Day 4- I'm Falling in Love

Hey folks!

Today was my first rainy day in Ireland! I'm surprised that the famous Ireland weather has managed to stay away for this long. Anyways, today I have officially fallen in love with this extremely beautiful place. 

After brunch we headed over to St. George's market, which is pretty much a farmer's market on steroids. This place was HUGE! Obviously, I was in my element. There were rows of organic meats, chocolate, fudges,  food, hand-made goods, everything! I loved that everything was pretty much organic. You're probably going, "Krista, it's a farmers market. What else would be there?" True. But, so far everything I've seen in Ireland, including the Roasted Chicken chips I'm snacking on as I write this, have no preservatives, no added flavors, and everything you read on the label is a FOOD, not a chemical. It's wonderful. Here are some pictures from St. George's Market:

       

There was a table that was selling t-shirts with Northern Irish slang. I had the lady behind the counter explain everything to me, she had a good laugh :-) 

At the top of Victoria Mall 

After St. George we went to the Victoria Center, which is this new MASSIVE mall. It's the biggest mall I've ever been to. Two things surprised me: The stores were very American (Claire's, Starbucks, ext) and the women with children and who were pregnant were very old. It's a cultural thing to get married and have children later. OH THIS REMINDS ME! Ireland/Northern Ireland is a very family oriented culture. GET THIS: *EVERYTHING* and I mean EVERYTHING closes at 5PM. On Thursdays only some stores stay open until 9PM. The reason? As an Irish man put it, "This is a very family oriented culture. Evenings are supposed to be spent with family". I LOVE IT!

At the Victoria Center they have this glass elevator that you can take up to the roof. Up there you get a beautiful view of all of Belfast. Look:

My goal is to only spend $100 on the island of Ireland. Today, my friend Heidy (pronounced Haiti) booked our tickets to go to London for a few days during our free weekend. None of this trip is included in my trip fees, so I'm hoping to spend the majority of my spending money there. After St. George's Market I didn't feel like hanging out in the mall (where awesome things were screaming my name) was a  good idea. So, I took a public bus back to the manor where I'm staying. Public transportation here is AWESOME! So awesome! Another reason I'm falling in love with this place. 

On the way out of the market to the bus stop there was a healing ceremony going on. I guess if you sat down these people would pray over you and heal you. It was um, well, interesting looking. 

I. Love. It. Here.