Edinburgher with cheese

Och! The places I went!

2005-05-18T06:45:00.000+01:00

My trip to the Orkneys was amazing. We had fantastic weather. It rained for about 2 minutes. In seven days, in Scotland, that's superb. Our tour guide was also excellent! A plucky young thing named Kath, who told great faerie stories and was really keen on showing us beautiful little-known parts of the Highlands. Our van was really old and it was probably its last trip, so she christened it Rusty the Ruthless, a viking longship, and tied a plastic viking helmet to the front. So here's a summary of Rusty the Ruthless' daring adventures:

Day one: I meet Rusty at Inverness Bus Station, and we head to Carbisdale Castle Youth Hostel. I get an impression of my travelling companions. Lots of Aussies, up for drinking and flirting with boys in pubs, a sweet Spanish couple, a cool girl from Vermont, a quiet older man from the Netherlands, a boy from India, a bratty Vancouverite, and a mother and two daughters from New Jersey. Over the trip two of the Aussies dominate (i.e. are loudest) but everyone gets along.

Day two: Saw the Broch Cairn Liath. A Broch is the ruin of a tower or fort, and this one had a double wall with a staircase between. Headed to John O'Groats, the most northern part of Britain that you can reach by road, to catch a ferry to the Orkneys. The creation myth of the Orkneys is that they are the molars of the Stuart Worm. This gives you an impression of their gentle rolling shape. There are also no trees. The only 'forest' was planted during Victorian times. It is absolutely surreal to see stretches of green, and blue sky or Sea, dotted with grey houses and no trees. We stayed in St. Margaret's Hope, on South Ronaldsay.

On the island, we visited the Tomb of the Eagles. This is a Neolithic tomb dating back 5000 years. It was discovered by a local man, and ignored by the authorities for 20 years, until it reverted to being his property and he excavated it. He still gives the tour, and his daughters still run the museum. All are grey-haired and have what I suspect is the Scottish ancestor to Canadian English (they really do say 'aboot'). The Tomb of the Eagles, so named because of the large quantity of sea eagle talons found within, is entered via a narrow stone passage, with a wheeled platform provided if you don't want to crawl. Inside it's cool and dry, and just stacked stones making partitions, including a small cubby hole with a skull.

Day three: We saw dolphins!! Two big ones and a baby! We also went to the Orcadian 'mainland', the nice town of Kirkwall. On the way we stopped at the Italian Chapel, which was built by Italian prisoners of war out of concrete and driftwood. The pièce de resistance is a gorgeous fresco of the Virgin Mary over the alter.

@-->--

This post is incomplete and several months late but I'm putting it up anyway.

Life? Unpredictable.

2005-05-11T22:19:00.000+01:00

This morning I wrote the last exam of my undergraduate degree. If I remember correctly I had to write about the fundamental attribution error, and how it helps children learn to draw through top-down processing. It may also have been 3 separate essays.

Now, I'm in a castle. No, really: Carbisdale Castle Youth Hostel. It's got a great view, and the halls are filled with paintings and statues. I was in a room to myself, too, but I switched with a Spanish girl so she could be with her boyfriend, because these hostels are single-sex rooms only. She said I made her really happy, and I said I'd want the same thing if my boyfriend was here.

There's a field trip of junior high kids here, so this room has just been emptied of a bunch of rambunctious young Scots making structures out of spaghetti and marshmallows. The schoolteachers are clearly at their wits end, but there were several bottles of wine in the fridge so they'll take care of themselves.

I probably won't have internet access again on this trip. I just thought this was worthy of a post.

I really hope I'll get to speak Gaelic to someone.

That's me

2005-05-11T08:53:00.000+01:00

In half an hour I will sit my last exam.

At 1:30 I will board a bus to Inverness, launching a week-long trip around the Orkneys and Skye.

At 9pm on May 18th I will say goodbye to everyone I know in Edinburgh, at a smoke-free pub.

At 8:30pm on May 19th I will board a bus to Glasgow, to take a bus to London, to take a plane to Montreal.

At 11am EST May 20th I will be home.

Warning: I look a bit different.

Mum's the word

2005-04-12T06:11:00.000+01:00

Ok, so I sort of forgot about my blog. But that means I've been having fun in the real world!

My mom has been visiting since Thursday afternoon, and she leaves this morning. It's been wonderful having her here! I feel an undeserved sense of pride showing her all the beautiful things in the city. It was fun pointing out the first casual glance of the castle, and walking through the Meadows and Princes Street Gardens.

We've managed to see quite a bit in the past few days. Of special note: a day trip to Loch Ness! Departing bright and early Saturday morning, we took the front seats in a big bus driven by a cute, cheerful, chatty guide named Chris. It's remarkable how the landscape changes from the Lowlands to the Highlands. Pretty much, you're looking around you, and all of a sudden the ground level is higher than your eyes. Fertile green fields give way to clumps of brown and snow-capped peaks. Oh, and according to Chris, Scotland doesn't get rain it gets liquid sunshinee. Our tour wound its way up through Sterling and Fort William, stopping at the infamous Loch for a 'cruise'. The boat was equipped with top-of-the-line sonar equipment. Nessie was very polite and "down-to-loch" for such a big celebrity. Our way down passed Urqhart Castle and Inverness, stopping for fish and chips in Port Lochry. The guide (apparantly keeping company policy) interspersed his Scottish history and culture blurbs with traditional music, and some irritating pop. That night I rented and watched Braveheart, just to round out the experience. Just try and tell me I'm not Scottish now!

Otherwise, we've seen the Scottish Museum, dined at the outrageously expensive modern restaurant Oloroso, and visited the Royal Yacht Britannia. I was also lavished with gifts from home, including Fairmount bagels, maple chocolates (for my co-workers, by request, actually), Patisserie de Gascogne marzipan, and excellent wooden sticks to make into Bass Beaters. These sticks were apparantly chosen after a serious conclave of Mum trying to decide if I really wanted them 3 inches thick (I meant centimetres!), Mike my stepfather contributing his hardwood lore, and Andy and his friend Scott their musical expertise.

After seeing her off in a few hours, I will have a month and 8 days remaining on this side of the Atlantic. This weekend I am going away with the Processional drummers for group bonding and many more hours of practice. My first exam is April 27th. I'm hoping to visit some of Northeast Scotland next weekend. April 30th is the big night! The first 2 weeks of May see more exams, and May 11th I embark on a 7-day tour of the Orkneys. I guess it will fly by. I'm really looking forward to going home, but it's a bit scary to have nothing definite there waiting for me. It's exciting too, thinking about the job-hunt. I know I have a good reference from Explore (they may let me write it myself!). At least I know where I'm staying this summer. Heh, I'll be going from Andrew's hometown to his apartment!

Anyway, I am considering whether the current time of day justifies a second cup of coffee, so I will leave you with these words (you can interpret the Lord bit however you want):

May the blessing of light be on you - light without and light within. May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire, so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it. And may light shine out of the two eyes of you, like a candle set in the window of a house, bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm. And may the blessing of the rain be on you, may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines, and sometimes a star. And may the blessing of the earth be on you, soft under your feet as you pass along the roads, soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day; and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it. May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly; up and off and on its way to God. And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly. Amen.

Sun is shining

2005-01-27T15:04:00.000Z

Yes, when you're in Scotland, you talk about the weather. Yes, we have sun today, which means I'm wasting valuable Vitamin D by posting. I was looking at the toy section of a Bargain store the other day, and was very amused to find a "Princess Brolly set" on sale. Why should a little rain keep you from being fabulous?

I have seen the Castle, and it was actually cool. The £10 entrance fee and rumours of it 'not being cool' dissuaded me previously, but Dustin wanted to go so hey. It's quite nice, large, historical... not doing a very good job selling it, am I? There is a very respectful war memorial, lots of talk of batteries, a hall decorated with weapons in various artistic arrangements,and great views of the city. The Honours, ceremonial crown, staff and sword used to crown Mary Queen of Scots and hidden away for 500 years in between, are on display, as is the Stone of Scone (or Destiny if you prefer), used in the official appointing of the King of Scots. Or possibly of Scotland; there is a difference, you know.

We also wandered through the Scottish National Museum, a nice gallery of assorted European and Scottish art. A Titian exhibit was on, and some Scottish landscape works in watercolour. I learned about the Glasgow Boys, a group of Impressionist painters, using a characteristic square brush stroke. I don't know any other unified Scottish art style.

Tonight there is the weekly institution of improvised jazz at Left Bank, a funky cafe-bar. Tomorrow night we'll be catching an Improverts show, should be a good laugh. Saturday, to Rosslyn Chapel for beauty and mystery. Saturday night, Dustin departs for London and the wider European world. It will be sad to see him go, but I suppose I can't be greedy (and anyway he'll be flying back to the colonies from here).

Ooh ooh! If you're looking to impress a young Gael, try this out:
Tha thusa a'coimhead tinn, agus is mise Dotair Gaol!
Pronunciation: Ha oosa uhcoyit tcheen, agis ish misha dohtar gul.
Gloss: You look sick, and I'm Doctor Love!

Whether better weather

2005-01-20T13:28:00.000Z

Can I just say, it snowed here the other day. I was not prepared for snow in this city. I do not approve. Some Californians in my class were very excited and said this was the third time in their lives they had seen snow. That's just not fair.

Although it has been warmer than -30. :P

On a related note, I'm going to the zoo this Saturday! It's famous for its Penguin parade, and this Saturday is Penguin Awareness Day! Expect a full report.

Since I've been back

2005-01-17T16:21:00.000Z

I was hoping classes would try to ease us back in. On our first day of Gaelic we did some 'review' reading, wherein I took 2 pages of new vocabulary words. I also have a new class, Simulating Language, which I'm quite excited about. Overall, though, this is going to a much busier semester.

Now on to interesting things! Dustin is staying in a lovely flat with connecting flat, in Bruntsfield, caring for two gorgeous blue cats who are worth more than all my possessions combined. We have had shite weather, gale-force winds and cold rain pretty much every day, but have managed to do stuff anyway. Have caught up with friends, though there is a gaping hole where Kristi once was (she was only over for the semester). Flatmates are fine, Gaya stayed over the break and seems to have relaxed and gotten a better feel of the flat and of the city. I've worked some shifts (had to relearn kids names!) and we had an excellent staff night with curry and wine and a bit of piss taken on our kids (please not I don't know how to passivize that phrase).

So, the most tourist-y thing we've done so far is walk along the Royal Mile, which is mile-long string of Scottish souvenir shops connecting the Holyrood Palace and the Edinburgh Castle. Right below the castle is the excellent Camera Obscura, a living picture of the city, and a museum of illusions. Towards the other end is the Museum of Childhood, which is quaint and free and has enough interesting things to see to make up for old dolls being creepy. We also peeped in to a 'tartan museum', which was really a bunch of tartan shops and weaving factory, with some mannequins in Highland dress thrown in for good measure.

We visited the Royal Botanic Garden, and if you don't believe me look here:

It was pretty enough, but a really cold day, and likely worth another visit from me when there's actually foliage.

This past weekend we hit Glasgow. That was quite fun. On Saturday we saw the Glasgow Cathedral, built atop St. Mungo's tomb. He is the patron saint of Glasgow, and his real name was Kentigern, but Mungo means 'dear friend' and I think I may have to appropriate this word. We also saw the Provand's Lordship, a 15th century house. It was cool in theory (that oak chest is older than Canada!) but still just an old stone house. We then headed towards City Centre and caught the Gallery of Modern Art, a gorgeous building with some interesting pieces. That night we had some drinks at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, known for its live music every night. Keep an ear out for Infrasound, from Leeds, they may be the next Franz Ferdinand. We stayed at a B&B run by a sweet middle-aged woman and a really nervous dog named Roy.

Sunday we walked from the B&B to the Burras fleamarket, which was a let-down. The guide book said it was really worth a visit, but I've seen more exciting fleamarkets. We did laugh at the stall of vinyl lingerie, staffed by a meek old woman, though. From there we did a bit more walking than we intended, trying to catch a bus to the other southside of the city to view the Burrell Collection. It was well worth the trip, however. Sir William Burrell was an industrialist and serious collector, and gifted some 9000 items to the city of Glasgow. The building itself was designed for the collection, and it's all wood and glass with tall ceilings and lots of skylights. Some of his pieces were old stone doorways and windows that got built into the museum. His collection is quite varied, Egyptian and Roman, Degas paintings, knights armour, Rodin statues, tapestries and Dutch glass. Of special note were the Neolithic jade and pottery works from China, including very well-made axes and knives. There was also a special exhibit on the history of China. The collection is in Pollok Country Park, a lovely public park. The sun actually came out while we were there, so we had a nice walk and saw some native animals- squirrels, Highland Cattle and football players. (I'm not kidding.) Oh, and Glaswegians are definitely friendly. We got a bit confused trying to exit the park, and a jogger finishing his exercise drove us to a bus stop.

So, it's been a good- wow, 2 weeks now!- back, and excellent having the Dustin here. Hopefully there will be enough nice days ahead to see the Zoo, the Castle, Rosslyn Chapel and Calton Hill.

Oh, and apparantly February gets even greyer and rainier. I look forward to finding creative and cheap ways to light my room.

It's back!

2004-12-23T20:13:00.000Z

Look look!

Blogger support do good work.

I just had my first taste of McSween's vegetarian haggis, and it was superb. I can see why they suggest serving it 'piping hot', the flavour is actually improved.

Hmmm... I suppose I don't have much to say right now, being in Montreal where life is not foreign. I'll pick up again in the New Year, with 100% more Dustin!

Because I CAN

2004-11-13T16:30:00.000Z

A'chàirdean!

Ciamar a tha sibh? Tha mi gu math, ach tha mi glè sgith. Dhùisg mi aig naoi uairean anns a'mhadainn seo, agus bha mi ag obair aig deich. Bha phartaidh a bh'ann ann am flat agam a-raoir, agus chaidh mi don leabaid anmoch. Bidh mi a'chadal tràth anochd. Tha mi ag èisteach ri ceòil an-drasta, agus tha mi a'scriobhadh anns am mo bhlog. 'S e latha brèagha a th'ann, ach tha e fuar. An robh sibh a'tuigsinn seo? Tha beagan Gàidhlig agam, ach 's toil leam a'chànan.

Le deagh dhùrachd,

Màirianna

If you try reading this out loud, here's a simple pronunciation guide:
-'d' is pronounced [d], unless it's before 'i' or 'e' in which case it's like the dg in 'judge', or unless it's after 'ch' in which case it's [k], but if it's 'dh' it's a voiced velar fricative, except if it's before 'i' or 'e' in which case it's [y]... Basically, read this as if you don't know the Roman alphabet and you're trying really hard to clear your throat.

p.s. Bonus points to anyone who spots the English word I Gallicised myself.

Visual aid

2004-11-07T23:23:00.000Z

A few glimpses into my world.

The flatmates:

Me, Justine, Gaya and Esther in the kitchen.

The flat:

It's finally gotten easier walking home up that hill!

The university:

This is one of the more modern buildings, the older ones are nicer.

:D

Braw

2004-11-07T23:05:00.000Z

You have to gear up for Scottish weather.

Boo!

2004-11-03T18:14:00.000Z

I meant to post pictures. I really did.

However, they're all scanned, which means they're a full page with just a little picture in the middle, and I couldn't access my webspace (Dustin? Is this a temporary problem?) and now it's late and I have actual school work to do.

So, soon, I promise!

Food, glorious food!

2004-10-26T16:49:00.000+01:00

Before coming here, I was worried about how I'd fend for myself as a vegetarian. I'm doing quite well, as it turns out, but I thought I'd give you a little taste (PUN) of Scottish foodstuffs. Pretend the little bullet points are biscuits. Chocolate digestives, if you will. Mmm...

If it comes from an animal, you can eat it. The infamous haggis is made of lamb's heart, lungs and liver finely chopped and mixed with oatmeal, onions and spices, then boiled in the sheep's stomach. The lungs are also known as 'lights', and haggis is eaten with neeps and tatties(= turnips and potatoes). I've seen little packages of vegetarian haggis made with nuts, and have tried a veggie haggis roll that was made with lentils, but I doubt they even come close. Then there's black pudding, which is included in the traditional Scottish breakfast, and is a sausage made from dried blood. The breakfast otherwise includes fried eggs, beans, potato in some form, mushrooms, tomato, bacon, and buttered toast. It's also supposed to be the cure for a hangover. The English are supposed to have a stiff upper lip, I suppose the Scottish have stiff arteries.
If you can eat it, then you can put it in a pie, or 'pastry case'. There's steak and kidney pie, steak and ale pie, scotch pie, mincemeat, various fish pies and, surely for the sake of absurdity alone, macaroni and cheese pie. Then there's filled rolls. Hot filled rolls are like knishes, although usually with sausage or bacon inside. Cold ones are sandwiches, as are baps. Then there's pasties and bridies, which are again greasy flaky envelopes of meat goo.
If you can put in batter, you can fry it. I've only seen one McDonalds, but there are hundreds of tiny fast food places, usually fish and chips, pizza or curry, and open till 1 or 2 am to supply drunken snack foods (see bullet point one). Fish and chip shops offer a good spread of other fried options, one place close to me has fried pizza! There's also fried Mars Bar, and yes I've tried one. It's really gross to look at, a sort of rectangular tube of light-coloured batter, with little brown drops of melted chocolate and caramel. It tastes delicious of course, if you can ignore every bit of nutritional information you've ever processed.
Oatmeal. Oat products are prevalent. Oatcakes, which suck the moisture out of your mouth, flapjacks, which are addictive buttery squares made with fruit or chocolate, biscuits (especially HobNobs!), lovely porridge, HobNobs. According to my Let's Go Scotland book, there are several traditional puddings that all seem to be made with cream, whisky and oats. There's also one that I have to try just for the delight of ordering it: Clootie Dumpling. This is a steamed pudding made with breadcrumbs, raisins, currents and shortening, and it's steamed in a 'cloot' or cloth.
Cream, custard and chocolate. Cream is sold in every convenience store. Custard adverts take up the sides of busses.Cadbury's in Canada is restricted to Dairy Milk bars. Cadbury's here makes a wide variety of chocolates, cookies, baking products, and hot chocolate. It's delightful. I'm so glad the gym membership was cheap.

I wanted to find a product line listed, but alas http://www.greggs.co.uk/ only offers business information. Greggs is a 'takeaway pastries and savouries' shop chain that always has huge lines at lunchtimes, whichever shop you go to. With their bright blue storefronts and well-lit cases of of pasties, donuts and scones, they are the picture of temptation and poised to take over the world.

Right, yeah

2004-10-21T01:34:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry, it's hard to write when you have so much to say and so little time at a computer to say it.

Also, my draft of the London blog was looking frighteningly long, so I'll break it into clearly headed paragraphs. Writing skillz R sew ahsome!

Glasgow
What? Yes, I did go to London for the weekend, but the bus left from Glasgow, and it was my first time there so I'm writing about it. Glasgow is cool. It has skyscrapers, yes, and a completely different feel from Edinburgh. It's urban and gritty and cool, where Edinburgh is classic and pretty and well-reputed. Glaswegians are friendlier, too. Kristi had been before, and said that people would come up and offer help when they saw her looking confused with a map. We nipped into a bar where we heard live music. It was pretty empty, and the band members were about 15, and playing entirely Adult Soft Rock covers, but they were quite talented. The manager and the bassist came to talk to us during their break, turns out they were father and son. Apart from an enthusiastic description of how much the son hated the English, complete with pantomime beatings and an order to go rent Braveheart, they were indeed really friendly.

Trip/Arrival
The bus was one of those giant accordian-middle dealies that I marvel at in Ottawa (that possibly are the only things to marvel at in Ottawa, except maybe the prices and the boring). It was also really cold, but I can't complain about a £15 trip to London! We arrived at 6am. This made for an unusual introduction to the city. Sean had described it "4-D", and said if he lived there he would feel like a mouse, and that there would actually be people who could squash him. At 6 am it's quiet, the light is peaceful, and the cool air calm. We walked past Buckingham Palace, the gardens in front, and down to the Thames. As the sun rose, the buildings along the river went from being lit in soft blue to a soft brown. We also managed to find cheap breakfast. A promising first impression, even though we knew it was almost 180 degrees from the actual London experience.

The Hostel
Located in the quiet residential neighborhood of Belsize Park, which reminded me quite a bit of Greenwich Village, the hostel was decent enough, and £15 for a double room. It also included breakfast and lunch, though lunch included leftover fried eggs that had converted into a substance scarily like plastic. After lunch we went to nearby Primrose Hill, which supplied an awesome view of the city, and down to Regent's Park, which reminded me of Central Park with all its joggers. There was also the zoo, but it was prohibitively priced at £11. We saw some birds from the other side of the fence, though. Take that, London!

Saatchi Gallery
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/
So SO cool! A man handing out fliers convinced us to go to it and not the Dali museum. A modern art gallery, where almost all the works were interesting, meaningful and un-pretentious. There's almost too much to talk about. One of the most interesting exhibits was a room full of work by Naomi V. Jelish, as well as newspaper clippings and personal items. You piece together that Jelish was a girl with an amazing talent for drawing, who disappeared with her family at age 13. In the year or so before their disappearance, the family suffered the death of the youngest child and of the father. Mr. Jelish had a heart condition and was failing fast, but his death came from heart attack after jumping into a cold lake to save his son from drowning; Naomi was also present. The mother then found out she was 5 months pregnant. Most of the art was contained in journals done for art class, and on the back of whatever paper she had around. One of these was a letter home from the art teacher complaining about Naomi's lack of interest in class. Another letter, handwritten rather than typed, was a profuse apology from the same teacher after she found out why Naomi was so distant. Apparantly Jelish had sent everything on display to her grandmother, the only family member to encourage her art, shortly before her disappearance. This is where it gets even weirder: a friend of the family discovered the work and saw its merit, and gave it to a young British artist, who spent several years painstakingly piecing together the works into something he could exhibit. The friend's name was John Ivesmails, and the artist Jamie Shovlin. Both these names are anagrams of Naomi V. Jelish. I'll let you do your own Google to get to the bottom of that one.

Another beauty was 20:50, or the oil room. This is literally a room filled with motor oil, sectioned off to form a passage that looks like a diving board- or a coffin. You walk in (only one person in at a time) and the oil around you smells and looks like black glass, barely rippling with your steps. At the top of the passage you pear into the oil and see: light! The room reflected back at you, ceiling down, carvings mirrored. The link below gives a nice picture. Another site I saw just said "artist fills room with sump oil".
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/20years/wilsonr.htm

Tate Modern
Blissfully free, the featured work was a sound exhibit by Bruce Nauman called Raw Materials. The gallery walls have only with black panel speakers. From the second floor looking down, all you hear is chaotic noise. Approaching the speakers one by one, you make out very different things. One hisses 'get out of my head!", one sings exuberantly "feed me eat me anthropology!" (I still have it stuck in my head!). There were 22 in all, and so many different ways of hearing them. I saw one person leading his blindfolded friends down middle of the gallery. We were pretty museumed out after a few floors of the other works, but a few I'll mention are a stop-motion video of a plate of fruit left to rot (in a room of modern interpretations of still lifes) and an archaeological dig of a section of the Thames, whose finds were housed in one of those old-timey natural history cabinets, and included animal bones, broken plates, and laminated cards.

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/nauman/

Saturday Night
We went looking for a place to find hot chocolate. Should be simple, right? Unfortunately we were in Westminster, apparantly a business district where nothing is open if it isn't weekday lunch. Apart from the high of finding a street named Montreal Place, the walk through the rain past closed building after closed building actually led me to pronounce "London is BORING!". I swallowed my words when we found ourselves in Soho, and then China Town (thankfully I swallowed a hot chocolate as well). That's where all the people were! We found the famous bustle! Unfortunately, it wasn't that different from any other city's bustle. Chinatown actually really resembles Montreal's, with its intersecting cobblestone streets flanked by fake pagodas. We got a good taste of hub-bub, but it didn't feel particularly exotic. It actually reminded me once again of New York.

Sunday Manifestation
Sorry, that should read 'demonstration', but I was thinking about my Spanish flatmate. We checked out at 10:30, and the meeting point was Russell Square at 1, so we kicked around a bit until then, got a bit lost, then finally stumbled onto the park. Here was bustle in an entirely different sense. The park was lined with pickets, and your typical protester sorts, and there was drumming and talking and music coming from a renovated double-decker belonging to the ESF. It was an anti-war/Bush/Blair protest. We mostly stayed close to Samba, a music/dance protest group who were brightly costumed and making beautiful music with drums, whistles and shaky things. The demonstration was quite peaceful, and well-controlled with gates and police. Reports of 15,000 to 20,000 people in attendance, which is a good turnout and an amazing thing to feel, walking in a group that big. Sadly we arrived at Trafalger Square after the talks, but there was live music. I gave my e-mail address to some people that had actually attended the conference, in the hopes that I could get insider information.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1330019,00.html

http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml

I'm afraid, gentle readers, that it is 2am and I am quite tired and should be in bed. I should have written more, but I honestly can't put together any more information right now. I will attempt to post pictures in some form anon.

I believe the expression is 'woot!'

2004-10-18T10:18:00.000+01:00

Why I'm happy and tired this morning:

1) I was in London this weekend. This is possibly the coolest thing about living in Europe, the proximity of extremely cool cities (and countries!). Also cool: I got home (at 5am this morning) and Edinburgh actually felt like home (though it won't ever feel like coming home to Montreal).

2) I was there for an anti-war demonstration, which was amazing. I will write more later, but initial reports say there were 200,000 people there, it was peaceful and well-organized, and I will hopefully be getting some e-mails from people who attended the conference running before it, so I can get an insider's scoop.

3) I got a job offer, at a Learning Centre, which I really really wanted. I'm going to teach the kids how to use word 'really' effectively.

4) I got e-mail and posts and phone calls from the ones I love.

-I'm afraid I can't write more, because I have homework to finish and a class at 11.

You haven't lived

2004-10-09T08:55:00.000+01:00

Until you've seen vacuum-packed bagels.

This memorable moment was brought to me by my wonderful mother, in the form of a care package which also contained more gloves, scarves, hats and sweaters I was aware I owned.

My flatmates looked on in amusement tinged with fear, and I assured them that Montreal bagels are usually airier. I'm hoping they will taste better toasted. The bagels, that is!

Thank you Mum!

It IS possible...

2004-10-08T17:25:00.000+01:00

Today was a gorgeous, bright sunny day. It didn't rain or get cloudy at all. In fact, it doesn't look like it's threatening rain, even now!

I took advantage of this by walking around Princes Street Gardens, and then hiking Arthur's Seat with a friend, taking many pictures. I may even attempt to use the computer lab scanner when they're developed.

Until then, please enjoy these views of Edinburgh:

This site has pictures of different buildings and streets in Edinburgh, compared with photos and sketches done in the 1850's, and much general information about the city.
This site has extremely artistic photos.

Tonight I have the pleasure of seeing Reduced Shakespeare Company perform "all 37 of Shakespeare's plays in 97 minutes", because I won free tickets. Sometimes it pays to write down your e-mail address on every possible list.

Sean's coming in tomorrow! I'm trying to think how best to play tour guide. I suppose it will depend on his interests.

Tha mi glè thoilichte!

Nach eil e brèagha?

2004-10-04T20:48:00.000+01:00

Right, so I'm taking Gaelic. I've never taken a language course in a language I hadn't previously been exposed to, so I was all excited about flexing my Mental Grammar.

I've had a week and a day, so far. We meet every day (!!) for an hour, and there are weekly homework assignments. The style of teaching is... different. We have a course workbook, with different useful phrases such as "I am from Canada." and "Isn't it windy and cold?". The professor reads them out, and we repeat, then she asks us individually. The first day I was quite frustrated, because it didn't feel like we were being taught something real, just a silly game with nonsense syllables. Also, the only 'strongly recommended' book was the Teach Yourself Gaelic Dictionary, and neither that nor the workbook had a pronunciation guide!

It's already won me over, though. It helps that the professor is great. She's really warm, and mischievious (though I feel weird calling an older woman mischievious). She's also really fair. There's one guy who's Scottish from the Highlands (whose Gaelic name means 'land of the Gaelic speakers', while the Lowlands translates to 'land of the foreigners/non-Gaelic speakers'). He's really eager to show how much he knows. I think it's important to him to do well, whether to reclaim his language or to succeed in class I can't yet tell. But it does get annoying when he translates something before we have a chance to think about it. She's really good about it, though, she doesn't act impressed or say things to him we wouldn't understand. There's also a student with a stutter, which is understandably difficult in a course where we're meant to talk out loud every day. Again, the professor is patient, but not in a condescending way.

Two days of the week are taught by a different teacher, and will focus more on conversation as the weeks go on. On Thursday, we watched a Gaelic soap opera. You can't make stuff like this up. It's set in a fictional Gaelic-language college called Bradan Mor, on the Isle of Lewis. The first episode opens with a funeral for the benefactor of the college. We're introduced to the College President in an argument with his wife, who is missing the funeral to visit her sister. She feels widowed to the college, his crazy dream that made her pack up her life and learn Gaelic; she may not come back from her sister's. We also meet the benefactor's son, an evil English-educated and accented man, who comes late to his father's funeral and wasn't even intending to spend the night. Then there's the feisty female student who goes to the funeral even though women aren't allowed at the graveside. There's also a young professor returning to his hometown after 18 years with his wife and daughter-- but why is he given such a cold reception by one of the other local (female) professors? Finally, there's the benefactor's head of estate, whom he treated as a son, who looks like the son, and who makes mysterious references to estates being inherited by the eldest son, even though evil English man is an only child. The problem with the estate inheritance is that the benefactor (I'm sorry, I can't remember his name!) intended money to go to the college to keep it alive, but he died before he could sign the papers. Did I mention the college's name translates to Big Salmon, and the name of the show itself, "Machair", is a type of highland grass?

Another day in class we sang a song. It honestly made my eyes mist. The teacher introduced it as a song little girls in talent shows sing, and the lyrics are about being alone and cold cutting ferns on the hill, the beautiful wee hill. But it's a simple, pretty tune, and the language itself is pretty, much prettier than the indecipherable spelling would have you believe!

Amazingly, I already feel like I've learned something. Not a big piece of the pie, more of an atom really, but the little phrases have stuck. Also, my professor complimented me in class the other day, saying I was making my conversation sound natural even with the limited vocabulary we have.

Reviews of Machair

A text about soap operas and cultural identity

@-->----

nach eil e brèagha = Isn't it beautiful?
ch like in challah
eil rhymes with bell
e same vowel as in bell
breagh rhymes with tree-ah

It's the little things

2004-09-29T21:32:00.000+01:00

University of Edinburgh quirks:

The lifts talk to you. They cheerfully proclaim what floor they're on, and when their doors are opening or closing. This may be in a male or female voice. I'm still waiting for them to start a conversation.
Nobody reacts to alarms! Twice today, an, if you'll excuse me, alarmingly shrill alarm has gone off where I've been working, and I was one of few people who even looked up from my computer.
There are always students in the library, and there are always students in the computer labs. I mean a fair amount of them. This is only the second week of classes. I guess there's a reason Concordia wasn't even on that Chinese university's list.
I'm about to be kicked off the internet because the library is closing.

2004-09-26T13:12:00.000+01:00

More Edinburgh quirks:

The school of veterinary medicine is known as the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. The bus stops for it are labelled simply Dick Vet. William Dick founded the school in 1823.
<>Police coffee boxes. Formerly stalls where police officers or the public could phone in to the main office. Abandoned in the 1960's, some boxes were purchased by the California Coffee Company and converted into cafe stalls. They offer quite a variety of things, including a Canadian hot dog and bagel combination.
The water is assuredly yellow. My flatmates had friends over from Glasgow, and they had a bottle of Glaswegian tap water, and through the rigourous scientific method of comparison, we concluded that the water here is yellow. Further evidence can be found here and here.

Rejection with style

2004-09-24T13:50:00.000+01:00

So, I'm looking for a part-time job. The University has an excellent searchable job bank, and I've dropped CV's in a couple restaurants, and picked up applications for some brainier jobs. There were also positions available as tour guides, including one in The Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre Limited, located on the prestigious (expensive and touristy) Castlehill/The Royal Mile.

As can be inferred from the title, I didn't get the job. What I did get was an absolutely gorgeous rejection letter. The company letterhead is an embossed, copperfoil logo, on thick cream-coloured paper, personally addressed and signed, with my name neatly typed on the matching envelope.

"Dear Mariana,

Thank you for you [sic] application to the Scotch Whisky Centre, for the position of Visitors Assistant. Unfortunately you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We would like to thank you for your interest in The Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre.

Good luck with your search for a suitable position.

Best wishes for the future

Yours sincerely

[non-photocopied signature!]
[name withheld] HR & Office Administrator"

Man, the Scots do things in style! I'm almost tempted to apply for a different position. I figure their pity second rejection would include a bottle of whisky. At least a personalized glass...

University life

2004-09-23T19:05:00.000+01:00

So, the University of Edinburgh has recently been ranked 47th on a list of world universities, compiled by China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University, according to research activity, articles in leading journals, and number of citations. (See the rankings and read more at http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2004/2004Main.htm)

I guess they try to foster research and a strong inquisitive mind in students, because they sure don't tell them anything!

Ok, that's an exaggeration. But it is a very different system, and things are not as nicely laid out as they are back home.

First of all, when I met my DoS to finalize my classes, she had access to a neat webpage that listed the course times and locations, as well as the first meeting time since Monday was a bank holiday. I have no access to this information. I've looked at my "student portal", which helpfully provides my name, address, student number and a horrible digital picture. I've looked at the university website, where it lists available courses to take this year, but no specific times, and which, incidentally, has not yet been fully updated even though it's been promising to do so since March. All this would be fine if my DoS had actually given me the right information. However, she gave me an address for one class that turned out to be 4 buildings, and for another she said had no time listed, and that I should contact the professor. I'm fairly sure she was looking at my second semester course when she said this, because the e-mail address was wrong.

I do finally know where and when I'm to profit from my education. But the courses themselves still leave much up to the student. For example, I'm taking a Psychology course that meets 3 times a week, and has one 3-hour tutorial or "practical". Each section of the course will be taught by a different lecturer. The course outline provides a day-by-day overview of what will be covered, and readings for each section. That's section, not class. There's no specific chapters listed at all, not to mention dates to read them by. As for assignments and tests, we do have them, but the dates are not given. The tutorials start next week, at which point I assume I'll be receiving another course pack. At my first real Psychology lecture, the professor said we should check WebCT frequently. For my Statistics course I'm meant to check the web-page frequently. For my Gaelic course, I'm meant to check the bulletin board in the office frequently.

This is how things work here. It's not a bad system because it does force you to get involved. But it is different, and an adjustment. And I don't think it's spoon-feeding to give due dates and test dates at the beginning of the semester.

The Gaelic course is an amusing story on its own. On the university website it says it may run Semester 1, or Semester 2. It also listed the course time as Monday 5-6pm, and 4 tutorial hours to be decided. When I e-mailed the professor he said it actually ran both semesters, and I could choose when I wanted to take it. When I finalized my courses, it turned out it was a full-year course, and the tutorials were still not set. The final schedule: it meets an hour every day. Incidentally, these times were decided on the availability of the students, at the first meeting, which I missed because I was trying to narrow down which room in the 4 buildings I would actually find the course. Luckily, there were no schedule clashes for me.

Incidentally, the semesterization system has caused problems in more serious ways than delayed online schedules. UK students who take loans still receive them on the 3-term dates, which means they have to stretch their first payment 16 weeks, and they receive their third pretty much when school ends. This is apparantly a government-level snafu, the loans company could otherwise rearrange its payment schedule quite easily. (Read more about Edinburgh student life at http://www.studentnewspaper.org. It's quite good.)

Ooh, one perk of the UK system is British professors, who-- and this is said completely off the record, for as a linguist I could never think these things-- sound much more credible and learned, and can get away with saying things like the Romans had no way of preserving the brain, so to them it was just a "squidgy blob of porridge".

I was going to say more about the campus itself, but frankly I'm getting tired. Briefly, there is George Square, four streets (get it?!) encompassing George Square Park, which is quite lovely, and other buildings spread out from this, many of which are named after Enlightenment philosophers. Sadly, most of these buildings are modern and not the beautiful stone buildings that make up most of the city. The University began life in 1582, through a charter by King James IV, and he liked it so much that in 1617 he changed its name from Tounis (Town's) College to King James' College. The University liked this so much it built its first building, now known as Old College, on the site of his father's murder. There are other campusses in other parts of the city, but my classes are all at this location, which is close to city centre, therefore the locals (apparantly) call it "the University in the city". (See for yourself at http://www.ed.ac.uk/explore. They try to show them from nice angles. )

-----

In more personal news, a 4th flatmate moved in today. She moved because her former flatmates were all from China, and refused to speak English to her (she's French), and indeed to do anything other than talk Chinese amongst themselves and deride all things Scot. I don't understand why some people travel or do exchanges, if they're not willing to try new things. Everyone I've met has been wonderfully open-minded and excited about this new experience. Ok, there was one Texan who commented on the Foreign Nationals trying to speak English that raised my hackles a bit, but otherwise my statement holds true.

Little Edinburgh quirks:

I walked by a pub the other day that had a notice posted in the window: No wearing of football colours. Serious stuff!
The drinking water is yellow.
The antonym of "within" is "outwith".
When I opened a bank account, I received a goodies bag with among other things a Bank of Scotland bottle opener. I heard someone else actually got a free beer. At a promotions fair, the Times gave a free newspaper... and Times bottle opener (it's my keychain). It's good to know their priorities, or at least to know what they think our priorities are!

Quick note

2004-09-21T14:15:00.000+01:00

Non-bloggers can now post comments.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Also, when people talk about the weather in the UK, they aren't kidding. They aren't exaggerating. They aren't trying to scare you away. It rains. It's windy. Then it rains some more. There is sun, but it's usually in sun shower form.

It's good, though, because it makes home feel much homier, and hot foods that much more delightful.

Getting in, getting settled

2004-09-17T07:16:00.000+01:00

It comes to my attention that I've been in this city almost a week. Submitted for the approval of the blog society, a tantalizing glimpse of how I've spent my time so far.

Friday
Left Montreal at 10:30 pm, your time. Didn't sleep from Montreal to London Heathrow. My seatmate was a Belgian accordian player. The movies were Day after Tomorrow (Bad actors watch the world overtaken by CG. In one scene they have to outrun frost.) and The Commitments (Young Dubliners, who consider themselves the blacks of Europe, start a soul band. Would have been better if they had left in the real swear words.)

Saturday
Arrived at London Heathrow, where from the looks of it they'd only just laid the airstrip. There's construction everywhere and a horrible smell in the air. At least the accent is fun.

I went to the wrong waiting area, and took a nap because I thought my flight had been delayed. Thankfully, the kind woman at the counter for British Midlands gets me on the next flight. One of my bags came on the flight after that. They're very organized at Heathrow, they know exactly where your bag is when it's not where it's supposed to be.

There was a booth set up to welcome international students. On the flight and at the airport, I met students from the US, South Korea, China, India, Pakistan and Lithuania. I almost asked if any Scottish people actually attended the school. I offered the welcome people their first taste of a Montreal bagel, and tried my hardest not to hate the boy from Pakistan for saying he'd split a taxi with me, then leaving while I waited to claim my bag, leaving me to wrestle my luggage on and off the bus.

My first impression of Edinburgh, as the plane touched down, was a city with an excellent sense of space. I think this is due to two things. First, much of the city was in fact a planned city: New Town. Designed by design-our-city contest winner James Craig. New Town is an excellent example of Georgian architecture). Second, the buildings are huge, so they aren't daunted by their mountainous surroundings. Seriously, they all look like castles. This is partly due to the physical constraints of Old Town, both walls and geography, that forced the city to grow up instead of out, to accomodate its growing population. Guide books do more than weigh down shoulder!

I unpacked the first night. /brag

Sunday
When I went to International Students Day, I couldn't buy a tour bus ticket because I didn't have a Fresher's pass. I found an internet cafe, walked partway up the volcanic hill that holds Edinburgh Castle... and I'm sure I did some other stuff too. Edinburgh Castle is a magnificent fortress, and its hard-to-attack location is one secret to Edinburgh's longevity. It's also quite surreal to walk around the city doing errands, and look up to see a castle.

I nearly pounced on my room-mate when she finally came in, I was so eager to have someone else at home. She escaped to her friend's flat while I was doing groceries.

Monday
Took a tour of the campus in George Square, where my classes will be. The population of the campus can be divided into three species. 1) Students. These are young, male and female, cosmopolitan, and keep to their own packs. Most are on foot, though some are on bicycle, and in one courtyard you can spot skateboarders. 2) Professors. These can be recognized by their dignified tweeds, briefcases and white hair. They are all male. *Note, I am assuming they're professors. It's possible they've been hired to walk around campus to make it look more prestigious. 3) Promoters. These feisty young men and women can be distinguished from the students by their matching clothing, fervent stares and predatory eagerness to hand out flyers or goodie bags.

Had a pint of Guinness. It was delightful.

Tuesday
A welcome talk by Lyn Collins, one of the dignified professor types (yes, Lyn is male). His speech includes a carefully written off-the-cuff joke, that he didn't have international students in his university days because the sailing ships took too long.

Had dinner at Teviot, one of the Student Union buildings. Student Unions here are... well, they don't seem to serve any political function, just entertainment. They have pubs, restaurants and arcades, and you get a free glass of wine with dinner.

Had two pints of cider. Pints cost about £2.50 here, which will feel cheap when I fully embrace the pound as currency.

Wednesday
Museum tour with a wonderful volunteer guide, a repository of Scots and general knowledge who kept breaking into quotes from the Bible to Rabbie Burns. The Royal Museum was opened in 1998, and it is stunning. It was built around the pieces, so everything (again) shows an excellent sense of space. The building is Scottish sandstone, and the inner walls are white to reflect the abundant, UV-filtered, natural light. The museum is organized chronologically by floor, but the pieces on the floors themselves are organized in four themes. These are working the earth, travel/trade, monarchy/warfare and religion/death. Statues commissioned by Edinburgh artist Eduardo Paolozzi represent these themes. They look like transformers.

The International Student Centre had a dinner, free with food contribution. I went bearing poutine, which turned out quite well considering it was made with oven chips, generic cheese, and chicken-flavoured gravy made from instant granules. Oh, all cooked in a roasting pan, because the baking sheet I bought was too big for our oven. Three people immediately recognized the gooey mess for what it was; one has lived in many of the same neighborhoods I have in Montreal, and the other two and I have a mutual friend.

Thursday
Quiet errand day. Laundry, finalized the classes I'm taking, and took part-time job listings. No, I'm not a huge slacker who waited until this late to finalize classes; this is how it's done here. I've been hearing from people who signed up for courses that then disappeared from the schedule. Lyn Collins informed us that it's quite normal, you see some professors go on sabbatical, so the courses they normally teach aren't offered. Also, I have a tutorial time for each class I'm taking. Two will be decided for me, one doesn't even list possible times, and the meeting time of the course itself may change. Did I mention courses start on Tuesday?

------

The most valuable bit of advice I've had so far, from a friend who did an exchange two years ago: it's lonely to begin with, but it gets better. It's hard to take in so much new and not have my close people here to share it with immediately. But it's also fun. I hope I'm not giving a bad impression here. I'm really enjoying myself, and I have met loads of people from all over the world; except, frustratingly, Scotland, though I expect that will change once classes start.

Overall? Edinburgh is breathtaking. I'm still looking for the right way to describe it. It feels vast, but at the same time forceful and concentrated. The buildings, the streets, the sky, the wind, the rain, the river, the history. They say it's the most haunted city in Europe. I can't blame spirits for sticking around.

More later. Is that really the time?!

You found me!

2004-07-05T17:48:00.000+01:00

One day this will be a blog about my living in Edinburgh. Until then, this lonely post will serve to fill space and inform passersby.

Please enjoy the word snickerdoodle.