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Published: November 29th 2006
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Doune Castle!
A shot off the top of (and through a gun hole) of the castle. I didn’t mean to ignore my blog for so long, it just seems like nothing too cool was happening. Until Scotland that is, and I’ll start there because it’s the best part. After only three days of school last week, AO and I got up at 5:30 to put a turkey in the oven on Thansgiving day. We made a quick dinner for the ones around, and we did it just like grown-ups! After a day of traveling AO, Grace, and I finally arrived in Stirling, Scotland where Melanie, a friend of Alisha’s is studying at the university now. She met us at the train station and we went to our hostel to get situated. Friday we basically hung our around Stirling, saw the castle, William Wallace’s monument (where he beat the English, Braveheart ring a bell?), took in the university and chilled around. Scotland was sooo beautiful! It rained on us practically everyday, but it was so worth it. Saturday we got up, let Melanie work on an essay while we went to the Doune castle. It was only about 15 minutes away, and was the castle where King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table met the Frenchman
haggis face!
Yep, I actually tried haggis. Traditional Scottish food of sheep liver, lung, heart, souet, Scottish water, and some other good sounding stuff boiled in a sheeps stomach and served directly to you! Kinda tasted like liverwurst. Not too bad. Oh, and thats Melanie witnessing the first bites. in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I could just hear the insults being yelled, and the contemplation of air-speed velocity of swallows. I was pretty stoked. Plus the castle itself was the neatest castle I have been to yet. It was old and not too refurbished. It was all open and we just explored these great staircases and wonderful views. After we stormed the castle, we went into the city and had the best scone in all of Scotland as far as I am concerned. Umm, scones with jam and cream. Soo good. Then we went back to Stirling and hopped on a train to Edinburgh to check out the city and spend the night. Little did we non-rugby-enthusiasts know that Scotland played Australia in Edinburgh that day! So we checked into rooms at the train station (after walking around and checking various places in the wind with our packs) and all they had open was a hotel room that would cost us about 100 quid each! ($200 in double the fun Scotland!) Holy cow, we said no and got tickets back to Stirling for the night. But not before exploring the city, having some haggis to chase away
typical Europe picture
lets pose in front of this old bridge! kinda cliche, but still a cool picture.
G, AO, and Melanie on the "old bridge" the one tricky Willy Wallace used to trick and beat the brittish. the rainy-night blues, and walking around in the wind and rain with our packs for a few hours. But not too much complaining as we got to see the castle lit up, the Royal Mile, and a German Christmas Market in the city center. So it was pretty cool. Sunday we hung out more with Melanie and did other random stuff around, like see the Beheading stone from the 1850’s and some cool cannons. Traveled all afternoon and evening to get back to Heidelberg and in bed at 4am. Up and teaching the next day of course! It was all worth it, and such a great experience!
So, other stuff that has been going on that is not Scotland. Teaching is going pretty well, time is flying by in Sure Start. The kids are pretty cool, but these little ones take a lot more patience than first graders! A lot of the focus is on problem-solving and social skills, to help the kids realize that so-and-so didn’t mean to bump them and not to cry. And to use your words to solve problems, not your body. That’s a big one. But it is super important stuff, and it’s kinda
thats right
I found a cannon to sit on! Even though it was wet outside, I still sat on it. cool to know I am helping these kids develop life skills. Plus Clare is great and I am really learning a lot from her, and pushing myself to be a better teacher. She is gone all week, and so far it looks like the sub won’t be much help. But I guess it’s a good experience for me!
Hum, I guess otherwise it has just been random fun on post doing things, playing in leaves, going bowling, and having a day of fun with Grace including a standing-up rainy day picnic with wine, and seeing Borat in a German movie theater with beer! Simone and Mike (Annette’s niece and boyfriend) came to visit for a weekend, and I hung out with them in Heidelberg. We saw the student’s jail, which is where university students were put back in the day for doing things like disturbing the peace by singing songs, or chasing the neighbors pigs down the ally. It was interesting because the inmates drew graffiti on all of the walls. Pretty neat even if I couldn’t understand what most of it said. Well, I suppose that’s about all for now. I’m heading off to the Netherlands with Carol, Ed,
no entry??
Yea, so this part was blocked off. I didn't like listening to a sign, but I did. The castle was pretty cool anyway. Bev, her other daughter Chozy (G’s sister and baby) to see a cool Christmas market in some caves. I’m pretty excited about it. Then it’s like two more weeks before I will be home! I am excited to see family and friends, but it is going to be so hard to leave this place! It seems like the time has just flown by and I’ve met so many wonderful people and had such a great experience teaching. But I won’t wax sentimental anymore, so Scotland stormed us in Edinburgh, but we did a pretty decent job storming Scotland too!
Oh, I forgot to mention that I took 7 stalker pictures of dudes in kilts. Just in the train station. Drunken Scotsmen are pretty funny.
And if you want to see a funny video reinactment of our visit to Doune, check out Alisha's travelblog page.
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MOM
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Beer??
If I didn't know better, I would think that you only went over there to try all the different kinds of beer! Only 3 more weeks to go!