Week Four

It appears that the comment option on the blog is working—yea!  It’s great to hear from you and to know that someone out there is reading this.  I am sorry to hear that you are having such a hot spell in Minnesota.  Do I dare tell you that we are not?  The days here have been sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy with daytime temps in the 60s and nights in the 50s.  I guess the earlier part of the summer was quite cool and rainy.  Now there’s a definite fall nip in the air, and I like it!

Teaching

You may have been wondering what is going on with my work, so I will tell you about my first class, Public Speaking.  We are on a module schedule, so I teach only one class at a time.  We meet each day to learn concepts and work on skills.  Students are giving 2-3 speeches a week, starting with shorter ones and now building up to longer, more complex ones.  It has been going quickly, but well.  We also have been on a few field trips—to a book launch to hear some authors speak, to the national museum to look for informative topics related to Scotland, and next week to Glasgow to learn more about globalization in Scotland.  The National Museum of Scotland is in a gorgeous Victorian building that has a newer wing for the Scottish displays.  I’ve already been there a few times and will be going back.  It is delightful.

The National Museum of Scotland, a sliver of the Victorian section showing to the left 

and the Scottish wing to the right, made of local sandstone in the image of a castle . . .

with a couple of file drawers on one end : )

The Grand Gallery is central to the Victorian section of the museum--

a lovely space with amazing displays and acoustics.

The Millennium Clock chimes every hour with a Bach concerto and 

shows the best and worst of the 20th century in its medieval-looking design.

St. Andrews

This past Saturday we had an option to spend the day in St. Andrews (AKA “The Home of Golf” according to the banners on their light poles).  When we arrived we unloaded near the “Old Course” on the coast and got a good taste of that famous wind.  Then we poked around the ruins of the castle and cathedral, the pretty gardens and chapels, the university and shops.  What a lovely little town!   Some of you know of the famous golfer Sir Thomas Moore, but I’ve just learned about him here.  There’s a book about him called Tommy’s Honor, and there’s a movie being made of that.  Part of the movie was filmed at Dalkeith House a couple of weeks ago.  No, we aren’t in it, but we did get to watch them film—lots of preparation and standing around for a few minutes of shooting.

The Old Course at St. Andrews, complete with golfers

The St. Andrews Castle, complete with Ruth

The cathedral's tower still stands, so we climbed the 150+ steps

and got an awesome view

A smaller chapel in St. Andrews--definitely not in ruins!

Looking for a dorm?  Students were moving into this one

On the way back to Dalkeith, we stopped near Falkirk to see these statues of Kelpies.  

Based on the mythical water horse, these are 30 meters high and stand near a new canal and park.

Hiya!

Time for you to learn some of the local Scottish lingo and that heading is your first word.  It’s a greeting, pronounced high-yah in a fast and breathy way.  Everyone uses it—tellers at the bank, clerks in the stores, people passing on the street.  It’s friendly and nice.  

Your next words both relate to talking—no surprise I would notice that : )

Blether can be a noun or a verb and refers to lots of talk: she’s a right wee blether (she’s a proper little chatterbox) OR what’s he blethering on about now? (what is he going on about now?)

Crack also can be a noun or verb and refers to a chat or good conversation: all five of us had dinner in town, it was a good crack (it was a good conversation) OR ah cracked wi the driver aboot . . . (I chatted with the driver about . . . )

I guess the dialect in Glasgow is distinctly different and likely to be harder to understand.  I will get to experience that soon.  Wish me luck!