We have had a busy few days and internet access in Northern Ireland hostels has been scarce. All this to apologize for the delay in journal writing. I am not sure where I left off in the last journal - I think in Galway - so I have decided to just skip ahead to our time in Northern Ireland,

All three of us are keeping diaries and thank goodness too. We are traveling so fast, we often forget which day it is. We started our Northern Ireland swing in Derry (Londonderry). I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the history of these parts, but I was very wrong. Even now, after numerous museum visits and tours and talking to the locals, I still find it hard to completely understand 'the troubles," and the reasons for them, and all the religious strife that is so deeply ingrained into these people's culture and psyche.

Thank goodness they have now found a kind of peace amongst one another, although there is definitely still a ways to go. In some ways, I found some similarities and parallels to the separatist movement in Quebec. Quite eerie.

Mind you, in my lifetime, both Quebec separatism and the "troubles of Northern Ireland" have been calm. After the serious thoughts of Londonderry, we had a great night out in Belfast last night. We had only planned on going to a pub for an hour after supper, just to soak in the last of the northern Irish night-life, but as soon as we walked into one of the eleven pubs in Belfast that claim to be the oldest in the country, we met a Canadian from Winnipeg.

It wasn't long before her prairie buddy met Amy, and then there was no chance of leaving early. There was a live band playing, but it was not quite the traditional Irish music we were expecting. The lady singer belted out Purple Rain, but the atmosphere was still Irish and great. Before long we had made new friends with some people from the area.

We had already taken a tourist bus tour of the city earlier in the day, trying to learn more of Belfast's history, but we very soon learned some more and recent history. From our new acquaintances we soon heard how recent "the troubles" were, and how deeply they had all been affected by them. Obviously, this was not a subject we brought up, but conversations can just swerve into serious moral, ethical and religious debates in Northern Ireland. It was eerie. Mostly, we just kept our mouths shut. What on earth can we say to these people about how we come from quiet, peace-loving Canada? How different our lives might have been if we had been born here instead of in Canada .... we definitely wouldn't be soccer players, I can tell you that.

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