While Eastbourne was once a thriving seaside city in southeast England, it's large retirement community at present has earned it the affectionate nickname of "heaven's waiting room." Despite the unappealing epithet, the conference was very enjoyable. It was an excellent opportunity to catch up with the other Rotary scholars studying at Oxford, Oxford Brookes, and Reading (17 in total) and see some of the great projects our district is working on. Building on Rotary International's theme, "The Future of Rotary is Your Hands," the conference followed the theme of "Hands on Rotary." Aside from supporting major international Rotary programs such as shelter boxes and Polio Plus, Rotarians presented on development programs they have been participating in ranging from provision of microeconomic loan programs and health care in rural African communities to Group Study Exchanges in South Africa and drilling wells in Haiti. Each speaker's story was moving and inspirational and I feel privileged to be supported by such an active organization. The other scholars and I will be visiting Blenheim Palace (Winston Churchill's birthplace), the Ascot races, and racing Dragon Boats in the coming weeks so I am sure I will have some more stories to share (and pictures, hopefully!).
While some of my friends have accused me of writing "nerdy" posts (considering where I am at school, I think this is to be expected), the next part of this post is of a particularly nerdy nature. I don't remember spending much time on Northern Ireland in history class but I've done some research since my trip and tried to provide a little context to help understand some of the following pictures.
I began the trip by flying from London to Derry in northeast Northern Ireland. You may have heard that the Irish are very amiable and that belief was quickly affirmed after my arrival. Unsure of the easiest way into town, I asked an elderly couple if there was a train or bus. They did not know either, but said their son was coming to pick them up and were positive he could drive me where I needed to go. After they dropped me off, it did not take long to find the hostel and Emily because everyone in the town seemed to know the hostel's owner (I only asked one person, but two other passersby stopped and joined the conversation). A quick note about the hostel in case you are concerned for my health, safety, etc. This particular one was very well maintained and had the distinct advantage over local hotels of having a host who not only knew the city inside and out, but also readily engaged in conversations about the city and the rest of our trip. I have the added benefit of having slept in the bays at West Point with 30 other people, so eight beds in one room was no sweat.
Derry is the the second largest city in Northern Ireland (around 90,000) and is one of the longest continuously inhabited cities stretching back to the 6th century. In 1613, shortly after the city had been razed by an Irish army, the city was rebuilt and became the first planned city in Ireland. The city walls, forming one of the best examples of a walled city in all of Europe, were completed in 1618 and were never breached even though the city was attacked many times. Today, visitors can tour the city via a walkway along the top of the walls. Needless to say, Emily and I wasted no time getting to the walls in our indirect quest for dinner.
Derry is the the second largest city in Northern Ireland (around 90,000) and is one of the longest continuously inhabited cities stretching back to the 6th century. In 1613, shortly after the city had been razed by an Irish army, the city was rebuilt and became the first planned city in Ireland. The city walls, forming one of the best examples of a walled city in all of Europe, were completed in 1618 and were never breached even though the city was attacked many times. Today, visitors can tour the city via a walkway along the top of the walls. Needless to say, Emily and I wasted no time getting to the walls in our indirect quest for dinner.
More recently, Derry has been an epicenter of conflict in Northern Ireland. Differences of religion (Protestants and Catholics), political views (loyalists and separatists) and related economic divisions are pervade the community. In fact, even the city's name is still in dispute--Londonderry or Derry--and your preference is often taken as an indication of your political opinion. The murals below are just two of many to memorialize an especially tragic event emanating from these strong sentiments. A clash between British soldiers and citizens of Derry has come to be known as Bloody Sunday because of the 14 deaths and 29 injuries that occurred on January 30th, 1972. The mural on the left shows a soldier breaking into a home during a raid as part of a wider strategy to arrest the most active dissidents and place them in internment camps. The picture on the right shows demonstrators running from gunfire and tear gas. Interestingly, there are murals in another part of town that were painted by loyalists in response to this collection revealing their strong desire to remain part of the United Kingdom.
The sign below was painted onto the side of a house in the 1960's to delineate the border between Free Derry (previously termed Bogside, referencing the marshy land on the backside of the walled city). In an exhibit in a Belfast Museum the description of the event is displayed on a similar shaped white wall.
A few hours from Derry is a natural phenomenon called the Giant's Causeway which Emily and I visited the park on our second day in Ireland. According to local legend, the roughly 40,000 hexagonal rock pillars that stretch out into the sea toward Scotland (which has similar rock forms extending back toward Ireland) are remnants of an ancient land bridge. The giant who lived in Ireland, Finn McCool, built the bridge as a means to go fight the Scottish giant, Benandonner. However, when Finn made it to Scotland he saw that Benandonner was much larger and ran back to Ireland. Finn told his wife what had happened, she dressed him like a baby so that when Benandonner arrived Finn appeared to be missing. Finn's wife told Benandonner that he was out cutting wood, but that Benandonner was welcome to wait in the house until he came home. When Benandonner came into the house and saw how big Finn's baby was, he realized Finn must be much bigger than himself and quickly fled back to Scotland, tearing up the bridge as he went.
The legend shared by geologists is slightly different and somewhat less exciting. The remarkably uniform hexagonal (with some 5-, 7-, and 8-sided anomalies) basalt pillars formed some 50 million years ago as molten lava cooled, contracted, and fractured.
After spending the afternoon hiking the surrounding trails and getting soaked in the storm that started to roll in while we were on the bluffs overlooking the rocks, we headed back to Derry for the night. The next morning, Emily and I headed out on a two-hour bus ride to Belfast....
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