While my dad was here we decided to take the train up to Derry~Londonderry. I've been here three times already, and it is one of my favourite places of Northern Ireland.
My dad with the Peace Bridge in the back
Opened in 2011, and is intended to improve relations between the unionist 'Waterside' with the nationalist 'Cityside' by improving access between these areas as part of wider regeneration plans.
Guildhall
Would it be safe to get a haircut here? ;)
The Culture Wall
Made with the 27,000 Facebook portraits for the City of Culture 2013.
Bloody Sunday Memorial
We visited the Tower Museum and found out a lot about the history of Derry~Londonderry. The city is the second-largest of Northern Ireland and the fourth largest of the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an Anglicisation of the Irish name Daire or Doire meaning "oak grove". Maybe that is why I feel a link because my home town is called the Duke's Forest. :)
23 May 2015 was an historic day, a traditional Catholic Ireland voted yes for the legalisation of same-sex marriage. I live in Northern Ireland and with much excitement I followed the news and promotion towards the referendum.
It doesn't make you less of a Catholic or faith-follower when you vote for equality for your fellow human. It proves you have a bigger heart, and that is the right thing to do even by Jesus, God or whatnot.
The day left me quite emotional, I am happy for Ireland but I am sad for Northern Ireland, the country I call home for two years now. We had our parliament vote against same-sex marriage for the fourth time and remember that appalling cake row, where Ashers Bakery refused to bake a cake for an organisation who fights for Equality. It ended up in court and after a year of fighting the judge ruled that it is not Ashers place to enforce their values when providing services.
I stopped going to Ashers, even though their sandwiches are grand and their cupcakes or delicious. I do not want some company to dictate their religious values on me, if I want that I will go to church.
I am not an Atheist, I was raised as a free Catholic. Oh yea got you there, a Dutch girl raised Catholic. ;) I will save that story for another time. After studying religion at university I find it beautiful that it gives people meaning in their lives, guidance. The wrong way of using religion to dictate other people how to live their lives. We see it all over the world, people are being murdered and prosecuted in the name of religion.
The statement above is wrong. I'll give you some examples why it is wrong.
Lesbian and gay couples conceive their kids through other ways than a regular family, either through adoption, sperm donors, insemination or surrogate mothers. If I missed another option, my apologies. They really want these kids and fight for it. I've met several of these couples throughout my life and I can say they are devoted and caring parents.
When I was in Derry~Londonderry earlier this month, me and my father donated for equality in Northern Ireland. You won't believe the lies some political parties spouted about same-sex parents, that their kids would also be gay and that all kids will be abused by their parents. I am sorry, what kind of crack have you been smoking?!
I am an advocate to licensed parenting. This is very controversial and you may dispute that with me but I have seen then and again people bringing children on this world who are incapable of taking caring of them. Child abuse by their own parents are at an all-time high, does the name Josef Fritzl ring a bell? And I am not talking about the mental and physical abuse cases. What about the Duggar family? That is a good Christian family, who failed to fess up that their oldest son abused 5 girls when he was younger. They preach about how God saved and has forgiven this piece of thrash, but common practice in the USA for repeat offenders is jail sentence. I am sorry when you have abused 5 girls, there is something wrong with you and it is not an mistake. You shouldn't be allowed near children for the rest of your life.
Back to the situation in Northern Ireland. The DUP again made sure that legalisation of same-sex marriages was rejected and listen what they have to say about this.
DUP Assembly member Peter Weir said: “This is not a serious debate. Clearly this motion is an attack on the symbolism of marriage and the institution of marriage and an attempt to redefine marriage.
“My party believes, and I believe also, that marriage is between one man and one woman and once you redefine that you lose the essence of marriage itself.
Symbolism of marriage? Don't make me laugh, society threw out the symbolism of marriage with all those divorces worldwide. Don't get me wrong, if you divorce because the love is over or abuse is involved you are allowed to in my opinion. I'd rather see people split up, than be miserable for the rest of their lives. Marriage is not some holy relic, not any more. It is a bond between two people who love each other. And don't give me this civil partnership crap, if you want to make the difference between them and you, you are an idiot.
When Ireland said yes to same-sex marriages, the sun still rose the next day and we didn't perish in a sea of flames of the Rapture. Surprise, surprise.
This video describes the situation the best. If someone in the past hadn't protested, my parents would have never been allowed to get married. And I am proud to be from a mixed race marriage, it gave me diversity and customs from both sides and made me who I am today. A person who believes in Equality.
I call out for everyone to join the fight for a better and more equal world.
It all started out on Kickstarter and this art project was funded globally and is truly for the people, by the people. It took 2 years of careful planning and when they completed building it, it stood 72ft high overlooking the beautiful city of Derry~Londonderry.
The intention was that people could leave behind a memory, to let go of the past and look to the future. And it was a success, over 60,000 people visited the temple and I was one of them.
I left very early on the 20th of March, the day before the burning. The weather wasn't spectacular but it is always a treat taking the train from Belfast to Derry~Londonderry.
From my window
Road trip tune ~ Riviera Life
The directions on the website on how to get there were pretty straight forward and I found myself at the temple within 30 minutes.
No blue sky but still stunning
Little nerd moment: Triforce!
Shrine chair
When I started to read the messages that people have left, it got emotional for me. The feeling I got when standing amongst so many messages of love and hope was very overwhelming. It is best just to show you.
It fills my heart with joy and hope to see so many people share the same feelings and message. In a world that seems divided and torn by hate and conflict there is always a hope that it will get better when we show that we had enough of the misery.
This was a huge project that involved the community of Derry~Londonderry:
25 young people aged 18-24 completed a week long, full time training programme leading to a qualification in OCN Digital Fabrication at the Nerve Centre's Fablab. Participants designed their own ornate panels, inspired by David Best's work. Each panel was then cut and added to a dedicated freize that ran the entire perimeter of Temple.
25 young people joined the Temple build team for 6 weeks to assist with the construction.
Workshops took place in 20 local schools where school children produced paper designs for panels which were then cut in the Fablab and added to the freize.
Workshops took place with local community groups at Hillcrest House, Irish Street and City Centre: Bogside, Brandywell, Fountain to design and cut wooden lanterns to be used on the night of the burn.
20 project participants, ranging from Californian members of the Temple Crew to local carpenters and volunteers were given camcorders to document their experiences on the build and during Temple's public exhibition, under the direction of award winning filmmaker Margo Harkin and her team.
The next day the temple went up in flames, flames of hope. 15,000 spectators had gathered to watch the ending of a wonderful project they had helped to build.
After being stuck packing boxes for weeks and moving my stuff between flats I wanted to go out on a road trip again while my mother was visiting me. So I decided to visit the St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh. I've seen this beautiful cathedral on aerial photos but I wanted to see it from the inside too. Mind you I am not a person of faith but I appreciate great architecture. And this cathedral did deliver on being stunningly beautiful.
Parish Office
Perched on a green hill
They started work on the cathedral in 1840 and it was finished in 1904 and the style used was Gothic Revival, also known as Neo-Gothic, Victorian Gothic. This architectural movement started around 1740 and was very popular in early 19th century. Some other well-known buildings in this style are the Palace of Westminster in London and the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Ostend.
Compared to the St. John's Cathedral in my home town 's-Hertogenbosch it is much brighter inside of the St. Patrick's giving the cathedral a warm feeling. Mind you St. John's was finished in 1530 so it is a much older cathedral and there is difference in the material used. St. Patrick's is made out of granite while St. John's is made out of stone. Years of traffic and industry has not done good on St. John's either that is why it has been restored to its former glory in 2010.
Did I mention that I really love stained glass?
Best thing about the stained glass is that during bright weather like on this day you see a spectacle of colour inside. Free light show. :)
I wished my return blog post could have been on a happier note but yesterday a big hero of mine passed away.
Sir Terry Pratchett
In 2007 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer and yesterday he lost the fight against it.
I grew up with his books, some of them I've reread over 20 times already. When I was younger I was just mesmerized by the fantasy world he had created. But when I was older I noticed the second meaning hidden in his stories. It was a way for him to voice out what bugged him in the real world all wrapped in a fantasy package. Some issues were so recognisable even if it was about dragons, trolls or dwarves. His books always made me smile.
I had the honour to meet him a few years back at the Elf Fantasy Fair when he signed my all time favourite Discworld novel 'The Truth'. Me, clumsily showing him my school ID because of the hard spelling of my name, him joking about that it was quite hard to pronounce it properly. I really enjoyed his lecture about his experiences with the world of live roleplaying. I still recall it clearly: 'Football hooligans are better accepted than fantasy fans and live roleplayers. When you see those hooligan groups travelling to another town to throw rocks at the opposing hooligan group, they are seen as a bunch of great chaps who just like a bit of rough fun in the weekend, but when you tell your co-workers that you spent your weekend in the forest fighting imaginary monsters with foam swords and macaroni spells, you were a complete nut case.'
It made me think about the reason why I was hiding my geeky nature, my love for sci-fi and fantasy. His words made me embrace my true nature, my love and passion. I am a geek, so what.
I am sad that no new Discworld novels will appear written by this witty man but I am glad he doesn't have to fight against that terrible disease Alzheimer any more. I followed his battle against the law so he and other sufferers of this disease could chose to end their lives in a humane way instead of waiting for end, while your mind fades away.
When I saw the documentary he made with the BBC, Choosing to Die, about assisted suicide it touched my heart. It received a lot of criticism by Christian organisations and pro-life supports, but when people make this choice that they want to end their life because they do not want to suffer any more because of their illness we should respect their choice and not shove an book about an imaginary man or your misguided beliefs in their faces. It is their choice.
Some of the things he said will always stay with me and sometimes makes me chuckle.
'Knowledge is dangerous, which is why governments often clamp down on people who can think thoughts above a certain calibre'
'The world is made up of four elements: Earth, Fire, Wind and Water. There is a fifth element, and generally it's called Surprise.'
'Cats will amusingly tolerate humans only until someone comes up with a tin opener that can be operated with a paw.' 'The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.'
Rest well Sir Terry, your words will always be in my heart.
Louis van Gaal brought this phenomenon to my attention again. Being the current manager at Manchester United he put Dunglish in the news again and knowing him he doesn't care one bit about it. *laughs*
I'll give you some examples of his statements (he also makes the common mistake of literal translation from Dutch to English).
That's another cook. (It should be 'a whole new ball game' but he uses the Dutch expression: 'Dat is andere koek')
It's a question of time before ... (I think he meant 'Time will tell')
We are running after the facts. (Dutch expression: 'Achter de feiten aan lopen')
It's again the same song. (Dutch: 'Het is altijd hetzelfde liedje')
I think many English reporters would have frowned upon the statements this football coach made. But us Dutch and the Dutch TV think it is hilarious.
Wrong, but I think it is cute.
The term Dunglish or Coal English goes back to the early twentieth century when Dutch port workers used a rudimentary form of English to communicate with the personnel of the English coal ships.
Errors occur in pronunciation, word order and the meaning of words. Former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt once said 'I can stand my little man' (Dutch meaning: 'Ik kan mijn mannetje staan' but he was supposed to use 'I can stand up for myself'). Best one ever is politician Frits Bolkenstein who referred to economic prospects as 'golden showers', unaware that the term has sexual connotation.
Where would they put the leash?
Some other forms of incorrect meaning of words:
The Dutch verb solliciteren means to apply for a job, which can lead to an embarrassing situation if someone claims they have come to solicit.
During the Second World War, Churchill said to former prime-minister Gerbrandy while the two were standing on a balcony: 'Spring is in the air'. Gerbrandy's response was: 'Why should I?' Gerbrandy thought Churchill told him: 'Spring 'ns in de lucht', which translates into English as 'jump into the air'.
