Scotland Part 2

So on to the amazing part of Scotland...

We got up and went to check into Haggis Adventures: Scottish Highland Tours. We boarded Reginica, our bus and were on our way by 8:45. Steve drove us through part of Edinburgh and Tony told us brief snippets of what this and that was. It was already at this point when I knew I had the best of cameras-- out the window pictures turned out pretty well!

Our first stop was at an old bridge. We got out and Tony told us all about the Real Braveheart and the battle that took place at this bridge. So, going back in time, the nasty British Red Coats are trying to conquer Scotland and they hear there is a revolt, so they come up to squash it. They get to this hill and laugh because across the bridge they see a large grouping of mostly women and children with farming equipment as weapons. The Red Coats on horseback start across the bridge and upon reaching the other side realize that they have marched right into a marshy swamp and their horses are sinking in the mud. It is said that the men had their feet on the "ground" while seated the horses had sunk so much. They line up anyway, trying to keep order, when they hear, from over a hillside in the distance, the sound of hundreds upon hundreds of metal weapons hitting metal shields and the slow solid chant of Scottish men. Then, over the top of the hill, come these men in kilts with long vicious looking weapons pounding against their sturdy looking shields. The Red Coats, now intimidated with mud up to their asses (literally) decide maybe they should go back to the other side of the bridge. But they are having trouble moving in the sludge and in all the confusion the Scots attack. At the end of the battle you could walk straight across the river for all the English bodies floating in it.


From where we stood, listening to this story, we could turn around and see the monument built in honor of the man who let that attack. We then drove up to get a closer look.

From there we boarded the bus and headed North. Tony, our charismatic tour guide, used the greatest Scottish accent ever and we stopped all over throughout the trip for a "wee photos". In fact, everything was "wee". A wee castle, a wee photo, a wee lunch break. Everything was wee. :)

One of our first photo stops we ran into some wild life. A goose that Tony fed some crumbs to. The goose was perfectly comfortable getting photographed and hanging with us... well, up to a point. You know how there is always that one person on a tour that is just a little... off. This is the sort of person that asks the awkward questions and follows people around and makes strange comments and is just, well, not cool. Ours was named Ricky, and he quickly earned the nickname "ducky lucky" from Tony as he tried to pet our goose and scared it away. Shawn and I gave him a nickname which we found to be much more appropriate!! Awkward Turtle. That's how we referred to him throughout the trip.

We drove on and I swear there were tons of stories and things that Tony pointed out but it's a matter of remembering all of them and which mountain passages they go with... which, of course, I don't. There was one we heard on Sunday I think about a couple of Irish boys who came to Scotland and fell in love with these two Scottish girls. They stuck around for the week while getting some work done on their boat by the girls' father and at the end of the week they asked for the girls' hands in marriage. The father was sorry but he couldn't give it because he had 5 older daughters and if the younger ones got married off first he was worried the people would wonder what was wrong with the older girls and they would never get married. The two Irish guys sulked away and that night they opened up some whiskey and were "tinkin and drinkin, drinkin and tinkin, tinkin and drinkin" (Tony's Irish accent for thinking) until they came up with a solution. The next day they went back to the father and told him their idea, "we have 5 older brothers back home! We could marry the girls and promise to return with our brothers to marry your lovely older daughters!!" The father thought this was a great idea- all his daughters married at once, how lucky he would be! So he agreed and the 2 Irish boys married the 2 Scottish girls and then left on their boat for home, promising to be back in a couple of weeks. The older daughters waited with impatience and everyday they would ask their dad if he had heard anything from the boys. Sadly he had not. Time went by and the Father began to worry that even if the Irish boys did come that his daughters would age and lose their beauty and the Irish boys wouldn't want to marry them. He was angry with the Irish boys for their failure to keep their promise. So he headed up to the witch on the mountain and asked for her help. But her powers did not extend to Ireland so she couldn't bring the boys back. She said she would think about it and come up with a solution, he should come back tomorrow. So the witch thought about it overnight and when the man came back the next day she told him that she was going to cast a spell on the 5 sisters keeping them beautiful until the time when the Irish boys returned. The father was thrilled. He returned home, however, to realize what the old witch had meant. There were 5 new beautiful, tall mountains surrounding his home. The witch had turned his daughters into mountains- beautiful and eternal- while they waited for love to come and find them.

There were several stories like this one that Tony told along the way.

That day we stopped at The Green Welly for lunch. Tony recommended the Cullin Skink (which I quickly started calling Skank Stew), a white fish and potato chowder. I'm not usually a fish person, but I decided to go for it and I was pleased, it was actually really good, not very "fishy" at all, and nice and warm!!

We drove through the highlands, stopping a couple of places to get breath-taking pictures and hear more fun stories. Then around 4:30ish, as the sun was set and it got dark, we pulled into Loch Ness-- sadly there are no pictures (they wouldn't have turned out in the dark) and we didn't see the monster. Maybe next time.

Then we went for a presentation on the highlanders, their way of life and their clothing mostly. Ken, our presenter, wore a traditional kilt which, when unfolded and laid out is approximately 17 feet long. He showed us how to fold it and explained the historically practical uses for it in the very difficult lifestyle the highlanders lived. The kilt can be worn in different ways depending on the needs of the people-- long for warmth or tucked up shorter (as we typically see today) for hunting or dancing. Then our very own Awkward Turtle volunteered to put on the kilt and we all laughed at his shyness as Ken told him to take off his silly trousers and he tried to hide and pull his shirt down and all that. He was so excited to do it, but then so afraid. He finally got dressed like a highlander and then Ken needed a woman to volunteer to get dressed up as well. We all sat there for a while looking around at each other and when it became apparent that no one else would do it, I got up. Lucky for me I didn't have to undress. I just tossed on a nightgown looking thing over my clothes and then got my own "kilt" of sorts. Apparently back in the day the bigger your backside the sexier you were, so the goal was to fold up as much of the material as you could so it hung over your butt. There are pictures of Turtle and I all dressed up in our highlander gear- I'm holding a pot of oatmeal with a mouse in it. Yum.

Then we got out of our highlander clothes and sat down and Ken asked for a volunteer to die. It took a minute, but Shawn volunteered to die for the team. So he got up and Ken proceeded to show us the typical highlander weapons and how they are used. Damn those guys were vicious!!
After the presentation was finished we went to check into our hostel for the night. There we ate Haggis, potatoes and salad for dinner. Really, the Haggis wasn't bad. You just can't think about what you're eating. It's sort of like spiced up ground beef.

That evening the "Scottish Robby Williams," as Tony described him, was playing at our hostel's bar. Yeah, that's right-- our hostel had a bar!! It was pretty sweet! So yeah, Shawn and I played Jenga with a college girl and her Aunt that were on our tour while listening to acoustic covers and fun Scottish music. At one point Tony and our musician teamed up to teach us a Scottish folk dance and Shawn and I did it quite well I think :) Walk Forward (1, 2, 3, 4), swivel walk backwards (5, 6, 7, 8), no swivel- just walk forwards (1, 2, 3, 4), swivel walk backwards (5, 6, 7, 8), 4 spins (1- 8) and doe-see-doe (1- 8). SO MUCH FUN!!!

That night finished out with the pulling out of a karaoke machine! We had some swing songs, mostly sun by this kid David who had a great voice, and then some oldies classics and of course MC Hammer's Can't Touch This- to which we had a little dance off. GREAT FUN!!

We slept well that night after such a long, fun-filled day!!

On Saturday we woke to a light dusting of snow!! Shawn and I, both midwesterners knowing that snow in London and Lyon wasn't likely any time soon, were thrilled with this development, as were the 3 Indian people who had never seen snow. We all had breakfast at the hostel and were on the bus again by 8:30. Off we went for another great day of touring!


While on the bus Tony told us about DSL. At first I think many of us were wondering what modern computer technology had to do with the Scottish Highlands but soon we discovered that DSL stood for Deep Scottish Love. We had been counting white horses since the day before and now we got to understand why: In Scottish myth seeing a Unicorn means that you will fall deeply in love with the next person who's hand you tough. Sadly, though, unicorns in the highlands are, nowadays anyway, few and far between. Good news though! If you see 50 white horses it counts as a unicorn!! So we were counting horses all weekend long and ended 8 shy of DSL. Sad story.

On our journey today we stopped at the valley of Glencoe and Tony told us the story of the Massacre of Glencoe. This is a super sad story!!! I don't really feel like writing it right now, but maybe I'll add it later. Anyway, as I'm sure you can gather- lots of Scottish people died. But it was a beautiful area and so we climbed up part of the mountain side and took some more pictures.

Our next stop was at a castle that people still live in today! Eilean Donan Castle was a medieval stronghold castle. But when the English were taking over Scotland they were worried and didn't want any strongholds to exist so they ordered the destruction of all such castles. Eilean Donan, along with many others, was blown apart. But before this happened, all the castles had been claimed as the ownership of the King of England. And since he wanted to know what all he owned, sketches were taken of all the castles. So, in the early 1900s when a stone mason/architect saw the drawings and was in need of work he went to the original family owners of the castle- still rich- and asked if they wanted their home rebuilt for them in its original state. And thus we have Eilean Donan Castle- rebuilt in 1929 or something like that even though it looks like it is much older than that. While standing in front of the castle drinking hot chocolate and eating little cookies Steve and Tony had bought for us, listening to the story, 2 old women (sisters) and one of their husbands all came out of the castle and locked the gigantic front door. They STILL live there!!! CRAZY!!!

From there we piled back into Reginica and went off to see more gorgeous things. We stopped at a lake but I don't remember which one... it might have been Loch Ness actually... apparently Loch Ness is something like 23 miles long and more than 700 feet deep in some places. You could fit the entire population of earth- all the people in the world- into Loch Ness and still have space. Ridiculous!

Anyway, so we stopped and saw some more good views and then we went to see Saucy Mary's castle. So THIS castle is actually in ruins; it is along a water passage that is the safest way to avoid the harsh open waters and get from one part of Scotland to another. Mary, being the snazzy business woman that she was, decided to toll the passage past her castle. I'm sure she made tons of money. But she earned the name Saucy Mary for doing a little something special. You see, breasts are supposed to be calmers of waters and bringers of good weather- hence the busty women that lead the way out to sea on all the tall old ships. And so Mary, after each ship paid their toll, would flash her breast as they past, wishing them good weather and safe sailing.

Tony suggested that the women on our trip pull Saucy Mary's to help better the weather as it was cold and slightly rainy. One girl from Australia, Tali, was gutsy enough!! Whether because of her Sauciness or just the turn of events, the weather did get better as the day went on.

We stopped off for a couple more wee photos on our way to lunch. The town we stopped in for lunch had the most deadly of all sea gulls ever! Tony even warned us. Shawn and David, the cool grad student with the good voice and decent swing dancing skills, and I grabbed some food from a bakery and headed towards the shore. We chatted about David's grad work and his thesis and all that sort of thing as we wandered. Then, as we were heading back towards the bus, Shawn saw a sea gull and was like, ok, let's just try this. He threw a small piece of what was left of his sandwich into the air and sea gulls seemed to pop out of thin air to attack it! Then it was like a game- Shawn tried to see how close he could get a sea gull to take the food- so he held it out in his hand and one almost took off his head as it flew directly at him to get it. Of course we did not get this on camera and it was his last piece of bread. But Shawn wanted to try anyway- so he gave me his camera and we started recording- he tried to trick a sea gull into thinking that he food, but it wasn't buying. But at his feet another sea gull was getting closer and closer. All of the sudden Shawn sort of kicked and the sea gull, frightened, flew up into my face. I, of course, screamed. This is where the video ends. We got a laugh out of watching that repeatedly over the course of the weekend. :)

After another gorgeous wee photo we stopped at the River of Tears. (This exact story is in the captions of the photos- if you have read it already, skip ahead :) )

River of Tears-- Ok, so there was a man and a woman. They lived in the highlands and every summer they would climb up to the top of the mountains in the previous photos and spend their days looking out at the glorious country. One day the old man woke to his wife crying beside him as they sat up on he mountain top. "What's wrong?" he asked. "I'm an old woman and I don't think my body can make the climb anymore. I think this will be the last time I can come up here." The old man tried, to no avail, to comfort his wife. But up in the mountains lived the Wee People/Fairies. They loved the old man and the old woman; for years they hid and listened to the old woman chatter on to her husband as he sat, half sleeping, beside her. Watching her with sadness they ran to the king of the Wee People, Elvin, and told him about the woman's sadness.

Elvin went to the old couple and overheard them saying how they wish they could stay there on the mountain top forever. Elvin, in his mercy and magic, turned the old woman into a large rock, her face looking out to her beloved Scotland. The man cried out and began to weep, "What have you done to my wife?" Elvin explained how she would now be able to rest on the mountain top forever, he had granted her wish. The old man continued to weep for his wife and Elvin, moved by compassion, turned the old man into a rock next to his wife. The two stand, side by side, overlooking Scotland forevermore. The creek here is said to be the tears the old man cried for his wife. (Personal note: What kind of fairy king thinks it's nice to turn people into rocks? rude.)

The story continues:

So there was a lady named Maggie and she was due to unite her family with an enemy family via marriage. She and her husband to be spent a week together on a deserted island to be sure they could live together in marriage, as was the custom. They fell deeply in love! They returned to their homes and set the date for the next weekend. On her way to her wedding ceremony Maggie fell off her horse and gouged her eye out on a rock (great story, right!). She was worried about her now hideous face but was sure her husband to be would love her anyway and continued on her way, after bandaging herself up first I'm sure. She got to her wedding ceremony and her husband to be saw her and, thinking someone in her own family had done this to spite him- "make me marry an ugly woman, huh?"- he went around punching people and getting into fights. It didn't take long for the old feuds to rekindle and the whole place was a brawl. He didn't want to marry Maggie looking the way she did (jerkface).

Maggie's dad, pissed at the turn of events, blamed Maggie and banished her back to the Castle. Maggie climbed back on her horse and headed towards home. She got as far as this creek and cried her eye out (haha, get it!). Then Elvin came and asked her why she was crying. She explained her day.

"but don't you know the story of the old man and the old woman? don't you know the power of the Wee People and the magic of this creek?" Elvin asked. And he promised her that if she cried out that she believed and stuck her face in the water for 5 seconds she would be beautiful once again. So she got down on her knees and cried, "Elvin I believe!" and put her face in the water. She came out 10 times as lovely as before!! She headed towards home. Her fiancé came back to her a week later, apologizing, but like a good strong woman, she turned him away, knowing his love was weak. Her own father apologized for his rudeness and stupidity and Maggie lived a happy life.

We, of course, being the awesome tour group we were, reacted the whole scene. Lindsay, an American girl, played Maggie (Tony acted along with her). Then who could resist the possibility of magic water that makes you beautiful??? Steveo (the driver), another guy from the trip, Shawn and I all went down to the water's edge, cried out, "Elvin I believe!" and put our faces in the water. It was pretty refreshing actually, and really fun.

Next we went up to Kilt Rock- a cliff view of the water and surrounding mountains- AMAZING!!! This is also where Shawn and Tony played Sheep Shit Roulette. Just see the pictures for this one- it's worth it, haha.

We went up to one more cliff area where people had found dinosaur bones at some point. There were things you could read but I was really cold and didn't really want to stand there and read all about it. I went and took pictures instead. Shawn, breaking the rules, climbed over the fence and then went to stand next to the sign that said "Dangerous Cliff! Do Not Cross the Fence!", then went to peer over the edge. Rebel.

At this point the sun was setting and so we headed back south towards our hostel. Tony put in a movie about the Loch Ness that was informative but so boring that after another long day most of us dozed off. We ate dinner at the hostel again that night- pasta, no crazy dishes this time around. Then a bunch of us gathered in the bar area and watched the movie Stardust. Cheesy but cute and portions of it were filmed in Scotland.

That night we all went out to a local bar where an old man played the bagpipes for us. Then from there we headed to a "club". Shawn and I decided after being in said "club" for about 40 seconds that we weren't going to stay. Shawn, living in London for the past couple months, had pretty high standards for clubs. And anything that looks like a fishing bar a single strand of blinking Christmas lights across the ceiling as the "club lights" didn't sound to great to me either. So Shawn and I called it a night early and headed back to the hostel. Apparently the bar closed around 12:30 anyway. Some people went with Tony to a house party in town and apparently that was fun but Shawn and I didn't real mind missing out- we weren't hung over the next morning like half the tour, including Tony.

Sunday was our last day so we were back on our way at 8:30 again and we stopped to see some more castle ruins, then into a town where there had been lots of Nessy sitings. They had a large metal Nessy that we tried to climb on... and failed. But it was cool and apparently this place won the Loo of the Year Award, but I didn't go into the bathroom so I didn't see it. But there was an award framed in there and everything.

We moved on to a battle field and a thatched-roof house that was next to it. Tony told us which battle took place there but I don't remember.

Then we went to a place where people lived 9,000 years ago. They had build large round stone structures for worship. According to the researchers speculations, when members of the tribe died everyone would gather in these circular structures, pile the bones in the middle along with different herbs and elements. They would then smoke herbs and chant and burn the pile. Because of the structure of the place and the heat that would encompass the place, the pile of burning bones, herbs, etc. would separate and because of the sound waves of all those people chanting bouncing off the stones you could actually see the dust particles moving. Researchers speculate that these people believed the movement of the particles of bone, etc was the body's spirit moving on to another world.

This settlement is set right along magnetic tracks for the tectonic plates. There is is a large flat rock that you can, supposedly, stand with your back and palms against and you're supposed to feel something. I did not feel anything, nor did Shawn. However, he did take the opportunity, while my eyes were closed and I was concentrating on magnetic pulls, to throw a very distracting snow ball at me. In fact, the whole tour group then got in a snow ball fight. Very fun!

Two more stops!! (Are you sick of reading about my trip yet??)

The 2nd to last stop was at one last site of ruins. This one was really the best though because you could walk through them and climb on them! We went wandering through all the different parts and the Shawn and I climbed up on the old walls of what had to have been some sort of barn or house or something. It was pretty cool. We ran back to the bus- we were the last ones to get back to the bus since we'd been taking so much time climbing around- and Shawn decided to slide down the big hill the ruins were on. He ran, started sliding on his feet, then tumbled and slide the rest of the way down on his backside, getting his coat all muddy. But again, totally worth it! Adventure!!!! (I shuffled safely down- my socks had been soaking wet for 3 days... I really didn't need my whole body to be covered in snow. But it was still fun to watch).

And lastly we stopped in a little town and saw an old church. I climbed in a tree. We made snow angles. The Indian people made a snow man. It was good fun.

We then got back on the bus for the last time and headed towards Edinburgh. We needed to sign the Haggis Tours book with our clan name and thoughts on the tour so we came up with the name Clan Sexy-Ness. See, Tony, all weekend long, had been calling everything "sexy"- the Scottish people, the mountains, the lakes, the Loch Ness Monster herself. If it was Scottish, it was sexy. As it turned out later, Haggis tours even calls Scotland sexy in its paperwork! haha. So yeah, at one point Tony said, "that's where the word Sexyness comes from you know", referring of Nessy. So we named our clan Sexy-Ness and Tali drew our Clan picture (with a baby Awkward Turtle at the bottom!!) and we all signed the book with our praises for the tour we'd been given.

Finally we got back to Edinburgh, said final goodbyes to Steveo and Tony and the rest of the group and went to find me a hostel bed for the night. Shawn was taking a 10PM bus back to London that night. So we grabbed me a bed in a hostel and lucked out as we picked a hostel that serves free dinner on Sunday night to its guests. Shawn and I ate up and then Shawn went on his way and I journaled a little then passed out for the night.

In the morning I got up, checked out, grabbed a bagel and cream cheese and headed towards home. What an amazing weekend!!!!

I won't tell you what a pain in the ass it ended up being to get home... as it turned out, I accidentally bought my tickets for the wrong day- Sunday, not Monday. Long story short my train tickets ended up working out but I had to buy a new flight ticket back to Paris... more expensive than I would have liked, but honestly it hadn't been too expensive of a weekend so it wasn't too bad. I basically begged my way onto a train from Paris to Lyon and everything worked out just fine in the end.

I got back to Lyon feeling a little DSL as I looked back at the pictures of one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in the world!

Thanksgiving- international style

I woke up this morning feeling very happy. Today, I thought, is Thanksgiving. I thought about how to explain this day and its significance to the students I would see today and to any other French that wanted to understand this typically American holiday.

I decided that, truly, Thanksgiving should be an international holiday. What could be better than a day to realize all the things in your life you sometimes take for granted and truly appreciate them? What could be better than a day to realize all the blessings in your life? Even if you aren't religious, surely you can humble yourself to the point of being grateful for the clothes on your back and the house you go home to when you see a homeless man in the street. Surely you can humble yourself to the point of seeing the wonders of a loving family and all they offer to each of us daily. Surely everyone could benefit from some giving of Thanks, even if they don't give it to God, just give thanks to each other and to the circumstances of life.

Now, being religious, I woke up giving thanks to God this morning. Yesterday two other Americans and I went grocery shopping- Carrefour is kind of like any other grocery store on the day before Thanksgiving, only it's like that all the time and you can't find Libby's pumpkin mix anywhere. But we braved the crowds and found what we could that's as close as we can get to the ingredients for Pecan pie, cheesecake and mashed potatoes and gravy. So after an evening of cooking up a storm and smelling delicious foods with other Americans, I was in a good, happy, thankful place. Sure, I wasn't I going to be with MY family in MY home watching the parade, watching football, cooking, etc on this day. But I get Two substitute Thanksgivings. The first is tonight- I will eat chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin pie and I don't know what else with Olivia- a history teacher who has family in America and loves American culture- this evening. Then the second is this Saturday when a bunch of assistants are gathering for the biggest Thanksgiving I've ever had. There look to be about 20 or so people coming and everyone is bringing something. We'll even have a Turkey!! How much better can a substitute come than that? So, it was with a glowing sense of appreciation for my substitute Thanksgivings that I began my day.

I wanted to think about all the things I should appreciate and all the ways in which I'm blessed. After all, this is the whole point of the holiday, as I would later explain to my students. Looking out the train window on the way into work I noticed a light dusting of snow on fields and the stunning way the sunrise cast its light across the heavy fog, barley allowing for the tops of the low mountains in the distance to peek over the earthly clouds. I am thankful for this view, I thought.
I got off the train and looked into the clear blue sky and tightened my scarf around my neck in the brisk morning cold and thought about it reminded me of days at home when you gather with your family in the warm, sweet smelling kitchen to share stories and laugh. I am thankful for all the memories and the brisk morning which reminds me of them, I thought.
I got to school and spent the day explaining Thanksgiving and the wonders of this holiday to people and most of them understood. I even got a small group to tell me things they are thankful for- all of them told me little stories about people in their families that have been there for them in one way or another and how grateful they are for each of them! It made me so happy to know that they understood and to see it in their eyes that this wasn't some stupid holiday about American history, it was a holiday as viable now as it was in 1621. We can, and should, always give thanks.

:)

I'm excited to see how my substitutes actually turn out, but I'm keeping my hopes up for good things!! Thank God for my amazing life and all the wondrous blessings He has offered me, including this opportunity to live out my dream, here, in France, and to not miss out on my absolute favorite holiday from back home!!

Scotland part 1-- getting there

Scotland was amazing!! There's no other word... well, there's probably lots of other words, but none that sums up my amazing 3 day trip so succinctly.

I left Lyon via TGV headed to Paris-Gare de Lyon. My train left around 7:30 in the morning and while I was slightly groggy I was excited to be on my way. To be honest, I didn't really know what to expect of Scotland. I had never had any desire to go and when this trip randomly popped up it was more of a "why not" than a "hell yeah! I've always wanted to go there!!" But I was excited to be leaving France at the very least. Don't get me wrong, I love it here... I've just been feeling frustrated lately and it would be nice to take a little break.

As I pulled in to Paris two hours later I felt even more excited. This is Paris!!! I know that Paris isn't the greatest place in the world, but it is a great city and I couldn't help but think that even though I was just passing through, any trip that started in Paris HAD to be a good trip! (This also made me really excited to go to Paris just after Christmas with my sister!!! That will be fun!!) This elation continued as I waited in line to buy my ticket for the RER to change train stations. It even remained as I stood, confused on the platform trying to figure out which RER was the right RER. It remained up until the moment when I started to panic that my train from Paris Gare du Nord to Beavais (where my flight would be leaving from) was not there. I looked on the departure board-- no train was leaving at that time. I looked at the vois (platforms), no train to Beauvais. I only had 7 minutes to find my train and board it-- yup, tight connections-- par for the course when you have so many legs to your journey. I asked one of the workers and they looked it up and gave me the correct voi number-- I then ran (looking like a fool with a back pack on my back and all that jazz) to voi 22 where nothing was posted regarding any train whatsoever. What? What was going on?? I asked some guy and he said he was taking the same train, no worries, it hadn't arrived yet. Breath. It's ok. Didn't last-- 2 seconds later, "Bum, bum, bum" sounds the start of an important announcement and sure enough my train has been canceled. In fact, all trains going to Beauvais are canceled until 16:something-- much too late for me to catch my flight. FAIL!!

So I follow the guy to the Welcome desk and the lady tells him there is nothing she can do but I go up and as nicely (after the now angry french man stormed away) and as not panicked as I can manage I asked if there was any other way to get to Beauvais. I had heard there was a bus, did she know anything about a bus. Her colleague heard me and said, yes, there was a bus that left from some place out by La Defense. She gave me directions and I thanked them kindly then speed walked back to the RER, went back one stop, switched to a normal Metro line and took that several stops, then got off and walked, following signs for the bus to the Beauvais Airport. I was worried that my fantastic luck would continue and I would watch the bus pull away in time to realize that the next wouldn't leave for hours and would still miss my flight. UGH Frustration with France!

But holding out the slightest bit of hope paid off and I bought a cheap 13 Euro ticket direct to the airport. I boarded a bus and was on my way in less than ten minutes. Breath. I would make the flight after all!! Now I was really ready to take a break from France.

I got to the airport, checked in for my flight, ate lunch, boarded, flew to Glasgow-Preswick Airport, and got on yet another train- this one headed to Edinburgh (via Glasgow central). I was told that my plane ticket would save me 1/2 price on my train ticket and I could buy them onboard. Sure enough, when the guy came around it would only cost me 6 and change to get to Edinburgh. Great. I pulled out the Euros and he just looked at me and in his polite Scottish accent said, "We don't take Euros, we use pounds in this country." FAIL! How could I have forgotten that they don't use Euros in this part of Europe!?!? Big Opps! Luckily, I could pay for my ticket by card and then a lovely Scottish couple offered to show the way from Glasgow
Central to Glasgow- Queen Street (I had to change stations- it's about a 5 minute walk). They were so nice and despite the husband's heavy accent we had a nice simple conversation and they were pleased to know that I wouldn't be traveling alone throughout Scotland. It was safe, but they had daughters and would hope that some nice couple would help them out if they were ever in a strange city. They left me at Queen Street station and I boarded my next small train.

Finally, around 5 pm I arrived in Edinburgh. I found a place where I could ask for a map and if someone could point me in the right direction for my hostel. I found Scottish people to be extremely nice!!! I made it to the hostel and checked in without any trouble. Then I called Shawn, the guy I would be meeting up with for this trip. He was working in London this semester and was taking a bus up, arriving at the hostel around 7:30. When he showed up it we shared a great all-American hug with all the excitement of being in a foreign country!!! Once again, the excitement had returned. This was going to be a fun trip!

We went and had dinner at a place where they have super cheap deals for people staying at our hostel. All we had to do was flash our hostel cards and we got a special menu with discount deals. Shawn was brave and ordered Haggis. I tried his, it wasn't bad, but I ordered a burger- simple and difficult to find in France. Already I was feeling more at home!

Shawn and I wandered the streets of Edinburgh, taking photos and chatting, then returned to the hostel for an early night. Our tour started the next day and we knew we needed to get some sleep.


I am leaving you here... I know, just when it all is about to get REALLY GOOD!!! But I am going to try to get pictures up and ready to share too. I promise that I will get you more of the story ASAP!! Along with pictures. Patience is a virtue ;)

Love and Hugs and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Elizabeth

Think Positive

It has been an emotional few days- death of my computer (which I knew, but still... you'd think they could have told me 2 weeks ago when they told me I needed a new mother board that it wasn't covered under my warranty instead of waiting for me to transfer my account to France before dropping that bomb), Carte de Sejour problems, general homesickness and general frustration with the French (who know, that whole- let's not work on a Monday- thing, even when our posted hours claim we do actually work on a Monday, and other such frustrations)

But I have been trying to look on the bright side and not be frustrated. I have been trying to remember all the things I LIKE about France and why it is I decided to fly across a very large ocean away from all I know and love to come here. The crappiness of the weather has not been helping. It's not as cold as it is back home, but it's gloomy.

And while the weather is not likely to improve where it is that I'm heading, I think this brief vacation (I know, I never work really) will be refreshing- it will help me remember that I actually do love Europe despite the fact that the shower and the toilet are in different rooms, their juice cartons glug and spill, they take 2 hour lunch breaks so you can't ever get anything done and no one ever is able to give you a straight answer to any question you ever ask... breath... I do love Europe.

And Scotland will prove this to me! Scotland, despite the cold bitter winds I see in my near future, will be a lovely (to use the fantastic British English term that seems to somehow have slipped out of American vernacular, along with trousers and jumper) trip that will remind me of the wonders of history that Europe holds and the abundance of culture it has to share. I'm guessing it will also point me in the direction of some marvelous little pubs where I can experience Scottish culture first hand. ;) And with any luck, I will even uncover some Galloway plaid-- you know, make Pop proud.


And with that I'm off to pack my bags and get ready for my early departure from Lyon in the morning- it will be a long travel day, but, with any luck, well worth the effort.

Why I'm a ballet snob

So I went with a friend to see Romeo and Juliette last night at Ballet L'Opera de Lyon. She liked it and I well... I didn't really. But I, I recently discovered, am a ballet snob.

Let me explain. I have loved ballet since I was old enough to twirl and I have been seeing dance since I was old enough to appreciate it. Everything from the musicals, the Rockettes, and major jazz and tap dance companies to American Ballet Theatre, Milwaukee Ballet and to the presentations at my own university. I have seen a lot of dance.


The best dance I have ever seen... well, that's hard. Honestly, I think some of the best choreography I have ever seen was at the University of Iowa- some of the stuff that Deanna created was amazing, genius and beautiful! So fluid and dynamic, you sat there watching pure poetry in motion. There was a piece by Armando Duarte that was beyond beautiful as well. Truthfully, I went to a stellar school for dance with stellar teachers and choreographers.

The best dancers I have ever seen... well that's difficult too. The best tap dancer I have ever seen is Mark Yonally- Artistic Director of Chicago Tap Theatre; the best male ballet dancers I have ever seen were in Ballet L'Opera de Paris when I saw La Bayadere there 3 1/2 years ago; the best female ballet dancers I have ever seen were in ABT when I saw them do Swan Lake; I loved the 4 fairy dances in Cinderella at Milwaukee Ballet too; The best contemporary/modern dancers I have ever seen were from Alvin Ailey; and the best dancers I have ever known personally are Elizabeth Parkinson and Jenna Riegal; The best dance I've seen in a musical was Movin' Out (Twyla Tharp choreography- so it was stellar in both ways). So yeah... I've seen a lot of dance.

I also know a lot about dance. I am an educated dancer. I'm not the best or most educated out there by any means. In fact, if you lined up all the educated dancers and made them take a test on history and modern day dance, I'd probably be in the bottom 40%. That being said, I still know more about dance than the average non-dancer... probably by a long shot.

Thus, I am a ballet snob. And when I go to see Romeo and Juliette, even with the knowledge that it is a contemporary rendition of it, I sort of expected it to be, well, Romeo and Juliette- a love story portrayed in movement that evokes feelings of love, lust and joy between the two principal characters and deep-set hatred between the gangs/families. I expected, regardless of its contemporary status, to see life, love, sadness, desperation, gang-hatred, and death portrayed in movement.

What I saw instead was a troupe of well-trained dancers moving around on a stage with little or know emotional connections to each other. There was no life in the movement- I can't decide if it was the dancer's fault or if it was the choreographer's... I think I'd have to see more work by the dancers or by the choreographer to decide for certain.

What I saw instead of angular, repetitive choreography with no sense of flow or dynamic. The same plain, static sequences were repeated over and over with slight variations as the characters on stage changed.

I'm not disappointed I saw it- it's always good to see dance. I'm just disappointed that it wasn't good. Oh well, I'm a ballet snob, what do I know.

Only in France

Only in France can you walk through the train station and see a man in a kilt with huge boots and a mohawk.
°
Only in France do you have to look twice to realize the young sexily-dressed woman in all black is really a 65 year old woman.

Only in France do people take 2 hour lunch breaks and still expect to get off of work at 5:00.

Only in France is EVERYTHING shut down on a Sunday.

Only in France can you find people who simultaneously hate America and love Americains.

Only in France can you eat chocolate for breakfast every day and not get fat.

Only in France can you wear a scarf in 100° heat and everyone still finds you normal.


Ahhhh, the french

Great news ramblings

Hello Family and Friends!

I have marvelous news and not so marvelous news. I think we should start with la merde as they call it in French so that we can get that out and then talk about all the great stuff!

My computer est cassé... that means it's broken. There is a problem with the spot where the AC Adaptor plug fits into the computer-- just looking at it, not even being a computer person, I can see it is dislodged. This, so Dell people tell me, means I need a whole new motherboard. Merde. Well, I'm still under warrenty so I can get it taken care of as long as I can figure out how to get someone from the French Dell to fix it... sigh... this might take a while. Hence, you will recieve less emails from me. However, on the up side already, my roommates are very nice young gentlemen who let me borrow their computers on occation and I work at a school where there are computers in the teachers lounge. Thus, I should be on at least once a day to check mail and whatnot.

More good information: I have started a blog. This will obviously be apparent to those of you reading it via blog, but since I'm also sending this via email it seemed imortant to say. I feel like this way I can take short spurts of time on the internet and turn it into a letter home. I can also keep track of my travels better for myself. Hopefully you will enjoy this ability to regard my ramblings at your leisure on the internet. :)

What's been going on in my life other than crappy computer troubles? Oh, this is the good stuff!

Last weekend a lovely Irish girl (I really like saying Lovely... it's so... non-American, it's cute!) and I took a two hour bus to Annecy, which happens to be a lovely little town in the Alps. I am attemtping to upload pictures without putting my pictures on a hard drive anywhere, but thus far I have failed... once I figure this out I will of course show them to you all as I think they're gorgeous!! There is a lake there and the water is perfectly clear- it is the purest lake in all of France. It's a great old town, like many in Europe, and the scenery couldn't get any better. After a day of site seeing- mostly church seeing really- our Couch Surfing host (if you don't know what couch surfing is I will explain shortly, if you already know what it is, feel free to skip that paragraph :) ) called me and offered to drive us up into the mountains and lead us on a short walk to get a magnificent view of the city. This sounded great so Michelle and I met up with him and he drove us up, up, up. What we weren't prepared for was that this so called "short walk" would actually be a hike through muddy, rocky, slippery, sometimes steep, mountanous sometimes non-path. Right... I'm very proud to say that I only fell 3 times. :) Once on the way up when I tripped on a piece of fallen timber that was covered in leaves and thus I didn't see it. Twice on the way down on slippery muddy earth and slippery muddy rock. Lucky for me I brought a 2nd pair of pants of the weekend, so it was ok.

The view was, indeed, magnificent! Again, the pictures will be uploaded ASAP but I'm not sure they'll do it justice. It was just so great. For better or for worse we got up there just as the sun was setting, which made for a beautiful view, somewhat difficult picture taking, and a walk down in the dark. Keep in mind it took us about 30 mintues to get up the mountain side with light. Now you should understand why I fell and probably feel slightly guilty for laughing at me. Hey, chalk it up to adventure, right!

Now is the couch surfing explaination paragraph, feel free to skip this if you understand already: Couch surfing is an online program where people sign up and give information about themselves and offer their couches or spare beds for travelers to sleep on. It is a way to avoid costs of hostels or hotels and it is a wonderful way to meet people, share stories, learn about culture and see new places- as often, if they have time, the hosts are more than willing to show you around their town as our host did with our hike. I know what you're thinking... well, half of you are probably thinking, "Cool! What a great thing!!" and you're right. The rest of you are probably thinking, "is that safe? how do you know some creeper isn't going to stay on your couch? and further how do you know that you're not offering your couch so some creeper?" These are good questions, but not to worry, couch surfing is actually a pretty safe program. You see, upon signing up you are asked to give a decent amount of information about who you are- the more info you give, the more people feel comfortable staying with you or allowing you to stay. But that's not it; you can get validated by giving your address and having the couchsurfing people send you a piece of mail to verify that the address actually exists and you acutally live there. Also, as you get to know people you have to explain to couchsurfing.com how you know them and whether they are trust worthy or not. This allows the site to give you a value in terms of your trustworthiness. And lasty, people that have known you long enough or are already validated can vouch for you- which means that not only have they been to your address they truly believe you are a non-shady person who would be safe to stay with. All of these things contribute to your page and then as you couch surf you can chose to stay with the people who are the most safe. Taadaa! Now everyone should be thinking, "wow, what a great way to share your space and get to know people!" If you don't have a couch- for example, Olivier doesn't want couch surfers staying here at the apartment, you can can set your status to Coffee Talks, or something along those lines, which means you'd love to show someone around your city or meet up with other couch surfers to make friends, but you can't offer a place to stay. At this point some of you might think, "hey... this sounds like a sneaky way to meet men/women..." egh... it's probably not bad really, but that's not its intended purpose and actually, part of the terms and aggreements is that you won't use couch surfing as a dating survice.

Ok, back to the story at hand. So... we, Michelle and I, went with our host, Baptiste, back to his apartment. He has a female roommate who we saw breifly and then she locked herself in her room never to be seen again. The night passed fine, we spoke English when it was just Basptiste and us, but when a few of his friends showed up we all spoke French. It was a decent evening and the fold out sofa bed was comfortable enough that Michelle and I got a decent night's sleep.

The plan was then to rent bikes and bike "around the lake", as Baptiste has suggested. But seeing as how 23 miles of bike riding would probably be followed immediately by death in both our cases, Michelle and I adjusted the plan-- we'd rent bikes and ride a ways down the path and then turn right around and right back. Well Failure- the bike rental places aren't open on Sundays. I swear, really, what DO the French do? I mean besides vacation and take 2 hour lunch breaks? It ended up being ok though as the weather turned a little nasty- it had gotten chillier and started spitting rain so Michelle and I took the next bus back for Lyon and decided to make up for our lack of lake-side bike riding with dinner and drinks back in Lyon. Sounds like a perfect exchange!

We both went home to shower and nap and then met back up at my apartment for dinner and proceeded to drink a bottle of wine with my roommant while playing cards- always an amusing experience when each person has new games from their country! Then we headed down the Big Hill in search of a pub that would be open on a Sunday night. We were in luck- the Sham'Rock was packed! They were playing bar/music games and it suited us perfectly, although we didn't take part in any of the games but rather were observers to the fun had by all.

Monday I tried to work a little more on the "let's get Liz's computer fixed and functioning" campaign to no avail, but hey, people lived without computers before, i'll just steal my roommates for now ;)

Tuesday was yet another holiday- I told you the French don't work! So I spent most the day with some assistants having coffee, making and then eating birthday cake, cleaning Kim's apartment (she lives with 8 people... it just had to be done), making and eating dinner, sharing stories and laughing lots.

Wednesday I went to work (finally) and then decided, once I got home, that I was so sick on NOT dancing that I needed to take a ballet class immediately! I pulled out my list of dance studios in Lyon to find any that might be close to me. LUCK! There were three in Croix-Rousse! Two ballet and one jazz. I went in search of a job and a dance class. MORE LUCK!! The first one I went to had a receptionist who was very nice and told me that there was a class for advanced young adults at 8:00 that evening, if I returned then I could speak with the Director about working there. The second one I went to I waited for the class to be over and then spoke briefly with the studio owner who was not helpful at all except to say we wouldn't be hireing anyone. The third place I went to I waited around for the only staff member I could see- I'm assuming the director- to finish a class and tell me that she wasn't hiring anyone either, nor did she have classes for someone at my level, but not only did she give me the name of a studio that does teach advanced classes, she also gave me the phone number to an agency whose purpose, supposedly, is to help dance teachers find jobs!! Woohooo!!

Thrilled with the progress I had made I rushed home to change, grab food, and head to the first ballet class I've taken since May! The class wasn't the most challenging I've ever taken, but it wasn't bad and I think I'll stick with it for a while as it so convinent- about a 3 minute walk from my apartment!! Eventually I might add in other classes other places to give myself some variety or some more challenge, but while I'm warming myself back into things I figure this should suffice. After class I spoke with the Director and she seemed to very much like the idea of hiring someone to take over all her classes. She reminded me a lot of Leslie, my boss from the Nolte Academy, as she told me that she teaches all the classes working sometimes from 9am to 10pm. I explained the English expression "burning the candle at both ends" and she aggreed it was taking its toll on her. She wasn't prepared to shell out classes at the moment as they were working on choreography for a performance, but come spring she thinks this would be a wonderful idea!!! Wooohooo!!!

Then, as if God wanted to top off my day with more happiness, 2 of the girls in the class came and introduced themselves to me and we started talking and then I got to know most the girls who took my class (there were only a few of us- 7 total, but one had already left) and they were so nice!! It was the birthday of one of the girls and another had made her a cake, which she shared as we chatted in the lobby. As it turns out, the two girls who introduced themselves to me first, Clemence (I think...) and I can't remember the other one's name..., live literally across the street from me!! We walked home together. It was great! I even got complimented on my level of French- YAY!

Thus life is good!

And... I know, you're like, "what? there's more? was there even any bad news in this email???" Yes indeed!! There is MORE exciting news!! I am going to Scotland!! I know, random, but a friend who is currently in London asked me last week if I wanted to go and I was like, sure, why not. So, in the past couple days, I have set things up with my friend and bought my cheap ryanair tickets and will be heading out next Thursday! Woohooo!!! I emailed my teachers to make sure it was ok that I take Thursday and Friday off of school as long as I am willing to make up the hours and everyone was so great about saying, "no worries! enjoy yourself!" So off I go!

Ok, I think that actually is all the good news I have... let me think... I believe I already told you all that I bought tickets for the ballet- Ballet L'Opera de Paris (which my new french dancer friends think is a decent enough troupe with good, quality dancers but not the best choreographic direction) is putting on a rendition of Romeo and Juliette. My German friend Andrea and I are going tomorrow night. I hope it will be good, it's a contemorary version and in the poster Juliette has pointy-young madonna style boobs... scary. We'll see.

Ok, truly, that's it. The weather is getting colder and wetter, as it will as the seasons change. And I miss you all back home so very very much, regardless of the fun amazing dream life I'm living. So don't forget that while many of you might live vicariously through me, I still want to know about your lives!! Keep me updated! Send me photos!! Even one-liner emails are appreciated!! And snail mail is prized beyond belief, so if you feel up for it, you could even send a card! :) No requirment though.

Love and Hugs to all!!! I'm sure I'll send more emails before then, but just in case, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Eat lots of pumkin pie for me!

Elizabeth