The Great Punting Disaster

After we had all been on the guided punting tours and spent several evenings at pubs along the river making fun of (studying!) the self-hire punts, three of us decided that we'd like to have a go at it ourselves.

All of our studying paid off, and we punted around for almost an hour, making pretty good progress for our first time. We were all pretty good at it for our first go, compared to some of the other self-hires we'd seen over the weeks of watching. We went along the backs of the colleges in the late afternoon, getting back just as it was starting to hint at getting dark. Quite an enjoyable Sunday afternoon activity, really. Once I get the pictures off of Liz's camera, I'll post some here or on Facebook.

When our time was almost up, I was nominated to steer the punt back into the dock area (apparently some canoe skills transfer). There was a bit of a current in the way, so I aimed upstream of where I wanted to be in hopes of using that to help me steer in. Good idea, right? Apparently not. We weren't moving as fast as we appeared to be, unfortunately, and one of the professional punters/tour guides ran into our boat, knocking me into the water, coat and all. According to Liz, who was the only real witness, I mostly jumped, but I defend myself with the fact that his boat was on top of ours where I had been standing, so jumping was probably a good idea, even if it was a reflex. Liz and Hilary were both doubled up in our boat laughing. The professional tried to "help" me out of the water into his boat, then retrieved our pole for us and took me to shore.

Now, did we get a discount, or even an apology? Nope. We had to pay more, actually. I think we would have been on time to get back within our allotted hour if it had not been for the collision, but we didn't make it with the delay, so we were charged for going over the time limit. How silly.

So as to not end there, here's a few other things that have happened:

1) My mentor teacher had us over for a delicious Sunday roast at her house and I learned that I quite like fresh roasted parsnips. I'm glad I tasted them before I knew what they were.

2) I've started taking over the class- I had them for almost the entire day today, just not literacy.

3) I was teaching phonics on Friday, and the sound was l. The first picture I pulled out was a popsicle. Huh? It was a lolly. The dump truck I pulled out next was a lorry. Next were ladder and leg. Those I knew.

We'll be home in less than a month- hard to believe!

Remember, Remember...

the fifth of November. Yep, tonight's Guy Fawke's Day, also known as Bonfire Night. After school, HIlary and I ran home to change into warmer clothes, then went to a lovely dinner at my mentor teacher's mother's house, where we got to meet some of her family. All of us then walked down to the edge of the river to watch the fireworks. It was probably the most intense display I have seen in years, with over 15 minutes of constant booms and sprays of light. With the breeze, we were pretty much directly underneath the fireworks, with little bits falling down on us. My neck was starting to hurt by the end, and I was flinching from the loud booms that we felt as much as heard, but it was breathtaking. After the crazy finale, everyone started to look for the bonfire lighting. We were a little thrown off by a tent that seemed to have caught on fire from a firework bit, but once the bonfire was lit, it was impossible to miss. It was as tall as the streetlight. I took some pictures, then thanked our hosts and headed for the other side of the river, towards the fire, which had been converted into a fairgrounds. By the time we got there, the crowd had thinned a bit, so we were able to get up to the fence around the fire. We were still a good forty yards away, half an hour after it had been lit, and we could feel the warmth of the fire. Amazing (and scary)! This was followed by some wandering through the fair to look at the rides, games, and food (my favorite was the hot dog stand next to the falafel stand). I completed the experience by purchasing an overpriced, but totally worth it, plastic, light-up, spinning butterfly toy. I had seen several small girls carrying them around and decided that it was the perfect souvenir of my first (and possibly only) real Bonfire Night.

Scotland

After the National Railway Museum, we got on a train (how appropriate) to Edinburgh. It was already dark when we got there at 5:30- Scotland's far north and it was the first day after British Daylight Savings- so we checked in and went in search of dinner. We stayed at a hostel below Edinburgh Castle, just off the Royal Mile, a major, now touristy street that is the main approach to the castle. Also visible from the hostel was the school said to have inspired Hogwarts, and yes, we ate at the Elephant House, where JK Rowling wrote the first two books. On Tuesday, we went on a fantastic free walking tour. It was 3 hours long and raining for over half of it, but our guide was so good that he held our attention the entire time. Hilary and I were observing on the way back that he was using many of the teaching strategies we've learned, like telling the group what we would be learning about at our next stop before we left for it. As you can imagine, in 3 hours we covered most of the major sights on and around the Royal Mile. We didn't go terribly far since we were on foot, but we learned about lots of famous people from Edinburgh, including Adam Smith (economist, if you don't remember that detail from middle school), John Knox (founder of Presbyterianism- I later went on a religious history tour lead by reenactors dressed as John Knox and Cuthbert) Robert Louis Stevenson (author, also from middle school- Treasure Island, anyone?), and lots of others. Unfortunately, since it was raining, I didn't take many pictures.

After the tour, we went to the Museum of Childhood, where we learned that an entire room of dolls is actually really creepy.

That night, we cooked our own dinner for the first time in almost two months. We made mac & cheese from a box and vegetables. It was delicious.

On Wednesday, I took another train to Glasgow to go to the Glasgow Science Centre. I spent several hours there learning random science facts and analyzing different ways of information presentation and exhibition construction. There were some rather familiar exhibits that there are versions of at the VDM, so they were especially interesting to look at. After the Science Centre, I completely switched museum gears to go to the Gallery of Modern Art, where there was a very different sort of looking at interesting things and analyzing. This busy ball clock was in the Science Centre, but now that I look at it, it could be modern art, too...

Thursday was a bus tour back to Glasgow, out to Loch Lomond, then over to Stirling Castle. I got a bit more information about some of the things I had seen the previous day and saw a lot of pretty countryside. This was a pleasant change, as we have been spending most of our time in cities. At Loch Lomond I chose not to go on the boat tour, but instead walked a path that lead to the loch and took pictures. Here's one- I may post more at some point.

Friday morning was a bit of an adventure, actually. At friends' suggestions, Hilary and I decided to climb up to Arthur's Seat, a hill/mountain/large geologic feature that overlooks the city of Edinburgh. We took the wrong path from the very beginning, however, and ended up walking nearly all the way around it without making much progress to the top. If you ever attempt this, go left. The path to the right looks like it goes up, and it does, but then it goes back down, then back up, then back down... you get the idea. We still got some pretty views of the city, and I enjoyed resting on the grass, which was very soft.

Oh, We're Half Way There!

This past week was half-term break in our schools and, conveniently enough, also marked the half way point of our program. It feels like we just got here, and like we've been here forever, all at the same time. There's a few things I'm still figuring out, and I'm still meeting people, but I feel like I have known my students for so long (though I've pretty much given up the quest for outside friends- I know 60 people really well. Who cares if they are mostly 5 and 6?).

December 14 seems so far away, but it will be here before I know it.

Anyway, for half term, Hilary and I traveled north. We got a ride to York with my teacher, stayed there for the first three days, then took the train up to Edinburgh, Scotland. From Edinburgh, I took a few day trips- to the city of Glasgow and on a tour through the countryside to Loch Lomond, the country's first National Park.

York is a beautiful old (well, most of the cities are old) walled city. We walked the walls, went to the art gallery, toured York Minster, and visited the National Railway Museum. I enjoyed all of it, but the Minster (That just means church from specific time period- Norman I think? It's like cathedral, only not.) was my favorite. We climbed the tower, which was not my favorite part due to the hundreds of tiny spiraling steps it took to get there, wandered around the inside while listening to Evensong, and toured through the Undercroft, which has been partially converted into a very cool museum about the history and maintenance of the church. There have been three different buildings on the site, and parts of them, including a Roman basilica, are visible in the Undercroft. We also happened to be there during a festival called "Illuminate York" which was a part of some research that is being done for the planning of the opening ceremonies for the London Olympics. It was really cool, and may get it's own post later. Here's some pictures from the city.

We actually took this on the last day, but it's the thought that counts.

York Minster

View from the top of the tower, over the grounds of the Minster.

A tower that we stumbled across in the middle of a car park.

The Shambles, an especially old shopping district. Those buildings were not originally that close together, but they've shifted over time. We bought crepes near here for lunch!

Look for a post about our time in Scotland in the next few days.