Christmas in July!

We finally slept at a decent hour last night and got up before 1pm. We had breakfast at Giraffe on Stranmillis Road. Review on this later. Then we went to the post office to pick up my parcel! YAY!!! I love care packages especially from my mom. She goes way overboard. When I lived in Africa, she actually sent a portable toilet. Now THAT was humiliating! But she still rocks cuz she sent proper organic maple syrup from Quebec (which is hard to find here. The only place I found maple syrup was at Marks & Sparks. Even then it tasted watered down. Not good at all) and packages of mac & cheese, pancake mix, crystal light (which is now Craig's favorite), cornbread mix, and stove top stuffing!!! After we dropped the box at our house. We went for a walk across the Kings Bridge to find my teacher's house for my bodhran lessons. YES, I WILL BE LEARNING BODHRAN!!! I finally got in touch with a teacher yesterday after month of back and forth emails between the Crescent Arts Centre and The Belfast Traditional Music Society. I'm so excited!!! I feel like I'm back to my old ethnomusicological self again. Craig wanted to walk back on Stranmillis Road and people watch. We sat outside at a cafe and soaked in the atmosphere. We saw a lot of interesting people. Such as this guy with spiked hair. There were also a lot of young adults in hooded robes. I guess commencement for Queen's University is today. I found the hoods fascinating. Some were trimmed with white fur others just pink and blue satin. What is that all about? In the states, if you graduate with a B.A. you don't get a hood. You just get a gold cord around your neck (like a nuce) if you graduated with honors. All the other higher degrees (ie MA, PhD) receive a hood. I never really understood the whole academia pomp and circumstance. I didn't even walk in my graduation. I got my diploma and ran fast and as far away from campus as I could. So far that I ended up in Cuba!