One Cultural

The students' final field trip was to have tea with the Lord Mayor of Belfast City.

He apologized to us for the barbarianism of the front hall (and was serious):

I don't think we'll ever forgive the audacity of the too-early Christmas spirit.

The Lord Mayor is new each year, beginning in June. This particular one has been in council for the past ten years and is a member of Sinn Fein (pronounced shin fain). That means he's a nationalist. Really nice guy. Was totally gracious when we answered every single one of his questions with blank faces and stutters.

We did the ignorant american populace justice. It's so hard to be smart (or remember basic information like your name) when people stare at you and you're trying to balance a teacup that looks so delicate a butterfly could land on it and make it explode.

Possibly his best moment was his Obama story. You see, the Lord Mayor wears this...not a necklace. It's this gold string of the crests of Ireland. It's old and important. He met Obama a few months ago and was asked, "Where could I get one of those?" The Lord Mayor responded, "You're not going to rise to the level of one of these." The way he told the story was a lot funnier, but either way. Cheeky, sir. 

The group with the Lord Mayor and Hadden (notice the Lord Mayor's bling and the unreasonably tall bookends that are myself and Erynn. Welcome back to middle school class pictures).