Hello my faithful followers. And to ye of little faith. I know you probably thought that I wasnt c oming back, but here I am. I must admit, I got lost on my way here. Then I forgot my password. But, I have reaccessed my Blog.

Anyway, you must be wondering why I have been away so long. The answer is that I was dutifulygetting my coursework done. This isnt to say that I couldnt have sent you an Email or so; I admit I could have at least done that. But I did got a bit distracted. Sorry.

Anyway Im back now. Writing essays was fine. Just like writing at Earlham. (Except no 24 hour lab) As for right now, I had my first day at Oakgrove integrated school. It was a really good day, but Im still not sure what I ought to be doing there. The school has two weeks off over easter, and while I would love to go to the north coast of Antrim and surf, but I have a feeling I will be working. On what is anyones guess.

Also, I believe I went to Dublin since the last time I wrote. Dublin was fantastic. The parade was OK, but everything else, the Crepes, the Theater, that was all excelent.

Anyway, I hope everyone else is doing OK, and looking forward to May. It is about time I saw my wonderful family again.



...Kit can come too. (Stupid didnt take my offer for a draw...)

--Alex

Hi everyone. Cant stay long, but wanted to let you all know that I am doing fine and that, once again, my email is working. Anyway, I hope you are all doing well. I will try to write a longer post later, but until then, I hope that you all know how much I miss the lot of you.

Love, Peace, and problem free E-mail
--Alex

P.S. Also, Kit, you have not activated your game knot account. You should have an email in which you can do this.

Hello everybody. Its nice to write to you all again. Anyway, skype still not working, and I have given up trying to get it in the library. I think my best bet for skype will be to try to get it in my house.

Anyway, the rest of my life is going fairly smoothly. I co-mediated an argument in class today, which was a complete pain in the ass. I mean, I think we can all agree that people can be a tad unreasonable at times, but it must be excruciating being a conflict mediator. Don’t get me wrong, I think I got a lot out of it, and it was only for about half an hour or so (when the teacher had to stop it) but wow.

In other news, I’m starting to meet other adults, besides my host parents. For example, I was at a friends house last night, planning out the facilitation of today’s class, and when her host dad opened the door, he was able to refer to me by my first name and greeted me with a smile so warm I’m considering wearing sunscreen next time I see him. I mean, I have met him before, but only twice and only for a few minuets each time. Or, today, I was walking down the road as an elementary school was being let out and a woman said “Hello, Alex,” as she walked by. I had only actually seen this woman once before at my host families house for about five minuets before I had to go to dance class. My point is every one here is really outgoing and gregarious. (In stark contrast to all those jerks in America)

I’m really enjoying cooking for myself, but I don’t feel like I’m doing it in such a way that would open me to experiences about certain cultures in Derry. I mean, sure, I can get everything I need in Tesco or Spar or I can go down to the corner store and get some candy late at night, but I haven’t been able to find a bakery or local produce store. I saw a butchers once, but haven’t been able to find it since. I might just need to get my host family to give me a tour.

Anyway, that’s all my news for now. This blog might start to get boring because I am going to start doing more homework and might start having fewer adventures. But I will be on every once in a while to say Hi and let everyone know that I am thinking of them.

Peace, Love, and Conflict Resolution

--Alex

Hello blog-followers and would-be skypers. Unfortunatly, skyping with Laura did not work out today, and so you will all need to wait before you talk to me. I have talked to the IT guy in the library about how I can get my computer some wireless from my house, which would be both more consistent as well as more convenient, since I’m pretty sure that, technically, we aren’t supposed to talk to much in the library, even if our voices are low. (I would still do it for all of you, but, well, you know…)

Anyway, life here is still OK. We just had our third dance class, and we are all getting pretty good. Its kind of fun as well. I can see why people liked doing it so much in, you know, the bowels of ships, etc. We also had our first official tin whistle class. We are learning a couple of songs, and I have gotten some music offline to learn. I’m trying to learn a song called ‘Ann Maguire’s Silver Wedding’, which is really pretty. Those of you who have never heard this song can go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12fctBQS7ws
(I imagine that this link will be seeing a lot of use)
Anyway, everything else is going fine. I do feel a bit homesick, unfortunately, and am worried that that might be affecting how I am able to enjoy these experiences. But I will be here for a while, and I hear that this is fairly common. Anyway, I hope you are all well. Have to go because the library is about to close, but hope I get to see you soon.

--Alex

P.S. I have been hearing from a few people that they really enjoy reading this blog. Now, maybe they are just being nice and trying to conceal the fact that my blog sucks, but if they are, I would like to remain oblivious to that, and thank a few people. First, Mom and Omi, who have a way, like most mothers, of beating many of my good habits into me without an ounce of mercy, no matter how much I beg and plead for the path of least resistance. I hope the hard work is paying off. Second, Laura, whose demand for emails last semester gave me some pretty invaluable practice, and whose love and support has been wonderful in more ways then I can count. In Gaelic. (Unless the word for twenty is just the word for ten spoken twice in a row, I can only count to 19) Thank you.

Hi everyone. Unfortunately, Earlham's email server is out, so I would like to apologize to everyone who was supposed to get Email today from me. (Sorry, Laura) 

In other News, SUCCESS!! 

I finally have a chance to get some pictures up on line!! I was having some trouble with the Email connection in the Library and had oh none of you care about the technical explanation. You just want the pictures, dont you!! It always about the pictures, and I blame you, yes you, Christopher!! (OK, I dont actually have anything against any of the Christopher's reading this Blog, but it was fun to try to mess with their heads for a second.) Anyway, this first picture is of some of the scenery from this beautiful country. Those of you who know me best will remember how much I love nice scenery. Those of you who dont know me best are missing out. (My mom says so!) 

Anyhow, that's all I can get you now, (as my battery is being a complete drama queen and saying it will die if it doesn't get power soon), but do expect more pictures from me soon. And also, the internet has been working more frequently on my computer, so I might be able to skype soon. There will be a test run with Laura tomorrow, and depending on how that goes, we will see how viable it is at all. 

In the meantime, take care, 

Peace, Love, and Photographs

--Alex

Kit, Go here:
http://gameknot.com/

Let me know when you are ready.

Well, after weeks of trying I have finally found a venue that will provide traditional Irish Music. Thursday night we all went to a pub, and they had a four person band with a flute and fiddle and bohran (an Irish drum) and a gituar. Which was all pretty exciting. Anyway, I orderd myself a pint and began to mingle with the local folk. Some of them were really interesting, others were... well... interesting, but in that different way. On guy was really egar to tell me about his view of politics. All in all, it was a pretty interesting night. But I think I stayed out a bit latter then I should have.

Slept in a bit the next morning, but didnt have class until 2:30 anyway. We had some music at dance class this week, hich was good fun, and I asked a guy about a fiddle lesson or two. Tin Whistle is going well, if you dont count the fact that we have yet to take one single lesson, and I thought it would be good to at least get a feel for it, even if I dont learn anything. Although if that doesnt work out, I could always get my host sister Ciara to teach me something.

Anyway, after that I went to A Bloody Sunday memorial. It was OK. They read some poems and left some flowers. A few people looked sad, but a lot of people seemed, not happy, but at least content to be around people like them. They had a minuet of silence, and then everyone went home.

After that, I had dinner with my family and then went to a talk about the Bradly- Eames report. I had a hard time following some of the things that were being said about the politics of the report, but the questions that were asked by the audience at the end were facinating. Some people wanted to take the money, some people were two proud, other people wanted varying degrees of justice. Facinating stuff.

Then yesterday night, I went to the Bloody Sunday lecture, which was given by a guy called Clive Stafford Smith, who was really funny and interesting, and much easier to follow. He talked about secret prisons and the use of torture by the American Millitary. (I know its not really a Bloody Sunday related topic, but oh well) Any way, I made a contribution of £5 after he was done and then went home.

I've been having trouble sleeping lately, and when I do, I sleep for more like 10 hours rather then 8. I feel like it must just be the stress of being in a new country, but still, its kind of inconveinient. Im starting to do my own shoping, rather then eating with my family. Its probably good, because this way I will get more of the spanish experience, but my host mom is a really good cook, and Im not. Also, I need to start finding the stores around town that sell the things I need. I mean sure, I could get my stuff from Tesco, but once you read the lable and find out that the sausages are 9% pork and the other 91% are ingredients that you can pronounce right away, you feel compeled to shop else where.

Sadly, I will not be going into the Prodestant neigborhood to talk to the people there. I have asked the program director Mervyn Love for his permission, and he had unfortunatly declined. Appearently the population of these areas dont take kindly to strangers, as it were, and they may be hostile to people asking questions. (I dont know if Mervyn realized that telling me this would make me want to fake a british accent and sneak into the neighborhood even more) I will be working at an integrated school later on, so I will just wait untill then to ask my questions.

Almost time for the Bloody Sunday March, so I will be off. Keep posting your comments everyone. (Even you, kit)

--Alex