Blogs from Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 4

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Forty voices – Janet Cardiff. Sunday 19th September. Coughing and whispering building to chatter. girls laughing, little noises, clearing of the throat, humming then, listen in and you can hear the tiny extracts of snatched conversations from forty voices. Forty voices spem in alium nunquam habui was composed in 1573 by Thomas Tallis and this piece was made by Janet Cardiff in 2001 with the choir of Salisbury Cathedral. It’s an old piece and here is not the first place that I’ve seen it. The first time I came across it was whilst walking around Newcastle Keep 12 years ago. We followed the singing then Leaning in to hear the chatter… “I used to have a watch like that. How much did it cost? Look if you want to do it ... read more

The UK definition of "summer," along with a few unforseen roadblocks that have kicked me in the shins these past few weeks, has prevented me from spending my holiday time on continuous adventures, but I've managed to do a few interesting things since our trip to the Lake District. 1. Survived placement Each summer, we are assigned to a 6-week block placement somewhere in the northeast. This time, I did what one SLT called the "bread and butter" of speech therapy: children's community SLT services based in a local hospital. I did everything from home visits to school sessions to early intervention clinics (children under three are called "preschool" age in the UK, which caused quite a few confusing conversations before I figured out the difference - preschool children in the US are 3-5). In a ... read more

You know how I said my next blog entry was coming from Bergen when I wrote last? I LIED. Most of my trips away have literally been over seas, so I tend to forget that trips that don't involve boarding a plane are still are still in fact, trips. Such a trip, is a weekend away in Newcastle. It was really to nice travel within the UK for a change, something I don't do enough of, but plan to correct this year. For a start, you don't need your passport, you don't have to pack stolen hotel shower gel bottles into a tiny, clear zip-lock bag, you don't need to bring an adapter with you, you can use your iPhone normally without being charged through the roof for it, and you can enjoy a ride with ... read more

Earlier in the semester, I mentioned that there might come a time when I have too much work to do any traveling worthy of a blog entry. That time is upon us, and I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Anyway, tomorrow I hop the train for Manchester, a city that is almost twice the population of Newcastle. I've never been, but I'm told their Christmas Market is one of the best in the UK. (I should warn you now that it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so the pictures may not be spectacular.) The morning after that, it's a train to London and a plane to Boston, and an even longer Blog haiatus (during which I will probably see many of you). Last week I visited the Christmas Market in Newcastle, hoping ... read more

Mid-week post! That means a) no new places and b) only a few pictures. But I'm really proud of them, so if you don't care about all this talky stuff, you can at least check them out. I went down to the Quayside (pronounced "Key-side") after dark to see the bridge all lit up. Keeping in mind that we are on the same latitude as Newfoundland and Labrador, so "after dark" means around 4:30 pm. (Sunset was at 4 today.) Although I don't believe for a millisecond that winter weather is going to be anything like what I'm used to in New England, I will grant that the darkness here is way worse. I don't think the sun sets this early even in December for us. But maybe this will make it better: img=http... read more