Summer School, sort of, in Edinburgh

Woof!

2006-09-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

The two-headed dog of the Lochend Pond is taking you back home to where I came from.

Portraits

2006-09-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

In random order (i.e.: the order in which blogger spits out the code which is always jumbled)

Sophie

Silvia and Alex

Sarah

Paul

Tom

Neil

Jana

Gianna

David

Natasha

Here's to goodbye

2006-09-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

That's it. The course has finished, all twelve trainees have passed the course and will, if Cambridge doesn't object upon inspection of our portfolios, be awarded the CELTA certificate. Here are some final pictures.

The trainee bunch, from left to right: Neil (Aberdeen, Scotland, and Barcelona, Spain, as of Tuesday, c'rect?), me, Natasha (Rostov, Russia, one of our birthday girls on the course; she must already be back on her way home by now, bye, Natasha), Philip or flippant Phil, Phil who's got ants in his pants, our endearing tutor (currently London, England), Sophie (North Berwick, Scotland, who taught kids in Thailand for a year before she began to study though she's only 21), Paul (Edinburgh, Scotland, who is also heading to Spain soon, good luck for both you future Spaniards), Tom (currently based somewhere 1.5 hours away from Edinburgh, but has recently returned from seven year 'stint' in Japan, wow ), Sarah (currently Edinburgh, Scotland, but she's been about everywhere doing everything, including being a chef in Zambia), Alex (from England, based in Edinburgh, another birthday and the brave person who went on the deep fried mars bar excursion with me, thank you Alex!) and Silvia (originally from Sao Paulo in Brasil, but now based in the North of Scotland, a natural as a language teacher AND a former olympic athlete, whew).

Missing in this picture: Steve (Mr. Capoeira who had a fifteen pages lesson plan for his final TP and does not want to have his picture published on a blog), Gianna (who I'd like to dub Goldilocks and who I sadly missed on this last gettogether), and David (who will by now be on his way to Rome, his new home, best of luck!), and Mark, our other incredibily efficient tutor.

Some of our students:

The tall guy in the middle is Pavel, "my" case study. I wrote my second assignment about his language skills and needs, and he wrote on essay for me about the impact of open source software on the IT market. While he's still at intermediate stage (and has come to Scotland from Russia about 2 months ago), he is (to my and other people's judgment) incredibly smart and able to make witty jokes in English. And he's two meters tall, although he's only 17, as you can probably see in this picture. The guy next to him is Omar from Senegal,an aspiring engineer, and also another rough diamond on the course. Props, guys! The one on the left I don't know, must be an arb stranger or somebody who joined the intermediate group after I had changed to elementary.

The two guys on the left are Faustino (and if everybody in Galicia is like Tino, like Tino said, then I don't think I want to go to Galicia, certainly not without hearing protection) and Adam, originally from Poland, who is a triathlete, wow. To the right: Sophie and Natasha.

Deep fried Mars bar 2

2006-09-02T05:43:00.000-07:00

And a few pics to document the feast...

Finally, the deep fried mars bar

2006-09-02T05:40:00.000-07:00

Tapping into the mother lode of Scottish delights...

Seagulls in Prince's Garden

2006-08-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

...pretending not to see me, but actually lying in ambush to get a piece of my marmite sandwich...

...and another shot of Edinburgh castle, overseeing the garden with all its countless luncheoners, me being one of them, for one of the very last times in probably a long time.

Final TP tomorrow

2006-08-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

Dear World,

You won't believe how happy I am to be able to say that my FINAL teaching practice unit is coming up tomorrow. Last TP was tough, Philip (Dale, our tutor) meant to be "pushing me a bit harder" to work on my "missing link", pronunciation drill. Am unable to say right now whether I'll be able to meet the demands and to outperform all my previous TPs (not even sure whether this is what I want), but at least I can say that I am well prepared.

Am a bit worried about my fellow trainee Steven whose final TP covers a language point, and for an unknown reason this has never appeared on his lesson plan up to this point. Needless to say that this is unfair, as the expectation generally is that your last TP is to be your masterpiece. EDIT: I was actually wrong in assuming that this was Steve's first language point. As a matter of fact, it was his third. S'pose the reason for this is that Steve managed to make all his language lessons appear like a skills lesson to me - must be his innate gift to establish rapport with complete strangers. He's been known as "Mr Instant Rapport" in all the intermediate lessons - the very low proficiency level of the elementary group might have scared him a bit. Dunno, am thinking about what I could do to help him through the final TP - timewise this is going to be tough as Stefanie is coming up to EDI tomorrow (yay!).

Ok, nuf said for today. Some pics from the bee hive:

Short reflection on CELTA

2006-08-27T04:14:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday. Tomorrow the final week of my four weeks teacher training course is to begin. Right now, I am busy writing my fourth assignment. Looking at our time table, I wonder how we actually managed to crank out four assignmengts in between morning sessions, teaching practice and feedback sessions in the afternoon and lesson planning in the evenings. Well, actually, I know how: Through sacrificing our weekends, sacrificing sleep and being incredibly disciplined when it cam eto meeting deadlines.

The principal said last week that week three would be the toughest. I strongly disagree. Week three was a piece of cake in comparison to this final week where everything has begun to hurt. You're fed up with assignments, fed up with rushing to the study centre at a quarter past eight to get your lesson material and/or assignments printed, fed up with struggling with the photo copy machine, fed up with the smell of the trainee room, fed up with eating sandwiches, ... FED UP describes my attitude toward anything related to the course right now.

Of course I have learned a lot. Professionally, this has been the most rewarding experience ever, and there is a ginormous amount of things I am intending to change about my teaching. Personally, it was very rewarding, getting to know the other trainees which seem to come from all walks of life, but yet there seem to be a few common traits which bring them together, the two most important being a) extended experience with living abroad b) having studied unmarketable disciplines, in particular philosophy and literature. Isn't it a weird concidence that three out of only 12 people have been to Zambia, for instance? How often do you meet people who would even vaguely know where to put Zambia on the map?

Etc. pp. Need to turn to my assignment again. In the meantime, for those who are considering joining the world of ELT and CELTA, have a look at the English droid page. This might ward you off eventually, 'cause there is a grain of truth in everything s/he says...

Begin here, if you don't know how to make sense of the navigation:
CELTA without tears

N.B.: CELTA is the course I am currently taking: Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults, monitored by Cambridge university. And the Cambridge assessor is going to come to OBSERVE us tomorrow. There was a 50% chance that I wouldn't be teaching tomorrow, but of course: I've drawn the shorter straw.

Forget Trainspotting

2006-08-27T03:40:00.000-07:00

Remember Trainspotting? Remember the worst toilet in Scotland? Well, what you haven't seen yet is:

The Evilest Toilet in Scotland

Believe me, it's not haunted, and that has nothing to do with the Turkish Eye on the wall. Ghosts would leave this place with burning corneas if they ever stumbled into it, and humans would do the same if not mother nature forced them to stay a little while. Towel or bin? Who needs it...

Muse gig, in concert

2006-08-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, I haven't actually found out yet whether the youtube embed object tags works or not because it takes a whiles for their content supervisers to give their green light. I'll upload it anyway and check whether its up tomorrow morning.

G'night folks! And who ever called me today from a +4179xxx number - please text me! I won't answer calles while I am here! First reason: costs. Second reason: I don't accept calls from unknown numbers after office hours cause they smell like work - and I spent all my office hours from 08:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Basil Paterson. You called at 6:20 p.m.! +41, ist that Switzerland or the Netherlands?

Muse gig, pre-concert

2006-08-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is also a test to see whether the youtube embed object tag works:

Treat from a chippy

2006-08-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

This is how the cookie crumbles! A layer of white paper:

A layer of brown paper:

And a layer of batter.

Hmmmmmh.

Use your fingers,

grab a bite, and then:

Dig in!

The remnants of the feast (probably worth a full afternoon snack on a weight watchers diet...)

My next project: the deep fried battered Mars bar. Stay tuned!

Arf

2006-08-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

Today was a real stinker. Resubmission of second assignment (tiny resubmission: need to provide an illustration, i.e. photocopy of a minimal pair exercise - showing that one is able to master and apply the concept of minimal pairs in analysis wasn't enough), easy as pie, but still another thing to think about. Lack of sleep.

Having to cancel dinner with Sarah, Natasha and Cider due to deadline pressure: classes tomorrow, muse gig tomorrow, submission of third assignment on Friday --> everything must be ready to rumble as of tonight! No class observation this afternoon --> another afternoon and evening in the study centre. Creating new material, adjusting lesson plan. Adjusting vocab analysis. Adjusting material to vocab analysis, adjusting lesson plan.

Completing assignment three, print. proof-read. You need a another weakness in pt. 1. ok, another weakness. Add. Print. How is this going to affect your future as a teacher? Dammit. I forget. Expand. Print. Proof-read. Typo. Correct. Word count! Word count. Too high. Doctor the text. Mmh. Word count. Doctor the word count. Print. Proof-read. Done! Arf.

Photocopier. Photocopier is calibrating. Wait. Copy. Reverse. Page two. Cut up illustrations. Splice together with blue tack. Put on machine. Please no paper jam! 10 pages. Done! Leave BP. Bus late, weird people on the streets. Should mentally disabled people be allowed to have children? Mmm. Bus 19. Ok, finally, some minutes to myself to relax....

Sam had already told me she wouldn't be there, meaning: nobody to be silent with while I'm having my dinner (I am not too chatty after such a day, as you can imagine; apparently things are better when I had an 'Above standard' on the TP of that day, but that has only happened once so far;-) I decided that I needed some comfort food and went to ANGELO's, our local chippy. Single fish, please (i.e. without chips), with salt and vinegar. Hmmmm. The fish is endearingly warm on my hands as I carry it home, and my soul is sighing with relief...

UTFoLT

2006-08-20T02:23:00.000-07:00

This is utfolt: a useful thing for language teachers. Cabin fever is beginning to take its toll amongst us. After having debated with Natasha from Russia, she speaks German as well, whether the s in "Scheiße" voived or unvoiced,

(ASIDE: we found out that non-natives, in particular British folks, tend to use a voiced s while they should be using an unvoiced s - and that, in general, it can be conisdered fairly surprising that German managed to squeeze an unvoiced s between two vowels; we have decided that this can only achieved because the ß, sz, respectively, is articulated unusually sharp - a sound that many Brits are unable to articulate anyway)

we continued to examine the L1 interference that can be observed when natives of Russian learn English, using Pavel, my casestudy, as an example. We thought that maybe he uses the same sound as in the German "Loch", but meanwhile I have found out that we were wrong. The actual effect is palatalization, which is common in Russian and used to distinguish two sounds. Palatalization occurs when the body of the tongue is raised toward the hard palate during the articulation of the consonant.

Think of anyone from Russia who you know and imagine him her saying: "We have to have". I cannnot include a piece of phonemic script here, but it would sound something like (transcription for Germans only): Uii chaev tu chaev (ch almost as harsh as in "Loch).

Now, why is this a useful thing to know you might wonder? It isn't. I was have been digressing from what I meant to say for a moment, that's all. I had wanted to show you the Kinesthetic vowel wheel, but then realized that I cannot make the soundfile that comes with it work.....

But I'm sure another utfolt will come up sooner or later...

Dirleton Castle

2006-08-19T04:37:00.000-07:00

The most impressive castle I have ever been to. Dirleton Castle. It breathes history (and I wouldn't be surprised if it were haunted, like most of the places here in Scotland). When we got there, a wedding ceremony inside the court yard had just finished, with a strings trio playing while we explored the castle: magnificent!

Here is a bit of history from Wikipedia:

"Dirleton Castle (56°02′45″N, 2°46′42″W) is a medieval fortress in the village of Dirleton, East Lothian, Scotland. Built in the 13th century by John De Vaux and altered through various phases of conquest and rebuilding throughout the years, today the castle is partially ruined but is maintained as a tourist attraction by Historic Scotland. The name De Vaux also lives on in the village as the nearby Open Arms Hotel has named their brasserie "De Vaux's".

After being used as a base by Oliver Cromwell, the castle was partly destroyed in 1651 when attacked by cannon. It was soon acquired by a local family who lived at the nearby Archerfield Estate. After becoming renowned for its gardens it became state property in 1923."

A few views of/from the gardens which "are home to the world's longest herbaceous border, as certified by the Guinness World Records and are a popular setting for weddings and other summer events."

The perfect enchanted little cottage...

On top of the tower

2006-08-19T04:23:00.000-07:00

There is a spot where one can climb on the roof of one of the towers of Direlton castle, even with bare feet, offering a view of the gardens. I thought, however, that the reverse view might be more impressive, in particular on behalf of the Scottish flag hoisted on this tower.

A brief explanation of the gesture which you can see below: a straightened index and middle finger with the palm facing inwards (a gesture which might be misunderstood outside of the UK - I thought it meant "I am going to grab you by the nostrils" until I became enlightened in Scotland)...

Here is an explanation by BBC H2G2 (excerpts):
"For people in the UK there is a significant difference of meaning depending on which way around the hand is held; with the palm facing out the gesture can mean 'victory' or 'peace' but with the palm facing in the meaning is an insult, meaning something like 'get stuffed', but more strongly worded."

"The origin of this use is very hazy, steeped in myth, and sadly lost in the mists of time. The most often quoted origin, almost certainly apocryphal, dates back to the Battle of Agincourt between the armies of the English and French kings. The English bowmen were an important part of their king's army and the French king decided that any captured English soldier was to have his first two fingers cut off, to prevent him from being able to use a longbow. As an act of defiance against the French generally, the English came to stick their two (attached) bow-fingers at them - a way of saying 'we can still fire our longbows at you' (or more generally 'go stuff yourself!')."

Whether this is an accurate account of this gestures orgin or not: This is at least what people have in mind when using the gesture.

The Dirleton Dovecot

2006-08-19T04:09:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of the Dirleton dovecot ("Taubenschlag"), a building to house doves, which were an important food source in the middle ages.

Apparently, the possession of doves was a symbol of status and power in Medieval Europe and the theft of a dove was severely punished. Only nobility had the privilege of having a dovecot. And the doves happily built their nests inside the dovecot - harvesting both eggs and meat was a piece of cake. (Some animals appear to be very thick indeed).

More views of the waterfront

2006-08-19T04:01:00.000-07:00

The life guard fair

2006-08-19T03:46:00.000-07:00

On the water front the North Berwick Life Guards held they own fair to raise money and support for keeping their work going. Here are some of the fabulous items they had organised:

A wheel of fortune - the prize for the lucky winner: either a bottle of vodka or a bottle of gin!

This was my prize in the Lucky Dip (rummage through a box wood chippings to find some candy): They North Berwick candy rock!

Give the man three dashes of water for 50p!

Guess the weight of the fish!

Anf course: candy floss...

North Berwick!

2006-08-19T03:35:00.000-07:00

It stank of algae and kelp (the brown seaweed that is apparentlz used in soups, yuk) and there was sandworm poo everywhere - nevertheless the North Berwick seaside was stunning! And the weather treated us kindly, too.

Scottish Sky, Sea and Sand

2006-08-19T03:29:00.000-07:00

Scottish trivia, pt. 2

2006-08-19T03:13:00.000-07:00

Having been here for two weeks now, I am acutely aware that my previous use of the terms "Scottish/British/English" was inexcusably fuzzy. Hence now a division between: Scottish and British trivia. And may the term "English" never make its way into this blog again! (unless the aim were to denigrate the English, provided they're behaving English).

The Scottish thistle:

The Scottish flag:

British Trivia, pt. 1

2006-08-19T03:08:00.000-07:00

The picture you continental Europeans have been waiting for: SPAM!

And apple pie which looks exactly what it is supposed to look like (judging from my very first "English" - consider the quotation marks - book).

Deep fried brain

2006-08-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is Sunday. We undertook a fabulous outing to North Berwick yesterday, but no time to write about that at present.

Tomorrow, my first assignment is due: "Language related tasks". For four different language items, we need to provide a discussion of meaning, form and phonology, and in particular devise a context to illustrate the meaning and effective concept questions to check students' understanding. Of course I know that I am inclined to get bogged down in details... right now I am getting bogged down in illustration: Yes, this may be taken literally.

Not wanting to print every other draft of the assignment, I decided to go completely digital. The last time I tampered with Flash was in 2000 (time flies...), thank God it did not take me too long to get used to the interface again. I suppose Freehand would be better than Flash for illustrations, but I really to not have the time to get my head around another software right now. Anyhow, please marvel at my explanation of:

IT'S TOO HEAVY TO CARRY (particular challenge being that the structure must be explained with as simple words as possible, as this is an elementary structure):

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Austria License.

Where we study and teach

2006-08-12T02:30:00.000-07:00

The Basil Paterson classroom. I took this pictures at night (working late), which might make the room look a bit duskier than it really is. But of course it's a completely different teaching atmosphere compared to good old (new) Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences. Things like teaching / learning in a horseshoe, not having a desk to write on (to hide behind), which goes for both teachers and students, up to the fact that the room is carpeted which absorbs much of your and the students' voice... this all contributes to making teaching a new challenge. Nevertheless, at this point I (still) (?) have the feeling that these limitations create fairly productive boundaries...

In the mornings, this is the trainee classroom, in the afternoons, we are to teach a bunch of 15 students who pay about 1 pound per day for being taught by trainee teachers:-) Meaning that my initual belief that BP squeezes money both out of trainee teachers and students isn't quite correct. Students pay 25 pounds for a for weeks course and if they attend regularly, they'll get five pounds back.

The teacher's rickety throne:

For camparison: A classroom at my (newly) beloved FHV, featuring my beloved colleague Colin, dressed to impress on FHV open day:

The common room (it's mainly students hanging out there - we hardly have time to socialize with anyone apart from us and the photo copying machine)

The hall, to give you another idea of the architecture:

The Weekend

2006-08-09T16:32:00.000-07:00

These pictures are not really up to date: On Sunday, that is four days ago, Sam and I went on a short hiking tour to Arthur's seat, the local mountain (like our local Karren) located right in the town, between the centre and the sea. I'll show you some of the sights, and one of the cliffs (or: crags, as the Scottish would) that is popular among people with suicidal tendencies. Salisbury crag.

What I find interesting is that, even if only mentally, my language slowly begins to transforms and take on a Scottish form. I can not really explain this in writing, and I don't think that I will begin talking like this before the end of this month... but in my head my mental vocal chords begins rolling the r like that, and phrases like 'like mad' begin to:
(pseudo German phonetic transcript) so-und leek frrrehses lejk 'lejk mahd'. interrrestin....

Anyhow, the pics below are in reverse chronological order - the further you scroll down, the earlier I took them on the tour.

In other words: the first five pics you see below were the ones I took last on our tour.

The road back

2006-08-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

From atop Arthur's Seat

2006-08-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

Salisbury Crag

2006-08-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

Best place to commit suicide in Edinburgh since 1895.

Exclusive views of EDI

2006-08-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

The first one offers a view of the place where the Queen resides when she visits Edinburgh. As you can see on the following pictures: Arthur's seat is really right in the middle of the town, wedged between sea (where I need t go some time soon) and the city centre.

Arthur' seat

2006-08-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

Just a few glimpses.

Still alive

2006-08-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

...but no time to post anything. Had my second day of teacher training today and it feels already like the fifth day. I know the names of all our students: José, Gilles, Juan, Omar, Antonio, Lucia, Arancha, Pilar, Sylvie, Lorena, Anais, Liliana, Delia, Francisco and Pavel. As you can tell from the names, the majority of them is Spanish - and sometimes I'm really struggling to understand them. They're all in the intermediate group (i.e. not the elementary group), and judging from them I find that Austrian and German English school teachers do their job quite well:-)))

Speaking about the tutors: They have never heard of or successfully ignore the Common European Framework of Reference and the five core skills as stipulated by CEFR: Spoken Interaction and Spoken Production are lumped together as Speaking.

I learned new acronyms: TTT vs. STT - STT should be maximised, TTT should be limited. Can you guess what this means? My TTT level is too high - I wasnt surprised.

Good night:

Jana

Boost your vocab, pt. 1

2006-08-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

Today: Scottish history:

an inhospitable land of mist, bogs, midges and warring tribes (according to Roman emperor Hadrian, 2nd century, who decided to built Hadrian's wall to prevent military raids by the tribes of Scotland) - ein ungastliches Land der Nebel, Sümpfe, Mücken und kriegsführenden Stämme

a turf rampart - ein Graswall (like the one built by emperor Antonius Pius, Hadrian's successor)

to convert to Christianity - sich zum Christentum bekehren (by the 8th century, most Scottish tribes had converted to Christianity)

The Underbelly, Pt. 2

2006-08-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

We managed to get another three of free tickets for another show at the underbelly (as in "underbelly of Edinburgh" which is the building inside George IV bridge, as already mentioned; meanwhile I've learnt that the udderbelly is a comedy tent run by a TV channel the name of which is a pun on the the underbelly), which appears to be one of the traditional festival venues. Incredible building with a confusing maze of staircases, courts, levels and venues. More about this in the architecture report (if I ever pen it down).

Anyhow, when we arrived there, there were crowds of people gathering and waiting outside because of a fire alarm which turned out to be nothing but an inappropriate response of the fire alarm to the smoke machine#-)

Check out the t-shirts of the crew - nobody could say they were irrespective of gender:-)

The piece we got to see eventually was a beautiful tribute to the career of Douglas Fairbanks - sadly, very badly attended. There were ten people in the audience, one of them being a stooge. It wasn't really comedy and parts of the piece were muffled by the laughter coming from the venue next door - but it gave me a cineastic thrill. Apart from being at least 10 centimeters too short, the main actor Rick Chester was truly the spitting image of Fairbanks.

I was unable to tell from the quality of the picture or the acting whether the reel they showed was re-enacted or 'real'. They called it 'Bagdad Bandit'. As the Fairbanks flic is called 'The thief of bagdad', it probably was staged.

The pics above were taken from Rick's blog.

Another show I would love to see is this one: Jesus: The Guantanamo years.- Let me read the blurb from this slightly blurred image to you:

"Jesus Christ (son of God and father of modern stand-up) returns to earth for his long-awaited comeback tour. He doesn’t get past U.S. immigration: He’s a bearded, Middle-Eastern guy, fully prepared to die as a religious martyr. He’s immediately detained under the Patriot Act.

In His first one-man show for almost two millennia, Jesus talks candidly about His time in Guantanamo, His controversial relationship with His Father, and His on-going legal battle with ‘The Life of Brian’."

Sounds good to me:-)))

Night on the town

2006-08-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

A few more pics from Edinburgh uptown, all camera cellphone pictures. Regarding picture three: The birds are really fat in Edinburgh (who cares, for as long as the phone booths are attractive). Steven told me horrific stories of Edinburgh's past, in particular of the houses that are built underground (Edinburgh has both the oldest 'skyscrapers' and deepest cellars) and of the people who whose homes were concreted during a plague, leaving them to die in the basements - more news about this later.

Beer extravaganza

2006-08-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

Before we went out to get another taste of the fringe, Steven suggested to take us to his favourite bar. Excellent idea - not only did they have a Weihenstephan promotion on which meant: half a litre of Weissbier for free for every customer (odd idea to come to Edinburgh to drink Bavarian beer), this was also the only bar in Edinburgh (probably in Scotland) that sold Kölsch - i.e. the beer brewed in Cologne, and my favourite brand also: Reissdorf.

Interesting - while these ten packs of cigarettes are prohibited in Germany and Austria (because they cost about half of the regular price and are therefore particularly attractive for parsimonious pupil purses), nobody seems to be concerned about these issues in Scotland:

Falun Gong

2006-08-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

Also on today: A demonstration of Falun Gong member, protesting against the alleged use of Falun Gong members in China as organ Donors. In one picture: one of the Scottish taxis that all of you know from Trainspotting.

Me with the Edinburgh castle in the background. If you think I look tired: I AM tired of terrible period pain that would not even go away after the 5th paracetamol. But it's better than being used as an involuntary organ donor, I guess.

Attractions

2006-08-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

In Edinburgh, people are queueing to get their tattoo.

I tried to get a better picture of this guy, but somehow didn't manage to - he was making money through posing as brave heart and make tourists have their picture taking next to him. The Japanese loved him in particular for one running gag - he would take the wife's camera to take a picture, then make up his mind and pretend to want to abduct the lady... you cannot see it her, but he looked REALLY HANDSOME in this outfit:-)

I managed to get to see as much as one free show of the Edinburgh fringe today - most of what you see here is for free, as part of the Underbelly/Udderbelly show, featuring a purple cow lying upside down with the udder in the air... You just need to be there in time to pick up your free ticket at the entrance of George IV bridge.

City sights

2006-08-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

Scottish Trivia

2006-08-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

A ten pound note issued by the bank of England.

My favourite cheeses, scrumptious red cheeses with a crumby texture (cheddar, red leicester, etc.), which are obscenely expensive in continental Europe, come for less than two pounds for half a kilo.

Another house that looks just like our ours - the door in the middle is for the two flats upstairs, the flats on the ground floor have separate doors to the left and to the right.

A ten pound note issued by the bank of Scotland.

Big Brother 7 is on in the UK. Yesterday was eviction night - there are certain differences between continental and British BB - one of them being that the host of the show is openly asking candidates for their game plan, and candidates openly admitting that they're in it because they're hoping to get a job as a tv presenter through BB.

Basil Paterson

2006-08-05T01:48:00.000-07:00

My EFL College:

(source: http://www.basilpaterson.co.uk/images/gallery/bp-door.jpg)

(source: http://www.basilpaterson.co.uk/images/gallery/bp-1.jpg)

Sigh... while most tourists when coming to South Africa tend to say "This is sooooo British here", me, South Africa being the place where I ate the first steak and kidney pie in my life, am inclined to say "This is sooooooooo South African here". And I had my first steak and kidney pie in six years yesterday. And this charming chap on BP's doorstep looks just like an English speaking white South African to me.

Edinburgh castle

2006-08-05T01:46:00.000-07:00

(source: http://www.basilpaterson.co.uk/images/gallery/ed-castle.jpg)

The flat

2006-08-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Steven on his computer next to the telly.

Sam on her computer, watching telly or Steven.

A real U.K. couch from eBay UK.

A real U.K. toilet seat.

And me, really, in the U.K

.

Lochend Gardens

2006-08-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is the neighbourhood where I am going to stay for the next four weeks: Lochend Gardens, Northeast Edinburgh (for Colin: Dig this - it's social housing!)

The house opposite our house.

Our flat in our house which looks exactly like the house opposite our house.

This is my Edinburgh Blog

2006-07-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

And this is the first post in this blog.