the Central

The first gay bar to open outside any major city in Ireland just opened in Strabane two weeks ago. Certainly a sign of progress. This link will take you to a photo (from someone else’s flickr site) and a story from the Strabane Chronicle newspaper about the town’s reactions.

Click here to read the story and see the picture

new mammals

This past Tuesday morning I saw something magical –  I saw a lamb -of the Scottish Highland Blackface breed- being born. I was visiting a residential peace and reconciliation centre near the Antrim coast. The houses that make up the centre are set on a hill next to a multiple sheep pastures.

This is the time of year when the babies are born, but I was very fortunate to see a birth this morning, right in front of my window.

nearby violence

Last night a Strabane boy was executed about five miles from here, right across the border. The car involved was found burned out near Derry, which is typical paramilitary M.O. It was a tragic and shocking thing to hear about, and people involved in the peace process are shaking their heads and feeling dismayed. The Real IRA are claiming no responsibility but there are those who keep trying to pull this country backwards toward conflict. 

moving to the town

Hurrah! I am moving into a permanent place in Strabane, right around the corner from the Koram Centre. I am renting a room in a health care clinic from Michael McGonagle, who practices Tui Da (Chinese massage therapy). He rents office space to other therapists (currently a reflexologist, a hypnotherapist, and a person who does Neuro-Developmental Therapy with special needs children) but Strabane has a high rate of unemployment, and it’s a hard place to make a living in by means of a holistic healing practice. Michael grew up in Strabane, but left when he was 15 to go on and become a jockey in Dublin, and eventually raced and won races in England. He was severely injured while riding, and says much of his recovery was due to Tui Da and other Chinese therapies. Renting this room will help him sustain his business (during the slow winter season) and seeing as I’ve been interested in holistic therapies for a long time now, I don’t think there could be a more suitable place for me.

Sion Mills

On my 7th day here I moved to a new temporary lodging in Sion Mills, which is 3 miles south of Strabane (I never thought it would be this difficult to find a place to rent!). Sion Mills is a historic linen village and flax-spinning mill town also on the border with the Republic of Ireland.  The industry has died here, but a historic society managed to save and renovate the old mill building, and set up a scenic river walk, which I will walk to this Sunday.  I am renting a room from a man named Gordon, who is the partner of Bernadette, the Koram Centre’s receptionist 

Sunday, 20 January 2008

People are so warm and welcoming here. On my third night my host told her son to just set the table for three. “We won’t have any guests coming tonight,” and then realized what she said, laughed, and followed with, “Ai, did you hear that, Barbara? It seems you are part of the family now, not just a guest!” I have been observing interactions and I feel so much warmth in their sense of humor and lightness – It feels very comfortable and loving. Family members and co-workers rib around with each other and so forth. It’s called having “a good craic” and when someone is poking fun, they’re “taking a hand to you.”There are family ‘skeletons in the closet,’ but no one seems to be keeping many secrets about taboo subjects. People who I have known for less than a day will tell me about all their family issues— openly talk about alcoholism, suicide, teen pregnancy, religion, politics, immigration, and just about anything else. I believed people would be open, but didn’t realize they would be so readily. I thought it would take a little time for them to warm up and trust me, but so far people have been telling me their life story right off the bat.