In a Dear Green Place

Happy 2007 everybody! Did you have a nice holiday? Mine was mixed. It’s been awhile since I last wrote but I think I can condense almost everything (pseudo-) interesting into one long run-on sentence. I spent most of last six weeks researching and writing an essay on the influences of theology and literature on the art of Marc Chagall which is about as exciting as it sounds (which is to say not really except to really geeky people like me). So since that made up most of my life for the last couple months I decided to spare you although if you’re really interested I can send you my essay for the low low price of $5. I know that seems exorbitant but I’m working with an exchange rate that is seriously stacked against me.

In more exciting news I am finally employed! I will be working as a Teaching Assistant for the University this semester. I keep reminding myself that the experience is all that counts and money is only icing on the cake and that keeps me relatively thrilled. I’m actually really nervous and anyone who knows me knows how quickly I start talking when I’m nervous or excited so I hope my few unfortunate pupils can listen that fast (not to mention taking notes if I happen to say anything important.) My first responsibilities start next week when I’ll be supervising undergraduate exams and then I’ll have a class to lead. Wish me luck…

Christmas was very laid back and relaxing and I followed that up by going away to a cottage for a few days for New Year’s with friends. We rented a place just north of the border and basically ate, slept, sang, watched movies and played games for four days. For most people here New Year’s is a much more loud, druken and partying time. In Scotland they call it Hogmanay and it’s basically the biggest holiday of the year. Edinburgh and Glasgow put on huge parties in the middle of town and there are smaller bashes in the streets all over the place. Each will have a different feel and type of music so you can defiantly find something to suit your tastes. This year (like last year I believe) the weather was just awful with rain and extremely strong winds so the huge festivities in both Edinburgh and Glasgow were cancelled. We drove down to our cottage late Sunday afternoon and I’ve never been so worried that the car would be blown off the road. It was nice to get out of the city though and spend sometime surrounded by sheep and old stone buildings. A couple of people were predicting disaster because a group of friends in an isolated cottage is perfect setting for an axe-murderer movie but it was largely uneventful. The solitude didn’t really get to people until the last night when a group (not including me) went out to use a large sling-shot to fire flaming eggs at the sheep in the fields. (Don’t we sounds classy?)

Now I just have to pull myself out of first gear, sleeping in and reading fun books, and put myself into second gear, sleeping in and reading books for school. Also looking forward to Celtic Connections, a big music festival here in Glasgow. Hope all six of you gentle readers had a lovely holiday. Yay for 2007!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 4th, 2007 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Glasgow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.