So yesterday me, my mom, and my brother decided to make the 2 hour trip up to Belfast. Our first day trip was quite the adventure. We spent the first half of the day in the car trying to find a visitor's center, looking back they probably don't have those because they probably don't get many visitors. Once we got our bearings, we went to Victoria Square, which is actually a really nice shopping area. We got a few souvenirs and my brother got a shirt that said "Belfast Probably the Best City in the World". When we were done shopping, we went to a really old pub called "The Crown Saloon". It was quite beautiful, there were booths along the wall that had detailed mahogany doors you could use for privacy and the stained glass windows were gorgeous. Once we found a place at the bar, we met a new "friend" Daniel. He started "taking the piss" (making fun of) at our accents. He was REALLY drunk. We ordered our drinks and my brother decided to use the toast the girls the night before had taught us, "slainte" (slan-cha). Unbeknownst to us, it is an Irish Gaelic toast that Catholics use that roughly means "to your health". Now let me give you a quick history lesson, Northern Ireland is a different country than Ireland and is predominantly Protestant. That being said there has been hundreds of years of strife between the Catholics and Protestants that culminated in the 6 counties of Northern Ireland becoming part of the U.K. There is still animosity between the two and riots are still happening to this day, especially around "The Twelfth" (Wikipedia it). So my brother said "slainte" in this crowded bar and this look came over Daniel's face as he exclaimed with his Irish accent "Ohh, you fucked up!" and went silent. Of course at the time we had no idea what it meant and kept asking him why he fucked up. Then Daniel explained that saying "slainte" in Belfast is like saying "whoop di do n*gger" in the ghetto in the States. As the conversion continued, we could feel the eyes of the other patrons staring at us. Needless to say, we were talking about pretty much the one thing you should never talk about in downtown Belfast in a crowded bar. After we tried to smooth it over, Daniel gave Brett a hug (I was pretty certain that he was gonna shank him, luckily he didn't). We quickly changed the subject, but the mood was quite different afterwards, afraid that if we stayed we might get jumped. We left soon after that and wanted to get out of Belfast as fast as we could. We decided we should grab some snacks before hitting the road. My brother and I had to go to the bathroom so we went into the restaurant next door to the convienient store we were in. My brother left the store before me and when I walked out I found my brother talking to our good ol friend Daniel. Apparently, my brother saw him and said "Hey Daniel!". Daniel being drunk had already forgotten him, got angry and replied "What the fuck?!?" He then realized it was my brother and apologized profusely and said "That's just how it is in Belfast. You don't say hi to strangers on the street. It's fucking Belfast!" Once we got to the restrooms, I had another interesting encounter. As I opened the door, I saw a drunken Irish man standing in there. Confused, I looked at the door and confirmed it was the Ladies room. I said "Umm, this is the Ladies room." He mumbled back, "It's ok." I stood there stunned and a bit paranoid at this point as he pointed to the stall and said "You can go." Then, I just walked out and waited for my brother to finish using the restroom. We got in the car and my brother said, "I'm thinking about returning my 'Belfast Probably the Best City in the World' shirt" which pretty much summed up the day for us. I would not recommend going to Belfast and if you do, don't use any Gaelic you don't understand or say hi to strangers on the street.
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