This And That... And A Theological Lecture, Just For Fun

I've now been in NI for a whole month! It feels longer, but it also feels shorter, because of the time I've spent in class (not sure how that works, but, it does). I've been cooking for myself for a month, wandering around a strange city for a month, listening to people speak all kinds of strange accents for a month. At this very moment I am sitting in the kitchen - it's one of the few places in this house where we can pick up internet - listening to two of the other exchange students toast crumpets and talk to each other in Chinese.

I've also been seeing the first signs of spring. It isn't deathly cold the moment you open a window, for instance, and flowers are beginning to come up.

Just in time for me to finish my knitting project - yes, the "airplane" project:

Knitted wool lace is the funnest fabric to squidge your fingers in. Fact.

I have to find some more wool soon and start another project, because it's maddening sitting in lectures without something to do with my hands. If I don't knit, I take crazy frantic notes, and if I force myself not to take notes, I fall asleep. Knitting is a good thing.

And, just because:

Yes. I now own Harry Potter as Gaeilge.*

Speaking of books, and of general awesomeness, one of the things I did this past week was attend the 2011 Church of Ireland Theological Lectures. These are an annual event at Queen's. They're free, and you can have tea and biscuits if you come early to the Hub (the Anglican chaplaincy cafe). This year, the speaker was Michael Ward - the "Narnia Code" guy. Basically, he is a chaplain at Oxford and a C.S. Lewis** scholar/enthusiast who wrote his thesis on the way the symbolism in the Chronicles of Narnia corresponds to the seven celestial bodies in pre-Copernican cosmology. That is, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe uses Jupiter-ish symbols, Prince Caspian uses Mars-like symbols, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader uses Sun-like symbols, etc. Which was yet another way Lewis was tracing different mythologies, traditions, and so on back to Christianity, if that makes sense (please... if this is interesting... read the book. Don't listen to me).

I found the lectures intriguing, and I think he's probably right - that there's a level of medieval cosmological symbolism in the Narnia books. The idea that they were written to showcase this symbolism (which I think some people may have gotten just by hearing of it) is obviously absurd, and he made a point of pointing this out. But the fact that it's there makes sense, at least to me, because I've read enough by and about Lewis to know that that's exactly the kind of thing he would've done (which is one of the points Ward made, for people who hadn't read the books - yes, there are people who haven't read the books, but who came to the lecture anyway, and of course were confused anfterwards... *sigh*)

This is how I ended up having tea at a table full of Anglican clergy, including a bishop and a retired missionary. Which was fun. The Hub was decorated in "Narnian" style, which meant a plastic fir tree in every corner, and a dorm wardrobe full of faux fur coats at one wall, with a quite adorable little plush lion lounging on top. The walls had papers with Narnia quotes written in marker, and they'd put up white Christmas lights, and put the first movie on the TV screens (which usually show news or sports or whatever).

And, when questions about Tolkien came up, as they do in conversations about C.S. Lewis, guess who was the only person at the table who knew the answers... being a fantasy nerd does come in useful in the real world sometimes.

Anyway, it was Janice and Ron from St Bart's Parish Church who told me about the lectures. I'll write more about them and the church later.

Ooh - just found the Planet Narnia website: http://www.planetnarnia.com/ I've yet to read the book. I bought it - the long version, of course - and he signed it "to Meghan, with Jovial regards." I have it, and an unread C.S. Lewis book, waiting for me once I manage to clamber over the mountain of sociology and history books that seems to have erupted over my desk.

*I think this is right for "in Irish"... but, needless to say, don't quote me on it.

**Who, for those who don't know, was Irish - from Belfast! More about that later, too (meaning, I'll probably take a tour, or wander around on my own, being a total creeper, and take pictures of plaques and statues and things).

Time To Eat

St George’s Market

St George’s Market is, as best as I can describe it, a tri-weekly indoor farmer’s market, of the type in the States where there’s loads of fresh food, random crafts, some guy selling pieces of wood with stuff painted on* and at least two musicians with acoustic guitars and rebellious sound systems. On Friday, it’s mostly uncooked food. On Saturday, you get the families with children, the cooked food vendors, and the musicians. I’ve not been there Sunday, and probably won’t go, but I’m sure it’s interesting.

Maureen and I went together on Saturday. There were people everywhere (it’s impossible to stand still) and children everywhere, all wearing winter hats and trying to avoid being stepped on. The warehouse building echoed with noise, not least the music, which was, for some reason, “I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Is Gone,” being sung by two women, with, yes, guitars. The quantity of fried food being contained under that roof had sent up a smoky fog that drifted above the heads of the crowd and round the large “NO SMOKING” signs suspended from the rafters.

The huge quantities of food were balanced out by racks of second-hand clothes, tables of random antiques and – and – stuff: teapots, paperbacks, linen handkerchiefs, rugs, costume jewellery, foreign coins, greeting cards, solar-powered whatsits, office supplies, old Wedgewood chine, wooden toys, etc. etc. etc.

We bought vegetables, eggs, milk, and cheese... this time. There’s also more meat than anyone could eat in a lifetime, and the same goes for fish. The first thing you see when you walk through the doors are massive piles of googly-eyed fish.

We were rather adventurous with the cheese, and decided to try pesto gouda and wine cheddar. They’re good, and colourful.

Here is a picture of the market:

 Here is a picture of the veg:

Here is a picture of the fish:

Now, look at the fish, and imagine, in the background, “Money Can’t Buy Me Love” being sung enthusiastically by an Irishwoman with an acoustic guitar. 

There you have a lovely, authentic slice** of Belfast.

How To Make An Ulster Fry

Take soda bread, plain bread, potato bread, bacon, sausage, egg, tomato, mushrooms, and/or whatever other food items you have around that haven't turned green or walk away...

... and fry them. Fry them all.

In one pan.

Ta-daaa! You have a traditional Ulster meal:

Mmmm... greasy!

I'd like to take the opportunity to point out that Maureen and I made the soda bread, the tomato and the mushrooms were bought from St George's Market, and the sausage, bacon, and egg are from Abbotts Meats, the butcher on Stranmillis.

Ignore the lack of potato bread, and the presence of the white Tesco slices. They are clearly a figment of your American imagination.

A basic recipe for soda bread can be found here: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/5157/irish-soda-farls.aspx

Biscuits

“Biscuits,” as most people know, are called “cookies” in the States. What Americans call biscuits are “savoury scones.”

From what I’ve seen, tea in NI is inevitably accompanied by chocolate-covered and/or shortbread biscuits. Just this afternoon I had tea and shortbread sitting across the table from a bishop.***

Store-bought biscuits: In shops, you can buy Oreos in addition to many British brands: HobNobs (chocolate or plain), Jammie Dodgers, Jaffa Cakes, and more. These are HobNobs:

IMPORTANT NOTE TO SCI-FI FANS

This is a jaffa:

These are Jaffa Cakes:

 They are totally unrelated. It is unknown whether or not jaffa like Jaffa Cake.

These are Jammie Dodgers:

 This is also a Jammie Dodger, NOT a Tardis Self-Destruct Device:

In case there was ever any confusion.

NOTE: All pictures from the "Biscuits" section were found on Google. I do not own Stargate or Doctor Who. If I did, I could probably buy my weight in biscuits every week, but then I would have to eat them all, and it would be unhealthy. So I'm glad I don't own them.

*At St George’s, “Fáilte” plaques with pictures of donkeys.

**Fried.

***This fact is totally irrelevant, but it was fun. So here it is.

Me, Tourist: The Giant's Causeway

The Giant's Causeway, on the north coast of Ulster, was formed about 60 million years ago by intense volcanic activity. The cooling stone fractured in a distinctive pattern of hexagonal columns. Today, this means massive piles of what look like paving stones stacked, piled, and leading out into the sea.

It's one of the weirdest geological things I've ever seen, and last week I was taking pictures of glowing rocks. It's also beautiful. If you're not the kind of person who would take being cold, tired, and wet in order to see beautiful rocks, don't go. But if you are, it's worth it. The basalt in the water is so black, and the water is this translucent pale green, and the foam gets caught in big fluffy piles in between the columns. And it's all so... big. The stones themselves aren't; they're like what you'd make a walkway through your garden with. But there are so many of them, and so much water... and you can really feel the weight of the water when you watch it crash and drag on the columns like it does...

This is one of those times when I can't understand how, with things like this around us, we, people, can think the world is boring. I took about sixty million pictures...

And because you're probably all in shock right now from the excess of glorious natural beauty (and if you're not, you should be, shame on you):

Red phone box!!!

Me, Tourist: The Ulster Museum

Wonderful, eclectic, and free (donations welcome, however). Maureen and I spent several hours there, saw the whole museum, and bought postcards in the gift shop like good little tourists. I didn't write down everything about every exhibit, so there's no dates for anything, but bear with me. I'll probably go again, and I can give you excruciatingly detailed answers to any questions you may have then.

Morpho butterflies, in a case of insects

Neolithic pottery, made in the classic stick-coils-to-a-pinch-pot-and-decorate-with-cordage method...

Or you could get really fancy and go for incised lines. I love these.

And some more...

Bronze Age shield

Swords

An often-mended cauldron, found in a bog

Amber beads

The Downpatrick Hoard

The Ulster museum's exhibits are mainly concerned with, well, Ulster. But they do have some others, for instance, a token Ancient Egyptain mummy. This is the beaded netting around her wrappings. They did a facial reconstruction project on her, and her model head is sitting in a case across the room.

Who can tell me her name?

A stone quern

Late Iron Age artefacts...

... including the Bann Disc

A stone that covered a grave.

Pins from the 6th (?) through to the 11th centuries

A cross

Shrine of St. Patrick's Hand

A medieval reliquary "made to house a human forearm believed to be that of St Patrick" (museum description)

Add caption

Another gravestone... they can tell it belonged to a woman, because of the shears depicted in the lower left.

In an exhibit on endangered species, and wild animals, and on how many items incorporate bits of endangered animal (or are endangered animals) and are available for people - that is, unintelligent tourists - to buy that they really shouldn't.

Don't you feel happier now?

Hippopotamous jaw. This is how they bite crocodiles and things in half.

The skull of a two-headed calf, because they obviously felt entitled to display it SOMEwhere.

This is why I love museums.

Fluorescent minerals glow under black light!

Giant Clam is giant.

A preserved coelacanth

And to return to human history, this is the Malone Hoard: a pile of new porcellanite axe heads, from the Neolithic... found down Malone Road, that is, the road College Gardens (where I live) turns off onto. Very cool.

And bog oak! Bog oak is oak wood preserved in peat bogs (you never would've guessed that, I'm sure). Here is a chair made from it, and below is an actual piece of it.

That's it for the Ulster Museum... until next time!