It was the best of days and the worst of days...

Ok so today was an amazing! It was one of those days you know you'll never forget, but you don't really necessarily know how its changed me but i feel like it has. The stories of our bogside tour guide and john kelly who runs the free derry museum and whose brother Michael was killed in the Bloody Sunday disaster just made everything so real and personal. To hear him describe not only his brother's death, and the stories of how other victims died was sobering, but then after we toured the museum we got to have a little talk with him at a nearby community center he talked about how he and his family dealt with the loss. The way he sought revenge and justice for his brother was by pushing for a second inquiry into bloody sunday, and in doing so making the soldiers who killed testify (although all but one completly lied under oath, and it wasn't until the second inquiry that the one semi-honest soldier testimony was allowed, keep in mind the rest of his batoon tried to beat him up and he's now in witness protection.)

Anyway, there was something so moving about the bogside, I mean to stand where people died and essentially started the troubles moved me more than I can say. I bought a signed limited edition print of my favorite mural-the one thats all about peace of course! Oh and its signed by the artists themselves, and i just figure it'll be a perfect reminder of the day, the people, and the history.

So there was thing that really stands out in my mind, but not for good reasons. It was something i didn't take a picture of -partial because I didn't really want to remember it, and more because after reading it I wanted to puke, punch someone, and cry all at the same time. It was just one of apparently many letters sent to the families of the victims of bloody sunday saying that their son or loved one deserved to die because he was (fill in the blank with any number of expletives) and that instead of saying may god watch over him at the funeral, that it should have been something like thank good that pig died because he was a traitor and blah blah blah...IOh and at the end it told them they could either leave the bogside (area of derry where bloody sunday occured) or be burned out of their homes. 'm sure I'm not even beginning to describe it but it was the most horredous, hateful, merciless thing I've ever read.

Despite this, and that it started at 8am it was an amazing day! I met my internship supervisor, who is really nice, and discovered there are a lot of stores and bars in derry so i'm sure a good time will be had there! lol I'm excited to move there, I mean I'm gonna miss having the whole group together and four and half people is a really small group, but like everything else I have faith it will all work out for the better!

Oh and I was really surprised by how much stuff there was about the israel/palestinian conflict there was. The free derry sign now says free gaza, and on top of the hill/wall overlooking the bogside, protesters spelled out gaza with palestinian flags. And there's a few murals about it too. Speaking of interesting symbols Che is everywhere...I really liked the mural remembering him too! (on a random side note)

So the not so great part is that my beloved ipod has pretty much died and erased all the songs making it completly useless. I can't tell you how much i loved and used my ipod but really its just a thing, so i'm trying to not be too upset. It just reemphasizes how i need to get a job for this summer since it looks like i'll now be buying an ipod and laptop...these purchases better last for a couple years lol!

Maybe this day has just been draining and left me with a lot to think about.

Loving N.I in a whole new way,
Katie :)