Archive for December 1st, 2006
Malvern was where I spent my secondary school years. As Mum and Dad moved up to Peebles, in the Scottish Borders, a few years ago, I’ve not been back for a while.
Thankfully, Malvern came to me in July, when my school friend Debbie came up to Edinburgh for a few days. Between reminiscing with me about school days, and trading American history details with Dan, we kept her well occupied.
We even had some heat, although we explained this was not what a summer in Scotland was about. We also sneaked her in to Paul and Esther’s wedding so she could experience a Scottish ceilidh, and lined up a man in a kilt to birl her roon the dance floor.
Debbie is now hard at work again in Cheltenham, keeping the young ladies in order. I hope we’ll manage to make it down to visit her in the New Year - and perhaps a trip over to Malvern to see how it’s looking.
December 1st, 2006
We had a beach barbecue as a church in early July, at favourite beach Yellowcraigs, one of the main ones near to Edinburgh.
We spent some time digging on the beach with kids. At one point, Dan drew three different pictures with a spade. Having done a certain amount of answering ‘What’s that?’ with this particular little boy, it was Dan’s turn to be asked what he’d drawn. He replied: this one’s Mondrian, that’s Picasso and and the one there is Kandinsky…
The little boy got his own back by doing some digging of his own, creating chocolate cake, chocolate biscuits and other sand-coloured things that could stand for further chocolate food.
You can decide for yourself which was the more creative…
December 1st, 2006
Yes, I will stop writing titles that repeat the same words, but this one was hard to ignore.
When we send language assistants to start working abroad, they usually get to go to an induction course on arrival in the foreign country. There’s usually one British Council colleague at most induction courses to help answer questions and support assistants as they adjust to being abroad.
This year I was able to go to the Altenberg induction course for Germany, held at a former monastery complex near Cologne. The cathedral is visited by lots of people, and it’s a popular retreat centre for youth groups.
I was in a room which overlooked the central courtyard. It’s a really pretty setting, and you can see some pictures here. Two downsides of the location though: the assistants tend to sit out socialising until at least midnight on the courtyard side. Then at six in the morning, the cathedral (at the back of my room) kicks into action, when the bells start playing. They also play again at seven, just when you’ve drifted back off to sleep…
Despite this, the course went well, and most assistants were looking forward to starting teaching. They also put on a great cabaret on the final evening. The highlight had to be a performance of Bohemian Rhapsody, the whole thing performed on a grand piano by one male assistant. Naturally the audience sang along all the way through, at least where they could remember the words.
December 1st, 2006
Publication, that’s what you need!
It’s been something of a year for working on documents. Some worked: a new brochure for our education work in Scotland, which arrived mid-November. Some didn’t quite:a pop-up calendar for the office, which arrived with the January-June section printed twice…
I’m certainly not in Dan’s league for quality publication work, but it’s nice to see something that you’ve worked on arrive in print, particularly in multiples of 1000.
I’ve finished up the year working with colleagues on new leaflets for our foreign language assistants work and the various programmes with China.
However, my main editing work is on a monthly online newsletter for our education team in Scotland. It’s now into its fourth year, and it’s fun encouraging others to write articles about the work they’re involved in. When schools write in with news of their own international projects, and the pupils are really excited by what they’re doing, that’s when you know you’re on to something…
December 1st, 2006
Our first main family gathering of the year was in March, for Auntie Catriona’s 80th birthday. Catriona lives in Greenock, but also owns a cottage on the isle of Jura, off the west coast of Scotland.
Jura was the regular holiday destination while I was growing up, and I introduced Dan to its delights fairly early on while we were going out. We’ve also brought friends there over the last few years, who have generally gone away sold on the whole experience.
So, you can imagine we were pleased to have a little slice of Jura available in Edinburgh - in fact, there was a whole birthday cake in the shape of Jura. Catriona was really pleased, and we had fun bidding for different sections of the island by name. However, we made sure that Catriona got to keep the Craighouse section, the main settlement on the island where the cottage is based.
We also had fun trying out the Italian restaurant in Juniper Green, which we returned to in May for the Boston Mackenzies’ visit. The owner handled the unveiling of the island with great respect!
December 1st, 2006
My uncle Bill and his family are based in Boston, and usually make it over to Edinburgh in August, tieing in with Granny Flora’s, Mum’s and cousin Julia’s birthdays.
This year, they came over in May instead, and we all met up for a meal together. The kids (and big kids) headed up to the park in Juniper Green afterwards to work off the food.
Both Dan and I gained cousins when we were in our twenties. We don’t all get to meet very much, but we enjoy ourselves when we do. Max and Julia may be growing up in the States, but are well aware of their UK heritage too, and it’s nice to support their interests. Max was working on a school project to do with cars, and was busy taking photos of cars available in the UK but not in the US. Dan was of course pleased to help with car know-how - and a few drawings.
December 1st, 2006
You may have heard of various schemes of personality types: Myers-Briggs and others.
One we’ve been reading about for a while is the Enneagram. You can find more about it on http://www.enneagraminstitute.com
This year, they ran a day course on it at church for the first time. We found a few more people like each of us among the attendees… Fantastic - some supporters to agree on what you find annoying in others…or something like that.
Rather than just use it to confirm what you expected about others who you know (quite) well, it is useful to understand why we interact with certain people in particular ways.
So, if you think you know what Dan and I are, write in and let us know…
And should this all be a bit over the top, but you like a few good cartoons, try this book for size.
December 1st, 2006
Poor Russia. Putin’s Russia seems to be on the edge. Whether the poisoning of Litvinenko was to do with the FSB [Russia’s secret services - the wearer of the KGB’s mantle] or some oligarch inspired security force, it’s reminiscent of a bygone age.
Chechnya and the oil fields of Central Asia feel like a million miles away, but the intrigue and murder happening on our own soil feels like we’ve been violated. Why are we so surprised? Why are we thrilled by the chase and death in the Bourne Supremacy, but when it turns up in a familiar environment do we throw up our hands and wonder where the world is going?
London has always been an international city. While it has benefited from the wealth of the Russian oligarchs and become the playground of the oil-billionaires, it is now also a battle ground seeing the settling of scores and the death of enemies.
We are seeing a restructuring of the world around us - an unfortunate globalisation of assinations alongside our cola, computers and other comforts. We shouldn’t be surprised if more of this is to happen. As London becomes richer and a place where the world does business instead of New York, it is going to see more danger.
December 1st, 2006
So, we’re into December, and right on cue, our first Christmas card arrives.
Thanks, Jim and Betty!
It’s also an excuse to get out the advent calendar. I was given this when I was about eight, and have used it most years since. Never mind the siren song of chocolate in door a day calendars - this one has a poem a day.
Most of it is familiar, although there are some interesting additions. December 15 has a lion looking in on Mary, as she stirs a pot on a campfire, on the journey to Bethelehem.
December 1st, 2006