, would consider the Tricolor their true flag. So what happens in a community that is at odds with itself over such an issue on a day when children are given Tricolor flags to wave and Belfast City Hall has to strike its Union Jack flag for the day to avoid trouble. There was a bit of rioting apparently on the day but the papers and news were quick to say that it wasn't sectarian necessarily but just mixer types starting fights and things escalating. The Police Service here is pretty well practiced in crowd control issues so nothing terribly out of hand took place.

Easter

I guess I will start with Good friday actually. The minister at my church, Dr. Rev. Lesley Carroll, is in a group called "dealing with the past" which is one of the parts of the peace process here so she is quite involved in the political side of things as well as the church side of things. In her Good friday sermon she talked about the political aspect of the death of Christ. The event was all about political power plays clandestine collusion, and violent acts which are all things that northern Irish people would understand as parts of their political reality for quite sometime. It gave new significance, for me, to the whole idea of Good Friday. I always sort of saw it as the day that you felt obligated to feel bad about jesus dying so that you could be guilt free excited to eat way too much candy and hunt for painted eggs. But there's definitely more. The Good Friday story and the story of Northern Ireland are both stories about what happens when politics lose their love. The Good friday story is redeemed in the resurrection and so too is Northern Ireland in the process of redemption and reconciliation, hopefully, through the resurrection as well.

Easter itself was another new one for me. Easter Sunday is not the big deal that we make it out to be in the states. there are no little children in their easter best. No elaborate decorations in the sanctuary. No special events They weren't even going to make my youth bible class stay in the service. It was just normal church. It wasn't the celebration I am used to. Especially in comparison to what i had recently seen on St. Patrick's Day.

But it wasn't to be all same old same old. I had been invited to an easter parade easter sunday afternoon by Pat the Groundskeeper at the 174 trust where i work. Pat is Catholic so I jumped at the chance to see what that would be like. I didn't really know what I was going to see. I thought that it might be a religious parade celebrating the resurrection. It could also be more of a secular easter thing with the bunny and eggs and facepainting maybe (I later found out that they don't have the Easter Bunny here or the tooth fairy!). I also knew of the 1916 Easter Rising which is an important event in the history of Modern ireland. (if you don't know about this go to wikipedia and type in 1916 Easter Rising that's what I had to do.) I sort of guessed, based in the neighborhood that we were going to, that the parade was going to be about the Rising. So it was a political parade, complete with people dressed as the the IRA soldiers would have been dressed in 1916, a procession of familly members carrying portraits of those who died in the troubles, civilian or otherwise. That was definitely different. There wasn't anything implicitly religious about the parade, it was completely historical and political, a commemoration. But whoever put the parade on definitely wanted the events of 1916 to be associated with Easter proper because not only did the rising not actually start until the monday after easter, but it is commemorated every year on easter sunday rather than the actual date of the rising. It is still quite difficult for me to put these two things together. To draw lines from christ conquering death to what happened in Ireland in 1916.

Manchester/track cycling world championships

On a lighter note, I took a bit of a holiday over easter week and made my way over to Manchester to watch some Velodrome bicycle racing. Manchester is a cool town although I didn't think so when i first got there. My hostel, becauase it was cheap cheap cheap, was in a rougher part of Manchester not that much unlike the bit of Belfast I was trying to get a break from. It is a college town though and as such has a bit more culture type things to do in its city centre. I found a few really funky little places to eat and poke about in which was cool. But mostly, almost all day I watched bicycles go around in circles. All totaled I watched about 30 hours of bicycle racing over 5 days and loved every minute of it. I've never really had a thing for sports before. Mild interest maybe but never have a been A FAN, you know? But with track cycling its different. For example take one of my favorite events , the scratch race. 160 laps around the track, 20 some odd riders at a time, first one across the line wins. The most simple of all the events and it takes about 45 minutes. You might think something like that would be boring but my heart was beating fast and hard for all 160 laps. It was great. here are a few pics.

Team Pursuit

Aliaksander Lisouski of Belarus who won gold in the scratch race and bronze in the omnium. he is currently my favorite cyclist along with Oksana Grishina of Russia

1940s Dinner party

This part happened just last night. We had a 1940s hollywood themed dinner party and I cooked for 15 people all by myself. I am actually quite proud of myself because the dishes I made turned out better than I hoped they would. I made chicken mole, yellow saffron rice, and balsamic bleu cheese salad with individual ice cream cakes made in empty beer cans. I attribute my skills in the kitchen to my mother who I would help when she throws parties at home. She's a smart and classy lady

well that's all from me for now

know that I am well and think of all of you often

just when I thought spring was coming...

2008-03-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

The weather has taken a turn for the worse again here. I just thought I'd share that. We had a few good days when it was up in the 50s and I thought we were in the clear but the rain and the wind are back and things are right back where they were a few weeks ago. I would just like to formally repent of my complaining about the weather in California ever. I will never ever put a sweatshirt on when it is 60 out again. I will, now and always forever and ever, make a point of going outside when ever it isn't raining because you never know when you are going to miss your opportunity.

Its funny really how much the weather plays a part in our lives. We consider talking about the weather just chit chat or idle talk but here things change so quickly that it is vital to collect as much info about the weather that you can.

I guess I just wanted to rant about the weather a wee bit. Thanks for humoring me. Alex

Donegal

2008-02-21T03:37:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a retreat to the northwest coast of Ireland in Donegal. If anyone out there is coming to ireland anytime soon, go there. Dublin's cool. Belfast is interesting. But Donegal was beautiful. Ill post some pics up here as I get them.

ok bye

in response to folk's questions

2008-02-21T03:19:00.000-08:00

Tons of you out there surfing the interweb have asked me to clarify a bit more about what I preached on. Here it is. The bible passages that I used were Jeremiah 17:5-11 and John 15:5-17. Figuring out what scripture to use was possibly the most difficult part because they don't really use a lectionary here. I used these to speak about the myth of individualism that we have created here on earth and how that stands in opposition to the dependence on God that sets us free way more than any earthly independence. I talked about the big statue of John Wayne at the Orange County Airport and how I always think of that statue as a sign of this worldly independence that we strive for even to our own detriment. The whole idea of the lone rider going off into the sunset being an ideal we want to fulfill.

But then in opposition to that I raised the point that it is only through a dependence on God that we can be truly free to live as we are created to live. The word "obey" is used in the John passage a few times and I talked about the difference between sending your dog to obedience school vs. Sending your child to school to illustrate the difference between using obediance to control (ie controling your dog so they don't destroy the house when you're away) and obediance as a means to set free (ie children learn in schools, hopefully, not to be controlled but to become truly independent). It is through first being dependent on a parent or teacher that we become independent adults.

The last example I used of someone being dependent and set free was my own being here at all. I am dependent on your financial support to be here which could be considered a drag if you don't know the whole story. The whole story is that I asked for money and you all sent me love and trust and prayers for free. In a way I am set free by the gift of dollars because they allow me the time and the means to do what I am doing but devoid from that love, I would just be getting paid. I am set free by your love and trust in me to give without any expectation of material return. Just think of how much more God loves us than that! He has given us everything, all of creation, and we depend on that, but it is the grace and love we have from him that sets us free to be alive as we are called.

That's pretty much all of it. If anyone wants the whole sermon text i can attatch it in an email if you shoot me line at ajrwirth@verizon.net.

Sermonizing to the masses

2008-02-17T15:08:00.000-08:00

I preached today in church and it went well. Well i guess it went well. I thought it went well. Just thought i'd let you know.

ok bye

Wow...

2008-01-20T17:00:00.000-08:00

... it is really hard to remember to write on this thing. Again, as I seem to do at the start of each of these, apologies for those of you who are actually trying to follow what I am doing. I am not making it very easy. What have I been doing. Much of the same really. I suppose the most trying thing has been dealing with the nasty weather. It snowed once even. I know I am such a pathetic california boy but I've never really been in proper falling snow. It was great. We had snowflakes the size of chicken feathers. I spent a really great night in our local pub, The John Hewit, sipping Guinness by a fire watching the snow come down outside. The next days, however, were not so great as the snow would melt a bit then refreeze then melt a bit. Absolutely dreadful for walking much less bike riding which is how I get around here.

But the snow is gone and we are left with harsh winds can just about knock you off your bicycle and rain that A) never seems to quit and B) seems to come at you from ever direction with a majority of it coming up at you from the ground. I didn't know this was possible, but apparently the rain drops here don't believe in gravity or the water cycle. Who knows?

My work is very very very tiring but starting to become rewarding. Things are happening and I am able to take part in things that are more... I guess significant is the best word but not exactly. Here's an example: Saturday nights i work at a youth club, which basically is a place for kids from the neighborhood to come on a night and blow off some steam where they won't have to be out on the streets. Running the youth club was sort of dropped in my lap when i got here it seems like because the woman who was running it moved to the states. I didn't ever really feel like I was running it because I was in so far over my head that I had a hard enough time remembering all the volunteers names much less plan events or what not for it. I tried my best to keep things going though and made up for my faults by pitching in on some of the grunt labor. I sweep, wipe, mop, pick up, just so I don't look like a total prat from America who doesn't know work from his own elbow. Anyway, Maura, the woman who went to the USA has come back. Which is great because, trust me, she knows the score. We chatted the other day and she has some great ideas for the club and I am very excited. So I still mop and sweep and what not, essentially my job hasn't changed but I feel like I am arranging fancy deckchairs on a posh oceanliner rather than swabbing the decks on a sinking ship. I just re read that paragraph and I rambled. Sorry. But you get it yes? good.

The other fun challenge is trying to figure out things to do when you have no money and its too cold and wet to go anywhere. We spent quite a bit of time watching television because it was new and exciting. BBC and ITV rather than ABC and CBS. But at the end of the day, TV is TV and it gets weak if you watch too much I think. So we keep ourselves busy. I've been writing a lot more. Little stories and poems and what not. Mind you I haven't finished anything yet though... maybe if something good comes out of it ill post it here. I've also started making a stop motion movie from recycled cardboard pieces. I knew I needed a time consuming project and what could be better than constructing a mini desert island and a pirate ship in my room out of bits of cardboard then taking hundreds of pictures of it, all slightly different and then string them together. I doubt I'll finnish it but stay tuned i guess. jessica and I also completed an 1000 piece puzzle in less than two days.

So there you go. That's my life in a snippet i guess. If any of you have requests for things to post about please send them my way. Apparently I have tons of free time and will oblige.

know that I am well and think of you all often
alex

The rest of creative recycling hopfully

2007-12-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

Ok so this is a continuation of the post below this because it wasn't letting me upload pictures earlier. Read that one first then come up here ok?

This is my work table. It is made out of an old oak front door and other scrap wood from the dumpster across the street. I did have to buy nails to build this but £5 is pretty good for a table this solid. The best part is that I don't have to worry about scraping it up or getting paint on it because its made from junk anyway. Its just nice to have place to stack things and a flat space to work on stuff.

We have a small shelf in the entry way that we put our keys on and such. We started piling the mail there two but it got messy so i made this out of two combs, cardboard, and a bit of brown paint. I don't think this one up. The design is from a book I have called Readymade.

We found advent candles in the house but no advent wreath. It took a while to source the materials for this one (wink wink) but it's a fairly simple design, just four green wine bottles tied together with string and an inverted clear bottle set amongst them.

I also made my own christmas tree cookie cutter today out of a coat hanger but I don't have a picture. This might sound a bit odd, but it has been really amazing not always having everything I need (or even know where to get something) because it has allowed me to use my brain and be creative. Building this stuff is soooooo much fun. you should all try it. Tell me your ideas.

alex

Creative recycling

2007-12-19T02:20:00.000-08:00

Belfast is a great city to go dumpster diving in!!! There are tons of construction projects all over the city and every one is in such a hurry to finish their project and move on the next that they often throw away perfectly good building materials. I then "reappropriate" These materials and recycle them into things for our house. Its a really good way of recycling because it cuts out the cost and waste of professional collection and reproduction. So here are a few creations straight from the skips of Belfast to you:

I forgot to rotate the picture but you get the idea. This is a book shelf i made for jessica's desk from an old dresser drawer. its made of recycled wood, found nails, and leftover paint we had in the house.

Well sorry. The picture upload function on here is acting funny and won't let me do the rest. I'll try later today. Bye

Alex

Something new...

2007-11-24T17:06:00.000-08:00

I made a discovery today. Its something I've felt for a long time but couldn't put words to. I found the words today while talking to my housemate jess. It was one of those long serpentine conversations where you talk with someone about all sorts of really important things but you wind your way through so many topics that you can't retrace how you got where you got. It just feels good after. Anyway, we've officially started celebrating Christmas here because we had a thanksgiving dinner so we watched a christmas movie, Love Actually. Its a bit sappy but its well made and I like it a bit so... For some reason afterword we started talking about sept. 11 and from there, don't ask me how, we somehow got to talking about the church and inclusivity or lack thereof. All of that to tell you about my discovery, take it for what its worth ive only started to figure it out but i feel really good about it. here goes

So many times in church we feel the need to define who is "in" and who is "out." We describe those who are "in" as people who have faith and those who are "out" as people who don't have faith or a faith different than ours. Fair enough. We like to make categories. Its always hard to make distinctions between people but we do it. So these neat and tidy lines become smeared when someone comes to the church and says, "I have faith. I am one of the "in" ones. Can I come into the church?" But we say to that person, "No you can't come in because you are______ and you have_______. You are "out." Sorry." We may not outright deny that person and say, "you have no faith" but we do place a higher value on what that person is or what they have in order to include them in our church. What I feel like that basically says is "if you fit into the church than you have a valid faith." Putting prerequisites on faith is troublesome to me because it severely limits how our collective faith can grow and be challenged. It also doesn't seem very nice. What if instead the church said to people, "your faith is valid because you are_______and you have_______and God loves you for it. Come on "in" and tell us your story. Whether we know it or not we all have a relationship with God, a bit of faith, something to give us enough hope to wake up in the morning. We as christians, because of our basic theology should know that Christ died for everyone, all inclusive, whether you believe it or not. So why do we insist on putting stipulations on being apart of the church and having faith? Why can't the only rule for those that are "in" be that they are loved by God? Wouldn't that be everybody and isn't that the point?

I decided to share this with all of you because it is the first coherent thought that has made its way all the way out of my head since i've been here and Im excited. It shows two things. 1) that I am finally becoming comfortable enough here to think about things and 2) that I am actually learning something here!!!! I hope it makes sense to all of you. Please please please pick it apart if you want. Let me know what you think. Im down for email disscussions or what not. And if ive hit on something big here possibly some email arguments...

There is hope in Belfast my internet friends, my brain still works. Maybe its because my diploma finally came in the mail. hahahahaha.

Know that I am well and think of you often
Alex

How I am doing

2007-11-16T18:07:00.000-08:00

I never realized how hard it would be to put down here my thoughts and feelings. Part of our jobs here is to stay connected to our communities back home and interpret our experiences. In a way this has been the most difficult thing so far. My daily experiences are going to happen whether I want them to or not. I have made the decision to be here and this is what my life is right now. The experience isn't the hard thing. The hard thing is making sense of it all and harder still is the explaining that process to others. So here's mud in your eye.

I think one of the most difficult things to come to terms with here has been the juxtaposition of abject brokeness and a general sense that everything's fine. Belfast is a modern city. If I look hard enough I can get any comfort from home I want. Many things here are nicer than at home. They have recently built a huge ferris wheel in the city centre next to city hall to attract tourism. "Developing communities" don't do things like that and Belfast isn't developing in that sense. But for me it is really hard to understand why there is a big wheel that costs 6 pounds to ride (that's about $12) or why the health care here is free, yet when I ask my young friend Dylan how his day was an emotional wall shoots up and he says "fine" defensively like I am trying to hurt him some how. I can't fit the pieces together in which there are far fewer homeless people here yet kids here, right around me, feel like they have to take drugs and drink to get on with there lives. How does a place that seems so familiar to me on surface levels create an enviornment where 16 and 17 year olds feel like suicide is the only option. These things don't make sense to me and they probably never will. This is my home now and my home doesn't make sense.

But, never fear, I won't leave you on that note. Things don't make sense, this is true, but this is the kind of thing I have been praying for. I have begged God these past few years to profoundly confuse me. Give me something to gnaw on. How else am I supposed to mull over what is worth doing in this life on this earth. The case may be right now that I'm choking a wee bit on a bite too big, but if i remain persistent then there is no reason why I won't be able to swallow all this someday. Know that I am well and that I think of you all often.

Alex

2007-10-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry to neglect you my internet buddies but there is so much going on here in Belfast. As a treat Im gonna throw up a bunch of pictures here and now. Most are from a recent weekend getaway to Dublin. Enjoy.

This is a picture of all of the PCUSA Volunteers in Belfast with me. From left to right it is: Me, Maureen (standing), Jessica (kneeling), Bethany (standing), Sarah, and Melissa. Maureen, Jessica, and Melissa all live in the house with me and Bethany and Sarah live on the other side of town. This picture was taken at the Ulster Folk Museum. Its this Historical Village where they have taken historical buildings from their original locations and rebuilt them in one place for Folks to go see. This was the photography studio so we are doing our best non-smiling victorian picture. Note the amazing way I am holding my hat and the overpowering angle of Sarah's neck!

These are two of the neighborhood boys. Chris is climbing on my back and Daniel is the upside-down one. They are good kids mostly, except for the part where daniel kicked me right after This picture was taken. They are way excited that there is a boy in the house this year because last year was all girls who didn't enjoy being kicked apparently.

Trip to Dublin. Guiness Factory. Hand motions say it all.

Do you think i could ever possibly be as rakish as Oscar Wilde?

The River Liffey at night.

Also at night in an alley.

Well there you go friends. I know it looks like all fun and games but the truth is I only take pictures when things are fun so that's why things seem that way. Know that I am well and think of you all often.

Alex

The 174 Trust

2007-10-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I last post that I have decided to stop saying when I will put up another post because I don't always know when I will have the time. In this post I am going to tell you about one of my jobs here in Belfast. The 174, which is just down the street from our house on Thorndale Ave, is a cross-community center. Their building is an old church. The offices of the Trust are in the old manse and the classrooms have been turned into a preschool and an afterschool center. They also house various other organizations which rent space. These other organizations all have a positive influence on the community around here. I can't remember all of them. There is a boxing club for youths and offices for a homeless organization. I help out three organizations there.

My main responsiblity is two football (remember that means soccer) clubs. We play indoor football in the Trust's hall monday tuesday and thursday afternoons and monday nights we take the older boys 14-22 to play 5 a side outdoor football. Some tuesday nights we take the younger boys out for swimming or outdoor football. We don't take the younger boys out as much because we have to get parental permission. I guess you would say these are "at risk youth" but I don't really like that term. They are kids from the neighborhood around the Trust. The neighborhood is called New Lodge and is predominantly Catholic. I would use the term "rough and tumble" to describe these boys. They are pretty hard to manage sometimes but in general they are starting to listen to me because they know I can take the ball away and send them home if they muck about. They are starting to not look at me with utter disgust all the time which is a big step. My football skills are also improving quite a bit so that helps too.

I also work at the afterschool program twice a week. They call it the afterschools here. I go in twice a week and work for a couple hours so that the employees have time to take breaks and plan other things without having to deal with the kids. We play games and run about and color and do homework. Its pretty fun. The kids are good and very cute. I played battleship with a 4 year old girl named shauna (pronounced show- na, Ive been corrected several times) who doesn't entirely know her alphabet yet. She would guess things like "A-E" to which I would say, "Shauna you have to pick a letter and a number." "ok A um B"

My other job is working with the youth and junior PHAB clubs. PHAB which actually just changed its name to FACE is an organization that hosts outings and get togethers for children with all sorts of different special needs as well as there siblings. It is very fun and the kids are so joyful it is very nice to go there once a week. One of the most eye opening things I have done here is drive with Pat, the facilities manager at the Trust, to drop the kids after the meetings. We drop them off in some of the rougher neighborhoods as night falls. I have seen some very interesting things and been pretty scared a few times. But I am glad I have seen these things. They have stretched me so that I can learn more. These kids live in situations that are way intense yet when the come play with us they are always so happy. it gives me hope

Hopefully I will post some pictures of the Trust and Fortwilliam & Macrory Chruch the other place I work. Cheers till then

Alex

Cheers

2007-09-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Well here I am finally. My apologies for taking so long telling you all what things are like here. But there's a lot in this post so hopefully we can make up for some lost time. So here we go!!!!

This is our house on Thorndale ave in North Belfast. We live in a predominantly catholic neighborhood that is lined on both sides by protestant areas. As you can see its that common UK row style housing with common walls shared by neighbors. Its a pretty nice house. Funnily enough its a bit nicer than UCSC on campus housing. Actually a lot nicer.

This is the view either way on our street. More row houses and dreary weather. Its good that overcast santa cruz days cured me of any seasonal affect disorder. Its going to be a dark winter. The spire at the end of the road is the 174 Trust. It used to be a church but now it is an cross community center that I work at. They have tons of programs but I mostly play football with some of the neighborhood kids. Ill give you a more detailed post about my work later in the week.

I realize that I look incredibly goofy in this picture but I was trying to show you how low the door frames are here. I hit my head almost every morning before I am totally awake. The standard door here is lik 6'4"! BOOOO

There will be more posts more frequently now that I have a routine going. Im gonna get pictures of the places/ people I work with in the up coming. Know that I am well even if I am still a bit thrown for a loop about what i am doing here and things such as this. Feel free to email me and let me know how all of you are out there in the blog-o-sphere

Stay tuned...

2007-09-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Hello folks, Just thought I'd throw something up right quick and let you know that in the next few days I will be putting up a big post with lots of photos of where l like and where I work. Soooo stay tuned.

ALEX

PS my flatmates make fun of me because I'm picking up the accent so look forward to that when i get home!

Belfast

2007-09-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've been in Belfast for a few days now and I have to say that things are so overwhelming I bearly know what to post. I live with 3 other volunteers in a house in North Belfast between a majority Catholic/Nationalist area and a mixed area. It is an amazing house, traditional red brick row housing. It is very much an urban setting. There is something that I precieve as very strange about the area that I can't quite put words to yet. Overall I am well but generally dumbfounded as to what I am taking in and seeing. Dispite the recent news of progress in the peace process here these divisions are very very deep. The word I have been thinking about most as I see the city is stark. The more I type the more mixed up I feel. I can't really articulate anything yet. Just know that I am well and covet your prayers.

ALEX

Chicago

2007-08-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

I am in Chicago now after a long day of traveling. We've started orientation and I have met with all of the people going to Belfast with me and it seems like a really good group. It is fairly gloomy here in Chicago. Rainy and Hot at the same time. Quite a change from Sunny SoCal! I was thinking it would be cool if you all that read this could post replies to the message so I can see who my audience is. Unless of course your anonymity is important to you for some reason. Like if you want to be my mysterious wealthy benefactor. Are there any Ms. Havishams out there? (that was a Great Expectations reference for those Non-DIckens fans out there. Time to go learn some more stuff.

ALEX

Go Ride a Bike

2007-07-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

Just got back few days form a bike tour. Ryan (college roomate) and I rode our bikes along the sonoma coast for 6days. It was insanely gratifying to ride all day and camp in the afternoons. Such a simple life compared to the everyday. I recomend it to anyone with even remote biking ability. Most of the people we saw riding were either my age or 45+. One couple must have been in their mid to late 50s and they were riding from seattle to LA averaging like 50 mi a day. We did about thirty.

I finally got my passport (I applied for it in April) and finished all the paper work to go to Belfast. Now I only need a few more things and to raise some more money. Things are finally falling into line though. Phew!

ok bye

Hello Everyone

2007-07-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Alex Wirth. Completely updated. This is the most up to date place to see that I am not wasting my time in Belfast. Its new right now and there isn't a lot here because I haven't left yet! Stay tuned for exciting adventures